Category Archives: Comedy

Mean Girls

Mean Girls          3 stars

Twenty years after watching high school girls battle for dominance in their pack in Mean Girls, the movie is remade in musical form with the same title, but this time it is updated for Gen Z to include the new weapon of social media and cell phones used in the art of put downs. Mean Girls is a movie based on a Broadway musical based on a movie based on a book. The same comedy genius, Tina Fey is again behind the writing for the film, but while funny, the magic of the original movie starring Lindsay Logan as Cady Heron, the homeschooled girl raised in Africa and transplanted to North Shore High School doesn’t quite carry through. We get almost exactly the same story with a group of high school mean girls called the Plastics who are determined to be feared by most while maintaining their exclusive club, only with the musical numbers from the stage production transferred to the big screen. There are some very well performed numbers like the emotional “What’s Wrong with Me” and an elaborately choreographed number involving what seems like hundreds of students in the school hallways. There are also times when the songs make too much use of the students’ cell phones, so you end up with a montage of TikTok like videos. Tina Fey and Tim Meadows do a good job reprising their roles from the first film as Ms. Norbury and Mr. Duvall. (I really enjoy seeing Tina Fey as a Calculus teacher.) The cameo roles of Jenna Fischer, Busy Phillips and Jon Hamm were barely noticeable. But be sure to watch closely and you will see Lindsay Lohan as the Mathletes moderator. Angourie Rice does an admirable job in the Lindsay Lohan role of Cady, the girl who forgets who her friends are when doing the full mean girl act. The best performance of the film must go to Renée Rapp as Regina George. She really makes mean look good as she instills fear with a stare throughout the school as she walks through the hallways. She can certainly sing, never missing a note. Rapp is continuing the role from the Broadway production, and we can see why. She is perfect in the role first performed by Rachel McAdams. (She has been making the TV talk show circuit for the past year or so and recently even made an appearance on Saturday Night Live.) If you really like musicals, you should see Mean Girls. Otherwise, I recommend going back and watching the original starring Lindsay Lohan with its message of staying true to your friends.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio                   5 stars

Pinocchio by Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro is not your Disney’s Pinocchio. It is not at all like the underwhelming live action Disney version that came out the same year (starring Tom Hanks). Del Toro’s movie is done with creative stop motion animation using physical carved figures and has a very dark aspect to it. There are the same basic elements from the original 1883 story by Carlo Collodi. It opens with Geppetto (David Bradley), the carpenter losing the son he loves, only here it is due to a stray bomb dropped from a war plane during World War II. It is set during the reign of Benito Mussolini, who we actually get to meet at one point. Pinocchio (Gregory Mann) was carved by Geppetto out of grief and was brought to life by some magic spirits. He has some very bad habits, always getting into trouble breaking things and skipping school like someone with ADHD. Like the original story his adventures include joining the circus and encountering a giant fish at sea and having a tiny cricket friend (Ewan McGregor) who looks out for him. In this version Pinocchio is crudely carved and is very puppet-like, with a large head and narrow limbs so that it is obvious he is made of wood. He would not be described as cute. And since he is very gullible it is easy for a carnival master (Christoph Waltz) to persuade him to join the circus. When it is learned that Pinocchio can be brought back to life after being killed, the local Podestà (Ron Perlman) sees that he will make the perfect soldier for the Fascist cause and forces him to join the army. He goes on to meet Il Duce who is not amused by Pinocchio’s antics so promptly shoots him! Each time he “dies” he is instructed by the Blue Fairy (Tilda Swinton) about his fate and the choices he is faced with. The movie has more violence than the Disney versions but even so is still suitable for children. It still has the same positive messages of the importance of love and family like the other versions. It is a natural story for del Toro to tackle adding it to his previous dark fantasy movies like Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water. It is very deserving of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature it received.

Sasquatch Sunset

Sasquatch Sunset             3 stars

I first heard about Sasquatch Sunset at Sundance where it premiered earlier this year. There was a lot of talk about this movie which follows a family of Sasquatches in the North American wilderness, so I naturally had to see it when it was released in theaters. I know that I previously said The Beast was the most unusual movie of the year so far, but I now must award that title to Sasquatch Sunset. This movie by the Zellner brothers (Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter and Damsel) imagines what it would be like to observe a quartet of these mysterious creatures in their natural habitat, following them for a full year. The movie is imaginative and frequently comical but is a little short on plot. But you must be warned that many filmgoers reportedly walked out early in the film. The actors are covered head to massive toe in hairy costumes that are certainly convincing, communicating through grunts and waling. The movie has the distinction of having a complete absence of dialogue in any language. Without getting too graphic, imagine going to the zoo and observing monkey behavior for a whole day and you might begin to understand what you will be in for. At some point the creatures engage in just about every bodily function you can imagine including sasquatch sex and childbirth. (There is even the rebuff of sexual advances.) As in their previous films, the Zellner’s provide plenty of comedic moments as well such as an encounter with a turtle and the consequences of consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms. This odd family consists of a papa sasquatch (Nathan Zellner), a mama (Riley Keough), and two juveniles (Jesse Eisenberg and Christophe Zajac-Denek) who spend their days munching on leaves and berries and encountering various wildlife in their lush green environment. There are times when you feel they are marveling at the natural world around them by their staring and the expression on their faces. (One of them struggles with the concept of counting when he looks at the stars or a handful of berries but finds he can’t express the idea of numbers.) We also sense that they were once part of a larger community when they try to signal others by pounding on trees with sticks and then listen for a response that will never come. Combine this with their reaction when encountering evidence of humans and you get a feeling of doom for this hairy bunch. Sasquatch Sunset is certainly not for everyone but can be a fun way to spend an hour and a half.

Barbie

Barbie                   4 ½ stars

By now everyone who wanted to see the movie of the summer, Greta Gerwig’s megahit Barbie has seen it. I know I was late in getting to this party but still thoroughly enjoyed it. Sure, it is a blatant marketing ploy by Mattel to capitalize on their iconic adult doll, Barbie, that appeared in the sixties and has been a mainstay of popular culture ever since. But the director of Lady Bird and Little Women, Gerwig has also made it into something of a subversive movie with its commentary on “the patriarchy” and Barbie’s realization of female empowerment. Barbie (the perfect for the role Margot Robbie (I, Tonya and The Suicide Squad)) and Ken (a blond Ryan Gosling (La La Land and The Nice Guys)) are always in a state of partying in their houses at Barbieland or at “Beach” until Barbie has her existential crisis experiencing cellulite and flat feet! On the advice of Weird Barbie (the wacked out but wise Kate McKinnon), Barbie goes to visit the real world. She succeeds in finding her adult owner, Gloria (America Ferrera) who is having her own problems with her tween daughter, but Ken who has tagged along discovers horses! and the patriarchy which he fully embraces and brings news of it back to Barbieland creating the crisis that the Barbies must deal with. Barbie and the audience learn the lesson of critical thinking and what women can accomplish in this world with the help of Barbie creator Ruth Handler (Rhea Perlman), Weird Barbie and a dramatic speech from Gloria. I enjoyed the roles of all the actors with the possible exception of Will Ferrell as the CEO of Mattel. Gerwig and her co-writer Noah Baumbach have created a fun movie with a message that is sure to be enjoyed for years to come. The movie also proves you can never have too much pink.

Between the Temples

Between the Temples 4 stars

I happened to accidentally find one of the better comedies of the festival with director Nathan Silver’s Between the Temples. Jewish Cantor Ben (Jason Schwartzman of Rushmore and The Darjeeling Limited) has a lot on his mind. It has been a year since his wife died tragically and he is living with his two moms (Caroline Aaron and Dolly de Leon (who was brilliant as the Philippino worker on the doomed luxury yacht in Triangle of Sadness). He is depressed and is unable to sing in temple. And one of his mothers is trying to set him up on dates. But he is still guiding his bat mitzvah students as they prepare their studies. Then he gets a new student in Carla (a hilarious Carol Kane (Annie Hall and Taxi)), a widowed woman in her seventies who never had her bat mitzvah before and wants to correct that omission. Only there is something familiar about her as Ben remembers her as his music teacher when he was a boy. So Ben must navigate this new situation while not fully revealing the circumstances to all the interested parties. It’s a sweet screwball comedy with perfect leads in Schwartzman and Kane. I found it similar in style to Moonstruck especially when it came to a certain dinner scene with all the characters gathered together. The director and writers were present for Q & A and told how a real story provided the idea for the movie’s premise. We also learned that they did three versions of the final scene over two days. Nathan Silver is an accomplished director with many credits only I was unfamiliar with his movies. Maybe I will see more of them now.

Nimona

Nimona                 4 stars

From the studios of Annapurna and Netflix comes the animated movie, Nimona, originally a graphic novel by ND Stephenson. This energetic story takes place in a futuristic medieval kingdom where knights wear suits of armor, carry swords that fire energy beams and ride around in flying cars through the streets of a busy metropolis. Everyone there is aware of the legend of Gloreth, who defeated a fearsome monster a thousand years ago and is still revered. In the present we meet Ballister (Riz Ahmed), a knight who has few friends, but is close to fellow knight, Ambrosius Goldenloin, a descendant of Gloreth. It is clear that the two men have a romantic relationship, with this being the most gay-friendly animated movie I can remember. Early is the story, poor Ballister is framed for a murder and the knights of the kingdom are tasked with hunting him down. But Ballister is befriended by a young girl named Nimona (Chloe Grace Moretz) who isn’t all she appears to be at first. Nimona is a shapeshifter, a being that is not human and can assume the appearance of any creature in an instant and is practically invulnerable to things that would be fatal to a human. She is also a thousand years old and the only one of her kind. Ballister and Nimona see something in each other with Nimona wanting to protect Ballister and clear his name of the crime. She protects him by changing into a rhinoceros, an ostrich, a small bird and even a whale among other animals and runs circles around the hapless knights. Besides fighting knights she loves to wreck things destroying structures and statues that get in the way and doing it all in a bright shade of pink. It is apparent that the character is a stand in for a transperson. She is reviled by all and at one point says she doesn’t know what is worse, knowing that everyone wants to drive a sword through her heart or wanting them to do it. Nimona is seen as a monster to the population, but we learn that this image is really a creation by a society unwilling to accept someone that is different from everyone else. She is alone in this world and desperately needs to connect to someone. Besides the message, the movie has plenty of comic bits for the kids and plenty of action that will keep their attention. The movie was originally a project of Blue Sky Studios, which was acquired by Disney. Disney apparently thought the film was too gay for them and shut it down at which point Annapurna took over to complete it. The LGBTQ nature of the characters will not be lost on anyone. Good for the filmmakers for having the vision to see the project through.

American Fiction

American Fiction                               5 stars

From first time director Cord Jefferson comes the satirical comedy American Fiction, an  adaptation of the novel Erasure. This sharp-witted movie takes on the subject of the publishing world’s pandering to white guilt with the publishing of Black authors’ works that feature the worst in Black stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright who is known for his many supporting roles such as Dr. Narcisse from Boardwalk Empire and Bernard from Westworld gets the lead role as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a professor and intellectual writer whose books do not sell well. His agent (John Ortiz) wants him to write more “Black”, but Monk wants nothing to do with writing in a ghetto style which is what the successful Black authors are doing, such as the writer Sintara Golden (Issa Rae), who is making the talk show circuit with her new book “We’s Lives in Da Ghetto”. The book is very popular with white audiences, but Monk despises such work. But then after some devastating events in his family, out of frustration Monk sets out to write something portraying the worst in drug abuse, family conflict, rappers and cops killing Black men. He calls it “My Pafology” and his agent is taken aback by it. They both decide to try marketing it to publishers and are surprised when they are eager to publish this very gritty work. (Monk uses a pseudonym, “Stagg R. Leigh” in order to maintain his anonymity.) The publisher offers an advance greater than he has ever seen before. Further, Monk has to take on a fake persona as a street talking ex-con when being interviewed to give him more street cred. When talking with a movie producer (Adam Brody) he is offered even more money for the movie rights. (The producer is bragging about his new film, “Plantation Annihilation”.) Monk is disgusted by all of this but since he needs the money he goes along with it. Wright is completely convincing as the intellectual Monk, but is also good with the family scenes. He is dealing with a mother (Leslie Uggams) with Alzheimer’s disease, a less than responsible brother, Clifford, who has recently come out as gay (Sterling K. Brown) and a new girlfriend, the neighbor across the street (Erika Alexander). This story line helps to make Monk’s character seem that much more real as he must deal with these various crises. The movie is made completely real based on the acting ability of Wright who can register his character’s feelings with the expressions on his face. I have always been a fan of his since Boardwalk Empire where I first saw him. He (and Paul Giamatti as another unsuccessful writer in The Holdovers) are completely deserving of the Best Actor Academy Award nominations they received. Cord Jefferson has created a movie that must be seen. The movie has been nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture.

The American Society of Magical Negroes

The American Society of Magical Negroes             2 stars

The American Society of Magical Negroes by screenwriter/director Kobi Libii has one of the oddest titles I have seen in years. I heard of the movie at Sundance Film Festival where it was first screened this year but didn’t see it then. It was just released so I took it in at a local theater and I have to say the premise is just as odd as the title. In the movie we learn that there is a secret organization of Black people whose mission it is to rescue white people in America who feel uncomfortable around black people. The society has existed since before the American Revolution and its members have magic powers that allow them to detect this feeling in white people and track them throughout the country. They occupy a secret section at Monticello and can transport themselves in an instant. This idea of Magical Negroes was first expressed by director Spike Lee in reference to movies that have fictional black characters that support white people, such as Driving Miss Daisy and The Green Mile. Lee found this concept to be offensive and I find I agree with that view. The movie is considered to be a satirical comedy and ultimately counters the whole magical negro concept but takes forever to get there. As far as the story goes, it concerns a young Black man, Aren (Justice Smith) who is an artist and always seems to be apologizing around white people. A member of the Society, Roger (David Alan Grier) watches him, rescues him from some white thugs and recruits him into the Society. There, he learns of the mission, how Black people can be saved by their rescuing of white people from their own feelings through compliments and encouragement. Aren gets an assignment to help a young white man at a tech company, so gets a job there as a designer. But the plot loses its way as it turns into more of a rom com with a love triangle involving a young woman within the startup company. After a while I found the movie boring. I thought maybe this would have worked better as a short instead of as a two-hour movie. Though it was meant as satire, I still found the whole view to be racist and demeaning to Black people. While I was at Sundance, I had heard that Black audience members at the premier largely felt this way as well. The film falls flat and I don’t look for the film to gain much popularity.