Interview: Kevin Sorbo of ‘What If….’

Posted on August 25, 2010 at 3:59 pm

Kevin Sorbo (Hercules and Andromeda) stars in a new movie, “What If…” as Ben Walker, a man who gets the chance to see what his life would have been like if he had taken another path. In the tradition of “A Christmas Carol” and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Walker meets an angel (“Cheers'” John Ratzenberger) who lets him see the effect of the choices he has made and learn some lessons about what really matters. I spoke to him about the audience for faith-inspired films, what it was like to deliver the two sermons in the movie, and his award-winning foundation, A World Fit for Kids, which creates after-school programs to promote fitness, work skills, and academic achievement.

How did you become involved with this project?

Dallas Jenkins is a friend of mine. Our kids are the same ages and play together. He asked me to look at the script. I read it, fell in love with it immediately. He said, “I’m looking for the lead.” I said, “You’re looking at him! I’d love to do this, it’s awesome.” It came together very quickly and we were shooting in a month.

I loved your interaction with Kristy Swanson (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), who plays your wife.

We had a very good chemistry together. It was a good group of people and the crew was excellent. We shot it in three weeks. I wish we had had five or six. The economy is such a weapon it affects everything no matter what business you’re in right now and you have to make adjustments.

And yet I was very impressed with the quality of the production values in the film.

A lot of times in the past faith-based movies the acting, the script, the look were not all they could be. With the success of movies like “Facing Giants and “Fireproof” and especially “The Blind Side,” it’s opened up a whole new world, realizing that there’s a huge under-served market out there. The vast majority of the people in this country are people of faith. To ignore that and put out the stuff that Hollywood loves to put out — it’s kind of nice to see movies being made and I hope all the people who gripe about these kinds of movies not being made will go see this one, spread the word, and fill up the seats. We’re small, we’re independent, and we rely on word of mouth.

You have quite a character arc in the film and even the way you stand and move seems to change as your character starts to see and feel things differently.

It happened organically through the script. It was a natural slide to go from the cockiness and arrogance of the guy at the beginning, from the words on the page.

There’s a wonderful contrast between the two sermons your character has to deliver, one when he is really clueless and another when he is beginning to feel his connection to a calling.

And both were shot on the same day! They were just so funny, so well-written. The second one had a sense of humor to it, too. For me as an actor it was a huge workout. I’m in almost every scene in the movie. It was a challenge for me. I had to use some muscles I didn’t have to use before.

What roles do you enjoy most?

I get a lot of scripts. I started my own production company two years ago. There’s a lot of variety, thrillers, dramas, a mixture. Coming up I play a Scrooge type of character, a comedy, and then play the father of a young boy who has a brain tumor, a very touching heart-felt story, and then a period piece.

Tell me about your foundation.

It’s A World Fit for Kids. We support after-school programs to give kids the training, tools and support they need to achieve their goals and lead fit and fulfilling lives, and were recently recognized by Governor Schwarzenegger recognized us as a statewide model for preventing childhood obesity.

What do you want people to know about the film?

Everybody has a “what if” in their life. This will strike a chord. It could be a job, a relationship. We all have regrets about what we have done or shouldn’t have done. It’s a movie about forgiveness and redemption no matter where you are in your life.

There’s a lot of great laughs, a lot of moments to tug at your heartstrings. We had a premiere in Chicago with 3600 people and we turned 1000 away. At the end people gave us a standing ovation, applauding and crying. It’s a wonderful movie. And the whole family can see it.

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Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

Posted on August 25, 2010 at 8:00 am

Gertrude Berg is described in this sympathetic and engaging documentary as an earlier version of Oprah. She wrote every word of over twelve thousand scripts. She played the lead role and oversaw every element of the programs on radio, in television, and in a feature film. She branched out to a line of clothing and a cookbook. She was the first “first lady of television” before Lucille Ball took the title. It is probably more due to Desi Arnaz’s three-camera system for making infinitely rerun-able tapes that has kept “I Love Lucy” in the forefront while shows of equal quality faded from the airwaves.

Aviva Kempner (The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg) has assembled archival footage and contemporary interviews to illuminate the life of this pioneering writer/actress/producer. The film may go too far in giving Berg credit for creating the sit-com, but it makes a convincing case for her stature and influence, even more impressive in light of the era’s bigotry and the restrictions on professional advancement for both Jews and women.

For many people, “The Goldbergs” was their first exposure to a non-stereotyped Jewish family. Among the film’s most affecting interviews are the comments from viewers who speak of what the show meant to them, including the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who says that since her mother had no family, they thought of the Goldbergs as their relatives, and from non-Jewish women who talk about how the series’ portrayal of family felt very much like their own experiences and cultures.

The saddest part of the film is the portion about Philip Loeb, who played Berg’s husband on the series until his name came up during the era of the blacklist. Berg showed great courage and integrity in fighting to keep him on the show and he showed great honor in insisting that the show go on without him. The tragic outcome is conveyed with great sympathy and feeling.

Kempner has a real gift for making these almost-forgotten lives fascinating and vital. Perhaps most important, the film made me sorry that the very intriguing clips from Berg’s television series didn’t go on longer. I’d like to spend more time with the Goldbergs.

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Biography Documentary

The Back-Up Plan

Posted on August 24, 2010 at 8:00 am

This movie’s best use could be population control. No one who sees it will want to get pregnant or raise children. It could also be used to show aspiring screenwriters what not to do.

Other than that, I can’t think of any reason not to ship it back to the studio and recycle the film stock. If you were planning to go see this film in theaters, I hope you have a back-up plan.

Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) has decided that not having a man in her life should not mean she does not have a child in her life. So, she goes to a doctor (Robert Klein) to get artificial insemination. And that very day, she meets Stan, a guy who could be The One (bland Alex O’Loughlin).

It could have worked. But instead of giving any thought to the interesting possibilities of the story, it is just another boneheaded replay of the dumbest sitcom pregnancy and parenting cliches. They scrape the bottom of the barrel and then they dig a little deeper. Zoe barfs. She gets super-hungry. She has hormonal swings. She gets depressed about getting fat. She worries that he won’t love her any more. And the costume designer seems to have been heavily influenced by “Flashdance.” Lopez’s bare shoulder appears so often it deserves its own trailer. O’Laughlin’s bare chest is so crucial to his performance it deserves an agent.

Meanwhile the movie wastes the time and talent of two brilliant comic actresses in supporting roles, Jennifer Elise Cox (unforgettable as Jan in the Brady Bunch movies and in one of the funniest scenes ever on “Will and Grace“) and Micheaela Watkins (Hoda Kotb and the blogger on “Saturday Night Live”). The adorable Melissa McCarthy (“Gilmore Girls”) and the very funny Anthony Anderson are stuck in roles with lines that pull them down like quicksand. Only Linda Lavin (television’s “Alice”) manages to maintain some dignity as Zoe’s Nana, engaged for decades (and if you guess her fiance is “Happy Days'” Mr. C., Tom Bosley, you are correctamundo).

There isn’t one fresh or believable or even sympathetic moment in the whole mess. Zoe and Stan are supposed to be endearing. She left her successful corporate job (with plenty of money socked away) for a cuddly little pet store and is so tender-hearted that her own pet is a dog who needs to have his back half supported on wheels. Stan lives on a farm, makes cheese, and is studying to get his college degree. But these are check-lists. They don’t add up to personalities. The movie clearly thinks these people are far more appealing to each other and to us than they really are. If first-time director Alan Poul and screenwriter Kate Angelo want us to care about these characters separately or as a couple, it might make sense to give us some reason to believe that they have the ability to care about anything other than themselves.

For one thing, this is a movie about pregnancy in which no one much likes babies or children. Zoe has a friend who repeatedly claims to hate her four children and shows no sense of responsibility or affection for them. Stan has a friend who describes parenthood as: “Awful, awful, awful, awful, and then something happens. And then awful….” Zoe goes to a single mother’s group with one member who insists on having the entire group in the room as she gives birth in a kiddie pool. Her grimaces and grunts are supposed to be funny. So is a dog chewing up a pregnancy test stick. So is a single mother who insists on breast-feeding a three-year-old. So is the water breaking in the middle of a conga line at a wedding. Not, not, not, not, not. At the exact moment we should be saying “Awwww….” we are thinking about calling Child Protective Services. Or Audience Protective Services.

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Comedy Date movie Romance

City Island

Posted on August 23, 2010 at 8:00 am

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for sexual content, smoking, and language
Profanity:	Strong and crude language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Smoking, drinking
Violence/ Scariness:	Tense family confrontations
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	April 26, 2010
Date Released to DVD:	August 24, 2010
Amazon.com ASIN:	B0036TGT8Y

This warm-hearted dysfunctional family comedy-drama benefits from an exceptionally strong cast, including producer Andy Garcia as the father, Julianna Margulies as the mother, and Steven Strait as the young man just released from prison who sets off a series of revelations.

Everyone in the Rizzo family is hiding something. Daughter Vivian (Garcia’s real-life daughter, Dominik GarcÃa-Lorido) is not in college as her parents think. She is supporting herself as a stripper. Her brother Vince Jr. (Ezra Miller) is struggling with his desire to see heavy women eat, especially his next door neighbor, who has a website called “Feeding Denise” and one of his classmates. Mom Joyce (Margulies) has not given up smoking. But it is Vince, Sr. who has the really big secrets. One, he has a son from a relationship before he met Joyce and he has just met the young man for the first time, at the prison where he is a corrections officer (don’t call him a guard) and his son (Strait, superb as Tony) is about to be released. Two, he wants to be an actor. He is taking classes with Michael Malakov (Alan Arkin) and has made friends with a classmate, Molly (Emily Mortimer).

Writer-director Raymond De Felitta has obvious affection for his characters and he keeps the developments from going too far. The situations may be outrageous, but deft performances keep the battles from being shrill and the situation more fairy tale than soap opera. This is one of those little indies that inspired a great deal of enthusiasm from its audience and should make even more fans on DVD.

Nanny McPhee Returns

Posted on August 19, 2010 at 5:58 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grades
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for rude homor, some language, and mild thematic elements
Profanity:	Some crude schoolyard language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	References to wartime violence and apparent tragic death of a father, bomb dropped on home, parental divorce, comic peril and violence
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	August 20, 2010

For the first half of this movie, the children in the audience were completely on board, laughing when the children on screen were covered with mud and various kinds of animal poop, delighting in seeing them naughtily fighting with each other and then, when Nanny McPhee (screenwriter Emma Thompson) stamps her magical staff on the floor, each fighting himself. By the time the piglets were doing an Esther Williams-style synchronized swim number, the kids in the theater were extremely happy.

And then something happened that took the movie in another direction and the audience enthusiasm evaporated. This sequel to the 2006 original places the character inspired by Christianna Brand’s Nurse Matilda stories in a WWII setting as Isabel Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is trying to keep the family farm going with the help of her three children while her husband is fighting in the war. It is quite a struggle, especially because her brother-in-law is doing everything he can to make her fail so she will have to sell the farm. He has to pay his gambling debts or, two female enforcers tell him, they will remove his liver. Isabel also has to care for her niece and nephew, sent out of London to keep them away from the bombing during the Blitz. They are snobbish and selfish and there is an instant war between the cousins.

Enter Nanny McPhee, all in black, with a body like a linebacker, two enormous moles, a snaggletooth, a jowly chinline, and a bulbous nose. She explains she has been sent by the Army and she goes to work, banging her staff and bringing on the magic to teach the children five lessons. When she is not wanted but needed, she must stay. When she is wanted but not needed, she must go.

Nanny McPhee teaches the children to stop fighting and to share and cooperate. But then things get much worse when they get some very bad news and they must show resolve, courage, and faith before she will be no longer needed.

The movie is very uneven in tone and in quality, with charming nonsense colliding with what appears to be devastating tragedy. Children young enough to enjoy the silly pratfalls will be uncomfortable and possibly upset by discussions of death, war, and divorce. There is something jarring, even in a fantasy film, about children having to defuse a bomb as the adults are helpless. The timing is off so that even some of the comic set-pieces fail, like an extended bit about disappearing pens and a gruesome all-female hit squad who wander in like extras from “Sweeny Todd.” Thompson is always magic on screen, but here she is more wanted than needed.