Review: "Starsky and Hutch" is Average Entertainment (Happy B'day, Snoop Dogg)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 27 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Starsky & Hutch (2004)
Running time:  101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
MPAA – PR-13 for drug content, sexual situations, partial nudity, language and some violence
DIRECTOR:  Todd Phillips
WRITERS:  John O’Brien, Scot Armstrong and Todd Phillips, from a story Steve Long and John O’Brien (based upon characters created by William Blinn)
PRODUCERS:  William Blinn, Stuart Cornfeld, Akiva Goldsman, Tony Ludwig, and Alan Riche
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Barry Peterson (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Leslie Jones
COMPOSER:  Theodore Shapiro

COMEDY/CRIME with some elements of action

Starring:  Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Snoop Dogg, Fred Williamson, Vince Vaughn, Juliette Lewis, Jason Bateman, Amy Smart, Carmen Electra, George Cheung, Chris Penn, Patton Oswalt, Jenard Burks, The Bishop Don Magic Juan, and Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul

The subject of this movie review is Starsky & Hutch, a 2004 crime comedy from director Todd Phillips.  The film is based on the 1970s television series, Starsky & Hutch, a police drama-thriller that was created by William Blinn and was originally broadcast on the ABC television network from 1975 to 1979.  The film is a kind of prequel to the original television series.  Starsky & Hutch the movie follows two streetwise cops who fight crime in their red-and-white Ford Torino.

With my refined tastes, I should technically be repulsed by film remakes of 70’s television programs, but repulsed or otherwise, I’ll generally see them.  Still, I’d planned on seeing the controversial Mel Gibson Jesus movie, but it was sold out, and there was the poster for Starsky & Hutch staring me in the face.  Though I had to settle on something I hadn’t planned on seeing at the time, it didn’t really affect my enjoyment of Starsky and Hutch.  It’s a fairly funny film, but you wouldn’t have missed a cinematic event that must be seen on the big screen if you’d waited for home video or TV.

Set in a sort of anachronistic version of the 1970’s, S&H is the story of two streetwise detectives who form an unlikely partnership.  David Starsky (Ben Stiller) is an anal by-the-books guy, who actually does nothing but screw up, despite his attention to rules.  Ken “Hutch” Hutchinson (Owen Wilson) is a genial kind of guy, always hanging loose, but he is also the kind of cop who breaks the law when it suits him.  Hutch robs bookies for their loot, and he uses illegal drugs.  The mismatched pair gets on the nerves of their boss, Captain Dobey (Fred Williamson), relies on tips from an omniscient street informer, Huggy Bear (Snoop Dogg), and busts crime in Starksy’s 1974 red-and-white, souped-up Ford Torino.  Their first big case together involves a respectable businessman, Reese Feldman (Vince Vaughn), who may be a big time cocaine dealer.  However, Starsky and Hutch’s bumbling and lack of hard evidence dog their case every step of the way.

Starsky & Hutch has some extremely hilarious moments, not as many as, say, Scary Movie 3.  S&H is structured like SM3 in that S&H’s plot, story, and script are basically an elaborate, but dumb, blueprint to layout jokes.  S&H’s script is, however, nothing like the disaster of that was SM3’s script.  S&H also reminds me of another of director Todd Phillip’s hits, Old School (2003): lots of funny scenes, but ultimately a lame, by-the-book, Hollywood yuck fest that plays it way too safe.

This is also one of the times that Ben Stiller’s shtick, that of the angry, quick-tempered nerd, works for the film.  Owen Wilson is a great screen presence; the camera loves him, and the role of the amiable Hutch easily fits Owen’s usually warm and generous film persona.

I generally enjoyed this film’s deep tongue in the tongue-in-cheek mode.  Starsky and Hutch is not to be taken seriously, nor does the film try to make you do so.  The quasi-70’s setting is a hoot, at least early on, but the film’s period atmosphere eventually dissolves into mere background noise.  There should have been much more Snoop Dogg because he surprisingly has good screen presence.  Also, Will Ferrell’s (who doesn’t get a screen credit) riotous turn as Big Earl, a man in the county lockup with serious man crush issues, is certainly a reason to see this film, at home or in a theatre.

5 of 10
B-

NOTES:
2005 Razzie Awards:  2 nominations: “Worst Actor” (Ben Stiller) and “Worst Supporting Actress” (Carmen Electra)

Updated:  Sunday, October 20, 2013

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Review: "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" is Both Different and Good

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 26 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Running time: 129 minutes (2 hours, 9 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sci-fi terror and violence
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
WRITERS: David Koepp (from a novel The Lost World by Michael Crichton)
PRODUCERS: Gerald R. Molen and Colin Wilson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Janusz Kaminski
EDITOR: Michael Kahn
COMPOSER: John Williams
Academy Award nominee

SCI-FI/ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER

Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Arliss Howard, Richard Attenborough, Vince Vaughn, Vanessa Lee Chester, Richard Schiff, Peter Stormare, Harvey Jason, Ariana Richards, and Joseph Mazzello

The subject of this movie review is The Lost World: Jurassic Park, a 1997 science fiction adventure film and thriller from director Steven Spielberg. It is the sequel to the 1993 film, Jurassic Park. The Lost World: Jurassic Park is loosely based on the 1995 novel, The Lost World, from author Michael Crichton. The first film is based on Crichton’s 1990 novel, Jurassic Park.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park opens four years after the events depicted in the first film. The story focuses on Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), a mathematician, chaos theorist, and one of the survivors of the disaster at Jurassic Park (located on the island of Isla Nublar). Ian is invited to the home of John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), the billionaire industrialist who created Jurassic Park. Hammond has lost control of his company, InGen, to his unscrupulous nephew, Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard). Hammond asks Ian to lead a team to Isla Sorna; also known as “Site B,” this is where he initially engineered the dinosaurs before moving them to Jurassic Park.

Isla Sorna has become a “lost world,” where dinosaurs have been living free in the wild. Hammond wants the island to become a nature preserve. He needs a team to document the dinosaurs in their natural habitat, documentation Hammond hopes to use to rally support for the creation of a nature preserve. Ian initially refuses, as he has his daughter, Kelly Curtis Malcolm (Vanessa Lee Chester), in his custody. Ian changes his mind and rushes to the island when he learns that his girlfriend, Dr. Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), is part of the team and is already on the island. Once on Isla Sorna, Ian discovers many unexpected visitors to an island full of unpredictable dinosaurs.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park is the only one of the three Jurassic Park films that I did not see during its theatrical release. When it was first released in 1997, I thought about seeing it, but a friend of mine (Pete) told me he hated it. I did see The Lost World when it first arrived on VHS, and though I liked the movie, I could see that it paled in comparison to Jurassic Park: the movie, memories of it, and the feelings it evoked. Since I first saw The Lost World, I have seen it countless other times (as with Jurassic Park). I have either liked it or had mixed feelings, leaning towards the positive, about it. Recently, I have started to like The Lost World more and more with each viewing.

The Lost World and the original Jurassic Park are different films. Jurassic Park is a fantasy adventure, wearing a genre suit that is half science fiction-techno thriller and half action thriller. In spite of its violence and intense elements, Jurassic Park is a family film and juvenile fantasy filled with a sense of wonder and discovery. The Lost World is an adult drama that is part monster movie, part science fiction adventure, and part action-thriller.

The Lost World does not have a sense of wonder and discovery about it. It is darker, where its forebear is light and magical (thanks to the magic of Hollywood visual and special effects). The Lost World is the dark side of the mess adults make of the world with their corporations, schemes, mistakes, and even good intentions. Where is the fun in that? As scary and amazing as the Velociraptors are in the Jurassic Park, they’re just filthy, nasty, ugly things that need to be killed in The Lost World. Even the cameo appearance of Jurassic Park’s child stars, Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello, as, respectively, Lex and Tim Murphy, only serves to remind that this movie is something different from the first movie.

I think when you accept what The Lost World is and also is not (Jurassic Park), you can really enjoy the sequel. I think it is a fine movie, although not the all-time great I think Jurassic Park is. I am also glad that Jeff Goldblum appears in The Lost World. The third film, Jurassic Park III, clearly misses Goldblum’s acerbic, but resourceful Dr. Ian Malcolm. He is the main reason I have come to really like The Lost World: Jurassic Park and why I’ll probably watch it again… soon.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1998 Academy Awards, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Randy Dutra, and Michael Lantieri)

1998 Image Awards: 1 nomination: “Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress” (Vanessa Lee Chester)

1998 Razzie Awards: 3 nominations: “Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property,” “Worst Remake or Sequel,” and “Worst Screenplay” (David Koepp)

Sunday, April 07, 2013

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Review: "The Break-Up" Puts Starch in the Romantic Comedy

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 241 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Break-Up (2006)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content, some nudity, and language
DIRECTOR: Peyton Reed
WRITERS: Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender; from a story by Vince Vaughn and Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender
PRODUCERS: Scott Stuber and Vince Vaughn
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eric Edwards
EDITOR: David Rosenbloom and Dan Lebental

DRAMA/COMEDY with elements of romance

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman, Vincent D’Onofrio, Cole Hauser, Joey Lauren Adams, Peter Billingsley, John Michael Higgins, Ann-Margaret, Judy Davis, Justin Long, and Jacqueline Williams

When celebrity couples make a film, it can be a financial disaster (Gigli starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez) or a box office smash (Mr. & Mrs. Smith starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie). Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston are a celebrity couple (although they are coy about it), and their film, The Break-Up, was a box office hit in spite of receiving mostly mediocre and poor reviews. But I liked it a lot.

Once upon a time, Gary Grobowski (Vince Vaughn) and Brooke Meyers (Jennifer Aniston) were deeply in love, but like all couples, the daily grind and same old routine started to drive them crazy. One evening, after a long an exhausting day, Gary and Brooke have an argument and somehow it becomes the break-up. The problem is they live together, and neither wants to give up their plum condo. An all-out war and a test of wills begins with each one turning to his or her friends and family for advice. Gary and Brooke are each determined to be the “last man standing,” but, even as things get nastier, will either one like where this feud is going when there are still strong feelings of love.

Vince Vaughn is charming and charismatic, and no matter how many times he plays a sarcastic slacker, it never gets tired. Jennifer Aniston, gorgeous with a tight body and rocking ass, is quiet good in romantic roles. She seems to excel at playing the girlfriend or object of affection, and she does it well enough to suggest that someone should try her in a dramatic role. The Break-Up is her test drive because it is more drama than it is romance or comedy.

Vaughn and Aniston make The Break-Up both spicy and edgy, and it’s absolute delicious fun to watch this take-no-prisoners disintegration of a once thriving relationship. The comedy is dark, and the script maybe goes too far for some viewers in the way the writers are almost anal about showing as many embarrassing scenes and ugly confrontations between Gary and Brooke. As he did in Down with Love, director Peyton Reed is proving to be adept at making offbeat romances.

There are some nice supporting characters, nicely performed by a clever cast of character actors and actors who make a living playing the friend. As good as Jon Favreau, John Michael Higgins, Judy Davis, and Justin long are, they’re really just filler – the kind of comic relief buddies that are all too common in Hollywood relationship flicks. The real treat is Vaughn and Aniston, and The Break-Up is certainly an example of how good it sometimes can be when celebrity couples work together.

7 of 10
A-

Saturday, November 25, 2006

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"Be Cool" Never Heats Up

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 33 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


Be Cool (2005)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence, sensuality, and language including sexual references
DIRECTOR: F. Gary Gray
WRITER: Peter Steinfeld (from the novel by Elmore Leonard)
PRODUCERS: Danny DeVito, David Nicksay, Michael Shamberg, and Stacey Sher
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeffrey L. Kimball
EDITOR: Sheldon Kahn

CRIME/COMEDY

Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, André (3000) Benjamin, Steven Tyler, Christina Milian, Harvey Keitel, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Paul Adelstein, Danny DeVito, Robert Pastorelli, James Woods, and Debi Mazar with Joe Perry and Aerosmith, The Black Eye Peas with Sergio Mendes, The RZA, Kobe Bryant, and Seth Green

Be Cool is a 2005 crime comedy and is also a sequel to the 1995 film, Get Shorty. It is adapted from the 1999 novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard.

Ten years after Get Shorty, the sequel, Be Cool, shows up at theatres. Both films are based upon novels by Elmore Leonard, whose books have long been a source of film materials for Hollywood. Be Cool is not as witty and as sharp as Get Shorty, but it certainly tries to be the same blunt comic crime caper that the latter was. It has the characters, the cast, and some truly sidesplitting comedy, but ultimately, a faulty script and clunky directing mar a film that was so close to being a really fine crime comedy.

Chili Palmer (John Travolta), the Miami-based shylock who came to Hollywood and charmed and bullied his way into filmmaking, is now tired of the movie business. He’s interested in music, and when Tommy Athens (James Woods), a friend who owns a record label, is murdered by Russian mobsters before Chili’s eyes, that homicide opens the door for him. Chili meets Linda Moon (Christina Milian), a struggling singer stuck with a wannabe Negro named Raji (Vince Vaughn) for a manager. Chili, in his usual way, relieves Raji of Linda’s contract with him, and becomes her new manager.

Chili makes his next connection with Tommy’s widow, Edie Athens (Uma Thurman), who after some convincing is ready to take on Chili and Linda. However, there is the issue of Linda contract with Raji, and Raji’s partner, Nick Carr (Harvey Keitel) who isn’t crazy about letting go off a potential star. Edie also has another big problem: Tommy owed $300,000 to Sin LaSalle (Cedric Entertainer), a very successful, but violently inclined record producer. Raji, Nick, and Sin all see Chili as their problem; as they angle towards him, he’ll try to make Linda a star, woo Edie, and get his way, always dealing with violence and pressure by his motto, be cool.

There are probably a lot more belly laughs in Be Cool than Get Shorty, and that makes it worth seeing. The cast is littered with star turns and novel and hilarious supporting performances, especially Vaughn as Raji and The Rock as his gay, wannabe actor bodyguard, Elliot Wilhelm. Christina Milian holds her own; she works in this movie because her confidence makes her come across as a fine singer and actress, even if there might be stronger singing voices and better young actresses than her.

Travolta reportedly suggested Uma Thurman as his leading lady for Be Cool because they could recapture their screen chemistry from Pulp Fiction, which restarted Travolta’s career and boosted Ms. Thurman’s, but they don’t. Yes, a rapport and friendliness exist between them, but they are sluggish here. Travolta is Chili Palmer, but he’s on automatic here, older and heavier. Even Thurman looks strained, only managing about half the time to have the perkiness, determination, and raw magnetism that show themselves in her collaborations with Quentin Tarantino.

The lion’s share of the blame from this go to writer Paul Steinfeld and director F. Gary Gray. They never seem to be able to integrate the music business element into this plot (after all it’s about Chili getting in the music business), and the film’s musical numbers (except the Aerosmith/Christina Milian performance) and music videos ring hollow. This is a gangster film with laughs, lots of them, but these hilarious and likeable characters don’t seem to be in music because the music industry isn’t in this film the way the movie business was clearly and strongly a part of Get Shorty. Still, Travolta, Ms. Thurman, and a supporting cast of wacky players make this a crime comedy worth seeing, even if you can’t make it to the theatre.

5 of 10
B-

Review: "DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story" is Still Funny (Happy B'day, Ben Stiller)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 100 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (2004)
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for rude and sexual humor, and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Rawson Marshall Thurber
PRODUCERS: Stuart Cornfeld and Ben Stiller
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jerzy Zielinski
EDITOR: Alan Baumgarten and Peter Teschner
COMPOSER: Theodore Shapiro

COMEDY/SPORTS with elements of romance

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Christine Taylor, Ben Stiller, Rip Torn, Justin Long, Stephen Root, Joel David Moore, Chris Williams, Alan Tudyk, Missi Pyle, Jamal E. Duff, Gary Cole, Jason Bateman, Al Kaplon, Curtis Armstrong, and Hank Azaria with (cameos) Lance Armstrong, Chuck Norris, and William Shatner

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story is a 2004 sports comedy set in the world of competitive dodgeball. Ben Stiller is one of the film’s producers and is also one of the movie’s stars. DodgeBall follows an underdog dodgeball team and their rivalry with a powerhouse team from a big-budget gym.

A group of misfits band together and enter a dodgeball tournament in Las Vegas in order to save their cherished gym, Average Guy Gym. The gym owner, Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn), is not an ambitious guy, but he reluctantly joins his friends/customers to go after the $50,000 championship prize.

This prize money will save his gym from foreclosure, where upon it will end up in the hands of Global Gym and its owner, White Goodman (Ben Stiller). When Goodman learns that Peter’s friends will compete in the tournament and that Peter is also dating an attorney (Christine Taylor) he desires, Goodman assembles a killer team of hired muscle to compete in the Las Vegas tournament against Peter and his friends.

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story is absolutely hilarious. It’s witty, sarcastic, lewd, crude, snarky, and unabashedly lowbrow, but ultimately it’s the kind of belly laugh comedy that doesn’t come around often enough. It’s not high art; it’s the love child of such films as Caddyshack and Revenge of the Nerds. Vince Vaughn, once destined to be a matinee idol, has turned out to be a funny comic actor who gets plenty of mileage out of dry wit and dead pan humor, and though he is warmer than he is hot in this film, he makes DodgeBall.

Anyone who can not take DodgeBall seriously and has the kind of sense of humor that finds a film like Dude, Where’s My Car? funny will like this.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2005 Razzie Awards: 1 nomination: “Worst Actor” (Ben Stiller)

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Review: "Wedding Crashers" Marries Raunch and Romance

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 115 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


Wedding Crashers (2005)
Running time: 119 minutes (1 hour, 59 minutes)
MPAA – R for sexual content and language
DIRECTOR: David Dobkin
WRITERS: Steve Faber and Bob Fisher
PRODUCERS: Peter Abrams, Robert L. Levy, and Andrew Panay
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Julio Macat
EDITOR: Mark Livolsi

COMEDY with elements of romance

Starring: Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams, Christopher Walken, Bradley Cooper, Isla Fisher, Jane Seymour, Ron Canada, Jenny Alden, Ellen Albertini Dow, and Will Ferrell with James Carville and John McCain

Flowing with raunchy and rich language, Wedding Crashers is hilarious counter programming in a Summer 2005 movie season filled with superhero, sci-fi, and horror special effects-flick madness. Vince Vaughn, who once upon a time Hollywood seemed to be grooming to play the leading man, has turned out to be a mad comic actor; he alternates his slacker-wiseguy between being sometimes overbearing and sometimes playing the big, old teddy bear, and we get a little of both here. Owen Wilson’s cool, slow burning, man of bliss doesn’t wear thin, even in bad movies, and Wedding Crashers is by no means bad. The reason is simple: Wilson and Vaughn fit together like a classic comedy duo, playing the best insincerity since Bill Murray and Chevy Chase charmed their way through adversaries, hapless partners, and beautiful gals back in the 70’s and 80’s.

John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Klein (Vince Vaughn) are divorce mediators who spend a few weekends out of the year crashing weddings. At these weddings, they’re always on the lookout for Ms. Right, but only to bed her for the night before disappearing back to their straight lives. John convinces Jeremy to take on their biggest crash, the social event of the year, the wedding of the daughter of the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, William Cleary (Christopher Walken), where they’ll pretend to be somewhat distant relatives of the family, the Ryan brothers, venture capitalists. There, John falls in love at first sight with Cleary’s already-engaged daughter, Claire (Rachel McAdams). The duo gets roped into spending a weekend at the Cleary family’s palatial waterfront estate, but soon find themselves over their heads. Jeremy has caught the eye of Claire’s loopy, sex-crazed sister, Gloria (Isla Fisher), and Owen has to compete with Claire’s rich, jerk fiancé, Sack (Bradley Cooper), who is determined to discover the “Ryan boys” real identities.

Wedding Crashers is both witty and fearless when it comes to taking on the idea of marriage. It’s not exactly cynical, but it’s far from treating marriage and family with reverence. Still, like Old School did a little more than two years ago, Wedding Crashers goes all mushy in the third act as Jeremy gets serious for the first time about a real and deep relationship and John pouts over true love lost. Wedding Crasher’s turn towards the profound doesn’t ring hollow like Old School’s did. The film seems to suggest in a natural and unforced fashion that the boys can’t keep up the ultra-immature routine for the rest of their lives; they must eventually become mature men. They’re too old to act so adolescent and unripe and so callously towards people for their own gratification – certainly not at an occasion where families come together for an event that (usually) unites two families and promises to enlarge them both and continue their lines into the future.

Besides Wilson and Vaughn, most of the rest of the cast is D.O.A. Bradley Cooper does a good turn as the “villain,” and his character begs the audience to know him more, but he’s ultimately tossed aside for the happy ending. Ron Canada as the butler, Randolph, and Ellen Albertini Dow as the harshly frank Grandma Mary are also shortchanged, which ultimately shortchanges the audience. There is a sorry streak in this film’s script that keeps the other madcap characters muzzled because the film must in due course affirm American family’s values. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it is OK for our entertainment and art to tear at our institutions as often as they enforce them.

Not that Wedding Crashers doesn’t remain a bit unhinged even to the end – Will Ferrell’s cameo appearance in the last act allows the film to retain a nice big chunk of its pitiless nature. That makes this flick more than just a guilty pleasure, it is knock down, sidesplitting, riotous, totally freaking funny movie.

7 of 10
B+

Review: Crazy "Old School" Ultimately Plays it Safe

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 119 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Old School (2003)
Running time: 91 minutes (1 hour, 31 minutes)
MPAA – R for some strong sexual content, nudity and language
DIRECTOR: Todd Phillips
WRITERS: Scot Armstrong and Todd Phillips, from a story by Court Crandall and Scot Armstrong and Todd Phillips
PRODUCERS: Daniel Goldberg, Joe Medjuck, and Todd Phillips
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mark Irwin (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Michael Jablow

COMEDY

Starring: Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Ellen Pompeo, Juliette Lewis, Leah Remini, Craig Kilborn, Jeremy Piven, Seann William Scott, Matt Walsh, and Artie Lange

When Mitch Martin (Luke Wilson) discovers that his girlfriend (Juliette Lewis) participates in group sex, it shatters his life. Under the guise of helping Mitch, his friends Bernard “Beanie” Campbell (Vince Vaughn) and Frank Ricard (Will Ferrell) hatch an idea to start their own fraternity so that they can relive the wild lives they lost when they got married. Of course, Martin reluctantly allows them to use his new house (conveniently located near a college campus) to stage their hijinks. It might be a bad idea for a number of reasons (and a good idea for a movie), not the least of which is that Mitch has his eyes on Nicole (Ellen Pompeo). Mitch had a high school crush on Nicole; she’s attracted to him, but finds their sorority boy activities immature.

Old School is very funny, and I laughed in spite of how dumb this movie is. It would have been even funnier if the movie hadn’t sold out in the end. The kind of guys that go to see a movie like this want the full raunchiness, but this movie plays it safe. By the end of the film, the horny thirty-somethings all return (for the most part) to their domestic tranquility without a notch on their belts to show for their wild times. I know that a lot of (stupid) people feel that movies should validate the American bourgeois’ value system, but this is a frickin’ comedy, and a lowbrow comedy at that, so all bets are off. Let there be no sacred cows; let the husbands screw around on their wives. This isn’t supposed to be smart and life affirming. If it were supposed to be intelligent, Old School wouldn’t have as a character one of the most tired stereotypes of film comedies set on college campuses, the evil dean of students (Jeremy Piven).

The scene I most anticipated was the one in which Vince Vaughn’s Beanie Campbell, who so wants to have sex with a co-ed, in spite of his alleged devotion to his wife and two young boys, would finally get a young lass alone with him in his room. What does Beanie do when he gets time with a co-ed? He chickens out, although the girl is quite willing. Still, a film like this is supposed to provide the yucks and lots of vicarious thrills. Beanie should have screwed her brains out. In fact, after that scene, the Beanie character loses all the intensity he had early in the film. Even Luke Wilson’s Mitch commits to a “serious relationship” by film’s end (in a very pat and neatly wrapped dénouement).

I recommend Old School for its many moments of awesome hilarity, but I pity the filmmakers for their lack of balls. This could and should have been so much funnier, so much more rebellious, and so much more subversive.

5 of 10
B-

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Review: 2001 Oscar Nominee "The Cell" Finds Power in Vincent D'Onofrio

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 175 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Cell (2000)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – R for bizarre violence and sexual images, nudity, and language
DIRECTOR: Tarsem Singh
WRITER: Mark Protosevich
PRODUCERS: Julie Caro and Eric McLeod
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Paul Laufer
EDITORS: Robert Duffy and Paul Rubell
Academy Award nominee

THRILLER/SCI-FI/HORROR

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn, Vincent D’Onofrio, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Dylan Baker, Jake Weber, James Gammon, Colton James, and Jake Thomas

I never liked music video director Tarsem’s video for rock band R.E.M.’s fondly remembered single, “Losing My Religion,” – pretentious video for a pretentious song. However, I have a little more tolerance for Tarsem Singh (his full name) because of his movie, The Cell. In the film, science can send one person’s consciousness into the mind of another person. That scenario allows Tarsem to create wonderfully colorful and bizarre images that would make for a nice music video, but that also work in the context of a film narrative.

Carl Rudolph Stargher (Vincent D’Onofrio) is a serial killer, but before he can kill his latest victim, he has a seizure related to schizophrenia that puts him in a coma from which he will not recover. FBI Agent Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) knows from studying the evidence in Carl’s house that they have less than two days to find the latest victim before she drowns in a cell (or chamber) Carl has rigged to flood via a time release device. But where is the cell?

Enter pyschotherapist Catherine Dean (Jennifer Lopez). She is the only person with experience entering the mind of another human being, so Agent Novak convinces her to journey into Stargher’s mind to communicate with him in hopes that he will reveal the whereabouts of his latest victim to Catherine. However, Catherine has never entered the mind of someone she hadn’t studied. When she enters Stargher’s mind, Catherine finds a world of revulsion and hyper bizarre images. Before long she meets Stargher’s idealized version of himself, a powerful, cross-dressing, behemoth emperor of a strange land, who captures and traps Catherine in his mind.

No doubt, The Cell was released in hopes of attracting the same audience that liked the mind-bending trip of The Matrix’s shifting realities. The Cell isn’t anywhere nearly as good as The Matrix, but it’s a convincing thriller; Tarsem also creates a real sense that the clock is ticking while they search for Stargher’s latest victim. The bizarre landscapes and visuals within Stargher’s mind are intriguing and, with a few exceptions, both visually striking and appealing.

Sometimes, it all seems a little silly, but the journey into Stargher’s mind and the Stargher character are the entire film. Jennifer Lopez’s acting is quite bad in this film; she shows no emotion or life for that matter. There is little or nothing there; she’s an empty vessel. Vince Vaughn is just as bad, if not worse. He’s not acting; he’s pretending and doing a bad job of it.

Vincent D’Onofrio, who always seems willing to put himself through the contortions of makeup or to jump through emotional hoops, gives the performance that saves this film. He has a great film presence, especially when he plays the heavy or plays a bad guy. There’s an air of menace about him, or better yet, he always looks like he’s about to go postal. So everything that is scary and thrilling about this movie goes through him, and luckily Tarsem just happened to notice that.

5 of 10
C+

NOTES:
2001 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Makeup” (Michèle Burke and Edouard F. Henriques)

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Review: "Four Christmases" Kicks that Holiday Spirit in the Butt

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Four Christmases (2008)
Running time: 88 minutes (1 hour 28 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual humor and language
DIRECTOR: Seth Gordon
WRITERS: Matt Allen & Caleb Wilson and Jon Lucas & Scott Moore; from a story by Matt Allen and Caleb Wilson
PRODUCERS: Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, Vince Vaughn, and Reese Witherspoon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeffrey L. Kimball
EDITORS: Mark Helfrich and Melissa Kent

COMEDY

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, Jon Favreau, Mary Steenburgen, Dwight Yoakam, Tim McGraw, Cedric Yarbrough, Brian Baumgartner, and Kristen Chenoweth

Once upon a time, I hated Christmas movies, but now I enjoy the good feelings they bring. Four Christmases brings along lots of good feelings, simply because it is so funny. Packed with lowbrow, vulgar, and slob humor, Four Christmases works because it connects crude laughs with the rudest joke of all – Christmas with relatives.

Brad McVie (Vince Vaughn) and his girlfriend Kate (Reese Witherspoon) are an upscale, happily unmarried San Francisco couple. Because both their parents divorced, they aren’t thinking about marriage, even after three great years of dating, nor have they visited their parents since getting together. After their Christmas vacation in Fiji gets sidetracked by fog, they become obligated to finally visit their parents. That means not two, but four stops, where childhood, adolescent, and family wounds are reopened and resentment thrives. Somewhere along the way, Brad and Kate reexamine their relationship and future.

There are five Oscar winners in Four Christmases: Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, and Mary Steenburgen. Usually this might mean a poignant Christmas drama full of family and healing. Four Christmases is full of family and healing, but it’s damn funny. It’s also damn honest. Getting together with family over the holidays, especially Christmas, is worse than nightmare on Elm Street or any street. We tolerate the toad relatives because they come with some beloved family that we’re genuinely happy to see.

Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon must be really good actors or their screen chemistry is the real deal. They are so good together that they should always be together, like a great screen couple. Vaughn performs his shtick to maximum effect, and Witherspoon is, as always, solid. Together, they make even this film’s turn towards serious relationship drama late in the story not seem phony.

Four Christmases captures the joys and the miseries of the holiday so well and with so many laughs that it is bound to be an impolite (but not boorish) Christmas classic. Also, watch for the always good Kristen Chenoweth doing some enjoyable scene stealing.

7 of 10
B+

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

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Review: "Couples Retreat" Finds Good Humor in Marital Problems

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Couples Retreat (2009)
Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA – on appeal PG-13 for sexual content and language (originally rated R for some sexual material)
DIRECTOR: Peter Billingsley
WRITERS: Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn & Dana Fox
PRODUCERS: Scott Stuber and Vince Vaughn
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eric Edwards (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Dan Lebental

COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Faizon Love, Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis, Kali Hawk, Tasha Smith, Carlos Ponce, Peter Serafinowicz, Temuera Morrison, and Jean Reno

In the film, Couples Retreat, four Midwestern couples embark on a journey to a tropical island resort, where one of the couples will work on a failing marriage. What starts out looking like a typical, Vince Vaughn snarky/slob comedy turns into an awkward comedy about the marriage blues. This movie not too subtly says that the work and effort that it takes to keep a marriage intact are themselves a reward.

Dave (Vince Vaughn) and Ronnie (Malin Akerman) are a happy couple with two adorable children, but they don’t seem to notice that they’ve stopped doing things together that they enjoy. Their friends, Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell), are having problems. Jason talks Dave and Ronnie and two other couples: Joey (Jon Favreau) and Lucy (Kristin Davis) and Shane (Faizon Love) and his 20-year-old girlfriend, Trudy (Kali Hawk), to travel to Eden West, a resort that promises to help couples fix marriage problems.

While Cynthia and Jason are there to work on their marriage, the other three set out to ride jet skis, get spa treatments, have fun in the sun, and generally enjoy some down time. However, they are informed that participation in the resort’s couples therapy program, led by the wise Marcel (Jean Reno), is not optional. Much to their chagrin, they find that their group-rate vacation comes at the price of examining all their marriages, and Cynthia and Jason aren’t the only couple with problems.

The funny moments that appeared in commercials for Couples Retreat practically comprises most of what can be described as the film’s belly laughs. There are certainly many other laughs, but that comedy and humor is derived from this movie’s central truth: all couples have problems. This movie is not about juvenile laughs. It is actually a grown up comedy about the complications of adult life. As depicted in this film, even the most painful moments in a marriage can illicit laughs because genuine, meaningful comedy can come from truths. The script allows the characters to confront each other with painful truths that might be uncomfortable to hear in the real world, but are funny when said in the context of this movie.

Under the uneven direction of Peter Billingsley, Couples Retreat drifts and stumbles, as if Billingsley can’t quite get a grip on what the soul of this narrative is. Too many moments that are meant to be thoughtful or introspective end up being graceless. However, the sharp observational and relationship comedy by screenwriters, Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, and Dana Fox combined with some quality comic acting make Couples Retreat an enjoyable film. Faizon Love and Kali Hawk, whose characters were likely meant to be mere Negro comic relief, actually steal the show, and the underrated Love gives, by far, the best performance in Couples Retreat.

6 of 10
B

Friday, February 12, 2010

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Review: Pitt, Jolie Blaze in "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 94 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
Running time: 115 minutes
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of violence, intense action, sexual content, and brief strong language
DIRECTOR: Doug Liman
WRITER: Simon Kinberg
PRODUCER: Lucas Foster, Akiva Goldsman, Eric McLeod, Arnon Milchan, and Peter Wachsberger
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bojan Bazelli
EDITOR: Michael Tronick

ACTION/COMEDY/ROMANCE with elements of a thriller

Starring: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Vince Vaughn, Kerry Washington, Adam Brody Chris Weitz, Rachael Huntley, Michelle Monaghan, and Keith David

The entertainment wing of the news media has been abuzz about the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie flick, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, directed by Doug Liman, for months now because many believe that the film shoot was where Pitt’s marriage to actress Jennifer Aniston (TV’s “Friends”) fell apart and his are-they/aren’t they relationship with Ms. Jolie began. For a while, it seemed as if the tawdry adultery angle would drown the film, but early favorable reviews kept any alleged hanky-panky from completely overshadowing the film. While Mr. & Mrs. Smith is an unusual mixture of several genres, it is a sassy, faux-witty, action flick with one great car chase scene and a lot of good chemistry between the stars, and I’m certainly glad I paid to see it in a theatre. Ignore the flimsy plot and the empty characters, which aren’t much more than plot props and targets for action violence. Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a star vehicle that you see if you like the stars.

Married for five or six years (that’s a joke in the film), John Smith (Brad Pitt) and Jane Smith (Angelina Jolie) are bored with their quiet, domestic tranquility. The biggest secret that they’re keeping from each other is that they are both assassins for different espionage organizations and are globetrotting and killing for hire behind each other’s back. The couple’s separate lives collide when they bumble upon the same assassination assignment. That causes the spouses to end up as each other’s next hit, but when they chose reconciliation instead of mutually assured destruction, both of their former agencies come gunning for them.

While not as entertaining as Liman’s film Go! (1999) and certainly not on the level of the super-smart, super thriller, The Bourne Identity (2002), Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a unique hybrid. It’s an action comedy, but it also an action romance. It’s an action thriller, but it’s also a romantic, action thriller. Pitt and Ms. Jolie have fine screen chemistry, so the romance is works; some of the comedy comes from their chemistry and timing, but much of it also comes from the cartoonish violence of the shoot-em-up’s and gunplay and the explosions in the film that more often than not are done for comic effect. There is one great car chase in the film and a death match between John and Jane that give the film all the thrills it needs. However, the final battle between the Smith’s and a seemingly endless supply of special operations squads is a bit flat.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are lucky that Liman and writer Simon Kinberg, whose screenplay is a frothy and tasty confection, deliver summer cinematic fun, or the superstar movie duo would have suffered the same meltdown that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez experienced with their “romantically entangled” film, Gigili. Hardcore action junkies may not go for this film, but anyone who likes a different spin on big, loud action films will probably like this.

6 of 10
B

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