Catching Up

Movies: Elysium, Insidious, House of Pleasures, Behind the Candelabra

Y'all, I have been lazy and remiss in my duties to review all the movies I see in a timely manner. Sometimes I have to wait for the mood to strike to write something; other times, I like to wait until I see a couple similar movies that fall into a "theme". But in any case, I've gotten behind and now it's time to catch up with some mini reviews.


Elysium

I really wanted to like this summer blockbuster starring Ben Affleck's better half, but I wasn't very impressed with it and, having seen it more than a month ago, it hasn't stuck in my memory.

Matt Damon plays Max, an ex-criminal and blue collar worker living on earth circa 2154. Earth is in shambles--polluted, overpopulated, dry, and hot. Earth's wealthiest inhabitants live in an idyllic satellite called "Elysium" which hovers like a star, miles above earth's surface. Other than the beautiful landscape, the biggest advantage residents have on Elysium is technology that can heal all wounds--from a cut to cancer--in seconds. On earth, sick people are desperate to make it to Elysium to attempt to get healed. Like Cubans floating to Florida in shaky life rafts, very few people make it to the satellite without being killed.

After being exposed to high levels of radiation at his factory job, Max looks into black market flights to Elysium. The guy running the flight operation asks Max to help him illegally download information from an Elysian's (Elysite?) brain as payment for a flight to the satellite. To do this, Max is outfitted with a kickass exoskeleton thing that makes him super strong, despite his radiation poisoning, and also plugs into his brain. If he can accost the man who is carrying the information needed and download that info into his own brain, he can pay for a flight to Elysium.

Well, needless to say it doesn't go according to plan. There are a bunch of chase scenes and fight scenes, a subplot with a romance and a sick child, and an absurd ending with a million plot holes.

What fascinates me is that the director, Neill Blomkamp, who directed the apartheid metaphor film District 9 in 2009, chooses to focus more on Matt Damon kicking ass than on the actual message of the film, which is about the wealth gap and unequal access to health care. I wish we could have seen more of Elysium. Most of the scenes shot on the satellite, aside from a few scenes of what appears to be J. Crew models playing croquet, take place in some kind of government compound were a fascistic Jody Foster ruthlessly orders "illegals" from earth to be arrested or shot on sight. I would have liked to see more of the daily life of people living in Elysium as compared to the poor saps stuck on earth.

The ending promises a future of equality for earthlings and Elysians, but I didn't buy it for a second. It comes off as a lazy deus ex machina to a film that wasn't that interesting to begin with. Thumbs up to Matt Damon, who is good with flowing locks (see Behind the Candelabra, below) or with a bald head. Thumbs down the the rest of this forgettable popcorn movie.

3 out of 5 stars

***

Insidious

When I was a kid, I hated vegetables. The concept of a salad--a mixture of all kinds of raw veggies--was absurd to me. Even with dressing and cheese, who could eat that shit? Then, one day in my mid-twenties, I discovered to the surprise of my taste buds that I could eat salad. I liked salad. I craved salad. With the right toppings and dressing, salad was divine.

Likewise, after seeing The Ring in 10th grade, I decided I hated horror films. They weren't for me, and with the exception of some excellent horror movies of the 70's and 80's (Rosemary's Baby and The Shining), I avoided them. Then, one day not long ago, I realized that I liked horror movies! I liked the feeling of being scared and jumping in my seat, grabbing the arm of my (preferably male) companion. Now, I actually seek scary and gory films out.

My point with this analogy is two-fold: first, you never stop growing. If I could learn to eat salad and watch scary movies in my twenties, who knows the awesome things I'll do/be into in my thirties. Bring it. Second: Insidious, directed by James Wan, is both pants-shittingly terrifying and so, so fun and inventive.

In less capable hands, the plot of Insidious might come off as pretty stupid: a family moves into a new house and the young son hits his head and goes into a coma. Really freaky shit starts to happen and it turns out that the kid is an astral projector: his soul can leave his body as he sleeps and travel to supernatural dimensions. While his body is in a coma, his soul is stuck in this place called "the Further". Ghosts and demons and all sorts of creepy crawlies are using the kid as a lifeline to get back to this dimension. All of this is explained neatly to the parents (Rose Byrne and Patrick "Sexy Dad" Wilson) by a concerned psychic (Lin Shaye).

Like I said, the plot COULD have been absurd and awful, but in Wan's hands it is creative and different than most other haunted house or demonic possession films. And it's a great excuse to feature some truly freaky ghouls inhabiting "the Further", which Wan envisions as a nightmarish shadow world that faintly resembles the real world.

There's something to scare everyone here: creepy children, jump scares, haunted houses, possession--whatever floats your boat, Insidious has it. I'm not surprised they're making a sequel.

Although some critics have claimed Wan's recent film, The Conjuring, is more frightening than Insidious, I found this movie to push my terror buttons a lot harder. And I watched it on my TV in the middle of a sunny afternoon.

5 out of 5 stars

***

House of Pleasures

I wanted to wait to review the French film House of Pleasures until after watching another movie, Sleeping Beauty (not the Disney film, but a movie about a young woman who lets paying customers play with her sexually as she sleeps). I could have had a prostitution-themed review. But alas, I haven't gotten around to watching Sleeping Beauty yet.

House of Pleasures is a visually stunning and emotionally arresting film set at the turn of the 20th century in a Parisian bordello. It follows the high class ladies of the evening who live and work there over the course of a year or so. This includes one lady who is brutally disfigured by a customer for a reason that is never revealed. When the camera abruptly cuts to this woman, screaming and bloody, it's outrageously disturbingly (certainly more so than any of the sex acts the audience is privy to).



In addition to this act of violence, we witness other problems of this house of ill repute: the rent is going up and the Madame of the house isn't sure she will be able to keep paying the bills; one lady contracts syphilis and the man who gave it to her abandons her; romantic intrigues abound; a young, new girl joins the house...all of these stories feel both mundane and voyeuristic, given the setting.

And what a beautiful setting it is. The house and the bedrooms are gorgeous. The women are all lovely to look at. The lingerie is a modern day burlesque dancer's wet dream. But all that beauty covers over a life of difficulty and occasional degradation. Not all the men who pay for the ladies' services and attention are monsters, but the women pretty much have to go along with what they ask for in order to continue receiving their business. When the disfigured woman is offered a tidy sum to go to a decadent party where she is treated kindly, but also gawked at as a freak, it's hard to tell whether this is the kindest treatment she can expect to receive.

Another focus of House of Pleasures is the ladies friendship with one another. There are no catfights or hair pulling. Instead, the women build each other up as the world around them tries to tear them down. The film doesn't glorify prostitution and brothels--rather, it attempts to give an even-handed glimpse into a secret world.

5 out of 5 stars

***

Behind the Candelabra

Supposedly Steven Soderbergh's final film, Behind the Candelabra is the (partial) story of Liberace's secret life. It focuses on the years 1977-1986 (when Liberace passed away from AIDS) and much of the story is shown from the perspective of one of Liberace's younger lovers, Scott Thorson (Matt Damon, with fabulous hair). Liberace was nearly 60 years old when he "hired" Thorson as his "companion". Thorson was a teenager (frankly, Damon is way to old to play Thorson at his real age). And Michael Douglas, giving a bravura performance as the Showman himself, plays Liberace as the horny old goat he was. When Scott wakes up after (chastely) sharing a bed with Liberace to find the old man watching him as he sleeps, it really made me want to scream and vomit simultaneously. I guess I'm a little ageist!

Behind the Candelabra shows the absolute excesses that marked Liberace's private life--from his outrageously expensive furs to his palatial home. It also shows his controlling and downright freakish behavior toward Thorson (and, presumably, his other lovers). My favorite part is when he convinces Thorson to get plastic surgery to look more like Liberace himself. It's like Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo times a million. I wanted to scream "MOM!!" and hide under the couch. This movie had parts that were scarier than fuckin' Insidious!

Soderbergh doesn't preach--he leaves it up to the audience to judge. But Liberace comes off as the flamboyant, narcissistic nut we would all assume him to be. And man, is it fun to watch Douglas ham it up. There is some indication that Liberace and Thorson really loved each other, and that very well may be true. The film is based on Thorson's book, so there is probably some bias coloring the story, but oh well. I'm not an expert on Liberace, so I can't speak to the factuality of the film. But it is quite entertaining with some excellent (and, let's face it, pretty brave) performances by Douglas and Damon. Douglas especially gives a vanity-free performance as a man whose life was ruled by vanity. That's a tall order and he pulls it off quite nicely.

4 out of 5 stars

Dignity in Service

Movies: The Butler

Lee Daniels' The Butler is the perfect antidote to the sentimental pat on the head to white people that 2011's The Help* was.

Whereas in The Help, a young, white woman was the heroine of the story, a black, aging man is the hero of The Butler. Whereas the lives of black women in domestic service in pre-Civil Rights Mississippi were shown through the lens of which white people were mean to them and which white people were nice to them in The Help, The Butler tells the story of a black family through its own lens. Whereas you are bashed over the head with LIFE LESSONS in The Help, the lessons of The Butler are not so simple and not so obvious.

Where The Butler succeeds is in its ability to be a gentle movie with a strong message, and to tell the black characters' stories without the use of caricature and--more importantly--without the measuring stick of "BUT WHAT WERE THE WHITE PEOPLE DOING??" that haunts so many films about race.

The Butler, based on a true story, is about the life of Cecil Gaines. Born on a cotton plantation in the 1920's, Cecil watches as his father is murdered in cold blood by one of the hotheaded white male owners of the plantation--right after that same man rapes Cecil's mother. The matriarch of the plantation takes young Cecil aside and tells him, "I'm going to teach you to be a house nigger." This is the first instance of uncomfortable, yet brutally honest cognitive dissonance in the film. On the one hand, the term "house nigger" forces you to cringe. On the other hand, this "promotion" is a godsend to young Cecil, who learns valuable skills that will carry him through life. As racist as her words are, the matriarch was doing Cecil a kind turn by bringing him into her home to serve.

As a young man, Cecil leaves the plantation and finds work in a small hotel and is mentored by an older black man who slaps him when he refers to himself as a "house nigger". This man becomes a father figure to Cecil, teaching him the value of self-respect. As time goes on, Cecil (played by Forest Whitaker) gets a job in a ritzy hotel in Washington, DC, where he captures the attention of a politician who recommends him to work as a butler in the White House. And this is where the historical events of the story take off. Cecil (like his true life counterpart, Eugene Allen), serves in the White House over the course of eight presidential administrations. He serves at a time when race and racial integration were at the forefront of Americans' minds. One drawback of the film is that there is a definite hint of Magical Negro syndrome every time the president of the United States--from Dwight D. Eisenhower (played by Robin Williams--what?) to Richard Nixon (John Cusack--WHAAAT??!) to Ronald Reagen (Alan Rickman--ah, ok. He works) asks Cecil for his opinion on a matter regarding race.

The lack of subtlety in regards to how The Butler handles race on a large scale is the biggest flaw of the film. There are definitely moments that are cringeworthy and "on the nose". But The Butler has a nice card up its sleeve--the story of Cecil's family and how they cope with the Civil Rights Movement through the years. The film shines when it focuses on the relationship between Cecil and his alcoholic wife Gloria (Oprah, who gives a powerful performance, but appears to stay the same age over three decades) and the relationship between Cecil and his rebellious older son, Louis (David Oyelowo).

Cecil and Louis' father/son dynamic is especially interesting and complicated. Louis grows up to be a Civil Rights activist, participating in lunch counter sit-ins (a FANTASTIC and horrifying scene), freedom bus rides, and the Black Panther Party. While Cecil tries to be open-minded towards his son's liberalness, Louis sneers at his father--a mere butler spending his life dedicated to serving powerful, white men. I loved this dynamic because both characters are vastly sympathetic. On the one hand, I identified strongly with Louis' need to shake things up. But as "right" and with the times Louis is, he's such a dismissive little snot to the man who gave him everything. And militancy is an unstable ideology, whereas Cecil's path of hard work grants him the ability to raise a family and rise far, far above his start as a lowly house servant.

Despite the myriad cheesy moments of The Butler, the film has a good heart and soul. I can't quite give it a 4 star review because it has some problems, but I can say that I wish there were more films like it. It's sad that in 2013 we haven't quite evolved enough as a society to have some truly complex, interesting, and perhaps challenging films about race in mainstream theatres. In my very short time on earth it seems that racism has gotten more vile in recent years (a combination of the Internet, 24 hour news cycle, and the fact that the president has dark skin). But my dad, who actually lived through the Civil Rights Movement and is a man who has allowed his heart to be opened and changed by Civil Rights issues, says "We're doing better. But we're not there yet."

3.5 out of 5 stars

*I apologize if this is a strong opinion, and the fact is that the film The Help had a wonderful, female-friendly cast, but aspects of the film really made me chafe.

Skin Flick

Movies: Lovelace

One of the most popular and sensational films of 1972 (a great year for movies, incidentally) was a 61 minute long pornographic "comedy" about a woman whose clitoris is located in her throat. Linda Lovelace's (nee Boreman) ability to engage in the titular sex act launched her into short-lived fame. Despite her popularity, Lovelace's life was a hell. Coerced into the porn industry by her physically abusive husband, Lovelace was a symbol of the sexual liberation movement despite being a prisoner herself.

Lovelace attempts to show both sides of Linda Lovelace's life--her public persona as a sexy, bubbly young woman and her private life having the shit beaten out of her by Chuck Traynor, her terrifying husband. The film mostly succeeds, but it doesn't go far enough and comes off as white-washed for a mainstream audience.

The actors are the film's greatest strength. Amanda Seyfried gives a strong performance as the wide-eyed Lovelace, and Peter Sarsgaard (who has made a career out of playing characters at once both sexy and menacing) is perfectly cast at the terrifying Traynor, who seduces Lovelace and convinces her to marry him, only to become more and more physically and sexually violent towards her. The ensemble cast also includes Sharon Stone playing Lovelace's strict, dowdy, and unloving mother. Adam Brody shows up as Harry Reams, Linda's gentle and charming costar (from the interviews I've seen of him, Reams actually did seem to be a truly nice guy). James Franco is inexplicably cast as Hugh Hefner, which is more silly than anything else.

For a movie about the most famous porno of all time, Lovelace's main focus is on Linda and Chuck's relationship and her efforts to escape him. I liked that the movie was able to show the seediness of the porn industry while not blaming it for Lovelace's abuse. It wasn't the porn industry's fault that no one stepped in to help Lovelace--it was the culture of the early 70's; a time where sexual attitudes were becoming more liberal, but attitudes towards women's "place" were still very retro. Women were seen as the property of their husbands and men in general. Porn was a symptom of this, not the cause. So the movie manages to stay neutral on this issue of pornography while showcasing the horrors of domestic violence.

Eventually, Linda left Chuck and became a spokeswoman for the feminist anti-pornography movement. She wrote a book called Ordeal about her time in the porn business and her marriage to Traynor. Unfortunately, Lovelace only touches on this portion of her life very briefly, and she is portrayed as a dowdy victim who is expected to "atone" for her sins and prove herself to the public. This is a shame, because it glamorizes the most vulnerable time in Lovelace's life while painting her to be a pathetic victim once she actually escapes her abusive marriage.

The issue of pornography and the porn industry is a tough one, and no single filmmaker can capture the complexities of the issue. But a film that does a better job of thoroughly exploring the phenomenon of Deep Throat and its effect on the culture at the time is the excellent documentary Inside Deep Throat.

Lovelace features wonderful performances by Seyfried, Sarsgaard, and Stone. It's an interesting (and occasionally funny) movie. But if you are really curious about the history of the famous sex flick and the actors involved, I'd recommend watching Inside Deep Throat instead.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Hat Trick

Movies: Now You See Me

(Ye be warned: thar be mild spoilers in this review)

Now You See Me, aka "that magician movie starring the guy who played Mark Zuckerberg", is a pretty bad film. But its fatal flaw is simple: it does not know what kind of movie it wants to be.

The film starts off intriguing and entertaining: four talented magicians, each with a special skill, are brought together by a mysterious fifth party. One year later, they perform a trick where they rob a bank in Paris while standing on stage in Las Vegas. As money swirls around the huge venue, and a credit union in France realizes they've been robbed of 3 million dollars, the FBI gets involved.

But as the movie continues, with Mark Ruffalo and Melanie Laurent as a pair of FBI agents tracking down the "Four Horsemen" (Jesse Eisenberg as an arrogant, young magician; Woody Harrelson as a hypnotist; Isla Fisher as a sexy escape artist; and Dave Franco as a punky pickpocket), Now You See Me gets unbearably complicated and silly.

What starts out as a heist movie takes a turn for what appears to be a film with a social justice message. The second time the Four Horsemen do their now world famous trick, they quite literally rob a rich man and give to the poor audience--an audience pre-selected to attend the show because they all lost houses, possessions, and loved ones during Hurricane Katrina.

But the social justice aspect isn't there for long, and the movie takes a sharp into "revenge film" territory: where a man who sets out to debunk the Four Horsemen is framed for a crime he didn't commit. All because he has some vague ties to another magician who might or might not have died under mysterious circumstances years before.

Does this sound as crazy as fuck to you? Well, I'm right there with you. It's not too long into the movie before you realize that the filmmakers of Now You See Me didn't have a clear vision of the kind of movie they wanted to make. So they ended up throwing everything they could against a wall to see what would stick. And what we're left with is a very messy wall.

Disappointingly, Now You See Me had a lot of promise: an initially entertaining premise, a star-studded cast, some decent laughs, etc. But as the twists and turns keep coming, the audience (well, me anyway) got more and more unamused and bored. The film ends on a final twist that is more laughable and stupid than shocking. After watching the movie, you realize it's not so much a complicated, cerebral film as it is lazy and loosey-goosey.

I spent 2 bucks to see Now You See Me, and I consider it money well spent if only for Mark Ruffalo's embarrassingly ridiculous performance as a frustrated FBI agent. But I can't recommend this movie, which tries so hard to fool the audience only to end up fooling itself.

2.5 out of 5 stars

Sex Smarts

Movies: The To Do List

The To Do List is absolutely delightful without being an "excellent" film. I can tell you right now, I'm gonna give it my elusive 3.75 star rating: a rating I give to movies that I enjoyed, but had enough flaws to keep them out of the 4 star range.

That said, if you're in the mood for a raunchy summer comedy, nothing should keep you away from The To Do List.

Like a feminist-minded Porky's, The To Do List is all about sex, baby. Smarty-pants valedictorian Brandy Klark (Aubrey Plaza, swapping her trademark sarcasm for milder deadpan here) is about to go to college. But before she goes, she's on a mission to learn a few lessons she missed out on while being such a good student in school.

With the help of her buddies (Alia Shawkat and Sarah Steele), Brandy creates a list of sexual activities to accomplish over the summer. Most are typical: hickies, giving and receiving oral, handjobs; others are goofy: motorboating, pearl necklace (side note: the film takes place in 1993. Was the term "motorboating" even a thing back then?).

Brandy spends her summer working at a public swimming pool with a cast of colorful characters, including the perfectly named Rusty Waters--a dreamy sufer dude who is on Brandy's list as the one to take her virginity. But before she can graduate to Rusty, Brandy selfishly screws around with other dudes to beef up her sexual bona fides.

What's interesting (and refreshing) about The To Do List is that the movie presents Brandy's sexual exploration as very emotionally removed. Many of the things on her list she does with her best guy friend, Cameron, who is not-so-secretly in love with her. But rather than using Cameron--the "right" guy--to put Brandy on an emotional journey, she basically uses him to get prepared to fuck the guy she *really* wants. Before you think "what a bitch!" (Brandy isn't a bitch so much as a driven, bossy gal...which is just fucking wonderful to see in a movie like this), be aware that Brandy learns that it's not right to use other people or abandon her friends in pursuit of the D*.

The movie definitely succeeds as a feminist comedy for a number of reasons: 1) Brandy is not shamed or punished for pursuing sex. Yes, she learns some lessons, but there is no pregnancy, STD, or heartbreak to "punish" her. 2) Brandy comes from a loving family with a mom (the wonderful Connie Britton) who is happy to talk to her about sex and even give her lube to use. This is no after-school special where a girl from a broken home ends up pregnant at 16. 3) Brandy pursues sex intellectually. Now, reading Cosmopolitan and Penthouse for sex tips isn't exactly a sex ed course, but the fact that Brandy uses the tools at her disposal to learn about sex (including the best ways to effectively achieve orgasm--yay!) shows that Brandy is a smart cookie and is exploring sex on her terms as an active participant. Brandy has safe sex, is never raped or mistreated. It's a breath of fresh air.

However, the film has its limits. Other than Brandy, I found the characters a bit one-note. The jokes are funny, but not clever. It's a sex comedy, so most of the jokes are pretty predicable. But the aspect that annoyed me the most is that the film is very "tell-y" not "show-y". It's the mark of a good filmmaker when they can get their point across without literally having the character explain verbally the lessons she's learned, as Brandy does in The To Do List. Granted, maybe director Maggie Carey wanted to make damn sure everyone in the audience "got" what this movie is about: women can and should pursue sex without shame and demand respect. That's awesome. And maybe she assumed a lot of people in the audience wouldn't be familiar of the concept of a woman having sex without being called a slut. That's quite possible. I just wish it was a leeeeetle less on the nose. Just a tad. The movie is so on the nose, it felt like my nose was being punched.

BUT, I'd recommend this movie anyway because it's funny, refreshing, profane, and Aubrey Plaza is wonderful. It's not going to be the movie that saves the world and awakens a sexual paradise in our dumb society, but it's a step in the right direction.

3.75 out of 5 stars

*"the D" means "the dick". FYI. 

The Devil Inside

Movies: The Conjuring

Who would have predicted that I, a complete wimp who had to be forced to learn to ride a bike while growing up, would someday become a horror movie fan? I wouldn't have guessed it, but the more spooky movies I watch, the more I like them.

I went into The Conjuring fully prepared to be scared shitless. Jonathan Barkan, over at Bloody Disgusting--a horror film website--writes in his review of the film, "I think I’ve made it pretty clear by now but I need to just plainly state it: This movie scared me" and pointed out that the film is rated R not for sex, gore, or language--but simply for being too scary for a PG-13 rating. If a hardened  horror film enthusiast like Barkan was scared, what would I be? Dead from a heart attack?

But, to my delight, The Conjuring managed to thrill me more than scare the crap out of me. Director James Wan, who began his career with the fetishistic original Saw film, proves to be a master of atmosphere. He directs The Conjuring with a steady, controlled hand--consistently doling out scares while ramping up the terror bit by bit. And he doesn't cheat us on acting, plot, or cinematography. Everything is top-notch.

The Conjuring, set in 1971, is based on a true story. Married demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren have built a career out of fighting ghosts and malevolent spirits. Lorraine has psychic powers that tell her if a house or object is haunted or possessed, and Ed is the only non-priest recognized by the Catholic Church as an "official" (or whatever) demonologist. With their powers combined, the couple help poor souls with supernatural problems.

The Warrens are contacted by Carolyn Perron (Lili Taylor, who fucking kills it in this role), a wife and mother of 5 daughters whose family has recently moved into a creepy old house they got at auction. Increasingly disturbing things have been happening in the house: the clocks all stop at 3:07am every day, doors bang throughout the night, and the girls see ghosts hiding in the shadows. Carolyn begs the Warrens to help, and they agree to check out the place.

*Spoiler alert!*

Once the Warrens begin inspecting the Perron homestead, it becomes clear that this isn't a movie about a haunted house--it's a demonic possession movie. Lorraine senses many spirits in the home, but one--the spirit of a witch who sacrificed her baby to Satan and then hanged herself--stands out as the cause of all the trouble.

The Warrens explain that this spirit doesn't just want the Perrons to leave--it wants to kill the family. It's hateful, and it's been the cause of numerous deaths and suicides on the land ever since the witch killed herself centuries before.

The film escalates from cerebral ghost-hunting story to visceral exorcism movie, complete the Carolyn Perron taken over by the witch's spirit and vomiting blood.

*End spoilers*

In addition to the effective, nerve-jangling scares, The Conjuring is pretty to look at, with its muted colors and retro clothing and cars. It also has AMAZING acting all around. The four adult leads: Lili Taylor and Ron Livingston as Carolyn and Roger Perron, and Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren, are excellent. Taylor and Linvingston's portrayal of loving, frightened parents is spot-on and Wilson and Farmiga refuse to ham it up as professional ghostbusters.

The young actresses who play the Perron daughters are all great too and, refreshingly, not creepy like kids in horror movies tend to be.

A lot of horror movies are done on the cheap, with bad acting and poor special effects, giving the genre a seedy reputation. What James Wan has done with The Conjuring is create a quality film that also happens to have wall-to-wall scares.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Way, Way Too Sentimental

Movies: The Way, Way Back

Man, you guys. I feel totally heartless, but Nat Faxon and Jim Rash's coming of age story The Way, Way Back, really left me cold. Not cold. Lukewarm. Faxon and Rash teamed up a couple years ago to write the screenplay for The Descendants--another film I thought I would like more than I actually did. But where The Descendants had the benefit of being co-written and directed by Alexander Payne, who excels at bringing out the edge and bite in films, The Way, Way Back is toothless.

The story revolves around 14 year old Duncan (Liam James), who is stuck in a beach house all summer with his mom (Toni Collette), his mom's jerk of a boyfriend (Steve Carell, going delightfully against type), and the boyfriend's bitchy daughter. With his mom too caught up in post-divorce love to pay much attention to him, Duncan is clearly in need of some adult mentoring and kindness. He is offered a job at a local water park--Water Wizz--by Owen (Sam Rockwell), a slightly immature, yet caring father figure. Owen and the other workers at Water Wizz manage to bring Duncan out of his shell and end up giving him the confidence he can't find in his own family unit.


Although the film was ripe with potential--especially with Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell playing such interesting characters--The Way, Way Back was, for me, a gooey, sticky bore. There was a distinct lack of true emotion, even in the most emotional scenes (such as when Duncan confronts his mom about what a bully Trent (the BF) is). And some of the supporting characters--Allison Janey as the alcoholic sister of Trent and Jim Rash as a bespectacled dork who works at the water park--seem to have escaped from bad sitcoms or the set of Napoleon Dynamite. There's a lot of quirky for the sake of quirky in this movie--a trait I strongly dislike in movies--and it's not even interesting quirky. It's boring quirky. Is that even a thing?!

I generally love coming of age stories. And they most certainly can be sweet and earnest and still work (see my review of The Perks of Being a Wallflower). But The Way, Way Back wasn't sweet in a natural, honest way. It was like a packet of Splenda.

2.5 out of 5 stars