One Night Of Celebrity Makes Nerve Deadly!

The Good: Direction, Performances, Mood
The Bad: Somewhat predictable plot progression, Light on character development
The Basics: Nerve is a surprisingly well-constructed thriller that makes excellent use out of its young cast.


As Summer Blockbuster Season winds down, there are actually very few films I feel like I missed. Nerve was, in fact, probably the only film I missed on its opening weekend that I actually wanted to see, but today I rectified that. I was drawn to Nerve because it stars Emma Roberts. While I have not loved everything that Emma Roberts has been in, I was impressed by her innate talent as a child actor in Hotel For Dogs (reviewed here!) and as she has grown up, she has only seemed to become more talented. Emma Roberts and her performance was not the problem with Adult World (reviewed here!), for example. Now that I have finished it, I am sorry it took me so long to get around to watching Nerve!

Nerve has a decent blend of young performers and while the initial concept of the film did not actually appeal to me, the execution of it was done well-enough that I found myself investing in the characters and the premise. For the first time in a long time, a thriller actually left me curious as to where the film was going; because of the nature of the concept, there was a tone of danger that fit the idea that any of the characters could be killed at any moment and that at least kept Nerve unpredictable.

Vee is a shy high school senior living on Staten Island, too afraid to click "like" on a photo of the boy she has a crush on, when her friend Sydney messages her about Nerve. Nerve is an online dare-based game and players are rewarded with cash; Sydney wants Vee as a "watcher" for the game (there are watchers and players in the game). Sydney completes a dare at a football game where she has to moon the bleachers and when Vee won't talk to the guy she has a crush on, Sydney tries to move things along. Vee returns to her home and signs up for Nerve and she is almost immediately given an assignment. For $100, Vee has to kiss a stranger for five seconds. At the diner, Vee (for Venus) sees a guy who is reading her favorite book and she kisses him. After he completes a dare of his own, Vee and Ian start talking. Vee's friend Tommy warns her that Nerve has data mined Vee's social media in order to manipulate her, but when the next dare comes in with Vee and Ian being offered $200 just to go into New York City, Vee goes with him for the money.

Vee and Ian quickly begin to ascend in the contest, getting a burst of watchers as they complete tasks like trying on an expensive dress in a department store and fleeing the department store after another player steals their clothes. While Tommy tracks Vee and Vee's mother, Nancy, is unnerved by the sudden influx of deposits into their joint fund, Sydney becomes jealous of Vee's fast rise in popularity. When Tommy uses the deep web to research Ian, he finds that Ian was a player in Seattle, where players of Nerve were rumored to die in the game. For $10,000, Vee navigates a blindfolded Ian on his motorcycle up to a speed of 60 miles per hour. After getting into a huge fight with Sydney for Nerve, Vee attempts to go to the police and discovers there is another level to Nerve and she and Ian are in mortal danger going into the finals!

Nerve is an interesting social commentary in the way it illustrates to consequences of youth culture being so interconnected. It does not take long before it is obvious that Ian is manipulating Vee and the way her phone is hacked to allow Nerve watchers to make side bets is a realistic consequence of the type of game Nerve represents. The young adult players of Nerve make for realistic subjects for the shortsighted, stupid dares that the characters are compelled to take. Nerve takes place over a single night, so the lack of reflection by the characters makes sense and it fits the way the game escalates smartly.

While Dave Franco and Emma Roberts dominate Nerve, Miles Heizer makes surprisingly good use out of his supporting role of Tommy. Tommy is a geek who is a hacker and has hacker friends and to pull off the role credibly, Heizer has to play geeky and a level of smart that he was not required to on Parenthood. Heizer manages to do it well without going over the top; he delivers the technobabble adequately and he plays the role as essentially human.

Nerve takes the concept of a reality game to its logical conclusion with the threat of mortal peril. I've always loathed the idea of something like Russian Roulette as a reality show and as they pointed out on Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip (reviewed here!) that is pretty much all that is left. Nerve manages to get to that point without sensationalizing it. In other words, by the time Nerve gets to the point where a gun comes into play, the game itself is not entertaining; the process of watching the characters struggle to defeat the game is the entertaining aspect.

Emily Meade is initially easy to write off in Nerve as a cute twentysomething playing a teen, but she fits the role perfectly and does exactly what the part needs her to. In Nerve, the viewer is supposed to believe that Emma Roberts is a high school senior that has never been noticed by her classmates; Emma Roberts is Hollywood beautiful, so Nerve needed to cast someone even more over-the-top in that department to land the premise. Meade is an excellent choice and she lands the role of the high school girl used to having a sidekick like Vee whom she can overshadow and dominate.

Nerve is one of those films that adult audiences are not "supposed" to like; it has a young cast, it explores the folly of youth culture and stupidity, and it escalates in a very predictable fashion. But the problem with reducing Nerve is that it is actually quite good. Nerve happens over the course of one night, which makes the idea work because none of the rejected players have a chance to either squeal and ruin the game for those still playing or anyone caught by the authorities to investigate the game. Nerve is remarkably tight; Vee gains fast popularity by Ian (an established player) and her fast rise upsets Sydney and knocks her out of the running for the finals, leading her to make an impulsive, mean move. Vee, Ian, Sydney, and Ty are all manipulated by the watchers of Nerve and those who make side bets on their actions.

But Nerve is surprisingly good; instead of degenerating into a cheap "dare" film that attempts to entertain - a flaw that films like Gladiator (reviewed here!) falls into when it makes the viewer root for the slave fighting in the arena for entertainment - the movie smartly remains focused on the way the protagonists are shuffled around and manipulated. The film explores the negative personal and social consequences of the game and Nerve succeeds because while the escalation of the game is foreseeable, the outcome is not.

And Vee is interesting. Vee is manipulated, but her character is characterized initially as smart and the pay off of Nerve is that the story sees that through to its logical conclusion. The directors of Nerve do a decent job of illustrating the invasive nature of Nerve with tags over New York City as players play and are eliminated.

Ultimately, the social commentary of Nerve makes the film a much-watch. For sure, there are internet trolls who might loathe the admonishment of the climax, but Nerve makes incredibly good points through an engaging story that looks good and utilizes its cast exceptionally well!

For other movies currently in theaters, please check out my reviews of:
Spaceman
The Whole Truth
Suicide Squad
Star Trek Beyond
Breaking The Bank

8/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for a comprehensive, organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Scott Coffey Is Not The Next Kevin Smith And Adult World Is Not The Next Clerks.

The Good: Decent performances, One or two lines
The Bad: Generally unlikable/unrealistic characters, Dull plot, Production issues, Moments of overbearing soundtrack
The Basics: At long last, Adult World hits theaters . . . only to be disappointing.


Two years ago, I lived in Upstate New York in a little village near Syracuse. I worked in the city of Syracuse and recall geeking out when I watched God Bless America (reviewed here!) with my wife and we found ourselves easily identifying many of the buildings in the background of the film. We were also very aware when Scott Coffey and his film crew was in Syracuse filming Adult World. As luck would have it, one day we were driving home from the mall and we actually saw the film being shot (I caught a glimpse of Emma Roberts and geeked out for a solid couple of days). So, despite moving to Michigan, Adult World was one of the movies I have actually been anticipating watching for (literally) years. Today, my anticipation ended when I had the chance to watch the movie.

And now I’m done with that. Adult World, despite having an amusing premise and several cast members whose work I actually enjoy – I was psyched to see John Cullum in something new and with the release of House Of Cards Season Two (reviewed here!) yesterday, I’ve been seeing a lot of Reed Birney the last couple of days -, Adult World turned out to be a plodding, listless film that left me sorry I bothered with it. Despite Adult World not being the directoral debut of Scott Coffey, the film reminded me of Clerks (reviewed here!) . . . without the charm or originality. Outside a well-delivered line about having a life or death creative emergency, which perfectly defines the melodramatic protagonist of Adult World, the film is short on charm and is almost entirely without a purpose, originality, or enjoyable moments.

Amy is a recent college graduate in Syracuse, New York who has $90,000 in student loan debts and a degree in Poetry. After a guy she likes from one of her poetry classes tries to have sex with her on camera as a fraternity prank, she returns home, humiliated. When her parents cut her off, she has to stop sending out her poetry submissions and get a real job. Having led a very sheltered life, she is dismayed when the only job she can get is at the local sex toy/movie/magazine shop, Adult World. There, her naïveté shows when she is horrified by the toys, baffled by what it means when a customer’s account notes they return videos sticky and is shocked by a transvestite man using a urinal while she is cleaning the shop’s toilets. At Adult World, she meets Alex, the laid-back manager who seems charmed by her lack of experience. Amy is thrilled when her favorite poet, Rat Billings, is doing a book signing at a local book store and she stalks the poet relentlessly, even getting her car stolen in the process.

When her parents get (reasonably) upset that she cancelled her car’s theft insurance in order to use the money for mailing out poetry submissions, Amy leaves home. Knowing only one bus line, she ends up at the apartment of the transvestite, Rubia. Seeing Rat Billings at a nearby store, Rubia and Amy hunt the poet down and Amy badgers her way into his life. Despite being utterly disinterested in her life or her poetry, Rat agrees to let Amy hang out (and even volunteers to include one of her poems in his forthcoming anthology of shit poetry). As Amy slowly loses her illusions about living successfully as a poet and about how great Rat Billings is, she rejects her position in the porn shop, then comes to appreciate it (and Alex).

Amy is a terrible protagonist and that is the fundamental problem with Adult World. As cliché as the virgin twentysomething might be, there is a terrible lack of realism in the way Amy throws herself at the frat boy at the beginning of the film, given how she hasn’t just given it up for anyone else. While her terrible, drunken, seduction attempt on Rat Billings is one of the high points of Adult World, by the time it comes up, it is virtually impossible for the viewer to care about Amy, her life, or the direction of the film.

Amy is thoroughly immature, in a way that is unpleasant to watch. She runs around with no regard for other people (she cuts past the line of about ten people to get to Rat Billings so she can have her “moment,” which is just rude and annoying to watch) and she is unpleasantly melodramatic. Her idealism loses its charm early in Adult World as she has no sympathy for how her parents do try their best to spoil her, but she keeps demanding more with no regard to their situation.

But the real problem for Adult World is how slow the character is to change. After a lifetime of being sheltered and living optimistically, she runs out into a dark, dirty, freezing world, where her hero turns out to be an asshole and it doesn’t really phase her. Instead, she blunders on oblivious in so many ways. It makes Adult World into a farce, but it isn’t funny enough to truly be farcical or even ironic; it just makes Amy seem unlikable and unrealistic. Emma Roberts gives a performance that plays up the melodrama, but Amy is one of her least memorable or likable characters.

At the other end of the spectrum are John Cusack and Armando Riesco (Evan Peters’s Alex is the obvious good-looking boyfriend material who lacks the screen presence or character of Riesco’s Rubia, who serves as more of a mentor to Amy in real terms than Cusack’s Billings). John Cusack gives a familiar-feeling performance as the grumpy Rat Billings. Billings is good casting for Cusack and the disillusioned poet is well within his established range. In fact, Cusack almost makes it seem reasonable that a one-hit wonder of a modern poet would not endorse suicide. Armando Riesco is a pleasant surprise as Rubia, though he plays it remarkably safe for a transvestite (despite a leg-shaving scene, Rubia never is a presented as a plausible woman).

Ultimately, Adult World is not funny, not populated by great characters and is not an amazing showcase of anyone’s talent. It is an easy film to pass on, even during the February Slump.

For other indie films, please check out my reviews of:
Authors Anonymous
Cheap Thrills
Stay

3/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Summer Finishes Comedy Strong With We’re The Millers!

The Good: Funny, Generally decent acting
The Bad: Very predictable plot and character development
The Basics: This year’s summer runaway comedy film, We’re The Millers actually entertains and hits the right notes to be the year’s most enduring comedy.


Every summer since The Hangover (reviewed here!), the major studios have tried like hell to create a summer comedy that would have the staying power at the box office to last through August and into September in order to get the college crowd’s money, as well as captivating adults and becoming the must-watch movie for high school students. This year, New Line actually nails it with We’re The Millers, a comedy that has managed to maintain a place in the Top 5 of the box office for over a month and a half . . . and with good reason.

We’re The Millers is hampered most by the fact that it is painfully predictable in its plot and character development. Within the first fifteen minutes almost anyone who has ever seen a comedy film will be able to call pretty much the entire film. “Painfully predictable” undersells how obvious We’re The Millers is for the movie. The humor in We’re The Millers lands because verbally, the film is hilarious and the performers in it sell the lines they are given in an uncommonly smart way. In fact, it is surprising how funny We’re The Millers is, despite the plot being utterly blasé.

David Clark is a very active drug dealer who makes the mistake one evening of helping his neighbor’s son, Kenny, come to the aid of the homeless Casey, who is being mugged by guys who want her iPhone. David is robbed by the muggers, who steal his drug money and leave him in a precarious position for his distributor, Brad Gurdlinger. Brad tells David he will forgive the debt and even pay him $100,000 if David will go to Mexico to his weed source and smuggle back “a smidge and a half” of weed. Recognizing that he looks like the drug dealer that he is, David gets a haircut and hires Kenny, Casey, and his stripper neighbor, Rose, to pretend to be his family. They rent an RV and go to Mexico. There, they meet Pablo Chacon and get two tons of his weed before heading out.

Surviving a run-in with Mexican law enforcement, the faux-family (who go by the surname “Miller”) makes it to the U.S. border. There, they are accosted by another family – the Fitzgeralds – in their RV. The Fitzgeralds are boisterous, archetypal Americans, who express a lot of interest in the Millers and while the drug smugglers are eager to get away from the Fitzgeralds, when their RV breaks down they are forced to rely upon the other family. In the process of running from the Fitzgeralds and Pablo Chacon (and his one-eyed thug), the Millers bond, have awkward sexual blunders, and try to deal with Brad’s treacherous nature. In the journey, Dave and Rose realize they might have more in common than they thought and the Millers actually become a family.

We’re The Millers has a comedic dream cast and I give a lot of credit to director Rawson Marshall Thurber. Thurber is ballsy enough to put both Jason Sudeikis and Ed Helms – who fill the exact same niche and are almost the same height even! – in the same film as David and Brad, respectively. The scenes they are in together illustrate well why they are considered two of the funniest people working in the U.S. today. Nick Offerman plays off Sudeikis with hilarious results and Offerman and Kathryn Hahn have great on-screen awkward chemistry to play a plausible couple that has been together for a long time.

Thurber also deserves real credit for getting Emma Roberts out of her on-screen comfort zone. Roberts, who is one of my favorite younger talents, is anything but simple and charming in the role of Casey. In fact, this is a film that does not trade on any of the innate charm she presents in virtually every other film role she has had. What is unsurprising is how Jennifer Aniston plays a stripper who does not take it all off. Like virtually every part Aniston has played, Rose is a character with an extensive backstory and in the revelation of her past struggles, Aniston is called upon to emote largely through softening her more stern facial expressions. Aniston’s performance is largely familiar, but to her credit, she is daring when the movie calls for it and fans are likely to be excited by how far she goes to sell the character of Rose.

The whole reason to watch We’re The Millers, though, is not for the cast – though it is good – and it is not for the characters or the plot, but it is a must-watch for the lines. Not since Monty Python And The Holy Grail (reviewed here!), though my wife would say Step Brothers (reviewed here!), has there been a comedy that is as quotable with as many superbly absurd one-liners as We’re The Millers. The Hangover may have been the runaway summer comedy a few years ago, but We’re The Millers raises the bar now.

For other films with Ed Helms, check out my reviews of:
Arrested Development - Season Four
The Hangover, Part III
The Lorax
The Hangover Part II
Cedar Rapids
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Confessions Of A Shopaholic

6.5/10

For other film reviews, please check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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All Levels Of Human Suffering Make For Another Unwatchable Jennifer Connelly Film With Virginia!

The Good: Engaging story progression
The Bad: Universally unlikable characters, Better casting than acting, Mediocre direction, Utterly oppressive mood.
The Basics: After enduring it, I have absolutely no idea what the appeal of Virginia is.


One of the serious issues with going into a film blind is that one has absolutely no idea what they will get. The danger is that one ends up sitting through a movie that, properly prepared, they never would have subjected themselves to. Perhaps the very best thing that my review of Virginia can do is prevent anyone who reads the review from putting themselves through the experience of watching this particular movie.

I picked up Virginia because I enjoy the works of Emma Roberts and Jennifer Connelly can usually be counted on for an amazing performance, too. All I knew about the film before it began was that those two actresses were in this indie film and I had heard, nor seen, anything about it. Perhaps the saving grace of this psychologically horrific film is that opens with an engaging enough sense of mystery before getting overcome with miserable characters, gunplay, incest, and bloody spit from cancer-ridden lungs.

One year before Virginia, a disturbed woman who hears voices, shoots up the local sheriff’s home, Virginia’s son Emmett begins a personal quest to find out who is real father is. Having figured out that Virginia has had a long affair with Sheriff Tipton, Emmett begins spending a lot of time with Tipton’s daughter, Jessie. Jessie is an idealistic young Mormon and Emmett is still figuring his life out, which is complicated by his mother getting a tumor in her lung. Virginia comes to believe she is pregnant with Richard’s child as Richard runs for State Senate.

When Emmett puts together that he is Tipton’s biological son, Richard cuts Jessie off from seeing him. Shortly thereafter, Tipton cuts off the hush money his campaign was paying Virginia and Virginia displays more signs of his schizophrenia. Virginia begins telling everyone in town that she is having Tipton’s baby and Emmett resolves to marry his half-sister. Faking a pregnancy and attempting to rob a bank, Virginia’s condition gets worse and worse as Richard’s bid for office becomes increasingly more tenuous based on her behaviors.

I love movies that expose the hypocrisy of characters who are supposed to be faith-driven as much as anyone, but Virginia is unrelenting. Richard keeps Virginia as his mistress and the process of his wife slowly learning the truth is agonizing. The moment Emmett realizes he is Richard’s son and continues pursuing Jessie, the movie becomes beyond creepy. Virginia is like Tideland (reviewed here!) without the whimsy and charm. There is a caper-like quality to the progression of Virginia, but it is a humorless caper and there is no real catharsis from the film.

Virginia moves too slowly back to the film’s beginning and by the time it gets there, it is virtually impossible to care about that. Virginia is not a likable character and while her mental illness goes a distance to explaining her actions, he is not at all enjoyable to watch as she progresses through her unfortunate madness.

On the acting front, Virginia is, by far, a by-product of good casting over great performing. Writer and director Dustin Lance Black no doubt saw Jennifer Connelly in either House Of Sand And Fog (reviewed here!) or Requiem For A Dream (reviewed here!), or both, when he cast her as Virginia. Her performance in this is entirely derivative of those roles. Emma Roberts is relegated to a distant supporting role (Jessie is almost entirely absent in the last act) and Amy Madigan essentially replays her part from Carnivale (reviewed here!) as the sheriff’s long-suffering wife.

Ed Harris is fine as Tipton and Harrison Gilbertson is all right as Emmett, though it seems inconceivable that he would be as cool as he is when Tipton draws his weapon on him in a public bathroom. I’m sure there are more sophisticated analyses of Virginia, but I do not want to devote the time or attention to writing them; that is how utterly unpleasant this movie was.

For other works with utterly miserable characters or faith-guided protagonists who get in over their heads, please check out my reviews of:
Bernie
The Soloist
An American Crime

1.5/10

For other film reviews, please check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing.

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Girl Power, Fantasy, And The Mysteriously Stunted Career Of Jojo: Aquamarine

The Good: Decent acting, Interesting character arcs, Interesting plot, Generally good effects
The Bad: Predictable plot and character arcs, Initially reinforces a number of troubling stereotypes.
The Basics: Aquamarine is playful, girl-friendly fantasy-comedy fare, but little more and is not as memorable as it could have been.


Every now and then, I am in the mood for lighter cinematic fare and I like to broaden my horizons with a film from someone whose body of work I have come to appreciate. In 2012, I discovered I generally enjoyed the movies Emma Roberts was in, most notably It’s Kind Of A Funny Story (reviewed here!) and I could stand to see more films that featured her. It was actually my wife who recommended Aquamarine to me, so based on her recommendation, I sat down and watched it this morning.

And it was enjoyable, but it left me with one nagging, powerful, unanswered question: How is it that Jojo (Joanna “Jojo” Levesque) is not a huge star now? I’m not saying that Aquamarine afforded her the opportunity for anything resembling a powerful performance, but she fits the exact same acting niche that Lindsay Lohan once filled (much the way the Keira Knightley is now getting all the roles that Wynonna Ryder would have pulled a decade prior). How is it that Hollywood executives, tired of Lohan’s inability to deliver anymore, would not have simply swapped in Jojo to complete their films that needed that exact type of performer in their cast?! The fact that I find myself contemplating all that following the movie should be enough to tell one that Aquamarine rises to average at best, with enough creativity to knock it over pure average, but not by much.

That said, Aquamarine is a fun “girl power” type movie that brings to mind Mean Girls (reviewed here!) for its sense of girlish melodrama, but with a healthy dose of creativity the superior film lacked. Where Aquamarine falls down is in how it reinforces, rather than challenges, many of the stereotypes and gender roles of young women. Aquamarine is, unfortunately, largely about crushing on boys (without pesky problems of teenage sexuality), shopping, hanging out with girlfriends, and dreading change, but slowly overcoming fears during the transition from childhood to adulthood. In fact, one of the initial issues with Aquamarine has to be that it does not seem to know what it wants its audience to be. Girls comment on the size of their (and other girls’) breasts and has girls ogling one another’s butt and legs, but it features girls acting like girls (not even young women) with the way they treat boys, shopping, and keep their bodies covered in age-appropriate ways. For a PG movie, Aquamarine seems to want to push the envelope, but only so far.

In a seaside town, as the end of summer looms, teenagers Claire and Hailey ogle the local lifeguard, a boy named Raymond. They are creeped out by the adult loner Leonard, who works near the beach. Claire lives with her Grandparents (her parents having died at sea, leaving her terrified of actually going into the ocean) and Hailey lives with her mother, who has been offered a terrific opportunity in Australia. Facing their friendship becoming a long-distance thing, both girls are not eager for the end of the summer.

In the wake of a storm, Claire and Hailey discover a mermaid, Aquamarine, in the pool at Claire’s grandparent’s resort. Aquamarine is there, rebelling against her father by resisting an arranged marriage, and makes the girls a deal: if they can help her get Raymond to tell her that he loves her, she will grant them one wish. Thinking that this is the way to keep Hailey from having to move, she, Claire, and Aquamarine set their sights on enticing Raymond. That means getting Raymond to pay more attention to Aquamarine than to the villainous Cecilia Banks, the town “princess.” As the girls work to thwart their adversary and win Raymond’s affections, Leonard comes to realize that Aquamarine might be more than just a teenage girl and might need more help than they realize.

Aquamarine succeeds on the character front largely on the strength of the movie’s themes. Aquamarine appropriately belabors the point that one should not judge people on their appearance alone (as the girls have judged Leonard). That is somewhat undermined by not giving Cecilia a very human character or perspective; she is a monolithic villainess, so when Aquamarine talks back to her, it is more triumphant resistance, as opposed to Aquamarine being viewed as a mean girl herself.

Moreover, Aquamarine strives to be an empowering movie, even if it is set up in the most obvious possible way. Claire is timid and afraid of pretty much everything at the outset of the film and Hailey is her adventurous, spunky friend. The “types” are not challenged and follow ridiculously predictable plot arcs over the course of the movie. However, Aquamarine really is about growing up and as a result, Hailey comes to appreciate her childish selfishness in regard to her mother’s opportunity half the world away and Claire puts saving Aquamarine above her own fears, so there is an appropriate level of character growth in the film.

As well, Aquamarine has a surprisingly adult take on the otherwise vacuous character of Raymond. Aquamarine’s whole quest centers around getting Raymond to say “I love you.” He is not emotionally reticent in not saying the words: he is young and inexperienced. He professes appropriate ignorance of the emotion as opposed to just phoning it in.

None of the acting is bad in Aquamarine, but none of it is so extraordinary as to lead one to crow about it. Emma Roberts plays Claire as appropriately lacking in confidence and she lands her character’s big emotional scene. Jojo is a carbon copy of Lindsay Lohan in her performance as Hailey and Sara Paxton is strangely unremarkable as Aquamarine. Jake McDorman is a generic “guy” as Raymond and he makes the viewer wish that his character was written with a more distinct sense of self.

For a film with a mermaid, Aquamarine is exceptionally predictable, though not unenjoyable. On DVD, Aquamarine has both the widescreen and full screen versions. There are also deleted scenes, commentary tracks and featurettes, all of which are a fairly decent value. The film is worth watching, is pretty safe family fare, and is not one worth rushing out to buy for one’s permanent collection.

For other films geared toward teenage girls, please visit my reviews of:
The Princess Diaries
Foxfire
Just My Luck

5.5/10

For other film reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Entertaining, Smart And Well-Developed Hotel For Dogs Opened My 2009 New Movie Reviews High!

The Good: Funny, Cute, Decent characters, Interesting concept, Great animal wrangling
The Bad: Predictable, Dangling character elements
The Basics: Funny, fun and with good messages Hotel For Dogs might be a little predictable, but it is worthwhile and makes for a good time for viewers of all ages!


The thing about having high standards is often then is a small contingent of people who look at your standards, then wait around for a moment they find a chink in your armor, a slip from your moral high ground. We delight in that with politicians, we cringe when directors of our favorite series' mess up, and when it comes to reviewers, there are those who wait around to be able to make big picture comparisons (like "Come on! Hoodwinked! is NOT better than Return Of The Jedi!). I detailed my standards for reviewing some time ago (that article is here!) and since then, I'll occasionally get a note from someone with a comment like that. Because I rate from the perspective (in movies) of the whole medium, for enduring value, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is in direct competition with Casablanca; I don't curve for comedies or excuse lack of character development for . . . well, anything.

So, when I rate a film like Hotel For Dogs with a 7, it is worth noting right off the bat that I have not lowered my standards or curved the rating for "children's movies." No, on the scale of all films I have ever watched and reviewed, Hotel For Dogs is an above average film in the 7/10 (or slightly more) range. And for those who know me and my reviews, this is just icing on the cake as I am well known for not liking kids (there were many at the screening I attended) and for loathing children's movies.

Hotel For Dogs is just that good.

Andi and Bruce are sister and brother, living in foster care following the deaths of their parents. They live with the somewhat dimwitted Scudders, keeping care of their dog, who is not allowed to be with them, in secret. Chased by Animal Control in Central City and plagued by the police who catch them scamming to earn money to feed their dog, Andi and Bruce find themselves in an abandoned hotel, in the company of two dogs, who their dog immediately bonds with.

Trying to feed the three dogs, Andi and Bruce find themselves in the company of pet shop workers Dave and Heather, who learn about their little dog hotel and contribute with their time, talent and resources from the pet shop. Soon, they are boarding a slew of dogs - part of their operation to rescue all of the strays in the city before Animal Control captures and kills them - and becoming the best of friends. They are joined by Mark and while Andi and Dave grow closer, Bruce illustrates a mechanical genius that makes the abandoned hotel into a dog activity house unlike anything the city has ever seen!

Because they come easiest to mind for me, the negatives. First, this is not the most original movie of all time. It is a feel-good movie that sets up some terribly obvious plot and character points and more or less sees them through. In fact, the only two things that surprised me about Hotel For Dogs was that Heather did not turn out to be related to Bernie (come on, it's a generally predictable movie with more than two black characters in them and it would have been age appropriate, what were the odds?!) and at no point in the movie did the song "Who Let The Dogs Out" get played (thank you, director Thor Freudenthal!). Outside that, the people who get together get together and the resolution between Andi and Bruce and their foster situation is so obvious, I would be surprised if children did not call it.

Second, there is a dangling character element with Heather. Heather has an obvious crush on Dave, who she works with (wonderful acting on the part of Kyla Pratt, by the way, as this is never explicitly articulated in the movie). I can live with there not being too much made of this, but as Dave and Andi become closer and Dave slips further and further from her, Heather never deals with it and as a result, the character arc of Mark and Heather seems like a default relationship.

Third, and maybe this is just something I am ignorant of, I found it problematic that Andi lied about being in foster care when she first met Dave. I mean, this seems to either create or reinforce a stigma I was not aware existed and it makes little sense for the characters in this particular movie. I mean, IF foster care is something kids look down on in their peers, it's pretty hard to not see the kids who feel that way as the [adult expletive deleted]'s in this situation as Andi and Bruce's parents died in an accident. It takes a pretty heartless kid to stand there and mockingly say "Ha ha, you don't have real parents!" "Yeah, well, they died horribly in an accident" and their response not be to feel like either a moron or a horrible person. So that Andi felt the need to lie about not having parents when she met Dave, baffled me. Of course, because it is That Type Of Movie, it all gets resolved by the end.

Finally, the speed of the story necessitates several (at least three come right to mind) montage musical segments where progress is made at an accelerated rate and it's just a lot of footage of dogs running, pooping, eating, etc. This is where Freudenthal should insist to the people at Paramount/Dreamworks that he is accountable to that whomever cut the trailers for Hotel For Dogs never work for him again (though being shot would be preferable, I am THAT sick of over-revealing preview trailers!); the inclusion of footage from those montages in the preview trailer gutted some decent moments of the movie for those of us who saw the preview the night before. We don't need to see the whole movie in the trailer and if part of the movie itself is cut like a movie trailer, then don't stick that part in the trailer!

That said, Hotel For Dogs is pretty wonderful. The characters are interesting, at least Bernie (Andi and Bruce's social worker), Andi and Bruce. It is not explained why Bernie and his wife do not have children and honestly the viewer does not need that explanation. Bernie is, from the very beginning, a decent guy who clearly cares about the children he tries to place.

Similarly, Bruce is a wonderful character who fits this story perfectly. Socially isolated, it is wonderful that the writers (Hotel For Dogs is based upon a book by Lois Duncan, which I have not read, so I am unsure if that is from the book or just from the screenplay) chose not to cheapen his character with any firm human relationships outside the one he has with Andi. He is a mechanical genius and it is refreshing to see young loner characters who are not evil or terribly maladjusted. Instead, he applies himself and makes the concept of Hotel For Dogs an actualized reality. Bruce is quiet, but has a clear love for his sister and animals and he applies that knowledge, desire and innate talent to making the hotel a success.

As well, Andi is a nice mix of protective child-adult (she looks out for Bruce in a very adult way) and girl who just wants to be a girl. Andi is clever, funny and has a big heart. She is played by Emma Roberts, who is being pretty clearly groomed to be the next Anne Hathaway. Roberts has both the plain Hollywood-approved young beauty and quiet strength of Hathaway, but the real common element between them is their ability to play the quiet moments and convey a lot through their body language. Roberts speaks volumes with the flash of her eyes to costar Jake T. Austin (Bruce) and nervous movements of her hands when she steps into situations that would be socially awkward (like entering the party scene). Her smile is appropriately illuminative, but she is able to carry the serious, dramatic moments with appropriate gravitas - i.e. not stepping over into melodrama - when called upon (and being That Type Of Movie, they are there). One only hopes that Roberts treats here career as serious in the way that Hathaway does and smart money would be on her continuing to have a strong, smart career . . . like Hathaway.

Jake T. Austin plays a character who is pretty naturally overshadowed, but he takes the role and does what he can with it very well. When he is not forced to play the part hunched over working on some device or another (it is Bruce who automates the dog hotel with homemade mechanical devices) Austin emotes well in scenes opposite Roberts.

When the opening credits were rolling and I saw Don Cheadle's name come up, I groaned a little because I figured this had to be a sellout role for him, but Cheadle proved me wrong. He knew what he was doing; Bernie's character arc might be predictable and obvious, but Cheadle brings his best to it and makes it work perfectly. Similarly, Lisa Kudrow and Kevin Dillon add to the movie with their performances, as opposed to doing the work for the paycheck (adult actors in kids movies seldom can portray what they need to when they're just taking a job). In fact, the acting is astonishingly good in Hotel For Dogs.

The dogs are all appropriately cute and the animal wrangling on the movie is extraordinary, earning it legitimate praise from me and any other reviewers who see the film. While there are one or two matted or CG-enhanced shots, largely the film is done with actual dogs all together and it makes a difference in the final product.

For adults who might be dreading being dragged to this movie, there is nothing to fear; Hotel For Dogs has a lot for us. Despite the predictability and the sheer number of "awww, cute dog!" shots, there are jokes and concepts that only adults will appreciate (my favorite has to be when Bernie puts up his badge and proudly declares "Social services!" and everyone ignores him). The movie is fun, but it is also surprisingly smart in places and it has a good message (everyone shows up to help and there is a good feel-good "let's all be friends" thing working throughout) that adults could stand to have reinforced as much as kids ought to have it imprinted.

So, yes, if you have a kid, a niece or nephew, or a friend with kids who you'd like to use as a prop so you're not the creepy adult sitting in the theater watching kids movies, grab your young person and take them to Hotel For Dogs. It's worth it.

For other works with Lisa Kudrow, check out my reviews of:
Easy A
The Other Woman
Friends

7/10

For other movie reviews, be sure to check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Art Of Getting By Is Too Familiar.

The Good: Moments of character/acting/writing
The Bad: No spark, Painfully predictable plot, Unlikable characters, No superlative performances, Short but feels terribly long.
The Basics: An indie film that is completely lacking in spark, zest and originality, The Art Of Getting By is a surprising flop for all involved.


While my wife is gone for the summer, I am catching up on all the things that she does not (traditionally) enjoy watching with me. So, it’s a lot of art films and television shows that she expressed no interest in. Last night, I got my comeuppance for my strategy; I ran into a lemon that truly justified my wife’s antipathy toward art films. The movie I watched was The Art Of Getting By and it was one that I was actually looking forward to quite a bit. And when it started, I waited for it to go somewhere, I waited for the spark of originality, zest . . . anything that would keep me excited about watching the movie.

That never came.

Unfortunately, The Art Of Getting By is a small, artsy film that presents absolutely nothing new to cinema and, in the worst tradition of pretentious films, is surprisingly short, but feels oppressively long. The Art Of Getting By is in no way surprising, save that it manages to waste the talent of Blair Underwood, minimize Ann Dowd, and presents a character played by Emma Roberts who is virtually impossible to watch. Writer and director Gavin Wiesen made a film that is disturbingly predictable that put talented actors and actresses in some of their most bland, disappointing roles to date. That’s almost a talent.

George is a high school student at a New York City school where he is failing all of his classes because he knows that someday he is going to die anyway, so, he figures, what is the point? Having made it to Senior year alone, he is constantly being sent to the principal’s office for infractions against the school’s rules and when he takes the hit for Sally smoking on the roof of the school, he draws the attention of Sally Howe. Sally thinks George is weird, but she believes he needs a friend and she makes an effort to be that friend, much to George’s delight.

When Principal Martinson conscripts George to act as a guide to an alumni artist, Dustin, brought in to speak to the current class, George and Dustin bond. When George and Sally visit Dustin’s studio, Dustin expresses interest in Sally, but agrees to stay away from her for George’s sake. As George’s home life falls apart and his teachers demand he get all his work in or they will unanimously fail him, George reaches out to Sally, but may articulate his feelings too late for it to matter.

At least, that is what The Art Of Getting By would have you believe. The Art Of Getting By tries to dangle the possibility that George will fail out of high school, not get the girl of his dreams and, through pretty loaded dialogue with Dustin where he admits he has never done so, not paint a picture. Note to indie filmmakers: If you want realistic suspension of disbelief in your audience, stop putting the answers right on the movie posters!

But far more than any sort of problem with the promotion of The Art Of Getting By, the film suffers from its own stifling mediocrity. I agonized for a while watching the film (it is always a bad thing when I am metaconscious, concerned with the review during the viewing, especially when it is a movie I was excited about watching!) about the rating and I was stuck on a 4 for quite some time, but then characters did predictably loathsome things – Sally lied to George at a party, Dustin finds himself charmed by Sally, Sally laughs at George for waking up with morning wood – or act in ways that reflect more of how Hollywood perceives outsider youth than actually creating genuine characters (George does not seem particularly inclined to succumb to peer pressure, yet starts drinking at a party) and I was down to a 3. But then there were moments that I was actually pleased by in the writing and acting, most of which came very near the end. Perhaps the most benign example of this (not a real spoiler!) is when the art teacher hugs George. Moments like that that sensibly defy today’s conventions and they work . . . but the movie took a terribly long time to get around to them.

While George lacks a real spark to be interesting or different from other indie film, nihilistic artist types, The Art Of Getting By could have been saved by Sally. It is not. It is unclear what Wiesen is attempting to say with the film, but the moments of insight he has with George are entirely lacking with Sally. Young people who despise the direction their parents’ lives went in and are both smart and aware of those issues tend not to leap wholeheartedly into making those same mistakes. Yet, in The Art Of Getting By, Sally does just that.

Perhaps Gavin Wiesen wants the viewer to know that everyone will sell out. For a film on the indie film circuit, The Art Of Getting By might well be the ultimate sell-out film. I’m not even talking about the resolution to the film that puts George in a position where he has to decide if he will spend the last three weeks of his high school career doing a year’s worth of work. No, that was completely set-up to be a sell-out. George, though, is disappointingly spineless throughout the movie. While he is established as a character who has absolutely no problem standing up to authority and he is able to be honest with Sally at various points – especially about Dustin – at the key moment when George is most angry at Dustin, he is the least forthright about the professional artist’s work. At the time when it would be most humanly reasonable for George to tell Dustin he thinks that he is a hack, The Art Of Getting By cops out with the safest of lies and it makes no sense from a psychological perspective.

Unfortunately, in addition to having problematic inconsistencies in the characterizations of Sally and George, The Art Of Getting By is surprisingly unimpressive on the acting front. Emma Roberts, who has wowed me in every other work I have seen her in, is understated and her performance feels inorganic. When Sally tells George he is weird, Roberts presents it with a forced, listless quality, as if she knows it is a bad line that does not actually fit the character. Similarly, Freddie Highmore brings nothing extraordinary to the role of George. Instead, he easily establishes George, but for a character who “fears life” (that was a line Highmore really stepped on), Highmore fails to present George in a way that makes him either interesting or makes his transformation feel at all organic.

Now on DVD and Blu-Ray, The Art Of Getting By includes a commentary track with Gavin Wiesen, but because of how disappointed I was with the source material, I could not muster up the enthusiasm to watch the film again just to listen to the commentary track. There are two featurettes and the trailer, none of which improve The Art Of Getting By. The Art Of Getting By is an all-around disappointing film that absolutely failed to impress me on any level.

For other works with Emma Roberts, visit my reviews of:
It’s Kind Of A Funny Story
Valentine’s Day
America’s Sweethearts
Blow

3.5/10

For other film reviews, be sure to check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Not Even Worth The Free Library Borrowing To Watch: America’s Sweethearts Flops.

The Good: A Somewhat decent cast, moments of Walken
The Bad: Not funny, Unlikable characters, Predictable, Low denominator humor
The Basics: In a film devoid of any characters who are empathetic and a plot that seems like it was written by a third grade student, the viewer has nothing to enjoy from America’s Sweethearts.


When was the last time you watched a romantic comedy that actually surprised you? One where you couldn't call the ending in the first two minutes of the film and where the characters were actually interesting and likable? How about one that was actually funny and that stood up over multiple viewings? If you're looking for a movie that meets all of those criteria . . .

. . . keep looking, it's not America’s Sweethearts.

The premise of this dullard is that a famous movie couple has broken up. Gwen and Eddie were box office magic when they worked together and their last film is ready to be released, but it needs the two of them to work the press to sell it. So, their agents work tirelessly to arrange a press junket where it will appear that the two are still together. The problems? Eddie has had a complete, crippling nervous breakdown and Gwen is a hellish diva.

Right off the bat, the only moment of this film I enjoyed was Christopher Walken's character. When Hal plays the movie he filmed that the press junket is supposed to be for, I laughed. That was once in 102 minutes. That's not enough.

What went wrong? The script is horrible. It's not funny. It resorts to stupid jokes like a dog nuzzling into a man's crotch (and the man is Billy Crystal). It resorts to stupid fat jokes in reference to Kiki, Gwen's sister and agent, and it tops it all off with stupid attempts to make Eddie's mental state seem funny.

All of the meetings between Gwen and Eddie at the resort are obvious, contrived and insult the intelligence of the viewers. That Eddie can't see Kiki's obvious love for him is ridiculous and the way all of the characters behave is appalling and insipid. This movie reads like a tabloid, without the emotional resonance of celebrities one actually cares about.

Catherine Zeta-Jones portrays Gwen as a hellion without any redeeming qualities such that it makes it impossible to see why the nice guy Eddie, much less anyone, would be attracted to her. John Cusack never makes Eddie anything special. He plays the wounded man much like his other parts, like Jonathan in Serendipity. Put Eddie and Jonathan in the same room and I couldn't tell them apart at this point.

America’s Sweethearts continues the trend of leaving me baffled as to how Julia Roberts continues to keep getting work. Indeed, like Cusak, there is nothing distinctive that she does as Kiki to differentiate from some of her other roles.

In short, America’s Sweethearts is a contrived piece that works under the idea that if you put two feuding, unlike people together in a situation where they have to be on their best behavior, hilarity will ensue. It does not. If you want a good romantic comedy that puts two different people together and actually works, try When Harry Met Sally.

For other works featuring Stanley Tucci, be sure to check out my reviews of:
The Hunger Games
Captain America: The First Avenger
Easy A
Swing Vote
The Devil Wears Prada
The Terminal

2/10

For other film reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the films I have reviewed!

© 2012, 2004 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Living Up To My High Expectations, It’s Kind Of A Funny Story Entertains!

The Good: Funny, Entertaining, Captures reality well, Great performances
The Bad: Light on DVD bonus features, One plot moment
The Basics: Near-perfect, It’s Kind Of A Funny Story manages to capture a difficult aspect of reality while still entertaining.


I can think of few movies I have been excitedly waiting to see as much as It’s Kind Of A Funny Story. I saw one preview for the film, a few years back, and it has been in my queue of movies to see ever since. So, when my library managed to get in It’s Kind Of A Funny Story for me, I eagerly bundled up for a night and made a pretty pure viewing out of the experience. I cannot remember the last time I was excited for a movie where the film so lived up to my expectations.

It’s Kind Of A Funny Story is a story of a character at the end of his rope, suffering from depression. But, unlike recent mental illness movies like The Soloist (reviewed here!), which accurately portrayed reality in the most miserable and gruesome way possible, It’s Kind Of A Funny Story manages to capture the uncertainty and fragility of a youthful breakdown while still being thoroughly entertaining. In fact, the movie made me laugh, choke up and relate more than I ever squirmed. I think the only other mental illness movie I enjoyed this much was the classic One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (reviewed here!). It’s Kind Of A Funny Story is more accessible than that and has a great cast as well!

Having seriously contemplated suicide, Craig checks himself in at the nearest New York hospital. Much to his surprise, the admitting doctor does not simply give him a prescription, he sends him to the hospital’s residential psychiatric floor. Because the floor for teen patients is currently undergoing renovations, the sixteen year-old is put in with the adults. After an unnerving tour by Smitty and fellow patient Bobby, Craig is unnerved. Compelled to stay for a full week, he is supported by his too-busy father and overprotective mother who agree that the hospitalization is probably necessary.

During a group session, Bobby expresses a need for a dress shirt for an interview for a group home he wants to move into. When Craig volunteers one of his father’s dress shirts, it draws the attention of Noelle. Noelle is a young cutter who is shy and insecure and she begins a conversation with Craig. Together, they converse and do art together, while Craig slowly comes to realize that the anxieties he has over the world and his future are steering him in a direction different from the one he thought he was headed in. Unsettled by Bobby, his xenophobic roommate Muqtaga, and visitors from his high school, Craig moves toward an important epiphany.

Because I am liable to simply gush about the film, I wanted to write first about what I didn’t like. On DVD, there is no commentary track for the movie and I think it could have used at least two different commentary tracks. There was one plot moment late in the movie wherein Craig makes a bad decision that made me grumble. It wasn’t Chasing Amy (reviewed here!), sit up and yell at the screen, guts the appreciation of the character bad, but it was pretty unnerving. That said, the movie recovers from that moment and went on to leave me very satisfied.

Part of what I liked about It’s Kind Of A Funny Story was how it managed to defy expectations even in its most formulaic moments. I tend to get seriously bugged by movies where two people end up in a romantic (or supposedly romantic, often the romance is actually missing, I’ve noticed) situation simply because they are the two people of the right age in the same place. Proximity does not always breed relationships and more often than not when that conceit is used, it upsets me. In It’s Kind Of A Funny Story, Craig and Noelle have a flirtatious relationship and it seems like the movie is building toward the two of them having a relationship. This, however, actually works in It’s Kind Of A Funny Story because the shared experience of youthful mental illness and the trapped conditions actually make it more realistic, not less. Unlike a forced romantic subplot in a horror movie where two people who are simply proximate suddenly develop feelings, two young people sorting their issues out is actually a shared conflict that reasonably breeds closeness. It’s Kind Of A Funny Story captures that exceptionally well.

The characters in It’s Kind Of A Funny Story are very interesting. Craig seems both very typical and subtly extraordinary. He has clear goals and desires, all of which have been sublimated to the expectations put upon him. It’s Kind Of A Funny Story does a good job of making his character journey realistic, well-paced and as uncertain as it ought to be. Similarly, without saying exactly what Bobby suffers from, his character is well-defined in such a way that it is as clear as the cut-marks on Noelle’s face and forearms.

What makes It’s Kind Of A Funny Story a decent exploration of the human condition that both captures reality well and does not insult the intelligence of the viewer is the fact that the movie does not pander. So, for example, the film begins with Craig contemplating jumping to his death and realizing that he needs help. Very late in the film, Craig ends up on a high place and the movie is not so simplistic, stupid or pandering as to stop to acknowledge the moment. Instead, the viewer picks up on the idea that Craig is in a different place and that jumping no longer occurs to him. I like that.

Like One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, It’s Kind Of A Funny Story is dominated by great performances. This was the first work I had seen Keir Gilchrist in and he blew me away as Craig. Subtle and realistic, Gilchrist is able to embody a young person having a serious crisis without making it melodramatic. What makes Gilchrist’s Craig work so well is that he is not suffering a severe disorder, merely breaking under the weight of what most people take as the “normal” experience. Gilchrist deserves a lot of credit for not hamming it up and making the character feel overblown or extraordinary in any way. That portrayal of realism works delightfully well for him.

Emma Roberts lights up the screen as Noelle in It’s Kind Of A Funny Story, continuing her ascent into the collective unconscious as one of the rising stars of her generation. She is smart, has a great ability to present herself as physically withdrawn and she brings those qualities to Noelle, making her seem both broken and desirable. Even Zach Galifianakis is great as Bobby. He does not ham up his part, nor does he shy away from being unsettling when the role calls for it. Supported by Viola Davis, Lauren Graham, Jim Gaffigan, Aasif Mandvi, Bernard White and Jeremy Davies It’s Kind Of A Funny Story is fleshed with a great cast, all of whom make the most out of their (even small) roles.

On DVD, It’s Kind Of A Funny Story comes with minimal bonus features. The film has featurettes on the making of the movie, as well as a look at the premiere of the movie. With deleted scenes and tons of previews, the disc could have more that truly explored the film and it is disappointing that that is lacking from the movie. That said, the primary programming on this disc is extraordinary enough to keep one happily engaged.

It’s Kind Of A Funny Story is a rare film that manages to make the ordinary extraordinary and remind viewers that the world is what we make of it, not what others insist it must be.

For other works with Aasif Mandvi, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
The Last Airbender
The Proposal
Spider-Man 2

9.5/10

For other film reviews, please be sure to visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the movies I have reviewed!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Blow: The After School Special For The Gen X Drug Runners

The Good: Most acting, Relationship between father and son, Plot, Pacing, Directing
The Bad: Penelope Cruz, Last frames, Moments of tone
The Basics: A surprisingly good film about the man responsible for the U.S. drug trade in the 70's, Blow is an impressive acting exercise and character study of one man.


Sometimes two actors not only look and sound alike, but there are roles in which they also act alike. Having watched Blow, I was allowed to exercise a rather obscure fantasy of sorts: I allowed Johnny Depp to be Christopher Walken and I allowed myself to believe Ray Liotta was Jeffrey Hunter. Jeffrey Hunter, for the masses who would not know, played Captain Christopher Pike in the pilot for Star Trek. He's been dead for over thirty years; died before his time.

Blow, then is the story of drug distributor George Jung. Jung is apparently the man responsible for the influx of cocaine into the United States in the 1970s. As we watch, Fred Jung, George's father, and Ermine, George's mother, fretting about money. Ermine is the archetypal nag and Fred expresses the bulk of his love and idealism to his son. Fred leaves to the south where he ends up smuggling marijuana into the California and then Massachusetts. Arrested, Fred meets Diego, who gets him involved with smuggling cocaine. From there, it's pretty much the typical rise and fall story. Fred marries Mirtha, they have a baby, Fred makes $60 million dollars, Fred is betrayed, arrested, and loses everything.

What works is that whenever the film seems like it is about to slow down or hit a dead spot, the director changes the look, feeling, timing of the film. The moment the film hits a rough patch, often it actually stops and it changes direction. Right before Diego's wedding, for instance, it breaks into a photo montage. It works. Ted Demme impressed me with his direction. He seems to have an expert sense of timing and that is refreshing given a lot of films I've seen lately.

Even better than that is the character connection between Fred and George. Throughout the film the tether between father and son plays out well. Whenever George experiences a serious loss, a direction, his father is there. It's actually refreshing, if a bit idealistic. It serves to remind us of the concept of unconditional love. And how great is that? I think it's a nice idea and in Blow, it is executed with proficiency and grace.

Most of the acting impressed me. The actors are diverse and for the most part I was convinced. Johnny Depp and Ray Liotta are the obvious acting winners in the film. They become Fred and George and they play the relationship well. Unfortunately, Penelope Cruz didn't impress me as Mirtha. I have to say it was somewhat amusing to me that it took over an hour for the second billed star to even appear. But even the secondary characters are well acted. Paul Reubens and Ethan Suplee appear too briefly and quite well as Derek and Tuna.

I thought the last line almost blew the film. I had been impressed by the level of compassion and love Fred had for his daughter. That the last line, a graphic on the screen appeared saying how she has not visited her father in prison seemed like cheap emotional manipulation and it bothered me that the film stooped to that. Moreover, there were moments where the tone was "have sympathy for this drug dealer" and those moments seemed forced.

What worked were the moments where the idea instead was "have sympathy for this human." In fact, Fred is sympathetic for moments in the end. He is a human and this film does not minimize the fact that he experiences the full range of human emotion. He is not a flat villain, he's not some public relations attempt to make drug dealers look good or glamorous. He's a man. And sometimes, that alone is worth watching.

For other films featuring Johnny Depp, please visit my reviews of:
Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
The Tourist
Alice In Wonderland
The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Corpse Bride
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl
Dead Man
Edward Scissorhands

6.5/10

For other film reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2002 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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