Movie Review: Wonderland (2003)

A crime drama inspired by real events, Wonderland spends all its time with sordid characters, offering unsatisfactory story fragments and an overabundance of style.

It's 1981 in Los Angeles, and former porn star John Holmes (Val Kilmer) is scraping a living by drifting around drug dealers. His girlfriend Dawn Schiller (Kate Bosworth) stands by her man despite his abrupt and unexplained absences. After scoring some drugs, John returns to their motel room in an agitated state. The next morning the media reports four people have been murdered at a known drug house on Wonderland Avenue.

One of the victims is the girlfriend of drug dealer David Lind (Dylan McDermott). He reveals to the police the murders were retaliation by goons working for crime lord Eddie Nash (Eric Bogosian), because the victims had earlier robbed Nash's house. Lind claims Holmes was involved in both the original robbery and the revenge murders. Holmes is arrested; he has a different version of events, while his estranged wife Sharon (Lisa Kudrow) tries to remain uninvolved.

The strongest emotion elicited by watching Wonderland is the overwhelming need to take a shower. With the marginal exception of Sharon, director and co-writer David Cox populates his film with sleazoids, slimeballs, and losers. Whether any of them live or die is of little relevance, as none of them are provided with meaningful depth, backstory, or empathetic attributes. 

The possible involvement of an ex-porn star provides a dose of notoriety for a case of irrelevant bad guys killing other irrelevant bad guys, but the extent of Holmes' guilt or innocence never registers as a compelling dramatic hinge. The witless plot zooms in from multiple perspectives on events immediately before and after the robbery and subsequent murders, in a case of opposing unreliable narratives colliding into a stalemate. With nothing settled at the end of 104 minutes, walls of postscript text attempt to fill in the blanks but only confirm the lack of focus. 

Lind and Holmes are brought to life in suitably grungy performances by Dylan McDermott and Val Kilmer, but they are far from eliciting sympathy. Kate Bosworth is also invested in Dawn, but can do little with the prototypical character of a naive young woman unaware of the sewer she's in. Lisa Kudrow allows Sharon to rise above, the only character aware of the stink and moving in the other direction.

In the absence of meaningful arcs and substance, Cox defaults to layering on the style, and at least Wonderland offers challenging visuals and an artistically attractive interpretation of ripped-from-the-headlines. The images pop, but the story lacks wonder.



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Movie Review: P.S. I Love You (2007)

A romantic drama with some humour, P.S. I Love You explores the depths of grief with a polished wink. The romance is heartfelt, but the movie suffers from bloat and some drudgerous pacing.

New Yorkers Holly and Gerry Kennedy (Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler) have been married for nine years. They bicker about money, jobs and when to have a baby, but they are still very much in love. When Gerry dies due to a brain tumour, Holly is devastated and left without her soul mate. Her mother Patricia (Kathy Bates) as well as best friends Denise (Lisa Kudrow) and Sharon (Gina Gershon) do their best to console her. Bartender Daniel (Harry Connick Jr.) also offers a shoulder to lean on.

On her 30th birthday Holly receives the first of 10 pre-arranged letters from Gerry, encouraging her to be adventurous and visit his home town in Ireland. While the letters keep her emotionally tied to her deceased husband, she also starts to emerge out of her depression, reuniting with Gerry's parents and meeting his hunky best friend William (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). But finding her new calling in life will be a challenge.

Demonstrating courage to introduce the central couple then kill off the guy within the first 10 minutes, P.S. I Love You immediately dares to be different. Director Richard LaGravenese co-wrote the script adaptation of Cecelia Ahern's book, and allows the love between Holly and Gerry to wash over the grieving widow through a series of flashbacks as she follows his advice in the mysteriously delivered letters.

Gerry's immense continued influence in Holly's life is also conveyed in his occasional post-death presence at their apartment and in her bed, her longing for his voice, touch and companionship emerging as palpable and painfully real.

But LaGravenese also overstates the strength and scope of the story. P.S. I Love You extend to a wholly unnecessary 125 minutes. The editing is flabby, and on several occasions songs are belted out almost in their entirety to pad the running time. The tired cliche of Ireland as a magically perfect place filled with nothing but rolling green hills and jolly salt-of-the-earth types is trotted out for another outing.

Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler try their hands at romance with mixed results. They convince as a committed couple, and Swank allows herself to drown in a sea of grief and seething anger at life's unfairness. But they are on much less secure ground in the flashbacks to their earliest meetings as 19 year olds. Both actors are well into their 30s and poor impersonators of footloose teens.

The supporting cast provides good touches of humour. Lisa Kudrow's Denise is on a single-minded mission to find a husband using a utilitarian checklist, and Harry Connick Jr.'s Daniel does not allow the missing filter between his brain and mouth to impede his confidence.

Mixing pathos with playfulness, P.S. I Love You is a poignant if somewhat ponderous postscript.



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Movie Review: The Other Woman (2009)

A domestic drama, The Other Woman adopts the perspective of the homewrecker but gets hopelessly lost in numerous emotional sub-plots.

In New York City, Emilia (Natalie Portman) is the second wife of lawyer Jack Woolf (Scott Cohen). She was a junior associate at his firm, they had a torrid affair and she broke up his admittedly unhappy marriage to respected doctor Dr. Carolyn Soule (Lisa Kudrow), who nevertheless remains deeply resentful about Emilia stealing her domestic life.

But Emilia is now having troubles of her own. She is still grieving the death of the newborn girl she conceived with Jack, and having trouble connecting with Jack's eight year old son William (Charlie Tahan). Emilia is also harbouring anger at her father Sheldon (Michael Cristofer), who cheated on her mother Laura (Debra Monk) and then abandoned the family. Although Emilia makes some progress with William, the numerous tensions threaten to overwhelm her happiness with Jack.

An adaptation of the Ayelet Waldman book Love and Other Impossible Pursuits (the movie is also known by this alternate title), The Other Woman is an overclocked and over-emotive melodrama about the problems of rich people. It's not much of an oversimplification to summarize the film as Emilia saying or doing the wrong thing, aggravating everyone around her, apologizing profusely, then purposefully striding into the next idiotic blunder. The kid William, irritating as he is, frequently demonstrates the more mature behaviour compared to his step-mom.

The film jumps from one emotional arc to another, loading Emilia with overwhelming distractions. Her various roles include homewrecker, grieving mother, hapless stepmother, helpless victim of the angry first wife, and angry daughter clueless that she is mimicking her father's behaviour. While in book form the multiple agonies may work, script writer and director Don Roos is unable to find a cohesive focus for a 100 minute movie, his central character sent spinning in numerous directions and getting exactly nowhere.

Some level of watchability is maintained by Portman and Kudrow. Both battle gamely against the inherent weakness of the material, and occasionally shine in portraying the gamut of emotions as two women unwittingly caught on either side of the same man. Scot Cohen is unfortunately a relative blank slate.

The Other Woman tries to carry too many burdens, and drops most of them in an uncoordinated clang.

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Movie Review: Table 19 (2017)

A floundering comedy, Table 19 suffers from idea deficiencies and too quickly resorts to well-worn plot devices.

Eloise (Anna Kendrick) reluctantly accepts a wedding invitation from her best friend Francie, despite having recently suffered a bad break-up with Francie's brother Teddy (Wyatt Russell). At the reception Eloise finds herself on table 19 with other "randoms" placed in the room's furthest corner. Her tablemates are squabbling couple Jerry and Bina Kepp (Craig Robinson and Lisa Kudrow), creepy guy Walter (Stephen Merchant), awkward high schooler Renzo (Tony Revolori) and the elderly Jo (June Squibb), Francie's nanny from childhood.

Eloise remains obsessed with Teddy, who is having a good time with girlfriend Nikki (Amanda Crew). But she is finally distracted by the attentions of the hunky Huck (Thomas Cocquerel), who never reveals his role at the reception. Bina is mistaken for a member of the serving staff, while her tensions with Jerry ramp up. Renzo makes no headway in attracting the attentions of any girl. Walter's odd behaviour intensifies, while Jo's wisdom helps her untangle the secrets at the table.

The premise of exploring the humorous stories of people who accept wedding invitations but should know better carries potential. But Table 19 maintains only brief momentum, and starts to fizzle early. The characters are uninteresting, their stories only good for a few laughs, and before long the film gets bogged down in predictable antics and stale arguments.

The screenplay by Jeffrey Blitz (with a story co-conceived by Mark and Jay Duplass) is devoid of edge, and Blitz's direction cannot add any punch. A cake is destroyed, pot is smoked, bad karaoke is performed, and Eloise finds every opportunity to embarrass herself.

Meanwhile Jerry and Bina carry on an exceptionally tired and circular argument. Renzo wanders in from a bad high school sex comedy, and Walter's weird antics are quickly explained away. Of course, everyone proves to be nice and warm-hearted and the group pulls together towards the requisite contrived happy ending.

Just like the guests, Table 19 should have just stayed away.

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The Movies Of Lisa Kudrow

All movies starring Lisa Kudrow and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Romy And Michele's High School Reunion (1997)

Analyze This (1999)

Wonderland (2003)

P.S. I Love You (2007)

The Other Woman (2009)

Easy A (2010)

Neighbors (2014)

The Girl On The Train (2016)

Table 19 (2017)

Long Shot (2019)

Booksmart (2019)

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The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: Romy And Michele's High School Reunion (1997)

An unfunny comedy, Romy And Michele's High School Reunion celebrates dumbness with predictably vacuous results.

Originally from Tucson, dumb blondes Romy (Mira Sorvino) and Michele (Lisa Kudrow) are best friends now living as roommates in Los Angeles. Ten years out of high school, Romy is a lowly receptionist at an auto dealership, Michel is unemployed, and neither have a boyfriend. Romy bumps into former classmate Heather (Janeane Garofalo) and learns that the 10 year class reunion is coming up.

Romy and Michele take a trip down memory lane and recall that they were outcasts at high school, not belonging to any group, shunned by the pretty girl clique commanded by Christie Masters (Julia Campbell), and ignored by the hunky Billy Christensen (Vincent Ventresca). However the nerdy Sandy Frink (Alan Cumming) did have a crush on Michele. Romy and Michele decide to attend the reunion despite what they now perceive as a post-school sad life, and invent an unlikely story of career success to cover-up their shortcomings, resulting in unexpected consequences.

Slumming near the bottom of the comedy barrel, director David Mirkin and writer Robin Schiff choose the easiest possible stereotypical targets in the clueless blondes with mush for brains. Romy and Michele are all blank stares and stilted monosyllabic dialogue. Credit to Sorvino and Kudrow for bringing these two women to life, but for what purpose?

The jokes are bland, the situations contrived, the argument between the lifelong friends artificial. The set-up seems to take forever and includes a detour to a fantasy scene designed to artificially prolong the running time to cinematic length. When the real big reunion finally arrives a solid hour into the 90 minute film, there is no payoff. The laughs are forced, the humour barely above schoolyard level and exactly one character appears to have matured in 10 years, a pretty depressing collective achievement. The "be yourself" message is comprehensively dead on arrival.

In the absence of a single person worth catching up with, Romy And Michele's High School Reunion is a dull yawner.

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Movie Review: Easy A (2010)

A high school comedy that cleverly tones down the raunchiness in favour of wit, Easy A has a lot going for it: a bright premise, a likable Emma Stone, an astute commentary on promiscuity, and lots of laughs.

Olive Penderghast  (Stone) is a generally anonymous high school student. Trying to impress her flashier friend Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka), Olive lies and pretends that she has slept with a college student. Immediately the news spreads throughout the school and she gains an unwanted reputation as a tramp. Among the horrified classmates is Marianne (Amanda Bynes), the leader of a small group of strictly religious students. Marianne condemns Olive's behaviour but takes on the mission of leading her back to the right path.

Instead of listening to anything that Marianne has to say, Olive decides to put her fake reputation to good use: at a house party she pretends to have energetic sex with the gay Brandon (Dan Byrd), to put a stop to the bullying directed his way. Her notoriety as a slut enhanced, Olive finds herself branded as an adulteress, and finds her life mimicking the classic novel The Scarlett Letter, that she happens to be studying in the English class of Mr. Griffith (Thomas Haden Church). Olive starts to dress the part, and to cash in: loser boys start paying her to spread rumours that she slept with them, to help overcome their geeky images.

Despite not actually having had sex with anyone, Olive's high school life spirals totally out of control, and she finds herself embroiled in a marital sex scandal between Mr. Griffith and his wife (Lisa Kudrow). She needs to find a way to put a stop to all the rumours and regain some normalcy.

Easy A has fun asking all sorts of questions: what's the difference between reputation and reality? Is a promiscuous reputation worth maintaining? How long can a chain of lies hold together, and what happens when one lie too many overwhelms the entire structure?

Director Will Gluck brings the script by Bert V. Royal to life with a light touch and an emphasis on humour rather than the more common over-the-top bawdiness that has come to define the genre. Easy A avoids the cliches and tones down the jokes about body fluids, and instead achieves an irreverent, self-dismissive and breezy vibe perfectly suited to the emotional chaos that often accompanies the high school experience. At times, the film tilts into choreographed operetta territory, with repeated shots of exaggerated emotions sweeping through the school and all the students stopping to stare at Olive. It's flashy technique, but not always necessary.

Emma Stone emerges from the turmoil of high school travails with a burgeoning reputation as an emerging star with a deft comic touch, capable of carrying a film through a winning combination of natural appeal and self-depreciation. With the secondary cast filled out by the likes of Malcolm McDowell as the school principal, Stanley Tucci as Olive's dad and Patricia Clarkson as her mom, Easy A has quirky performances hiding behind every corner.

By delivering a fresh and engaging course on navigating the sexual waters of high school life, Easy A is a solid B+.

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