This summer, I was able to do some travelling, and saw several movies on the plane. Shakespeare
In Love was every bit as good as when I saw it the first time. Below are brief thoughts about
5 movies: An Ideal Husband, Never Been Kissed, Entrapment, Forces of Nature, and Lost
and Found
An Ideal Husband
Starring Rupert Everett, Cate Blanchett, Jeremy Northam, Julianne Moore, Minnie Driver.
Directed by Oliver Parker. From the book by Oscar Wilde.
A bright and talented man Lord Goring (Everett) has sworn off marriage for life. His close friend and
respected parliamentarian Sir Robert (Northam) and his virtuous and honest wife (Blanchett) wouldn't mind getting him
fixed up. A witty and intelligent young woman (Driver) likes and admires him, but won't express
her affection for him, and both pursue other people. To complicate matters, an old flame of Goring's
arrives in town (Moore) to blackmail Sir Robert to get him to support a deal he knows is flawed.
The movie is a light and humourous look at the lives of privileged folk in the last century. But it is
sometimes too light-hearted - it occasionally edges into farce bordering on the silly. This softens
the impact of the often witty dialogue. The movie is greatly enhanced by the excellent cast. Everett
exudes witty charm. Driver has a small role, but lightens up the screen whenever she shows up.
And Moore displays amoral viciousness in her efforts to get what she wants. An Ideal Husband
may not be ideal, but it is quite enjoyable.
 
|
Never Been Kissed
Starring Drew Barrymore, David Arquette, Molly Shannon, John C. Reilly, Garry Marshall, Lee
Lee Sobieski, Michael Vartan. Directed by Raja Gosnell.
A reporter at a big city newspaper (Barrymore) is given an assignment by the newspaper boss (Marshall)
to go undercover and find out what it's like being a teenager in high school. An unpopular geek when
she was in high school, she now achieves dizzying heights of popularity among her fellow students,
from the cool people to the brains (including math-geek Sobieski). Her hunky English teacher (Vartan),
is also impressed with her, and tries to fight his feelings for his (supposedly) young student.
While Barrymore continues to be winning in her roles as the under-confident wallflower who tries
so hard to make good, the movie around her is less inspiring. Her exchanges with gruff boss Reilly,
her meteoric rise in popularity in school (outsiders do not win over a school that fast), and the black
and white breakdown of popular vs. nerd kids which grossly oversimplifies things make for a fairly
shallow and unbelievable story. And the ending on the baseball diamond is about as schlocky as
it gets. Still many of the actors, including Sobieski and Arquette, are quite good, and elevate the
film to a degree. See Go or She's All That instead.
|
Entrapment
Starring Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ving Rhames, William Paxson, Maury Chaykin.
Directed by Jon Amiel.
Robert MacDougall (Connery) is one of the world's best thieves, stealing high priced art and priceless
artifacts under the nose of the heaviest security imaginable. A beautiful insurance agent Virginia
Baker (Zeta-Jones) volunteers to go undercover to catch him redhanded. She helps him steal an
Egyptian artifact, and then sets their eyes on the big prize - stealing billions from the bank exchange
in the Twin Towers of Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Mac's sidekick (Rhames) doesn't trust her, and is
worried Mac is being distracted by his new, beautiful partner. Mac says they need 3 weeks to properly
prepare - they've got 1 day to plan and execute the caper, so they can use the New Year's fireworks
by the Twin Towers to muffle the noise they will make in getting into the bank vault.
Entrapment is well-paced, exciting, slickly filmed, but mindless entertainment. Don't expect
anything believable or realistic. The ending, while an interesting twist, is sort of shoe-horned into
the film, with previous events and conversations somewhat contradicting it. Surprisingly, one of
the least unbelievable parts of the film is the attraction between the 68 year-old Mac and the 29
year-old Virginia. There is real chemistry between the actors, more than in most on-screen couplings,
and infinitely more than the film discussed below, Forces Of Nature. Reasonably enjoyable
escapist fun.
|
Forces of Nature
Starring Sandra Bullock, Ben Affleck, Maura Tierney, Steve Zahn, Blythe Danner, Ronnie Cox.
Directed by Bronwen Hughes.
A nice, responsible young man Ben (Affleck) is on a road trip, and coming home to Atlanta to get
married to his respectable, responsible fiance (Tierney). But after an accident with the plane, Ben
has to find an alternative way home. He meets a wise-cracking free-spirit (Bullock), who also has
to get down south. There is only one rental car available, so they agree to go together. And one
catastrophe after another occurs, blocking their progress, not least of which is a hurricane moving
into the Georgia area. Along the way, Ben questions whether his safe, bland relationship is what
he wants, and begins to have feelings for Bullock, the "natural disaster" that makes him feel more
alive. Will they make it to Atlanta, and what will happen with him and his fiance?
Forces of Nature is marred by the fact that there is near-zero chemistry between Affleck and
Bullock. Bullock is supposed to be this carefree, wild thing, but she isn't that wild - she is really just
hurting because of her separation from her son. Affleck is supposed to be square and boring, and
well he is, often grinding the energy in the film to a halt. Both have been much better elsewhere.
The script is quite contrived, and the bickering Affleck and Bullock do is more annoying than fun.
The ending is as tacked on as it gets, having no support in logic or likelihood from anything we'd
seen previously. It's as if the filmmakers filmed and tested several endings, and picked the most
safe one to get the crowds in. Avoid this dud. Go get Speed or Shakespeare In Love
if you want to see the stars in a better light.
|
Lost and Found
Starring David Spade, Sophie Marceau, Patrick Bruel, several other unfortunate actors.
Directed by Jeff Pollack.
Forget the plot summary. There are few things more unbelievable as Sophie Marceau falling for
a skinny, sarcastic geek such as David Spade. If you want to see Spade, any single minute in his
quite good sitcom Just Shoot Me is better written, smarter and funnier than anything in this
incredibly bad mess of a movie. It makes one yearn for the return of Pauly Shore. OK, I lie, but this
crapfest reaches Pauly's level of stinkage. The rating below is generous. Go see anything else.
|
