Cold Souls

Plotted like a bad fusion of Charlie Kaufman films, such as “Being John Malkovich” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Cold Souls,” from writer and director Sophie Barthes, does little with its intriguing premise.

Just like in “Malkovich,” actor Paul Giamatti literally plays himself, or at least a caricature of himself. And like in “Sunshine,” Giamatti goes through a high-concept surgery with unexpected side effects. Instead of erasing memories, Giamatti removes his soul.

Giamatti’s role in a production of Chekov’s “Uncle Vanya,” is causing him unbearable stress and anxiety. An advertisement in the New Yorker for a high-tech clinic that removes and stores souls sounds like a promising solution.

Apparently, souls are heavy, and having a twisted soul is worse than having no soul at all. At least that’s what Dr. Flintstein (David Strathairn) tells Giamatti on his first visit. He doesn’t go into more detail, which is one of the film’s problems.

Dialogue barely begins to scratch the surface. Extracting one’s soul hardly seems worth it, especially when the benefits are brushed over. Of course this is a high-concept comedy, but the film makes the idea unnecessarily hard to buy.

Giamatti loses all emotional and physical feeling and realizes he can’t act without a soul. Not wanting his own burdening soul, he fittingly chooses a Russian poet’s soul. His acting performance improves, but he desperately wants his own soul back. He discovers it was stolen by a soul-trafficking mule (Dina Korzun) and must go to Russia to retrieve it.

The film is more interested in its own ideas of soul trafficking and soul remnants left after an extraction than the true nature of the soul. In his first scene, Dr. Flintstein explains that they still don’t understand much about souls, let alone if they are immortal or not – yet souls are inexplicably physical objects. The film opts for the easier road and skimps on the more weighty philosophical and spiritual implications of removing souls.

Giamatti does provide some good laughs, but isn’t even as lovable as his usual sad-sack characters; he doesn’t punch up the endearing neuroses as much as usual. The film shows more restraint than most comedies.

When Giamatti receives the Russian soul, he thankfully doesn’t start speaking with a thick accent, a device that a lesser film would have used. This film is smart in its own right, but it still doesn’t dig deep enough into its story.

Much like Giamatti’s character’s soul, the film itself is quite cold. Director Sophie Barthes shoots the film so the viewer will feel detached, which makes it especially hard to sit through when the pace is so slow.

“Cold Souls” is funny, but could have been funnier. It’s smart, but could have been smarter. For a film about such a heavy topic, “Souls” comes off as a lightweight.

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Brüno

Here you have it folks; 2009’s answer to “Milk.”

Maybe it’s not as much of a gay groundbreaker, but Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Brüno” is definitely gayer. This guy is all shades of gay. He’d make the “Queer Eye” guys look straight.

Brüno is the host of “Funkyzeit mit Brüno,” an Austrain fashion program. He is disgraced when he wears an all Velcro suit to Fashion Week and tumbles out on the runway stuck to everything near him. Being blacklisted in his home country, he flies to LA with his assistant Lutz (Gustaf Hammarsten) to try to become the “biggest Austrian celebrity since Hitler.”

Just like in his 2006 hit “Borat,” Cohen puts his character into real situations. Sure, some bits are scripted and acted out, but most are the real thing.

If nothing else, this is the boldest comedy this year. Not for depth or ideas or anything like that, but the sheer ludicrousness of the feats Cohen tries to pull off.

Brüno interviews a real terrorist. Their chat is understandably short. There’s also a gay wrestling match before an angry crowd of good ol’ boys. One pelts a folding chair at Brüno.

The weaker moments are typically the scripted ones. The love story between Brüno and Lutz falls flat.

“Brüno” tries to expose homophobia in the United States, but does so with gay stereotypes. Many of Brüno’s antics are so wild that anyone would be taken aback. He’s much different than your average gay man who’s probably not going to force you to watch a video of his talking penis.

Therein lies the reason this film isn’t nearly as funny as “Borat:” the laughs here are really provoked. Borat let his victims hang themselves, but Brüno gives them little choice. Sure, it exposes gay prejudice, but it’s not saying a lot under such extreme conditions.

But that’s secondary to the jokes. This is a comedy after all. Preposterous hilarity abounds. The sex scene between the lead and his boyfriend is probably the most riotously vulgar sex scene since the puppet sex in “Team America: World Police.”

In places, the film succeeds with both social commentary and big laughs. Brüno interviews parents who try to get their babies hired for a film. They’d be willing to dress their kids as Nazis, strap them to a cross, or give them liposuction to become stars.

For the most part, Brüno is pretty funny. The tension builds between Brüno and his victims to staggering heights and is enthralling to watch. But if less of the material had been scripted, the film would have been much better off. Borat is also a more inherently likable character than Brüno.

While it’s not as strong as “Borat,” “Brüno” hits more than it misses. Prepare to laugh, be shocked, disgusted, and back again.

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Whatever Works

Woody Allen is nothing if not prolific and is back with his yearly cinematic offering.

New Yorker Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David) wouldn’t hesitate to impose his views on intellect, religion, and worthlessness of existence to anyone within earshot. He’s a crotchety, recently divorced old guy with little to live for. When Melodie (Evan Rachel Wood), a southern runaway, meets Boris and convinces him to let her stay in his apartment, she adds a little light to his otherwise dark existence.

Despite their 40+ year age gap, the two get married. They seem oddly content until Melodie’s parents show up and complicate things.

Larry David fits into the Woody Allen persona well, but isn’t as likeable as the characters Allen once played himself. Boris can be downright abhorrent. Wood is cute and likeable, but her southern shtick wears thin. And she’s given some really, really bad jokes.

Story structure is helter-skelter at best. The first half of the picture focuses on Boris and his ramblings, but the second half takes lengthy diversions with Melodie’s infidelity and her mother (Patricia Clarkson) discovering herself.

The conclusions come too quickly and neatly. Some jokes fall flat. And no one makes a better Woody Allen than Woody Allen.

This is disappointing because parts of the movie are charming and poignant. There are some good laughs too. The main point the protagonist is trying to make is that though life is miserable and worthless, you should hang on to whatever bit of happiness you can find. “Whatever works,” he says.

And while that’s a nice sentiment, I walked out of the theater thinking “whatever.”

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The Proposal

The Proposal looks like it’ll be the big romantic comedy of the summer. But it’s standard fare for the genre.

Domineering editor-in-chief Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock), forces her assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her to keep her Visa status in the U.S. and avoid deportation to Canada.

Andrew only agrees under the condition that he is promoted to editor. When the government investigates the possibility of fraud, the two must spend a weekend at Andrew’s family’s home in Alaska to make their relationship appear legit.

Andrew has a couple subplots involving gaining his father’s approval and a missed opportunity with a sweet ex-girlfriend. These are nothing amazing but help to flesh out Reynold’s character and their world.

This film is full of familiar rom-com material. There’s a cute old lady. Ridiculous comedy set pieces. The inevitable third act break up. None of this stuff really worked for me. I’ll admit, what drew me in was Ryan Reynolds.

Reynolds brings his enjoyable smarmy humor to the role, and as usual, is a pleasure to watch. This has been a good year for him, first proving himself as a decent actor in Adventureland, getting a small part in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and now starring alongside Bullock.

On the outside, Bullock is a heartless shrew, but there is a reason for that. We do get to see her more human side as she warms up to Reynolds. But her character development is a bit of a mess. She goes from a soulless she-devil to an uninteresting goof and back. I bought her as the callous boss, but the rest didn’t feel as natural.

Their characters aren’t terribly deep or anything, but they’re more than one sided, cardboard cutout people up there on the screen. But Bullock’s transitions were still a bit iffy.

Rounding out the cast are Craig T. Nelson and the lovely Mary Steenburgen as Andrew’s parents and Betty White as grandma. The most enjoyable supporting role was by Oscar Nuñez of The Office as the town Jack-of-all-trades, whose duties include exotic dancer.

This movie isn’t going to stick with you. It’s one you enjoy, go home and forget about. It depends entirely on your tolerance for romantic comedies. If you like them, you’ll like this, if you hate them, you’ll hate this.

I’m kind of a sucker for them once in a while, but this one is nothing special. It wouldn’t kill you to see it with your girlfriend, but be prepared for yet another tragically flawed romantic comedy. Just make sure you know how you feel about your own proposal.

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Up

“For every laugh, there should be a tear.”

The filmmakers behind Pixar’s newest film seemed to keep the words of the late Walt Disney in mind. Director Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc.) may have concocted some of the studio’s wilder story concepts, but his films have had the most emotional impact on me. I’ll admit that the first ten minutes or so of Up made me cry.

We meet Carl Fredricksen (Ed Asner) as a little boy who’s itching to go on an adventure. He idolizes Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), an Indiana Jones type hero who embarks on a trip to South America. Carl strikes up a friendship with Ellie, a boisterous young girl who shares his idol and passions.

The pair falls in love, gets married, and grows old together. The couple talks about going on an adventure like Muntz someday, but real life gets in the way. Their story felt true, their love story sweet. I grew to care a lot about them in a short time, which made it pretty tough when Ellie dies.

Carl now lives alone in a small house amidst towering buildings. A construction company tries to evict Carl from his home so they can bulldoze his home. After a few unfortunate events, Carl is deemed unfit to live alone and is going to be escorted to a retirement home.

He decides to escape, ties a ludicrous number of balloons to his house, and floats away to finally explore South America in honor of his late wife. However, Carl discovers a stowaway wilderness explorer, eight year old Russell (Jordan Nagai), on board. From there the unlikely pair find themselves in a series of unusual adventures in a foreign landscape.

Up is by far Pixar’s most cartoony effort, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are a lot of staples of the kid’s movie here, especially the goofy talking animals. However, I will say that those characters, Dug the dog (Bob Peterson, writer and co-director) in particular, are quite funny. While this is nothing new for the genre, it’s actually new for Pixar. Also, what gets the characters from point A to point B doesn’t come as organically as it has in past Pixar films.

But at its heart, Up is a very sweet, emotional film. The film vies to make you appreciate everyday moments, and basically to not put all your eggs in one basket. And most importantly, it makes you care about its characters. And seeing them come to the end of their journey is fun and fulfilling.

You’re guaranteed at least one great movie a year when there’s a Pixar release coming up.

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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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Adventureland

Adventureland is a movie with great characters. The little moments between them feel organic. And it’s really hilarous, too. It’s 1987. James (Jesse Eisenberg) has just graduated from college and is looking forward to graduate school in New York City. But when his parents can’t fund his European trip nor his higher education, he realizes that for the first time in his life he has to get a summer job. The only thing he can find is a low-paying, degrading job at a local amusement park, Adventureland. There he meets co-worker Em (Kristen Stewart), and the two quickly form a sweet romance. In spite of James’s previous failures with girls and Em’s promiscuous past, this is their first love. And that’s what Adventureland is really about – falling in love for the first time. I don’t want to give away any more of the story because it’s best to walk into this film not knowing the subplot.

I was surprised at how easily Eisenberg carried the film. This guy’s acting skills are on par with – if not better than – look-alike Michael Cera. Usually the “angst-ridden female” character grates on me, but Stewart plays her well enough. Bill Hader is excellent as the park manager, playing the humor more low-key than he usually does. And then we have Ryan Reynolds, who sheds his usual wise-guy shtick and plays a genuinely creepy individual. The final scene with his character is done just right. The writers could have easily made Reynolds react one way to the preceding events, often the mistake of lesser films of the same genre, but they chose the more realistic option.

It’s little realistic moments that make Adventureland work. The way in which the characters relate and react to each other feels natural. And, most importantly, the relationship between James and Em works, so it’s hard not to root for them. Besides being about first loves, the film also explores dumb mistakes we make in those relationships. This is familiar stuff for almost anyone. Plus, this movie is also really, really funny, although the comedy pales in comparison to Superbad. Greg Mottola directed both, and this film is smarter and has more heart than its funnier counterpart. This film nails the romance and the characters, as well as the little interactions between them. Adventureland just works, and you’d be hard pressed to find a better comedy in theaters right now.

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