Wendy and Lucy

If you’ve ever been homeless or have lost your dog, watching this movie might move you to tears. But I think it’s more likely that you’ll be bored to them.

Wendy (Michelle Williams) and her dog Lucy are traveling to Alaska in search of a new life, with little more than a car and a handful of possessions. The car breaks down in a small Oregonian town, which is the first event in a series of bad luck and worse decisions for Wendy. She ties up Lucy outside a supermarket then gets caught shoplifting inside. After being released from jail, to her horror she discovers that her dog is gone. The rest of the picture is a bleak affair, chronicling the search for Lucy and Wendy’s struggles to survive in a foreign place with no money.

This is a tough film to sit through. Wendy seemingly has no friends and has an estranged relationship with her sister. When Lucy disappears, she’s got nothing left. There’s very little in the way of plot, which wouldn’t matter so much if Wendy were more developed. Her daily actions of endurance are fascinating to watch, but it’s very difficult to care for the character. We never find out why she left home, why she has those mysterious bandages, or why she is so hard on her luck. We don’t learn anything about Wendy’s personally either; she’s broken to the point of being a void. Her back-story is left purposefully ambiguous, but that becomes a big hindrance for the audience’s emotional investment.

This feels like one of those films you’re almost required to like as a critic. It’s “arty,” and minimalistic, but it tries too hard. Or maybe it doesn’t try hard enough. Wendy isn’t enough of a character for the film to be much of a character study. And without giving anything away, the conclusion to the film left me underwhelmed and not emotionally attached at all. This film is meant to evoke empathy for homeless and others in tough financial times. But that’s a pretty hard task when you’ve got a ghost of protagonist.

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Observe and Report

Observe and Report is one part delicious farce, two parts vagrant confusion. And that's disappointing because this film showed a lot of potential.

Bi-polar mall security guard, Ronnie (Seth Rogen), must take action to catch a pervert who flashes several mall patrons. But Ronnie must compete with Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta) who is brought in to solve the case. He also tries to woo make-up counter girl, Brandi (Anna Faris), and become a real police officer. But neither of these subplots end up amounting to much of anything.

Observe and Report is a big, balls-out comedy. It is highly offensive and fearless which are great qualities to see in R-rated comedies. But unfortunately the humor is as uneven as Ronnie's moods. Moments like when Ronnie and a fellow security guard beat the living daylights out of skateboarders in the parking lot, or the unexpected twist in Ronnie and Brandi's sexual encounter had me breathless with laughter. The shocking parts were the best, especially the film's climax which is easily the most outrageous scene to taint the big screen in a long time. But for every comedic high, there is an equally unfunny low. The over reliance on profanity for laughs, and downright absurdity of the action are off-putting.

Besides the comedy, the plot also lacks cohesion. The script can't decide if it wants to focus on Ronnie's goal of joining the police academy or his mission to procure the pervert. There are also several loose threads in the plot that are unnecessary, such as turning one supporting character into a criminal, or having Brandi "cheat" on Ronnie. These elements do nothing for the overall story, but there isn't much of one to begin with. These issues wouldn't be as much of a problem if the comedy weren't so hit and miss, but that just isn't the case. It's a shame too, because Observe and Report had some moments of glorious comedic hysteria. But ultimately the lack of story and dry spells in humor make this film not worth observing.

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I Love You, Man

It can be really awkward meeting new people. It’s not something I’ve ever been good at, so I can relate to the main character’s plight in this film. But when the film itself becomes awkward to watch, this comedy is less than humorous.

Real estate agent Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) has always been a “girlfriend guy.” He puts so much effort into his relationships that he lets his male friends fall by the wayside. So when he proposes to his girlfriend, Zooey (Rashida Jones), and the two begin to make wedding plans, he realizes that he’s going to be all alone up at the altar. Peter goes on a series of “man-dates” to find a suitable best man. All hope seems lost until he meets Sydney (Jason Segel) at an open house. The two quickly become friends, but their friendship creates friction between Peter and Zooey.

I Love You, Man shows its strength with its realtionships. Peter and Zooey’s quarrels feel like things real couples could find relatable, like jealously over spending time with other friends. I also like the “bromance” concept, and the relationship between the two male leads is cute. But the movie’s biggest plus is Jason Segel, who is perfectly side-splitting playing the carefree loser, Sydney. And while this role isn’t complex, he shows that he can play different kinds of characters from his other work in How I Met Your Mother and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

However, Paul Rudd is just tolerable. He’s likeable and relatable, but he just can’t get the laughs that Segel can. One particularly un-funny running gag involves Peter becoming tongue tied and making up awkward words and nicknames for Sydney. It was funny the first few times, but they really needed to know when to stop. In places it was almost painful to watch Rudd’s inexplicably nerdy behavior. Besides Rudd, the whole movie feels a little too awkward for comfort. And for an R rated comedy, the film plays it too safe. There is nothing incredibly surprising, and the third act falls into cliché. I Love You, Man is funny at times but struggles to consistently keep laughs coming.

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Let the Right One In

Elegant is not usually a word one uses to describe a horror film. Nor are words like serene, delicate, or ethereal. But those are perfectly fitting descriptions of the Swedish import, Let the Right One In. However one could also be equally right saying that it’s violent, bloody, and disturbing. The film veers to both extremes, much like its main characters Oskar and Eli. They’re like two sides of the same coin.

Oskar is a lonely middle school boy who is constantly and cruelly bullied by stronger kids in his class. From the beginning we can see a rage building within him, but he doesn’t have the courage to stand up for himself. Oskar finds a friend in Eli, an equally lonely girl who moves in next door. What Oskar later learns is that Eli is a vampire, which he accepts without batting an eye. The two realize they are kindred spirits and form a relationship.

Let the Right One In leaves in a lot of blanks to be filled in by the viewers. The biggest inquiries probably surround Eli’s relationship with the questionable middle-aged man, Håkan, that she lives with. He kills for her to support her blood drinking habit. But he’s getting sloppy with the murders. He nearly gets caught in his first kill of the film. Does he want to get caught? And why does he later go through great lengths to protect her? In the book that the film was based on, Håkan is a pedophile that is being used by Eli. This is barely hinted at in the film. Also handled abstractedly is the issue of Eli’s androgynous gender. The vagueness is a double-edged sword for the film. On one hand, it’s nice to not beaten over the head with some facts, but on the other some threads feel unfinished.

One thing I cannot go without mentioning is the cinematography. The numerous shots of snowy Sweden are lovely and calm. They still maintain that look in contrast to the carnage that fouls the landscape. The shots are also frequently wide and pulled back, distancing us from the violence. One of the best things about the film is that the violence isn’t glamorized or overdone. It is bloody, but it’s not played out like in other recent horror films.

Perhaps more discomforting than the blood sucking is the bullying that Oskar endures. But anyone who was bullied as a kid will be glad to know that the punks get their comeuppance. Oskar finds courage from Eli to fight back. I really liked their understated relationship, and the differences between them. He’s weak, she’s strong. He wants to kill, but she has to kill to live. The development of their relationship takes prevalence over a strong story, so thankfully it’s a pleasure to watch.

The film has a lot going for it but it isn’t perfect. I felt a little underwhelmed after watching it. Maybe it was because critics almost universally praised it that my expectations were too high. One thing that bothered me though was that I spotted the ending coming a mile away. Without giving too much away, I will say that the climax is done in a pretty spectacular way. It just wasn’t a surprise, but maybe it didn’t need to be. I hope that I don’t come across too harshly because this is a really good film. I just didn’t enjoy it as much as some other critics. But this is still one of the best horror films to come out in a long time.

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