Movie Review: Oh. What. Fun. (2025)

Genre: Christmas Comedy  

Director: Michael Showalter  

Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer, Felicity Jones, Chloë Grace Moretz, Denis Leary, Jason Schwartzman, Eva Longoria  

Running Time: 108 minutes  

Synopsis: Every year, Houston housewife Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer) hosts the perfect Christmas family gathering, but she does all the work and feels under-appreciated, including by her husband Nick (Denis Leary). Eldest daughter Channing (Felicity Jones) has a family of her own and is emotionally neglected by her mom. Middle daughter Taylor (Chloë Grace Moretz) cannot sustain a relationship, while youngest child Sammy (Dominic Sessa) has just been dumped. Claire's family ignore her hints to nominate her for a "mother of the year" television show award, and when they all rush to a Christmas event and leave her behind, she snaps.

What Works Well: The focus on the often unsung work that mothers do to organize and host family events is laudable, and a few laughs work their way into this dysfunctional family's antics. The high quality cast is well above the bland material.

What Does Not Work As Well: The script leans into multiple vacuous cliches, from "keeping up with the Joneses" (Claire has impossibly perfect neighbours) to a grown woman craving recognition on a cheesy television show (Eva Longoria is the host). The family members cannot communicate without arguing, shouting, or insulting each other, and the absence of any genuine warmth or love undermines all the pat and predictable "hug it out" resolutions.

Key Quote:

Claire: Why does Saint Nick get all the credit?

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Movie Review: Mountainhead (2025)

Genre: Satirical Dark Comedy  

Director: Jesse Armstrong  

Starring: Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Cory Michael Smith, Ramy Youssef  

Running Time: 109 minutes  

Synopsis: Four wealthy tech industry friends reunite at a lavish mountain-top villa in Utah. Ven (Cory Michael Smith) has just unleashed an AI app enabling deepfakes that are triggering worldwide unrest. Jeff (Ramy Youssef) disapproves of Ven's profiteering attitude and is unwilling to sell him his counter-deepfake application. Souper (Jason Schwartzman) owns the villa but is desperate to make his first billion, while Randall (Steve Carell) is the group's inspiration and guru. Over a couple of days, their grand dreams of global domination reveal schisms that spill into plans for violence.

What Works Well: The premise of tech bros goofing around at the top of a mountain while the world burns beneath them is a promising demonstration of warped thinking, narcissism, and sharp intellects targeting all the wrong objectives. 

What Does Not Work As Well: Writer and director Jesse Armstrong badly flubs the execution, surrendering to theatrical trappings and somehow wasting most of the running time on an unworthy doofus murder plot. Other wayward distractions include a catastrophic addiction to profanities, and long-winded self-obsessed conversations about governing Argentina and achieving transhumanism. It's all supposed to be satirical and ironically dumb in a smart way, but it's just plain tiresome.

Key Quote:

Ven (watching videos of global violence erupting): Not real. Heads don't explode like that.

Souper: Heads don't explode like that?

Ven: No.

Souper: How do heads explode?



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Movie Review: The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

A comedy and drama about coming to terms with family and letting go of the past, The Darjeeling Limited is both airy and obvious.

Three American brothers reunite on the Darjeeling Limited train in India. The trip is organized by oldest brother Francis (Owen Wilson), a micromanaging control freak still bandaged up after a severe motorcycle crash. Peter (Adrien Brody) is a laid back expectant father, but has a tendency to take things that are not his. Jack (Jason Schwartzman) is going through a divorce and looking for sexual thrills.

The brothers lost their father about a year ago, and have not seen their mother since she abandoned the family and became a nun at an Indian village. Francis intends the trip to culminate in a reunion with mom, but little will go as he planned.

Directed by Wes Anderson, The Darjeeling Limited rolls down the tracks with clever joy bordering on knowing smugness. Anderson co-wrote the script with Schwartzman and Roman Coppola, and the antics of the three brothers remain just to the side of authentic. The visual splendor is filled with vivid colors and the sights and smells of a train trip through an exotic land, although this is a vision of India more staged than organic.

Anderson's signature artificiality is intentional, but the foundational narrative supports are shaky. The three brothers are more quirky sketches than real people, and none are particularly likeable. The overarching theme of discarding unnecessary luggage to rediscover familial love through the thicket of annoying personality traits is well-intentioned but far from profound.

Still, the humour is dry and consistent, and the journey is enlivened by unexpected twists, including Jack finding a libidinous partner and the brothers experiencing a tragic-heroic encounter with children near a village. Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman are quietly effective at finding all the right individual irritating behaviours while still sneaking in the commonalities of brotherhood. Bill Murray shows up early and Anjelica Huston shows up late to boost the star power.

The Darjeeling Limited is a curated ride, finely crafted but more cerebral than heartfelt.



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