Prime Time: Wild Wild West (1999)

When Wild Wild West was first released, I wasn’t familiar with the TV show it was based on. I just got excited at the prospect of another blockbuster comedy pairing up director Barry Sonnenfeld with Will Smith. I also liked Kevin Kline, a LOT, Kenneth Branagh, and any decent-sized role for Salma Hayek. That excitement may be long gone now, it started to dissipate during my first viewing of the movie, but little else has changed. I am still unfamiliar with the TV show this was based on, and I still like the main cast assembled for it.

Smith plays James West, a skilled and sharp-shooting special agent who ends up partnered with Agent Artemus Gordon (Kline). Gordon prefers to use inventions and disguises to help him achieve his aims, while West prefers a much more direct approach. Both men have to work together as they try to apprehend the devious Dr. Arliss Loveless (Branagh), a man who lost his legs during wartime, but makes up for that handicap with a number of inventions, from a “super-charged” wheelchair to a huge mecha-spider vehicle, that give him an advantage over his enemies. Oh and Salma Hayek plays Rita Escobar, a women who ends up accompanying West and Gordon for part of their journey.

Arguably most famous nowadays for featuring a creation mentioned in a Kevin Smith anecdote (one of the producers on this movie REALLY had a hankering for a giant spider to feature as a third act menace), Wild Wild West is a real oddity. Some of the comedy works, some of the action is nicely put together, and the steampunk element provides some cool visuals, but the very essence of the film seems to work against the charisma of all of the leads.

Smith constantly feels as if he is cosplaying, too cool to play his cowboy in a more straightforward way, Branagh does too much moustache-twirling while murdering his attempt at an American accent, and Kline doesn’t get enough moments to shine, which is even more annoying when you have scenes that fleetingly show just how funny he can be. Hayek is given no real arc, the movie would work just as well without her (although I, for one, am glad she is in it), while there is more care and attention given to supporting turns from Ted Levine, Musetta Vander, and Bai Ling.

There are, as expected, numerous writers credited with the end result here. You get the names of the people who delivered the TV show concept, but you also get S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock (originators of a certain graboid hit), who then claim that their original screenplay was severely reworked by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman (who only had a couple of other movie writing credits before this, but one of those was Who Framed Roger Rabbit). Whoever was most responsible for it, the end result is a mess, and Somnenfeld is unable to improve it.

The direction is competent, but weighed down by the script. There’s no decision to make someone a straight man, which just leads to the laughs being spread thinner amongst everyone (including Branagh), and thereby ever any real sense of danger. This is a romp, nothing more, and that in itself isn’t a terrible thing. It just also happens to have a few dull patches throughout the runtime, an inability to have more fun with the clash between the traditional Western ways and the technology available to the characters, and even the Elmer Bernstein score can’t help. At least you get to hear the funky Will Smith theme song over the closing credits.

Wild Wild West is a mess, but it is one I feel the need to check in on at least once a decade or so. I always suspect that I am misremembering it, that I like it more than most people. I’m not misremembering it, and I don’t. Although I might be a bit more generous to it than most.

4/10

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Netflix And Chill: Last Holiday (2006)

The only reason that I hadn't watched Last Holiday (a remake of a 1950 film of the same name) before now is that, well, I just hadn't. But finding out that it was set during the Christmas season gave me the nudge I needed to finally get around to it. I like Queen Latifah as a screen presence, I knew that the plot would be predictable, and somewhat comforting, and I hoped for some gentle humour throughout. 

Latifa plays Georgia Byrd, a hard-working woman who has let life pass her by. She enjoys cooking, does well in a job role under a boss who has kept her underpaid and under-appreciated for far too long. After bumping her head at work, Georgia ends up with a medical diagnosis that spells doom and gloom. She doesn't have long to live. It's a matter of days. Armed with this information, Georgia decides to head off on a dream holiday, spending all of her savings on a gorgeous suite, eating the best food, and just having the best time possible. She doesn't care what anyone thinks, exuding a confidence and honesty that impresses the likes of Chef Didier (Gérard Depardieu) and a holidaying politician (Giancarlo Esposito) while very much NOT impressing Matthew Kragen (Timothy Hutton), a business owner oblivious to the fact that Georgia actually worked in one of his department stores. There's also room in the plot for Sean Williams (LL Cool J), a colleague/potential love interest, and Ms. Burns (Alicia Witt), the young woman "accompanying" Mr. Kragen on his business trip/holiday. I think you can all start planning out how this ends already.

Written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, and directed by Wayne Wang, this is about as formulaic as movies get. The blending of those writers with that director though, just check out the filmographies of them to see the wildly different movies they have separately been involved with, leads to something that is full of wonderful little moments on the way to an ending that has to tie everything up in a neat little bow. There's fun poked at the difference between those seeking to try great cooking and those ordering items from the menu with a multitude of personal requests that undermine the essence of every dish, there's a ridiculous, but amusing, bit of accidental extreme snowboarding, and, despite acting like a high-roller for the little time she has left, Georgia is quick to remind everyone around her to treat all workers with dignity and respect. It's all generally in line with plenty other rom-coms (and, as easy as it is to forget at times, there is a good dash of rom with the com), but it somehow feels a bit quirkier and more spirited than a lot of them.

Queen Latifah (real name Dana Elaine Owens, fact fans) is the main reason for that. As much as I have always enjoyed her acting, she helps herself when being cast in a role that allows her to shine as brightly as possible, and she absolutely shines in this role. Everyone in the supporting cast seems to respond well to her star power, doing some wonderful work in roles that could have easily just been viewed as a quick payday. Hutton is a fun potential villain, Witt gets an enjoyable journey alongside him, and Cool J is a very sweet man viewers will want to see make that proper connection with our lead. Both Depardieu and Esposito enjoy themselves in atypical roles, and there are fun moments for Susan Kellerman (a hotel employee named Gunther), Matt Ross (an awful store manager), and Ranjit Chowdhry (playing the doctor who has to deliver the dire diagnosis to Latifah’s character).

Despite the abundance of snow and cold temperatures, things could have been made a bit more Christmassy, but that’s my only main criticism. The soundtrack could have been a bit better, and the plotting just a bit tighter, but this is a way to spend just under two hours with someone who is absolutely delightful company. And that is enough.

7/10

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Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

While it may not seem quite the stunning feat it was back in the late '80s, Who Framed Roger Rabbit remains a unique, and astonishingly good, piece of work. It's a bit of noir mixed in with fun for all the family that benefits immensely from the improved technology allowing actors to more realistically act alongside cartoons.

Bob Hoskins is the private detective, named Eddie Valiant, who ends up trying to find an answer to the title of the movie. Roger Rabbit (voiced by Charles Fleischer) seems to have been driven into a rage by revelations of his beautiful wife, Jessica (voiced by an uncredited Kathleen Turner), playing pat-a-cake with Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye). Roger insists that he's innocent, of course, and there's the very suspicious Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) making it easier for Valiant to believe that something stinks, but will it all be enough to get him to take the case seriously and do all he can. After all, Valiant hates toons, and has never been back to Toontown ever since his brother was killed there.

The big factor that made Who Framed Roger Rabbit such a big deal when it was released, and still a fairly big deal to this day, isn't actually the blending of live action work and animation, which is impressive, but the sheer variety and number of cartoon characters mingling onscreen. As well as Roger and Jessica (with the latter being one of the sexiest cartoons to be allowed in a family movie - look, all of us young boys thought it at the time, and we've all kept thinking it ever since so don't judge me), there are appearances from *deep breath* Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Dumbo, Betty Boop, Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, cast members from Fantasia, Sylvester & Tweety Pie, Porky Pig, Goofy, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Michigan J. Frog and many others. It's a veritable who's who of animated stars, unlikely to ever happen again.

Thankfully, the few human stars also do good work, with Bob Hoskins in top form as Valiant, a private eye who has let himself go over the years and is now more comfortable cracking open a bottle of bourbon than cracking a case. Lloyd is enjoyably creepy as Judge Doom, and Joanna Cassidy is adorable as the tough woman who puts up with Valiant in the hope that he will find himself again.

Director Robert Zemeckis handles everything with ease, which is as viewers would expect from this man who does so love to play with any toys he can get his hands on, and the script, by Peter S. Seaman and Jeffrey Price (based on the book, "Who Censored Roger Rabbit" by Gary K. Wolf), is packed full of great lines, references and gags to both the world of noir and also, more obviously, the cartoons of the past and the present.

A real triumph for everyone involved, including composer Alan Silvestri, cinematographer Dean Cundey, and, last but by no means least, everyone in the art and special effects departments, this holds up as one of those rare joys - a movie full of special effects that actually uses the technology to complement the story, as opposed to using distracting graphics and gimmickry to fill in a lot of empty space.

8/10

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