It is a tried and true formula, and when it works well, one that can be endearing. Not original, but endearing. And so it is with THE HOLDOVERS, Alexander Payne’s beautifully realized coming-of-age tale set at an exclusive New England boarding school where the real lessons are not the ones taught in the classrooms. This… Read More »
DOWNSIZING
DOWNSIZING is a film that cries out to be admired. Pondered. Parsed. Philosophical propositions and social commentary flit by in a mad whirl of arch observation and deadpan dea as we are invited to consider a veritable cornucopia of topics, all eminently worthy of examination. The class struggle and the human propensity for prejudice; the… Read More »
ABOUT SCHMIDT
With ABOUT SCHMIDT, Alexander Payne fixes the same acute eye he used in both CITIZEN RUTH and ELECTION to once again rip the façade of wholesome gentility from the upper middle class of the heartland of America and to show us the savagery beneath. Again Payne has chosen the milieu Nebraska, the home of the… Read More »
I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY
I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY is another self-indulgent, unfunny wallow in what Adam Sandler thinks is funny. From the first fart joke (10 minutes in) to the second fart joke (11 minutes in), to the self-congratulatory deus ex machina ending that is supposed to redeem the previous excruciating two hours, it is a… Read More »