Movie Review Battle of the Sexes

Battle of the Sexes (2017) 

Directed by Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton

Written by Simon Beaufoy 

Starring Steve Carell, Emma Stone, Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman, Alan Cumming

Release Date September 22nd, 2017 

I’ve spent a few days wrestling with why I don’t love the new, true life drama Battle of the Sexes from two of my favorite directors, Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton. The directors of the wonderful Little Miss Sunshine and the sublime Ruby Sparks have delivered a solid effort in Battle of the Sexes, but there is just something lacking. It’s not the performances either, as both Emma Stone and Steve Carell deliver standout takes on real life counterparts Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs. So just what’s wrong with Battle of the Sexes?

Battle of the Sexes tells the story of the 1972 tennis match-up that pitted women’s liberation, in the form of female tennis champion Billy Jean King, versus the self-proclaimed champion of male chauvinism, Bobby Riggs, himself a former tennis champion from some years earlier. King had recently left the American Lawn Tennis Association to help launch the new Women’s Tennis Association after a fallout over equal pay with ALTA’s leadership, headed up by Howard Kramer (Bill Pullman).

It was a huge moment for women’s tennis as King and her manager, Gladys Heldman (Sarah Silverman) risked everything to take the world’s top female tennis stars out onto their own tour with the goal of proving they could earn just as much money as male tennis champions. It was an even bigger moment for King as the new tour also found her in a new relationship, as she began to find her sexuality for the first time by falling in love with a hairdresser named Marylin Barnett (Andrea Riseborough). All the while she’s married to her devoted husband Larry (Austin Stowall) and could lose everything if people found out about her affair.

Complicating Billy Jean’s life further is Riggs, who challenged King early in 1972, just after the launch of the WTA and after she ignored his pleas, challenged fellow women’s champion Margaret Court just as Court was coming off a recent upset win over Billy Jean. Court would go on to lose to Riggs and force Billy Jean to be the one to challenge Riggs in order to save face for women’s tennis and their potential earning power.

As you can tell from that description, there is a pretty terrific and dramatic story in Battle of the Sexes. So why doesn’t it work? Much of the problem comes from Academy Award-winning screenwriter Simon Beaufoy’s script, which fails to parse the parody-level male chauvinism with the actual sexism that Billy Jean King was up against. Beaufoy’s script renders Bobby Riggs as a lovable conman who used chauvinism as a way of marketing and not the cruel dismissal of women tennis players it actually was.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal 

Movie Review I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With

I want Someone to Eat Cheese (2007) 

Directed by Jeff Garlin

Written by Jeff Garlin

Starring Jeff Garlin, Sarah Silverman, Bonnie Hunt, Mina Kolb

Release Date September 5th, 2007 

Published September 25th, 2007 

If Hollywood won't cast you as the lead in a movie, make your own. That is what comedian and Curb Your Enthusiasm cast Jeff Garlin has done. I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With is Garlin gathering his friends, mostly from Chicago's Second City Comedy troupe, and making a movie that he can star in. Garlin produced, wrote the screenplay and directed I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With and it has the breezy, good natured tone of friends getting together to chat and make each other laugh. If the film occasionally strains for the laughs or goes just slightly over the top, it's okay because we like these characters and we especially like Garlin.

James (Garlin) has 3 very distinct problems. First is his weight, when we meet him he is outside a convenience store gorging on junk food and milk. Later he sneaks out of an overeaters anonymous meeting to go for ice cream. Next is the fact that at 39 he still lives with his mother (Mina Kolb). And lastly is his career where opportunities are beginning to dry up. Refusing to leave Chicago for Los Angeles, where there are far more jobs for a working actor, James is biding his time with the Second City Improv troupe as he awaits another opportunity.

James feels however that these problems would mean a whole lot less if he just had someone to eat cheese with, a cute metaphor invented by Beth (Sarah Silverman) as she and James observe a couple in the park sharing wine and cheese. James thinks that maybe he could share some cheese with Beth but she's a little crazy. When they meet she immediately frightens him with blunt sex talk. Later she invites him along as she shops for underwear. Is she toying with him or does she have real interest in him? We really can't tell. Then there is Stella (Bonnie Hunt) a school teacher who James runs into repeatedly and despite obvious chemistry, James fails to recognize the real possibilities with her.

The film sets up two distinct options for James and though one seems obviously right and the other obviously wrong, we are ok with James' mistake. It's a natural, human mistake and we have faith it will be corrected by the end of the film's very brief 80 minute runtime. Garlin's skill is not great romantic comedy but rather finding comedy in the everyday, mundane actions of the lives of these characters. The conversations, the rhythms of the everyday are organic and familiar in a friendly way. Especially funny are the conversations between James and his best friend Luca, played by David Pasquesi. Garlin and Pasquesi have been friends for years, from their time in Second City, and the natural rhythm of their conversations definitely shows.

There are awkward moments. Amy Sedaris has a cameo as a school guidance counselor that feels a little under-rehearsed. Also Sarah Silverman at times pushes past just being a little shocking and into off-putting territory. Again, a little bit too much improv likely leads to a little too much freedom and Silverman goes over the top. I still believed the character, because I know a number of shocking and slightly nuts gals, Silverman just takes it a little too far in one or two scenes. On the other hand, I did love Garlin's reaction to these awkward moments. His discomfort with her open sexuality is very sweet. Rarely do we get characters who don't just resist being a lech but really try to avoid the impression of a lecherous thought.

Charming, easygoing, with some really big laughs and a number of minor chuckles, I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With is a real delight.

Movie Review Ralph Breaks the Internet

Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) 

Directed by Rich Moore, Phil Johnston

Written by Phil Johnston, Pamela Ribon

Starring John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Gal Gadot, Jane Lynch, Jack McBrayer, Alfred Molina

Release Date November 21st, 2018 

Published November 20th, 2018

Ralph Breaks the Internet is the most surprising movie of 2018. I expected the sequel to 2012’s Wreck it Ralph to be entertaining, sweet and funny like the original. What I was not expecting was for Ralph Breaks the Internet to have such a complex and emotionally fertile story, one that would leave me in tears of thoughtful joy. I had no idea that the makers of Ralph Breaks the Internet would offer one of the smartest, warmest and most mature stories of 2018 to tell.

Ralph Breaks the Internet picks up 6 years after the events of the original story with Ralph (John C. Reilly) and his best pal Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) still tied at the hip and, in Ralph’s mind, living the dream. Each day is the same, go to work and have fun and then meet up at the Tapper game and drink root beer and laugh till the day starts all over again. Ralph could not be more content with things but Vanellope is beginning to get restless.

Tired of racing and winning on the same three candy tracks in her game Sugar Rush, Vanellope confesses to Ralph that she wishes her game would be a little different from time to time. Thinking he can fix his friend’s problem, Ralph uses his strength to tear apart the background of Sugar Rush to create a new, more challenging track. Vanellope is excited to try it but while she’s racing the new track the person playing her game breaks off the steering wheel.

Because the game is broken, Sugar Rush is turned off and Vanellope and her fellow Sugar Rush cast are now homeless. The only way to save the game from being recycled for parts is to find a new steering wheel. The only place to find a vintage, intact, Sugar Rush steering wheel is the internet where one awaits on EBay. With Vanellope in tow, Ralph enters the newly installed internet port at the arcade and the two are off to the races inside the internet.

The satire of internet culture was something I was concerned would become obvious or cheesy but I must say, it’s spot on. The gags here are inspired as the creators of Ralph Breaks the Internet find one winner of a gag after another. It’s not perfect, there are a couple groaners here and there, but what Ralph Breaks the Internet does well is be consistently inventive in how the movie presents everything from EBay to video streaming to search engines.

As the story builds momentum a theme begins to reveal itself as Vanellope begins to find her place on the internet, especially in a Grand Theft Auto inspired online game called Slaughter Race. Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot gives voice to Shank, the best racer in Slaughter Race who takes an immediate liking to Vanellope. The two have a lot in common, despite the obvious differences in their game and Ralph begins to worry that Vanellope might have a friend other than him.

Amid the gags about insidious internet ads, get rich quick schemes and viral videos, Ralph Wrecks the Internet cleverly tackles a story that all kids will face in their own lives about how you have to make room in life for the lives of others. Ralph will slowly learn that because he was content with the status quo it doesn’t mean his best friend was just as happy. He’s going on a journey to learn how to be mature and respect that friends can want different things and still be friends.

It’s a lesson that even adults can stand to learn. The idea of learning to respect other people instead of demanding only what you want is a lesson too many adults haven’t fully learned. The final act of Ralph Breaks the Internet deals with insecurity and fear in a manner that is absolutely perfect and highlights how we all can feel insecure sometimes but it’s how we maturely come to terms with our insecurity that defines us as a person.

That is a brilliant and fresh piece of storytelling that could not be more important for both children and adults. That the film is also wildly funny and artfully animated only underlines why Ralph Wrecks the Internet isn’t merely the best animated movie of 2018, it’s one of the best movies of 2018 full stop. I rank this number 2 on my favorite movies of 2018, right behind a completely different but brilliant work of horrific art, Hereditary.

I completely adore Ralph Wrecks the Internet. I laughed loudly and easily and by the end I was deeply moved and quite emotional. This is the feeling we hope to have when we go to any movie, this just happens to be an animated movie intended for children. It may be aimed at kids but Ralph Wrecks the Internet can reach any audience, the film is simply brilliant on all levels, of the best movies of this year and animated milestone for this decade.

Movie Review School for Scoundrels

School for Scoundrels (2006)

Directed by Tod Phillips

Written by Scot Armstrong

Starring Jon Heder, Jascinda Barrett, Billy Bob Thornton, Michael Clarke Duncan, Sarah Silverman, Ben Stiller, David Cross

Release Date September 29th, 2006

Release Date September 29th 2006

Todd Phillips and Scot Armstrong are the comic director-writer team behind Road Trip, Old School and Starsky and Hutch. Their brand of broad physical comedy, bathroom humor and just general juvenilia may not be great art but is good for a number of big laughs. Phillips and Armstrong's latest collaboration, School For Scoundrels, is meaner and more physical than their previous films but like those other films it's good for more than a few big laughs.

Roger (Jon Heder) is a shy, lonely, dork; living in New York City and working as a meter maid. He is nursing an unrequited crush on his apartment building neighbor Amanda (Jascinda Barrett) however, because he either hides or passes out when he sees her, he has no chance of getting a date with her. Luckily for Roger his pal Ian (David Cross) has something that might help him.

Ian took a class at the learning annex that is like Fight Club for the socially challenged. For five thousand dollars a man named Dr. P (Billy Bob Thornton) teaches guys like Roger how to find the nerve to take the things they want. His methods are harsh and cruel, including instructing his students to randomly antagonize strangers, shooting his students with paintballs at close range and just generally insulting them until they fight back.

Whatever the methods, Dr. P's teachings do help Roger who finally gets a date with Amanda. However, when Dr. P senses Roger getting too good, so he decides to teach him a lesson by getting a date with Amanda himself and challenging Roger to fight back.

Directed by Todd Phillips and his long time writing partner Scot Armstrong, School For Scoundrels has a number of big laughs but lacks a consistent throughline. Phillips and Armstrong's style is to set a plot in motion and then continuously interrupt it with gags that are hit and miss. An example is a paintball game scene where three of Roger's classmates are taken hostage by Dr. P's burly assistant played by Michael Clark Duncan, and there are intimations that he may forcibly have sex with them.

This rape joke is repeated later in a bizarre cameo by Ben Stiller as a former student of Dr. P's. The gags distract from the main plot and, in the case of the rape joke, really take away from the enjoyment of the rest of the film. Another pair of gags involving Roger and a pair of thuggish parking offenders is funnier but just as distracting.

Another problem that Phillips and Armstrong have is a complete inability to write female characters. Going back to Road Trip where Amy Smart was used merely as eye candy for a terrific but unnecessary nude scene, to Old School where Ellen Pompeo barely existed in the plot and every other woman was used for more naked eye candy to now in School For Scoundrels where Jascinda Barrett is at least allowed to keep her clothes on but otherwise barely exists in the plot. She exists only as a prize to be won by either Heder or Thornton.

Jon Heder has a problem. His role as the awkward socially retarded Napoleon Dynamite continues to haunt his career. The specter of Napoleon hangs over his every role since and in School For Scoundrels his Roger is just a few steps beyond Napoleon in terms of ungainly social graces. There are signs however that he is maturing. Heder holds the screen well opposite the imposing presence of Thornton and he does seem a good match for Barrett. If her character would have had more depth there might have been more chemistry.

Billy Bob Thornton has a wonderful dark comic presence. His Dr. P is like a twisted version of Will Smith's Hitch and R. Lee Ermey's malevolent drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket. Thornton can play intimidating or charming in just a few beats and make you believe both. In School For Scoundrels his snake like charm and savage temper combine for more than a few big laughs.

School For Scoundrels is meanspirited and often quite juvenile but it is funny. I especially loved the tennis scene which was rightfully featured in the film's marketing. Heder and Thornton really connect in these scenes and the awkward violence is played for some of the film's biggest laughs. The paintball scene, also in the trailer, is the film's low point in violent slapstick. The scene exists simply to fire shots to the groin, it adds nothing to the plot of the film. Is it funny? I laughed at the first shot, by the fifth I was waiting for the plot to kick in again.

Ben Stiller drops into School For Scoundrels late in the picture and though his role is more than a little eccentric, I did love the way he played it. Driven slightly mad after serving in Grenada in the 80's and surviving Dr. P's class soon after, Stiller finds just the right odd note for this truly bizarre character, easily the broadest and least believable in the film.

School For Scoundrels suffers from something that each of Todd Phillips and Scot Armstrong's previous films suffered from, a lack of a consistent tone. At times very broad, at times played for believability, the tone of the comedy is at odds with the tone of the film's romantic triangle. There are big laughs in the film that are followed by long periods of setups and payoffs that are mean spirited to the point of cruelty but more importantly, are often not funny enough to justify the cruelty.

Meanwhile the romance sputters because Barrett isn't given any time in between the evil pranks and pratfalls of Heder and Thornton, to connect with either actor. Amanda's first date with Roger is an alright scene, but Heder and Barrett are on two completely different wavelengths in most scenes, he's broad and gangly, she's square and earnest.

A little more effort and time and I think these two actors could have established a strong romantic rapport. However, this is not a romantic comedy. School For Scoundrels is a film about nasty pranks and shots to the groin. That too much of the plot hinges on Heder and Thornton's relationship with Barrett is a problem that the filmmakers don't seem all that concerned with.

Still, though I sound quite negative about School For Scoundrels; I enjoyed it. The film achieves a number of big laughs inside and outside the plot. The film would be much better if the laughs came seamlessly from one scene to the next instead of stopping and starting, but the laughs are big laughs and that makes up for many of the film's major structural problems.

School For Scoundrels is meanspirited, often cruel and highly immature. It's also undeniably funny. Jon Heder may still remain in the shadow of his Napoleon character but he shows in School For Scoundrels that he has the comedic chops to one day escape that film's shadow. Billy Bob Thornton will never be a great leading man but as a supporting player or villain, he is one of the best in the business.

Todd Phillips and Scot Armstrong know how to craft some big laughs but they are, for now, just getting by on those few big laughs. I hope one day to see them mature into making films that flow seamlessly from one joke to the next, but for now; their big laughs are big enough for me to recommend School For Scoundrels.

Movie Review School of Rock

School of Rock (2003) 

Directed by Richard Linklater 

Written by Mike White 

Starring Jack Black, Mike White, Joan Cusack, Sarah Silverman

Release Date October 3rd, 2003 

Published October 2nd, 2003

The premise is such a conventional sounding comic setup that it implies disaster. A slacker, wannabe rock star scams his way into teaching at a stuffy private school. However, when you look closer, you see that the story was penned by the brilliant Mike White, the mind behind The Good Girl and Chuck & Buck. It's directed by Richard Linklater who has already directed two masterpieces in this short century, Tape and Waking Life. Finally, the film’s star is that whirling dervish comic invention Jack Black. With this trio of brilliant minds behind it, the conventional comedy setup of School of Rock becomes the single funniest movie of 2003.

Dewey Finn (Black) has the dream of heavy metal guitar God, but not the talent. Thus, why his bandmates decide to oust him after a particularly bad show. Penniless and now jobless, Dewey is about to be kicked out of his apartment by his best friend Ned (Mike White) and Ned's harridan girlfriend Patti (Sarah Silverman). Then the phone rings, it's a private school calling for Ned to sub for an ailing teacher. Needing money to pay the rent Dewey steps in for Ned and begins teaching fifth grade.

Once in the school Dewey is clearly in over his head until he hears the kids in music class. What he discovers is that these are some very talented musicians who with his help could form a rock band to challenge his old band in a battle of the bands contest. So, telling the kids it's a class project, Dewey begins teaching the kids how to rock.

His teachings include rock history and rock appreciation, and homework is listening to Rush, Led Zeppelin and Yes. What's amazing is Black's passion for this music and his ease in communicating this passion to the kids. Using concert footage of classic drummers like Keith Moon and Neill Purtt and guitarists like Hendrix and Jimmy Page to teach the kids how to play. All the while playing out the conventional scenario of helping the kids overcome their problems with self-image and bullies. This inevitably leads to conflict with the school's uptight principal played by Joan Cusack and a Rocky style “overcoming the odds” ending.

However, in the capable hands of White, Linklater and Black this scenario never becomes trite. Black working from a script that White wrote specifically for him, has a passion for the material that comes blasting off the screen in bursts of comic genius. His interaction with the gifted child actors who played their own instruments is truly hysterical. Black carries the young actors over the rough spots that come to all young actors.

The music in the film is non-stop rock from AC/DC, Rush, Yes and a host of classic 70's rock tunes. What's really surprising is how good these kids are, and the songs written for them by Mike White and Jack Black. The songs, which have a vaguely Tenacious D sound are more than credible as is the playing by these gifted kids. The battle of the band's scenes at the end of the film showcases these talented young players playing well off of Black who is not a bad musician himself.

Richard Linklater directs with a perfectly relaxed camera and an eye for allowing his star to carry the day in every scene. Set the camera down and let Jack Black do something amazing. There is far more to it than that however, Linklater's style is present throughout the film but only in the softest of touches. He directs just enough to get exactly what he wants from each scene. This could be the mainstream hit that draws the indie director into the world of the big paycheck.

School Of Rock is clearly a showcase for Jack Black. It's the film that his fans have been waiting for him to make. The one that many people thought Orange County could be before MTV got a hold of it. This film should be enough to hold fans over till the Tenacious D movie is completed.