Movie Review: Boys On The Side (1995)

Genre: Dramedy  

Director: Herbert Ross  

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker, Drew Barrymore, Matthew McConaughey  

Running Time: 117 minutes  

Synopsis: New York-based vocalist Jane (Whoopi Goldberg) is still pursuing a performing career despite the passing years. She decides to relocate to Los Angeles, and through a share-the-drive ad connects with Robin (Mary-Louise Parker), who is frail and wants to retrace a family road trip from her childhood. In Pittsburgh Jane and Robin rescue the bubbly Holly (Drew Barrymore) from an abusive relationship. The trio make it as far as Tucson, where health and law enforcement issues force them to settle down and explore their options.

What Works Well: There is enough character depth to create rich cross-currents of emotion, laughs, and tears among a trio of interesting single women. Jane is a headstrong black lesbian refusing to give up on a career in music, Robin is seemingly fragile and suffering from AIDS and the lingering trauma of a family tragedy, while Holly carries a perpetually positive attitude but is a magnet for the wrong kind of men. Matthew McConaughey augments the cast as a police officer who falls in love with Holly but also arrests her, and director Herbert Ross maintains balance between humour, drama, and a few off-the-wall surprises.

What Does Not Work As Well: Once the road trip yields to domesticity in Tucson, momentum stalls and edginess gives way to predictability. Robin gets involved in a tepid romance with a non-entity bartender (James Remar), a few secondary characters like Jane's friend Anna are victimized by editing, conflicts (including a privacy intrusion) are contrived, a courtroom showdown is half-baked, and the is-it-friendship-or-is-it-more tension between Jane and Robin is resolved by a sappy song.

Key Quote:

Jane: I'm not after you.

Robin: I'm not worried...Why?

Jane: Luck of the draw, I guess.

Robin: No, I mean... why aren't you after me?

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: Moonlight And Valentino (1995)

Genre: Drama  

Director: David Anspaugh  

Starring: Elizabeth Perkins, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kathleen Turner, Whoopi Goldberg  

Running Time: 105 minutes  

Synopsis: College poetry teacher Rebecca (Elizabeth Perkins) is devastated when her husband is killed by a car while jogging. She receives emotional support from her neighbour Sylvie (Whoopie Goldberg); younger sister Lucy (Gwyneth Paltrow); and ex-stepmother Alberta (Kathleen Turner). Sylvie's marriage is in trouble, Lucy is a morose loner with body image insecurity, and Alberta is an unlikeable Wall Street executive. The months pass, and Rebecca finally perks up when a handsome housepainter (Jon Bon Jovi) appears in the neighbourhood.

What Works Well: The talented cast delivers reliably steady performances, achieving small victories for quiet moments of discomfort and dry humour. The idyllic wealthy suburban setting is quaint.

What Does Not Work As Well: Based on the autobiographical book by Ellen Simon (Neil's daughter), this is an aimless and listless drama. Beneath the soft focus packaging is an unconvincing exploration of grief involving poorly defined characters who fail to transition from glib to genuine. The pacing is languid, few if any insights register, and some late-in-the-day revelations appear out of nowhere and smack of narrative desperation. 

Key Quote:

Alberta: I'd rather imagine a man than know him for sure.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: Till (2022)

Genre: Biographical Drama  

Director: Chinonye Chukwu  

Starring: Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Whoopi Goldberg, Haley Bennett  

Running Time: 130 minutes  

Synopsis: In 1955, Mamie Till (Danielle Deadwyler) lives in Chicago with her 14 year-old son Emmett (Jalyn Hall). Encouraged by his grandma (Whoopi Goldberg) to discover his roots, Emmett is excited about an upcoming solo trip to visit cousins in rural Mississippi. Mamie is uncomfortable being separated from her son and worried about his safety in the overtly racist south. In the small town of Money, Mississippi, Emmett inadvertently insults a white store keeper (Haley Bennett), triggering bigoted rage and a subsequent quest for social justice.

What Works Well: Based on actual events, director and co-writer Chinonye Chukwu crafts a dramatic profile of a woman thrust into activism by tragedy. Emmett's harrowing ordeal is treated with respect, the hatred he suffered channeled through Mamie's insistence that the world witness the carnage on his body. In the complex central role, Danielle Deadwyler navigates a range of transformations starting with worry and ending with defiance, passing through the worst type of grief a mother can experience. 

What Does Not Work As Well: The singular focus on Mamie's perspectives, actions, and emotions is insufficient to sustain 130 minutes of drama. Most of the scenes linger for too long, and many repeatedly stomp over the same emotional notes. The secondary characters, racist villains, social context, and courtroom drama are relegated to stock representations and conveyed with mechanical disinterest. The glossy sets lack realistic grit, while the music digs into the trench of obvious emotions.

Conclusion: One strong woman in deep focus, surrounded by sketches.



All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: The Deep End Of The Ocean (1999)

A missing child drama, The Deep End Of The Ocean explores the impacts of profound loss but dilutes into bland emotional notes.

In 1988, married couple Beth and Pat Cappadora (Michelle Pfeiffer and Treat Williams) live in Madison, Wisconsin with their three kids Vincent (seven), Ben (three), and newborn Kerry. Beth takes the kids to her high school reunion in Chicago. In the hotel lobby she momentarily leaves the two boys alone, and Ben goes missing. The subsequent months-long investigation by Detective Candy Bliss (Whoopi Goldberg) fails to uncover any clues. The burden of guilt transforms Beth into a cold and angry wife and mother, and her marriage suffers.

Nine years later the family moves to Chicago. Beth meets 12-year-old Sam, the son of her neighbour George Karras (John Kapelos) from two blocks away, and is immediately sure that Sam is actually Ben. Candy and the police investigate to confirm the boy's identity, but reassembling the Cappadora family will be exceptionally difficult.

An adaptation of the book by Jacquelyn Mitchard, The Deep End Of The Ocean offers an intriguing premise but slipshod execution. The production values and emotional depth rarely rise above television movie-of-the-week material, and the plot machinations and character arcs are unconvincing. Nondescript friends and family members clutter the drama as colourless secondary characters, entering then exiting the stage with minimal impact. Daughter Kerry is impressively neglected into another but unintended child disappearing act.

The first half is marginally better, offering a realistic nightmare scenario of a lost child and a mother turning from calm to frantic then anguished, with Michelle Pfeiffer elevating a couple of scenes above the mundane. The warning signs starts when Stephen Schiff's script demonstrates no interest in any police work, and reduces Whoopi Goldberg's Detective Bliss to a token woman/black/lesbian character with no other meaningful contribution.

The second half suffers from a severe lack of identity. Director Ulu Grosbard flounders within ridiculous plot gyrations and starts randomly dividing his attention among numerous characters, unable to decide on a path and achieving little more than surface scratches. Beth and Pat bicker then bicker again, Vincent (Jonathan Jackson) is now a moody teenager carrying his own guilt luggage, Ben/Sam is unsure which household he belongs to, and George, the father who raised him, suffers through no fault of his own. 

Helped by burrowed performances from Jackson and John Kapelos, Vincent and George emerge from the sidelines as the two most interesting characters, but they are not afforded time to expand because no one is. With emotional oscillations trading for a discount, The Deep End Of The Ocean wades into disappointingly shallow waters.



All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

The Movies Of Whoopi Goldberg

All movies starring Whoopi Goldberg and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Ghost (1990)

The Player (1992)

Boys On The Side (1995)

Moonlight And Valentino (1995)

The Deep End Of The Ocean (1999)

Girl, Interrupted (2009)

Toy Story 3 (2009, voice only)

The Muppets (2011, as herself)

Till (2022)

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

Movie Review: Ghost (1990)

A fantasy romance mystery drama with a touch of humour, Ghost hits all the right notes in the story of love's endurance despite death's interruption.

In New York City, Wall Street banker Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze) and pottery artist Molly Jensen (Demi Moore) are deeply in love and thinking of getting married. Carl Bruner (Tony Goldwyn) is a friend of the couple and Sam's colleague at work. One night after a theatre performance, Sam and Molly are confronted by a mugger, and Sam is shot and killed in the confrontation. But he is not ready to fully depart to the afterlife: he hangs around as a ghost, able to observe everything but unable to communicate.

Sam's ghost is shocked when the mugger Willie Lopez (Rick Aviles) returns to Molly's apartment for an attempted theft. He realizes that the mugging was actually a murder related to money laundering at the bank, and Molly is still in grave danger. Sam connects with psychic Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) and she becomes his means of communication, but convincing Molly that Sam's ghost is still hovering and looking after her well-being will not be easy.

Directed by Jerry Zucker and written by Bruce Joel Rubin, Ghost is a perfectly conceived and exquisitely constructed film. Finding an impeccable combination of romance, mystery, and spectral interaction with a complementary dusting of comedy, the film weaves an irresistible two-hour magic spell filled with tears and laughs.

The romance elements are the powerful magnetic force at the core of the film. Ghost is first and foremost a love story about the bond connecting two people across multiple dimensions. The pottery scene set to the tune of the Righteous Brothers' Unchained Melody is the most heartfelt expression of the passion between Sam and Molly, and one of cinema's most famous romance moments. But Zucker also fills the film with wistful moments, as the lovers frequently sense each other without quite being together.

Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze are both at the peak of their star power and find instantaneous chemistry. Neither will ever be accused of achieving acting greatness, but they both deliver what Ghost needs in terms of an attractive, confident couple who nevertheless have some difficulties expressing what sometimes needs to be said. Swayze of course gets several shirtless scenes, and Moore's practical yet stylish haircut is one of the most prominent symbols of the end of the 1980s.

The humour arrives courtesy of the Oda Mae Brown character, Whoopi Goldberg's finest big screen role. Oda Mae is a fraud psychic when Sam first meets her, but his presence awakens her genuine ability to communicate with the dead, very much a case of be careful what you wish for. Oda Mae's shock at her newly discovered powers opens the door to plenty of comic moments, none more so than when her small but suddenly popular Brooklyn store is overrun by both grieving family members and the recently deceased.

An angry ghost who haunts New York's subway cars and takes umbrage at Sam's intrusiveness injects a few more laughs of the more dangerous kind.

The special effects are decent for the era, but more impressive is Zucker inserting Sam into most scenes and allowing the other characters to carry while ignoring his presence. Most of the film plays out in two dimensions at once, the real world oblivious to the presence of spirits, and yet observed by a present ghost desperate to communicate but unable to. When Sam learns the art of interacting with physical objects, the more traditional noisy apparition is suddenly explained.

The money laundering conspiracy story at Sam's workplace adds an edge to Ghost, introducing nefarious antagonists and giving Sam his reason to hang around and meddle in the world of the living until the real reason for his death is uncovered and Molly is safe. Zucker also has fun showing an alternative to the bright-light-upon-death, for those whose actions mean they go down rather up at the end.

Ghost is unabashedly fanciful, unapologetically romantic, and indisputably a classic.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: The Player (1992)

An acute satire of Hollywood, Robert Altman's The Player is a formidable movie that manages to poke fun at everything related to the business of making films. With an ensemble cast and a long list of stars making cameos, The Player can distract itself somewhat with a game of spot the celebrity, but Altman maintains a firm grip to a biting conclusion.

Studio executive Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) spends his days listening to pitches, trying to find the small percent of ideas that can be turned into successful movies. Griffin has two main problems. He is being threatened with severe bodily harm by a mysterious disgruntled writer who claims to have been disrespected; while competing executive Larry Levy (Peter Gallagher) appears to be making a power move to displace Griffin's position of authority within the studio.

Griffin does some research and concludes that struggling writer David Kahane (Vincent D'Onofrio) is behind the threats, and he contrives a meeting with Kahane's girlfriend, artist June Gudmundsdottir (Greta Scacchi). The subsequent encounter between Griffin and David to clear the air has a horrible ending, landing Griffin in a lot more trouble and at the centre of a police investigation headed by Detective Avery (Whoopi Goldberg). The studio's head of security Walter Stuckel (Fred Ward) has to swing into action to protect crumbling reputations, while Griffin pursues June at the expense of former girlfriend Bonnie (Cynthia Stevenson). Meanwhile, Griffin and Larry vie for control of the next hot script making the Hollywood rounds.

Altman open The Player with a fluid, continuous shot lasting 7 minutes and 47 seconds, introducing the key characters, establishing the studio's labyrinthine relationships, paying homage to Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock, and throwing in the opening few salvos of satire. It's Altman's announcement that he will celebrate Hollywood while making fun of it, and it sets the context for what follows.

The rest of The Player contains many of the elements that often need to be checked off to make a Hollywood success: tension, mystery, confrontation, death, investigation, betrayal, lust, and political manoeuvring. Altman throws in some brief nudity to make the point, and concludes The Player with a devastating jab of ridicule to emphasize how quickly Hollywood turns supposed art into crass commerce. In a final act of jocular defiance, Altman also bends one of filmdom's golden rules, allowing a character who has sinned to escape unscathed.

Tim Robbins as Griffin Mill struts around Hollywood in oversized suits, a young man with amplified confidence, huge responsibilities and larger pay cheques, wielding influence and power way beyond his years. With a high profile, Mill is an obviously tempting target, and his success is a lightning rod attracting external and internal challenges. Robbins wears it all with a sense of quiet manipulation, never questioning his abilities but acutely aware that his entire life is a tightrope walk.

Greta Scacchi misses another chance at stardom, Altman giving her every opportunity, bathing her in white and setting her up as an attractive conquest for Griffin. Scacchi is merely adequate, unable to transform the role into anything more than the stock love interest.

The rest of the cast members perform a tight orbit around Mills' character, Peter Gallagher, Whoopi Goldberg, Vincent D'Onofrio and Fred Ward doing just enough to differentiate themselves from the 62 other Hollywood and entertainment notables listed as having performed a cameo.

Artistically, creatively and surreptitiously, there is always something going on as The Player gingerly picks his way through the perils of Hollywood. It's a unique world, and Altman captures it with a flourish.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Girl, Interrupted (1999)

A tale of depression, Girl, Interrupted loses momentum by unnecessarily lingering on every scene and celebrating its self-indulgence. Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie are excellent, but a relatively simple and personal story is overblown into a sometimes tiresome melodrama.

Based on the memoire of author Susanna Kaysen, the film is set in the 1960s. Susanna (Ryder) is detached from her parents and depressed, although the causes are only vaguely hinted at. After attempting suicide and under pressure from a psychiatrist, Susanna signs herself into Claymoore Hospital, a facility to treat mental illness. Run by the aloof Doctor Wick (Vanessa Redgrave), the other patients at Claymoore include the hyperactive and rebellious Lisa (Angelina Jolie) and the vulnerable but stoic Daisy (Brittany Murphy).

Lisa has made a habit out of regularly leaving and returning to Claymoore, treating the facility as a home base to run back to whenever her aggressive attitude to life catches up with her. Daisy is working towards being released and living on her own, but is emotionally vulnerable and prone to cutting herself. Nurse Owens (Whoopi Goldberg) is the main link between the patients and the outside world, in turns berating them for breaking the rules and encouraging them to edge closer to dealing with reality. After a series of encounters with the other girls, some exhilarating and others tragic, Susanna starts to find her long way back to better mental health.

Stretched out for more than two hours, Girl, Interrupted often struggles to make its point. In a demonstration of more is less, each one of Susanna's memories and escapades extends well beyond its useful value. While director James Mangold succeeds in painting a picture of a mostly supportive mental illness facility, little else is accomplished. Girl, Interrupted does not attempt to properly explore the triggers for depression or any of the other behaviours on display, nor are the pathways to treatment seriously investigated.

In amongst the long stares, Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie do deliver memorable performances. Ryder's dark glare hints at both the demons tormenting Susanna, and the surprise at landing in a mental facility without fully understanding why. Jolie's Lisa is all about pushing hard against life to avoid staring at her own responsibilities. Replacing glamour with a wiry intensity and radiating menace especially towards those least capable of handling it, Jolie deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In support and representing the forces of mostly well-intentioned authority, Whoopi Goldberg and Vanessa Redgrave mail in quite predictable performances.

Girl, Interrupted works in patches. Much like a brain drifting in and out of depression, it offers both prescient and dull moments, with the medications generally functioning but not quite in perfect balance.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.