TABLE 19

Anna Kendrick   Lisa Kudrow   Margo Martindale   Craig Robinson  

Tony Revolori   June Squibb   Stephen Merchant   Wyatt Russell

     This is a strange movie that doesn’t quite get off the ground.  It’s rather formulaic, as in quick alterations between humor, anger/meanness, tenderness, and love.  It tries to be funny by being shocking, but the jokes often fall flat, or are even embarrassing—as when a young man asks a girl he’s never met to go out with him and marry him…and, by the way, he has a big penis.  Stumbling, pratfalls, and bumping into things and wrecking things are likewise inserted to be funny.  There must be at least five or six people who fall down, and we’re supposed to laugh.  And the fighting between couples; this gets very tiresome. 

     The film takes place at a wedding, and opens with Eloise (Kendrick) vacillating between accepting or declining the invitation.  This is actually one of the more clever scenes showing real anguish and ambivalence; Kendrick can be very funny.  She is right to be torn because she’s bound to run into her ex-boyfriend Teddy (Russell), the brother of the bride with a new girlfriend.  She wants to go because she is a long-term friend of the bride, and was even helping with wedding plans when she and Teddy broke up.  Of course, in the end she decides to go, and is seated at Table 19.  We’re informed ahead of time that this is a table of misfits.

     The colorful make-up of the guests at Table 19 is a great set-up for a comedy.  Along with Eloise, there is the former nanny of the bride and her brother, Jo (Squibb); unhappily married owners of a diner (Kudrow and Robinson); an ex-con (Merchant) who is the uncle of the bride, and a young man (Revolori) desperately wanting to score, inappropriately egged on by his helicopter mother (Martindale) whom we only hear over the telephone.  This table is supposed to form the essence of the comedy, and some of their routines are as madcap as they’re supposed to be, but the filmmakers (writers Jay and Mark Duplass and director Jeffrey Blitz) never quite succeed in their aim to make this an all-out screwball comedy.  Which is a shame, since the cast is filled with talented actors. 

     Table 19 succeeds when it illuminates the back-stories of the characters, and we feel compassion for what they’ve gone through.  This is especially true of the ex-con when we hear what he did wrong, which is both funny and extremely touching at the same time.  Merchant pulls this off like the pro that he is.  Revolori (a hit in The Grand Budapest Hotel) plays his part extremely well, but the lines he’s given, which are supposed to be funny, simply aren’t.  Kudrow and Robinson are fine actors, but there is no chemistry between them, and it’s puzzling how the two characters could have gotten into a marriage.  Kendrick also does well, but it’s a role she has done many times before in playing characters that I suspect are very similar to her as a person.  I would like to see her pick up the challenge of roles that will be out of character for her, proving her great acting abilities.

Table 19 is mildly entertaining, but doesn’t achieve the sidesplitting screwball comedy to which it aspires.

Grade:  C-                                    By Donna R. Copeland

NEBRASKA

Bruce Dern     Will Forte     June Squibb     Bob Odenkirk     Stacy Keach

     Nebraska is a wonderful picture about old age—literally in black and white.  Black and white is apt, not only because of its photographic clarity, but also because it sometimes shows the grayness and bleakness that is frequently a part of old age.  As father and son go driving through the bare snowy landscape of Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska, it metaphorically captures what Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) is experiencing in the senescence of his life, and something he is fighting against as mightily as he can.

     Woody has a dream that he just cannot let go of; he is convinced when he receives a notice in the mail that he has “won” a million dollars, he fails to read the fine print that says he will actually be entered into a contest for the prize if he buys certain magazines.  No amount of reasoning or reading the paper aloud on the part of his family will convince him, and after he takes off walking toward Lincoln, his son David (Will Forte) compassionately offers to drive him on the assumption that when Woody is told “officially” he has not won, his father will be convinced.  Besides, his son sees it as an opportunity to have some quality time with his dad, who was not an attentive father to his sons.

     The road trip has many adventures, some of which are very trying, and others even more trying.  They end up stopping in the family’s old hometown, where they visit relatives, and Woody’s wife Kate (June Squibb) and other son Ross (Bob Odenkirk) join them.  Then they get to find out all the debts they suddenly “owe”, once Woody spills the beans that he is now a millionaire.  When they finally make it to Lincoln to the prize offices, Woody is indeed given the truth, but the adventures are still not over.  The ending is classic Alexander Payne:  bittersweet but satisfying.

     Payne is a master of characterizations that seem familiar to all of us; we are convinced we have met them before in our own lives.  Moreover, he has a sixth sense about casting where the actors fit into the characters hand-in-glove.  Bruce Dern—an unlikely choice at first glance—perfectly captures Woody’s agedness, from his “Huh?!” to every question posed to his wild-eyed look of surprise when someone stops him from walking to Lincoln.  This is especially noteworthy because the actor himself is still so sharp minded.  On a Charlie Rose interview, his memory was keen, and his wit very quick.

     The other main characters are also extremely well cast.  Will Forte’s performance is probably the best of his career as an actor; he is a perfect foil for Bruce Dern’s character, who can be trying.  Forte as one of his sons conveys patience, compassion and love with complete genuineness.  June Squibb is a standout for her cheekiness in playing Dern’s wife, and her stating plainly what is going on in situations where others are hemming and hawing or playing a con game.  Bob Odenkirk as Dern’s other son, and Stacy Keach, one of his old partners, are both great supports.

Nebraska is sure to capture some Oscar nominations, so you won’t want to miss it.

Grade:  A                                                By:  Donna R. Copeland