The Dilemma

The Dilemma - Dir. Ron Howard (2011)

The Dilemma stirred up some controversy over a scene in which Vince Vaughn's character derogatively referred to electric cars as "gay." The joke was poorly timed following a tragic spate of teen suicides and the ugly comments by an Arkansas school board member. In the end, the controversy disappeared quicker than the movie did. The Dilemma was released in the doldrums of January and vanished from theaters a month later.

Vaughn plays Ronny Valentine, a fast-talking businessman who runs a small automotive design firm with his best friend, Nick (Kevin James). They're about to land the biggest contract of their lives after successfully pitching Chrysler their idea for an energy efficient engine with the power and feel of a classic muscle car. Nick's struggle to actually pull off his novel invention isn't the dilemma of the film's title. The real dilemma comes when Ronny discovers Nick's wife, Geneva (Winona Ryder), is having an affair with a younger man (Channing Tatum). Obviously, Ronny can't tell his BFF because then there wouldn't be a movie. No, Ronny decides to follow Geneva around like an amateur detective looking to gather enough evidence to bust her.

The previews made The Dilemma out be a lighthearted comedy when that's only partially true. Much like another Vince Vaughn vehicle, The Break-Up, The Dilemma is an unbalanced mixture of wacky comedy and heavy-handed drama. The usually competent (if bland) Ron Howard seems like the wrong director to juggle the story's fracture tonal shifts. Vaughn does his usual wiseacre routine as his once sterling career continues on a downward trajectory. The sharp tongued Vaughn of Swingers and Old School fame has disappeared, chipped away after years of doing terrible pictures like Fred Claus, Four Christmases, and Couples Retreat. It would be a safe bet to guess the filmmakers were hoping to get Jon Favreau for the Kevin James role or at least try to capture some of that same chemistry. They don't as James is given little to do beyond being the typical schlubby guy.

Beyond the basic comedic trappings, the movie takes a few vain stabs at lowbrow, Apatow-esque humor with Queen Latifah's character. She delivers bawdy lines about "lady wood" and having sex with people's words and it all feels completely forced and unfunny. The Dilemma also veers into slapstick when Ronny attempts to confront Geneva's boytoy, who is known simply as Zip. The chaotic scene culminates in Ronny threatening to burn Zip's apartment building down with a makeshift flamethrower made from an aerosol can. As the loverboy, Tatum is surprisingly funny in lampooning his own meathead persona. You know your movie is in trouble when the best thing in it is Channing Tatum. Jennifer Connelly is also excellent as Ronny's girlfriend, Beth. She lends an additional layer of gravitas to every scene she's in and is way better than this movie deserves. It helps that she looks insanely gorgeous too. Never has a Chicago Cubs shirt looked better than it does on Jennifer Connelly. Perhaps, she did the role as payment for Howard and producer Brian Grazer for helping her net that Oscar for A Beautiful Mind.

Rating: * (*****)

9

9 - Dir. Shane Acker (2009)


9 was originally produced as a short film by writer/director Shane Acker while he was a student at UCLA. Acker earned himself an Oscar nomination in 2005 for Best Animated Short Film, quite the accomplishment. I’ve seen my share of student films and none of them come close to earning any sort of award. I should know, I’ve unleashed a few abominations to the horror of the miniscule audiences who could be bothered to see them. Anyways, Acker developed 9 into a feature-length film along with co-writer Pamela Pettler (The Corpse Bride) and filmmakers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov attached as producers.

As with many sci-fi films, the machines have revolted and wiped mankind off the face of the Earth. The only life left in the world is a small group of dolls, mechanical parts wrapped in burlap. They have no names, just numbers. The movie opens with the awakening of 9 (Elijah Wood) who wanders into the wasteland and meets the eccentric inventor 2 (Martin Landau). From there, 9 stumbles from one plot contrivance after another. 2 is captured by a mechanical monstrosity called the Beast. 9 is rescued by 2’s protégé, 5 (John C. Reilly), and eventually meets 1 (Christopher Plummer) their narrow-minded leader who is always protected by the massive 8. There’s also 7 (Jennifer Connelly), the Smurfette of the group. You know, the only one that is inexplicably female. She has left the fold to hunt down the Beast on her own.

9, 5 and 7 set out to rescue 2. 9 gets 2 killed and unleashes something worse, the machine that began the war against humanity. It creates other machines from scavenged junkyard parts to hunt down the protagonists.

The animation is simply gorgeous and suitably dark for something with Tim Burton’s name on it. Acker doesn’t go for the usual Mad Max post-apocalyptic landscape, instead he paints the world in the fashion of a bombed-out WWII Europe, the government eerily reminiscent of the Third Reich. Visually, 9 packs a powerful punch, but the story fails to follow suit. The plot is just too derivative of films like The Matrix and any other sci-fi where machines rebel against humanity. It fails to connect on an emotional level the way Pixar routinely seems to do.

9 isn’t the run-of-the-mill CG animated film that Hollywood peddles to family audiences like junk food. Rated PG-13, it’s a dark and somber picture. The animation is worth seeing alone even, but the story doesn’t stack up in comparison to a film like Wall-E.

Rating: **

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Day the Earth Stood Still - Dir. Scott Derrickson (2008)


I’m not entirely opposed to the idea of remakes. One of my favorite movies of all time, The Magnificent Seven, is a remake and I thought Jet Li’s Fist of Legend, a remake of Bruce Lee’s The Chinese Connection, was a better film than the original. If you are going to remake a film, then at least take your version in a different direction. I can’t think of anything more pointless than Gus Van Sant’s ill-advised shot-for-shot remake of Psycho. To many cinephiles, remaking classics such as Psycho is like treading on holy ground. Fox’s modern production of The Day the Earth Stood Still shows exactly what is wrong with the majority of remakes. It may have a bigger budget and better special effects, but it lacks the soul of the original.

While the original version was made at a time when the Cold War and nuclear armament was at its nascent point, the remake takes on more environmental themes. In both films, an alien named Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) lands his spaceship in the middle of Central Park. He’s accompanied to Earth by a massive robot named Gort, who looks remarkably like the Justice League Unlimited version of Amazo. No sooner does Klaatu set foot on Earth than he is shot and taken into custody by the U.S. government. He escapes from a military hospital with help from a micro-biologist named Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly). He befriends Benson and her step-son, Jacob (Jaden Smith), revealing that his plan to save the Earth involves wiping out all of humanity.

The casting of Keanu Reeves as the alien visitor is actually an inspired choice. Reeves’ wooden, monotone performance is perfect for the role. Michael Rennie’s Klaatu was warm, intelligent, and shown to be more human than the very humans he met. Reeves’ Klaatu is cold and detached. Not that I blame him, nearly everyone he meets is an idiot. The government and the military have a shoot first, don’t bother to ask questions policy. However, there’s a difference between making the characters misguided and making them stupid beyond reason. This is where we come to Jacob played by Will Smith’s son, Jaden, who made his film debut with daddy in The Pursuit of Happyness. His performance here isn’t that terrible, but his character is so annoying that no matter what he does, you just want to smack him in the back of the head.

While the remake as gathered an impressive collection of actors for its supporting cast, they are completely wasted by the weak, preachy script. Jennifer Connelly practically sleepwalks through her role and while I enjoyed seeing Jon Hamm, Kyle Chandler, and Robert Knepper, I’d rather see them on their respective shows (Mad Men, Friday Night Lights, Prison Break). About the only scenes that come close to popping are the brief heart-to-heart conversations Klaatu has with James Hong (as a fellow alien) and John Cleese (as a Nobel-prize winning scientist).

Rating: * ½