A most genius first hour squandered a bit for its remaining two acts, writer/director Spike Jonze’s Her (B) is an ambitious dramedy analyzing the bits and bytes of relationships. Joaquin Phoenix is superb as the lonely protagonist who falls in love with a coquettish computer operating system voiced by Scarlett Johannson. Although some similar themes were plumbed in Electric Dreams (oddly in 1984), Jonze makes a flimsy premise fresh and affecting. Setting this romance in an unspecified future gives the filmmakers some poignant portals to examine human rituals from a higher plane. The film soars most when the cyber siren summons the best in our hero, challenging him to experience the world anew. But there’s a point in which the audience has likely moved on, and Jones continues to belabor his themes. Woody Allen’s theory that comedies should clock in at no longer than 90 minutes would have been aptly applied here. A series of sequences bookended by snowfall could be edited out almost entirely, leaving a leaner and more consistently entertaining movie in its wake.
Tag Archives: Comedy
David O. Russell’s “American Hustle” Largely Successful
David O. Russell’s comedic crime caper American Hustle (B) is sometimes an undisciplined mess, and this hurly-burly quality gives the enterprise both its frustrations and its charms. The con-women, played outrageously by Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence, steal the show. Other Russell repertory actors including Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and others don’t quite nail indelible characters. At its best, there were flashes of wily wit suggesting a Goodfellas/
Coen Brothers go “Inside Llewyn Davis”
Let the impeccable period detail, stirring folk music and dark comic details of Joel and Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewin Davis (B) wash over you, and you’re in for a film you can’t take your eyes or ears off. Newcomer Oscar Isaac is the standout performer as the titular vagrant ruffian whose sins in life are scrubbed clean each time he belts out cherubic tunes. The supporting cast doesn’t fare quite as well (not an awesome year for Carey Mulligan), except a hilarious John Goodman as a larger-than-life drifter and Justin Timberlake in a great studio sequence. Many standout musicals are set as history is about to blow a different wind (Cabaret and Hair come to mind), and the Coen Brothers’ fairly inert plotting at the dawn of a folk revolution seems to miss an opportunity or two for dramatic tension. But I think they’re really saying that soul-altering art can come from the unlikeliest of authors who may be footnotes at best in the record books. Like the cat that keeps getting loose in the film, a true artist remains untamed and elusive. Something tells me time will be kind to this curiosity.
“Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa” Doesn’t Connect
Jeff Tremaine’s hidden camera road trip comedy Bad Grandpa (C-) offers Johnny Knoxville in full makeup as a cantankerous codger and child actor Jackson Nicoll as his sidekick and prank co-conspirator in a threadbare plot about delivering the boy from jailbird mom to even worse dad for custody. Knoxville is game for the high-jinks but fails in adding any authenticity to his character, which means Nicoll carries most of the film’s minor charms on his small but mighty shoulders. The highlight is the film’s finale, an infiltration of a kid beauty pageant, and even that joke has been done before in Little Miss Sunshine. Still, as a prank and gag-filled throwaway endeavor, it’s got some occasional sweetness. The end credit bloopers make it look incredibly fun to make, even if that fun only intermittently manifests onscreen.
“Frozen” Works in Spurts
Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee’s animated Disney movie Frozen (B+) mixes up the princess formula with some unexpected twists and largely enchanting results. This Scandanavian storybook adventure is filled with fresh ice effects, compelling heroines, charming sidekicks and winning songs by Kristen and Bobby Lopez. Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel’s power ballads and a snowman’s serenade to sunny climates – by Book of Mormon‘s Josh Gad – are among the highlights.
“We’re The Millers” Only Occasionally Funny
We’re the Millers (C+), a comedy directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, hearkens back to the spirit of National Lampoon’s Vacation, although this time around it’s a fake family on a road trip to smuggle drugs across the Mexican border and get them back to Denver, Smokey and the Bandit style (except in an RV) for a crime boss. Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston are workmanlike as the leads, neither over the top nor pouring on too much wit or charm into the roles. Individual episodes and lines sporadically land, but there’s too much reliance on throwaway pop culture references for the film to amount to much on its own terms. Still, it’s a funny enough vehicle for its ensemble and an occasionally witty satire about the suburban mystique. More bawdy than brainy but often worth the journey for a handful of laughs.
“The To Do List” (2013) Doesn’t Deliver
Writer/director Maggie Carey’s ’90s-set The To Do List (C-) is radical only in its gender-bending-premise of a young female character being the one looking to lose her virginity come hell or high water. Alas a wooden central performance by Aubrey Plaza and a sloppy structure that just doesn’t deliver on enough laughs thwarts this limp episodic comedy. Despite its occasional charms, this carnal clap-trap is definitely not a keeper.
2013 “Much Ado About Nothing” Amusing
Despite being a wizard of witty wordplay, Director Joss Whedon belabors The Bard in his black and white limited release Much Ado About Nothing (B-). It’s artfully shot and decently acted by an ensemble of Joss’ journeyman actors, and the film is often frothy and fun. It’s a neat conceit that it’s filmed in and around Whedon’s own home, but alas it doesn’t match or improve on the 1993 version in any notable way. I was hoping the Buffy creator would bring on more blithe and bonny.
“This Is The End” is Raunchy, Funny
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s This Is The End (B) is a super-raunchy, self-aware, nihilistic comic adventure with zeitgeist to spare. Playing winking versions of themselves, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride and James Franco are among the most hilarious of a raucous ensemble as the apocalypse comes to the Hollywood Hills. Although it overstays its welcome, this is a blissful mash-up of The Goonies, Ghostbusters, Dogma and Entourage and has more offensive laughs per minute than any comedy in a long time.
“The Way Way Back” is Nostalgic Summer Comedy
Being a sucker for movies about lonely teens gaining new confidence, it’s no surprise that I adored Jim Rash and Nat Faxon’s The Way Way Back (A), a coming of age dramedy buoyed by a charming ensemble including Liam James as the troubled hero and Sam Rockwell as his unlikely role model. A beachside summer domicile and a classic water park become the East and West Egg of the action as the protagonist maneuvers life with his insecure mom (the always marvelous Toni Collette) and her slick suitor (a restrained Steve Carell) and his new set of secret friends. Allison Janey is also a delight as the sauced-up next door neighbor. Funny, moving and fun in all the right measures.
“Wreck-It Ralph” is Family Fun
Rich Moore’s Wreck-It Ralph (B+) is a highly creative and charming CGI fantasy about an 8-bit ’80s arcade game character who must become a hero of a different kind in today’s virtual age. Waves of nostalgia, knowing in-jokes and clever hazards help this sometimes overlong film please audiences of all ages.
“Magic Mike” Makes for Lightweight Drama
Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike (C) is the origin story of a Tampa-based stripper group (ahem, male entertainment) and is made notable by both the titular character played and danced by a charming Channing Tatum and by the veteran emcee and ringleader placed by a wily and entertaining Matthew McConaughey. Alex Pettyfer plays the film’s mangenue, and his and all the film’s subplots are threadbare indeed. As drama, it doesn’t have heft. As escapism, it’s not quite trifle or truffle. It all compares unfavorably to Boogie Nights, which plumbs the adult entertainment industry with much more vivid aplomb. The fun in Mike comes in some of the ribald choreography and music/dance sequences, but I expected Soderbergh to well, step it up. The magic goes poof pretty quickly.