Classic Movie Review Dave

Dave (1993) 

Directed by Ivan Reitman

Written by Gary Ross

Starring Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Frank Langella, Kevin Dunn, Ving Rhames, Ben Kingsley 

Release Date May 7th, 1993 

Published June 7th, 2023 

Dave is one of the nicest movies ever made. This is such a good hearted, sweet, sincere movie that it feels entirely anachronistic a mere 30 years after its release. Politics in America has gotten so much uglier, nastier, and mean over the last 3 decades that Dave feels like a throwback to the 1930s rather than the 1990s. In Dave, politics is still filled with pit vipers and vile men with self-interested aims, but good is seemingly on an equal footing with the bad guy and more than capable of defeating the bad. 

That feels quaint today where it's nearly impossible to believe in or remotely trust anyone in an elected office. In 1993 director Ivan Reitman and writer Gary Ross were able to get away with making a political movie that never once mentions a party affiliation. The film is about the United States President and yet we never learn if he is a Republican or Democrat. The politics are able to somehow be so fuzzy that it could be either party in charge. This would be considered cowardice in this day and age and Reitman and Ross would be castigated by both sides. 

Dave is perhaps one of the last signposts of a pre-internet era of politics, a time where the lack of a constant need to feed the beast that is social media, allowed for the kind of political crossroads that seem impossible today. In the pre-internet era, parties crossed over party lines to vote what they believed in. Today, party lines are so strict, members are rumored to be leaving their party if they even consider voting against the party line agenda. The politics of Dave are, of course, secondary to the humorous conceit and central romance of the movie but it's still quite a notable indicator of just how far things have changed for the worse in Washington D.C. 

Dave stars Kevin Kline as Dave, the friendliest man in his neighborhood. When he isn't finding a job for everyone he's ever met via his temp business, Dave is opening restaurants and car dealerships portraying the President of the United States, President William Harrison Mitchell (also played by Kline), with whom he shares a striking resemblance. That resemblance is soon noticed by the White House who draft Dave to portray a Presidential double to protect the President as he leaves for a secret meeting. What Dave doesn't know, but we do, is that this meeting is actually an affair with his secretary, played by a young Laura Linney. 

Full length review at Geeks.Media

Classic Movie Review: A Fish Called Wanda

 A Fish Called Wanda (1988) 

Directed by Charles Crichton

Written by John Cleese

Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin, John Cleese

Release Date July 15th, 1988 

Published July 15th, 2018

It’s so strange, sometimes movies get a reputation for genius and you hear about it and hear about it and then you see it for yourself and you wind up wondering what all of the fuss was about. That’s the case for me with A Fish Called Wanda. Yes, I had seen the movie before, back when it was on HBO in the 90’s and I think that I tried very hard to like it as much as the critics of the time seemed to like it. I liked it so I could seem smart.

A Fish Called Wanda turns 30 years old this weekend and once again I watched with the aim of wanting to like it so I could seem smart. Only this time, I am mature and confident enough to say I simply didn’t care for it. A Fish Called Wanda just doesn’t work on me. I disliked the characters, I was barely amused by the gags and Kevin Kline’s Academy Award winning supporting performance, for me, came off as forced and shrill.

A Fish Called Wanda is a comic heist movie which stars Jamie Lee Curtis as Wanda, a woman who is dating a thief named Georges Thomas, played by Tom Georgeson, a gag funnier than most in the movie. Wanda is only setting Georges up so that she and her lover, Otto (Kevin Kline) can double cross him and their other partner, Ken (Michael Palin). Georges isn’t stupid however and to insure his cut, he hides the loot until he knows he’s clear, an idea that pays off when Otto secretly turns him, unaware of where the loot actually went. 

To figure out where the loot is hidden, Wanda and Otto begin a convoluted plan surrounding Georges’ barrister, Archie Leach (John Cleese). The hope is that Otto will give Archie the location of the loot as a way to reduce his sentence after he is caught. The plan is for Wanda to seduce Archie to get him to reveal the location of the loot so that they can steal it back and leave the country. Things take a turn when Wanda develops a soft spot for Archie.

A Fish Called Wanda was directed by Charles Crichton, sort of. Though John Cleese claimed to have put his name on the co-director credit in order to allay studio fears about the fact that Crichton hadn’t worked in 23 years and was in his mid-80’s, it appears from on-set stories from Curtis and Kline that Cleese was the creative force. It was Cleese who came up with the memorable running gags about Wanda’s fetish for foreign languages and Otto’s insecurity about being called stupid.

 There are other Cleese-ian touches as well such as Archie having a wife and the two of them having separate beds ala his character on the famed British television series Fawlty Towers. Regardless of who is responsible however, not much of anything in A Fish Called Wanda got a laugh out of me. Whether it’s the door slamming, Noises-Off style gags of people running in and out of rooms and weaving elaborate lies when caught in the wrong place at the wrong time or the almost nihilistic approach to right and wrong, I found nothing appealing about A Fish Called Wanda.

The characters in A Fish Called Wanda are all terrible people, and that includes Palin’s Ken who, though he may feel guilty about a few of his evil deeds, is nevertheless as terrible as anyone else and has arguably the most notable body count in the movie, if you count dogs. The gags involving the elaborate ways in which Ken accidentally murders an old ladies three dogs is some of the ugliest humor I can recall in a supposed comedy.

We are supposed to like Ken because Palin plays him as a simpleton, a dupe who thinks he's helping his friend but is blundering his way into crime. We are supposed to either sympathize with or find funny his stuttering but it only engenders a sad sort of pity that is far from funny. A scene where Palin and Cleese finally share the screen comes late in the film, as we've anticipated seeing the Python guys together, and the scene is a wretchedly excessive scene of Palin struggling with his stutter and Cleese becoming more and more explosively irritated while trying to stay calm. There is no gag here other than Palin's stutter and it's never funny, merely insensitive. 

A Fish Called Wanda presumes its own sophistication. The filmmakers and stars appear as if they should be erudite, sophisticated players in a farce but somehow the film never earns a laugh. I shouldn’t say never, I was amused a few times, such as when Cleese dances about spouting Russian phrases while Jamie Lee Curtis writhes in ecstasy but the amusement was tempered and rare.

In his 1988 review of A Fish Called Wanda, Roger Ebert says “One of its strengths is its mean-spiritedness” and I could not disagree more. I don’t find the mean-spiritedness of A Fish Called Wanda to be a strength. It’s my least favorite thing about the movie. I don’t enjoy these odious characters and their greed and I especially don’t care for the ending that rewards each of them in some strange way.

I revere Roger Ebert which explains why, nearly 30 years ago, I watched A Fish Called Wanda and desperately attempted to like it. I wanted to seem cool to a man I would never meet. I wanted to impress this idol who didn’t know I existed via some transference of psychic energy; as if the universe might inform my hero that I was no ordinary teenage movie fan, I was a teenage movie fan who liked A Fish Called Wanda.

I still revere Roger Ebert, his writing will influence me for my lifetime but as an older man I find myself able to politely disagree. While Roger enjoyed this movie, I loathed it. I didn’t enjoy the mean-spiritedness because the characters weren’t pleasant or entertaining enough to earn it. I don’t mind a mean character winning in the end if they are charming or interesting enough and they are perhaps thumbing their nose at some societal ill. But when characters are just terrible because being terrible gets them what they want, I lose interest.

The characters of A Fish Called Wanda aren’t charming, their ugly. I don’t mind that they are criminals, I mind that they aren’t interesting or funny criminals. I don’t mind that they are killers or thieves, I mind that they aren’t charming or silly or funny killers and thieves. The characters appear as if they and what they are doing should be funny and yet I don’t laugh. I dislike these characters and thus they never become funny.

Movie Review: DeLovely

De-Lovely (2004) 

Directed by Irwin Winkler

Written by Jay Cocks

Starring Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, Jonathan Pryce 

Release Date July 2nd, 2004

Published July 1st, 2004 

The last time director Irwin Winkler and Kevin Kline worked together they turned out the dreadful melodrama Life As A House. So when I heard they were teaming again I was less than thrilled. Honestly I have never been a fan of Mr. Winkler's work, including The Net and At First Sight, a pair of less than stellar efforts. For Mr. Kline, I have always liked him but his recent career showed a career in decline. It seemed the last thing Kevin Kline needed was to work with Irwin Winkler again.

That may be what makes Kline's performance in De-Lovely so remarkable. Even as Mr. Winkler is delivering a rather compromised musical effort, Kline floats through effortlessly showcasing the wit and wisdom that won him an Oscar and the admiration of so many critics.

De-Lovely is the life story of one of the 20th centuries finest songwriters, Cole Porter. In the film, Kevin Kline plays Cole Porter from the time he met his wife Linda (Ashley Judd) in 1918 to his death in 1965. The film’s structure however is not a straightforward biopic. The story is told as Cole is being visited by an angel named Gabe (British character actor Jonathan Pryce) who takes Cole back through his life as though it were a Broadway production.

Cole Porter met Linda Lee in Paris while recovering from his first failed attempt at Broadway. It is Linda who draws Cole out of his temporary creative funk and drives him to create again. She is his muse but his love is not exactly aimed toward her. One of the worst kept secrets of Cole Porter's life was that he was gay. Though he was married to Linda for 38 years, the two had an understanding that never achieves proper depth in De-Lovely which seems too concerned with pop stars to truly dramatize Linda and Cole's unusual relationship. More on those pop stars later.

The film takes Cole and Linda from Paris to Milan and then New York where on Broadway; Porter made his greatest successes. Finally, the film goes to Hollywood where Cole was never comfortable with his big screen treatments. Louis B. Mayer, played in a cameo by Peter Polycarpou, wanted Porter to tone down his wit and deliver sappy romantic songs that play well to mass audiences. In one of the film’s better moments the cast breaks into Porter's playful "Be A Clown" to illustrate acceptance of his compromised Hollywood persona.

It was in Hollywood where Linda and Cole's relationship would go through its biggest trials. Cole may not have enjoyed the film business but he did love the Hollywood nightlife that offered many discreet, and not so discreet meeting grounds of Hollywood's gay community. The film has a minor blackmail subplot but like many other dramatic developments in Porter's life in the film, the subplot is quickly shoved aside for another pop star performance.

The final act of the film and of Porter and Linda's lives came after Porter was nearly paralyzed in a horse riding accident. His legs were crushed and he was advised to have them amputated. It was Linda who said no and because of her, Porter was able to continue composing music despite years of pain and surgery. He would return to Broadway with his biggest hit, Kiss Me Kate.

Thankfully, Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd don't need much depth from Jay Cocks' script to communicate the depth of feeling between Cole and Linda. The unconventional nature of their relationship is communicated by Kline and Judd in subtle ways, in the way she looks so longingly at him and the way he appreciates her love but cannot fully reciprocate it. Kline's Cole is full of the charm and charisma that made Porter a legend in his time. Still, there is always a hint of sadness or guilt when Cole looks at Linda. He can see her love and devotion and deeply wishes he could return it in some way.

The only way Porter could show Linda his appreciation was through his songs, many of which are dedicated to her. But even those love songs had a hint of Porter's capricious wit and many have read more into those songs and their innuendo-laden lyrics. Certainly not all of the songs can be attributed to Linda.

The film’s biggest problem is it's unusual structure, a gimmicky flashback style that may have seemed clever on the page but never comes together onscreen. As Cole and Gabe look back over Cole's life with Linda and his music as if the were directing a Broadway play, Winkler can't seem to commit to whether the film is a surrealist musical or melodrama. De-Lovely isn't a musical like Chicago where the songs are perfectly enmeshed in the story. Rather, De-Lovely wants it both ways. Flights of fancy where people just insanely break into song backed by an unseen orchestra, as well as staged performances where Cole watches from the audience, as he would have in real life on opening night.

Porter's music is performed by both Kline and Judd who acquit themselves well; that is to say, they don't embarrass themselves. Many of the songs are performed by pop superstars like Alanis Morissette (Let's Do It, Let's Fall In Love), Sheryl Crow (Begin The Beguine), Elvis Costello (Let's Misbehave), and Robbie Williams (the title song De-Lovely). While they are game performers, there is a glaring difference between pop songs and show tunes. That difference is brought home by Broadway performers like Caroline O'Connor (Anything Goes) and John Barrowman (Night And Day) who's belt it to the back of the theater style steals the show.

The decision to use the well known pop stars is clearly a commercial decision to sell soundtracks and not an artistic decision to do what's best for the film. I love Alanis, Sheryl and Elvis but they are performing show tunes as stand alone pop songs and they don't quite find the right notes. Once you make that commitment to commercialism you have compromised the integrity of the story and I for one and drawn away from the story.

As many problems as I have with De-Lovely, I am right on the cusp of recommending the film because Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd are so terrific. This is an amazing return to form for Kline who hopefully will seek out more quality material in the future. Ashley Judd is absolutely radiant even as the movie leaves much of Linda's life on the cutting room floor. The depth of the character comes from Judd's eyes, which show the pain of unrequited love and unending devotion in ways the script can't seem to communicate in words.

These are Oscar nomination-worthy performances in a film that is far from the same quality. The two are difficult to separate but if you can do it you may find a reason to enjoy De-Lovely the way I enjoyed it. The joy of watching two great actors show how difficult a job acting can be and how easy great actors can make it look.

Movie Review Life As a House

Life as a House (2001) 

Directed by Irwin Winkler 

Written by Mark Andrus 

Starring Kevin Kline, Kristen Scott Thomas, Hayden Christensen, Jena Malone, Mary Steenburgen

Release Date October 26th, 2001 

Published October 27th, 2001 

Life as A House starring Kevin Kline and directed by Irwin Winkler has been universally praised by critics and fans which leaves me wondering: did I see the same movie they did? I watched Life as a House in permanent awe of how derivative, obvious, and faux-deep Life as a House is. This is a middle aged man's very obvious, up his own backside, conception of what makes a deep statement about life. Honestly, I am embarrassed for everyone involved. 

Life as a House is the story of George, a depressed divorcee with a son who hates him, and who loses his job early in the film and then finds out he has terminal cancer. Is this a movie character or a biblical tragedy? With all that has happened George decides it's time to build his dream house which, for those who are a little on the slow side, is a metaphor for his rebirth. Do you get it? His life is represented by the house? Does that resonate with you? 

The house he currently lives in is a rundown shack overlooking the ocean in a beautiful neighborhood. Don't even get me started on that implausibility, which, duh, is a metaphor for who he used to be. The screenplay doesn't trust us to figure the metaphors out ourselves. Instead there is dialogue to state the obvious. You see, the rundown house is who he is when we meet him and the new house is who he is going to be. Do you get it? Because the voiceover will explain this if you don't. GAH!!!!! 

Life as a House is filled with such trite dialogue that continuously states the obvious as if leading blind audience members through a story the screenwriter thinks is so deep we won't get it. And it's sad because the actors: Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas as his ex wife, and Hayden Christenson as his son, have the ability to communicate these emotions with subtle acting. But no, instead the film is filled with leaden dialogue and a couple of hundred direct lifts from American Beauty. Yes that's right dear reader not only is the film dull, it's unoriginal.

From the voiceover narration at the beginning and end to the score to George's 'Lesterlike' rebirth, including a kiss with an underage sexpot, Life as A House is like American Beauty filtered through TV's Hallmark hall of fame.

P.S.: I refuse to make any cute housebuilding aside. Honestly, if I hear another critic use a pun title like "House is built on a great FOUNDATION HA HA," I will scream.

Movie Review: Definitely, Maybe

Definitely, Maybe (2008) 

Directed by Adam Brooks

Written by Adam Brooks 

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Derek Luke, Kevin Kline

Release Date February 14th, 2008 

Published February 13th, 2008 

In his first mature leading man performance Ryan Reynolds becomes a star before our eyes in the terrific romance Definitely, Maybe. Call it his Sleepless In Seattle moment, Reynolds becomes the new millennium answer to Tom Hanks as he establishes his romantic leading man street cred opposite not a single Meg Ryan but three tremendous young actresses on three completely different star tracks.

There is the capital A actress Rachel Weisz, already a hairs breath away from Oscar. Elizabeth Banks, the comic character actress. And then there is Isla Fisher, who is still too young to know where her career is headed. Reynolds sparks with each and makes you believe that indeed one man could get that lucky in his life.

Definitely, Maybe stars Reynolds as Will Hayes an ad exec who has just received his divorce papers. He's been headed for divorce for awhile it seems. Will see's his daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin) on Wednesdays and Fridays and is on his way to pick her up as the opening credits wrap. On this particular Friday Maya's school is abuzz. Today the kids took a surprise sex education course and all are bursting with questions. All of this talk of sex has Maya wondering where she came from, not necessarily the technical details, she learned all too much of that, rather about how mom and dad met and how they are where they are today.

Dad is not so hot on telling the tale and thus devises the story as a romantic mystery, leaving Maya to guess which of three women from his past is her mother. There is Emily (Elizabeth Banks) not her real name, who was his college sweetheart. They split up when he went to New York. It's more complicated and messy than that but that comes later. Then there is the copy girl aka April (Isla Fisher). She makes copies for a living in the Bill Clinton for President campaign office where Will has come all the way from Wisconsin to work. Politics of the early to late 90's play a big part in Definitely, Maybe.

And finally there is Summer Heartley (Rachel Weisz), a woman from Emily's past who Will meets when he delivers a present to her from Emily. What that present is has all sorts of surprises attached. Summer is an aspiring journalist sleeping with her esteemed professor (Kevin Kline) when she meets Will. They bounce around each other a little before the girly crush on the professor passes and Summer wants to get serious. She and Will share a relationship with many twists and moments you will not see coming.

So which girl is really mommy? Which girl is also the ex? That is the mystery and the secret charm of Definitely, Maybe.

Writer-director Allan Brooks isn't teasing the audience or screwing with us just to keep us off track. What he devises, structurally and with these terrifically charming and smart characters, is a romantic mystery that in-trances and enchants.This seemingly typical romantic comedy defies convention by mixing three different romances and allowing us to guess, take sides, and hope for our favorite to win out. Leading the guessing game is 12 year old Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin. In yet another devastatingly cute performance, Breslin charms us into a romantic journey that would be lonely and a little dreary without her hopeful, doe eyed presence.

The humor of Definitely, Maybe is warm and comfortable. It emanates naturally from these characters without the force of set ups and punchlines. The skill of Brooks' script may not occur to you until much later when you realize just how invested you are in the outcome of this mystery. Listen for the subtle ways Brooks uses politics as an undercurrent of Will's emotional state. His optimistic investment in President Clinton's promise of hope in 1992 juxtaposed against his disillusionment with his love life and the scandal that engulfs Clinton's presidency. This sets up a final moment in the movie so subtle; blink and you'll miss it. It's a minor scene but it means so much if you follow the context of the film as a whole.

Definitely, Maybe doesn't necessarily break the mold of the traditional romantic comedy. Rather, like the best of the gentrified genre lot, it takes the typical and improves upon it. The formula is familiar, it's just better performed, filmed and crafted in Definitely, Maybe. Rather than limiting himself to what is expected of the romance genre, Adam Brooks goes in slightly off kilter directions. He tweaks the formula, changes the expectations and, by creating wonderful characters with just the right actors, he changes the dynamics of the formula romantic comedy, bends it to the will of his story and creates something special.

Indeed, Definitely, Maybe is something special in the romantic comedy genre.

Movie Review: A Prairie Home Companion

A Prairie Home Companion (2006) 

Directed by Robert Altman 

Written by Garrison Keillor 

Starring Woody Harrelson, Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Garrison Keillor, Lindsay Lohan, John C. Reilly, Kevin Kline

Release Date June 9th, 2006 

Published June 8th, 2006 

Words like quaint and charming are anachronistic in this day and age. They are anathema to modern audiences bred on irony and detached perspective. Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion has always been of another time. A time when quaint and charming were far from insulting, they were the height of faint praise, as Keillor himself might say.

Now that A Prairie Home Companion has been brought to the big screen, under the direction of the legendary Robert Altman, you might fairly assume that it has been somehow updates, jazzed up somehow for modern audiences. That is thankfully not the case. A Prairie Home Companion is as old fashioned as has always been on Minnesota Public Radio and the throwback nature is one of the films many great pleasures.

In the era of irony a little earnest homespun humor is just the thing to warm your heart and give you a good tickle. It's the last night for the cast and crew of A Prairie Home Companion. For 30 some years the WLD radio variety show has emanated from the Fitzgerald theater in St Paul Minnesota. However, now that the longtime heritage station has been sold to a major corporate chain, the show's over.

This is distressing news to long time performers like the Johnson Sisters, Yolanda (Meryl Streep) and Rhonda (Lily Tomlin) who have performed on the show since it's inception. Yolanda's late husband was the inspiration for the show and Yolanda had hoped her daughter Lola (Lindsey Lohan) might one day perform there one day.

Also distressed at losing their regular gig are the singing cowboys Dusty (Woody Harrelson) and Lefty (John C. Reilly) whose ribald tunes about life on the plains are one of the shows humorous highlights, unless your the shows harried producer worried about FCC violations.

Seemingly unaffected by the sadness of the last broadcast is the shows longtime host G.K (Garrison Keillor) who is intent on making the very last show just like the first one. Refusing any attempt at evoking audience sympathies, G.K will not say thank you or goodbye in any kind of grand fashion. Why even when one of the shows older performers passes away in his dressing room mid-show G.K refuses an on air eulogy telling the cast that if he were to start eulogizing his friends at his age he wouldn't stop till he was dead himself.

Lurking in the background backstage is the shows head of security an oddball right out of a fifties private eye movie the aptly named Guy Noir (Kevin Kline) when he's not watching the door or providing a running commentary, Guy searches for a mysterious blonde in a trench coat only known as A Dangerous Woman (Virginia Madsen).

Saturday Night Live's Maya Rudolf and the real life band and singers of the radio show A Prairie Home Companion round out the cast of this deliciously simple showbiz comedy. Simple in terms of smart character driven humor and old school showbiz pizazz.

Lurking behind this behind the scenes comedy is a bizarre whimsy that is pure Robert Altman. In bringing to life Garrison Keillor's radio show, Altman has brought literal life to some of his fictional characters including the aforementioned Dusty and Lefty and most importantly Guy Noir who has long been Keillor's favored creation outside the denizens of the fictional town of Lake Woebegone.

Guy's whole persona and function in the film are a delightful mixture of detective movie parody and straight comedy and in the person of Kevin Kline these elements reach a near symphony level of comic timing and perfection. Kline is more than worthy of a supporting actor nomination as the standout of this brilliant ensemble.

Meryl Streep provides the emotional center of A Prairie Home Companion. Yolanda is more than just a performer on the show, in the films history her family is entwined in the history of the show. Her husband was G.K's partner before he passed on. Yolanda herself was for a time entwined with G.K and her daughter has been coming to the show with her since birth.

Her colorful history, only alluded to, colors the film and brings depth to the emotions that resonate from her especially while on stage with her voice breaking belting out the same old time gospel songs she and her sister have sang on the show for years.

Streep's performance is not perfect. She along with Harrelson and Reilly occasionally betray their performances by allowing Hollywood affectations to leak through their Midwestern patois. Overall though the performances are universally strong.

Maybe most surprising of all is Garrison Keillor. Playing himself is certainly the kind of comfort zone any actor can thrive in but Keillor does truly impress with his deft wit and comic timing. Anyone who listens to his real life show on a regular basis will likely recognize that this is typical Garrison Keillor but the uninitiated will likely be very impressed with the his sleight of hand phraseology and warm charismatic nature.

In his most recent directorial effort the ballet drama The Company Robert Altman directed as if the whole thing bored him. The director was constantly allowing the camera to wiggle around and wander away from the actors, when they weren't dancing. It was as if he were directing from a script he didn't much care for and simple set the camera and walked away when he wasn't enjoying the ballet performances.

A Prairie Home Companion is a return to form for the great director. Fully engaged and even modestly excited about this smart, homespun material, Altman seems to delight in every last detail from Keillor's wacky fake product commercials to the style of Kevin Kline's haircut meant match that of a bust of the great F. Scott Fitzgerald whose bust is prominently displayed in the theater that is named for him.

A Prairie Home Companion is a masters class in Altman's managed chaos style. The film floats backstage to look in on Guy Noir and the backstage happenings and then simply glides back on to the stage for another song and a story. The flow is hypnotic when it's not laugh out loud funny. This is one of Robert Altman's best efforts in a very long while.

Quaint and charming may be curse words in this day and age but not in relation to this wonderfully quaint charming comedy from a master director and a master storyteller. A Prairie Home Companion is one of the best films of the year.

Movie Review No Strings Attached

No Strings Attached (2011) 

Directed by Ivan Reitman 

Written by Elizabeth Meriweather 

Starring Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Cary Elwes, Kevin Kline 

Release Date January 21st, 2011 

Published January 20th, 2011 

It's becoming a modern movie affliction; movies that are more ideas than movies. "The Dilemma" is a good example: How do you tell your best friend that his wife is cheating on him? Good idea but that was all anyone seemed to come up with and the film flailed about hoping the cast would find something funny to do. More often than not, the cast never found anything.

"No Strings Attached" is another example of this affliction. The idea is simple: Can two people have a sexual relationship without feelings getting in the way? And, much like "The Dilemma," no one really thought of anything more beyond that idea and thus stranded a charming cast, lead by Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher, in a plotless mess where only occasionally does someone find something funny to say.

Adam and Emma met briefly in Summer Camp as teenagers when an awkwardly distant Emma attempted to comfort a sad Adam and he offered a clumsy teenage come on. They met again in College at a frat party when Emma asked Adam to a family function that turned out to be a funeral. You know how you invite strangers on dates to funerals, so funny. And they met again one year later at a random farmer's market where Adam got Emma's phone number right in front of his girlfriend, because our main character is a total jerk. 

Much would seem to stand in the way of these two bad-timing having folks getting together but when Adam gets blitzed after his girlfriend leaves him for his TV star father (Kevin Kline, in a shocking cameo) he ends up naked on Emma's couch and eventually in her bed. Emma is now a medical resident working ungodly hours in order to become a doctor; she has little time for a relationship. What she does have time for however is hook ups and booty calls and lots of them. Yes, Adam is given what we are to believe is the dream relationship for all emotionally stunted men 'Sex Buddies.'

So why is Adam so miserable? It turns out, in what would be an interesting twist in a better and far more thoughtful and unique film, Adam is not the typical immature boy-man that he might seem. Too bad he has fallen for an emotionally walled off nut case that could only exist in the pages of an under-written romantic comedy.

The eminent critic Mick Lasalle of the San Francisco Chronicle made an interesting point about Ashton Kutcher and his movies. To paraphrase Lasalle: Ashton Kutcher's been in a number of bad movies but he's never been all that bad in those movies. Indeed, Kutcher is an appealing screen presence who delivers more than what is on the page to his characters. He just chooses some truly horrible movies.

"No Strings Attached" is a pretty horrible movie in which Ashton Kutcher is, as usual, not that bad in. Ashton gives the character charm and a soulful, puppy dog quality. The problem is that the rest of the film is such a shambles. Director Ivan Reitman and writers Elizabeth Meriwether and Michael Samonek seem to have an idea for a movie but fail to deliver characters whose motivations from scene to scene are consistent and instead they rely on hit and miss sitcom jokes that hang off of the film's premise.

Poor Natalie Portman is the biggest victim of the hit and miss style of "No Strings Attached." Portman's Emma is called upon to be an emotional disaster reeling from one motivation to the next at the whim of whatever comic notion struck director Ivan Reitman in the moment.

At one moment Reitman finds it funny for Emma to invite a strange man on a date to a family funeral. In the next she's giving her phone number to a guy in front of his girlfriend. In the next she seeks a purely sexual relationship. Then she gets drunk and jealous. Then she tells him to sleep with other women and then she's jealous again. Each time Emma is led to look like a fool because no one bothered to give her a back-story that might lend context to her oddball behavior.

Making matters worse in "No Strings Attached" is a sensational supporting cast that drowns in the wake of the creators’ lack of any clue what to do with them. Kevin Kline as Adam's father is a heedless hedonist whose love of drugs and sex is supposedly funny because he's old. That's the joke, he's old. I imagine that Reitman thought hiring Kevin Kline was all that he needed to make this character work and that's not an unreasonable notion, but even Kline's charm can't get around how misbegotten Reitman's direction of No Strings Attached is. 

Lake Bell plays Adam's co-worker who clearly has a crush on him. Here, the film adds a strange sort of cruelty as nice guy Adam is asked to flirt with Bell's Lucy while pining for crazy Emma. If Lucy were a bigger nutcase than Emma or maybe just mean in some way then his behavior toward her might be excusable. Instead, Lucy and Adam have an uncomfortable and brief courtship before she is shuffled off into another character's jockey send off. 

The brilliant Greta Gerwig from “Greenberg” is wasted in the role of Emma's best friend, sweetly paired off with Adam's best friend Eli (Jake M. Johnson) in one of the film's many thrown away plots. And The Office star Mindy Kaling is brought in to deliver a few tart one liners that sound as if she wrote them herself. Kaling's character exists only for one-liners and to her credit they are the funniest moments in the film. 

There are parts as well for rapper Ludacris, Cary Elwes, and Juno's best pal Olivia Thirlby but nothing really of note. It seems at times that everyone in the cast was hired to inhabit a type and then jokes were written to play off of that type and then everything was cut together with fingers crossed that something coherent would emerge. 

Sadly, nothing coherent does emerge from No Strings Attached aside from a continuing sense that Ashton Kutcher has talent and really poor taste in material. Like us, Kutcher saw the potential of the idea of No Strings Attached but like the rest of the cast he is left hanging by a creative team that failed to develop anything beyond a premise and a couple of good one liners.

One last note, some Oscar pundits have wondered aloud if No Strings Attached were bad enough to be Natalie Portman’s “Norbit,” i.e the film that some believe sunk Eddie Murphy’s chances of winning Best Supporting Actor for his excellent turn in “Dreamgirls.” The answer is a simple no: “No Strings Attached” is not as bad as “Norbit.” Indeed, few movies have ever been as bad as “Norbit.”

Movie Review The Extra Man

The Extra Man (2010) 

Directed by Sherri Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini 

Written by Sherri Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini 

Starring Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, Katie Holmes, John C. Reilly 

Release Date July 30th, 2010 

Published August 14th, 2010

The thrill of watching Kevin Kline work has never ceased for me. When Kevin Kline is on he is arguably the most compelling actor of his era. In his latest effort, “The Extra Man,” Kline is on like gangbusters in a role that is beyond quirky and into a realm of peculiarity that few actors could sustain and remain believable.

The Extra Man stars Kevin Kline as a gentleman of leisure, a man about town. Kline's Henry Harrison is a failed playwright living in semi-squalor off of the kindness of wealthy friends. Into Henry's life comes Louis (Paul Dano) a kindred soul with a literary heart who fancies himself the modern incarnation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Nick Carraway from The Great Gatsby.

That is if Nick Carraway liked to dress in drag. Yes, Louis has an issue with wanting to dress as a woman, a fetish opposed vehemently by Henry but indulged by Louis with the help of an understanding prostitute played by Patti D'Arbanville. Is Louis gay? He's not sure; he may or may not have feelings for a co-worker at his new job, Mary played by Katie Holmes.

What is Henry's orientation? A gentleman would never discuss such a thing. Henry's job, such as it is, and the field that he introduces Louis to is as an extra man. What is an extra man you wonder? He is a gentleman who squires older women about town to the opera or a dinner party or a fancy restaurant. Henry lives for his work but whether he performs the duties of a gigolo is yet another thing a gentleman never tells.

No doubt your quirk-ometer is on overload just from my description. What makes “The Extra Man” all the more odd and wonderful is how the characters and indeed the filmmakers play as if nothing were odd about this at all. Director's Sherri Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini direct “The Extra Man” with such quiet dignity and self seriousness that the oddity is tamed into something resembling an existent reality.

”The Extra Man” is weirdly warm, humorous if not laugh out loud funny and has a wealth of charm. Kevin Kline relishes playing Henry Harrison and the life he gives this character leaps off of the screen. Young Paul Dano remains the most quirky of all modern actors. There is a certain pre-destiny in his becoming an Oscar winner yet stardom seems to be something he will fight against with all of his quirky will.

Berman and Pulcini too will likely never become blockbuster, a-list directing talents. They are too independent, too in their own heads to ever compromise enough to create a hit. Like the best of auteurs they will succeed despite their instinct for art over commerce. “The Extra Man” is certainly art over commerce. There was never any hope this would be a hit and never any attempt to make it so. In that sense the movie is as wonderfully quirk ridden as its main character.

Movie Review: The Pink Panther

The Pink Panther (2006) 

Directed by Shawn Levy 

Written by Len Blum, Steve Martin 

Starring Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Beyonce Knowles

Release Date February 10th, 2006

Published February 9th, 2006 

It’s not that Steve Martin is no longer a funny guy but, with his last few pictures, save for the exceptional romantic drama Shopgirl, he has really stunk up the joint. Cheaper By The Dozen 1 & 2 and his teaming with Queen Latifah in Bringing Down the House are vapid exercises in the most tired of cliches. The streak of joyless and mostly humorless comedies continues with The Pink Panther, a flailing cannibalization of the famous Peter Sellers film series.

Inspector Jaques Clouseau (Martin) is the model of ineptitude. As a gendarme of the French police, Clousseau's beat has long been the one place where he could do the least amount of damage. However, when the French national soccer coach (action star Jason Statham in a brief cameo) is murdered and his legendary pink panther diamond stolen from his dead body, it is Clousseau who is given the high-profile case.

The chief of French Police Dreyfus (Kevin Kline) chose Clouseau not for his investigatory skill, but rather to be the public face of the investigation. While Clouseau screws up in front of the cameras, Dreyfus and his team can solve the case behind the scenes and then take all the credit. To insure Clouseau does not screw up too badly, he is assigned a partner, Gendarme Gilbert Ponton (Jean Reno), who will attempt to keep Clouseau out of trouble.

Pop star Beyonce Knowles shows up as Xania, an international pop star, solely for the purposes of eye candy and for the soundtrack synergy. The pop star has no relevance to what there is of a plot. Poor Emily Mortimer, playing Clouseau's secretary, is stuck with the thankless role of his love interest, leaving Beyonce to merely provide the film with a marketable pop song for the soundtrack CD.

Once you accept that this is not much of a movie and more of a sketch-comedy exercise, the whole thing comes down to how funny these sketches are. And within that limited criteria, the results are quite mixed. The Pink Panther is exceptionally hit and miss. Certain scenes, such as Clouseau's introduction to Chief Inspector Dreyfuss, are laugh out loud funny. However, the sketches that don't work, like the attempts at bawdy adult humor or Clouseau's dirty-old-man infatuation with Xania, are far more uncomfortable than funny.

Director Shawn Levy is to the comedy genre what Uwe Boll is to sci fi. Okay, maybe he isn't quite that bad. Mr. Boll does set quite a standard, but for the relative ease of his chosen genre, the family comedy, Levy is unquestionably a hack. He can point the camera and capture what is in frame, but he has zero insight into how one scene should flow to the next. Levy has no sense of how to establish a comic or dramatic flow, no sense of storytelling and he has the visual sense of a blind squirrel.

I have not seen the original Pink Panther since the era of the large-form laser disc, so my memory of Peter Sellers as Clouseau is spotty at best. I know from experiencing other films of Director Blake Edwards, who directed Sellers in the original, that he is a far superior director to Shawn Levy, so it seems safe to assume that this new Pink Panther cannot match the original. Call that observation unfair or uninformed if you like, but it's inescapable that Levy is not a great director.

As for comparing Steve Martin and the legendary Mr. Sellers, I have to believe that Steve Martin certainly could match the talent of Peter Sellers. I have seen so much great work from Steve Martin, granted not much recently, that I have to believe him capable of being Peter Sellers' equal. In this film however, with this director, Martin is at a loss to bring this legendary character to life. Martin flails and falls with vigor but it's all for naught. Martin's goose was cooked the second Shawn Levy was named director.

So what, if anything, works in Pink Panther? For Steve Martin being, a complete failure at drawing laughs is impossible. Martin works very hard for what few laughs he gets in this dreadful film, but he does get a few and most come from his teaming with Jean Reno. In a better film, Martin and Reno could have riffed two complete funny performances but in Reno's sporadic screen-time, often cut short for more of Martin's dirty old man bit or the film's bizarre extended James Bond riff, they only have time for a few funny moments, the film's funniest moments.

Also, the teaming of Martin and Kevin Kline as Chief Inspector Dreyfus is inspired, but as with many of the ideas that went into this movie, the teaming is half-baked. Kline has only a handful of scenes with Martin, some very funny, some very much not. Like Martin's teaming with Reno, I watched Martin work with Kline and longed for a different, far better film to feature these two exceptionally talented actors.

The Pink Panther has been marketed as a family movie, so I should warn parents that the family movie tag was one forced upon the film. The Pink Panther was intended as an outrageous borderline R-rated comedy filled to overflow with prurient humor about Viagra, Beyonce Knowles' fine form, and a running gag about Martin and Emily Mortimer getting caught in compromising positions. The Viagra and the leering Clouseau's creepy eyeing of Knowles remain, as does the running gag about Martin and Mortimer, though I understand in much shorter form. These jokes do not belong in a supposed family movie.

Some might say if Sony, the studio that took over the prized property after purchasing MGM, mandated these changes that I should cut director Shawn Levy some slack. I would, if I thought these naughty scenes that are now either truncated or cut completely had the potential to be funny, but I don't see that. Watching what is left of the initial Pink Panther cut, I think Sony likely performed a salvage and rescue rather than the destruction of something bawdy and brilliant. 

Remakes are, more often than not, lazy cash grabs, and while there is little about Steve Martin's performance in Pink Panther that could be called lazy, there is an unquestionable stench of greed and the desire to cash in on a well known property. Worse yet, there is unshakable malaise around The Pink Panther that even Martin at his most manic cannot escape. Whether it comes from director Shawn Levy's poor direction or the general laziness of remakes is debatable.The Pi