Prime Time: Get A Job (2016)

Written by Kyle Pennekamp and Scott Turpel, and directed by Dylan Kidd, Get A Job is, in many ways, exactly the standard comedy that you think it is. And yet, in other ways, it inadvertently stands out as a melting pot of attitudes and ideas that many people (myself included) want to see changing.

Miles Teller is Will Davis, a young man who thinks he has his life sorted. He has just graduated, his girlfriend (Jillian, played by Anna Kendrick) has got herself a great job, and his friends seem to be poised to fall upwards. Unfortunately, the job that he thought would be there for him, after a lot of hours put in as an unpaid intern, isn’t. Which means he has to decide between doing what he loves and doing what he has to do in order to earn a decent wage. And things get even worse for his father (Bryan Cranston), who finds himself unemployed for the first time in decades.

Work needs done. We al know that. Not every job is going to be fulfilling. But that doesn’t mean anyone should be undervalued. If anything, the “unskilled” jobs that are seen as less desirable should pay just as much as some of the more enviable, cushy, numbers that we see people striving for in movies. Get A Job doesn’t consider that though. It is too busy working with the motto of “find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” This is a fantasy film, basically, but it accidentally scatters some reality throughout it.

Here are the positives. You get a reminder of how crappy it is to have someone in an unpaid role. You get a reminder of how disposable you are to any big company (shown in the way that Cranston’s character so suddenly finds himself adrift with no idea of where he might be able to go next). You get to see someone applying themselves to fully show what they are capable of, albeit often in a way that also has them feeling a bit restricted and very bloody tired. And, arguably best of all, you get a nice mockery of that whole “I’ll make sure you never work in this town again” attitude that some employers still think can work. Having been on the receiving end of that line of bullshit myself some time ago, I can assure you that it’s very rarely a serious threat. It is the flailing claws of a wounded predator used to being at the top of the food chain, and you should never let fear of repercussions from an employer stop you from valuing yourself enough to move to a better position (for any reason, be it pay, location, working environment, etc).

The cast do well enough, although the supporting players are a very mixed bag. As the friends of our lead, Brandon T. Jackson is easily integrated into the awful world of stock market trading, Nicholas Braun is a teacher who would rather spend his time getting stoned and playing videogames, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse has a plot all about creating an app that is basically every stalker’s wet dream. These three aren’t great, but there are much better turns from Alison Brie, Bruce Davison, Jorge Garcia, Marcia Gay Harden, Greg Germann, and Iohn C. McGinley, all playing a variety of adults already established in their respective workplaces. Kendrick is completely wasted in her role, which amounts to little more than 5-10 minutes of screentime, but both Teller and Cranston are very good, with the latter having some great moments with a local barista (Cammy, played by Mimi Gianopulos) who turns out to be more supportive than any official employment advisors.

Predictable, cheesy, but also fun, I won’t ever feel the need to rewatch this, but I enjoyed it well enough while it was on. The technical side of things is competent enough, the plotting fits everything together in an amusingly snug way for the third act, and it at least serves as a reminder that you should give your loyalty and time not to a job you may feel worn down and frustrated by, but to the people you care about.

5/10

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Noir-vember: Miller's Crossing (1990)

There are many contenders for the title of "best Coen brothers film ever", depending on your own personal taste and what day of the week it is. But I'd worry about someone who didn't at least consider Miller's Crossing up there in the uppermost tier.

Gabriel Byrne plays Tom Reagan, the right hand man to a crime boss named Leo (Albert Finney). Tom does a lot of Leo's dirty work, but he always knows the reason for doing things. That starts to change when Leo upsets Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito). He's not willing to hand over a snivelling little low-life named Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro), possibly because he's in lover with Bernie's sister, Verna (Marcia Gay Harden). The extra complication in this mess? Tom also seems very attracted to Verna. Trouble is definitely brewing, and it may lead to Tom and Leo parting ways forever. It might even lead to the death of Tom.

A film famously paused by a bout of writer's block that led to the Coens writing Barton Fink, this is a neo-noir gangster movie that celebrates classic tropes while also filling every sequence with gloriously cinematic moments, from the memorable image of a black hat being blown by the wind through a woody area to a gunfight that uses the kind of overkill viewers will recognise from the WB classics of the '30s and '40s. The plot will also be familiar to anyone who has read some of the main works from Dashiell Hammett, or even seen some of the movies based on his work (particularly The Glass Key). And, despite the break required (or maybe because of it), this sits up there with one of the very best scripts written by the Coen brothers, expertly blending the traditional with the ear-caressingly cool. It's the best dialogue that Byrne has ever been given to deliver, and he certainly makes the most of it.

Although there are others worthy of consideration, I'd put this as the best film role that Byrne has ever had. Never unsure of himself, even when about to be handed a beating, and effortlessly cool, he even manages to look like someone punching in the face is a result he was aiming for. Finney is also excellent, absolutely convincing as a boss who no longer often needs to throw his weight around as he has others who can carry out his orders. Polito is equally convincing, a rival crime boss attempting to keep the peace, but also willing to push back harder if he is being made to look weak. As for Turturro, this may be his greatest single performance. He and Byrne are given a gift by the Coens, and they make the most of it. Harden is an enjoyable potential spanner in the works, sensual and self-preserving, and there are some intimidating henchmen portrayed well by J. E. Freeman and the inimitable Mike Starr. There's also an enjoyable small role for Steve Buscemi, although it's worth noting that every single supporting actor here feels perfectly picked for whatever role they're given, from anonymous shooters to local cops.

There's a great score by Carter Burwell accompanying the lush visuals (from Barry Sonnenfeld, who solidified his DP credentials with the Coen brothers before building his own directorial career), wonderful production design throughout, great costumes, and on and on goes the list of positives. The more I think about it, the less I can find to fault here. It is, for me, absolute perfection, and easily jostles alongside The Hudsucker Proxy as the very best feature that the Coen brothers have delivered thus far.

10/10

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Magic In The Moonlight (2014)

Although there are still delights to be found, a modern Woody Allen movie seems to have the same template. The writer-director will include some lovely jazz on the soundtrack, he'll use the movie to explore one main topic, with love always either helping or clouding the issue, and an assorted cast of great names will have some fun in some picturesque European locations (although New York is also an acceptable setting). I'm not saying that every film he has made over the past couple of decades is EXACTLY the same (Blue Jasmine happened to take place in San Francisco, for example). I'm just saying that he's almost become a genre unto himself. Gone are the days when his movies were either funny or serious, gone are the more interesting/fun ideas (such as those explored in Zelig and Sleeper), and gone is the sharpness. It can appear, at times, as if Allen is giving people an impression of an Allen movie. Allen-lite, if you like.

Colin Firth plays Wei Ling Soo, a master stage magician who can also remove the clothing and make-up to move around more inconspicuously as . . . . . . . Stanley. Stanley is famous for his cynicism and ability to disprove psychic phenomena, which is why his friend (Howard Burkan, played by Simon McBurney) enlists his aid when he thinks that he has met a young woman (Emma Stone) who has a real gift. So begins a battle of wits, with Stanley soon coming around to the fact that he may actually have met someone with a very real, very astonishing, psychic ability. He may not even notice the fact that love is in the air, so intent is he on trying to expose the girl for the fake that he assumes her to be.

Firth and Stone are both delightful here, although neither are at their very best. The fault doesn't lie with them, but rather with Allen's sadly flat script. Early scenes have a few great lines scattered throughout them, Firth is much more acerbic in the guise of Wei Ling Soo than he is as Stanley, and then it starts a gentle slide downhill from there. All is not lost, however, thanks to some solid support from Eileen Atkins, Jacki Weaver, Marcia Gay Harden and Hamish Linklater. And those leads.

The main theme being looked at here is whether or not lying is good, especially when it can make people so much happier. It's not a bad subject for Allen to explore, it's just a shame that he does so in a way that feels too lightweight for even just one feature. This leads to many scenes in which people just talk about their own views of the universe, and the possibility of spirits and magic, or Firth and Stone dance around one another, figuratively speaking. The latter scenes are far more enjoyable than the former.

You can always tell when a movie is being made by Allen about something that he feels passionate about. There's a story that he feels compelled to tell. With the lacklustre approach he takes here, it's clear that this story could have been pushed aside for something better. It's light and frothy, nothing more and nothing less. Worth a watch, especially if you're a fan of the director and cast, but not necessarily one that you'll be revisiting a few years down the line.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Moonlight-Colin-Firth/dp/B00O0292GW/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1418905545&sr=1-2&keywords=magic+in+the+moonlight