Movie Review The Majestic

The Majestic 

Directed by Frank Darabont 

Written by Michael Sloane

Starring Jim Carrey, Amanda Dettmer, Martin Landau, Hal Holbrook, Bob Balaban

Release Date December 25th, 2001

Published January 30th, 2002

The 50's are a decade easily evoked onscreen. Simply have kids with seriously greased hair, drab clothing, long dresses for women, business suits and fedoras for men, and the ubiquitous white picket fences. There you have the fifties, throw in a couple of cultural touchstones like the first decade of TV, I Like Ike buttons, and the Hollywood Communist witch-hunt and you've got a decade ready made for the movies. The decade is the easily evoked backdrop for Frank Darabont's The Majestic, the story of a Hollywood scriptwriter accused in the witch-hunts and asked to name names or be blacklisted.

The scriptwriter is Peter Appelton; played by Jim Carrey as a somewhat arrogant but affable guy who, to impress a girl, accidentally attends a communist rally and now faces the wrath of the House un-American Activities Committee. Peter is set to testify in two days but before that happens he has an accident that leaves him with amnesia and strands in the small town of Lawson, California where he is mistaken for the army hero son of the local theater owner Harry, played by Martin Landau.

Both Carrey and Landau are good but neither can overcome the screenplay, which aims at the heartstrings while ignoring the brain. Carrey does have an effective scene in front of the House un-American activities committee where he explains his attending the communist rally as simply a guy being horny.

Beyond that scene, which is smart and funny, the rest of the film is crammed with emotional set pieces so obvious that you know everything that's coming well before it comes and then are annoyed at how they are resolved. The ending is truly uninspired as if someone decided the film desperately needed a happy ending even if it was going to have to force it and compromise the little integrity the film had.

Jim Carrey is a good actor, he proved that in Man On the Moon and The Truman Show. In The Majestic he seems a little desperate as if he chose this film for the sole purpose of courting Oscar and that desperation comes through in a couple of forced scenes, one with a dying Landau and another later in a cemetery. Still, Carrey is the strongest part of The Majestic which suffers not only from its weak screenplay but also Darabont's 50's setting, chosen because of the Commie Hollywood witch-hunts. Other than that, Darabont relies on those tried and true 50's set pieces like crewcuts, fedora's and the like.

I prefer the "noirish" take on the decade as presented in films like LA Confidential with hipster lingo and the seedy underbelly. The type of setting where the witch-hunts were more meaningful because Hollywood stars would attend underground meetings in secret locations in places like the seedy smoke-filled halls of an Elmore Leonard novel. The Majestic prefers uplift to impact and that is its main failure.

Movie Review: A Mighty Wind

A Mighty Wind (2003) 

Directed by Christopher Guest 

Written by Christopher Guest 

Starring Bob Balaban, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Parker Posey 

Release Date April 16th, 2003 

Published April 23rd, 2003 

The genius of Christopher Guest, as exhibited in the brilliant Waiting For Guffman and the even better Best In Show, is once again on display in the folk music sendup A Mighty Wind. That genius is tempered though by a pervasive attitude of insincerity in the film’s closing moments. Nevertheless, a flawed Christopher Guest comedy is better than most Hollywood comedies. Using the same faux documentary style that has become his trademark, Guest and his usual company of actors deliver a satirical take on the 60’s folk music scene. 

As the story goes, legendary folk music promoter Irving Steinbloom has passed away. Irving’s son Jonathon (Bob Balaban) is memorializing his father by reuniting his three favorite groups for a concert to be broadcast live on public television. We then meet each of the groups, including the Folksmen (Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean), who’s one big hit was inspired by the burned out neon of a restaurant sign “E At O’s”. The New Main Street Singers are the result of a pair of folk groups who joined forces back in the sixties. Now most of the original members are gone, replaced by frighteningly cheery cultists Terry and Jane Bohner (John Michael Higgins and Jane Lynch). Paul Dooley plays the only remaining original member, while Fred Willard plays the group’s manager, a clueless self-absorbed former child star who can’t let go of the spotlight and especially his annoying catchphrase “Wha Happened”.

The centerpiece of the show and the film is the duo Mitch (Eugene Levy) and Mickey (Catherine O’Hara). The biggest stars on the roster, Mitch and Mickey haven’t worked together since a legendary onstage kiss during a televised performance of their biggest hit “A Kiss At The End of the Rainbow.” Nowadays Mitch is a mess. just out of a mental institute and Mickey is happily married to a medical supply salesman. Ed Begley Jr. rounds out the cast as Lars Olfen, the head of the public TV network and a Swede in origin who nevertheless loves to speak Yiddish. Begley is priceless as he criticizes the small-scale production of the show, insisting he can get a big crane at a moment’s notice.

The great thing about Christopher Guest’s films are the actors and Guest’s insistence on unscripted dialogue, which though it can be hit and miss, it hits far more than it misses. Watch John Michael Higgins and Jane Lynch as they recount how they met with increasing looniness. Guest let’s them go on and on until it’s clear they have run out of ad-libs. Then of course there is Guest, Shearer and McKean, clearly enjoying the Spinal Tap reunion with even worse hairstyles. The ease of rapport between the three is astonishing and hilarious, what a great team.

Not only is the dialogue ad-libbed but also so are the songs in a way ad-libbed. In a risky and unique choice Guest and the cast wrote their own folk tunes which we hear in the film’s climactic concert scene. The songs are surprisingly good, and Levy and O’Hara truly amaze with their poignant rendition of their hit song. While the Folksman and The New Main Street Singers are plated to the height of satire, Mitch and Mickey have an edge of reality to them. The story behind the duo, how they met, and how they broke up, is a sweet story and very well played by these two amazing comic actors.

The first 75 to 80 minutes of A Mighty Wind, from the beginning through the concert is very funny and enjoyable. However, after the concert the film doesn’t end. The scenes that close the film wrap up what happened to the groups after the show and feel like a slap in the face to anyone who enjoyed the film through the concert. The cynical scenes that make these likable characters into buffoons are a betrayal to what came before them.

The ending is actually the most conventional element of the film. Like any Hollywood film that doesn’t end when you think it should, it fills the audience with a sense of dread that turns to sadness and near disgust because you wish it had ended when you expected. Still, for most of the film it’s a funny, sweet, entertaining satire filled with great performances. And of course when compared to most modern comedies, even with it’s flaws, A Mighty Wind is genius.