New Releases
BRIDE & PREJUDICE So that’s what the most beautiful woman in the world looks like. Much ink has been spilled over Indian actress Aishwarya Rai, who won the 1994 Miss World title and who’s routinely described as not only a woman of staggering loveliness but also a savvy entrepreneur whose business acumen has allowed her to emerge as one of the most popular performers in the world (according to IMDb, there are over 17,000 websites dedicated to her). Described by Roger Ebert as “not only the first but also the second most beautiful woman in the world” (easy, Rog), Rai is indeed lovely, yet what’s noticeable about her performance in Bride & Prejudice – her first exposure to American audiences after starring in over two dozen Bollywood features – is her naturalness on screen, her generosity with other actors (she’s hardly a camera hog), and her willingness to appear as goofy as the role demands. As she did with Bend It Like Beckham, writer-director Gurinder Chadha has tentatively mixed the worlds of Hollywood and Bollywood, fashioning a global tale out of Jane Austen’s Brit-lit staple Pride and Prejudice. Rai plays Lalita Bakshi, one of four sisters whose pushy mom (Nadira Babbar) is perennially trying to find her children suitable Indian husbands. Mrs. Bakshi attempts to hook Lalita up with an Anglicized nerd (Nitin Chandra Ganatra), but the independent-minded woman instead finds herself torn between sly English charmer Johnny Wickham (Daniel Gillies) and American businessman Will Darcy (dull Martin Henderson). Bride is far less polished than Beckham, but Rai makes an appealing heroine, and the movie’s musical numbers are a treat to behold.
THE JACKET The psychological thriller The Jacket shouldn’t be confused with the Jackie Chan dud The Tuxedo, though when it comes to sartorial splendor, it’s hard to imagine moviegoers wanting to get fitted for either film. This new picture is eerily reminiscent of last year’s The Butterfly Effect, the clumsy time travel yarn that asked audiences to empathize with a character played by Ashton Kutcher. The Jacket makes the task easier by casting amiable Oscar winner Adrien Brody in the lead role of Jack Starks, an amnesiac Gulf War vet who, after being wrongly convicted for killing a cop, gets shuttled away to an asylum for the criminally insane. There, he becomes experimental fodder for Dr. Becker (Kris Kristofferson), a scientist who pumps Jack full of drugs, has him tightly bound in a straightjacket, and locks him in a morgue drawer with the purpose of curing him by… how exactly? That the movie never attempts to even offer an explanation of its weird science exemplifies the haphazardness that dominates the picture, from its smallest moments to its major set pieces. The film enters the realm of science fiction when it becomes apparent that Jack’s drawer retreats enable him to journey 15 years into the future, where he meets up with an acquaintance from his past (Keira Knightley) and learns that he actually died during his stay at the asylum. Jennifer Jason Leigh is on hand as a conscientious doctor, but even she can’t save this cinematic dog that narratively ends up chasing its own tail.
Current Releases
THE AVIATOR This sprawling biopic about Howard Hughes (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), the notorious billionaire-industrialist-producer-flyboy, employs all the cinematic razzle-dazzle we’ve come to expect from Martin Scorsese, yet there’s an added layer of excitement as the eternal cineaste finally gets to step back in time via his meticulous recreations of the sights and sounds of Old Hollywood (look for Cate Blanchett in a show-stealing turn as Katharine Hepburn). Still, the behind-the-scenes movie material takes a back seat to other aspects of Hughes’ life – namely, his adventures in the field of aviation and his lifelong battle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. At its best, the film is a stirring tale about a man whose inner drive allowed him to climb ever higher and higher, grazing the heavens before his inner demons seized the controls and forced the inevitable, dreary descent.
1/2
BEING JULIA It’s not entirely accurate to state that Annette Bening is the show, the whole show, and nothing but the show, but let’s just say that without her presence, the curtain would fall a lot faster on this adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham’s book Theatre. She’s awfully fun to watch as she whirlwinds her way through this backstage yarn (set in 1938 London) about an aging actress whose young lover (Shaun Evans) might be using her. The film’s greatest strength rests in its intricate character dynamics (aided by such luminaries as Jeremy Irons and Michael Gambon); its biggest flaw comes from the miscasting of the bland Evans, whose flat performance makes it impossible to believe that the dynamic Julia would fall so strongly for such a drip.
CONSTANTINE Based on the DC Comics/Vertigo series Hellblazer, this disappointment casts Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, a man with the ability to recognize the angels and demons that walk the earth in human form. Yet as he goes about his business of wiping out as many of the demonic “half-breeds” as possible (in an attempt to “buy” his way into Heaven), he realizes that there’s a seismic shift occurring in the underworld, and the only way he can get to the bottom of the mystery is to join forces with a police detective (Rachel Weisz) investigating the apparent suicide of her psychic twin sister. Because it’s an exhaustive exercise to keep abreast of the story’s seemingly random developments, Constantine ends up resembling nothing so much as a punctured tire with a slow leak, letting all the air seep out until what’s finally left is flat and fairly ineffectual.
DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN Watching this adaptation of Tyler Perry’s stage play is akin to channel surfing between showings of Soul Food and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps – with an occasional flip over to The Jeffersons for good measure. A huge hit with Afro-American audiences, Perry’s play, about a pampered wife (Kimberly Elise) who starts over after being dumped by her odious husband (Steve Harris), has been adapted (by the author himself) into a movie that’s overflowing with positive Christian ideals as well as an honest assessment of the intrinsic desire for seeking retribution versus the spiritual need for giving absolution. In this respect, the movie’s emotionally satisfying (if a bit simplistic), yet Perry dilutes its potency by casting himself in the sitcom roles of a profane, gun-wielding grandmother and her brother, a flatulent elder constantly leering at women when he’s not busy smoking dope. 1/2
HIDE AND SEEK Robert De Niro, in full paycheck-gorging mode, is miscast as David Callaway, a New York psychologist who, after his wife (Amy Irving) commits suicide, moves upstate with their traumatized 9-year-old daughter Emily (Dakota Fanning). Still struggling to cope with the tragedy, Emily invents an imaginary friend named Charlie, and a subsequent string of disasters leads David to wonder whether Emily suffers from a split personality, whether another person is manipulating his daughter, or whether there’s a supernatural presence in their new home. It’s becoming increasingly rote to review junky, generic thrillers like this one: Critics would do well to simply cut-and-paste their slams of last year’s Secret Window (this film’s doppelganger) and leave it at that. 1/2
HITCH A warm and witty comedy that unfortunately runs itself into the ground, Hitch benefits immeasurably from the presence of Will Smith, who may or may not be a great actor but who is most assuredly a great movie star. There’s something to be said for effortless magnetism, and in that respect, Smith has more in common with the sophisticated comedians of the past than the coarse jokesters of today. He’s at turns sly, suave and sexy as Alex “Hitch” Hitchens, who earns a living by advising other men how to land the woman of their dreams. Yet even as he tries to pair up a clumsy accountant (Kevin James) with a supermodel (Amber Valletta), he unexpectedly finds his own attention drawn to a gossip columnist (Eva Mendes). Viewers who go with the flow will gladly put reality on pause in order to enjoy this movie’s modest pleasures – it’s just a shame the picture reverts to rigid formula in its final half-hour. 1/2
HOTEL RWANDA Set in 1994 Rwanda, this powerful film takes place during the 100-day period when nearly one million of that country’s Tutsis were slaughtered by the Hutu extremists. Clearly, Hotel Rwanda is about international indifference and liberal ineffectualness, and the movie reverberates with such topical force (Sudan, anyone?) that the ink is still drying on its condemnation of a planet that operates with blinders firmly attached. Yet for all its indignant ire, the movie is more than anything a humanist saga, and it’s in this area where it draws its greatest power. Don Cheadle exudes quiet authority as Paul Rusesabagina, the Hutu hotel manager who risked everything to save over a thousand Tutsi civilians from falling under the machete.
1/2
MILLION DOLLAR BABY The best picture of 2004 is an instant classic, much like director-producer-star Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. But whereas that revisionist Western deconstructed genre conventions, turning them inside out to expose the inherent contradictions and compromises, this movie leaves many of the cliches intact, deriving its power not by upending them but by burrowing so deeply that it feels like we’re witnessing familiar sights for the very first time. Eastwood stars as a gym owner who’s urged by his only friend (Morgan Freeman) to train a young woman (Hilary Swank) determined to make it as a boxer, yet what starts out as a familiar (if brilliantly told) story eventually changes course and emerges as a profound and moving filmgoing experience. There’s very little about this movie that feels extraneous – it’s tight, taut storytelling, anchored by three astonishing performances and helmed by a man still able to teach Hollywood’s young punks a thing or two.
SIDEWAYS Movies in which characters hit the road in search of adventure and end up discovering themselves are nothing new to American film – in fact, they’re an integral part of our cinematic heritage – yet this one is idiosyncratic enough to stand apart from the pack. Miles (Paul Giamatti), a chronically depressed high school teacher, and Jack (Thomas Haden Church), a has-been actor about to get married, decide to book passage to California’s Santa Ynez Valley to tour the local wineries; while there, they get involved with two women (Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh) who force them to reconsider their present outlooks on life. It should be noted that this lovely motion picture should itself be approached like a fine wine: Uncork it, give it time to breathe, and then luxuriate in its rich, heady flavor. It also ages nicely, holding up beautifully under repeat viewings.
THE WEDDING DATE We expect TV stars trying to make the transition to the big screen to find themselves saddled with subpar material, but this one takes that notion to the extreme. To say that the script for The Wedding Date is bottom-of-the-barrel would be too kind; this one was already decomposing under a mountain of mulch before Will & Grace‘s Debra Messing fished it out. Messing plays a woman whose neurotic impulses are meant to be endearing but who instead comes off as something of a pill. Required to fly to England to attend the wedding of her loathsome sister (Amy Adams), she can’t stand the thought of arriving alone, so she spends $6,000 to hire a male prostitute (Dermot Mulroney) to pretend to be her boyfriend. This was clearly inspired by the success of such Brit-flavored confections as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bridget Jones’ Diary – and the comparisons end there.
This article appears in Mar 2-8, 2005.
