Movie Review The Boys Are Back

The Boys Are Back (2009) 

Directed by Scott Hicks

Written by Simon Carr

Starring Clive Owen, George McKay, Nicholas McAnulty, Emma Booth, Laura Frasier

Release Date November 12th, 2009 

February 1st, 2010

Maudlin theatricality in place of actual emotion, Director Scott Hicks' The Boys Are Back is a lifetime movie from down under. Starring Clive Owen as a father recovering from the sudden loss of his wife, The Boys Are Back is about grief and coping but only in the most general and easy to digest ways.

Joe Warr (Clive Owen) is twice an absentee father. He abandoned a son when he left London to be with Katy, a woman from Australia who he fell in love with at the end of his first marriage. After having a son with Katy, Joe took to the road for his career, he's a top sports writer crossing Australia covering sports.

On a trip home Joe takes Katy to a party and she is suddenly struck down. She died less than a day after being struck with illness. Now Joe is left with a six year old son, Artie (Nicholas McAnulty), he barely knows and at home for the first time for an extended period of time.

What is Joe's idea for bonding with his son? Something he calls free range parenting. The kid can do just about anything he wants. The house soon is a disaster while dad takes Artie for a drive on the hood of the car. When free range parenting begins conflicting with Joe's work he decides to invite his other son, Harry (George McKay), to stay with them and watch over Artie.

Naturally, this plan doesn't work either and soon Joe's job is in jeopardy, Harry is heading back to England and Joe's tentative flirtation with a woman at Artie's school, Laura (Emma Booth), is put on hold.

Scott Hicks hit it big in 1996 with his biography of Musician Savant David Helfgott, Shine. That film earned Hicks an Oscar nomination for Best Director and the film was nominated for Best Picture. Since then he found some success with his 2001 follow up Hearts In Atlantis but has been content directing high end commercials.

His most recent feature prior to The Boys Are Back was also a commercial, well a commercial rom-com, the brutally predictable No Reservation. That film foreshadows The Boys Are Back in theme and pretense. Both films are about loss and grief and both films fail to get beyond the idea of either loss or grief.

Instead, both The Boys Are Back and No Reservation are about the simpleminded emotional manipulations of children and death. In No Reservation the unendingly endearing Abigail Breslin is used only to mechanically maneuver audience sympathies. That job in The Boys Are Back falls on little Nicholas McAnulty and while he is efficient in his task he's also as nakedly obvious.

Clive Owen is a handsome actor who has had numerous opportunities for breakout stardom and just hasn't popped. His best work is morose and worn drama like Closer or the underrated I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. Asked to play light and dark, whole and worn in The Boys Are Back Owen goes for sullen and sad and simply stays there.

Going through the motions of presenting grief and loss as cheap melodrama, The Boys Are Back is pushy and cute and never for a moment earns any of the emotion it intends to elicit. Cut-rate maudlin tear jerker is a genre all its own and The Boys Are Back fits right in.

Movie Review No Reservations

No Reservations (2007)

Directed by Scott Hicks 

Written by Carol Fuchs 

Starring Catherine Zeta Jones, Aaron Eckhart, Abigail Breslin

Release Date July 27th, 2007

Published July 26th, 2007

Mostly Martha was a dull, by the numbers, German romance that is memorable only for the delectable foods on display. All of the cakes with gleaming frosting and the lovingly prepared German dishes leapt off the screen and tantalized the taste buds. The romantic plot, the family plot, failed to be more interesting than the food.

Now that American filmmakers have gotten their hands on it, Mostly Martha has become No Reservations. Missing is the loving attention to the food. Left in place, unfortunately, is the dull romance and and a somehow even more dull family drama.

Kate (Catherine Zeta Jones) lives a regimented existence, she lives for her work as a chef at a top notch New York eatery and nothing more. Her routine often includes a minor tantrum, such as when a customer complains about her food. Kate has no compunction about forcefully confronting customers, a habit that has her in therapy on a regular basis, at the urging of her boss Paula (Patricia Clarkson).

Kate's tightly controlled life is upended when a planned visit by her sister ends tragically before it begins. On her way to see Kate with her daughter Zoe (Abigail Breslin), Kate's sister is killed in a car accident. Zoe survives with minor cuts and bruises. Now it is left to Kate to try and care for this girl who is her biological relation but may as well be an alien to Kate.

Things are also difficult at work where Kate's sous chef has left and the boss hired a new guy without speaking to Kate first. His name is Nick (Aaron Eckhart) and he has a different way of doing things than Kate is used to. Nick quickly disrupts Kate's kitchen and could be after her job. The tension naturally leads to romance but with a number of major obstacles, not the least of which is Kate herself.

Scott Hicks (Shine) directs No Reservations with flair and professionalism. However, no scenarist, no matter his talent, could make this mundane story any more than it is. No Reservations is a simple romance in which obvious roadblocks are thrown in front of destined lovers. Without the will they/won't they suspense, what is left is to find one unique element that separates this movie from others of the same genre.

For No Reservations the unique element might be the food. However, the food barely registers in No Reservations. Unlike another 2007 food movie, the wonderful Ratatouille, No Reservations does not leave one hungering for the tasty delights. The restaurant in No Reservations is just an active background and the food is just a prop. That leaves the predictable story and dull romantic comedy conventions to carry the movie.

The one thing that No Reservations has going for it is the appealing cast. Catherine Zeta Jones is a vision even when hampered with such a derivative role. Aaron Eckhardt continues to carry that charismatic glint in his eye that has long promised stardom but has yet to pay off. And finally, Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin remains a sweetheart even in a role that seems a bit beneath her talents.

Catherine Zeta Jones and Aaron Eckhardt do spark quite a bit in the romantic moments of No Reservations. Unfortunately, both are undone by their mediocre surroundings. No Reservations is simply too predictable, too rote and too familiar to be anything more than admirable. Likable actors, a pro director all unfortunately tied to an overly familiar plot.

Worst of all, No Reservations isn't funny enough.

Catherine Zeta Jones is a fine actress and a welcome film presence. No Reservations, unfortunately, is beneath her talent. This rote, formula romance pushes her and her co-stars from one scene to the next on an inexhaustible wave of clichés and scenes dictated by romantic comedy formulas. This is why so many critics say that the romantic comedy is dead, even the audiences that love them are tired of this formula.