Movie/TV Reviews

One Hour Photo

Susan Granger’s review of “One Hour Photo” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

It’s Robin Williams’ devastating performance that distinguishes this chilling psychological character study. With blond hair, thick glasses, compressed lips and soft voice, Williams is almost unrecognizable as Sy Parrish, the nebbishy manager of a one-hour photo in a suburban Sav-Mart who muses ominously: “You never take a photograph of something you want to forget.” Because his real life is so totally emotionally barren, Parrish fantasizes about the photographs he develops, particularly the Kodak moments he glimpses of an attractive young wife and mother (Connie Nielsen) and her young son (Dylan Smith). But “there’s more to it than meets the eye.” Soon he becomes so obsessed with snapshots of the seemingly perfect, upper-middle-class Yorkin family that he evolves into an invasive, knife-wielding stalker, catching the neglectful husband (Michael Vartan) in the act of adultery. “Snapshot,” he explains, “was originally a hunting term.” You’ve got to credit actor Robin Williams with courage, transforming himself into the demented kiddy-TV host in “Death to Smoochy,” then the homicidal novelist in “Insomnia,” now this eerie, alienated, eccentric character. Hopefully, Oscar voters will remember to nominate this skillful performance when the ballots are sent out next year. Kudos also to writer/director Mark Romanek’s meticulous visual style (he was Madonna’s music video director for “Bedtime Story”), plus Jeff Cronenweth’s cinematography and Tom Foden’s stark production design. And notice that the Yorkin family name cleverly breaks into what Sy envisions as “your kin.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “One Hour Photo” is a scary, unsettling, adult 8. It’s such a dark, disturbing psychodrama that it could push me into buying a digital camera.

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The Good Girl

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Good Girl” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Jennifer Aniston transforms herself from “Friends” Rachel Green into an unhappy adulteress in this working-class drama. She’s 30 year-old Justine, a frustrated, small-town Texas woman who longs to have a child with her house-painter husband (John C. Reilly) who spends his evenings, stoned, in front of TV with his buddy Bubba (Tim Buddy Nelson). “I used to lie in bed and imagine other lives,” she muses. “Now I don’t even know what to imagine anymore.” Justine finds a soul-mate in 22 year-old “Holden” (Jake Gyllenhaal), a co-worker at the Retail Rodeo – even though she totally misses the point when he tells her he was named after the protagonist in J. D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye.” But when their storage room/motel dalliance moves from liberation to obsession, she finds herself ensnared in a chaotic web of blackmail and larceny. As Justine observes, “Sometimes you have to make a few pit-stops on the road to redemption.” Screenwriter Mike White and director Miguel Arleta, who did “Chuck and Buck,” overcome the complete predictability of the plot with their sardonic insight and compassion for the multi-dimensional characters, along with the ensemble strong performances. Successfully making the stretch from her hip, glam TV image, Ms. Aniston embodies the emotionally exhausted cosmetics clerk who is weighted down by dullness, drudgery and desperation, while Jake Gyllenhaal is convincing as the sensitive but seriously disturbed wannabe writer. Zooey Deschanel scores as the store’s bad-girl with John Carroll Lynch as the officious discount-mart manager. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Good Girl” is a darkly comic, down-to-earth 7, proving that sometimes people just feel the need to escape.

Susan Granger's review of "The Good Girl" (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Jennifer Aniston transforms herself from "Friends" Rachel Green into an unhappy adulteress in this working-class drama. She's 30 year-old Justine, a frustrated, small-town Texas woman who longs to have a child with her house-painter husband (John C. Reilly) who spends his evenings, stoned, in front of TV with his buddy Bubba (Tim Buddy Nelson). "I used to lie in bed and imagine other lives," she muses. "Now I don't even know what to imagine anymore." Justine finds a soul-mate in 22 year-old "Holden" (Jake Gyllenhaal), a co-worker at the Retail Rodeo - even though she totally misses the point when he tells her he was named after the protagonist in J. D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye." But when their storage room/motel dalliance moves from liberation to obsession, she finds herself ensnared in a chaotic web of blackmail and larceny. As Justine observes, "Sometimes you have to make a few pit-stops on the road to redemption."
Screenwriter Mike White and director Miguel Arleta, who did "Chuck and Buck," overcome the complete predictability of the plot with their sardonic insight and compassion for the multi-dimensional characters, along with the ensemble strong performances. Successfully making the stretch from her hip, glam TV image, Ms. Aniston embodies the emotionally exhausted cosmetics clerk who is weighted down by dullness, drudgery and desperation, while Jake Gyllenhaal is convincing as the sensitive but seriously disturbed wannabe writer. Zooey Deschanel scores as the store's bad-girl with John Carroll Lynch as the officious discount-mart manager. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "The Good Girl" is a darkly comic, down-to-earth 7, proving that sometimes people just feel the need to escape.

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Serving Sara

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Serving Sara” (Paramount Pictures)

Warning: There are many definitions of “time waster” but this movie must surely be one of them. The inane plot revolves around Joe Tyler (Matthew Perry), a cynical process server, being assigned to serve divorce papers to Sara Moore (Elizabeth Hurley), the unsuspecting wife/partner of Gordon (Bruce Campbell), a Texas cattle rancher. Sara initially eludes him but when Joe finally finds her, she makes a counter-offer. She’ll give him $1 million to serve Gordon instead, a sneaky legal maneuver which will give her 50% of his fortune. What ensues is so stupefyingly awful that there must be an explanation. Perhaps it’s because Matthew Perry (Chandler on TV’s “Friends”) took time off filming for rehab for alcohol and pain-killer addiction or because Elizabeth Hurley (“Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery”) was trolling for the father of her then-unborn child. Who knows? But there’s zero chemistry between them, which poses an insurmountable problem since this is intended to be a screwball romantic comedy. And that still doesn’t excuse the lame, stereotypical characters and formulaic script by Jay Scherick and David Ronin (TV’s “Spin City” writers) nor the ineptitude of director Reginald Hudlin (“Boomerang”). And who got to the MPAA ratings committee on this one? Not only is it sexually crude in a veterinarian scene but the beauteous Ms. Hurley flashes her bare breasts to a motel clerk in order to get a free room. That’s PG-13? Supporting actors Vincent Pastore (late of TV’s “Sopranos”), as a rival process server, and Cedric the Entertainer, as Joe’s boss, try valiantly but to no avail. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Serving Sara” is an atrocious 1, destined to disappear into the post-Labor Day dumping ground until it’s designated as one of the 10 Worst Pictures of the Year.

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Swimfan

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Swimfan” (20th Century-Fox)

In this teen version of “Fatal Attraction,” the life of a hunky high-school swimmer is forever changed when he’s seduced by ‘the new girl in town.’ The champion swimmer in an upscale New York suburb, Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford) not only has a chance to win an athletic scholarship to Stanford but he also has a wholesome, devoted, long-time girl-friend (Shiri Appleby). Then sexy Madison Bell (Erika Christensen), a transfer student, sets her sights on him, and her slithering in a red bikini is too good a pool prize for Ben to refuse. Immediately feeling guilty about his impetuous indiscretion, Ben tells Madison it’s a one-time fling. She pretends to understand but what Ben doesn’t realize – at first – is how diabolically persuasive, selfish and obsessive Madison can be. Then the creepy e-mails with Madison’s topless photo arrive – 81 in one day! – along with beeper messages, phone calls and an unannounced visit to meet his mother. On the other hand, even his swim coach (Dan Hedaya) realizes that Ben’s not too bright, particularly as he’s coping with anxiety-ridden memories of past sins that once landed him in a juvenile detention center. As a result, Ben gets in too deep and the homicidal stalking continues far too long. The derivative, sophomoric script by Charles Bohl and Phillip Schneider, directed by John Polson, eventually gets soggy and ridiculous, sinking to madness, even murder. Jesse Bradford (“Clockstoppers”) remains remarkably bland throughout his ordeal as pouty Erika Christensen (Michael Douglas’s drug-addicted daughter in “Traffic”) goes over-the-top crazy. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Swimfan” is a shoddy, shallow 5. It’s a psychological thriller with cautionary clout: Don’t do a one-night stand with a psychopath!

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Stealing Harvard

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Stealing Harvard” (Revolution Studios/Imagine Ent.)

There are films that try the patience of even the most cinema-besotted critic – and this was one of them. It’s bottom-of-the-barrel awful, matched only by “Freddie Got Fingered,” another Tom Green wannabe comedy, and Eddie Murphy’s “The Adventures of Pluto Nash.” Jason Lee (“Almost Famous”) stars as John Plummer, who’s not the dimmest light on the Christmas tree – but close. He works at Homespital, a home medical supply store owned by his future father-in-law (Dennis Farina), and has saved $30,000 with his fiancŽe (Leslie Mann) so they can get married and make a down-payment on their dream home. But, years before, John made a vow to pay the tuition for his niece Noreen (Tammy Blanchard) if she got into a good college. Miraculously, despite her “sexually indiscriminate trailer park trash” mother (Megan Mullally) who has four marriages under her belt, Noreen gets accepted by Harvard University. After calculating financial aid and her savings, she needs $29,879 from her Uncle John – and she’s counting on it. So hapless John faces a terrible dilemma. In desperation, he turns to his ne’er-do-well landscaper buddy (Tom Green) and they concoct a series of loony schemes to raise the money. They break into a home, hold up a liquor store with toy guns, and attempt a bank heist. Each fails miserably – as does the bungled screenplay written by Peter Tolan and directed by Bruce McCulloch. The alleged appeal of Tom Green totally eludes me. He evidences no acting skill whatever, lurches through dialogue and can’t convey even the most basic emotion. His eyes glaze over and his only reaction to any given situation is a blank stare. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Stealing Harvard” is an obnoxious, failing 1. For me, it was an endurance test.

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The Four Feathers

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Four Feathers” (Paramount Pictures)

Honor, heroism and redemption comprise this epic historical adventure. Set in 1884, when a Brit’s highest calling was to fight for Queen and Country, the loyalty-and-love story revolves around Harry Feversham (Heath Ledger), who is considered one of the finest Royal Cumbrians and engaged to marry the beautiful Ethne (Kate Hudson). But when his regiment is sent to quell the Mahdi uprising in the Sudan, he’s so riddled with fear that he abruptly resigns his commission. His father, a prominent General, disowns him and Harry is given four white feathers, the shameful symbols of cowardice, from three fellow soldiers and his fiancŽe. Tormented, he travels alone to North Africa, joins up with a slave warrior/mystic (Djimon Hounsou) and disguises himself as an Arab to infiltrate the enemy to rescue his comrades in the perilous war against the “heathen.” Recalling “Lawrence of Arabia,” director Shakur Kapur (“Elizabeth”), cinematographer Robert Richardson and composer James Horner revel in the desert sandscape and the raw carnage of the battle sequences. Heath Ledger (“A Knight’s Tale”) and Djimon Hjounsou (“Amistad”) do their best with the truncated Hossein Amini/Michael Schiffer screenplay, one of several screen adaptations of A.E.W. Mason’s 1902 novel, that leaves too much unexplored, unexplained and incoherently edited. Like Harry’s complex relationship with Jack (Wes Bentley), the only friend who doesn’t give him a feather; the brutal behavior of the British military; and the consequences of misguided imperialism. So on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Four Feathers” is a sweeping, swaggering 6, an ambivalent, often incongruous camel-tale whose vivid images evoke an unsettling connection with “Mohammadan fanatics” and the current conflict in Afghanistan.

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Igby Goes Down

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Igby Goes Down” (United Artists/MGM)

Just imagine a contemporary “Catcher in the Rye” Holden Caulfield and you have Jason “Igby” Slocumb (Kieran Culkin), a charming, angst-ridden rebel from a wealthy but dysfunctional WASP family in Connecticut. He’s been kicked out of several prep schools, a military academy and a drug-rehab clinic because, basically, Igby has suffered 17 years of emotional deprivation from his self-absorbed family. His schizophrenic father (Bill Pullman) is “recuperating from life” in a posh rest home, his heinous mother (Susan Sarandon) is a nasty, pill-popping hypochondriac, and his preppy older brother (Ryan Phillippe), majoring in economics at Columbia University, resents him, noting, “If Gandhi had to hang out with you for any prolonged amount of time, he’d have ended up kicking the living sh*t out of you!” So Igby goes on the lam in Manhattan with his mother’s credit card, hiding out in a SoHo loft that belongs to his godfather (Jeff Goldblum) who’s betraying his oblivious wife with a drug-addicted dancer/mistress (Amanda Peet). Then he meets cynical Sookie Sapperstein (Claire Danes), a pseudo-bohemian, pseudo-sophisticated JAP who’s dropped out of Bennington and genuinely wants to divert resentful, self-destructive Igby from “going down.” “You’re a furious boy,” she tells him. “Eventually you won’t be a boy and it will eat you up.” First-time writer/director 36 year-old Burr Steers continually surprises and delights with his quirky, idiosyncratic characters, sharp insights and saucy dialogue, so occasional lapses of self-indulgence are forgiven in this ferociously ironic black comedy. And the casting is flawless, as are the performances. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Igby Goes Down” is a scathing, wickedly funny 9. On his journey to self-discovery, Igby is irresistible!

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The Banger Sisters

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “The Banger Sisters” (Fox Searchlight)

Remember the eager “band aid” played by Kate Hudson in “Almost Famous”? Skip ahead 20 years and she’s warped into Hudson’s real-life mother, Goldie Hawn. Goldie plays Suzette, a blowzy, tattooed, down-on-her-luck bartender who drives from L.A. to Phoenix to borrow money from her old friend, Vinny, whom she hasn’t seen for 20 years. When they were young, they were promiscuous rock groupies, so legendary that they were dubbed “The Banger Sisters” by the late Frank Zappa. “If you played L.A., chances are we rattled you,” recalls Suzette, whose claim-to-fame was that Jim Morrison passed out underneath her one night. But in the interim, Lavinia has become a repressed, uptight suburban housewife who prunes plum trees, drives carpools and does good deeds in the community. Like her clothes, her life is boring beige – until Suzette reminds her of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, along with the good-time girl she once was and what she’s lost on the road to prim propriety. By sheer force of sexy, well-preserved talent, Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon triumph over Canadian writer/director Bob Dolman’s sloppy, uneven, lackluster script, with Geoffrey Rush as a frustrated, neurotic screenwriter who’s come to Phoenix to shoot his father. Robin Thomas is almost a cipher as Lavinia’s bewildered husband, while Erika Christensen and Eva Amurri (Susan Sarandon’s real-life daughter) are memorable as her spoiled teenagers. Even if the inconsistent, clichŽ-ridden plot is predictable, at least it has a vivacious charm and the just right touch of nostalgic, bittersweet poignancy. And if it doesn’t do well at the box-office now, I suspect it will still have a long, happy life on the video shelf. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Banger Sisters” is a raunchy, spicy 7, an off-color chick-flick for grown-ups.

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Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever” (Warner Bros./Franchise Pictures)

Pow! Bang! Boom! I went to see this high-volume, ferociously explosive movie so you don’t have to. It’s dreadful! You can stop reading here or continue for the full explanation. Wearing an unattractive three-day stubble, Antonio Banderas (“Spy Kids”) plays a grizzled, guilt-ridden former F.B.I. agent Jeremiah Ecks who resigned from detective work after his wife was killed by a car bomb. Or was she? Ecks is ready to rock again when mentor (Miguel Sandoval) intimates that his wife may still be alive. It seems that a lethal, super-assassin with the code name Sever – that’s Lucy Liu (“Charlie’s Angels”) – has turned against her billionaire boss (Gregg Henry) and his undercover operation known as the D.I.A. (Defense Intelligence Agency). She’s after an ingenious, new, microscopic and injectible techno virus which lies dormant inside its victim until activated – and then kills in an instant, leaving no trace. Plus there’s a kidnapped child who must be saved – and all of this incomprehensible intrigue takes place in Canada’s Vancouver. Thai director Wych Kaosayananda, who refers to himself as Kaos (as in confusion), confines his attention to the hand-to-hand combat and stunts. I doubt that the plot was even relevant to him because the action has little coherence, and he obviously spent little time directing either Banderas or Liu who have never given more inept performances. The only amusing line writer Alan McElroy devises occurs when Ecks is stunned by Sever’s formidable cache of weapons. “Some women buy shoes,” Sever explains. Funny? Not really – but at that point I was struggling to stay awake. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Ecks vs. Sever” is an overblown, stupefyingly boring 1. Fortunately, it’s considerably less than two hours long.

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COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Movie/TV Reviews / Susan

Susan Granger’s review of “COLLATERAL DAMAGE” (Warner Bros.)

In one horrifying moment, Gordy Brewer, a Los Angeles firefighter, loses both his wife and son in a terrorist attack by El Lobo (The Wolf) a notorious rebel in Colombia’s on-going civil war. El Lobo’s targets were members of the Colombian consulate and CIA; the civilians were “collateral damage,” people in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not only is Gordy devastated but when it becomes obvious that the US government is not going to pursue El Lobo – for political reasons – he sets out for vengeance, relentlessly tracking the killer through the jungle to his camp. As Gordy confronts the complex philosophical realities of Colombian guerrilla warfare, those who are squeamish should be warned of one grossly repugnant torture scene in which a man has a poisonous snake shoved down his throat. Along the way, of course, Gordy puts his knowledge of combustibles to work, igniting explosions, and meeting up with El Lobo’s enigmatic wife (Francesca Neri) and adopted son. Written by David Griffiths & Peter Griffiths from an idea by Ronald Roose and directed by Andrew Davis, this saga seems somehow dated, although Arnold Schwarzenegger shows far more sensitivity, maturity and depth than in previous films – with Elias Koteas, John Leguizamo, John Turturro and Cliff Curtis lending strong support. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Collateral Damage” is an action-packed 6. Gordy is supposed to be an Everyman so I kept thinking: what if a band of the frustrated survivors of those killed on Sept. 11th made their way to the Middle East to exact the same kind of revenge? Would some CIA zealot support their vigilante efforts? But this kind of movie is supposed to be mindless escapist entertainment, not a rumination on real life, right? Sadly, for me, it hit too close to home.

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