The wonderful thing about Gerard Butler is that his puckish animal magnetism can almost carry a clunker like THE UGLY TRUTH. A putative romantic comedy about the fundamental differences between men and women, it reduces both genders to emotional cripples while failing to find any humor in the situation. Katherine Heigl, an engaging enough actress,… Read More »
IDENTITY THIEF
Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman are two of the funniest people on the planet. Theirs is the comedic version of perfect pitch, be it broad slapstick, or subtle irony, they take a line or a situation and wring from it every possibility for guffaws, chuckles, and even chortles. So why, when you have these two… Read More »
ADORE
ADORE, adapted from Doris Lessing’s novel The Grandmothers, is a compelling, dangerous meditation on the stifling nature of convention, and the fluid nature of emotional bonding when societal norms are put aside. At the center are two lifelong friends, Lil (Naomi Watts) and Roz (Robin Wright), best friends since childhood. They are not, as the… Read More »
ONE HOUR PHOTO
Its not a terribly original premise. Lonely guy longs for the warmth and comfort of a family and becomes attached to what he considers to be the ideal set up. Still, obsession can be tantalizing fodder for film when handled correctly, which in the case of ONE HOUR PHOTO, its not. It has all the excitement,… Read More »
FRIENDS WITH KIDS
Best friends Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt) and Jason (Adam Scott) think they have it all figured out when it comes to having it all. Having seen the toll that the introduction of childbearing has taken on the relationships of their hip and ecstatically happy married friends, they turn cerebral about the most primal of instincts and… Read More »