The Night Listener

Posted on August 2, 2006 at 3:06 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for language and some disquieting sexual content.
Profanity:	Some very strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol, drug reference
Violence/ Scariness:	References to abuse, tense confrontations, peril
Diversity Issues:	A strength of the movie is positive portrayal of gay characters
Date Released to Theaters:	2006
Date Released to DVD:	2006
Amazon.com ASIN:	B000J3FBDO

Armistad Maupin (Tales of the City) didn’t trust his own story in his adaptation of his novel inspired by something that happened to him. But what could have been a thoughtful psychological drama raising issues of identity and trust and the meaning of the stories we tell deteriorates into distracting melodrama. We spend too much time worrying about whether the main character will be arrested for breaking and entering and not enough understanding what is motivating him to want to.

Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams) mines his life for stories that he tells on the radio. He is feeling very vulnerable because the man he loves, Jess (Bobby Cannavale), has moved out. When his friend Ashe (Joe Morton) asks him to read a manuscript by Pete (Rory Culkin), a 14 year old boy who had been horribly abused by his parents, Noone is touched. He calls the boy, who is sick with AIDS and being cared for by Donna (Toni Collette), the social worker who adopted him. Gabriel becomes very devoted to Pete. But something does not seem right and Gabriel begins to wonder if Pete and Donna are telling the truth, if Pete even exists at all.

He flies out to see if he can find out the truth. This section of the film feels choppy and incomplete. The real life Maupin was mining may not have provided him with any clear answers. Movies don’t need clear answers; indeed, trying to tie things up too neatly with an “aha” moment is a common mistake. But movies do need answers that meet some standard of psychological validity and this movie is not murky; it’s flimsy.

Parents should know that this movie has explict references and some graphic images depicting the most severe child molestation, abuse, and pornography. There is some strong language, alcohol drinking, and drug references. There are tense and unhappy confrontations and characters are in some peril. A theme of the movie is betrayal, which may disturb some viewers. A strength of the movie is its positive portrayal of gay characters.

Families who see this movie should talk about why Noone wanted to believe Pete? How did what was going on between Noone and Jsss make Noone more vulnerable? What does Armistad Maupin (who wrote the book and movie baased on his own experiences) think about Donna? How can you tell? Families might want to learn more about the real story that inspired the book and movie and about similar literary hoaxes like James Frey’s highly embellished “autobiography” and the books by “J.T. Leroy”, who never really existed.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy Williams’ performances in Insomnia and One Hour Photo as well as his Oscar-winning performance in Good Will Hunting (all with mature material).

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Miami Vice

Posted on July 25, 2006 at 4:06 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexual content.
Profanity:	Very strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Characters are drug dealers, drinking, smoking
Violence/ Scariness:	Extremely intense and graphic peril and violence, characters wounded and killed
Diversity Issues:	A strength of the movie is its portrayal of strong and loyal relationships between diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	2006
Date Released to DVD:	2006
Amazon.com ASIN:	B000J4QWMC

The original “Miami Vice” was Michael Mann’s decade-defining television show. It ran from 1984-89 and everything about it was fresh, edgy, and influential. The t-shirt under the Armani jacket with photogenic beard stubble look, the best-selling techno-synth musical theme that won a Grammy, the pastel colors and quick cuts all became cultural touchstones and signifiers. The idea was inspired by a two-word memo from a network executive — “MTV cops” — and by a ruling that permitted the use of goods confiscated from criminals in other police-related work — thus, the cops who drove a Ferrari. It was cool. But that was then. Now, it’s just cold.

So when Mann adapted the television show with this new movie, he excised all of its signature elements, so permanently wedded to the 80’s. But he didn’t add anything to make it worth watching.

Mann’s movies are usually smart and stylish. They usually have a visceral, vital quality. Not this one. He gives us no reason to care about the characters or the story. There’s not even any special sense of place; it could just as easily be called “Generic Canadian City Vice.”

Jamie Foxx replaces Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs and Colin Farrell fills in for Don Johnson as James “Sonny” Crockett. They are brought in after the feds have failed in an undercover investigation of a drug dealer. After a brief interlude permitting Tubbs and his girlfriend (the wonderful Naomie Harris from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest) to get soapy in the shower, they get hired as deliverymen. Then they get caught up — personally and professionally — in the organization, which is (yawn) much larger and more far-reaching than they anticipated.

They have to prove themselves. Crockett gets involved with the drug operation’s CFO, Isabella (Gong Li), who dresses like an investment banker. But, like Melanie Grffith in “Working Girl,” she has a head for business and a bod for sin, and pretty soon she and Crockett are getting soapy in the shower.

The drug kingpin’s latest recruits have to prove themselves and work their way up the organization. The plot, however, mostly consists of bang bang bang, even the shoot-outs and explosions are not well-staged and the pacing is a slog. It seemed to take forever to load the darn drugs onto the darn boat. Foxx and Harris manage a little sizzle, but there is no chemistry of any kind between Foxx and Farrell or Farrell and Li. One reason is that Foxx and Farrell sport hairdos that all but emit chemistry repellent. The colors are dull. The pacing is dull. How long do we have to watch drugs being loaded onto a boat? Even the music is dull, as generic as a third-rate cover band. Even the preposterous ending is dull.

The dialogue is dull, too, all faux-tough, keeping-it-real we-can’t-trust-anyone-but-each-other-because-we’ve-shared-unspeakable-reality-and-know-things-the-rest-of-those-corrupt-and-incompetents-don’t malarky. It all sounds like something written by a computer tuned into the Spike channel. The only point in its favor is that there could be quite an active drinking game if viewers took a shot every time someone in the movie says something like, “Here’s how it’s going to be” or “Here’s how it’s going to happen.” It would have the advantage of both providing a more interesting distraction than the movie and rendering participants less concerned about the two hours and ten minute running time, the only theft in this movie anyone will care about.

Parents should know that this is a “hard-R” movie with extremely intense and graphic violence, including heavy artillary, a lot of blood splatter, and suicide. Characters are injured and killed. Characters are drug dealers and undercover cops who try to stop them. Characters drink and smoke (scenes in clubs) and use strong language. There are explicit sexual references and situations. A strength of the movie is the positive portrayal of inter-racial relationships, but some may find the South American drug dealers to be stereotyped.

Families who enjoy this film will also enjoy the original television show and Mann’s other movies, including Hannibal Lecter’s first appearance in Manhunter and Will Smith’s brilliant performance in Ali. Mann’s last film, also featuring Foxx, is the much better Collateral.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend

Posted on July 19, 2006 at 4:09 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for sexual content, crude humor, language and brief nudity.
Profanity:	Some repeated crude language for comic effect
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Social drinking
Violence/ Scariness:	Action-style violence
Diversity Issues:	Some homophobic and sexist humor
Date Released to Theaters:	2006
Date Released to DVD:	2006
Amazon.com ASIN:	B000J4QW8Q

Even with a face contorted with rage and vengeance and a voice echoing through the streets of New York as well as the theater, it’s difficult not to like Uma Thurman as the needy, controlling and manipulative Jenny Johnson/G-girl. The odd sensation of not disliking someone that, well, dislikable seems to stem from the movie’s greatest asset: its understanding that evil can be a misguided outlet of the chronically insecure.

As she tells her story to Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson) – our good-natured protagonist with the requisite New York apartment, reluctance to believe beautiful women might dig him and sex-obsessed, super-vocal best friend – we are introduced to a Jenny Johnson who only wants to be liked and accepted. An outcast in high school, Jenny and her best friend, a schoolmate named Barry, are fooling around in a car when Jenny hears something. Rushing to the site, Jenny and Barry discover a meteor that explodes violently when Jenny touches it, thereafter imparting her with the super powers that turn her into G-girl, an indestructible protector of Gotham and savior to the seriously put-out.

In her story, Jenny becomes more confident at school, and blossoms with her new-found poise. She claims that she and her friend Barry simply grew apart. What we see, however, is a best friend left behind to fend for himself, which explains why in adulthood, Barry has become Professor Bedlam, G-girl’s arch-nemesis played by Eddie Izzard. The catch is that G-girl’s saving grace in high school has become her burden in the real world – her super power secret seems to have kept her from getting truly close to anyone and when she finds Saunders, she’s so hungry for human affection and acceptance that she fumbles and foils her way through a whirlwind relationship that quickly sours as Saunders realizes he can’t handle her neediness and that he is, in fact, in love with a coworker. The main plot of the movie takes us through Saunders’ relationship and breakup with G-girl.

So now you see the problem. We have a needy, whining, guilt-tripping girlfriend with a rage problem, and a weasel-ly, conniving evildoer for a nemesis, and we can’t help but try to collect our melting hearts while wishing both of them the best. (The best, in the form of a “happily-ever-after-ending,” does come, by the way.) Add to this pair our “everyman” Saunders, a role custom-made for likeability and played very well by Luke Wilson, and the raunchy best friend who dishes out bad advice aplenty with comic irreverence, played by Rainn Wilson of television’s The Office fame, and we have a movie with characters you like being allowed to like (despite their imperfections).

Parents should know that although the film is sweet and somewhat cheesy, it contains very adult-targeted sexual references and humor, including brief scenes with implied sex but little nudity, as well as direct references to masturbation and oral sex. The characters have sex without knowing each other well or establishing a caring relationship. Crude language is used abundantly and mostly for comic effect, but includes Thurman’s character referring to another woman as a “slut.” There is some action-style and comic violence, most in the form of Jenny/G-girl attempting to exact revenge on Saunders, including throwing a thrashing, gnawing shark through the window at him and targeting her laser eyes on his pet goldfish.

Families who see this movie should talk about the effects of alienation at school and changes in close relationships. They should also talk about Jenny’s actions as they discuss revenge and jealously, and appropriate ways for addressing insecurities. Effective communication and honesty in relationships are also relevant, and families might explore how Saunders and G-girl could have better handled their breakup.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy The 40 Year Old Virgin, which has similar adult-oriented humor and the same “everyman with the raunchy friends” feel, and Office Space.

Thanks to guest critic AB.

The Devil Wears Prada

Posted on June 26, 2006 at 12:05 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for some sensuality.
Profanity:	Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, poor decision-making about a sexual situation when tipsy
Violence/ Scariness:	Tense and upsetting verbal confrontations, break-ups
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	2006
Date Released to DVD:	2006
Amazon.com ASIN:	B000J103PC

It is just too bad Meryl Streep is so good at drama and suffering and accents and stuff like that because that means we don’t get enough of a chance to see how brilliantly funny she is. Her under-appreciated work in Death Becomes Her, Defending Your Life, and She-Devil is fearless, ego-less, and apparently effortless, though clearly thought through in the most meticulous detail. In this film, Streep kicks it up a notch playing the title character, the ruthlessly rapacious Miranda Priestly, editor of a Vogue-style fashion magazine called Runway.

It would be easy to portray the boss-from-hell as an over-the-top Cruella DeVil-type, all shrieks and roars and flashing eyes. But Streep gives Miranda a voice that is quiet but steely, so cold it could give you frostbite. She throws down her Birkin bag with the casually triumphant air of a rodeo star who’s just broken the record for roping a calf. She creates panic with gestures measured in millimeters — a lifted eyebrow, a pursed lip, just removing her sunglasses or tilting her head with the white meringue of a hairstyle that wouldn’t dare get mussed. She is terrifying, mesmerizing, hilarious, and — here is the miracle of this perfomance — touching.

Andy (Anne Hathaway) is a recent graduate of Northwestern University‘s prestigious journalism school who apparently missed class the day they explained that you should not go to a job interview without doing your homework. Emily (the wonderfully contemptuous Emily Blunt) has just been promoted from Miranda’s second assistant to her first and is replacing herself. She is about to dismiss Andy, but Miranda intervenes, and soon Andy is hanging up Miranda’s coat and bypassing the laws of physics in getting coffee from Starbucks to the office in an instant (apparently the company cannot afford a coffee maker).

Nigel (Stanley Tucci in a witty and sympathetic performance) takes pity on Andy and tells her that she has to stop acting as though she is slumming. Andy starts to get caught up in the world of fashion and glitter, leaving her friends and her chef boyfriend (Adrien Grenier) disappointed and neglected.

The title makes it clear that this story is about the devil, and remember, the devil is all about temptation. Andy is tempted not just by the chance to earn Miranda’s respect but by a handsome writer (Simon Baker) who may be able to offer her a real journalism job, maybe something more as well.

The work vs. life story is nothing new and Andy is not as sympathetic a character nor the dilemmas she faces as simple as the movie would like us to believe. Andy is portrayed as the classic naif who comes to the big city. But she is careless and and arrogant in her approach to the job. Nigel correctly tells her that she “deigns” to do it. She thinks those around her are superficial snobs, but she is superficial and snobbish in her judgment of them. The movie wants us to believe her worst crimes are her failure to show up at her boyfriend’s birthday party and her edging out a colleague at work for a coveted assignment. But she commits a far greater and more devastating betrayal for which she faces no consequences at all.

Miranda is supposed to be the classic menace, a grotesque witch right out of Hansel and Gretel, inviting Andy into her candy house only to eat her up, or the witch in Rapunzel, keeping her a prisoner in a tower, away from those she loves. But while Miranda is not kind or nurturing, she is smart and tough and the best in the world at what she does. She insists that those around her be as dedicated and ruthlessly imaginative, even as honest within the context of the particular aspirations of her enterprise, as she is. She knows that the moment her publication fails to reflect what is both new and excellent — requiring energetic pursuit of fresh ideas and resolute aesthetic judgment — readers will leave for whoever is doing it better. After all, that’s what fashion means.

So, the movie pulls its punches. It sets itself up as a story with clear good guys and bad guys, but by backing away from a more authentic portrayal of the genuine conflicts we face at work, it feels as smug and superficial as its heroine. Fortunately, Streep is as classic and indispensible as a little black dress by Chanel. The most devlish crime she commits is stealing the movie away from the doe-eyed ingenue.

Parents should know that this movie includes a very poor decision made while tipsy to have sex with someone who turns out to be less than honest. In another era, the heroine would have found this out just before having sex, but here it is afterward, and the movie glosses over any adverse consequences for herself and her relationship with another man. Characters use some strong language and drink (see above). There are some painful confrontations and break-ups. Parents should also know that some behavior they might have concerns about is passed off as clever and resourceful. The points about values and loyalty are resolved well. A strength of the movie is the sympathetic and non-stereotyped portrayal of a gay character.

Families who see this movie should talk about the difference between a job you “deign to do” and one you’d “die to do.” Who is right about the importance of the topics covered in Runway magazine? What are the three most important lessons Andy learns from Miranda? Who in the movie tried to be like Miranda and how successful were they? Why does Nigel say what he does when he gets the bad news? Families may also want to talk about their most tyranical bosses and teachers and about the pressure on girls to be skinny and wear what magazines dictate as the latest fashions. How do we decide what we want to look like?

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy other fashion-world films like Funny Face and A New Kind of Love with Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Zsa Zsa Gabor(!). My blog has some links to thoughtful commentary on the Streep’s character and the clothes in the movie. They may not be authentic depictions of the way fashion magazine staff dress but they are great to look at and help tell the story and that’s what movie costume design is all about.

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Click

Posted on June 21, 2006 at 12:16 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for language, crude and sex-related humor, and some drug references.
Profanity:	Very strong language for a PG-13 including profanity used by children, f-word
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Cigar smoking, drug jokes
Violence/ Scariness:	Comic peril, serious illness, sad death
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	2006
Date Released to DVD:	2006
Amazon.com ASIN:	B000HT386M

Like Tom Cruise, Adam Sandler has based his career on playing shallow, callow boy-men who learn painful for him/humorous for us lessons about the importance of growing up. Those stories have enduring appeal on two levels. First, we get the pleasure of seeing someone who can be irresponsible and child-like, acting out a fantasy of superego-less freedom. And second, we get the reassuring conclusion to make us feel better about not having that freedom anymore. This is especially appealing to teenagers, who are at the brink of this transition.

This film is something of a transition for Sandler. He’s too old and beefy to play the boy-man who learns about romantic love as comedy, so here he plays architect Michael Newman, who is already married to Donna (Kate Beckinsale) and father of two young children. He is under a lot of pressure at work and feels overwhelmed. At Bed Bath and Beyond he enters a door marked “Way Beyond” and meets Morty (Christopher Walken), who gives him a “universal remote.” It can put real life on pause, mute, or fast forward. Michael can even access a commentary track and the movie’s best surprise is the identity of the narrator.

At first, he is delighted. He fast-forwards through a fight with Donna and mutes the dog. But then he finds out that the remote anticipates what he will select based on his past choices. Who can control the remote control?

The movie goes from silly (if often crude and discomfitingly cruel) to surprisingly serious, swelling strings and deathbed regrets, right up to the edge of maudlin. But Sandler keeps us rooting for Michael and Donna, in part because it is clear that Michael always loves his family and because it is clear that they always love him. There were times when I wanted a universal remote to hit “next chapter” to skip through repeated jokes about a dog having sex with a stuffed animal or children using four-letter words. The movie is too long. Sandler’s slacker passive agression was never appealing and get harder to take with each new iteration. But there are moments when the conclusion is genuinely affecting. It isn’t only Sandler’s characters that are growing up. I just wish we could hit fast-forward to move him there a little sooner.

Parents should know that, as often happens, the MPAA ratings board permits much more explicit sexual material in a PG-13 comedy than they would in a PG-13 drama. There are sexual references, crude jokes, and sexual situations that are in shadow but still fairly explicit, with post-sex discussion of whether it was satisfying for the woman and a running joke about a dog attempting to have sex with a stuffed animal (which, weirdly, Donna finds to be a turn-on). There are jokes about sexual harassment,small genitals, and repeated adultery. Characters use many four-letter words, and use of those words by children is intended to be humorous. A character smokes a cigar and there are some drug jokes. Characters eat a lot of junk food. There are serious illnesses, sad deaths and unhappy family situations, including divorce.

Families who see this movie should talk about what they would do with a “universal remote.” They should talk about times when they felt conflicts between work or school and family obligations and how they handled them.

Families who enjoy this movie will enjoy Sandler’s other films, including Big Daddy and The Wedding Singer. And they will enjoy other fantasies about people who realize the importance of family, from classics like A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life to Multiplicity, Bruce Almighty, and The Family Man.

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