Bad Words

Bad Words - Dir. Jason Bateman (2014)

While he's directed episodes of several television series, Jason Bateman hasn't helmed a feature film until Bad Words, a subversive comedy set in the world of spelling bees. This is assuredly not a documentary in the vein of Spellbound or a feel-good drama ala Akeelah and the Bee.

Bateman is Guy Trilby, a 40-year old misanthrope who enters the Golden Quill, a national spelling tournament for children. It turns out Guy never finished junior high and he exploits a loophole in the rules that state no entrant must have passed the eighth grade. Much to the chagrin of tournament director Dr. Bernice Deagan (Allison Janney) and founder Dr. William Bowman (Philip Baker Hall), Guy is actually a genius and might just win the whole damn thing. Guy's only competition is Chaitanya Chopra (Rohan Chand), an affable 10-year old whose cheery disposition remains unwavering in the face of Guy's utter contempt. Luckily, Chaitanya is saved from Guy's more disreputable actions to disrupt the bee. At one point, he sprays ketchup on a girl's trousers and tricks her into thinking she's having her period.

The screenplay for Bad Words was written by newcomer Andrew Dodge. It made the Black List, a compendium for hot, but unproduced scripts, back in 2011. It's easy to see why studios were gun shy of Bad Words since the protagonist is an unrepentant jerk whose behavior borders on child abuse.

Jason Bateman has excelled at playing the straight man thrust into absurd situations. On Arrested Development, his Michael Bluth was the lone beacon of sanity surrounded by a family of lunatics. In Bad Words, Bateman actively plays against his nice guy image, but still spews every line of venom with his trademark deadpan delivery. He never shows one ounce of gratitude towards Jenny Widgeon (Kathryn Hahn), a hapless online reporter who sponsors Guy and even pays for his meals and accommodations. The two of them engage in casual, awkward sex in which Jenny repeatedly orders Guy not to look at her. Hahn is always terrific in these supporting roles, which require her to fearlessly leap into outrageous situations. Allison Janney and Philip Baker Hall are great foils for Bateman though you can't help feel that they are a bit wasted in such one note roles.

The main thrust of the film centers on the friendship between Guy and Chaitanya, which forms against all odds, but is thoroughly in line with movie conventions. Bateman's experience as a child actor likely helped coax a naturalistic performance out of doe-eyed and precocious Rohan Chand. It's all summed up in a montage set to the Beastie Boys as Guy and Chaitanya run amok in a spree of shoplifting, pranks, and a visit to a prostitute so the kid can see his first boobs. On one hand, you sort of root for the two to bond given Chaitanya's troubles with bullies and his ultra-stern father. Yet, it's a difficult task to remain in Guy's corner when he's hurling racist insults at the boy, ones that aren't even that creative like "slumdog" and "curry hole."

Can you spell, 'misfire?' Bad Words never had the convictions to go full force in creating a truly reprehensible protagonist. It tries hard to make Guy unlikeable while still making him likeable enough for that third act emotional payoff when all is revealed. Bateman has the talent to make it work, but the humor goes for pure shock value rather than anything creative.

Rating: ** (*****)

Identity Thief

Identity Thief - Dir. Seth Gordon (2013)

2011 was the breakout year for Melissa McCarthy, who earned rave reviews for her performance in that year's runaway hit Bridesmaids. Her CBS sitcom, Mike & Molly, also debuted the previous fall on earned her an Emmy award that year for Best Lead Actress. Now is the time to cash in as McCarthy appears in The Hangover Part III and receives her first starring roles in The Heat (opposite Sandra Bullock) and Identity Thief.

Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman) is a buttoned down accountant struggling to support his wife (Amanda Peet) and two daughters while working under the heel of an obnoxious boss (Jon Favreau). With a baby on the way, Sandy accepts a more lucrative position with his best friend (John Cho) at a brand new start-up firm. Unfortunately, Sandy has absent mindedly given his social security number to a telemarketer over the phone. Going by the name Diana (McCarthy), the identity thief runs up exorbitant credit card debt in Florida and gets a few arrest warrants in his name. Since the Denver police can't do anything unless she's standing right there, Sandy hits the road to bring Diana back himself. Easier said than done as Sandy is completely unprepared for the obnoxious maelstrom that is Diana. Even worse, she's run afoul of two drug dealers (Genesis Rodriguez and rapper T.I.) and a grizzled bounty hunter (Robert Patrick).

Identity Thief was directed by Seth Gordon, who made a splash with his debut feature The King of Kong, a delightful documentary about vintage arcade games. Since then, Gordon has gone on to helm subpar Hollywood comedies Four Christmases and Horrible Bosses, along with the occasional episode of Parks and Recreation and The Office. You never notice the direction in films like Identity Thief and Gordon is perfectly serviceable. Stylish shot compositions aren't nearly as important as a funny, well-written script, which is nowhere to be found. The screenplay by Craig Mazin (who also wrote the Hangover sequels) relies on lowbrow humor and gives its talented cast almost nothing to work with.

The bulk of the movie is a road trip comedy in the vein of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles or Midnight Run. Jason Bateman is once again typecast as the straight arrow surrounded by outlandish characters. Meanwhile, McCarthy plays it to the hilt with big hair and thick eyeliner that makes her look like Mimi from The Drew Carey Show. A little McCarthy goes a long way. She was terrific in Bridesmaids and her brief part in This Is 40 was one of the best things in an otherwise dreary picture. Here, McCarthy wears out her welcome by the first act. It's not entirely her fault; the character is nothing more than a cartoon. Diana is cut from the same cloth as the annoying buffoon portrayed by Zach Galifianakis in Due Date. By the time Diana finally becomes a real human being in the third act the damage is done. That's a shame since McCarthy shows off serious acting chops in turning the caricature into a vulnerable person with real pathos. In the end, you have one person with a grating personality, another who is an utter milquetoast, and you don't want to root for either of them.

Sandy isn't the only victim of theft as someone must have stolen anything remotely funny about the entire movie. The jokes are lame and revolve around genitals or Sandy's androgynous name with a few pratfalls thrown in for good measure. The bounty hunter and the drug dealers seemed to have only been added to pad out the runtime. Identity Thief simply wastes the talents of Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy.

Rating: * ½ (*****)

Hit & Run

Hit & Run - Dirs. Dax Shepard & David Palmer (2012)

Dax Shepard is hardly a household name, but the actor has made a career out of supporting roles in comedies like Baby Mama, Idiocracy, and When in Rome. He was also the lead in Jon Favreau's underrated Zathura, a sort-of sequel to Jumanji. Shepard has recently made the jump to a multi-hyphenate as the star, producer, writer, and co-director with David Palmer of his own movies. His first picture was a mockumentary entitled Brother's Justice, which followed Shepard's attempts at transforming himself into a bona fide action star. His second feature is Hit & Run, an action-comedy shot on the low-budget of $2 million.

Shepard plays Yul Perrkins, a former getaway driver who is now living in Witness Protection under the alias of Charlie Bronson. He got the name from the infamous British convict (featured in Nichols Winding Refn's film Bronson) who in turn got his name from the famed actor. Charlie's sweet-natured girlfriend, Annie (Kristen Bell), has a Master's degree in Non-Violent Conflict Resolution, a major she created for herself. She gets the opportunity to head up her own department at UCLA, but almost doesn't take it since Charlie cannot leave skip town due to the terms of his relocation. But, Charlie doesn't care and busts out his old '67 Lincoln Continental for a cross-country road trip.

Too bad Charlie's placement in WITSEC is one of the worst kept secrets ever. Annie's jealous ex-boyfriend, Gil (Michael Rosenbaum), runs a background check on Charlie and discovers his secret identity. While chasing off after them, Gil contacts Charlie's former partner, Alex Dimitri (a dreadlocked Bradley Cooper), who went to prison because of Charlie's testimony. Also hot on their trail are Randy Anderson (Tom Arnold), the bumbling U.S. Marshal assigned to protect Charlie, and Gil's brother Terry (Jess Rowland), a sheriff's deputy.

With Hit & Run, Shepard aspired to make a throwback to classic car chase pictures like Smokey and the Bandit. The DIY nature of the production is reminiscent of a less ambitious version of Gone in 60 Seconds. The cast consists of Shepard's friends in the acting community and his real-life fiancée Kristen Bell. Shepard also performed his own stunt driving. Charlie's Continental along with a dune buggy were taken from Shepard's own car collection. Despite best intentions, Hit & Run never leaps off the screen.

The car chases aren't at all exciting. The only moment that exudes any visual inventiveness is a slow motion tire burn out set to a cover version of "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The comedy is thoroughly strained with one of the film's central jokes being the ethnicity of the convict who raped Dimitri in prison. The rest of the puerile humor revolves around a room full of naked old people and a Grindr-esque iPhone app for homosexual rendezvous.

Hit and Run is a listless comedy stuck in neutral while desperately wishing it was doing a hundred down the interstate.

Rating: * (*****)

The Change-Up

The Change-Up - Dir. David Dobkin (2011)

2011 has been flush with raunchy, R-rated comedies. Though it received poor reviews, The Hangover Part II was undoubtedly the biggest financial success with a box office gross of over $300 million. Bridesmaids was more critically accepted and one of the better films of the year. There were also plenty of also-rans like Bad Teacher, Horrible Bosses, Friends with Benefits, and Hall Pass. Then, there's The Change-Up which takes a low-brow, Judd Apatow-style approach to that 80's staple – the body switch movie. Think Freaky Friday and Vice Versa with plenty of dick and poop jokes.

Dave Lockwood (Jason Bateman) is a workaholic lawyer with a loving wife, Jamie (Leslie Mann), and three kids. When he's not putting in long hours at the office and bucking for a promotion, Dave is up in the wee hours of the morning changing diapers and heating formula. His best friend, Mitch Planko (Ryan Reynolds), has no such responsibilities. As a wannabe actor, Mitch spends his days smoking pot, playing video games, and having kinky sex with a steady stream of loose women. After a night at the bar, the two of them piss into a fountain while idly wishing they had each others' lives.

The next morning, Dave and Mitch are shocked to discover they've switched bodies. To make matters worse, the magical fountain has been removed and lost in a sea of bureaucracy. They must make the most of their strange situation until they can find a way to switch back. Mitch is in way over his head taking care of a family while negotiating a multi-million dollar merger. On the other hand, Dave enjoys his new freedom as a carefree bachelor. There's even the possibility of a dalliance with his gorgeous assistant, Sabrina (Olivia Wilde). Is it really cheating if you're in someone else's body?

Don't expect The Change-Up to intelligently deal with high-falutin' questions of morality. Its primary concern is revealed during an opening scene featuring a baby's undulating sphincter followed by a shot of Jason Bateman getting a mouthful of projectile feces. The scatological humor is a recurring theme in The Change-Up with another gag involving Leslie Mann making a very noisy bowel movement and Ryan Reynolds being forced to stick his thumb up a woman's butthole during a making of a "lorno" (a light porno). The woman, by the way, is played by Taafe O'Connell, the scream queen best known for being raped by a giant worm in the Roger Corman production, Galaxy of Terror. I'm no prude. I enjoy good toilet humor every now and then, but the gross-out gags of The Change-Up wear thin real quick.

If an R-rated comedy can't offer up a few decent chuckles, you can at least expect some quality nudity, but The Change-Up isn't even able to do that. While we do see several actresses in various states of undress (including Leslie Mann), those breasts were all done through prosthetics or CGI. Those delightfully digital nipples may be fool many, but later effects depicting toddlers juggling kitchen knives and banging their heads against a crib are thoroughly unconvincing.

One reason why a film like Freaky Friday works is because there is a drastic difference between the two protagonists who have switched, Barbara Harris changing with a teenaged Jodie Foster or Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in the remake. There isn't a lot to separate Bateman and Reynolds, especially since their acting styles and deliveries aren't far from each other. Bateman gets a little more to do than simply play the straight man, but Reynolds runs through his usual wisecracking persona throughout. Alan Arkin is completely wasted in a throwaway role as Mitch's disappointed dad. Olivia Wilde provides some of the film's few bright spots just by being cool and insanely hot.

You'd think Michael Bluth switching bodies with the Green Lantern would be more fun. "The Change-Up" had a lot of potential as it starred two proven comedic actors in Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds. It was helmed by David Dobkin, the director of "Wedding Crashers," and written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, who also penned "The Hangover" movies. Unfortunately, everyone goes through the motions. The results are a movie that is lazy, puerile, and ultimately forgettable.

Rating: * ½ (*****)

Horrible Bosses

Horrible Bosses - Dir. Seth Gordon (2011)

This summer has been the season for raunchy comedies. The Hangover Part II is one of the highest grossing films of the year, despite a severe critical lashing. Bridesmaids is in the top ten for domestic grosses and received far more critical praise. The summer has also yielded Bad Teacher, the upcoming body switch laugher The Change-Up, and the workplace comedy Horrible Bosses.

Horrible Bosses plays into the dark fantasies we've all had about gaining a measure of revenge against an abusive supervisor. It also touches upon the frustrations that have been cultivated by the turbulent economic climate. However, don't expect a sharp treatise that handles those themes with a wry intelligence. Horrible Bosses earns its R rating by being a silly and profane comedy.

Jason Bateman is Nick Hendricks, a white-collar worker at a financial firm under the tyrannical reign of Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey). Harken represents the worst aspects of the corporate world. He dangles and denies a vital promotion to Nick, then laughs about his dead grandmother. Jason Sudeikis is Kurt Buckman, an account manager for a chemical company. Unlike his buddies, Kurt actually loves his job probably because he works for kindly Donald Sutherland. Unfortunately, the old man dies of a heart attack leaving the company in the hands of his odious sleazebag son. Not Kiefer, but Bobby Pellitt (Colin Farrell sporting a beer belly and a comb-over). Bobby plans on running his dad's legacy into the ground to feed his appetite for cocaine and hookers. Finally, there's Dale Arbus, a chaste dental assistant, who suffers from daily sexual harassment from his nymphomaniac boss, Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston).

All three buddies have their reasons for not simply quitting their jobs. Harken promises to blackball Nick from the industry should be leave. Kurt doesn't want to see Bobby destroy the company. Dr. Julia has taken pictures of herself molesting an unconscious Dale and threatens to show them to his fiancée (Lindsay Sloane). Poor Dale is also a registered sex offender, the reasons for which are too funny to spoil.

After reaching their breaking point, the protagonists decide to kill their bosses. Of course, none of them have any clue about how to do that. Kurt comes up with the harebrained scheme of going into a bar in East L.A. and ask around. They meet an ex-con named Dean "Motherfucker" Jones (Jamie Foxx), who agrees to be their murder consultant.

Anybody who has ever watched an episode of CSI will figure out their plans aren't likely to be successful. What follows is a farcical series of events as these frat pack Three Stooges fumble their way through their half-assed murder plots. It is the interactions between the leads that sells Horrible Bosses. None of the main actors are doing anything new. Bateman reprises the role of the exasperated everyman he has portrayed since his comeback on Arrested Development. Sudeikis is doing his horndog shtick though Horrible Bosses is a better showcase for his comedic skills than the Farrelly Brothers' inert Hall Pass. Meanwhile, Day is basically reprising his role from FX's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Day also provides some of the funniest moments of the movie from his manic motions after accidentally breathing in Bobby's coke stash to singing the Ting Ting's "That's Not My Name" while alone in a car.

Day's performance also saves his particular subplot, which might be the most tenuous of them all. Let's face it, Aniston's perpetually horny cougar is the dream boss for any heterosexual male. But, Day imbues Dale with a dim-witted naiveté that makes it somewhat believable for him to be offended by Julia's advances. For Aniston, this is a drastic departure from her usual girl-next-door roles. It's not exactly the most nuanced character or the most politically correct, but she plays it with gusto. To no one's surprise, Kevin Spacey turns in a solid performance as an asshole boss, a return to his Buddy Ackerman from Swimming with Sharks with a dash of John Williamson from Glengarry Glen Ross. Colin Farrell is sadly short-changed in screen time. He is wonderfully over-the-top.

The film is competently directed by Seth Gordon, who made his debut with the excellent documentary King of Kong. He has since turned into a director of slick Hollywood comedies.

Horrible Bosses is a safe, mainstream Hollywood picture masquerading as an edgy black comedy. The characters are cartoonish and the plot moves ahead through a series of sitcom contrivances. But, it's entertaining and humorous enough to warrant at least a rental.

Rating: ** ½ (*****)

Paul

Paul - Dir. Greg Mottola (2011)

Along with director Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost came to prominence in geek culture with their Channel 4 sitcom, Spaced. Their leap to feature films with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz was wildly successful. Having tackled zombies and cops, Pegg and Frost finally get around to tackling sci-fi with Paul, based on a script they wrote with Greg Mottola (Adventureland Superbad) behind the camera.

Paul makes it known right away who its target demographic with an opening sequence set at Comic-Con. Pegg and Frost are Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings, a graphic artist and science fiction writer, respectively. The best friends traveled to the United States to attend the Mecca of nerd-dom. They ogle the Slave Leias and get starstruck at meeting the robot from Buck Rogers ("…bidi, bidi, bidi."). Afterwards, Graeme and Clive embark on a bromantic road trip in a rented RV to visit famous UFO sites such as Area 51 and Roswell. Coming across a car accident, they are shocked to discover, Paul (Seth Rogen), an alien who has been locked away in a government facility since his spaceship crashed in the 1940's. Graeme and Clive agree to help Paul get to his mothership. Along the way, they also pick up Ruth Buggs (Kristen Wiig), a Christian fundamentalist whose faith is shaken by the appearance of a creature from outer space.

The supporting cast is a tremendous ensemble of players that include Jason Bateman as a no-nonsense man in black on the hunt for Paul with a pair of bumbling FBI agents played by Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio. They take their orders from Sigourney Weaver, who appears for most of the picture as a hidden voice sort of like Dr. Klaw from Inspector Gadget. We also have Jeffrey Tambor as sci-fi author Adam Shadowchild and Jane Lynch in a tiny role (a little Jane Lynch goes a long way) as a diner owner. Everyone is good, but none more so than Wiig as both a comic foil to Paul and love interest to Graeme. Wiig takes a rather one-dimensional character in Ruth and makes her extremely likable. She also possesses tremendous comic timing shown off when Ruth awkwardly tries cursing for the first time and launches into a series of nonsensical profanities ("Well, ain't that a bag of tits.").

Seth Rogen may be suffering from overexposure as of late. While you certainly cannot fault the man for venturing out of his comfort zone, the results have been mixed at best (i.e. Observe and Report, The Green Hornet). Here, Rogen goes back to basics providing only motion capture work and his distinctive voice. His Paul pulls a 180 on the prototypical alien by turning him into a rude and gross little guy with a cigarette constantly in his hand. He's E.T. if he were a potty-mouthed, bulb-headed stoner from a galaxy far, far away.

Paul definitely has its weaknesses. As foreigners, Pegg and Frost go the easy route by portraying most of the Americans they come across as bible-thumping zealots or gun-toting rednecks. David Koechner and Friday Night Lights' Jesse Plemons a bit wasted as the latter. Some of the subplots don't pay off, especially the one involving Ruth's domineering father (John Carroll Lynch), which could have easily been cut from the film to tighten the plot. In the end, Paul will live and die by its geek chic sense of humor.

While Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz poked fun at genre conventions, Paul is more concerned with making specific references, many of which will go most everyone's heads. There are tons of requisite Star Wars gags with entire lines of dialogue quoted by various characters. One of the best features a country western band playing their version of the Mos Eisley Cantina song. Other iconic sci-fi flicks like Back to the Future and obscure ones like Mac and Me are referenced as are numerous Spielberg movies to the point where the director himself makes a voice cameo receiving story advice from Paul.

Make no mistake about it, Paul is a movie for geeks and by geeks. As someone who is steeped in the culture (I'm a Comic-Con veteran for nearly two decades), it's hard for me to say how mainstream audiences might take the film. Hopefully, they'll find Paul as hilarious and surprisingly poignant as I have.

Rating: *** (*****)

The Kingdom

The Kingdom - Dir. Peter Berg (2007)

2007 was quite the year for politically charged movies. Hollywood dealt out their own liberal views on the war in the Middle East with films like In the Valley of Elah and Rendition. All three films received mixed reviews and raked in tepid box office revenue. The Kingdom followed suit using some of those same themes which isn´t surprising as screenwriter Matthew Carnahan also write Lions for Lambs. But, The Kingdom dials down the politics while upping the mayhem. It polishes up those hot-button topics with the glossy sheen that only a big-budget blockbuster can.

The film opens with a Cliff Notes quickie rundown history of the Saudi Arabia and its relationship with the U.S. Next, we're taken to a housing complex for oil company employees in the Saudi capital city of Riyadh. The residents are enjoying an afternoon softball game when two terrorists, wearing Saudi State Police uniforms, attack. They open fire on anyone and every house in their path drawing the real police. In the ensuing chaos, a suicide bomber, also in a stolen uniform, triggers an explosion killing himself and everyone in close proximity. However, these attacks are only the tip of the iceberg. The terrorists used these initial attacks to lure in first-responder teams and over a hundred people are killed in the following, and much larger, explosion. Among the victims was the FBI´s lead agent in Saudi Arabia, Special Agent Francis Manner (Kyle Chandler).

Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) has the unenviable task of bringing the terrorists to justice for the death of his friend and the others killed. He finds his hands tied as the Saudi royal family is reluctant to allow an FBI team into the country. They do not want to seem dependent on the Americans nor do they want more killed on their soil. The U.S. State Department is in agreement and refuses to authorize Fleury´s requests. Fleury turns to some back-room chicanery and blackmail to get the Saudis to open up the doors. He´s immediately on his way to Riyadh with an investigation team that consists of Special Agents Janet Mayes (Jennifer Garner), Adam Leavitt (Jason Bateman), and explosives expert Grant Sykes (Chris Cooper).

Once arriving in Riyadh, they find their investigation hindered by the Saudis. Fleury and company are no more than observers. They watch as the Saudi officials unknowingly contaminate the crime scene and overlook vital evidence. They are forced to live and sleep in a gym under lock and key. They are dogged at every step by Col. Faris Al-Ghazi (Ashraf Barhom), the head of security at the complex who has been relegated to babysitter for the Americans. Even the U.S. Embassy, in the form of Deputy Chief of Mission Damon Schmidt (Jeremy Piven), wants them on a plane and back home as quickly as possible. Fed up, Fleury does some more wheeling and dealing and the Saudi royals give him the green light to take over the investigation.

It´s at this point that the story finally kicks in as the film becomes "CSI: Saudi Arabia." While many reviews felt that these scenes were tedious, I disagree. I thought it was interesting seeing the FBI agents work the crime scene within the strict confines of Saudi laws and culture. In one scene, Agent Mayes upsets a pair of Saudi officers while trying to simply lift a corpse´s fingerprints. She is not allowed to touch the dead body of a Muslim. It´s disappointing that the procedural aspects give way to bullet-riddled action spectacle. The final third section of the picture features the heroes engaging in a harrowing gun battle with the perpetrators. It´s a shame that the filmmakers decided that the bad guys would be brought down at the end of a gun barrel rather than through detective work. I will say that the climactic action sequences are incredibly well-done, especially the final showdown. Director Peter Berg has proven he pull off stylish action following his work on the incredibly fun, The Rundown. Here, he brings that same flair to The Kingdom and it´s in line with the work of producer Michael Mann. Unfortunately, Berg tends to rely on shaky handheld shots, a technique which is has become a tiresome trend. What would be is to keep the camera steady and let us actually see what´s happening without getting a migraine.

The cast is strong, but their acting isn´t anything special. Foxx brings the same macho, tough-guy act he brought to Miami Vice and Garner is basically Sydney Bristow-lite. Cooper has some good scenes with a country fried good ol´ boy act that would do Tommy Lee Jones proud. Bateman tends to be a bit grating with his constant one-liners while Piven simply shows up and does his Ari Gold shtick. Really, the best performances come not from the headliners, but from two relatively unknown Palestinian actors, Barhom as Col. Al-Ghazi, and Ali Suliman as Sgt. Haytham. Filling out the supporting cast are Danny Huston (who pulls off an unconvincing Southern accent) as the attorney general, Frances Fisher as a reporter, Richard Jenkins as FBI Director Grace, along with cameos by Minka Kelly, Ashley Scott, and country singer Tim McGraw.

Many have labeled The Kingdom a jingoistic piece of cinema and it´s hard to disagree. Putting aside politics, the film is slipshod in its approach to storytelling. The first act of the film deals with political maneuvering; the middle act is a procedural investigation, while the final act takes the form of a slam-bang action movie. The film's zero-sum view on the war isn't as profound as it seems to think it is. The Kingdom does try to paint some Saudis in a positive light through a hackneyed friendship between Fleury and Al-Ghazi. At least, the filmmakers stopped short of having the two characters swap family photos. There´s nothing particularly special about The Kingdom that you should go out of your way to see it, but it´s worth a watch if you just want a flick to see while eating a tub of buttery popcorn.

Rating: ** ½ (*****)

Couples Retreat

Couples Retreat - Dir. Peter Billingsley (2009)

Couples Retreat seems to have the making of a decent movie: a stellar cast, beautiful locales, and a script co-written by the guys who did Swingers. Instead, it winds up being a crashing bore.

Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell are an anal-retentive couple of yuppies who are having marriage troubles due to their inability to have a child. They discover a high-class, tropical retreat and convince their friends to attend so they can get a cheaper group rate. Everyone thinks it will be an extended vacation, but the maître d', Sctanley (Peter Serafinowicz), with a silent C, insists they all must participate in therapy sessions. Vince Vaughn and Malin Akerman are in a seemingly happy marriage, but cracks begin to form during counseling. Jon Favreau and Kristin Davis are the jock and cheerleader, high school sweethearts who married too early. Both spend more time hitting on other people than with each other. Faizon Love is recently divorced and overcompensates by dating a much younger woman (Kali Hawk) he can't keep up with.

Couples Retreat could have been an interesting piece about how the twentysomethings from Swingers deal with being fortysomething and married. Instead, it's toothless comedy mass marketed and test audienced until it becomes an innocuously bland lump. The script was co-written by Favreau and Vaughn (along with Dana Fox, What Happens in Vegas), but it has none of the bite of Swingers or Made. Vaughn sleepwalks through the movie using his stale wiseacre act as he tosses unfunny quips right and left. Jean Reno is reduced to being guy with a funny accent as the island's New Age guru. The movie can't even manage to elicit a subdued chuckle with Ken Jeong and John Michael Higgins as officious therapists.

The film's biggest and showiest set piece involves Vaughn challenging Sctanley to a round of Guitar Hero. References to the game were already dated before the movie was even released. That comes after we've already seen Favreau pop a boner and try to coax a happy ending out of his masseuse. There's also a running gag with Vaughn's son obliviously taking a dump in the show toilet of an IKEA. Yes, jokes about poop and masturbation and not even good ones to boot.

Shot on location in Bora Bora, Couples Retreat likely attracted an A-list cast who were mainly interested in getting a paid vacation. Outside of Kristin Davis in a bikini, there's nothing worthwhile to be found. The best thing I can say about the movie is that it was directed by Ralphie from A Christmas Story.

Rating: *

Up in the Air

Up in the Air - Dir. Jason Reitman (2009)


”To know me is to fly with me.”

Up in the Air finds itself soaring onto numerous year-end lists as one of the best films of 2009. Does the film deserve to maintain such high altitude? Will I stop using these lame airline puns? The answer to both is yes.

Based on the best-selling novel by Walter Kim, Jason Reitman and co-writer Sheldon Turner have transformed Kim’s skewed take on the corporate world into a low-key dramedy firmly entrenched in today’s economic climate. George Clooney is Ryan Bingham who fires people for a living. Contracted by a company based in Omaha, Bingham flies around the country firing employees when their boss is too chickenshit to it themselves. He never says the word, “fired,” though. Not even, “released,” “terminated,” or “let go.” He simply tells them their “position is no longer available.” As a part-time motivational speaker, Bingham feels he’s helping these people start a new page in their lives.

As for Bingham’s own life, he has no attachments. He rents a sparse, one bedroom apartment which he almost never occupies. He has two sisters that he hardly ever sees. No, his entire life is lived in VIP airport lounges, business class flights, and hotel suites. While in mid-flight, a stewardess asks him, ”Where do you live?”. Bingham answers simply, ”Here.” His main goal is to become one of only seven human beings on the planet to earn 10 million frequent flyer miles. On his travels, he meets Alex (Vera Farmiga) who shares his affinity for elite status. The pair bond over how sexy they find each others’ membership cards. Neither views their relationship as anything substantial, simply an escape.

Bingham’s blissful status quo is disrupted with the arrival of young upstart Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) who plans on making the impersonal even more impersonal. Natalie intends to implement teleconferencing technology in the termination process. Now, you can hire someone to fire your employees through a TV. Bingham is eventually coerced into taking Natalie on the road with him to see how everything is done. Natalie is given a new perspective once it’s given a human face while flabbergasted at Bingham’s cavalier attitude towards personal relationships.

As a modern day Cary Grant, Clooney excels at playing the charming cad with a gift for gab. That talent is display here in a muted fashion mixed with the same world weariness of Michael Clayton. Clooney’s performance truly draws you into the journey of the character, a journey that doesn’t end as you’d expect. Reitman wisely chooses to avoid the easy way out by avoiding a pat, sentimental ending. Instead, the third act climax takes a decidedly left turn, ending the film in an ambiguous manner reflecting the uncertainty of today. Reitman adds an extra layer of resonance by casting real people who have lost their jobs as Bingham’s victims.

As a filmmaker, Jason Reitman has already won me over with his first two films, Thank You For Smoking and Juno. However, Up in the Air is his finest film yet and firm evidence of an assured writer/director whose talents have fully matured.

Rating: ****

Extract

Extract - Dir. Mike Judge (2009)

Writer/Director Mike Judge returns to the workplace comedy with Extract released to theaters in time for Labor Day. The creator of Beavis & Butthead had a cult hit with Office Space and Extract acts as a nice bookend. Where Office Space centered around cubicle dwellers and their soul-crushing dealings with white collar middle management, Extract is firmly planted in the blue collar world of manual labor as seen from the perspective of the boss.

Jason Bateman stars as Joel Reynold (no ‘s’), owner of Reynold’s Extract, a bottling plant that manufactures flavoring extracts. Much like Arrested Development, Bateman is once again the lone beacon of sanity immersed in a sea of stupidity, selfishness, and absurdity. Joel’s right-hand man is Brian (played to an understated tee by J.K. Simmons) can’t be bothered to learn anyone’s names and calls everyone, “Dinkus.” There’s the meathead forklift driver Rory (TJ Miller who played a similarly dim character in Cloverfield) who hands out flyers every day for his two-bit metal band. And there is a pair of hairnet wearing gossipers who blame everybody else for their own laziness. A confluence of idiocy leads to a Rube Goldberg-esque series of accidents to causes good ol’ boy Step (Clifton Collins Jr.) losing a testicle. On the verge of a lucrative buyout from General Mills, the accident is the last thing Joel wants to deal with. He’s also sexually frustrated by an apathetic wife (Kristen Wiig) whose drawstring sweatpants may as well be a chastity belt.

Along comes a beautiful, new temp, Cindy (Mila Kunis), who surprisingly takes a keen interest in learning more about flavor extracts. Unbeknownst to anyone else, Cindy is a con artist and convinces Step to sue the company so she can bilk him of the payoff. Joel’s bartender friend, Dean (a long-haired & bearded Ben Affleck) somehow convinces him to hire a gigolo to do his wife thus leaving Joel free and clear to have his own affair. The gigolo, Brad (Dustin Mulligan), is a blond and tanned surfer looking kid who might be the dumbest character in a cast full of morons.

The performances of said cast are good all around with one of the best being, Clifton Collins Jr., who is suddenly in every picture this year. He played a Romulan henchman in Star Trek, a sweet-natured one-armed store clerk in Sunshine Cleaning, and an over-the-top Latino mobster in Crank 2: High Voltage. As Step, Collins defines trailer trash with his greasy mustache, mullet, and trucker cap. I’ve always had a hard time taking Ben Affleck seriously in a dramatic role. He’s far more adept at these comedic supporting roles. Also watch out for rock star Gene Simmons as a loudmouth, ambulance chasing lawyer with a serious case of helmet hair. Meanwhile, Bateman winds up playing basically the same character as he has since his comeback. Kristen Wiig who has stolen scenes with only one or two lines (see Knocked Up or Ghost Town) isn’t quite as memorable despite her more substantial role.

Extract will inevitably be compared to Office Space and it stands in the shadow of its predecessor. Extract doesn’t offer up the same wit and insight as Office Space. While Judge has written some funny dialogue here, you won’t find any of the instantly quotable lines of Office Space. The comedy in Extract ranges from subtle to broad to pretty lowbrow, such as an extended scene where Bateman tries to smoke out of an extra-large bong.

Rating: ** ½

State of Play

State of Play - Dir. Kevin Macdonald (2009)

Just like Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, State of Play was based on a BBC mini-series. Having not seen the origin British production, I can’t speculate as to how the American remake matches up to it. I will say that State of Play is a perfectly acceptable thriller that tries to evoke the themes of 70’s classics such as All the President’s Men with a hint of The Parallax View.

State of Play begins with a young African-American male with a history of drug problems and felonies being murdered in an alley late at night. The police probably would have let this one fade away if not for a bicyclist witnessing the shooting and also being killed. Cal McCaffrey (Russell Crowe) is the veteran reporter assigned to the case by the Washington Globe and his tough-as-nails editor Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren). That very morning, Sonia Baker (Maria Thayer), the beautiful aide to Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) is killed in a supposed accident on a subway platform. Collins is a rising star in political circles as he heads an investigative committee looking into the inner workings of PointCorp, a private security firm and obvious stand-in for Blackwater. Young and handsome, he’s the type of TV-friendly politico that John F. Kennedy Jr. may have been if not for his premature death. Alas, Collins is more John Edwards than John John as it comes out he was having an affair with Baker. Robin Wright Penn plays Collins’ dutiful wife, Anne, who reluctantly chooses to stand by her man for the big press conferences.

McCaffrey was once Collins’ roommate in college and it’s hinted at that he also had an affair with Anne years ago. Lynne wants to use McCaffrey’s relationship with the tarnished congressman to assist in the story being written up by the Globe’s online blogger, Della Frye (Rachel McAdams). McCaffrey and Frye begin working together in an adversarial capacity. The elder journalist feels she is a glorified gossip monger and can’t stand that she has a high-tech laptop and doesn’t seem to own a pen. Eventually she takes on a mentor role and teaches her to get out from behind a desk and use old-fashioned legwork to get the scoop.

Though the film takes a uniquely American point-of-view to the proceedings, it is the Scottish Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) who helms the picture. Macdonald is backed up by a script written up by a team of crackerjack screenwriters all of whom are well-equipped to handle these ripped-from-the-headlines, twisty turny story. Among those who contributed to the script include Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom, Lions For Lambs), Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton), Billy Ray (Breach, Shattered Glass), plus an uncredited rewrite from Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon). They manage to find some balance between the wealth of characters and subplots. There are a few bumps in the road that may take you by surprise and a few you can see coming. Perhaps, the weakest point in the film is the third act resolution which tries to fit in a few too many twists while wrapping all the dangling plotlines far too neatly.

The political scandals may make up the meat of the story, but the underlying themes of print versus online media are a far more fascinating aspect to State of Play. The clash between the old-school and the new-school. Further on point is the added effect of the economic slump to the financial viability of the newspaper. My local paper, the San Diego Union-Tribune, recently laid off just under 200 workers following similar layoffs last year. Filmmakers added an extra layer of resonance as we watch the latest headlines move through the massive printing press on its way to the public. If only there were a lame-legged newsie hawking copies on the local street corner, shouting ”Extry, extry.”

During early development, Brad Pitt and Edward Norton were attached to the roles of McCaffrey and Collins, respectively. We may not have gotten a Fight Club reunion, but Russell Crowe is more believable as the weary, slovenly McCaffrey than Pitt. It’s not a surprising role for Crowe following similar ones in American Gangster and Body of Lies. Affleck has the good looks for Collins, yet lacks the range of Norton to bring the character truly to life. Some of his line readings are flat. The best performances out of the A-list ensemble belong to supporting players Jason Bateman as a sleazy, drug-addled PR man and Jeff Daniels as an oily elder statesman.

State of Play isn’t the ingenious thriller the cast and crew had hoped it would be. It is, however, a popcorn film for those seeking something deeper than expensive CGI and loud explosions.

Rating: ***

Smokin' Aces

Smokin' Aces - Dir. Joe Carnahan (2007)


Is it possible for a movie to have a ton of stuff happening, but have nothing happen at all? Sure, that movie is called Smokin’ Aces, a tangled web of uninteresting plotlines and anarchic filmmaking. The film is like It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World filtered through the eyes of Quentin Tarantino, then filtered again through the lens of Guy Ritchie. Not surprisingly, Joe Carnahan first emerged among the pack of indie filmmakers of the post-Tarantino era. His debut film Blood, Guts, Bullets, and Octane followed in the footsteps of Ritchie’s action/comedy Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Carnahan gained some instant credibility with the gritty crime drama, Narc, which won over Tom Cruise as a fan. Cruise would help Narc gain a wider release and hired Carnahan to direct Mission: Impossible III. The two had creative differences and Carnahan was later replaced by J.J. Abrams. Looking at Smokin’ Aces, it’s easy to see why Ethan Hunt gave Carnahan the boot.

The focal point of the story (such as it is) is a Vegas magician named Buddy “Aces” Israel (Jeremy Piven). Israel’s shows garner a strong following with the local mobsters and pretty soon he’s playing cops and robbers with the big boys. Things don’t work out and Israel is arrested, but promptly skips bail to hide out in a penthouse in Lake Tahoe. Seeing him as a liability, mob boss Primo Sparazza puts a million dollar bounty on the head of Israel. Soon, contract killers and assassins come out of the woodwork to take on the job. Accepting the job are Georgia Sykes (R&B singer Alicia Keys) and her lover Sharice Watters (Taraji P. Henson), master of disguise Lazlo Soot (Tommy Flanagan), the sadistic Pasqual Acosta (Nestor Carbonell), and the psychotic Tremor Brothers, Darwin (Chris Pine, the new Capt. Kirk), Jeeves (Kevin Durand), and Lester (Maury Sterling).

The FBI wants to get their hands on Israel, seeing him as a star witness to topple organized crime. Deputy Director Stanley Locke (Andy Garcia) puts agents Richard Messner (Ryan Reynolds) and his mentor Donald Carruthers (Ray Liotta) on the case. Not to be counted out are a trio of bail bondsmen Jack Dupree (Ben Affleck), Pete Deeks (Peter Berg), and Hollis Elmore (Martin Henderson) who also want to capture Israel. There are still a few other characters that I left out, but I can barely remember half of them. Thank goodness for my old friend Wikipedia.

The first half hour of the film is practically dedicated to exposition. We are methodically introduced to each character and whatever history they have. None of this backstory is particularly interesting or, at least, isn’t told to us in any sort of interesting way. We’re told the Tremor Brothers are neo-Nazi rednecks, but nothing they do or say is any indication that they are neo-Nazis or rednecks. They just dress oddly and carry around big guns and chainsaws. Carnahan seems to be tossing a bunch of goofy caricatures onto the screen to cover up his lack of writing skills. There’s a wacky kid with ADD who practices martial arts and speaks in gangster slang that shows up, if for no other reason than he’s a wacky kid with ADD who practices martial arts and speaks in gangster slang. The same goes for another scene where Bateman’s character wears women’s underwear. I don’t know who he’s supposed to be or what he’s adding to the story, but he’s wearing a bra and panties, so Ha ha ha.

Muddying up the proceedings even further is a subplot involving the cold case murder of an undercover FBI agent. First, the heavy-handed resolution of this B-story can be seen coming from a mile away. Secondly, it feels like something from a different film. In all honesty, I might have enjoyed the film if Carnahan went straight for the jugular and made this an orgy of carnage, bullets, and bloodshed. I could have been happy to check my brain at the door for a battle royal between hitmen and scumbags. Instead, we get this pseudo-FBI thriller/mystery element thrown in to add even more exposition than needed.

I’m shocked that such a hackneyed script was able to acquire such an amazing cast including an unrecognizable Matthew Fox. I’m even more taken aback that Carnahan does absolutely nothing interesting with any of them. Having far too many characters leaves little room for the them to breathe and develop. Not that Carnahan is very interested in that sort of thing, prefering anarchic mayhem and bad jokes.

I’m a big fan of Piven and not just as Ari Gold. I always thought he stood out in the supporting roles he’s played in films like Grosse Pointe Blank and Old School. As Buddy Israel, Piven isn’t so much a humorous character as a man who degenerates both physically and emotionally. However, I couldn’t help but think he could have done more. Reynolds who can display a great, cheeky humor doesn’t get the chance to do any of that here. Andy Garcia is another of fantastic actor wasted in a nothing part as he just sleepwalks through his role. About the one who’s a little more interesting, as an actor and character, is the debuting Alicia Keys as hitwoman Georgia Sykes. She and Tarija Henson add a tough feminine touch to the otherwise testosterone heavy production. It’s too bad they didn’t get meatier scenes. It also doesn’t hurt that Keys looks great in fishnet stockings and thigh-high leather boots.

Smokin’ Aces is about a decade too late to join up with the other Reservoir Dogs, Lock, Stock knockoffs. The film isn’t nearly as hip and cool as it makes out to be.

Rating: * 1/2

Hancock

Hancock - Dir. Peter Berg (2008)


Once upon a time there was a script called Tonight, He Comes and it was hailed as one of the best screenplays ever written that had yet to be produced. The script was a serious drama about a lonely superhero that falls for an ordinary housewife. What the Hell happened to it? The story passed through the hands of several directors including Michael Mann, Tony Scott, and Jonathan Mostow. It must have passed through even more hands for us to receive this diluted, hodgepodge of missed opportunities and wasted potential. This poor attempt at a post-modern superhero film could have been the perfect antidote for the summer glut of comic book movies.

The movie makes an honest attempt to show the real world consequences of outrageous superheroic acts. Hancock abruptly stops a train and causes a massive accident. However, ten minutes later, he hurls a child high into the air, catches him, and the child walks off with some mental scarring, but no physical effects. As if, he wouldn't have broken nearly every bone in his body. The acting is fair. Will Smith is his usual affable self and it’s hard to hate the former Fresh Prince of Bel Air even when he’s trying hard to be an asshole. The same goes for Jason Bateman who plays basically the same character (the put-upon straight man) he did in Arrested Development. Charlize Theron is wasted in her tiny role as Bateman's wife.

The film switches from lowbrow comedy to a darker drama, but the two halves never mesh properly. The problem lies in shoving the genre conventions of a superhero movie into a picture that isn't supposed to be a superhero movie. The ending is anti-climatic and the third act revelation is contrived and nonsensical.

Rating: * 1/2

The Kingdom

The Kingdom - Dir. Peter Berg (2007)

Typical big-budget Hollywood fare masquerading as something more profound than it really is.

Pessimistic, zero-sum view on Iraq is no startling revelation.

An action-packed 3rd act makes this a mild recommendation.