Women Can Be Just As Stupid At Men: The Gospel Of Rough Night.

The Good: Good initial characterizations, Decent performances
The Bad: Not at all funny, Mediocre direction, No big performance moments, Lousy characters
The Basics: Rough Night very quickly illustrates that women can make a movie as terrible as an comedy focused on idiotic men.


When it comes to summer comedies, it is a rare thing for major studios to bother with chasing the female demographic. Come to think of it, Summer Blockbuster Season seldom bothers with women, so when Rough Night was announced, I was actually intrigued. Scarlett Johansson has a tendency to pick good projects, so despite the initial plot of Rough Night sounding like something I would not be inherently drawn toward, I had some faith in it based upon Johansson participating in it. Sadly, Rough Night is one of Scarlett Johansson's big misses on the big screen and it is such a bad film that it is almost enough to make viewers believe that there is an organized conspiracy in the entertainment industry against women. The business of making movies is a business and if movies focused on women, featuring women fail at the box office, it makes a business argument against making films with women for women. So, if there ever were a conspiracy designed to rig the filmmaking business against women, movies like Rough Night would be at the heart of such a plan.

Rough Night is a d-rate rewrite of The Hangover (reviewed here!) with a predominately female cast. Sadly, Rough Night seems significant mostly for the idea that women can make movies that are just as horrible as anything a man can make. This is, sadly, not a milestone one would suspect women would be striving to achieve, but Rough Night reaches for that brass ring and never lets go of it. Unlike something like The Hangover, that managed to be a surprisingly funny and clever summer comedy, Rough Night burns its funniest moment out in the first five minutes and then falls flat for the remaining hour and thirty-six minutes.

In 2006, Jess, Alice, Blair and Frankie are dormmates, where Alice manages to be the first woman to win beer pong against one of the fraternities. Ten years later, Jess is running for the Senate and is planning to get married. Alice reunites the quartet in Miami for Jess's bachelorette party, which she has planned out as a rowdy weekend. Jess's biggest campaign donor loans her a beach house in Miami, made almost entirely of glass, and Alice is irked when Jess's Australian friend Pippa joins the bachelorette party. When Jess wants to poop out for the night, Frankie supplies the women with cocaine, which they do before going out for the night. Returning to the beach house, the women are thrilled when the stripper Frankie found on Craig's List arrives. Unfortunately, when Alice lustily leaps upon the stripper, she knocks him over, killing him.

Freaked out because they were high at the time and do not believe they can go to the authorities with the dead body in the house or dispose of it well (whatwith anyone being able to see in), the women fight over what to do next. When they decide to dump the body in the ocean, the swinging neighbors become an issue. While Blair takes on the neighbors, the others try to dispose of the corpse. But things get even more complicated when a stripper arrives and the nature of the man who was killed comes into question.

Rough Night is not particularly funny, the funniest joke actually comes up early and is related to Jess's political career, more than any of the issues that follow during the bachelorette weekend. At the core of the problems with Rough Night is that the characters are all monotonal and the plot motivates the decisions made in the film more than the characters. Jess is well-established as an aspiring politician, Frankie is a political activist, and Blair is nearing the end of a rough custody battle with her soon-to-be ex-husband. But Frankie has a pretty massive supply of cocaine and betrays her NSA-loathing values by owning a cell phone, Jess is incredibly willing to do cocaine and seems to trust that none of the weekend's activities might make it to social media and ruin her campaign, and none of Blair's friends know that she is getting divorced (which is one of only two elements of characterizations he is given). In other words, the characters are established, but then they act entirely against their initial characterization; they are not growing and developing in the course of Rough Night, their characterizations is simply betrayed.

With much of the humor in Rough Night falling flat and the characters not being particularly well-defined, the predictable nature of the plot arc robs the movie of any lingering entertainment value. Rough Night plods to a pretty obvious end with much of what one expects coming to pass, like the loathing Alice has for Pippa getting resolved and the failed relationship between Blair and Frankie getting rekindled. The acting talents of Scarlett Johansson, Jillian Bell and Ty Burrell are completely wasted in Rough Night given that none of the main performers are given anything that truly stretches their range to do.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Rough Night is that the film degenerates into a familiar level of misogyny and violence against women that is pretty common in films that try to blend comedy and violence. One would think that in a comedy intended for women, with female protagonists, perhaps it would avoid scenes with women getting the crap kicked out of them or taken advantage of sexually, but Rough Night treads into the unfortunately banal, familiar, and stupid range that one expects of Summer Blockbuster Season comedies.

It's unfortunate that co-writer and director Lucia Aniello went for the lowbrow instead of the audacious for her big screen, Summer Blockbuster Season debut.

For other films currently in theaters, please check out my reviews of:
The Mummy
Wonder Woman
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Baywatch
Alien: Covenant
Guardians Of The Galaxy, Volume 2

2/10

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

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Hard, Fast, Fall Of Modern Family - Season Six!

The Good: The performances are fine . . .
The Bad: Not terribly funny, Uninteresting character directions, Reworking of prior plots
The Basics: Modern Family falls into a rut in its sixth season and tries to get out with some creative episodes that nevertheless fail to garner laughs.


Last year when the Primetime Emmy Awards were announced, perhaps what was considered the biggest surprise of the night was that Veep defeated Modern Family for Outstanding Comedy Series. I have not watched Veep since its first season (reviewed here!), so I was fairly surprised that it would beat the usually stalwart Modern Family. Modern Family Season 6 was the season that was represented in the latest Emmys and after finally getting around to watching it, it is far less of a surprise that the season did not take home the night's big prize.

Modern Family is, objectively viewed, pretty terrible. To wit, after starting the season on DVD and watching three episodes, it took me another two weeks to force myself to watch the rest of the episodes. The season is problematic in that it is not very funny and the characters almost all seem to be in ruts. Comedy is based on surprise and in its sixth season, Modern Family seldom surprises. To wit, when Alex is competing with her high school nemesis for the valedictorian position, he tells he "likes" her and when she tells her parents, they immediately suspect it is a tactic from the boy's very demanding parents. At that point, my wife turned to me and said, "Of course they're wrong; they are always wrong." And she was right. The whole season was like that.

Following the wedding of Mitch and Cam, the Pritchetts and Dunphys settle into their normal routines. Alex prepares for college, which leads to a lot of mixed feelings from Claire and Phil. Jay and Gloria deal with their language divide and Gloria's citizenship and Mitch and Cam begin to worry that Lily is a mean girl.

The season relies much more on gimmicks in its sixth season, with episodes where the entire episode is assembled from skype chats from Claire to the rest of the family when she is stuck in an airport and comes to believe that Hayley has run off to Las Vegas and gotten married or where Phil is determined to be present for Alex's graduation, so he is embodied in the episode as a tablet computer affixed to a rolling tripod (? where the hell did the family get the money for that rig?!).

The season continues the deadpan documentary style for most of the episodes and that generally works. Unfortunately, the show starts to show some serious wear. The farce "Three Turkeys" feels very assembled (good farce feels energetic and surprising to the characters, instead of scripted like it actually is!) and "Strangers In The Night" is painfully predictable. The insult to injury of "Strangers In The Night" is that the Alex plot in it is essentially a repeat of the Frasier episode "Frasier's Imaginary Friend." Christopher Lloyd, who was an executive producer on Frasier at the time of "Frasier's Imaginary Friend" was still an executive producer on Modern Family when "Strangers In The Night" was made. It feels intellectually lazy.

The main characters in Modern Family Season 6 are:

Jay Pritchett - He works on potty training his son Joe, even though the toddler may not be ready for it and he quietly anoints Alex as his successor in looking out for the family in the future when he is gone. He tries to get one up on Gloria by bringing her to a dog show he knows she will hate so he won't have to get dragged to one of her family events. He pressures Phil into blowing off a car deal Phil made for Hayley's 21rst birthday gift and he bonds with Cam by subbing in at Cam's all-gay bowling team,

Gloria Delgado-Pritchett - At Jay's urging, she applies for U.S. citizenship and is dismayed when all of her studying proves to be irrelevant. She gets jealous of Manny's first girlfriend and comes around to the idea that Jay is not crazy when he tells her he thinks her sister is hitting on him. She becomes the object of interest for a peeping tom,

Manny Delgado - He pals around with Luke, but gets into plenty of trouble on his own. He gets his first girlfriend and proves predictably inept at football, which causes some problems in the family. With Jay's help, he confronts a bully, but in the process becomes one,

Mitchell Pritchett - He is dismayed when Cam shows up for one of his trials and Cam overshadows him for news coverage for an important case he wants to get publicity on. He is pressured into paying Jay back for the down payment he and Cam were given many years ago for their house, in the process squandering Cam's uncle's inheritance. He goes to work for a week with Claire and keeps the fact that he was laid off from the law firm from Cam long after the fact,

Cameron Tucker - His high school football team has an unprecedented winning streak . . . until he gets Mitch to come to a game and nearly ruins the streak. Always eager for attention, he upstages Mitch when Mitch starts pitching a story idea to a reporter while at a party. He takes Lily to clown school against Mitch's wishes and gets adult braces to upstage Alex at her high school graduation,

Lily Tucker-Pritchett - She gets mean for a while and turns out not to be gifted, which her fathers discover when a truly gifted child befriends her. She attends clown school and becomes vicious to Cam, much to Mitch's delight. She also goes through an especially stubborn phase,

Claire Dunphy - Tries so hard to become friends with Hayley on adult terms and have a romantic Valentine's day with Phil, though she has trouble accepting Hayley and becomes jealous of her own alter ego. She takes Phil's fun Halloween decorating and makes it into a house of horrors. She is particularly afraid when it seems Hayley as run off and gotten married without telling her,

Phil Dunphy - He becomes assertive after saving his whole family's lives when they narrowly miss a car accident. He becomes jealous of Luke when Luke suddenly becomes talented at everything he does and he takes Andy on as a protege. He and Claire get bothered by their new neighbors and he uses his father to get back at the obnoxious rednecks. He writes a song for Alex for her graduation and is forced to attend her graduation as a robot that people actually want to interact with more,

Hayley Dunphy - Her style blog takes off, largely because she doesn't know how to turn off her webcam. She gets a job with an influential fashion designer and tries to befriend Andy. When she actually meets Andy's fiance, Beth, she gets jealous and discovers she might have feelings for him,

Alex Dunphy - Has a predictably intense Senior year. She tours a number of colleges and is adverse to Cal Tech solely because of its proximity to her parents' house. She competes to be valedictorian and has multiple boyfriends for the first time in her life. As her graduation nears, she actually bonds with Hayley - getting drunk at a concert with her and having Senior Skip Say with her - and she figures out what direction she wants her life to take in the process,

and Luke Dunphy - He becomes jealous when Phil starts spending time with Andy and is horrified by Lily's interpretation of the sex talk. He is about to be left out of the school's awards day when Claire bribes the principal. He gets involved with a number of shenanigans, like attempting to make a jetpack with soda and mentos.

The sixth season of Modern Family has no truly extraordinary performances, though none of them are particularly bad. Ty Burrell continues to dominate the comedic moments with his deadpan and in the sixth season none of the rest of the cast steps up to be particularly funny. In fact, the performances are so mundane and the show is so unfunny in the sixth season that the moment of greatest elation I had while watching the twenty-four episode season was when Olive Platt appeared on-screen for a single episode.

That's probably the best place to leave such analysis; after five solid seasons, when Oliver Platt simply showing up is the high point, the series probably has jumped the shark.

For other works from the 2014 – 2015 television season, please check out my reviews of:
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 2
The Flash - Season 1
Orange Is The New Black - Season 3
Sense8 - Season 1
Grace And Frankie - Season 1
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - Season 1
Agent Carter - Season 1
Daredevil - Season 1
The Newsroom - Season 3
House Of Cards - Season 3
Doctor Who - Season 8
True Blood - Season 7
The Walking Dead - Season 5

3.5/10

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

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Season Of Building: Modern Family Season 5 Has Real Humor!

The Good: Good acting, Good character work, Decent plot progression
The Bad: Surprisingly little that is universal
The Basics: In its fifth season, Modern Family does not disappoint; it is consistently funny and is building well toward its promised purpose!


Not long ago, I finally caught up on The Big Bang Theory and I found myself tremendously disappointed with its seventh season (reviewed here!), so I was a bit worried going into Modern Family Season Five. My experience has been that when shows go bad, they tend to go bad in batches, like all of the writers get bored at the same time. Fortunately, that is not the case right now in television! Modern Family Season Five is one of the best seasons of the show yet.

The premise of the fifth season of has the show taking on a bit more of a serialized flavor than in some of the prior seasons. As a result, the season is building to something from its first episode on and fortunately, Modern Family does not jerk the audience around with the “will they or won’t they” plot conceits. The season continues to follow the Pritchett/Dunphy family and while there are numerous opportunities to go troublingly negative – most notably in the backstory of Phil Dunphy – the show does not get as dark as the season of The Big Bang Theory that aired during the same season. While there might be some bias in favor Mitch, Cam and Phil, the episodes all try to include most of the Modern Family cast, though the Dunphy girls seem to have less screentime than in prior seasons and Claire works best when she is setting up jokes for Phil.

With gay marriage legalized, Mitchell and Cameron conspire to propose to one another. Despite the guys both trying to make a grand romantic gesture, their plan goes awry, though they end up proposing to one another. They begin planning their wedding, the various Dunphys and Pritchetts go on with their lives. In this season, Mitch lets Cameron try his hand at planning the wedding and Cam becomes the new football coach at Manny and Luke’s school. Phil accidentally leads on a number of divorcees looking for houses, with hilarious consequences.

Claire goes to work for Jay and tries to distance herself from being the boss’s daughter. In the process, she learns that Jay actually tried to get Phil out of the picture, back in the day, and Phil learns that Claire might well have only been with her because he got her pregnant. Alex gets a psychiatrist for her overachieving and managing her stress, while Haley begins to show a real aptitude for photography and business. Gloria, Luke, and Manny show up and act as supporting characters without any big arcs of their own.

In the fifth season of Modern Family, the acting is virtually flawless. The main cast – led by Ed O’Neill, Eric Stonestreet, Ty Burrell, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson – know their parts perfectly and this is not a big season for transformations. While Haley might have the biggest character evolution in the season, actress Sarah Hyland does not have much to do to change the way the character is played. In other words, there are no great performance changes that allow her to expand her range on the show.

The fifth season of Modern Family does what a sitcom ought to do very well; it makes us laugh and the characters are interesting. This is very much an archetypal sitcom in its fifth season as it is plot-heavy and involved in the characters without making broader statements on humanity. It is frequently laugh-out-loud funny, especially from Ty Burrell’s Phil. But, it’s also a season that leaves little needing analysis; this is a funny season of television that continues the story of the Dunphy’s and Pritchett’s by having most of the family preparing for the imminent wedding of Cam and Mitch.

For other shows from the 2013 – 2014 television season, be sure to visit my reviews of:
The Big Bang Theory - Season 7
Game Of Thrones - Season 4
New Girl - Season 3
The Walking Dead - Season 4
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 1
The Newsroom - Season 2
Breaking Bad - Season 5
The Clone Wars - Season 6
Orange Is The New Black - Season 2
Parenthood - Season 5

7.5/10

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

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Brilliant And Depressing, The Skeleton Twins Showcases Career Bests For Hader And Wiig!

The Good: Great editing, Impressive acting, Good direction
The Bad: Virtually plotless/awkward/oppressive tone
The Basics: The Skeleton Twins lives up to its hype as a disturbing and wonderfully funny dramedy.


As I rush toward the completion of viewing the last few films from 2014 that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, I find myself distracted by a movie or two that I missed last year that I would rather watch than one of the Oscar nominees. Chief among them was The Skeleton Twins. The Skeleton Twins came out when my wife and I were on vacation in Minnesota and while we wanted to see it in theaters, none of the ones near where we were staying were showing it (we managed to catch This Is Where I Leave You - reviewed here! – instead). Well, we’ve finally rectified that and The Skeleton Twins has leapt into our permanent collection. The fact that it was not nominated for Oscars only shows how narrow the attention spans of the members of the Academy are.

Milo Dean attempts to kill himself on the same day that his estranged twin sister, Maggie, is about to take an overdose of pills across the country. Maggie rushes to Milo’s side – alerted because he left his music playing loud and his suicide attempt was discovered – and she invites him to return to New York with her. Milo comes reluctantly, where he meets Maggie’s outgoing, good (if somewhat white bread) husband, Lance. Milo is put off by Lance and he is shocked when he learns that his sister is trying to get pregnant with him (the last he knew, she despised the idea of having children). Milo tempts fate by going to visit Rich, who is now the owner of a small book store while Maggie is out taking scuba lessons.

Maggie’s scuba lessons lead her to an affair with the instructor. As she confesses to Milo and Milo admits to her that he has seen Rich (who had an inappropriate relationship with Milo while Milo was still a minor). Milo discovers that Maggie is still on birth control pills and when Maggie criticizes his choices, he puts Lance on the path to the truth. The result is both Milo and Maggie have the chance to fall apart and reunite after decades apart.

Milo is deeply sarcastic and he is wrestling with powerful depression. He is aptly played by Bill Hader and Hader manages to find the perfect balance between his established track record of goofy performances and a serious, deeply wounded person affected by his past. One of the aspects of The Skeleton Twins that works so perfectly for the film is for a movie that had some impressive and long preview trailers, the film is packed with surprisingly good lines and moments. The incredibly awkward dinner between Milo, Maggie, their mother Judy and Lance was absent from the extensive trailers and yields some of the film’s best moments (from the drop of the aquarium to Milo snarkily repeating Judy’s New Age nonsense line, anyone who has had a strained relationship with family can relate).

Joanna Gleason (Judy), Ty Burrell (Rich) and Luke Wilson (Lance) give wonderful supporting performances in The Skeleton Twins. Burrell is anything but goofy in the role of Rich and Wilson represses his own morbidity to play the straightman opposite Hader’s sarcastic Milo. Gleason is surprisingly able to repress all of the intelligence and professional qualities that made her an excellent fit for her arc on The West Wing to play the flighty mother of the two disturbed twins.

Kristen Wiig, who has been exploring the depths of her dramatic potential since leaving Saturday Night Live manages to set the bar higher for herself with The Skeleton Twins. The challenge for Wiig coming into The Skeleton Twins was to play a heavy dramatic character without simply reprising her awkward and dramatic role from Hateship Loveship (reviewed here!). Maggie is much more grounded in reality and much more in touch with her emotions than her character from Hateship Loveship. Instead, Wiig is able to play Maggie as depressed and full of self-doubt in a way that is different from the social isolation of her other dramatically-grounded character.

What brings The Skeleton Twins down a bit is the length of investment the audience goes through for the entertainment value of the film. Long stretches of the film follow two depressed protagonists who lead charmless lives and are stuck without any sense of catharsis. Milo and Maggie spend much of the movie lying to one another and while the viewer waits for them to either admit they have been lying or deal with whatever led to their fall-out, the film wanders. While the scene at the hygienist’s office eventually lead to Maggie’s big confession about her present, it is a long way to go before the movie progresses. Milo, alas, never manages to admit his truths to her or Rich, but the backstory about Milo and Rich is discussed, so at least the characters and their fall-out from before the film makes some sense.

Watching The Skeleton Twins is not about things that happen, it’s about how people interact and watching some comedic actors who clearly love working with one another play impressively different roles than they have before. The Skeleton Twins works well and is worth seeing and while the Academy might have forgotten it, it is a film that deserves attention and accolades.

For other works with Bill Hader, please check out my reviews of:
22 Jump Street
Her
Monsters University
Star Trek Into Darkness
This Is 40
Men In Black 3
Hoodwinked Too: Hood Versus Evil
Year One
Adventureland
Pineapple Express
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Knocked Up

8/10

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

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Departures And Arrivals Make For A Satisfying Fourth Season Of Modern Family.

The Good: Very funny, Decent performances, Interesting characters
The Bad: The series is becoming somewhat formulaic, Little enduring from the season.
The Basics: Modern Family Season Four is very funny, but little of it sticks with the viewer after the episodes are done.


When it comes to seasons of television, I find that one of the components that matters quite a bit to me when it comes to deciding to purchase a DVD or Blu-Ray boxed set is the season’s rewatchability (which makes quite a bit of sense). In recent years, there have been a few television series that I have enjoyed watching, but that I am not convinced have a timeless quality that makes me want to add them to my permanent collection. Few shows these days are both rewatchable and quotable to the extent that I enjoy watching them over and over again and can foresee doing so for years to come. In fact, only 30 Rock (“I want to go to there!”) and Happy Endings (“Shut your stupid whore mouth!”) come instantly to mind. While Modern Family seems like it would be a natural addition to my collection, especially given how much my wife and I love Frasier (reviewed here!), I remain on the fence about it as a part of my permanent library.

The fourth season of Modern Family is good, but it is not exceptional and while it has heartwarming moments, some of the humor is a bit more predictable than in prior seasons. The characters continue to develop, but the serialized elements in the season are understated – they focus almost entirely on Gloria’s pregnancy, the house that Cam and Claire are trying to flip, and Haley’s departure for and return from college. The season also is notably lacking in exceptional lines that make one feel like the characters and season have been defined. Instead, this feels like largely like a very typical sitcom . . . with performers who are able to get the most out of the average lines. More than in some of the prior seasons, the actors noticeably set up the punchlines, as opposed to them feeling like they come organically. On the flip side, some of the series’ stars truly make their roles look effortless. As always, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Eric Stonestreet excel at playing their parts and making the season watchable and enjoyable. But, as my wife pointed out after Burrell landed a great deadpan in the Halloween episode, “If he [Ty Burrell] wasn’t on this, I’m not sure it would be worth watching.”

Following the realization that she is pregnant, Gloria struggles to find the best time to tell Jay. When Jay is abducted for his birthday, she finds her moment and she is thrilled when he is happy about the pregnancy. With the Pritchetts planning to make way for their new baby, the Dunphys deal with the emotional departure of Haley. With their oldest daughter headed off to college, Phil and Claire try to find a new balance and that leads Claire and Cameron to team up to restore and flip a house they bought (much to the chagrin of Phil and Mitchell).

But Haley’s absence is shortlived as she gets into trouble in college and leaves after only a few weeks. When she moves back home and has to do community service, the family’s dynamic is restored. With Gloria worried about how Manny will react to having a new brother, Cam and Mitch start teaching Lily about Vietnam . . . which she resists.

In the fourth season of Modern Family, most of the humor is based on deadpan deliveries and quick turns of phrase (“You're the kind of person who can be twice as scary without wearing any makeup.”). The situations in the fourth season are not particularly loaded with inherent humor – Jay sees the woman to whom he lost his virginity while on a trip to Florida and she doesn’t remember him, Phil gets stuck under a motorcycle, Alex tries to get a picture of Haley wherein Haley looks bad – but the show is funny for the lines, though many of those are very specific to the moments they are in (as opposed to usable catchphrases).

In the fourth season of Modern Family, the main characters include:

Jay Pritchett – Who is thrilled on New Year’s Eve to play cards with Billy Dee Williams. He is continually bugged by Phil, works to parent Manny and put up with Gloria’s pregnancy (and her family’s arrival after the baby is born),

Gloria – Goes somewhat crazy while pregnant. Still, she is very concerned about how Manny will go from being an only child to having to share her affections. In fact, it is such a concern to her that she tries to keep the baby, Fulgencio, in when she goes into labor on Manny’s birthday,

Manny – Suave as always, he tries to get a dramatic lead part in the school plays. However, he finds himself upstaged by the least likely source . . . Luke! Still, Manny helps Gloria come to terms with being pregnant and has his first kiss,

Mitch Pritchett – Gets over the prior season’s adoption failure with Cam and starts making new friends, including a lesbian couple whose son has a crush on Lily. He tries to be supportive of Cam with Cam going back to work and with Cam feeling distant from Lily, but finds it tough to keep quiet when Cam and Claire fix up a house they are trying to flip. He acts as lawyer for both Haley and Gloria,

Cameron – Goes back to work, this time as a music teacher. He actually connects with his students incredibly well and he and Mitch have a fun New Year’s out together. He and Mitch turn Lily into an over-competitive gymnast and he becomes obsessed with marrying Lily when Lily maries Mitch first,

Lily – Good for the shocking one-liners, she is growing up and gets into gymnastics. She learns her mother was not a princess and that the tooth fairy does not, traditionally, leave one hundred dollar bills for teeth,

Phil Dunphy – Writes down his Phil-osophies for Haley and continues to practice magic with Luke. Despite bonding with Luke, he seems to recognize that Luke is a budding psychopath. He tries to be a part of Jay’s life and ultimately beats him up at a kid’s birthday party. He gets into a conflict with Gil Thorpe over selling the house Claire and Cam want to flip,

Claire Dunphy – She is bored and takes on the project of flipping a house with Cam, despite them having very different visions on how to accomplish that. She feels vindicated when Haley realizes how hard it is to get respect from the family,

Haley – Goes to college and gets expelled when she falls on a police officer while fleeing a party drunk. She returns home and is distressed to have to share a room with Alex again. She plays the Tooth Fairy and helps Alex learn to flirt,

Alex – She begins to strike out on her own. While everyone is convinced her boyfriend is gay, she believes he is not. She develops a talent for music as part of a small band and helps Haley take care of Luke one night while their parents are out,

And Luke – Goes on his first date, not realizing that Phil and the girl’s mom were doing all the chatting online. He makes a transition from set painter to opera singer in the school play. He re-established order in everyone’s life through acts of revenge when Phil steps into Claire’s shoes and messes things up for all of the family members.

Ultimately, Modern Family Season Four is funny and thoroughly enjoyable when one is watching it, but it is not a season I found myself contemplating at all when it was done. The episodes are amusing and the characters are fun, but it’s hardly a timeless show and the fourth season of Modern Family treads closer to the average than the extraordinary.

For other shows from the 2012 – 2013 season, be sure to check out my reviews of:
The Big Bang Theory - Season Six
30 Rock - Season Seven
Revolution - Season 1
Parenthood - Season 4
Veep - Season 1
Game Of Thrones - Season 3
New Girl - Season 2
Happy Endings - Season 3
The Walking Dead - Season 3
Arrested Development - Season 4
House Of Cards - Season 1
True Blood - Season 5

6/10

For other television 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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Butter Is A Wonderfully Quirky Comedy Worth Watching!

The Good: Funny, Quirky, Decent acting
The Bad: Somewhat predictable plot progression.
The Basics: A ten year-old girl takes on the horrible wife of the reigning butter sculptor in Iowa in Butter!


I am always amazed by how some films manage to assemble an impressive cast without my ever hearing about the finished movie. I swear, half the independent films that are out there would do better if only people knew they existed. I don’t even recall how I heard about Butter before I sat down to watch it today. And yet, Butter has a pretty amazing cast and is a clever, funny film.

Led by Jennifer Garner and Ty Burrell, Butter is an independent film that solidly entertains. Fleshed out by the likes of Alicia Silverstone, Ashley Greene, Olivia Wilde, Rob Corddry, and Hugh Jackman, Butter uses the wealth of talent that shows up for it remarkably well.

A year before Laura and Bob Pickler find themselves in Iowa running for office, Bob is muscled out of his fifteen years of butter sculpting success. His wife is unwilling to go quietly into obscurity and raises a fuss. When she catches Bob with a stripper/prostitute, Brooke, Laura decides to enter the annual contest herself.

Paralleling Laura’s journey is Destiny, a young black orphan who is taken in by Julie and Ethan. She illustrates a real artistic aptitude, but is supported by Ethan and her school teacher to apply herself. Ethan encourages Destiny to enter the county’s butter sculpting contest. When Brooke enters as well, the contest takes a very ugly turn. Impressing her foster parents, Destiny uses butter sculpting as a social commentary as well as an artistic outlet, winning contest after contest.

Butter is hilarious for its awkward moments. The scene where Destiny and Ethan sit outside in the car coming up with the worst things that could happen if she enters the contest is laugh-out-loud funny. Yara Shahidi (Destiny) has a wonderful sense of comic timing and plays off the far more seasoned Rob Corddry (Ethan) expertly. Corddry and Alicia Silverstone play a married couple exceptionally well and they seem like plausible foster parents to Shahidi’s Destiny. Shahidi explodes onto screen as a vibrant young talent who successfully carries most of the film. Responding to the foul-mouthed admonishments of Olivia Wilde’s Brooke, Shahidi has a great poker face.

As far as acting goes, Ashley Greene steals her scenes as Kaitlen, the bratty teenage step-daughter of Laura. Hugh Jackman has little more than a cameo, but playing off him allows Jennifer Garner to deliver one of her funniest lines of the film (“He slammed into something he shouldn’t have slammed into”).

The film is somewhat predictable, quickly turning from a meandering narrative where butter sculpting is peripheral to the family life of two weird Iowan families into a war of wills where an adult becomes to determined to beat a ten year-old at a contest. It is funny, surprisingly clever and thoroughly enjoyable for anyone who likes awkward, audacious comedies that do not play it safe.

For other works with Rob Corddry, please visit my reviews of:
Warm Bodies
Cedar Rapids
Hot Tub Time Machine
W.
I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry
Failure To Launch

7.5/10

For other movie 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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Watching Miserable People Who Are Friends With Money

The Good: Decent acting, Realistic character development
The Bad: Lack of plot, Mood
The Basics: In exploring the underclass, writer/director Nicole Holofcener creates a depressing film that is worth a viewing, but difficult to watch a second time.


I'm always complaining around here about movies with people who claim to be ordinary and yet they never seem to have any problems with money. You know, how everyone in the movies and television seem to have great jobs or no problems making ends meet or how they all just look Hollywood beautiful. So, it seemed like a natural fit that I would welcome a movie like Friends With Money, which is pretty much like it sounds; one poor person surrounded by people who have money.

You ask a question, you get an answer. The reason there aren't a ton of movies about people who don't have a lot of money is portrayed in Friends With Money in the simplest possible terms; poor people are miserable. But that's all right, in writer/director Nicole Holofcener's worldview; rich people are miserable, too. Almost everyone in Friends With Money is suffering in one way or another, though admittedly the pair who seems to suffer the least are the richest of the group.

Olivia is a former teacher who now works as a maid cleaning other people's houses. Her best friends in the world are a writer (Christine), a fashion designer (Jane) and Franny, wife of a businessman who is apparently quite successful. Jane is married to Aaron, who is also successful though everyone pretty much assumes he is gay and that is the cause of Jane's misery. Christine's misery is obvious; she is married to a jerk. And Franny, well, she's pretty happy. She also has a lot of money and she and her husband Matt seem to get along throughout the entire movie. Olivia is poor and discontent and while the others explore the discontent of having a lot of money, Olivia struggles to find meaning in the group while trying to find a relationship.

One of the things I liked quite a bit about Friends With Money is that Olivia will do pretty much anything for money. That's not a compliment, but it makes the movie very real. Olivia is so miserable and desperate for money that she degrades herself constantly and that seemed exceptionally realistic to me. So when one of her clients haggles her down from $65 for her services to $50, she agrees, because something is better than nothing in her worldview. Sadly, this is taken to the extreme, so as she explores a relationship with Mike, he takes advantage of her kindness, what little money she has and basically uses her sexually before she gets up enough dignity to actually leave him.

It's a sad commentary, but it reads as very real and ultimately, it is that quality to the movie that makes me recommend it.

The characters are otherwise varied in their likability. Franny is fairly blase outside her philanthropy (the movie is basically building up to a $1,000 a plate fundraiser for ALS that she purchased a table at) and she seems somewhat more a "type" than the others. Christine's relationship with her husband David is perhaps the most troubling; he seems painted almost unrelentingly as a jerk, which begs the question, how did this get by her for years?! They professionally collaborate, but it seems like even that does not go well for them for even a moment. Yet, David seems quite set in his ways, as if he has always acted the way he does. Christine is either oblivious or stupid in this instance and it's difficult, given the way she is portrayed, that she truly is either.

Jane, I understood. Jane is suffering an ennui (which I do not share) that seems to come from being wealthy and having the time and ability to reflect on the morality of the situations her life throws at her. As a result, she becomes deeply depressed over people cutting her off in parking lots and lines and she stops washing her hair because she knows she'll just have to do it again tomorrow. Her clothes are ridiculously overpriced and she knows it and she seems to see it as her duty to sheer the even wealthier of that little sliver of money. Aaron, her husband, is likable and seems to genuinely care for her and the movie plays with the whole "is he or isn't he" idea quite effectively only because so many of the characters make an issue out of it. His ability to reach out to Jane enriches both of them and the film.

Part of the strength of Friends With Money is definitely in the casting and acting. Greg Germann stretches out into a dramatic role unlike anything I've seen him play as Matt (Franny's husband). Bob Stephenson plays Marty with instant likability that gives him a presence on screen one would think would disappear next to the limelight of Jennifer Aniston, but he holds his own. And Scott Caan, whose character is possibly the most unlikable in the movie (though Jason Isaacs as David comes close) does an excellent job making the viewer hate him.

The two shining stars are Frances McDormand as Jane and Jennifer Aniston as Olivia (how Catherine Keener ended up at the top of the credits for her role of Christine, I have yet to figure out). McDormand gives a great performance, living beyond what I had heard of her performances in Fargo and Almost Famous (in both of those movies, she was touted by the press as a great actress, HERE I see it completely!). She portrays depression in a way that is almost physically painful to watch, encouraging the viewer to feel a gut reaction of empathy. Her ability to connote a great deal with facial expression, as well as barbing some of the movie's most simple lines with implication, is brilliant.

And then there's Jennifer Aniston. It's difficult to watch someone who is a-list portray someone who is constantly degrading herself and Aniston (and this is intended as a compliment) does it wonderfully in Friends With Money. There is not a moment of the movie where Aniston is JENNIFER ANISTON, A-Lister! She's Olivia from her first frame to the last, awkward, pained, insecure. This is a performance that stretches her ability as an actress and she lives up to the challenge completely. And no one is more surprised about that than I.

Ultimately, though, Friends With Money is a depressing movie. It's thought provoking. It illustrates what capitalism can do to people who want basic respect and dignity and find users and jerks. Olivia's reasoning for leaving teaching is brilliant and one of the film's strengths is definitely that we never see flashbacks to that time in her life.

Poor people want the same things wealthy people have: to be comfortable and to try to find happiness. All Friends With Money reveals is that people with money can find more expensive ways to make themselves miserable or they can choose to overcome their misery and be happy in a way the poor among us cannot.

For other works with Frances McDormand, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
Aeon Flux
City By The Sea
Almost Famous
Wonder Boys
Miller’s Crossing

6.5/10

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

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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In Its Third Season, Modern Family Hits A Hilarious Stride!

The Good: Consistently gunny, Decent character development, Good serialization for some of the plot elements.
The Bad: Nothing exceptional on the acting front (that’s qualified in the review!).
The Basics: Modern Family Season Three is arguably the best season so far and is well worth picking up for anyone who likes eclectic family comedies!


I can think of no single comedy that so quickly rocketed into the “must watch each week” category for my wife and I as Modern Family. We actually got hooked during the primary run of Modern Family’s third season and once we decided it was a new weekly tradition for us, we backtracked and watched all of Season 1 (reviewed here!) and Season 2 (reviewed here!) in short order. But having rewatched the entire third season again, it is easy to see why it was the season that hooked us both.

In its third season, Modern Family is consistently funny and the characters actually grow beyond the comfort levels established for them in the prior seasons without making them seem even momentarily like new or unfamiliar characters. Over the course of the twenty-four half hour episodes of Season Three, the Pritchetts and Dunphys experience more of the trials and tribulations of daily life in contemporary times. This family-focused comedy follows three family units within the extended family of Jay Pritchett, The result is a show that is willing to serialize some of its important elements in order to actually develop the characters. Unlike some of the earlier seasons, in its third season, Modern Family commits to the characters over each episode’s theme.

It is in the third season that Claire runs for city council because the current head of the city council ignores her pleas for a new traffic sign. Her effort to run for elected office is vocally supported by Phil and the three children who realize that if Clair wins, she will not be home to bug them for quite some time. As they work to support Claire, Haley begins her college search and discovers that she might not have what it takes to go to college when she graduates (if she graduates!) high school! Cam and Mitchell work to adopt a second baby, much to the chagrin of Lily.

More ridiculous elements only survive the individual episodes, like the Christmas episode which has the whole extended family running around to prepare for an express Christmas or the episode that pits the dreamers against the family members who believe in empirical, provable, results. Jay and Claire essentially fight one another to do Manny and Luke’s egg drop project. Jay tries to set Manny up with a work ethic by having him become a door to door salesman and Lily starts saying the “F-word!”

The third season of Modern Family works very hard to balance the various characters, but more often than not, the show finds focus with Phil. So, for example, as Claire campaigns for the city council, it is often Phil’s backwards attempts to help that steal the show. And while the three women in the Dunphy family seem like they would be the focus of an episode where their menstrual cycles synch up on Leap Day, it is actually Phil’s reactions to their heightened moodiness that steals the show. In fact, it seems like in every episode in the third season of Modern Family, there is a plotline that integrally involves Phil. That is not so with all of the other characters.

The show takes on a few more serious concepts, like the death of a neighbor who was Luke’s friend and the revelation that Haley has lost her virginity. And when Gloria screws up and lets down Phil, the show uncharacteristically confronts head-on the attraction that Phil has for his father-in-law’s wife. That is actual character growth. Of course, elements like Jay and Claire getting increasingly competitive with one another is very much within their established characters. Part of what makes Modern Family so good is how the show works hard to evolve its characters, but seems to acknowledge that not everyone changes and those who do change have the tendency to have relapses of one form or another.

While the characters doo seem to grow a bit in the course of the third season of Modern Family, the acting is largely what one might expect from the show. By this point, all of the adult actors know their roles and they continue to play within their bounds. It is notable that by the end of the third season, Modern Family’s young cast successfully embodies each of their characters enough to convince the viewers that they are thoroughly professional and secure in exactly who they are supposed to be.

As is typical with television comedies, Modern Family Season Three comes with minimal bonus features. There is a gag reel and a handful of deleted scenes where the characters talk to-camera from the couch (Modern Family has a quasi-documentary shooting style). This is not one of those series’ where every episode gets multiple commentary tracks. Still, the low-key extras can be very nice. The primary programming of Modern Family Season 3 makes it worth the buy on its own!

For other shows from the 2011 – 2012 television season, please check out:
30 Rock - Season 6
The Big Bang Theory - Season 5
Happy Endings - Season 2
New Girl - Season 1
Once Upon A Time - Season 1
Weeds - Season 7

8.5/10

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

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

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Morning Glory Is The Best, Most Insufferably Predictable, Workplace Dramedy In Years!

The Good: Interesting characters, Decent development and structure, Wonderful acting, Decent DVD bonus features.
The Bad: Utterly predictable on all fronts.
The Basics: Despite being painfully predictable, Morning Glory is a worthwhile and fun film focusing on one plucky producer’s attempt to save a morning television news program, despite her lead anchor’s resistance!


The longer one watches and reviews movies (or television, I suppose), the harder it is to surprise them. For sure, not everything can be innovative, fresh and new, which might be why so many major studios continue to revamp old franchises rather than being accused of making something that would be panned as “derivative.” With romantic comedies and lighter workplace dramas, there have been so many cinematic stories told that it truly is difficult to amaze viewers now. Thus, the success of those types of movies often comes down to the quality of the cast and acting and the quirks that come in the writing from the writer’s sense of style and eloquence.

Morning Glory succeeds for only that reason. Were it not for an impressive cast acting incredibly well and moments where the writing felt fresh (Mike Pomeroy being defined as the third worst person on the planet, for example), Morning Glory would simply be a formulaic nightmare that lacked any charm, originality or reason to watch. As it is, though, Morning Glory has enough going for it, so much so that it is easy to see why Harrison Ford wanted to be a part of it. However, the entirely formulaic nature of the film helps make it clear why so few critics were wowed by the movie.

Becky Fuller works for a small New Jersey television station where she works on the morning show. When she thinks she is being promoted, she is in fact fired and that throws her off track entirely. Despite her mother’s discouragements, Becky continues to pursue a position as a producer and after weeks of trying, she finally lands an interview at IBS. Hired to take over the struggling show “Daybreak,” Becky is hampered by outdated technology and a lecherous, egotistical anchor. After firing her anchor, she determines that the newscaster for whom she has always had respect is still under contract with the network and using a clause in his contract that leverages the balance of his contract against him, Becky manages to get Mike Pomeroy to come do “Daybreak.”

Unfortunately for Becky and Mike’s co-anchor, Colleen, Mike refuses to adapt to the format of morning television. Unwilling to do any piece that he feels is below him, Mike pushes to report real news. But when one of Becky’s stunts involving the weatherman, Ernie, actually shows a tiny ratings bump, Becky sees that the key to getting the audience is sensationalism. As she uses Ernie and Colleen to bring entertaining programming to the morning show, Mike continues to resist, focusing instead on his own quest for a breaking news story. As Becky works to save the show, she tries to balance “Daybreak” with her new relationship with Adam, a man who knows Mike Pomeroy’s eccentricities all too well.

Morning Glory is one of those movies that it is hard for me to start an objective discussion about because I start going into all the things that feel familiar and trite about it – mostly pertaining to the plot and character structure of the film. So, sufficed to say, the film is not only predictable, but it has a very “assembled” feel to it. In other words, the film has very little in the way of frills; the elements that are put into play very early in Morning Glory all come back later on to be paid off. So, for example, Becky’s mother makes a crack in her first scene about how Becky has just been working on the hope that someday, an important executive will call her up and offer her a producing position on the biggest morning show on the air. So, when Becky is called by NBC late in the film, that bit of foreshadowing is played out.

But the problem with being so very critical about how the film is assembled is that some of it, much of it, actually works. Adam’s knowledge of Mike Pomeroy’s drinking habits is not only useful to Becky, it makes sense that he would have become familiar with them in his tenure working with Mike. The scene where Mike Pomeroy cooks a frittata before work not only serves to humanize him to Becky, but it is pretty much meaningless without the callback to it late in the film. As a result, much of Morning Glory feels like a set-up in the first half and the second half is all about paying off the threads laid down. It’s a formula, but it is hard to complain when part of that formula results in people putting down their smartphones and spending more real time together.

Part of the success of Morning Glory (because it does work quite a bit more than it ever fails) comes from the film’s cast and the fact that director Roger Mitchell uses them all in an excellent fashion. Matt Malloy makes Ernie credible in all the ways his character is tormented and Michell uses Ty Burrell for a brief, hilarious, role before getting him off camera before Burrell can change the entire tenor of the film. John Pankow has great physical performances in Morning Glory and one of my new favorites over the past three years, Patrick Wilson, manages to be entirely credible as Adam. He is, in fact, far more believable as an awkward, lovestruck yet frumpy guy than Rachel McAdams is as a woman so busy she doesn’t possibly notice that she is drop-dead gorgeous. Jeff Goldblum is efficient and smart in his scenes as Jerry.

Diana Keaton pretty much reinvented herself in Morning Glory. As Colleen Peck, she plays a journalist who understands how the game is played and works for a fourth place show. Instead of complaining about it, Colleen shows up, does her job and waits for a producer to come along who believes in the concept of “Daybreak” and who might actually want to be there. When Becky Fuller arrives, Colleen quickly realizes that she is the real deal. This leads Keaton to some of her most memorable moments on film as she raps with 50 Cent, plays with animals and is put in a giant sumo costume to go up against a real sumo wrestler. And Keaton plays Colleen as credibly smart and emotionally connected enough to hold her own against Harrison Ford’s Mike Pomeroy.

Well before he played a cranky old man in Cowboys And Aliens (reviewed here!), Harrison Ford played Mike Pomeroy and the role is an exceptionally good one to illustrate Ford’s talents. Harrison Ford does not play Pomeroy as dashing, debonair, or charismatic, which are traits that Ford is usually associated with. Instead, he slouches, scowls and grunts his way through the role and he is so convincing in his grumpy persona that viewers are almost unlikely to buy that he is smart enough, when viewing the promos for Pomeroy joining “Daybreak,” to quip, “What’s in the briefcase? Where am I running to?!” Ford pulls it off, though, and he makes a good arc of Pomeroy’s many barriers peeling away.

Rachel McAdams, however, sells Morning Glory. It is largely her job to convince the viewers that Becky is smart and driven enough to make “Daybreak” work and over the course of the film, she succeeds. She has great on-screen chemistry with both Patrick Wilson and Harrison Ford. Rachel McAdams makes Fuller seem determined and righteous enough to be completely believable.

On DVD and Blu-Ray, Morning Glory has quite a bit to offer viewers. In addition to deleted scenes, there is a rich commentary track with director Roger Michell and the film’s author. The featurettes are entertaining and there are enough bonus features to make viewers feel they are getting a value with the disc.

Ultimately, Morning Glory may not be the most original film, but it presents the known quantities well and is well worth watching for the entertainment of it; Morning Glory is enduringly entertaining and holds up over multiple viewings.

For other works with Rachel McAdams, be sure to check out my reviews of:
The Vow
Sherlock Holmes
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Married Life
The Family Stone
Mean Girls

7/10

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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Good, If Not Great, Company: In Good Company

The Good: Decent characters, Generally decent story
The Bad: Acting is generally unimpressive, Not the comedy it is billed as
The Basics: In an ultimately average movie, the principle actors give blase performances that make In Good Company a disappointment from a decent writer/director.


Scarlett Johansson is rapidly becoming one of those actresses I want to like but continue to find myself underwhelmed by. I see her appeal - a lot easier than that of Kirsten Dunst! - but I have come to realize that she's not used enough to her benefit (like the terrible Lost In Translation, reviewed here, where her performance is all that makes the character worth watching) or is appearing in a number of roles that she is simply not used enough (like The Prestige, reviewed here!). In Good Company, where Johansson receives third billing falls into the latter category, where she ends up more as a supporting player than an actual star.

When fifty-something advertising sales executive Dan Foreman's company is bought out by a major conglomerate, Foreman finds a twenty-six year old taking his job, despite the youth having no experience in the field. Carter Duryea takes over feeling the insecurity of his personal life clashing with the expectations of his professional life. When his wife leaves him and he gets into a car accident, he starts dating Foreman's daughter Alex, who is now studying at NYU. Carter and Dan clash professionally and personally over their life and job decisions.

And the main problem is that In Good Company is billed as a comedy and it's not terribly funny. There are moments that are amusing, but the movie is largely a dramatic presentation of the changing world of business and the problematic aspects of multinational conglomerates. The romantic plot between Carter and Alex is almost an afterthought and it never seems as genuine as the conflicts between Carter and Dan.

So, the first people this movie is not for are those looking for a romantic comedy. You'd likely be disappointed. On the business end, the movie's views on the changing world of business make some very good points; there are dangers in monopolies, nothing beats the personal touch and inexperienced suits ought not to replace experienced individuals who have proven their professional worth. But the movie's answers are all too simple. In Good Company effectively ignores the fact that the world is changing in favor of creating a statement that boils down to "the business world was better before multinational corporations." Thus, anyone looking for an interesting, compelling business movie with real insight is also going to be disappointed.

The characters are archetypes, or at least "types" more than individuals. Dan is a seasoned businessman who is always clever enough to get out of situations using the tried and true techniques he has developed over years and years. Carter, conversely, is an up and coming talent who seems to lose all of this innate talent and drive when his personal life hits a rut. I didn't buy that. Overachievers have a tendency to drive themselves into new projects when old ones collapse, it's part of the way they fail to deal with failure (yea overachiever defense mechanisms!).

And Alex is just a stereotype of the 18 year-old who doesn't know what she wants. She's a jock who wants to be intellectual - complete with the tired rumors that she's a lesbian. There's no real chemistry between Alex and Carter. She's amused by him and he's honest with her, but beyond that, there's nothing terribly compelling about their coming together. Instead, the direction of their relationship is completely believable.

But it's not interesting to watch. In Good Company has moments of entertainment, but the bulk of it fails at even that. I write that without rancor; I was looking to this movie to continue a string a decent movies I've seen lately.

What sold me on seeing it in the first place was Topher Grace and Scarlett Johansson in the previews. Grace is essentially playing the same role he did on That 70s Show, in a modern corporate setting. He does not do anything significantly different with his acting talents here and that was disappointing. Johansson barely has enough screentime to be labeled as a nonentity. Her character is . . . well, dull, so the only way to classify her acting here as decent is to acknowledge that she sold her character as dull. There is nothing terribly superlative about Alex or Johansson's performance.

In Good Company features decent actors in bit roles. David Paymer appears as Mort, a worker whose performance puts his job in question. The always-wonderful Philip Baker Hall appears as an angry-at-youth businessman and lends some gravitas to the role. There's even a cameo by Malcolm McDowell that is worthwhile. That the bit roles in the movie draw my attention and praise more than two of the three leads is not a good sign.

Dennis Quaid keeps the movie watchable as Dan Foreman. Quaid is articulate and believable as an aging businessman. Quaid lends strong body language to conveying his character's moods and that is effective for creating the character the audience most empathizes with.

Still, it's not enough. Paul Weitz, writer and director of In Good Company recently hit success with the brilliant satire American Dreamz (also using Dennis Quaid, reviewed here!) and before that with the surprisingly good About A Boy (reviewed here!). So it's not that he cannot write and/or direct fabulous movies. It's just that in this case, he doesn't.

For other works with Clark Gregg, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
The Avengers
Thor
Iron Man 2
Iron Man
The West Wing
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
State And Main
Sports Night
The Usual Suspects

5/10

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

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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