Movie Review Poor Things

Poor Things (2023)

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

Written by Tony McNamara

Starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Rami Youssef 

Release Date December 8th, 2023 

Published November 28th, 2023 

Poor Things is a desperately odd experience. The film stars Emma Stone as Bella Baxter, a woman who died and was brought back to life through highly questionable science, by a mad scientist named Godwin 'God' Baxter. Having rescued Bella following her attempted suicide, Godwin Baxter has made her his daughter and is teaching her how to live again. Bella appears to have the mental age of a toddler as Godwin introduces her to one of his medical students and his newest assistant, Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef). 

It will be Max's job to chart the course of Bella's progress in learning to live again. In the process, Max will fall in love with Bella and invite her to be his bride. But, before the marriage can occur, Bella wants to see the world. She gets the chance to do just that when she meets a lawyer named Duncan Wedderburn, a caddish man who sweeps Bella off her feet and takes her around the world. He introduces her to sex, and she takes to the act with gusto and glee. 

The trip has the effect of expanding Bella's interest in expanding her mind. She becomes an avid and eager reader and even takes to philosophy. This proves to be the downfall of Duncan who can't keep up with Bella's insatiable hungers for learning and for sex. While on a cruise, Bella makes new friends in Miss Prim (Vicki Pepperdine) and Harry Astley (Jerrod Carmichael), each of whom encourage Bella to keep studying and improving herself. Astley is the impetus for Bella to give away all of Duncan's money to the poor leading to the next chapter in her life, moving to Paris. 

In Paris, Bella abandons Duncan and finds work in a Paris brothel. It sounds sexier than it truly is. Yorgos Lanthimos seems to be going out of his way to remove the mystery and excitement from sex. Bella still appreciates sex as an activity but sex with gross, smelly, ungainly men does become somewhat meaningless and mechanical for her. She eventually tries spicing things up by getting the men she sleeps with for money to open up a little and even bathe before coming to see her. 

Click here for my review at Geeks.Media

Movie Review: Zombieland

Zombieland (2009) 

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick

Starring Woody Harrelson Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Bill Murray 

Release Date October 2nd, 2009 

Published October 1st, 2009

I don't like zombie movies. There is an inherent undercurrent of nihilism that runs through most zombie movies that I find unappealing. I may be a cynic but I could not live in a world without hope, the world of the zombie movie. I will admit that elements of Romero's use of subtext in his Living Dead movies are appealing. I will also admit to admiring Danny Boyle's skilled technique in 28 Days Later. But, zombie movies remain for me an ugly, unwelcome chore to sit through.

Thus, I was not looking forward to the new zombie horror comedy Zombieland. Starring Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg, Zombieland deftly flips its tone from horror to comedy and somehow loses nothing in the transition. As much as I hate zombie movies, I must admit, I liked this one.

Columbus (Eisenberg) was not the most likely survivor of the zombie apocalypse. He's scrawny and skittish and carries a shotgun so big you may have a hard time believing he could fire it and remain standing. He has survived because his years of isolation, he was a videogame loving shut in before the apocalypse, taught him to run from people even before they were trying to eat him.

He has a series of rules that have guided him as well. Rule 1: Cardio. He has trained like an olympic sprinter so that he can stay ahead of the horde. Rule 2: Double Tap. Never just shoot a zombie, shoot it twice. The other rules make cameos throughout the film as computer added interstitials. The comic effect is strong and reminds one of Max Brooks's very funny book "The Zombie Survival Guide".

Columbus has traveled alone for a while but for the first time has begun to crave a little company. He's lucky enough to meet up with Tallahassee (Harrelson) who happens to be one of the best zombie killers in the country. He doesn't just run and hide from the zombie hordes, he runs at them guns blazing, bat swinging, hedge clippers... clipping.

The two form an unlikely alliance that grows to four when they happen upon Wichita and Little Rock (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin). (The names correlate to the cities where everyone is from. You don't want to get to attached to someone you might have to shoot in the head). Wichita and Little Rock are headed to California where they are hoping rumors of a human enlave in an amusement park is for real.

Whether their hopes are well founded I will leave you to discover. Zombieland comes from first time feature director and show stunning skill. Fleischer's directorial experience is limited to shorts and episodes of Jimmy Kimmel's talk show, yet he shows remarkable skill and control for such a relative novice.

Most impressive is how he balances the tone. The laughs in Zombieland come in buckets and yet, so does the horror. Zombieland makes you fear the zombies but still has the energy and wit to make you laugh louder than you have at most any comedy this year. It's a balance that a number of veteran directors could not achieve.

Keep an eye out for what will no doubt be the years best cameo. The actor involved is so unexpected and yet so very, very game for it all you will not be able to control the gales of laughter from this inspired bit of casting.

I still don't like zombie movies. This time however, because of a game cast and some surprisingly skilled direction, I can look past my issues with the genre and recommend Zombieland.

Movie Review The Favourite

The Favourite (2018) 

Directed by Yorgos  Lanthimos

Written by Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara 

Starring Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone, Olivia Coleman

Release Date November 23rd, 2018 

Published November 20th, 2018 

The Favourite stars Rachel Weisz as Lady Marlborough, aka Sara Churchill, the best friend of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman). Lady Marlborough was Queen Anne’s right hand during her reign until the two had a falling out over Lady Marlborough’s cousin, Abigail (Emma Stone), who arrived in the kingdom penniless and insinuates herself into the Queen’s good graces. Lady Marlborough is initially kind but wary of Abigail but soon the rivalry grows into a mutual disdain. 

What director Yorgos Lanthimos does brilliantly with this story is not merely allow his characters to be catty or stereotypical. Lady Marlborough appears especially intelligent and politically adept. Abigail is conniving and cunning but it comes from a well-honed instinct for survival and not some simplified notion of how women act toward other women. Abigail has known no other way of life than survival, having grown up with a father who once lost her in a card game. 

Tiny little nasty details punctuate numerous scenes in The Favourite and the delight with which these brilliant actresses deliver these points, such as the card game anecdote, is glorious. Stone and Weisz relish the nastiness they share with one another as they battle for the Queen’s affections, quite literally, as both women find their way into the salacious Queen’s bed, one because she genuinely cares and the other because it is advantageous. You can watch and find out which. 

Nicholas Hoult rounds out the main cast as Robert Harley the 1st Earl of Oxford. He’s in a war of wits with Lady Marlborough over the ongoing war with France and how his landed gentry are paying for the war while the city-dwelling shopkeepers benefit from providing supplies via contract. There is a touch of modern politics to the power plays between Marlborough and Hartley and Weisz and Hoult have tremendous fun biting back and forth. 

Olivia Colman portrays Queen Anne as a very sad and often ill woman. Her affinity for rabbits has a sad backstory that informs the film’s stunning ending, one of the most fascinating endings of the year undoubtedly. Throughout the film Colman’s Anne is a powerfully weak presence, pushed hither and yon by whichever powerful personality is leading the way at that moment. She seeks only pleasure until even her greatest pleasures lack any authentic joy. 

For director Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite is the most mainstream movie he’s made in his relatively young career. His American features, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer have been so deliberately esoteric that it is some kind of wonder that he was allowed to make them. The Lobster is literally about a man’s journey toward potentially being turned into a lobster if he can’t find love. As for The Killing of a Sacred Deer, as much as I found it riveting, it’s more of an exercise in style than it is the kind of thriller a movie studio would want you to believe it to be. 

The Favourite is therefore easily more mainstream just by virtue of not being deliberately off-putting. That plus who doesn’t love a good bit of palace intrigue. The Favourite follows in the footsteps of films like Elizabeth or Marie Antoinette or any other movie to do with the inner sanctum of royalty. America may have left the Queen behind but we’ve remained fascinated by the history, mystery and especially the dysfunction behind the scenes of royalty since the day we left the monarchy behind. 

The Favourite has all sorts of juicy, gossipy, details delivered with nasty glee by actresses who know just how to bite off a good insult or connive their way to another deliberate obfuscation of their rival. We love to hate characters like these while secretly delighting in their bad behavior because it’s so wonderfully entertaining. Weisz especially is playing a character of remarkable charisma who always speaks her mind and is always the smartest person in the room, until she gets a little too smart. 

The Favourite is one of the smartest and most devilishly, darkly clever movies of the year. Right up until that ending I mentioned earlier which will divide audiences between those who admire how daring and artful it is and those who won’t quite know how to feel. The Favourite leaves you with a great deal to think about and not much of it is pleasant. It worked on me as a bleak grace note for a story with no winners, only survivors. 

Movie Review: Easy A

Easy A (2010) 

Directed by Will Gluck

Written by Bert V. Royal 

Starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Stanley Tucci, Aly Mischalka, Patricia Clarkson

Release Date Septeber 17th, 2010 

Published September 16th, 2010

There is a shortage of witty repartee at the movies these days. Thus, when wit is on display in such wonderful fashion as it is in the teen comedy “Easy A” it must be celebrated. Written by first time screenwriter Bert V. Royal, Easy A may at times get a little too cute for its own good but the witty passages help us ease past that which is a little too precious.

Easy A stars Emma Stone as Olive, a typically verbose movie creature whose above it all manner works only because you believe she is indeed above it all. Olive has quick, incisive wit that finds the joke fast but never sacrifices the really good thesaurus words. Get used to Olive's high minded verbiage because she is our narrator for this story which plays out as a flashback during an odd but eventually sensible web-cast.

Olive is anonymous within her school until one mistaken conversation with her best friend Rhiannon (Aly Mischalka) is overheard by the school busybody Marianne (Amanda Bynes) and blows up into a massive, school wide scandal in moments thanks to the wonders of social media.

In an effort to shake off a weekend with her best pal and her parents without hurt feelings, Olive invented a date with a college boy. The following Monday Rhiannon accuses Olive of giving up her V-card, the aforementioned overheard conversation that is then blown up. All might have been dismissed as quickly as it exploded, as often happens in our fast paced social media world, but Olive kind of likes being a tramp, at least people know her now.

They know her alright, even more so after she agrees to use her new tramp status to help out Brandon a gay teen who seeks one straight conquest to alleviate the brutal treatment he gets from those who assumed he was/is gay. Olive's good deed soon becomes an industry of helping nerds, geeks and dweebs in need of a social upgrade in exchange mostly for pricey gift cards. Naturally, Olive's actions are not without consequence but it's rather unique the way said consequence rises and falls and then rises again in unexpected ways.

From time to time Olive’s incisive wit is a little too on the nose and things get a little too Juno-esque in Easy A but those moments are thankfully few. Most of Easy A is a tart mix of sexy and smart with witty dialogue that spills forth from terrific characters especially Emma Stone and the sensational duo of Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as Olive’s parents.

As Stone digs deep into Bert Royal’s exceptional dialogue, Tucci and Clarkson join in the fun bringing life and energy to roles that are more often than not cast as clueless, put upon and foolish. The scenes between Olive and her mom and or dad, are the best scenes in Easy A for their sheer loving, comic energy.

Also good is Penn Badgley an actor who has never impressed me until now. Playing the school mascot, who happens to also be Olive’s original school crush, Badgley matches Olive’s hyper intelligent wit word for fast pitched, jokey word. Till now Badgley has been little more than eye candy on TV’s Gossip Girl, with “Easy A” he shows real chops.

“Easy A: is a strong showcase for all involved from director Will Gluck, who needed the boost after the atrocious comedy “Fired Up,” to newcomer Bert V. Royal who could not have asked for better debut feature and especially for star Emma Stone who, whether “Easy A” is big box office or not, firmly establishes herself as a first rate leading lady, heir to the Drew Barrymore throne of the cool, hot chick.

Witty, sexy, funny and exceptionally well cast, Easy A is a terrific teen comedy that, though the bar was exceedingly low, raises the expectations of the moribund genre of teen sex comedies. “Easy A” references a number of John Hughes classics along the way and is the rare modern teen comedy to have earned the right to make those references.

Movie Review The House Bunny

The House Bunny (2008)

Directed by Fred Wolf 

Written by Kristen Smith, Karen McCullah Lutz

Starring Anna Faris, Emma Stone, Kat Dennings, Colin Hanks 

Release Date August 22nd, 2008

Published August 21st, 2008 

Anna Faris is a terrifically funny actress. Her work in the first Scary Movie and a cameo in Lost In Translation each looked like star making performances but did not pan out. Faris did terrific work in the indie horror film May but was mostly relegated to small roles in other people's lame comedy efforts (Just Friends, My Super Ex-Girlfriend).

Now with the release of The House Bunny, Faris is getting her due as a leading lady. This vain attempt to recreate the pink hued magic of Legally Blonde is desperate and straining at times but in the end Faris rises above the lameness with a terrifically funny performance.

Shelly (Faris) has long dreamed of becoming a Playboy centerfold. After appearing in a few pictorials, including Girls of the GED, Shelly moved into the Playboy mansion and waited for Hef to make her a centerfold. On her 27th birthday, Shelly was given a huge, celeb filled party but the next morning she was out on her backside.

Kicked out of the mansion for being 27, that's like 50 something in bunny years, Shelly desperately needs a home. What luck then when she stumbles onto a college campus and discovers a misfit sorority house that desperately needs a house mother. The outcasts include Natalie (Emma Stone, Superbad), Mona (Kat Dennings, Charlie Bartlett) and Harmony (Catherine McPhee, American Idol).

The misfit girls and their shabby sorority house are about to be foreclosed on unless they can attract 30 new pledges in the next month. Shelly offers to help with makeovers for the girls and giant parties to attract attention. But, when Hef calls to give Shelly her dream centerfold, Miss November, will she leave her girls behind?

The House Bunny was directed by former SNL sketch writer Fred Wolf. In his directorial debut Wolf shows a near flawless command of the cliché. Wolf nails every well worn trope of the college outsider movie, tossing in a couple of rom-com clichés as well as Colin Hanks joins the cast as Shelly's mismatched love interest.

There is nothing new, original or slightly unfamiliar about The House Bunny. Thus, all of the film's appeal hinges on the star performance of Anna Faris. Lucky for those subjected to this tripe that Faris nearly makes the film watchable. With her stunning physicality, both comedic and otherwise, and her pitch perfect delivery of even the lamest blonde jokes, Faris manages the herculean feat of dragging laughs out from under the banalities.

The House Bunny is not insidiously bad, more innocuously bad. It's not good but not so bad that I can say I hate it. Anna Faris is such a winning presence, such a sunny personality that, for a time, I thought I could actually like the film. However, by the time we reached the obligatory speech to save the sorority house, I was off somewhere else in my mind.

Whether I was remembering an episode of The Office I had just watched or deciding whether to shop for groceries or go do laundry after the movie, I don't recall. Nor do I really recall much beyond the platitudes of The House Bunny.

Movie Review The Help

The Help (2011) 

Directed by Tate Taylor

Written by Tate Taylor 

Starring Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain

Release Date August 10th, 2011 

Published August 9th

"The Help" catches you off guard with warmth and humor in the midst of great turmoil. A tremendous cast of extraordinary women will move you to laugh and to cry within the space of moments. This story of racism, civil rights and dignity in the face of undignified circumstances finds glorious moments of grace and humor amidst a story that invites anger and sadness.

Emma Stone stands at the center of "The Help" as Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan, a budding journalist who returns to her family home in Jackson, Mississippi in 1963. Things haven't changed much since she left but they are about to. Skeeter's writing career is about to take off after she gets the idea to write a scathing novel that exposes the ugly, racist side of Jackson's high society.

Bryce Dallas Howard plays Hilly, a high strung ex-classmate who touches off Skeeter's controversial idea by angrily insisting that her African American maid, Mini (Octavia Spencer), not use her bathroom. Hilly is convinced that Black people carry different diseases than white people and she intends to start a trend in Jackson of building separate bathrooms in everyone's home for the Help.

Mini is soon fired after she refuses to use the outdoor bathroom in the midst of a hurricane. Eventually, Mini will tell her stories about Hilly to Skeeter for her book which will for the first time tell a story from the perspective of The Help. First to aid Skeeter however, is Aibileen (Viola Davis) who decides that telling her story is necessary after seeing another maid arrested for doing something desperate to take care of her kids.

Soon other maids are talking and Skeeter has a remarkable book that is more than just juicy gossip; it may be an article for change. In the time of the story of The Help Medgar Evers and President Kennedy are assassinated and Dr. Martin Luther King is risking his life to lead the fight for Civil Rights. This historic context lends seriousness to The Help that underlines the film's poignancies.

This remarkable cast has the power to move audiences with just a word or a glance. The emotional strength of Viola Davis is matched by the fearlessness and attitude of Octavia Spencer and each creates a bond with Emma Stone that allows the book writing scenes to crackle with unexpected life and wit.

Bryce Dallas Howard has the most difficult role in The Help and pulls it off with remarkable ease. Howard is the focus of our hatred as the virulently racist Hilly and while it would have been easy to make Hilly a racist punch line, Howard invests Hilly with truth and life.

The revelation of "The Help," however, is not Stone or Davis or Howard but Jessica Chastain. In a role that really doesn't need to be in this movie in terms of plot, Jessica Chastain plays Celia Foote, a reputed gold digger who is desperate to be accepted into high society. Celia begins as a caricature of Southern flightiness but as the film goes on her pluck and spirit become so delightful that you wish she had a movie of her own to show off in.

This is Jessica Chastain's second Oscar worthy performance of 2011 following her stunning turn in the Terence Malick epic "Tree of Life." Chastain's work in "The Help" is such a transformation from "Tree of Life" that I didn't know it was her until I checked the credits after the movie; a demonstration of Chastain's amazing range.

"The Help" is one of my favorite movies of 2011; a smart, moving, funny and warm movie that features one of the most talented casts we've seen assembled in a long while. Emma Stone is about to be a huge star and Jessica Chastain is the next big thing while Viola Davis is the pillar of strength on whom the performances of others are built and find firm foundation.

Movie Review Superbad

Superbad (2007) 

Directed by Greg Mattola

Written by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg

Starring Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Emma Stone, Christopher Mintz Plasse, Bill Hader, Seth Rogen

Release Date August 17th, 2007

Published August 16th, 2007

There are moments of the teen comedy Superbad that remind me so much of my own teen years that I would have been red faced embarrassed if I weren't laughing so hard. This latest brilliant comedy from under the shingle of Judd Apatow is the movie that Porky's and American Pie wished they could have been. Smart, funny, and balls out filthy, Superbad has a heart as big as its love of penis drawings.

Written by the team of Seth Rogan, star of Knocked Up, and his childhood friend Evan Goldberg, Superbad is so true and authentic that guys between the ages of 18 and 34 will be in hysterics at just the familiarity of the characters and the situations.

Superbad tells the story of one night in the lives of two best friends. Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) have been friends for over 10 years, something you get quickly from the shorthand of their conversation that seems as if it began a decade before the movie began. This is their last night of High School and the boys have been invited to their first High School party.

The party is being thrown by Seth's longtime crush Jules (Emma Stone). By promising to get alcohol for the party Seth hopes he can entice Jules into a drunken, last night of High School tryst. Also attending the party is  Evan's longtime crush Becca (Martha MacIsaac), she is into Evan but he is clueless how to handle that. He too hopes that a little alcohol will grease the wheels, though his intentions with Becca are slightly less puerile.

To get the booze the boys must rely on Evan's friend Fogell who has promised a fake I.D. Unfortunately, when Fogell produces the I.D his name change threatens to blow the cover. Fogell decided to call himself "McLovin", no last name, just McLovin. Nevertheless, McLovin is the boy's only hope to get the drinks and thereby, get the girls.

On my surface level description Superbad sounds like nothing more than American Pie Redux or maybe Porky's 15. In reality however, Superbad, under the skilled direction of Greg Mottola, is much smarter than the American Pie movies and even more outlandish than Porky's. Superbad is the rare teen comedy that delivers strong characters with the extra strength of low brow humor.

Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg wrote the script for Superbad based on their experiences as teenagers. The two have been friends since junior high and that friendly shorthand lends the film authenticity that most other teen comedies can only imitate. Despite having to compound a high school lifetime of experiences into one night, Superbad never feels overstuffed. Director Mottola along with Rogan and Goldberg escape this trouble by simply ignoring it.

The bedrock of Superbad is the loving friendship of Seth and Evan. This is really a platonic male love story about two guys overcoming social pressures to confess that they love each other. Men in this culture are not allowed to admit their feelings for one another, not without a joking reference to Brokeback Mountain or some anti-gay slur to break the awkwardness.

Superbad throws off the social shackles and allows Evan and Seth to be honest with each other, with the aid of a little booze. They are headed to different colleges in the fall and they are going to miss each other more than even the girls whose hearts they hope to win. Now, before you start to think that Superbad is some touchy-feely, male bonding comedy, trust me, there are plenty of dick jokes. In fact, there is almost a dick subplot. I don't want to get too detailed, just keep an ear out for Seth's reasons for not liking Evan's crush Becca.

A great group of actors mixed with tremendous behind the scenes talent, Superbad is among the best films of 2007. Yes, some will be put off by the truly low brow humor but trust me, they will be missing the point. The lowbrow stuff comes from a good hearted place within these terrific characters. It's all in good fun and only occasionally is it gratuitous. In a year where we have seen The Simpsons Movie and Knocked Up it is Superbad that takes the crown as the funniest movie of the year.

Movie Review: Crazy Stupid Love

Crazy Stupid Love (2011) 

Directed by Glenn Ficarra, John Requa 

Written by Dan Fogelman 

Starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Julianne Moore 

Release Date July 29th, 2011

Published July 28th, 2011 

Will Steve Carell ever grow up? In The 40 Year old Virgin Carell played a man-child who needed the help of friends to get him laid for the first time. Now, some seven years later, Carell is playing a slightly more grown up man-child who still needs help getting laid, this time after his wife of 25 years, Emily (Julianne Moore), has divorced him.

Enter Jacob played by Ryan Gosling. Jacob looks like he walked out of the pages of GQ carrying the swagger of a pro athlete and the ladies man rap of The Game author Neil Strauss. Jacob takes pity on Carell's Cal after repeatedly listening to Cal whine about his wife cheating on him. Naturally, this leads to a montage of Carell trying on clothes while Gosling hits on the various women assisting in their clothing choices. Soon, Cal has a swagger and for the first time in 25 years he's having sex with a woman who is not his wife, in fact, he's having sex with a number of women.

Jacob meanwhile, finds himself in an entirely new place in life. Hannah (Emma Stone) is the rare woman to reject his advances but after she gets a surprise from her would be fiancée she decides she wants the bar-hopping bad boy. Thinking that it would be just a one night stand, Jacob and Hannah have one of those first nights together that you end up telling your kids about.

Crazy, Stupid, Love was written and directed by the team behind the hit 2010 comedy Easy A, Glen Ficarra and John Requa. The duo has a good ear for the way people speak and an excellent feel for the comic rhythm with which people in movies speak. Carell and Gosling have a terrific comic rapport; quite surprising given Gosling's talent for drama and Carell's comic tendencies.

Also excellent is the chemistry between Gosling and Emma Stone. Ficcarro and Requa did great things with Stone in Easy A and the actress continues to show the promise of a budding superstar in Crazy, Stupid, Love. The Jacob-Hannah love montage would be typical, even perfunctory, were it not for the chemistry of these two terrific performers.

Crazy, Stupid, Love is far from perfect; the film goes off the rails a little late in the film after revealing an unnecessary plot twist and a ludicrous plot involving Cal and Emily's babysitter, Jessica (Analeigh Tipton.) That said, young actress Analeigh Tipton is a total sweetheart who has a terrific sub-plot with Cal and Emily's son Robbie played by Jonah Bobo.

The good things about Crazy, Stupid, Love greatly outweigh the bad. Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling are terrific together as are Gosling and Emma Stone. Add in small roles for Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei and you have a recipe for a terrific movie that cannot be spoiled by minor imperfections.

Movie Review Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009) 

Directed by Mark Waters 

Written by Jon Lucas, Scott Moore 

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Robert Forster, Emma Stone 

Release Date May 1st, 2009 

Published April 30th, 2009 

In this day and age of mass media marketing it is almost impossible for even the most objective of critics to not form some opinion of a movie before having seen it. Featurettes, commercials, and film trailers and posters are splattered over every inch of the internet and TV. Movie Stars appear on TV talk shows with clips and follow that with a podcast and an audio trailer.

Thus, I was exposed to the terrifically awful trailer for the Matthew McConaughey movie Ghosts of Girlfriends past more than 6 months ago and the stream of promotion has been unfailingly ever present  ever since. The subsequent clips, commercials and trailers have been as bad or worse than that first trailer and I must be honest and admit that I was bracing for a disaster when I finally saw the movie.

These many promotions for the film offer a seriously dopey series of rom-com clichés pitched to the plot of Dickens' A Christmas Carol and a super generic pop soundtrack. Matthew McConaughey's recent track record of bad movie after bad movie does the film's reputation no favors either. So, imagine my surprise when first I chuckled and then laughed out loud and was eventually kind of taken in by this admittedly cheesy but undeniably compelling romantic comedy. Don't get me wrong, this is not a really good movie but it succeeds for not being nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

Connor Mead (McConaughey) is a world famous photographer whose string of sexual encounters would cause Wilt Chamberlain to advise a nap. Having lost his parents when he was just 7 years old, Connor and his younger brother Paul (Breckin Meyer) were raised by their playboy uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas). It was Uncle Wayne who taught Connor to treat women as he does and it will be Uncle Wayne who will teach him the error of his ways.

Conor is attending Paul's wedding to Sandra (Lacey Chabert) where he encounters the one girl who really ever got to him, Jenny (Jennifer Garner). The encounter sends Connor on a bit of a binge and soon he is seeing ghosts. First, it's the ghost of his late Uncle who lays out the plot: Connor will be visited by three other ghosts, each representing the women who Connor's womanizing ways have victimized.

Say, doesn't that three ghosts thing sound familiar? Of course it does, it's Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Instead of the miserly money grubbing Scrooge we have the sex addicted misogynist Connor. In place of his late partner Marley and his rattling chains we have Connor's mentor Uncle Wayne with his glass of whiskey with ice clinking in the glass. The copied plot offers the opportunity for the film to be lazy and at times it is, especially when establishing a timeline for Connor's life. However, thanks to the committed and forthright performance of McConaughey, a lot of the film's troubles go by the wayside.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is a little coy about exploring what a bastard Connor truly is, the best and lamest example has him breaking up with three girls at once over a conference call while his next conquest watches from his bed. The scene is played for awkward laughs rather than an ominous sign of Connor's troubled soul and the conflict fails to develop. Much of the first act struggles this way but once Emma Stone arrives as the first of three ghosts and Connor is forced to see the wreckage of his life things take a surprisingly compelling turn. Also helping things along is the chemistry between McConaughey and Garner as the one woman who ever to called Connor on his garbage.

Romantic comedy convention will require Connor to be reformed and for he and Jenny to fall in love. What director Mark Waters does well is keep the typical roadblocks thrown in front of them believable enough to distract from the inevitability. Then it becomes the job of the actors to make us want to see them together and McConaughey and Garner pull that off splendidly. Garner's Jenny is just the kind of girl to make a bad dog go good and McConaughey's believable turn from scumbag to reformed good guy is shockingly plausible.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is a highly flawed film but, by the standard of your average romantic comedy, it's not that bad. Low expectations based on the awful marketing campaign have certainly helped me to this relatively positive conclusion, but nevertheless, I can't pretend I didn't enjoy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. 

Movie Review: The Rocker

The Rocker (2008) 

Directed by Peter Cattaneo 

Written by Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky 

Starring Rainn Wilson, Christina Applegate, Jeff Garlin, Josh Gad, Teddy Geiger, Emma Stone 

Release Date August 20th, 2008 

Published August 19th, 2008 

The premise of The Rocker sounds like a movie Jack Black turned down. A 40 something former drummer for an 80's hair band ends up broke, living in his sister's attic before ending up playing drums for his nephews band. It reads like a sequel to School of Rock, with a few minor tweaks. The Rocker doesn't star Jack Black however but Rainn Wilson, from TV's The Office. Even though the premise sets him up for failure, Wilson acquits himself well in the shadow of JB, and gives  a good time rocking performance.

22 years ago Vesuvius was a heavy metal band on the verge of major record label success and their drummer, Robert 'Fish' Fishman was about live his rock star dream. The success came but not for Robert who the band dropped in favor of the label owners nephew. After losing out on rock stardom,  Robert spent the next 22 years a bitter mess, working as an office drone, longing to recapture the glory of rock. 

After losing his job Robert is forced to move in with his sister (Jane Lynch), her husband (Jeff Garlin) and his nephew Matt (Josh Gad). Matt is in a band and in a not so surprising twist of plot, the band just lost their drummer, two days before their first gig, playing the prom. Matt's bandmates, brooding singer Curtis (Teddy Geiger), and female bassist Amelia (Emma Stone, Superbad), want to find a more age appropriate drummer but Matt pushes for uncle Fish.

Though he nearly blows the prom gig, Fish turns out to be a great drummer and a strong positive influence on the band. When a YouTube video of Fish playing drums naked gets the band's music heard by millions, stardom comes knocking for a second time and Fish has the kind of second chance that doesn't come around very often.

The Rocker has a strict adherence to convention that is really the antithesis of rock n' roll. The film proceeds from one plot point to the next like clockwork. If you can't predict every step of this movie from beginning to end you are not trying. Director Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty), directing a script by former Simpsons scribe Wallace Wolodarsky and Maya Forbes; moves the undistinguished screenplay from paper to screen with little innovation or invention.

All of the success of The Rocker lies in the performance of Rainn Wilson and lucky we are that he is up to the challenge. Wilson's Rocker is sloppy and dull witted, obtuse and self-involved, but he's also sweet, funny and earnestly committed to the life and love of being a rock star. Fish seems to genuinely care about the kids in the band and despite his excesses, he eventually proves himself as a positive force.

Wilson's performance plays well with the overall familiarity of the plot, making the predictability easier to take because the vibe is so congenial. The Rocker is so gentle and feather light that it floats by. 88 minutes is really all this plot could sustain and the filmmakers were smart not to let the movie linger. As much as we like Wilson's performance, by the end we are ready to say goodbye. 

Another smart decision by the makers of The Rocker was hiring Chad Fischer to write the music for the film. Often a movie about musicians will skimp on the music. The pop tunes of The Rocker, sung by star Teddy Geiger, are really good pop tunes, songs you can believe would become top ten radio hits. If the film is a hit don't be surprised to hear a song like 'Tomorrow Never Comes' or 'Bitter' make a radio splash.

The Rocker is annoyingly formulaic but star Rainn Wilson and the music of Teddy Geiger and Chad Fischer keep it from becoming tedious. Wilson is a star on the rise and he appears to have a bright future as a goofball leading man. See The Rocker for Rainn Wilson and stay for the surprisingly strong pop tunes of Geiger and Fischer. Yes, you will see every turn of plot coming, but Rainn Wilson, at the very least, will keeping you smiling through the predictability.