Movie Review I Do Until I Don't

I Do Until I Don't (2017) 

Directed by Lake Bell 

Written by Lake Bell 

Starring Lake Bell, Ed Helms, Mary Steenburgen, Paul Reiser, Amber Heard, Wyatt Cenac, Chase Crawford 

Release Date September 1st, 2017 

Published August 30th, 2017 

Lake Bell is quickly proving herself as a jack of all trades. She started her career in the role of the slightly less gorgeous best friend in movies before taking a major U-turn from pursuing movie stardom. When her What Happens in Vegas co-star Rob Corddry pitched the idea of the then web series Children's Hospital, it was an unlikely choice, one I’m sure her agent wasn’t exactly excited about. Then the series became a cult hit, earning a place on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim lineup it showed Hollywood that Lake Bell was more than just the pretty face.

But Lake Bell wasn’t finished taking risks. In 2013, instead of making the move back to features or a full-time TV gig, she had plenty of options, Bell decided to cultivate a small budget and make a movie of her own in which she was writer, director, and star. In a World was a charming, delightful and highly original love story about a voice-over artist who dreams of getting that one big gig and become the first woman to utter the phrase that became a cliche of so many sci-fi action movies of the past In a World.

With the small budget, In a World became a solid hit and earned Lake Bell the capital to do more writing, directing and starring. This time her idea, called I Do Until I Don’t, was a bit more of a struggle. Having begun writing the screenplay immediately following the production and release of In a World, Lake began the story as a skeptical exploration of why people get married. The intent then was to deconstruct marriage and ask why this seemingly antiquated ritual was still a thing.

Then Lake met and fell in love with her husband Scott Campbell and they had two kids and the story, throughout this wonderful, if tumultuous time, evolved from a skeptical take to a more nuanced and thoughtful take on why people fall in love and the work it takes to stay in love.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Classic Movie Review Clifford

Clifford (1994) 

Directed by Paul Flaherty 

Written by Jay Dee Rock, Steven Kampman 

Starring Martin Short, Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen, Dabney Coleman 

Release Date April 1st, 1994

Published April 1st, 2024 

There has been a minor reassessment of the movie Clifford in recent years. Famously, actor Nicolas Cage spoke about being a fan of the film in relating a story about meeting Martin Short. The idea that Nicolas Cage fan-girled at meeting Martin Short and peppered him with praise for Clifford is a better and funnier story than anything in Clifford. I think there are people who adopted Clifford as their movie simply to be different from the rest of the world which roundly rejected this bizarre failure. Other than Nicolas Cage, who is seemingly incapable of irony, no one actually likes Clifford, they like being the person who says that they like Clifford. 

Clifford stars Martin Short as the title character, Clifford, a deeply spoiled and entitled 10 year old boy. On a trip to Hawaii, Clifford manages to nearly crash a plane in hopes of landing in Los Angeles where he hopes to take a trip to Dinosaur World. Clifford's parents, desperate to get away from their child, drop Clifford with his Uncle Martin (Charles Grodin). The timing is fortuitous for Martin who needs to convince his girlfriend, Sarah (Mary Steenburgen) that he likes kids and has a special relationship with his nephew. 

Unfortunately for Martin, he is not aware that his nephew is a 10 year old sociopath. Clifford's single minded desire to go to Dinosaur World leads him to destroy every aspect of his Uncle's life including breaking up Martin and Sarah, getting Martin fired from his job, and getting Martin arrested for planning to bomb City Hall. All of this is revenge for Martin failing to take Clifford to see Dinosaur World. All the while, Clifford plays the innocent child when Sarah or anyone else is around while turning malevolent when it's just he and his Uncle Martin. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

 

Movie Review: Four Christmases

Four Christmases (2008) 

Directed by Seth Gordon 

Written by Jon Lucas, Scott Moore, Matt R. Allen, Caleb Wilson, 

Starring Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Mary Steenburgen, Jon Favreau, Tim McGraw, Sissy Spacek

Release Date November 26th, 2008 

Published November 27th, 2008

It's just not that funny. I watch and I want to laugh. I feel for that tickle at the back my throat. I try and force it a few times. It just doesn't come. You know why? Because, Four Christmases starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon just isn't funny. The trailer was funny. I laughed a few times during the two and a half minute teaser.

I watched the movie, nothing. No laugh. Not even a chuckle. I sighed deeply once and it could have been mistaken as a laugh. But no. The movie isn't funny.

Brad (Vaughn) and Kate (Witherspoon) have been together for three years with no want for marriage or children. They really aren't keen on family at all. Thus why every Christmas they lie to their families and escape to some exotic isle. This year, they are off to Fiji until weather grounds their plane and they are captured on TV being forced to stay in country.

Plot forces require that each of four parents, now all separated, see the same news report and press the guilt button. Each parent will be visited and each will bring about a new kind of torture.

Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek are Vaughn's parents while Mary Steenburgen and Jon Voight act as Witherspoon's sires. Each offers opportunities for laughs and yet none provide. Director Seth Gordon assigns each of these legendary performers a personality but forgets to offer any plot assistance.

Duvall is a bully, as are the assigned brothers Jon Favreau and Tim McGraw, randomly assigned as cage fighters. Are you laughing yet? Spacek is a space cadet who has married again to one of Brad's friends (Patrick Van Horn in a 'hey that guy was in Swingers' cameo'). Are you laughing now? How about if mom and new boyfriend repeatedly mention their sex life? Nothing?

Steenburgen, as Witherspoon's Kate warns us, is a cougar. She immediately is welcoming to Brad, willing to humiliate her daughter to make Brad ever more uncomfortable. Ha! No. Yeah, me neither. What if I throw in the fact the cougar mom is also a jesus freak and is dating a pastor played by Dwight Yoakam? What if the pastor forces Brad and Katie to play Mary and Joseph in a church pageant? Still nothing?

Finally there is Jon Voight who apparently said no to his assigned persona. Instead Voight plays benign presence to play against the craziness of everyone else. It works only to highlight the irritating, over the top absurdity of the other characters. But atleast Voight doesn't embarrass himself, which is I'm guessing, his goal for this role.

Seth Gordon is a comedically tone deaf director who pays off would be jokes two minutes before they actually happen. Truly, if you cannot see these 'jokes before they actually happen you may be having a stroke, seek medical help. Predictability is a sin that few can be forgiven for. I expect it from say, The Transporter where I would be disappointed if Jason Statham didn't drive fast and blow stuff up good.

I doubt the makers of Four Christmases put even that much thought into making this movie. They merely manufactured an idea. Cut characters out of a book of personality traits, filmed them and assembled them in number order. Whether the result was funny or even modestly amusing not so much a concern as getting the Christmas set film into theaters by the holidays to capitalize on tired, turkey and shopping attled masses seeking mindless distraction.

Say, I can recommend this movie. If you are in a tryptophan coma or blinded by the blue light special, Four Christmases is playing in a theater where you can sit in peace and quiet and not be bothered for 90 minutes.

Movie Review Step Brothers

Step Brothers (2008) 

Directed by Adam McKay

Written by Adam McKay, Will Ferrell

Starring Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Richard Jenkins, Mary Steenburgen, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn

Release Date July 25th, 2008 

Published July 24th, 2008 

My sister and I have a long running disagreement about the comedy of the absurd. She loves the strange, the bizarre and the out of context. I prefer a comedy with some structure, comedy with an idea behind it, a strong sense of character. That said, even with my sisters great tolerance for absurdity, even she will have a hard time enjoy the depths of absurdity plumbed in Step Brothers, the latest dumb guy comedy from the Will Ferrell factory.

Brennen (Will Ferrell) and Dale (John C. Reilly) are two 40 year old virgins who barely left the womb, let alone their respective parents' homes. Brennen's mom Nancy (Mary Steenbergen) happens to have met and fallen in love at first sight with Dale's dad Robert (Richard Jenkins). Now Brennen and Dale are step brothers and they are none to happy about it.

Setting about destroying each other, Brennen and Dale engage in an ugly and occasionally funny, escalation of nasty pranks all of which seem to reveal how much more they have in common than against one another. When Brennen's successful younger brother Derek (Adam Scott) shows up and Dale ends up punching, the step brothers finally realize all they have in common. Unfortunately, Dale and Brennen's hijinks as enemies and friends drive their parents to divorce. Now they must try and grow up or lose their family.

My description of the plot is much more conventional than the actual plot of Step Brothers which amounts more to throwing a series of gags at audiences than much of anything you might consider a plot. Director Adam McKay, who co-wrote the script with Ferrell, attempts from time to time to bring some structure to Step Brothers but the urge for non-sequitur gaga becomes too much to resist. Some of the gags are funny, some are embarrassing; for both actor and audience, and others just leave one to ponder other things they could be doing with their time, like watching The Dark Knight again.

So what is funny about Step Brothers? Mary Steenbergen's brief cursing fit gets a good laugh as does Richard Jenkins' ever increasing frustrations. Ana Gasteyer's astonishing dirty talk will stun and still get a good laugh and a dog belonging to a blind neighbor gets a laugh as well. Otherwise, Ferrell and O'Reilly's antics as Brennen and Dale are more awkward than funny, more mean spirited than good natured.

Is the idea of children beating up Ferrell and O'Reilly kind of funny? Yes. In execution however the scene simply isn't funny. When the scene is reprised later you know what will happen and again it's not very funny. These scenes are like most in Step Brothers, random, flailing attempts at jokes that miss far more than they hit.

Much of Step Brothers plays as if Ferrell, Reilly and McKay sat down and started throwing around gags, regardless of context and decided to just throw everything in and hope something would work. Because these are very talented guys, some of it does make you laugh. Just as much however makes you cringe or merely embarrassed for yourself and the performers.

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 Sunshine State

Sunshine State (2002) 

Directed by John Sayles 

Written by John Sayles 

Starring Jane Alexander, Angela Bassett, Bill Cobbs, Edie Falco, Timothy Hutton, Mary Steenburgen

Release Date June 21st, 2002 

Published June 21st, 2002 

Writer-director John Sayles is the prototype independent filmmaker. He's even been referred to as the Godfather of the independent film. For more than 20 years, Sayles has been making his films his way, with tremendous artistic success and modest box office. Along the way, Sayles has picked up awards, critical plaudits and sorts-of praise. None of that has altered his way of making movies. Sayles has never succumbed to mainstream moviemaking and he's never been co-opted by the studio system. Sayles exists on his own filmmaking plane. His latest work is yet another work of independence called Sunshine State.

State tells the multiple interlocking stories of the people living on the fictional plantation island off the coast of Florida. Formerly a bustling community of semi-affluent African-American and small business owners, Plantation Island is now feeling the encroachment of modern America in the form of big business real estate developers. As we join the story, developers have already begun to dominate the island save for two small communities. In the predominantly African American community of Lincoln Beach, times are tough and the residents are ripe to be picked off by the real estate developers. Not everyone is so quick to move however, especially Dr. Lloyd (Bill Cobbs) who leads the only resistance to the developers.

Dr. Lloyd is living with Eunice Stokes (Mary Alice), another longtime resident of Lincoln Beach not keen on moving. Mrs. Stokes however has more pressing concerns as her daughter Desiree and husband Reggie have arrived from out of town. Eunice has a secret and needs to reconcile with her estranged daughter, not only for herself but also for her young nephew Terrell.

Paralleling that story is that of Marly Temple, a Hotel and Restaurant owner being pursued by developers who want to turn her small businesses into a thriving mini-mall. Marly is quite tempted to sell but can't because her ailing father (Ralph Waite) who though retired from the business, urges her to hold onto the business he started.

Each story plays out as the city that surrounds them is celebrating a citywide festival organized by Fracine Pickney, a silly housewife played by Mary Steenburgen. She is so wrapped up in making a great parade she fails to notice her husband’s (NYPD Blue’s Gordon Clapp) multiple attempts at suicide.

A group of golfers act as the bookends of the film, led by comedian Alan King as the head of the development company trying to buy the island. King has two sensational speeches, one at the beginning of the film and one at the end that tie the story together in its most simple form.

There are so many characters in Sunshine State and so many little connections between each character it would be impossible to explain each of them. The connections are well explained and meaningful, and come together to paint a beautiful picture. A picture of a group of people living their lives and the life that has grown up around them.

At first it seems that Sayles is going to make a statement movie about the environment and evil big business corporate villains. However, by the end of the film Sayles’ broader themes become clear. Corporate greed and social issues are parts of the lives being lived in Sunshine State, but Sayles is far more interested in how those lives are lived. 

Sayles draws intelligent realistic characters that are well spoken and interesting. The scripting is intricate and ingenious, and Sunshine State is simply a joy to watch. A film that respects the intelligence of the audience enough to make a movie that doesn't work in broad strokes, but rather in subtlety. Words that are far more important than action. Humor that comes from reality instead of forced punch lines. While the film’s pace may be a little leisurely at times the performances and dialogue are strong enough that even the most belabored scenes hold the audience's attention.

John Sayles movies do not compromise, they never come off as market-tested. As such, they are nearly impossible to classify by genre. They are simply well made intelligent films. Sunshine State may in fact be John Sayles best film to date.