Movies That Have Nothing In Common
(11/26/00)
You were probably expecting me to have some witty comment or reason behind this title and this theme (or lack thereof), right? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I don't. The fact is that becoming a college student has left me with very little time to watch movies, which leads to fewer reviews (as you've no doubt noticed). Which in turn leads to columns like this one, where I spout off on three movies that have absolutely nothing to do with each other except that I saw them all recently. In other words, I'm taking 'em when I can get 'em and calling 'em like I see 'em...
My efforts at introducing this motley trio of flicks seem to have failed quite extravagantly, so I'll just move on to the first film I have for you, Christopher Guest's "Best In Show." One of the pitfalls of any big movie season (such as the just-begun holiday season) is that some really great smaller movies are going to get trampled and ignored just because they don't have the budget or five-star names that other films can muster. "Best In Show" is a prime example. Director Guest also turned out the critically acclaimed but not terribly successful "Wag The Dog" and "Waiting For Guffman," both of which were hilarious commentaries on modern society, and his most recent film finds him in fine form once again. This mockumentary details the misadventures of five pairs of dog owners showing their pets at a thinly veiled version of a certain real national dog show, but in the end any semblance of plot takes a back seat to the snappy dialogue and the actors' improvisational antics.
This movie is everything "Saturday Night Live"
wants to be: talented actors getting lost inside their hilarious characters as
they bluff their way through loosely connected, hilarious sketches. The characters are the most memorable thing
of all, particularly the couple of spaniel owners (her ex-boyfriends keep
popping up along the way and making comments like "That was the first and
only time I ever did it on a roller coaster," and he has two left
feet--literally) and indie film darling Parker Posey as an incredibly neurotic
Gen-X trainer who takes her pooch to a pet psychiatrist when he "walks in
on Mommy and Daddy having sex." In
the end, Guest gets his point across about the foibles of some pet owners, but
more than anything "Best In Show" is an excuse to sit back and laugh
yourself silly for an hour and a half. The
Verdict: Check it out if you need a break from big-budget holiday fare. 3.5 out of 5.
I was also able to take Thanksgiving weekend to catch a few of the more talked-about recent releases--for starters, "Unbreakable." Just about everybody loved "The Sixth Sense," director M. Night Shyamalan's prior hit, and this, his follow-up, has been cloaked in extreme secrecy ever since. Walking into the theatre felt like going on a blind date; I had no idea what to expect, but I had my hopes set high. Which is why it annoyed me when I had to perform the film equivalent of excusing myself from a date gone bad to call a friend and ask her to bail me out. In other words, saying, "Well, that was a total waste."
"Unbreakable" could have been a great movie. The setup is fascinating: A security guard and former college football star (Bruce Willis, whose continued branching out into dramatic roles is perhaps the best thing about this turkey) is the only survivor of a train wreck. All he wants to do is continue trying to patch things up with his estranged wife (Robin Wright Penn, looking bored) and son (Spencer Treat Clark, the little kid from "Gladiator"). But before he knows it, a creepy comic book art gallery owner with a bone disease (Samuel L. Jackson) is following him around. He's convinced that Willis' character has the potential to be a superhero since he can't be hurt, and that the two of them are somehow connected. It's a fascinating premise, and up until the last 5 minutes of this movie I was ready to put this one on my top 10 list for the year. At that point it's almost as though Shyamalan doesn't quite know how to wrap up the lovely plot he's set up, and "Unbreakable" stumbles to an abrupt halt. If this movie had taken just 15 more minutes to resolve the issues that its ending raises, I wouldn't feel as though I had thrown away my time and money on an unnecessary twist ending that, while clever and shocking, quite frankly cheats the viewer. Who would've thought that the man behind the astonishing, eloquent twist that wrapped up "The Sixth Sense" would have problems ending a film?
I saw "The Sixth Sense" five times--the first time to catch that twist ending, the second time to figure out what I missed the first time around, and the third and fourth times simply to marvel at how well it all fits together. Not so with this movie. It's a little more original, sure, but that doesn't count for anything if in the end it doesn't give you any answers or a reason for it existing in the first place. "Unbreakable" could have been great, but let me put it this way: I doubt I'll be returning its phone calls. The Verdict: Just because you can give your movie a twist ending doesn't mean you should. 2 out of 5.
After a serious disappointment like "Unbreakable," I needed something silly and fun to take my mind off the stress of the holidays. So I moseyed on over to "Charlie's Angels." It was only a matter of time before someone appropriated this '70s TV show for the big screen, what with the current trend toward remakes. This kind of thing has been done a million times before, and more often than not it produces a boring, crappy mess. So what's surprising is that this tale of three sexy female crimefighters is absolutely delightful. Plot and character (both of which are slight, yet strangely satisfying) aren't important so much as the all-over vibe of this movie, and it sure is eye candy as expected. Directed by music video guru McG, it's got style to spare, with bright colors, fun settings, cool fight scenes, and plenty of ironically kitschy retro fun.
Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu all acquit
themselves nicely as the titular "Angels" and are responsible for
most of the really good things about the movie. It's obvious that all three of them are having the time of their
lives making this movie, and it's impossible not to share in that fun. (Bill Murray isn't half bad as their boss,
either.) There's not much else I can
say about this movie; it shouldn't be taken too seriously, and certainly won't
be winning any Oscars. However, it is a
cool, breezy treat that'd be perfect to check out after your Christmas shopping,
and I can almost guarantee you'll enjoy it.
The Verdict: Seems bad? Trust
me, it's good. 4 out of 5.
Copyright (c) 2000 by Beth Kinderman. This is my original work, so please respect it.
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