To say that Simon Pegg's newest film "Run Fatboy Run" isn't as funny as the two films he's best known for isn't exactly a criticism. Few films are as funny as "Hot Fuzz" or "Shaun of the Dead." The question is how less funny is it. The answer: not enough to make it unwatchable, but too much to wholeheartedly recommend it.
Pegg plays Dennis, an underachieving security guard who literally runs away from his pregnant fiancee Libby (Thandie Newton) on their wedding day. A few years pass and Dennis decides he made a massive mistake and wants her back. The only problem, other than that he left her at the altar, is that she is now seeing a seemingly perfect guy Whit (Hank Azaria). In a bid for, if not her love, then at least her respect, Dennis decides to run the marathon that Whit's been training for.
As anyone who has watched his previous films knows, Pegg has a great comedic presence. Unfortunately, while Nick Frost gave him someone to play off of in "Hot Fuzz" and "Shaun of the Dead," here the only real, consistent comic support he gets is from "Shaun" vet Dylan Moran as Dennis' friend and Libby's cousin. Newton and Azaria are talented actors, but Azaria's character isn't that interesting, and Newton is playing a woman whose perhaps sole identifiable trait is her bad taste in men. Consequently, the jokes hit less frequently and produce more chuckles than belly laughs. Director David Schwimmer (yes, that David Schwimmer) also allows the storytelling to get a bit flabby, keeping the film from ever developing any real comedic momentum. Still, though, it is a pleasant enough movie, and enough of the jokes will land that you'll have lines you're quoting on the drive home. It just seems too strikingly average when you hold it up against Pegg's previous comedies that you can't help but be a bit disappointed, even if it isn't a bad film.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Movie #3: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Quite often good casting can make an otherwise middling film quite entertaining. Such is the case in "Miss Pettigrew ...," a film that seems as though it would practically scream "decent but unmemorable" were it not for the performances of its pair of highly talented leads, Frances McDormand and Amy Adams.
McDormand plays the title character, the "nanny of last resort" who has been told, after a string of firings, that her agency has no more use for her. In a desperate act, she swipes the card off her boss' desk with information for a woman she believes needs a nanny. What she finds instead is Adams' Delysia Lafosse, a lounge singer and wannabe actress who wanted a social secretary solely because her rival has one. But boy does she need one, as she tries to juggle a trio of men (including the piemaker himself, "Pushing Daisies" star Lee Pace) and secure a stage role she's convinced will be her big break.
If you can't tell from the description, this is an often lighter-than-air screwball comedy, filled with comic mishaps and webs of lies that have a way of unraveling at inopportune times. Any time I felt like dismissing it, though, the leading ladies would lift the film on their shoulders and will it to be entertaining. Watching McDormand's world-weary character's eyes light up as she gets swept into Lafosse's more glamorous world just brought a wide smile to my face, and, for an actress best known for her dramatic roles, she displays some quite deft comic timing. She also supplies the gravity that keeps the film from floating away, including a short exchange with Ciaran Hinds as airplanes fly overhead that proves the film's most genuinely moving dramatic moment.
And what more can I say about Amy Adams? She is simply a comic force of nature, but one who also supplies a shocking amount of depth when called upon (her performance in "Junebug" is still one of the decade's best). Like in her star-making role in "Enchanted," Adams again is playing a bit of a wide-eyed innocent here, albeit a ... how shall we say it ... tarted-up one. And just like in that Disney film, she proves compulsively watchable the whole way through.
As for the film they inhabit, well, it is what it is. Don't expect many huge laughs, but if you temper your expectations a bit, it does supply a steady stream of chuckles and a chance to watch two of the best actresses working play off each other for an hour and a half. Given the other options at the theater these days, that's pretty darned good.
By the way, I'm going to shoot for 90 before I make my 2007 rundown, and I'm still 10 short. Those 10 likely will include "Beowulf," "Paprika," "Bug," "Ten Canoes" and "This is England," among others. Unfortunately they probably won't include "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "The Savages," I'm Not There" and "Persepolis," but I want to get this thing started, and all of those release dates are at least a month away.
McDormand plays the title character, the "nanny of last resort" who has been told, after a string of firings, that her agency has no more use for her. In a desperate act, she swipes the card off her boss' desk with information for a woman she believes needs a nanny. What she finds instead is Adams' Delysia Lafosse, a lounge singer and wannabe actress who wanted a social secretary solely because her rival has one. But boy does she need one, as she tries to juggle a trio of men (including the piemaker himself, "Pushing Daisies" star Lee Pace) and secure a stage role she's convinced will be her big break.
If you can't tell from the description, this is an often lighter-than-air screwball comedy, filled with comic mishaps and webs of lies that have a way of unraveling at inopportune times. Any time I felt like dismissing it, though, the leading ladies would lift the film on their shoulders and will it to be entertaining. Watching McDormand's world-weary character's eyes light up as she gets swept into Lafosse's more glamorous world just brought a wide smile to my face, and, for an actress best known for her dramatic roles, she displays some quite deft comic timing. She also supplies the gravity that keeps the film from floating away, including a short exchange with Ciaran Hinds as airplanes fly overhead that proves the film's most genuinely moving dramatic moment.
And what more can I say about Amy Adams? She is simply a comic force of nature, but one who also supplies a shocking amount of depth when called upon (her performance in "Junebug" is still one of the decade's best). Like in her star-making role in "Enchanted," Adams again is playing a bit of a wide-eyed innocent here, albeit a ... how shall we say it ... tarted-up one. And just like in that Disney film, she proves compulsively watchable the whole way through.
As for the film they inhabit, well, it is what it is. Don't expect many huge laughs, but if you temper your expectations a bit, it does supply a steady stream of chuckles and a chance to watch two of the best actresses working play off each other for an hour and a half. Given the other options at the theater these days, that's pretty darned good.
By the way, I'm going to shoot for 90 before I make my 2007 rundown, and I'm still 10 short. Those 10 likely will include "Beowulf," "Paprika," "Bug," "Ten Canoes" and "This is England," among others. Unfortunately they probably won't include "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "The Savages," I'm Not There" and "Persepolis," but I want to get this thing started, and all of those release dates are at least a month away.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Maybe I won't be seeing "4 Months ..." or "Paranoid Park" anytime soon
Two of the most critically acclaimed films released this year, "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days" and "Paranoid Park" also happen to have been released by IFC. Why is that suddenly a bad thing for me and many other movie lovers? Well, read this.
Well, isn't this a bizarre pairing, considering I stopped going to Blockbuster in part because of the lack of selection of indie movies. Suddenly a store that probably shelved more copies of the latest Sylvester Stallone or Christian Slater straight-to-DVD schlockfest than Gus Van Sant's last four movies combined is going to be the only place to rent his "Paranoid Park," at least in theory, for several years.
Plus, the indie section is only being set up in 1/4 of the company's stores, with distribution to the other stores based on title. So that means that, for some of the lower-profile titles, even if you have a Blockbuster there's a chance you can't rent them at your local store. (Not to mention the cities, like the one I live in, where there's not a Blockbuster to begin with). Not that it will probably matter anyway after a few months because I doubt most of the IFC titles will be found in any of the Blockbuster stores after they leave the new release rack, meaning if you don't have Blockbuster's online service, you're essentially screwed if you want to see one of them. Plus, given the company's history, I'd be willing to bet the extra space will come from not shelving any copies of indie films from other companies.
Thankfully, a number of the articles have stated Netflix and other video stores likely will buy up copies put on the market for sale after the initial two-month window and just rent those, but if not, it'll be a few years before I get to any of IFC's titles. There are too many other movies to watch, and I'm not going to reward IFC and Blockbuster for a deal that limits the availability of many films.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Movie #2: "Definitely, Maybe"
Sometimes you can tell kind of what to expect from a movie by looking at the spread of the reviews. All but two of the reviews on Metacritic for the romantic comedy "Definitely, Maybe" fall in the two to three star range. That tells you pretty much what you're going to get. It's not "Annie Hall," but it's not painful either. What end of the two-to-three star range you fall on will likely depend on if you roll your eyes at the framing story: Divorcing advertising executive Will (Ryan Reynolds) goes to pick up his daughter ("Little Miss Sunshine" herself Abigail Breslin) from school only to find out that they've had a far more graphic sex-ed class than a group of pre-teens should ever be given. This, coupled with her parents' impending divorce, sparks her curiousity as to her dad's romantic history, how he and her mother ended up together. If your immediate reaction is "That's too cutesy" or "He's actually going to tell his pre-teen daughter about his love life?" then you'll probably fall on the two star end. If you decide to go with it, there's a better-than-average romantic comedy waiting.
To the extent the movie works, it works for two reasons: 1. It seems far more interested in its characters than easy jokes or romatic comedy hi-jinks, and, 2. The cast, especially love interests Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz and Isla Fisher of "Wedding Crashers" fame, as well as a hilarious Kevin Kline as a cantankerous, womanizing college professor/author.
The film is being billed as a romantic mystery, but if you're listening closely, you'll know early on who he's going to end up with. The real story isn't about who he ends up with, but how the driven, idealistic Clinton campaign volunteer becomes the sad, cynical soon-to-be divorcee we meet at the beginning of the film. And although the film places some of the blame on Clinton's own fall from grace, it also hints at other reasons, especially in one deftly played scene between Reynolds, Weisz and Kline. It knows its characters and it doesn't sell them out (with the exception of one scene) by making any of the potential loves bad people. As Reynolds tells Breslin at the beginning of the film, it's more complex than that.
The film's main problem is that you get the feeling there is a great movie to be made with this idea and even this cast (yes, including Reynolds of "Van Wilder" and "Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place" fame). This just isn't that movie. Writer-director Adam Brooks too often lacks the subtlety to wring the full emotional power and relatability from Will's fall and his last grasp at love and getting back those shattered ideals that he once wore as a badge. Still, if Brooks fails to achieve greatness with this rom-com, at least it seems that he tried. I'd much rather watch a film that shoots to be in the same league as "Annie Hall" and falls short than one that aims to be like "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" and succeeds.
To the extent the movie works, it works for two reasons: 1. It seems far more interested in its characters than easy jokes or romatic comedy hi-jinks, and, 2. The cast, especially love interests Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz and Isla Fisher of "Wedding Crashers" fame, as well as a hilarious Kevin Kline as a cantankerous, womanizing college professor/author.
The film is being billed as a romantic mystery, but if you're listening closely, you'll know early on who he's going to end up with. The real story isn't about who he ends up with, but how the driven, idealistic Clinton campaign volunteer becomes the sad, cynical soon-to-be divorcee we meet at the beginning of the film. And although the film places some of the blame on Clinton's own fall from grace, it also hints at other reasons, especially in one deftly played scene between Reynolds, Weisz and Kline. It knows its characters and it doesn't sell them out (with the exception of one scene) by making any of the potential loves bad people. As Reynolds tells Breslin at the beginning of the film, it's more complex than that.
The film's main problem is that you get the feeling there is a great movie to be made with this idea and even this cast (yes, including Reynolds of "Van Wilder" and "Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place" fame). This just isn't that movie. Writer-director Adam Brooks too often lacks the subtlety to wring the full emotional power and relatability from Will's fall and his last grasp at love and getting back those shattered ideals that he once wore as a badge. Still, if Brooks fails to achieve greatness with this rom-com, at least it seems that he tried. I'd much rather watch a film that shoots to be in the same league as "Annie Hall" and falls short than one that aims to be like "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" and succeeds.
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