Review: Friends with Kids

Lionsgate

It’s a shame that when Jennifer Westfeldt went to write this movie she didn’t bother to learn what it was about.  Friends with Kids attempts to explore the changes that occur in adult relationships when kids enter the scene, but there’s little authenticity to the situations Westfeldt creates; it’s like she assumes that once married people have children, their lives go to hell, and that’s all we need to know.   But, the story tells us, if you have kids without getting married - joint custody between friends - then everything is fine and you are miraculously able to manage your new family life with little disruption to the freewheeling single existence you haven’t had to leave behind.
  
This is just dumb.


But Westfeldt is determined to press her point, so she gives us a married couple with three year old and a baby – a pair pretty well settled into family life - who can’t manage a simple dinner party with old friends.  But the unmarried duo who have just given birth pull off a lovely little brunch because, apparently, single parents who are just friends don’t have fussy babies, or babies who cry, or need their diapers changed.  And, it seems, those babies sleep through the night, allowing their platonic parents to wake up refreshed, have time for showers, maintain perfectly pressed wardrobes, and consequently, pull together a tasteful Sunday brunch with time to spare. (I would suggest though, that if you are hosting a three year old at your chic Manhattan apartment you might be wise not to leave a crystal platter full of treats on a low table. It seems an obvious point, but not one Westfeldt wants to acknowledge, because if the three year old had climbed the low table, grabbed handfuls of sweets and crashed the platter to the floor, well, that would mean that the unmarried parents were as clueless as new parents generally are, and that kind of reality never makes it into this story line.)


Written, directed and starring Jennifer Westfeldt; she is consistently upstaged by her leading man co-star Adam Scott.  Cast also includes Maya Rudolph, Chris O’Dowd, Kristen Wiig and Jon Hamm – the last two are criminally underused (does Westfeldt not know that Wiig is a comedian?); if you are thinking of seeing this film because Kristen Wiig and Jon Hamm are in it, you are wasting your time.  C


  
  

John Carter, Silent House, and Eddie Murphy

Open Road Films

Big openings this weekend are John Carter, Silent House, and One Thousand Words.  Big holdover is The Lorax. 

So what’s the deal?  John Carter is a Disney movie starring Taylor Kitsch, the good looking bad boy from "Friday Night Lights".  He plays a Confederate soldier who gets transported to Mars and becomes a hero to the locals.  It’s based on a novel written in 1912 by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author of "Tarzan and the Apes," but that came later.    Disney has high hopes for the film but the critics are lukewarm, although many say the visuals are wonderful and the plotline strange and entertaining; the rest were bored.  Thursday’s midnight ticket sales were just so so.


Silent House is a horror movie starring Elizabeth Olsen, a fabulous young actress who deserves to make some money. Word is that she does well here but the film disappoints, especially in the final scenes; early scares are pretty good.  In A Thousand Words Eddie Murphy plays a fast talking literary agent who gets his comeuppance when some kind of Zen curse threatens to strike him dead once he has spoken 1000 words.  So, Murphy has to do a lot of silent mugging – this from a funny man whose greatest gift is his comic delivery and ability to mimic voices.  The film sat collecting dust for four years, seems like it was too soon to take it off the shelf.  But the elephant in the room is The Lorax, which after its remarkable $70 million opening weekend looks primed to knock all the newcomers out of competition.  To sum up: slow weekend at the movies, at least for new releases. There are some holdovers still playing wide: if you want some action, try Safe House; if you’re after romance, look for The Vow, and if the Oscars are still on your mind, you can probably find The Artist playing at a theater near you.  

Oscar Wrap

Can I predict ‘em, or what?  Actually there were two big surprises at the Oscars this year: Dragon Tattoo’s win for best editing (well deserved) and Meryl Streep’s Best Actress score.  Everyone’s talking about Meryl this morning, and why not, as recently as Friday the odds of picking up a trophy were trending against her.  But the Actors Branch of the Academy, which seemed, after the SAG awards, determined to make The Help cast its fave, either mellowed towards Streep or was outvoted by the other Branches, because there she was, accepting the award with all the charm and presence we would expect from our most celebrated actress.  


The return of Billy Crystal in the hosting role was pleasant, but not invigorating; Billy did what Billy does.  There were some entertaining moments – Christopher Guest’s focus group, Emma Stone’s funny and charming bit where she attempted to find ways to extend her time on stage as a presenter.  (Ben Stiller made a perfect foil.)  Angelina Jolie’s apparent effort to strike a “sexy pose” by thrusting her leg through a thigh high slit in her Versace dress wasn’t so appealing.  It’s hard to guess what the actress had in mind when she did that – reminding the crowd that she’s still the good time gal who made headlines in the nineties?  Trying to divert the spotlight from her life partner? Just trying to divert the spotlight?  Jolie seems to want to be taken seriously – she just wrote and directed a film about the Bosnian war – but this stunt might indicate that the 37 year old is not ready to grow up.  Fortunately, her little move was counter balanced by the Descendants writing team when they picked up their award; two of the three men struck the same pose as Angelina.  That was funny.


All in all, the 84th Academy Awards were not memorable.  Of the nine films nominated, only one (The Help) qualified as a hit, and hardly anyone has seen Best Picture winner The Artist.  Ratings were down, due to awards season fatigue, and general lack of interest.  Seems like the old white dudes who are responsible for Oscar Outcomes have lost step with America; maybe they should pay attention to the underlying message of last night’s show, and get out occasionally to see a movie. 

Oscar Wrap: Final Predictions

Rocky won the Oscar.

The votes are in, the accountants are counting, and the winners of the biggest show biz contest are just a few days away from glowing in the spotlight.


So who will get the prize? Well, the predictable awards are still predictable: Octavia Spencer (The Help) and Christopher Plummer (Beginners) will take home the Supporting trophies; screenplay awards will go to Midnight in Paris (Original) and The Descendants (Adapted). 


Best Director looks like Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist, but there is some momentum for Scorsese and Hugo.  Not a lot of momentum, but some. Hey, it's Scorsese, all those old white dudes in the Academy love Scorsese. Some of the creative awards come down to these two films as well: Art Direction and Cinematography will probably go to Hugo, but their chances could get mowed down by an Artist juggernaut. Film Editing is leaning Artist.  In the sound categories it's Scorsese up against Spielberg (War Horse) with Scorsese predicted to pull out the win.  Spielberg, I'm sure, is honored to be nominated.  (Well, it's not him, really, it's his sound guys who are nominated but these guys take everything personally.)


The only really interesting contests are in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories.  George Clooney (Descendants) and Jean Dujardin (Artist) have been battling it out during the awards season, each of them picking up trophies, so there's no clear front runner, although the safe money is on Dujardin.  Some risk taking prognosticators are betting that Clooney and Dujardin will split the vote and Brad Pitt (Moneyball) will slip in and take the prize. Pitt might also have some sentimental momentum because he hasn't won before (nominated twice), and apparently he was quite the charmer on the awards circuit.


The actress contest comes down to Viola Davis (The Help) and Meryl Streep (Iron Lady).  Like the actors, Streep and Davis have split a lot of the early awards, but the current front runner is clearly Davis - she gave a bang up performance, the film was a box office hit, and there is a sense that the left leaning (mostly white) Academy likes the idea of giving the award to a black actress.  But there is a little awkwardness around Streep, since even though she has been nominated more times - 17! -  than any other human, she has only won twice, and it's been awhile since her name was inside the envelope. This thing could go her way.


Finally, Best Picture: any Oscarologist looking over your shoulder while you fill out your office pool ballot would tell you to check The Artist for the top prize, and that is far and away the safest choice. The only possible spoiler in this contest is the fact that there are eight other pictures in contention, enough to screw up the numbers even for an established front runner. Here's how the counting works: The Academy members are asked to rank their choices for Best Picture by preference -  this year, that'll be one through nine (this is the only category where voters rank their choices; for everything else, they check their favorite and move along).  The fine young accountants at PricewaterhouseCoopers take those ballots and stack them in piles according to the number one pick.  Then they take the shortest pile and redistribute those according to the second ranked film on each ballot, and they keep on doing that, redistributing the smallest pile, until one film has fifty percent of the votes.  So it's not just who loves you best that matters, it's also who loves you second and third best.  Other contenders for the throne are The Help and Hugo, with former front runner The Descendants bringing up the dark horse rear.  The Oscars will be telecast on Sunday, February 26; the actual show begins at 5:30 but there will be televised hoopla for most of the day.  

Review: Thin Ice

ATO

The latest Greg Kinnear movie has the perennial everyman playing a desperate, morally ambiguous insurance salesman trying to solve his personal and financial troubles through any means other than actually selling insurance.  He sets out to steal a valuable violin from a doddering, elderly client, gets caught in the act by a volatile, ex-con locksmith, and  from there everything tumbles towards disaster.


These kind of stories - where the main characters dig themselves ever deeper into trouble - are fun if they're done right.  The best ones have protagonists who are sympathetic in spite of their moral weakness, and their decisions, the steps they take towards their own ruin, are believable.  Think of William H. Macy's character in Fargo: we feel for the dude, even though he sets his wife up to be kidnapped and we never learn for sure why.  There's a charm to his sad sack demeanor, and his naive hope that everything will turn out okay somehow.  


Not so much here. Kinnear's Mickey is a low life in a suit, he puts on a good act but you get the feeling that he'd take advantage of anybody; even his efforts to reconcile with his wife - who he claims to love - are insincere. Kinnear tries mightily to make this work but Mickey is so one dimensional that we don't care too much about what happens to him.


What redeems the film are the supporting characters, especially Allen Arkin as the elderly client and Billy Crudup as the slightly crazed blackmailing locksmith.  These guys are fun to watch, and Kinnear's Mickey comes to life when he's with them.  Playing in limited release.  (Interesting production note: Originally titled The Convincer, Thin Ice was warmly received at Sundance, but distributor ATO pictures made significant changes to the film prior to release without director Jill Sprecher's approval.  The newly cut version has gotten a lukewarm critical response.) C+

"Smash" revisited - briefly

Tuned in to episode two of "Smash."  Tuned out a half hour later. 

Review: Safe House

Universal

If you like car chases, shoot outs, and all kinds of fast paced mayhem, this movie is sure to entertain you. If you also like tightly drawn thrillers and interesting, sympathetic characters, well, did I mention the car chases?

Denzel Washington plays Tobin Frost, a turncoat CIA agent hunkered down in Capetown, South Africa. He’s in the midst of negotiations on a megadeal, trading classified information for serious dollars, when he finds himself the target of a lot of determined bad guys. After some high octane action and lots of close calls, Tobin decides his only option is to take refuge at the US Consulate. CIA brass immediately hustle him off to a safe house for questioning, but the bad guys find him there, and when the dust settles the only man left standing to keep track of Tobin and provide for his security is the fellow who staffs the safe house, a green agent named Matt Weston.

Up until now, Matt thought he had a pretty boring job.

Weston, played by Ryan Reynolds, figures his career depends on how well he handles this unexpected, high profile assignment. Frost, a master of psychological manipulation, wants to slip away from his young keeper and get on with his deal making. But Matt Weston turns out to be much smarter – and less gullible – than Frost imagines; Frost has trouble escaping. (“How did you find me?” he asks Weston, when the young man shows up looking for him in a remote spot. “It wasn’t that hard,” Matt snaps back, powering an old pickup truck through a gunfight.)

The best part of this movie is what goes on between these would be antagonists. Denzel Washington - always terrific - is great here as the clever bad guy who maybe isn’t quite so bad. But Reynolds nearly steals the show from the Oscar winner, showing both the vulnerability and apprehension of a rookie along with the resolve and astute thinking of a top drawer agent. That relationship, and all the edge of your seat (it really is edge of your seat) action are good enough reasons to see this movie; it’s a shame though, that the thriller aspect of the story never comes together. When everything shakes out and you find out who’s been setting Frost up, you don’t really care anymore. Came in number two at the box office, attracting a mixed audience (not just the usual youthful action fans). Still playing in lots of theaters. B-

Big Weekend at the Movies

Didja go to the movies this weekend? Any trouble parking? Were there long lines for tickets? It seems like sometime on Friday or Saturday everyone in America looked at everyone else and said, "Hey, let's go see a movie!" and presto, just like that, we had one of the biggest February movie going weekends ever. Big winner was The Vow, scoring about a third more box office coin than anyone expected , but it was closely followed by Safe House, which nearly doubled its predicted take. Biggest surprise was Journey 2: Mysterious Island, which confounded prognosticators by doubling its business between Friday and Saturday; seems like good word of mouth and Dwayne Johnson propelled this one into a respectable third place finish, beating out Phantom Menace 3D, the only new opening whose business lined up with expectations. Among holdovers, Chronicle and Woman in Black held their own.

Minor historical note: if you don't count holiday weekends, this is the first time ever that four films earned more than $20 million in their opening sets.

Here's the list:

1. "The Vow" (Sony/Spyglass): $41.7 million.

2. "Safe House" (Universal/Relativity): $39.3 million.

3. "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" (Warner Bros.): $27.6 million.

4. "Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace" (Fox/Lucasfilm): $23 million.

5. "Chronicle" (Fox): $12.3 million. Domestic total: $40.2 million.

6. "The Woman in Black" (CBS Films): $10.3 million. Domestic total: $35.5 million.

7. "The Grey" (Open Road): $5.1 million. Domestic total: $42.8 million.

8. "Big Miracle" (Universal): $3.9 million. Domestic total: $13.2 million.

9. "The Descendants" (Fox Searchlight): $3.5 million. Domestic total: $70.7 million.

10. "Underworld: Awakening" (Sony/Lakeshore): $2.5 million. Domestic total: $58.9 million.

Opening this weekend: February 10

Bunch of big openings this weekend, and none look to impress. The Safe House stars Denzel Washington as a CIA turncoat who is attacked while in government custody and has to be rescued by a young operative in the form of Ryan Reynolds. The story involves a lot of John Woo style action and psychological warfare between the traitor and his protector. Middling reviews. In The Vow, Rachel MacAdams plays a young wife who develops amnesia following a car accident, and she can’t remember her husband. She does remember her old boyfriend, though. Is this supposed to be a date movie?  If so, which love are we rooting for? The husband is played by Channing Tatum, and he  doesn't have a lot of star wattage, and the boyfriend is Scott Speedman, who - wait, who is he?  Based on a true story, getting middling to poor reviews. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, stars Dwayne Johnson and Michael Caine (and a surprising number of other familiar actors) as explorers on a strange isle. This one is really just an excuse for 3-D effects and box office dollars; reviews aren’t great but they aren’t terrible either. Might be a possibility if you have kids to distract on Saturday afternoon (rated PG). Unless, that is, you can’t help yourself and need to take them to see Phantom Menace (Star Wars: Episode 1) in 3-D. Lucas has said that this special edition of his most disappointing film is designed for the grammar school set. So far, no lines around the block; in fact, the new release getting the most attention in presales and general buzz is The Vow. Must be a Valentines thing. Could be a record breaking weekend, box office wise, so if that kind of thing interests you, click back for the Monday wrap up. I’ll be here.

Smash

NBC

Movies are kind of dull right now, so let’s talk TV.  I caught the premiere of “Smash” this week and I felt underwhelmed. Pretty white people sing pretty songs about a pretty white woman and they all live in cool New York apartments even though most of them seem to be making just over minimum wage.  Well, except for the big wigs, who live in elegant Manhattan penthouses that a hedge fund manager might envy.  Do Broadway directors/producers/writers make as much money as hedge fund managers?


Never mind.  “Smash” marks the television acting debut of Katherine McPhee, best known for American Idol (she came in second in 2006); her signature Idol performance was a moving, nearly acoustic rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  The folks behind “Smash” seem eager to remind us of that, so the show opens with McPhee belting out the Judy Garland standard, dressed in an odd, glittery, girlish dress and surrounded by some kind of cloud. It was jarring and strange.  I was reflexively hoping that the camera would cut to Simon Cowell looking bored, or aghast. 

With that start the writers signal that there is nothing new to see here, just a re-hash of old tropes, and that’s exactly what we get.  Two young ingénues compete for stardom, Debra Messing spars affectionately with a gay guy, Angelica Huston plays the evil queen (she may have a soft heart) and the whole thing seems like Glee Grown Up without the welcome, acerbic wit of Sue Sylvester.


The one bright spot in the show, the only reason to tune back in, is Megan Hilty, who plays Ivy, a Broadway vet looking to escape the chorus line. Her nuanced, smooth-as-silk vocals and her genuine, touchingly vulnerable performance as Ivy makes Katherine McPhee’s Karen seem flat and predictable.  And if message boards, tweets, and the young people in my living room are any indication, this is a widely shared opinion.  Hopefully the producers of the show will take note, and resist the urge to turn Ivy into some sort of back stage villain in order to pump up McPhee’s profile.  “Smash” is a big, fluffy bit of entertainment, highly produced and good escapist fun for musical theater geeks.  I will watch the next episode, but if I don’t tune in for round three, well, it won’t be because the show is bad – just a bore. Mondays at 10/9 Central.  NBC

Doggie Oscars

(Jaap Buitendijk / 35mm)

Dog News Daily, an online magazine for dog lovers and the companies that sell stuff to them, is sponsoring the first ever Golden Collar Awards,celebrating canine performances in the movies. Like most award shows, this one has had its share of scandal: the first list of Best Dog nominees excluded the Doberman, Blackie, who was featured in Hugo. Martin Scorsese didn't like that, so he wrote an op-ed in the LA Times complaining about it (he claimed prejudice against "anti-hero" dog performances). The Dog News people took notice and made Marty a deal: if Blackie could get 500 "write-in votes" (posts) on the Dog News Daily Facebook page, well, she was in.

You can't make this stuff up.

Blackie got the votes. On February 13, she will compete with the four legged stars of The Artist and Water for Elephants (same dog), 50/50, The Beginners, and Young Adult for Best Dog in a Theatrical Film. The event will be held at a hotel in Los Angeles, and there will be a red carpet and everything. Not sure how the interviews will go. Look for lots of press and television coverage of the event. It is said that the winner of the Golden Collar awards almost always goes on to win at the Oscars ... okay, I did make that up.

Oscar Tea Leaves: 26 Days Out

There are nine movies nominated in the Oscar Best Picture race, but only five matter: The Artist, The Descendants, The Help, Hugo and Moneyball all have a shot, although Moneyball barely makes the list, even though it was an early fave.  Here’s the thing:  Descendants and The Artist picked up awards at the Golden Globes, which should make them front runners, but The Help got the nod at the SAG Awards, and the Directors Guild gave it up for The Artist’s Michel Hazanavicius.  These are confusing times.


The people who actually bet on these things have The Artist and The Descendents fighting it out for frontrunner and Hugo and The Help battling for second place.  None of the other pictures matter, at least as far as winning goes. 


So what will happen?  Well, it’s early yet.  Final Oscar ballots get mailed out tomorrow, but they aren’t due back at the Academy until February 21st.  Meanwhile, it seems the buzz for The Artist is wearing a little thin.  Will the Academy stick with it for the big prize, or give The Descendants the nod?  Or could they surprise us for the first time in years and let something like Hugo float to the top?If I were betting today, I would go with The Artist.  In two weeks, though, things could look different.  Stay tuned.

New Movies 12/9/2100

The big opening this weekend is New Year's Eve, an ensemble romantic comedy featuring a whole bunch of stars, like Halle Berry and Ashton Kutcher and Sarah Jessica Parker - it's a long list.  This one is expected to attract a big audience and bump Twilight right off its first place perch, but the reviews are beyond dismal, even worse than the sparkly vampire story.  Also opening big: The Sitter, starring Jonah Hill as a college guy who is roped into babysitting the kids next door, and then gets himself and the children into a whole lot of trouble.  Reviews are worse than Twilight, better than New Year's, generally very bad.  But don't despair, you can still catch some of the better fall films, like The Descendants, and Hugo, Martin Scorsese's children's story, and Like Crazy is still in a few theaters.  Next week Sherlock Holmes opens, and Young Adult goes wide.

Young Adult

Paramount Pictures

Charlize Theron is a brilliant, and brave actress; she’s also beautiful, which is kind of the point in her latest film, Young Adult. She plays Mavis Gary, former prom queen and belle of the high school ball, currently facing middle age in a dismal messy apartment with only a fuzzy little dog and the occasional Internet date for company. She decides that the solution to her growing angst is to go back to her tiny hometown and drag her high school boyfriend out of the trap of family life. Never mind that he seems to be happily married and celebrating the birth of his new baby girl; Mavis is sure he wants out. “It’s like he’s a hostage,” she tells a friend, and she packs up her dog and motors out of the city to rescue him.

There is really nothing likeable about Mavis Gary; she’s crudely self-centered,  but Theron manages to show us the vulnerability in her, the desperation that leads her to decide that re-creating past glories is her best path to present day happiness. And while many actresses trade on their good looks, determined to look pretty under the most unlikely of film circumstances, here Theron allows herself to look scruffy and worn, wearing shapeless t-shirts, hair mussed, mascara runny. This could seem kind of sad and tragic, but Theron plays it like an ironic statement of toughness; as Mavis walks the streets of her former hometown in a Hello Kitty t-shirt, you get the impression that a smart person would not risk commenting on her disheveled appearance.

Young Adult is a comedy, a dark one, and the funniest scenes are the ones where Mavis meets up with Matt Frehauf, a high school classmate that she had nearly forgotten. As a teenager, Matt (played with perfect comic timing by Patton Oswalt) sustained life altering injuries at the hands of a bunch of football jocks who attacked him because they thought he was gay (he is not). Permanently disabled, he is cynical, funny, and sees right through Mavis’ pretensions; the two form an unlikely but extremely entertaining comic duo. The movie really brightens whenever they are both on screen. Young Adult is not an important film, it isn’t terribly weighty in its themes, but it is funny and a great showcase for the talents of Theron and Oswalt. Opening small this weekend in a few major cities, should go wide on 12/16. B+

Awards Season is On

It's been a busy couple of days on the awards circuit, the Gotham Independent Spirit Awards revealing themselves last night, the  New York Film Critics announcing their year end picks as well, and today the West Coast Independent Spirit folks put out their list of nominees.   Put it all together and what have you got: well, The Artist, certainly.  A big hit at Cannes, but playing only an extremely limited run (four theaters so far) here at home, this film is a serious critical darling but hasn't yet had a chance to prove itself among regular folks.  Another small film, Take Shelter, got attention from these organizations, both for Best Picture and for lead actor Michael Shannon.  But Take Shelter is a dark story with an ambivalent ending, an unlikely film to get mixed up in the big leagues, although Shannon could get a nod for acting.   Brad Pitt got noticed by the New York film Critics for his performance in Moneyball; this relatively small crowd of writers also chose Meryl Streep as Best Actress in Iron Lady.  Neither one of these films would get noticed by the Independent Spirit folks, who leave any big studio film out of their considerations, but certainly this is a clue that Pitt and Streep will get attention from Oscar (and the Screen Actors Guild, and the Golden Globes).  Jessica Chastain also got some love for her performances in (take your pick) Tree of Life, Take Shelter and The Help.  She has had a busy year, and will no doubt have a lot of red carpet walks in the next few months.


But, award hopes aside, all these picks and nominations can provide some film going direction. In the next month, there should be some high quality movies at the multiplex.  Look for Iron Lady, and The Artist, although The Artist is more likely to show up in art houses.  Spielberg's War Horse, a World War I story, is getting lots of buzz (it is a Spielberg film) and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo should make a splash, although it's bound to be a brutal, bloody one.  Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy, a thriller based on a John LeCarre novel, is getting positive reviews from the handful of critics who have seen it,  and Young Adult, a story about a morally ambivalent woman (Charlize Theron) who returns to her high school reunion determined to rip her old boyfriend away from his wife and family, is generating some good acting kudos. Extremely Loud and Terribly Close, based on a novel about a boy whose father died in the Towers on 9/11 and left a mysterious key behind, is getting a lot of buzz even though no one (really, no one) has seen it yet.  Some  bold prognosticators are even calling it for Best Picture.  Back in the real world, look for The Descendants, whose Oscar hopes are rosy because of its solid box office and loving critical reviews.  It's also a good film and still in theaters.  My Week with Marilyn is also getting attention for Michelle Williams' performance.  Too soon to tell how any of these will fare come awards times, but they should provide some good movie going entertainment.  More awards insight and prognosticating as the story unfolds. 

Review: The Descendants

Fox Searchlight

Good movie. George Clooney stars as Matt King, a disconnected dad who has to step up his parenting game when a boating accident leaves his wife in a coma. His two daughters, ten and seventeen, are mysteries to him, but he’s a essentially a warmhearted guy, giving the unexpected dad thing his best shot until older daughter Alex (played with beautiful authenticity by Shailene Woodley) hits him with a bombshell: his comatose wife has been having an affair. “She was cheating on you, Dad,” Alex tells him, in a matter of fact tone that is only a little impatient, as though this huge development in his marriage was something she pretty much expected him to miss. But once the news is out Matt is galvanized into action, collaborating with Alex to track his wife’s lover down – determined to confront the guy, wanting to see his face when he learns that the woman he has been dallying with is at death’s door.

Obviously there is a dark side to all of this, but writer/director Alexander Payne (Sideways) teases the humor out of the drama, and George Clooney gamely allows himself to appear foolish, letting go of his leading man suave to look believably awkward when he peers over a hedge trying to spot his wife’s mystery man, or races in flip flops to his neighbors’ house to demand the truth about the affair. The film lingers a little too lightly on the real pain at the heart of this story, skims over the tough stuff, but we still feel enormous sympathy for the characters and keep pulling for them. With Robert Forster doing great work as the dying woman’s father, and young Nick Krause providing welcome comic relief as Alex’s friend. Playing a relatively small run (433 theaters) throughout the country but it’s doing good business and should expand. Lots of Oscar buzz. B+

What to See November 18, 2011

The big opening of the weekend is Breaking Dawn – Part 1, and if you are on Team Edward or Team Jacob (no one seems to need a Team Bella) you are already in line for the midnight show. Good for you, but keep me out of it. I am hoping to miss this one. I’m not sure what I dread most: Kristen Stewart’s sourpuss face, Edward Pattinson’s steely blankness, or Tyler Lautner’s wholesale abandoning of any nascent acting talent in exchange for flashing his abs. It all depresses me, and we haven’t even arrived at the bizarre birth scene. Oops! Spoiler alert. The other big opening is Happy Feet 2, an animated tap dancing penguin movie. Early reviews are mixed, but it looks like a solid family film.

More highbrow, The Descendants opens this weekend in a handful of theaters; this is one of the best reviewed films of the fall, definite Oscar bait. George Clooney stars as an absentee dad who has to step up his parenting game when his wife is injured and falls into a coma.

Held over are a number of biggies: Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill, Tower Heist and The Immortals. You might be wise to skip all of those but if you are in the mood for a big Hollywood movie, Tower Heist is a better bet than the other two. Unless you absolutely love Adam Sandler, and, just a tip, the membership of that club appears to be dwindling. Jack and Jill had a disappointing opening weekend and critics really hated the film. On the other hand, people who showed up liked it well enough.

If you happen to live in a city with an art house scene, look for a film called Like Crazy. This charming, unexpected and extremely well done love story is one of the best films out right now.

Review: J. Edgar

Warner Brothers

I hate to burst bubbles, but this movie is a snooze. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the title role and he tries mightily to make it work, but the script lets him down; J. Edgar Hoover, one of the most significant and controversial American public figures of the 20th Century, is presented with such a narrow, insulated focus that it’s hard to tell if he was a real threat to his enemies or just an awkward, slightly deranged man ranting about in his office. The film is shot in understated tones with muted colors, and that might have seemed retro cool if the story had any spark, but instead the low key presentation too easily allows your mind to wander. I started planning my weekend.

The story begins early on, when Hoover is an eager young agent trying to bring a new level of sophistication to crime investigations. Determined, ambitious, and socially awkward, he is appointed the first head of the new Federal Bureau of Investigation when he is only 24. He assembles a personal staff that includes his secretary, Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) and his number two in command and possible love interest, Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer). The film spends a good deal of time attempting to explore the relationship between these two men, which was a source of speculation for anyone who paid attention to Hoover, both during and after his lifetime. The question was never resolved, though, and J.Edgar’s considerable efforts to lift the veil seem hackneyed and flat.

The film divides Hoover's nearly fifty years as head of the Bureau by referencing different crimes or crime sprees; in each segment Hoover has a young agent sequestered in his office, dutifully typing up the director's version of events. The story evolves from these memoirs, which, unfortunately, make us like those young men sitting at the typewriter: we merely take down what Hoover has to say. The film provides no context, no characters to give perspective. We don’t know, for example, why the Director feels a need to explain himself, since we see no one of any significance seriously questioning his actions. When he goes on his well documented vendetta against Martin Luther King, we don't see anyone in King’s camp react; we never get a chance to understand if Hoover’s hatred of the civil rights leader had any consequences.

Armie Hammer does excellent work as Tolson, even though his aggressive aging prosthetics never seem natural. Naomi Watts plays a routine role in a routine way. Clint Eastwood is a great director when he has the right material, but this one misses the mark. Still playing wide throughout the country.  B-

Review: Margin Call

Roadside Attractions

Margin Call is set on Wall Street in the fall of 2008. It revolves around a handful of upper echelon players in a big investment firm - well, they are mostly upper echelon: in a memorable performance, Zachary Quinto plays Peter, a young risk analyst who identifies the beginnings of the coming financial meltdown before any of the more experienced executives have taken notice. He gets a tip from his recently fired boss, Eric (played with calm understatement by Stanley Tucci); Eric slips him a flash drive before he leaves the building for the last time, warning Peter to “Be careful.” 

It’s good advice. Peter passes up a happy hour outing with co-workers and stays late studying the file Eric gave him. Within a few hours he has it figured out: the beginnings of the biggest financial crash since 1930 laid out in colorful graphs and numbers on his computer screen. It’s about 9:00 at night, and from here the clock starts slowly ticking towards financial Armageddon.

The film doesn’t spend much time trying to explain the mechanics of the crash. It only covers a tiny bit of time, less than 24 hours. Peter alerts his boss, and as the news travels up the corporate ladder executives arrive back at the office in the dead of night (all nicely dressed, hadn’t they gone home yet?), trying to grasp what’s happened and waiting to meet with head honcho Jeremy Irons, who lands on the roof in a helicopter around 4:00 AM. And here is the heart of the story, the real question being asked: once all of these high level insiders understand the stakes, how will they respond? With nobility? Crass self interest? Is there a moral debate to be had?

It’s interesting stuff, and it’s handled in a far more intimate and revealing way than in a film like say, Wall Street 2. If you ever wondered what went on in those moneyed ivory towers as the financial system came tumbling down, this is a great film to see. With outstanding performances by Kevin Spacey and Paul Bettany as the two execs on the front lines of dealing with the crisis. Still playing in selected theaters nationwide. B+

Review: Tower Heist

Universal

You would think with all the talent in the cast of this movie, they could have come up with a better story.  Ben Stiller stars as Josh, the manager of an uber-luxe apartment building in Manhattan; the grand and personalized service that he and his staff provide are the reason rich people want to live there.  But a scandal breaks out – turns out the richest of the rich tenants, the guy in the penthouse, is a Bernie Madoff type, swindling folks out of their money with an elaborate Ponzi scheme.   That’s trouble enough for the luxury building, but there’s a bigger problem for Josh: he arranged for the swindler, Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) to manage the staff’s pension fund.  Everybody’s lost all their retirement money.

Feeling angry, and pretty guilty, Josh talks some of his colleagues into executing a heist: they’re going to steal the money back.  Word is that Shaw has a stash somewhere; they just have to find it. Being inexperienced criminals, they decide they need help to learn evil ways, so Josh recruits pretty thief Slide (Eddie Murphy), to play bad guy adviser to the team.  Seems Josh and Slide grew up together, and if that seems improbable, wait till you see the rest of this film. 

It’s not all bad.  Eddie Murphy is funny, so is Ben Stiller, although he doesn’t get much to work with here.  The heist team includes veteran actors like Matthew Broderick, a tenant and out of work financial wiz who’s trying desperately to hold onto his fancy digs in the building, and Michael Pena, a former staffer who lost his job.  And Casey Affleck, building concierge and weak willed conspirator who also happens to be Josh’s brother-in-law.  There’s potential here but it doesn’t get a chance to develop, the story isn’t quite clever enough, or over the top enough (even though they work in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade) to make the whole thing really zing.  But, did I mention that Eddie Murphy is funny? Yeah, he doesn’t’ get enough screen time but when he’s there, the movie is fun.  Playing everywhere.  C+