Finally, Reviews, and a Curious Conundrum

I admit I’ve been lax on the focus of this blog.

Click here for my latest official review: The Fall

Directed by Tarsem Singh. Stars Lee Pace.

Saw Made of Honor and Baby Mama last week. Here’s my quick rundown.

I pretty much heartily agree with Sarah’s review of MOH, with a few additional comments.

By now we expect nothing new from the romcom genre. Made of Honor is no exception, though it stars the dreamy—yes, I said it—Patrick Dempsey. What is it about him that’s so fantastic? Anyway, he’s relying on his usual tricks—laughing in a sort of disapproving “you know I love you but I’m not going to fall for that” kind of way, giving that fully involved eye-smile—to play coffee-collar inventor Tom. He plays pompous in a good-at-heart way we can’t resist. Michelle Monaghan is the love interest, art restorer/curator Hannah, and she plays it capably. Kevin McKidd is Colin, the interrupter to Hannah and Tom’s best-friend existence. He’s robust and good-looking and royalty and Scottish and a bagpiper and a hunter. I wasn’t sold on McKidd, having only seen him in previews and not realizing that he was Tommy in Trainspotting, one of my favorite movies of the ’90s. (That’s how I perfected my Scottish accent, though I admit it’s a bit rusty now—1996 and ‘97 were watershed years for me in terms of films that shaped my critical perception: Fargo, Primal Fear, The Rock, Swingers, Romeo + Juliet, Jerry Maguire, Liar Liar, Volcano as an example of how much a waste of time a film can be, The Full Monty, L.A. Confidential, guilty pleasure Rocket Man, Good Will Hunting, and yes, the movie that got me in the theatre five times, Titanic [hey I was 17 and the cinematography was great]. Have I gone off topic enough yet? But am I wrong on any counts?) Yet McKidd is charming here. The lead roles are well-performed, the secondary roles not so much, with the exception of Sidney Pollack and Kathleen Quinlan as the widowed dad and mom of Tom and Hannah, respectively.

What I wasn’t crazy about were the cheap jokes. About half the comedy was honest and genuine; the rest of the time the writers were picking the low fruit. When you work in a very well defined genre, maybe those are expected. But they’ll never elevate the piece. I also was disappointed that once Tom made up his mind that he wanted Hannah, he never expressed any doubt: Everything became “Oh how come I didn’t see it before?” Which is perhaps noble in life but conflictless on celluloid. C’est la vie, the film didn’t feel like an entire waste of time, so I’ll complain no further. That’s generally my gauge for how good a movie is. It’s what made me determine that Because I Said So was nearly insufferable but that Hitman really wasn’t any less than what I expected.

So Baby Mama: not spectacular by any means but better than MOH. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are quite raucous, particularly Poehler as Angie, the surrogate hired by Tina’s Kate, and they have an excellent rapport. It’s nice to see a pregnancy movie that doesn’t rely on completely unnecessary grossout humor; intelligence in the writing here. Steve Martin is chuckle-worthy as a New Age CEO and Siobhan Fallon Hogan hilariously commits to a Peter Cook–worthy speech impediment in the role of a “buhthing” coach. Romany Malco lends solid comedic support as doorman to Kate’s building, and it’s hard not to like Dax Shepard in the role of Angie’s white-trash boyfriend. I can’t not mention Sigourney Weaver’s capable work in a somewhat undefined role as the owner of the surrogacy agency—small gestures bring the character off.

I can say good things about nearly everyone in this film except I have to admit I was a little disappointed by Greg Kinnear as Kate’s love interest/kinda business nemesis. With his natural Dempsey–like charisma, he usually stands out in any film. Here he’s overshadowed, his adorability inexplicably missing. Maybe it’s just a lack of chemistry between him and Fey. I just hope he gets his mojo back in whatever we see him in next.

But this post brings up an interesting point that’s come up in conversation with my fellow media buddies lately: A person’s appeal is often readily apparent. But what is it about certain actors that requires film to translate that j’ne sais quois? Pace and McKidd from this post make that list, but Jim Sturgess is another one. Flat pictures can’t get across what makes these actors people you want to watch—people you could see yourself kind of falling in love with. Obviously the likes of Cillian Murphy, Johnny Depp, Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Zooey Deschanel, Dempsey, James McAvoy (I’m trying really hard not to mention someone here) grab you pretty much no matter how they’re captured. But I found myself actually scanning through pictures of Pace on the Internet today to try to figure out if I really liked him or not. Because as you can read in my review, I thought he was great in The Fall (and there’s something very McAvoy-esque about him in it). And I like him on Pushing Daisies, although there’s something that puts me off a bit too. I can’t pin it down. And Sturgess is just gorgeous in Across the Universe.

What about it? Are these guys hotties or notties? Because they are pretty effing entrancing on film. Sarah made an argument for Ryan Gosling, and I can buy that. Anybody else belong on this list?

Sorry, did I say this was going to be quick?

~ by JT on May 6, 2008.