Match Point (Woody Allen, 2005, UK) February 20, 2008
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : 2000s, Drama, Film reviews, Romance, Crime , 2 commentsWritten and directed by Woody Allen; starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Brian Cox, Emily Mortimer
Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ Chris Wilton graces the screen in Woody Allen’s Match Point with the hideous manifestation of greed and self-loathing. At times it’s like watching the over-privileged, middle-classes spitting on poor-peasant viewers who happened, accidentally and clearly unfortunately, to sit within saliva-propelling distance. Yet, underneath the money and comfortable lifestyles, there’s a part of you who wants to be Chris Wilton. Here’s a guy, as distasteful as they come, who has it all, wants more and gets it, and avoids the consequences of his actions. Isn’t there something in that that we all want? It harks back to Allen’s interest in lust and infatuation – the fine line between it and love – and its relationship with good luck and bad luck. Someone can lust about having several sexual partners and the family life at home at the same time, but its destructiveness can define that line between what you really care about and what you simply obsess after through jealousy and greed-fueled self-fulfillment. But, isn’t the real thrill about this, and perhaps Allen’s point by the end: are you lucky enough to get away with it?
I’ve got to give Woody Allen credit for trying something outside his comfort zone – both theatrically and personally. Match Point sees the director play with genre convention and manufacture a few more plot surprises than we usually see from him, while filming the movie on-location in London, away from his native America and his cherished New York city. In retrospect, anybody new to the talented writer-director who brought the world the wonderful Manhattan and Annie Hall might not know just how diverse Allen’s work is. Indeed, anybody who remembers his musical Everyone Says I Love You, his slapstick heroics of Sleeper, or whimsical fantasy of The Purple Rose Of Cairo, might think Match Point is straight-forward drama. But, Allen’s London-based film is unique in its thematic direction. Here, unlike the others where after the first ten minutes the audience knew Allen’s basic tone, Match Point flicks a switch halfway through turning its neurotic flirtations and jealous-lusting into dark-drama hinged on one man’s basic need to be everything to everyone all the time.
I’d liken it to 2004’s Closer - both in terms of the London locale and themes of infatuation and obsession – but, just like Mike Nichol’s film, we’re provided characters so distasteful and self-absorbed it becomes difficult to sympathise with them. While Match Point throws its audience for a loop in the last twenty minutes, the second half of the film feels like a different movie. The first half is much too slowly paced (Allen’s English dialogue having its basis on stereotype doesn’t help), and while it comes together more in the final twenty minutes, you’re desperately trying to remember what happened in the hour you subconsciously switched off. The ending also feels contrived and it’s sudden jump in pace is distracting in comparison with the laboured, pedestrian first act.
Allen is restrained throughout and while his idea of neurotic self-loathing and a passion for those things seemingly beyond reach clearly comes from experience and deep-rooted empathy, his film lacks the love it needed to temper the outward lusting. Wilton’s sexual attraction to the beautiful Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson) is the hot and sweaty counterpoint to the cold and mechanical life he has with his wife. But, Allen doesn’t fully establish Wilton’s ability to love and this affects the impact of the finale.
Match Point is an interesting, if infuriating, Woody Allen film. Its uneven tone and humourless, unlikable characters make it one of his less assured efforts.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Disturbia (D.J. Caruso, 2007, USA) September 26, 2007
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : Horror, 2000s, Film reviews, Thriller/Suspense, Romance , add a commentDir. D.J. Caruso; screenplay by Christopher B. Landon, Carl Ellsworth; starring Shia LaBeouf, Sarah Roemer, Carrie-Anne Moss, David Morse
If the best thing about Disturbia is how it updates the age-old story of the mysterious next-door neighbour for a 21st century audience groomed on mobile phones, Ipods, and online gaming, we’re clutching at straws. I’m talking about the sort of straws Tom Hanks couldn’t get his hands on in The ‘Burbs (there was no following people around taking pictures on phones, or getting mini-DV footage of the culprit doing nasty deeds). Yet he, and the film, was better for it. Indeed, dress-up any bad movie in all the bells and whistles you can find from jump cuts to scantily-clad young actresses to pop culture references and you’re still left with a bad, uninspired cinematic experience.
Director D. J. Caruso has potted around the film industry as a producer and second unit director on many throwaway Hollywood movies of the past few years. His notable work on the poor sequel to Stakeout and the mildly entertaining Drop Zone provide clues of his inspiration when at the helm, but it’s his own films that give a clear indication why Disturbia is just another notch on his C.V. that fails to succeed. One of the major problems I had with the movie was how it appeared to be two different films pieced together at around the forty minute mark. You can stick half an apple and half an orange together and call it original but what you really have is a rather odd looking fruit salad. When he makes it work in his 2002 thriller The Salton Sea it’s intriguing and entertaining, but when it doesn’t (Taking Lives didn’t know whether it was Seven or a feature episode of The X Files, and likewise Two For The Money tried to be too many things and was let down by a poor third act) it’s an unfortunate but glaring example of a director trying to be better than he is.
In Disturbia it’s unclear whether Caruso wants to play on suburban culture (the sort of American dream paranoia characterised by 1950s television, and youth culture and the breakdown of the family unit in seventies movies by Spielberg and Lucas) or indeed homage the techniques and style of Hitchcock’s suspense thrillers. Certainly, there’s obvious reference to Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Spielberg/Lucas protégé Robert Zemeckis’ What Lies Beneath, but Disturbia fails to live up to its inspirations. Because the film is so derivative it becomes far too predictable and loses any suspense the director attempts to build in the final third. It’s far too easy to spot what could be termed the ‘binocular shock reveal’, where a long lens is used to track around a position in space – for example empty windows in an apartment block or house – and suddenly someone or something appears in full view. It’s even easier to spot ‘whodunnit’ by unoriginal red-herrings that, because of their overuse, act as giant arrows pointing directly at those culpable.
Yet, perhaps the worse thing is that it takes forever for the film to get going. We’re forced to watch American Pie without the jokes for forty minutes as, after a good set-up, the plot meanders around Kale Brecht’s electronically monitored house arrest, his frustrating attempts to occupy himself (I suppose if this was American Pie he’d be masturbating furiously, but Caruso has him downloading music, playing online gaming, and testing the range of the electronic tag strapped to his ankle), and spying on the neighbours. It could have been so much fun with a bit of mystery and some oddball characters but Caruso forgets about plot development or the themes of loss established in the opening sequence, deciding to have Brecht vie for the attentions of the beautiful girl next door. When the characters eventually decide that something nasty is going on and investigate, the audience has already been lost. It all untangles so quickly you don’t have a chance to take it in, and there’s very little to care about. Caruso makes the cardinal sin of creating people who you can sympathise with (and therefore don’t want to see come to any harm) but fails to ever put them in a situation where you genuinely believe they are in danger. Even when the annoying best friend Ronnie seems to be a goner, Caruso has Brecht casually playing tonsil tennis with Ashley Carlson (Sarah Roemer). Is he not upset about losing his friend? Of course he isn’t because Ronnie is still alive and kicking, making the supposedly surprising reveal of Ronnie’s reappearance a complete failure.
Essentially, D. J. Caruso’s film wants to be part Rear Window, part The ‘Burbs, part What Lies Beneath, but ends up like an unfunny version of American Pie meets The Girl Next Door with a murder-mystery lumped on the end. Disturbia’s crowded collection of influences, its director who tries to do more than his limited talent allows, and its untidy, predictable script, make for a viewing that’s as uneasy as the movie title would suggest. And sadly, that’s not a complement.
Rating: 1 out of 5
Click (Frank Coraci, USA, 2006) March 22, 2007
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : Comedy, 2000s, Film reviews, Romance , add a commentAdam Sandler’s come a long way from his back-to-school antics in Billy Madison, his golfing heroics in Happy Gilmore, and his coming-of-age in The Waterboy. Indeed, we find him at the beginning of Click with a wife, a good job, two children, and a fairly secure middle-class lifestyle. Yep, he’s all grown-up now.
To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from Click. I liked the premise but I found his recent films (50 First Dates - his worst movie to date, and The Longest Yard) to be lacklustre. Yet, my pessimism was quickly turned upside down by an actor back to form - his bumbling antics tempered by a moralistic story and some great supporting actors.
The idea of a remote control that can manipulate life is used brilliantly - in a superbly constructed story arc, and for comedic exploitation.
Sandler is also excellent - he’s likeable, funny, and clearly suited to the role. He’s also the reason the film never gets over-sentimental.
My only problem with the movie is Kate Beckinsale - she’s not a great actress and again she borders on awful in this movie. The only thing she does well is a convincing American accent.
However, despite Beckinsale being simply nice wallpaper, the film is an enjoyable fantasy-comedy that never preaches its morals. It’s also very, very funny - Sandler’s funniest film since Anger Management.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Joel Zwick, USA, 2002)
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : Comedy, 2000s, Film reviews, Romance , add a commentA likeable culture-clash comedy from the very talented Nia Vardalos who writes and stars in the movie. The initial boy-meets-girl set-up is a little under established but that doesn’t detract too much from the movie’s overall effect. I would have liked to have seen a bit more conflict as the narrative becomes too straight-forward and the eventual pay-off is predictably predictable. Yet, there’s funny characters, some very touching moments and the delightful Vardalos for company, so the film will most likely please most fans of romance.
Sweet Home Alabama (Andy Tennant, USA, 2002) September 2, 2006
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : Comedy, 2000s, Film reviews, Romance , add a commentDir. Andy Tennant; screenplay by C. Jay Scott; starring Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon has struck gold making her career out of these throwaway flicks for young teenage girls, but at least there was something for everyone with the likes of ‘Legally Blonde’. Here, she plays a total bitch who lies to her fiancée, runs back to her family home, meets up with her secret husband, and falls back in love with him. Then she waits until her lavish wedding day with her new fiancée before telling him he’s dumped.
There’s a theme of rich versus poor running throughout the film that is layered on so thickly it’s sometimes difficult to see what’s going on. Terrible film.
Secrets and Lies (Mike Leigh, UK, 1996) August 19, 2006
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : Comedy, 1990s, Drama, Film reviews, Romance , add a commentDir. Mike Leigh; screenplay by Mike Leigh; starring Brenda Blethyn, Timothy Spall, Phyllis Logan, Claire Rushbrook, Marianne Jean-Baptiste
Mike Leigh’s somewhat wayward 1996 film is, nevertheless, a powerful but subtle examination of family and class. Whilst it all comes together at the end, the first part of the film is a little unfocused making it difficult for the viewer to fully immerse themselves in the narrative drive of the film. However, the excellent performances are what brings ‘Secrets and Lies’ to life. Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Timothy Spall are both excellent, but it is Brenda Blethyn (who was nominated for an Academy Award for her role) who captivates, drawing the audience into a world of working class heartache and family divisions.