Review – The Goodbye Girl

If you’re a big fan of screen adaptations of romantic comedies from Broadway in the 70s, well, that’s kind of a specific taste to have. But by all means seek this out. Personally, I thought the dialogue was stiff and many of the plot twists so contrived that the whole thing became too artificial to enjoy. Even the premise – that due to some kind of real estate mix-up a single mom has to share her apartment with an obnoxious actor – is silly even by light comedy standards. I derive at least some pleasure from watching bad things happen to Richard Dreyfus, so the experience wasn’t a total loss. Still, this kind of thing really isn’t my cup of tea. See if desperate

Review – Hook

Though Peter Pan wasn’t one of my favorite tales from childhood, Barrie’s story itself has some charm. Add Steven Spielberg and the late-20th-century fascination with the “inner child” to the mix, however, and you get something a lot harder to take. Robin Williams stars as Peter Pan, grown up and become a mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer with neglected kids of his own. Though he’s forgotten Neverland, Neverland hasn’t forgotten him. In particular, Captain Hook is still out for revenge, kidnapping our hero’s children in order to draw him back into a final battle. Dustin Hoffman does an amusing job as Hook, adopting the mannerisms of William F. Buckley to give the character some smarmy creepiness. Aside from little touches like that, however, the movie is an extended sermon on the importance of discarding the trappings of adulthood and openly embracing playfulness and imagination. The message isn’t necessarily without merit, but the execution is so stiff and inept that it’s hard to embrace. Imagine a Terry Gilliam idea produced and directed by the monster studio budget and ego of Spielberg, and you’ve got some idea what you’re in for. See if desperate

Review – The Scarlet Pimpernel

As near as I can tell, this movie’s influence on subsequent productions is seen primarily in only two places: Daffy Duck and Bunny Wigglesworth. Otherwise this is a swashbuckler with almost no action sequences, an exceptionally dull creature to say the least. Further, even the underlying plot is hard to take. One wants to sympathize with efforts to save anyone from imminent death, but the fact that they’re French aristocrats fleeing justice during the French Revolution makes them hard to root for. Indeed, at one point one of the “victims” sagely observes that at least to an extent they’ve got it coming. Nonetheless, Leslie Howard (as the dashing Scarlet Pimpernel and his foppish alter-ego) does his best for them. Hooray. Whatever. See if desperate

Review – United 93

It must have taken some guts to produce this movie. It’s the most un-Hollywood air disaster movie I’ve ever seen. There are no big-name stars; most of the actors appear to have been chosen based on physical resemblance to the real people they portray. But more than that, the whole production is designed to give the viewer a fly-on-the-wall view, relying on the inherent drama of unfolding events rather than traditional movie theatrics. The result is a powerful portrayal of the death of Flight 93 (not to mention the rest of the events of Sept. 11 leading up to the crash). Worth seeing

Review – Grey Gardens

The Maysles brothers made a whole career out of taking cameras where cameras usually didn’t go, but this is one of the weirdest places they ever shot a documentary. Apparently Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onasis had a vaguely dotty aunt and seriously crazy cousin living in a decaying mansion in the Hamptons. As an intimate portrait of the mentally ill, this isn’t the worst production I’ve ever seen (though Titticut Follies was better). However, it’s hard to watch for a couple of reasons. First, the two women seem unhappy. Their house looks comfortable enough (however dilapidated). Their lives are simple and quiet. And yet they’re constantly at each other, their proximity apparently making them even crazier than they might otherwise have been. The second –and more serious – source of discomfort is how swiftly the joke gets old. By midway through the film had become so tedious that it’s downright hard to watch. Overall, then, this is one of the most depressing movies I’ve ever seen. See if desperate

Review – The Wild

I’m sure a Disney-fication of Madagascar was necessary for some reason. Yes, the animation is better. The animals look a lot more realistic. The actors supplying the voices are more up-scale as well. And of course there’s the parent-child death and/or suffering trauma we’ve all come to know and love in productions from the Holy Rodent Empire. Trouble is, it just doesn’t work. While the Dreamworks version was cute in a cartoony sort of way, the realism of the animals in this go-around actually makes them less sympathetic when they behave like dumb cartoon characters. The pacing is almost constantly off, the dialogue is stiff, and the characters’ motivations are often vague. But the real killer is the flatness of the humor. Plot points that were no doubt intended to be clever and quirky instead come across as odd and awkward. Final thought: this isn’t the first movie I’ve disliked despite Eddie Izzard’s presence in the supporting cast, but this is the first time I’ve ever disliked the character Izzard was playing. See if desperate

Review – Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Although I’ve hated almost every previous Wallace and Gromit outing I’ve ever seen, oddly enough I kinda liked this one. It’s still nowhere near as good as Nick Park’s “Creature Comforts” work, but it packs at least a little charm nonetheless. The plot is pure kiddie corn, and even the effective sight gags are more than a little stupid. Still, it’s cute enough to be endearing. It would have been cuter still if the clever little clay rabbits hadn’t been sculpted with pig noses. Mildly amusing