Movie Review Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas (2014) 

Directed by Joe Swanberg

Written by Joe Swanberg

Starring Anna Kendrick, Lena Dunham, Melanie Lynskey, Joe Swanberg 

Release Date July 24th, 2014 

October 17th, 2014

Joe Swanberg broke my brain. One minute I'm flying from idea to idea, forming connections, creating thoughts and preparing those thoughts for inspection. Then, at about the 15 minute mark of Swanberg's insipid film "Happy Christmas" I first heard and then felt a crack somewhere deep in my subconscious. Where once was the snapping and popping of neurons bursting into ideas there was now but a whistle of cold wind between my ears.

Something about the complete nothingness of "Happy Christmas" simply broke me. I was puzzled at the film and to steal an apt phrase from the brilliant comedian Bill Hicks, I was not unlike a dog who'd just been shown  a card trick. 'Just what the hell is going on here?' I muttered to the vast emptiness. Is he really just playing with a baby and being cute? Did we need to see people arrive at a party, hang up coats and capture snippets of meaningless stranger introductions? 

The emptiness extends as we get an establishing shot of actress Melanie Lynskie, playing the wife to Swanberg's own character in the film, as she shops and then leaves the shop to arrive at her car and then places her groceries behind the front seat on the floor of her vehicle and then she gets in the car? This is a necessary sequence in a supposed feature film? This scene is followed by more baby banality, enlivened only by the attempts at character work by the lovely Lena Dunahm, attempts thwarted by director Swanberg. 

"Happy Christmas," I am told, was partly scripted and partly improvised so as to give it a more realistic sensibility. That sensibility extends to the use of natural light and low quality film stock so not only is the filmmaker not bothering to write anything, he's barely decided to frame or shoot anything that might be of interest. I'm also told that there is a nam to this style of filmmaking, "Mumblecore," and that this has become a celebrated low rent art form. 

Filmed folk art perhaps? How lovely, lack of style and substance excused by the categorization as an artform. Clever? Okay. Entertaining? Not so much. Anna Kendrick is the supposed star of "Happy Christmas" but she is more window dressing than character. The advantage of having a celebrity in the film helps make the argument that this is indeed a film and not merely the beginning of an idea that somehow made it past gates of the cinema and onto the big screen before it could be properly filled out. 

You can see my brain is clearly broken because I get bitter when in pain. I write nasty little things about movies I don't like and act as if they have actually, physically wronged me. That's what happens when my brain gets broken during a movie. Yes, Joe Swanberg, not only do I blame you for breaking my brain with your pseudo-movie, I blame you for making me say mean things about your pseudo-movie. 

Great, now I'm in pain and I hate myself. 

Movie Review The Informant

The Informant! (2009) 

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Written by Scott Z Burns 

Starring Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, Melanie Lynskey 

Release Date September 18th, 2009

Published September 17th, 2009 

In Hollywood there are stars and there are actors and rarely do they exist in one. People like Tom Hanks or Paul Newman can claim both mantles. Now, after watching the new comedy The Informant! you can add Matt Damon to that select group. In The Bourne series Damon is a star. In The Informant! Damon is both star and actor as he devilishly deals laughs while melting so perfectly into his role that even his hairpiece is acting.

As Mark Whitacre Damon brings midwestern values to the razor's edge between character and caricature. His portrayal of a corporatized doofus from Decatur of Illinois comes ever so close to an unkind parody of a typical Midwesterner. Thankfully, Damon's deft touch and inexhaustible charm keep things at just the right pitch.

Mark Whitacre worked at ADM, Archer Daniels Midland, one of the leading corn processing companies in the world. He began his career as an agri-scientist before being bumped up to the office. Once out of the lab he never really seemed to acclimate to the office. He was good at accepting a paycheck but when his job is on the line Mark cracks quickly under the pressure.

Hiding it all behind a doofusy grin Mark gets himself in real deep trouble when accusations of corporate dirty tricks lead to the FBI getting involved. Scott Bakula plays the lead FBI Agent assigned to investigate, at first on behalf of ADM then eventually gathering evidence against them. Mark willingly becomes his expert witness. Sensing a chance to play spy, and buff his ego; Mark agrees to wear a wire and gather evidence that his bosses are fixing the price of corn.

The story in The Informant is based on a true story. Mark Whitacre is a real guy who indeed attempted to become a whistleblower only to end up admitting to crimes of his own. The book based on Mark's story is the inspiration for the movie and both are terrifically well told stories.

Steven Soderbergh adapted and directed The Informant! with a touch of the absurd. With a jaunty score by the great Marvin Hamlisch and a comically distracted voiceover by Damon, the oddity of The Informant! perfectly matches the oddity of Mark Whitacre whose bizarre, ever escalating absurdity is matched only by his bizarre ability to remain an affably clueless doofus.

What a remarkable performance by Damon. Truly, an Oscar worthy effort. Damon's Mark Whitacre is, if you can imagine, like a non-animated Ned Flanders from The Simpsons all eager to please pep. He can put a bright spin on almost anything and his upbeat attitude is at once charming and utterly hilarious. By the end of The Informant, Matt Damon is earning laughs with just a raise of his eyebrow.

The supporting cast of The Informant! is at once a terrific assemblage of comic talent and a subliminal in-joke from Director Soderbergh to an educated audience. Soderbergh fills the supporting cast with some of the best stand up comics working today. Joel McHale, Patton Oswalt, Bob Papa, Bob Zany, Paul F. Tompkins among others have roles in The Informant.

By stocking the cast with comics Soderbergh effectively creates a funny by association meta-joke. The Informant! seems funnier just by the sight of so many funny people in the cast. It only works if you are a fan of the world of stand up comics and recognize these guys. If you do, it's an extra giddy thrill in what is already a pretty terrific movie.

Funny, smart, exceptionally well directed and featuring an Oscar level performance by Matt Damon, The Informant! is one of the best movies of the year.