Click here to listen to the interview. I loved the first scenes of Genevieve Adams’ SIMCHAS AND SORROWS so much that I worried what followed would have a hard time living up to it. In it, the heroine, Agnes, during her Catholic schoolgirl days, questions a nun about Jesus’ own religious upbringing, and how best… Read More »
MARRY ME
MARRY ME falls into the category of mostly harmless. As a rom-com, it shadows its inspiration, NOTTING HILL, at a respectful distance in an exercise tailored to showcase its star/co-producer Jennifer Lopez as an actress and a singer fond of sparkly outfits. It’s bright, shiny, and no more serious than its premise of a superstar… Read More »
ISN’T IT ROMANTIC
It’s a clever premise that propels ISN’T IT ROMANTIC, using the idiom of rom-coms to give us just that, but a rom-com that affirms that the regular Joe and Jane out there can also be the star. One that deconstructs every cliché with self-aware relish, while also staying open to the magic of true love.… Read More »
Amy Schumer is No TRAINWRECK
Turning gender roles neatly on their heads, Amy Schumer has created a screwball comedy of considerable substance. Taking sure aim at the abomination of the formula rom-com, she satirizes not just the genre, but the state of contemporary single-hood. Starring in a script of her own devising, she is fearless, relentless, and completely unapologetic as the titular hot mess, also named Amy, with commitment issues and a healthy libido.
ALOHA
ALOHA is a glorious, unkempt disaster of a film. Individual elements are ambitious, even praiseworthy, but the narrative arc of this comedy-drama about Hawaiian legends, the privatization of space, and a hunky guy with commitment issues falls apart almost as soon as the whirl-a-gig ride begins. Credit where it’s due, though, writer-director Cameron Crowe is… Read More »