Category Archives: Comedy

Licorice Pizza

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Licorice Pizza                      5 stars

Over the past decade or so filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson has brought us such memorable and entertaining films as Magnolia, There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread. This year he has done it again with Licorice Pizza, a comedy romance set in early seventies Encino, California, concerning an on again, off again romance between 15 year old Gary (Cooper Hoffman, son of Philip Seymour Hoffman) and 25 year old Alana (Alana Haim). This may sound as inappropriate and implausible but Anderson makes it work and keeps us rooting for Gary in his quest for romance. It is not only Gary’s pursuit of Alana that keeps our interest, but also the many other exploits and situations this unlikely pair find themselves in. Somehow, 15 year old Gary starts a business selling waterbeds with Alana’s help as well as that of his 15 year old friends and later opens a pinball machine arcade. Gary has a mother who occasionally appears, but he is largely on his own in his various pursuits. He is even a frequent customer of a restaurant visited by Hollywood figures. Young actor Hoffman pulls off the part making you love his character, pimply face and all. Alana, who lives with her Jewish family (with her own real life family playing the part) at first finds Gary’s proposals ridiculous but later is drawn in by his persistence. The film is also noteworthy for the choice of music taken from artists of the sixties and early seventies including The Doors, Gordon Lightfoot, Wings and Blood, Sweat and Tears. There are some special supporting roles that deserve mention, especially Bradley Cooper as a narcissistic movie producer with a bad temper. His performance is worthy of an Academy Award nomination. Sean Penn makes an appearance as what seems to be a porn movie producer and John Michael Higgins is a Japanese restaurant owner who makes some very offensive racially insensitive remarks toward Asian women in some controversial scenes. Apparently the film is loosely based on the life of a friend of Anderson’s giving it an element of truth. Through much of the movie I had the feeling that this is completely ridiculous but it is still funny. Maybe in 1973 things like this could have happened. I have no doubt that Licorice Pizza will be nominated for Best Picture and it very well could win the Oscar.

The Worst Person in the World

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The Worst Person in the World                  3 stars

The subject of The Worst Person in the World is not a war criminal but a young woman in Oslo, Norway who is trying to manage her love life and find a career that has meaning and that she can stick with. The film is by acclaimed director Joachim Trier, this being the third film of a trilogy. Not having seen any of her earlier work I have only this film to go by. It is billed as a romantic comedy though I would have to say it is untraditional. The actors are first rate and believable, but I did not find them to be very likable. Julie wanders from one career to another including medical student, psychology student, writer and photographer and meets and falls for Aksel, a popular underground comic book artist who draws a catlike character that many women find offensive. At first I found him annoying and needy, but later on I came to empathize with him. Julie is apparently the title character and some of her actions made her deserve it, especially the way she treats Aksel when things get tough. There are also instances where the film veers into fantasy sequences that I could not see the need for. Why does the filmmaker have to get so cute and go in such a weird direction? Also, you should be warned there is some rather graphic sexual talk. The film has created a stir in the film festivals, but I can’t say I shared in the enthusiasm. The film is from Norway and is nominated for International Feature Film.

tick, tick…BOOM!

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tick, tick…BOOM!             4 ½ stars

tick,tick…BOOM! takes us into the world of Broadway musical theater in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s movie directorial debut. We are introduced to aspiring playwright Jonathan Larson played exuberantly by Andrew Garfield (who we just saw portray Jim Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye). This musical was actually written by Larson about his own life when he was writing his first musical, Superbia, a futuristic never produced play he has been working on for eight years. Larson went on to write the musical Rent, the hugely successful production but unfortunately he died just before it was performed. tick,tick…BOOM! captures the ambition and desperation of Larson as he struggles to become a success at age 29, hoping not to be just a waiter with a music writing hobby. His behavior is so manic he puts off his girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp) and alienates his childhood friend Michael (Robin de Jesus) who recently left the theater to pursue a successful career in advertising. The performances and music nearly rises to the level of In the Heights, the Miranda creation from last year. The joy and inspiration of the movie is balanced by the tragedy of many of Larson’s friends dying of AIDS. This is 1990, during the height of the epidemic, so there is plenty of sadness going around. There are some very well staged musical routines here with Andrew Garfield being worthy of his Academy Award nomination. I have enjoyed every role I have seen him in including the first film I remember him in, 2010’s Never Let Me Go.

Didi

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Didi        5 stars

Once again, I had the chance to see a popular movie that first appeared at the Sundance Film Festival but couldn’t see while there because of its high demand. Didi, a coming-of-age movie about a 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy who is struggling, (though very badly) through those tough adolescent years. Writer director Sean Wang has created a semi-biographical film about a boy trying to make sense of his changing world and be popular but manages to be a complete jerk in going about it. Chris (or Didi as his mom calls him) lives with Mom, his older sister who is about to leave for college and Nai Nai, his father’s elderly mother. Father is absent, while working to support the family. Chris constantly gets into arguments with his sister and his mom and makes life hell for them. To call him an annoying little brother is an understatement. (How would you like to discover that someone peed in your skin lotion?) In this immigrant family the adults speak almost exclusively Chinese, while the kids understand it, but only speak English, an interesting dynamic. He has a circle of guy friends who are all East Asian that he hangs out with and occasionally goes to parties where there are girls including one he is interested in. Their language is graphic and typical for kids of this age. While not being a total jack ass, he spends his time making videos and skateboarding, the only interests he seems to have. It is 2008 and Facebook and YouTube have just become a thing. (It is fascinating to see again how social media worked back in this time.) Chris keeps track of his friends on Facebook, a list that becomes progressively shorter as his actions turn them away. At one point he meets some older kids who are not Asian but are skateboarders, so he tries to get in with them by claiming to be good at filming scenes of action, while at the same time disenfranchising his other friends. His temper is not limited to his family as he at one point physically assaults another boy, creating another headache for his suffering mom who must also take criticism from the mother-in-law. It is not spoiling anything to say that eventually Chris must come to realize that he is creating hell on his mother who does everything in support of him. At the same time, he learns that in real life not all relationships can be repaired, but hopefully the most important ones can. In the long list of coming-of-age movies, Didi ranks high. It was recently released in theaters and hopefully will soon be available on streaming.

Turning Red

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Turning Red                        4 stars

Pixar’s 2022 animated film Turning Red takes a different twist on the coming-of-age theme. This first full-length Pixar film to be directed by a woman (Domee Shi) tackles the subject of puberty and menstruation in a teen-age girl by using a metaphor in the form of a giant red panda. 13-year-old Chinese Canadian Mei lives with her immigrant Chinese family in 2008 Toronto and is a normal kid, though anxious and an overachiever in school. Her mother, Ming (Sandra Oh) is very controlling and likes to keep a watchful eye on her only daughter. Mei likes to hang out with her girlfriends and talk about their favorite boy band. Things seem perfectly normal, that is until she experiences a sudden change in her mood and finds herself very attracted to a certain boy in school. It is then that she discovers that feeling strong emotions makes her transform into a giant red panda with extraordinary strength. This is symbolic in movie terms of something powerful going on in her body, making her temporarily lose control of her emotions, a common occurrence in teenagers. Naturally, she tries to hide the transformation from her friends; that is, until she finds it can be a way to be more popular. Then the trick is to hide the change from Mom and her family. The girls secretly scheme to use Mei’s gift to raise money so they can attend a concert of their favorite boy band, 4 Town. (Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell wrote much of the original music that makes the boy band seem genuine.) But then there is more to the story when it is revealed that the giant red panda is really a sort of family curse that is visited upon all the female members of this family. Traditionally, they must perform a ritual that will keep the panda in check. The movie is a tactful yet amusing way of presenting the change that will relate to teenage girls while likely be over the heads of, yet be fun to much younger viewers. Turning Red adds to Pixar’s list of successful films dealing with certain human conditions that includes Coco, Soul and Inside Out. In a way, Inside Out 2 addresses the same subject as Turning Red but is a little more abstract. Unfortunately, for Pixar, they were forced to remove the movie from theaters and show it exclusively on streaming platforms because of pressure put on them from concerned parent groups who found the subject matter too controversial for their sensitive tastes. But at least young audiences have a way of seeing this colorful, action-filled film from Pixar. Domee Shi is an Academy Award winner having previously made the animated short film, Bao, about Asian parents becoming empty nesters.

CODA

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CODA                    5 stars

I finally found the movie CODA being shown at a local theater and had the chance to see it before the Academy Awards. It has been showing on Apple TV+ and before that it was at Sundance where it won multiple awards. For those who haven’t heard of it before, this is the movie about a young girl who is a CODA; that is, Child Of Deaf Adults. Ruby, played by Emilia Jones loves to sing, but she only does so privately, such as when we first see her singing “Something’s Got a Hold On Me” on her father’s fishing boat. Her parents, (Troy Kotsur and Marlee Matlin) as well as her brother Leo are all deaf leaving high schooler Ruby as the only hearing person in the family making her indispensable as a way for the family to communicate with the world. The conflict is set up when Ruby joins the high school choir and the music teacher recognizes her talent and encourages her to try for entrance in an elite music school. The question then becomes whether her family can recognize Ruby’s desire to pursue something they cannot even hear and allow her to leave the family and the fishing business, something she has been a part of her whole life. It is a story using a formula that makes it a family hit and is aided by fine performances including those of Jones, Kotsur and Matlin. Eugenio Derbez is also effective as the music teacher who spends time coaching Ruby after school. Derbez is a well-known actor in his native Mexico. Everyone should see this favorite from Sundance that many have predicted to be the Academy Award Best Picture winner. And surprise! Last night CODA went on to win the Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor in a Supporting Role Oscars.

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once           4 ½ stars

The title is a good description of the Daniels’ (Dan Kwan and Daniel Schweinert) new movie Everything Everywhere All at Once because it seems like everything imaginable is happening. It’s a science fiction, action, comedy adventure that features a lot of kung fu fighting including that of action star, Michelle Yeoh. Yeoh is Evelyn Wang, who owns a California laundromat, along with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan, who was known as “Short Round” in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and also “Data” in The Goonies) and is expecting a visit from her aged father, Gong Gong, and is planning a Chinese New Year party in his honor. (Gong Gong is played by James Hong who is probably one of the most recognizable character actors working in Hollywood today.) The thing is before the party Evelyn, Waymond and adult daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) must visit the Internal Revenue Service where the business is being audited by a petty inspector named Deirdre (played by a practically unrecognizable (and fat) Jamie Lee Curtis). It is at the IRS office that Waymond pulls Evelyn aside, slaps some Bluetooth receivers on her ears and explains that the fate of the universe rests in her hands. It turns out that Evelyn, Waymond and a host of other characters are all connected to thousands of other alternate selves throughout the multi-verse and these alternate beings can transfer their consciousness across the cosmos to one another. This sets up the opening battle between one alternate Evelyn with an alternate Dierdre plus a few security guards where a fanny pack becomes a deadly weapon. Eventually we meet Jobu Tupaki, the evil force who threatens the universe, also played by Stephanie Hsu. Evelyn’s alternate selves include a singer, a celebrity chef and many other people with talents that she can draw from in the colossal battle. Waymond says that she was chosen because she can’t do anything well. The many imaginative scenes include people with wiener fingers, sentient rocks, a racoon chef on Harry Shum’s head and battles involving sex toys that give the users certain extra powers. Then there is a giant bagel that seems to be at the heart of what is going on. The movie is almost non-stop pandemonium that pays tribute to many Chinese made action movies of the past. Veteran action star Michelle Yeoh has shown her fighting skills before in movies like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and dramatic acting skills in Crazy Rich Asians and Memoirs of a Geisha. She uses all those talents once more in Everything Everywhere All at Once plus a few more skills. Be sure you are up for it. The twists and turns and the non-stop fighting can get exhausting! But it is guaranteed to be fun.

Babes

Babes                    4 ½ stars

It has been a few weeks since this one went in and out of the theaters, but I knew I wanted to see it and so finally checked out Babes, the comedy about two women who are best friends facing the challenges of pregnancy and motherhood. There has been a myriad of comedies dealing with the subject over the years, (Remember Knocked Up, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Waitress and Nine Months to name a few. One of my favorites was Junebug.) but I would dare say few of them tackle the messiness of pregnancy the way that Babes does as presented by first time director Pamela Adlon. The two main characters are Eden (Ilana Glazer of Broad City) and Dawn (Michelle Buteau of Marry Me) who have been best buddies since childhood. They are now in their thirties with Dawn already married and living in the suburbs with her husband and one child and about to give birth to a second. Eden is single and living on her own in an apartment that looks like she is still in college. The two live far apart in New York but still make time for each other. They are on their annual Thanksgiving date when Dawn starts to “leak” and have contractions but can’t believe the moment of truth has really arrived. It is up to Eden to diagnose the situation by inspecting the affected area, with descriptions of the wet fluid and dilation as required and convince Dawn that she needs to get to the hospital. What follows is one of the funniest depictions of the pain of childbirth that I can remember, including descriptions of all the bodily fluids involved that one can imagine. This adventure is followed by Eden getting kicked out of the hospital and taking four trains back home, but not before meeting a handsome stranger named Claude with whom she has a close connection. Naturally, the two end up in bed together with unprotected sex (because Eden still believes you can’t get pregnant on your period). Before long the inevitable symptoms come for Eden and she must face the new reality that she is pregnant, along with all the changes a female body must go through. The movie is mostly about dealing with the physical issues of pregnancy, but it is also about female friendship and the ups and downs of their changing relationship. (They must be able to forgive their mistakes as we see in one episode involving a viewing of The Omen.) The two actresses are professional comediennes with Glazer being one of the co-writers of the film. They are both experts at expressing the feelings and the comedy that the scenes call for. Special recognition must also go to character actor John Carroll Lynch who plays the doctor with a baldness problem. Lynch is easily remembered from Fargo, Shutter Island and Jackie among his many roles. Hasan Minhaj is also effective in the role of Dawn’s understanding husband. While I strongly recommend the movie, those that are offended by the many poop jokes may find Babes a little uncomfortable.

Over the Moon

Over the Moon                 3 ½ stars

Over the Moon is a sweet animated movie from Netflix created by a former Disney animator concerning the grief a young Chinese girl suffers over the loss of her mother and her subsequent journey to the moon on her home built rocket ship. That may sound incredible but it all fits together in a children’s tale about loss and accepting what life throws at you. The young girl, Fei Fei, has a fascination with an ancient Chinese legend about a goddess named Chung’e, who lives on the moon and has lost her lover. Thus, the connection that Fei Fei feels for her and her scheme to build a rocket that takes her, her pet rabbit and her annoying brother to be on the unexpected journey to the moon. There we find all sorts of odd creatures, some that help Fei Fei and others that aren’t so nice. All are done in very colorful animation in a style that reminds us of the old Disney films. The story has many familiar themes, but may be a little thin. The film is supported by some expressive songs by the main character and the goddess, Chung’e who turns out not to be what was expected. The movie should be very engaging for children.

The Lost City

The Lost City                       2 ½ stars

Anyone who pays any attention to the media has seen the promotions for The Lost City a hundred times by now. This is the newest lost treasure adventure rom-com that stars Sandra Bullock as an adventure/romance novelist and Tatum Channing, her book cover model. The movie follows a tried and true formula for these types of movies that goes back to Romancing the Stone. In this one Bullock’s character, Loretta Sage, is kidnapped by the billionaire adventurer Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe, against type, cast as the villain) because he believes Sage can translate an ancient fragment from a lost civilization that can reveal the location of an ancient treasure. Thus, most of the action takes place on a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean. The dimwitted Alan, Channing’s character believes that he can rescue her pretty much on his own, setting up a variety of comic scenes between the two leads. Bullock does her best with her comic sense in this very predictable relationship. There is a decent set of comedic supporting cast that includes Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Oscar Nunez of The Office, Patty Harrison and SNL’s Bowen Yang. Credit must also be given to Bullock’s wardrobe of the magenta sequined jumpsuit that she wears through most of the movie. It appears so often that it deserves its own credit, figuring into the plot of the movie. Anyone who has seen the promotions will recognize it. There is little that could be called original in this comic caper, but it can easily be watched on an afternoon when you don’t have to be completely absorbed with what is happening on the screen. And you certainly should not be thinking about what is credible in the story line.