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CURRENT RELEASES
ALONG CAME POLLY OK, so the stars have no chemistry together (Jennifer Aniston's channeling Diane Keaton in Annie Hall, Ben Stiller's channeling Ben Stiller in just about everything). And writer-director John Hamburg doesn't even begin to mine the comic possibilities of his premise, which examines the budding relationship between an overly cautious businessman who analyzes the risk factor in everything and an easy-going woman with a blind ferret and a spontaneous nature. Not to mention, the potty humor goes waaay overboard. Yet two factors save this from being a disaster: a terrific supporting cast, and Hamburg's ability to nail the little moments even as he's screwing up the big picture. These factors allow the film to provide more laughs than one would have initially thought possible. 
1/2
BARBERSHOP 2: BACK IN BUSINESS This doesn't feel like a sequel to the 2002 hit as much as a continuation, with the entire primary cast returning to protect the establishment from yet another outside threat. In the first film, it was a loan shark who wanted to turn it into a strip joint; here, it's a slick businessman (Harry Lennix) whose ambition to "upgrade" the neighborhood includes opening a chain salon (Nappy Cutz) directly across the street from the venerable family shop owned by Calvin (series star Ice Cube). No better and no worse than its predecessor, this likable, lackadaisical comedy proves more focused than the first film yet lacks much of its comic bite, with even Cedric the Entertainer (as opinionated Eddie) forced to marginally tone down his act. 1/2
THE BIG BOUNCE It wasn't that long ago that Owen Wilson was the cinematic equivalent of a mosquito: noisy, bothersome, and deserving of a good smack. Yet his blond, bland, surfer-boy shtick has grown on me, and indeed, he proves to be the MVP of this souffle-light adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel. As a small-timer running scams in Hawaii, he and former model Sara Foster make a sexy couple, and director George Armitage brings to the project the same degree of playful insouciance that informed his previous film, Grosse Pointe Blank. But with a running time just shy of 90 minutes, the feeling emerges that a third of the movie was left on the cutting-room floor, as evidenced by jarring transitions in plot and character development and the ill use of several actors (including Morgan Freeman). Gorgeous location shooting, though. 1/2
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT In this redundant sci-fi tale, Ashton Kutcher plays a troubled college student haunted by a horrific childhood that managed to incorporate pedophilia, a psychotic dad, a dead baby, and a dog set on fire. But after discovering that, by accessing the journals he kept as a kid, he's able to travel back to that period in time, he sets about changing the events of his life -- and in effect creates alternate realities about as dismal as the one he left behind. Initially intriguing, this quickly turns silly and then eventually wears out its welcome altogether: By the time Kutcher makes his umpteenth time jump, I was praying that we would all end up landing in a better movie. 1/2
CITY OF GOD Thanks to its four surprise Oscar nominations (including a nod for director Fernando Meirelles), one of the best films of 2003 has been re-released nationally, so there's no reason not to catch it the second time around. Based on actual events, this Brazilian import takes a hard look at a Rio De Janeiro slum and dissects the lifestyle of the youthful thugs who rule this "war zone" with a bloody fist. Admittedly, it's tough to withstand 130 minutes of continuous nihilism, but Meirelles and his contributors are so completely in command of this material (the storytelling moves like mercury) that it's impossible not to get caught up in their descent into Hell on Earth. 1/2
GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING The plot can be dismissed by crotchety viewers as borderline soap opera -- in more modern times, its character dynamics could easily play out on the Ewing ranch in Dallas -- but this adaptation of Tracy Chevalier's speculative book about 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth) and his 17-year-old muse (Scarlett Johansson) soars primarily because of its visuals, an appropriate strength for a movie about an artist. Vermeer's pieces are notable for their meticulous attention to detail as well as their astonishing capture of light and use of color; working in tandem with ace cinematographer Eduardo Serra and production designer Ben Van Os, director Peter Webber follows suit by transforming his film into a live-action facsimile of a Vermeer painting.
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