Crazy, Stupid, Love
(Starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon)
There should be a special award for love stories that don't make us wince and squirm. Sure, it's really difficult to make a romantic comedy””romcom” for those of us in the “biz””without hitting a few clichés. CSL does occasionally sink to hokum. It also has charming characters and great plot twists, making it a worthy date-night flick.
Carell and Moore are a married couple in a rut. She wants a divorce; she's cheated on him with Kevin Bacon. Carell moves out and starts hanging in a trendy bar where he bemoans his fate to the uncaring room. Lothario hottie Gosling overhears Carell's kvetching and (for reasons I cannot fathom) takes the older man under his wing. Gosling begins by teaching Carell how to become a man-whore. Carell's first conquest is the very funny teacher Tomei.
There are some slightly awkward subplots. Gigolo Gosling has met the girl of his dreams (Stone) who has very little interest in him. Moore and Carell have kids with their own romantic struggles. Even the babysitter is lovelorn, lusting for Carell. In essence, it is all complications and love triangles. Everything adds up to sweet but contrived comedy and some very hilarious, high-energy farce.
Could we have done without the big speeches and stereotypical moments (one of which even Carell comments on)? Yes, but just like love, sometimes you have to slog through the average stuff to get to the goods.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
(Starring Gianna Jun, Li Bingbing)
Wow, a major misstep happened with this film!
The best-selling book by Lisa See was entirely set in the 19th century, about Chinese girls who became lifelong BFFs. (They performed a “binding” ritual, which seems to our modern senses somewhat like a lesbian wedding.) Through their friendship and support of each other, these young women endured a more oppressive society than the one China has today”foot binding, marriage to misogynist pigs, trapped in a culture founded on sexism.
In this movie version, the filmmakers have decided to tack on modern bookends. It's shallow and cliché. How can we care about these modern-day characters, when even their dialogue is hackneyed and stilted?
The older story seems like it could've been beautiful, delving into the history”how women supported each other in a degrading situation. Unfortunately, the movie abandons any complexity for melodrama. There is no delicacy or logic. Foot binding is compared to women's high heel shoes, and spousal abuse is”I swear”compared to being hit by a taxi.
Subtlety-wise, the flick is like being hit by a taxi. This yarn runs under two hours, but it feels like slow death. There's only the wispiest hint of why See's original novel is so beloved. The 1800s portion is maudlin and weepy. The new bits are like the worst kind of Lifetime TV film shot in Shanghai.
Captain America: The First Avenger
(Starring Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, Hugo Weaving)
American summer films are legendary for solid but brainless entertainment. Captain America upholds this grand tradition with a rah-rah attitude and old-school fight sequences. Altogether, it's equal parts frivolous action flick and placeholder for the upcoming Avengers movie next summer.
Evans is the proverbial 98-pound weakling. Still he hopes to do his part fighting against the Axis Powers in World War II. Dr. Tucci picks Evans for a “super soldier” experiment, transforming the wimpy boy into our hunky hero. Too bad Tucci also did the same for Hitler, creating the egomaniacal Red Skull (Weaving). That German villain has located a magical power from Thor's planet. (Remember Thor from earlier this summer?) The Captain sets to stop the nefarious Nazi before he can destroy the world.
There's no way around the bland, uncomplicated patriotism. The approach also often eschews comedy for earnestness. And for the sake of the upcoming movie, the film had to tie this 1940s hero to his modern counterparts”Iron Man, The Hulk, and Thor”making this flick feel unfinished and rather anticlimactic.
The actors, though, are having a blast, especially Evans, Tucci and Lee Jones. The visual effects are also amazing. Captain America borrows some film tricks from Benjamin Button to transform a scrawny, tiny Evans into the super stud we all know (and lust after). Everything is enjoyable but shallow fun. In other words, Captain America is particularly American.
