Movie Review: The Heartbreak Kid (2007)

Genre: Raunchy Comedy  

Directors: Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly   
Starring: Ben Stiller, Malin Akerman, Michelle Monaghan, Jerry Stiller  
Running Time: 116 minutes  

Synopsis: In San Francisco, 40 year-old store owner Eddie (Ben Stiller) is feeling the pressure to get married from his father Doc (Jerry Stiller) and best buddy Mac (Rob Corddry). On a whim, Eddie marries environmental researcher Lila (Malin Akerman) just 6 weeks after meeting her. Once in Los Cabos, Mexico, on their honeymoon, their incompatibilities become apparent, and Eddie finds himself irresistibly attracted to Miranda (Michelle Monaghan), who is staying at the same resort with her extended family.

What Works Well: The dogged determination to avoid all cliches at all costs can only be applauded, and this no-limits romance ensures bad behaviour is the norm and always rewarded with bad outcomes. Eddie's often hilarious misadventures cascade into a disaster, Ben Stiller's sidelined-by-life persona perfect for a man who makes all the wrong decisions with the worst possible timing. A game Malin Akerman contributes plenty of ditzy energy on the receiving end of most of the laughs. 

What Does Not Work As Well: The level of vulgarity is off the charts, and a few attempted jokes push hard enough to tear the envelope. And under any normal circumstances, the seemingly classy Miranda would have never looked twice at Eddie.

Key Quote:

Lila: I'm Mrs. Edmond Cantrow.

Eddie: Edward.

Lila: Edward? You didn't tell me that!

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Movie Review: Happythankyoumoreplease (2010)

A three-in-one romantic comedy, Happythankyoumoreplease explores three couples as they navigate expectations, commitment, and settling down. The material is familiar, but delivered with edgy polish.

In New York City, Sam (Josh Radnor, also the film's writer and director) is a writer attempting to transition from short stories to novels. On the subway he helps young Black boy Rasheen, who seems to have lost his family. But the quiet Rasheen is an unhappy foster kid, and latches onto the kind Sam. The two start to forge a surrogate father-son bond, while three short story-style romances unfold.

Sam spots table server Mississippi (Kate Mara), an aspiring singer. They enjoy one date and he invites her to stay at his apartment for three days, but immediately regrets the offer, unsure if he is ready to commit. Meanwhile his friend Annie (Malin Åkerman), a charity fund raiser, suffers from hair loss (alopecia) and makes bad decisions when it comes to men. She is romantically pursued by tweedy lawyer Sam #2 (Tony Hale), who is not what she imagines to be her type - but he persists.

Sam's family friend Mary Catherine (Zoe Kazan) is in a relationship with boyfriend Charlie (Pablo Schreiber). He is interested in moving to Los Angeles for a business opportunity, but she wants to stay in New York. The disagreement strains their romance, especially when Mary Catherine suspects she may be pregnant.

It's difficult to find anything fresh or imaginative in Happythankyoumoreplease. But yet Radnor assembles a pleasing, if non-demanding, set of themes for his twentysomething protagonists to mull over. The inter-cut short story format helps with pacing and disguises the absence of profundity.

Unsurprisingly, the overarching topic is encroaching adulthood, accepting reality rather than pining for inaccessible dreams, and appreciating what is real. Sam may have to acknowledge he is a short story writer, and has to start confronting what commitment entails. Annie wants to change the world and seeks a handsome knight by her side to help her do it. Except that handsome knights can also be creeps, and sometimes the really sturdy men are hiding in boring business suits. Mary Catherine and Charlie are facing their first real crisis as a couple, where ambitions diverge and the hard work of communicating and compromising begins.

This is still a romantic comedy, and the outcomes steer to all the expected tidy places. The quiet child Rasheen is the one wrinkle, and Radnor uses him as a soft-spoken device representing the sometimes blurred line between responsibility and irresponsibility. Sam wants to do the right thing and is developing adult nurturing tendencies, but in caring for someone else's child without anyone's permission, he stumbles into a heap of trouble.

The cast members lean into the characters with just touches of drama, and allow the humour to seep out from natural behaviours rather than brash jokes. Happythankyoumoreplease is curious about growing up, undoubtedly common territory but here approached with happy restraint, thank you.



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Movie Review: The Numbers Station (2013)

A dramatic siege thriller, The Numbers Station leans on a decent cast and a single labyrinthine set but is undone by stereotypes and a flimsy plot. 

Jaded CIA assassin Emerson Kent (John Cusack) is losing the cold blooded ability to kill innocent witnesses. His boss Michael Grey (Liam Cunningham) reassigns him to an out-of-the-way job in Suffolk, England to protect a remote "numbers station", a secret facility broadcasting coded shortwave instructions to field agents, an old-fashioned but impenetrable communications system.

The job entails long 70 hour shifts inside the secured station, with only civilian broadcaster Katherine (Malin Åkerman) for company. After two months of tedium Emerson and Katherine arrive for their shift and find the station compromised, mysterious killers having infiltrated the facility for nefarious purposes. Awaiting rescue, Emerson and Katherine have to stay alive and find a way to block the unfolding conspiracy. 

Featuring some similarities with 2012's Safe House, The Numbers Station has enough quality to rise above straight-to-DVD fare, but it's a fine margin. A modest sense of claustrophobic space is created at the remote setting, and the spooky cyphers, both spoken and flashed on the screen, generate as much intrigue as can be expected from random numbers. In an easy role John Cusack lends basic star power with the expected level of internal dissidence to round Emerson into another iteration of an assassin developing a conscience and crawling into a bottle.

Malin Åkerman suffers frequent blood loss and Liam Cunningham oozes cold blooded aloofness, but otherwise they are both under-used. Danish director Kasper Barfoed busies himself exploring the various rooms and hallways of the secret facility, discovering a potentially suitable locale for a dark and moody shredding of a killer's soul. But terrible trouble resides in F. Scott Frazier's elemental script, with neither the overall conspiracy nor the details properly developed or explained, leaving gaping logic holes to swallow the basic dialogue exchanges and muddled action scenes.

The intruders are smart enough to infiltrate the station then dumb enough to find themselves on the outside looking to get back in. They have the resources to compromise a secret CIA operation (including the support network) but send a grand total of three goons to do the dirty work. Even Emerson suffers infuriating brain fades, including leaving the door wide open to facilitate bad guy re-entry. And whatever seditious objectives are behind the facility invasion, they are not worthy of explanation, denying the film any sense of importance or tension.

Despite a few flashes of artistry, The Numbers Station resorts to painting by numbers.

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Movie Review: 27 Dresses (2008)

A romantic comedy, 27 Dresses lines up and knocks down all the genre's predictable fundamentals in a story of woman learning to look after her own needs.

In New York City, super-organized Jane Nichols (Katherine Heigl) is always invited to be the maid of honour and efficiently helps her many friends pull together their weddings. Caring and selfless, she helped raise her sister Tess (Malin Åkerman) when their mother died at a young age. Now Jane harbours a secret crush on her clueless boss George (Edward Burns).

While helping out at two different weddings on the same night, Jane meets Kevin Doyle (James Marsden), who covers weddings for the New York Journal but is himself cynical about romance and the institution of marriage. Flirty Tess blows into town and immediately sets her sight on seducing George, while Jane rejects Kevin's overtures to start a relationship.

Writer Aline Brosh McKenna penned the exquisite The Devil Wears Prada, so 27 Dresses is a particular disappointment. This Katherine Heigl vehicle is a strictly formulaic rom-com as Jane stumbles to find herself and prioritize seeking her own happiness.

The moments of humour are bland, with sidekick Casey (the ever dependable Judy Greer) providing the typical caustic comments from the best friend vantage point. The romance elements are cold, Jane pining for a relationship with her boss George when he is clearly not interested, while ignoring Kevin who clearly is.

The contrived conflicts arrive courtesy of the forward Tess, who unlike her sister goes out and gets what she wants. A tangential subplot about Kevin writing a long piece about the always-bridesmaid Jane for his newspaper is used to cause the usual rift between would-be lovers, but is really an excuse for a montage featuring Heigl posing in the titular 27 dresses.

Director Anne Fletcher brings enough polish if not pizazz to the film, Heigl is dependable if vaguely disengaged, and 27 Dresses provides just enough talent to maintain a base level of interest. But a bursting wardrobe does not make a movie, and 27 Dresses needed fewer garments and much more edge.

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The Movies Of Malin Åkerman

All movies starring Malin Åkerman and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

The Invasion (2007, uncredited)

The Heartbreak Kid (2007)

27 Dresses (2008)

The Proposal (2009)

Couples Retreat (2009)

Happythankyoumoreplease (2010)

Wanderlust (2012)

Rock Of Ages (2012)

The Numbers Station (2013)

I'll See You In My Dreams (2015)

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The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: Couples Retreat (2009)

Four couples head for a vacation resort specializing in relationship therapy and mending; they discover more about themselves than they cared to know. Couples Retreat is a generally enjoyable modern couplehood comedy, sabotaged by an ending that is in equal measures lame and rushed.

Dave (Vince Vaughn) and his wife Ronnie (Malin Akerman) seem to have a steady marriage, but they discover that they are living almost separate lives. Joey (Jon Favreau) and Lucy (Kristin Davis) have long since stopped being intimate, and generally cannot stand being with each other. Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell) are ready to get a divorce, their marriage strained to the breaking point by their inability to conceive. And Shane (Faizon Love) recently did divorce after a long marriage, and is in a new relationship with a 20 year old from an entirely different generation.

Monsieur Marcel is the self-appointed relationship guru at the Eden resort, and Jean Reno has a lot of fun taking the role way over the top. He is helped by Peter Serafinowicz as the uppity British resort manager whose main function is to irritate the men, and Carlos Ponce as the drippy yoga instructor with the beefcake pin-up body whose main function is to tantalize the women.

After a patient build-up to flesh out the characters and a meaty middle to highlight the difficulties in each relationship, the film falls apart in its final few minutes, with a poorly planned and badly executed scramble to provide happy endings for everyone. Any accumulated good-will towards meaningful relationship examination is squandered in an overdose of sugar to satisfy Hollywood's obese relationship with cheerful wrap-ups, no matter how grotesque.

Nevertheless, Couples Retreat, filmed mostly in Bora Bora, benefits from some terrific postcard-quality resort locations, and looks as lush as any dream or imagined vacation. The four couples and the actors portraying them are close enough to real, with believable eccentricities to maintain touch with authenticity. There are good comic moments, some witty dialogue, and a refreshing avoidance of the worst cliches, until the very end.

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