About Time: Needs more ripening

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><b><i>About Time</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span><b>(2013) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/universal/abouttime/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><b> </b><br /><b>3.5 stars. Rating: R, and quite stupidly, for fleeting profanity and mild sensuality</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a></b></span></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At first blush, this fantasy rom-com seems to be about young love, and finding the perfect soul-mate.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or maybe it’s a cautionary tale about missed opportunities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKdp7Tce3LHPMiwWXnH8tFjJrCxZhyphenhyphenkVXo9xRQMcxjsOIIGXPxodiWeqzSVneSuTeywZWwjUBbV1a7dPZi7kMsoj5LpQOceYfknDNuXZnwuiXbRkHVqSEs48l-X_fO4oCaJSyC_NBw1hg/s1600/About+Time+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKdp7Tce3LHPMiwWXnH8tFjJrCxZhyphenhyphenkVXo9xRQMcxjsOIIGXPxodiWeqzSVneSuTeywZWwjUBbV1a7dPZi7kMsoj5LpQOceYfknDNuXZnwuiXbRkHVqSEs48l-X_fO4oCaJSyC_NBw1hg/s400/About+Time+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Tim (Domhnall Gleeson, left) can't begin to grasp what his father (Bill Nighy) has just<br />confessed: that the men in their family have the ability to travel backwards in time.<br />Very soon, though, Tim will realize that he does indeed share this incredible talent ...<br />and he'll have plenty of fun — and not a little heartbreak — trying to get a handle<br />on what he can and cannot do.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No, wait, it might be a parable on the importance of embracing every single moment of life’s precious gift.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the final analysis, though, writer/director Richard Curtis’ deeply personal film focuses on the indestructible — and loving — bond between fathers and sons. And alla that other stuff mentioned above.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One can’t help feeling that this is a valentine to Curtis’ own father: either a celebration of a happy relationship with the elder Curtis (who recently died), or a heartfelt wish that they could have enjoyed the affectionate bond that links this story’s Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) and his father (Bill Nighy).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which is interesting, since this bittersweet film is being marketed as a sweet, whimsical love story between Tim and Mary (Rachel McAdams). One gets the sense that Universal Pictures is approaching this publicity campaign <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">very</i>warily, not quite certain whether this creature is fish or fowl.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">About Time</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> is about all the elements cited above, of course, which is both its greatest virtue and underlying curse. As often is the case with a filmmaker’s long-gestating pet project, Curtis can’t quite get a handle on how best to articulate this unusual saga; as a result, his film wanders a bit, even stumbles at times. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This slightly unfocused approach is surprising — and disappointing — given that Curtis so unerringly kept a few dozen infatuated characters spinning quite successfully in his 2003 masterpiece, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love, Actually</i>. This new film, in contrast, offers dozens of sparkling little moments, all charming in their own right, which wind up being greater than the sum of their parts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And once we reach the climax, complete with a moral delivered with all the formality of a fable from Aesop, Curtis doesn’t know how to conclude; he stutters his way through a lengthy, didactic epilogue that dilutes much of what came before. We’re clearly intended to be left with a sense of radiant joy over life’s endless possibilities, but instead — at best — we part with Shakespeare’s sweet sorrow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At worst, with deep regret over our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">own</i> missed opportunities. Probably not the mood Curtis intended.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tim, a somewhat shy and geeky lad, has grown up in a loving household on the Cornwall coast, in the warm embrace of a family devoted to one another. He has enjoyed the frequent company of his father, who chose to retire at 50 in order to spend more time at home; Tim’s mother (Lindsay Duncan) delights in longstanding rituals such as the elaborate outdoor afternoon teas. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tim’s adored younger sister, Kit Kat (Lydia Wilson), is an irrepressible free spirit who wouldn’t be caught dead wearing shoes: something of a latter-day British flower child. The family unit is completed by Uncle D (Richard Cordery), a kind-hearted but simple-minded fellow who’s never quite sure what’s going on. (And, ironically, Curtis never quite knows what to do with this character.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although surrounded by people who love him, Tim is nonetheless acutely aware that he can’t attract a girlfriend to save his life. After a dreadful New Year’s Eve party — apparently an annual ritual — which merely reinforces this dismal fact, Tim’s father elects to share the family secret, passed along from father to son, on the latter’s 21st birthday.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(The unspoken implication here is that Tim was born on New Year’s Day, an intriguing piece of information left undiscussed.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The revelation: The men in the Lake lineage can travel in time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Only backwards, and only to moments experienced during their own lives. As a goggle-eyed Tim listens to his father explain the details, in Nighy’s best flustered delivery, one couldn’t kill Hitler or “shag Cleopatra.” But one <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">can</i>correct one’s own mistakes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To a point. But such limitations must be learned through personal experience.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Naturally, Tim doesn’t believe this; he changes his tune when he successfully jumps back to the ghastly New Year’s Eve party, and adjusts a few events to his greater satisfaction.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Goodness</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time passes; Tim does what all good British lads do, since the time of Dickens and before, and sets out to make his fortune in the big, bad city of London. Turns out Tim has trained to be a lawyer — not a bad job, that — and he lucks into accommodations with a family friend: the irascible Harry (Tom Hollander), a tortured playwright forever on the verge of completing the play that will make him the toast of the town.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One fateful evening, Tim allows himself to be dragged by good friend Jay (Will Merrick) to a most unusual restaurant: Dans Le Noir, where patrons are seated in total darkness, and served by blind staff. (Believe it or not, this is an actual chain of restaurants and spas.) They wind up sharing a table with two young women, one of whom, Mary, tentatively bonds with Tim.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The spark ignites; the connection takes. Tim can <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feel</i> it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He returns home to find Harry in a distraught funk, the long-awaited debut of his stage masterpiece having been ruined by an actor who forgot his lines. No problem, Tim knows; he clandestinely bounces back in time, saves the play, and delights in the glowing reviews that Harry shares the next morning.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Except that now — in this timeline — Tim never met Mary, because he was busy playing Fairy Godmother at the theater.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You begin to see the problems.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What ensues, then, is a charming — if occasionally cluttered — blend of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Groundhog Day</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Butterfly Effect</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2009/08/time-travelers-wife-it-flies.html">The Time Traveler’s Wife</a></i>. (You may recall that McAdams starred in the latter, as well, which is rather intriguing for such a narrow cinematic sub-genre.) Tim eventually maneuvers himself into Mary’s life once again; they fall into the sort of witty, banter-laden relationship that has become the signature of a Richard Curtis rom-com.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As also is typical of Curtis, this courtship’s early stages play out as a montage against some well-chosen music, particularly a key song delivered by buskers performing in the London Underground walkways. Indeed, the entire soundtrack is lovingly layered with ballads by Ben Folds, Ellie Goulding, Nick Cave, Ron Sexsmith and The Cure, all wrapped up into an enchanting bow by composer Nick Laird-Clowes, of The Dream Academy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As also is true of Curtis films, Tim and Mary are surrounded by quirky, if downright eccentric friends and family members. We’ve already met most of them by now; others include Mary’s best friend, Joanna (Vanessa Kirby), and Tim’s insecure fellow lawyer-in-training, Rory (Joshua McGuire).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everything seems to be working out, certainly with some judicious do-overs on Tim’s part, many of which are played for droll comic effect. But as time passes, we can’t help noticing that Kit Kat’s ubiquitous sunny smile has faded, and that — horrors! — she’s allowing herself to be seen wearing shoes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that’s the thing: Despite all the joy that radiates from this story, Curtis includes the ominous awareness of an additional shoe that has yet to drop. Those of us with a fondness for time-travel stories well remember the painful decision Ashton Kutcher eventually makes, at the end of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Butterfly Effect</i>. (The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, as a certain pointy-eared Vulcan famously observed.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fortunately, happily, Curtis doesn’t get <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> dire, but he still puts Tim through an emotional wringer. Even magical gifts have limitations, and they can’t necessarily spare us from the ups and downs that affect everybody, every day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trouble is, Curtis isn't content to convey this lesson through Tim’s many and varied actions; the story’s final act descends into tedious said-bookism and Gleeson’s sermonizing voice-overs, the latter employed to a truly irritating extreme, which <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">also</i> works against the film’s overall charm.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gleeson and McAdams are adorable together, their various ultra-cute encounters and interactions delivered with the endearing style that Curtis orchestrates so well, borrowing from witty screen couples going back to William Powell and Myrna Loy, in their delightful <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thin Man</i> movies. And while Gleeson and McAdams may not have the radiant incandescence of Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts — in the Curtis-scripted <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Notting Hill</i>— they’re equally satisfying in a down-to-earth-delicious way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(One can’t help raising an eyebrow, however, when Mary — sporting McAdams’ gorgeous features — claims to be insecure about her appearance. We really need to abolish, for all time, that overworked, wholly unbelievable cinema cliché.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Curtis doesn’t dwell on the likely side effects of capricious time travel, although he tries to maintain internal consistency as far as these characters are concerned. Even so, the rules are a bit arbitrary: One can travel back and change the past, or one can merely “visit it” and return, having altered nothing. But as we gradually realize that Tim’s father is fiddling with the past, over in Cornwall, while Tim himself is adjusting this and that, we can’t help wondering whether the time stream will survive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How could either Tim or his father trust the events of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">any</i> given day, knowing that something might be manipulated out of existence ... or, alternatively, might be the result of prior adjustment by the other party?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Such questions, layered atop this narrative’s often rambling structure, make <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">About Time</i> less successful than Curtis’ many previous hits. I understand where he wishes to take us, and I certainly get the underlying message; indeed, it’s delivered with a sledge hammer. But heartfelt good intentions aren’t always sufficient: Curtis has based his rom-com career on making us believe that the impossible can come true, where love is involved.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--><br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This time, sadly, he isn’t quite as persuasive.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>

2013 Bill Nighy British Comedy Domhnall Gleeson fantasy Joshua McGuire Lindsay Duncan Lydia Wilson Rachel McAdams Richard Curtis romantic Tom Hollander About Time: Needs more ripening

About Time   (2013) •  View trailer   3.5 stars. Rating: R, and quite stupidly, for fleeting profanity and mild sensuality By  Derrick Bang ...

Read more »

Don Jon: Love's labors lost

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><b><i>Don Jon</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span><b>(2013) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/donjon/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><b> </b><br /><b>Three stars. Rating: R, for strong graphic sexual material and dialogue, nudity, profanity and drug use</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a></b></span></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fledgling writers have a tendency toward overkill, a problem that repeatedly plagues this film.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_SKNq2WIT6xG4jOg15jXq-F5twtrhAMWYn-q92QD2s7zIvMRPGePXGO9osQJ3sbWpS0Ill-aWafMwB__0-e9pO__cit2fHtRd0IkwkvZ5QYPad8D_ElIJkpskEvGWdUr0gARul_pwcu8/s1600/Don+Jon+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_SKNq2WIT6xG4jOg15jXq-F5twtrhAMWYn-q92QD2s7zIvMRPGePXGO9osQJ3sbWpS0Ill-aWafMwB__0-e9pO__cit2fHtRd0IkwkvZ5QYPad8D_ElIJkpskEvGWdUr0gARul_pwcu8/s400/Don+Jon+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">When Barbara (Scarlett Johansson, standing center) insists on meeting her new lover's<br />friends, Jon (Joseph Gordeon-Levitt, standing center) obliges by arranging a gathering<br />at a local club. Barbara, obviously pleased, is all sweetness and smiles ... but, in truth,<br />this is merely the latest in what will become a string of one-sided little victories.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although dissecting the nature of True Love has been a laudable quest since stories were told via cave paintings, Joseph Gordon-Levitt — making his debut here as a big-screen writer <i>and</i> director — wields a meat cleaver when a scalpel would have sufficed. He has a solid sense of what’s funny, and a good ear for relationship dynamics, but his hammer-handed approach is guaranteed to alienate the very people likely to be most touched by this story’s core moral, and its outcome.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He also falls into another common trap. Repetition rarely enhances a lesson; we merely get bored. Or, in this case, disgusted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this particular case, it simply isn’t necessary to share what his porn-addicted character views during every spare moment; we don’t need to watch <i>with</i>him. The first montage of taut breasts, erect nipples, firm butts and willing mouths is sufficient; from that point forward, we <i>know</i> what he’s watching every time he sits in front of his laptop screen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Indeed, all we need is the familiar F-sharp-major start-up chime, which Gordon-Levitt unerringly employs for maximum comic effect ... but then he ruins the moment, each time, with yet another tiresome display of thrusting bodies and naughty bits.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And vulgar off-camera commentary. Gordon-Levitt also beats <i>that</i>affectation to death.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The story, then:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jon Martello Jr. (Gordon-Levitt) is a blue-collar New Jersey late twenty-/early thirtysomething bartender who takes enormous pride in his apartment, his car, his appearance and his ability to score with the ladies. Thanks to this latter talent, guy pals Bobby and Danny (Rob Brown and Jeremy Luke) have nicknamed him “Don Jon.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trouble is, Jon doesn’t enjoy women for their companionship or relationship potential; he objectifies them to the extreme and is interested in sex strictly for its own sake. But that isn’t satisfying; he can’t “lose himself” in lovemaking with a flesh-and-blood female partner, the way he experiences a brief “happy zone” with the assistance of an ideal Internet porn clip.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br /> <div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On a deeply submerged level, Jon vaguely realizes that something is wrong with his approach, and with his choices, but he’s too content with the status quo to probe. And so he cheerfully follows this long-established routine, expiating any guilt while dutifully attending church each Sunday morning, cataloguing his list of sins and accepting a penance of Hail Marys and Our Fathers (a cute running gag).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then it’s Sunday lunch with his tempestuous family: boorish, loud-mouthed father Jon Sr. (Tony Danza), who insists on watching football during the meal; forever frazzled mother Angela (Glenne Headly), who’s “ready to be a grandmother” and wishes her only son would settle down with a nice girl; and bored younger sister Monica (Brie Larson), who rolls her eyes a lot, never says a word, and texts during the shouting that invariably punctuates this weekly ritual.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monica’s silence, an even funnier running gag, eventually builds to an unexpectedly hilarious — and insightful — payoff: further proof that Gordon-Levitt has solid comedy instincts, if he’d simply get out of his own way.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The dynamic shifts during a typical evening of club trolling, when Jon spots “a perfect dime (10)” loitering near the bar: That would be Barbara Sugerman, played to husky, erotic perfection by Scarlett Johansson. Although just as earthy and crude as Jon — an apparent Jersey girl archetype in this post-Snooki universe — Barbara isn’t “easy,” as she makes abundantly clear by refusing to go home with him that first night.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Intrigued, Jon does some quick research, comes up with her name and Facebook page, and figures out how to wheedle a lunch date. Similarly intrigued — or perhaps only amused — she accepts. They begin a relationship; Jon finds that he can’t get Barbara off his mind. But her refusal to hit the sack does nothing to curb his laptop activities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the same time, Barbara has an odd way of expressing her faux chasteness, since she soon teases Jon with a level of physical contact that builds the poor guy into helpless sexual tension. One hallway encounter, outside her apartment, deserves placement in the list of all-time Sexiest Moments While Fully Clothed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It appears, at first blush, that Barbara is using the only weapon at her disposal to “reform” Jon: to make him a better, kinder, more thoughtful person. Goodness knows, he could use some work. And so she insists on meeting his family and friends, and taking him to meet her family: the sort of stuff that couples do, when they’re starting to think long-term.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But it becomes apparent that Barbara is neither altruistic nor benign, and we start to wonder: At what point do attempted refinement and the elimination of bad habits morph into an unhealthy character makeover?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jon couldn’t answer such questions, not being adept at self-analysis (yet). But he understands that this relationship is off-kilter, somehow, because he still can’t shake the porn habit ... not even when Barbara finally consents to become his full-time bedmate.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Faint glimmers of perspective arrive with Esther (Julianne Moore), a fellow student — an “older woman” — also taking the night class that Barbara has insisted Jon enroll in. (The subject remains unspecified; we only know that it looks and sounds as dry as chalk dust.) Esther, wise in the way of maturity, also is candid to a fault: a trait that Jon initially finds disconcerting, even alienating. But Esther isn’t destined to be a chance encounter, and therein lies this story’s third — and most satisfying — act.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moore lights up the screen the same way her character invigorates this film. Esther is bright, perky and shrewdly astute; she sizes up Jon with sharp observational skills that Sherlock Holmes would admire. At the same time, Esther is damaged goods herself; we see pain lingering at the edges of Moore’s eyes, and in the subtle slump of her body.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Esther is, in short, a truly genuine person: quite a shock, in a film otherwise littered with stereotypes and shallow, two-dimensional stick-figure characters.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether she’s enough to rescue this otherwise clumsy rom-com will depend on the viewer’s tolerance for smut. Needless to say, this is not a film for the easily offended; the R-rating is well deserved.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gordon-Levitt certainly has a handle on his portrayal of Jon, and (as director) he deftly plays with us throughout this story: Is Jon a sympathetic character, deserving of growth or redemption, or is he simply a shallow lout? He’s certainly not mean-spirited <i>per se</i>, merely self-absorbed. And, let’s face it, the apple clearly didn’t fall far from the tree, given his father’s behavior.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In terms of the story’s comedy elements, Gordon-Levitt knows precisely how to use his wicked sidelong glances and near-smiles of amused suspicion. Given the available evidence here, there’s no question that he can act and direct; I’m less persuaded of his writing skills.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And yet he scores some insightful social commentary, as when Jon points out that we all wallow in habitual behavior; his just happens to be socially unacceptable. Barbara is hooked on maudlin romantic melodramas, and who’s to say her taste is any better or worse than his? (One of these big-screen weepers, skewered for maximum hilarity, stars an unbilled Anne Hathaway and Channing Tatum.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Johansson has a wickedly good time as the overtly sensual Barbara, who drips lust while cooing with obviously false innocence; she incessantly calls Jon “Baby,” which — right there — should be enough to make any wary man head for the hills. At first, Johansson cleverly allows only the slightest glimpses of Barbara’s actual personality; her very bearing then shifts once this spider feels she has her fly sufficiently trapped.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Danza and Headly are overplayed burlesques, the family meals having no more relation to reality than Jackie Gleason’s scenery-chewing outbursts more than half a century ago, on TV’s <i>The Honeymooners</i>. Luke and Brown, similarly, remain under-developed as Danny and Bobby ... although Brown tries mightily to layer some depth into his performance. The script simply doesn’t give him enough to work with.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The poster publicizing <i>Don Jon</i> highlights wildly enthusiastic, single-word pull-quotes from various reviews: stellar, hilarious, genuine, emotional, edgy, confident. I’ll give it edgy and hilarious (the latter only at times), but the rest are wishful thinking. Yes, this is an interesting first effort from an actor turned writer/director, and Gordon-Levitt certainly bears watching, should he pursue a broader career as a hyphenate.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But that doesn’t change the fact that <i>Don Jon</i> is uneven, frequently clumsy and needlessly offensive. Proceed with caution.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><!--EndFragment-->

2013 Brie Larson Comedy Glenne Headley Jeremy Luke Joseph Gordon-Levitt Julianne Moore Rob Brown romantic Scarlett Johansson Tony Danza Vulgar Don Jon: Love's labors lost

Don Jon   (2013) •  View trailer   Three stars. Rating: R, for strong graphic sexual material and dialogue, nudity, profanity and drug use B...

Read more »

Enough Said: Whimsical ode to second chances

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><b><i>Enough Said</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span><b>(2013) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/enoughsaid/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><b> </b><br /><b>3.5 stars. Rating: PG-13, for profanity, sexual candor and partial nudity</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a></b></span></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a sweet little dramedy: the gentle saga of two lonely middle-aged people attempting to establish a second act with each other. Despite taking full advantage of its upper-middle-class Los Angeles setting, Nicole Holofcener’s intimate, conversation-laden film easily could be a stage play, where I suspect it might have more success finding an audience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9a5twzXS15FZR27RbqK1pveWKn3B6V6RseZ7l3U4J395vQwG40b-GaM9CCLWqDr4fQPtghg5rQX3i22p2Mk2O4tFmQIcJuX12ZM2d8QwlCPpixzkMu0saACJ-RF9KGc_aKWR4FAVAjRA/s1600/Enough+Said+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9a5twzXS15FZR27RbqK1pveWKn3B6V6RseZ7l3U4J395vQwG40b-GaM9CCLWqDr4fQPtghg5rQX3i22p2Mk2O4tFmQIcJuX12ZM2d8QwlCPpixzkMu0saACJ-RF9KGc_aKWR4FAVAjRA/s400/Enough+Said+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Albert (James Gandolfini) really isn't ready for a new relationship; neither is Eva (Julia<br />Louis-Dreyfus). Somehow, though, not being ready <i>together</i> begins to work. Alas, an<br />unexpected complication is destined to interfere with their growing bond; the question<br />is whether they can survive the fallout.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even during these calmer days of early autumn, with the bombastic summer behind us, films such as <i>Enough Said</i> struggle for viewers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That’s a shame. Far too few movies explore the quiet isolation of late fortysomethings who worry that life has passed them by: that they’re no longer entitled to the happily-ever-after that once seemed an essential clause in the contract of adulthood. In that respect, Holofcener’s film is refreshing merely by its very existence; that it explores this subject with honesty and candor is a bonus.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Holofcener has based her artistic career on serio-comic examinations of modern American women in crisis, starting with 1996’s <i>Walking and Talking</i>, and continuing with <i>Lovely & Amazing</i>(2001), <i>Friends with Money</i> (2006) and <i>Please Give</i> (2010). She clearly has an artistic rapport with Catherine Keener, who starred in all four of those films, and also has a strong presence in this new one.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Keener takes a supporting role this time; the central character, Eva, is played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, a strong TV presence — most famously in <i>Seinfeld</i>, currently in <i>Veep</i> — whose big-screen career has been restricted mostly to voicing characters in animated features. That’s a shame, because her wry, self-deprecating shtick is an ideal defense mechanism for her character here.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(That said, a few of Louis-Dreyfus’ comebacks do sound too much like a stand-up routine; Holofcener could have reined her in just a <i>little</i>bit.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eva works as a professional masseuse and has adapted, if reluctantly, to life as a single mother. She remains on reasonably cordial terms with her ex, and has custody of their teenage daughter, Ellen (Tracey Fairaway). We meet Eva during the strenuous routine of an average day, as she schleps her unwieldy portable massage table from one client to the next, obviously deriving no joy from these regular encounters with often self-absorbed people.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But it’s a living, and Eva can take solace from regular contact with best friend Sarah (Toni Collette) and her husband, Will (Ben Falcone). And we sense that Eva has worked hard to derive comfort — if not satisfaction — from her workaday schedule. Unfortunately, that stability is about to be shattered, because Ellen is days away from leaving for college. Eva, her very soul wrapped up in her daughter’s constant companionship, is fraying visibly around the edges.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br /> <div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ellen, anticipating the same separation anxiety, has withdrawn slightly in order to minimize her own pain; this naturally causes her mother to fret even more. The territory here is both familiar and unerringly accurate: Parents always foresee this moment, when their baby birds leave the nest, with a mixture of pride and dread. Louis-Dreyfus and Fairaway are excellent together, displaying both the ease and uncertainty of this mother/daughter dynamic.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Eva remains a jumble of mixed emotions, her mounting agitation manifesting in nervous chatter and ill-advised attempts at humor. Hoping to distract her, Sarah and Will drag Eva to a party: a ploy that proves unexpectedly successful. Eva first garners a new client, establishing an immediate simpatico bond with Marianne (Keener), a successful poet.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A bit later, Eva meets Albert (James Gandolfini), equally ill at ease in this social setting. Their connection seems so tenuous that it almost doesn’t take; we’re not sure it’ll lead anywhere until the scene shifts to a subsequent first date, Albert embarrassed because even his reservations haven’t prevented an unexpected wait at this particular restaurant, before being seated.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The subsequent dinner is a masterpiece of awkward tension and groaningly awful attempts at conversation; we hope to sink through the floor, not wanting to eavesdrop on such a painful first date (which, of course, merely reinforces Holofcener’s skill at depicting such an encounter). But Eva and Albert also delight in their shared clumsiness: the beginnings of a bond.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The relationship settles; they begin to spend time together. Albert, it turns out, also suffers the angst of a single parent whose only child is about to enter college. But his divorce was anything but amicable, and their daughter, Tess (Eve Hewson), is an entitled, stuck-up snot (a curious detail that never goes anywhere).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marianne, in turn, blossoms from mere client to grateful companion, just as charmed by Eva, as she is by this sophisticated new friend. Unlike most struggling writers, Marianne has made a lucrative career of her poetry, and has become famous enough to be stopped by admiring fans. Eva marvels at her entry into this artistic side of Southern California life, spending time with a woman who casually acknowledges knowing icons such as Joni Mitchell.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Right about this point, as Holofcener builds to the end of her first act, we wonder where this story will go. Certainly the characters are interesting, even provocative, but there’s a sense of some hidden shoe waiting to drop. And, indeed, that’s true ... and the arrival of this little hiccup sets the tone for the rest of the film. But you’ll not get that detail here; too much delight comes from its discovery (assuming nobody lets the cat out of the bag, before you see this film).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, we’re further occupied by sidebar relationships, most notably the unexpected bond that develops between Eva and Chloe (Tavi Gevinson), one of Ellen’s school friends. At first blush, Chloe appears to be the needy one, finding a comfortable warmth in Eva that she doesn’t get from her own mother. But as an increasingly irritated Ellen more accurately realizes, Eva seems to be nurturing a “substitute daughter” as a self-defense mechanism, a dynamic that Chloe is only too happy to accommodate.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the other hand, the passive/aggressive dance between the overly fussy Sarah and her maid (Anjelah Johnson-Reyes) is simply strange: a bizarre interaction that seems inserted solely to create some artificial tension. Holofcener is similarly erratic about the way she depicts Sarah and her husband; at times, Collette and Falcone are prickly enough that we wonder about the stability of <i>their</i> relationship ... and yet this, too, sorta just drifts off.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Louis-Dreyfus hasn’t had a big-screen dramatic role since appearing in Woody Allen’s <i>Deconstructing Harry</i>, back in 1997; it’s easy to see why he would have been drawn to her brand of angst, which feels right at home in his universe. Eva is similarly insecure here, although such anxieties invariably are buried beneath another of Louis-Dreyfus’ chirpy smiles. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Granted, at times Eva is too quick with a witty comeback — people in real life rarely execute such well-timed retorts — but, in fairness, we also see pain and vulnerability in Louis-Dreyfus’ expression. Eva may smile readily, but the mirth rarely rises to her eyes ... and when it does, usually in Albert’s company, we rejoice at the moment’s sincerity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gandolfini, playing <i>so</i> strongly against type, is a revelation. Albert is a huge teddy bear of a guy who, in a delightful twist, seems wholly unaware of the advantage his size and strength should bestow. He’s charming but self-conscious, quick to feel injured at a perceived slight ... which occurs fairly frequently, given Eva’s tendency toward defensive, slightly-<i>too</i>-critical jests.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At such moments — Albert’s wounded, gently chiding expression signifying betrayal — we want to just slap her. And hug him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seeing Gandolfini in such a calmly tender role, and doing it so well, merely reinforces the tragedy of his unexpected death, just a few months ago, at the age of 51. This isn’t his final film — that honor belongs to <i>Animal Rescue</i>, a Dennis Lehane-scripted crime drama more typical of Gandolfini’s usual <i>oeuvre</i>, scheduled for release next year — but it is, nonetheless, a delightful epitaph.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Enough Said</i> displays both the virtues and weaknesses of Holofcener’s various films. In great part, the character interactions are engaging and well handled by accomplished actors who fit nicely into their roles. At the same time, Holofcener’s touch is uneven, her ability to weave a complete tapestry not quite as skilled as the care she takes with individual threads.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><!--EndFragment-->

2013 Ben Falcone Catherine Keener Comedy James Gandolfini Julia Louis-Dreyfus Nicole Holofcener romantic Tavi Gevinson Toni Collette Tracey Fairaway Enough Said: Whimsical ode to second chances

Enough Said   (2013) •  View trailer   3.5 stars. Rating: PG-13, for profanity, sexual candor and partial nudity By  Derrick Bang ...

Read more »

Austenland: What would Jane say?

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><i>Austenland</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>(2013) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/sony/austenland/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>Four stars. Rating: PG-13, for sexual candor and inneundo</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a> • </b></span>Originally published in <i><a href="http://www.davisenterprise.com/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">The Davis Enterprise</a></i>, 9.6.13</b></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This film is <i>completely</i> bonkers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the best possible way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoYhPY1lTjoFcLJ-nUrzqywp77pKCT120-4r23DXaSzn9trxVQuAcsMgtbi9s5bJ-bmBSiDMm0ngiliBhEXswCzd0IFynu-spYwbQjsJ8KswtYNngECxno72ys90haV7eZmsvcLZkHWvM/s1600/Austenland+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoYhPY1lTjoFcLJ-nUrzqywp77pKCT120-4r23DXaSzn9trxVQuAcsMgtbi9s5bJ-bmBSiDMm0ngiliBhEXswCzd0IFynu-spYwbQjsJ8KswtYNngECxno72ys90haV7eZmsvcLZkHWvM/s400/Austenland+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Determined to take control of her fantasy vacation, Jane (Keri Russell, foreground) bats<br />her eyes at "Col. Andrews" (James Callis, left), while an irritated "Henry Nobley" (JJ Feild,<br />right) prepares to bolt. These shenanigans are viewed with alarm by Mrs. Wattlesbrook<br />(Jane Seymour, right rear), whose carefully orchestrated plans seem to be going awry.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Austenland</i> is a gleefully barbed swipe at über-fans who take their passions <i>far</i> too seriously, to the point of becoming social outcasts. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Initially restricted to Trekkies who’d craft elaborate costumes for sci-fi conventions, such behavior recently has accelerated through the mainstream, captivating (afflicting?) fans of pop-culture properties ranging from the <i>Twilight</i> books to, yes, Jane Austen’s novels. Indeed, Austen has begat her own sub-category of worship, whether affectionate or twisted: Bridget Jones’ fixation on Mark Darcy, in Helen Fielding’s two books, or Karen Joy Fowler’s clever <i>Jane Austen Book Club</i> (all of which have been made into films), and Seth Grahame-Smith’s <i>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies</i> (also on its way to the big screen).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So while one might imagine that the events depicted in the adorably embroidered <i>Austenland</i> are the stuff of exaggerated farce ... well, maybe not. I’m perfectly willing to believe that such a business model could exist, and perhaps quite profitably. To paraphrase H.L. Mencken, nobody ever went broke overestimating the rabid devotion of obsessed Americans.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And while a college-level study of Austen’s books probably isn’t essential to the enjoyment of director/co-scripter Jerusha Hess’ charming comedy, a passing familiarity with the milieu will greatly enhance the experience.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mousy Jane Hayes (Keri Russell), unhappy with her drab life, has taken solace in the elegantly romantic early 19th century British setting of Austen’s novels. Jane’s obsession has blossomed even further of late, her devotion to Colin Firth’s performance as Mr. Darcy in the 1995 production of <i>Pride and Prejudice</i> making it impossible for any 21st century boyfriend to compete.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When a loutish office co-worker contemptuously dismisses her behavior and offers himself as “her best and only chance,” Jane recoils by blowing her life savings on an overseas vacation at a stately Jane Austen “theme experience.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Excited beyond words, Jane dresses in a Regency-era frock and bones up on Austen’s best literary <i>bon mots</i>, fully prepared to embrace the role-playing. Alas, upon arrival at the appointed stately manor, Jane discovers that her travel agent booked her into Austenland’s <i>economy</i> package: a distinction waspishly defined by the haughty Mrs. Wattlesbrook (Jane Seymour), who stage-manages the experience.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thus, while the wealthier guests are shown into gorgeous suites and given a range of luxurious clothing, Jane finds herself in a simple room in the servants’ quarters ... and is forced to don a plain dress that Elizabeth Bennet would have recognized.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite suffering belittlement by Mrs. Wattlesbrook at every turn, Jane is not without friends. First and foremost is the brash, brassy “Miss Elizabeth Charming” (guests adopt Austenian names during their stay), a man-hungry cougar brought to spectacular life by the always hilarious Jennifer Coolidge. Although the epitome of a vulgar wealthy American, in her “regular” life Miss Charming has suffered her share of indignities from contemptuous idiots, and thus cloaks Jane in a protective embrace.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then, too, Jane — now going by the <i>nom-de-Austen</i> of “Miss Erstwhile” — earns sympathetic glances from Martin (Bret McKenzie), a groundskeeper and faux coach driver who, as one of Mrs. Wattlesbrook’s “menials,” is forbidden contact with the paying guests.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jane will need these allies, because the full-immersion Austen experience — due to her “lowly” financial status — offers little beyond discrimination and scorn at every turn, particularly from the condescending “Lady Amelia Heartwright” (Georgia King, recognized from TV’s late, lamented <i>The New Normal</i>). But the resident gentlemen are equally intimidating, whether the flamboyantly stuffy “Col. Andrews” (James Callis) or the aloofly arrogant “Mr. Henry Nobley” (JJ Feild).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Indeed, Jane’s initial encounter with the latter, marked by deliciously cutting remarks on both sides, is an amusing echo of Elizabeth Bennet’s first meeting with Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, in <i>Pride and Prejudice</i>. Which it’s supposed to be, of course.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps to her own surprise, however, Jane doesn’t wither beneath this constant, contemptuous onslaught; indeed, she blossoms ... and that’s the best part of this story, as adapted from Shannon Hale’s 2007 novel of the same title. (Hale collaborated with Hess on this film’s screenplay.) Despite being given every opportunity to surrender to this “true Regency experience,” Jane retains a critical eye and comes into her own, no matter how crazy the planned activity.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And things do get crazy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The narrative offers an endless series of manic set-pieces, which Hess shrewdly builds from the merely daft to the hilariously comical. Jane’s initial drawing room experience is quirky enough, with the faux aristocratic gentlemen attempting to maintain their sangfroid in the face of Miss Charming’s snorting, come-and-get-me enthusiasm. Things get even funnier with the arrival of hunky “Capt. George East” (Ricky Whittle), and also when Mrs. Wattlesbrook “impulsively” orchestrates a stage play, which everybody is expected to participate in.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then, too, Jane must avoid being left alone with Mrs. Wattlesbrook’s lecherous old goat of a husband.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Additional fun comes from the not-entirely-comfortable manner in which Mrs. Wattlesbrook’s various employees play their lesser roles, notably the body-builders hired to be eye-candy as footmen and butlers. Indeed, our first glimpse of Austenland’s off-limits “staff section” is a stitch in its own right, as we see these various characters during off-hours.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that’s when this cheeky script begins its perceptive exploration of human nature: At what point does play-acting artifice become uncomfortable, and perhaps even emotionally hazardous?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Russell, well remembered from 2007’s <i>Waitress</i> and TV’s <i>Felicity</i>, makes an endearing heroine; she’s warm, intelligent and — as the narrative progresses — resourcefully defiant. We naturally care for Jane, from the moment we meet her (Austen fixation notwithstanding), and Russell rewards our loyalty by allowing her character to blossom in all the right ways. As we saw in <i>Waitress</i>, she has a genuine gift for romantic comedy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The larger-than-life Coolidge is a total hoot as a ravenous man-hunter, her clumsy efforts at come-hither gazes even funnier than her inappropriately earthy remarks. Aside from being a member of Christopher Guest’s repertory company — and a memorable presence in <i>Best in Show</i>, <i>A Mighty Wind</i> and <i>For Your Consideration</i> — Coolidge remains notorious as Stifler’s mother in the <i>American Pie</i> series, not to mention a host of TV show appearances. She’s utterly fearless, when it comes to making fun of her own plus-size configurations, and more power to her.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seymour is properly imperious as Mrs. Wattlesbrook, her withering gaze able to cut down lesser mortals at 50 paces. She’s subtly, wickedly catty: a contrast to King, overstated and constantly a-flutter as Lady Amelia, who — at first — seems little more than a walking sight-gag. But watch King’s expressions; as the story progresses, and Lady Amelia’s part expands, she delivers some droll hooded frowns and double-takes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By design, the men in Jane’s theme holiday are polar opposites: Field a picture of aristocratic impatience as the aloof Nobley, while McKenzie’s Martin couldn’t be kinder, gentler ... or more vexed, as time goes on, and he fears that Jane is falling under the spell of this make-believe nonsense.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hess made her splash as half of the married team who uncorked the darkly humorous <i>Napoleon Dynamite</i> roughly a decade ago; they were less successful with follow-ups <i>Nacho Libre</i> and <i>Gentlemen Broncos</i>. This new film marks Hess’ ascent to the director’s chair, on her first project without husband Jared. She and Hale clearly share the same snarky sense of humor, and their collaboration here is rich with both verbal and physical comedy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">But I fear <i>Austenland</i> is destined to remain in the cinematic hinterlands; based on the sparse audience that attended Tuesday’s preview screening, mainstream viewers don’t seem to get the extended joke. To be sure, Austen fans will return for multiple viewings, but — despite the recent flurry of adaptations — </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">their numbers aren’t legion</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Too bad, because the rest of you won’t know what you’re missing. This film is a stitch from the first scene to the last, and be sure to remain seated when the story proper concludes, for not just one, but <i>two</i> surprise epilogues. (Shades of Bollywood musicals!)</span></span></div><!--EndFragment-->

2013 Bret McKenzie Comedy Four Star Films Georgia King James Callis Jane Seymour Jennifer Coolidge JJ Feild Keri Russell romantic Austenland: What would Jane say?

Austenland   (2013) •  View trailer   Four stars. Rating: PG-13, for sexual candor and inneundo By  Derrick Bang  •  Originally published in...

Read more »

Much Ado About Nothing: A droll something

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><i>Much Ado About Nothing</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>(2012) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/muchadoaboutnothing/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>3.5 stars. Rating: PG-13, for sensuality, subtle sexual candor and fleeting drug use</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a> • </b></span>Originally published in <i><a href="http://www.davisenterprise.com/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">The Davis Enterprise</a></i>, 6.21.13</b></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276"> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fred and Wesley finally got back together, which is pretty cool.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And while the circumstances are rather unusual, they’re no less delightful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49cn4JE4y8y6Ud7dL7qqadJa-nkkRqKxBQh25KU0IAlYcs-9ffztoXVCbv8OmVAYnFGWAVZexjob9xy9jCnhO_dx-J4m5qEEjM6LeXKOeF6azN3qY5PfdtMMcb7yZOAZ2zg47kZ_9zPs/s1600/Much+Ado+About+Nothing+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49cn4JE4y8y6Ud7dL7qqadJa-nkkRqKxBQh25KU0IAlYcs-9ffztoXVCbv8OmVAYnFGWAVZexjob9xy9jCnhO_dx-J4m5qEEjM6LeXKOeF6azN3qY5PfdtMMcb7yZOAZ2zg47kZ_9zPs/s400/Much+Ado+About+Nothing+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">An eavesdropping Beatrice (Amy Acker, foreground) is astonished to overhear details<br />about how Benedick — elsewhere in the estate — has long adored her ... astonished<br />because it seems that she and Benedick do nothing but snipe at each other. Ah, but<br />Beatrice doesn't realize that Hero (Jillian Morgese, center) and the maid are fully aware<br />that they're being overheard, and are discussing "details" that have been exaggerated<br />for Beatrice's benefit.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most filmmakers, after completing principal photography on a massive, gazillion-dollar project, unwind prior to the next step — assembling the director’s cut — by taking calm vacations ... <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>anything <i>but</i> film-related.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Joss Whedon isn’t most people. Prior to putting the finishing touches on <i><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2012/05/avengers-well-assembled.html">The Avengers</a></i> — last year’s wildly successful superhero summit meeting — he filled the in-between time by staging an intimate, micro-budget movie at his own Los Angeles home. And, as genre geeks know, when Whedon mounts such a project, he always engages the close friends who’ve become one of Hollywood’s most loyal repertoire companies.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this case, a 12-day shoot (!) yielded one of the most unusual interpretations of Shakespeare’s <i>Much Ado About Nothing</i> ever to hit cinema screens. Lensed in glorious, mood-enhancing black-and-white by cinematographer Jay Hunter, this modern-dress staging nonetheless employs the Bard’s original dialogue — condensed and occasionally tweaked by Whedon — and features faces well-recognized from his various television projects.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, kids; that means <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i>, <i>Angel</i>, <i>Firefly</i> and <i>Dollhouse</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thus, my somewhat cryptic opening sentence can be explained by the casting of Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker — Wesley Wyndam-Price and Winifred “Fred” Burke, respectively, on <i>Angel</i> — as Benedick and Beatrice.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lest you roll eyebrows over the reflexive accusation that Whedon has unleashed a self-indulgent vanity production, well, yes, that’s certainly true. But who can complain, when the results are this entertaining?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be sure, the initial disconnect is jarring. The setting, clothing and technology clearly are 21st century, which is at odds with the flowery Shakespearean dialogue. The acting style throughout is a bit ostentatious and overly mannered, the performers occasionally mugging for the camera the way a stage actor would pause for a laugh from the audience.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But that “settling in” period can be true of <i>any</i> Shakespeare production, even those that are rigorously authentic. Fifteen or 20 minutes into this film, everything starts to look and sound natural, at which point you’ll simply enjoy the richly contrived romantic entanglements present in one of Shakespeare’s most appealing comedies.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br /> <div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The core plot is fairly simple: Leonato (Clark Gregg), governor of Messina, plays host to his good friend Don Pedro (Reed Diamond), who has just quashed a rebellion by his villainous brother, Don John (Sean Maher). Although the latter and his two accomplices — Borachio (Spencer Treat Clark) and Conrade (Riki Lindhome) — arrive in handcuffs, they’re allowed freedom of movement during this visit, as a gesture of kindness. (<i>Big</i> mistake!)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don Pedro is accompanied by two faithful officers: Benedick and the younger, somewhat impetuous Claudio (Fran Kranz). The latter immediately falls head-over-heels in love with Leonato’s daughter, Hero (Jillian Morgese), and she with him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Benedick, in turn, has something of an on-again/off-again relationship with Leonato’s niece, Beatrice. They spar verbally in the rich, earthy and often scaldingly pointed manner of “estranged” Shakespearean lovers in numerous plays. T’would be gross understatement to mention that Denisof and Acker thoroughly enjoy hacking at each other, particularly as the exchanges become more deliciously nasty.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leonato, Don Pedro, Claudio and Hero concoct a plan to cut past this nonsense and get Benedick and Beatrice to acknowledge their mutual fondness.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But this would mean <i>two</i> happy couples, which is far more than the evil Don John can tolerate. He therefore engages his own sinister scheme to sever both relationships, and if the residual fallout should destroy his brother’s reputation ... well, so much the better.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In other words, business as usual for Shakespeare: duplicitous villains, concealed identities, misleading intentions and additional folderol that could be put right with one or two direct conversations. But where’s the fun in that?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Production designers Cindy Chao and Michele Yu make excellent use of the spacious outdoor and indoor settings, and Whedon also draws additional chuckles from the incongruities of modern behavior. As one example, Denisof rambles through one of Benedick’s tormented soliloquies — questioning his possible responses to Beatrice’s behavior — while jogging up and down the concrete stairs that lead up to the estate swimming pool (an intriguing visual in its own right).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The most fun, however, comes when first Benedick and then Beatrice, in turn, are tricked into believing that they’re “accidentally” overhearing telling conversations by Leonato, Don Pedro, Claudio and Hero. Denisof’s attempt to conceal himself in the back yard, moving from one window to the next, is simply priceless; Acker’s body-bruising effort to hide within the kitchen is equally hilarious.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On a more serious level, the degree to which we’ve bought into the story — no matter how grandiloquent the speech and mannerisms — can be measured by our reaction to the moment when, as Hero is betrayed in the worst possible way for a woman, her own father shuns her. Gregg, until now a genial host and doting parent, transforms into a beast whose fury is shocking; we feel his wrath like a physical blow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thankfully, even such dire moments are offset by lighter fare. Nathan Fillion supplies pure comic relief as the bumbling, word-mangling Dogberry, a total idiot police officer who stumbles into this case entirely by accident, and then fails to grasp the significance of the evidence he helps uncover. (Dogberry is too agitated over having been called an ass by the contemptuous Conrade.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fillion and Tom Lenk, playing Dogberry’s partner Verges, also have plenty of fun lampooning modern TV cop show clichés, down to the unnecessary sunglasses.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although the story is propelled by romantic intrigue and clandestine double-cross, Whedon doesn’t overlook the lusty undertone that permeates many Shakespeare plays, which can range from subtly earthy to flat-out bawdy. An early celebratory party at Leonato’s estate — before Don John’s vile machinations take hold — is one such example. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The tone is set by a pair of scantily dressed Cirque de Soleil-style acrobats who cavort on a trapeze near the pool, but the entire company sways with the intoxicating application of free-flowing alcohol and sexual tension. Couples begin to shed clothes and vanish off-camera, just quickly enough to preserve this film’s PG-13 rating ... and then there’s the lusty maid, Margaret (Ashley Johnson), who seems willing to drop her knickers for just about any good-looking bloke.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Denisof and Acker get most of the best lines — and plot contrivances — and therefore wind up with more screen time during which to strut their stuff. But much of the cast is equally memorable, no matter what size the role. Morgese is appropriately winsome and delicate as the fair Hero, which is essential if we’re to believe her reaction to the foul accusation from those she has trusted. (We must remember that Shakespearean women, no matter how spirited their tongues, can have their lives ruined by unscrupulous men.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kranz is suitably earnest — and just naïve enough — as the smitten Claudio. Kranz has a similarly powerful moment when his character is enraged by a perceived betrayal: Again, the moment is breathtaking for its unexpected intensity.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maher narrows his gaze quite convincingly as the vile Don John, who visibly revels in his own malevolence: a guy who loves being wicked for its own sake. (And he was such a <i>nice</i> guy on TV’s <i>Firefly</i>. Go figure.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the other hand, Diamond remains a bit bland as Don Pedro, while both Clark and Lindhome are under-developed as Borachio and Conrade. Lindhome’s casting actually is intriguing; some recent productions of this play have staged Conrad (no “e”) as Don John’s male lover, and Whedon drops more than one suggestion here that — despite being played by an attractive young woman — this film’s Conrade actually <i>is</i> a man.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Assuming I’ve read that correctly, it’s an amusing nod toward the fact that, during Shakespeare’s time, female roles were played by effeminate men.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My overall pleasure notwithstanding, I suspect this film will be embraced solely by Shakespeare buffs and Whedon’s devoted fan base. I can’t imagine mainstream audiences getting on board, particularly during summer’s bombastic silly season. Indeed, quite a few folks departed midway through Monday evening’s Sacramento preview. (Their loss.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK, so maybe Whedon <i>did</i> make a film mostly for himself and his friends. It could be argued, though, that this is the first rule of art: Satisfy yourself, and hope the rest of the world catches on. This <i>Much Ado</i> may be an odd Shakespearean duck, but I’ll happily watch it again: always my most essential movie criteria.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><!--EndFragment-->

2012 Alexis Denisof Amy Acker Clark Gregg Comedy Fran Kranz Jillian Morgese Joss Whedon Nathan Fillion Reed Diamond romantic Sean Maher Shakespeare Tom Lenk Much Ado About Nothing: A droll something

Much Ado About Nothing   (2012) •  View trailer   3.5 stars. Rating: PG-13, for sensuality, subtle sexual candor and fleeting drug use By  D...

Read more »