YES MAN tries to be two kinds of Jim Carrey movies at once and fails twice over. The result is a flat and unappetizing work that is neither serious enough to win over an audience looking for something of substance, nor wacky enough to satisfy fans of the manic Carrey of THE MASK or ACE… Read More »
CHRISTMAS CAROL, A
A great deal of money has been expended in order to bring the Robert Zemeckis 3D animated version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL to the screen. And yet, for all the showy set pieces that have Scrooge (Jim Carrey) hurtling through the stratosphere at breakneck speeds creating dizzying tableaux of impressively changing perspectives, every woman in… Read More »
MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS
MR POPPERS PENGUINS contains that ineffable quality of both whimsy and heart that makes it as irresistible to kids as it is to adults. Based on the novel by Richard and Florence Atwater, it is time-honored tale of a man who has lost the wonder of childhood only to regain it in the most unexpected… Read More »
INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE, THE
THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE is a sweet little film about finding, losing, and then rediscovering a sense of wonder. Any sense of the ponderous, however, in telling this tale with a definite moral is more than offset by the gentle silliness with which the story is told. Its a deft bit of sleight-of-hand as befits… Read More »
MAJESTIC, THE
THE MAJESTIC desperately wants to be a heartwarming classic, the type that is a staple of family gatherings and the holiday memories of a million people. It is intent on warming the cockles of the heart, but screenwriter and Hollywood native Michael Sloanr, even abetted by GREEN MILE and SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION director Frank Darabont, has… Read More »
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
Check to see if Hell has frozen over, if there are flocks of pigs flying overhead, if theres a rip in the space/time continuum, because I’ve seen something that I was sure would never happen: Jim Carrey giving a mature, nuanced performance that is both genuinely affecting and deeply moving. That grail that he has… Read More »
FUN WITH DICK AND JANE
A certain amount of hype is to be expected in show biz, even if the excesses of the golden days of ballyhoo as exemplified by William Castle have passed. It’s all part of the shell game that purveyors of entertainment play in order to engage the enthusiasms, or even just pique the interest, of the… Read More »
THE NUMBER 23
It’s one thing when a film is bad from the very start. There is an honesty about it, a candor that is, in its own small way, praiseworthy. The same cannot be said about THE NUMBER 23. Instead of breaking one’s heart merely by being bad, it commits the far more heinous offense of offering… Read More »
BRUCE ALMIGHTY
Jim Carrey wants it both ways. He wants to be the heir apparent to The Three Stooges, but he also wants to tug at our heartstrings. Until now, hes divided those aspirations between films, the silliness of ME, MYSELF, AND IRENE and the carefully calibrated corn of THE MAJESTIC. Perhaps sensing that his audience has… Read More »
LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
When I heard that Jim Carrey would be starring in A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, based on the first three installments of the deliciously arch and ironic series of the same name by Lemony Snicket, my heart sank. Obviously, I thought, it was doomed to be a vehicle for Carreys brand of broad physical humor… Read More »