Movie Review: Just Go With It (2011)

Genre: Comedy  

Director: Dennis Dugan  

Starring: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman, Nick Swardson, Brooklyn Decker  

Running Time: 117 minutes  

Synopsis: Plastic surgeon Danny (Adam Sandler) has never been married, but always pretends to be stuck in a bad marriage to enjoy commitment-free flings. When he meets and falls in love with school teacher Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), Danny recruits his office manager Katherine (Jennifer Aniston) as his pretend soon-to-be-ex-wife.  A series of deceptions ensue, resulting in Danny, Palmer, Katherine, her two kids, and Danny's cousin Eddie (Nick Swardson) heading to a Hawai'i vacation. The appearance of Katherine's frenemy Devlin (Nicole Kidman) at the vacation resort adds further complications.

What Works Well: This is a surprisingly sharp and often quite funny comedy with a dash of romance. The script (by Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling) is packed with laugh-ready characters, including Katherine's quirky kids, the easy-to-mock Devlin, and the out-there Eddie. Highlights drop in from all directions, including an assortment of plastic surgery mishaps, a hula dancing face-off, a coconut competition, and a sheep in distress. Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler share an easy chemistry and roll with plenty of improvised dialogue, while director Dennis Dugan provides bright and cheerful surroundings.

What Does Not Work As Well: Of course Danny's entire predicament would have been resolved with an early commitment to the truth, and for a flighty comedy, the running time could have used a trim. Nick Swardson as cousin Eddie occasionally threatens to exceed his good-in-small-doses limits.

Key Quote:

Palmer (upon finding a wedding ring in Danny's bag): What's this?

Danny: A circle?

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Movie Review: Rumor Has It... (2005)

Genre: Dramedy  

Director: Rob Reiner  

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Mark Ruffalo, Shirley MacLaine, Richard Jenkins, Mena Suvari  

Running Time: 96 minutes  

Synopsis: Sarah (Jennifer Aniston) is having second thoughts about her engagement to Jeff (Mark Ruffalo). They travel to Pasadena to attend the wedding of her sister Annie (Mena Suvari), and the family gathering reminds Sarah she is a misfit and has nothing in common with her father Earl (Richard Jenkins). Then Sarah starts piecing together clues suggesting her grandmother Katherine (Shirley MacLaine) was the inspiration for Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate, and she tracks down Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner), the potential real-life Benjamin Braddock.

What Works Well: This is an engaging-enough hybrid comedy-drama-romance about family secrets, fitting-in, flexible definitions of love, the enduring across-the-years bond between mother and daughter, and grey zones between fact and fiction. Jennifer Aniston capably carries the load as Sarah is caught in an emotional storm of internal doubt, and she is surrounded by a quality cast with Shirley MacLaine a particular delight. Director Rob Reiner delivers a polished look and brisk pacing.

What Does Not Work As Well: The chemistry-free romance that develops between Sarah and Beau, after she suspects he may be her father, can only be described as icky and made worse by her betrayal of fiancé Jeff. The script frequently lacks zing, exemplified by reaching for an undeserved happy ending while ignoring the bittersweet "now what" uncertainty of The Graduate's resolution.

Key Quote:

Sarah: Maybe every girl in my family has to sleep with you.

Beau: I don't know if they have to, but they certainly have.

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Movie Review: Murder Mystery (2019)

Genre: Crime Comedy  

Director: Kyle Newachek  

Starring: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Terence Stamp, Gemma Arterton, Luke Evans  

Running Time: 97 minutes  

Synopsis: New York City beat cop Nick Spitz (Adam Sandler) pretends to be a detective to impress his wife Audrey (Jennifer Aniston), a hairdresser. While traveling on a cheap European vacation, they meet the dashing Charles Cavendish (Luke Evans), who invites them to a yacht off Monaco. Nick and Audrey are misfits in the company of Charles' ultra wealthy uncle Malcolm Quince (Terence Stamp), his new young bride, his useless son, his former bodyguard, the bodyguard's bodyguard, a glamorous actress (Gemma Arterton), a racing car driver, and a Maharajah. When a murder is committed, Nick and Audrey are prime suspects and have to solve the crime to clear their names.

What Works Well: A breezy, never-too-serious crime comedy that rides good chemistry between Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. A murder-most-foul Agatha Christie whodunnit ambience, plenty of fish-out-of-water vibes, and a few good laughs complement the two stars. The glitzy European locations are attractive, and the efficient running time keeps the action humming.

What Does Not Work As Well: Killing off most of the suspect list (and they die early and often) is not the most clever way to maintain mystery and investigative momentum. Other than Nick and Audrey, the characters are superficial stereotypes, and of course the plotting is frivolous and less than interested in any logic.

Key Quote:

Audrey Spitz: What's that?

Charles Cavendish: That is the Quince dagger. Chinese steel, jewels from across the Orient. A gift to the family from Marco Polo. Or so the legend says.

Audrey Spitz: God. Nick's grandmother gave us a toaster from Sears. Or so the legend says.

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Movie Review: Derailed (2005)

Genre: Romantic Crime Drama Thriller  

Director: Mikael Håfström  

Starring: Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, Vincent Cassel  

Running Time: 106 minutes  

Synopsis: In the Chicago area, marketing executive Charles Schine (Clive Owen) is married to school teacher Deanna (Melissa George) and father to diabetic teenager Amy (Addison Timlin). On the train into town he meets fellow commuter Lucinda Harris (Jennifer Aniston), and they are attracted to each other. Just as they are about to consummate their affair, criminal Philippe LaRoche (Vincent Cassel) bursts into their hotel room, stealing their money, beating Charles senseless, and raping Lucinda. But worse is to come for Charles, as Philippe starts blackmailing him for large sums of money.

What Works Well: In this cautionary tale about the hazards of infidelity, writer Stuart Beattie constructs a hectic, high-pressure environment to nudge Charles towards danger. Financial pressure, under-performance at work, a busy schedule eroding his time with wife Deanna, and an ill child all contribute to one lapse in judgment. But that's all it takes, and once LaRoche sinks his claws into the vulnerable would-be philanderer, all that Charles holds dear is threatened. Clive Owen and Jennifer Anniston are an appealing lead couple, but Vince Cassel steals the spotlight as a brute of a villain. A couple of narrative twists contribute to a gripping final act.

What Does Not Work As Well: A few unlikely logic leaps are required to make the plot work. 

Conclusion: A smooth ride towards well-crafted perils.



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Movie Review: Marley And Me (2008)

A drama-comedy about familial love, Marley And Me is a surprisingly poignant story of life's ups and downs, with a pet at the centre of it all. 

Newspaper reporter John Grogan (Owen Wilson) marries his sweetheart Jenny (Jennifer Aniston), also a print journalist, and they start their life together in Fort Lauderdale. The first addition to the family is the puppy Marley, a spirited Labrador retriever. Marley is hyperactive, beyond any training, chews on anything, but also full of love for his owners.

With guidance from his editor Arnie (Alan Arkin), John becomes a popular columnist. The family expands with the arrival of kids, and Jenny sacrifices her career to stay at home as a full-time mom. Marley grows from puppy to adult dog, but loses none of his ability to cause mischief. He provides inspiration for John's columns, and makes Jenny's bad days worse. Then John is presented an opportunity to return to his passion for reporting, which would mean uprooting the family to Philadelphia.

Marley And Me has all the superficial hallmarks of a lightweight romantic comedy. But writers Scott Frank and Don Roos have something else entirely in mind, and create an engaging story about middle class foundations. Directed by David Frankel and based on John Grogan's autobiographical book, Marley And Me avoids contrivances and settles down as semi-serious look at the effort needed to make a family function.

The dog angle adds humour and poignancy, celebrating a beloved pet as an essential if frequently disruptive presence. But thankfully Marley's shenanigans are in service of the plot, and not the other way around. The core narrative is simple but yet compelling. Plans, surprises, careers, great sex, vacations, heated arguments, child rearing, countless decisions, good days and bad days all make up John and Jenny's journey together. None of it is exceptional, all of it is important.

Through it all the couple emerge as refreshingly ordinary and free from artificial drama. John and Jenny underscore the benefits of complementary characters maturing together, his laid-back observant attitude clicking with her plan-oriented tendencies. They are always communicating, reading each other's moods, appreciating the power of togetherness, and talking through their problems. Perfectly cast in the central roles, Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston don't need to do much more than slip into their comfortable screen personas.

In the grand scheme of things, Marley And Me is about nothing more than routine middle class first world experiences. It's also about nothing less than caring for society's essential fabric, plus a rowdy dog.



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Movie Review: The Switch (2010)

A creaky romantic comedy, The Switch stretches credibility in search of laughs and love. A strong cast is still crushed by overbearing predictability.

In New York City, Kassie (Jennifer Aniston) decides to have a child using a sperm donor. Her best friend Wally (Jason Bateman), a stock analyst who suffers from mild neurosis, tries to talk her out of it, but she persists and selects college professor Roland (Patrick Wilson) as the donor. At the "insemination party" organized by Kassie's best friend Debbie (Juliette Lewis), a drunk and disoriented Wally secretly switches Roland's sperm for his own and recalls nothing about the incident.

Kassie gets pregnant and relocates to Minnesota. Seven years later she returns to New York with her son Sebastian and reconnects with both Wally and Roland. Wally quickly bonds with young Sebastian, who exhibits familiar signs of neurotic behaviour. Wally seeks advice from his boss Leonard (Jeff Goldblum), while Kassie starts a relationship with Roland, still believing he is the father.

With Wally confined to the friend zone but clearly still smitten by Kassie, The Switch telegraphs all the essential plot points within the first ten minutes. Allan Loeb's screenplay then trudges through another 90 minutes to arrive at the pre-ordained ending, suffering through all the predictable beats with precious few sparkling moments. In the hands of co-directors Will Speck and Josh Gordon, the tortured premise hinges on the well-worn malaise of characters failing to have the necessary conversations in fear of resolving all misunderstandings within television sit-com episode length.

The introduction of Sebastian in the second half provides a bit of a boost, and Wally's observations of nascent mannerisms within his offspring provide some father-son warmth independent of genre confines. In contrast, none of the other characters are remotely believable outside the flighty rom-com bubble, and emotions barely rise above good-looking-actors-reading-lines. Jennifer Aniston's Kassie is coldly self-obsessed as a love interest and even less invested as a mother. Jeff Goldblum and Juliette Lewis are wasted side-kick afterthoughts, and Patrick Wilson never stands a chance as the forced third point of a contrived love triangle.

Despite creating the space to delve into the challenges of single motherhood and anxiety within both adults and kids, the narrative lacks the courage for meaningful commentary. The Switch mixes up the donations, but still arrives at a dull place.

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Movie Review: We're The Millers (2013)

A raunchy comedy, We're The Millers finds good laughs in a story of strangers coming together as a family for all the wrong reasons.

In Denver, Dave Clark (Jason Sudeikis) is the friendly neighbourhood marijuana dealer. After tangling with local thugs, his cache of weed and money is stolen leaving him in debt to snarky supplier Brad Gurdlinger (Ed Helms). As payback, Brad pressures Dave into accepting a drug smuggling assignment to transport marijuana from Mexico into the United States.

To deflect suspicions Dave fabricates a family and recruits stripper Rose (Jennifer Aniston), awkward neighbour Kenny (Will Poulter), and street kid Casey (Emma Roberts) as his wife, son and daughter respectively. They head to Mexico in an RV and en route meet RV vacationers Don and Edie Fitzgerald (Nick Offerman and Kathryn Hahn) and their daughter Melissa (Molly Quinn). Not unexpectedly, Dave does not have much of a plan, and nothing on the trip will go according to any plan.

Adopting a freewheeling style with plenty of improvisation, We're The Millers hits the mark at least as often as it misses. In many ways a foul-mouthed and twisted companion piece to Robin Williams' RV (2006), here director Rawson Marshall Thurber uses the drug smuggling plot as a jumping off point to shove a group of lonely and caustic people into a confined space and then hurl them into a wild adventure.

Dave, Rose, Kenny and Casey are used to being alone, and pretending to be a family is an immediate uphill battle. Having to do so while fooling drug barons in Mexico and suspicious guards at the border only adds to the fun. Of course they will eventually grow as people and come together as a family, but not before some quite hilarious moments, most designed to blow past any limits of decency.

The gangly Kenny is often in the middle of the best moments, proving himself an unlikely rapper before receiving potentially scandalous kissing lessons. The interactions with the Fitzgerald family just get better and weirder, with Dave and Rose stumbling into much more than they bargained during an in-the-tent highlight. And Jennifer Aniston lets loose and has fun with a stripping routine to distract a couple of real and ruthless drug smugglers doggedly pursuing Dave's unexpectedly large haul.

As can be expected some sequences fall flat, and the late introduction of amusement park ride attendant Scottie P adds an unnecessary new character and prolongs the length to a generous 110 minutes. Despite the mishaps, We're The Millers does not pretend to be anything other than what it is, a romp across the border looking for as much ear-poking trouble as possible.



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Movie Review: The Yellow Birds (2017)

A drama about the horrors of war and resultant psychological trauma, The Yellow Birds trudges through well-worn terrain with familiar characters and a banal battlefield mystery.

Private John Bartle (Alden Ehrenreich) returns from the Iraq War traumatized by what happened to his friend Private Daniel Murphy (Tye Sheridan). Flashbacks reveal the friendship between the two men developing from their training days under the guidance of Sergeant Sterling (Jack Huston) through to deployment and various difficult under-fire episodes.

Now Bartle refuses to communicate with his mother Amy (Toni Collette) and avoids Captain Anderson (Jason Patric), who is investigating what happened to Murphy. Meanwhile Murphy's mother Maureen (Jennifer Aniston) is desperate to learn her son's fate.

Battlefield mysteries and post traumatic stress disorder stories inspired by American involvement in Middle East wars have already featured in productions of various quality including Courage Under Fire (1996), Jarhead (2005), In The Valley Of Elah (2007), The Hurt Locker (2008), Stop-Loss (2008), Brothers (2009) and American Sniper (2014). Lacking anything new to say, The Yellow Birds unfortunately flies in lazy circles, unsurprisingly failing to extract any fresh drama from shrivelled material.

Director Alexandre Moors and writers David Lowery and R.F.I. Porto, adapting the Kevin Powers book, assemble the tired pieces with minimal heart and soul, resulting in a depressing and derivative tone. The time jumps between Bartle's present doldrums and his earlier training and battlefield encounters do little to camouflage the threadbare content. The resolution of Murphy's story adds to the sense of abject narrative incompetence, given the well-established value of a captured soldier in enemy hands.

The visuals are adequate, the action scenes in the dusty streets of Baghdad (filmed in Morocco) are rationally edited, and the cast members are better than their limited character definitions, with Huston and Patric particularly wasted. But despite some decent flaps, The Yellow Birds bumbles away into forgettable air.



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Movie Review: The Good Girl (2002)

A drama with dry humour, The Good Girl is a small but astute story of a working class woman trying to break out of a rut.

In a small Texas town, Justine (Jennifer Aniston) is 30 years old and stuck in an emotionless marriage to perpetually stoned house painter Phil (John C. Reilly). She also hates her sales job at the non-descript big-box Retail Rodeo store. But her passions are aroused by new employee Holden (Jake Gyllenhaal), a moody 22 year old modeling himself on Holden Caulfield of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye.

Justine and Holden start an affair, but as her guilt grows, so does his need for control. Meanwhile Phil is undergoing fertility tests, and Justine's co-worker Gwen (Deborah Rush) suffers a medical mishap. As gossip about Justine's infidelity spreads, the opportunities to change her life start to narrow.

A tidy story with an idiosyncratic attitude, The Good Girl takes itself seriously enough but still finds time for jabs of humour at life's ridiculous twists. Director Miguel Arteta and writer Mike White create the blandest of tableaus for Justine to sink deeper into her depression, this grey corner of Texas notable for exactly nothing. The community revolves around the neon drenched Retail Rodeo sitting in the middle of an enormous parking lot, and Justine's cramped house offers no refuge: Phil and his work colleague Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson) are the immovable joint-smoking occupants of her living room sofa, and the bedroom television set does not work.

That Justine goes looking for a bolt of excitement is no surprise, but her fling with the troubled Holden turns into a field of misadventure. She tries a dead-end turn towards religion, but frantic lies emerge as a better alternative to salvage some semblance of stability. Ironically, while an infatuation-fueled Holden evolves into a potential nightmare, it only takes small nudges to make some progress with husband Phil (the television gets repaired).

Despite a worrisome mortality rate among Retail Rodeo employees, Arteta still finds chuckles through an animated set of supporting characters hatched by their environment. These include store manager Jack (a perfectly even-tempered John Carroll Lynch), the surreptitiously incendiary sales associate Cheryl (Zooey Deschanel), the God-loving beady-eyed security guard Corny (Mike White), and the observant but emotionally dependent Bubba.

In an early role Jake Gyllenhaal mixes equal parts brooding charisma and lurking danger. But Jennifer Aniston shines brightest as the morose Justine, shuffling rather than walking towards outcomes she despises but cannot avoid, increasingly befuddled as her every action somehow makes things worse. As she discovers the pitfalls of boldly striving for better, The Good Girl does well.

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Movie Review: Love Happens (2009)

A superficial drama dealing with familial loss with elements of romance and light comedy, Love Happens is stuck in a vague space where dubious psychology meets inferior writing.

Burke Ryan (Aaron Eckhart) is a Ph.D. self-help guru and the author of A-Okay!, a bestseller with tips on surviving grief following the loss of a loved one. Burke's wife was killed in a car crash and his experience prompted the book. In Seattle to run a week-long workshop, he connects with his manager Lane Marshall (Dan Fogler), who is close to finalizing a lucrative multimedia marketing deal to expand Burke's brand.

During the week Burke meets hotel florist Eloise (Jennifer Aniston), who runs a local flower shop with her assistant Marty (Judy Greer). He also bumps into his father-in-law (Martin Sheen), who encourages Burke to stop lying. As Burke helps seminar attendee and former contractor Walter (John Carroll Lynch) work through the anguish of losing his son, Burke and Eloise start dating, and she starts to understand Burke himself has unresolved issues related to his wife's death.

Basing a plot on the world of self-help seminars and pop-psychology is a rickety foundation for a movie. Director Brandon Camp and his co-writer Mike Thompson appear unconcerned, and Love Happens pushes ahead with large chunks of running time dedicated to Burke Ryan leading for-profit workshops where banal truisms and trite platitudes are used to help grief-stricken relatives get on with their lives.

To make matters worse, the film is stacked from end to end with blatant product placements, none worse than a group field trip to a hardware store purportedly to help a grieving contractor reconnect with his true purpose in life. Rarely has a film been burdened with a more obviously grating embedded commercial.

Somewhere within Love Happens a romance is supposed to blossom, but Camp has difficulty bringing it to the screen. No chemistry materializes between Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart, partly due to the blankness of the Eloise character, who appears to exist for the sole process of awakening Burke to his emotional blindspot. So instead of delivering any romantic sizzle the film goes off on a ghastly tangent involving stealing a pet parrot then freeing it into the wild, which is neither funny nor profound, just dumbfounding.

For all the film's weaknesses, the worst is saved to last, a most cringy on-stage soul-baring fiasco crashing against a hackneyed plot twist telegraphed an hour earlier. Love Happens, except when it doesn't.

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Movie Review: The Break-Up (2006)

A romantic comedy about the ignoble end of couplehood, The Break-Up succeeds in disrupting the genre's predictability.

In Chicago, Gary (Vince Vaughn) and Brooke (Jennifer Aniston) have a seemingly perfect relationship and are living in the condominium they co-own. He runs a tour business with his brothers (Cole Hauser and Vincent D'Onofrio), while she works at the gallery owned by celebrated artist Marilyn Dean (Judy Davis).

But after one long day Brooke snaps at Gary's lack of sensitivity and appreciation for everything she does for him. Feeling he takes her for granted, she breaks-up their relationship, but secretly wishes he will change his ways once he understands what he's losing. Forced to co-exist in their apartment until it sells, they both deploy nasty antics to irritate each other and evoke jealousy, reducing the likelihood of the relationship being salvaged.

Perhaps one way to revitalize the romantic comedy is to skip past most of the meet cute and courtship stages, and The Break-Up gets all that out of the way in the first scene. Gary spots Brooke at a baseball game, charms her with his rough goofiness, and the next major incident presented by director Peyton Reed is the dinner party ramp-up to a pretty spectacular relationship implosion.

And for once the big argument has nothing to do with an ex-lover, jealousy or one of those contrived misunderstandings that litter the genre. Here Brooke has her fill of Gary's selfishness, evident in that first scene at Wrigley Field, and she erupts in a volcano of rage against his me machine.

The rest of the film takes a sharp scalpel to the relationship remains. With plenty of humour and some touches of boorishness, Reed explores her and his points of view, with a focus on character-consistent blind spots. Brooke judges herself the perfect partner and is certain Gary will come around and understand how much poorer life will be without her. It's a valid but unproven assumption: Gary's life centres on fulfilling his needs and wants with no emotional room for much else, and understanding her desire for appreciation does not register.

They trade wind-up tactics during the reluctant real estate wind-down phase. He brings in a pool table; she retaliates with her insufferable brother's acapella choir. He hosts a stripper party. She prances naked, reminding him of what he's missing. Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn invest enough venom with hints of regret to make the tit-for-tat war of attrition work. And the film is enriched by a superior supporting cast featuring real estate Jason Bateman, bartender Jon Favreau and Brooke's work colleague Justin Long.in addition to Hauser, D'Onofrio and Davis.

The Break-Up shatters most rom-com cliches, and not unsurprisingly finds welcome new edges to sift through.

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Movie Review: Friends With Money (2006)

A drama and comedy about friendship, Friends With Money introduces four interesting women grappling with life's various challenges, but doesn't quite engage them at the required depth.

Olivia (Jennifer Aniston) is poor, single, and works as a maid. She is also timid, does not stand up for herself and starts dating good-for-nothing fitness instructor Mike (Scott Caan) despite all his obvious faults. Meanwhile her three best friends are all married and wealthy.

Christine (Catherine Keeler) is a script writer but unhappy in her marriage and clashing constantly with aloof husband Dave (Jason Isaacs). The perpetually irritable Jane (Frances McDormand) is a successful fashion designer but having trouble dealing with aging. She lashes out at all around her and refuses to wash her hair, while her fashion-conscious husband Aaron (Simon McBurney) is always mistaken for being gay. Franny (Joan Cusack) is independently wealthy and a happy stay at home mom married to Matt (Greg Germann), who tends to overspend on everything.

Christine's marriage disintegrates, and Jane's rage at the world reaches a literal breaking point. But the four women nevertheless do their best to support each other through their emotional ups and downs.

An understated tour of empathy among women, Friends With Money explores the differences that unite and the superficial veneers of happiness hiding misery underneath. Written and directed by Nicole Holofcener, the film does focus on first world problems of the white class, and three of the four women enjoy wealth and supportive partners, so their despondency stems at least partially from a fundamental lack of perspective.

Within that context, Olivia is the outsider with her nose glued to the window observing the seemingly perfect life of her rich friends. While it is difficult to swallow Jennifer Aniston as a maid, making every bad decision, unable to launch a career and still stalking an ex-boyfriend, Holofcener's script at least allows Olivia to acknowledge her faults and wear her failures with dignity.

Christine, Jane and Franny are not as well served, and generally remain flat mirrors for Olivia to measure herself. Christine's marriage crumbles into predictable chunks and Jane's inability to deal with being in her forties barely evolves. Franny is most content and endeavors to support her friends, but is also the least defined character. Too much screen time is invested in the ultimately pointless subplot of Aaron fending off perceptions of being gay.

Friends With Money adroitly avoids histrionics as Holofcener stays close to the realms of reality, seeking both humour and pathos within familiar behavior. The Friends With Money ring true, but would have benefitted from a bit more to do.

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Movie Review: Cake (2014)

A psychological drama, Cake features a strong Jennifer Aniston performance but is too slow to shift gears away from the doldrums of grief.

Claire (Aniston) is suffering from enormous physical pain and scars as well as emotional stress further to a devastating car accident. She is also dealing with the suicide of Nina (Anna Kendrick), a member of her support group, with Nina's ghost making frequent appearances to communicate.

Claire has kicked her husband Jason (Chris Messina) out of the house, and because she refuses to sit upright in any car, she leans heavily on housekeeper Silvana (Adriana Barraza) for transportation. Claire manages the chronic pain through large amounts of painkillers provided by her doctor Annette (Felicity Huffman). Through the haze of depression and discomfort she connects with Nina's angry husband Roy (Sam Worthington), and they start an awkward relationship.

Directed by Daniel Barnz, Cake zooms in on one individual character in a state of crisis. The film offers an intriguing enough premise, exploring in depth the iron grip brought forth by excruciating pain, discomfort, physical scarring, and calamitous emotional loss. The film deserves credit for portraying Claire as more than a victim deserving of sympathy. She is also now enraged, frustrated, insensitive and resorting to pressure and lies to get what she wants.

But beyond the prevalent motif, Cake stalls. Barnz and writer Patrick Tobin appear content to allow Claire to spin endlessly within the locked box she finds herself in, and for too long the film revisits the same misery-propelled themes, from the macabre appeal of Nina's exit to Claire's self-justified attitude of insolence and the ease with which she uses others to try and fill the vacuum inside.

By the time the film finally creaks forward and attempts to evolve the narrative past the thick dollops of grief, it's too late, and the metaphors related to baking cakes for others and the last minute introduction of a brief houseguest are clumsy and underdeveloped ideas.

Jennifer Aniston again proves that she can excel in drama, and offers a deglamorized role filled with a curtain of darkness behind her eyes, as Claire silently rages against a life-altering catastrophe. Adriana Barraza emerges as the most interesting secondary character, the housekeeper taking the brunt of Claire's interrupted life and search for others to lean on.

Cake is not without merits, but is no better than half-baked.

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Movie Review: The Bounty Hunter (2010)

A romantic action comedy, The Bounty Hunter is a flighty exercise in star power dimmed by lack of inspiration.

Milo (Gerard Butler) is an ex-cop, now scraping a living as a bounty hunter. His latest assignment is too delicious to turn own: he is asked to track down his ex-wife Nicole (Jennifer Aniston), a driven reporter who missed a court date to chase down a story. Nicole is trying to uncover the truth behind the suspicious suicide of a police evidence room attendant. Meanwhile, fellow reporter Stewart (Jason Sudeikis) is lusting after Nicole to try and get her into a relationship, but she is not interested.

With Stewart not far behind, Milo connects with his flamboyant ex-mother-in-law Kitty (Christine Baranski) and quickly tracks down Nicole in Atlantic City, but she proves to be a handful to control. Soon the bickering couple attract the attention of corrupt cop Earl (Peter Greene), as well as a group of thugs who work for loan shark Irene (Cathy Moriarty). Milo is determined to bring Nicole to justice and collect his bounty, and she is just as insistent on exposing a conspiracy that appears to involve Milo's old cop buddy Bobby (Dorian Missick).

Directed by Andy Tennant, The Bounty Hunter features a mix of harmless action, cartoonish villains, and a barely-there plot all set against a backdrop of a continuously quarrelsome couple. That it will all end with Milo and Nicole reaching some sort of reconciliation is never in doubt; that every possible detour will be deployed to prolong the inevitable is also a certainty.

The film drags on for 106 minutes, much of it registering as an Atlantic City infomercial, as somehow an utterly unnecessary casino gambling interlude is shoehorned into the script. A sojourn onto a swanky golf course is another set-piece, although at least some smiles are raised in a madcap race across the fairways.

The film has nothing if not some star charisma, and Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler do their best to drag proceedings towards a basic level of entertainment. Aniston is more comfortable with the lightweight material and the better moments tend to involve Nicole conniving to rescue bad situations to her advantage. Butler is more monotonal and less effective, his portrayal of the sloppy and boorish Milo presenting a compelling case as to why Nicole should keep her distance.

Not too funny, not too exciting and not too romantic, The Bounty Hunter is not much of anything.

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Movie Review: She's Funny That Way (2014)

An old fashioned screwball comedy, She's Funny That Way registers some laughs in an unlikely coincidence-filled setting with plenty of references to other classic movies.

Rising movie star Isabella "Izzy" Patterson (Imogen Poots) is recounting the story of her acting breakthrough to an interviewer. While working as call girl "Glo Stick" she spends one night with theatre director Arnold Albertson (Owen Wilson), who unexpectedly gifts her $30,000 to quit prostitution and chase her acting dream. Izzy heeds his advice and shows up to a Broadway audition, unaware that Albertson is the director and the show stars his wife Delta (Kathryn Hahn) and British actor Seth Gilbert (Rhys Ifans). To make matters worse, Seth had spotted Izzy and Arnold on their night together. The playwright Joshua Fleet (Will Forte) immediately takes a liking to Isabella.

Meanwhile, Isabelle is seeing neurotic therapist Jane Claremont (Jennifer Aniston), who is also Joshua's girlfriend. Jane's other clients include Judge Pendergast (Austin Pendleton) who is obsessed with Izzy, and who has hired private detective Harold Fleet (George Morfogen), Joshua's father, to track Izzy's every move. Delta starts to suspect that Arnold has had a series of affairs with call girls, handing out $30,000 to each. The characters bump into each other in a series of compromising situations, resulting in Isabella launching her acting career while Arnold has a lot of explaining to do.

Directed by Peter Bogdanovich who also co-wrote the film with his ex-wife Louise Stratten, She's Funny That Way deploys the tried and tested formula of multiple threads connecting all the characters and wild coincidences resulting in compromising encounters at the worst possible time. As comedies go this is old territory, and She's Funny That Way has a strong whiff of good but recycled Woody Allen without the angst, with salutes to Billy Wilder and Blake Edwards. Bogdanovich provides enough of a polish to make his film interesting, and utilizes the cast to good effect.

Jennifer Aniston as a narcissistic therapist registers the most laughs, while Wilson, Poots (who overdoes her Brooklyn accent) and Hahn carry the acting load. Pendergast and Fleet as the lecherous judge and his gumshoe add to the enjoyable sense of farce, while Ifans infuses dry humour from the sidelines.

The American Dream theme is handled with appropriate cynicism, Izzy's fantastical rapid rise from call girl to respected stage and screen actress presented without irony. Elsewhere Bogdanovich creates a society where marriage and relationships don't mean much to the men: Arnold and Joshua betray their partners without hesitation, while Seth pursues Delta with nauseating smarm.

For fans of film history there are references to Lana Turner, Rio Bravo, True Romance, and the 1946 Ernst Lubitsch movie Cluny Brown. Cybill Shepherd (as Izzy's mom) and a Tatum O'Neal cameo provide a nod to Bogdanovich's stellar past,

The first coincidental gathering of all the characters at a restaurant is on-target, but the story is pushed beyond its limits in the final third, as yet another round of chance encounters this time on the same hotel floor kicks off, an example of the same joke told too often. But overall She's Funny That Way provides enough sharp dialogue, adult situations and respectful winks at the past to comfortably ride out the rough patches.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Wanderlust (2012)

A comedy about a stressed married couple trying out life in a quirky commune, Wanderlust has as many sharp moments as dull ones.

George and Linda (Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston) are a New York couple about to purchase their first, very tiny and very expensive, apartment. No sooner have they moved in than Paul loses his job. With Linda getting nowhere with her latest career as documentary filmmaker, the couple abandon New York and accept an offer from George's brother Rick (Ken Marino) to relocate to Atlanta. On the long drive south, George and Linda snipe at each other but then stay for one magical night at a ramshackle bed and breakfast called Elysium, where they meet permanent residents living an idyllic, carefree life, including the hunky Seth (Justin Theroux) and slightly senile owner and original founder Carvin (Alan Alda).

Finding life intolerable with the loutish Rick and his seemingly perpetually medicated wife Marisa (Michaela Watkins), George and Linda escape back to Elysium and attempt life as part of the commune, where there are no doors, no boundaries, and everything is supposed to be shared. Seth comes on to Linda, Eva (Malin Åkerman) wants to have sex with George, the perpetually nude Wayne (Joe Lo Truglio) cannot stop talking about his wine and his novel, and Rodney (Jordan Peele) lands George's car in the middle of the lake. And with the relationship between George and Linda stressed to near breaking, developers show up, attempting to evict the commune and turn the land of Elysium into a casino.

Co-produced by Judd Apatow, Wanderlust plays on the post-recession turmoil of stressed families struggling to cope financially, and finds its best moments in contrasting a hectic New York City life with the languid, let-it-all-literally-hang-out pace at Elysium. The laid back lifestyle at the commune looks good after everything that could go wrong does go wrong for George and Linda. Somewhere in the dark corner of the happiness scale is Rick, full of himself for successfully peddling port-a-potties, blissfully unaware that his home life is in tatters while he boasts about his business savvy.

Director David Wain keeps the film compact at under 100 minutes, and does find some sweet funny spots, the lack of doorways at the commune providing an opportunity for humour to walk in, while naked Wayne dangles all over the place, stomping on grapes and talking about his book. Much less funny is George seeking his vulgar side and getting all tongue twisted trying to motivate himself to have sex with Eva. The sub-plot about the casino development is also quite weak.

Jennifer Aniston does not stretch much beyond her usual persona of the girl next door, embarking on her next slightly ditzy adventure, fighting to be a bit of a rebel against her better judgement, and always a natural magnet for men. Paul Rudd is a lightweight, very much a bland second fiddle to Aniston and the cast of misfits at the commune.

Wanderlust is neither wonderful nor woeful, just willingly wacky.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

The Movies Of Jennifer Aniston

All movies starring Jennifer Aniston and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Rock Star (2001)

The Good Girl (2002)

Bruce Almighty (2003)

Along Came Polly (2004)

Derailed (2005)

Rumor Has It... (2005)

Friends With Money (2006)

The Break-Up (2006)

Marley And Me (2008)

He's Just Not That Into You (2009)

Love Happens (2009)

The Bounty Hunter (2010)

The Switch (2010)

Just Go With It (2011)

Horrible Bosses (2011)

Wanderlust (2012)

We're The Millers (2013)

 

She's Funny That Way (2014)

Cake (2014)

The Yellow Birds (2017)

Murder Mystery (2019)

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.
The Movie Star Index is here.