Welcome to Reality Check*, a poorly-named semi-regular feature wherein we'll examine a confusing aspect of a famous person's career. Today, Brendan Fraser. Enjoy.
Brendan Fraser's latest vehicle, Furry Vengeance, is opening this weekend. Judging by the reviews (2% on RT)(yes, that's 0-2-%), the film will not be much of a crowd pleaser.
It seems to be another unfortunate role for Fraser, who has spent most of his career dabbling in teen comedies (see: Encino Man) or family-friendly tripe (see: George of the Jungle).
Fraser is capable of more, though, and it's a shame he hasn't chosen projects that utilize his talent.
What am I talking about, you ask?
Brendan Fraser, I'd like to remind you, dear readers, was one of the best parts of a film from 2004.
The film was Crash. He played Sandra Bullock's distant husband. It won Best Picture.
Brendan Fraser was one of the first-billed actors in a film that won the Academy's highest honor.
Think about that this weekend when you pass the poster for Furry Vengeance on your way to see any other film that's currently out.
*Have a better name for this feature? I beg you: leave it in the comments.
If you're anything like me, I'd wager you have no excitement for (or awareness of) the latest Jennifer Lopez vehicle, The Back-up Plan.
How To Sound Like a Film Snob 101 is now in session. Repeat after me, class:
"The only notable Jennifer Lopez movie is Out of Sight."
"The only notable Jennifer Lopez movie is Out of Sight."
"The only notable Jennifer Lopez movie is Out of Sight."
Selena was a sanitized melodrama carried by Lopez. It's said the only redeeming part of Jersey Girl is that she dies in the first five minutes. If you remember anything about The Cell, it's probably that it put you to sleep.
Enjoy your weekend as I will - seeing Kick Ass again.
To know the work of Jody Hill is to drown with his heroes in the deep end of a pool of delusions.
Hill's debut feature, The Foot Fist Way, which famously attracted the attention and backing of Funny Or Die creators Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, follows a small-town tae kwan do instructor played by the then-unknown Danny McBride. Fred Simmons (McBride) tries to be a role model, successful business man, revered husband, and master of ass-kicking, but generally comes up short. He's a sad case to watch as his life falls apart around him, but in the end he's able to salvage some of his dignity, at least in his own eyes, and look himself in the mirror.
Eastbound and Down, Hill's heralded follow-up six-part series on HBO, details the meteoric rise and bombastic self-destruction of major league pitcher Kenny Powers, also played by McBride. The delusions and personal failings of Fred Simmons pale in comparison to those of Powers. The first season finale, which could have been the series finale, packs a seriously dark punch. Will Ferrell's quote from the end of the trailer for the series (which will start shooting its second season next month) says it all.
Both protagonists are completely lost in their delusions of grandeur, except for a few scant moments of self-actualization that are almost immediately tossed aside. Hill uses the awkward and depressing results as his comedic brush strokes. The satire he creates is potentially off-putting at first, but if viewers can get used to his style, Hill's work is at once hysterical and poignant as viewers will undoubtedly be able to see a little bit of themselves in both Simmons and Powers.
Jody Hill's first major studio film, Observe and Report, had an unfortunate release date - a scant three months after the Kevin James as-a-Segway-riding-mall-cop vehicle, Paul Blart: Mall Cop.
Audiences thought they'd already seen this one-note joke and passed. Critics were, generally, turned off by the viciously dark comedic beats. The film was out of wide release in three weeks, and entirely out of theaters in eight. It grossed a little over $20 million at the domestic box office, quite the paltry return for a film starring Seth Rogen and Ray Liotta that opened on almost 3,000 screens.
What was missed by most moviegoers is a comedy that is as bipolar as its lead character; at once both troublesomely dark and wildly hysterical. I haven't been able to shake it from my mind since first seeing it last December.
Observe and Report follows Ronnie Barnhardt (Rogen), who takes his job as the head of mall security with same degree of seriousness you'd expect from a Secret Service agent. When a flasher begins terrorizing the mall parking lot, Ronnie is ready to rise to the occasion and prove that he is the only person alive capable of bringing the culprit to justice, as well as protecting the only thing worth protecting in the mall, a cold sassy bitch of a makeup counter clerk, Brandi (the always-fabulous Anna Faris).
Barnhardt is deadly serious about catching the flasher, as well as a serial thief, but is as hampered by his self-delusions of prowess as he is by his hapless team, led by Ronnie's partner in crime, Dennis (Michael Pena). His efforts to bring the streaker and robber to justice only impede the actual police investigations being conducted by Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta), and Ronnie convinces himself that he has what it takes to join the big leagues of law enforcement.
Our hero is bipolar - he swings easily between dejected melancholy and explosive violence. Hill easily manipulates this growing tension to his advantage throughout the film to steadily raise the stakes as Ronnie grows more intent on success and more likely to screw up his chances for reaching it. The balancing act that Hill struggles with, though, is balancing the tension and the comedy. It's a lot to ask of his viewers, especially the ones that weren't prepared for the wild emotional pendulum, but for those able to stomach it, Observe and Report delivers some potent laughs.
Take, for example, Faris' second scene of the film, wherein she's traumatized by the streaker. This is perhaps my favorite 40-odd seconds of her career.
Hill is able to create comedy from a situation that you won't find in many films proclaiming to be a comedy.
Likewise, Observe and Report finds humor in painfully awkward situations that Ricky Gervais made mainstream with The Office. Another gem is when Barnhardt ineptly gets dating advice from a girl that is clearly into him (Collette Wolfe).
In all editorial fairness, I should point out part of why I love that scene is I've been this dense more than once in my life.
The humor can be cruel*, but also earnest, which is what makes Observe and Report palatable. Ronnie often does not make good decisions, but for all his faults his heart is more or less in the right place. He represents a darker side of all of us - doomed to be inept, deluded, and not as successful as we imagine we could be, but in the end, Ronnie still wins in his own way.
If you're serious about comedies and contemporary film, I would agree with the AV Talk assertion that although it's imperfect, Observe and Report is required viewing from 2009.
TOO MUCH: Penis. Maybe.
COULD HAVE USED MORE: Bit roles from established comedians; Patton Oswalt, Aziz Ansari, and Dan Bakkedahl all had almost-too-short roles.
FILM SNOB NOTE: Try to find a review of Observe and Report that doesn't mention Taxi Driver. Jody Hill collaborators Ben Best and Danny McBride both enjoy bit roles. A talent for montage that is hinted at in Eastbound and Down is on full display - the two 'training' montages are among the film's highlights. Hill often ends scenes with strong musical underscore abruptly - it could have been interpreted as sloppy filmmaking in The Foot Fist Way, but here it's clear that Hill uses this technique intentionally to jar the viewer. It works. The opening montage to a cover of "When I Paint My Masterpiece" is reminiscent of the line from Man on Fire, "Creasy's art is death - he's about to paint his masterpiece," which is eerily prophetic.
IHYFM RATING: FOUR AND A HALF out of FIVE MEHS. Although it's unnecessarily uneven at times, and Ronnie is hard to root for, it's a fascinating character study. A superb cast supports Seth Rogen, who gives the most interesting performance of his mainstream career. It's disturbing, but my oh my, is it funny.
IF YOU SAID THIS WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE, I'D THINK: I will try to stay in your good graces so I don't risk a skateboard to the skull.
*The best example of this: when he asks his alcoholic mother if he's the reason his father left, Ronnie's mom (Celia Weston) stares at her son, and says: "Definitely."
Welcome to Monday Mini-Posts, a new semi-regular feature that will run when I have a short anecdote, observation, or opinion to share that is too long for Twitter (@ihateyourfavmov) and it happens to be a Monday after a week wherein I was too busy to post a review. Enjoy!
I happened to be in downtown Chicago this past Friday afternoon, and as it was a warm and picturesque day I decided to take a walk through Millennium Park before heading out of the Loop.
As I headed north past Scary Faces Spitting Water Fountain (called the Crown Fountain), I saw a sizable crowd gathering by The Bean. The Bean, actually named Cloud Gate, which makes sense inasmuch it looks like a cloud of liquid mercury trying to devour tourists and financial analysts, has been a recognizable Chicago landmark since it was birthed onto the AT&T Plaza in 2006.
On this Friday afternoon, The Bean was roped off, and several sandwich boards proclaimed that a Motion Picture was Filming, and that by Being Present all civilians were giving their Consent to have their Faces and Voices used in the Film.
I am a film guy. I've shot some movies in my day, so obviously I wandered by to see what was being made. The latest Jennifer Aniston rom com? The third Christopher Nolan Batman pic? A commercial for laxatives?
Once I reached the top of the plaza, all I saw was a bunch of equipment strewn about and a crew of three guys lazily pushing a camera cart around The Bean. It was quickly obvious I wasn't going to catch a glimpse of John Larroquette or Vince Vaughn, so I tightened the strap of my hipster-douchebag messenger bag and began to wander towards the train.
I passed by a group of girls overwhelmed by the possibility of seeing a star in action. What could this movie be? they asked. Can you see anyone famous? they queried. Seeing a chance to be a wiseass, I made my move.
Do you know what's filming here? they asked me as I passed especially close to their huddling.
Why, it's Pirates of the Caribbean 4! I casually replied.
The spaghetti harvest is coming in early this year!
I have grown to hate M. Night Shyamalan over the years. This is mostly due to a widely-respected rule within my circle of friends that the mention of his name stipulates you must finish half of your beverage (because most of his recent movies are half-assed); the mention of Spielberg, on the other hand, you finish your drink (in honor of the guy that brought us Jaws, not so much 1941 or War of the Worlds). Aside from that, though, Shyamalan's career has been built on "the twist ending", even though he's shied away from that in favor of the boring (Lady in the Water) or ridiculous (The Happening) as of late. A good twist can make a movie, like The Sixth Sense, or destroy it, like The Village. When wielded without purpose, the twist is a terrible thing, hence, my growing hate for Shyamalan (drink!) as he's proved it's one of the only tricks in his bag.
A well-planned surprise ending, though, can be a great cinematic treat. With no further ado, some movies (with spoilers) that could, or at least try to, make you believe Taco Bell bought the Liberty Bell.
The Usual Suspects
SYNOPSIS: Bryan Singer's directorial splash follows a grizzled Customs agent (Chazz Palminteri) trying to piece together what happened at a disastrous drug deal where there weren't any drugs. The last man standing (Kevin Spacey) is apparently too stupid to see through his fallen compatriots' bullshit.
YOU'VE BEEN FOOLED: After convincing you it was actually the former crooked cop (Gabriel Byrne), Singer shows us we've been played by a rather clever and not-at-all-crippled Spacey, who is elusive criminal mastermind Keyser Soze.
SIDE NOTES: This was basically the only decent movie Stephen Baldwin was ever a part of - he followed this up with Bio Dome. Comedian Kevin Pollack made one of his occasional forays into the world of drama, and Benicio Del Toro helped kick-start his career with his barely-comprehensible accent. The first time I saw this, around the time I was 15, I pegged Spacey in the first ten minutes because Singer tried so hard to prove he wasn't the guy (the limp, the line about his pee, the cigarette lighter) in the first few scenes of the movie, but he did convince me it was Byrne in the end.
QUALITY OF THE FOOL: Damn good - it's a modern classic for a reason.
The Maltese Falcon
SYNOPSIS: Humphrey Bogart plays detective Sam Spade, a private eye that gets wrapped up in the quest for a priceless statue in John Huston's 1941 classic.
YOU'VE BEEN FOOLED: The statue is a fake - all was for naught.
SIDE NOTES: The film is chock-full of those classic Hollywood lines that make writers such as yours truly wet their pants. At the end, when a cop asks Spade what the worthless statue is, he wryly replies in that heavenly Bogart rasp, "The stuff dreams are made of."
QUALITY OF THE FOOL: In all fairness, it's not so much a twist as an ironic ending, but a fine one at that. It's the quintessential Bogart hard-boiled detective flick.
Primal Fear
SYNOPSIS: A defense attorney (Richard Gere) defends an altar boy (Ed Norton) who killed an archbishop after being sexually abused.
YOU'VE BEEN FOOLED: Norton claims to have split personalities, the dominant one committed the act, and he walks. But he was faking having split personalities!
SIDE NOTES: This flick was the one to put Norton on the map - his performance is pretty good.
QUALITY OF THE FOOL: So-so. The split personalities, when revealed, is a shocker, and the bigger reveal that he's faking is a big one too - the problem I have with it is it basically makes the movie, thematically, about nothing. It feels like a twist for the sake of having a twist (see: The Village).
The Village
SYNOPSIS: There's monsters in the woods! Ron Howard's daughter is blind! Lots of long takes from stationary cameras!
YOU'VE BEEN FOOLED: Not only are the monsters a rouse made by the town elders, it's modern fucking day.
SIDE NOTES: M. Night Shyamalan cameos as a park ranger, which after this flick I'd rather see him do than direct more movies.
QUALITY OF THE FOOL: Seriously - this movie had so much potential. The twist was beyond frustrating for me, because it negates everything inherently interesting about the world we thought we were seeing. It's pathetically self-serving, tacky, and not at all surprising that it marked Shyamalan's fall from revered director to cinematic punchline.
Gone Baby Gone
SYNOPSIS: Casey Affleck is a private eye in the rough part of Boston looking for a missing girl, and the local police aren't too keen on his getting involved.
YOU'VE BEEN FOOLED: Not only are the cops in on everything, but Ben Affleck proves to be a very effective director.
SIDE NOTES: Did you know that Casey Affleck and Ben Affleck are brothers? It's true!
QUALITY OF THE FOOL: Pretty good. The movie is engaging and the final twist is so bizarre I didn't see it coming. A lot of people let this one slip by in 2007, but it's definitely worth a look.
OTHER TWISTS OF NOTE:
- The Informant!, the true story of the biggest corporate whistle-blower in US history, has a delightfully unreliable narrator.
- Matchstick Men, one of the only good movies Nic Cage did in the past decade (the other was Adaptation), follows an OCD conman getting conned.
- "Reno 911!" had two great cliffhangers in its run: the first season finale, where everyone inadvertently shoots each other, turns out to be a dream Garcia is having about Kenny Rogers; the season five finale, wherein unnamed deputies die in an accident involving a 9/11 float and a taco stand, is glossed over almost entirely the following season opener.
- Chinatown, a seedy detective flick where Jack Nicholson puts on his Humphrey Bogart hat, was completely ruined for me by the worst film professor I ever had.
- Twelve Monkeys, the stranger sci-fi adventure Bruce Willis did in the 90's, has a lot to do with time travel and Brad Pitt.
- Lady In The Water, because you paid $10 to see a terrible Shyamalan movie that doesn't have a twist.
Also, if you want some more movies ruined for you, check out last year's "100 Movie Spoilers In 5 Minutes" made by the fine Fine Brothers.
What's your favorite twist I didn't mention? Leave it in the comments or tweet it to @ihateyourfavmov.
