Chick flick 'P.S.' is better in print
By Bruce R. Miller Journal staff writer | Posted: Sunday, May 04, 2008
You know short subjects aren't a part of the movie world when you've got to go to YouTube to see them.
Thankfully, Magnolia Home Entertainment has collected the Academy Award nominees for live-action and animation and put them on one disc. The result? A film festival at your home.
The five live-action nominees (all from foreign countries) feature a host of ideas and a true sense of what kind of filmmaking talent is out there. The animation offerings show where computer-generated work may be head. Both winners -- "The Mozart of Pickpockets" and "Peter & the Wolf" -- are here. While the content may not be suitable for all kids, this is a dazzling display of direction and hope for the future.
Also: 'I Love You'
Two good cries and a sassy supporting turn from Lisa Kudrow aren't enough to merit a love letter to "P.S. I Love You."
Better in print, the story of a young woman moving on after the death of her husband tries too hard to be something it's not. Like Hilary Swank - who's miscast - the concept takes more than a little effort to embrace.
Gerard Butler (as the husband who dies before the opening credits roll) plays one of those uber-attractive hunks who says and does all the right things. He plays music, too, and isn't above doing a little striptease to please his wife. After his funeral, Swank learns that he has written her a series of letters, each designed to help her move forward. Naturally, they're all tearjerkers. Of course, they all come with some memento from the couple's shared past.
The concept is interesting - in a Keanu Reeves/Sandra Bullock way - but if the guy was on his deathbed he couldn't have had the energy to plot out a year's worth of close encounters of the Kleenex kind.
Two friends (Gina Gerson and Kudrow) help Swank get out, then accompany her on a trip to Ireland where she meets his parents, views his haunts and flashes back (several times) to their courtship.
Director Richard LaGravanese, in fact, loves the flashback, which gives Butler more than a cameo performance. He shows when Swank was just another gawky young woman and Butler was a rough-around-the edges drifter. The moments are fine, but repeatedly you wonder if they wouldn't have been better with a different woman in the lead. Hardly another Meg Ryan, Swank tries too hard to play coy and wounded. Considering we've seen her in a boxing ring, we know she's capable of more.
Kathy Bates has a few gruff moments as Swank's mother and Harry Connick Jr. turns up as a potential suitor. But it's Kudrow who surprises with a performance that's fresh and interesting.
Also: 'Dead Body'
"Over Her Dead Body" doesn't have a ghost of a chance of succeeding.
Unlike other "spiritual" comedies, it doesn't know where to unearth the laughs. As a result, star Eva Longoria Parker makes up in volume what she lacks in humor.
She's a bridezilla who's crushed by a wedding day ice sculpture. Instead of disappearing, she sticks around to haunt the woman who could become her fiance's next wife. She's not happy about the arrangement so, naturally, she does everything she can to break them up. Never mind that her man (Paul Rudd) is miserable. She doesn't believe in a "happily ever after" that doesn't include her.
Lake Bell stars as a bad psychic who hooks up with Rudd after he comes for a reading. She's spooked at home, at work, at the gym. Parker's ability to turn up everywhere is uncanny, but it does the trick. Bell is wrung out. She's pretty good, too, considering she isn't given many funny lines.
Jeff Lowell has directed the film at a fast pace but this isn't a screwball comedy that merits the speed. It's simply a picture filled with too many words. Rudd -- who normally shines in Judd Apatow comedies -- doesn't bother to spice up anything. He's good at playing depressed but can't quite muster the energy to ad lib.
Parker, meanwhile, overdoes everything. She's pretty, but loud. Instead of aiming for a "Blithe Spirit" quality, she settles for a desperate actress sensibility.
Also this week:
TV: "Allo, Allo," series eight; "The 4400," season four; "Bewitched," season six; "Crossing Jordan," season one; "The Invaders," season one; "New Adventures of Old Christine," season two; "For One More Day"; "Speed Racer: The Next Generation"
Movies: "Abominable"; "Ace of Hearts"; "Bella"; "Bridges of Madison County"; "Business of Being Born"; "Delirious"; "First Sunday"; "Hollywood Dreams"; "The Hottie and the Nottie"; "I'm Not There"; "Saawariya"; "Teeth"; "Twister"
Thankfully, Magnolia Home Entertainment has collected the Academy Award nominees for live-action and animation and put them on one disc. The result? A film festival at your home.
The five live-action nominees (all from foreign countries) feature a host of ideas and a true sense of what kind of filmmaking talent is out there. The animation offerings show where computer-generated work may be head. Both winners -- "The Mozart of Pickpockets" and "Peter & the Wolf" -- are here. While the content may not be suitable for all kids, this is a dazzling display of direction and hope for the future.
Also: 'I Love You'
Two good cries and a sassy supporting turn from Lisa Kudrow aren't enough to merit a love letter to "P.S. I Love You."
Better in print, the story of a young woman moving on after the death of her husband tries too hard to be something it's not. Like Hilary Swank - who's miscast - the concept takes more than a little effort to embrace.
Gerard Butler (as the husband who dies before the opening credits roll) plays one of those uber-attractive hunks who says and does all the right things. He plays music, too, and isn't above doing a little striptease to please his wife. After his funeral, Swank learns that he has written her a series of letters, each designed to help her move forward. Naturally, they're all tearjerkers. Of course, they all come with some memento from the couple's shared past.
The concept is interesting - in a Keanu Reeves/Sandra Bullock way - but if the guy was on his deathbed he couldn't have had the energy to plot out a year's worth of close encounters of the Kleenex kind.
Two friends (Gina Gerson and Kudrow) help Swank get out, then accompany her on a trip to Ireland where she meets his parents, views his haunts and flashes back (several times) to their courtship.
Director Richard LaGravanese, in fact, loves the flashback, which gives Butler more than a cameo performance. He shows when Swank was just another gawky young woman and Butler was a rough-around-the edges drifter. The moments are fine, but repeatedly you wonder if they wouldn't have been better with a different woman in the lead. Hardly another Meg Ryan, Swank tries too hard to play coy and wounded. Considering we've seen her in a boxing ring, we know she's capable of more.
Kathy Bates has a few gruff moments as Swank's mother and Harry Connick Jr. turns up as a potential suitor. But it's Kudrow who surprises with a performance that's fresh and interesting.
Also: 'Dead Body'
"Over Her Dead Body" doesn't have a ghost of a chance of succeeding.
Unlike other "spiritual" comedies, it doesn't know where to unearth the laughs. As a result, star Eva Longoria Parker makes up in volume what she lacks in humor.
She's a bridezilla who's crushed by a wedding day ice sculpture. Instead of disappearing, she sticks around to haunt the woman who could become her fiance's next wife. She's not happy about the arrangement so, naturally, she does everything she can to break them up. Never mind that her man (Paul Rudd) is miserable. She doesn't believe in a "happily ever after" that doesn't include her.
Lake Bell stars as a bad psychic who hooks up with Rudd after he comes for a reading. She's spooked at home, at work, at the gym. Parker's ability to turn up everywhere is uncanny, but it does the trick. Bell is wrung out. She's pretty good, too, considering she isn't given many funny lines.
Jeff Lowell has directed the film at a fast pace but this isn't a screwball comedy that merits the speed. It's simply a picture filled with too many words. Rudd -- who normally shines in Judd Apatow comedies -- doesn't bother to spice up anything. He's good at playing depressed but can't quite muster the energy to ad lib.
Parker, meanwhile, overdoes everything. She's pretty, but loud. Instead of aiming for a "Blithe Spirit" quality, she settles for a desperate actress sensibility.
Also this week:
TV: "Allo, Allo," series eight; "The 4400," season four; "Bewitched," season six; "Crossing Jordan," season one; "The Invaders," season one; "New Adventures of Old Christine," season two; "For One More Day"; "Speed Racer: The Next Generation"
Movies: "Abominable"; "Ace of Hearts"; "Bella"; "Bridges of Madison County"; "Business of Being Born"; "Delirious"; "First Sunday"; "Hollywood Dreams"; "The Hottie and the Nottie"; "I'm Not There"; "Saawariya"; "Teeth"; "Twister"
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