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iferleigh
Reviews
Beauty & the Briefcase (2010)
Wasted
However much time and money they spent making this movie was wasted because after ten minutes through this movie, I gave up. Believe me, I tried to get past the terrible dialogue, the shallowness and the rest of the inconsistencies, but alas, my efforts were in vain.
This movie is bad, I mean, really bad. The writing was pathetic and while Miss Duff may have had her heyday when she was Miss Teen Queen, if this is her entry in the "mature" actresses category, then she'll have to forgive me for saying it's an incredibly huge failure.
Watching the movie, it's amazing people--women in particular--aren't reacting more. Well, maybe they didn't bother or are still probably asleep after watching, but hey, I've got time.
I saw a scene where she makes her debut in the corporate world, exiting an elevator full of men and it was the last straw for me when she just gets on babbling about: "men, men, men" like a cat in heat. It was so pathetic, I just gave up. They make women look as if they can just be pretty, sabotage a test with water like they're in high school and bat her fake lashes to get her 42K salary and succeed. Please. Reality check much.
Oh, and don't even get me started on her wardrobe. Some were atrocious, but most of her work outfits were just so...bad. As if that's possible in that area of the corporate world.
The acting, the dialogues and the "perky me, I'm the pretty blonde" scenes Duff and her crew so valiantly tried to play off just looked like a bad version of Reese Witherspoon's Legally Blonde.
It should also be pointed out that for someone a lot of people praise for her "great acting", Duff simply could not pass herself off as a writer, let alone a serious one. Then again, she was writing for a fashion magazine about the ever-so common love in the office drama? Not exactly in the line up for a Pulitzer. Oh, and yes, this is plot line also reminds me of Kate Hudson's How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. Not good.
Bad movie, but I'm sure Duff's fans might disagree with my views. Too bad it won't change the fact that this movie was terrible. Add this movie to the list of not-so good Duff movies for the last two years.
Advice to Hilary: She needs to stop trying to pass herself off as a "blonde bombshell" and try to polish up her acting instead. So caught up in trying to let everyone see she's "all grown up", she just ends up looking like a ditz instead of a serious actor. Someone needs to remind her she's graduated from Disney and her Lizzie McGuire days. She needs to start picking better roles and plot lines.
Heard she's been slated to play Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde. I hope for the best. Faye Dunaway is a tough act to follow.
Sparkle (2007)
Annoying in parts, but thank god for Stockard Channing
I was quite curious about this film, mainly because I've been a big fan of Stockard Channing for a long time. I've always liked her in a any role may it be the First Lady of the United States or a witch or just a small town wife. One of the most underrated actresses of all time. She never disappoints, no matter how dry or imperfect the script or material she is given, she always delivers.
Which is pretty much all I can say about this movie.
First off, and remember this is all in my own opinion, the lead characters playing Kate and Sam bugged the heck out of me. Sam, the little imp that he is, sleeps his way into Sheila's (Stockard's character, a big PR boss and a very Devil-Wears-Prada-esquire woman with claws to match) bed and company only to meet a young girl his age and later decides to dump his lover-slash-boss. Sheila decides to fire him, knowing she could not possibly still keep him on after their little affair. Along the way in the movie, Sam realizes the girl he's dating, Kate, turns out to be Sheila's daughter.
Sam is basically a bit of a cad.
Yeah, go figure.
And why did Kate bug me? Well, first off, the whole acting wasn't up to par, then again, Sam's wasn't either so moving on. Second, the way she was written, a hardened young-no-daddy-girl-with-too-busy-mommy, was supposed to also be a young activist-esquire girl, protesting to set free some sort of criminal (when scenes without Channing came, I immediately got bored and paid less attention) was played too weak. She went from this tough rebel chic to some bitter, ungrateful (mummy was never around but managed to give her allowance always, typical teen-angst), idiotic girl who lets a boy get the best of her because she later finds out he slept with her mother and lied about it.
As far as happy endings go, they're great and swell, but it bugged the heck out of me when she just forgives him, after being given a stolen dolphin, and ride off into the sunset. It's a bit stupid, I have to say, because one: he slept with her mum and two: he lied about it (and three, he slept with her MOTHER--I don't care if he didn't know that prior, but god, can you imagine awkward? I would die).
There are a thousand other guys in the world, why would you settle for that? Awkward future ahead.
For some sort of activist-esquire type of girl, she sure forgives lying easily. Kate was written too weak, in my opinion.
Okay, there, main characters were idiots.
Stockard Channing played Sheila perfectly from hard-ass b*tch boss to scorned lover to vulnerable and exposed woman hiding behind a hard mask. She didn't disappoint, along with Anthony Head (who was a delight as Sheila's gay brother) and Bob Hoskins.
If you are a Channing fan, worth watching at least, but really, if you're easily annoyed with teen-love gone awry with easy (read: idiotic) fixes, then run. I had fun watching Stockard, but the kids didn't do it for me.
Girls, strong headed, level headed ones who easily see through BS might find this annoying, but romantics who love 'grand but small gestures' then you might enjoy. It's pretty basic stuff. Like the graduate, only with sillier kids.
Channing fans: watch it, but you might want to fast forward in some areas. She plays her role fabulously, as always.