Netflix And Chill: The Other Woman (2014)

A rom-com that is very much an anti-rom-com, The Other Woman is a fun time with a solid trio of lead actresses who all seem to be having fun playing off one another.

Cameron Diaz is Carly Whitten, a successful attorney who believes she may have found a special man in Mark King (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Unfortunately, there's a big problem. He's married. Carly finds this out when she attempts to surprise him at his home, which then leads to her forming an unlikely, and initially very unwanted, friendship with Kate King (Leslie Mann). The two eventually realise that there's also another woman in Mark's life, which then connects them to Amber (Kate Upton) and turns them into a united trio determined to make Mark pay for his lies and bad behaviour. Revenge is a best served cold, and most things tend to feel colder when there's a lot less money in your bank account, which is what the ladies have in their sights.

Whatever I write here could be taken as a positive or a negative by people who already have their mind made up on this film. It's the kind of thing that is easy to dismiss, but also the kind of film I like to recommend to those who don't mind straying away from their usual choices. Men may assume this is going to be unbearable, although I know I am making my own assumption there, and women may pass over it in favour of any number of movies that received bigger and better marketing, but this is a perfectly enjoyable way to pass 109 minutes, thanks in no small part to a number of people having fun with the comedy.

Diaz may not be one of the comedic strengths, she just doesn't work as well here as she has in other comedies, but she's very good as the smart and powerful woman who ends up in an awful position, and then ends up formulating a plan to help a woman avoid some painful consequences of inadvertently being married to a scheming cad. Mann is hilarious though, very funny in almost every scene, and the perfect choice to sugar-coat the bitter pill at the heart of this. Upton also does well, very sweet and silly to immediately offset the potential extra jealousy that she brings to the situation. Coster-Waldau knows his place, and he sets himself up brilliantly for the many punchlines making use of him, and there are enjoyable little turns from Don Johnson and Nicki Minaj. Taylor Kinney may not be doing much, but he's there to catch the eye of Diaz, despite being the brother of Mann's character (which could make things even more complicated . . . or maybe not).

Writer Melissa K. Stack generally does better with the situations and set-pieces than with the dialogue, but the screenplay feels improved by director Nick Cassavetes having that game cast. Everyone knows what they're doing, both behind and in front of the camera, and it's the kind of entertainment that often seems bad to people who haven't truly seen how much worse things can get in various sub-genres. 

The pacing is great, the tone stays light enough even as it dances around a subject that could have turned things much darker, there's a good dose of female empowerment, an enjoyable soundtrack, and a huge dog that is used just enough to create an extra couple of laughs before being placed in the background as the central plot strand develops and moves resolutely towards a VERY satisfying finale.

6/10

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Netflix And Chill: The Bubble (2022)

If you wanted to be particularly cruel about The Bubble, a star-studded and overlong comedy from Judd Apatow, who simply cannot make a film under 2 hours nowadays, and has clearly been having a lot more fun than most viewers over the past 5-10 years (although I did really enjoy The King Of Staten Island), then you could quite easily say that it feels like the best way to deliver a huge dollop of nepotism. This is underscored by the moment in which the movie turns into one extensive, elaborately-choreographed, TikTok video for a character, Krystal Kris, played by Iris "daughter of Judd" Apatow. I don't want to be particularly cruel about it, but I don't want to be particularly nice about it either.

Because The Bubble is bloody awful. It's largely unfunny, feels very smug for a lot of the runtime, and doesn't give you any characters to really care about. And the saddest thing about it is the fact that it wastes a great cast, all of whom seem game to make fun of themselves, and all of whom are then given the most careful handling, as if they are too fragile to handle some actual digs and humour.

The plot is simple. A group of actors are set up in a large hotel to film the latest instalment of an ongoing blockbuster franchise, Cliff Beasts 6. Each star has their own set of issues, but most of those issues are either underdeveloped or just not that great, comedically. Oh, and there's ongoing social distancing in place, quarantine rules, and tests for COVID.

Co-written by Apatow and Pam Brady, it's really hard to view this as anything more than a vanity project that goes for some easy options at a time when film-making has become even more challenging than usual (BECAUSE of the kinds of measures shown onscreen). This feels like a film that was hastily written around what was viewed as a winning central concept, clearly sold to the stars as something better than it ended up being. .

The cast are often trying their best, and the familiar faces are people I have enjoyed in many other movies. Karen Gillan, David Duchovny, Keegan-Michael Key, Fred Armisen, Peter Serafinowicz, and Kate McKinnon are highlights for me, while Harry Trevaldwyn, who I haven't seen before, was an absolute scene-stealer. There are a couple of fun cameos from John Cena and James McAvoy, but a less fun cameo from Beck, and everyone else varies between the poor (Pedro Pascal just isn't as good with the comedy, sorry) to the perfectly . . . okay. Leslie Mann and Iris Apatow aren't necessarily bad in their roles, but their casting feels like an excuse to make this a fun time for the family, rather than the best time possible for the viewing audience.

There's great stuff to be mined from this kind of scenario, from the actors feeling privileged enough that they don't think they should need to adhere to social distancing rules to the lengths a studio will go to in order to get more content out there after such a lean spell, but this doesn't succeed. Part of the problem, perhaps, is making the film being made such an obviously stupid one (seriously, it's maybe less substantial than Monster Trucks), but I think the biggest problem is Apatow, someone who continues to move further and further away from any place where he can be self-critical and disciplined. 

It gets one point for every time I laughed.

3/10

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Mubi Monday: I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

Also . . . there's a horror movie review coming along later. Not going to miss a day here just because MUBI hasn't yet put up any genre offerings.

Co-directed by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, who also wrote the script based on the book by Steve McVicker, I Love You Phillip Morris is a fantastic comedy, an amusing look at the life of a con man, and an astounding true story.

Jim Carrey stars as Steven Russell. Steven seems to have his life in order. He's a police officer, he plays the organ at church, he has a loving wife and two daughters. He's also very much gay, something that he keeps a secret until a bad car crash leads him to realise that he cannot go on living a lie. Well, he cannot go on living THAT lie. All other lies are fine as long as they allow him to spend lots of money he otherwise wouldn't have to treat himself, and loved ones, to a lavish lifestyle. This leads him to prison, which leads to him meeting Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). And so begins a series of audacious cons as Steven aims to spend as much time as possible with his new love, whether in prison or enjoying their freedom.

I don't want to spoil things for anyone who hasn't seen this movie, suffice to say that the biggest con that Russell pulls is as incredible as it is reliant on some very human oversights/errors and it's the focus of the third act, quite rightly so. The script takes great pleasure in sprinkling events with a few little rug-pulls here and there, making it easier to accept some of the more unbelievable true details of the story.

Requa and Ficarra do a good job with the direction too, keeping things light and upbeat (helped by a wonderful score from Nick Urata that often tiptoes very close to emulating "Aquarela do Brasil" by Ary Barroso). There may be no such thing as a victimless crime but this is a lot easier to enjoy thanks to the targets picked by Russell, usually either financial corporations or those in positions of power in the US penal system.

Carrey is on top form in the central role, flying through most of the scenarios with a mixture of optimism, charm, and bullshit. McGregor is also very good, acting very sweet and making it easy to see why the relationship between the two could blossom so quickly. Leslie Mann does well in her small role (she's the loving wife who somehow doesn't outright resent and hate her husband when she is told the truth about him), Rodrigo Santoro is fun as Carrey's first main male partner, and Antoni Corone and Brennan Brown are two businessmen who enjoy Carrey making money for them without noticing that he's taking a decent amount for his own account.

As much about the things people will do for love as it is about someone who seems unable to stop living a life that requires theft, lies, and fraud, I Love You Phillip Morris is an entertainingly light treatment of material that could have easily been dark and painful. You may think it's the wrong approach, but I happen to think it works perfectly.

8/10

You can buy the shiny disc here.
Americans can buy it here.
Or you can click on those links and buy whatever the hell you like.

Mubi Monday: The Bling Ring (2013)

Based on a Vanity Fair article ("The Suspects Wore Louboutins") by Nancy Jo Sales, The Bling Ring is a very unique crime film that also plays out very much like a time capsule showing certain types of shallow narcissists who have begun to multiply and thrive at the start of this century.

Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson, Taissa Farmiga, and Claire Julien are the youngsters who discover an easy way to become just like so many of the celebrities they idolise. Rob them. When they see articles describing various people hosting, or heading to, parties that are out of town then they know that they can find out where those celebrities live, find a way to access the house, and help themselves to a few trinkets that probably won't even be missed. It's a great way of life until they start getting themselves noticed, ironically enough.

Directed by Sofia Coppola, The Bling Ring is a strange movie to enjoy. For starters, the cast are an annoying and vapid bunch who start to blend into one another. They're defined more by the clothing and accessories they covet than any actual personality, and that's really the whole point. The script is also a fairly shallow and pointless affair, again in line with the characters, and the direction sees Coppola spending most of the time just letting viewers hang out with the gang and being relentlessly worn down by their attitudes to possessions, fame, and success.

Everything that Coppola does here, and everything she asks of her cast, has a point. In that regard, the film succeeds. Unfortunately, the film spends 90 minutes making the same point, pretty much, over and over again. If you don't enjoy the first few scenes then you sure as hell aren't going to enjoy any of the rest of the movie.

Chang and Broussard are the leads, basically, but Watson, Farmiga, and Julien conribute just as much by being so similar in attitude and self-centred inability to even think of the bigger picture, or the repercussions that may befall them. Leslie Mann is the one adult to get some decent screentime, but she's not given that much to do, and there are some obvious celebrity cameos (either in acting roles or utilised in snippets of archive footage).

It can often be hard to enjoy a movie about crime, or criminals, if you suspect that it's somehow glorifying either the act or the people. The Bling Ring avoids that, despite showing the main characters usually being so absorbed in the opportunity to have a piece of an "unattainable" lifestyle that they're not being overtly malicious in any of their actions. That doesn't mean that viewers won't want to see them get their comeuppance, however, and there are a number of scenes in the final act that make it worth having endured some of the more annoying moments elsewhere.

I can see it being very easy to hate The Bling Ring. It's a frustrating experience. But it's also one worth your time, if only to fully understand the bizarre disconnect between reality and what can be seen on a computer/phone screen. A gaping divide always looking to be bridged by those looking up to online celebrities, promoters, and lifestyle gurus.

6/10

You can get some bling here.
Americans can get it here.

Blockers (2018)

Blockers is a comedy that looked pretty awful from the first trailer. The rest of the advertising I saw for it didn't make it look much better. Then people went to see it and I started to hear some say that it was actually quite good. Some even said that it was very funny, with particular praise going to John Cena for his performance. I was willing to give it a go, and started to feel more optimistic about it. Well, it wasn't as bad as those trailers made it out to be, but it wasn't great either.

Cena, Leslie Mann, and Ike Barinholtz play three parents who discover that their daughters (Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Gideon Adlon) have made a pact to lose their virginity on prom night. Yes, this is a nightmare scenario for most parents. So they set out to put a stop to things. Well, Cena and Mann want to make sure nothing happens. Barinholtz is the cooler (aka less responsible) parent who tags along because he doesn't want the others embarrassing his daughter. And that's the premise.

Directed by Kay Cannon, making her feature debut in this role (although she has a number of decent credits as a producer), and written by Brian and Jim Kehoe (who have one previous feature and a couple of shorts under their belts), Blockers is handled slickly and professionally enough. The characters are sketched out quickly, although they're not the deepest, and the various elements that will cause more problems for the parental pursuit are made glaringly obvious. This is not a film that cares for subtlety.

Cena IS very good in his role, and he's the funniest of the three concerned parents. Barinholtz can be slightly irritating at times, due to his character, but also does well. Mann gets the short end of the stick, given the least of the comedic material as the writers instead focus on her stress and overprotective nature (similar to the way Cena is shown, but his ends up creating more laughs). That's a shame, because Mann can be very funny with the right material. What proves to be a pleasant surprise is that the film doesn't focus on the parents as much as you might think. It also gives plenty of time to Newton, Viswanathan, and Adlon, showing how they differ from one another and complement one another in their close friendship. All three young women do well, although it seems as if, once again, the writers had less to give the one of them (Newton, playing the daughter of Mann's character, funnily enough). You also get to find out more about their dates for the evening, and another potential love interest (Ramona Young) for one of the three, despite the fact that she is hoping to forge ahead and see if sex with a guy will change how she feels about her sexuality.

Considering the main premise, Blockers takes time to consider what the younger characters are going through, in terms of friendship, peer pressure, being on the brink of adulthood, and relations with their parents. It also manages to move deftly enough from the comedy to the sweeter moments, which come along, predictably enough, in the final act. What it doesn't do so well is provide the big laughs. You get a lot of chuckles, which are fine, but there aren't any great set-pieces here, and the script isn't smart and/or tight enough to make up for that.

Enjoyable enough, especially if you find Cena likable, but it's not one I can see anyone revisiting too many times.

6/10

You can buy the blu ray here.
American friends can buy it here.

Drillbit Taylor (2008)

Written by Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen and directed by Steven Brill, Drillbit Taylor is a fairly enjoyable comedy that won't become anyone's favourite but that passes the time pleasantly enough and has a few scenes that should make you grin.

Two young lads (Nate Hartley and Troy Gentile) are about to start high school and want everything to go right. But everything goes horribly wrong for them and they find themselves a) with a new friend (David Dorfman) who is also a liability and b) the main target of some insane bully boys (Josh Peck and Alex Frost, with the latter playing the more psychotic of the two). In desperation, the young lads decided to hire themselves a bodyguard. They want someone well-trained and up to the task but they can't afford the best of the best so end up thinking that they're bagged a bargain when they hire Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson). Drillbit Taylor, however, isn't quite the great man that he makes himself out to be. He's a homeless man who makes his money most days by begging amongst the slow-moving traffic. Maybe helping the kids out can give him a chance to help himself. Or maybe it will all end badly.

Based on a story idea by the late John Hughes, AKA king of the teen flicks, Drillbit Taylor coasts along thanks to a good, varied cast and a few highlights interspersed throughout. Owen Wilson plays the character that you've seen him play numerous times before, and it's a bit stale this time around, but the supporting cast includes some great turns from the younger cast members and fun moments for Danny McBride, Stephen Root and Leslie Mann.

Where the film falls down is the tone. It ranges from the light and funny to the twisted and the, at times, very dark. Annoyingly, both ends of the spectrum have moments that make for interesting and/or entertaining viewing but they're just not blended together well, leaving the film feeling more like an abstract and unsatisfying mosaic than a complete and satisfying work.

If you saw the trailer for this already then you'll already know if you're going to like it or not. It's exactly what you expect it to be. Fun cameo appearances from David Koechner, Frank Whaley and Adam Baldwin (wearing his jacket from My Bodyguard) help but the movie certainly never comes close to being unmissable.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Drillbit-Taylor-Blu-ray-Nate-Hartley/dp/B001KOTNZ8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1344333338&sr=8-3