The Skeleton Twins

The Skeleton Twins - Dir. Craig Johnson (2014)

Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig have proven themselves to be exceptional comedic talents. They've branched out since leaving Saturday Night Live and occasionally appear in a film together. Most notably were their scene-stealing turns as the managers of an amusement park in Greg Mottola's Adventureland. It shouldn't be surprising that an enterprising filmmaker would choose the pair to headline their picture. What might be surprising is that The Skeleton Twins isn't an uproarious comedy, but a somber mix of light and dark subject matter.

Wiig and Hader play estranged siblings Maggie and Milo Dean, who haven't spoken to each other in over ten years. Milo has moved to Los Angeles where he waits tables while trying to make it as an actor. Meanwhile, Maggie has remained in upstate New York where she works as a dental hygienist and is married to nice guy Lance (Luke Wilson). Both are repositories for all manner of emotional damage.

The Skeleton Twins opens with Maggie about to down a handful of pills. Her suicide attempt is postponed when she receives a call that Milo has been hospitalized after slitting his wrists. Milo reluctantly agrees to stay with Maggie and along the way we find out just how damaged these two are. Their father committed suicide when they were kids and their mother (Joanna Gleason) is no peach. She's a new age self-help guru who was too busy with an "insight retreat" to attend her own daughter's wedding. Maggie's seemingly blissful marriage isn't all it's cracked up to be. She's been secretly taking birth control pills in spite of Lance's desire to have children and she's been having an affair with her handsome scuba instructor (Boyd Holbrook). As for Milo, he resumes an obviously doomed relationship with a former high school teacher (Ty Burrell) with whom he had an affair when he was only 15.

The Skeleton Twins was directed by Craig Johnson, who also co-wrote the script with Mark Heyman, one of the writers for Black Swan. The movie has all the earmarks for an indie comedy, right down to Mark & Jay Duplass receiving executive producer credit. Johnson relies heavily on the murky imagery of water; a trope that should have been retired after The Graduate did it so well. Johnson never quite nails the nuances necessary to convey the themes of the story. As a result, many scenes are hindered by dialogue right on the nose though that didn't stop Johnson and Heyman from winning the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance.

Leave it to Hader and Wiig to elevate the material. The SNL alumni effortlessly portray the shorthand communication that comes from siblings due in no small part to their familiarity off-screen. Some of the movie's best moments are when the two are simply riffing with one another, such as when they goof around after sniffing nitrous oxide or dress in drag for Halloween. Hader and Wiig also make the most of the clichéd bonding session over a kitschy pop tune. In this instance, it's Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now," which goes from insipid to inspired thanks to Hader's energy in contrast to Wiig's deadpan facial expressions.

Wiig and Hader aren't the only winning cast members. Kudos go to a wonderfully understated Ty Burrell and Luke Wilson, who brings all the earnest charm you've come to expect from the Wilson clan.

The Skeleton Twins isn't an altogether successful film, but the engaging performances by Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader are well worth a look. The protagonists find just the right mix of pathos and humor.

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

Morning Glory

Morning Glory - Dir. Roger Michell (2010)

In the vein of Broadcast News comes Morning Glory, a slick and breezy comedy from director Roger Michell (Notting Hill), producer JJ Abrams (Lost, Star Trek), and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, who previously turned her attention to the world of fashion with The Devil Wears Prada.

Rachel McAdams plays the plucky heroine in Becky Fuller, a news producer for the morning talk show, Good Morning, New Jersey. We're introduced to her during a dinner date in the middle of the afternoon (her work day starts at 1:30AM) and she spends most of her time trying not to answer her Blackberry. She's not the typical Type-A personality of rom-com trappings, but she's a workaholic. Despite her best efforts, Becky is laid off due to budget cuts. Her mom lectures her about finally getting a real job, despite the fact that Becky has only been unemployed for like 2 hours.

After a dizzying montage of phone calls, Becky moves to the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple when she becomes the executive producer for Daybreak, which airs on the struggling IBS Network. I'm sure somebody knew what they were doing when they matched the initials to Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Anyways, Daybreak is dead last in the ratings and it's up to the perennially perky Becky to turn things around. Her first order of business is firing the show's overly tanned co-anchor (a criminally underused Ty Burrell) due to his creepy foot fetish.

Becky finds a replacement in veteran newsman, Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford), who is currently content to sit at home and collect fat paychecks until his contract expires. Becky forces him onto Daybreak due to a loophole in legal mumbo jumbo. Pomeroy used to be IBS's Dan Rather, covering wars and interviewing heads of state, and he isn't about to do stories on baby chicks. He also refuses to say the word, "fluffy." Becky is run ragged as she deals with Pomeroy's uncontrollable ego, plummeting ratings, and a budding romance with another IBS producer (Patrick Wilson).

Diane Keaton co-stars as Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton), a former Miss Arizona whose own ego struggles for dominance over Pomeroy's. Morning Glory also features Jeff Goldblum as Becky's boss and cameos from 50 Cent and reporters Morley Safer and Bob Schieffer.

Much like the morning programs it pokes fun at; the movie is light with a tart, saccharine flavor. It's brightly colored and slickly shot picture that never digs deeper beyond the superficial. The romantic subplot is trite with the usual second act complication shoehorned in so the couple can split then make up during the final act.

Rachel McAdams is effervescent as Becky Fuller. She's one of the film's bright spots and is engaging enough to keep you somewhat interested in the stale narrative. Becky is a dash of Mary Tyler Moore and there are parallels to Marlo Thomas with McAdams running through New York City in slow motion as flocks of pigeons fly about her. But, McAdams is never given the material to grow beyond being a sitcom creation. It's also odd that Becky would cite Pomeroy as an inspiration, yet become so preoccupied with ratings and inconsequential puff pieces. I will give kudos to Roger Michell for throwing in a very nice butt shot of McAdams.

Harrison Ford is funny in a one-note performance as the crotchety curmudgeon, but, for a famed journalist, he barely registers above laconic when he's delivering serious news. Diane Keaton doesn't get much to do other than play Ford's foil and try to dance with 50 Cent. Ty Burrell is utterly wasted. He's only in about three scenes, but he's easily the best thing in the movie.

If you're looking for lightweight entertainment, you could do worse than Morning Glory. However, as a film set in the world of network news, it's hardly Network or even Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy.

Rating: **

Leaves of Grass

Leaves of Grass - Dir. Tim Blake Nelson (2010)

An actor playing his own twin is a tricky proposition. Some actors can't pull it off, for example Jean-Claude Van Damme in Double Impact. Some pull it off with flying colors, Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers and Nic Cage in Adaptation come to mind. Edward Norton is more than capable of playing dual roles, even if the film isn't on the level of his talents.

Norton stars as Bill Kincaid, a professor of classical philosophy at Brown. He's a well-respected scholar and has an offer to head up his own department at Harvard. Bill's life takes a severe left turn when he receives word that his twin brother, Brady (also Norton), was murdered. Shot by a crossbow to be exact. Bill is actually from a Podunk town in Oklahoma called Little Dixie. He considers his background and family rather embarrassing.

Arriving home for the first time in years, Bill is shocked to find Brady is still alive, his fake death a ruse to lure him back. He may not act like it, but Brady is just as smart as his more articulate brother. While Bill has devoted his life to academia, Brady has devoted his life to marijuana. He grows copious amounts of pot using a high-tech system of hydroponics he designed himself. He needs Bill to go around town pretending to be him to establish an alibi. Brady is off to Tulsa to meet with a crooked Jewish businessman named Tug Rothbaum (Richard Dreyfuss), who is owed a substantial sum for financing Brady's operation.

Writer/Director Tim Blake Nelson co-stars as Bolger, Brady's right-hand man. The cast also includes: Susan Sarandon as Bill's estranged mother, Melanie Lynskey as Brady's pregnant girlfriend, Modern Family's Ty Burrell as a Harvard administrator, and singer/songwriter Steve Earle as a rival drug dealer.

As the twin leads, Norton is very good. He's more or less himself as the intellectual Bill. As Brady, he's more a caricature than a real character, but no less entertaining. Norton affects a cartoonish southern drawl and a quicker speech tempo to define him.

The film's failings lie not with the actors, but with Nelson's script, which attempts to merge disparate elements into a dysfunctional narrative. Leaves of Grass starts off as something akin to a quirky indie movie crossed with a stoner comedy. The story unfolds in a laidback manner as Bill reconnects with his family and friends. He engages in a sweet romance with the bubbly Keri Russell as a high school teacher who quotes Walt Whitman and wrestles 50lbs. catfish. Their scenes are some of the best in the film. The second half of the picture veers into darker territory with the introduction of death and violence. The dramatic turn doesn't gel with the light-hearted moments that were previously seen.

It seemed as if Tim Blake Nelson (who starred in O Brother, Where Art Thou) was going for a Coen Brothers feel with the black humor and criminal subplots. A dash of Fargo and a sprinkling of Raising Arizona, I suppose. As a fanboy, I thought it was cool that Norton was reunited with two of his Incredible Hulk cast members, but there's not enough to the movie to earn it a recommendation. The drastic tonal shifts make Leaves of Grass an uneven blend without potency.

Rating: * ½

The Incredible Hulk

The Incredible Hulk - Dir. Louis Leterrier (2008)


The Incredible Hulk doesn’t hit it right out of the park as Iron Man did, but it’s a respectable triple. Whereas Ang Lee’s Hulk was more talky, less smashy, this new Hulk is more smashy, less talky. Ed Norton pulls double-duty for this latest adaptation of the Green Goliath. He’s pitch-perfect as Bruce Banner and, though he got hosed on a writing credit, his rewrite of Zak Penn's script is an excellent melding of action and drama, which utilizes elements from the classic TV series, Bruce Jones’ seminal run of the comic and the Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale miniseries, Hulk: Gray.

It’s a shame so much of the meat was plucked off the story's bones. It feels as if Marvel was a little too trigger happy in the editing room due to the backlash of the previous Hulk. Much has been made of the row between Norton and Marvel Studios over the final cut of the film. About twenty minutes of footage was trimmed from the movie in order to maintain a faster paced and more commercial cut at less than two hours. Scenes from the trailers such as Bruce’s one-on-one with Doc Samson and his trek to the Arctic (where we were supposedly to catch a glimpse of Captain America) are gone. You can definitely feel that there was something missing in the film, especially considering how thinly written characters like Blonsky and Betty Ross were written. Samson is relegated to little more than a cameo.

The Incredible Hulk certainly lacks the visual punch that Ang Lee brought to the previous film. The Hulk’s encounter with the army on campus doesn’t match up to the widescreen action of the Lee Hulk’s battle in the desert. The final fight between Hulk and Abomination isn’t too bad considering we're just watching two CGI cartoon characters punching each other.

I should stop picking apart the film as this was a damn, good time. As I said, Norton is fantastic in the lead role. He might not look as good in the part as Sam Elliot, but William Hurt equates himself well as Thunderbolt Ross, Marvel’s answer to Captain Ahab. Tim Roth is another great actor, but he doesn’t have much to do as Blonsky. There’s also just the right amount of humor sprinkled into the film. Liv Tyler isn’t the most nuanced actress around, but she’s best during those lighter moments, especially her scenes in New York City. Tim Blake Nelson probably puts in the most fun performance of anyone in the cast as Dr. Samuel Sterns. As any comic book fan worth his salt knows, he’ll return to plague the Hulk’s life as the cranially-enhanced supervillain, The Leader.

And that’s another element diehard fans will get a kick out of. The film packs in numerous Easter eggs and cameos (including a certain man of iron) for the geeks to squeal over. I spotted about 5 of them just in the opening credits. Stan Lee makes his obligatory appearance, but one that actually plays an integral part in the story. Lou Ferrigno is there and they even found a way to work the late-Bill Bixby into the movie.

If we could have just gotten Ang Lee to direct THIS version of the Hulk, that would have been a kickass comic book film. The Incredible Hulk doesn't have the innovative visual style of its predecessor, but it is a more faithful adaptation. Hulk isn't just a worthy follow-up to Iron Man, but it also continues to build the foundation for a shared Marvel universe to be brought to life on the big screen. It acknowledges the past while giving us a taste of the future where we'll find a star-spangled super-soldier and the phrase, "Avengers assemble!" becomes a distinct possibility. Let's just hope the behind-the-scenes tiffs aren't enough to drive Ed Norton away. I can't imagine a Hulk sequel or an Avengers pic without him as Bruce Banner.

Rating: *** ½