WILSON

Woody Harrelson     Margo Martindale     Laura Dern     Isabella Amara

     Here’s a movie that has great potential with Director Craig Johnson (Skeleton Twins) and starring Woody Harrelson, a success in many films.  And Wilson does start out being quite funny as a lonely character connecting only with his dog, and becoming irate when his only friends, a couple, tell him of their plan to move out of the city.  (“How could you do this to me?!”)  Indeed, self-centeredness and self-entitlement turn out to be his mantra for the rest of the story, which essentially kills it.

     Obnoxiousness is Wilson’s middle name.  He bothers people on the bus or on the street who obviously are engaged in their own activity or work, insisting they talk to him.  In a virtually empty bus, he takes a seat right next to a man who is clearly working, insulting his response to Wilson’s question about what he does.  He says the most outrageous things to people who have mildly rebuffed him, such as, “You’re a toxic soul-drawing vampire.”

When his father is dying in the hospital, Wilson ignores his critical condition and entreats him (the man is unconscious) to say he loves Wilson.

     One of the only really engaging parts of the film Wilson is the brief period when Margo Martindale is on camera.  She lights up any film she’s in, and here, they have a comical exchange where she is tech savvy (he’s amazed at what she does “at her age”), helping him locate his ex-wife, Pippi (Dern).  She carries on with the task despite his insults of her and Pippi, and locates Pippi’s sister, who will be a lead in finding Pippi.

     Harrelson does his usual good job in capturing a character’s essence and bringing it to fruition.  That it doesn’t quite work here is likely due to the script by Daniel Clowes, which calls for him to be too persistently obnoxious and rude without any redeeming qualities.  After all kinds of disasters, the story then delves into deeper emotional areas, but the viewer hasn’t been prepared, so can’t empathize, and the scenes fall flat. 

     Another place where the film hits/misses at the same time is in Laura Dern’s character Pippi.  Dern is excellent in portraying a woman who has been through major hard times, but still has hope and is trying to make her life better.  Pippi and Wilson have some touching moments together, which are largely successful, but when Pippi, against her better judgment but egged on by Wilson, visits her sister, once again the script calls for an over-the-top scenario. 

     Another strong point in the film is in Isabella Amara’s characterization of Claire, Wilson’s and Pippi’s daughter given up for adoption.  (I’m not giving anything away; it’s in the previews.)  Amara is completely believable and noteworthy in showing the mixture of Claire’s reaction to the sudden appearance of bizarre parents in her conventional, well-to-do suburban world.  Yes, she does show some of their DNA, but nurture by her adoptive parents has helped her achieve good sense.

     Overall, I think about how the movie does something similar to what the Wilson character does; it says a nice thing, followed by a blistering, withering comment.  This is supposed to be funny, but smacks more of cruelty and social ineptitude.

I so wanted this movie to be funnier and snappier.

Grade:  D+                            By Donna R. Copeland

THE HOLLARS

Margo Martingale   Richard Jenkins   John Krasinski   Anna Kendrick   Sharito Copley   Josh Groban   Charlie Day

          In his debut as director of a feature length film, John Krasinski has done a creditable job in steering a fine group of actors through a comedic drama that has its highs and lows.  The uneven script by James C. Strouse deals with weighty emotional issues in a sometimes ridiculous dysfunctional family, but goes over the top in the absurd and misses chances for substantive insights—something like what many family sitcoms do, pulling for easy laughs without spending time to be genuine and serious.

         John (Krasinski) is called away suddenly to his mother’s (Martindale) bedside when it is determined that she has a brain tumor.  Her husband Don (Jenkins), an ineffectual man, is despite a good heart, child-like and tearful.  John’s brother Ron (Copley), who is just about as inept, lives at home and is without a job since his father fired him from their failing plumbing business.  John has soaked up a bit of this low self-confidence from his family, and even though he is in a happy relationship with his wife Rebecca (Kendrick) and is expecting a baby, he is intimidated by her family’s wealth.

        The family’s pathology emerges in full force upon the central figure’s serious illness, especially son Ron, who spies on his ex-wife (with binoculars outside her house!), has inappropriate interactions with his kids, and seems to have zero problem-solving abilities.  (As an aside, Josh Groban as a youth minister now married to Ron’s former wife, comes across as a most appealing and patient character who puts religion in a good light.)  Don does a bit better in getting a job in a liquor store as a last-ditch effort to save his company.  John doesn’t seem to have the foggiest notion of how to support Rebecca emotionally, but fortunately she knows enough to guide him gradually in the right direction.  All of these issues comprise the bulk of the comedy of the film, and I realize many people do appreciate this kind of humor.  It borders too much on the absurd for me.

        Martindale continues to be a star in whichever role she is in on TV or in the movies.  Jenkins is a good pairing for her; their timing and obvious emotional connection constitutes much of what is best in the film.  Krasinski and Kendrick as a younger duo are not quite so well connected, but she is very convincing as a hugely pregnant wife with a stable personality and ability to express her emotions.  Copley and Day do well with the comedic, ridiculous lines they are given, but much of that material is over the top.

A light-weight comedy with some heavy emotional situations.

Grade:  C                                    By Donna R. Copeland

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY

Meryl Streep     Julia Roberts     Chris Cooper     Margo Martindale     Ewan McGregor     Sam Shepard 

Julianne Nicholson     Benedict Cumberbatch     Juliette Lewis     Abigail Breslin

       August:  Osage County is a rip roarin’ study of a family in Oklahoma that is perpetually on a tinderbox.  The slightest disagreement can erupt into a major battle, and the only way they see to keep the lid on is to hide all their secrets.  Of course, this is a strategy that always fails, but like the good neurotics they are, they keep using it, thinking it will work.  As the story proceeds, we learn that the cruel parenting we witness stems from troubled childhoods, and we see it spread like an infection from parent to child across generations.  As each secret is uncovered, it has an explosive effect on all involved.

     On a more elegant note, the ensemble cast is a study in streamlined acting that continually hums along as if they had worked together for years and filled out every detail.  At the center of the story—and the cast—is the consummate award-winning actress Meryl Streep, who plays the damaged matriarch in a family with three grown daughters who have come home to “comfort” their mother after a crisis.  Her sister is present as well, with her husband and son in tow.  Present as well is the recently hired cook/housekeeper who is a beacon of sanity in the dysfunctional, turbulent group.

     The screenwriter Tracy Letts (Killer Joe) has based the script on his play with the same title, which premiered on Broadway in 2008.  The transition from stage to screen is not always smooth, but Letts has achieved it without a hitch.  Most of the action takes place in the family home, a beautifully landscaped colonial mansion in the countryside near a lake, or in the cars of the arriving family members.  Clues about the underlying conflicts are seen from the beginning in the interactions between Violet (Streep) and her husband Beverly (Sam Shepard), followed by the arriving sister Mattie (Margo Martindale) and husband Charles (Chris Cooper) and each of the daughters’ families.  In the process of the unfolding drama, the viewer experiences the trapped feeling that each of the characters suffers from; at one point, a character says to another who is running away, “Where are you going?  There is no place to go!”  And we feel trapped as well because the action is so powerful.  Also because, in a larger sense, we identify with the fact that we are always a part of the family to which we belong; there is not ever, really, any escape. 

     John Wells, the director, has performed his function of creating a work of art from all the components of the film, with the actors and other crew, such as the cinematographer Adriano Goldman and musician Gustavo Santaolalla, whose work illuminates the ongoing drama. 

Clearly August:  Osage Country will be prominent in the upcoming award circuit soon to take place.

Grade:  A                                   By Donna R. Copeland