NEW RELEASES
BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON Bridget Jones is back, wobbly bits and all. Unfortunately, this follow-up to the delightful 2001 comedy Bridget Jones’s Diary is the laziest sort of sequel, lifting episodes wholesale from the first film before spinning off in directions that don’t even begin to make sense. Therefore, even though the movie opens where the original ended, with single Brit Bridget (Renee Zellweger) at last finding true love with dashing lawyer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), the four screenwriters (including Helen Fielding, who wrote the Bridget books) hastily create a series of unlikely conflicts between the couple, simply so they can rehash the same scenario where Bridget finds her attention divided between Darcy and bad-boy womanizer Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant). Only this time, Bridget’s antics are often annoying, Darcy’s sultry smolder has been reduced to gray ashes, and a venal action on Cleaver’s part renders the character far too despicable for this sort of fluff. Somehow, it all culminates with Bridget landing in a Thai prison, where she leads an impromptu chorus line of local hookers and drug addicts in a sing-along to Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” — a ludicrous sequence that suggests there wasn’t enough cogent material to fashion a sequel in the first place. After appearing emaciated in Chicago, Zellweger’s back to a pleasantly plump size, though all that weight-shifting can’t be healthy (it recalls Raging Bull-era De Niro); then again, when a star’s expenditures often include a personal trainer and a dietician, maybe for once getting back into shape is easier done than said. 
CURRENT RELEASES
ALFIE The 1966 version of Alfie is remembered for Michael Caine’s star-making performance as a callow bachelor whose womanizing ways catch up to him, and for a controversial scene involving an abortion. In contrast, this new version probably won’t be remembered as anything but one more unnecessary remake. And yet, as far as these things go, this one’s not bad at all. The setting has been curiously switched from London to New York, and Alfie’s escapades now seem almost tame in a nation that celebrates its sexual predators in film and on TV. Yet the key to this movie’s success rests in the central performance by Jude Law — this easily represents his best acting to date, and he’s aided by a supporting cast that includes Susan Sarandon, Marisa Tomei and Nia Long as various sack partners.
THE GRUDGE Japanese director Takashi Shimizu helms the American remake of his wildly popular scarefest Ju-On: The Grudge, but even his participation isn’t enough to elevate this terror tale in any discernible manner. Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as an exchange student whose volunteer work takes her to a house that’s subject to a terrible curse, a manifestation of evil that spells doom for anybody who enters. Ju-On‘s success rested in its powerful atmosphere, the sense of dread that Shimizu instilled in virtually every frame. Yet that aura only presents itself sporadically in the Yankee Grudge, most notably when the director meticulously recreates the original film’s shock moments. The rest of the time, we’re stuck with sterile expository scenes, a repetitious framework and the spectacle of Gellar trying to emote.
I ♥ HUCKABEES Or, Being Charlie Kaufman, as writer-director David O. Russell tries to expand the parameters of mainstream cinema as much as the scripter of Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Yet while Russell’s movie doesn’t quite capture the freewheeling dementia of Kaufman’s output, it’s still a noteworthy effort, with enough engaging hi-jinks — not to mention a high-wattage cast — to distract us from the frequent fuzziness of its psychobabble involving a young man’s (Jason Schwartzman) search for the meaning of life. The passion with which the characters rail against their unbearable lightness of being is inspiring, and the uniformly fine cast (Dustin Hoffman, Naomi Watts, Jude Law, among others) provides shadings that otherwise might not have been there.
THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES The seeds of social change are planted early on within Ernesto “Che” Guevara in this uncomplicated biopic that examines an early incident in the life of the iconic revolutionary. Because it focuses exclusively on a particular journey that the young Ernesto (Gael Garcia Bernal) takes across South America — whereupon he witnesses the suffering of others firsthand — the movie plays more like a humanist fable about one individual’s consciousness-raising than it does as a portrait of the controversial warrior-martyr. While this may smack some as a play-it-safe ploy by Salles, it also frees the picture from the shackles of expectation and allows it to blossom as a heartfelt paean to a formidable continent and its proud people.
RAY Just how good is Jamie Foxx’s central performance in Ray? Let’s just say that without him, this new biopic about music legend Ray Charles would possess only marginally more value than a film about Tiffany or The Village People. Director Taylor Hackford wastes a lot of time going over the same material, focusing largely on Ray’s drug use and womanizing ways yet ending the movie before we get to see the musician as humanitarian, as elder statesman, as soulful survivor. Still, it’s easy to overlook the flaws in the storytelling with Foxx commanding our attention in virtually every scene. Much more than Will Smith as Ali or Anthony Hopkins as Nixon, the actor loses himself so thoroughly in the role that it’s impossible to tell where Ray Charles ends and Jamie Foxx begins. It’s a real barn burner of a performance, mesmerizing enough to keep Ray on my mind.
SAW In this age of cookie cutter thrillers, here’s one that, for better or worse (or a bit of both), stands apart from the pack. Two men, a doctor (Cary Elwes) and a photographer (Leigh Whannell, who co-wrote the script with director James Wan), find themselves the prisoners of a serial killer and must pool their resources if they hope to escape. As director, Wan needs to trust his instincts more — the rapid-speed camerawork and choppy editing occasionally on display prove to be pointless and distracting — and as writer, he and Whannell could have taken more care to plug up some gaping plot holes. Yet the unique setting adds some intrigue, and the twist ending should jolt the majority of moviegoers right out of their seats. 1/2
SHARK TALE Forget the Finding Nemo comparisons: On its own, this animated dud still only qualifies as so much cinematic chum. Will Smith provides the voice for Oscar, a hip-hopping fish whose dreams of success are realized once he’s mistaken for a courageous shark-slayer; he’s aided in his efforts at duplicity by Lenny (Jack Black), an out-of-the-closet shark running away from a mob family that doesn’t accept his alternative lifestyle. Shark Tale is all about getting jiggy with pop culture references, with much of the weak humor coming from riffs on famous products, famous songs and famous people (amazingly, today’s two biggest media whores aren’t on hand under the monikers Larry King Mackerel and Stingray Leno). A few clever sight gags pop up now and then, but for the most part, this one smells fishy from the start.
SURVIVING CHRISTMAS Last year, we got Bad Santa; this year, we get Bad Movie. Unlike the Billy Bob Thornton hit, which for the most part kept its dark heart pumping bile right through to the end, this misguided Yuletide farce tries to have it both ways by dribbling watery drops of black comedy into the more familiar foundation of eggnog-sweet sentimentality. The film gets into trouble the moment its feeble plotline is introduced: Wealthy Drew Latham (Ben Affleck) doesn’t want to spend Christmas alone, so he offers a suburban family $250,000 if they’ll just pretend to be his family for the holidays. Affleck’s character is so unbelievably obnoxious throughout the movie that when he’s made his miraculous transformation by the end, it’s hard to tell exactly how, when or why he had been redeemed. 1/2
This article appears in Nov 10-16, 2004.
