Ewan McGregor’s dad (Christopher Plummer) has just died, shortly after coming out of the closet. As if this weren’t enough to deal with, McGregor is a depressive anyway, with a rich history of sabotaging his relationships. But then he meets Melanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds)(and they meet cute).
This is a winning comedy – one of the year’s best movies. It’s smart, sweet and original. All of the performances are excellent, especially Plummer’s, which should garner him an Oscar nomination. All in all, Beginners is a notable achievement by director Mike Mills (Thumbsucker).
James Coburn and James Garner in THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY
Turner Classic Movies is broadcasting the 1964 The Americanization of Emily on November 11. Set in England just before the D-Day invasion, The Americanization of Emily is a biting satire and one of the great anti-war movies. James Garner plays an admiral’s staff officer charged with locating luxury goods and willing English women for the brass. Julie Andrews plays an English driver who has lost her husband and other male family members in the War. She resists emotional entanglements with other servicemen whose lives may be put at risk, but falls for Garner’s “practicing coward”, a man who is under no illusions about the glory of war and is determined to stay as far from combat as possible.
Unfortunately, Garner’s boss (Melvyn Douglas) has fits of derangement and becomes obsessed with the hope that the first American killed on the beach at D-Day be from the Navy. Accordingly, he orders Garner to lead a suicide mission to land ahead of the D-Day landing, ostensibly to film it. Fellow officer James Coburn must guarantee Garner’s martyrdom.
It’s a brilliant screenplay from Paddy Chayefsky, who won screenwriting Oscars for Marty, The Hospital and Network.
Today, Americanization holds up as least as well as its contemporary Dr. Strangelove and much better than Failsafe.
Reportedly, both Andrews and Garner have tagged this as their favorite film.
One of the “Three Nameless Broads” bedded by the Coburn character is played by Judy Carne, later of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.
Crazy Stupid Love is an altogether very satisfying romantic comedy starring Steve Carell as the middle-aged sad sack who has been dumped by his longtime wife (Julianne Moore) and comes under the tutelage of uber lounge lizard Ryan Gosling, who in turn is falling for Emma Stone. Lots of laughs ensue, leading up to a madcap climax in Moore’s back yard, before the film slows down for the last 20 minutes. But, it’s plenty funny (and not many romcoms are these days).
Gosling, who earned indie favorite status playing tortured/damaged characters, is great here as the guy who can melt any gal in a bar with stunning ease and speed. Emma Stone is always good in comedies. Lisa Lapira shines as Stone’s wingman, and Analeigh Tipton is excellent as Carrel’s babysitter.
A Little Help is a Jenna Fischer vehicle that illustrates the depth that Fischer can bring to even a shallow character. In this dramedy, Fischer is suddenly widowed and must reassemble her life and support her quirky 12-year-old son despite the intrusions of her shrill, micro-controlling sister (Brooke Smith) and their chilly mother (Leslie Anne Warren). Fischer’s biggest challenge is helping her son navigate social life at his new school, where he has told a preposterous lie on his first day.
Kim Coates steals every scene as a medical malpractice attorney. Ron Liebman sparkles as the blowhard father.
Writer/Director Michael J. Weithorn made the very smart decision to hold Fischer’s character accountable for the bad choices she has made in her life. If she were instead written as a completely innocent victim, the story would have lapsed into cliche. Instead, it’s a pretty good movie and a fine showcase for Jenna Fischer.
Dirty Girl, which arrived with some measure of indie buzz, is a pleasing trifle, nothing more. Two teenagers, whose parents don’t get them, run away on a transformative road trip. One is played by Juno Temple, whose smart, quirky sexiness pretty much took over this year’s Kaboom. The overweight gay kid is played by Jeremy Dozier. Both are good, Temple is special and Dozier might be. I’m looking forward to seeing them in better movies.
Against type, Milla Jovovich plays a trailer trash single mom. Dwight Yoakam plays yet another dirtbag, this one without a lot of depth.
But it’s Mary Steenburgen who really reminds us how good she is. Steenburgen plays what is written as a fairly cardboard role – the bullied wife, the prude wearing high-necked blouses, the devoted but helpless mom. But Steenburgen brings so much texture and intensity to the performance and creates a character that transcends the one on the page.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who has reliably excellent taste in his choice of movie scripts) stars in this cancer comedy. Yes, cancer comedy. Seth Rogen plays his buddy. And it’s funny. Pretty damn funny.
Writer Will Reiser takes the story from his own bout with the Big C. Reiser’s real life friend Seth Rogen helped him through the ordeal.
As usual, Gordon-Levitt is excellent. And, if you’re out chasing skirts while bald and weak from chemotherapy, who could be a better wing man than Seth Rogen?
Anna Kendrick (so good in Up in the Air) plays the cringingly green psychologist assigned to help the patient face his 50/50 chance of survival. Bryce Dallas Howard (excellent as the achingly fragile survivor in Hereafter) plays the girlfriend with the best intentions but neither aptitude for care giving or unlimited loyalty. Angelica Huston plays not just another smothering mom. They’re all very good – good enough to play against Gordon-Levitt and Rogen. So are Philip Baker Hall and Matt Frewer (Max Headroom) as fellow cancer patients.
This Irish dark comedy is a showpiece for Brendan Gleeson as a lowbrow cop happening upon an international drug conspiracy. Gleeson is always very good and was especially memorable in director Martin McDonagh’s 2008 In Bruges, which was either the funniest hit man movie ever or the darkest and most violent buddy comedy ever. This time, McDonagh’s brother John Michael McDonagh directs Gleeson as a very canny man who convincingly strives to appear much dumber than he is. The perfect foil for Gleeson’s sloppy local cop is the refined FBI agent played by Don Cheadle. Those familiar with Ireland will recognize the Connemara Coast. Don’t miss The Guard.
The Names of Love is an amusing but forgettable romantic comedy about the attraction of opposites – a flighty leftwing women who converts conservatives by sleeping with them and an uptight and controlled guy. Sara Forestier won the Cesar (France’s Oscar) for her portrayal of the most attention deficient character in recent cinema. Indeed, Forestier is actually convincing as a woman so distractable that she doesn’t notice that she has left her flat and boarded the Paris Metro without wearing any clothes.
Potiche, the delightful French farce of feminist self-discovery, is the funniest movie in over a year, and another showcase for Catherine Deneuve (as if she needs one). DeNeuve plays a 1977 potiche, French for “trophy housewife”, married to a guy who is a male chauvinist pig both by choice and cluelessness. He is also the meanest industrialist in France – Ebenezer Scrooge would be a softie next to this guy – and the workers in his factories are about to explode. He becomes incapacitated, and she must run the factory.
Now, this is a familiar story line for gender comedy – so why is it so damn funny? It starts with the screenplay, which is smart and quick like the classic screwball comedy that American filmmakers don’t make anymore. And the cast is filled with proven actors who play each comic situation with complete earnestness, no matter how absurd.
Director Francois Ozon, best known in the US for Swimming Pool and 8 Women, adapted the screenplay from a play and has a blast skewering late-70s gender roles and both the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Gerard Depardieu plays the Communist mayor, who is both the husband’s nemesis and the wife’s former fling. Two of the very best French comic players, Fabrice Luchini and Karen Viard, shine in co-starring roles as the husband and his secretary.
This delightful indie comedy is set in a group of friends’ annual touch football game. Take a bunch of friends that haven’t seen each other for a while and put them in a competitive situation, and you’ve got a promising premise. Newcomer writer-director Kyle Smith pulls off a tight, well-paced 62 minutes of smart laughs.
The cast of relative unknowns is very good, especially Tom DiMenna and Bob Turton. At the screening that I attended, Smith said that the football game was tightly structured in the screenplay, but much of the dialogue was improvised by the cast.Smith financed the film with $25,000 that he earned from a reality TV show, and shot it over ten days in an East LA city park.
Smith is a native of Columbia, Missouri, and college football fans will note a very funny reference to an infamous Colorado-Missouri game.
Turkey Bowl just released on iTunes and VOD. Reward this bright and enterprising filmmaker and see this film – you won’t be disappointed.
I am adding Turkey Bowl to my list of Best Sports Movies to represent touch football.
