He’s Just Not That Into You (**1/2)

It’s a curious thing when plotless dating-advice books get turned into feature films. Woody Allen went for outright silliness in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask, but it would seem that romantic comedy is the more usual approach. Sex and the Single Girl (1964) was an early example, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) a more recent one. This ensemble-cast movie is adapted from the similarly titled bestseller by Sex and the City staffers Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, but might well be called No Sex for the Single Girl.

It takes place in Baltimore, in an alternate universe in which pixie-cute Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) can’t even get a guy to call her. Her coworker (Jennifer Aniston) can’t get her boyfriend (Ben Affleck) to marry her. And her other coworker (Jennifer Connelly) can’t get her husband to fuck her (or admit he’s sneaking smokes). Drew Barrymore’s Mary somehow fits into the movie, and she can’t seem to find a date either. As Jay Leno joked, if these women can’t find a man, what hope is there for anyone else? (“Anyone else”—the plain, the old, the chubby, even the nonwhite—gets relegated to brief, modestly funny interview segments that occassionally punctuate the main yuppie storyline.)

Gigi’s plot is the one that most direct ties into the book, whose pithy Q&A format has the authors answering fake letters under such headings as “The ‘Maybe He Doesn’t Want to Ruin the Friendship’ Excuse.” Gigi uses that one and others to explain why her soul mate (who seems to be any guy she talks to in a bar) won’t come calling. I suppose this is the sort of film that is meant to attract women, yet if they take the movie at all seriously—not a wise course, perhaps—how can it not leave them feeling depressed? The single ones pine for unavailable men, and the married one blithely remodels while her husband’s eyes wander to a flirtatious blonde (Scarlett Johanssen). Johanssen, perhaps because she’s the only cast member under 30, plays the only one of these women not made to seem desperate. On the other hand, she’s also the one who thinks her dream guy is already married. Maybe.

Well, it is hard to adapt these sorts of self-help books without pandering to reductive stereotypes about both sexes. But the book at least reminds women that men don’t hold all of the cards in the world of romance. Its message seems to be, you can do better. The movie’s is more like, all you can do is hope. In crafting their loosely constructed story, screenwriters Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein (Never Been Kissed) might have at least provided a contrasting female character. Someone like Samantha in Sex and the City, not necessarily a sexual predator, but someone self-confident and wise enough not to need a self-help book.

Of course, the men fare only slightly better; they’re mostly seen as players who can only be made to commit via ultimatum. The exception is metrosexual real-estate agent Conor, whose character is probably better developed than any of the female ones. Deftly played by Kevin Connolly, he also has some of the funnier bits as he works to both appeal to his gay clientele and win back his ex.

And there are other funny moments (despite the complaints above), like when one of the women intentionally breaks a vase in a rage, then immediately brings out the broom and dustpan. Only occasionally does it get too cute. The trio of obviously gay men who serve as substitute girlfriends with tart, slangy advice (“MySpace is the new booty call!”) for Mary are recent, but still tired, clichés. But at least there’s not a clothes-changing montage.

I’m still not sure what the point of making an advice book into a romantic comedy is. At least two of the endings of this one seem to directly contradict the book’s thesis. But it’s a catchy title, and that’s important.

IMDB link

viewed 1/29/09 (screening at Ritz Bourse); reviewed 1/30/09 and 2/6/09

The Invasion (**3/4)

Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig star in the fourth filmed adaptation of Jack Finney’s The Body Snatchers. The first two, both called Invasions of the Body Snatchers (1956, 1978) are considered sci-fi classics or near classics, but this is a new adaptation rather than a remake per se. So gone are the pod people. Replacing them are the virus people who become infected after a space shuttle crash. Since our heroes are a psychiatrist and a scientist, they figure out quicker than some that something weird is happening to the people around them. A contagious, but menacing, calm pervades. Worry turns to fear, and fear fights with restlessness, since the virus takes hold during sleep.

The movie was reportedly the subject of a studio hatchet job. Warner Brothers replaced nominal director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall) with James McTeigue (V for Vendetta), who shot new action scenes. While the resulting film is perfectly coherent and reasonably entertaining, parts seem out of place. What’s the point of the scene where the two stars discuss whether they’ll be friends or lovers, when the issue never comes up again and has no effect on the plot? Presumably the execs figured they could deep six most of the existential shit, throw in a few action scenes, and convince people that this was the next summer popcorn flick. Judging by the opening weekend grosses, it didn’t work. More to the point, the movie is caught midway between two visions. The action stuff is okay but seems to have come at the expense of further exploring the single idea in the film. That is, can humanity’s most destructive instincts be overcome without also destroying creativity and individuality?

This Invasion should be all about building upon this theme and ratcheting up the silent paranoia that grips the uninfected. But, just like with that disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow, large chunks of time are spent on a parent trying to rescue a trapped kid. Will even one person watch this movie and think, hey maybe Nicole won’t be able to save her pre-teen son from being turned into an automaton by her evil ex-husband? You’ve got the whole world being threatened—show that, show what the government is doing, show what people in Tokyo, or Johannesburg, are doing. All we get is meager media reports.

The saving virtues are that the characters are mostly believable, their behavior doesn’t seem false, and in certain places the climate of dread is appropriately reproduced. But the paradox in the movie, the way the infected don’t seem to mind, is the fascinating thing that is barely explored. Thus the little what if epilogue will probably produce more mild shrugs than dropping jaws.

IMDB link

reviewed 8/23/07

Hairspray (***1/4)

Like Little Shop of Horrors and The Producers, Hairspray has made the rare circular journey from screen comedy to Broadway musical to screen musical. Directed by choreographer Adam Shankman, this new version stars newcomer Nikki Blonsky as bubbly, chubby Tracy Turnblad, whose dream is to dance on Baltimore’s hottest teen dance show. It’s 1962, and The Corny Collins Show is still reserved for “nice white kids.” Once a month, there is Negro Day, hosted by Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah). Standing in Tracy’s way is the station manager (Michelle Pfeiffer), who doesn’t want either blacks or fat girls dancing.

Shankman’s non-musical credits include weak family comedies The Pacifier and Cheaper by the Dozen 2, but the slick patina he provides is just right for a musical, and it’s not as big of a deal that the re-worked plotting at the end isn’t exactly believable. What does remain from the 1988 John Waters movie is the sense of place and time. The prevalent pastels, teased hair, and other fashions help establish the scene, and the songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman owe a lot to girl-group hits like “Chapel of Love,” one of the songs seen on the Top 10 chart in the TV studio. Waters has said that he intentionally set his movie right before what most people think of as “the Sixties.” (Look for Waters as “the flasher who lives next door.”) Unlike with Grease, set slightly earlier, the Hairspray characters don’t feel like modern people in period couture. Thus, in a comically shocking aside, we see a pregnant woman drinking. Thus Tracy sings that she “won’t go all the way, but I’ll go pretty far.” The black characters, who seem relatively unidimensional, represent to the whites either a threat or something tantalizingly forbidden and cool, but they are apart either way. Social progress, not upheaval, is the order of the day.

The Broadway cast has been replaced, mostly by Hollywood pros like James Marsden as Corny Collins, Amanda Bynes as Tracy’s best friend, and Christopher Walken as Tracy’s dad. In the cross-dressing role of Tracy’s Mom, John Travolta may not be Divine, but he’s pretty good and, in a fat suit, looks a lot like Blonsky. He and Walken dance and sing in the movie’s most old-fashioned number, “(You’re) Timeless to Me.” Blonsky, plucked from community-theater obscurity, is a fine choice as buoyant Tracy. Possessed of a clear powerful voice, she sings what I thought were the most memorable tunes, including the opening “Good Morning Baltimore.” With nearly 20 songs crammed into two hours, I found myself slightly wearied by the time this ended, but overall it was a lot of fun.

IMDB link

written 7/27/07

Step Up (**1/4)

? A rebellious white kid (Channing Tatum) at a black high school in Baltimore is forced into doing community service at a performing arts school. There, he shows off his hip-hop moves to an aspiring professional dancer played by Jenna Dewan, who also appeared in Take the Lead, another recent dance movie. R&B star Mario plays Tatum’s best friend.

+ Um, ex-model Tatum sure is handsome. There’s some decent soft hip hop on the soundtrack. The most interesting song, a blend of rap and orchestration that serves as the big showcase number, seems to be missing from the soundtrack album, though.

- Read the description and you know the story. Save the Last Dance is a more convincing movie covering the same ground. For a dance movie, the performances are too infrequent, and the romance generates little heat. The female characters, including Dewan’s, are all pretty trite. A couple of supporting characters have sudden transformations that aren’t that believable.

= **1/4 Although Step Up won’t win any awards, it might be worth seeking out if you enjoy the genre, as it at least doesn’t insult your intelligence.

IMDb link