No Strings Attached

Posted on May 10, 2011 at 8:18 am

This is another one of those romantic comedies where a bland couple has some trivial obstacles to overcome and you just wish they would get out of the way because their surrounding friends and family are much more interesting.

Mindy Kaling (“The Office”), Greta Gerwig (“Greenberg”), Chris “Ludacris” Bridges (“Back for the First Time”), Kevin Kline (“A Fish Called Wanda”), Lake Bell (“It’s Complicated”), and Jake M. Johnson (“Paper Heart”) and the characters they play are each far more deserving of a movie of their own than the dull couple played by Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher.

This seems to be a movie moment for stories about what Erica Jong used to call zipless , the fantasy of an experience that is physical perfection with no thinking or emotion involved at all. “Friends With Benefits” has an almost identical plot to this one and “Hall Pass,” and “Just Go With It” are among the films that focus on the premise of sex without any sort of romantic entanglements or consequences. This made for a pretty good “Seinfeld” episode but I’m not sure there is enough in that premise for even one movie, and this movie does not persuade me otherwise.

First we have to have a reason for both parties to avoid any relationship beyond the physical. It’s pretty weak on her part and pretty ugly on his. Kutcher plays a guy who has been hurt. His ex-girlfriend is sleeping with his father (Kevin Kline) a one-time television star with a taste for drugs and women, the emotional maturity of a two-year-old and the vocabulary of a Penthouse letter. Portman plays a doctor who is just too busy for relationship niceties. Ultimately, we find out there’s a little bit more to it, but it’s too dull to care about. In the meantime, our couple finds out that there’s no such thing as uncomplicated sex.

Um, duh.

Portman does what she can for her character despite her idiotic and inconsiderate behavior. Kutcher plays his usual lovable St. Bernard puppy self, the boyfriend so perfect he even makes a special mix CD for soothing menstrual cramps. But the resolution is so clear from the beginning and the contrast with the more engaging characters around them so clear that it feels like it keeps trying to lose us. Instead of making us care about the couple, it tries to win us over with crassly provocative behavior and language. This movie would be more accurately titled, “a salute to the overshare.” Unless you think it deserves saluting, skip it.

(more…)

Related Tags:

Comedy Romance

Half a Century of the ‘Vast Wasteland’

Posted on May 9, 2011 at 2:48 pm

Fifty years ago today, my dad, Newton Minow, the 35-year old Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, spoke to the National Association of Broadcasters. What he said was so ground-breaking and so resonant that it has been included in many collections of the best speeches of the 20th century. It has also been used as an LSAT question, a “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” answer, and, most memorably, as the inspiration for the name of the sinking ship on Gilligan’s Island.

Tonight, Dad will appear at the National Press Club with the current Chairman of the FCC, Julius Genachowski, to talk about the impact of the speech, the stunning revolution in media and technology over the past five decades, and what lies ahead. If you’re not able to come, you can watch “From Wasteland to Broadband” on C-SPAN.

Some tributes and commentaries on the anniversary:

Virginia Heffernan in the New York Times: Television’s Curse was Its Blessing

James Warren’s interview with Dad for the Chicago News Cooperative: Never Mind the ‘Vast Wasteland’ — Newton Minow Has More to Say

Bob Lerhman in Politico: Minow’s Whale of a Speech

Katie O’Brien on WBEZ: Is Television Still a Vast Wasteland?

James Fallows in The Atlantic: Worth Watching — Newton Minow 50 Years Later

Tony Mauro in Legal Times: 50 Years Later, Minow Reflects on ‘Vast Wasteland’ Speech

Jess Bravin in the Wall Street Journal: Vast Wasteland: Marking the 50th Anniversary

On the Media

KPCC

And my dad’s own views about the NAB conference and what happened afterward.

I am very, very proud of my wonderful parents, who have not only devoted their lives to healing the world, from the most individual, personal attention to the most monumental change (Dad helped to create and currently co-chairs the system of Presidential debates), but who set an example for my sisters and me of integrity, fairness, and dedication to family that will always inspire us to do better.

(more…)

Happy Mother’s Day!

Posted on May 8, 2011 at 11:08 am

I’ve written about my favorite moms on television and my favorite movie moms. But the best movie to share on Mother’s Day is the one your mother picks because she loves it. My best to all the mothers out there and all who love them.

Mao’s Last Dancer

Posted on May 7, 2011 at 5:45 pm

Director Bruce Beresford, best known for “Driving Miss Daisy,” returns to the themes of cross-cultural connections in this film based on the memoir of Chinese ballet star Li Cunxin.

Li (Chinese surnames appear first) was taken from his poor, rural family at age 11 to study ballet. Madame Mao had declared the arts to be a priority and officials were sent to the furthest reaches of the country to find children who could be trained. Li succeeds more through determination than passion or natural ability, and despite Madame Mao’s insistence on ballet performances based more on political messages than on art. His family (with the radiant Joan Chen as his mother) is very proud of his contribution to China.In 1979, in the early, fragile days of US-China diplomatic relations, Li is sent to spend some time as a guest trainee with the Houston ballet, led by Ben Stevenson (the always-superb Bruce Greenwood).

His English is poor. His understanding of anything other than what he has been told by the Chinese authorities is non-existent. The Americans’ ability to understand him is not much better. But there is the common language of dance. And there Li is so dazzling he is quickly given an opportunity to perform in a key role on stage. The audience loves him.Li does not want to go home. He becomes romantically involved with a tender-hearted young dancer. He appreciates the opportunity to perform without regard to the political content of the ballet. He consults a lawyer (a crafty Kyle MacLachlan). He takes a very big risk for himself and also for those who have befriended him.The film feels episodic and oddly understated and remote. That may be in part because the key role of Li is divided between three actors, Wen Bin Huang as a child, Chengwu Guo as a teenager, and Chi Cao as an adult. Or, it may be because Li the character is reserved by nature and training and something of a cipher. But like its title character, the movie comes alive in the ballet performances, which are well-staged and convey not only the creative energy of their own story-telling but the ultimate expression of the performers’ passion for their art.
(more…)

‘My Girl’ Grows Up — Anna Chlumksy in a New DC Satire

Posted on May 6, 2011 at 3:56 pm

Slate’s Jessica Grose has a terrific interview with the wonderful Anna Chlumsky, child star of the 1991 classic “My Girl.” Chlumsky took time away from acting to finish school and work as an editor before returning to star in this week’s Hallmark Channel movie Three Weeks, Three Kids and in the upcoming HBO series “VEEP,” from “In the Loop” writer/director Armando Iannucci. She will play the chief of staff to a U.S. Vice President (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). The interview is well worth reading — she is smart and funny and has some great stories. And I love her answer to the question about whether Iannucci’s view is that politics is futile:

I agree that there’s a sense of “nobody’s a hero,” so there’s a futility in that sense. Does it mean that it’s a bad thing? I don’t know. Is just is. VEEP is going to be like that. Nobody’s safe. I get so bored when this person’s bad and this person’s good. My first litmus test when I see a piece or read a piece is: Is someone feeding me answers or did I leave with questions? That’s for me the only way to make an excellent piece.

It’s good to have her back!

Three Weeks, Three Kids

Related Tags:

Actors Television