Oh yes, I'm supposed to be reviewing movies on this site.
LOVE & OTHER DRUGS
Dir: Edward Zwick
Dir: Edward Zwick
What a disappointing mess of a movie. Is it a comedy? an 'Up In The Air' wannabe? a disease-of-the-week melodrama? or just an ill-conceived mish-mash of all of the above? I vote for Nos. 2 & 4: what begins as a story of an off-putting, cocky salesman morphs into a clunky Parkinson's disease awareness movie, then reverts to lame Viagra jokes for what passes for slapstick. Forget Ivan Reitman: this director can't even rip-off Judd Apatow effectively! Case in point: the Jonah Hill-role (i.e., the fat, horny sidekick) goes not to Jonah Hill, but to a fatter, un-funnier nobody named Josh Gad. Who?
Anne Hathaway does what she can to salvage this mess, but her talents deserve better.
You Will Meet A Tall, Dark Stranger
Dir: Woody Allen
Dir: Woody Allen
I must confess a soft spot for Woody's London phase. No, he hasn't broken any new ground with Match Point and Scoop, but the change in locale has broadened his perspective somewhat. In his latest, he still relies on a tired premise: the mid-life crisis of a well-past mid-life Anthony Hopkins (a great actor wasted!) and the repercussions visited on his wife and adult daughter (a radiant Naomi Watts).
Woody's alter ego this time is Naomi's writer-husband, and unconvincing Josh Brolin, who begins an unconvincing affair with his neighbor, the much-younger Freida Pinto. (Why would she give up her life for this untalented schlub? This could only happen in Woody's world.) Naomi has the film's most genuine moments of vulnerability and regret, opposite her boss, played by Antonio Banderas.
The only message of the film (that I can gather) is that everyone is delusional, so you might as well delude yourself into being happy. For an existentialist like Woody, I consider that an optimistic outlook!
