Movie Review Sweet Home Alabama

Sweet Home Alabama (2002)

Directed by Andy Tennant 

Written by C Jay Cox 

Starring Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas, Patrick Dempsey, Candace Bergen, Fred Ward, Jean Smart

Release Date September 27th, 2002

Published September 24th, 2002 

In Legally Blonde, Reese Witherspoon showed herself to be the romantic comedy heiress apparent to Julia Roberts. With her perky good looks and sugary sweetness offset by a wonderfully mischievous smile it was impossible not to fall in love with her. Witherspoon brings those same qualities to her latest film, Sweet Home Alabama, but under the direction of Andy Tennent the same qualities that made you love her in Legally Blonde make you loathe her in this dense retread of every romantic comedy ever made.

In Alabama Reese has one of those great Hollywood lives where everything is perfect: perfect job, perfect friends, perfect man, just perfect. As Melanie Carmichael, Reese is a New York fashion designer about to marry the son of New York’s Mayor. Patrick Dempsey plays the perfect guy, Andrew, just going through the motions playing the same role Bill Pullman played in Sleepless in Seattle. No matter how good a guy he is, the trailer has already explained his fate.

After Andrew asks Melanie to marry him, Melanie has to go home to Alabama to take care of the small detail of her current husband Jake (Josh Lucas). In flashback we are treated to the scene when Jake and Melanie fell in love, they were struck by lightning as the shared their first kiss. Watching this scene my eyes rolled so far back I could see the dull faces of the people directly behind me. You can say I’m cynical but haven’t we seen this exact seen or something very similar at least a thousand times? Melanie and Jake’s bad sitcom style arguing is just one of a million tip offs that they will back together at the end of the film.

Having returned to her home town for the first time in 7 years Melanie takes time to revisit her old friends including Bobby Ray (Ethan Embry) who has a secret only Melanie knows about, the kind of secret that stereotypical southerners don’t react well to. There is also Melanie’s former best friend Lurlynn (Melanie Lynskie) who now has three kids including a newborn she takes to the bar as so many southerners are prone to do. Let us not forget Melanie’s parents Fred Ward and Mary Kay Place, who don’t so much fit into the role of stereotypical Southern parents that everyone in the audience assumed they would be.

So golly, do you think Melanie’s unusual southern friends and family will clash with her high class New York would be in laws?

Poor Candace Bergen, this wonderfully talented Emmy winning actress is stuck with the film's most thankless role. As the ever scowling and disapproving mother-in-law, Bergen is never allowed to smile, never allowed to joke. The purpose of Bergen’s Mayor of New York and mother of the groom is to be the bitch so at the end of the movie she can get her comeuppance in what is supposed to make the audience cheer.

That is the essence of the problem with Sweet Home Alabama, every scene has been filmed with the purpose of exerting a particular response from the audience. It is as if every scene in the film was individually test screened by demographic to make sure it illicited the correct audience response.

Like a romantic comedy machine, Sweet Home Alabama grinds through it’s mechanical plot, perfectly calibrated to meet exactly what the audience expects. The film is so predictable even lines of dialogue can be anticipated. Scenes are setup ten to twenty minutes ahead so, rather than watch the movie, I was sitting and waiting for the expected payoff and like clockwork I didn’t have to wait long for it in exactly the way I expected.

Sweet Home Alabama is the latest film to exhibit my biggest movie pet peeve. A film based on seemingly intelligent characters making intensely dumb decisions because if they didn’t, there wouldn’t be a movie. Not a frame of film goes by that Melanie doesn’t have an opportunity to solve all her problems with one intelligent decision. One line of intelligent dialogue and problem solved, movie over.

Sweet Home Alabama is an awful film and I had very low expectations for this film. I expected to laugh a couple times, fall in love with Reese Witherspoon again and leave the theater with a smile on my face. Instead I walked out depressed after seeing a film that illustrates everything that is wrong modern Hollywood film-making. This is yet another film that had a poster before it had a screenplay. A film where marketing execs made the creative decisions and hired creative people to carry out the vision of the publicity department. Director Andy Tennent was likely instructed to simply make Reese look cute and hope that the writers might squeeze in a sight gag or one liner somewhere, spoiler alert: they didn’t.

To steal a line from my hero Roger Ebert I hated, hated, hated this movie. This film does not improve upon the sight of a blank screen viewed for the same length of time. I still love Reese Witherspoon, but only because I watched Legally Blonde. Had I not, I might curse her for having made this film. Hollywood has no shame churning out the same drivel month after month. And I know what you're saying and yes I shouldn’t act so surprised but I honestly believe that there is art out there somewhere, Sweet Home Alabama dims that hope slightly but that dream is still there.

Movie Review: Trapped

Trapped (2002)

Directed by Luis Mandoki 

Written by Greg Iles

Starring Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, Kevin Bacon, Courtney Love, Dakota Fanning 

Release Date September 20th, 2002 

Published September 20th, 2002 

One would hope that the recent spate of child kidnappings would preclude Hollywood hacks from using that situation as a screenwriting trick. The child in danger plot is the cheapest of the cheap manipulative tricks screenwriters use when they are creatively bankrupt. We, however should not be surprised that Hollywood doesn't care. These hacks have so little ingenuity that the child in danger is the only tool in their box. The god-awful action film, Ballistic: Ecks Vs Sever employs this cliche, and the film Trapped does Ballistic: Ecks Vs Sever one better by basing the entire film on the hackneyed plot device.

Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend star as a loving husband and wife with a cute as a button daughter. When Townsend leaves on a business trip, a sleazy con artist played by Kevin Bacon seizes the opportunity to kidnap Townsend's daughter and hold his wife hostage. As this is happening, Townsend himself is taken hostage by Bacon's partner, played by Courtney Love. Pruitt Taylor Vince rounds out the cast as the kidnapper with a soft spot for the kid and a softer head who is easily manipulated by the plot. Essentially the daughter will be held for 24 hours, after which ransom will be paid and the child will be returned to the parents.

Bacon is effectively creepy, while Love does a variation of her real life persona, as a drugged out nympho. Townsend and Theron are wooden and surprisingly dull. (Well, at least Townsend was surprisingly dull.) Earlier this year, Townsend starred in Queen Of The Damned, and though that film was very bad, Townsend had some effectively scary moments that, in a better film, could have been star-making moments. In Trapped, Townsend is woefully miscast as a rich yuppie doctor who still dresses as if he were an 18-year old skater with a gold card.

Trapped is undone by its premise and screenwriter Greg Iles, who also wrote the book on which the film is based. Iles and director Luis Mandoki apparently don't read the newspaper, though it doesn't take a genius to intuit how many people might be sensitive to the kidnapping of a child being used as a plot. Films that put children in danger are some of the lowest forms of film--right up there with white actors in blackface and Freddie Prinze Jr.

Trapped is the bastard stepchild of numerous child in danger films, and arguably the worst of the bunch.

Movie Review: The Banger Sisters

The Banger Sisters (2002) 

Directed by Bob Dolman

Written by Bob Dolman 

Starring Susan Sarandon, Goldie Hawn, Geoffrey Rush, Erika Christensen

Release Date September 20th, 2002 

Published September 19th, 2002 

Well, I can tell you I was not looking forward to this movie. I despise the acting of Goldie Hawn and have hated every movie she's ever been in, especially Goldie's most recent work, The First Wives Club, The Out Of Towners, and, the most dreadful of them all, Town & Country. So, imagine my surprise when The Banger Sisters turned out to be a very funny and sweet movie, which succeeds because Goldie Hawn is fantastic.

Hawn plays legendary rock groupie-turned-bartender Suzette. Fired from her job at LA's Whiskey A Go Go, Suzette decides to pay a visit to her old friend Vinny (Susan Sarandon), who together were dubbed The Banger Sisters. They were legendary groupies whose conquests included Jim Morrison, The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Page and a couple of roadies. 

Vinny has changed a lot since she last saw Suzette some 20 years earlier. Vinny is now Lavinia, an overbearing housewife and mother of two, whose husband has a future in politics. On her way to see Lavinia, Suzette meets Harry (Geoffrey Rush), a failed screenwriter on his way to Phoenix to kill his father. Harry is a hypochondriac with a desperate need for order, which, of course, Suzette completely disrupts. Once in Phoenix, Suzette decides that she doesn't want to mess up Lavinia's perfect life, until a chance encounter with Lavinia's daughter Hannah (Erika Christenson) changes her mind. Once they are reunited, Suzette begins to push Lavinia back towards her past life, and, as the memories come back, the perfect façade crumbles.

The Banger Sisters has many problems. The narrative is shoved along a little too quickly and some of the gags are barely sitcom level. However both Sarandon and Hawn are such pros that they elevate even the worst material to at least elicit a chuckle. Hawn is especially good as the free spirit who, for once, isn't a ditz. Hawn delivers a very funny and bawdy, yet sweet, performance.

Some have compared Hawn's groupie character in The Banger Sisters to her daughter's groupie performance in Almost Famous. It is a fair comparison, though Hawn's performance isn't the Oscar-caliber performance that Hudson's was. I would say that this could be a great extension of that same character.

The biggest problem with this film is its ending. Throughout the film, we are treated to some raunchy antics and regaled with stories of groupie debauchery, only at the end to be given an almost Disney-like happy ending which is very disappointing. Still, The Banger Sisters provides enough solid laughs for me to recommend it, though you might consider walking out before the last 10 minutes.

Movie Review: Ballistic Ecks vs Sever

Ballistic Ecks vs. Sever 

Directed by Kaos 

Written by Alan B. McElroy 

Starring Antonio Banderas, Lucy Liu, Gregg Henry, Ray Park, Talisa Soto 

Release Date September 20th, 2002 

Published September 19th, 2002 

Well I must admit I was growing complacent. After a series of good movies mixed with some average and below-average movies, I had forgotten about Hollywood’s ability to make truly horrible films. In the past month or so Hollywood had lulled me into a trance of average movies that left no impression, good or bad. The new movie, Ballistic: Ecks Vs Sever, woke me from this trance with the loudest, dumbest, most idiotic movie this side of Rollerball. The byzantine plot of Ballistic is too ridiculous to explain. From what I was able to deduce, Lucy Liu played Sever and Antonio Banderas played Ecks. Other than that I am at a loss to explain the stupidity that passes for a plot. 

There is something about a weapon that was stolen from a lab in Germany. The microscopic weapon can cause heart attacks if it gets into the bloodstream, I think. There is something about a little kid that Sever takes as a hostage, something about Ecks' wife who he thought was dead but wasn't and Gregg Henry as the villain named Gant. The amazing thing about Gant is the audience has no clue why he does what he does. The movie teases that he is some public official but for the life of me I can't figure it out. 

We know Gant and his men can manipulate the local law enforcement of Vancouver, British Columbia, though we don't know why. Gant's men interact with the FBI but it's implied that they aren't with the FBI. There is some organization called the DIA. Whatever that is, the move never explains. We do know Gant wants this weapon, the heart attack weapon. The trailer is a better source than the film if you want to make sense of the weapons ability. Apparently you get it inside someone then it lays dormant until you press a button and it kills him or her. How do you get it inside someone? You shoot them. Of course that kind of defeats the purpose of the weapon doesn't it? 

Maybe you can rationalize that somehow, but how do you explain that the weapon is made of metal. So you have given the head of state a heart attack but your weapon is inside the body and easily detected in the autopsy, once again defeating the implied purpose of the weapon, which I believe is supposed to go undetected. It doesn't matter. Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever is a mess, which is appropriate because a guy who was credited as Kaos directed it. The irony is thick. The film is essentially a series of large explosions and that's it. The story is nonexistent, the script is a joke, the actors are completely lost and that is the only thing the audience can really relate too. 

Poor Lucy Liu and poor Antonio Banderas. While they deserve to be criticized for just being involved in this mess, I don't blame them for its failure. Both stars are attractive and charismatic. Unfortunately the director doesn't care. The only thing Kaos is interested in is getting to the next explosion ASAP. 

The director especially abuses Lucy Liu. Liu is an actress, yet in the films entire running length Lucy has 7 lines of dialogue. SEVEN. I counted them. That is less than Arnold Schwarzenegger in Hercules in New York and he could barely speak English then. Why hire an actress like Liu for a role that could have easily been filled by a stuntwomen? 

Stuntman Ray Park is also singled out for abuse, he has more dialogue than Lucy Liu and his character only exists for the purpose of being killed by Liu in a karate fight. Then there is Gregg Henry as the villainous Gant. Henry does his job in workmanlike fashion, oozing slime and dripping with evil. Gant actually gives us insight into which star got top billing. You see, whichever star kills Gant is the one with top billing. I will leave the mystery.

The most amazing thing about Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever is the director’s ability to combine an incomprehensible plot with plot devices more predictable than a calendar. That is a true accomplishment. Is Ecks Vs Sever the worst film of 2002? I'm not sure. Rollerball, Fear Dot Com and Tart have strong arguments for that title. Ecks Vs Sever will be near the top of the list that is for sure.

Movie Review Stealing Harvard

Stealing Harvard (2002) 

Directed by Bruce McCulloch

Written by Peter Tolan

Starring Jason Lee, Tom Green, Leslie Mann, Dennis Farina, Megan Mullally, Richard Jenkins, John C. McGinley

Release Date September 13th, 2002 

Published September 12th, 2002 

In Freddy Got Fingered, Tom Green broke every rule of good filmmaking. In doing so, he created one of the more inept films in history. On the other hand, Green should be commended for one of the boldest attempts at comedy we've ever seen. To his credit, he put himself on the line, and though he failed spectacularly, the attempt was brave and bold. If only his new film Stealing Harvard had taken some of the risks that Green did in Freddy Got Fingered, rather than churning out yet another market-tested demographically- safe comedy.

Stealing Harvard stars View Askew legend Jason Lee as John Plummer, a soon-to-be-married medical supply salesman. Years ago, John made a promise to his niece that if she got into college, he would pay for it. In the meantime, John met and fell in love with Elaine (Leslie Mann). They were engaged and agreed to get married when they accumulated enough money to buy a house. It is no surprise then that as soon as John has enough money to get married, he finds out his niece has been accepted to Harvard and needs money.

From here, the film tweaks one of my movie pet peeves. A character can easily dispel a difficult situation by simply telling the truth, but doesn't because of the plot. There is absolutely no reason for John not to tell Elaine about his problem, except that if he does there wouldn't be a movie. I can't stand this trope, it's a plague inflicted by lazy, hack screenwriters of the world.

Therefore, instead of simply telling the truth, John enlists his buddy Duff (Green) who suggests they steal the money. After a series of outlandish robbery attempts and bids to cut deals with lowlifes, John finally comes clean with Elaine, who has the brilliant idea to steal from her father (who is also John's hateful boss (Dennis Farina). She could just ask her dad for the money, and he would likely give it to her ,despite his hatred of her fiancée, but if she did that we wouldn't have the ridiculous climax and tacked on a happy ending.

Director Bruce Mcculloch, formerly of Kids In The Hall, may not have much of an eye for story, but he does manage a light quick tone and a few solid laughs. Lee is solid though some of the material is beneath his talent. Green, once again playing himself, draws some of the biggest laughs. He has an amazing talent for physical humor, and because he is so unpredictable, the comic potential of his character is attention grabbing.

Stealing Harvard never had a chance to be a good film. Coming from the big studio system, this film was engineered with demographics ahead of script. Screenwriter Peter Tolan writes as if he was creating the marketing campaign as he was creating the story. It is truly a shame, with the talent there was a very funny movie to be made. Stealing Harvard just wasn't it.

Movie Review Igby Goes Down

Igby Goes Down

Directed by Burr Steers 

Written by Burr Steers

Starring Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes, Bill Pullman, Susan Sarandon, Ryan Phillippe, Jeff Goldblum

Release Date September 13th, 2002 

Published October 23rd, 2002

The meteoric rise and fall of Macauley Culkin is one of those cautionary tales of Hollywood that makes the E! True Hollywood Story so popular. The domineering father, the loving mother, the multi-millions of dollars flowing in and out of the home and the hints of abusiveness. There is a movie all its own in the Culkin family. Thankfully the fate suffered by Macauley provided a what-not-to-do roadmap for younger brother Kieran who is building a strong resume. A resume that should include an Oscar nomination for his title role in Igby Goes Down, if there is any justice in the world.

As Igby, Culkin is the son of a shrewish controlling Susan Surandon and a middle-aged and crazy Bill Pullman. Ryan Phillipe is Igby’s perfectionist brother Oliver and Jeff Goldblum plays his rich Godfather. Igby has a habit of being kicked out of every school he goes to, until finally he escapes on his own to New York where his knowledge of an affair between his Godfather and an artist played by Amanda Peet leads to his staying in a gorgeous New York loft, rent free. 

While on a weekend trip to his Godfather’s home in the Hamptons, Igby meets Sookie Sapperstein (Claire Danes), a college student moonlighting as a caterer's assistant. After Igby moves to New York, he and Sookie form a tentative romance that is the soul of the film. Their intelligent, funny and very well written exchanges are the highlights of this magnificent film.

Culkin and Danes are both sensational, their conversations foreshadowing their uncertain future. Like any good romance the roadblocks of this relationship are obvious but not acknowledged. Writer/Director Burr Steers never settles for typical romantic situations, he uses every opportunity to tease the audience with a happy ending without ever having to provide it. It is a very delicate balancing act of great acting, writing and direction.

Culkin is the film's centerpiece and it is his acerbic honesty and humor that makes Igby Goes Down such a great film. Danes and Phillippe are also excellent with Phillippe once again showing his amazing versatility, falling into his preppy clothes and manner the same way he embraced his down and dirty thief in The Way Of the Gun and his nerdy computer guy in Antitrust, a pair of guilty pleasure classics.

Indeed, the entire cast of Igby Goes Down is very good. The only issue I had with the film was not enough Bill Pullman. As Igby’s schizophrenic father Pullman has a very limited role but makes an amazing impression in his short screen time. Igby Goes Down is an incredible film with one of the best casts of the year headed up by Culkin in a performance guaranteed to be criminally overlooked by Oscar voters.

Movie Review: Barbershop

Barbershop (2002) 

Directed by Tim Story 

Written by Don D. Scott 

Starring Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Troy Garity, Eve, Keith David, Anthony Anderson

Release Date September 13th, 2002 

Published September 12th, 2002 

Recently the question was asked what rapper was the best actor. The answer? Ice Cube, and he deserves the accolade. Cube proved he had something with his debut in Boyz In The Hood. But it was Friday that showed Ice Cube was going to be around for a while. Now with Barbershop, Cube may finally shake the rapper actor label altogether and just be seen as an actor.

In Barbershop, Cube is Calvin, owner of a Chicago barbershop once owned by his grandfather and his father. Calvin, however, isn't satisfied running the family business, he would like to run his own record company from his basement. As the day unfolds Calvin decides to sell the shop to a local hustler played by Keith David. 

Meanwhile we get to know Calvin's employees. There is the grizzled vet Eddie (Cedric The Entertainer), the college kid Jimmy (Sean Patrick Thomas), African immigrant Dinka (Leonard Howze), former gangbanger Ricky (Michael Early), the lone white guy Isaac (Troy Garity) and the girl Terri (EVE). Each has their own problems, Ricky is a two time felon who if he gets in trouble again will spend the rest of his life in jail. 

His trouble is compounded by his no good cousin JD (Anthony Anderson) who uses Ricky's truck to steal a newly installed ATM machine from a market just down the street from the barbershop. Terri has a no-good boyfriend who she can't seem to shake, while Dinka is nursing a serious crush on her. Isaac, because he's white, can't get any customers, and is feuding with Jimmy who thinks he knows everything because he went to college. Then there is Eddie. Eddie is the ringleader, he begins the conversations and says everything on his mind no matter what anyone thinks. As Eddie, Cedric The Entertainer delivers the film's funniest performance.

For me though the movie was about Ice Cube. As we watch Barbershop we watch as Ice Cube the actor becomes more mature and relaxed. Cube is in command playing an older wiser character, a guy with dreams that have passed him by who is just now seeing what is real and important. The character of Calvin holds the movie together while observing it from the outside. Calvin is hardly ever involved in the barbershop conversations but he is always watching and his perspective is the audience's perspective. As he realizes how important his shop is to the neighborhood, we in the audience do as well. It is a marvelous performance.

Barbershop does have its flaws, particularly Anthony Anderson as JD. Anderson is becoming a cliché, playing the same character over and over. In Barbershop his constant mugging is tiresome and unnecessary. The film could have done without his entire subplot. Still, Barbershop is a very good movie. For me the most important thing in comedy is consistency. Most films take too long setting up jokes that aren't funny enough to justify the time taken to set them up. In Barbershop, laughs come early and often, making for one of the funniest movies of 2002.

Movie Review Swimfan

Swimfam (2002) 

Directed by John Polson

Written by Charles Bohl

Starring Jesse Bradford, Erika Christensen, Shiri Appleby, Kate Burton, Dan Hedaya

Release Date September 6th, 2002 

Published September 6th, 2002

It's been years since I have seen Michael Douglas and Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction. The little that I remember about Fatal Attraction centers on that boiled rabbit scene and how freaky Glenn Close's hair looked. I don't remember liking the film very much except on a camp level. So, yeah, remaking Fatal Attraction with teenagers and a swimming pool? Not really something I was looking for. Swimfan is just that, a cheesy, sleazy, teenage version of Fatal Attraction, the only difference being that at least the original had some camp value.

Jesse Bradford, star of Clockwatchers, stars as Ben Cronin and as the title suggests, he is indeed a swimmer. In fact Ben is a champion swimmer with a bright future. Ben is in love with a waifish angel named Amy, played by Roswell's Shiri Appleby. Soon, everything comes crashing down as Ben meets psycho bitch Madison Bell (Erika Christensen). 

At first she seems normal enough, don't they always, but she begins to get more involved with Ben. Not surprisingly Madison seduces the dumb jock and thus begins a series of below average thriller movie scenes, where Madison menaces Ben's mother and girlfriend, tries to frame Ben for the murder of a fellow swimmer, and gets him kicked off the swim team. Not quite boiling a bunny rabbit

As for the rest of the movie there isn't one frame of film in this movie that you haven't seen before. Especially trite is that old thriller trick of the psycho's previous victim. Every time, there is always a first victim who tips off our hero to the psycho's plan. It's truly as if there is some thriller handbook floating around that all hack directors work from when making a psycho-girl movie. 

The ending of Swimfan carries the film into comic parody territory. Here, a scene from earlier in the film pays off in the most laughable and predictable fashion. It's like clockwork, you could set your watch to the hack clichés that director John Polson employs to tell the story of Swimfan. If there is a single original thought in all of the making and presentation of Swimfan, I was unable to find it. 

Poor Jesse Bradford, at least he doesn't completely embarrass himself with this performance. Bradford's only embarrassment is actually choosing this role. Co-stars Erika Christenson and Shiri Appleby on the other, each are directed to make fools of themselves in their stock stupid roles. Appleby is beyond annoying as the whiney victim girlfriend. As for Christenson her deadpan psycho is never interesting, she never grabs your attention. 

A good psycho role should embrace camp, go over the top, really bite down on the role. The performance should seduce the audience and the victims. He or she should be entertaining and over the top, be crazy and enjoy it. Christensen comes off as bored and while I understand that this kind of script and role invites boredom, she should at least be considerate of those of us in the audience for Swimfan and not let the boredom come into her performance. 

Movie Review City by the Sea

City by the Sea (2002) 

Directed by Directed by Michael Caton Jones

Written by Ken Hixon 

Starring Robert DeNiro, Frances McDormand, James Franco, Eliza Dushku, William Forsythe

Release Date September 6th, 2002

Published September 8th, 2002

Ok I know what your thinking, DeNiro is playing a cop AGAIN?  However I would ask you to think of it differently. I see DeNiro playing a cop in City By the Sea much like Springsteen playing Thunder Road. We have heard him play it lord knows how many times and its not always great, but when Springsteen hits that perfect pitch and finds his groove, Thunder Road becomes a new song as if you had never heard it before. That is what DeNiro does in cop movies, and in City By the Sea DeNiro has found the groove. 

In City By the Sea, DeNiro is Vincent Lamarca, NYPD homicide cop. LaMarca lives somewhat contently alone in an apartment one floor above his girlfriend, Michele, played by Frances MacDormand. The relationship is still blossoming but seems to be serious. However, LaMarca is distant and is hiding some painful family secrets. Secrets that are about to collide and impact his personal and professional life.

While on the job LaMarca and his partner Reg (George Dzundza) latch onto a murder case about a drug dealer floating in the Hudson. The body has floated down the coast from Long Beach, where many of Vincent's secrets await him.

Earlier in the film, even before we meet Vincent, we meet his son Joey played by James Franco. Joey is first seen wandering the boardwalk trying to sell a guitar and it's obvious why. Joey is a junkie. After scoring, Joey and a friend go looking for more and visit a drug dealer named Picasso. The deal goes bad and Joey murders Picasso. Joey and his friend dump the body in the river and I think you know the rest.

So the plot is a little contrived and a great exaggeration from the 1997 Esquire article by pulitzer prizewinning journalist, the late Mike Calary. The plot is merely a contextual convenience, something to motivate the more interesting drama. The great part of City By the Sea is the relationships between the characters. 

DeNiro and MacDormand have amazing chemistry, DeNiro and Franco are perfect counterpoints, and even DeNiro and Dzundza shine. While Dzundza,a highly underrated character actor, gets stuck in the one role everyone knows will be tragic, he and DeNiro make up for it with the ease of dialogue that make both more wellrounded and fleshed out characters.

The other star of the film is it's setting, played as Long Beach on the coast of Long Island New York. In actuality it's the Boss' home turf of Asbury Park. The rundown boardwalk shown in the opening credits as it looked in it's heyday, looks as if it has a thousand stories of it's own to tell. The abandoned casino where Joey lives reminded me a lot of the Dance Hall in Carnival Of Souls. Whether that is intentional I can't say but the look of the casino and Franco's ghostly visage do at least hint at homage.

City By the Sea isn't perfect, as I stated the plot is pure convenience. But the characters and the relationships they develop are magnificent, especially loved DeNiro and MacDormand.

For the first time in a longtime we are treated to an adult relationship that feels real. There is no easy rapport, no all consuming over the top passion. Merely two adults who have found comfort in one another at a time when they desperately needed it. In a scene set in a coffee shop we watch an actual adult conversation of real weight and emotion that never panders to the audience and never begs for emotional reaction. It just is what it is, two adults having an intelligent conversation. We take for granted just how rare that is in modern Hollywood.

Movie Review: Fear Dot Com

Fear Dot Com (2002) 

Directed by William Malone 

Written by Josephine Coyle 

Starring Stephen Dorff, Natascha McElhone, Stephen Rea, Udo Kier

Release Date August 30th, 2002 

Published August 29th, 2002 

The uneven career of Stephen Dorff continues. From his great performances in The Power of One, Blood & Wine and Entropy to his outright awful work in SFW, Space Truckers and Deuces Wild. On occasion he combines both a good and bad performance in one film. Such was the case in Blade where he had some effectively scary cool moments bookended by scenes of screen chewing hamminess. Fear Dot Com sadly features Bad Stephen Dorff, sullen skulking plot manipulated Dorff. Throw in an equally dull Natascha McElhone and you have a very unpleasant moviegoing experience.

fear dot com is a website, or rather FearDotCom.com is the website in the film. No I'm not kidding, Feardotcom.com, which is also the film's official website. Anyway back to the movie. Dorff plays a put upon cop in a nameless city constantly in darkness and always raining. My guess would be Seattle, but no one is drinking coffee and listening to Pearl Jam, which is my narrow stereotypical view of the city. The film was actually shot in Luxembourg, probably for the cheap labor and lack of strict labor laws. I'm off subject again but that was the way it was while I watched the film with my mind constantly wandering off, my inner monologue fixating on better movies than this like The Net or Howard The Duck.

Oh right the plot description. Basically this website takes possession of your soul and makes your eyes bleed until you kill yourself and the person nearest you. The same type of experience you would have watching Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot.

Anyway Stephen Dorff is the cop investigating the website. Dorff is aided by a pretty girl from the health department played by Natascha McElhone. The website steals their souls and won't give them back until they track down a serial killer named Allistair Pratt, played by Stephen Rea doing a sort Peter Lorre crossed with Geoffrey Rush and the devil thing. There is more to it but I don't remeber much of it, this plot makes more holes than a gopher.

Director William Malone, who delivered one of the best B-movies of the last decade with his remake of House On Haunted Hill, seems to want to go in interesting directions but can't get around this minefield of a script. So Malone, Cinematographer Christian Seboldt and Production Designer Jerome Letour do everything they can with the film's visuals to at least make the film a tolerable visual experience. Their work pays off a little in the final 20 minutes or so but by then it's too little too late.

Fear Dot Com isn't the worst film I have seen this year but it is an early candidate for the top 10 worst of the year. Keep your fingers crossed.

Movie Review: Undisputed

Undisputed (2002) 

Directed by Walter Hill 

Written by David Giler, Walter Hill

Starring Ving Rhames, Wesley Snipes, Peter Falk, Michael Rooker, Jon Seda, Master P, Wes Studi 

Release Date August 23rd, 2002

Published December 2nd, 2002 

Of all the film genres that have become slaves to the cliches that made them, none is more trapped in cliche than the sports movie. Ever since Rocky, the sports movie has been doomed to the cliches of the big game, big fight, big moment. If it's a team game like baseball or football the team will be stocked with overused characters. 

Characters like the star, the jerk, the fat guy, the foreigner and the joker, and of course the troubled rookie who doesn't think he can make it but ends up winning the game. If it's a one-on-one sport like boxing then the film is doomed to repeat the cliches Rocky bred, i.e. the underdog overcoming great odds to succeed. It is these cliches that make Walter Hill's Undisputed stand out from most other sports movies. Hill's film breaks from genre cliches which makes Undisputed a surprisingly entertaining sports movie.

The film stars Wesley Snipes as Monroe Hutchins, the heavyweight champion boxer of the California State penal system. Hutchens is in prison for life for murdering a man who was sleeping with his wife. In his time in prison Monroe has spent ten years in the prison-boxing program and has won 68 consecutive fights. 

Enter the man who is THE world heavyweight champion, George "The Iceman" Chambers (Ving Rhames). Having just been convicted of rape, a charge that he vehemently denies, Chambers is sent to the same prison where Hutchins has become champion. To avoid problems, Hutchins is placed in solitary confinement where he remains for a month until an ex-mobster named Mendy Ripstein (Peter Falk) pulls some strings to set up a fight between Hutchins and The Iceman.

What is most surprising about Undisputed is that director Walter Hill is actually able to raise a solid level of suspense. The audience honestly has no idea who will win the fight. To achieve this Hill strips away both fighters’ likability, leaving the audience little rooting interest and yet there remains actual suspense thanks to Hill's exceptional direction. In a genre where the outcomes are usually tipped off well ahead of time, it's a rather remarkable feat to inject real, honest to goodness, suspense and unpredictability. 

Ignore the cover box of the Undisputed video and DVD with it's helicopters and fire. This is not an action movie, there are no daring escapes, no explosions, not even any fire. The only thing explosive about Undisputed is it's punches which Walter Hill choreographs well. By shucking traditional boxing rules and putting into the script that the fight is non traditional boxing, Hill frees the two stars from having to fake their way through boxing technique. In this fight they simply throw punches and fall down.

There are flaws in Undisputed. Such as the fact that I highly doubt, or at least hope, that prisons are not spending tax dollars on elaborate boxing cages with pay per view quality lighting rigs and an announcer played by former MTV personality Ed Lover. But that is a minor quibble. In the end when you combine Snipes’ and Rhames’ quality performances and Walter Hill's sure handed direction you get a quality entertaining sports movie. A very rare commodity.

Movie Review Serving Sara

Serving Sara (2002) 

Directed by Reginald Hudlin

Written by Jay Scherick, David Ronn

Starring Matthew Perry, Elizabeth Hurley, Bruce Campbell, Amy Adams, Cedric The Entertainer

Release Date August 23rd, 2002 

Published August 22nd, 2002 

Matthew Perry has long been my favorite member of the Friends cast. Unfortunately I've only ever liked him on Friends. In movies Perry tries really hard to not be Chandler, but comes off as if he were conscious trying not to be Chandler. The result is often forced physical humor and strained vocal and physical affectations that are simply not funny. The trend continues with Serving Sara.

In the film, Perry portrays a process server attempting at first to serve divorce papers on the gorgeous trophy wife of a Texas millionaire played by Bruce "Ash" Campbell. Things change when the trophy wife hires Perry's process server to serve her husband first. Elizabeth Hurley, continuing her attempt to make sure everyone knows she can’t act, plays the trophy wife. She proved that in Bedazzled, and reaffirms it here with a tremendously unfunny, damn near hard to watch performance. Are there any more frightening words than model/slash actress?

As for Perry once again you can see the effort. Perry, in the classic football sense, leaves it all on the field. Pratfalls, bad impersonations, and various wacky setups put Perry through his paces. Unfortunately none of this is funny. Serving Sara serves up a film that might work as an episode of a bad sitcom but as a two hour movie it's dull and feels much longer than it actually is.

I can say one good thing about the film. It's always good to see Bruce Campbell on screen, this man doesn't work enough. Check out his book If Chins Could Kill, this guy is hysterical.

Movie Review One Hour Photo

One Hour Photo (2002) 

Directed by Mark Romanek

Written by Mark Romanek 

Starring Robin Williams, Michael Vartan, Connie Nielsen, Gary Cole, Eriq LaSalle 

Release Date August 21st, 2002 

Published August 20th, 2002 

Director Mark Romanek cut his teeth on music videos for artists like Lenny Kravitz, Madonna, and En Vogue. Especially memorable was the video he directed for Fiona Apple's "Criminal." A controversial video with Fiona and others in varying states of undress, the video had an atmosphere that dripped with sexuality. In the "Criminal" video, Romanek used everything from costumes to the set's retro-seventies green carpet to create an atmosphere at once familiar but also forbidden.

Atmosphere is what makes Romanek's second feature film--his previous work was 1985's Static--One Hour Photo, a creepy glimpse inside the mind of the most mundane madman the screen has ever seen.

Robin Williams stars as Sy the Photo Guy, as his customers at the retail store SavMart call him. Sy is an affable photo shop employee who is overly dedicated to the quality of his customers' photos. He has worked in the photo shop long enough to know the names and addresses of his regular customers and through their photos he knows even more than they would want him to. 

There is a very effective scene early on where Sy, the narrator, introduces us to some of his regular customers including amateur porn guy--maybe the only guy creepier than Sy himself. Sy's favorite customers are the Yorkin family. Stay at home mom Nina (Connie Nielsen), 9 year old Jakob, and Will (Michael Vartan). As the film develops (bad pun) Sy's obsession with the Yorkin's grows.

What sounds like a typical suspense thriller setup is played much more simply. Romanek allows the story to unravel at its own pace. This gives Williams the opportunity to reveal his character in more unique and interesting ways than your average thriller usually does. Williams seizes every opportunity to make Sy more vulnerable and almost innocent, which makes him so much scarier. You don't sympathize with Sy, but he earns your pity easily. I really liked the way Williams and Romanek conveyed Sy's sense of feeling that he was doing the right thing, Sy never seems to rationalize what he does because he doesn't think he has to.

As great as Williams is in One Hour Photo, for me the film is all about Romanek, who crafts a film of both visual and intellectual depth. Romanek employs these sensational tracking shots of Sy walking down these sterile hallways and perfectly assembled shelves at SavMart, all of it with the camera trained on Sy's determined, creepy stare.

Also effective is the score, which seems, at times, to be running through Sy's head. The rhythm of the score seems at times to match Sy's emotion. An early scene that takes the camera inside the inner workings of a film-developing machine is like a trip inside Sy's mind. Even the things that Sy watches on television however mundane they are seem to dovetail with what Sy is thinking. All of it creates an atmosphere that has not been so well-evoked since the days of Hitchcock.

Others have said that the film is told in flashback as Sy explains what happened to a detective played by Eriq Lasalle. I have a different take. I think Sy was running all that happened back in his own mind. He never told the police anything, except at the end, when he hints at what motivated the actions that the police already know about.

While the ending is somewhat unsatisfactory, attempting to explain why Sy does what he does demystifies him too much. Nonetheless, One Hour Photo Is an awesome film with visuals that should be used in film schools as a teaching tool. This is one of the year's best films.

Movie Review Possession

Possession (2002) 

Directed by Neil Labute 

Written by David Henry Hwang, Laura Jones, Neil Labute 

Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Aaron Eckhardt, Jeremy Northam, Jennifer Ehle, Lena Headey 

Release date August 16th, 2002 

Published August 16th, 2002 

As something of a writer myself, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to make a film about writing. In Possession, writer/director Neil Labute (with help from Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart) nearly pulls it off. Unfortunately, there is a limit to how interesting watching people conduct research about great writers can be.

Eckhart is an American historian named Roland Mitchell, working and living in Britain. In the midst of researching a poet named Randolf Henry Ash, played in flashback by Jeremy Northam, he comes across a letter that has gone unseen for over a hundred years. Rather than turning it over to his superiors, Roland keeps it until he can verify its authenticity. This leads him to a fellow researcher named Maud Bailey (Paltrow), who is an expert in all things Ash. 

The letter is quite complicated, as it is not addressed to his wife (as most of Ash's work is), but rather, to a mystery woman. For historians, this is an earth-shattering discovery. Ash's fidelity and love for his wife is part of his legend. The mystery woman is a fellow writer named Christabel La Motte (Jennifer Ehle). Her history is notable for her open homosexuality and what was thought to be a fitful relationship with her maid. The deeper the research the more interesting the revelation. I won't spoil the film's many turns.

The story is interesting and well plotted but the romance between Eckhart and Paltrow never quite sparks. The two just don't have the chemistry it takes to make the film burn with the passion Labute is obviously looking for; the kind of passion that would inspire such great romantic writing. In the film's parallel story of Ash and Christabel, there is great passion. Northam and Ehle do burn up the screen and their writing is vivid and lovely.

Unfortunately that isn't enough for me to fully recommend Possession. This certainly isn't a bad film but the lack of chemistry between the two leads undoes most of the strong narrative. For fans of Paltrow, Possession may be a worthy rental.

Movie Review: Blue Crush

Blue Crush (2002) 

Directed by John Stockwell 

Written by Lizzy Weiss, John Stockwell 

Starring Kate Bosworth, Michele Rodriguez, Matthew Davis, Sanoe Lake, Mika Boorem 

Release Date August 16th, 2002

Published August 15th, 2002 

I have a bad history with surfing movies. First there were those god awful Frankie and Annette movies my mother made me watch as a kid. UGH. Then there was Point Break, which is an awful movie but at least it's bad in a way that can make you laugh. Then there was the god awful Endless Summer 2. I haven't seen the original Endless Summer but if it's anything like the sequel I should drop to my knees and thank God I've been able to avoid it. 

Now comes Blue Crush, a surfer chick movie that mixes sports movie cliches with lame romantic comedy but still manages to be mildly entertaining.

Kate Bosworth stars as Ann Marie, a maid and former pro surfing competitor. She quit competing after nearly being killed in competition. After 3 years she is ready to compete again thanks to the encouragement of her roommates Eden (Michele Rodriguez) and Lena (Sanoe Lake). After being fired from her maid job for lecturing guests on their hygene, Ann Marie takes an offer to teach a group of football players how to surf. One of the players is a star Quarterback named Matt (Matthew Davis) who is interested in far more than surfing. Well duh.

Blue Crush is a sports movie and a romantic comedy, thus it is bound by the genre conventions of each and so we are treated to the typical roadblocks of both genres in tiresome repetitive scenes. This is especially apparent in the surfing competition where Ann Marie fails over and over and over. Okay we get it, she's got issues, can she overcome them so I can go now? 

The romance is troubled by the culture clash of the poor maid and the rich football player, and what his true intentions are and what will people think and blah blah blah. The film has not one new twist on these conventional situations. However, the film isn't as bad as it seems. The performances by Bosworth and especially Michele Rodriguez actually surpass the cliches and develop real interesting characters. 

The real stars of Blue Crush though are the cameras which get right in the surf and show off angles not likely seen before. You have to wonder at times just what is real because it seems there is no way a camera could get these shots. If there were any digital effects used, and there probably were, they are seamlessly integrated. On a side note there is more than one scene where a camera is visible in the surf.

Blue Crush has an element of guilty pleasure. Gorgeous girls in tiny bikinis and kick ass surfing scenes, namely. Guilty pleasures aside though, Blue Crush is never more than a mild distraction.

Movie Review: The Adventures of Pluto Nash

The Adventures of Pluto Nash

Directed by Ron Underwood 

Written by Neil Cuthbert 

Starring Eddie Murphy, Rosario Dawson, Dennis Quaid, John Cleese, Peter Boyle, Jay Mohr

Release Date August 16th, 2002 

There have been a lot of bad things said about The Adventures Of Pluto Nash, a lot of those things stemming from the film's mega-budget and two-year shelf life. A lot of bad things continue to be said, but not by me. While Pluto Nash isn't a great film it's not nearly as bad as many people say it is. Indeed, there are times when even the most talented critics have their knives out preemptively, overly preparing to write a negative review of a movie that arrives with a bit of baggage. 

Eddie Murphy is Pluto Nash, the most popular nightclub owner on the moon. Things couldn't be better, especially after he hires a gorgeous new waitress named Dina (Rosario Dawson). Things change quickly however after Pluto refuses to sell his club to a mobster named Crater. After the club is blown up, Pluto, Dina and Pluto's robot bodyguard Bruno (Dennis Quaid) go on the run and eventually go after Crater. They are helped along the way by a great supporting cast including Pam Grier, Peter Boyle, Jay Mohr, and Luis Guzman.

It's good to see the old cocky, confident Eddie Murphy back even if he isn't at the top of his game. As Pluto Nash, Murphy is back as the conman always two steps ahead of everyone else. Here he’s far more appealing than his recent buffoonish turn in Showtime. Eddie Murphy needs to stop market testing his humor and let loose and in The Adventures of Pluto Nash, he’s almost back to his best. If only he’d stop listening to the people who push him toward PG-13 trash over his more comfortable R-rated space. 

Pluto Nash is a unique combination of 40's gangster movies with cheesy 50's sci-fi and it's those touches of classic genre that provide the film its comic atmosphere. The more modern humor, such as having Hillary Clinton's face on the hundred-dollar bill, isn't funny, admittedly but every comedy has a clunker or two.. Many people, without even seeing this film, said it would suck. I was one of them, if I am being honest. The evidence for the film stinking out loud was overwhelming. So, perhaps, the best review I could give The Adventures Of Pluto Nash is to say that it doesn't completely suck.

Movie Review: XXX

XXX (2002) 

Directed by Rob Cohen

Written by Rich Wilkes 

Starring Vin Diesel, Asia Argento, Martin Csokas, Samuel L. Jackson, 

Release Date August 9th, 2002 

Published August 8th, 2002

The team that brought us the Fast & the Furious is back with yet another big dumb action flick called XXX. Unfortunately, where Furious reveled in it's ridiculousness, XXX would like to be taken as seriously as possible as an action movie and a potential franchise. But after seeing XXX, I would rather see Fast & the Furious 2.

XXX is the nickname of Xander Cage (Diesel), an internet entrepreneur whose underground video's of himself performing amazingly dumb and illegal stunts sell well enough to support XXX's lifestyle of gorgeous bimbo's and extreme sports. Unfortunately for Xander his most recent stunt attracted the attention of the National Security Agency. Samuel L Jackson is agent Gibbons who sees XXX as expendable talent and enlists XXX to go to Prague and infiltrate a group of terrorists who call themselves Anarchy 99.

The terrorist leader is Yorgi (Martin Csokas). Yorgi, in typical terrorist fashion, is bluffed by XXX and and takes him into his evil lair. It's not long however before XXX's cover is blown and now he must rely on a Russian agent already in Yorgi's inner circle, a beautiful woman named Yolena (Asia Argento).  The surprising thing about XXX is that it wasn't made by MTV films. With it's glossy market tested style and soundtrack that is far more prominent than the film's dialogue, it would fit in perfectly in the MTV canon.

Indeed XXX is the kind of film that was pitched to the studio marketing department before being pitched to producers and directors. It plays like a two hour version of those late 90's Mountain Dew commercials.

The whole film is cornball and cliched, with flat uncomfortable dialogue that tries desperately to sound young and hip. Coming from a cast of 30-somethings it sounds lame and uncomfortable. A scene early on at a party at XXX's pad we hear dialogue from actors who are clearly not comfortable with the modern slang and come off like that high school teacher who desperately tries to sound hip, but comes off as simply embarrassing.

You can see the corners that were cut in order to secure the more audience friendly PG 13 rating. There is no nudity but the lack of totally naked flesh is made up for in two hours worth misogyny and objectification. As for Vin Diesel, he is a credible action star, although he needs to work on his one liners if he ever wants to replace Arnie and Sly.

The poser dialogue and cheesy effects especially the snowboarding scenes, all serve to create a slick soulless version of the Bond series. The Bond series however earned the right to be cliched and sexist by being successful more than once. XXX has been annointed the next great franchise even before the original script was finished. 

Typical modern Hollywood.

Movie Review: Blood Work

Blood Work (2002) 

Directed by Clint Eastwood 

Written by Brian Helgeland

Starring Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Jeff Daniels, Dylan Walsh, Anjelica Huston 

Release Date August 9th, 2002 

Published August 8th, 2002

As one of our greatest living actors, Clint Eastwood can be forgiven for many things. We can concede him the indulgence of playing a codger in a space comedy like Space Cowboys. We can forgive him, and even take a little pleasure watching him, in the trashy thriller Absolute Power. However, our good faith can only go so far, and when Eastwood releases a retread cop thriller like Blood Work, even Dirty Harry can't be forgiven this indulgence.

Blood Work stars Eastwood as a famous FBI criminal profiler--a job that is not nearly as glamorous or exciting as Hollywood would have you believe--Terry McCaleb. As we join the story, McCaleb joins a pair of cops, played by Paul Rodriguez and Dylan Walsh, as they walk through a crime that has a message specifically for McCaleb. Scrawled in blood on the wall is a code and the message "Catch me McCaleb." As McCaleb is exiting the crime scene, through a throng of reporters, a piece of evidence tips him off to a man in the crowd who may be the killer. McCaleb chases the suspect until he is felled by a heart attack, but not before popping a bullet in the suspect.

Two years later, McCaleb is the beneficiary of a heart transplant. The operation saved his life but ended his career. Now living on a boat in a marina, he passes the time fixing the boat and talking to his neighbor Buddy (Jeff Daniels). Out of the blue, a beautiful woman named Graciella (Wanda De Jesus) shows up on McCaleb's boat claiming to be the sister of the woman whose heart was given to McCaleb. She tells McCaleb that her sister was murdered and implores McCaleb to use his cop connections to find out what is happening with the investigation into her sister's murder.

From there you know what is going to happen. McCaleb is drawn into investigating the crime, which will inevitably connect to other crimes; innocent people will look suspicious; and the one least likely will turn out to be the killer. If you can't figure out this movie's secrets in the first 20 minutes, turn in your moviegoer's card and never come back to the theaters. 

If you don't feel like seeing Blood Work, rent The Bone Collector with Denzel Washington; the same lame thriller minutia populates both films. Blood Work is slightly more believable, but both are police procedurals. Normally, these films appear as straight-to-video trash starring people like Jeff Fahey and Patrick Bergin.

The most disappointing thing about Blood Work is that Eastwood also directed it. How can such a skilled director as Eastwood not see the obvious cliches in the script from Joel Schumacher wannabe Brian Helgeland? 

Eastwood knows the proper camera moves and his direction is studied and logical but the story Blood Work is too predictable to be either suspenseful or entertaining. After seeing this film, one is left to wonder if Eastwood's best work is behind him, a sad thought but one you can't help entertaining. I hope that is not true. Only time will tell. 

Movie Review The Good Girl

The Good Girl (2002) 

Directed by Miguel Arteta

Written by Mike White 

Starring Jennifer Aniston, Jake Gyllenhaal, John C. Reilly, Tim Blake Nelson

Release Date August 7th, 2002 

Published August 7th, 2002 

I sometimes wonder why I watch Friends. Was it the marketing hype? Was it the fact that seemingly everyone else watches it? Or. is the show actually pretty good. Honestly I'm not sure but I think that I like it because of the potential in the cast. Each member of the Friends cast has the talent to do something great. None has so far achieved that greatness.

Until now.

In The Good Girl, Jennifer Aniston is Justine Last, a bored to death cosmetics clerk at the Retail Rodeo. Justine hates her job and her coworkers, only tolerating their existence to make the job bearable. On top of that Justine is trapped in a loveless marriage to a lazy, shiftless pothead named Phil, expertly played by John C. Reilly. Phil and his pal Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson) paint houses together and spend most of their off hours on Justine's couch smoking weed.

Into all this comes Holden (Jake Gyllenhaal) a new hire at the Retail Rodeo. Holden is quiet and sad, always keeps to himself and Justine admires and envies his solitude. The two strike up a friendship that quickly moves to the bedroom. Of course things are never that easy. While Holden falls madly for Justine, she is unable to overcome her fears and leave her husband. After the excitement of leading the double life of wife and adulterer wears off, Justine begins to see Holden for who he truly is, an emotionally disturbed 22 year old child. The solitude and freedom she loved and coveted were products of cold indifferent parents and not her romantic notion of the tortured artist.

Aniston is superb. Her performance is raw and real. The decisions her character makes are at times shocking and dumb but the mistakes are made poignant by the desire for freedom that caused them and by Aniston's sympathetic eyes that seem constantly on the verge of tears. Aniston's supporting cast is equally strong, especially John C. Reilly who makes the husband's cluelessness endearing and sympathetic. In a great scene near the end, we find out why Phil smokes pot so much, a scene that is funny, touching and cathartic.

Gyllenhaal continues his odd streak of films from Bubble Boy to Donnie Darko and now this. In this film we see almost a repeat of his Darko role but with more sadness and rage. Writer Mike White and director Miguel Arteta teamed previously on the much buzzed about pic Chuck & Buck. After seeing The Good Girl, I desperately want to see Chuck & Buck. If it's as good as The Good Girl, we could have the next hot indie team on our hands.

The Good Girl is an art film with a pop sensibility provided by the casting of Aniston shedding her Friends role and becoming a great actress. This film could actually go down in history as the movie that killed Friends. With Aniston getting such terrific reviews and Oscar buzz it won't be long before she leaves the small screen for good.

Movie Review Tadpole

Tadpole (2002) 

Directed by Gary Winick 

Written by Heather McGowan, Niels Mueller 

Starring Aaron Stanford, Bebe Neuwirth, Sigourney Weaver, Robert Iler, John Ritter, Kate Mara

Release Date August 2nd, 2002

Published January 27th, 2003

Movies about worldly teenage boys falling for older women are nothing new. (The Graduate is a famous example that is more than 30 years old) However a movie about a 15-year-old boy who lusts after his stepmother... well I haven't seen that one before and really wasn't looking for it. Nevertheless the cheaply made Oedipus comedy Tadpole is charming. despite its strange twist on the Graduate formula.

Aaron Stanford stars as Oscar, who is nicknamed Tadpole by one of the film's minor supporting players (though everyone else calls him Oscar.) Oscar is an odd 15-year-old; he reads Voltaire, speaks fluent French and has an affinity for women's hands. Returning home to New York for Thanksgiving break Oscar explains to his friend Charlie (The Sopranos' Robert Iler) that this will be the weekend he tells the woman he loves how he feels. Oscar neglects to mention that the woman of his dreams is his stepmother, Eve, played by Sigourney Weaver.

Once home Oscar arrives at a party in progress and his loving father Stanley (John Ritter) attempts to set him up with the daughter of a friend. However, Oscar and his one-track mind blows off the girl and instead pines away for Eve. Disappointed after a night of watching his father and Eve together, Oscar goes out and gets a little drunk. As he stumbles home, he meets up with his stepmother's best friend Diane (Bebe Neuwirth). 

Rather than let Oscar go home and be discovered by his parents to be drunk, Diane invites Oscar to her place for coffee. One thing leads to another and Oscar and Diane end up in bed. Oscar feels horribly guilty; feels he has betrayed his feelings for Eve. This leads to the film's best scene in a restaurant with Oscar, his father, stepmother and Diane. As Oscar sweats over whether Diane will let his secret slip, Diane taunts him mercilessly and finally Oscar's childishness gets the better of him.

Shot on digital video with a budget of only $750,000, Tadpole isn't the best looking movie. Accordingly, director Gary Winick has to rely on the characters and they are interesting characters, especially Bebe Neuwirth's Diane. Neuwirth is amazing in this role; sexy and quick-witted, she is the film's real star. The film's lead, Aaron Stanford, who makes his film debut here--he will appear as Pyro in X-Men 2 this summer--isn't bad. Stanford is believable as an intellectual, overly analytical obsessive, though not as believable as a 15-year-old. In reality, he is 25 years old and he looks it.

Sigourney Weaver is believable as the object of Oscar's obsessions, but the conversations between her and Oscar are too stilted in double meanings to be believed. Ritter is forgettable as the clueless father whose basic job seems to be to get in the way of the rest of the characters. Tadpole has many funny moments, mostly provided by Neuwirth; however, at a mere 80 minutes there isn't much to it. The film's resolution is forgettable with a throwaway happy ending that throws aside all that has happened before it. There are no consequences or guilt--just an ending.

The film is strong on dialogue and Neuwirth is extraordinary in her supporting role so, for that, I can give  a partial recommendation to Tadpole.