Forgetting Sarah Marshall: Movie Review (2008)

Sarah Who?

Directed by Nicholas Stoller, written by Jason Segel, 105 minutes, rated R.

Nicholas Stoller’s new movie, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” is a romantic comedy about getting dumped. It’s also about the ramifications of finding out you were being cheated on before you got dumped. Oh, and it’s ultimately about trying to get your life back on track in spite of the crushing depression that follows.

Where are the laughs in that, you say? Since this is the latest film from producer Judd Apatow (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” “Superbad”) they’re in here. But since this also is a movie that takes its time in getting to those laughs--perhaps too much time, at least when compared to its predecessors--don’t expect them to come too quickly or to hit too hard.

The film follows all of the awkward, heartbreaking ugliness that occurs when Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), a famous television actress, decides to end her 5-year relationship with Peter Bretter (Jason Segel), the likable guy who composes the music for her show, just when Peter thought they were at their happiest.

It’s a situation that leaves Peter feeling at his most emotionally and physically naked--literally in one scene. When Sarah breaks up with him, she does so just as Peter is emerging from the shower. What drops when she delivers her bad news isn’t just his jaw, but also his towel. Standing there in all his shattered glory, his loose body quivering as he weeps openly and uncontrollably in the nude, it’s safe to say that at this point, nothing is looking up for Peter.

But it is for Segel, who wrote the screenplay and in the process, conceived one sweet role for himself. With Apatow and Stoller behind him, what he has created is a worthwhile entry into Apatow’s growing catalog of male comedic weepies.

Desperate to get away from Sarah (but not really), Peter naturally goes to the one place Sarah herself favored for a vacation retreat--Hawaii. Not surprisingly, she’s already at the same resort when he arrives. Worse for Peter is that she has traveled with her new English rock star boyfriend, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), who is so amiably self-absorbed, it’s impossible to dislike him.

Though the same can’t fully be said for Sarah, it’s to Stoller and Segel’s credit that they don’t demonize her. Sarah is a handful, sure, but when the movie allows us to view Peter through her eyes, it’s easy to see why she lost interest in him. After all, for the last year of their relationship, he had turned into such an unmotivated slacker, it’s clear that Peter first lost interest in himself.

Saving him from that fate is Mila Kunis’ Rachel, the beautiful hotel clerk Peter falls for during his stay in paradise, and who ignites in him a sense of meaning and creativity. Lifting him and the film higher are appearances by Jonah Hill of “Superbad,” Paul Rudd as a weed-smoking surfing dude, and Bill Hader as Peter’s bizarre stepbrother. While none of this is as riotous or as raunchy as “Virgin” or “Knocked Up,” the fact that “Sarah Marshall” is a kinder, gentler sex comedy is nevertheless what sets it apart.

Grade: B-

Penelope: Movie Review (2008)

A Babe in pig's clothing

Directed by Mark Palansky, written by Leslie Caveny, rated PG, 90 minutes.

Mark Palansky’s “Penelope” is the movie in which Christina Ricci is saddled with the face of a pig. More specifically, the wrinkled snout and little floppy ears of a pig.

But don’t cry for Penelope just yet.

While everything else about her face suggests something of a pig hybrid, Ricci’s Penelope appears just human enough to see how beautiful Penelope would look if her wealthy family hadn’t been cursed by a witch so long ago. The good news? That curse can be lifted, though it’s going to be a struggle.

Written by Leslie Caveny, this uneven yet affable fairy tale does a few key things right, starting with getting Ricci back onto the screen in a starring role.

Audiences will see a lot more of her in the upcoming “Speed Racer” movie, which already has the fan boys buzzing and which might restart her career in a big way. But right now, in this much smaller movie, it’s swell to be reminded of how special Ricci is and how necessary it is to have her working. As any fan of “The Opposite of Sex,” “The Ice Storm,” “Pecker,” “Anything Else” and “Monster” knows, there are few others who can tap into the quirky absurd like Christina Ricci.

She’s also one of the very few people who could have played this role well, which is more difficult to pull off than it appears. To succeed, Ricci had to put on a snout every morning, face her part-pig face, and play the part straight, even while so many around her were setting the screen afire with camp.

Chief among those culprits is Catherine O’Hara as Penelope’s well-coiffed, well-meaning yet damaging mother Jessica, who is so personally humiliated by Penelope’s physical appearance, she unwittingly has harmed her daughter’s self-esteem by pushing so hard for her to break the curse. To do so, it’s imperative that Penelope meet a suitor of similar class who is willing to marry her. Trouble is, that’s proving difficult to do, especially since every man who lays eyes on her ends up throwing himself out a window.

Not so for James McAvoy’s Max, a shady gambler who initially is hired by tabloid journalist Lemon (Peter Dinklage) to trick Penelope into having a photo snapped of her face, but who nevertheless comes to feel something for her that is real and meaningful.

Too bad he blows it--and when he does, wounded Penelope decides she’s had enough. Wrapping a scarf around her face, she sets out for the first time into the outside world (in this case, London), where she comes upon a whole host of characters, including sketchy Annie, who is played with brassy slyness by one of the film’s producers, Reese Witherspoon.

Not all goes well in “Penelope.” The uneven use of accents is distracting (at the very least, shouldn’t the English-born Penelope and her mother have English accents and not American accents?), McAvoy is a greasy disconnect and the plot is a predictable, straight shot to the end.

But plenty does go well here. As you’d expect, O’Hara is a hammy, chaos-creating treat, Witherspoon is likable in a small role, and then there’s Ricci, on whom so much of the movie rests. If it didn’t sound condescending, it would be nice to say to her, “That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.” But you get the point.

In this movie, she reminds us why she matters, and why it would be nice to have more of her, please.

Grade: B-

Leatherheads: Movie Review (2008)

Knuckle heads

Directed by George Clooney, written by Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly, 113 minutes, rated PG-13.

In the wake of “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” and now the new George Clooney movie “Leatherheads,” there's the sense that history might be repeating itself. Both films are revisionist screwball comedies that work hard to capture the look and feel of another time while also reflecting elements of our own time.

Given the current mood of the country and how it has been dampened by the state of the economy and the war abroad, Hollywood appears to be on the verge of returning to a period when movies offered such zippy, Depression-era entertainments as “Twentieth Century,” “It Happened One Night,” “Bringing Up Baby” and “His Girl Friday.”

In theory, this isn't a bad idea, but Hollywood still might want to rethink it. What “Pettigrew” and “Leatherheads” underscore is the challenge of taking yesterday's period comedies and updating them for today's audiences. In each case, sometimes the movie works (usually when the farce is muted), and other times, it just feels forced (usually when the farce is amplified).

From a script by Sports Illustrated reporters Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly, “Leatherheads” is set in 1925, around the time when professional football was starting to take hold. This is Clooney's third film as a director, and what it suggests is that he's a good student--in this case, one who apparently took notes while shooting 2000's “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” with the Coen Brothers.

Like that movie, “Leatherheads” has a similar off-beat charm and it's shot with the same rich honey tones. The one notable flash of color is its female lead, the very blonde and red-lipsticked Renee Zellweger, whose Lexie Littleton, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, is charged to seek out the truth about Carter “The Bullet” Rutherford (John Krasinski), Princeton's star football player who may or may not be the former war hero he claims to be.

It's while Lexie is researching Rutherford's past that she connects with Clooney's Jimmy “Dodge” Connelly, who is the captain of the Duluth Bulldogs, a scrappy football team comprised mostly of blue-collar men happy to be earning a modest living while playing the sport they love.

Intent on lifting their exposure to the collegiate level, where upwards of 40,000 fans gather for each game, Dodge meets with Rutherford and his sleazy agent, C.C. Frazier (Jonathan Pryce), in an effort to convince Rutherford to join their team. For a steep price, Rutherford agrees to does so--and ticket sales soar. Meanwhile, a romantic triangle develops between Lexie, Rutherford and Dodge that can only end in the two men coming to fisticuffs while Lexie must face the ramifications of getting her story.

The film's premise is familiar but promising, so much so that you wish Howard Hawks had been alive to navigate those scenes in which the movie lurches unsuccessfully into slapstick. With all the mugging taking place, Clooney himself nearly gets mugged--he's a director more suited for drama (“Michael Clayton,” “Good Night, and Good Luck”) than he is for comedy. That said, the film's cast is strong, the script is likable and Clooney does have chemistry with Zellweger, who once again shines in a period piece. Along with Krasinski and Pryce, she proves invaluable in helping Clooney turn “Leatherheads” into a reasonably good time at the movies.

Grade: B-

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day: Movie Review (Text and Video)

It's a miracle she made it through it

Directed by Bharat Nalluri, written by David Magee and Simon Beaufoy, 92 minutes, rated PG-13.

The first third of “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” is so irrepressible, there’s no keeping the damn thing down. The direction, staging and acting are so high strung, there’s every indication that its main character, a failed governess named Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand), might be found dead from exhaustion by the end of the it--right along with the rest of the characters.

Pressed to capture the tone of screwball farce, everyone involved goes out of their way to do so, straining the movie’s seams in ways that can be off-putting in the face of such excess.

And then there’s a shift.

Working from a screenplay David Magee and Simon Beaufoy based on Winifred Watson’s 1938 novel, director Bharat Nalluri eventually allows his romantic comedy to settle into itself. The over-the-top energy he favors at the start is dropped several notches, where it achieves a less stagy feel. Characters come into their own. The film never shakes the formula it courts, but it still becomes more enjoyable as it unfolds.

Set on the eve of war in 1939 London, the film follows Pettigrew, a disheveled, out-of-work mess whose luck appears to have run dry until the day she meets Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), an American singer and wannabe actress who is busy juggling the affections of three men in an attempt to climb to the top.

First up is Phil (Tom Payne), a wealthy young producer whose father owns the theater at which Delysia is trying to land her first major acting gig. Second is rich Nick (Mark Strong), who lends Delysia his swank apartment while he’s away on business and who owns the cabaret at which Delysia performs with her boyfriend, Michael (Lee Pace), a struggling pianist whose love for Delysia in genuine. Trouble is, Delysia is such a cheerful little climber, she doesn’t believe that love is what she needs at this point in her life. Certainly, it isn’t as important as the critical and financial success she craves.

Enter Miss Pettigrew, a moral force who knew love once and lost it. She’s so desperate for a job, she wedges herself into Delysia’s life as her social secretary and then becomes her unwitting guide to what matters in life. Over the course of one day, the two change each other profoundly, with Pettigrew gently guiding Delysia toward the one man who should matter most in her life, while Delysia ushers Pettigrew into another world--one in which high fashion matters and dramatic makeovers can take place.

It certainly does for Pettigrew, who is scrubbed from head to toe and catches the eye of lingerie designer Joe (Ciaran Hinds), whose relationship with snarky Edythe (Shirley Henderson) is on the rocks. Since Edythe isn’t about to lose Joe, and particularly because she knows a few secrets about Pettigrew, complications thicken for all as the movie mounts a climax that’s at once airy and serious.

The air belongs to Adams, whose Delysia bounces through the movie until the ramifications of her selfish behavior stop her cold. Adams is very good here, somehow making Delysia likable in spite of her willingness to repeatedly hurt Michael.

As for McDormand, it’s through her nuanced performance that Nalluri strikes his best observations about the meaning of love and friendship in middle-age. In the frenetic early scenes, when she’s asked to be a vehicle for comedic farce, she gives it her best shot and is as good as she can be given the weaker material. But it’s at the movie’s end, when she’s called upon to act and touch you with the truth, that she is at her best, stepping outside the film’s limitations and creating a better movie in the process.

Grade: B-

Kate & Leopold: Movie, DVD Review (2001)

Oh, those helpful time portals

Directed by James Mangold, written by Mangold and Steven Rogers, 114 minutes, rated PG-13.

(Originally published 2001)

James Mangold’s romantic comedy "Kate & Leopold” stars Meg Ryan as Kate McKay, a quirky ad exec with an impish smile and a ditzy demeanor who could cute her way out of a mugging.

Ryan is cynical here and less high strung than she’s been in previous films, but whether that’s because she’s bored with being adorable or because her character makes a living hawking low-fat butter substitute to weight-conscious women, is up for debate.

The film opens with Kate’s ex-boyfriend Stuart (Liev Schreiber) taking photos at a swanky party being thrown to celebrate the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge. Not a re-opening of the bridge, mind you, but the actual opening. Apparently, Stuart’s found a time portal hovering atop the bridge, took a leap of faith and zipped back to 1876.

Now recording his 19th-century visit with a digital camera, Stuart is having a great old time in newer New York until Leopold, the dashing Duke of Albany (Hugh Jackman), spots him at the party, chases him into the streets--and conveniently slips back to the 21st century with him.

Since the film is called "Kate & Leopold," it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it’s only a matter of time before Leo meets Kate and shows her what’s missing in her life: good breeding, good manners and apparently a broad chest.

Undermining the film’s engaging lightness and superior production values are lapses in logic and a mangling of history. In one scene, Leopold humiliates Kate’s boss by setting him straight on Puccini’s "La Boheme," which didn’t appear until 1896. In another scene, he inexplicably knows the words to "The Pirates of Penzance," which was written in 1879. Later, he mentions Jack the Ripper, who left his marks in 1888.

Lucky for Mangold that he has Jackman, who carries the picture, and a fun supporting turn from Breckin Meyer as Kate’s equally quirky brother. Otherwise, without them, “Kate & Leopold” wouldn’t have had a spittoon to spit in.

Grade: C+

The Girl Next Door: Movie, DVD Review

Letting the boy next door dream

Directed by Luke Greenfield, written by Stuart Blumberg, David Wagner and Brent Goldberg, 97 minutes, rated R.

(Originally published 2004)

Once upon a time in Hollywood, the girl next door was a beacon of domestic purity. Sure, she was sexually chaste and not nearly as hot as the trampy bad girl down the street. But she wore her values like a badge and she had a fresh, virginal charm that was as crisp as her pleated skirts. She may have had competition, but in the end, she always got her man.
Now, in these looser, post-feminist times, it’s safe to say that the girl next door isn’t exactly who she used to be.

In the new comedy, “The Girl Next Door,” she’s become Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert), a good-natured porn queen eager to quit the biz. For the women’s movement—or for what’s left of the women’s movement—I’m not sure this would be considered progress, but that’s up for debate.

Danielle’s ticket out of the satin sack rests in high school senior Matt (Emile Hirsch), a bright yet unpopular kid who must go through his share of growing pains before he can come to terms with his own unusual fate: The first love of his life happens to be an adult cinema superstar who’s no stranger to, oh, say, several dozen strangers. And how do you explain that to mother?

As directed by Luke Greenfield from a script by Stuart Blumberg, David Wagner and Brent Goldberg, “The Girl Next Door” is a coming-of-age movie that borrows liberally from one of the most influential films of the genre—“Risky Business.”

While that movie looks comparatively tame in the 21 years that have passed since its release, “Girl” is rated R for good reason. It does indeed plunge into the porn business— with all that implies—and as such, it isn’t exactly suited for teens, in spite of the fact that it’s being marketed to them.

The cast is better than the plot, which involves Matt falling hard for Danielle and then, with the help of his two friends, Eli (Chris Marquette) and Klitz (Paul Dano), getting involved with her pimp (Timothy Olyphant) as he tries to lure Danielle back into the business. What follows is a predictable, straight shot to the end, with Greenfield somehow managing to strike a tone that’s almost sweet before he turns the whole thing sour with a handful of final, implausible twists.

No matter. “The Girl Next Door” is a well-acted, adolescent fantasy for bookish boys who, like their jock counterparts, also must contend with their hormones. This is their outlet and it’s reasonably satisfying. Let the boy next door dream.

Grade: C+

Laws of Attraction: Movie, DVD Review

A misdemeanor

Directed by Peter Howitt, written by Aline Brosh McKenna and Robert Harling, 90 minutes, rated PG-13.

(Originally published 2004)

Sometimes in the movies, the laws of attraction can only lead to a misdemeanor.

You know it when you see it. Either not enough attention was paid to the script, the situations are rife with implausibilities, or there’s no chemistry between the primary love interests.

All of that’s true in “The Laws of Attraction,” a thin romantic comedy from director Peter Howitt (“Sliding Doors,” “Johnny English”) whose likable co-stars are so poorly mismatched, they can’t save the picture from being a disappointing piece of middling mediocrity.

As written by Aline Brosh McKenna and Robert Harling, the film stars Julianne Moore and Pierce Brosnan as Audrey Woods and Daniel Rafferty, two good-looking, high-powered divorce attorneys who have never lost a case, have nothing but initial malice toward each other, yet who naturally enter into a relationship because the movie requires them to.

The film wants to recall George Cukor’s “Adam’s Rib,” the superior, 1949 classic starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy as married attorneys fighting opposing sides of a murder case. Genuine sparks flew between those two real-life lovers, but in “Attraction,” which swirls around a star-studded divorce trial, Moore and Brosnan bring the sort of heat you’d expect from two flirting first cousins fresh out of a southern backwater.

The film is something of a throwback, lamely trying for the same sort of rapid-fire dialogue that ignited the works of Cukor and Billy Wilder, but which doesn’t work here. The writing is too wordy, the wit is too strained, and the resulting movie comes off like an awkward museum piece.

But not a total failure. “The Laws of Attraction” is peculiar in that works best if you view it along its periphery--its supporting cast is so strong, in fact, that they generate what interest the movie has.

Frances Fisher, in particular, is especially strong and funny in her scene-stealing turn as Audrey’s mother, Sara—a hip, 57-year-old woman still keeping it real with the help of a little Botox, an unruly workout routine, and frequent fat injections in her lips. She’s loose and appealing, but never comes off as caricature. Better yet, she looks as if she came to have fun, which is key, helping her to get the biggest laughs in the movie.

Also giving the film a boost are Parker Posey as dazed, combative fashionista Serena and her punk rock husband, Thorne (Michael Sheen), who wears more eyeliner than a ‘30s movie starlet. Together, they’re sleazy, unbridled animals, trying their best to tear up a movie that would have been completely neutered without them in it.

Grade: C-

Jersey Girl: Movie, DVD Review

An average tale about meeting an exceptional girl

Written and directed by Kevin Smith, 102 minutes, rated PG-13.

(Originally published 2004)

Prior to the release of the new Kevin Smith movie, “Jersey Girl,” the warning signs were hung and lit for the movie to be a bust.

Unlike Smith’s previous films—“Clerks,” “Chasing Amy” and “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” among them—“Jersey Girl” had the stink of a corporate sell-out.

That’s nothing new for Hollywood, where the cash registers still ring as souls are casually traded for fame, but it is something new for Smith, who has always stuck to his vulgar little niche, regardless of whether the masses love his work or not.

And so, over the past several weeks, it has been interesting to watch the director defend his latest picture not for the over-the-top profanity for which he’s known, but for the gentle tone, warm-hearted schmaltz, and sweet family values he suddenly has embraced.

Strange times. But for Smith, it becomes even more complicated. “Jersey Girl” is the first film to feature Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez since their tacky romance went so spectacularly, publicly wrong and their movie, “Gigli,” quickly followed suit.

For 12 high-strung minutes, Ben and Jen share the screen in “Jersey Girl,” but here’s the thing—this time out, they’re actually rather good together. They have chemistry, humor and energy, which Smith pulls from them in performances that are more heated and real than anything the couple gave us in the many canned interviews that proceeded their romantic demise.

More surprising is that “Jersey Girl” isn’t half bad. Yes, it’s story is a predictable tumble of cliches, but Smith counters with dialogue that’s often sharp and spontaneous, offering enough funny moments to make his movie moderately interesting. As such, it isn’t a total misfire.

In it, Affleck is Ollie Trinke, a single dad, widower and successful New York publicist who is blackballed by the industry after creating a publicity gaff. Fade to black, with Ollie out of work.

Seven years later, the story picks up in New Jersey, where Ollie and his 7-year-old daughter, Gertie (Raquel Castro), are now living with Ollie’s father, Bert (George Carlin). There, where Ollie now toils at a less glamorous job, he’s still trying to pull his life together when he meets Maya (Liv Tyler), a cute video store clerk with an understanding smile and helpful advice on life who might just be the person to get Ollie over his dead wife.

Do we all know how this movie ends? Sure we do. Do we wish it were better? Absolutely. Still, the film is more suited to Affleck’s limited talents than one of his lame action blockbusters and Tyler, always a treat, is a fresh presence onscreen.

This is Smith’s safest movie to date, but it’s also his most adult, a clear attempt to move beyond the comic book fantasy world in which he’s lived for so long and try something new. He isn’t entirely successful, but he also doesn’t entirely fail. His movie is average. These days at the movies, that proves better than most.

Grade: C+

Raising Helen: Movie, DVD Review

Vanquishing life's problems with sitcom ease

Directed by Garry Marshall, written by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, 119 minutes, rated PG-13.

(Originally published 2004)

Garry Marshall’s “Raising Helen” stars Kate Hudson as Helen Harris, a savvy, New York fashionista relentlessly on the corporate climb and forever on the go.

She’s a free swinging single, an executive assistant at a Manhattan-based modeling agency pushing to become a full-fledged agent, which she proves she has the moxie to do. With ease, Helen juggles supermodels, photo shoots, egos and runways as well as calls from Paris and Milan. She knows the right people, she has enough charm to be disarming, and most importantly, she has the support of Dominque (Helen Mirren), her icy boss with the chunky jewelry and severe hair who is so thin, she makes Vogue’s Anna Wintour look downright Rubenesque in comparison.

Helen has the instincts of a corporate success, not a successful mother. Still, when her sister and brother-in-law are killed in a car wreck, it’s she—not her supermom sister, Jennie (Joan Cusack)—who is chosen to be the guardian of her sister’s three children (Hayden Panettiere, Spencer Breslin, Abigail Breslin). What’s the logic behind that, you might ask? Well, for starters, there wouldn’t be a movie without the plot twist.

As written by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, “Raising Helen” follows Helen and the three kids from the bright lights of Manhattan to the cheaper flats of Queens, where they’re all given a dose of the “real world” when Helen loses her job thanks to Dominique’s belief that “children and fashion don’t mix.”

What’s a girl to do? Naturally, hook up with a strapping Lutheran minister played by John Corbett (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”), who notes after Helen’s initial rejection of him that “I’m a sexy man of God, and I know it.” Miraculously, thunder doesn’t clap.

Also miraculous is that “Raising Helen” isn’t as bad as it sounds. Some real parents will marvel that in Helen’s world, all familial troubles--great and small--are vanquished with sitcom ease. Still, the kids are cute, some of the throwaway lines pack a surprising wit, and it never sinks to the lows achieved in Hudson’s more recent films, “Alex & Emma” and the woeful “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.”

Grade: C+

Dan in Real Life: DVD, Blu-ray disc review (2008)

"Dan in Real Life" DVD, Blu-ray

Real life? Nah--but the emotions are real, and that's one reason the movie succeeds.

Steve Carell is Dan Burns, a newspaper columnist on the cusp of syndication who is adrift in the wake of his wife's death.

Complicating his life are his three daughters, all a handful of teens and tweens growing up faster than Dan would like, and also Marie (Juliette Binoche), the woman Dan falls in love with after they meet by chance at a bookstore. Trouble is, as Dan soon finds out, Marie is the new girlfriend of his philandering brother, Mitch (Dane Cook), who claims he never has found anyone as right for him as Marie.

And there you have it. Since Dan is the kind of guy who can't help wearing his feelings on his face even though he wants his brother to be happy, the plot complications are revealed and, well, you can see where this is going, can't you?

The film takes this situation and these characters, and places them in the hell of a large family retreat in Rhode Island. There, Dan's mother (Dianne Wiest), father (John Mahoney), siblings and their families converge for the sort of choreographed, chaotic time families tend to enjoy in the movies.

And yet "Dan in Real Life" rises above expectations. A good reason for that is the chemistry Carell shares with Binoche, which is the movie at its best. Though their pairing seems unlikely on paper, what matters is how well they make it work onscreen.

Each comes to their roles with the sense that in middle-age, life has taken away plenty from them, but might be ready to offer plenty back. It's how they get there--or, better put, whether they dare to get there--that makes for a satisfying movie that resonates through its otherwise formulaic script.

Rated PG-13. Grade: B

Read the unedited review here.

View the trailer below:

The Spiderwick Chronicles, Jumper and Definitely, Maybe: Movie Reviews (2008)

After weeks of reviewing as many Academy Award-nominated films as possible before the Academy Awards hit last Sunday, this site has sorely lacked reviewing newer, more popular fare now in theaters.

So, here’s some atonement — a rundown of three films available everywhere.



First up is Mark Waters’ "The Spiderwick Chronicles," which is based on Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black’s popular series of books. Karey Kirkpatrick, David Berenbaum and John Sayles are credited with the screenplay, but it’s likely that they don’t mention it. In spite of the talent on display here, the result is an uneven effort, to say the least.

Freddie Highmore plays two characters, twins Jared and Simon, with Jared’s bold combativeness in stark contrast to Simon’s more, shall we say, delicate demeanor. Sarah Bolger is their older sister Mallory, who conveniently knows her way around a sword, and Mary-Louise Parker is their recently divorced mother, who has left New York and moved them all into one mother of a haunted house far away in the country.

to get its hands on that book for reasons best notNaturally, that house is bulging with mysteries and problems, most of which are unleashed when Jared finds an ancient-looking book written by Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn) and opens it in spite of warnings not to do so. When he does, a wealth of computer-generated freaks and monsters spring forth, with one towering, fearless ogre (Nick Nolte) especially determined revealed here.

"Spiderwick" is another in a long line of children’s books translated for the big screen, and that’s part of its problem. If you’re going to compete in an arena already owned by the "Harry Potter" and "Narnia" franchises, you’d better enter that fray determined to show you can compete favorably with them. And that’s where "Spiderwick" runs into trouble. While it earns points for being genuinely scary and having good special effects, the film isn’t nearly as compelling as its competition, the tale bogs down in its hectic switch from fantasy to reality, and there’s the sense that it might only be here to cash in.



Next up is Doug Liman’s sci-fi thriller "Jumper," a complicated mess that doesn’t offer audiences a single challenge beyond the very real challenge of getting through it.

In the film, Hayden Christensen is David Rice, a jumper whose powers of teleportation are under attack by a Paladin named Roland (Samuel L. Jackson, bleached, bellowing, boring), who is trying to kill David and other jumpers as they leap about the world while David also tries to rescue his girlfriend back in Ann Arbor, Mich.

If Ann Arbor sounds like a comedown considering all the exotic locales the movie visits — from Egypt to Prague, Japan to New York and beyond — it is, for sure, but at least it’s keeping with the movie’s ongoing run of disappointments.

With the exception of Jamie Bell as a fellow jumper (he has the sort of presence Christensen must envy), everything in this exhausting movie goes wrong, which is curious since Liman directed the excellent first "Bourne" movie. And yet here, he puts the squeeze of stupidity on us right from the start. Unless you’re willing to wade through the film’s embarrassing plot holes or are seeking one of the season’s bigger unintended comedies, skip "Jumper." It’s an abstract junker — and in an adolescent way.



But don’t miss Adam Brooks’ "Definitely, Maybe," which is one of the better romantic comedies to come along in awhile. It’s a film that at once embraces formula and, in critical scenes, dismisses it all together. It’s Brooks’ eagerness to try different approaches to the otherwise rote material that gives his movie its offbeat edge and which keeps it rooted in some semblance of reality.

Early in the film, Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds in a fine performance) is asked a few difficult questions by his inquisitive 10-year-old daughter, Maya (Abigail Breslin). Some of those questions involve sex, which she’s learning about at school, and another involves the reason Will is divorcing Maya’s mother.

That question proves to be the land mine.

Since we don’t know who the mother is, what ensues is a trip back in time to 1992 to find out. There, we see a younger Will leaving his girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks) to work on the Clinton campaign and apparently, when their relationship fizzles in New York, to enjoy his share of women. Those women include an office worker played by Isla Fisher and a journalist played by Rachel Weisz, two fine actresses who join Banks in playing their roles very differently and very well.

It is, in fact, a virtue of the film that none of the women come off as types. Like Will himself, sometimes we like them, sometimes we don’t, which makes for a richer experience all around. Manipulation is at work in this movie — hello, Breslin! — but it doesn’t suffocate you because Brooks increasingly finds ways to deepen his characters, including one played by Kevin Kline, who is so on and so in line with what Brooks is trying to achieve here, he nearly steals the show.

Grades: "Spiderwick": C+; "Jumper": D; "Definitely": B+

View the video review here.

Video Review: The Spiderwick Chronicles, Jumper and Definitely, Maybe

After weeks of reviewing as many Academy Award-nominated films as possible before the Academy Awards hit, this site has sorely lacked reviewing newer, more popular fare now in theaters.

So, here's some atonement--a video-review rundown of three films available everywhere: The Spiderwick Chronicles, Jumper and Definitely, Maybe.

Notting Hill/Erin Brockovich Double Feature DVD Review (2008)

"Notting Hill/Erin Brockovich" DVD

A double feature from Universal with Julia Roberts as its hook.

In "Notting Hill," Roberts is Anna Scott, an unhappy, unloved, long-suffering movie star who itches to get away from the media and find happiness with a regular guy.

Hugh Grant is that regular guy, a dapper bookstore owner named William who unwittingly falls for Anna when she happens into his store.

As Anna and William grapple with the hurdle of Anna’s celebrity, the script gives each surprising depth, with Roberts and Grant enjoying jolts of chemistry that lift the production.

Heavier fair awaits Roberts in "Erin Brockovich."

Based on a true story, the movie is about one woman’s crusade to find herself and her place in this world while fighting a $28 billion conglomerate knowingly dumping deadly carcinogens into the ground water of Hinkley, Calif. Roberts is Brockovich, a smart, uneducated, pretty tough woman who takes on corporate America in a padded bra and six-inch stiletto heels.

Perfect casting? You bet.

But to director Steven Soderbergh’s credit, his film only treats Erin as the world treats beautiful women--as sex objects whose respect must be earned.

For her trouble, Roberts earned a $20 million paycheck and the Academy Award.

"Hill": B+. "Brockovich": B+

View the trailer for "Notting Hill" below:

Fool's Gold: Movie Review (2008)

Two fools, pimping their abs

Directed by Andy Tennant, written by Tennant, John Claflin and Daniel Zelman, 112 minutes, rated PG-13.

The best thing that can be said for the new Andy Tennant movie, "Fool's Gold," is that it lives up to its title. In fact, it surpasses it.

This dumb, vapid comedy, which clocks in at nearly two hours, feels as if it was directed, written and performed by a ship of fools--and, my, how that ship gurgles and burps when it sinks.

From Tennant, John Claflin and Daniel Zelman's script, "Fool's Gold" did have a few people at my screening giggling, but it's important to note that those giggles distinctly came from its target audience of female tweens and they only tittered when Matthew McConaughey--buff, golden, ripped beyond reason--took to the screen with his shirt off, which pretty much is for most of the movie.

What a fall from grace this actor has had. After a promising early career that included such films as "A Time to Kill," "Amistad," "Contact" and "Thirteen Conversations About One Thing," it's now not out of the question to believe that his next project will be a reality show called "Pimp My Abs." Apparently, baring his bod is what his career has become about, which will be enough for some, but which nevertheless is unfortunate considering he does have talent.

The same goes for his co-star Kate Hudson, who in eight years has yet to reclaim the promise she showcased as Penny Lane in "Almost Famous." Hudson's charm always has been the backbone of her success--it's the reason she's kept her career going this long--but for anyone who fell in love with her as Penny knows, she also can act, which is a vocation to which she seriously needs to return.

Anyway, about the movie. After teaming once before in 2003's "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," McConaughey and Hudson are back to prove they have zero chemistry as Finn and Tess, a married couple who are about to divorce as the film begins.

They still love each other, sure, and their sex life is hotter than crab cakes, but after years of trying to find a hidden treasure off a Bahamian reef, Tess has had it with Finn and is determined to go to graduate school in Chicago. Since he won't go with her, it's bye-bye to Finn, which says it all for the kind of people we're dealing with here.

But not so fast. Turns out Finn might be on the cusp of finding the sunken, 16th-century Spanish loot they've been seeking for so long. Will Tess help him find it?
Is that even a question?

Along with her employer, the billionaire Nigel Honeycutt (Donald Sutherland, pitiful), as well as the billionaire's air-head daughter, Gemma (Alexis Dziena), two token gay men, a boat captain (Ray Winstone) and an irritating dork (Ewen Bremner), Tess joins the fray to take on a gun-toting villain named Bigg Bunny (Kevin Hart)--yes, Bigg Bunny--who wants the treasure for himself.

Does Bigg Bunny haul in the big carats? Do Tess and Finn fall back into each other's arms? Is it even necessary to go on? I didn't think so.

Grade: D-

The Jane Austen Book Club: DVD, Blu-ray Movie Review (2008)

"The Jane Austen Book Club" DVD, Blu-ray

Based on Karen Joy Fowler’s 2004 best-seller, this likable if formulaic movie follows five women (Maria Bello, Emily Blunt, Maggie Grace, Kathy Baker and Amy Brenneman) and one sci-fi-loving guy (Hugh Dancy) who come together to read six Austen books.

The idea is that within those books are guides to leading one’s life, with the characters naturally coming to find themselves in Austen’s books.

So, once again, the enduring Austen proves she’s fit for contemporary consumption. As one character in the movie notes, "You can’t read these novels without wondering whether she has a little thing for the naughty boys."

Good point.

Another character claims that "reading Jane is a freakin’minefield."Well, maybe after a bottle of wine and a heated conversation with friends, which is what this movie is all about.

Rated PG-13. Grade: B

Watch the trailer below:

The Nanny Diaries DVD Movie Review (2007)

"The Nanny Diaries"

Sorry, but who encouraged her to write?

Scarlett Johansson is Annie, a recent college grad who longs to leave behind her tepid life in New Jersey with her mother (Donna Murphy) for the bright lights and excitement of Manhattan.

Her mother sees Annie's career flourishing in the business world, but Annie, who prefers anthropology to accounting, isn't so sure about that or anything in her life, least of all herself.

So, when fate intervenes when a polished, Upper East Side mother named Mrs. X (Laura Linney) offers to hire Annie to be her child’s nanny, Annie decides to take her up on her offer.

Trouble is, Mrs. X turns out to be such a bitter control freak, she makes Annie's life a living hell. For romantic relief, the movie coughs up the Harvard Hottie (Chris Evans), who takes to Annie regardless of how rude she is to him.

For hard-core street advice about life, Alicia Keys shows up in a surprise role as Annie's best friend. She turns out to be the most authentic part of a movie that should have been made for television, preferably with actors whose talents were better suited for the material.

Here's a dream list--Kelly Rippa as Annie, Kathie Lee Gifford as Mrs. X, Kevin James as her husband and Verne Troyer (yes, Mini Me) as their little boy. Just imagine the Emmys.

Rated PG-13. Grade: D+

Read the full review here.

Waitress: DVD Review (2007)

“Waitress”

Home cookin' served with a side of bitters.

Keri Russell is Jenna, a gifted pie maker and waitress in a small Southern town whose pies match her moods.

Since she is stuck in a bad marriage with Earl (Jeremy Sisto) and recently learned that she's pregnant with his child, Jenna, who names her pies, makes such classics as "I Hate My Husband Pie," "Baby Screaming Its Head Off in the Middle of the Night and Ruining My Life Pie," "Pregnant Miserable Self-Pitying Loser Pie" and "Earl Murders Me Because I'm Having an Affair Pie," which runs blood-red with the syrup of mashed raspberries.

About that last pie. Upon going to her gynecologist to address the unwanted situation of her "damn baby," as she calls it, Jenna finds that her doctor is phasing into retirement and that a new doctor, the studly Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion, "Serenity"), has taken over the practice.

The relationship that steams between them is heated with reckless, comic abandon, with Jenna's co-workers, Dawn (the film's murdered writer-director Adrienne Shelly) and Becky (Cheryl Hines), offering raised eyebrows and halting advice as they freely tamper with their own lives.

Russell is very good here, easily winning audiences over in a tricky role that could have been abrasive if the actress didn't find unexpected ways to make her character so appealing. Her relationship with Andy Griffith's grumbling Old Joe, who owns the diner where Jenna works, is shaded with nuance.

Watching this fine romantic comedy, it's clear that writer-director-co-star Shelly's fortunes in Hollywood would have changed after the movie, which underscores just how ridiculously tragic her death really is.

Rated PG-13. Grade: A-

For a full review, click here.

Dan in Real Life: Movie Review (2007)

Real life? Nah--but the emotions are real.

Directed by Peter Hedges, written by Pierce Gardner and Hedges, 95 minutes, rated PG-13.

(Originally published 2007)

When it comes to the new romantic comedy "Dan in Real Life," it's probably best to ignore the "real life" part of the title. Just overlook it. Since real life doesn't fit into the equation here, nobody should go to the film seeking it. The movie is too tidy for real life. It dusts life's corners clean in ways that real life simply wouldn't.

What does come through--and the reason the movie succeeds--is that it does a fine job understanding the human emotions and dilemmas of its central characters.

Chief among those characters are Dan Burns (Steve Carell), a newspaper columnist on the cusp of syndication who is adrift in the wake of his wife's death; Dan's three daughters (Alison Pill, Brittany Robertson, Marlene Lawston), a handful of teens and tweens growing up faster than Dan would like; and Marie (Juliette Binoche), the woman Dan falls in love with after they meet by chance at a bookstore.

She's perfect for him--bright, radiant, sexy, disarming. Trouble is, as Dan soon finds out, Marie happens to be the new girlfriend of his philandering brother, Mitch (Dane Cook), who claims he never has found anyone as right for him as Marie.

And there you have it. Since Dan is the kind of guy who can't help wearing his feelings on his face even though he wants his brother to be happy, the plot complications are revealed and, well, you can see where this is going, can't you?

The film, which director Peter Hedges based on a screenplay he co-wrote with Pierce Gardner, takes this situation and these characters, and places them in the hell of a large family retreat in Rhode Island. There, on the shores of the Atlantic, Dan's mother (Dianne Wiest), father (John Mahoney), siblings and their families converge for the sort of choreographed, chaotic time families tend to enjoy in the movies.

In this way, the film recalls Hedges’ last movie, “Pieces of April,” which was set during Thanksgiving, a time when Hollywood’s most dysfunctional families come together to carve the turkey and, you expect, each other’s throats. That film was slight and quirky, filled with just enough familial woes to make it interesting even though it occasionally fell short of expectations.

More often than not, "Dan in Real Life" rises above them. A good reason for that is Carell, star of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and NBC's "The Office," whose performance bears to mind his turn in "Little Miss Sunshine," in which he was the glummest member of the group. That's also true here, with Carell once again proving he's equally good as a comedian and as a dramatist.

The chemistry he shares with Binoche is the movie at its best. Though their pairing seems unlikely on paper, what matters is how they make it work onscreen. Each comes to their roles with the sense that in middle-age, life has taken away plenty from them, but might be ready to offer a whole lot back. It's how they get there--or, better put, whether they dare to take the risks to get there--that makes the movie satisfying and allows it to resonate through an otherwise formulaic script.

Grade: B

License to Wed: DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray Movie Review (2007)

“License to Wed”

License revoked.

This junk romantic comedy has such disdain for its audience, it’s impossible to let it pass without taking it to task.

Mandy Moore and John Krasinski are Sadie and Ben, two grinning lovebirds who meet at Starbucks, fall for each other over the coffee beans, and then agree to marry when Ben pops the question.

Enter the Rev. Frank (Robin Williams), a creep of the first order who agrees to officiate their marriage, though not without a hitch. First, they must take Rev. Frank's pre-marriage counseling course, which is meant to mirror the presumed hell that is married life.

Frank’s thinking is this: If Ben and Sadie can survive his bizarre boot camp, they should be able to survive marriage. As such, he immediately puts the kibosh on sex, going so far as to bug their apartment to make certain there is no canoodling. Later, he saddles them with fake infants who cry so incessantly, they alone could put Angelina Jolie off children forever.

The film’s cynicism isn’t just an irritant, it’s the monster in the room. Presumably, Frank’s meddling is meant to make Ben and Sadie a stronger couple, but really, it’s only there to tear them apart so the film can enjoying its cloying reconciliation.

Rated PG-13. Grade: BOMB

Return to Me: Movie Review, DVD Review (2000)

Wearing its heart in its script

Directed by Bonnie Hunt, written by Hunt and Don Lake, 115 minutes, rated PG.

(Originally published 2000)

Let’s get the premise right out of the way.

In Bonnie Hunt’s “Return to Me,” a near-dead woman with a failing heart receives the healthy heart of her future boyfriend’s newly dead wife. That’s one big load of cinematic cheese, but the good news here is that it doesn’t clog the film.

The film, which recalls the best romantic comedies of the 1950s, easily could have starred Doris Day and Rock Hudson; it’s exactly the sort of fare that once turned actors into matinee idols. You know none of what unfolds could ever happen, but with a cast as strong and as likable as this, the premise works in spite of itself.

The film stars David Duchovny as Bob, a Chicago architect who is devastated when he loses his wife, Elizabeth (Joely Richardson), in a car wreck. A year passes before he meets Grace (Minnie Driver), the very woman who received Elizabeth’s heart in a speedy transplant.

Of course neither Bob nor Grace know that little tidbit when they meet, but the audience certainly does; within 10 minutes, Hunt makes it clear where this film is going.

Surprisingly, the film’s predictability doesn’t hurt it, and that’s because Hunt chooses to build tension and entertain in other ways. Her focus is on her talented cast, which includes terrific performances from Carroll O’Connor, Robert Loggia, Eddie Jones, William Bronder, Marianne Muellerleile, James Belushi, David Allen Grier and Hunt herself.

What gives “Return” an added lift is the depiction of Grace’s home life, which centers on the Irish-Italian restaurant her family owns. There, in a world that still champions the music of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Vic Damone, the film comes to life in its relationships.

Grade: B+