Review: "Batman and Robin" or Badman and Rotten

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 81 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Batman and Robin (1997)
Running time: 125 minutes (2 hours, 5 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for strong stylized action and some innuendos
DIRECTOR: Joel Schumacher
WRITER: Akiva Goldsman (based upon the Batman character created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger)
PRODUCER: Peter Macgregor-Scott
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen Goldblatt (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Mark Stevens and Dennis Virkler
COMPOSER: Elliot Goldenthal

SUPERHERO/ACTION/ADVENTURE/FAMILY

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, Chris O’Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, John Glover, Elle Macpherson, Vivica A. Fox, Coolio, Nicky Katt, and Jeep Swenson

Until there is a fourth sequel, the third sequel to the 1989 box office smash Batman, Batman and Robin will be considered the film that killed the modern Batman film franchise. It’s not as if there is nothing redeemable about this film in particular because it has some good story elements. Batman and Robin is awful simply because it is over-produced. It is as ostentatious as a lavishly decorated and spectacularly colorful Mardi Gras or drag ball.

Batman (George Clooney) and Robin (Chris O’Donnell) face the combined forces of Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman). Complicating matters is a rivalry that has grown between the Dynamic Duo. Robin/Dick Grayson wants to do his own thing, and although he understands his young friend’s quest for independence, Batman/Bruce Wayne thinks the young man has a lot to learn, and that he, Bruce, is the teacher, and that the boy should listen. Poison Ivy picks up on this and plays the partners against one another. More trouble arrives in the form of Wayne Manor butler Alfred Pennyworth’s (Michael Gough) niece Barbara Wilson (Alicia Silverstone) who eventually becomes Batgirl.

Everything is overdone in this movie except for the script and the acting, both of which seem neglected. The art direction is as over-the-top sweet as high fructose corn syrup, and the costumes are high camp. Clowns wouldn’t want them, and trick-or-treaters wouldn’t be caught dead in them. The script is poor when it comes to internal logic and consistency. For example, how does Poison Ivy create that ridiculously fancy lair of hers? Where does it come from, and what’s the point of it? It’s just another over-dressed set. I could suspend disbelief if that, along with so much else, just didn’t seem…well, stupid, dumb, and tactless.

The acting is also over the top and bad. At times, Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to revert to the skill (or lack thereof) he showed in his early films. George Clooney, though earnest, is very weak as both Bruce Wayne and Batman. Batman needs to carry the movie, but Clooney struggles with poor material, and that’s made worse by the fact that he doesn’t have a grasp of what he’s supposed to do. It’s like the whole time he was running around the movie wondering just what the hell a “Batman” was. Also, it is high time to drop the use of sexual innuendo is Batman films. It’s not funny, and the dialogue is so hackneyed that these “naughty bits” fall flat when delivered by actors who are already being way too campy. I’m not saying that Batman needs to be so dark and serious, but nor should it be played as a bad joke.

However, there are good elements in the story: Mr. Freeze’s quest to save his wife, Poison Ivy’s machinations against Freeze and the Dynamic Duo, Alfred’s illness, Batman dealing with Robin’s growing pains, and the emphasis on family in the story. But it’s all tossed aside in favor of throwing tons of garish crap against the wall in hopes that something will stick; in the end, almost nothing does. The movie is almost a total failure from top to bottom, and it’s frustrating because it could have been something good. Director Joel Schumacher is not without some directorial skill and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman is one of Hollywood’s top scribes.

What we get in this movie is an overblown and wild spectacle made by people who cynically believed that enough people would pay to see this movie no matter how abysmal it was because they just have to see the next installment in the Batman franchise. And that worked to an extent, but many of their ticket buyers left as unsatisfied customers. If Warner Bros. wants to make shit, it’s no skin of my nose. There are always other action movies, always another action blast out, even if it’s from Warner’s own stable.

2 of 10
D

NOTES:
1998 Razzie Awards: 1 win: “Worst Supporting Actress” (Alicia Silverstone); 10 nominations: “Worst Picture” (Peter Macgregor-Scott), “Worst Director” (Joel Schumacher), “Worst Original Song” (Billy Corgan for the song "The End is The Beginning is The End"), “Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property,” “Worst Remake or Sequel,” “Worst Screen Couple” (George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell), “Worst Screenplay” (Akiva Goldsman), “Worst Supporting Actor” (Chris O'Donnell), “Worst Supporting Actor” (Arnold Schwarzenegger), and “Worst Supporting Actress” (Uma Thurman)

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Review: "Clueless" is Best Remembered for Who Was in It

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux

Clueless (1995)
Running time: 97 minutes (1 hour, 37 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sex related dialogue and some teen use of alcohol and drugs
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Amy Heckerling
PRODUCERS: Robert Lawrence and Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bill Pope
EDITOR: Debra Chiate

COMEDY

Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Brittany Murphy, Stacy Dash, Donald Faison, Dan Hedaya, Breckin Meyer, Justin Walker, Wallace Shawn, Jeremy Sisto, and Julie Brown

Clueless is certainly one of the most entertaining “teenaged” movies ever made, and it is thus so because of its creator, writer-director Amy Heckerling. Heckerling (Look Who’s Talking) is well remembered for directing another landmark movie about teenagers, the fantastic Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which influenced the pop culture of at least two generations of teenagers and young people after its 1982 debut.

Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) is a pampered Beverly Hills princess who shops for fine clothes, shoes, and accessories almost non-stop. With her friend Dionne Marie Davenport (Stacey Dash), she is the most popular girl in school. When she draws the ire of her father Mel (Dan Hedaya) for poor grades, she decides that she can earn a better grade from one of her teachers, Mr. Alphonse Hall (Wallace Shawn), by setting him up with a girl friend.

That venture successful, she decides to upgrade the looks of the new girl in school, Tai Fraiser (Brittany Murphy), and to find a boyfriend for Tai. It is during her manipulation of other people’s status that she slowly discovers she is really lonely. Her frustrating search for companionship reveals to her that she is the one who is clueless.

Clueless was probably the first film to capture the attention and bucks of the so-called Generation Y baby boomers. Like the out-of-nowhere hit making band Hanson, Clueless was a surprise success. It captured the flavor and essences of Southern California teenagers from well-to-do and affluent families who could indulge their children with expensive toys, clothes, cars, and other material things. Heckerling ably captures the language and style of these teens, simultaneously poking at and documenting them in her fictional film. Her most important achievement was that she took those character types and made a good film out of it.

The performances are actually understated and accomplished considering that the characters are so over the top. Ms. Silverstone, the youthful blond of the moment for a few years, portrays Cher as thoughtful girl, who truly does understand the needs of others, but strictly through her needs. The goal of the movie seems to be to teach her that she doesn’t have to only help people if it benefits her as much, if not more than, the ones she is helping. Ms. Silverstone subtly travels that path of education all the while keeping her character interesting and entertaining. Sometimes a good character can become a bore during the course of a film when the creators are trying to teach that character a lesson.

The rest of the cast is equally up to the challenge of entertaining. Paul Rudd is quite good as Cher’s stepbrother Josh Lucas, and Dan Hedaya’s Mel is the perfect wrangler for his daughter. There is also a wealth of young Hollywood faces and character actors who take their turn making the world of Cher so vivid, so silly, and so joyous.

And that’s what this movie is - joyous.

Fun, silly, irreverent, it is also a sly commentary on particular group of the youth of America, but the film possesses enough charm that the viewer focuses mostly on the comedy and romance. Only the keenest mind of a killjoy would focus on how vacuous this film can be at times. Heckerling has created a bright, sunny movie that is both smart and enjoyable. Part parody, part satire, and a little farce, Clueless is, alas, simply fun to watch.

6 of 10
B

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"Beauty Shop" is Simply a Queen Latifah Vehicle

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 57 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


Beauty Shop (2005)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 on appeal for sexual material, language, and brief drug references
DIRECTOR: Bille Woodruff
WRITERS: Kate Lanier and Norman Vance, Jr.; from a story by Elizabeth Hunter
PRODUCERS: Elizabeth Cantillon, Shakim Compere, David Hoberman, Queen Latifah, Robert Teitel, and George Tillman, Jr.
CINEMTOGRAPHER: Theo van de Sande
EDITOR: Michael Jablow

COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Queen Latifah, Alicia Silverstone, Andie MacDowell, Alfre Woodard, Mena Suvari, Della Reese, Golden Brooks, Miss Laura Hayes, Paige Hurd, Little (Li’l) JJ, LisaRaye McCoy, Kevin Bacon, Djimon Hounsou, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Sherri Shepherd, Kimora Lee Simmons, Sheryl Underwood, Bryce Wilson, Omari Hardwick, Jim Holmes, and Adele Givens

Gina Norris (Queen Latifah) is a long way off from Chicago where we last saw her in Barbershop 2: Back in Business. She’s in Atlanta (Hot-lanta!) making her rep with the cutting-edge hairstyles she puts on the customers at a posh Atlanta salon. However, her flamboyant, egotistical boss, Jorge (Kevin Bacon), is jealous of her, and after one insult too many from him, Gina quits. She opens her on beauty shop, but right from the beginning, she has all the usual troubles that a small business has: not enough money, state regulations, unruly employees, etc. One of her old co-workers, shampoo girl, Lynn (Alicia Silverstone), and a few key clients, Terri (Andie MacDowell) and Joanne (Mena Suvari), follow her. Now, all she has to do is maintain her family obligations and keep her struggling business afloat. That should be easy, right? At least, there’s lot of laughter and friendship along the way.

Beauty Shop is a spin off, but by no means a sequel, to the Barbershop films. This really is a women’s movie, and with its diverse cast of black and white actresses, as well as other persuasions, it’s a (grown up) girls’ movie with crossover appeal. The language is a bit blue, and the frank talk about sex is enough to make even a veteran of caustic movies like myself blanch. Still, I saw children buying tickets to see the film, and it does reach out to them. Gina has a daughter, a character to appeal to younger viewers, and frankly, girls want to hear women talk; besides, Beauty Shop’s subject matter isn’t prurient.

The plot is light, but deals with a familiar and appealing theme: the little guy taking on the evil big guy who wants to squeeze the little guy out of existence. Beauty Shop has lots of laughs, but it’s as much a drama as it is a comedy. Gina’s struggle to stay afloat is not only precarious, but has a hard ring of verisimilitude. Also, some of the confrontations between characters are filled with funny wisecracks, but also have a dark edge and tension to them.

This is also an ensemble picture, with Queen Latifah in the lead, a character-driven film that focuses on the players with the plot holding second place. Everyone plays her (or his) oddball well enough, although Alicia Silverstone’s Georgia cracker, Lynn, is a bit too much, as is Kevin Bacon’s ridiculous Jorge. The Queen is an underrated actress. She handles the topsy-turvy of the film’s comic/dramatic turns with dexterity that belies her size. She’s a beautiful movie star, and her radiance grows with each film. Without her, Beauty Shop would be another tired “urban” movie cliché full of mouthy, smack-talking ethnics. Luckily, she is in Beauty Shop, and she raises this sub-par material and takes her co-stars with her.

6 of 10
B

April 10, 2005