Something's Gotta Give

Something's Gotta Give
December 12, 2003
Columbia
Romance, Comedy, Drama
DVD
B-

I bought this movie on accident.  I was thinking it was As Good As It Gets, because they both have forgettable, almost meaningless titles and they're both rom-coms with dramatic streaks and Jack Nicholson.  By the time I realized my mistake, I wasn't sure if I had ever seen this movie.  Possibly but not necessarily.

It turns out I had but it hadn't particularly stayed with me.  Not that it's bad but it's so I don't know, genteel (even in the crude moments), with characters dressed in white and beige (and sometimes black) and spending much of their time in a Hamptons beach house out of a design magazine, that I had blocked it out.  Watching it again, I remember thinking I couldn't imagine any circumstance in which I would choose Nicholson over Keanu Reeves.  It's not just a matter of looks and age.  Keanu is absolutely sweet but not stupid in this movie, and in my head-canon he later hooks up with the heroine's sister Zoe, played by the wonderful Frances McDormand, who's off the screen far too much.

The heroine is playwright Emily Barry, played by Diane Keaton in a deservedly praised performance.  She hits so many emotional tones and it doesn't hurt that she was still a knockout at 57.  I could've done without the way Emily pretty much libelously "fictionalizes" her relationship with Nicholson's character, especially since the things that writer/director/producer Nancy Meyers finds funny, like "the dancing Henrys," just aren't.  It makes the whole thing feel like the sort of wish-fulfillment yet life-inspired fiction you get in the smarter chick-lit, like the works of Marion Keyes or Susan Isaacs.  (See my book blog for examples.)

Getting back to the Nicholson-Keaton romance, I think we're just supposed to accept that they're in love and right for each other, despite their differences, including his general preference for younger women and inexperience at "being a boyfriend."  Maybe it's that I've always found Nicholson a bit creepy and insincere that I just couldn't buy not only his appeal but his change of heart.  That said, I wasn't repulsed, just not invested.  And I do find it ironic that for a movie about people in late middle age, this movie is more "modern" than some of its peers, with IMing, cell phones, and of course Viagra.  Oh, and note, as when Keanu was paired with Barbara Hershey as an older woman in Tune in Tomorrow..., the film ends in Paris.

At least he makes her laugh.

But she doesn't look all that miserable with Keanu.

School of Rock

School of Rock
October 3, 2003
Paramount
Comedy, Musical
DVD
B-

This movie isn't as funny as I remembered, although Jack Black (cast to type) does well in the lead role, as does Joan Cusack (cast somewhat against type) as the uptight school principal.  There are a lot of stereotypes in the roles, particularly the kids (although "Fancypants" amuses me), and I could've done without the extent to which writer Mike White plays the best friend role as a doormat.  Also, there are too many moments when Black's character cons people too easily.  That said, the movie is likable enough and the music is pretty good.

MacIntire Dixon was Cole Oyl in Popeye and a Bachelor Party Guest in In & Out, while he's the Bus Driver here.  And Kate McGregor-Stewart was Aunt Becky in In & Out and plays Mrs. Lemmons here.  Lian Moy was a Patron in The Royal Tenenbaums and is a Student here.  Mandy Siegfried was Hana the Hostess in Two Weeks Notice and is Female Employee here.  Heather Goldenhersh is Sheila here and would be Martha Pomeroy in Kinsey.  Carlos Velazquez is a Musician here and would be a Waiter in Music and Lyrics.

Any questions?

Down with Love

Down with Love
May 16, 2003
Fox
Comedy, Romance, Historical, Musical
DVD
B+

This was a box-office disappointment and there are still people who loathe it, but I find it almost as delightful as I did a dozen years ago.  It is both an over-the-top loving parody of early '60s "sex comedies" and an early 21st-century look at gender roles.  It is a rom-com but it puts surprising spins on the conventions, new and old, as with the moment when it seems like the movie could end but there's another twenty minutes or so.  The dialogue is suggestive and layered in other ways, and there's a lot of physical humor, not just slapstick but things like the stylized ways people walk and smile.

Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor are cast somewhat against both type and archetype.  That is, this is not the usual McGregor role and he's little like Rock Hudson.  Ditto for Zellweger and Doris Day.  The two supporting roles, played by Sarah Paulson and David Hyde Pierce, however, are dead on Paula Prentiss and Tony Randall, although again with little twists and surprises.  (That they're both queer in real life adds yet another layer, as in the Japanese restaurant scene.)  Randall himself, then 83 and a year away from death, has a little gem of a role as the head of the publishing company where the book of the title is ignored and then celebrated.  "Down with Love" is also a song, and music is such an integral part of the movie that I think this deserves the "musical" tag, even if not strictly speaking a musical.

The film is especially notable for the look, as seen in set design and costumes, but also in such touches as a Mad Magazine cover.  It all looks like a slightly hyped-up version of what you would've seen in a 1962 film, from opening credits to closing.  There's also creative (and suggestive) use of split-screen.  If I can't rate the movie higher, it's that it hasn't aged quite as well as I hoped.  I still really enjoy it, but I don't love it as much after multiple viewings.  And it doesn't seem quite so innovative now as it did then.

Just as he had in I Wanna Hold Your Hand, and many other appearances, Will Jordan plays Ed Sullivan.  Sarah Christine Smith was a Go-Go Dancer in Austin Powers #1 and is an Astronette here.  Turtle, who was Cult Member Jeff in Dude, Where's My Car?, plays a Beatnik here.

Holes

Holes
April 18, 2003
Disney
Comedy, Mystery, Historical, Romance
DVD
B

Based on one of the quirkiest children's novels ever, probably the quirkiest to win the Newbery Award, this film is a relatively faithful adaptation by Louis Sachar of his book.  My main quibble, which is more of an issue onscreen, is that not all the plot threads are tied together for the hero Stanley Yelnats IV.  The reader/viewer is shown the various time periods and clues, but he's not.  Yet he nonetheless has to solve the interlocking mysteries.

One of these periods is the Wild West of 100 or more years ago.  My other quibble is that the timeframe just doesn't work in terms of the Warden's family, unless her grandfather lives to be about 120.  Still, I thought that the scenes involving the interracial romance were among the best.  There are some surprising subjects in this movie, it being Disney and all.

The main subject though is friendship and family, and how they can get you through hard times.  Shia LaBeouf as Stanley and Khleo Thomas as Hector Zeroni are appealing and believable buddies.  And the other boys at Camp Green Lake (where there is no lake) are memorable.  Just about every character here is a "character," but it never gets to be too much, even when Henry Winkler (as Stanley Yelnats III) is singing about odor-free shoes.  And the soundtrack is pretty good, particularly the "Dig It" song by the Boys of D Tent.

Steve Kozlowski was Carmine Friend #1 in Good Will Hunting and is Lump here.  Siobhan Fallon Hogan, who plays Stanley's mother, would be the Birthing Teacher in Baby Mama, while Sigourney Weaver (playing the Warden here) would be Chaffee Bicknell there.  (She was Alvy's movie date back in Annie Hall.)

Two Weeks Notice

Two Weeks Notice
December 20, 2002
Warner Bros.
Comedy, Romance
VHS
B-

Marc Lawrence, who co-wrote Sandra Bullock's Miss Congeniality and would go on to Hugh Grant's Music and Lyrics, wrote and directed this formulaic but mostly satisfying rom-com that pairs Bullock and Grant.  They play respectively, a driven left-wing lawyer and a lazy but intelligent rich man.  Their chemistry fuels the movie, both of them playing off of their established personas, but putting little twists on the lines.  There is an extra layer of political subtext to the movie in that his character is named George Wade, and the W figures prominently.  But not much is done with this.  It's just sort of there.  And, yes, there should be an apostrophe after the S in "Weeks."  I think this is symbolic of how the movie feels thrown together but nonetheless works, most of the time.

Heather Burns has a much smaller role here than she did as Cheryl Frasier in Miss Congeniality, but she's again sweet and funny as Bullock's best friend, here named Meryl Brooks.  Jeannette Gould was an Audience Member in In & Out and is a Senior Center Woman here, while Adam LeFevre was a Bachelor Party Guest there and is the RV Man here.  And John Cunningham, who was great as the "Be a Man" Tape Instructor, plays a Justice of the Peace here.  George Gearhart King III was a School Child in Object of My Affection, and his appearance here as RV Son is his only other credit.  Iraida Polanco, who was Carmelita there, is Rosario there.

Steven Weisz, who's a Charity Ball Attendee, would be a Stunned Pedestrian in Enchanted.  Adam Grupper, who's the Lawyer for Wade's ex-wife, would in Gary in Music and Lyrics, while Charlotte Maier, who's Helen Wade here, would be Barbara there.