The Royal Tenenbaums

The Royal Tenenbaums
January 4, 2002
Touchstone
Comedy
DVD
B

This is the only Wes Anderson movie I own, though I've seen others.  At that, this Criterion edition was a gift.  I liked the movie when it came out and I still like it.  I admire the attention to detail and the offbeat sense of humor, and sense of everything else.  But it's not really a movie I can warm up to.  In fact, I probably like it better in pieces-- from the game closet to individual lines-- more than I do as a whole.    Anderson wanted to make it a New York movie in a literary, almost fairytale, way, and so this is and is not the New York that was or was about to be shattered by September 11th.  It is a very visual, almost theatrical movie, and yet it also feels like J.D. Salinger and John Irving collaborated on a reboot of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

Luke Wilson is almost unrecognizable here compared to in Legally Blonde, particularly when he's got long hair, a beard, and sunglasses.  Gwyneth Paltrow is much better here than she was as Emma, with a very deadpan delivery.  Bill Murray's role as Paltrow's husband, Raleigh St. Clair, is far from my favorite, but as always he adds something to the proceedings.  I don't have Owen Wilson in any of my other movies, but it is interesting how he (in a script he cowrote with Anderson) plays a family friend, while Ben Stiller (in a curly wig and red jumpsuit) plays the other Tenenbaum child.

William Sturgis was Elliot's Analyst in Hannah and Her Sisters and is Franklin Benedict here.  Andrew Wilson (older brother to Luke and Owen) was a School Guard in Never Been Kissed and plays both Farmer Father and Tex Hayward here.  Kevin Kean Murphy, who's an Archaeologist here, would be an Interview subject in Kinsey.  Lian Moy is a Patron here and would be a Student in School of Rock.  Amir Raissi, who's one of Eli's Egyptian Friends, would be a dancer in Enchanted.

The real star of the movie is the house.

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day
February 12, 1993
Columbia
Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi
DVD
A

This is a modern classic, the only movie I can think of that is on a level with Some Like It Hot.  Like that Billy Wilder movie, this Harold-Ramis-directed-and-cowritten movie has wonderful leads and great supporting players.  (Stephen Tobolowsky is the clear stand-out, as adorably obnoxious Ned Ryerson, but I also enjoy all the little touches Robin Duke adds to her role of Doris the waitress.)  This movie also shares with Wilder, and with Preston Sturges, a successful blend of cynicism and sentiment, although I think this '90s film is ironically much more positive about human nature than many older films.  It goes dark at times-- including in a funny but disturbing suicide montage-- but it also argues that even the most self-centered, miserable man can change his life and the lives of others, if given enough time.

The movie is obviously about time, how it can be an enemy or an ally.  I wasn't sure whether to go with sci-fi or fantasy as the label for one of the film's genres (comedy and romance were easy), because we're never given a definite reason why weatherman Phil Connors keeps repeating the same February 2nd.  There are many theories out there, ranging from the Magical Negro Bartender with his knowing looks to a whack on the head with a snow shovel.  I decided that a time warp is more of a science fiction motif than fantasy, but in the end it doesn't really matter why it happens.  It just matters what Phil does with it.

He does a lot with it, some of it illegal and immoral and fattening, and some of it uplifting.  Over time, Phil falls for his producer Rita and has to figure out how to win her.  He can't just manipulate her, like he does with other women.  She's too smart for that.  So he becomes a better person in every way.

I can't think of any movie that is so simultaneously funny and thought-provoking.  It appropriately improves on repeat viewings.  You know what's coming but you need to see it play out, watch all the variations.  Also, you grow fond of the town, as Phil does, with its Sturges-like eccentrics.

Bill Murray is perfectly cast as Phil, because, as Ramis points out on the commentary, he's got that blend of sweet and nasty.  Also, his ability to improvise serves Phil as well as the humor.  I've never been 100% happy with Andie MacDowell as Rita, but she's grown on me, and this last viewing I appreciated her little reactions when she's not the focus of attention.   I'm not sure if she's why I can't give the film an A+.  I guess a hypothetical A+ movie would have to have all the qualities of both this and Some Like It Hot, like a more memorable soundtrack here.  (Though the Ramis-penned "Weatherman" is cute.)

Bill's big brother Brian Doyle-Murray plays Buster, "the head groundhog honcho."  Rick Overton, who's Ralph here, was Dr. Rick in Earth Girls Are Easy.

Reni Santoni, whose voice was dubbed for the State Trooper, would be a Police Officer in The Brady Bunch Movie.  One of the Flat Tire Ladies, Barbara Ann Grimes, would be Mrs. Cardoza in The Hudsucker Proxy.  Stephen Detherage, who's a News Intern here, would be Al the Concert Shirt Vendor in Music and Lyrics.

Tootsie

Tootsie
December 17, 1982
Columbia
Comedy, Romance
DVD
B+

Late in the movie, Jessica Lange's Julie tells one of Dustin Hoffman's characters, "I love you but I can't love you."  I think that sums up how I feel about this movie.  I've treasured it since I first saw it at 14, but I don't think it holds up quite as well as Nine to Five does.  Ironically, this is because it's a farce that plays out realistically, while 9to5 is a farce that is inspired by real-life issues but exaggerated on a grand scale.  9to5 ends just as it should, with every character getting what he or she deserves; while Tootsie's ending abandons characters we've grown to care about.

Like 9to5, this was a huge hit and remains a "comedy classic."  But just in case you don't know or have forgotten the situation, here we go:  Forty-five-year-old Dustin Hoffman plays Michael Dorsey, an actor who doesn't have Hoffman's success but does have Hoffman's pain-in-the-ass-ness.  His agent George Fields, played by the film's director Sydney Pollack, tells him no one will hire him.  So out of a desperation that's somewhere between Joe & Jerry running from the mob in Some Like It Hot and Kip & Henry needing an apartment in the early '80s sitcom Bosom Buddies, Michael passes himself off as Dorothy Michaels, a sweet but tough Southerner, in order to get a role on a soap opera.  He succeeds but, yes, complications ensue.  Some of these are romantic, with Michael bedding his long-time friend Sandy (Teri Garr) but falling for Julie, meanwhile attracting the attentions of the lecherous male lead on the soap (George Gaynes) and of Julie's old-fashioned but good-hearted father Les (Charles Durning).  Julie is involved with the soap's director Ron, whom, since he's played by Dabney Coleman, we know is going to be, as Dorothy puts it, "a macho shithead."  Roommate Jeff (Bill Murray) is the only one besides George who's in on Michael's secret.  When everything is a mess, including that Dorothy's contract is going to be extended, Michael decides to reveal his gender, on national television!  (No, it doesn't get explicit, it's enough for him to take off his wig.)  This doesn't exactly improve any of the situations, so he has to deal with the fall-out.

I have to say, the cast is wonderful:

• Hoffman shines in all four roles (Michael, Dorothy, her soap character Emily, and briefly Emily's brother Edward).  Dorothy in particular is a memorable, likable, and even believable character.  We agree with Julie at the end when she says she misses Dorothy.
• Jessica Lange got an Oscar for this movie, as a consolation prize for not winning the Lead Actress in Frances.  She's one of the few characters who's not there for humor, instead bringing sweetness and wistfulness to the part.
• Teri Garr was also nominated for Supporting Actress, with more grounds.  She manages to pull off the insecure role without getting annoying.  (It's not unlike Diane Keaton's Annie Hall, although we never get to see her come into her own, as Annie does.)
• Bill Murray is a scene-stealer with his partially improvised role.  Whether he's doing one-liners about his roommate's drag or pontificating on the meaning of The Theatre, he's great!
• Sydney Pollack is spot on as the agent, with so many good lines, the popular "a tomato doesn't have logic" one possibly the best.  In a different way than Murray, he provides a crazy New-York-y kind of sanity to contrast with Michael's dead-serious outrageousness.
• The supporting cast are solid, with Coleman playing Ron as more intelligent and less crude than Mr. Hart but still "sexist, egotistical, lying, and hypocritical" (although not bigoted per se).  Special praise goes to 26-year-old Geena Davis as April, making her debut in what was just supposed to be a role for a tall actress whose "tits" would line up with Hoffman's eyes, but she adds what would later be recognizable as a Geena Davis specialty, that wide-eyed quirkiness.

The two Stephen Bishop songs, the droll title tune and the love song "It Might Be You," are both used twice, which might be a bit much but they work all those times and add to the moods of their respective scenes.  The costumes are less memorable than you'd expect, except for some of the garb Dorothy wears during the photo-shoot montage.  The sets are workman-like, not really calling attention to themselves, except when the walls of "Emily's party scene" match her dress.

The main weakness is the script, which I realize sounds funny because in some ways this is one of the best comedy scripts ever.  But it's that darn ending.  And I'm going to try to distinguish between what is my Teri Garr bias, and related Michael/Sandy shipping over Michael/Julie shipping, vs. the need for a full resolution.  I don't have anything against Jessica Lange, and she is lovely here, and I totally believe that Michael would fall for her.  However, I'm more drawn to the Teri Garr type (personality and looks), and the truth is we see her with Michael, including the before & after of their bedding, while with Michael and Julie we only see him "being a better man with her as a woman" etc.  Michael doesn't have to end up with Sandy, but we don't see him making amends to her, as we do with Les, whom he has hurt and betrayed much less (no pun intended).

Michael tells his agent, "These are good people," meaning he doesn't like deceiving them, but Julie and Les aren't the only people he's hurt.  There's no real closure to the Sandy thread, other than she decides to go ahead and do Jeff's play with Michael, as planned.  And after his classic "That is one nutty hospital" line, Jeff disappears from the movie, too.  I like the scene of Michael pushing over the mime, and I do like his scenes with Les and Julie, but the fact is the movie feels incomplete.  If it hadn't made me invested in the characters, I wouldn't feel so let down.  Even with Julie, I can only accept her forgiving him because one, she and Dorothy really did become best friends, and two, we know she's used to making bad choices about men.  Let's hope that this time she will, as Jerry told Sugar Kane, get the sweet end of the lollipop.

Richard Whiting, who plays a priest here, would be "Other Doctor" in Zelig the next year.  Anne Shropshire, who plays the scary nanny Mrs. Crawley, would be " ' A Certain Age' Cast Member" in The First Wives Club.  Elaine May did then uncredited work on the script (including giving Michael a sounding-board roomie) and would reunite with Hoffman later in the '80s for the infamous Ishtar.