The DVD Beat - April 28

PICK OF THE WEEK:

The Uninvited
This one I wasn’t expecting. “The Uninvited” is not the gruesome supernatural horror film that was advertised in the trailers; it’s an absorbing psychological drama/Evil Stepmother thriller in which everyone’s sanity, including that of the protagonist, is thrown into question. Emily Browning plays Anna, who checks out of a mental institution after a botched suicide attempt. Reeling from the accidental death of her sick mother, she’s further unsettled because her novelist father (David Strathairn) is now romantically involved with his dead wife’s former live-in nurse, Rachael (Elizabeth Banks). Anna and her older sister Alex (Arielle Kebbel) quickly become convinced that their father’s new flame is out to kill them, and although Dad brushes off their suspicions as mere delusion, everyone who seems to know anything about Rachael’s dark past ends up dead. Could Rachael have killed their mother? And could she be that evil nurse who knocks off her patients to get closer to their husbands? And are those the restless spirits of her victims haunting Anna in the night? The movie lives and dies by its construction, so if you happen to telegraph any of the twists and turns before the script throws them out, there goes the whole ball game. But “The Uninvited” is surprisingly effective, and it’s infinitely better than the countless other remakes of Asian horror pictures that have clogged the market recently (this one is loosely based on an acclaimed Korean film called “A Tale of Two Sisters”). It is merely an exercise in style and manipulation, but it is successful as such. [PG-13; 87m.]

ALSO ON DVD:

Bride Wars
Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway are naturally talented, beautiful, charming actresses, yet their characters in “Bride Wars” are shrill, annoying, stupid, shallow and unlikable. They play inseparable friends who have had their dream weddings planned out since they were little girls, but they’re at one another’s throats when their wedding days are mistakenly scheduled on the same date. Of course, they decide to thwart the other’s wedding: Hudson switches Hathaway’s bronzer at the tanning salon so she comes out with orange skin, and Hathaway tricks a stylist into coloring Hudson’s hair blue. Har-de-har. If these characters had been written with any shred of intelligence or realism, they would have solved their problems reasonably, the movie would have been over after the half hour mark and we all would have been better off. [PG; 88m.]

Nothing But the Truth
This one has been bouncing around in my head for almost a week now. Either “Nothing But the Truth” is a bleeding heart crusader for journalistic integrity, or it’s a conflicted exploration of a reporter’s unwavering attempts to forward her career. The movie works best, I think, as the latter, although I have a sneaking suspicion it may not have been intended as such. When our protagonist, Rachel Armstrong (Kate Beckinsale), discovers that a woman named Erica Van Doren (Vera Farmiga), a classroom mother at her son’s elementary school, is a former CIA agent, she makes it her duty to write about it in her column. Compromising the identities of covert government agents is a federal crime, but Rachel is adamant that she will not reveal her source, even if it means being thrown in prison. So, are we supposed to think that she’s dignified for upholding her honor, or that she’s deliberately stalling an investigation in order to drum up media coverage? Is she selfish or selfless? The movie left me unsure, and the ending only complicates things further. It seems to be resolute about its position, but I couldn’t quite come down on either side of the issue. [R; 108m.]

Down for the count

Fighting
Review by Nathan Weinbender

“Fighting.” Some would say it’s too plain a title, but, considering how simple-minded and conventional this movie is, I can’t think of a better one. It follows the same basic formula that all films of this ilk are seemingly required to: Our hero is a tough, brooding, ruggedly handsome, down-on-his-luck kid who rises to a certain challenge and finds glory in (insert name of sport here). In this case, the sport in question is—you guessed it—fighting.

Shawn MacArthur, played by Channing Tatum, makes a living hawking phony merchandise outside Radio City Music Hall, and, as the film opens, he has a large chunk of cash stolen. He discovers the thief is in cohorts with an expert scammer named Harvey (Terrence Howard, who acts like he’d rather be elsewhere), who recognizes Shawn’s resiliency and street smarts and talks him into participating in the underground fighting circuit.

The movie supplies us with several plot elements that will no doubt seem familiar. We have the Pretty Girl, here a single mother played by Zulay Henao. The Pretty Girl is, of course, obligated to fall in love with our hero only to discover he has a Dark Secret—Shawn is plagued by his torrid relationship with his father. And then we have the Arch Enemy—a former friend of Shawn’s who, naturally, he must fight in the end.

I have nothing against formula per se—“The Wrestler” and “Slumdog Millionaire,” two of my favorite films from last year, relied quite heavily on convention, but were elevated by a unique style, intelligence and intriguing performances. “Fighting,” on the other hand, doesn’t even attempt to invigorate its tired material; it all seems phoned in, going through the motions quite deliberately. It operates primarily on two different levels: predictable and boring.

The only parts of the film that work are the fight sequences, which are the reason most people will go see it. They have a realism and an immediacy that the majority of the picture sufficiently lacks—there is a real pain and danger there, and they hold your attention while the rest of the movie evaporates around them.

Directed by Dito Montiel. Written by Robert Munic and Montiel. Starring Channing Tatum, Terrence Howard, Zulay Henao, Luis Guzmán, Anthony DeSando and Brian White. PG-13; 105m.

The DVD Beat - April 21

DVD PICK OF THE WEEK:

The Wrestler
Everyone has been labeling Mickey Rourke’s performance in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” as a comeback. I think of it more as a resurrection. Rourke has always been a terrific actor and a magnetic presence, but even he admits that he hadn’t appeared in a decent movie in a while. This film came along at just the right time: Randy “The Ram” Robinson not only fits Rourke’s gruff charm and weathered looks, but it also mirrors Rourke’s anguish so closely that at times we feel like we’re watching a personal confession. The actor and the role are inextricably linked, and we not only fall for Randy but for Mickey as well. “The Wrestler” works as an old-fashioned underdog story, it works as a portrait of life on the underside of celebrity, and it works as a showcase for Rourke’s astonishing performance. I named it the best picture of 2008, and my opinion hasn’t changed. See this movie—see it, see it, see it. [R; 111m.]

ALSO ON DVD:

Frost/Nixon
Ron Howard’s “Frost/Nixon” does what Oliver Stone’s “W” failed to do: It takes an easy political target and approaches it from an angle we aren’t expecting. Stone’s film was meant to be an empathetic portrait of our then-President, but it was really just a cartoonish polemic that told us nothing new or enlightening about its subject. Howard’s film, on the other hand, is not about Nixon the President but Nixon the man. It does not take sides—it simply observes. Based on Peter Morgan’s stage play, the film is a fictionalized re-creation of British reporter David Frost’s 1977 interviews with Nixon, which concerned such touchy subjects as Watergate, Vietnam and the President’s resignation. Michael Sheen is terrific as Frost, a fluff TV host who is determined to disprove his critics. And Frank Langella, Oscar-nominated for his work here, is pitch perfect as Nixon--intimidating, vulnerable, devious, pitiable. [R; 122m.]

Notorious
Christopher Wallace was only 24 when he was gunned down in L.A., an apparent victim of the escalating East Coast-West Coast rap battles. Wallace, better known as the Notorious B.I.G., is the subject of “Notorious,” a standard biopic that chronicles Wallace’s rise and eventual downfall. Wallace is played by newcomer Jamal Woolard, whose performance is the best thing in the film, as is the soundtrack, which features Biggie’s genre-defying music. The only problem is that “Notorious” is extremely conventional, existing almost as a shrine to its subject—he is loved by his contemporaries but his personal life is a mess, and he only realized his full potential right before he died. It probably doesn’t help that two of the film’s producers are Wallace’s mother, Voletta, and his producer, Sean Combs, both of whom are characters in the movie. It’s a moderately entertaining picture, and worth seeing if you’re a fan of Wallace’s oeuvre. [R; 123m.]

Switched bodies, same tired formula

17 Again
Review by Nathan Weinbender

Zac Efron appears shirtless within the first thirty seconds of “17 Again,” which tells you all you need to know about the film’s target audience.

The thirteen-year-old girls who will like this movie are going to see it because Efron is dreamy and starred in the massively popular “High School Musical” series. They probably won’t realize that “17 Again” egregiously copies the blueprints of all those body switch comedies from the ‘80s—“Vice Versa,” “Dream a Little Dream,” the similarly-titled “18 Again,” etc.

As if it wants to remind us how dated it is, the movie opens in 1989. Efron plays Mike O’Donnell, the star point guard on his high school basketball team. It’s the Big Game—the college recruiters are in the stands—but Mike leaves right in the middle of everything in order to be with his pregnant teenage sweetheart. His prospects of being a basketball star are shot, but, hey, at least he’s in love.

Flash forward to present day: Mike (now played by Matthew Perry) and his sweetheart Scarlett (Leslie Mann) have separated. He’s stuck in a dead-end job he hates, he can’t connect with his teenage kids and he’s living with his childhood friend Ned (Thomas Lennon), who designed successful computer software and has spent his millions on memorabilia from “The Lord of the Rings.”

Returning to his old high school, Mike runs into a magical janitor (Brian Doyle-Murray) who grants his wish of being, you guessed it, seventeen again. The next morning, Matthew Perry rolls out of bed as Zac Efron (I’d like to see the casting directors explain their reasoning there), and he seizes the chance to get his life right the second time around.

He re-enrolls in the same high school, rejoins the basketball team, goes toe to toe with his daughter’s jerky boyfriend, gets his nerdy son a date with the head cheerleader and works his way back into Scarlett’s life. She’s amazed that her son’s new friend looks remarkably like her ex-husband’s seventeen-year-old self, but he supplies a logical explanation: He’s the illegitimate son of Mike’s deadbeat brother. Uh huh.

The cast do what they can with sitcom material. Efron has a genuine, easy-going charm; no doubt he could take on roles that would leave this one in the dust. Mann, who is married to Judd Apatow, is just lovely; it’s a shame she has nothing to do here. And Lennon provides the only real laughs: The movie’s best scene has him dragging the sexy school principal out on a date and discovering they have more in common than they imagined.

“17 Again” plays out exactly as you’d expect it to, never taking a step in a direction we haven’t seen before. Its heart is in the right place, but, boy, is it formulaic. A wittier script would have acknowledged its debt to other movies: When Mike first showed up at Ned’s house in his seventeen-year-old body, Ned should have sat him down and shown him “Like Father, Like Son” or “Big,” just to let him know that body switch movies have long been irrelevant.

Directed by Burr Steers. Written by Jason Filardi. Starring Zac Efron, Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, Matthew Perry, Melora Hardin, Michelle Trachtenberg, Sterling Knight and Brian Doyle-Murray. PG-13; 102m.

Paul Blart he ain’t

Observe and Report
Review by Nathan Weinbender

If Ronnie Barnhardt has any likable qualities, it’s because he’s played by Seth Rogen. This character is maladjusted, bipolar, creepy, hateful, pathetic and aggressive—who was in charge of the psychological evaluations when this guy was made head of mall security?

He takes his job very, very seriously. When a mall employee makes fun of a girl in a leg brace, he beats the guy’s head repeatedly into an oven door. And when he spots a bunch of punk kids loitering in the parking lot, he punches them out and breaks their skateboards. He’s like Paul Blart re-imagined by Martin Scorsese.

“Observe and Report” is the damnedest movie. It always seems to be contradicting its own style—it’s a comedy, but it undercuts its humor with sadness and violence. It’s an underdog story, but all of its characters are despicable, so there’s no one to really root for. And for every laugh the film offers, it throws us something so sick and subversive that we second guess ourselves.

But on with the plot. A serial flasher is accosting women in the mall parking lot, and cocky police detective Harrison (Ray Liotta) is assigned to the case. His presence infuriates Ronnie, who wants to take charge and save the day. Their rift only intensifies when the mall is burgled, and the men begin tripping over one another’s feet to solve the mystery first.

Their attention shifts when Brandi (Anna Faris), the blonde airhead at the cosmetics counter, is a victim of the flasher. She’s vain, arrogant and rude, and that she’s the object of Ronnie’s affection says more about him than it does her. When Ronnie tells her she’s the most beautiful woman in the world, she nods in agreement.

This is all fairly standard, but “Observe and Report” doubles in on itself and turns surreal and nasty. Take, for instance, one of the film’s strangest scenes: Ronnie, who dreams of one day being a cop, talks his way into riding along with Harrison on a police patrol. Harrison leaves him on “the worst street corner in the city,” where he’s cornered by a gang of crackheads who he proceeds to beat viciously with a nightstick.

Ronnie is seriously troubled, a laundry list of personality disorders. He’s like the guy who walks into work one day and shoots everybody, and on the news that night, they feature his associates in somber sound bites saying, “We should have seen that coming.” Most of the supporting characters are mercilessly mean to him; the others regard him with disgust, contempt or confusion.

We, in turn, are confused as well. How does this movie feel about its own main character? Should we be laughing at the guy? Should we feel sorry for him? Are we supposed to relate to him? We don’t know whether to give him a hug or run far, far away from him.

I felt that way about the whole movie, which has the uncanny ability to make us laugh and recoil in the same breath. The characters are funny, I guess, but they are so miserable and reprehensible that there are moments when we hate them and pity their ignorance. Feelings like that can be deadly to a comedy.

But I have to give writer-director Jody Hill credit for crafting a film that refuses to confine itself, that pushes the boundaries of mainstream comedy, and that challenges us to contemplate what should and shouldn’t be considered funny. “Observe and Report” is unlike anything I’ve seen before; whether or not that’s a compliment I have yet to decide.

Directed and written by Jody Hill. Starring Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Ray Liotta, Michael Pena, John Yuan, Matt Yuan, Jesse Plemons and Celia Weston. R; 86m.

Love is like a roller coaster

Adventureland
Review by Nathan Weinbender

Greg Motolla, who directed “Superbad,” is responsible for the new movie “Adventureland,” and having seen his previous film, which was a crass (but sweet) laff-a-minute teen comedy, I’m surprised by the soft-spoken wistfulness of this one.

The characters in “Superbad,” if you’ll recall, were high school seniors who were apprehensive about becoming grown-ups. The heroes of “Adventureland” aren’t much different: They’re just out of college, the world has made them cynical and they’re still waiting for that defining moment where they will march over into adulthood. That insecurity seemed charming in “Superbad;” now it just seems sort of pathetic.

Jesse Eisenberg (from “The Squid and the Whale”) plays James Brennan, who returns home after college still a virgin, heartbroken from a recent break-up and unsure of his future. His parents urge him to get a summer job, hoping he’ll make enough money to move to New York and become a journalist, and he ends up running the game booths at the local Adventureland theme park.

Everyone who works there either hates their job or is too stoned to care. The park is populated by familiar supporting characters: Joel, the nerdy best friend (Martin Starr), who informs us that all carnival games are rigged; Connell (Ryan Reynolds), the thirty-year-old mechanic who may or may not have once jammed with Lou Reed; and Bobby and Paulette (“SNL” cast members Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig), a weird married couple who manage the park.

And then there’s Em (Kristen Stewart), who is smart and pretty and obviously wounded. James is smitten, maybe because she’s really wounded and his wounds are merely superficial. Although Em likes him back, she’s still coping with the death of her mother, her father’s recent marriage and her self-destructive affair with the married Connell.

The cast here is great; I really can’t imagine anyone else playing these parts. Eisenberg, who looks like he could be Michael Cera’s older brother, really captures the egotism and neuroticism of a 24-year-old whose life would be perfect if he could just get out of this town. Starr is perfect as the philosophizing, pipe-smoking dweeb who, as a sign of affection, gives a girl a book by Gogol (“He died of self-inflicted starvation,” he explains). And Hader and Wiig get the film’s biggest laughs as the husband and wife who are oblivious to everything going on around them.

But it’s Kristen Stewart, now a superstar after appearing in “Twilight,” who is most impressive. For the critics who have regarded the lack of female perspective in modern comedies, here is a girl who is written to be more than the sum of her parts. Stewart is honest and headstrong and vulnerable all at the same time; she’s one of those natural performers who can say or do anything on-screen and we believe it. She’s got quite a career ahead of her, and not one that just involves chaste vampires.

“Adventureland” is set in 1987, but the angst it expresses is universal. No, it doesn’t explore any new territory, but it is a smart film, funny and nostalgic and sweet, where real life begins and ends when the summer does. That the characters are freed from the rigidity of sitcom plots and gross-out comedy routines and are allowed to live and breathe in the real world is one of the film’s many strengths.

Directed and written by Greg Mottola. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Martin Starr, Ryan Reynolds, Margarita Levieva, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. R; 107m.

Fast cars, slow script

Fast and Furious
Review by Nathan Weinbender

I love a great car chase, but the “Fast and the Furious” movies have never been about the chases; they are about the crashes. Once you’ve seen one car crash, though, you’ve seen them all, and if your idea of a good night out is watching car after impeccable, expensive car crumpled up like a used cocktail napkin, then this is the movie for you.

Here we have the fourth film in the “Fast and the Furious” franchise, and the first sequel to feature the complete cast of the original entry in the series, which was released in 2001. It is simply called “Fast and Furious,” either because the producers thought “4 Fast 4 Furious” wasn’t a marketable title or because this movie just doesn’t have time for the’s.

No matter. The movie plays like a calendar of souped-up cars driven by beautiful people—if the cast looked like Abercrombie and Fitch models eight years ago, now they look like Calvin Klein models—which is all you should be expecting. But for a film that purports to be fast and furious, this is a curiously dismal affair, missing any real sense of fun, danger or unpredictability.

The picture opens well, with speed racer extraordinaire Dom (Vin Diesel), who ran off to Mexico after the first “F&F,” and his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) hijacking an oil tanker truck in the Dominican Republic. Dom learns that the feds are planning to crack down on him, so he abandons Letty, who is mysteriously murdered before the end of the first reel.

Enter Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker), the undercover police officer who befriended Dom in the first film. He discovers that Letty was involved with a notorious drug runner whose mules are car racers, and he again infiltrates the world of illegal street racing. Dom shows up, too, because he wants revenge on Letty’s killer, but he’s still sore at Brian for not revealing he was a cop back in the first movie.

Before long, Dom and Brian are opponents engaged in full-on, pedal-to-the-medal street racing. They zigzag through downtown L.A., which is clogged with traffic, with hardly a scratch—although their challengers and the other drivers on the road aren’t so lucky.

Let me get this straight: O’Connor is going undercover as a drag racer, so the FBI supplies him with three flawless speed demons. Okay, I can buy that. But would they really allow him to take part in a race that is not only illegal but will inflict untold damage upon the city and put hundreds of lives at stake? I’ve heard of dedication to one’s craft, but that’s pushing it.

The movie continues, but the script does not. There is a lot more auto racing (most of which is clearly computer-generated), some sexual tension between O’Connor and Dom’s sister Mia (Jordana Brewster), a big reveal involving the villain (which I thought was obvious from the get-go), a burgeoning camaraderie between Dom and Brian, and a soundtrack that is aggressively, annoyingly loud.

Watching “Fast and Furious” is like driving an old, rundown clunker: It stops and starts a lot, it’s made entirely of spare parts and it runs out of gas before it reaches its destination.

Directed by Justin Lin. Written by Chris Morgan. Starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez and John Ortiz. PG-13; 107m.