Movie Review: Bad News Bears

Bad News Bears (2005) 

Directed by Richard Linklater

Written by Glenn Ficarra, John Requa 

Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Greg Kinnear, Marcia Gay Harden

Release Date July 22nd, 2005 

Published July 22nd, 2005 

Director Richard Linklater has cultivated the persona of a Director who can bounce between brilliant, artful indie films (Before Sunrise, Dazed and Confused) and mainstream stuff without compromising his vision. 2003's School Of Rock was a big studio comedy with a rising star, Jack Black, that studio execs were eager to exploit. Linklater delivered a film that was mainstream funny with just enough of a nod to his roots to keep it grounded in his vision as a Director.

School Of Rock allowed Linklater to make the far smaller film, Before Sunset, the sequel to his wonderful romance Before Sunrise , and the template for his career seemed set. In the indie parlance, Linklater was going to make one for them and one for himself. That seems to be the case with his latest studio film Bad News Bears which will be followed quickly by the experimental animated film A Scanner Darkly.

Unfortunately something got lost along the way and Linklater's nod to studio execs turned out messy and compromised. Bad News Bears is simply bad news for it's rising star Director.

Billy Bob Thornton, coming off his tour de force comic turn in Bad Santa, stars in the lead role essayed by Walter Matthau in the 1976 original, Morris Buttermaker. A former major leaguer, Morris is now a pathetic drunk working for beer money as an exterminator. His only connection to the sport he once loved is picking up a paycheck coaching a group of little league misfits.

The Bears, as they are eventually called, are only allowed into the league after the mother of one of the players, Liz (Marcia Gay Harden), sued to get them in. Other little league coach's like hotshot sports dad Roy Bullock (Greg Kinnear) had wanted the kids out of the league, mostly because none of the kids are any good. But, it's little league and everyone gets to play and it's up to Buttermaker to field a team that includes a kid in a wheelchair and two kids who can't speak English.

Not much has been changed from the original film which operates from nearly the same screenplay by Bill Lancaster as the one Lancaster wrote himself in 1976. Just like the original their is little Tanner (Timmy Deters) all blonde mop and anger, their is Ahmad the meek black kid, and Lupus the one who would rather pick grass than play ball. Each player virtually untouched from the original. The minor updates include an Indian kid, Prem (Aman Johal) who takes over for the original films Ogilvie as the teams stat geek and the aforementioned wheel chair bound kid Hooper (Troy Gentile).

Also in place from the original are the girl pitcher, Amanda (Sammi Kraft) and the wrong side of the tracks bad boy with the big bat, Kelly Leak (Jeff Davies). Gone from their relationship is the subversive sexual undertones, replaced with a more PG-13 puppy love. In fact, of the few changes to the original film are touches to make the film PG-13 where the original was a PG film that today may have been R-rated today.

The lack of anything new in the script reflects an overall laziness that permeates the entire film. Remakes are lazy enough by nature but Richard Linklater brings little to nothing new to Bad News Bears. Linklater seems quite content to translate the script to the screen with only a minimal amount of work on his part. That is not to say the material is not funny, the original film was plenty funny and remains so. This remake resembles the original so much you can't help but find something funny in it.

Also recycled in Bad News Bears is Billy Bob Thornton's Bad Santa bad boy. Thornton's Buttermaker is not exactly as bad as his Santa, but in his hard drinking, thoughtless, careless way he is certainly a close cousin to that far funnier character. Thornton still manages a few laughs from this retread character, a sign of his strong talent and charisma.

The less said about the child actors in Bad News Bears the better. Where in School Of Rock Linklater coaxed wonderful performances from his young cast to counterpoint Jack Black's comic tour de force, in Bad News Bears Linklater makes his child actors more functionary place holders for Thornton's comic lead. Needless to say, there is no Tatum O'Neal in this Bad News cast.

Bad News Bears is a shockingly lazy and sloppy film for someone of Richard Linklater's talent. No director of his caliber can get away with such a slipshod effort. The direction is not merely lackluster, it's lazy. Richard Linklater should be ashamed that he wasted his time slapping together such a waste of talent and celluloid. Remakes are a big enough waste on their own, when combined with a complete lack of effort on the part of those doing the remaking, they are an all out disaster.

Movie Review The Astronaut Farmer

The Astronaut Farmer (2007) 

Directed by Michael Polish

Written by Mark Polish, Michael Polish

Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Virginia Madsen, Bruce Dern, Max Thieriot 

Release Date February  23rd, 2007

Published March 6th, 2007

Mark and Michael Polish are a pair of eccentric auteurs whose vision of the world is often detached and laconic. This quality is unique and gives them a signature style few directors can claim. It also, however, makes them a rather odd choice to write and direct a mainstream, uplifting family feature. Indeed, their latest film, The Astronaut Farmer, is an supposedly upbeat family story about a man who dreams of flying into the cosmos.

Charlie Farmer is a dreamer. He has been dreaming of being an astronaut since he joined the airforce at 17 years old. He progressed through the ranks quickly and was destined for NASA when a family tragedy called him home to his family's ranch in Texas and a life he never intended. Now in his late 40's with a beautiful wife Audie (Virginia Madsen), three terrific kids, Charlie has somehow managed to not give up his dream.

In his barn, Charlie has built a real life rocket. Stainless steel, a model of the classic first NASA space rockets, Charlie's space ship is nearly ready for launch when he comes to the attention of the federal government. The head of the FAA (J.K Simmons) is determined to keep the Texas farmer grounded. Meanwhile, Charlie's lawyer (Tim Blake Nelson), gets the media involved and Charlie becomes a sensation.

Written and directed by Michael and Mark Polish, The Astronaut Farmer has some of the Polish's usual inspired simplicity. The idea of an astronaut farmer has the same kind of quaint charm as the group of misfits from Northfork who cling to their tiny home even as the government plans to flood them out of existence.

The Astronaut Farmer shares with Northfork and the Polish brothers' debut picture Twin Falls Idaho a similar laconic, detached observant quality. The differences however; are stark and somewhat damning. Where Northfork and Twin Falls Idaho are character studies that thrive under the detached, observant style of the Polish brothers. The Astronaut Farmer is much too patently commercial to thrive under this kind of direction.

The Astronaut Farmer is so disconnected from any identifiable reality that there is a sort of loopy charm to it. Unfortunately the film simply seems too tired to mine that charm for more than just the premise and a quirky opening scene of Thornton in full astronaut regalia riding a horse over the plains. From there, the film drifts and bobs and never gains any narrative energy.

The roadblocks to the farmer's success are laid out succinctly (finances, the Federal government) but because of the laid back pace and manner of the filmmaking, these obstacles never grow to provide any narrative tension. Late in the film; when a false crisis is introduced it is so poorly put together it takes several minutes to realize what happened. This was likely a problem because the false crisis is the most energetic moment in the film and the Polish brothers simply didn't know what to do with it.

The Astronaut Farmer longs to be a simple mainstream family movie. It longs to be warm and charming like a lovable puppy. However, under the direction of the undeniably talented Mark and Michael Polish, The Astronaut Farmer is remote and detached. The Polish brother's attempt at taking their quiet, quirky observant style mainstream only serves to compromise both their style and this story.

Movie Review School for Scoundrels

School for Scoundrels (2006)

Directed by Tod Phillips

Written by Scot Armstrong

Starring Jon Heder, Jascinda Barrett, Billy Bob Thornton, Michael Clarke Duncan, Sarah Silverman, Ben Stiller, David Cross

Release Date September 29th, 2006

Release Date September 29th 2006

Todd Phillips and Scot Armstrong are the comic director-writer team behind Road Trip, Old School and Starsky and Hutch. Their brand of broad physical comedy, bathroom humor and just general juvenilia may not be great art but is good for a number of big laughs. Phillips and Armstrong's latest collaboration, School For Scoundrels, is meaner and more physical than their previous films but like those other films it's good for more than a few big laughs.

Roger (Jon Heder) is a shy, lonely, dork; living in New York City and working as a meter maid. He is nursing an unrequited crush on his apartment building neighbor Amanda (Jascinda Barrett) however, because he either hides or passes out when he sees her, he has no chance of getting a date with her. Luckily for Roger his pal Ian (David Cross) has something that might help him.

Ian took a class at the learning annex that is like Fight Club for the socially challenged. For five thousand dollars a man named Dr. P (Billy Bob Thornton) teaches guys like Roger how to find the nerve to take the things they want. His methods are harsh and cruel, including instructing his students to randomly antagonize strangers, shooting his students with paintballs at close range and just generally insulting them until they fight back.

Whatever the methods, Dr. P's teachings do help Roger who finally gets a date with Amanda. However, when Dr. P senses Roger getting too good, so he decides to teach him a lesson by getting a date with Amanda himself and challenging Roger to fight back.

Directed by Todd Phillips and his long time writing partner Scot Armstrong, School For Scoundrels has a number of big laughs but lacks a consistent throughline. Phillips and Armstrong's style is to set a plot in motion and then continuously interrupt it with gags that are hit and miss. An example is a paintball game scene where three of Roger's classmates are taken hostage by Dr. P's burly assistant played by Michael Clark Duncan, and there are intimations that he may forcibly have sex with them.

This rape joke is repeated later in a bizarre cameo by Ben Stiller as a former student of Dr. P's. The gags distract from the main plot and, in the case of the rape joke, really take away from the enjoyment of the rest of the film. Another pair of gags involving Roger and a pair of thuggish parking offenders is funnier but just as distracting.

Another problem that Phillips and Armstrong have is a complete inability to write female characters. Going back to Road Trip where Amy Smart was used merely as eye candy for a terrific but unnecessary nude scene, to Old School where Ellen Pompeo barely existed in the plot and every other woman was used for more naked eye candy to now in School For Scoundrels where Jascinda Barrett is at least allowed to keep her clothes on but otherwise barely exists in the plot. She exists only as a prize to be won by either Heder or Thornton.

Jon Heder has a problem. His role as the awkward socially retarded Napoleon Dynamite continues to haunt his career. The specter of Napoleon hangs over his every role since and in School For Scoundrels his Roger is just a few steps beyond Napoleon in terms of ungainly social graces. There are signs however that he is maturing. Heder holds the screen well opposite the imposing presence of Thornton and he does seem a good match for Barrett. If her character would have had more depth there might have been more chemistry.

Billy Bob Thornton has a wonderful dark comic presence. His Dr. P is like a twisted version of Will Smith's Hitch and R. Lee Ermey's malevolent drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket. Thornton can play intimidating or charming in just a few beats and make you believe both. In School For Scoundrels his snake like charm and savage temper combine for more than a few big laughs.

School For Scoundrels is meanspirited and often quite juvenile but it is funny. I especially loved the tennis scene which was rightfully featured in the film's marketing. Heder and Thornton really connect in these scenes and the awkward violence is played for some of the film's biggest laughs. The paintball scene, also in the trailer, is the film's low point in violent slapstick. The scene exists simply to fire shots to the groin, it adds nothing to the plot of the film. Is it funny? I laughed at the first shot, by the fifth I was waiting for the plot to kick in again.

Ben Stiller drops into School For Scoundrels late in the picture and though his role is more than a little eccentric, I did love the way he played it. Driven slightly mad after serving in Grenada in the 80's and surviving Dr. P's class soon after, Stiller finds just the right odd note for this truly bizarre character, easily the broadest and least believable in the film.

School For Scoundrels suffers from something that each of Todd Phillips and Scot Armstrong's previous films suffered from, a lack of a consistent tone. At times very broad, at times played for believability, the tone of the comedy is at odds with the tone of the film's romantic triangle. There are big laughs in the film that are followed by long periods of setups and payoffs that are mean spirited to the point of cruelty but more importantly, are often not funny enough to justify the cruelty.

Meanwhile the romance sputters because Barrett isn't given any time in between the evil pranks and pratfalls of Heder and Thornton, to connect with either actor. Amanda's first date with Roger is an alright scene, but Heder and Barrett are on two completely different wavelengths in most scenes, he's broad and gangly, she's square and earnest.

A little more effort and time and I think these two actors could have established a strong romantic rapport. However, this is not a romantic comedy. School For Scoundrels is a film about nasty pranks and shots to the groin. That too much of the plot hinges on Heder and Thornton's relationship with Barrett is a problem that the filmmakers don't seem all that concerned with.

Still, though I sound quite negative about School For Scoundrels; I enjoyed it. The film achieves a number of big laughs inside and outside the plot. The film would be much better if the laughs came seamlessly from one scene to the next instead of stopping and starting, but the laughs are big laughs and that makes up for many of the film's major structural problems.

School For Scoundrels is meanspirited, often cruel and highly immature. It's also undeniably funny. Jon Heder may still remain in the shadow of his Napoleon character but he shows in School For Scoundrels that he has the comedic chops to one day escape that film's shadow. Billy Bob Thornton will never be a great leading man but as a supporting player or villain, he is one of the best in the business.

Todd Phillips and Scot Armstrong know how to craft some big laughs but they are, for now, just getting by on those few big laughs. I hope one day to see them mature into making films that flow seamlessly from one joke to the next, but for now; their big laughs are big enough for me to recommend School For Scoundrels.

Movie Review The Alamo

The Alamo (2004) 

Directed by John Lee Hancock

Written by John Lee Hancock, Stephen Gaghan, Leslie Bohem

Starring Patrick Wilson, Billy Bob Thornton, Dennis Quaid, Jason Patric 

Release Date April 9th, 2004 

Published April 8th, 2004 

With the patriotic fervor of the war in Iraq having died down, the time for a rousing patriotic war film may have passed. Indeed the producers of The Alamo had to be considering that fervor when they went into production in early 2003. Unfortunately, they lost the opportunity to capitalize on it when the film was deemed not ready for its original December release. Now dumped with little fanfare into the month of April, The Alamo arrives as a professionally made but unmemorable history lesson.

Directed by John Lee Hancock (The Rookie), The Alamo tells the story of how legendary figures Jim Bowie (Jason Patric), William Travis (Patrick Wilson) and Davy Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton) came to a tiny church in San Antonio to fight for the idea that would become the state of Texas.

For Bowie, San Antonio was the home of his late wife where he had spent many happy nights. His return to San Antonio and to the Alamo was a favor to his friend General Sam Houston (Dennis Quaid). Houston was to retrieve the Texas army's largest canon and return it to Gonzales, Texas where the leaders are debating their future. By taking the canon, they are essentially ceding San Antonio to the Mexicans.

William Travis on the other hand, has been charged with holding the Alamo until a decision can be made as to how Texas will declare and defend itself from Mexico's dictator Santa Ana. Will the Texans declare their independence or negotiate a settlement with Santa Anna to hold onto their land under Mexican rule? Under the assumption that Santa Anna will not attack in the winter, the Alamo is thought to be fairly secure, allowing time for the leaders to debate their options.

For David Crockett, as he prefers to be called, Texas is a place to reclaim his legend after losing his congressional seat in Tennessee. Crockett has spoken to Sam Houston and been assured a good deal of land and power if Texas is declared independent. Crockett arrives at the Alamo unaware that the fighting has not stopped, only slowed due to the weather and the Texans' indecision over how to declare independence.

The setup for the climactic battle is slow and drawn out, probably because the actual battle of the Alamo didn't last long. Once Santa Anna decided on a full frontal attack with thousands of Mexican soldiers, there was little that the three hundred or so Texans could do to stop them. The setup for the battle has its moments, such as when Davy Crockett grabs his fiddle and plays along with Santa Anna's army marching band. Still, for the most part it's all rather dull.

We learn little about the historical figures of Bowie, Travis or Crockett other than both Bowie and Travis were slave owners and that Crockett never actually jumped a raging river or took on 20 men at once. Credit Billy Bob Thornton with the film’s best performance. Davy Crockett is a poetic pragmatist who struggles with his legendary status that was assured well before he became a martyr for Texas independence at the Alamo.

The film’s best moments are the battle scenes, the siege at the Alamo, which is quick and brutal, and the battle of Houston where Sam Houston avenged the Alamo by routing Santa Anna's army in 18 minutes. Director John Lee Hancock manages one great moment of emotion with Houston's "Remember The Alamo" rallying cry but other than that the film is rather staid and emotionless. Well made, but soulless.

The film is very professionally crafted with solid acting and a well remembered story. However, it plays like a history lesson from a very dull high school class. None of the characters, aside from Davy Crockett, have much of a personality and none of the supporting performances makes any impression whatsoever.

There was a controversial rumor about Davy Crockett's death but it's only a misunderstanding. The Crockett legend is very much intact at the end of the film. Without the controversy there is very little that is memorable about this Alamo.

Movie Review Mr Woodcock

Mr. Woodcock (2007) 

Directed by Craig Gillespie 

Written by Michael Carnes, Josh Gilbert 

Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Seann William Scott, Susan Sarandon, Ethan Suplee, Amy Poehler, Melissa Sagemiller 

Release Date September 14th, 2007 

Published September 13th, 2007 

Billy Bob Thornton has managed the art of being a curmudgeon like no actor since the late George C. Scott. Thornton's every expression is a pained movement he is forced into by having to interact with others. This expertise in being a curmudgeon served him well as the drunken Santa Claus in Bad Santa. However, that same curmudgeon act was a bore in the 2005 remake of The Bad News Bears.

Now, Thornton brings his curmudgeon act to a new comedy called Mr. Woodcock and like Bad News Bears, the context fails to make the act funny. Rather, what we get in Mr. Woodcock is Thornton as a truly thorny character whom we never enjoy watching and who offers few moments of levity. Kind of an odd character for a comedy, don't you think?

John Farley (Seann William Scott) was traumatized as a kid by a sadistic gym teacher. That teacher was Mr. Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton) and just over a decade since he delighted in tormenting chubby young John Farley, he's entering his life again. John, now a successful self help guru; with a popular book about letting go of painful memories, returns to his Nebraska home town to visit his mother (Susan) and to his horror, finds mom is dating Mr. Woodcock.

This sets up a confrontation between John and Mr. Woodcock that should be a hilarious battle of wills? Or, maybe a comedy of misunderstandings? No. Maybe? Hmm. How about a slapstick comedy or a gross out comedy? No. In fact, Mr. Woodcock isn't really much of a comedy at all. Don't get me wrong, I sensed an intent on the part of director Craig Gillespie for Mr. Woodcock to be a comedy, it's just not funny.

Billy Bob Thornton is believably cruel and sadistic as the evil old gym teacher. However, he is in fact so convincing and so dispiriting that he sucks the comic life right out of the movie. Woodcock is such a jerk that there is simply no joy to be taken from watching him. This leaves Seann William Scott's John to carry all of the film's humor and in this character he just can't do it, not many actors could.

Where, in the American Pie movies, and the underrated actioner The Rundown, Seann William Scott showed an energetic comic presence, in Mr. Woodcock, Scott is a wishy washy presence who we never have any respect for. Set up as some kind of Dr. Phil wannabe, Scott's John Farley is no match, at any point, for Billy Bob Thornton's Woodcock.

The only humor in Mr. Woodcock comes in the supporting performances of Ethan Suplee, as one of John Farley's former classmates, and Amy Poehler as John's alcoholic press agent. Yes, Suplee is basically doing  a small variation on his My Name Is Earl sidekick but he is nevertheless a humorous oasis in the comic desert that is Mr. Woodcock.

Ms. Poehler too is only doing a variation of characters we have seen before. What she brings to the role is a sharp energy that though not original, is at the very least funnier than anything else we have to deal with in Mr. Woodcock.

The biggest disappointment in Mr. Woodcock is also in the supporting cast. Susan Surandon plays John's mom and I was left wondering, why? This role holds nothing for Ms. Surandon to do other than be Susan Surandon. Her character has nothing funny to offer, aside from looking rather ridiculous in an oversized dress proclaiming her the Corn Queen of 1970, which admittedly made me smile, briefly.

However, this role could have been played by any number of different actresses without affecting the role in any way. Susan Surandon is far too big a star for such a throwaway role.

Mr. Woodcock is a mean-spirited, unfunny take on the same character Billy Bob Thornton has been playing since he escaped the world of the character actor. The character, to my estimation, is getting less and less funny with every outing and Mr. Thornton would do well to find himself a character who smiles once in a while or is, at the very least, not such a buzzkill.

If he must play a buzzkill there must be some way to make that funny. Mr. Woodcock never finds a way to make this buzzkill funny, he's just a jerk.

Movie Review Monster's Ball

Monster's Ball (2002) 

Directed by Marc Forster 

Written by Milo Addica

Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Heath Ledger, Sean Puffy Combs, Peter Boyle 

Release Date February 8th, 2002 

Published February 7th, 2002 

In my continuing effort to become a more well-rounded filmgoer, I have considered taking an acting class. It might be helpful in understanding just how difficult this craft truly is. After seeing Monster's Ball with Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry, I can save the tuition price. I simply need to purchase this DVD and watch it a few more times as this film is a lesson in what great acting is all about.

The story begins with prison guards preparing for an execution. Billy Bob Thornton is Hank the head guard. Hank has just hired his son Sonny, played by Heath Ledger, to be part of the crew and the execution of Lawrence Musgrove (Sean Combs). It will be the first he has ever taken part in. As Lawrence prepares for his execution he is visited for the last time by his wife Leticia (Halle Berry) and his only son Tyrell (Coronji Calhoun). Lawrence wants a meaningful goodbye but Leticia explains that she is only there so he can say goodbye to his son. In one of the film’s most touching moments Combs explains to his son that he is a bad man and that Tyrell is the only good to have come from his life.

As the preparations for the execution continue, Hank explains to Sonny a tradition known as the Monster’s Ball wherein guards sit with the condemned while he prepares to die. Yet again Combs has an effective bit of dialogue as he discusses the difference between drawing a portrait and taking a photo. The drawings will be important later in the film but not in the way you would expect.

After the execution, a shocking series of events leads Leticia into the arms of Hank, not knowing that Hank had taken part in her husband’s execution. The relationship between Hank and Leticia is complicated, not just because Hank is white and Leticia is black, but because of Hank's father Buck (Peter Boyle), a twisted old racist who has destroyed the lives of everyone he has come into contact with, with his hatred. There are also a series of tragic events that give Hank and Leticia more common ground, albeit a common ground based on pure sadness and desperation.

Both Thornton and Berry are outstanding, they put on a clinic for actors with their perfectly pitched roles. The romance between these two desperate and needy people is communicated by looks and gestures that are uncomfortable and tentative but also tender and longing. The supporting cast is equally good, especially Combs whose natural delivery brings a realistic depth to his character. Heath Ledger deserves extra credit for taking on this highly unglamorous role, his Sonny is skinny and desperately weak willed. Ledger sells it even with a suspect southern accent.

Director Marc Foster pores on the tragedy and sadness. At times it seems a little too much and yet he does manage to make a film that is surprisingly romantic and uplifting. Monsters Ball develops slowly but once Berry and Thornton come together the film lifts to amazing heights. I highly recommend Monster's Ball.

Movie Review Intolerable Cruelty

Intolerable Cruelty (2003) 

Directed by The Coen Brothers 

Written by Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone, The Coen Brothers 

Starring George Clooney, Catherine Zeta Jones, Geoffrey Rush, Billy Bob Thornton, Cedric the Entertainer

Release date October 10th, 2003 

Published October 10th, 2003 

There are two unique qualities that mark Joel and Ethan Coen when working in comedy. The first is their writing, smart, funny, and slightly off-kilter surrealism tempered with sweet natured humor. The other is the look of their films, established with the help of cinematographer Roger Deakins. Consistent color patterns that have the same surreal quality of the stories they are background to. These two things are once again on display in Intolerable Cruelty, the Coen's skewed take on the modern romantic comedy.

George Clooney stars in Intolerable Cruelty as divorce lawyer extraordinaire Miles Massey, author of a prenuptial agreement so tough it's never been broken and is the subject of its own course at Harvard law. Miles' specialty is “impossible to win” divorce cases. Miles chooses cases specifically for the challenge of winning the ones no one expects anyone to win. Miles' latest case is that of Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann), a real estate millionaire who was caught dead-to-rights cheating on his wife Marilyn (Catherine Zeta Jones).

Marilyn, you see, hired a private investigator named Gus Petch (Cedric The Entertainer) to follow her husband and Gus now has videotape of Rex's infidelity. Obviously Rex is caught but with Miles as his lawyer, he somehow walks out of court on the good side of the settlement. In fact, Rex's now ex-wife got nothing. Nothing that is, except for the admiration of her husband’s lawyer.

Despite all of Miles' instincts about marriage and divorce, he is totally smitten with Marilyn and her shady search for gullible rich husbands. Even after she has married yet another rich dupe, a Texas oilman played by Billy Bob Thornton, Miles still can't help but fall for Marilyn. She, of course, has a few more surprises for Miles to come throughout this comedic story.

Intolerable Cruelty is a surprisingly conventional piece from the usually more off-kilter Coen Brothers. It is, in most respects, a romantic comedy and contains a number of the perfunctory touches of that genre. The coincidences and luck that are hallmarks of most romantic comedies also show up in Intolerable Cruelty, only slightly skewed by the Coen's snappy dialogue and bright colorful production design. The production design of the film is far better than most other films of the genre.

George Clooney and Catherine Zeta Jones spark some terrific chemistry but some of the film’s third reel twists undermine that chemistry with a little more detachment and cruelty than you want from a romantic comedy. Nevertheless this is still the Coen Brothers and the dialogue is smart and snappy and the two leads are more than equal to it. The good definitely outweighs the bad in Intolerable Cruelty. I'll take their version of the romantic comedy over any of the most recent releases in that genre.

Movie Review The Ice Harvest

The Ice Harvest (2005) 

Directed by Harold Ramis 

Written by Richard Russo, Robert Benton 

Starring John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Nielsen, Randy Quaid, Oliver Platt 

Release Date November 23rd, 2005 

Published November 22nd, 2005 

Director Harold Ramis is best known for lighthearted comedy with an edgy intellect. His best work, 1993's Groundhog's Day, is such a true gem of a film that its polish has only shined brighter in the years subsequent to its release. Most credit for that film goes to Bill Murray's complex curmudgeonly existential performance. But, behind that performance was Ramis' sly, sneaky direction that played games with the audience that many did not discover until years later.

Even in lesser efforts like Analyze This and Analyze That, Ramis has at least delivered moments of pithy intellect and sly commentary. Ramis' latest effort Ice Harvest is nothing like anything he's directed before. A black hearted comic noir so thick with dark irony and detached violence one wonders if a late night cocktail of Pulp Fiction and Fargo somehow festered in Harold Ramis' dreams.

John Cusack stars in Ice Harvest as Charlie Arglist, a low level midwestern mob lawyer whose job seems to be holding down bar stools in mob controlled strip clubs. Charlie had never shown an ounce of ambition until a mobster named Vic (Billy Bob Thornton) convinced him to lift two million dollars in mob money from a local bank.

Getting the money was easy, now Charlie simply has to get out of Wichita. Unfortunately that will have to wait until morning as the entire town is nearly shut down due to an ice storm. Vic also has a few loose ends to tie up before they can go, including his soon to be ex-wife and a mobster, Roy (Mike Starr), who has discovered Vic and Charlie's scam.

Charlie is not simply waiting out the storm either. He is hiding from Roy while being seduced by Renata (Connie Neilsen), the manager of one the many strip clubs Charlie frequents, who is well aware of the money Vic and Charlie stole and has an eye on joining them in their getaway. Before Charlie can close that deal however, there is the matter of his best friend, Pete (Oliver Platt), who has chosen this night to get record-breakingly drunk and only Charlie can help him get home.

Pete happens to be married to Charlie's ex-wife which leads to an awkwardly humorous scene where Pete confronts his wife's growing dissatisfaction with their marriage in the midst of Christmas dinner at her parents house as Charlie stands by saying goodbye to his young daughter and unhappy son who he never sees. Platt is very funny in the scene but his plot really has little or any relation to the rest of the movie.

The rest of the film is full of double and triple crosses, bodies pile up high and all the while director Harold Ramis and writers Richard Russo and Robert Benton can't decide if they are making a dark comedy or a modern noir. Cusack's performance is, for the most part, dark comedy. Charlie assesses every plot development with a cowardly paranoia and suspicion that makes him the butt of every joke and the comic victim of every other character in the film.

In fact most of the cast is playing dark comedy. Thornton plays it cool for the most part but then there is the scene, featured prominently in the films trailer, where he has stuffed Roy in a trunk and comically beats it with a golf club which is straight slapstick. This is followed by a funny exchange in the car on the way to dump the body as Roy, in the box, attempts to save his life by convincing Charlie that Vic is going to kill him too and run off with all the money. The scene is funny but nothing after it is and much of what comes before it is unamusing as well.

As Cusack, Thornton, Platt and Starr are all playing dark comic riffs, Ramis is directing a bleak, mean spirited and violent Coen brothers' style anti-thriller with Neilsen's femme fatale and Randy Quaid's mob boss clearly not in on the rest of the cast's joke. The film shifts uncomfortably from ugly violence to black comedy, never able to incorporate the two in a way that makes both work.

Ice Harvest is shot as confusingly as it is plotted. Certain scenes have the bleak grays and blacks and dark colors of a noir mystery right down the rascotro lighting. Other scenes feature the bright colors and slick styling of any major mainstream comedy. A scene of Charlie standing in the empty frozen tundra of a Kansas highway is straight noir but the scenes between Cusack and Oliver Platt are from a dysfunctional holiday comedy filled with brightly decorated Christmas items. The shooting further muddies the line between the film's noir and dark comic intentions.

John Cusack does find a way to make his hapless loser Charlie work in terms of winning the audience to his side. Even as Charlie engages in some of the bad behavior in the film he retains an air of detached observation. With every dark development Charlie rarely gets riled up, he merely rubs his eyes in frustration and gets down to the distasteful business of surviving this one extraordinarily difficult night.

Oliver Platt's performance is equally as winning as Cusack's. The two actors spark a terrific chemistry in the few scenes they have together. Despite his oafish and even rude actions, Platt's sad sack Pete is very sympathetic in his sad drunken way. Had the film been able to straighten out the problems with its tone Platt and Cusack's performances alone could have made Ice Harvest a worthy effort.

It's not that dark comedy and modern noir are mutually exclusive genres.  It's just a difficult balancing act to make the two elements work together. Fargo, for example, works on both levels because of its exceptional cast and the assured direction of the Coen brothers. Ice Harvest director Harold Ramis is unable to find the balance between the comic performances of his cast and the dark action script.

Ramis wants to escape his reputation as a director of light comedy and indulge his dark side but his comic instincts are uncontrollable and express themselves in the direction of his actors. Ramis clearly wants to indulge his dark side in Ice Harvest but he cannot quiet his crowd pleasing instincts. After years of light, entertaining comedies, Ramis is very in tune to giving the audience the simple pleasures that most seek. Ice Harvest is not a film as a whole that can or should give audiences what they want.

The film's happy ending underscores my point. Watching Charlie escape with the money, and with his pal Pete, I could feel the gears turning as Ramis attempted to please the audience with a pseudo-happy ending. But what did Charlie do to deserve a happy ending? Granted that both Cusack and Platt are very good together and earn our sympathy, their plot is from an entirely different movie. Charlie still did a lot of unforgivable things and punishing him in a darkly ironic way would have been a more appropriate ending.

With a cast this talented Ice Harvest should be far more entertaining than it is. The failure lies with Ramis who, whether unwilling or unable, cannot find a way to mix his comic instincts with this black-hearted script. The result is a mixed bag of darkly humorous moments and awkward modern noir violence. John Cusack delivers a dead-on performance but the film lets him down and more importantly it lets the audience down.