Review #19: What's Your Number?

Release Date: September 30th, 2011
Writer: Gabrielle Allan, Jennifer Crittenden
Director: Mark Mylod

Logline: A woman looks back at the past twenty men she's had relationships with in her life and wonders if one of them might be her one true love. (Source IMDb)
Romantic Comedy, 106 min.
Bechdel Test: Passed all three tests.

Review

I actually kind of like this movie. What's Your Number? is a romantic comedy about a woman, Ally, who tries to track down all her previous romantic partners to avoiding raising her "number".

One of the biggest failings of RomComs in recent years, is that they have to be bland to be relatable, and if the lead is female then she needs to take everything in her life super seriously. The saving grace here is that Anna Faris is such a talented comedian that she makes everything funnier and genuine. She's an actress who isn't afraid of finding the faults in a character and exploiting them for comedy.

The very important topic being tackled by this movie is how many sexual partners is too many? Ok, it doesn't actually discuss the topic in any critical or serious way, but it does present a good role model. There seems to be an intention of expressing that it doesn't matter how many sexual partners a man or a woman has had, that it doesn't imply something about their morals or characters it's just how people live their life. The conflict comes from the fact that Ally feels overwhelming social pressure, particularly from her girlfriends and family, to settle down and change her ways. There are some conflicting messages here, because the driving force in this movie is that she gets slut-shamed, and when (obvious spoiler) she settles down at the end it's to be with one person monogamously. The intention, I think, was meant to be more progressive and liberating. Ally is not troubled, or full of regret. She seems to have the same frustrations with relationships that we all have. Colin the "decent guy" says no one should care what someones "number" is, and that's the message they are trying to push. Sometimes it's like movies are made to be entertaining and fun and not to teach america a lesson about their judgements of women in society.

Lets go back to me liking this film. One of my favorite parts about What's Your Number? is the terrific cast. Chris Evans gets to flex his acting muscles instead of just his muscles muscles. I mean, he doesn't exactly throw down like Daniel Day Lewis, but he isn't the stiff bore that his role could easily be interpreted as. Okay, it's not a great acting job but boy is he handsome. Joel McHale is a douchebag, and show's off his butt. Everyone loves butts. Ari Graynor is super underrated. Eliza Coupe has some great lines. Cue the "awws" because this is role #2 for Anna Faris and her husband Chris Pratt. I am particularly fond of the endless number of cameo's by fantastic actors playing Ally's former lovers.

For all the ditzy dumb moments, I really love this movie. There's family and friends, there's drama, there's super sweet fantasy dates, it's a nice piece of feel good fluff. Sure, it might be predictable, and desperate for jokes, and probably should have been edited down, but this is a nice little romance film. There is something endearing about the vulnerability of friendship as opposed to just dating all the time. Instead of going to fancy restaurants, Ally and Colin visit the local Deli. Plus, you know you want to watch a movie that uses "He recognized my vagina!" as a major plot point.

Portrayal of Women: There was a good range of Ally being laid back, her sister being uptight, their friends being a good variety of women. The biggest eyeroll I think I've ever experienced when watching a movie, however occurs when Ally tries to google her ex's. In a montage. With upbeat pop music. While she speaks out loud, drinking wine. Apparently she's also never used a computer before! Teehee. EDIT THIS SHIT OUT, MOVIES. GOD. Girls can use computers, and we stalk all our ex's so don't pretend that its some revelation.

Sisterhood Moment: A few years later, Kristen Wiig stole the opening scene of What's Your Number? for the opening scene in Bridesmaids. In both, our leading lady is sleeping with a douchebag, and they sneak out of bed in the morning to put on makeup. They are both an inspiration to us all.

Rating: All of Chris Evans arm muscles. All of them. Sigh.

IMDb - What's Your Number (6.0)
Wikipedia - What's Your Number
Rotten Tomatoes - What's Your Number (23%)

Review #18: Somewhere

Somewhere

Release Date: September 3, 2010
Writer: Sofia Coppola
Director: Sofia Coppola

Logline: After withdrawing to the Chateau Marmont, a passionless Hollywood actor reexamines his life when his eleven-year-old daughter surprises him with a visit. (Source IMDB) Drama. 97 min.
Bechdel Test: Passed all three tests. Barely.

Review

I’m generally pretty on board with slow movies where not a lot happens - that’s not the case with Somewhere. It was so slow and so boring that I spent the entire film asking stupid questions to try and distract myself from how much I hated the movie.  Questions such as:

• Why are the synchronized pole dancers not doing a better job at being synchronized
• Why is Johnny Marco obsessed with white Tshirts
• How does this 11 year old kid know how to make eggs benedict??
• Should I be embarrassed that I can’t make eggs benedict?
• Is she ice skating to Gwen Stefani’s “Cool” because the ice rink is cold and she’s trying to be clever - or does she just love this song? 
• Should I pause this movie to youtube that song and also google Gwen Stefani’s life history? That seems like a better way to spend this hour and a half.
• But seriously, how do you make eggs benedict?

Every scene seemed to drag on and on until it was so uncomfortable that I was praying for the next scene to start. Some might say this was brilliantly intentional - it's supposed to show how terrible it is for Johnny to be stuck in the monotony of his awful life.  Others might suggest that since I was bored, I'm not smart enough to really get what Coppola was going for. To those people I would say: #1 I once won a Sudoku solving contest so I'm pretty smart. #2 I don't care if there is insight to be found in each painfully drawn out moment, I hated it anyway.

To be fair, I enjoyed both Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning and their performances were great. There were even some scenes that were funny and others that were perfectly sweet. Unfortunately, the performances and handful of okay scenes were drowned out by the slow pace of the film.

There should’ve been a lot more father/daughter bonding and whole lot less of Johnny silently waiting for his plaster mask mold to set. I loved seeing the two of them watch an old Friends episode while sampling a plethora of gelato flavours.  I loved watching them play Guitar Hero while discussing family stories. I loved how they did the tea party at the bottom of the swimming pool. Why couldn't we just have had a full 97 minutes of that?

Portrayal of Women: Women mostly exist to cater to Johnny.  Wherever he goes, women throw themselves at him and he often takes advantage of this.

His daughter Cleo is smart and vivacious and she really brings a welcome refreshment of joy into Johnny's life. She's the one girl in the film that truly makes his life better instead of just adding to the ongoing misery he is always enduring.

The only reason this film passes the Bechdel is that there is short scene where one of Johnny's hookups has a brief conversation with Cleo over breakfast.  She manages to ask Cleo's age before launching right into a discussion about boys.  So it technically passes, but just barely.

Sisterhood Moment: I guess you could call the synchro pole dancing a sisterhood moment, the dancers were even real sisters - twins actually.  Like I said before, they probably should have practiced a little more before unveiling their big performance.

Rating: Negative 5 bowls of gelato and 1 black Ferrari

IMDb - Somewhere (6.4)
Wikipedia - Somewhere
Rotten Tomatoes - Somewhere (71%)

Review #17: Girl Most Likely

Release Date: July 19th, 2013
Writer: Michelle Morgan
Director: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini

Logline: A failed New York playwright awkwardly navigates the transition from Next Big Thing to Last Year's News. (Source: IMDb)
Comedy, 103min.
Bechdel Test: Passed all 3 tests.

Review

A movie like this with such universal bad reviews is going to be a bad movie. There's no getting around that. What surprised me when I watched this movie, however, is that it had potential. I presumed this would be a "talker" where everyone stands around and talks, and nothing exciting happens. Girl Most Likely suffers from the opposite problem. There are so many events, plenty of action for the characters, but they don't add up to anything. There is no plot.

There is a universal piece of screenwriting advice to not go easy on your protagonists. Writers become attached to their characters and don't want to seem them struggle, but it's far more beneficial to the story to make it difficult for them to achieve their goals. Girl Most Likely opens on a scene of young Imogene being an inconsiderate young diva, demanding the school production of The Wizard of Oz change it's ending to appeal to her undeveloped sense of logic. The writer was not exactly going easy on this character, was she? This is a case of the pendulum swinging too far. Imogene is given the worst character traits, with nothing redeeming. This character is so awful that she can't dig herself out of the hole she's in. In fact, Imogene doesn't even achieve her goals in this movie. She is too paralyzed to even try.

Part of the reason I wanted to watch this movie was the cast. After her Bridesmaids success, Kristen Wiig has become a box office draw, even though she's not the best screen actor. Annette Bening is a great actress, and her role as Zelda is killer. In fact, the whole cast is killer. The problem is, their individual roles are interesting but they just don't go together. Kristen Wiig is 40. I guess in the movie her character is supposed to be 25-30ish? She still has a room in her mom's house, she just got out of school, so she's certainly not supposed to be 40 in the script. I don't have a problem with that, in fact it's encouraging to see women playing a variety of roles. The hitch is that her love interest in the movie, Darren Criss, is most famous for playing a high schooler on Glee. There's nothing wrong with a 27 year old and a 40 year old dating, but there's something awkward about the way this movie portrays them as being the same age, and in the same position in life.

This kind of disconnection creates the foundation for the movie. Imogene is a failed playwright, something that's brought up every 20 minutes of the movie, but never once does she write anything during the movie. Never. Imogene's mother Zelda is a gambling addict, and never once is this addressed. She's the same person at the beginning as she is at the end. The goal they achieve at the end isn't something they ever strived to do during the body of the film, so it falls flat. It's sort of like a sitcom, isn't it? There was no major driving force in this movie. Characters didn't try to achieve their goals, they were trapped in the same scenario at the beginning as they were in the end. That's the very definition of a sitcom. That setup would be fine if this was a story meant to be developed over 2 seasons and 40 episodes, but the episodic nature of television isn't suited for film. When the audience leaves not having achieved anything, you better believe the ratings are going to be abysmal.

Portrayal of Women: The women in this movie are broken and have complicated relationships. They're not exactly role models, but they're not furniture either. There's not much to say about characters that don't develop. I think Kristen Wiig's natural charisma assists her characters likability, but no one is that memorable or relatable.

Sisterhood Moment: The savage 90's wardrobe. When Imogene has to stay at her Mom's house, she has no clothes with her so she spends the rest of the movie in amazing floral skirts and sundresses. It was supposed to be funny but it just made me jelly.

Rating: One sad teacher out of five Glee songs.

IMDB - Girl Most Likely (5.7)
Wikipedia - Girl Most Likely
Rotten Tomatoes - Girl Most Likely (20%)

Review #16: Dallas Buyers Club

Dallas Buyers Club

Release Date: November 22, 2013
Writer: Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack
Director: Jean-Marc Vallee

Logline: In 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is himself diagnosed with the disease. (Source IMDb)
Drama. 117 min.
Bechdel Test: Passed all three tests.

Review

As a huge fan of Jared Leto's perfect hair as well as a big time supporter of the McConaissance, I was destined to love this movie.

The performances really made the film.  Both McConaughey and Leto disappeared into their characters, becoming vivid depictions of a homophobic redneck and a transgender drug addict - both struggling with AIDS.  Someone recently asked me how you can tell if someone is a good actor, I answered that it's when you forget who the actor is and just believe that they are their character. Both Leto and McConaughey achieved that in this film.

It's always inspiring to see someone beat the odds and that's exactly what McConaughey's Woodroof does.  When he is given 30 days to live, he dimply* determines to prove everyone wrong.  Through his journey of fighting to survive, we see him transform into a completely different person.  The man who had zero tolerance for anyone different from himself must now ask those same people for help and support.  He is forced to face the worst parts of himself and he becomes a better person for it. (Simply. Editors note: this type is too descriptive of McConaughey to change. He is dimply amazing.)

The most significant way we see this change is through Woodroof's friendship with Rayon.  At first he is disgusted with Rayon and her lifestyle; as the movie progresses that disgust turns into an appreciation and respect.

This film is a triumphant depiction of how someone can use their adversity to make change in an unfair world.  It succeeds in honouring Woodroof's legacy and takes a necessary look into the heartbreaking effects the AIDS epidemic had.  The combination of an important story and wonderful acting made this one of my favourite films of last year.

Portrayal of Women: There has been some arguments over whether this film passes the Bechdel test. If we judged based on actors than it would not - because it's based on characters, it does.  Rayon may be played by Jared Leto but her character identifies as a woman so that is how we identify her as well.

The other woman in the film is Jennifer Garner who plays Dr. Eve.  Although Woodroof is the driving force in setting up the Buyer's Club, Rayon and Dr. Eve are his main supports. The women in this film play a huge role in helping him to succeed, they are smart and very valuable to execution of the story.

Sisterhood Moment: Okay. Let's just talk about Rayon's makeup for one second. That contour was insane. Makeup Addicts forevs. Here's an article about how all the makeup was done for $250. I can't even do my own face for that.

Rating: 4 white cowboy hats out of 5

IMDb - Dallas Buyers Club (8.0)
Wikipedia - Dallas Buyers Club
Rotten Tomatoes - Dallas Buyers Club (94%)