doughboynyc Reviews

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

It's not all that, but it is a good bag of chips!

[7/10 · 15 August 2008]

Vicky Christina Barcelona isn't quite the work of genius that several critics are making it out to be, but it is Woody Allen's most solid film in nearly a decade and by far his sexiest.

I will admit that the claims that it's his best movie in 20 years may have raised my expectations unfairly. After all, the past two decades has brought us Sweet and Lowdown (inspired Sean Penn and Samantha Morton), Another Woman (inspired Gena Rowlands), Husbands and Wives (inspired Judy Davis), Bullets Over Broadway ("Don't Speak!") and what, in my humble opinion, is his most extraordinary film ever: Crimes and Misdemeanors.

That said, there is much in the film's Plus Column. Bardem has never been sexier in English. Rebecca Hall is a sublime revelation. Scarlett Johansson does her most consistent and least grating work since Girl With the Pearl Earring. The supporting cast is a treasure trove of great character actors: Kevin Dunn (usually but effectively charmless), Chris Messina (a complicated mix of sexy and dull), Pablo Schreiber (virtually a cameo), and Patricia Clarkson (earthy, tragic and terrific as always).

And then there's Penelope Cruz. Incapable of wrong-doing in my eyes since All About My Mother, she is everything you've heard she is. At first, the character appears to be another version of Rahda Mitchell's bad Melinda only dark and Spanish. But she evolves and blossoms, like a mushroom cloud in slow motion.

The story is simple and the structure is a bit unwieldy. As a result, the film feels longer than it is and while it does saunter, it's never boring. The screenplay seems more concerned with re-arranging the configurations of lovers and exploring its themes than it does with sustaining the dramatic tension.

The films only significant, though ultimately not fatal, flaw is Miss Johansson. For the legions who thought Javier Bardem could generate romantic and sexual chemistry with anyone or anything, well, I have bad news. When she is sharing the screen with both Bardem and Cruz, Johansson's limitations as an actor and as a screen presence.

Ultimately, though, Vicky Christina Barcelona is still a worthwhile endeavor. An enjoyable romp filled the requisite angst and passion of Woody Allen's better efforts. Best of all, there's Spain and Barcelona. The landscapes, people and architecture provide even more spectacular real estate porn than Melinda & Melinda. Not only does it make you want to go to Barcelona, it will make you feel like you've lived there and loved it.

Despite its unevenness,

Happiness (1998)

Darkly Brilliant Comedy

[9/10 · 5 August 1999]

This film tends to disturb people. Unlike other "disturbing" films such as BLUE VELVET, which present the darkest actions and motivations in settings that are heightened to be satirically pristine or hellishly dark, HAPPINESS presents things ranging from obscene phone calls and adultery to rape, pederasty and murder in an almost mundane environment ~ so mundane that the people in this film could easily be your neighbors. This film features astounding performances, all embarrassingly overlooked by the Academy, particularly Dylan Baker's portrayal of the aforementioned pederast. He makes us understand how he's losing control of his attraction to little boys in a miraculous way. He makes up glad we aren't in his shoes and we never hate him more than he hates himself. The cast is uniformly excellent, so it's difficult to point to any one stnnd-out. The film's only drawback is it's lack of focus. At the center, and there is center, are three sisters played by Cynthia Stevenson (the housewife who "has it all" including a pederast husband), Lara Flynn Boule (the successful poet who believes she's a fraud because she writes poems about rape without ever having been raped) and Jane Adams (the ne'er do well whose sweet disposition has lit up a neon sign above her head that reads "doormat"). We not only deal with the men in their lives and their problems, but also with their mother and father's separation and Ms. Boyle's secret admirer/ obscene phone caller next-door neighbor, who in turn is adored by the chubby girl across the hall. Too many stories! Yet, every last one of them is heartfelt and interesting and very, very dark.

Playing by Heart (1998)

Great Cast; Awful Script; Let Me Tell You Why

[2/10 · 24 February 1999]

I went to this movie with every intention of liking it. Not only is the above-the-title cast amazing, but when I saw Patricia Clarkson appear out of nowhere (in Dennis Quaid's first scene), I was thrilled. I will also say right off the bat that Anjelina Jolie is an actress whose talent far surpasses her considerable beauty. But, the script... It starts off my saying "Talking about love is like dancing about architecture," meaning that talking about love is senseless and can't be done with any weight or meaning. In the end, the film actually congratulates for proving that saying wrong. In between, we get two hours of people doing very little but talking very openly about how they feel about their relationships. God forbid any of these people had something to hide or keep private from one another. There are even two scenes with Madeleine Stowe and Anthony Edwards that are almost identical in their dialogue, which is all about how she likes not having strings and he wants more from their trysts than sex. Gillian Anderson's Meredith is forced by the script to openly say things like "(you're) too good to be true" and when asked if she's been burned by love, she replied "Scalded." What a first date! I don't just mean romantically; I mean dramatically. She can't hide her pain so he can try to find it and overcome it? The only of the many segments in the film that remotely works is the one between free-spirited Joan (Jolie) and the target of her affections played by Ryan Phillipe. Her character actually talks about her life and relationships in order TO GET WHAT SHE WANTS from Phillipe's. Namely, she's opening up, so he will. (He's the only person in the film with a secret someone else is actively trying to uncover. Other characters, Quaid's in particular, have secrets, but only the audience is privy to them. No one else is trying to make any discoveries.) The film is long-winded, astonishingly self concious amd dull. Dancing about architecture makes more sense than talking about love -- at least when you're dancing you're actually DOING something.