Month: July 2011

Few smooth operators are more likable than Ryan Gosling’s lothario in Crazy, Stupid, Love. Left and right, he reels in women, effortlessly and mostly believably. We root for him admittedly for his charisma but also for his compassion.

The invulnerable playboy player Jacob (Gosling) discovers passive/ aggressive, self-described “cuckold” Cal (Steve Carell) as a regular wallflower in a singles meet market after Cal gets dumped by longtime wife Emily (Julianne Moore). First put off by Jacob as an unreproachable opposite type, Cal begins to see the possibilities of his own rejuvenation at Jacob’s hands after Jacob talks him into a (huge) makeover. Cal eventually takes Jacob’s seduction lessons to the hilt, leading to big trouble since he’s still in love with Emily (played with Moore’s customary emotional precision) and would rather be back home than ravishing beautiful strangers.

Directed by John Requa and Glenn Ficara (I Love You Phillip Morris, screenwriters for Bad Santa), Crazy, Stupid, Love (why the second comma?–more on that later) comes dangerously close to stumbling into the overblown reaches of schmaltz. It gets pulled back repeatedly by the genuinely first-rate cast. A very good Emma Stone (Easy A), Marissa Tomei and Kevin Bacon are along for the ride, Carell is his usual master deadpan stylist, and the often wonderfully talented Gosling (Blue Valentine, Half Nelson) seems to personally take the film on his shoulders.

Gosling reportedly added to the script an important motif that invloves slapping Carell in the face as an exclamation point to Carell’s cluelessness (Moe from the 3 Stooges comes to mind). He also in a Film Comment story is said to have convinced the directors to allow him to change his character from the stock issue villainous rake who gets reformed by finding true love. Instead he presents a Jacob who, by his very likeability and the sheer force of his character, adds a depth of nuance to the film that allow it to veer away from the many cliches that permeate it. You have a know-it-all, bring-the-parents-back-together 13-year-old, the babysitter who gets a crush on Carell, and a vengeful one-night-stand Tomei. Yet the film thrives on the sharp-as-a-razor interplay between Carell and Gosling, and the equally vibrant scenes between Gosling and Stone.

Crazy, Stupid, Love gives you a feeling romantic comedy boundaries are being stretched. However, while it even includes a twist you may not see coming, it may not be stretching very much at all. I’ll settle for it avoiding succumbing to its own cornball denouement while retaining an integrity–no small achievement in the world of summer comedies. Genuine laughs outweigh no-credibilty rubbage here. You shoudn’t need a slap in the face to get the extra comma in the title either. Love is ALWAYS crazy and stupid.

7.5 slaps out of 10

This undocumented immigrant is surrounded by a scary insecurity. Buying a truck to start a business despite having no driver’s license one moment, and having to find a fellow illegal who steals the truck the next. All along the way, single-parenting a teenager teetering on the edge of joining a gang.

So goes Chris Weitz’s “A Better Life”, which given the scarcity of films about the immigrant experience, serves as a nice primer. Yet the dead-end plight of a hard-working, wholesome, values-driven landscaper, Carlos Galindo and his son Luis, is anything but a joyless exercise in agitprop. Carlos (an outstanding Demian Bichir) seems to pull from an inner reservoir that precludes despair no matter how desperate things become.

Luis (Jose Julian) first approaches Carlos as a freak, mimicking American teenager haughtiness. That Carlos has a carefree outlook that doesn’t preclude taking chances (including Luis in the danger) brings them closer together while Carlos’ very existence in America hangs in the balance. Luis’ ability to stay out of jail also is at stake–something he’s not even aware of initially. His Dad abhors the criminals he hangs out with. It takes a shared criminal act for a greater good to save Luis.

Not incidentally, A Better Life will give you a real good idea of how messed up our immigration laws of deportation are. Weitz (About A Boy) also paints chilling scenes of ridiculously tight living conditions and equally poignant queues for meager employment opportunities. His choice of parallel with the 1940s De Sica film Bicycle Thieves is forgivable to the extent A Better Life pays it proper tribute since the Italian classic is undeniably one of the most influential films ever made. If you’re willing to avoid a couple of plot holes, it’s much worth it. You’ll also be experiencing one of the finest performance of the year to date.

Bichir is apparently a star in Mexico. Who knew?

7 Nancy Botwin’s dead husbands out of 10

 

Project Nim tells the story of Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee subject from the 1970s who was designated to spend his time exclusively with humans bent on teaching him sign language. Early in the film the study’s founder, Columbia University professor Herbert Terrace, complains that the experiment is getting shortchanged by Nim’s first human surrogate Mom, a hippie who gives Nim pot and beer and breast feeds him (we’re saved from any visuals of the latter). Terrace abruptly removes Nim from her graces to ensure his new environ will include some scientific method.

Director James Marsh (the brilliant “Man on Wire”) would have been wiser to inject some outside scientific perspective of his own to further enrich this fascinating, heartfelt story. Sticking strictly to interviews among Nim’s various caretakers and teachers, Marsh provides an empathetic panorama of the roller coaster ride Nim embarks on after being taken away from his mother while only days old.

By the time he dies of a heart attack at 26 years old, you’re wondering what the average lifepan for a chimp is–thanks to Wikipedia (not Marsh) it’s 52. You’re also wondering about the status of medical testing on chimps after Terrace ends the experiment, since Nim spends an unfortunate spell in horrific captivity as the subject of vaccine testing. (Using chimps for research and toxicology testing, while banned in many Western countries, remains active in the U. S., where as of 2009 , 1300 chimps remain in invasive research. You’re welcome)

Nim’s post traumatic stress disorder from his days as a research subject is only made worse when he’s “rescued” to a solo life in “spacious digs” at Cleveland Amory’a reserve for battered equines. Humans don’t make out so well in Project Nim. An early cat fight among competing surrogate Moms serves as a silly distraction. Terrace seems stuck on publicity for publicity’s sake. Almost everyone gets nipped by Nim and when one teacher gets mauled in the face, the signing experiment is pulled. Chimps are inherently violent, much stronger than humans, and have in their nature the instinct to hunt and kill lower order primates and sometimes each other. It’s no wonder the House of Representatives banned their use as household pets in 2009.

Nim was not the first primate tested for sign language capabilities. Washoe was a chimp in the 1960s who learned hundreds of signs and even taught them to other chimps. Nim doesn’t make out so well once Terrace claimed his experiment “proved nothing.” Terrace was wrong. It actually proved a lot about humans and their ability to “project” Nim.

6.5 Apes out of 10

3 Bosses Vs. 3 Employees.

First up is Kevin Spacey, the quintessential boss from hell. Next is Colin Farrell, practically in disguise through the film, is a boss whose nicest of moments can make Spacey look like Mr. Rogers. Lastly you have Jennifer Aniston as the more subtle head honcho, if subtlety includes sexual blackmail with herself as the sex object and poor Charlie Day as the unwilling underling.

Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Jason Bateman, and Jason Sudeikis do what any disgruntled, conniving employees would do: they head to the hood and seek help from “hit man” Jamie Foxx. Once the actual eradication plan commences we’re on our way to “farce heaven” despite a few bumps of inanity along the road. The silliness is handled by the allstar cast who bring up the proceedings several notches from what must look on paper like a thankless, over-the-top script. Employees seeking to off their bosses? Better have actors who can improvise their way around anything including dumb plot devices and callous references galore. Luckily raunch as funny as this leaves a lot of room for allowance.

None of it would have worked so well if not for Spacey’s ability to scare the wits out of us with the meanest most egotistical horse’s ass in recent screen memory. Nor Farrell’s cocaine-addled heir to a company handed to him by his father (Donald Sutherland). (It’s actually believably in character when his first order to Sudeikis is to “fire all the fat people” since this guys such a lunatic.) Nor Aniston’s sex maniac dentist who keeps trying to compromise recently engaged Day into an operating room tryst. Nor Foxx’s sterotyped “M.F.” Jones character, who’s essentially a spoof on spoof.

Then there’s the three leads whose chemistry with each other is sharp and flows whether they’re victims of their bosses nasty mischief or perpetrators of their own. Day actually commented in an interview that when he first shot a scene with Kevin Spacey he felt, “Wow that’s Kevin Spacey.” This attitude shows in the scene and it’s not a bad thing. Spacey at his best commands a certain cinematic gravitas and here he soars.

Director Seth Gordon not only cast this film perfectly, he ought to be commended for giving his actors free reign. As a result we end up having a rip-roaring time with Horrible Bosses despite the film’s tone deafness to anything that might have lifted it above the merely comic. Its tunnel vision looks for the next outrageous gag and puts welcomed blinders on the actual plight of the poor working guy. Here we’re just forgetting reality and that’s sweet.

7 pink slips out of 10

When Tom Hanks gets fired for not having a college degree in the beginning of Larry Crowne, he’s fired by a bunch of pricks including one who shows up later in the film as a pizza delivery man.
(Which means jerks get their due)

When Hanks decides to go to Community College after leaving his sure-looks-like-Walmart gig, he falls into a speech class taught by Julia Roberts.
(Which means good guys get all the luck.)

When Roberts’ blustery, do-nothing husband runs around drunk and looking at soft porn all day while not quite blogging (“you write comments on others’ blogs,” Roberts berates), you know he’s soon history…..
(Which means beautiful women have no tolerance for crass assholes)

When Hanks befriends Talia (28-year-old British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw) it’s only to lull us into mild amusement over her suggestively teasing him. All the while Svengali-ing him into making over his wardrobe, haircut, and apartment. To have him ride his newly-bought used scooter Tailia and her Scooter gang all over L.A.
(Which means the film is not guilty of having a middle-aged guy hooking up with a college girl because here Hanks is only kidding us. (Her jealous boyfriend would disagree.))

When Hank takes an intro Economics lecture class with a likeable Asian professor who keeps taking his cellphone away and reciting Star Trek quotes.
(Which means Hanks, who grew fond of in-class texting-back-and-forth with Talia, is now on the same cool level of his classmates)

When Cedric the Entertainer, Hanks’ neighbor who has a permanent yard sale on his lawn, is shown bargaining ludicrously for the umpteenth time, we’re reminded the film was co-written by Nia Vardalos, who the made the sophomoric blockbuster My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Hanks co-wrote and directed Larry Crowne (his first since 1996’s That Thing You Do). While he and Roberts demonstrated sharp chemistry in 2007’s Charlie Wilson’s War, here they’re cute to the point of foolishness in a movie that’s more purposeless than amusing.

(Which means I’m happy Tom Hanks is always so cheerful. But it is our funnybones he needs to assuage, our concern for his characters he needs to engage. After all, the highest grossing film actor of all time is no slouch.)

3.5 scooters out of 10