A Fable On Racism Gets PG Treatment: Zootopia

The Good: Moments of theme, Some good voicework, Decent animation
The Bad: Predictable reversals, Obvious character arcs, Troubling theme issues
The Basics: Disney's fable Zootopia is well-executed, even when it is obvious and there are issues with the theme.


When it comes to reviewing media works, one of the reasons so many people flock to the early reviews is that any interpretation one reads there is bound to be original. In fact, one of the dangers of reviewing older works - even those only a few months old like the Disney animated film Zootopia - is that a reviewer can find their interpretation of a movie to be one that is entirely derivative. Disney animated films are not my cup of tea all the time, but my wife is a big fan and tends to want to watch all of them - either in the theater or as soon as they hit Blu-Ray and DVD. As a result, I end up watching a lot of Disney movies, even if it is when they drop on DVD. In the case of Zootopia, rather than go too far into my own thoughts on the subject, because I encountered an interpretation of the film that truly hits the nail on the head, it behooves me to reference that instead of desperately trying to rephrase my shared thoughts on the film.

The interpretation of Zootopia that anyone reading reviews of the film ought to see is the "Honest Trailer" for the film. For those unfamiliar with them, "Honest Trailers" are videos produced by Screen Junkies and are humorous clips of a movie that rework the trailer as if the Truth In Advertising Laws applied to the film industry. As a result, Screen Junkies tends to strip away the hype that accompanies trailers - which tend to be loaded with the film's high points and elements that obscure the actual plot and character balance - and replace it with a substantive presentation of what the film is actually about. The "Honest Trailer" for Zootopia absolutely nails the true nature of the movie. In fact, Screen Junkies, in making humor and truth, exposes Zootopia for what it truly is: an animated film that attempts to explore racism and instead becomes something that is terribly racist in itself.

Zootopia is a classic fable - a story using animal characters intended to reveal deeper truths about people. Set in a fictional city called Zootopia, Zootopia features animal characters who live in peace and harmony, despite the fact that the city and its suburbs includes both predators and prey animals. Zootopia uses the diversity of animals in its setting to explore racial stereotypes and it is supposed to teach the viewer that racism is wrong. Unfortunately, Zootopia manages to simply reinforce racist stereotypes for the vast majority of the film. In a world where a young rabbit worries about running afoul of a fox out of ingrained fear that was passed down to her by her parents, that rabbit discovers that the first fox she meets is, in fact, a con man. Despite how they drive, the sloths are slow, the weasels are thieves, the desk sergeant at the police department is a fat, donut-eating glutton, and the polar bears are thugs for the mob, for example. While Zootopia never becomes nearly as offensive as Shark Tale (reviewed here!), it still falls drastically shy of actually confronting and combating racism.

Judy Hopps is a rabbit from Bunny Burrow who takes part in the Mammal Inclusion Initiative to graduate the police academy and get assigned to the animal paradise Zootopia, where predators and prey live together in harmony. Despite her parents' fear of the big city and foxes there who might menace Judy, Hopps heads off to the Zootopia where Chief Bogo assigns her to be a meter maid, as opposed to a beat cop like she was trained to be. Assigned to write 100 tickets a day, she rushes out and gives out 201 tickets before noon before she sees a fox, Nick Wilde. Wilde wants to buy an elephant pop for his son, but the elephant denies him service. Feeling guilty over prejudging Wilde, Hopps buys the fox the frozen dessert before she discovers that he is just running a scam. After parting ways with Wilde, Hopps chases a weasel suspect into Little Rodentia, which earns her the ire of Bogo. Returning to the Zootopia Police Department, she sees Mrs. Otterton trying unsuccessfully to get Bogo to pay attention to her missing person's report for her husband, Emmitt Otterton. Before she can stop him, Hopps volunteers to take the case and help the Ottertons and Bellewether, the deputy mayor, hears her before Bogo can get her off the case.

Chief Bogo challenges Hopps to close the case within 48 hours or quit the police force in disgrace. Looking over a picture of Emmitt Otterton, Hopps realizes that Wilde might be involved in the disappearance and hunts him down. While he is not involved, Hopps deputizes Wilde to help her with the search. The clues take the two to the DMV and then into mob-run Arctic Town. Their search takes them to the limo driver who drove Otterton and discovers that the driver, a jaguar, was attacked by Otterton. The pair makes the discovery right before the jaguar goes savage and attacks them. In the process of following the clues, Judy Hopps uncovers a massive conspiracy in Zootopia.

In many ways, Zootopia is a very typical political conspiracy thriller. The mystery is a medium for jokes about different races - in this case in the form of the various animals of Zootopia - and while it is a generally funny film, it never becomes a caper. Because the plot is a familiar one, the character arcs for Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde are very predictable. The reversals in Zootopia are so obvious, they will only entertain children . . . children too young to understand the allegory of interethnic relationships that acts as a the heavy-handed subtext for the movie.

That said, Zootopia moves right along and looks very good. The animation is very well-rendered both for the character designs and the various settings of Zootopia. Zootopia features decent voice acting. Led by Ginnifer Goodwin as Hopps, Zootopia has an impressive cast. Wilde is played by Jason Bateman in a voice acting role that sounds nothing like his speaking voice or any other character he has played. In fact, Bateman sounds like he is doing an impression of Robert Downey Jr. the entire film. With a supporting cast including J.K. Simmons, Idris Elba, Nate Torrence, Shakira and Octavia Spencer, Zootopia features performances that are very expressive all-around.

Racism is a complex issue, but when a work wants to confront the issue well, the key is illustrating that stereotypes are inaccurate representations of a group of people. Zootopia does not do that. While it entertains, it falls dramatically shy of being substantive in the way it desperately seeks to attempt relevance.

For other works with Ginnifer Goodwin, please check out my reviews of:
Walk The Line
He's Just Not That Into You
Once Upon A Time - Season 1
Once Upon A Time - Season 2

7/10

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

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Best 10 Movies Of 2014!

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The Basics: 2014 might have been a rough year for quality cinema, but here are the ten films you should see from the year!


Coming into 2015, I was a bit down on movies. 2014 was not an exceptional year for movies and outside one of the nominees, there is no Best Picture Oscar nominee that I would even want to see again. That said, despite a dearth of great films in 2014 (I had to go into the 7.5/10’s to make this list!), there were two films that actually made it into the “perfect” camp this year (out of more 2000 movie reviews, only 35 have gotten perfect 10/10 ratings!). Despite having three movies from 2014 I actually still want to see, I decided to follow-up on my Worst Movies Of 2014 List (that’s here!) with the Best 10 Movies Of 2014.

It is imperative to know, at the outset, that I consider movies for my lists based on their wide-release date. As a result, some films, like Predestination (reviewed here!) and Inherent Vice (reviewed here!) would have been on this list, but they only had limited release in 2014, with a wide-release in 2015. I’m not a fan of supporting the “New York City and Los Angeles get to see it, so it should compete against the full field” concept. It’s also worth noting that Still Alice (reviewed here!) should have made the list (by the numbers), but given how I would not recommend it and never want to see it again, despite being able to acknowledge that the acting in it is wonderful and it accomplishes its goals well, I can’t consider it one of the best movies of the year. So, while this list is undoubtedly the only one with these precise ten movies, the Best Ten Movies Of 2014 are:

10. The Best Offer (reviewed here!) – If you had told me on January 1 of last year that the first movie released in the New Year would make the list, I would have said, “no way!” Quiet and contemplative, the film that focuses on a reclusive auctioneer trying to clandestinely rebuild an ancient automaton, before his life takes a right turn, is actually one of the cleverest and most deceptive films in years. Arguably the most underrated performance of Geoffrey Rush’s career, The Best Offer might be the year’s best gem import,

9. Veronica Mars (reviewed here!) – Arguably the most controversial film to be included on this list, Veronica Mars is vastly underrated. Rob Thomas had a herculean task in bringing his popular television show to the big screen, not the least of which was telling a complete story in a shorter amount of time than any of the story arcs on the series! Veronica Mars (reviewed here!) had big, season-long mysteries and the idea that a full story could be told, while introducing the essential characters from the television series to a potentially new audience, in only a couple hours required the right story. Far from being a mess, Veronica Mars is a rousing success of continuing the story of Veronica Mars after a gap of several years. And, to the detractors, at least Thomas didn’t use the “season four” b.s. idea . . .,

8. The Skeleton Twins (reviewed here!) – This might be the only film I was looking forward to seeing all year, missed in theaters, and then lived up when I finally caught it! The Skeleton Twins is heartwrenching and heartwarming and it illustrates just how much two performers can push themselves and each other when they are working with people they like and trust. Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader were robbed this Award’s season! The Skeleton Twins might be dark, but it does not feel oppressive and that is a rare thing these days,

7. This Is Where I Leave You (reviewed here!) – Jason Bateman might be the biggest star to appear in films that made both my Worst and Best Movie lists! Bateman gets top-billing in This Is Where I Leave You, which was the story of a family reuniting to sit Shiva after the death of the family patriarch. The dialogue, casting and performances are excellent,

6. The Double (reviewed here!) – It is rare for me to sing the praises of a creepy movie, but The Double is that good! The strength of Richard Ayoade’s interpretation of the Dostoyevsky original is that: 1. It can be interpreted several different ways and 2. Even when one feels like they aren’t sure exactly what is going on, the film is entirely engaging. The result is a movie that is unsettling, but has some real, enduring value,

5. Comet (reviewed here!) – One of the late releases of 2014, Comet was entirely overlooked during Award’s Season and that is their loss (and ours)! Comet is the smart exploration of a tumultuous relationship that is packed with wonderful dialogue, impressive performances, and memorable characters. This is a love story that feels fresh and real, even when it is difficult and the strength of the movie is that it still manages to entertain while embodying a strong sense of reality,

4. The Grand Budapest Hotel (reviewed here!) – So, here it is! My quest to watch all eight movies that got Best Picture Oscar nods yielded one that I think deserves it! I’m not big on slapstick comedies or classical movies (the novelty win of The Artist (reviewed here!) a few years back still pisses me off!) and I went into seeing The Grand Budapest Hotel biased against it. But, it won me over. The quirky comedy about a lobby boy and a concierge on the run from a family who want their mother’s inheritance is Wes Anderson’s best film in years,

3. Her (reviewed here!) – The Grand Budapest Hotel is lucky that the limited release of Her put it on the ballot last year, instead of this one! Her is original and clever as it tells the story of one man’s burgeoning love with the artificial intelligence on his phone. Spike Jonze has a flair for finding a concept that is smart and foreseeable, while reaching the only possible and logical conclusion to that story . . . with consequences that give us instant empathy for the film’s protagonist. Given how most of Joachim Phoenix’s performance is opposite a screen and he makes the relationship between his character and the voice of Scarlett Johansson seem entirely real, this might be his best performance ever,

2. X-Men: Days Of Future Past (reviewed here!) – While Guardians Of The Galaxy (reviewed here!) was amusing, X-Men: Days Of Future Past had a level of substance that makes it a far superior film. Despite awkwardness in the X-Men timeline and the desire for most fans of the franchise to forget about X-Men III: The Last Stand, X-Men: Days Of Future Past manages to incorporate the disparate elements, characters and timelines and make a story that is the logical conclusion to Magneto’s original threats against humanity back in X-Men. The film, which puts Logan at the center of a time-travel adventure where he must stop the rise of the forces that will lead to a slaughter of mutants is well-executed visually and from a performance and character standpoint. Plus, despite all the Easter Eggs in Marvel movies last year, there was no moment on screen in 2014 that delighted me like the cameos at the climax of this movie! Regardless of what comes next and all the recasting, X-Men: Days Of Future Past is the crown jewel of Marvel movies,


. . . and . . .


. . .the best movie of 2014 is . . .


1. Cheap Thrills (reviewed here!) – Seriously. Cheap Thrills might be one of the least pleasant movies in years, but it was the best, most important film of 2014. If it had reached an audience and people had understood the film’s metaphorical level, the Tea Party would never have managed to get a stranglehold on the U.S. Congress in the 2014 midterm elections. Yes, seriously. That is a lot to credit to one movie, but Cheap Thrills does that. The story of an everyman who is in debt, facing a financial crisis that threatens himself and his family begins innocuously enough. On the day he is fired, he goes to a bar, meets an old chum from school and he and his friend encounter a seemingly benevolent rich guy and his wife. In celebrating the wife’s birthday, the two men are given competitions for increasing amounts of money and the film turns into a powerful metaphor for how business and the media treat everyone but the 1%. The story of how business sets people against one another and how other powerful forces delight in it and reinforce the inhumanity of their actions is gripping, entertaining, difficult-to-watch and entirely brilliant. Cheap Thrills is the must-see movie from 2014.

For other lists, please check out my:
The Top Ten Episodes Of Star Trek: Enterprise
The Top Ten Episodes Of Frasier
The Worst Ten Episodes Of Star Trek

To see how all movies I have reviewed have stacked up against each other check out my Film Review Index Page where the movies are organized from best to worst!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Worst 10 Movies Of 2014!

| | | The Basics: 2014 was hardly a sterling year for films . . . but these ten are the movies that ought to be avoided at all costs!


It has been a long time since I have cared so little about what movies might win the Best Picture Oscar than this year. 2014 might have had some big blockbusters and two perfect films, but it had a giant load of mediocrity for the bulk of the year. While the Razzies tend to pick out the most obvious commercial failures, this year’s list of dud films would not be complete without the ten movies below.

It is important to note that while I’ve seen a great number of movies from 2014, I tended to avoid horror movies (on principle) – I’m certain if I had bothered with the latest movies from the overdone franchises of horror there might be some alterations to the list. But, for cinephiles and those who value their time, these are the 10 films too annoying, painful, boring or poorly made to bother watching from 2014:

10. Behaving Badly (reviewed here!) – The sex comedy Behaving Badly was so poorly received that even Selena Gomez appearing in it couldn’t scare up interest in the film at the box office. Behaving Badly is what happens when humor from audacious animated shows like Family Guy and South Park becomes the norm; by the time live action goes as surprising and raunchy, it’s passé. Behaving Badly might have been a cult film fifteen years ago, but in 2014, it’s utterly forgettable,

9. Listen Up Philip (reviewed here!) – The Academy and art house movie viewers usually love films about miserable people and writers at a point of crisis. Sadly, Listen Up Philip is just a collection of the worst stereotypes of writers and smart people. I never thought I’d see a year when Jonathan Pryce was in one of the worst movies of the year, but there it is . . .,

8. Expelled (reviewed here!) – While the major studios were duking it out during Oscar Pandering Season, one chose to dump one of its worst creations during the same time. Alas, hoping all the attention the big dogs would get vying for serious box office dollars might allow a concentrated fan effort to make an upset was not a marketing technique that worked. Instead, this droll comedy represents one of the year’s biggest conceptual failures: the entire premise is a slacker gets expelled from school and then has to apply himself to get back into school. The Herculean efforts made by the protagonist to get expelled make his ridiculous efforts to avoid boarding school all the more unrealistic, especially when he sees that the place he is threatened with ending up is incredibly easy to escape from! With no significant performers, performances, or ideas, Expelled is gut-wrenching to watch,

7. Horrible Bosses 2 (reviewed here!) – At the other end of the spectrum from Expelled is Horrible Bosses 2. Packed with talent, this limp sequel parades out as many of the stars from Horrible Bosses as it can to remind viewers what they liked about the original before degenerating into a disappointing and decidedly un-funny hostage caper movie that adds nothing worthwhile to the franchise. Seldom have so many truly funny and smart individuals been part of something that falls so short of humor and was so very dumb,

6. Authors Anonymous (reviewed here!) – I’m not sure if I should admire Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting for taking her time off as one of the highest paid actresses on television to appear in an indie film or lament that when she made the effort, she was put into essentially the same role. Either way, Authors Anonymous might be the best proof that when you’re at the top of the industry, it’s time to experiment and spread your wings (when there’s no risk to your finances or career for trying). Unfortunately, Authors Anonymous is neither ambitious, nor smart; it is not funny, nor does it allow any of the performers in it to truly showcase their talents – it is more a string of jokes that fail to land and missed opportunities than a film painfully bad to watch,

5. Vampire Academy (reviewed here!) – My only guess is that Vampire Academy was in production before Beautiful Creatures (reviewed here!) proved that not all supernatural teen lit translated into box office gold. Vampire Academy was so unmemorable that when I began assembling this list, I found I could not remember what was so bad about it. So, I picked up a copy, popped it in the Blu-Ray player and by the time the characters started talking to one another, I remembered! The dialogue is horrible, the acting is atrocious, the story is so familiar it has become an archetype - complete with the requisite and obvious reversals.  The only reason to pay to see this film would be if a Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of it was produced,

4. Bad Neighbors (reviewed here!) – I know I am in the minority of the world’s population on this one, but I did not find Neighbors funny. Dumb frat guys behaving badly, tormenting a working family . . . this is a horror movie disguised as a comedy and while Rose Byrne might have had a good year at the box office, it’s hard to imagine she or most of the rest of the cast is proud of this “comedy,”

3. Happy Christmas (reviewed here!) – Forgettable and neither complicated, nor entertaining, Happy Christmas was the last straw for me with actress Anna Kendrick. Kendrick either has one way to perform or she does not have the wherewithal to stand up to directors to challenge her to do more than appear on screen and keep her mouth partially open. Seriously; I know Anna Kendrick has a nice smile, but at some point, viewers need something more from her than reaction shots where she looks surprised, with her mouth slightly agape. Yet Happy Christmas seems to hinge on that one note of performance. As little as I ever root for the career death of anyone, as one who loathes how Lena Dunham has become the voice of fauxmanism (that’s "faux-feminism" or "a dumbing down of the fight for equality and civil rights," for which Dunham has become the poster woman), when Girls comes to its inevitable end, one hopes anyone who thinks of hiring Lena Dunham again might just check this film out and be assured that investing in her future is not worth it,

2. The Wait (reviewed here!) – Jena Malone did not have a good year in 2014. Her character in Mockingjay – Part 1 (reviewed here!) was virtually absent until the last few moments (and allowed her to show off none of her talent!) and Inherent Vice (reviewed here!), was delayed into 2015 in most markets, which meant that the most time she had on the big screen was in this lemon. The Wait is, as its name suggests, a ponderous film in which very little happens. At least Malone’s career will not suffer much from the film’s release . . . it did not get a wide-enough release, so most people will never see it to know how bad it was,

. . . and . . .

. . .the worst movie of 2014 is . . .

1. Making The Rules (reviewed here!) – Robin Thicke acting vehicle. Need I say more? Given how few people witnessed this cinematic atrocity, I probably should. Frances Conroy appears in her worst supporting role since supporting in Catwoman, Jaime Pressly plays Abby a lonely housewife obsessed with former boyfriend played by Robin Thicke and what is supposed to be a steamy, sexy drama about temptation is just another stupid, escapist trashy romance novel that isn’t smart enough to acknowledge itself for what it is. At under 80 minutes, at least Making The Rules does not make us suffer watching its terribleness long, but when that is the best that can be said about a film, it is hardly a ringing endorsement!

For other lists, please check out my:
Worst Ten Episodes Of Star Trek: Enterprise
The Top Ten Episodes Of Frasier
The Top Ten Episodes Of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

To see how all movies I have reviewed have stacked up against each other check out my Film Review Index Page where the movies are organized from best to worst!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Remember That Movie You Liked? This Is Similar, But Worse: Horrible Bosses 2

The Good: It’s not boring, Competent acting, Moments of social message
The Bad: Not funny, Low on character development, Nothing extraordinary on the acting front, Ridiculous plot reversals
The Basics: One of the least-inspired sequels in years, Horrible Bosses 2 is watchable, but not worth it.


When it was announced that Horrible Bosses (reviewed here!) had a sequel in the works, I was admittedly skeptical. The film did a decent job of bringing closure to the characters for the situation they were in and did not feel, to me, like a movie that needed any sort of follow-up. But when the first preview trailer of Horrible Bosses 2 came out, I allowed myself to get my hopes up. Unfortunately, Horrible Bosses 2 is one of the prime examples of how bad a sequel can be, stuffing a pathetic series of scenes in as “plot” after an extended opening which is essentially a “best of” the source material.

Horrible Bosses 2 continues the story of Nick, Kurt and Dale from Horrible Bosses and Horrible Bosses 2 actually does a decent job of standing on its own. Unfortunately, it is nowhere near as funny as the original and given how much of the first forty minutes has the main characters revisiting supporting characters from the original before the plot truly gets going. The result is a movie that belabors referencing Horrible Bosses before it transforms into a crime caper that is not at all funny or worthwhile.

Having quit their jobs working for their oppressive bosses, Nick, Kurt, and Dale come up with a new product, the Shower Buddy, which applies shampoo, conditioner, etc. from a shower head. But when they are on Good Morning Los Angeles making a product debut, their website name virtually destroys their ability to get investors. They are shocked, then, when an investor calls for a meeting. The next day, the trio meets with Rex Hanson, who wants to buy the Shower Buddy, but manufacture them in China. Unwilling to do that, the three men “bet on themselves” until Rex’s father, Bert, comes in and places an order for tens of thousands of Shower Buddies. After meeting their commitment by building a business from the ground up, Nick, Kurt, and Dale visit Bert with the good news and he tells them that he is cancelling the order. With their entire futures at risk, the three men decide that to get the money to save their business they will kidnap Rex and hold him for ransom from Bert.

After securing the Nitrous Oxide needed to knock out Rex, Nick, Kurt, and Dale, screw up and Rex becomes aware of their plan to extort Bert. Rex decides to play along with the scheme, but he ups the ransom amount from half a million dollars to five million. Despite Rex’s assurances, Bert refuses to pay the ransom and he goes right to the police. With Detective Hatcher investigating Nick, Kurt, and Dale, the trio begins to doubt they can pull off the fake kidnapping. When Rex escalates the situation by killing Bert, it looks like the three men will go down for his crime!

Horrible Bosses 2 is notable in that it is tragically un-funny. For a film that follows up a movie that has humor that replays well, Horrible Bosses 2 treads toward the banal and serious than wacky and humorous. Christoph Waltz, whose prior serious work The Zero Theorem (reviewed here!), illustrated what incredible range he had, is straightlaced and dull as Bert. But Waltz credibly delivers much of the film’s social commentary. Bert wants the Shower Buddy for pennies on the dollar and he is eager to destroy Nick, Kurt and Dale’s business and lives; he is a perfect allegory of big business in the United States. While Rex is more overt with the explicit problems of American labor, Bert illustrates how wealth creates wealth and American ingenuity is not dead, it is merely being undervalued by big business.

But Horrible Bosses 2 isn’t setting out to be a hard-hitting satire of American business, it’s a ridiculous crime caper. Much of the humor and potential joy for viewers comes from physical gags at the outset of the film and references to the first movie. Kevin Spacey’s Harken and Jamie Foxx’s Motherfucker Jones pop up in scenes where the protagonists are kicked down more than deliver any laughs. By the time Jennifer Aniston’s dentist character makes her appearance, even her fun parody of over-the-top sexuality plays poorly. The result is a sequel where the humor falls flat.

Chris Pine’s Rex is characterized as smug and brutal, which plays off of Jason Bateman’s Kurt’s realistic intelligence as particularly cruel. Bateman and Pine actually have the chops to make a pair of dramatic foils for a serious crime movie or a business scheme film. Unfortunately, Kurt’s seriousness and Rex’s ambition prevent the humor from having enough space to breathe. Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis deliver lines and physical gags that objectively could work, but their timing and the situation they are in do not work.

The result is a comedy sequel that falls flat and is not worth watching, despite moments of performance that hint at the talents of the performers involved.

For other films currently in theaters, please check out my reviews of:
To Write Love On Her Arms
The Seventh Son
Song One
Match
Vice
Paddington
Inherent Vice
Selma
Still Alice
Predestination
The Interview
The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies
Expelled
Annie
Comet
10,000 Days
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
Birdman

2/10

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

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Sad, Hilarious, Clever: This Is Where I Leave You Is Like All Of Parenthood In 103 Minutes!

The Good: Amazing acting, Wonderful character development, Good plot development
The Bad: Crowded cast/characters get somewhat underdeveloped, Some of the twists are a little less surprising than they are predictable.
The Basics: This Is Where I Leave You is a wonderful family-centered comedy that involves some of the best actors of the day in a tight series of revelations when the Altman family returns home to try to deal with the death of Marty Altman.


With my wife and I on our first vacation in years, we’ve actually been taking some time to catch up on some of the new movies that we’ve missed. While I went into The Giver blind, we did a double feature and I was able to pick the second film in our double feature. I chose This Is Where I Leave You based on my love of dramedies and by being impressed by the cast. This Is Where I Leave You is clearly Oscarbait and this weekend kicks off the real beginning of Oscar Pandering Season as a result. Unlike last year’s Oscarbait August: Osage County (reviewed here!), This Is Where I Leave You is entertaining, watchable, and worth seeing more than once. All of the hype and potential of This Is Where I Leave You is realized in the film and for those wooed in by the impressive cast of August: Osage County who were left sour by the oppressive tone, This Is Where I Leave You offers a sense of redemption. This film is not (at all) a waste of time.

That is not to say that This Is Where I Leave You is flawless. Just as I have serious issues with understanding what goes on in the head of men who would cheat on Shania Twain or Christie Brinkley (or Eva Longoria or Jennifer Aniston . . .), This Is Where I Leave You forces viewers to buy the premise that a woman with all Jason Bateman has to offer (albeit in his role of Judd Altman) would screw around. While I am becoming more and more of a fan of the works of Dax Shepard, especially because he is pretty wonderful in Parenthood (season five is now reviewed here!), in This Is Where I Leave You, he plays a douchebag and accepting that Judd’s wife Quinn would have a yearlong affair with his misogynistic Wade is a tough pill to swallow. For those concerned about such things: the falling apart of Judd’s marriage is hardly a spoiler; it is the beginning of This Is Where I Leave You, not where the film is going.

Judd Altman manages to get out of work at a reasonable time on his wife’s birthday and returns home with her cake to discover her having sex with his boss, Wade Beaufort (whose radio show Judd produces). Leaving his wife Quinn, Judd moves into his own tiny apartment and when he finally answers a call from his sister, Wendy, he is told that their father has just died. Judd, Wendy, Paul, and (at the very last moment as the funeral is going on) Phillip converge upon their childhood house to try to bring comfort to their mother, Hillary. Hillary insists that Maury’s last wish was for the family to sit Shiva at the house, which seems to be an impossible task given that the four siblings have not been together in years. The initial set-up seems an intriguing mix of amusing and disturbing: Judd has not told anyone but Wendy about Quinn’s infidelity, Wendy’s husband is neglectful, Paul and his wife Alice have been struggling for years to have a child, Philip has started dating his therapist, Tracy, and Hillary has gotten a breast enhancement that only makes her children more and more uncomfortable with her overly forward nature.

But the week of sitting Shiva soon begins to illustrate the cracks in the family that drove everyone apart. Judd is goaded by Wendy into telling everyone that Quinn was cheating on him and he finds Penny Moore, who had an interest in him back in high school never left town. Wendy is abandoned by her husband and she finds that the Altman family’s neighbor, Horry, is still the man she longs for. Judd’s life is complicated by Quinn popping back up, pregnant, which causes a deeper rift between him and Paul. While Phillip cheats on Tracy, Judd struggles to figure out what he really wants in life and how he might best find happiness.

This Is Where I Leave You is similar to Parenthood in that the Altman family is a large family of adult children who are all coming together at the house they grew up in, now with their spouses, significant others, and children and their lives are all in shambles. Unlike Parenthood, This Is Where I Leave You is not hampered with the pretense of servicing all of the characters equally. As a result, most of This Is Where I Leave You focuses on Judd Altman (in fact, only one scene that features Wendy and her mother sticks out as being devoid of Judd in the entire film!). While that might seem to be a weakness – Phillip and Paul are comparatively neglected – it allows This Is Where I Leave You to make a truly rich character journey for Judd Altman.

And Judd is an interesting character. Having played his entire life safe, Judd eloquently notes that he made all of his decisions in life to avoid getting to the exact place that he finds himself in This Is Where I Leave You. Despite Wendy predicting that Judd and Penny might hook up, it is not truly unsatisfying when Judd begins to open up to feeling enough to be interested in her romantically. The viewer wants to root for Judd to have positive experiences and love and the more This Is Where I Leave You, the more the film becomes his story (despite having ample depth given to Paul and Alice, Hillary and Wendy). In fact, only Phillip is really characterized more as a flat archetype or stereotype than a well-rounded character.

The reason This Is Where I Leave You will continue to be talked about as Oscar nominations come down is the powerhouse cast. While Jason Bateman might have given the best performance of his life in the wordless scene at the beginning as he goes through an exceptional emotional range when Judd sees Quinn with Wade, he manages to bring the humor back in scenes like the confrontation with Wade at the hospital later on. Bateman and Tina Fey have amazing on-screen chemistry as brother and sister when they argue flawlessly as siblings are want to do.

The rest of the cast is equally amazing. From Jane Fonda’s performance of Hillary to the way that Debra Monk looks and sounds nothing like she did on NYPD Blue, This Is Where I Leave You is a stunning work of acting. Corey Stoll proves that his watchable quality in the first season of House Of Cards (reviewed here!) was not a fluke and he makes the viewer wish there were more of his character Paul in the film. Adam Driver is decent as Phillip and both Connie Britton and Kathryn Hahn give strong supporting roles as love interests in the film (Hahn and Stoll have great realistic chemistry in portraying an aged romance). Even Rose Byrne’s somewhat quirky role of Penny is enough to redeem her to audiences who thought Bad Neighbors (reviewed here!) was in pretty bad taste earlier this year.

Ultimately, This Is Where I Leave You is funny, with decent chunks of the film exploring a realistic family dynamic that makes it entirely dramatic. Fortunately, the writing, direction and cast make the transitions enjoyable to watch and make This Is Where I Leave You a must-see play-on-film.

For other films currently in theaters, please check out my reviews of:
10,000 Days
Hit By Lightning
Horns
Listen Up Philip
The Best Of Me
The Judge
Dracula Untold
The Equalizer
The Zero Theorem
Life Of Crime
The Maze Runner
The Giver
The Expendables 3

8/10

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

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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It’s Back! But Season Four Of Arrested Development Is Hardly Great.

The Good: Wonderful character development/progression, Great in-jokes
The Bad: Very different tone (to start out with).
The Basics: With fifteen episodes, Netflix returns Arrested Development with the entire original cast but short on the charm that made the first three seasons a classic.


When it was announced that Arrested Development (reviewed here!) was being given a fourth season, I was working at a blogging job for a small computer company. In the days that followed the announcement, Netflix revealed that its subscriber base had abruptly increased. I recall writing about how it was incredible that the loyal fan base of Arrested Development would show support for the preproduction by subscribing years ahead of the programs actual release. Today, I find myself wondering what will happen tomorrow. With Season Four of Arrested Development dropping in a single fifteen episode block on Netflix (an event my wife and I enjoyed partaking of beginning at 3 A.M. this morning), I wonder how long that fan base will stick with Netflix. It seemed to me like a tactical miscalculation to release the entire season all at once instead of drawing the season out in order to actually keep those subscribers.

My musings on the relationship between Netflix and Arrested Development is a valid one, but it is also a delaying tactic. The delay comes from not wanting to (inevitably) lose the readers who stop reading after they see the line, “it’s enjoyable, but it lacks the spark that Arrested Development had originally.” Because Season Four has to figure out where all the characters have been since the previous season’s finale, it spends a great deal of time re-establishing characters and filling in the plot and character developments from the past few years and telling new viewers what the loyal fans already know (“Stan Sitwell suffered from alopecia . . .”).

That is not to say that season four is without charm. Mary Lynn Rajskub joins George Sr.’s storyline as a silent character named Heart Fire, who is subtitled hilariously and there is quite a bit of humor pertaining to the housing market collapse in the late 2000’s. The appearance of the cast of Comedy Central’s Workaholics (season 1 reviewed here!) as airport personnel, the watermarks on the screen for all footage from the prior three seasons (“Showstealer Pro Trial Version“), and in-jokes to the original series (like Lindsay wearing the blouse from the first episode) are all cute, but there is nothing in this season as distinctive as “There’s always money in the banana stand” or “No touching!” In other words, it has moments where it is good, but the new version of the show is hardly as distinctive or fresh as it originally was (though “Three does sound bigger” came close). The refreshing aspect of Season Four of Arrested Development is that, after a clunky start, it does get better so that by the longer episode “Red Hairing” the show is actually funny and fun again.

Flashing back to the final episode of Season Three, the fourth season of Arrested Development is built around how none of the members of the Bluth family showed up for Lucille’s hearing in maritime court. The episodes then work up to all of the characters converging on the Quatro De Mayo harbor celebration!

After indebting himself to Lucille Austero and missing his mother’s hearing in maritime court, Michael Bluth finishes the Sudden Valley housing development and when it goes bust, he moves in with George Michael in his son’s college dorm room before fleeing to Pheonix. George Sr. flees to the Mexican border after buying property there to try to sell to the U.S. government to use to build a wall to keep out illegal immigrants. After Lindsay goes to India on a spiritual retreat, she and Tobias buy a mini-mansion in 2006 and end up at a Methadone Clinic (Tobias thinks it’s “Method One Clinic”) where Lindsay meets Mark Bark, the son of Johnny Bark, the guy she once spent time with in a tree. Tobias ends up as methadone addict and actor while Michael goes to work for Imagine Entertainment. G.O.B. pops up, having started an unsuccessful Christian magic act before George Sr. asks Michael to give him a job. The episodes build up to the hearing and then deals with the aftermath, building up to the Quatro de Cinco and the aftermath of the collapse of Herbert Love’s campaign.

Opening with “Flight Of The Phoenix,” Michael Bluth finds himself in debt to Lucille Austero to the tune of $700,000. After debasing himself with her, he flees to the old model home he and G.O.B. uses a roofie on him. Six months prior that forgetful Quatro de Mayo, Michael was attending the University Of Phoenix while living in George Michael’s college dorm room at UC Irvine. George Michael, his new roommate and Maeby (posing as George Michael’s boyfriend) vote Michael out of the room and he flees to Phoenix, as he has long threatened to do.

“Borderline Personalities” picks up the story of George Sr. and his twin brother, Oscar where the pair is working on fleecing executives in a sweat lodge on the border of California and Mexico. The complicated scheme – whereby Oscar and George swap positions between a sweat lodge and an “inspirational classroom” type situation to get money out of the CEOs – is how George Sr. is avoiding of government questioning after stealing Stan Sitwell’s border wall contract out from under him!

A particularly humorless episode, “Indian Takers” tells the story of how Lindsay ended up in Shuturmurg, India on a mystical journey that ends up in a shopping trip. Returning to the U.S., she trades positive testimony at Lucille’s hearing for a house with Tobias and a fling with Mark Bark. She finds herself on an ostrich farm, missing Lucille’s hearing.

“The B. Team” returns to Michael’s story as he gets a producing credit in Beverly Hills as he goes to work for Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment. Loaded with in-jokes and the return of Kitty Sanchez, this episode follows Michael’s quest to get his father to sign his life rights to the project in order to make it happen. Along the way, he assembles a creative team with Warden Gentles, Carl Weathers, and Andy Richter in a pretty righteous lampooning of the Hollywood “creative process.” And he starts dating a mysterious woman who turns out to be the most obvious person possible given the set-up . . .

In “A New Start,” opens with Tobias getting entrapped on a local To Catch A Predator television show and is flashed back to how he went to India! After fracturing his skull in three places, Tobias ends up in City Of Hopelessness Hospital in India! Returning to the United States, Tobias recommits to being an actor and ends up working with Debrie where he tries to make money having his picture taken as the Thing while Debrie goes as the Invisible Woman and the two get repeatedly arrested and fined.

George Sr.’s story is picked up in “Double Crossers.” George Sr. works to aid Republican Herbert Love. After effectively bribing the politician, George discovers that Oscar’s land is not actually on the border. Oscar, posing as George convinces Lucille to send G.O.B. to work on the border. When that does not work out, G.O.B. comes to work for Michael trying to sell the units in Sudden Valley.

Gob’s story comes out in “Collony Collapse.” Before the Queen Mary sailed, George Michael attacks Gob when he finds out his uncle is dating Ann Veal. After deflowering Ann, Gob tries to break up with her (the funniest line of the season comes in this episode when Gob sees a print of Jesus), but ends up engaged to her. When he gets out of the engagement, he falls in with a youth entourage and he almost gets them all killed.

“Red Hairing” catches up with Lindsay in the desert working on the ostrich farm with Marky Bark and their ostrich. After Lindsay finds a check for a facelift from Lucille to Maeby, she goes with Marky to commit an act of nonviolent protest against Herbert Love. The disaster reunites Lindsay and Maeby. It also puts Lindsay in the position to be Herbert Love’s mistress.

Tobias returns to the forefront in “Smashed.” After a stint in prison, is registered as a sex offender (unjustly), and goes to work at Lucille 2’s Austerity rehab clinic. There, he is reunited with DeBrie and begins staging a Fantastic 4 musical. In order to advance that project, Tobias has to meet with Ron Howard and that leads to a catastrophe in the making.

At long last, Lucille gets an episode of her own in “Queen B.” Flashing back to fleeing the S.E.C., Lucille tries to use Buster for her alibi. When he does not come through, she is sentenced to three to five years at a very light security prison. There she joins a Chinese gang that is willing to finance the wall on the Mexican border and gets transferred to Austerity.

“A New Attitude” refocuses on Gob. Committed now to destroying Tony Wonder, he tries to get Michael and his son Steve Holt to help him ruin Tony Wonder. After signing his rights away for the movie, he has George Michael come with him to the Gothic Castle where he actually has a conversation with Tony Wonder and comes up with a new revenge scheme.

Maeby’s years are accounted for in “Senoritas.” After trying to get her parent’s attention, she flunks out of high school, briefly works for Imagine Entertainment, gets fired and goes through high school for five years. After a brief scare where she is worried she will be exposed by an undercover cop at high school, she pimps out her mother and helps George Michael start his own internet company.

“It Gets Better” fleshes out George-Michael’s five years. Right before his software company launches, he was in a band, becomes an exchange student and creates a software that is not what other people think it is.

At long last, the final Bluth gets his episode when Buster is the focus of “Off The Hook.” Flashing back to Buster getting cut off from Lucille, he goes a bit crazy and simulates having her around, but after a night of juice, he gets a juice hangover and misses Lucille’s hearing. After trying to make a go of his relationship with Lucille 2, he re-enlists in the Army as a drone pilot and after an injury is given a new (oversized) hand to replace his hook. He is given an anti-bullying badge and falls in with Herbert Love’s wife, Ophelia. On Cinco De Cuatro (sic), Lucille Austero reveals the truth of her manipulations of Buster to him.

The season finale is “Blockheads” and it opens with George-Michael and resolves the relationship he has with Rebel and has all of the main characters colliding at Herbert Love’s campaign event . . . with all of the self-serving characters focusing on their own stuff.

Like the series that preceded it, Arrested Development includes a wealth of guest stars. In addition to familiar recurring guest stars like Henry Winkler, Ed Begley Jr. and Judy Greer, the fourth season of Arrested Development has cameos by Alan Tudyk, Ben Stiller (he shows up for a shot in a print ad, several background shots and two decent exchanges in a later episode!), Mae Whitman, and Scott Baio. Isla Fisher has a decent recurring role as Rebel and Mary Lynn Rajskub’s Heart Fire steals the scenes she is in. John Slattery’s Doctor Norman also becomes a memorable supporting character. Seth Rogen and Kristen Wiig open the new season exceptionally well as younger versions of George and Lucille.

The main cast is incredible. Given that all of the main performers return and they are great in returning to their familiar characters. Portia de Rossi looks unfortunately gaunt at the outset of the season and Mae Whitman fails to look as plain as Ann Veal originally did. But they perform their characters flawlessly and in a familiar way. Jessica Walter is given the best chance to show serious range when the show finally focuses on her. When Lucille has to illustrate complex human emotions, she sells it at least as much as she has previously sold her character’s loathsome indifference to everyone and everything. Will Arnett and David Cross get to perform opposite one another and their time together on The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret (season 1 is reviewed here!) clearly paid off as they are given more scenes together this season and they play off one another incredibly well. For most of this season, the performers look like they are having fun and they play their characters well.

The biggest danger of watching Arrested Development Season 4 as a fan is that one will spend the episodes gleefully pointing out connections between these episodes and the prior ones. By the time I recognized the waitress from a first season episode where Lucille did not understand her question, my wife began glaring at me (you can’t talk over the new episodes of Arrested Development!).

Arrested Development is a welcome show to get new episodes and the fourth season might start a little rockier than fans might want, but it builds up to the logical concluding point and it peaks in the middle well, making it well worth watching and getting Netflix for . . . even if for only this month. In fact, it is executed so well that it feels far more fresh than it actually is (the main plotline between Michael and George Michael was actually done in the first season), though it progresses the characters fans knew and loved. Season Four is more than enough to hold fans over until the movie is released and fans successfully get a fifth season.

For other continuations of once-cancelled shows, please visit my reviews of:
Family Guy - Volume Three
Serenity
Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

6.5/10

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

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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I’m The Stick In The Mud At Identity Thief

The Good: Moments of humor, Moments of character
The Bad: Exceptionally predictable plot and character arcs, Repetitive (unsuccessful) jokes, No superlative performances, Pacing
The Basics: Entirely predictable and surprisingly boring, Identity Thief is an unenduring comedy.


Tonight was date night. After a few weeks of procrastinating, I took my wife out to the movie of her choice, which was Identity Thief. She is a fan of comedies, Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy. I’ve been a fan of Melissa McCarthy since Gilmore Girls (reviewed here!) and I was thrilled to see her have a real breakout in the mass pop culture with Bridesmaids (reviewed here!). Unfortunately, Identity Thief breaks her streak. I might be the exception to the rule, but for as much as my wife laughed throughout the movie and for as much as people after the showing we went to tonight seemed to be talking the film up, I noticed there were very few instances of sustained, collective laughter in the theater tonight.

I think it is because Identity Thief is not actually all that funny. We watched the film in anticipation for humor that never truly broke out and while there were one or two surprises, Identity Thief more often goes for the lamest jokes possible. Identity Thief is not even particularly crude – outside a sex scene between Melissa McCarthy’s Diana and Eric Stonestreet’s Big Chuck – it’s just not funny. So, for example, in the first half hour, virtually every character that Jason Bateman’s Sandy Patterson meets, comments on how he has a girl’s name. Really? That’s the best you’ve got writer Craig Mazin?! The only really funny recurring joke is the repeated throat punches from Diana to characters throughout the flick. Outside that, most of the humor comes from Bateman’s usual understated delivery and the rest of the movie is essentially one, drawn out hour and a half long fat joke (there is an additional half hour to the film that is, admittedly, not just a fat joke). Viewers deserve better.

Opening with Diana calling financial wizard Sandy Patterson and “enrolling” him in a fraud protection service for his credit card (while, in fact, duplicating his credit cards to max them out), Sandy joins his friends and co-workers in turning their back on the financial management firm they work for to strike it out on their own. But Sandy’s first day working with Daniel is turned upside down when a routine traffic stop (while he is on his cell phone with his credit card company) turns into an arrest and interrogation for a drunk and disorderly that Diana as Sandy has failed to appear for in Florida. When the police are particularly incompetent at delivering results, Sandy hatches a plan to go down to Florida to get the “other” Sandy and bring her back to confess to his boss, so the police can apprehend her.

Sandy finds his identity thief remarkably quickly and after a fight on the highway and at her house, bounty hunters who are hunting her for drug-related crimes attack and the two find themselves on the run together. Pursued by police and bounty hunters, the pair begins a cross-country trip from Florida to Denver going through all their cash, multiple cars, and several cars and growing closer for their shared struggles.

Identity Thief is written as one of the most painfully predictable movies I have seen of late. The road trip/shared struggle/opposites attract themes are so overdone that almost all of the reversals can be called in the first few minutes. Even Sandy taking a stroll on the dark side by using his ex-boss’s identity to get cash is not entirely unforeseen. In fact, the more I consider Identity Thief, the more it reminds me – especially with its violent reversals – of Date Night (reviewed here!), except in this incarnation of the basic plot, the characters are not working to get back together and the mistaken identity aspect is a misappropriated identity issue.

The characters in Identity Thief are more “types” than individuals. Diana is a thoroughly predictable con artist and Sandy is a straightlaced foil character who comes to appreciate some of what she has gone through simply by spending time with her. Identity Thief might have actually been funnier had Sandy actually stuck to his righteous indignation and let the comedy come from Diana spinning her wheels trying to escape and rationalize. Alas, that is not this film. Instead, the story meanders from one pointless encounter to another (though the scene with the snake is delightfully gruesome for delivering a real comedic punch) until the inevitable and obvious resolution.

Jason Bateman is playing within his niche, as is Melissa McCarthy. Neither one presents anything viewers have not seen from them before. Eric Stonestreet’s appearance as Big Chuck actually begins feeling different and audacious for him, but the moment he removes his hat, the character changes into something painfully familiar for his fans.

That actually seems to be the bane of Identity Thief; it’s entirely predictable, structured, and familiar. The violence is not over the top so it never becomes truly unpleasant for the viewer to watch the comic mayhem unfolding, but the chaos is hardly all that funny. While I thoroughly acknowledge that the film has been tearing it up at the box office, it seems more like success built on the winter blahs than on any actual quality in the film. In fact, given that my wife – who loves this style of humor and enjoyed Identity Thief - mentioned pointedly that while she enjoyed the film, she did not want it for her permanent collection the moment we got into the car, Identity Thief strikes me as a flash-in-the-pan success; it’s having its heyday now, but by the time it is released on DVD and Blu-Ray those who made it so big at the box office now will have completely forgotten it.

For other works featuring Melissa McCarthy, please check out my reviews of:
The Hangover Part III
This Is 40
White Oleander
Charlie's Angels
Go

2.5/10

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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DVD Extras Knock Juno Up Into Close-Enough-To-Perfect Territory!

The Good: Great acting, Wonderful story, Interesting characters, Good DVD extras, Fun, Funny, Soundtrack.
The Bad: A little underdeveloped on the love story.
The Basics: Juno impresses the viewer as a romantic dramedy about a pregnant sixteen year-old who is carrying her baby to term for another family and the struggles that entails.


I have absolutely no problem with admitting when I have seen an actor or actress who intrigues me. Sure, I've been known to look up the works of Anna Paquin and after Get Smart (reviewed here!), I'm pretty much bound to catch some more movies with Anne Hathaway. Since seeing X-Men 3: The Last Stand I have been looking forward to seeing Ellen Page in more films. So, when I finally was able to catch Juno on DVD, I was excited. I was eager to see Juno and not just because of a potential very little crush on Ellen Page, the film's star.

In fact, the only thing that kept me from seeing Juno when it was in theaters (other than being poor) was I had read numerous reviews that compared Juno to Napoleon Dynamite (reviewed here!). I was not a fan of Napoleon Dynamite and, if anything, I went into that movie biased in favor of it. So, with Juno, I wanted to go into it and be happy and excited, but I had trepidation based on other reviews. For those who might share the same trepidations, the only things Napoleon Dynamite and Juno have in common are titles based on the lead character's name, limited budgets, similar layouts of the movie poster and the way young people seemed to have latched onto the films. The truth is, Juno is funny, witty and wonderful in all of the ways that Napoleon Dynamite failed to be.

And on DVD, Juno is even better.

Juno MacGuff is a sixteen year old who makes love with her boyfriend, Paulie Bleeker and finds herself pregnant. Intimidated by the prospect of getting an abortion, Juno decides to carry the child to term and she finds a couple who are looking to adopt a baby. As Juno and Paulie become estranged from one another, Juno finds herself visiting Mark and Vanessa Loring more often with updates on the baby that will be theirs. While Juno's parents are remarkably supportive and her best friend Leah sticks by her, Paulie drifts away from her.

But soon, Mark and Juno's friendship opens Mark up to the memories of the life he wanted and his trepidations about being a father begin to override his marital vows. As Juno's pregnancy progresses, she experiences the solitary life of being a teenage girl carrying a baby and works to figure out who she is.

Juno works on so very many levels that it seems best for me to start with what doesn't work. Juno quickly becomes a movie that is a subtle love story. It's all about discovering love after the sex and it is clever and smart in that regard. The problem with Juno is only in that it does not devote nearly enough time to the relationship between Juno and Paulie. In other words, while the movie works exceptionally well at defining Juno and exploring the nature and struggles of being an unwed teenage mother-to-be, it falls down when it comes to developing the relationship between Paulie and Juno. Their relationship is strained but what genuinely brings them back together is not clear or well-defined in the film.

Fortunately, we have DVD. In the deleted scenes, there are more scenes wherein Juno describes her feelings for Paulie and that works exceptionally well. Lacking that, I have to admit Juno is not a perfect movie. On DVD, it is close enough. As an avid cinephile who watches an obscene amount of television and movies for edification and review, it has been such a long, long time since I even had the pleasure of debating whether or not a movie was perfect or a near miss. Juno makes that a damn good debate.

What makes Juno work so well is that it is smart and unsimple. The plot is one that has not been overdone for theatrical films. Young woman gets pregnant might be a common soap opera conceit, but it is not one that has been translated to cinema with any frequency. So, it is fresh in that regard. But perhaps as important, the fact that the surrogate family and the pregnant girl develop a relationship is - to my knowledge - unique in films of the new millennium.

The realism with which the circumstances are presented is enhanced by the vivid and unique characters that populate the Minnesota town where Juno lives. Juno is a disaffected teenager who is brash and quite happy to do her own thing. She fearlessly calls up a clinic "to schedule a hasty abortion" and while it generates an easy laugh, it cleverly defines a girl who - despite being in transition - has a strong sense of self. Indeed, one of the hallmark concepts of Juno is that the title character admits to not knowing just what kind of person she actually is. What she is, though, largely, is actualized enough to not worry about others' perceptions of her and instead focus on figuring herself out. While that might seem dry and only worthy of small, independent films like Juno, it actually works in a very cinematic way.

Director Jason Reitman, who also directed the satirical and clever Thank You For Smoking (reviewed here!), presents Juno as a fearless character who parts the sea of students at her high school in scenes that work for more than just the movie trailer. Moreover, Reitman has a great eye for directing Diablo Cody's ideas from the most simple - like driving a toy car over her enlarged abdomen - to the fast and complex dialogue. Scenes like Juno getting an ultrasound with her stepmother and best friend are instantly memorable, as is a very simple scene wherein Juno's father Mac tells her his notions of love. Juno looks good and has a sense of movement to it that tells the story in a simple, straightforward and refreshingly romantic way.

The relationship between Vanessa and Mark is as well-defined as it can be given how few scenes take the camera off Juno. The thing is, it becomes instantly clear that Vanessa is the driving force in the young couple's desire to have a child. Mark - from his first scene - seems much more lukewarm about the concept. The reality of the strain having a child puts on a relationship is beautifully and entertainingly transposed for the viewers.

Moreover, the budding relationship between Juno and Mark keeps a sense of tension to the movie, which might otherwise seem slower than many would like. Cody's script infuses a sense of tension between the two characters that is vivid and is effortlessly brought out by Reitman and the cast.

On that subject, Juno is an easy winner for viewers. This is a movie that not only has an exceptional cast, but it knows how to use it very well. For example, Allison Janney, who established her dramatic presence on television's The West Wing (reviewed here!) with a sense of consistency appears in Juno is a role that is very different. She is allowed to be much more expressive and that range that she illustrates from her opening moments will please those who are fans. It's always refreshing to see actors and actresses we know do things in a way that they have not before.

Conversely, it becomes clear from his opening scenes that Jason Bateman was cast based on his work from Arrested Development (reviewed here!). Bateman does not so much wow us with anything he has not done before, as he impresses viewers once again with the notion that he is a master of the deadpan and portraying irony. Bateman is a cool, sly performer and his performance in Juno makes Mark memorable for a man who misses being part of the cool crowd. It is Bateman who defines that undertone to the character and it works beautifully, especially playing off Page's Juno.

The other noteworthy performance - outside the star - comes from Jennifer Garner. Garner reminds the viewer that she has range. Just as in Catch And Release (reviewed here!), Garner plays a woman who is struggling with complex emotions and Garner's ability to act, even without saying a word, defines her character beautifully. As Vanessa, there are scenes where Garner does such simple things as look into a wine glass while Mark is talking to her and it speaks volumes. Garner is impressive and Juno adds to her repertoire of memorable performances.

But it is, in fact, Ellen Page who is forced to carry much of Juno and Page is brilliant. As a young actress, there is often a push to be active and more sensual than anything else. Page devotes her time on screen to emoting with her eyes, delivering her lines with genuine wit and convincing the viewer that she is actually pregnant. She does all of these things magnificently. She makes the comedic aspects funny and she keeps the dramatic moments real. Despite my problem with the love story between Juno and Paulie being underdeveloped, the scenes where Page interacts with Michael Cera's Paulie are completely convincing. When Page delivers lines about her character's feelings she is absolutely real and she deserves every nomination and award she won for her performance as Juno.

On DVD, Juno appears packed with extras. The commentary track featuring Reitman and Cody is insightful, funny and worth listening to more than once. The deleted scenes are entertaining and the commentary that accompanies them to tell the reasons for their exclusion are engaging and worthwhile. There are enough bonuses on the DVD that make the viewer want to celebrate the movie and be satisfied with it as a work worth owning and rewatching over and over again.

Who could ask for more?

For once, it's easy to say I'm satisfied.

For other works with Ellen Page, please visit my reviews of:
Super
Inception
Whip It
An American Crime
X-Men III: The Last Stand
Hard Candy

9.5/10

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

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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