Prime Time: Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)

The argument has been made that 1999 was one of the greatest ever years for movies. I don't know if I buy into that, although it's hard to dismiss any one of the major titles that a movie fan could namecheck for you. It was an undeniably strong year though, and a number of movies created a butterfly effect still reverberating through the cinematic landscape to this day, and may keep affecting things far into the future. Drop Dead Gorgeous, on the other hand, is one 1999 movie that didn't necessarily have that kind of impact. I would argue that it's equally deserving of praise and celebration though.

The debut feature from director Michael Patrick Jann, working from a screenplay by Lona Williams (who also gave us the very enjoyable, and sadly forgotten, Sugar & Spice), Drop Dead Gorgeous is a mockumentary that I would actually rate higher than many of the films directed by Christopher "master of the mockumentary" Guest. It's all about a teen beauty pageant, and allows viewers to follow the determined Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst), the seemingly destined Becky Leeman (Denise Richards), the absolutely impartial, honest, pageant host, and mother to Becky, Gladys Leeman (Kirstie Alley), and a number of other wonderful and quirky characters.

As well as those already mentioned, the cast list here includes Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney, Brittany Murphy, Amy Adams, Mindy Sterling, Alexandra Holden, Matt Malloy, Michael McShane, and Will Sasso (if you don't recognise the names then, rest assured, you should recognise the faces). They're all doing great work, and everyone gets such an equal chance to shine that I would find it impossible to single anyone out ahead of anyone else. Dunst, Richards, and Alley feel like the three sides of an important trio though, and they should be happy to have this film on their respecting CVs. Between this and some of her other roles at the time, Richards shows such a knack for slyly comedic material that I am always sad we didn't get her in more features that could have made better use of her talent.

There are some moments of dubious taste, to put it mildly, and one or two words are thrown around casually that wouldn't be thrown around so much nowadays, but there's a consistent effort made to ensure that most of the jokes are targeting the concept of beauty pageants, whether it's mocking the importance bestowed upon them by people who may keep that as an all-time high point in their lives or showing the damage caused by the focus on looks, weight, and generally being viewed as an ornamental object capable of stating vapid platitudes instead of a fully-rounded human being. 

The real test of any mockumentary is just how convincing it is though, how easily can you forget that you're watching something scripted and acted. This is where Drop Dead Gorgeous manages to remain high in my own list of great 1999 movies. I struggle to think of any one moment that strikes a wrong note. Maybe a couple of the gags are just a bit too hilarious to ensure the purity of the format, but I'll happily put up with that if I can continue to cry tears of laughter as Denise Richards presents a very special interpretation of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You".

Every one of the main people involved with this, behind and in front of the camera, has delivered other work in the years since it was released. Some of that other work is great, particularly when you think of the powerhouse performances we've had from Dunst and Janney in the last quarter of a century, but I would still hold this as a very high benchmark for everybody named in the credits. It's still as beautiful as ever.

9/10

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Netflix And Chill: The Out-Laws (2023)

While I was pleasantly surprised to see that The Out-Laws, the latest comedy feature to drop on Netflix, had a very reasonable 95-minute runtime, I was even more surprised to soon discover that it was also quite funny. A lot of that depends on your tolerance for Adam Devine, who does his usual schtick here (but dialled down slightly), but if you enjoy the leads then you should have some fun with this.

Devine plays Owen Browning, a happy bank manager who is about to get married to Parker McDermott (Nina Dobrev). Although Owen has never met Parker's parents, they end being able to change their plans and ensure a visit just in time for the wedding. That means Owen has to try and bond with Billy (Pierce Brosnan) and Lilly (Ellen Barkin) in a very short space of time, which means . . . alcohol. After an evening of drinking and conversation, Owen spends his next workday hungover, and his day gets much worse when his bank is robbed. The robbers knew every part of his security system, and they seemed very familiar with Own. Could the prospective in-laws be bank-robbing outlaws?

If I had looked into the filmographies of everyone involved here then I doubt I would have given it a chance already. It's the first feature from writer Evan Turner, and the first non-sequel feature from writer Ben Zazove (who previously helped to pen Gnomeo & Juliet 2: Sherlock Gnomes). Director Tyler Spindel is a name I should have recognised, having given us the awfulness of The Wrong Missy back in 2020. Despite their dubious backgrounds, however, everyone comes together well to make something well-paced and full of decent gags. The emphasis is much more on the comedy than any action, but it sketches out enough details throughout to keep things feeling as plausible as they need to be.

While Devine is fun in his main role, he's helped enormously by sharing so much of the screentime with Brosnan and Barkin, both seeming to enjoy themselves amidst all the silliness. Brosnan is particularly fun, using his twinkly-eyed Irish charm to full effect, but he and Barkin are always very much a couple who complete one another. Dobrev does okay in her smaller role, predictably placed in danger at least once, and Michael Rooker takes on the role of the determined cop out to catch the bank robbers, and suspecting that it could have been an inside job. Poorna Jagannathan is an entertaining villain, although not really ever very threatening, and the rest of the supporting cast provides some great additional value. Not only do you get fun little moments for Dean Winters, Lil Rel Howery, Blake Anderson, and Lauren Lapkus (a LOT more amusing here than she was in The Wrong Missy, but you get some effortless scene-stealing from the wonderful Richard Kind and Julie Hagerty, playing Neil and Margie Browning, Owen's parents.

Surprisingly good for this kind of thing, certainly compared to a number of other Netflix comedy films that they've released over the past few years, The Out-Laws is as easy to enjoy as it is easy to predict. It's also a very easy one to choose when you're looking for a simple bit of fun entertainment to while away some time. I doubt we'll remember it a few years from now, as is the way with most of the streaming content that somehow feels less substantial than the films and shows released via more traditional means (e.g. does anyone else remember Hemlock Grove?), but it's here now, and that's the main thing. Apparently.

7/10

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Mubi Monday: This Boy's Life (1993)

A fairly standard coming-of-age/memoir tale, This Boy's Life is a film you may have heard of before, mainly because of the celebrated performances from Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. And it's highly recommended to fans of any of the leads (Ellen Barkin being the third central character).

DiCaprio is Toby, who often likes to be called Jack, a young boy who is used to tagging around with his mother, Caroline (Ellen Barkin), as she tries to make a good life for them both. Caroline meets Dwight (Robert De Niro), a man who initially seems pleasant, if a bit uncool. It doesn't take long to see that Dwight is happy to lie and manipulate to keep himself in a good light, while also keeping everything in his favour, and he and Toby start to clash in increasingly violent confrontations. Toby seems to be a good kid, at heart, but often runs with some of the wrong crowd, but Dwight is not necessarily the good man he keeps trying to make himself out as.

Based on the book by Tobias Wolff, the Toby of the main story (this is his life), and adapted into screenplay form by Robert Getchell, this is a consistently solid drama that is elevated by an absolutely fantastic cast. Michael Caton-Jones directs well, dropping a number of pop hits from the era throughout the soundtrack, allowing the dialogue to reveal so much about all of the characters, and framing many of the confrontations in a way that focuses on the imbalance of power and the physical threat posed by Dwight.

But it's all about this superb cast. DiCaprio makes one hell of a large move away from the daffy fun of Critters 3, easily holding his own alongside the adults, and shows the talent that would put him on the radar of so many other directors. De Niro gives another fantastic turn, unafraid to play a character who is so jealous and petty that he will go to any lengths to make himself look like "the big man". Barkin may have less to do, but she's an essential layer in between the two main men in her life. Jonah Blechman is also wonderful, playing a young man named Arthur Gayle, and you have the cast list filled out by the likes of Eliza Dushku, Chris Cooper, Tobey Maguire, and Gerrit Graham (many of them onscreen for just a few minutes).

The focus throughout stays on Toby and Dwight. The story belongs to the latter, but is so clearly moulded and overshadowed by the former. It's almost like coming up for air when you are reminded that Toby obviously did something to eventually get his story told, and it's extremely satisfying to watch Dwight devolve, little by little, from angry man to whining baby. It is, essentially, the way that so many men like him really are. And not everyone is lucky enough to escape their pleas and clutches.

9/10

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Noir November: Sea Of Love (1989)

Sex sells. Everyone knows that. So adding eroticism to thrillers was always a way to spice things up, grab the attention of viewers, and make a moderate film into a moderate success. Add one or two big names (in this case, Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin) and you had a winning formula. Until, of course, it started to lose. Because there's not really any such thing as a winning formula in the movie business, unless you count the two main ways to make profit: either spend so little that profit is guaranteed or spend so much that the movie gets to eventually make profit by the sheer inescapability of the brand.

Harold Becker directs this slick slice of hokum, and the premise is as fun as it is silly. There's a killer on the loose, someone targeting men who have advertised in a lonely hearts column. Al Pacino teams up with John Goodman to catch the killer, and they decide that the best way to get their perp is to, yep, put an ad in the same lonely hearts column. A number of women reply to the ad, with Ellen Barkin being one of them. Pacino starts to warm to Barkin, even as it becomes more and more obvious that she's the best suspect they've had since starting the investigation.

Writer Richard Price really just goes through the motions here, as does director Harold Becker, but viewers are lucky enough to have the material lifted, ever so slightly, by the great cast. Pacino and Barkin may not be the top two people on your list of folks you wanted to see make out with one another, but they don't do too bad in the sexual chemistry department. In fact, the two central characters really make a good couple, with all of the baggage and cynicism that they have. The rest is all as you'd expect it to be. There's the kind of soundtrack that you'd expect, with the title song making frequent appearances, and one or two decent red herrings on the way to the relatively tense finale. Well, when I say "relatively tense" I actually mean "not tense at all, but still entertaining enough nonetheless".

As for the rest of the cast, Goodman puts in the kind of solid supporting turn that he's been doing for most of his career. He doesn't really steal all of his scenes, but he certainly leaves an impression. John Spencer and Richard Jenkins are both fellow members of the police force, with the latter involved in a couple of great run-ins with Pacino, due to the tension caused by him now living with Al's ex-wife. William Hickey and Michael Rooker do well with fairly small roles, and Christine Estabrook and Patricia Barry also make the most of their screentime, both playing different women putting themselves out there in the world of dating.

Certainly not as good as more delightfully sleazy entries in the subgenre, Sea Of Love is passable enough, mainly thanks to the cast, and I'm sure Pacino completists will be able to stomach it on their way through his filmography.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Sea-Love-Collectors-Al-Pacino/dp/B00008CMRK/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1415133173&sr=1-1&keywords=sea+of+love