THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT

 Nicholas Cage     Pedro Pascal     Tiffany Haddish     Sharon Horgan

Neil Patrick Harris     Demi Moore     David Gordon Green

            This is a curious mixing up of reality and fantasy, though mostly fantasy.  It seems that writer (with Kevin Etten) and director Tom Gormican intended to make a spoof of Nicholas Cage and his movies by weaving in and out of both in a multi-layered piece that oftentimes uncannily mirrors Cage’s own life and career.  To enmesh the plot further, Cage’s double named Nicholas Kim Coppola (the actor’s given name before he changed it) appears periodically urging him to be true to himself as an actor.  Confusing?  It’s meant to be.

            When the movie opens (after a quick scene of a kidnapping unexplained), Nicholas Cage the character is in a career slump, which he does not want to acknowledge.  Neil Patrick Harris playing his agent Richard Fink tries to get him any job he can, even those beneath him.  But the offer that most intrigues him is the one in which he will go to a super fan’s birthday party for which he’ll earn $1 million.  This makes Cage vulnerable to a major scam and provide a perfect opportunity for an action film, which the character Cage is eager/desperate for.  

            In the beginning, the film portrays Cage the actor as someone so self-involved, he cannot celebrate his teenage daughter on her birthday without directing the guests’  attention to himself.  This part of the movie is hard to watch because he is so obnoxious.  But it transitions to Javi Gutierez’s (Pascal) villa in Mallorca where Cage will be caught up in his host’s luxurious living and an intrigue that involves the CIA (Haddish).

            Bright and knowledgeable people are likely to enjoy thoroughly the references to movies (highlighted are Cage’s Guarding Tess, Moonstruck, and others) and filmmaking (Cage and Gutierez wanting to make “a character-driven adult drama”, stealing lines, going in and out of character).  The audience I was with seemed to enjoy most the usual kinds of goofiness that many people seem to love, like pratfalls, a car backed up so fast it crashes into another car, and hair-raising car chases.  So, in these senses, the film will appeal to a broad span of viewers.

            I admire the actor Nicholas Cage for agreeing to support a movie that portrays him with many of his flaws…and he acts in it, no less.  His genuineness and willingness to allow himself to be seen in such a light is unusual and reflective of his decision to change his name from Coppola to Cage early on in his career and fund numerous charitable projects through the years.

            I also admire the skill, cleverness, and humor that Tm Gormican and Kevin Etten brought to bear on such a complex, multi-layered work that is meant essentially as entertainment.  But it might be more than that in both the filmmaking world and in psychoanalytic efforts to understand the individual in the contexts of origin, development, and achievements.

            Nicholas Cage as himself is of course the penultimate of any acting career, and he does it so easily.  Pedro Pascal is a talented actor in many different kinds of roles, and he pulls off the transitions required here.  Tiffany Haddish as a CIA agent is not so convincing, but her role is meant to be comical more than real, and for that she does a good job.  

 

Nicolas Cage?  See him here in all his facets, both real and imagined.

 

Grade:  B+                            By Donna R. Copeland

THE CARD COUNTER

 Oscar Isaac     Willem Dafoe     Tye Sheridan     Tiffany Haddish

            I have heard that counting and keeping track of cards in games can help you win; and William Tell (Isaac) demonstrates this both in a simple card trick and in a fascinating story with themes of punishment and expiation—and their limits.  Writer/director Paul Schrader is a master of nuance and suspense, with engaging characters, richly metaphorical settings (Ashley Fenton), music complementary to the script (Robert Levon Been, Giancarlo Vulcano), and provocative cinematography (Alexander Dynan).

            Tell is a card shark who likes to keep a low profile after stints in the military and prison.  He has developed a systematic lifestyle that reflects his approach to cards—astute observation, discipline, the compulsive need to hide, and a solitary existence.  He meets a woman who calls herself La Linda (Hadish) and once she learns how good he is, wants to “back” him (finding wealthy clients interested in betting on him).  She appears to be the sole lightness in his life, but he still holds her at bay.

            After one of his games, he is passed a note from a bystander wanting him to give him a call, which he does.  This is Cirk (Sheridan), the son of an old acquaintance in the military.  Cirk has a proposal that seems not to interest Tell as much as the young man’s life story, which relates to the theme of punishment/expiation.  Tell has some ideas about how he can expiate himself of some of his past for which he was punished, but for which he has not forgiven himself.

            As with his previous film, First Reformed, in which a pastor is trying to work through PTSD after a war experience, Schrader poses circumstances that force the viewer to contemplate psychological stressors, current issues like war, and—above all—personal responsibility for actions in the past.  That is, it’s about war and about its after-effects and how those involved deal with them.  First Reformed deals with one person’s struggle; The Card Counter deals with the second generation’s struggle as well.

            The lead actors are supremely fitted to their roles.  Isaac’s ability to convince us of the depth of Tell’s story is key to the well written plot.  Tiffany Hadish provides (needed) respite from the gruesome details of Tell’s and Cirk’s accounts.  And she once again proves her acting abilities.  Tye Sheridan pulls off the hard-to-engage teenager with a singular passion and not much ambition.  Tiffany Hadish has evolved from her comedy roots in Like a Boss and Girls Trip to being a serious pivotal character in this film.  Willem Dafoe expertly shows us a jaded, exploitative figure who has no qualms about exploiting others under his control in the most weaseled of ways, even to the end.

            The psychological authenticity of Paul Schrader’s films always amazes me.  He is clearly attuned to personal transformations with myriad motivations that are not always clear, even to the person, much less those observing him/her.  The arc of transformation is similar in this film to that in First Reformed.   It involves something like “original” to something that is an outgrowth of itself after encountering real-life experiences.

            There are small wry touches of inspiration and humor that might go unnoticed, such as William (Bill) saying to Cirk, “You live like this?” (a messy room) and Cirk saying to Bill, “You live like this?” (a compulsively neat room).  Or La Linda taking Bill out  to a “city on fire”, which means walking through a labyrinth of bright lights, possibly as a metaphor for the potential of card winnings—dreams—and then, reality.

            

An intricately “wired” account of the psychological transformation of individuals as a consequence of their experiences.

 

Grade:  A                  By Donna R. Copeland

LIKE A BOSS

Rose Byrne     Tiffany Haddish     Salma Hayek     Billy Porter     Jennifer Coolidge

     Give a few pretty good actors a mediocre script, and what do you get?  Of course, a bad movie.  Everything in this movie is predictable from start to finish.  The filmmakers took every stereotype of women they could think of and included it (e.g., bitchy, manipulative woman boss with an obsequious yes-man at her side, yammering friends, insipid topics of conversation, vindictiveness…you get it). The set-up is two friends since middle school are now roommates with their own beauty company called Mia & Mel.  One is hyper-responsible and timid; one is brash and always coming up with something new. Mia (Haddish) is the former, and Mel (Byrne) the latter.  

     With their business about to fail (hesitant Mel can’t bear to tell Mia about it), a company raider, Claire Luna (Hayek) swoops in with an offer Mel can’t refuse, despite Mia’s apprehensions about losing control of their own company.  They end up agreeing to the terms, but the script has them behaving like school girls avoiding the dishes; somehow, they can never come up with an assigned presentation, even at critical times. They squeak by a number of times, but essentially it goes back and forth between their being in, then out, with Claire.  The absurdities resolve into a completely vindictive conclusion.

     It’s surprising that the director of Like a Boss, Michael Arteta, is the same one who directed Beatriz at Dinner, an innovative, charming, and insightful movie, with Salma Hayek as its sassy star.  What attracted Arteta and Hayek to this script?  I wonder.  The story is by Danielle Sanchez-Witzel, with a screenplay written by Adam Cole-Kelly and Sam Pitman.  The movie seems so much from the male perspective, I have to think the two screenwriters influenced it in that direction.

     There are truly revolting images, such as the “pussy cake” (a cake in the form of a birthing baby’s head emerging from a vagina), an assistant telling Mia and Mel that “Claire will be with you when she wants to be with you”, and “Follow your juices.”  Over and over, the movie tries to push sexual references to the limit while still trying to be funny.

          None of this material has any underlying meaning; it’s clearly for laughs in traditionally “forbidden” areas. Ironically, I think the hope was that it would make a strong statement about female friendship and loyalty, but the writers couldn’t seem to be able to come up with more than a stereotypical, “happy-ever-after” illustration of that or any subject of depth.

This is a superficial, stereotypical view of women and their relationships among themselves and with the larger world.

Grade:  D                                                By Donna R. Copeland

THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2

Voices of:  Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, Harrison Ford, Patton Oswalt, Eric Stonestreet

Jenny Slate, Lake Bell, Hannibal Buress, Nick Kroll, Dana Carvey, Ellie Kemper

      Whereas in the first rendition of The Secret Life of Pets, a relatively simple story with lots of excitement is told, in Secret Life 2, the filmmakers opted to have three loosely related story plots alternating with one another.  One story is about the main character Max having to adjust to his owner’s new baby and going for a visit to a farm where he encounters an intimidating bigger dog named “Rooster” (Ford), although Rooster isa dog.  Another is about Max’s friend Gidget (Slate) trying to retrieve Max’s favorite toy, “busy bee”—which he entrusts her with while he is out of town—when it bounces away and ends up in a cat-filled apartment.  The third story is about Snowball (Hart) feeling like a super hero when his owner dresses him up in an action figure costume, and his friend Daisy (Haddish) asks him for help in rescuing a circus tiger from its abusive trainer Sergei (Kroll).  

     In my opinion, this structure becomes a near fatal flaw, because it fragments the plot and literally lurches through three very different settings and intrigues. Max is trying to brave it up on the farm; Gidget and her friend Chloe (Bell) are frantically trying to wrest “busy bee” from one huge snarling cat in a house full of cats, and Snowball and Daisy become action figures in outwitting and outfighting the evil Sergei for the tiger. Try as the filmmakers might, the three stories don’t really come together in the end; we just get a sample of endless chases modeled after adult action movies.  Bravery seems to be the element tying all this together, but by the end, we feel like we’ve seen three different movie shorts.

     The actors voicing the animals do a great job highlighting their characters’ personalities (Harrison Ford, Tiffany Haddish, and Nick Kroll are welcome additions to the first team), the animation and special effects are entertaining, and Alexandre Desplat’s music is an apt accompaniment.  

     Children in the screening I attended giggled and laughed at expected times and seemed to enjoy the film overall; I just wonder how well the younger ones especially followed and kept track of the three plots.

Another peek into the pet world, where challenges and intrigues are aplenty.

Grade:  C                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE OATH

Tiffany Haddish     Ike Barinholtz     John Cho     Billy Magnussen

     This film is so unrealistic it becomes meaningless.  The premise looks promising for an exploration into our politically divided country trying to deal with the film President’s requirement that every citizen sign an oath of loyalty to him.  It is timely, in that we hear reports of our current President actually asking directly whether members of his staff are/will be loyal to him.  But, unfortunately, writer/director (and star) Ike Barinholtz placed the issue in a family drama that doesn’t even pretend sensitivity or subtlety in its exploration and goes over the top in absurdity.  And although I’m sure this is intended to be its “comedy”, few people were laughing in the screening—only a few chuckles. It’s basically an hour-and-a-half of screaming arguments peppered with foul language, threats, and insults.  

     It’s Thanksgiving, and Chris (Barinholtz) and Kai (Haddish) have invited his family to their house.  Chris is something of an agitator, vehemently opposed to the oath and compelled to find out exactly who has signed it.  Most are in a politically conservative frame of mind and did sign it, but Chris can’t let it go; he incites arguments repeatedly, showing that despite his “liberal” views, he is judgmental and socially insensitive and disrespectful. He has had long-standing conflicts with his brother, and their old resentments add fuel to the fire.

     Just to make matters worse, up the conflict to another level, (and increase the absurdity), “someone” has reported Chris to the CPU, the government organization within Homeland Security that has the authority to bring people in for questioning.  There have been rumors that some people have disappeared after being taken away.  So when two agents, Peter (Cho) and Mason (Magnussen) come to the house and are let in when Chris is out of the room, he goes ballistic.  The ensuing fracas involves not just verbal and physical exchanges, but a gun, a taser, a couple of shovels, and lots of blood.

     Although the actors are generally very good, their characters are unsympathetic and often obnoxious. The solutions they, especially Chris, come up with are rather stupid, the most glaring being that despite the serious injuries of one person, 9-1-1 or an ambulance are never called. Surprising to me, the only adults that are sympathetic and sensible at all are Kai and Peter, one of the agents. (A clever casting choice was Haddish, in that in previous roles, particularly in Girls Trip, she is the outrageous one; here, she constantly tries to calm her husband down and give him good advice, which he seldom takes.)  Peter talks and behaves like a good government agent who knows how to instill calmness in a situation and is basically honest.  Other than these two, the other characters mainly elicit groans.  

     It’s difficult to come up with what Ike Barinholtz had in mind as to the purpose or point of this film.  I hear he wanted people to stay mindful of humane values in the current political climate, but when no character in this film seems to do that, its puzzling. Reflective of his background in comedy, The Oath movie feels like an extended comedy routine that goes on too long.  Only, instead of comedy, we see a dysfunctional family and suffer through it as we would in a real-life situation with such a group.  

     Finally, of all things about this film that were almost intolerable, the pounding blast of music that marks the countdown from Monday to Black Friday when all oaths should be signed is appallingly bad.  Bret Mazur blasts our ears five times just to tell us a day has passed.

If you would like to see how a dysfunctional family spends Thanksgiving, The Oath may be the film for you. It’s billed as a comedy, but…

Grade:  D+                                  By Donna R. Copeland

GIRLS TRIP

Regina Hall     Queen Latifah     Jada Pinkett Smith     Tiffany Haddish    

Kate Walsh     Mike Colter     Lara Grice     Larenz Tate

     Four friends decide to get together again after years of doing their own thing.  Ryan (Hall) has become famous for her book with the message that You Can Have it All, and with her football hero  husband Stewart (Colter) they make up a golden couple promoted by their agent Elizabeth (Walsh) and looking forward to their own TV talk show and product line.        They have a public engagement in New Orleans, and Ryan thinks it would be a perfect time to get the “Flossy Posse” (partying college roommates) back together for a reunion. 

      Sasha (Latifah), Lisa (Smith), and Dina (Haddish) are on board and meet up for a flashy, fun weekend in the party city.  They all have back-stories, though.  Sasha has her own blog, which digs up “dirt” about celebrities, but she’s hanging on financially by only a thin thread.  Dina has impulse control problems and has just been fired from her job.  Lisa and her two children live with her mother after Lisa’s divorce. 

     They also have colorful personalities, all very different from one another, and there is a certain amount of painful history that surfaces from time to time.  These stories are cleverly sprinkled in, so that the viewer is informed gradually.  They only come to a head towards the very end, which, to me, was the most interesting part of the film.

     But the personalities are the entertainment.  First and foremost is Dina, who has no limits as to what she will do or say, which makes her the comedian/problem for everyone.  Ryan is forceful by virtue of her success in life (which is far from stable and predictable) and her message to women about being able to have it all.  Sasha looks/acts the part of someone who has made it, but something keeps coming up about her and Ryan.  Lisa seems to have traveled backward in time, and the others have to bring her up to date in her frumpy dress, her frumpy attitude, and her obsessive nurturance.

     This mixture is dynamite in New Orleans where everything the filmmakers could dream up in raucous comedy, embarrassing situations, and friendship brinkmanship gets played.  To spice it up even more, cameo appearances by Common, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Ava DuVernay, Mariah Carey and their groups blitz the screen.  The jokes don’t always come across well, but there are so many, one can overlook those few.

     Girls Trip will be savored more by those whose culture is represented by the characters.  The audience in the screening I attended was optimally interactive, applauding, making comments, and groaning throughout.  As a white woman of a certain age, I sat through most of it interested, but not engaged, up until the concluding scenes when the characters developed more insight into their friendship and its value.  That is the substantive point of the whole film; that underneath everything, above all, is friendship.  I can certainly go along with that!

    Director Malcolm D. Lee, wanting to avoid black female stereotypes, highlights the genuine warmth among the women.  They fight and argue, but not for long, and they always make up.  The four talented main actresses (Hall, Latifah, Smith, Haddish) are funny and entertaining, deftly showing off their skills.  Walsh and Colter lend strong supporting roles. 

A raunchy, raucous indulgence that eventually gets to what most of us value in life.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland