Who
Loves You, Baby? Not Him…
By Lisa Worsham
There must
be a good reason why movies like He’s Just Not That
Into You are made and even better reasons why they’re
released just before Valentine’s Day. How can any guy refuse
to take his lady to a movie about commitment phobia when he is—at
least in her eyes—in a committed relationship? It shouldn’t
be uncomfortable at all, right?
That’s where
you’re wrong. Everyone who sees this movie will have moments—maybe
even minutes—of being uncomfortable. I guess you can expect
only so much from a movie based on a line from a Sex and the City
episode turned into a book, but couldn’t we at least have
a few more laughs? This movie takes itself way too seriously.
It follows the lives
of a half-dozen twenty and thirty -something year-olds in Baltimore
(oh, yeah, that’s like the Paris of the West, right?) as
they navigate the choppy seas of human relationships. Ginnifer
Goodwin has the pivotal role of Gigi, an openhearted, naÔve
girl who thinks every guy is THE one. This pathetic woman cannot
stop herself from cyber-stalking every guy who doesn’t call
her after one date. She eventually resorts to real, physical stalking,
going to the latest date’s (Kevin Connolly) hangout after
a few days of no ringy-dingies. Luckily for Gigi, the womanizing
bar manager there (Justin Long) provides insight on the unwritten
code of dating and how a girl can know that he’s—wait
for it—just not that into you.
Jennifer Aniston is
Goodwin’s supposedly happily unmarried but cohabitating
coworker (We don’t need no stinking contract to prove our
love!). Ben Affleck plays her longtime live-in boyfriend. Their
relationship’s predictable fairy tale ending provides the
movie’s most saccharine moment. Executive producer Drew
Barrymore is another one of the singles, looking very drab, almost
bookish, with wardrobe and hair designed to make her fade into
the background. Guess she decided to lend her name and not her
good looks to this movie.
Throughout the movie,
director Ken Kwapis (License to Wed) incorporates documentary-style
vignettes of various “real life” singles whining about
the difficulty of interpreting the mixed signals given by both
genders. It’s distracting and doesn’t add anything
to a movie that could use some substance. It’s hard to categorize
this movie. Is it a chick flick or a date movie both people can
relate to? In the end, there are mostly happy, sappy endings.
Yeah, that’s life in the single lane, baby.
A Timely Tale
David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is
based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which is curious,
since the film clocks in at nearly three hours. I have not read
the story, but I'm sure there were departures.
Benjamin (Brad Pitt)
is born in New Orleans at the end of World War I, and dies sometime
before 2005. What makes his life a curious case is that he is
born looking old, and grows physically younger—though mentally
more mature—as he ages. His mother dies giving birth. His
horrified father abandons him on the steps of a home for the elderly,
run by a childless woman who unquestioningly takes him in. Benjamin
is raised in an atmosphere of unconditional love, among geriatric
companions who take his condition for granted.
In addition to the
highly bankable Pitt, Button co-stars Oscar laureate Cate Blanchett
as Daisy (also the name of Gatsby's sweetheart), a relative of
one of the residents who "grows up" with Benjamin as
her playmate. Their scenes together as children have an odd, vaguely
unsettling quality, though they are probably meant to expand the
viewer's notions of innocence.
The tale is told through
a diary kept by Benjamin and treasured by Daisy, who is dying
in a New Orleans hospital on the eve of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Daisy asks her daughter Caroline (Julia Ormond) to read it to
her, and the film unfolds with Benjamin as narrator. If you've
ever seen Forrest Gump, the narrative style will be familiar.
The films share the same screenwriter, Eric Roth.
There are other Gumpian
elements. Benjamin travels the world, working a boat with Captain
Mike (Jared Harris, the reincarnation of his dad Richard), fighting
in World War II, drinking deeply of life, and growing physically
more beautiful. He and Daisy finally "meet in the middle"
and consummate their love. Obviously, the age premise carries
a built-in doom factor for everlasting love, and things turn out
more or less as expected, with a little twist. The film has a
grazing, meditative quality, philosophizing here and there before
it drifts to a stop. Great makeup, top marks in acting, and Blanchett
has never looked more glamorous.
Bruce Collier
Gimme a “W”
Oliver Stone’s portrait of the now-ex-president, W., was
in and out of theaters so fast we couldn’t cover it in our
regular movie reviews. Now that the film—hated by liberals
for being too soft on Bushie and equally hated by conservatives
for being too hard on the guy—has been released on DVD,
it’s time to reconsider this (gasp!) fair and balanced portrait
of George W. Bush.
The two-hour running
time is a plus, given Stone’s earlier butt-numbing presidential
portrait, Nixon. Most of the major events in Bush II’s life
are covered thoughtfully, including his struggles with alcohol
and conversion to Christianity. The movie is bookended by scenes
leading up to the war in Iraq, an unfortunate legacy for a seemingly
goodhearted fellow who only longed for his father’s (James
Cromwell as the first President Bush) approval.
Josh Brolin’s
performance is a wonder, and the entire ensemble cast is great—Richard
Dreyfuss as Dick (“Vice”) Cheney and Toby Jones as
Karl Rove are particular dead ringers. For most of us, the real-life
Dubya won’t be missed, but it would be a shame if moviegoers
of whatever political leaning missed this excellent film.
Christopher Manson
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