Last Holiday
Our heroine, Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah), is a quiet woman currently struggling to get by in her current meager existence working as a clerk at a department store. She has a lot of big dreams, such as becoming a world-renowned chef, and confessing her true feelings to cute co-worker Sean (LL Cool J), but doesn't have the nerve or the spark to make her dreams a reality. After suffering a blow to the head while on the job that knocks her unconscious briefly, Georgia is terrified to learn from the company doctor that the resulting CAT scan reveals she has a rare brain tumor and only has three weeks left to live. Deciding to make the most of what precious little time she has left, she quits her job, takes all her savings she's been building up her adult life, and plans to make the most out of life at an exclusive European ski resort doing everything she's always dreamed of. Georgia's newfound free spirited lifestyle brings her to the attention to many of the guests who are also staying at the resort, including the wealthy head of the department store chain she used to work for (Timothy Hutton) who is visiting there with some friends. When his friends start hanging out with Georgia more than him, he becomes suspicious and jealous, and becomes determined to find out who this mysterious woman who seemingly came out of nowhere really is.
Instead of seriously tackling the question of what one would do if he or she found out they only had a short time to live, Last Holiday decides to treat its premise like a sitcom. There are plenty of "wacky" characters who wander in and out of the film as the screenplay sees fit, there's the scheming yet ultimately harmless villain working behind the scenes, and there are plenty of over the top comedic set pieces. But hey, perhaps I'm being harsh. After all, I'm sure the filmmakers were trying for escapism entertainment, so it's understandable that this is the path they chose. While I have no problem with that, my problem is that the movie does not do it very well. Instead of coming across as funny and clever, many of the situations, such as when Georgia tries her luck at skiing, come across as tired and uninspired slapstick with the actors screaming and falling over themselves, but not really generating any real laughs. When I watch a fun "escapism" movie, I just want to laugh and forget about my problems. All Last Holiday made me do was wonder how the heck a script like this stood out amongst the hundreds of others that must wind up on Queen Latifah's desk everyday. That's not to say the screenplay doesn't have its moments. There are a couple of quiet scenes where Georgia has some "conversations" with her mirror reflection about the situation she's found herself in of not having long to live that are heartfelt and true. These moments, while fleeting, do at least show that writers Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman put a little bit of thought into their effort.
While the script may be uninspired, the cast helps lift bring it some much-needed life. As much as I think Queen Latifah needs to be a bit more choosy in picking her projects, she definitely is having fun, and that fun comes through in her performance. Her portrayal of Georgia from meek store clerk to confident woman is likeable and so energetic that she alone makes the film worth watching at least once. Although none of her lines truly made me laugh, Georgia is an easy to relate to character, and is made all the more so by Latifah's performance. That's why it's so sad when the film keeps on throwing her into continuously outlandish sitcom situations throughout the film. Though she never loses the human side of her character, it seems like a mistake, especially when you see what she can do with her character during the film's more quiet and honest moments. The rest of the cast does not quite stand out as much as Latifah, but they at least make the most out of the little the screenplay gives them. There was one actor I wanted to see more of, and that was famed French actor Gerard Depardieu, who plays the chef at the resort who strikes up a close friendship with Georgia. Although he is enjoyable, the movie never seems to dig deep enough into his relationship with her, making it seem a bit more shallow than I think the filmmakers intended. Same thing for LL Cool J as the man Georgia secretly longs for. He spends such little time around Georgia and disappears for so long in the film that you almost wonder what the attraction between the two characters is. Though the characters may not be memorable, the performers give it their all.Are the performances alone enough to keep Last Holiday afloat? Even Latifah's energetic lead is not enough to prevent this movie from drowning in its own cliches and contrivances. The entire production as a whole feels forced and pointless and never really gives any reason for it to be on the big screen. Even "fun" movies such as this need to have some kind of memorable moment, and this film has none. By the time the film arrives at its almost pre-determined ending (Sorry if you consider the following a spoiler, but anyone who thinks a big studio fluffy romantic comedy is going to end with its lead actress in a casket is a fool.), you just don't care anymore. Although the actors bring their talents to the project, you can't help but wonder why they're even bothering in the first place. This is yet another movie that didn't need to be made, and the money used to make it could have been better served to make a more memorable film.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not of the belief that every movie has to be important or astonishing to win me over. There is a place for mindless, fun movies too. But, if you're going to do it, just do it right. Last Holiday does not do it right, so it does not get a recommendation from me. It's got a great lead character and a charming European setting, but with the prices today's theaters are charging, it takes so much more to make a filmgoing experience memorable.
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Much like the film version of Rent, The Producers brings back many of the same talent that made the show a hit on the stage. Aside from the two starring leads of Lane and Broderick, Gary Beach also returns, as does Roger Bart as Roger De Bris' equally flamboyant partner and assistant, Carmen Ghia. Unlike Rent, however, The Producers transfers successfully to the big screen because it actually has a story to tell, real characters, things that resemble conflicts, and above all, enjoyable songs. Most importantly, however, the film is funny from the first scene to the last. The returning stars are obvious veterans, and getting to see their performances on the screen after seeing them on Broadway a couple years ago was a huge thrill. I thought maybe something would be missing, or maybe it wouldn't be the same, but I still laughed as hard as I did when I was sitting in the orchestra pit area of the St. James Theatre. Lane and Broderick have such a natural opposite chemistry with each other that it's almost impossible to describe, but it works so well. Their lengthy introduction scene where they meet each other for the first time, and the scheme is initially set into motion is a wonder to watch as the two actors play off of each other and the delivery of their lines. Gary Beach and Roger Bart are wonderful as well in roles that could have come across as tired and cliched, but instead light up just about every scene they're in. Sure, Roger Bart is kind of in danger of getting typecasted as flamboyant gays (he also played one in 2004's Stepford Wives remake), but I can't deny he got some of the biggest laughs from me.
Of the two main actors new to the roles, both Uma Thurman and Will Ferrell shine in their own way. Thurman has an appropriately sexy/clueless atmosphere to her performance, and when she belts out her character's signature number "When You Got It, Flaunt It", she shows quite a bit of range in her singing. I also liked that the character of Ulla has been fleshed out more in both the stage production and this film than in the original movie. She seems more like a real character instead of a running gag which is mostly what she was used as in the 1968 version. And Ferrell as "Springtime's" playwright is a welcome sight after his last few disappointing films such as the mediocre Bewitched and the awful Kicking and Screaming. He takes on the insane character with full force, fully embracing every verbal, physical, and mental quirk of the character with often hilarious effect. Sure, he doesn't come close to capturing the glory of Kenneth Mars' take on the character in the 68 film, but he still gives it his all.
So, what of the film itself? Well, as mentioned earlier, the film is an almost slavishly faithful to the original stage production. While many of the scenes were shot on location in New York, there are many others that are quite obviously a soundstage and make no effort to hide their "staged" appearance. Normally, this would bother me, but this time, I let it fly because it seemed to fit in with the tone that the movie was trying to capture. And that tone is the great Hollywood musicals of the 40s and 50s. There are a number of scenes that are staged with a flair for the nostalgic including Leo Bloom's fantasy sequence "I Want to Be a Producer", Max's lament as he looks back on his life in "Betrayal", and a particularly charming scene where Leo and Ulla discover they have strong feelings for one another. The choreography, the staging, and the overall look is appropriately old fashioned, though there is of course the usual Mel Brooks touch of parody. I don't think the great Hollywood musicals of yesterday ever even dreamed of a number like "Keep it Gay"...The jokes fly fast and furious, both in the lyrics, the visuals, and sometimes even the staging of the sequences themselves. (A chorus line of old ladies using walkers.) That's what makes The Producers such a joy to watch. There's literally something to smile or laugh about in nearly every frame, and it continues right through to the ending credits. This is definitely one movie where you want to sit through the credits, or risk missing a very funny parody of pop ballads performed by Will Ferrell, and an additional scene that features a minute long closing number performed by the entire cast after the credits are completely finished.
Set in a fairy tale forest where humans and talking animals exist with one another peacefully, it seems that a massive crime wave has been plaguing the land. A mysterious thief whom authorities refer to as the "Goody Bandit" has been stealing sweets left and right, forcing various small bakeries and food stands to go out of business. Our heroine, Red Riding Hood (voice by Anne Hathaway) is a delivery girl for her Granny (Glenn Close) - a kindly old lady who runs the largest sweets and pastry business in the forest. Red is honestly concerned when she finds her Granny's business has been targeted and ransacked by the Bandit, and goes to her house to check on her. Instead of her gentle grandmother, she finds a suspicious Wolf (Patrick Warburton) in a cheap disguise waiting for her. The scene turns even more chaotic when Red's beloved Granny comes out of hiding in the closet bound and gagged, and a seemingly-insane ax-wielding Woodsman (Jim Belushi) comes diving through the window, swinging his tool madly and screaming incoherently.
Flash forward hours later, and Granny's house has been turned into a crime scene being supervised by the tough Police Chief Grizzly (Xzibit). He thinks it's an open and shut case, and that not only is the Wolf the guilty party, but he is also the dreaded Goody Bandit. Frog detective Nicky Flippers (David Ogden Stiers), however, thinks there's more to the story than what's been told. Questioning all four of the main people playing a role in the story, we learn what led each of them to Granny's house. Red was there to check on her grandmother out of concern; the Wolf is an investigative reporter who is tracking down the Goody Bandit, and thought Red and Granny might have connections to the thief; the Woodsman is actually a German Schnitzel vendor with dreams of becoming an actor, and was dressed as a lumberjack because he was auditioning for a commercial for foot cream; and Granny is revealed to be an Extreme Sports enthusiast whose reasons for being bound and gagged in the closet are too complex to summarize. As each character tells their own tale, the puzzle pieces fall into place, and the true identity of the Goody Bandit who is trying to wipe out Granny's business will be revealed.
The chief offense is the overall look of the film. Hoodwinked is easily one of the most uninspired looking animated films I've seen in years, and looks no better than some of the stuff you see on Saturday mornings. Sure, the film is brightly colored, but the character designs are so depressingly run of the mill you have to wonder how much thought went into making them. The human characters have this bizarre lifeless quality that make them look less like people and more like freakish human-sized plastic dolls come to life. Maybe it's the fact that their skin has this almost unhuman shining glow. Or maybe its the fact that their hair doesn't move and looks like it was plastered on top of their head. This may sound like I'm nitpicking, but with how detailed computer animation has become, there's simply no excuse for hair that does not move whatsoever when a character is gliding through the air. All of the characters seem to suffer from some flaw - either stiff and lifeless animation or just plain uninspired or uninteresting design. The film's defenders say the fact that it was a personally financed production means we should cut the filmmakers a break and let them cut some corners. I say that if you're going to release your movie theatrically, you need to try a bit harder. The makers of Hoodwinked obviously did not, making it the most visually unappealing animated film in recent memory. (I'm not even going to talk about the children who appear during the Woodsman's musical number, who look less like kids and more like living Chucky dolls.)
If the film had a strong script, I could probably forgive the film's numerous visual flaws. Unfortunately, the script seems to have gotten about as much attention as the animation. The jokes in this film try to fly fast and furious, but not a single one of them are funny, nor did any of them cause a nearly full theater packed with children to laugh. They giggled a couple times, but most of the time, the kids were as dead silent as their parents as the film constantly paraded limp gag after gag across the screen. The film's sole highlight is an old mountain goat character who can only sing instead of talk because of a witch's curse. Once he leaves the movie after his single scene, the film goes back to its old tricks and never recovers. I smiled a couple of times, but never truly laughed, nor did I feel involved enough to get into the story or the characters. A great animated film can involve you in ways that even some live action films can't. Hoodwinked kept me at a distance, and brought forth no emotion whatsoever. The film also features several musical numbers and pop music montages that go nowhere and only seem to exist to pad out the slight story to fill the running time. Perhaps more puzzling than the fact that these music sequences seem to often come out of nowhere is how abruptly and without warning they always end.
The mission gets underway, and we are introduced to the other members of Avner's team including the head mission handler (Geoffrey Rush), get away driver Steve (Daniel Craig), toymaker turned bombmaker Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz), the man in charge of cleaning up the murder scenes, Carl (Ciaran Hinds), and elderly forger Hans (Hanns Zischler). Duty-bound to their country, the men carry out the various assassinations with the help of Avner's main source of information - a Frenchman whose loyalty to the group seems questionable (Mathieu Alamric). But, as the year drags on, Avner begins to question his own actions. Is he really helping anything by pulling off and justifying these murders? After all, the men they kill are just replaced by others who are more vicious and cunning. Avner is pulled into a circle of violence and paranoia as his fellow men are murdered by mysterious assailants that are trying to stop their revenge cause.
Perhaps the film's wisest decision is how it humanizes and allows us to sympathize with the men pulling off these murderous acts throughout the film. These are not faceless killers pulling off murders for country, these are family men who gather for dinner and talk about their loved ones and their lives like everyday people. There are many simple, yet effective, moments that help us relate to Avner and his men outside of their cause. Such examples include a sequence where Avner is invited to the Frenchman informant's estate that is crawling with children, family, and seems to be a bright and loving place filled with laughter. Yet another example is when Avner's men celebrate their first successful mission. But the most striking moments of all concern Avner and his wife with their new daughter. We get the sense that he is doing these acts to protect his new family, and the film does a great job at showing both sides of the character - the unflinching, unfeeling assassin, and the family man who breaks into tears hearing his daughter's voice on the phone.
Credit must be given to the film's cast who are the key in allowing us to relate and sympathise with the characters. Eric Bana in particular makes the strongest impression, especially since he is in almost every scene of the film after the introductory sequence. He brings a great everyman quality to the role and is able to pull off every side of his complex character with honesty and integrity. Another stand out performance is Marie-Josee Crose in a very small yet integral role as a seductive spy. Even though the film has established her as a cold-hearted killer earlier, her final scene is almost touching and tragic as she attempts to cling to her one source of companionship - her pet cat, as she nears her end. It is such a small moment, but it also hits you with the weight of a large boulder.
The rest of the movie concerns a series of random scenes where Alex and his friends get stoned while playing video games, get stoned while making love, and yes, getting stoned while in public. You could probably count the number of scenes where somebody is not lighting up on one hand. There is a female love interest for Alex in the form of Samantha (Linda Cardellini) who is managing the production of the video game, but she too has zero personality whatsoever and (you guessed it) spends a good part of the later half of the movie stoned. The minutes slowly tick by as we realize that this is all the movie has to offer us. No jokes, no characters, just one joint after another. The movie does try to create some form of conflict when the evil J.P. tries to steal a video game design of Alex's, but this is resolved in about 10 minutes, and then they go back to getting stoned. You get the idea.
My question is why would anyone want to make this movie? I am especially puzzled by the fact that the film's star, Allen Covert, co-wrote the screenplay. Did he actually think this would be a good vehicle for him as he was writing this stuff? Did he actually think that this movie could launch him into a film career, as this is his first lead role in a movie? Why would you write a starring vehicle for yourself where you do absolutely nothing but play video games and get stoned in scene after scene? Is this the kind of movie you would want to be remembered for? He had a big chance here and he absolutely squanders it by not only making his own character about as interesting as the dust building under your refrigerator, but making everybody else equally so. He doesn't even let himself be funny, giving his character no jokes or anything even remotely humorous to do. The film constantly teases us, leading us to think it's building up to a joke, only to have it cut to the next scene or to give us a payoff that lands with the deafening thud similar to that of an elephant hitting the pavement after being pushed off a skyscraper.
More than once while watching this film, I was reminded of The 40-Year Old Virgin. Both films dealt with socially introverted people who surround themselves in a world of video games, pop culture, movies, and sex fantasies, only to be brought out of their shells by the love of a woman. Both were also co-written by the film's star to act as a vehicle. But whereas Virgin was a fitting showcase for Carell's talents and treated his character with dignity and respect, Grandma's Boy looks at the character of Alex, and indeed everyone who walks into the story, with such scorn and hatred that you almost wonder why anyone would think we'd want to watch a movie about them if the screenplay itself doesn't even respect its own characters. If this movie is to be believed, the entire video game industry, and indeed everyone who even plays video games, is a pathetic loser who sleeps in a race car bed, sucks his thumb, jacks off to Barbie dolls in public, and lives with their parents. Every single character in Alex's world is a "nerd" stereotype so extreme that they don't even seem human anymore. Perhaps that's because this movie doesn't understand its own world. The characters in this movie are not "geeks" or "nerds". They are freaks of nature seen through the eyes of a reprehensible and hateful screenplay that wants to mock and ridicule instead of actually finding anything funny for its characters to do. A smart movie would find humor in the situations and the characters. This movie doesn't even bother to be funny, and just expects us to laugh at the fact that everyone who works at the video game company still live with their parents and are virgins. You get the feeling that the filmmakers behind Grandma's Boy were the ones dishing out the wedgies back in high school.
