Movie Review: About My Father (2023)

Genre: Comedy  

Director: Laura Terruso  

Starring: Robert De Niro, Sebastian Maniscalco, Leslie Bibb, Kim Cattrall  

Running Time: 89 minutes  

Synopsis: In Chicago, Sebastian (Sebastian Maniscalco) grew up close to his father Salvo (Robert De Niro), a humble but proud hairstylist and immigrant from Sicily. Now Sebastian has fallen love with Ellie (Leslie Bibb), who comes from a wealthy WASPy family. Father and son are both invited to stay at the luxurious estate of Ellie's parents (Kim Cattrall and David Rasche) for the July 4th weekend. Sebastian plans to propose, but Salvo resents his son drifting away from his Italian heritage, and a culture clash ensues.

What Works Well: Loosely based on the life experiences of comedian and co-writer/co-star Sebastian Maniscalco, this comedy benefits most from Robert De Niro's grizzled presence. He runs through the gamut of facial expressions to convey disdain for the haughty world of the rich and his son's decision to shuffle away from his roots. Elsewhere, the comedy is sometimes amiable enough to generate a few laughs.   

What Does Not Work As Well: The over-narrated and over-gesticulated material is predictable and unfortunately sometimes quite dumb, trying but failing to squeeze juice out of exhausted and simplistic us-versus-them themes. Ellie and her parents are blank vanilla characters, and for a grown man Salvo's uncouth behaviour (making a scene at a restaurant, dismissing tennis as an activity, serving a beloved pet for dinner, improvising a haircut) often blows past funny and towards idiotic.

Key Quote:

Salvo: I just hope nothing gets stolen this weekend because these people love to blame the immigrants.

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Movie Review: Masquerade (1988)

Genre: Romance Crime Thriller  

Director: Bob Swaim  

Starring: Rob Lowe, Meg Tilly, Kim Cattrall, Doug Savant, John Glover, Dana Delany  

Running Time: 91 minutes  

Synopsis: In the wealthy Hamptons, Tim Whalen (Rob Lowe) is a brash but penniless yacht captain-for-hire having an affair with Brooke (Kim Cattrall), the wife of his boss. Tim's head is turned by the arrival of enigmatic wealthy heiress Olivia Lawrence (Meg Tilly). They start a romance, and Tim is introduced to Olivia's despicable step-father Gateworth (John Glover) and her high school crush Mike McGill (Doug Savant), now a police officer. Love blossoms between Tim and Olivia, but all is not what it seems. 

What Works Well: The sheer audacity of a soapy plot packing several sharp twists, steamy sex and nudity, greedy snakes slithering in the gardens of the wealthy, and true love between a mismatched couple, has to be saluted. John Barry provides a luxurious music score to accompany the tony surroundings, and the cast members fully buy into the chicanery. John Glover as the perpetually drunk and always contemptible step-father wins the deliciously over-the-top award. 

What Does Not Work As Well: Most of the characters are interesting enough to deserve more background context, but the short running time imposes truncation. Of course none of the criminal plot elements make the least bit of sense, and actions serve the script at the expense of common sense. Once the double-crosses and character improvisations kick into gear, the dissonance of pure lunacy dominates.

Key Quote:

Gateworth: You don't think. I think. You perform.

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The Movies Of Kim Cattrall

All movies starring Kim Cattrall and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Porky's (1981)

Big Trouble In Little China (1986)

Masquerade (1988)

The Bonfire Of The Vanities (1990)

Sex And The City (2008)

The Ghost Writer (2010)

About My Father (2023)

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The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: The Ghost Writer (2010)

A drama and conspiracy thriller, The Ghost Writer (also known as The Ghost) mixes complex suspense with shallow characters before snagging on too many competing mysteries.

A ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) is recruited to complete the autobiography of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), after the previous writer Mike McAra died by drowning. The ghostwriter travels to Martha's Vineyard, where Lang now lives with his wife Ruth (Olivia Williams) and assistant Amelia (Kim Cattrall). As soon as the ghostwriter starts to polish-up the book manuscript, Lang is accused of war crimes by his former Foreign Secretary Richard Rycart (Robert Pugh). Lang's entourage swings into damage control.

The ghostwriter uncovers inconsistencies in the former PM's stories about his entry into politics while at Cambridge, and is then thrust into the middle of Adam and Ruth's disintegrating marriage. He then starts probing Lang's shady connections to Harvard Professor Paul Emmett (Tom Wilkinson), and finds his own life in danger.

Directed and co-written by Roman Polanski based on the Robert Harris book, The Ghost Writer enjoys a brooding physical aesthetic and plenty of secrets waiting to be divulged. The isolated seaside location of Lang's villa adds an element of rugged isolation, emphasized by unwelcoming weather - it's almost always cloudy or raining. The narrative framework features an outsider attempting to reveal a politician's essence, and the writer's arc of discovery is as much a revelation of his own naivete as it is about uncovering the ugly games fuelling global politics.

But weaknesses lurk in the thicket of events. Neither the writer nor Lang are provided the opportunity to round into worthwhile people. Almost ironically nameless, the writer remains a blank canvass of aimlessness, bumbling into affairs beyond his pay grade. And the supposedly central figure of Lang, around which historical and current affairs swirl, is whisked away on trips to defend his reputation almost as soon as he is introduced. Only Ruth is afforded the luxury of exposition, and Olivia Williams grabs it with a performance of simmering toxicity.

The Ghost Writer is never less than engaging, but eventually detaches from fundamentals. The sub-quests start tripping on each other and Polanski appears unsure which story to chase. War crimes, typical CIA shenanigans, a broken marriage, secrets and lies from yonder years, a dead body washed up on the rugged coast, the threat of assassination by an unhinged assailant, and finally cliche thriller chase elements are crammed into a few days of the ghost writer's life. If only pompous political memoirs could really be this exciting.



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Movie Review: Porky's (1981)

A high school sex comedy, Porky's is rude, crude, essentially plotless, and hilarious.

The setting is Florida in Eisenhower's 1950s. A group of friends navigate South Beach High School, and they only have sexual high jinx in mind. Pee Wee (Dan Monahan) is desperate to lose his virginity, and his friends including Tommy (Wyatt Knight), Billy (Mark Herrier), Mickey (Roger Wilson), and Meat (Tony Ganios) are eager to help him. Looking for a good time, they head out across the county line to the rough and tumble Porky's redneck club, but only find trouble and humiliation at the hands of Porky (Chuck Mitchell) himself. Back at the school, the boys have to be satisfied spying into the girls' shower room.

Meanwhile Tim (Cyril O'Reilly) comes from a rough household and is being abused by his no-good father (Wayne Maunder). He releases his frustration on Brian (Scott Colomby), the Jewish kid in school, and the outcome is unexpected. Elsewhere, basketball coach Brackett (Boyd Gaines) is eager to seduce cheerleader coach Honeywell (Kim Cattrall), and wonders why she is nicknamed Lassie. The dour Coach Balbricker (Nancy Parsons) stands in their way.

With Mickey earning himself several more beatings at Porky's, the friends decide they have had enough and plot a revenge.

Episodic, choppy, featuring a cast of unknowns and almost no redeeming features, Porky's has all the makings of a crass low-budget disaster. It is crass and low-budget, but it clicks into a classic. A Canadian production from American writer, co-producer and director Bob Clark, Porky's expels Animal House from college back to high school and creates a new sub-genre concerned only with horny young men and their pursuit of women, often ending in disaster.

Clark demonstrates a talent for stretching every joke well past what appears to be funny, only to blow the lid off and find more laughs. The lowlights are the highlights, and they are many. The peephole scene has several sub-episodes just within the shower room, then Clark relocates it to the principal's office for a coup de gras featuring rib-cracking humour, the actors straining to keep a straight face. Brackett discovering exactly why Honeywell earned the nickname Lassie is another entry into the comedy Hall of Fame. And in a prank involving Cherry Forever (Susan Clark) teasing her services, Porky's extends bad taste to offer equal opportunity male and female nudity. 

The search for any underlying warm and fuzzy themes uncovers only the flimsiest of material. Standing up to abuse, overcoming ethnic prejudice, friends looking out for each other and finding non-violent (albeit destructive) solutions are some of the extenuating concepts barely crawling out of the mayhem.

Otherwise the language is coarse and insensitive, the humour is almost always at the expense of someone's physical or emotional pain, and all the women are entirely defined as objects of lust or revulsion. In setting a new standard for low brow humour, Porky's is ridiculously successful.



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Movie Review: Big Trouble In Little China (1986)

A lively adventure set deep within San Francisco's Chinatown, Big Trouble In Little China provides lightweight entertainment without ever threatening to overachieve.

Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) is a long-haul truck driver proud of his speed demon reputation and his quick reactions. Otherwise, Jack does not lay claim to being the smartest kid in town. After completing a delivery to San Francisco's Chinatown, Jack successfully engages in a bit of gambling with the locals, To make sure that he collects on a debt, Jack accompanies his friend Wang (Dennis Dun) to the airport, where Wang intends to pick up his fiancée Miao (Suzee Pai), a green-eyed beauty. At the airport Jack meets Gracie (Kim Cattrall), also waiting to meet a girl arriving from China. Soon a Chinese gang causes mayhem at the arrival lounge and Miao is abducted.

In trying to help Wang, Jack finds himself unwittingly involved in a grand battle between rival Chinese forces deep in Chinatown. Gracie, who also boasts beautiful green eyes, is attempting to crack a slavery ring, Wang wants to rescue Miao, and the seemingly humble tour bus operator Egg Shen (Victor Wong) wants to help track down the reclusive evil lord Lo Pan (James Hong). Jack loses his truck, providing him with motivation to delve deeper into ancient rivalries involving underground hideouts, magic forces, heinous curses, dreaded monsters, and rituals that require the sacrifice of green-eyed women.

The intentions of Big Trouble In Little China are clear: a wild adventure in an exotic locale laced with humour, riffing on the vibe popularized by Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Romancing The Stone. Director John Carpenter does bring most of the right ingredients to the table, and finds an original setting deep in the heart of San Francisco's Chinatown, specifically the clustered buildings and hidden narrow alleys where tourists never tread. But while Big Trouble entertains, its ambition exceeds its ability. The budget is big, the sets are impressive, and Kurt Russell as dim trucker Jack Burton has potential, but the writing lacks both originality and sharpness, and the story is overtaken by too much magic and mumbo jumbo about ancient Chinese myths.

The best moments are provided by many martial arts set pieces, with armies of Chinese men (and some women) facing off and engaging in battle with various ancient and modern weapons at regular intervals. These scenes are well-choreographed, bloodless and brimming with joyously mindless energy. Burton is often reduced to bemused observer, caught in events that he will never understand, and Russell plays up his character's none-too-bright stance to good effect.

But several other parts of the film don't work as well. The sputtering romantic angle between Burton and Gracie is less convincing and appears bolted on with little conviction. And the ever-increasing emphasis on magic, floating ancient warriors and black curses from centuries past are half-explained at best, and steadily degrade the movie's connections to something resembling reality. The film finally defaults to plenty of repetitive skulking around in hallways and elevator shafts, interrupted by rather childish moments of monsters and magic. Carpenter's electronic music score does not help, and never quite hits the mark within the Chinese dominated setting.

Big Trouble In Little China is an enjoyable enough romp, but the big ambitions are noisily trucked away to more modest outcomes.

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Film Review: Sex and the City (2008)

It's four years later. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) has settled into a relationship with Big (Chris Noth), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) has settled into life in Brooklyn, Charlotte (Kristin Davis) has settled into the role of wife and mother, and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) has settled in LA, managing the career of her long-term lover.

None of this settling is without troubles brewing beneath the surface, as Carrie is longing for the re-assurance of marriage, Miranda has little time for wifely duties, Charlotte is about to receive a surprise and Samantha is gradually getting resentful that her life is not revolving around her.

And so we are off on a two-hour adventure with the ladies who forever transformed television, as they tackle life's latest challenges, this time on the big screen, dressed from head to toe in the latest designer clothes and accessories, visiting the trendiest restaurants, and in Samantha's case, seemingly spending every other day jetting from LA to New York and back.

There are no disappointments here for fans of the series. There is fashion, fashion, and more fashion, everything from out-there everyday outfits to wedding dresses (an excuse is found for a wedding dress photo-shoot), to haute couture (an excuse is found to attend a fashion show) to the latest designer shoes (an excuse is found for a pair of shoes to play a role in the storyline) to the latest designer handbags (yes, another role in the script is found for a handbag). Not an opportunity is missed to show a designer label, and no less is expected.

There are many gab-sessions over many meals and (mostly) many drinks. The full supporting cast from the series is back, and there is the welcome addition of Jennifer Hudson (of Dreamgirls and American Idol fame) as Carrie's new assistant.

What about the Sex, and the City? Plenty of both. Sex is near the core of the issues that Miranda and Samantha have to deal with, and as an added bonus, Samantha finds herself living next to a hunk who is always either (a) naked; (b) getting naked; or (c) naked and having wild passionate sex, with at least one partner. It's mostly (c), actually. As for the City, although the plot finds an excuse for a quick interlude at a five-star Mexico resort, and there are several scenes at Samantha's dreamy LA beach house, New York remains very much the fifth member of the group. Key locations that play a part in the film include the public library, the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, many restaurants, a luxurious penthouse apartment, and even City Hall.

The friendships, the fights, the misunderstandings, the make-up sessions, and the comedy are all here, appropriately proportioned to the big-screen experience, and as usual with Love being the emotion at the core of everything. Searching for it, finding it, being afraid to lose it, and trusting in it. It's also a nice touch for one of the other central themes of the movie to be the age of the central characters, now in their 40's, and a bridge is built to the next generation in their 20-somethings through Hudson's character.

It is rare for a TV series to translate so well to the big screen, but Sex and the City succeeds without the slightest stumble. It is highly recommended, of course for all women, and for all men who want to try and understand them.

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