"Bridesmaids"
Richard's Review: 4 stars
The big mistake people will make about "Bridesmaids," a new comedy starring an ensemble of female comedians headed by Kristen Wiig, is that it is a chick flick or a female version of "The Hangover." It has elements of both, but is closer in spirit to "Knocked Up" or "The Forty Year Old Virgin;" heartfelt comedies that place the characters first and the laughs second.
When we first meet Annie (Kristen Wiig, who also co-wrote the script), her life is in tatters. Her business is a victim of a downturned economy and her boyfriend (Jon Hamm) calls her his "number three." When her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) asks Annie to be her maid of honor she should be thrilled but is overwhelmed by the job and her fellow bridesmaids (Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper) or as Lillian calls them, the "stone cold pack of weirdoes."
Kristen Wiig was the best thing to happen to "Saturday Night Live" in years but her big screen output has been somewhat underwhelming. In movies like "MacGruber" and "Paul" it always felt to me like she was simply acting in a long form sketch. She's always funny, but I never felt like there was a real depth of character there. Until "Bridesmaids" that is. Her work as the neurotic but mostly well meaning Annie is a breakthrough, proving that being funny and having feelings are not mutually exclusive.
The rest of the cast impresses as well. Like Wiig, Rudolph has both the comedic and dramatic chops to make us laugh and care about the characters, and Rose Byrne steps outside of the dramas we're used to seeing her in to deliver a subdued but very funny performance. Irish actor Chris O'Dowd, virtually the only male actor to utter a line apart from Jon Hamm in a raunchy cameo, brings an enormous amount of charm to the role of Rhodes, the lovelorn cop. There's good chemistry all round, a key element that prevents the story from veering into rom com territory.
So far I've talked about "feelings" and used words like "heartfelt" to describe "Bridesmaids," but don't get me wrong, this is still a wild comedy. It doesn't out-raunch the "Hangover" guys, but there are bodily function jokes a plenty, one very funny sex scene and language that would make a teamster blush. The girls can throw it down with the guys, but somehow it's not as gross. Much of it is still gross, just not as gross.
"Bridesmaids" is the funniest movie so far this year and should appeal to everyone, not just women.
"Meet Monica Velour"
Richard's Review: 3 stars
In "Meet Monica Velour" Kim Cattrall, best known as "Sex and the City's" iconic Samantha Jones, plays the title character, a former porn star, now a struggling, single mom. Her life changes when she befriends her biggest fan, Tobe (Dustin Ingram), an awkward eighteen-year-old boy who learns to accept her for what she is -- she's really Linda Romanoli -- not for what she was.
‘You screw a few hundred guys," Linda says, "and the whole world turns against you."
"Meet Monica Velour" could have simply been Tobe's coming of age story from mouth-breather to maturity, or a seedy look at a former porn star's sad existence, or a May-December sex comedym, but the quality of the performances and writing elevates it to interesting character study.
The character of Dustin is part Napoleon Dynamite, part Seymour from "Ghost World." He's a nerdy outsider with a passion for the past, and on the surface, an indie film staple. But Ingram dials back the eccentricity as much as the script allows, lifting the character above the level of cliché. The film could probably live without his underwear dancing scene, but the movie and its director Keith Bearden treat Tobe with respect and not just a quirky collection of personality tics.
As good as Ingram is, this is Catrall's show. She's left her "Sex and the City" Louboutins behind to present a rough and ready portrait of a woman on the downside of life. It's hard not to relate Monica nee Linda's struggles to create a life outside of her screen persona to Cattrall's own close identification to Samantha Jones. Linda is not Monica, and Kim is not Samantha and the actress's performance in this film should go a long way to dampening that association. If anyone sees this small indie film it should establish Cattrall as one of the more interesting performers in her age range.
I was sold on the film after one scene which feels comedic in the moment, but reveals itself to be dripping with pathos. Dustin and Linda have fought, and she's in tears. Unsure of what to do he asks her for an autograph, thinking that he's about to be asked to leave and will likely never see her again. She flips from wounded woman to porn professional in a heartbeat and asks, "Do you want it on your underwear?"
Funny line, but not a funny situation as it reveals the tawdry way that Monica has learned to approach relationships.
"Meet Monica Velour" could have been just another idiosyncratic indie film, relying on the entertainment value of its quirky characters but Bearden and Cattrall, aided by an able supporting cast, including a scene stealing Brian Dennehy, brings real warmth to the story.
"Blue Valentine" DVD
Richard's Review: 2 1/2 stars
"Blue Valentine," a new character study starring Ryan Gostling and Michelle Williams, starts off with the loss of a beloved family pet and ends on an even more downbeat note.
The non-linear story begins in present day. Dean (Gostling), Cindy (Williams) and their daughter Frankie (Faith Wladyka) are a family unit teetering on the edge. Notes of tension are infused in their conversation and the only thing that seems to bond the couple is their love for Frankie. For the next 100 minutes we learn about them by jumping around on their relationship's timeline; how they met -- while visiting people at an old folks' home -- and how a once happy pairing fell prey to distrust and difficulty.
As you might expect from actors of the caliber of Gostling and Williams, the performances are top notch. Gostling seems to embody Dean, a high school drop-out with a great facility for love but also for volatile behavior and Williams has one of those empathic faces that can vacillate between joy and sorrow with just a very slight change in expression. But for all the skill of its performers "Blue Valentine" feels one note.
The break up of Dean and Cindy's marriage is not only painful for their make-believe movie family but for the viewer as well. Emotionally raw is good. So is heart-wrenching. But the repetition with which both these aspects of the story are displayed wears down any feeling the viewer may have for either character. It's like watching a couple bicker on the subway. You feel sorry for them but hope they'll get off at the next stop.
