Spy comedy movies can be difficult to get right. Fortunately, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare succeeds due to a game cast, rambunctious action, and a witty script.
Lionsgate’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which was released in theaters in the United States on Apr. 19, follows Major Gus March-Phillips (played by Henry Cavill). An unorthodox soldier, March-Phillips is recruited by Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear) to lead a covert mission against Nazi Germany at the height of World War II. The first reason why Ministry works is because of the cast. Cavill is clearly having a ball of a time as March-Phillips. He gets many of the film’s best jokes, including a hilarious running joke about coats. The supporting cast are no slouches, either. Alan Ritchson is a standout as Major Anders “the Danish Hammer” Lassen, whose weapon of choice is a bow and arrow, but he is just as good with a gun or, yes, a hammer. The film has some good jokes, but one that I really liked was seeing Lassen, who at 6’3” is an imposing figure, attempt to be an innocent Swedish vacationer. Also instrumental to the plot are SOE (Special Operations Executive) agents Richard Heron (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Babs Olusanmokun) and Marjorie Stewart (Eiza González), as well as explosives specialist Freddy “the Frogman” Alvarez (Henry Golding) and master strategist Major Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer). González is the most impressive here, because while the guys mostly just shoot Nazis, Stewart actually gets to do some spy work, and she shows a real talent for it. The Godzilla vs. Kong star also gets to show off her vocal talents with a vampy rendition of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s “Mack the Knife.” The second ingredient that works in Ministry’s favor, and in my opinion the most crucial, is the rambunctious action. And it is rambunctious, let me tell you. I mentioned that March-Phillips and crew mostly shoot Nazis, and that they do, for much of the film’s two-hour runtime. With that much action, you have to get creative with it, and experienced action director Guy Ritchie certainly does that, bolstering the action by playing with the lighting during a scene set inside a boat or subverting what seemed like a tame, non-action-filled scene. The final reason why Ministry works is the script. A film can be filled with action, but audiences won’t engage with it unless they can enjoy the story. Ministry’s script, which Ritchie co-wrote with Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, and Arash Amel, makes that easy, with witty one-liners and characters that are easy to root for. I actually could have used more of the story, even though the action is fun. The score was very impressive, I thought. Composer Christopher Benstead uses a lot of traditional pop numbers with prominent drums, which really help reinforce the 1940s setting. I also liked the sound design. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare doesn’t reinvent the spy-action-comedy wheel. It does, however, have a good mix of casting, action, and writing that makes for a great spectacle. 8/10
0 Comments
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire was a lot better than I thought it would be. I enjoyed the heart, humor, and action.
Warner Bros.’ Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which was released in theaters on Mar. 29, follows former adversaries Godzilla and Kong as they must team up to fight an ancient threat that could spell the end of the world. Despite Godzilla’s name being first in the credits, Kong is the main star of this movie. Kong’s quest here is to find his family, an arc that continues the humanization of the character we saw in 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong. For a “creature feature,” Godzilla x Kong has a lot of heart. Kong is very easy to root for, especially when he finds young ape Suko, who one of the human characters affectionately names “Mini Kong.” The movie also focuses a lot on the humans, which I liked. The relationship between Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) and her adoptive daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle) is a highlight of the film, with Jia’s arc reaching an unexpected and surprisingly emotional conclusion. The movie also has a lot of humor. Most of it is from returning character Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), who brings his oddball influencer schtick once again. His reactions to everything are absolutely hilarious, though I particularly enjoyed his reaction to the vegetation of Hollow Earth. That was another thing I really enjoyed about this movie - the worldbuilding of Hollow Earth. I thought it really captured the same sense of wonder that 2017’s Kong: Skull Island did when exploring this unknown land below the Earth’s surface. The visual effects were exceptional. Besides Bernie, a lot of the humor came from Dr. Nathan “Trapper” Lind (Dan Stevens), one of two new human characters in the film. An eccentric veterinarian, Trapper is Dr. Andrews’ ex, and he is more than happy to oblige when she recruits him for the mission to Hollow Earth. Trapper and Bernie were a great duo. They played off of each other very well. The action was also good. The plot was a little simplistic, but the stakes were appropriately high, and the fights were crazy, which is why people watch these movies anyway. Actually, the fights were so absolutely bonkers crazy that I’m not sure how they can increase the stakes from here. One of my other favorite parts of the movie, apart from the humor, heart, and action, was the music. All the needle drops were awesome. The use of Golden Earring’s “Twilight Zone” as the group entered Hollow Earth was extremely well-placed. I also liked when Trapper entered with a flock of bioelectric pterodactyls behind him while Loverboy’s “Turn Me Loose” played. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire doesn’t reinvent the monster movie wheel, but it does give us a fun spectacle with good heart, humor, and action. 8/10 What is scarier than a god seeking to destroy the world? That would be a god with an army of ghosts seeking to destroy the world, of course. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire successfully keeps this long-running franchise going by increasing the stakes while keeping the wit that made Afterlife such a success.
Like its predecessor Afterlife, Columbia Pictures’ Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, which was released in theaters on Mar. 22, follows the descendants of original Ghostbuster Egon Spengler (the late Harold Ramis). After the events of that movie, Spengler’s daughter Callie (played by Carrie Coon) and grandkids Trevor (Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), along with dorky science teacher Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd), moved from the sleepy Summerville, Oklahoma to New York City. I didn’t have a problem with the Oklahoma setting, but New York is just more fun. Car chases are much better when there are other cars on the road. Moving the setting also allows for the remaining original Ghostbusters, particularly Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), to have bigger roles than they did in Afterlife. Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman is also in the movie, but not nearly as much. Whereas Afterlife was mostly about the Spengler family as a whole, Grace’s Phoebe takes center stage in Frozen Empire. Being 15, Phoebe’s ghost-busting lands her in trouble with the original Ghostbusters’ antagonist Walter Peck (William Atherton), who is now the mayor of New York. Forced to sit on the bench while the others save the city, Phoebe finds herself bonding with Melody (Emily Alyn Lind), the ghost of a teenage girl whose death in a tenement fire gave her cool blue flames in the afterlife. After receiving a call about a ghost at a diner, Phoebe is surprised to find Melody, seemingly minding her own business, and hesitates to trap her. This is something that I thought the film could have explored more, the idea that maybe not all ghosts are bad. Three things I look for in a movie are humor, heart, and high stakes. After the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot was not well-received, Afterlife revitalized the franchise with its witty humor, and Frozen Empire keeps that going. Phoebe’s dad jokes, easily my favorite part of Afterlife, are back, and they’re as great as ever. Much of the humor in this movie also comes from Nadeem Razmaadi (Eternals’ Kumail Nanjiani), an amoral patron of Stantz’ occult bookstore who sets the film’s plot in motion by selling him an orb that had been used to trap the powerful ancient ice god Garraka. Nadeem provides much of the movie’s comic relief as he finds out that his dormant pyrokinetic powers are the key to defeating Garraka. While the rest of the cast are off busting ghosts, it is Grace who provides most of the heart of the film, mostly through Phoebe’s bond with Melody. Fortunately, the Young Sheldon star is more than up to the task. Phoebe’s bond with surrogate father figure Gary also grounds the film. Frozen Empire successfully has higher stakes than Afterlife. The New York setting allows for the stakes to be more keenly felt because there are more people to marvel at their frozen surroundings or flee from the icy water in an awesome homage to Jaws. However, I thought that the stakes could have been even higher. For a franchise about ghosts, these movies are not very good at killing off main characters. That would have cemented Garraka as the best villain in the franchise. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a great addition to the franchise with its witty humor and heightened stakes. I recommend it. 8.5/10 Satires are one of the most difficult types of movies to get right. They are often either really good or just mediocre. Despite its best efforts, The American Society of Magical Negroes is ultimately mediocre.
Focus Features and Universal Pictures’ The American Society of Magical Negroes, which was released in theaters on Mar. 22, follows Aren (played by Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves star Justice Smith), a struggling artist who is introduced to the titular society. Aren quickly finds that following its rules is more difficult than he thought. The titular society is a satire of the Magical Negro trope that was common in media in the last century, in which Black people appear, often as apparitions, solely to further the arc of the white main character. These Magical Negroes are also generally stereotypically written. Aren is inducted into the society, and is tasked with serving Jason (Drew Tarver), a mid-level graphic designer at a Silicon Valley startup. Helping Jason achieve all his goals becomes more complicated when Aren finds himself falling for the same woman as Jason. The main idea introduced in American Society is that maybe going out of your way to serve someone else is not good. But, this idea feels underdeveloped, and could have been explored more throughout the film instead of just at the end. American Society is a satire, but it’s also a fantasy, and it also tries to be a romantic comedy. Though some movies are good at bending genres, American Society is not one of them. It plays up the satirical elements, and does not invest enough in the rom-com elements as a result. Aren and Lizzie (An-Li Bogan) have passable chemistry, but their characters are not developed enough for audiences to root for them as a couple. Three things that I look for in a movie are humor, heart, and high stakes. Where American Society shines is the humor. David Alan Grier’s Roger was my favorite character in the whole movie. He was hilarious. I also like Justice Smith’s awkward guy schtick, which I realize is not the prevailing opinion among moviegoers. The movie had a decent amount of heart. Aren’s character, an outsider both in the society as well as just in life, is one that many people can relate to. The film also has some good one-liners about biraciality. I thought it was lacking a little bit in high stakes, though. The main reason why, I think, is because Aren’s speech at the end doesn’t have any consequences on screen. I wanted to see Jason thinking of others for the first time, or Lizzie finally getting to present for the CEO. The movie just ends with Aren telling Lizzie about the society. That’s another thing. It would have been much cooler if Aren wasn’t allowed to tell Lizzie about the society, but he did anyway. As it is, the ending falls a bit flat. There are much better satires out there. There are also better fantasy films out there. But overall, there are worse movies than The American Society of Magical Negroes. The premise was good. The execution just needed work. 5/10 I enjoyed the first Dune movie a lot when it came out in 2021. The original Dune novels were actually one of the inspirations for the Star Wars movies, and I touched on these similarities in my review of the first film. Thus, I was pleased when Dune: Part Two took what worked in the first movie and expanded on that, delivering a story that is at once more epic and more intimate.
Warner Bros. Dune: Part Two, which was released in theaters on Mar. 1, follows Paul Atreides (played by Timothée Chalamet), the son of the Duke of the planet Arrakis, the late Leto Atreides (played by Oscar Isaac in the first film). Not native to Arrakis, Atreides and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), must navigate the planet’s unfamiliar terrain while also trying to figure out Atreides’ place in an interplanetary war foretold by an ancient prophecy. The first Dune was lauded when it came out for its sweeping visuals. The cinematography is even more impressive this time around, with Denis Villeneuve’s direction being compared to that of movies like The Empire Strikes Back and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. From the first shot, I felt completely transported to the world of Arrakis. There wasn’t a lot of humor in the first Dune, but there was some. Dune: Part Two has much more humor, which helps keep the audience invested in the characters. Atreides has some good banter with Chani (Zendaya), a member of the native Fremen tribe with whom he begins a romance. Atreides’ mentor, Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin, reprising his role from the first film), also returns and provides some comic relief. Dune: Part Two doesn’t stop at expanding on what worked in the first movie. It also does things that the first movie didn’t, namely giving Zendaya a lot more to do. Chalamet doesn’t give a bad performance — he has a couple of passionate displays — but Zendaya steals the show. When Atreides and Jessica first encounter the Fremen, many of them are wary of the outsiders, but Chani shows a soft spot for Atreides. She takes him under her wing and trains him in the ways of the Fremen, and soon their relationship evolves into something more. It is this relationship that grounds the movie, and keeps us invested in the story, something the first movie didn’t have. A warrior, Chani’s primary allegiance is to her people. As Atreides gets more involved in the prophecy, Chani becomes increasingly conflicted, with Zendaya often having to act with just her face, and she nails it. One other thing that Dune: Part Two did better than the first movie is the Shai Hulud, or the sandworms. In a minutes-long sequence, Atreides must ride a sandworm, and Villeneuve’s masterful camera work puts the viewer right there with him, making it feel less like a fantastical creature and more like an extremely fast and unruly horse. Dune: Part Two incorporates even more characters than the first film did. So, naturally, there are some elements that the movie could have explained better for casual viewers who maybe didn’t read the book. There are a lot of villains, and the hierarchy is not always clear. With so many characters, some are also inevitably wasted, like Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh). If you liked the first Dune, I highly recommend Dune: Part Two. It ups the ante both visually and narratively. 9.5/10 I’m not gonna lie: I was concerned going into Madame Web. The majority of users on the platform formerly known as Twitter seemed to be against it, a rarity for Twitter. I was expecting it to be a lot worse than it was, but a few good performances and strong found family themes elevate Madame Web above some lesser Sony/Marvel superhero movies.
Columbia Pictures’ Madame Web, which was released in theaters on Feb. 14, follows Cassandra Webb (played by Dakota Johnson), a paramedic in New York City who finds herself having to protect three teenagers from a murderous adversary with superhuman powers who is hunting them. Madame Web is set in 2003, and sort of pays homage to the conventions of the comic book movies of that era. Namely, Cassandra is depicted as aloof and antisocial, with her friend having to drag her to social gatherings. Occasionally with these characters, it doesn’t feel realistic, but Johnson really sells it, which makes it all the better when she finally finds her chosen family. The other real star of Madame Web is Adam Scott. I’ll admit that Scott was half of the reason why I actually watched the movie in the first place, and he absolutely killed it as Ben Parker, a name most Spider-Man fans will recognize. That’s the other thing about Sony’s recent Spider-Man Universe movies — they don’t have Spider-Man, but they get really close. Sony is trying to convince people that their movies are in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but they’re not. It is this confusion that is driving audiences away from their movies after failures like Morbius. It’s a shame, too, because with better marketing, more people might be able to actually enjoy this movie. I mentioned that Adam Scott was half of the reason I wanted to watch Madame Web. The other half was because of Isabela Merced. Merced, who is known for her starring role as Dora the Explorer in 2019’s Dora and the Lost City of Gold, brings layers to the role of Anya Corazon, who was my favorite of the three girls. The A-plus-student Anya was one of my favorite characters in the 2017 Spider-Man animated series, but Merced portrays her as more than just an intellectual here, which I appreciated. Sydney Sweeney and Celeste O’Connor were okay as Julia Cornwall and Mattie Franklin, but the script doesn’t give them much to do other than be a goody two-shoes and a rebel respectively. The writing for Madame Web is kind of basic. The hero gets powers that they can’t control, finds the other main characters, and must come into their power in order to save them - it’s all been done before. I am willing to forgive it, though, because of the ending. I’m a sucker for the found family trope. It’s one of my favorites, and Madame Web is a great example of it. Cassandra is initially reluctant to save the girls, but after learning that their real families have abandoned or otherwise left them, she takes it upon herself to protect them. By the end, Cassandra accepts Anya, Julia, and Mattie as her chosen family. The villain in Madame Web is also kind of bland. Ezekiel Sims sees a vision of Anya, Julia, and Mattie killing him, that’s fine. What I don’t get is why he doesn’t just try to talk to them first, instead of going right to hunting them. I also thought the dialogue mixing for him was off. Whenever he spoke in voiceover, it sounded much deeper than his actual voice. One other thing I didn't like was that the girls didn't get their suits in the actual movie's timeline, and just had them in Ezekiel's visions. That was a bit disappointing. There was a lot of good humor in Madame Web. Johnson and Scott have good rapport as Cassandra and Ben, with Scott stealing every scene he was in. The girls also have good chemistry. The music was surprisingly good. I appreciated the use of “Toxic” as a plot device, and “I Think We’re Alone Now” was also appropriate for the scene. Unlike most of Twitter, I actually enjoyed Madame Web. If you ignore what people on the Internet say, maybe you will, too. 7/10 Lisa Frankenstein is a weird movie. There's no doubt about that. But Kathryn Newton's charming performance makes this offbeat horror comedy fly by.
Focus Features' Lisa Frankenstein is set in 1989, and follows Lisa Swallows (Newton), an outcast who is still struggling to adjust to life after her mother's murder. After a supernaturally-charged storm makes her wish go awry, Lisa finds herself bonding with the reanimated corpse (Cole Sprouse) of a Victorian man. Genre-bending movies can be difficult to get right, and horror comedies can be the most difficult of all. It often hinges on the lead performance. The reason the Scream movies are so beloved, for example, is because of the badassery that Neve Campbell brought to the screen as Sidney Prescott. Fortunately, Newton is more than up to the task. The Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania star gets a much better script here to showcase her talents. Newton pulls us in with her natural charisma, then turns around and makes our hearts ache, sometimes in the same scene. She even shows some vocal talents in what is the single best use of REO Speedwagon in any movie or show ever. It doesn't stop there, either. The whole soundtrack of Lisa Frankenstein is very much a vibe. The synth-rock hits, coupled with the '80s slang-laced dialogue, really help to set the tone. For the most part, Lisa Frankenstein juggles its disparate elements quite well. There are just a couple of instances where they don't quite mesh. For example, I didn't quite get why Lisa, after her mom was murdered, suddenly liked murdering people. I thought they could have explored that more. The supporting cast is good. As the Creature, Sprouse doesn't have much to do besides make the same three noises, but Liza Soberano is impressive as Lisa's easygoing stepsister, Taffy, who gradually becomes less easygoing over the course of the movie. I can see both her and Newton getting a lot of roles after this. Joe Chrest also taps into his Ted Wheeler persona as Lisa and Dale's softspoken dad, Dale. I enjoyed the humor. My favorite joke, apart from the REO Speedwagon scene, was when Lisa said that she had the Cure, meaning the band, and the Creature thought that she meant an actual cure for his condition. My only critique about it is my usual one with genre-bending comedies, namely that there wasn't enough of it. The pacing was also well-done. The runtime was 101 minutes, but it felt like less than 90. Lisa Frankenstein is unlike most movies we're getting these days, but maybe that's what we should take away from it, that it's okay to make original stories, because you never know when you might have a hit. And also, casting directors, cast Kathryn Newton in more things, please and thank you. 9/10 Argylle was an interesting movie. My thoughts on it are mixed.
I was excited to watch Argylle, as I greatly enjoyed Matthew Vaughn's work in X-Men: First Class. Here, though, I thought that the first half was a bit weak. The second half, however, was hilarious. The cast was great, though. Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, and Samuel L. Jackson all killed it. Howard nails all the complexities that the lead role of Elly requires, deftly navigating an impressively well-concealed twist concerning the identity of the titular Argylle revealed halfway through the film. When we first see Elly, she is a timid spy novelist, and this is sort of played out by the film's halfway point, which is why it's wise that they then give Howard more to play with. While the second half of Argylle is a showcase for Howard, it is Rockwell who keeps the first half of the movie afloat as Aidan. Aidan is a spy who recruits Elly after her novels start to predict real-life events. In the second half, he takes on a secondary role to Howard's character akin to Ken in last year's Barbie, and is absolutely hilarious. He also has a funny ongoing rivalry with Elly's cat. In these spy movies, the good guys' boss is generally a small, thankless role. I'm actually surprised that Samuel L. Jackson took it, but his Alfie was easily one of the best parts of the movie for me. Several of my biggest laughs in the movie came from him. The script takes a little while to get going. Elly and Aidan seem permanently nervous and annoyed respectively, but once they hit the halfway point, the two are much funnier, and also seem to genuinely care about each other. The music was cool. Composer Lorne Balfe has experience in the spy genre, as he also scored the two most recent Mission: Impossible films. Here, though, he mostly stays away from epic, swelling strings in favor of funky synth-rock numbers with heavy drums, which helps establish the frenetic atmosphere of the film's many action scenes. Argylle has a good premise. They managed to make the most of it in the second half, but I wish they did so all the way through. 7.5/10 Wonka is a good movie. There’s no doubting that. It just doesn’t feel like a Willy Wonka movie.
Warner Bros.’ Wonka, which was released in theaters on Dec. 15, follows a younger version of the titular character, Willy Wonka (played by Timothée Chalamet), as he attempts to start a chocolate shop in Europe and make a name for himself. Along the way, Wonka meets a lovable cast of characters, including the spunky young orphan Noodle, the chocolate-addicted chief of police (Keegan-Michael Key), nefarious boarding house owner Mrs. Scrubitt (Olivia Colman), a reimagined version of Wonka’s rival Slugworth as a crime lord (Timeless' Paterson Joseph), and a mischievous Oompa-Loompa (Hugh Grant). My thoughts on Wonka are mixed. On the one hand, the story is decently heartwarming. On the other hand, the Wonka in this movie doesn’t match either Gene Wilder’s Wonka from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory or Johnny Depp’s Wonka from the 2005 remake. Chalamet’s Wonka is slightly eccentric, sure, but that’s it. He doesn’t have Wilder’s deadpan, and he isn’t just plain weird like Depp. Chalamet plays the role almost like Wilder’s Wonka at the very end of the movie, when it seems like he actually cares about more than just his business. The script of Wonka, from Simon Farnaby and director Paul King, clearly respects the original movie. There are several callbacks, including Wonka saying, “Scratch that. Reverse it,” and a revamped version of the original’s song “Pure Imagination.” Despite that, I feel like it would have been better with a different name. I found myself waiting for some tragic event that makes Chalamet’s Wonka hate kids, but it never happened. Instead, Wonka’s bond with Noodle is at the emotional core of the film. It is Noodle who comes up with the way to kickstart the movie’s plot by breaking him out of Mrs. Scrubitt’s launderette. That’s not to say that the script of Wonka doesn’t have its dark moments. Slugworth and the chief come close to killing Wonka and his friends multiple times with a series of dastardly schemes. However, all of these just serve to strengthen Wonka’s resolve and commitment to positivity and providing chocolate for everyone. The script has a lot of humor. Much of it comes from Chalamet and Grant’s banter, as well as Farnaby, a veteran British TV actor who also appears in the film as zoo security guard Basil. Key is also hilarious as the police chief, bumbling through various attempts to catch and blackmail Wonka. The songs in Wonka are good. None of them reinvent the movie musical wheel, but composer Neil Hannon packs them with upbeat tempos and more drums to make them more palatable to modern audiences compared to those of the original. I also liked that, at multiple points, the characters asked why they were singing. Wonka is sweet and entertaining. If you go in expecting that, you’ll enjoy it. If you are expecting a carbon copy of previous Willy Wonkas, you might be disappointed. 8/10 There have been rumblings going around Hollywood lately that the rom-com is dead. Superheroes and action movies are seemingly the only genres that studios are willing to bet on. And while that may or may not be the case, a middling plot doesn’t help Anyone but You stand out.
Columbia Pictures’ Anyone but You, which was released in theaters on Dec. 22, follows Goldman Sachs employee Ben (played by Top Gun: Maverick's Glen Powell) and law student Bea (Sydney Sweeney). After their first date turns sour, Ben and Bea are forced to spend more time together when Bea’s sister, Halle (Moxie's Hadley Robinson), begins dating Claudia (Alexandra Shipp), the sister of Ben’s childhood friend, Pete (GaTa). Here’s where the story of the Will Gluck-directed film starts to get predictable. Some of the most successful rom-coms of the 21st century have woven in elements of other genres, such as adventure (The Lost City), fantasy (Ted, 13 Going on 30), or satire (Gluck’s own Easy A). Anyone but You doesn’t have any of that. Much like Easy A was based on The Scarlet Letter, the premise of Anyone but You is taken from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. After an outburst at Halle and Claudia’s engagement party, Ben and Bea decide to fake being in a relationship in order to not ruin their wedding. It’s not hard to predict what happens next. I’m not the biggest fan of the fake-dating trope, but it works better when there’s actual chemistry involved. Ben and Bea get together because the plot requires it, but it should be the other way around. It’s no fault of the stars, either. The cast is actually decent. If you’ve seen Maverick, you know that Powell has charisma. I actually thought Sweeney was more charismatic in this movie. The problem is the script doesn’t give them anything to play with. Ben’s character is very inconsistent; he’s a womanizer, but also not, and makes jokes about Bea, but also vaguely feels bad about them later. Bea, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to have any aspirations; a subplot about her quitting law school feels shoehorned in. Ben and Bea aren’t the only ones scheming here, either. The rest of the family are all involved in their own scheme to get the two of them together. Some of my biggest laughs of the film came from Pete and his father, Roger, bumbling through very fake conversations designed to be overheard. When the family’s scheme fails, Halle and Claudia devise one last scheme of their own. With this one, the two don’t even try to make their argument believable, but Ben and Bea believe it, because they need to so that the movie’s plot can happen. Many of the movie’s best moments, I thought, were in the opening scene. Ben and Bea have some good banter, and Sweeney proves to be quite good at physical comedy. It’s too bad that the rest of the movie squanders that for a mediocre, tropey script, with one exception when Ben sees a spider on Bea’s back and subsequently removes all of his clothes. Pete also has some good jokes sprinkled throughout the movie, as does Leo (Dermot Mulroney), Bea’s father. I also appreciated the use of Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten” as Ben’s “serenity song,” or comfort song. So, is the rom-com dead? Maybe not, as Anyone but You actually was very successful at the box office. If other genres are any indication, Hollywood is going to make a lot more rom-coms now. I just hope they have better scripts. 5/10 |
AuthorTyler has been reviewing movies for a long time. He enjoys watching movies with the three H's - humor, heart, and high stakes. |