Movie Review Land of the Lost

Land of the Lost (2009) 

Directed by Brad Silberling

Written by Chris Henchy, Dennis McNicholas 

Starring Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, Anna Friel, Jorma Taccone

Release Date June 5th, 2009 

Published June 4th, 2009 

Land of the Lost was and is a bad idea for a movie. It's based on a Saturday morning kids show from the early 1970's with only a modicum of cultural cache from a group of hipster doofus types who love the cheesetastic sets, the wooden characters and slow moving rubber suited alien reptiles. There are those who have nostalgia for this but it is not a genuine appreciation, it's ironic. People loved how cheesy it looked. Cardboard sets and rubber costumes. Making a big budget Land of the Lost COMPLETELY misses the point. 

The core of Land of the Lost's existing fanbase was never going to go for anything involving the over the top antics of a mainstream pratfaller like Will Ferrell? In the mind of the hipster LOTL fan the only remake that could come close to capturing this cultural landmark is directed by Tarsem or Michel Gondry, whichever director would make the whole thing as some cardboard and cloth acid trip. The Land of the Lost movie we have in front of us is a confused hybrid of family movie adventure and adult targeted humor aimed just below the waistline. Not quite family friendly enough for the kids and not quite edgy enough for adults, Land of the Lost could not be more indicative of its title.

Will Ferrell stars in Land Of The Lost as Dr. Rick Marshall. As a scientist he has staked his career on a theory that wormholes to other dimensions could discover renewable sources of energy. Unfortunately, an ill-advised visit to the Today Show to tout his theory ends in a viral YouTube moment and Dr. Rick is labeled a buffoon.

Four years later, Dr. Rick Marshall is a lowly tour guide at the La Brea Tar Pits. There, he is visited by Holly (Anna Friel) a grad student from Cambridge who is the one person ever to take his theories seriously. Holly claims that she has crunched a few numbers and found some striking evidence that Marshall's theories aren't as crackpot as they seem.

Together, Rick and Holly visit a cheesy tourist trap cave ride where a tour guide named Will (Danny McBride) joins them in what turns out to be a successful test of Dr. Marshall's multi-dimensional device. In Marshall's words 'Matt Lauer can suck it'. Telling people to 'suck it' is about par for the course of the humor in Land of the Lost. 

That's the set up. The payoff includes non-sequiturs about time travel, dinosaurs, exceptionally large poop, a man pouring urine on himself and a giant blood sucking insect. Oh and the music of A Chorus Line. Why? Random! Land of the Lost wants to be all things to all audiences and tries just about every avenue in search of a punchline and while there are undeniable laughs in the movie, mostly it's just people throwing jokes at the screen and hoping one or two stick. 

On the bright side, Anna Friel brings a unique and endearing feminine energy to the boy-centric adventure. She is a fantasy figure who strips her jeans down to short shorts and doesn't seem all that bothered by all the groping, far too much groping. Yet, she is also portrayed as a strong, centered character who manages to leaven out the crazy energy of Ferrell and the Larry the Cable Guy-esque riffing of Danny McBride.

Scattershot is an understatement in describing the humor of Land of the Lost. The movie is all over the place with Ferrell and McBride each flailing for a punchline while Friel desperately clings to her dignity amid the bathroom humor and randomness. There are laughs in the movie but certainly not enough to justify a nearly 2 hour big budget comedy. Mostly, the result of Land of the Lost ranges from indifference to mild annoyance. 

Movie Review Moonlight Mile

Moonlight Mile (2002) 

Directed by Brad Silberling 

Written by Brad Silberling

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, Holly Hunter, Ellen Pompeo, Dabney Coleman, 

Release Date October 4th, 2002 

Published October 3rd, 2002 

When I was sixteen I dated this girl that was completely out of my league. Her name was Teri and she was this statuesque blonde who seemed as if she had walked off some fashion magazine. Call it low self esteem but I can't imagine what she saw in me, she said that I was sensitive and made her laugh. We didn't break up when she moved away to San Diego but there was this childish hope that we would see each other again. That hope died not soon after when she died in a car accident.

It's strange what you remember about a person. I vaguely remember how beautiful she was but what I really can't forget are these little conversation fragments. Small portions of conversations where she said something that stayed with me forever. She argued vociferously for Van Halen with Sammy Hagar over Van Halen with David Lee Roth. She confused Walter Payton and Refrigerator Perry; she called him Refrigerator Payton.

The movie Moonlight Mile brought these memories back in a big way, so forgive this reviewer if I'm a little easy on this one.

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Joe who, as we meet him, is waking up in a strange bed. We come to find that it is in the home of his would-be in-laws, Ben (Dustin Hoffman) and Jo Jo (Susan Sarandon) Floss. They would have been his in-laws except that the daughter he was going to marry died. The day of the funeral Joe feels like a member of the family as he helps fill in with the chores that his fiancée Diane would have done were she there.

Ben and Jo Jo are dealing with the loss of their daughter in their own unique way. Ben by getting back to work as a real estate agent and Jo Jo by acerbically running down anyone who attempts to offer comfort or those who don't. The plan for Ben and Joe was for them to go into business together after the wedding. Ben still wants to go through with it, while Joe is just going through the motions of helping the family.

Through the strange circumstance of having to retrieve the invitations to the wedding which are about to be mailed, Joe meets Birdy (Ellen Pompeo) a flighty, unusual girl who is the first person not to look at Joe as if he were a wounded bird. She is sensitive to Joe's feelings but never drifts into the cliched mourning and pity that so many people offer as comfort. Joe is hiding one important secret, one I won't reveal, but it's not an Earth shattering secret. It's not a dramatic plot twist; it's a simple truth. A difficult truth but one that when revealed will hurt a little.

Grief is a personal thing, there is no one way to grieve. For me it was not listening to Van Halen for a very long time. That sounds ridiculous but it's strange what comes to mean something to you. In Moonlight Mile, Susan Sarandon's character has a thing with setting her watch. It was something she and her daughter shared.

Director Brad Silberling whose previous film, City of Angels, touched on similar emotions has grown a great deal since that film. Where City of Angels pounded home every emotion with soft focus, a softer soundtrack and a dewy eyed Nicholas Cage, Moonlight Mile is more daring and intellectual. The issues and relationships are more complicated and romantic in their uniqueness.

The performances are spectacular, especially Sarandon in the film’s smallest role. Sarandon has two very big speeches in the film that in the hands of a lesser actress could have come off as showy and over the top. Sarandon is pitch perfect and makes a tricky scripted speech easier to take seriously.

Dustin Hoffman also hits all the right notes as his grieving father who believes his daughter’s death is his fault. She was killed by a gunman in a restaurant across the street from his office as she waited for him to arrive. One can only imagine that kind of guilt and though Silberling employs a rather shallow plot device involving a phone, Hoffman overcomes it with his professionalism and natural charisma.

Then there is Jake Gyllenhaal who seems to be very hit and miss. In Bubble Boy and Lovely and Amazing, he is forgettable. In Donnie Darko and this film, he is absolutely brilliant. You never know what to expect when he's onscreen. Here, teamed with an extraordinary supporting cast, he shines. His chemistry with Ellen Pompeo as his odd duck love interest is sweet, romantic and touching.

I can't forget about the film's soundtrack, full of 70's rock n’ roll tunes. The film is set sometime in the mid-to-late 70's though it's never really acknowledged. The soundtrack features Elton John, Steam, Van Morrison and of course the Rolling Stones, whose song Moonlight Mile provides the film’s title. I guess it's easy for me to like this film because I relate to it so well. But I honestly believe that anyone should be able to connect with a movie as well acted and directed as Moonlight Mile.