Wilson and Sudeikis play a couple of over-40 pals who are so unhappy with their sex lives that their wives (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate) grant them the title pass, basically a week off from marriage during which the guys are free to have sex with other women.

To appease the teen boys and college guys, the brothers throw in plenty of the kind of gross-out moments they’re known for–male and female nudity, a woman spraying diarrhea on a shower wall, Sudeikis getting caught by cops doing something he shouldn’t in a minivan–plus plenty of explicit talk about sex and such.

But they balance out the outrageous stuff with surprisingly meaningful writing and by having situations play out a little differently than you might expect. This goes mainly for the relationships that develop between Wilson and a hot Australian girl (Nicky Whelan) and Fischer and an older man (Bruce Thomas), as well as Applegate’s flirtation with a college-age baseball player (Tyler Hoechlin).

As well the brothers make sure all the characters are interesting, even the supporting ones, like Whelan’s coffeehouse co-worker (Derek Waters), Wilson and Fischer’s twenty-something babysitter (Alexandra Daddario), and the forty-something woman (Kristin Carey) who seduces Sudeikis. Richard Jenkins (The Visitor) plays what is easily the funniest character, a fifty-something playa who gives the guys advice on how to pick up women.

The main cast is what makes the movie really work, though. Wilson is unexpectedly affecting as the practical pal with middle-age worries, and his speech about the spot on his chest where his wife and kids have all fallen asleep is the film’s emotional highlight. Sudeikis deftly delivers laughs with his perpetual potty mouth and desperate attempts to get lucky, while Applegate is adequate and Fischer simply shines, especially during the nicely-handled scenes in which she’s charmed by said older guy.

If you just want laughs, there are plenty of them, including Wilson imagining the consequences of buying said babysitter some beer; a pompous guy boasting about his Prius, which is parked next to a Hummer; Wilson and Sudeikis being oblivious to the security cameras as they walk around said guy’s new house; the use of the “Law & Order” chime as each hall-pass day starts; Sudeikis wearing a strange mask to help him sleep; the guys going to Chili’s to find women; and pal Stephen Merchant’s hilarious envisioning of what would happen if he had a hall pass. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Comedy/Romance

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 6/14/11

Blue Valentine

So that brings us to Blue Valentine. This movie was widely acclaimed as one of the best of 2010. The story is simple. It’s about the breakdown of a marriage. I’m told that it’s a little depressing, but I am never depressed by a well-made, provocative, and artful film. Cindy (Michelle Williams), is bright, pretty, and has dreams of going to medical school. Dean (Ryan Gosling) is a high school dropout whose mother split when he was young, and who now works for a moving company. You’re beginning to get the picture? They’re kind of mismatched, but they meet, have a romantic interlude, she dances and he plays the ukulele, and through pregnancy and destiny, they end up together. We get glimpses of the couple during various phases of their relationship – the film is edited with cross cutting over time periods, and in this way, the viewer understands their back story without the typical chronological order of most narratives. Credit Jim Helton, along with the other editor, Ron Patane, for not only making this style work, but for also enhancing how the story unfolds.

Both Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams got multiple award nominations, and Michelle got the Oscar nod. I really think that Ryan’s contribution to this film was equal to that of Michelle. His Dean is a familiar character – he’s playful, loyal, very boyish, and he drinks and smokes too much. A very telling line in the movie comes when Cindy, frustrated with what she perceives as Dean’s lack of ambition, asks him if he doesn’t ever think about having a job where he doesn’t have to drink at 8 am. Dean retorts that the fact that he can drink at 8 am is actually a great “benefit” of his painting job. He is hugely devoted to their daughter, Frankie, and he’s the kind of guy that cries over the loss of a dog, and bonds immediately with the other guys at work. Ryan totally inhabits this character. It’s a pleasure to watch him. He’s an actor with great range, and we have seen that he was as effective in Lars and the Real Girl as he was in Half Nelson. He imbues Dean with a soft vulnerability that is somehow and magically melded seamlessly with his blue-collar sensibility. We’re not given a tremendous amount of detail about how their love devolves. This is really my one gripe with the movie: not quite enough linkage of how the couple went from spark to lights out. I could have used more proof about why Cindy was over Dean, because in spite of his flaws, I romanticized him and was rooting for him. Of course, I didn’t have to live with him. But instead, Michelle delivers an achingly delicate, subtly breathtaking performance, totally complex in its simplicity and not readily definable. Her turn as Wendy in Wendy and Lucy could draw a comparison, but here, in Blue Valentine, she’s even more like a painting that invites interpretation.

Add great music (you’ll know Grizzly Bear after this film) and some great sets – bridges, buses, store entrances, and the best one: the Future Room in a cheapo motel where Dean hopes to reach back to the love and the sex that attracted them at first. And speaking of sex, there are a couple of somewhat graphic scenes—graphic enough to warrant the threat of an NC-17 rating, which was eventually and thankfully overturned in favor of an R rating.

There’s so much more. We see the portrayal of family relationships, a chance encounter between Cindy and her old boyfriend, the smarmy doctor offering Cindy a new “position”, and the initial meeting point of Cindy and Dean—Cindy visiting her grandma in a retirement home while Dean is moving in an elderly gentleman. This is one of the most poignant scenes of the film. I could go on and on, but before a spoiler occurs here, I’ll just say a big “See it”, and think of Derek behind the counter years ago at Video Station. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Drama/Romance

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 5/10/11

I don’t like him. Can you really blame me?

I did, however, end up liking No Strings Attached. The story of “friends with benefits” and how it never actually works, with Natalie Portman as a medical intern, and Ashton Kutcher as a Hollywood production assistant/fledgling writer. After Kutcher ends up at Portman’s house after a debaucherous night, they make their no-love-just-sex arrangement.

It is at this point you stop caring about the main characters for a bit, because you know it’s going to get “complicated.” Kevin Kline as the hard-partying-fomer-tv-star dad was the point where I warmed up a little bit to the movie. Then when you first meet Natalie Portman’s doctor roommates, Mindy Kaling from The Office and Greta Gerwig from Greenberg, they are funny and interesting. After meeting all the secondary characters, you warm back up to the “stars” because they’re friends with these interesting people.

It’s largely predictable, and occasionally rude, but in the end, I didn’t turn it off. If you’re looking for light laughs with no commitment (sorry, had to be done) then check out No Strings Attached.

As a disclaimer, I should let you know I was the only person I know who liked this. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Comedy/Romance

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 5/10/11

With a title and premise like this, the expectations could be of a film with romance and the waters of the Mediterranean washing away grief, or of a borderline Hallmark channel film with sobbing breakdowns and declarations of seeing mommy in heaven.

Fortunately Michael Winterbottom is a better director than that, a journeyman artist with a sure hand.

A ghost story that allows the sweet and sour tangle of relationships past and present to unfold, A Summer In Genoa may seem slim at first and you may not desire it to be what it is, a quiet melodrama that works with a skillful naturalism of both surface and subtext, some failings in place but with so many right notes rung.

What’s on the screen is a family, prickly at times with each other and exploring from a home base of mourning, that’s moved to a foreign place.

Colin Firth, as the father Joe, is at his earthy, casual best, remembering but breathing new air. His daughters, Willa Holland as the older Kelly and Perla Haney-Jardine as the younger Mary, seem so sisterly, both coping and exploring and touching mutual raw nerves. Perla as Mary, the more lost of the two sisters, has a heartbreaking sincerity, and bonds with Barbara (Catherine Keener), a friend who helps them settle in. Willa portrays Kelly very much as a young woman in a European city. Boys abound and while not completely irresponsible, she wants time for herself which doesn’t mean she loves her family any less.

Of course Genoa itself is a character. Winterbottom chooses to show it in small doses. We’re not supposed to fall in love with the city in some touristy fashion, but as the family does we get familiar with its streets, people, fissures and faults. Intimate and warm one moment, claustrophobic and strange the next. Not alien, just a city like any other.

So you can’t want this film to be a “good-year-in-the-tuscan-sun-by-the-Mediterranean” vacation.

As the people in this film do, let go a little, move on a little, remember a little. – [DVD]

Drama/Romance

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 4/12/11

I mention this so my next line makes a little more sense.

I Love You Phillip Morris is kind of like a small child doing the conga all the way downstairs holding a DVD box. Sure, at first you’re interested; you say to yourself, what in the heck is the story here?

Much like Jim Carrey’s Steven Russell, a married cop who becomes a gay con man. In prison Steve meets the love of his life, Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor), a naive southern man with a good heart who might be a little too trusting. You see the analogy working, this is kind of a new thing, not something you see every day.

Once you put together that the kid is dancing the conga, and really just doing it because it strikes his fancy, it becomes cute, kind of sweet really. Kind of like Steve and Phil’s time in prison: they pass each other notes, go on strange dates, and eventually Steve cons his way into Phil’s cell and let’s just say sparks fly. It’s a sweet courtship, albeit an unconventional one.

So anyhow this kid, he’s still doing the conga, and you begin to wonder if there is something wrong with him, you know, in the head. The tiny person doing the Gloria Estefan impersonation goes from cute to cloying at the drop of a hat, and soon, you just want his mom to take him somewhere else to briefly entertain then upset others. Such is the case with I Love You Phillip Morris. About two thirds in, just as the third act begins, the magic gone, you begin to wish it would end sooner. The mildly-frenetic-pseudo-Raising Arizona energy has gone from refreshing to bitter, and you just wait for the end.

Oh dancing child, oh Phillip Morris, you both had the best intentions. I know you wanted to entertain me, but you pushed too far, flew too close to the sun. I appreciate the effort, but you’ve let me down just a bit. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Comedy/Drama/Romance

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 4/5/11

Jolie plays a British woman being trailed by Scotland Yard because of her romantic link to a mysterious, and wanted, man who apparently underwent plastic surgery to elude both the authorities and the man (Steven Berkoff) from whom he stole money. Via a letter, he instructs Jolie to board a train, find a man with his physical dimensions and make those watching believe that that man his him.

For its first forty minutes or so, the film possesses just the right note of elegant deception as we watch Jolie coolly ditch the authorities in Paris, board said train to Venice and latch onto Depp’s daffy American. Their initial conversation, in which Jolie verbally dominates Depp–advising him on how to talk to women, telling him she hates his name–is the film’s highlight.

But as soon as Depp stumbles his way across a slippery Venice rooftop, and subsequently knocks a policeman into the water, you realize director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others) doesn’t mean for us to take any of this seriously. Which is a mistake, because he proves incapable of meshing the comic elements with the more serious ones.

The film suffers as a result. The action scenes, including Jolie’s ridiculous boat rescue of Depp that features the unintentionally hilarious sight of Jolie fending off a henchman with a life preserver, are listless. And forget about suspense. What little there is dissipates the second we learn of Jolie’s true motives. The finale, which involves a safe and lots of surveillance, is dull as dishwater.

Pluses include the beautiful Venice scenery and, of course, Jolie, who was made for movies like this. She not only rocks expensive-looking dresses and sports an impeccable British accent, but raises looking cool and detached to an art form. She even gets to prove she can act thanks to a nicely done scene where she admits to Depp how she truly loves and misses her mystery man.

As for Depp, well, he just seems miscast playing a guy whom a British agent (Paul Bettany) rightly refers to as a moron. His performance is a little too broad, and I never believed Jolie could fall for him. He looks a little absurd, too, with his goatee and bohemian hairdo. As such the only thing he really convinced me of here is that he knows how to light up a cigarette. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Action/Drama/Romance

Rated PG-13

DVD Release Date: 3/22/11

How Do You Know

The plot goes something like this: Reese plays Lisa, a career professional softball player who, at age 31, has just failed to make the team for the upcoming season. Playing ball and her relationships with her teammates have been her life, and she begins her slog through the plot in kind of a lost and confused mode. No better off is Paul Rudd’s character, George, who is in business with his dad, played by Jack Nicholson and, as the movie opens, is under indictment by the federal government for shady dealings (not his fault, or we would in no way want to turn over our darling, Lisa, to him. Though it might have made for a more interesting movie…). Wilson plays Matty, a major league pitcher who is paid millions, and has a superficial, selfish, and somewhat womanizing approach to romance. In my humble opinion, none of these actors are believable in their roles. Maybe if we could have seen each of them doing what was supposedly their job, the back story could have propped up this willing suspension of disbelief (I obviously was not that willing). So Lisa goes out with Matty for about 10 minutes, or so it seems, and decides to move in with him. Meanwhile, George is dumped by his girlfriend, meets Lisa for dinner, and promptly falls in love with her. So which one of these guys is it going to be? How do you know?

Okay, so maybe I could have lived with the plot. I could maybe have even lived with the casting, and subsequent lack of chemistry. Maybe, but probably not. Ultimately, it was the dialogue, though, that was just too painful. It wasn’t funny, it wasn’t at all romantic, and much of the time it was thuddingly boring. And thus, this film was imbued with a lifelessness that I couldn’t forgive. Who can we blame? Let’s start with James L. Brooks, who was at the helm of this project as writer and director. He also gave us Broadcast News, Terms of Endearment, and As Good As It Gets. But that was a while ago. He wrote and directed Spanglish, a Rom Com I did like pretty much. It seems, though, that he lost his touch or something just didn’t jell with How Do You Know. When the dialogue wasn’t weird, it was wooden, or sparse. None of the actors seemed comfortable in or with their roles, possibly because the roles were so ill-defined. The exception to this was Wilson’s Matty, whose character was so hyper-defined as to be a caricature, and not believable for that reason.

Enough already with panning the film. One good feature was that the cinematographer was Janusz Kaminski, the cinematographer or director of photography for such notables as Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, and Schindler’s List. And the photography in How Do You Know was good. Too bad it was frequently used to show off Reese’s bronzed skin and impossibly blue eyes. Okay, I better end this review because I’m starting to criticize it again. Reasons to see it? You love Reese, Paul, or Owen (if you love Owen, though, I’d invite you to see (even again) Bottle Rocket or Royal Tenenbaums where he was much more at home). Another reason to see it? You love the Rom Com genre, and don’t feel the need to be as picky as I was about this one. The bottom line is that comedy is subjective, and while this movie was not my cup of tea, it may be yours. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Comedy/Drama/Romance

Rated PG-13

DVD Release Date: 3/22/11

Crowe plays a community college professor in Pittsburgh whose placid life is shattered when his wife (Elizabeth Banks) is found guilty of murder. Having exhausted the appeals process, and still believing her innocent, he plots to break her out of jail before she’s transferred to the big house.

What I liked best about the film is that it’s less concerned with Banks’ guilt or innocence than with whether Crowe’s law-abiding citizen is willing to endure the potentially wrenching emotional consequences of going through with his plan. Could you just abandon your kid if you had to? How about not being able to talk to your parents? What kind of person would you become?

And Crowe, one of the best actors around, in my book, portrays the character’s struggle beautifully. As a literate, soft-spoken man struggling to hold himself together for the sake of his kid, he exudes the perfect amount of quiet desperation. His absolute best scene sees him sitting in a car as he seriously contemplates robbing a bank.

As well Haggis (Crash) smartly, and constantly, keeps the character rooted in reality as much as possible, reminding us that Crowe is not some kind of super-soldier here. He doesn’t have the sort of mad military skills Liam Neeson (who makes a clever cameo) had in Taken. He learns how to forge keys, gets beaten up by some lowlifes and finds out what it feels like to actually kill a man.

Speaking of Haggis, while he provides the film with a polished look and moves the first half along at a nicely deliberate pace, he proves surprisingly adept with the actual escape, cranking up the pace and creating a number of excruciatingly tense will-they-get-caught moments. The most thrilling scene involves Crowe’s car spinning out of control on the freeway while narrowly avoiding a semi.

Among the supporting cast, Banks is best, convincingly conveying her character’s sadness and frustration at her grim situation. Brian Dennehy is a welcome presence as Crowe’s dad, while Lennie James, probably best known for his role on the short-lived CBS series Jericho, brings a nice intelligence and intensity to his cop role.

If I have any complaints, it’s that I don’t believe Crowe’s character would ever be able to pull off such an idea, well-planned-out though it may be. And as good as Crowe is, I was curious what a brainier actor like Edward Norton could have done with the part. Finally, the film could have easily lost about 15 minutes, because, by the end, it was beginning to feel like it would last for the next three hours. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

What I found was a beautifully done (gag) engaging (snort) story of a young girl from Iowa trying to make it in the big city (blarg).

Cher plays her mentor (gasp), the quick witted and quick tempered Tess (gurgle), who takes the ingenue under her wing (blech) and, and, I can’t do it.

I wanted to like it. I thought, hey, I watch Glee, I’ve sung along to Jesus Christ Superstar (a very long time ago), why wouldn’t I like Burlesque?

Because it’s not good, I should have told myself.

One problem is Cher. Remember when she won an Oscar? Because clearly she doesn’t. Her acting is so bad, I literally looked up the credits to make sure it was her and not a female impersonator who had the look, but not quite the swagger.

Then of course there’s Christina, whom I will mock now by using her mid 2000’s moniker Xtina.

Bad. Xtina is bad. She can sing, and I think she can dance, but that’s pretty much the extent of it. In her defense, she’s no worse than most of the other actors in the movie, but that ain’t saying much. Cam Gigandet as the love interest makes me remember why I don’t watch the Twilight movies. He’s just as lifelessly smarmy here as he was in that, except in this movie he’s supposed to be a real live boy with dreams and junk. Kristen Bell was clearly too excited to be standing next to Cher to be bothered with scratching the surface of a character, playing a drunk dancer like a day-player on Hawaii Five-0.

The only 2 saving graces of Burlesque are the musical numbers, which are OK, and Stanley Tucci as Cher’s best friend. I don’t have a gay best friend, but if I did, I would want him to be played by Stanley Tucci.

Burlesque is kind of like Coyote Ugly; you could really love it, if you’re a young artist with a dream. But you should never tell anyone you loved it because it will make you seem less cool.

In short, if you loved musical theater in high school, you should totally rent Burlesque. However, if you made fun of people who loved musical theater in high school, it might be best to move on down the shelf – [DVD]

Drama/Musical/Romance

Rated PG-13

DVD Release Date: 3/1/11

So here’s what it’s about. The story takes place in London. Naomi Watts plays Sally, who is married to Roy, played by Josh Brolin. They are not happy. Sally is out working while Roy stays home, struggling with his demons and trying to get a second book published. She wants to get pregnant, and he is sufficiently dissatisfied with the marriage to not let this happen. To complicate matters, the beautiful Dia (played by Freida Pinto from Slumdog Millionaire) moves into the adjacent building and can be “seen” quite easily and frequently from Roy’s window. This little homage to Hitchcock works quite well here, I think. Sally, too, has her own love interest in Greg, her boss at an art gallery, played by Antonio Banderas. So that’s that little foursome.

Sally’s mother, Helena, is portrayed incredibly well by Gemma Jones, a veteran of British television and cinema. Gemma is really the show stealer as a recently divorced frumpster. Her ex is Alfie, played by Anthony Hopkins. Alfie is the swinging single, replete with Viagra and a fiancée 400 years his junior. Alfie’s role is the only casting decision that might not have totally worked for me. Although I loved watching Hopkins, it’s still hard not to think of him in Silence of the Lambs with that little facemask. Anyway, back to the plot. To drown her sorrows and carry on with her life, Helena becomes quite involved with a “psychic”, Cristal, and doesn’t hesitate to share Cristal’s pronouncements with Sally and Roy. This infuriates Roy, who thinks she’s being duped. Helena is helping to support Sally and Roy financially, and shows up at their home often and is annoying and intrusive. Roy wants to mostly kill her, and so did I. But in a good way.

And so it goes. We see how the relationships unfold, and always with Woody Allen’s world view. Which is summed up in one of Antonio Banderas’ lines: “You see how beautiful and ironic the world is”.

Kudos to all the actors in You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger – you kept my attention. The sum of the parts is not spectacular, but it seems at least that Woody is back, and we can now put the tragic missteps like Melinda and Melinda and Hollywood Ending (and my own personal least favorite, Whatever Works) behind us, and begin to enjoy again that particular ability and sensibility that have made Woody Allen so important in American film. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Comedy/Romance

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 2/15/11