Movies

#140RVW

Totally over-the-top satire, subtle as shovel to face. But it’s funny. Would have enjoyed more if I saw it 14years ago when it came out…

What’s more:

Another day, another over-obvious satire. Oh well. At least this one is pretty good, even if it suffers from John Waters envy.

For her feature film debut, director Jamie Babbitt came up with the story based partly on articles she read and partly on observing her mother’s work at a drug treatment program for teens.  Changing the focus of these treatment camps to homosexuality is an inspired idea for a film, and would be much funnier if these places didn’t actually exist. The story was turned over to Brian Wayne Peterson, a writer/producer on the tv series Smallville, for his only film screenwriting credit to date.

The movie delights in being loud and blatant, freely acknowledging its inspirations from John Waters & Edward Scissorhands. It’s been done before, but that doesn’t mean the garish colors and sterile superficiality of the camp work any less well.

The only thing this really suffers from is time, since I’m seeing it for a first viewing nearly 15 years after release. I’ve seen better since, but it isn’t fair to knock a movie for that. It was a game changer for gay films at the time and deserves recognition.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: A (15 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

Main Cast	Natasha Lyonne Megan, Clea DuVall Graham, Michelle Williams Kimberly, Brandt Wille Jared
Rating	R
Release Date	Thu 16 Nov 2000 UTC
Director	Jamie Babbit
Genres	Comedy, Drama
Plot	A naive teenager is sent to rehab camp when her straitlaced parents and friends suspect her of being a lesbian.
Poster
Runtime	85
Tagline	A Comedy Of Sexual Disorientation
Writers	Brian Wayne Peterson (screenplay), Jamie Babbit (story)
Year	1999

#140RVW

Odd little indie movie within a movie. Felt like a student film. I think it must have been a vanity project. Kept waiting for it to start…

What’s more:

I stumbled upon this and gave it a shot. It would have made a boring one hour tv show. At 90 minutes I was damn near asleep.

There’s nothing wrong with quirky little love stories. This wasn’t one, though. It wasn’t quirky and there was no real love. This just felt like a film student’s first project unexpectedly got financing and populated with real actors.

The casting is near perfect, which is another backhanded compliment. Jay Baruchel & Alexis Bleidel are given nothing to work with but that’s ok, as that’s more or less what they bring with them. It’s like a deadpan delivery contest. I’ve liked each of them separately in other projects before, but putting them together is a non-starter.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: C (6 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

Main Cast	Jay Baruchel Reed Fish, Alexis Bledel Kate, Victor Rasuk Frank Cortez, Schuyler Fisk Jill
Rating	PG-13
Release Date	2006
Director	Zackary Adler
Genres	Comedy, Drama, Romance
Plot	Reed Fish’s life turns into chaos when a high school crush returns to Mud Meadows on the eve of his marriage to the small town’s sweetheart.
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Runtime	93
Tagline
Writers	Reed Fish (story), Reed Fish (written by) …
Year	2006

#140RVW

I don’t know what’s the bigger surprise: Hugh Grant being likable or the American Pie guys making a great movie. Great acting in this one…

What’s more:

Chose to review this one today to recognize the 20th anniversary of the death of Kurt Cobain. This is a bit of a stretch, as the film completely ignores the numerous Cobain references that were so prominent in the book. Author Nick Hornby titled his novel “About A Boy” after the Nirvana song “About A Girl” and had several plot points based off of the musician’s cultural influence. I get that they wanted to update the timeframe of the story to match the movie’s release date, but they really cut out a big piece of the book’s heart.

This movie may be notable partly because it was the first thing with Hugh Grant that wasn’t intolerable. (Caveat: I didn’t see Four Weddings and a Funeral until after seeing this, and that’s a great movie. Although, to be fair, it is also directly responsible for the crap movies that Grant made afterwards.)

Will Freeman (Grant) is a lazy, jobless, bird-dogging island of a man who inadvertently stumbles upon the world of single mothers as an untapped resource of future liaisons. He even invents a young son to gain entry into a single parent support group. This plan goes awry when Fiona (Toni Collette), one of the single parents, attempts suicide and Will finds himself shadowed by her teenage child Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), desperate to form a connection.

About A Boy was written for film by Peter Hedges and directors Chris & Paul Weitz, and received an Oscar nomination for the adapted screenplay. It’s a great adaptation and the writing is whip-smart.

The movie is so good because it isn’t afraid to show life as the messy, sometimes frustrating and never simple son of a bitch it is. There are no clean moments here, no easy relationships. That’s not to say that it’s depressing or anything, it’s just a very realistic depiction of life.

The music for the film by artist Badly Drawn Boy is quite good, with the poppy “Something to Talk About” a particular standout; you’ll know it, they play it about 30 times.

The acting is stellar. In addition to Grant’s career best performance, Rachel Weisz and especially Toni Collette are marvelous, and newcomer Nicholas Hoult in his film debut is captivating.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: C (6 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

Main Cast	Hugh Grant Will Freeman, Nicholas Hoult Marcus Brewer, Toni Collette Fiona Brewer, Sharon Small Christine
Rating	TV-14
Release Date	Fri 17 May 2002 UTC
Director	Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz
Genres	Comedy, Drama, Romance
Plot	Based on Nick Hornby’s best-selling novel, About A Boy is the story of a cynical, immature young man who is taught how to act like a grown-up by a little boy
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Runtime	101
Tagline	Growing up has nothing to do with age.
Writers	Nick Hornby (novel), Peter Hedges (screenplay) …
Year	2002

#140RVW

What a weird movie. I guess it’s a satire of the 2008 Democratic Primary, although I didn’t get that from it at the time. Too over the top.

What’s more:

The hardest type of comedy has to be satire. It’s so difficult to get the tone right, and if you miss you really faceplant.

Butter is the story of the over-ambitious wife of a award-winning butter sculptor (yes, apparently that’s a thing) who believes his success will propel them both to political careers. When he steps down from competing, she becomes obsessed with taking up the mantle. The only problem, besides her total lack of any experience, is her competition from both her husband’s stripper lover and a 10-year-old foster child who has a real talent.

Butter really isn’t a very good movie. The script is a total mess, with at least two storylines too many going on and more actors than it can reasonably keep busy. It may be comic, but I’m not sure it can properly be labelled satirical, since it’s unclear what exactly it’s satirizing. Yeah, there’s a political message here that all elections are essentially the same, but it doesn’t really hit the mark.

There’s far too many good actors in this for it to be so poor. And it isn’t awful or anything. The film mainly seems confused about what it wants to be. I find myself in the unique position of recommending that you avoid the movie even though I didn’t think it was all that bad. It just doesn’t really have anything to offer.

The acting is really the only reason to watch Butter, and I’m not talking about the big-name talent. Jennifer Garner really goes for the crazy ambitious wife role with both barrels, but I’ve always found her sort of a lifeless performer anyway, so this isn’t the transformation it’s probably supposed to be. Ty Burrell does his thing, Kristen Schaal is herself and Alicia Silverstone is practically unrecognizable as a frumpy mom. Olivia Wilde is nicely over the top as Brooke and Hugh Jackman is just weird.

No, the star of the show is Yara Shahidi as the talented Destiny. This young actress is splendid and her performance alone justifies the 90 minutes I spent watching this. She has some really nice scenes with Rob Corddry, who up until this point I could take or leave. But he is wonderfully understated in this movie as Destiny’s foster dad and the first person to really connect with the girl. His character’s gentle caring for this amazing young kid is truly an unexpected subtlety in a movie that doesn’t deal in the small moments.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

The Representation Test Score: A (11 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

Main Cast	Jennifer Garner Laura, Yara Shahidi Destiny, Ty Burrell Bob, Olivia Wilde Brooke
Rating	R
Release Date	Thu 18 Oct 2012 UTC
Director	Jim Field Smith
Genres	Comedy
Plot	In Iowa, an adopted girl discovers her talent for butter carving and finds herself pitted against an ambitious local woman in their town’s annual contest.
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Runtime	90
Tagline	A comedy about sex, power and spreading the wealth.
Writers	Jason A. Micallef (as Jason Micallef) (written by)
Year	2011