"Date Night"
Richard's Review: 3 1/2 stars
Stranded-in-big-bad-New-York-City movies are nothing new. Jack Lemon and Sandy Dennis endured everything from exploding manhole covers to muggings in 1970's "The Out of Towners" and in "After Hours" Griffin Dunne got sucked into the vortex known as Soho for one very long, weird night. Nope, the idea of average people getting in over their heads in the Big Apple has been done before, and done better than it is in "Date Night," but this movie isn't about the plot, it's about the likeability of its two stars Tina Fey and Steve Carell.
Fey and Carell are Claire and Phil, a bored married couple from Teaneck, New Jersey looking to spice up their dull date nights with a fancy outing in Manhattan. It starts off promisingly. They can't get a table at the hottest place in town, but when another couple doesn't show up for their reservation Phil assumes their name, The Tripplehorns, and grabs the table. Dinner is great—wine is flowing, the truffle topped risotto is delicious, Will.i.am is at the next table—until two thugs (Jimmi Simpson, Common) come calling for the real Tripplehorns. Seems the other couple are blackmailers in possession of a flash drive that local mafia bigwig (Ray Liotta) desperately wants back. The case of mistaken identity sets them on a collision course with a notably shirtless security expert (Mark Wahlberg), crooked cops and wild car chases.
"Date Night" wouldn't be as enjoyable as it is—and it really is fun—without the two leads. Fey and Carell breathe life into a hackneyed situation, bringing not only the previously mentioned likeability, but also great chemistry and a way with a line—and an adlib—that really works. Without them "Date Night" would be a silly exercise in action – comedy, like the lackluster "The Bounty Hunter" from a few weeks ago. With them it is a romp, which while predictable, has real, deep genuine laughs.
They are aided by a good supporting cast, most of which aren't going for laughs. Liotta brings his usual tough guy swagger, "Benjamin Button" Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson is solid, if not a little dull as a detective who takes just a bit too long to realize that something sinister is afoot and Jimmi Simpson and Common are suitably sleazy as dirty cops, but it is the comedy supporting roles that shine.
Wahlberg mixes humor and sculpted abs in a memorable turn as a helpful -- and terminally topless -- security expert and the pairing of James Franco and Mila Kunis throws off some comedy sparks in their brief scene as the elusive Tripplehorns.
"Date Night" isn't the most original comedy we've seen this year, but it is the best cast one.
"The Wild Hunt"
Richard's Review: 4 stars
"The Wild Hunt" takes place in the world of LARP. No, that's not a place like Middle Earth or Oz, it's an acronym for Live Action Role Playing. Imagine Dungeons and Dragons outdoors and with elaborate costumes and you get the idea. Players create a mythology, don costumes and physically act out their characters' actions. "The Wild Hunt" examines what happens when the real world collides with fantasy land.
The film starts simply enough. Dumped by his girlfriend Evelyn (Tiio Horn), lovesick Erik (Ricky Mabe) follows her to a LARP event where she now wears the pelts and crown of a Viking princess. Also attending is Eric's wacked-out brother Bjorn (Mark A. Krupa) who takes his role as a Viking warrior a bit too seriously. As the Viking showdown with the Celts approaches Eric realizes he must carry a foam sword and play along if he hopes to leave with Evelyn on his arm. Here the story deepens. Eric's outside interference is unwanted, not just by Evelyn but also by the evil Shaman Murtagh (Trevor Hayes). Eric's presence throws off Murtagh's plan to "sacrifice" Evelyn in The Wild Hunt ceremony. Before you can say "Pass me the mead," bona fide violence erupts and the line between fantasy and real life blurs.
"The Wild Hunt" is a strange beast. Set against a backdrop of Viking mythology, complete with battles, elves and some real violence, it is by turns amusing, engrossing and horrifying. The tone of the film darkens as the running time ticks by. The violence -- both mental and physical -- becomes more realistic as the LARP spins out of control, but none of this would matter much if the characters weren't as well developed as they are.
Both Eric and Bjorn have story arcs that exist in real life and fantasy land. Eventually as the two meld the brothers discover what really makes each of them tick. It's interesting stuff, and even if the tone is a little uneven, "The Wild Hunt" remains one of the most intriguing films of the year so far.
"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" (DVD)
Richard's Review: 3 1/2 stars
By the time Nicolas Cage screeches, "Shoot him again! His soul is still dancing!" near the end of "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" his master class of extreme acting reaches its apex. This is the performance that Cage has been slowly working toward; a koo koo bananas performance that makes his demented work in "Knowing" look restrained. But you know what? It works.
Set in post Katrina New Orleans, Cage is Terence McDonagh a good, but wild cop who injures his back saving a drowning prisoner in a flooded jail. Soon he becomes addicted to pain killers, then coke, then anything that will ease his aching back. When he can no longer easily get drugs from the evidence room at work for him and his prostitute girlfriend (Eva Mendes) he goes off the deep end, falling into an abyss of sex, drugs and gambling. Throughout it all he works to solve the case of a family of murdered Senagalese immigrants. "Just because he likes to get high," says Stevie Pruit (Val Kilmer), "doesn't stop him being the po-lice."
"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" doesn't have the same operatic madness as Brian DePalma's "Scarface," it's too down and dirty for that, but it does have an unhinged quality that makes it the most surprising film of the year. The police procedural portion of the story is fairly straightforward, but Cage's acting—which is as big as the 44 Magnum he has permanently wedged in his belt—and director Werner Herzog's surreal touches, like a hallucination scene complete with close-ups of iguanas, a Tom Jones soundtrack and a bug eyed Cage, make it a memorable experience.
Finding the tone of the film may be the most challenging part of finding enjoyment here. It's gritty and silly, but unlike the film it is very loosely based on, Abel Ferarra's cult classic "Bad Lieutenant," it doesn't take itself very seriously. That's not apparent at first, but when Cage physically abuses an elderly woman, shrieking, "I'm trying to be courteous but I'm beginning to think that's getting in the way of me being effective," while coked out of his mind, it becomes obvious that this is a satire of bad cop movies like "Narc" or "Training Day."
Seen as parody, the film's richness and don't-give-a-damn energy—even if the plot points don't always add up—make it one of the more unusual and entertaining movies of the year.
