TAMMY

In which Melissa McCarthy (BRIDESMAIDS) plays a woman who has lost her job and her husband, and goes on an impromptu road trip with her similarly unboundaried alcoholic grandmother (Susan Sarandon.) We are meant to be amused by their scampy hi-jinks as they wend their way to Niagara Falls, picking up guys en route (Mark Duplass) robbing a fast food joint and generally being mildly transgressive. The problem is that all of this is way too underwritten - way too unfunny - and it seems that as fine an actress as Susan Sarandon is, she’s not even attempting to truly play an old woman. Contrast this performance with Julie Walters, also aged up to play a granny going on an impromptu road-trip in THE HARRY HILL MOVIE. The only scene worth anything is when Tammy and her grandmother end up at a magnificent house owned by two gay lovers played by Kathy Bates and Sandra Oh. Tammy is feeling sorry for herself but Bates’ character schools her on how hard she had to work for everything she has, as well as acceptance. It’s the only moving and authentic moment in the whole film. Otherwise, TAMMY follows the typical comedy arc with the protagonist falling out with people and then making up, finding self-knowledge en route. I just wish that Melissa McCarthy and the Hollywood producers who throw scripts her way would realise that she is a better actress than this, and just because she played a gross character on BRIDESMAIDS doesn’t mean that she has to play versions of that for the rest of her career. She’s a beautiful woman. How about being daring and giving her a conventional rom-com?  The fact that she CHOSE to co-write this movie makes me all the more sad.

TAMMY has a running time of 97 minutes and is rated R.  The movie is on release in the USA, Canada, Germany, Singapore, the UK and Ireland. It goes on release in Kuwait on July 28th, Denmark on July 31st, South Africa on August 29th and Australia on October 16th.

iPad Round-Up 1 - RABBIT HOLE

RABBIT HOLE is an earnest but workman-like film about grief, adapted for the screen by playwright David Lindsay-Abaire (INKHEART) and directed in an uncharacteristically conservative manner by John Cameron Mitchell of HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH and SHORTBUS fame.  The overall effect is of a sensitive and well-acted TV movie - worth watching but curiously unmemorable.

The movie stars Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as an affluent, suburban couple grieving for their son who was killed in a car accident eight months before the movie began.  Grief tests their marriage.  The wife reacts by clearing out her son's possessions, opting out of group, wanting to move house and, perhaps, most disturbingly, by striking up a friendship with her the preternaturally sensitive teen who was driving the car in the accident.  The husband seems to be much more open about his grief and rage and feels frustrated by his wife's secretive and volatile behaviour - almost tempted into an affair but with the fortitude to bend toward his wife one last time.  

Kidman got the plaudits for her performance - including an Oscar nomination - and she is just fine in her role - particularly good in a scene where she secretly returns to the City hoping to find the life she left behind only to realise it has left HER behind. But her complete shut-down restraint -  very well calibrated - makes for a sterile hole at the centre of the film, and I'm not sure the film survives it. This isn't helped by the rather flat, uninteresting work behind the screen from John Cameron Mitchell and his regular DP Frank DeMarco using a RedOne.  What saves the film is Aaron Eckhart in what is probably his best performance to date. He manages to combine great sensitivity and humour  - and in the key cathartic scene he never trips into hysterical melodrama but keeps it authentic.  It's a less showy performance as a result, and perhaps went overlooked for that reason, but it's completely emotionally devastating. 

RABBIT HOLE played Toronto 2010 and was released last year in Canada and the USA. It was released earlier this year in Sweden, Russia, Denmark, Ireland, the UK, Greece, Italy, Australia, Singapore, Finland, Serbia, Croatia, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Turkey, Poland, Brazil, Indonesia and Argentina. It is available to rent and own.  Nicole Kidman was nominated for Best Actress at the 2011 Oscars but lost to Natalie Portman for BLACK SWAN.

The Fast Jimmy Memorial DVD Review - DEFENDOR

Trailing in the shadow of KICK-ASS comes a low-budget flick called DEFENDOR - the directorial debut of writer/actor Peter Stebbings - that got a limited release in the US and goes straight to DVD in much of Europe next Monday. Woody Harrelson stars as a sweet guy suffering from the delusion that he is a super-hero called Defendor, who can fight evil villains a jar of angry wasps and a baseball bat. Naturally, he gets the shit kicked out of him, but not before he is rescued by/rescues a crack-whore called Kat (Kat Dennings - NICK AND NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST). Before the inevitable third-act redemption, Kat plays to Defendor's delusions by making him think that her ex-boss/pimp is his arch-enemy, and the rest of the movie shows how Arthur/Defendor tries to navigate real-life crime-busting. This is inter-cut with footage of him going through therapy with his psychiatrist, played by an amused by sympathetic Sandra Oh (GREY'S ANATOMY).

Overall, the movie is an interesting watch because Woody Harrelson commits to the role and brings a sort of goofy charm to it that he hasn't had on screen since back in the days of CHEERS. The supporting cast is generally strong - particularly Elias Koteas as undercover cop Chuck Dooney. And the tech credits are particularly impressive for a low-budget venture: props to DP David Greene. But there are problems with the flick. In front of the camera, I had a tough time buying into Kat Dennings portrayal of the hooker with a heart of gold. In every film she makes she carries herself and speaks like a wise-ass hipster. This is fine for a film like  NICK AND NORAH but really jars in DEFENDOR. She just doesn't sound convincing as a girl who lives on the streets. The second problem is on the page - the script is too uneven in tone. Does Peter Stebbings want this to be a goofy comedy, poking gentle fun at Defendor? Or does he want this to be an emotional drama about too damaged and unlikely people finding a connection? Neither was committed to.

So, would I recommend DEFENDOR? Yes, it's good enough for DVD night and has an interesting approach to superhero movies. But for my money, if you really want to see a sensitive and beautifully acted examination of super-hero as delusion, check out SPECIAL.

Additional tags: Peter Stebbings, Clark Johnson, Lisa Ray, A C Peterson, Kristin Booth, Charlotte Sullivan, John Rowley, David Greene, Geoff Ashenhurst

DEFENDOR played Toronto and Whistler 2009 and went on limited released in the US and Brazil earlier this year. It is straight to DVD in the UK on September 9th.

THE NIGHT LISTENER - an eighty minute thriller that's still too long

THE NIGHT LISTENER attempts to be a sinister thriller but the spookiest thing about it are the opening credits, with hints of human limbs in the delicate unfolding of the kaleidoscope above the titles. The premise is captivating: a famous novelist broadcasts short stories to the nation that tell of his real-life romance with his HIV positive lover. When the lover leaves him, his stories dry up. Then, his publisher gives him a breath-taking first novel by a fourteen year-old boy. The novel is an autobiography that tells of sexual abuse. A telephone relationship develops between the boy, his adoptive mother and the author, but the author's lover suspects that the boy and his mother are one and the same.

The first twenty minutes of the movie are densely packed and well-written. All this information - and more - is conveyed to the viewer. We are hooked on the mystery - and excited by the themes: where is the line between fantasy and reality for the author and the people he encounters? And, despite being based on an old short story by Amistead Maupin, the movie is also rather topical given the recent scandals in the US involving authors fictionalising their own supposed autobiographies. But the movie peters off - it entirely fails to expound on the themes or give us the requisite spooky jolts necessary for this genre. I couldn't help but think that within this slender film (just 80 minutes long) there is an absolutely cracking half hour "Tales of the Unexpected" TV episode waiting to come out. Moreover, the movie features a wonderfully light, giggle-inducing performance from Sandra Oh, and a tremendous performance from Robin Williams as the author. He truly cuts his cloth to suit the character - there is no manic comedy but seeming-genuine heart-break and bewilderment. It is a shame that such a performance should be wasted on such inconsequential material. Another disappointment is the rare fact of a mediocre performance from Toni Colette.

THE NIGHT LISTENER played Sundance and Berlin 2006. It is currently on release in Canada, the US, Israel and the UK. It opens in Singapore on September 28th and in Turkey on October 8th.

HARD CANDY - trash

It makes me laugh to think what little it takes for a movie to kick up a fuss in the western hemisphere. Take for example HARD CANDY. The content seems provocative. A 14 year-old girl meets a 32-year old fashion photographer in an internet chatroom. He takes her to his house and allows her to mix alcoholic drinks. He wakes up, having been drugged, tied up and threatened with castration as a punishment for his alleged paedophilia. Little Red Riding Hood (no obvious metaphor with the wardrobe there, then!) is now the avenger. The movie should have been a thriller played out literally and metaphorically on a knife edge. Is the man really a paedophile? Will the girl really castrate him? Will a passing neighbour catch her in the act? Who is she anyway? Is what she does heroic or psychotic? Can we justifiably feel sympathy for the man?

But it's just a tease. Well-acted, to be sure. Indeed, superbly acted. And cleverly scripted. We all love those on-the-nose popculture references. But finally, the movie fails to deliver anything other than a moderately engaging did-he-do-it, will-she-do-it thriller. Aside from the opening 10 minutes of the flick, when the protagonists meet for the first time, I never felt uncomfortable with proceedings. The movie entirely failed to play beyond the confines of the thriller-genre. My emotions and intellect were never challenged over how to engage with the character of the alleged paedophile.

Indeed, the makers of this flick should have checked out THE WOODSMAN to see how this sort of material can be crafted into a far more profound and honest investigation of this thematic material. Otherwise, it just looks like they've used paedophilia as a cheap hook on which to hang some pretty trashy, superficial material - in much the same way as the Holocaust was exploited as a backdrop for the similarly sado-masochistic material of THE NIGHT PORTER. And as for the script-writer's use of Roman Polanski's name, I would not be surprised if he is slapped with a lawsuit. Once again, it just smacks of lazy exploitation rather than honest engagement with the issues.

P.S. To any of you wondering if this movie is similar to, or a remake of, AUDITION, the simple answer is no. HARD CANDY has none of the originality, visceral impact or visual style of AUDITION. If you want something genuinely intellectually and physically provocative, you should check out DUMPLINGS instead.

HARD CANDY showed at Sundance 2005 and went on release in the US in April 2006. It is currently on release in the UK and hits Germany on June 29th, Australia on July 6th nd France on September 27th.

3 NEEDLES - don't be put off by the gruesome title

Without a doubt, if this movie had the backing of a major studio, it would be up for Oscars. But what am I saying? No major studio would back a movie that reads like such a “downer”. 3 NEEDLES tells three separate stories of people suffering from AIDS – a porn star in Canada, plantation workers in South Africa and villagers in China. There is lots of gruesome stuff – young African boys undergoing ritual adult circumcision for starters – but this is not a pretentious didactic grim mess. There are a lot of movies out there that you admire more than enjoy. But here you can do both. Many of the scenes are very very funny and the film wears its social message lightly.

3 NEEDLES is directed by a young American director - Thom Fitzgerald. Despite his relatively unproven track record, he has been able to attract a brilliant cast, including Chloe Sevigny, Sandra Oh, Olympia Dukakis, Stockard Channing and Lucy Liu.

In the Canadian strand, Stockard Channing ("Anything Else", "Practical Magic") plays the working class mother of a young porn star who has AIDS but is fiddling his blood tests so he can keep acting. He knows he is infecting his co-workers but needs the money. In the South African strand, Chloe Sevigny ("The Brown Bunny", "Melinda and Melinda") plays a novice who becomes a missionary to South Africa, working in a health clinic attached to a plantation where AIDS is pandemic, the plantation owner is reluctant to fund healthcare and the victims believe that they can cure the virus by sleeping with a virgin.

In the Chinese strand, Lucy Liu ("Charlie's Angels", "Kill Bill") plays a woman who is running an illegal blood supply business. Driving round villages in a white van she offers peasants five dollars for their blood, which is then sold on to hospitals. Her equipment is contaminated and infects whole villages. This strand is actually surprisingly funny and touching in how it depicts the relationship between a father and his young daughter who is a blood donor. The comic timing is all the more amazing given that this is a cast of largely untrained actors. Lucy Liu also gives an outstanding performance of real pathos. Who knew she could actually act?

This film was originally shown at the Toronto film festival in September 2005 and ran at 123 minutes. The version shown at the London film festival 2005 – the European premiere - was 15 minutes shorter for which we can “thank” the Canadian distributor. However, the Director intimated that a European release would have the extra footage restored. 3 Needles will get a limited US release in December 2006.