>> orginally published in Time Out/Pariscope:
various movie reviews, 2000-03
Recent 2003 Paris releases (usually 3-12 months after released in the
States):
Blue Crush
The plight of poor surfer girls in Hawai'i is the subject of Blue Crush.
Based on a magazine article by Susan Orlean (whose book, The Orchid Thief,
inspired the recent Adaptation), the premise has been expanded into a
reasonably meaty tale of female camaraderie and competition. Tough older
sister Anne Marie (Rules of Attraction's Kate Bosworth) suffered a nasty
wipe-out and lacks confidence to compete in an upcoming surf championship;
between shifts as a chambermaid, she mothers her little sis and questions
her identity. Eden (Michelle Rodriguez, of Girlfight and Fast and Furious
fame) warns her of becoming entangled with vacationing pro footballer
Matt (the cute Matthew Davis, too scrawny for the quarterback he's supposed
to be). If the trajectory rises to an obvious action-packed finale, at
least it doesn't dip too far into sentimentality. This is no King Lear,
but acting and dialogue is reliable, and director John Stockwell (Crazy/Beautiful)
finesses some convincing moments of girl bonding amid the breathless camera-on-surfboard,
in the tube cinematography.
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
The set-up: a New York women's magazine columnist (Kate Hudson) needs
to date then drive crazy a man for a column called "How to lose a guy
in 10 days"; meanwhile, an advert exec (Matthew McConaughey) must seduce
a woman so he can (somewhat inexplicably) land a sales pitch for a diamond
campaign. Peering through the glossy cinematography are the charismatic
Hudson and McConaughey, doing their best to charm us despite a throwaway,
unfunny script that plods towards its obvious romantic conclusion (not
before an obligatory motorcycle and taxi chase to the airport). That director
Donald Petrie found this to be a promising project is not shocking, given
his lightweight pedigree (Miss Congeniality, Grumpy Old Men, Mystic Pizza).
Scenes of Knicks games and hot dog vendors may momentarily lift the hearts
of those homesick for NYC, but that product placement shot of a Coke posing
in front of the Statue of Liberty is offensive patriotic propaganda.
The Good Girl
Jennifer Aniston (Friends) sheds her bubbly sex-bomb image to play the
depressed sales clerk Justine, unhappily married to pothead housepainter
Phil (John C. Reilly of Chicago) and about as existentially lost as a
lower class southern gal can get without actually smoking Gauloises. Justine
seeks escape in another like-minded misanthrope, Holden (the Tobey Maguire
look-alike Jake Gyllenhaal) and while Aniston's performance captures a
believable downtrodden exhaustion, it's hard to fathom her motivation
as the plot veers uncontrollably into "how do we end this film?" territory,
finishing incongruously with a robbery and bloodshed. Director Miguel
Arteta (Chuck & Buck) thankfully stages most scenes with a subtle touch.
2 Fast 2 Furious
John Singleton once made meaningful movies like Boyz in the Hood. With
2 Fast 2 Furious, sequel to the popular The Fast and the Furious, he's
slumming in vapid action territory. The locale has shifted from L.A. to
Miami, but the vehicle is the same one formula of mindless eye candy:
speeding cars, cartoon violence, scantily clad babes. While Vin Diesel
is absent, Paul Walker is back as ex-cop turned fugitive street racer
Brian O'Connor. Formless as a blast of nitrous oxide, the plot has Walker
and buddy ex-con Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) clearing their criminal
records in exchange for driving under-cover for a drug runner. Some clever
camera work mixed with top-notch digital effects gives the picture a frenetic
shimmer, but after the final car chase, you know it's just glossy paint
on a rotten chassis.
About Schmidt
In About Schmidt, a bloated Jack Nicholson quietly commands the landscape,
eschewing his usual trademark bravado to underplay a blank-faced, scruffy
hedgehog set in his emotionally dry and anti-social ways. Warren Schmidt
is a freshly retired insurance actuary forced to calculate his own life
risks when his wife suddenly dies and his daughter gets married. Has this
66-year-old Middle America man made any difference? Schmidt hits the road
in a huge RV, as counterpoint builds through a clever device of narrating
letters he writes to a Tanzanian foster child. Still, this interesting
film teeters on the edge. The director, Alexander Payne, who brought such
dark originality to Citizen Ruth an Election, can't make up his mind whether
to ridicule or cuddle up to Schmidt, and the half-cloying, half-jaunty
soundtrack doesn't help decide matters. Or, perhaps, the mix of laughs
and pathos is just right. Solid acting all around, especially from Kathy
Bates.
Antwone Fisher
Denzel Washington takes his turn in the director's chair with Antwone
Fisher. The material is irresistible: young Navy sailor Fisher, troubled
by violent outbursts, is sent to shrink Davenport (Washington, his eyes
permanently teary with compassionate expression) who unearths childhood
neglect and a parentless past. Newcomer Derek Luke plays the title role
with surprising maturity. Yes, the accomplished film works according to
plan, eliciting your sympathies. But suspicious of subtlety, Denzel, our
freshman director, unleashes at least half a dozen weepy scenes on his
audience and you may feel manipulated by this true-to-life trauma tale.
Washington has clearly hired a top editor, cinematographer and composer.
Next time out he should learn to trust himself better, cut away sooner
and otherwise orchestrate his dramas with less gusto.
Catch Me If You Can
Leonardo DiCaprio once again plays a kid, the runaway Frank Abagnale Jr.,
whose search for domestic and financial happiness has him smooth-talking
his way into stints as a pilot, doctor and lawyer, forging checks as he
goes. Based on true events, Catch Me If You Can takes place in the jet-set
1960s, and the production designers have obviously done their homework,
down to the Pan Am uniforms and candy-coloured Cadillacs. Lenny is more
than tolerable-he's good; for this and his Gangs of New York career rehab
move, one can almost forgive other stinkers like The Beach and The Man
in the Iron Mask. Tom Hanks is serviceable as the workaholic FBI agent
Carl Hanratty hot on his trail (though Hollywood needs to pass a law:
under no circumstances shall an actor attempt a Boston accent). That this
is another Steven Spielberg outing surprises: sharp, witty and restrained,
if not sobering, his touch succeeds sans gimmicks like multiple happy
endings and saccharine aftertastes. With the sublime Christopher Walken
as the tragic and eternally optimistic Dad, and French comedienne Nathalie
Baye (Absolutement Fabuleaux) as the bored and heartbroken mom.
Frida
Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek), tortured both by a crippling
physical injury and her long term relationship with the womanising Diego
Rivera (Alfred Molina), has become a fashionable role model for freethinking
female artists. With prosthetic monobrow, Hayek brings a spunky, fierce
charm to the title role, while Molina effectively embodies Rivera's larger-than-life
appetites. By Hollywood convention, the actors speak English with a Spanish
accent, an unnecessarily surreal reminder we are in Mexico. If the biopic
follows a predictable arc of heartbreak and reconciliation as layers of
wrinkled skin age the actors' faces, at least director Julie Taymor's
inventive design sense and theatrical staging bring to life Kahlo's darkly
vivid work, cleverly blurring the border between canvas and reality.
The Hours
The Hours cuts between a trio of heroines, each living in her own era
(the 1920s, 50s and today), yet connected by Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs
Dalloway. If the structure adds monumental challenges, wrangling three
of the biz's top actresses, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep,
also proves a chore. As Woolf herself, Kidman shines, bringing a gloomy
intensity to the role; Streep adds her usual suppressed world-weariness;
only Moore seems useless, playing a disenchanted housewife with one-note
iciness. Lovely moments can be found amid the sometimes stilted dialogue
(based on the Pulitzer Prize-wining novel) but sophomore director Stephen
Daldry (Billy Elliot) may have bitten off more he can chew. The asynchronous
stories don't often add up to a revelation greater than themselves, while
Philip Glass's droning score deadens where it could have highlighted each
woman's awful plight. With Ed Harris, Jeff Daniels and Claire Danes.
2002, 2001 and 2000 film releases to come ...