“Enough Said”
Directed by Nicole Holofcener
Starring Julia Louis Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener, Toni Collette, Ben Falcone, Tracey Fairaway, Michaela Watkins
Comedy
93 Mins
PG-13

The passing of James Gandolfini delivered a wrecking-ball wallop to the artistic community. Those who knew him described him as being closer in nature to a teddy bear than the character he was most known for portraying – the volatile Tony Soprano. In light of this fact, his role as Albert in Enough Said is probably the most soul-bearing role he has ever portrayed. Revealing a portly puppy dog who  wants acceptance and love more than anything, this may very well be the closest we’ve ever come to truly understanding the emotional complexity residing behind Gandolfini’s soulful eyes. While it would be a touch disingenuous to call his work here a “knockout,” his performance is thoughtfully restrained and bitingly honest in every way imaginable.

To watch this film and not be transported into thoughts of what Gandolfini might have done next is difficult to skirt around but it’s a task that we, the audience, are charged with while watching. But as both a reminder of his talent and a way of saying goodbye to the man, Enough Said has more than enough to say, especially in terms of the massive talent of its two stars. 

Julia Louis Dreyfus, hot off a big win at the Emmys for her role on the hit HBO series, Veep, plays Eva, a single mother who gets tangled up in a new, complicated relationship with Gandolfini’s Albert. Having just met a new client and friend in Catherine Keener‘s poet Marianne at the same gathering where she met Albert, Eva soon comes to realize that the new man in her life is the ex-husband of the new friend in her life. Obviously, moral complications arise from her not letting either party in on her big secret as she continues to pursue both relationships with reckless abandon.

Rationalizing her role in both Albert and Marianne’s lives, Eva convinces herself that by utilizing Marianne’s weathered knowledge of Albert as a husband and lover both, she can potentially save herself some time by getting all the dirty details up front rather than having to wait around for them to bear their ugly heads. But even while using Marianne as an unknowing rat, Eva can’t really grasp the barrage of complaints as she sees Albert as a kind and funny man, regardless of his rotund stature.

At one point, Eva asks close friend Sarah, played Toni Collette, employing her homegrown Australian accent, whether her ex-husband is unlovable or if he’s just not the right person for her. Are there some people who just aren’t worthy of loving or is love just a series of calculations and miscalculations, a series of experiments towards a more perfect chemistry. It’s clear that Eva has answered her own question in the process of asking it but still continues to extract information like a CIA mole. Subtle moments like these dig deeper into the emotional subtext than can be expected from the bumbling faux-drama of the romantic comedy framework. While Enough Said is undeniably a rom-com, it’s the rare one that works.

Clearly demonstrative of the mature nature of director and screenwriter Nicole Holofcener, these heavy-hitting examinations of what makes a relationship “good” are grounded in a reality where we all live, one that posits that the familiar adage, “It’s not you, it’s me” is more than reasonable excuse for a relationship’s conclusion. Like a six-piece puzzle for children, it’s clear that some pieces just aren’t meant to fit, no matter how hard you try to jam them together.

Try though you may to make a relationship work, once you’ve finally washed your hands of it, it’s easy to see the proverbial tears in the fabric and ensuing incompatibilities set in motion from day one. As the old adage of psychology goes, hindsight is 20/20 and there’s no need to beat yourself up for it too much. Some things just aren’t meant to be but getting to that realization is a learning process in itself. We all make mistakes, Holofcener’s film says, but can we learn from them?

Thankfully, she’s been around the block enough times to actually understand the underlying message of her film enough to titillate the audience. In many regards, Dreyfus is a vehicle for Holofcener’s battling conscious – the good angel and bad angel arguing over which road is best. We feel her presence in Dreyfus and it makes for a sense of honesty uncommon for the genre. In parsing genuine feeling from stereotypical emotional arcs, Holofcener, Dreyfus, and Gandolfini have gotten to the truth of the matter rather than re-constituting freeze-dried bags of romcom tropes.

When Eva’s promising new relationship starts wearing quicker than it would under normal circumstances – her mind filled with stories of Albert’s slobbish gluttony and general immaturity – the glimmer of hope for mid-life companionship begins to flicker. We watch, silently judging Eva’s sly game and yet to chide her actions unconditionally is to say that hers is a position we could never see ourselves in. I don’t know about you, but the opportunity to unearth someone’s dirty laundry before we get in bed with them (so to speak) is one that’s hard to pass up for any reasonably damaged human being.

By putting these reasonably challenging questions on display, Enough Said feels like it has a sense of purpose. It’s abundantly evident that no one here is in it for the paycheck (particularly Dreyfus, who is worth a staggering three billion, with a b, dollars) and that this passion project is propelled by bona-fide passion. It does have moments where it drags its feet and some clunky adherence to genre clichés – a gag-worthy moment in the airport is particularly slack-lined – but those are largely overcome by the inspired chemistry between Dreyfus and Gandolfini – a woman set to continue on her string of victories and a man who will be dearly missed.

B-

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“Baggage Claim”
Directed by David E. Talbert
Starring Paula Patton, Derek Luke, Taye Diggs, Jill Scott, Boris Kodjoe, Adam Brody, Jennifer Lewis, Tia Mowry-Hardrict, Affion Crockett
Comedy
96 Mins
PG-13

D+

“Rush”
Directed by Ron Howard
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara, Pierfrancesco Favino, David Calder
Action, Biography, Drama
123 Mins
R

With any Ron Howard movie, we expect a degree of excellence as much as we expect an old-timey feel and some dated-sounding dialogue. With Rush, Howard delivers on those expectations but manages to get out of his own way more often than he has recently, a fact for which we can all be grateful.

Telling the true story of two rivals battling over a championship title in the 1976 Formula One racing world, Howard has harnessed magic by pitch-perfectly casting Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Daniel Brühl (Inglorious Basterds) as James Hunt and Niki Lauda. While both embody a character, lifestyle, and mythos, Brühl brings Lauda to life with unrestrained commitment – a role that he is likely to walk away from with a Best Supporting Actor nomination at next year’s Oscar ceremony.

In an opening voice-over from Brühl, we immediately learn just how dangerous the sport really is. With statistics claiming that two Formula One racers perish each year, the degree to which these competitors put their life on the line is an ever-looming threat – one that Brühl accounts for in his mathematical approach to driving and Hunt devilishly uses to his advantage.

Both racers know the inherent danger well and have formulated their own tactile approach to the life-or-death nature of their craft. For Hunt, a willingness to use his competitor’s fear of death is instrumental to his success, taking advantage of people’s fears and essentially playing “chicken” with other drivers who take the danger more seriously. He’s a footloose mess, vomiting from nerves before his races and then cruising lead-footed to the winner’s circle. His cavalier playboy attitude is the stuff of tabloids and couldn’t be further from Niki Lauda’s tallied approach. 

Buck-toothed Lauda is a scion who abandons family fortune to pursue the one thing that he believes himself to be great at: racing. Unlike Hunt, Lauda does this for the reward, not the thrill. There’s no dream of fame and unbridled popularity, just a drive to be the best. But Lauda goes into each and every race with the personal belief that he has a 20% chance of dying out on the track. It’s a statistic that he holds onto and proves an introductory window into his calculated soul.

While Lauda at first seems like the cold-blooded antagonist to the fun-loving Hunt, Howard does an excellent job at keeping their often-rocky competition believably civil while somehow investing us equally in their respective journeys. Instead of letting our affiliation with one man jettison our sympathy for the other, Howard offers a tactfully measured counterbalance between the two men -a ying-and-yang, symbiotic union where the strengths and weaknesses of one is reflected in their rivalry. “It is better to have a clever enemy than a foolish friend,” Lauda says of his relationship with Hunt. As such, they may be foes but they are never truly enemies.

With a first act that is slow to pick up steam, when Rush finds its pace, it sails briskly along, amping up the adrenaline, dramatic gravitas, and laughs along the way. By the time the film climaxes, we’re glued to the screen, jittering with every treacherous turn, and torn between who to root for. Making adult entertainment of this caliber has become an uncommon trend in recent Hollywood dealings so Rush is a breath of fresh air meant to be swallowed in healthy gasps while it screams across the screen.

As far as the execution of the film goes, never has a racing movie been filmed with such bold and inventive camerawork. From the crafty placement of the camera – often capturing tilted profile shots of the racing vehicles or found jammed inside the firing pistons of the engine – to the sky-high degree of tension, this is a film to root and cheer for. When you get to the bottom of it, Howard is wildly adept at blending the stuff of big blockbusters with the feel of a small drama. Rocking back and forth between quiet character moments and massive set pieces laced with invisible CGI, Rush casts a multifaceted spell that attacks from more than one angle. In the end, we’re battered but not beaten, feeling more alive than we did before we began the journey.

But surrounding the surge of effort steaming from Brühl and Hemsworth, other performers come off as little more than nice-looking wallpaper. Olivia Wilde enters – dressed in the frilly outfit of a 70s pimp, capped with a purple fedora and draped in an excessive and expensive fur – and exits without much to do. Her role as wife, then ex-wife, Suzy Hunt is as much eye-candy as it is required to honor the true-life events of Hunt. While this relationship gives a window into the dark child thriving in James, Wilde has little to work with, putting in a forgettable one-and-done performance.

Alexandra Maria Lara is given more to do but is equally tame compared to the larger-than-life figure who surrounds her. As much a keepsake as a talisman for Lauda, Lara’s character suffers from Hollywood-woman-in-the-70s syndrome. That is, she’s baselessly supportive to her husband but blase in-and-of herself. The fact that the female leads are weak cling-ons to the robust male leading characters is a tad off-putting for 21st century filmmaking but we have to take into account the truth behind the fiction – that fact that there is an authenticity to their feminine piety, a common trend latent in that regressive era. 

For the three men of the film though, Rush is a rousing success that Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, and Ron Howard can all celebrate. Known more for his hammer-wielding prowess as Thor than for any considerable acting ability, Hemsworth has been given quite an opportunity here and he exploits it well. Dropping the cape and donning the persona of a deceased icon, Hemsworth showcases talent we may not have suspected before.

And even though Hemsworth is hardly a household name at this point, he is still far more known than his co-star Daniel Brühl, but that may soon change. With a performance this strong, a complete physical transformation, and the Academy-friendly “based on a true story” stamp, his chances for a nomination are strong.

As for the man behind the enterprise, Howard deserves high praise. Coming off his utterly inexcusable interlude of cinematic smudge that is The Dilemna, Howard is back on top, making a picture that is as exciting as it is emotionally stirring. With showmanship on display from all three men, Rush is a mature picture that balances our need for excitement with our search for truth.

B+

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“Don Jon”
Directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Tony Danza, Glenne Headly, Julianne Moore, Brie Larson
Comedy, Drama
90 Mins
R

As the porn-obsessed Jon, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a revelation. Until now, he’s been the cute geek, harvesting the hearts of women in films like (500) Days of Summer and winning the goodwill of men with straight-laced roles in films like Inception, Looper and The Dark Knight Rises. We’ve come to expect JGL to play the nice, moral guy (save for his brash and ill-tempered antihero in Hesher), which is why his aloof meathead in Don Jon is such a perfect role for him. Channeling the beefy bravado of a Jersey Shore local, Levitt’s Jon isn’t the brightest of the bunch and he certainly is a bit of a despicable fella. Many of his lesser qualities, we soon learn, can be placed at the feet of his equally trashy parents and their less-than-enviable upbringing tactics.

When a Carmella Soprano-channeling Scarlett Johansson steps into the mix, Jon is suddenly willing to swivel his priorities as easily as he does his hips on the dance floor. Johansson’s Barbara is a  repugnant brand of Barbie doll ego-centrism and just as porn has shaped Jon’s ideology on sex, Barbara’s own ideals are twisted by an upbringing of romantic comedies. While Jon dreams of mindlessly pounding away, like a drill to a sack of meat, Barbara wets his lips on the idea of a prince in shining armor willing to lay down his coat in the mud for her to spike her perfectly-stilettoed shoes into. Both fantasies are undeniably twisted and make for a tumultuous relationship.

Even though watching porn in a movie theater may understandably make many uncomfortable, the funniest part of the movie is found within the overly sexualized climate always stewing in the background. Sex sells, it’s a fact, but the way that JGL employs that within his satire is blissfully funny. It’s closely analogous to the real world but all sex-as-product is ratcheted up just a hair.

I mean, even the Carl’s Jr. ads are sold with a bikini-clad model undressing and clasping her breasts together. In Don Jon‘s world, how could you resist that cheeseburger or a late night trip to the laptop? My one wish is that JGL had gone all the way and realized this vision of a porn-addled culture to another level. As it is, it’s funny in fits and starts but goes limp when you least want it too.

Week after week, Jon races to church, cussing at other cars all the way, to confess his sins. Every Sunday, it’s the same story: “I had sex out of wedlock this many times and I masturbated to pornography this many times.” He knows his sexual conquests and helpless need to spank the monkey while watching hardcore porno is worthy of confession and yet, he seems to genuinely believe that a couple of Hail Mary’s will hit the reset button in the mind of God. That is, until next week. Gordon-Levitt continues to use these bits of self-reflection to get into the mindset of this bulb who isn’t the brightest; this knife that isn’t the sharpest. Down the road though is the promise that he might just be a guy who’s getting it, or at least starting to get it.

Just as Jon delivers his all on the late night dance floor, JGL gives his all artistically, proving there is volcanic potential welling up inside him. Although he doesn’t always juggle the emotional beats with the prevailing comic tone, Don Jon is largely a success that proves JGL a directorial talent to watch. Hopefully he hasn’t blown his whole load here and is ready to go for round two sooner rather than later. 

B-

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“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2”
Directed by Cody Cameron, Kris Pearn
Starring Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Will Forte, Andy Sanberg, Benjamin Bratt, Neill Patrick Harris, Terry Crews, Kristen Schaal
Animation, Comedy, Family
95 Mins
PG

Behind the frothy purple food clouds and impeccably realized spaghetti-and-meatballs tornado, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs stood out of the crowd with pithy one-liners and a boldly farcical approach to an animated film. While there was plenty for everyone – with crisp animation and action beats keeping the kiddies thoroughly involved – many of the jokes seemed aimed directly at the 18-and-over crowd. In a lot of ways, it wasn’t a “kids” movie at all – it was a sharp comedy masquerading as a family feature.

It’s cast patched together from SNL greats alongside a host of smart casting choices such as Anna Faris, James Caan, and Bruce Campbell, there was a rich palette of vocal iconography at play that helped bring to life the emotional gravitas beneath the quick-firing zingers. Though perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea, this first installment amply folded bouts of comedy, artistry, and just enough emotional oomph to dish up a surprisingly delicious product, while Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 just crams all the scraps in a blender and serves up that breed of casserole that everyone knows is made exclusively from leftovers.

Following the events of the first film, the folks of Swallow Falls have to relocate from their food-infested island to allow for a government cleanup (on aisle three). After a long stint back on the mainland, Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) is put in charge of an expedition to locate his lost food-creating satellite, the Flint Lockwood Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator (or FLDSMDFR for short), by his childhood hero Chester V (Will Forte). When Flint arrives on the island though, he realizes that not only is his machine still in full effect but that it has begun to create life in the form of foodimals.

From the hippotatomus to shrimpanzees, and in the immortal words of Jurassic Park‘s John Hammond… life has found a way. Aided by his friends and family, Flint seeks to destroy the machine and eliminate the threat of the foodimals, particularly the devilish Cheesespider and an imposing Tacodile Supreme. While food puns like these keep the film feeling fresh, the delivery is often hung up. Instead of just letting the jokes flood out, they are set up for a younger audience who probably won’t appreciate the puns in the first place. Instead of just coming out with it, they add the pieces together like an equation from Dora the Explorer. “A chimpanzee and a shrimp? A shrimpanzee!” Had they stuck with the quick-witted, fast-slinging formula of the first installment, there’s no doubt these puns would have landed with uproarious laughter rather than meek chuckles.

We learned from our first meeting with him that Chester V is as nefarious as he is a riff on Steve Jobs and soon his manipulation of Flint opens a rift in Flint’s many other relationships. And yes, I mentioned Steve Jobs so let’s take a moment to dive into the comparison: Chester V is a tyrant of the industry, having turned his product, the FoodBar, into a must-have for every consumer. For a bar of food, the similarities with the iPhone are many, especially if you look at the wave of excitement resulting from the announcements of the FoodBar 2.0 in the past up to the most recent 8.0 version. The company logo is a light bulb, similarly fashioned in the Apple logo’s minimalist, pure-white style. Furthermore, an apple itself is one of the only fruits not personified on the island. A coincidence? I think not.

Why there are obvious blaring parallels between a villainous animated character and a deceased tech-giant is hard to pinpoint but the Hollywood presentation of Jobs has been not too kind following his demise. While the film never quite owns up to its riffing on Jobs, the storyline doesn’t really lead anywhere interesting, which makes it all the more disappointing.

Instead of upping the ante and addressing a new set of challenges, CWACOM2 took the easy route (or should I say gumdrop path?) and it resulted in a sparsely entertaining follow-up. Everything just feels second-rate and nonsensical. Even small details like replacing Mr. T with Terry Crews, having Will Forte voice a different character than he did before, and abandoning Bruce Campbell’s mayor character is metaphorical of the shift in quality. Couple that with the fact that directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller were replaced by rookies Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn and the sinking caliber all starts to make sense. Unlike the first, this is a movie for kids that adults won’t really be able to relish in.

As we learned in CWACOM 1, genius comes with a price. For all the short-term success of Flint’s FLDSMDFR, the resulting chaos proved too hefty a bill to pay – in many ways, embodying a similar message to Jurassic Park. That is – you shouldn’t play God. For however high you rise, the fall will inevitably come. The same can be said for this half-baked sequel. While number one took us to the top, this second is the inevitable plunge back into the realm of the mediocre. In the footsteps of its predecessor, it is marginally entertaining but majorly disappointing. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

C-

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