The Heat

"The Heat" embraces a shock-and-awe style of comedy. Melissa McCarthy shows up early in the film loud and proud (and destructive). She is Agent Mullins, a neighborhood cop who is not afraid to sacrifice sugar for the stick, even to the point of throwing phone books at prisoners. I must confess I was terribly annoyed at first. I'm a fan of the f-word and think it's funny, and it can be concluded that most people take some sort of enjoyment from saying it. Say it right now--it feels almost liberating, doesn't it? At a dinner table, I think most people wouldn't mind the occasional f-word drop, but you would be distracted, annoyed, perhaps offended, and a little angry at the unoriginal repetitiveness of uttering such a world. And so many comedians, especially when they realize what kind of a dud their jokes are, resort to the word almost as a fail-safe. It almost always doesn't work. Here, that appears to be the case. McCarthy storms in and drops a dozen curse words. It's a bit shocking at first.

Pretty soon, though, the shock wares off and the awe sets in. I was soon laughing at virtually all of the wild antics of Sandra Bullock and McCarthy. There were probably just as many swear words but twice as many laughs. Mullins at one point mocks another character by saying, "You're giving me beauty advice? Do you even own a fucking mirror?" On paper, it's not much of a line, but it works well when she delivers it. She has a host of others, comparing her partner's breath to that of a dumpster and publicly ridiculing her police chief. She, and likely most of the audience, wonder why Bullock's character wears spanks to, she says, "keep it all together down there."

Paul Feig, director of "Bridesmaids," with a screenplay from Katie Dippold, has done an effective job at guiding the two leads. Bullock plays Agent Ashburn, an FBI agent who gets along with none of her colleagues yet desperately wants a promotion. Her director (Demian Bichir) isn't sure if a promotion is right for her, so he sends her to Boston to take down a drug cartel. It's not a particularly invigorating plot, but who cares? The twists are seen miles away, but much of the humor is not. I can undeniably state that a certain scene involving a man choking and a whole lot of grossness was one which I was not expecting (and one in which I think a majority of audience members turned their eyes away from). As the scene takes place more than an hour into the movie, it's a further reminder that we're in the awe part of the film (even though we are entirely shocked).

It's not simply Bullock and McCarthy who should get all the comedy credit. There are really funny people here and they are used well--they include Dan Bakkedahl, Tom Wilson, Michael McDonald, and Jane Curtain. They're so funny that I almost wished that the McCarthy/Bullock duo could have been downplayed a tad to give the other players a bit more room.  But these two are the stars and they deserve accolades. It reminds me of the famous Bechdel Test, which assesses whether or not women actually are a part of a movie. "Well, that's ridiculous! More propaganda about how women aren't visible in society...blah blah blah. Of course women are in movies!" But this simple test shows how flawed that argument is and how underrepresented women are in movies. It asks three questions: First, are there at least two women in the movie (who have names)? Second, do they talk to each other? And three, do they talk to each other about something other than a man? Now think about how many movies would actually pass this movie? My favorite film ("The Godfather") does not pass this movie. The movie recently named by Sight Sound to be the greatest of all time ("Vertigo") also does not pass. The Best Picture-winner "Argo"? Nope. What about any of the other nominees (which included "Amour," "Django Unchained," and "Lincoln")? No. Since the buddy-cop formula movies of the 1980s, there has never been a buddy-cop movie featuring female leads. It's nice to finally have a movie in which female characters are tougher and smarter (and funnier) than the male characters. And for the record, "The Heat" does technically pass this test, but just barely, as women are still outnumbered by men in the movie. But it's at least a step in the right direction.  

Read More →

This Is the End

"This Is the End" is a parody of disaster/horror/apocalypse films in the sense that there is sort of a formula here to be poked fun at. A group of people are stranded when the world is ending and they have to use their talents and abilities to overcome the uniquely challenging environments.  But with "This Is the End," the apocalypse is in LA, the group of people are spoiled Hollywood actors, and their uniquely challenging environment is James Franco's house. The actors here appear as themselves--they are Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, and Jonah Hill--though of course it could be argued that in a way they are playing characters. (It would be hard to believe that any of them do half of the things they do in this movie.) Their best plan is to gather all the food (which is the kind that mostly wouldn't sustain someone through an apocalypse) and then they argue about who gets the Milky Way.

They theorize what could be causing the mayhem outside (with the consensus eventually forming around the idea that the Book of Revelations is coming true) but spend most of the time doing what you would expect stoned actors to do: stage sequels to some of their hit movies and play with prop guns. There are unlikable jerks who are destined to die, only here they are actually famous people. Emma Watson (also as herself) shows up with an ax, but things go from bad to worse. In many other films, the filmmakers would assume that simply providing a cameo would provoke laughter; this usually doesn't come true. Here, it does, because the actors are actually given something to do. SPOILER ALERT: Most of the cameos feature performers who die early on; actors are people, too, and they can also be victims to the apocalypse. The actors here subtly poke fun at themselves and each other. Hill, as he is praying, introduces himself to God by reminding Him that he's Jonah Hill, "from 'Moneyball.'" McBride teases Rogen's acting ability in "Green Hornet" and then assures them that the Green Goblin (Franco, of course) surely has enough money to help them.  

The film is one of those rare ones that is funny throughout its entirety. Some jokes, as expected, either fall flat or overstay their welcome. For example, I think most will argue that ejaculation is funny. Erotic? Sure. Depressing? At times. But also fairly hysterical. (I'm not the only one who agrees with this, right?) I can't think of many scenes in cinematic history that feature this unique bodily function which don't appeal to our humor. And so McBride and Franco get into a big argument on such a topic, and then it goes on for about another minute. That's not very long, but I think it's fair to say that ejaculation jokes do in fact reach a ceiling (figuratively, of course). Consider the opening monologue between Jay Baruchel and Seth Rogen in a car from the airport. They get into a big argument about eating gluten and whether or not it is healthy and/or necessary. It is reminiscent of that famous discussion about fast food in "Pulp Fiction," so much so that I expected one of them to say something about "gluten with cheese." I thought it was a bad start to the movie, but pretty soon I was wrong. From there, the two smoke weed with a pipe they observe resembles that of Gandolf the Grey's and start mimicking Ian McKellen as if he were a pothead.

This movie is surely one of the funniest experiences I've had at the cinema. The exorcism scene in particular, in which the gang tries to rescue their friend from the grips of Satan, had me practically in tears. To provide further evidence of the lovably sophomoric humor, let me point out that the demon in the movie not only is rather terrifying but also, for no explained reason, incredibly well-endowed--it's hard (no pun intended) not to notice. Spoiler? Hardly, but you should at least have some kind of an idea of the movie you're about to watch. And beyond that, all I can say is that you will very likely laugh a lot.

Read More →

The Place Beyond the Pines

"It is the business of the malevolent man to seek to promote what is beneficial to the world and to eliminate what is harmful, and to provide a model for the world.  What benefits he will carry out; what does not benefit men he will leave alone."
-Mozi

Over the pine planes, in Schenectady, New York, is where this story takes place. Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper) is a beat cop and the son of an influential judge. He pursues a criminal, acts in a way that deems him heroic, and, accordingly, should be rewarded with a good outcome. The problem is that his heroic deed is questionable. It leaves him conflicted, and Cooper pulls this off through wordless emotions, not dialogue. Throughout the rest of the film, Cross's outcomes are not necessarily hopeful ones. Director Derek Cianfrance has thought a lot about his "The Place Beyond the Pines," which he claims is inspired by the birth of his son and Jack London's stories.

Even without these thoughts, the film doesn't have to try too hard to capture our attention in its first act. From the first moments we are witness to motorcycle chases and long shots. The first act focuses entirely on Ryan Gosling's side of the story. Gosling is Luke Glanton, a star motorcyclist in need of money to support his family. Unable to find more steady income, he finds that robbing banks suits his unique talents. Pairing up with a local mechanic (Ben Mendelsohn), their plot involves Luke charging into local banks, cursing up a storm, and demanding that the money be stored in his bag.  From there, he darts off on his bike and evades the police. It's a remarkable first act.

The second act is not as sustainable as its predecessor. From here, we see Bradley Cooper as Cross, a young cop with ambition, rising through the ranks and seemingly playing all the right moves. Cooper is very good in this role, and is doing a fine job of continuing his streak after being nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for last year's "Silver Linings Playbook." But the second act is not as sustainable because the story touches on police corruption, something that is not new to cinema goers, most of whom have probably seen "Serpico," "Cop Land," etc. It's true that this is not the main focus of this segment's plot, but it is distracting nonetheless. But then the final forty-five minutes or so of "The Place Beyond the Pines" is when this movie enters its silly season. The story shifts away to the offspring of these two characters, where the idea of consequences is really obvious, but it never makes us want to care. Too often, a movie is really intriguing and entertaining, only to lose its footing as it heads into the final stretch. This is certainly the case with "The Place Beyond the Pines." How I wish we could have had more of Luke and Avery's stories instead of those of the teenagers. If it were not for that final segment, I think this movie had the potential to be one of the year's best.

Ray Liotta's performance as a dirty cop named Deluca has a few genuinely frightening moments that reminded me of his intensity as a performer. There's a Hollywood story alleging that Liotta, in an attempt to convince Martin Scorsese to cast him in "Goodfellas," approached Scorsese one evening. Those around Scorsese thought Liotta was approaching Scorsese to attack him, and that is what sparked Scorsese's interest in him. In one scene, Deluca attempts to lead his crew of corrupted cops into the house of a suspect. She refuses, insisting on the need for a warrant. "You assume I have a warrant," he tells her, "and I'll assume your mother has papers." But the more obvious similarities exist with Ryan Gosling. He's not at the level yet, but his acting here has the image and tenacity of Marlon Brando and James Dean in the 1950s.

Read More →