107.9 The End
Leave a Comment | Posted by Gavin on December 31, 2009
It’s Complicated
Posted in: Romantic Comedy
Writer and Director Nancy Meyers has been giving us slices of upper-middle class American comedy with a pinch of family drama for almost as long as I’ve been alive. She’s given us What Women Want, the Father of the Bride series, Something’s Gotta Give and others. Now’s she’s given us It’s Complicated staring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin and to say that it’s either good or bad is…well, complicated. The movie tells the story of what happens when a midlife divorced couple finds themselves falling in love with each other again. Alec Baldwin plays the suave ex-husband, Meryl Streep plays the dizzy ex-wife and Steve Martin plays a nerdy architect. All three are delights to watch perform in almost whatever they do and seeing all three share the screen together is so much fun. Some of that fun might stem from the fact that it’s nice to see a romantic comedy that’s about ADULTS for once. Personally, I’m almost 30. It’s weird for me because I’m getting to that age where I don’t consider myself old but I don’t care about the barely 20 crowd and their “romantic” problems anymore. I look for complexity and maturity and layers to my romance. It’s also kind of nice to see that Meyers shows these people for all their mid-life glory; fat, saggy, greying, old…yet can still create some scenes that are still downright sexy. She also makes the scenes very funny and very touching at times. But it’s that drama that just happened to irk me. The funny was great and I laughed out loud, especially at some of the scenes with The Office’s John Krasinski doing what he does best (maybe all he knows how to do) and that’s playing “awkward Jim.” But the drama seemed puzzling to me since it became unclear who I was suppose to enjoy in the film. As the movie unfolds it becomes apparent that the two leads are in fact very unlikeable people who don’t really care about how their actions affect anyone else around them. Hmm…sounds kind of like one of those romance movies about the 20 somethings I don’t like very much anymore. Perhaps I’m over thinking this and should just take it for what it is. But in a movie that has so much potential and momentum, I just didn’t like it loosing it’s sense of characters by the end.
It’s Complicated (Rated PG-13)
Gavin Grade: B
When I first heard that a Sherlock Holmes movie was being made staring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson, I cringed. I’m a fan of both as actors, but they didn’t match my memory of the nerdy, British detective and his rolly-polly, doctor sidekick that I had as a kid reading the stories. There’s a good reason for that though; this isn’t your Grandmother’s Sherlock Holmes. Director Guy Ritchie, has had quite a few stumbles over the past recent years and I don’t just mean his divorce to that awful mummy, Madonna. He started his film career off with two of the best British caper movies of all time, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells and Snatch. Then he had failure after failure. He seemed to be nothing more than another Orson Welles that hit his best at the very beginning and had nothing left to give. I guess he does in the writing department but his directing is superb in this reimaging of the classic Sherlock Holmes stories. The sets are amazing and Ritchie shoots for authenticity with the props and set decorations while colliding it with his aggressive and stylized directing arsenal that comes complete with ultra-slow motion, choppy editing, and montages of things in the past or future. But that mix of classic and modern might be too much of a clash for some people. But if you can get past that you’ll be thrilled with Downey Jr. and Law giving great performances as crime fighters and comedians. By giving the mystery duo the ability to kick anyone’s ass and deliver one-liners while doing it, Ritchie basically made a Period/Buddy Cop movie. That’s not a bad thing in my opinion, but I know some members of the party I was with when I saw it thought it was cheesy. The mystery that drives the plot is great and classic Holmes, but the who-dun-it feature wasn’t there, unless you count the set-up for a sequel that comes as no shock to anyone who knows even the slightest bit of information about the books. The only problem with the movie is that it feels clunky and awkward at the beginning. Guy Ritchie’s movies can never be accused of being slow, but the first third of the film feels that way because of some form of unstiching in the editing or script or perhaps in the audience’s ability to adjust to seeing a tone that’s very different than what they thought they’d see. But besides that, Sherlock Holmes is a fun Buddy-Cop movie in the same tone of Bad Boys or Lethal Weapon set in the world of A Christmas Carol.
I can’t think of too many movies that came out this year that had a title as bad as this one. Up in the Air? Is that really the best they could come up with? I know that was the title of the book it was based on but, geez…it sucks! A good friend of mine from high school worked on this movie as the Second Assistant Camera Operator (his name is Craig M. Bauer and he’s right after the cast in the credits…look for him!). He said while filming this movie, “this one is actually really good.” He’s a jaded film crew member who’s worked on way too many movies to ever say a movie is GREAT, but this one truly is. George Clooney stars as a professional bad news-giver who travels the country, day after day, firing employees at different companies. His life is full of hotels, flights, casual relationships and no baggage. He believes this is the best way to live since he’s never weighed down by anything or anyone. Anna Kendrick, who you might remember as Bella’s plucky human friend “Jessica” in the Twilight series, is a young up-and-comer for Clooney’s company who’s being forced to tag along with him on a round of firings to see what field work is like. Vera Farmiga (The Departed) is a sexy siren of the sky that he meets in his travels, who lives like him. Out of this situation, we have the makings of a dramedy that is sure to pick up some Oscar nominations. Clooney does what he does best by being the suave playboy he pretty much is in real life. The vulnerability he displays in his emotions though are muted and subdued; but that seems to be the kind of guy his character is. I think if I saw a real watery breakdown of tears I’d cry “Hollywood schlock” at the screen. Instead this movie dwells in a world that is very real, very timely and very shallow and sad. At a time when everyone knows at least one person that is out of work, it’s hard to care about a character who fires so many on a daily basis without a care of what kind of person they leave in the dust. But believe it or not…you do. That’s the wonder that director/writer Jason Reitman (Juno, Thank You for Smoking) has done. He made a very unlikable character not only likable, but sympathetically lovable. Not an easy feat since the film is padded with montages of real life people from Detroit and St. Louis talking to the camera throughout the film about being laid off from their real jobs, some with devastatingly real tears. Up in the Air takes that reality and makes it hopeful, happy and a perfect mirror on what’s really important in your own life by being a very funny-at-times movie that’s also about the recent sadness, despair and depression of the current economic turmoil in the country and uses those real life stories of terminations to frame what the movie is really about…connections. Hmm…maybe that should have been the title.
If you are attempting to beat the holiday bulge during Christmas during, then choose a smaller plate. I know it sounds almost too simple to work, but with a smaller plate you will be less likely to over eat. Even if you go back for seconds you will still be eating less then you would if you committed to a full size plate. You will head in to the new year feeling slim and satisfied.