Not knowing much going into this film, little did I know what a lovely surprise I would be in for in director Maria Schrader’s quirky fun rom-com “I’M YOUR MAN”. Not usually being someone who is fond of the A.I. genre of films and having once been known to say “If I ever find that an A.I. is my my relationship – please slap me”, I found myself thoroughly enjoying this one even though I wasn’t ready for it to be almost entirely in German as well.
Thankfully though – this isn’t my story though as this one is not only better but it centers on esteemed archaeologist/researcher Alma (Maren Eggert), who accepts an offer to participate in an usual experiment in exchange for research funds. She agrees to “beta test’ on a three-week trial run, living with a humanoid named Tom (Dan Stevens), who has been programmed to be her exact ideal life partner. From there, she has to evaluate on the successes and/or failures of the AI prototype to help decide whether they should be introduced into society as potential life partners for well, everyone. During this three week time period, we find ourselves watching things that are essentially very human. Alma is anti-relationship as the film starts to reveal more about her we find she grieves over a miscarriage she suffered during a past relationship and her former partner Julian (Hans Low) is very much around. While Alma is single, she’s not alone – she has a younger sister, Cora (Annika Meier) and an elderly, deteriorating father (Wolfgang Hübsch), who require a lot of her attention in life as well.
Not to be overlooked is the fun CGI of a bar scene of playing itself well on the ‘who is/who isn’t’ a AI or hologram and of course the acting. Eggert is wonderful at playing off the strong, defensive woman she is supposed to be and slowly letting her wall down to open up to the idea of this AI actually being ‘the one’. While Stevens is quite good here as he absolutely crushes it by speaking surprisingly fluent German, that is when he’s not speaking Spanish, French, or Korean and most notably, not a single word of English. He also manages to somehow be a robot, yet convey small emotions such as being flirty, funny, sad and dare I say it – humanistic.
With some funny, snappy, smart dialogue and a well structured storyline “I’m Your Man” moves it all along in a realistic looking manner, while being hugely entertaining as well. There can be huge risk involved with films that tackle themes such as this one, and then be successful at it to boot, but this one was all handled so well and came across as down to earth while also making itself fun and thought-provoking.
Grade: B+
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“I’M YOUR MAN” from Bleeker Street Films – is in limited theaters on Friday, September 24, 2021
Coupons. On the by and large one would not equate coupons with high stakes crime and yet here we are with “QUEENPINS”, a story based on the true life of some couponers gone criminal, written and directed by husband and wife team of Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly. Mind you, while the story is real enough, the four main characters of the film are Pullapilly and Gaudet’s very enjoyable creations and they put it all together to make it work quite wonderfully, bringing an almost surreal story to the forefront. It’s a little bit dark comedy, some silliness & hijinks, actual laugh out loud comedy, but not without having it’s really touching moments as well.
Let’s get down now to the brass and tacks of what ‘Queenpins’ is all about as it’s quite the story. Taking place in 2012, the story follows a pair of friends, bored suburban housewife Connie (Kristen Bell), and her ‘aspiring influencer’ neighbor JoJo (Kirby Howell-Baptiste). While Connie, our former three time gold medal Olympian medalist in the oh-so-underappreciated category of race walking (yes. you heard that correctly, race walking), is perky and happy on the outside, within she and her husband Rick (Joel McHale), have drifted apart after she loses a baby and they go into high debt with fertility treatments that have never worked. JoJo, on the other side, is a victim of identity theft which makes starting up a business almost impossible, that and to top it off, she’s had to move in with her mother, Mama Josie (Greta Oglesby). This is the sad side that is periodically dropped in to remind you of why these ladies have decided to band together and put their super-saver couponing skills to multi platinum use. Basically CVS and their mile long receipt can stand down when it comes to how well these two shake their lives up by stealing fake coupons and selling them online, scamming millions of dollars from multinational corporations.
Kirby Howell-Baptiste as JoJo Johnson and Kristen Bell as Connie Kaminski in QUEENPINS. Credit: Courtesy STX Films
But behind the de-facto Robin Hood-esqeness of how this caper starts off for the ladies, with the desire to pay off their debts, it quickly evolves right into what one would expect when suddenly faced with boatloads of cash – downright greed and money. But not for long, as there is another duo working for the other side lurking in the background. Mr. Coupon Prevention Officer Ken Miller (Paul Walter Hauser), who works for a large chain of grocery stores, takes his job very seriously, most especially so when alerted to thousands of unaccounted-for coupons popping up all over the Southwest. And here is where the story truly takes off giving us the type of storytelling that has the viewer invested in and actually rooting for the women to make it all work and get away with the millions, mostly because Bell and Baptiste give us two strong female leads that we can relate to.
Queenpins takes some twists and turns along the way that you don’t necessarily see coming, but Ken finally meets up with Simon Kilmurry (Vince Vaughn), a U.S. Postal Agent, who realizes the crimes can be investigated as mail fraud. While we’ve seen Hauser in this type of character before, what we haven’t seen is him paired up with Vaughn, and once their chemistry clicks, is when both characters are at their best. Hauser has a way with comedic roles which can make audiences laugh without really having to try, and again, here with Vaughn, who has a natural ability to play off his costars which keeps the pacing of the humour in step. Add in Tempe Tina (Bebe Rexha), who hands down, might be one of the funniest side characters created as a perfectly placed completely out of context ‘Identity Thief/Computer Hacker extraordinaire’ – she really makes her mark in a small, but so perfectly done role. Along, with Stephen Root, Dayo Okeniyi, Francisco J. Rodriguez and Lidia Porto rounding out the supporting cast, you’ve got a true little fun caper film on your hands.
Paul Walter Hauser as Ken Miller and Vince Vaughn as Simon Kilmurry in QUEENPINS. Credit: Courtesy STX Films
While not a perfect comedy, Queenpins has heart and focuses on the friendships new and old, with a high point being it altogether avoids the female cliche trap where women are constantly pitted against each other, and instead sees them stick together no matter where they end up. Without the two female leads providing some great chemistry, this film might not have worked out as well as it did. Bell and Baptiste really put the ‘chem’ in chemistry working together with some iffy moments, to make it real enough to not just believe, but laugh at. Not a simple recipe to pull off.
Original comedies are hard and honestly in a sea of reboots and Marvel films, this is no easy feat to pull off – but at 110 minutes run time – this one deserves the your watch.
B-
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“QUEENPINS” from STX Films – is in theaters on Friday, September 10, 2021 and comes to Paramount+ Friday, September 30, 2021 –
Apologies for the absence as one again the post-Covid long haul recovery put my the use of my hands out for a bit again. But with some injections and hand/wrist braces on, I’m typing while I can and catching up on some late film festival and screening reviews. September will hopefully be much better!
And with that out of the way, my August Round Up Reviews on the following films:
“THE DAPHNE PROJECT”
Every so often you find a film at a festival that you just fall in love with, well that was me with “THE DAPHNE PROJECT” shown (virtually for me) at the Bentonville Film Festival. This little indie gem is written and directed by Zora Iman Crews and Alex Tibaldi, giving us a die-hard mockumentary in it’s truest form that had me laughing from moment one. Zora Iman Crews also plays Daphne Wilco, a wanna-be NYC ‘theater’ actress who inserts herself from being an extra into the “lead” role of Dionysus, in a super off-Broadway production of “The Bacchae”. The role, which is intended to be played by a male, but Daphne expounds on the fact that maybe a woman should play the role. Crews is hysterical as an over-the-top act that takes her self obsession and self-promoting to a whole new level of mock-ness, but can flip like a coin to show a more delicate emotional side as well…or does she? That’s the best part of the whole mockumentary is you never really know if it’s all just a smart act Daphne puts on for the cameras or not. The ending is a surprise and also quite fun. The film maintains its solid state of comedic affairs thanks to star-in-the-making Crews, as it’s only lacking quality that I could see is the sheer fact it’s had to be clearly done as such a low budget, as it is noticeable in the supporting cast who hold it up somewhat at times, while struggling to keep up with Crews pacing. But honestly, if that is the worst thing I can come up with for this wonderful kooky 67-minute indie that kept me fully entertained the entire time, well then I’d just go with it and hope this gets all the accolades it so highly deserves and doesn’t get overlooked because of that one reason.
Grade: B+
“AMERICANISH”
This romcom follows the lives of three women navigating the different meanings and expectations of love as they try to stay true to their own identity. This is an upbeat film and while formulaic, one still looks forward to how things will play out for each in the end.
American-ish focuses on two sisters and their cousin: Sam (Aizzah Fatima), Maryam (Salena Qureshi), and Ameera (Shenaz Treasury) as they navigate romance, family life, tradition, and relationships with their own cultural identity while living in Jackson Heights, NY. American-Ish is directed by an American Muslim woman (Iman Zawahry and co-written by her and Fatima) making it the first Muslim romantic comedy, and what a hoot it is. Since all three characters are in different stages of their lives (between high school and early 30’s), and have different relationships with Muslim traditions, the comedy always feels fresh, making it funnier. While predictable and nice, it also crafts its own unique identity to help it stand out among similar rom-rom type films with it being not too heavy, as well as not too light, it’s just a fun movie based around likable characters we don’t get to see as often as we should.
Grade: B+
“ANNETTE”
It’s rare that I am left speechless by a film, not the “oh it was so amazing” type speechless, but the kind where I truly have no idea how to describe what I just saw. This was me after watching “Annette” and sad to say, it still is. As much as I love Sparks music, and I think this was supposed to essentially a modern opera of sorts there is still the fact that part of the entertainment is watching said performers actually singing, which means the storytelling is at a somewhat slower pace than most films. That means that you really need to be interested in the story and to put it bluntly, I simply wasn’t. Giving the benefit of the doubt to the fact that much of it I just didn’t understand as well so maybe not all the blame can be put on the film itself, and I’m completely willing to accept that fact. It could also be that I was setting myself up to fail when it comes to appreciating the picture, because I did almost no research on it before we saw it, but I rarely do as I don’t want to spoil the film by ‘knowing’ too much. Though to be fair, it might have helped me here though again, even after viewing and trying to do so didn’t work for me.
But I also just didn’t find and wasn’t really intrigued by the contrast between Henry McHenry (Adam Driver), abrasive stand-up comedian, and Ann Defrasnoux (Marion Cotillard), soprano. The relationship between the two I understood completely – what their lives entailed, how he tailspins as his career falters and hers reaches new heights – but then there was the ‘child’. The cross between a Chucky doll and Annie. I am completely and truly lost there. And ya know what? I’m okay with that.
Grade: D
This weeks movies start off with “Jungle Cruise” and fun fact: when I was very little my parents took me on this ride and I started crying as I thought it was real and lions, tigers & hippos were coming after me. Thankfully that is not this movie and I’m happy to say there was no crying..but some good laughs as the chemistry between #emilyblunt & #dwaynejohnson is electric and they make this adventure pretty fun. Full review here: https://peggyatthemovies.com/2021/07/30/review-jungle-cruise-2021-disney-studios/ Grade: B-
Next is “Val” and it’s all about the wonderful Val Kilmer telling us his story..the good, the bad, and the Batman. Does this deserve a full review, yes, yes it does – as it was everything and so much more. Sadly, again, I just couldn’t type and oddly I feel like Val would understand this somehow. But it did break me and give me every emotion of not just empathy for what he is going through, but there was joy, grief, fangirling, understanding, hope – again, all the emotions. Being a fan, this was hard to watch sometimes and I shed some tears, but not all just for sadness, because what you see in his eyes is he is still here and still Val. Grade: A
“PLAYING WITH SHARKS: THE VALERIE TAYLOR STORY”
Anyone who knows me knows my absolute and complete fascination and love of all things ocean, but most especially sharks. Yep, those ‘predators’ of the sea are my thing thanks to @e_w_wilder who loaned me ‘JAWS’ which I read in one schpiel. So Playing With Sharks: The Valerie Taylor Story was everything for me. Valerie started as the 1st woman spear fisher in the 60’s and ended up being one of the first people with her husband Ron, to film sharks underwater. Almost every shark conservationist has started off a hunter, until they realize how beautiful these majestically amazing creature are that are literally less dangerous than dogs. But instead we kill millions of them and sadly have wiped out entire area of population not realizing that without them the oceans will literally die..and so will we. Grade: A
“Stillwater” received a 5 minute standing ovation at #Cannes and I have to be honest and say I just didn’t get that from it. I did get a somewhat okay story about what a out of his element dad Bill Baker (Matt Damon) might do to help his daughter Allison Baker (Abigail Breslin) and some articulated performances. And we can just leave it at that. Grade: C-
“FREE GUY”
I’ve made it a point at this time in my film reviewing career (eight years of working hard at it btw) to not review movies that they couldn’t be bothered to invite me to view a screening or send a link. It’s frustrating for me and yeah, it kinda hurts at times. Let me make it clear, I don’t think I’m ‘entitled’ to get screening invites, but I’ve worked so hard at what I do, and I love love love it, am most of always thankful to be getting the media invites and I show that appreciation by stopping at See’s or a cookie place to give a little gift when I attend some media screenings. Look I get it, I’m not in the ‘big time’ but I keep trying, and reviewing as much as I humanly can and will continue to do so. But sometimes, more so lately, I feel like it’s a job within a job, within another job to try and get them, when at one point, pre-pandemic, I was consistently invited. I don’t know how I fell off the invites list, but Rosa from @Rosa’sReviews was nice enough to have me as her plus one to this screening as yes, she is in the big time of the listings being both RT & HCA approved. She also probably wrote a great review on it so go check out her page as well. I am most grateful to her for inviting me and truly minus about 25-30 minutes of ‘gamer talk’ this film was a lot of fun and quite entertaining.
That’s all I will say on it as here is to hoping I somehow get back in to more screenings again. I will not give up!
And that’s it for now – as always I will get out the reviews as I can and you can always check out: Peggyatthemovies.com or The Cherry Picks.com for some great full reviews.
“FALLING FOR FIGARO” gives Millie (Danielle McDonald) an American living in the U.K., has a thriving career as a fund manager and lives with her boyfriend Charlie (Shazad Latiff), who attends the opera because she truly loves it. Charlie does not. So it’s really not a surprise when she upends a promotion at her job, to become an opera star and wants to compete in the renowned ‘Singer of Renown’ contest. But of course first she must learn opera – you know that style of singing that takes a lifetime to learn and be good at. Well for Millie things are going to go on the fast track, because well, of course it is, and she is going to learn this entire lifetime of something as sacred and acclaimed as being an lead opera singer – in a year.
She in turn moves to the remote Scottish Highlands where she wants to be taught by one Megan Geoffrey-Bishop (Joanna Lumley), a once legendary opera singer in her own right. There is one problem, Geoffrey-Bishop is retired and is notoriously known for being a big pain in the arse, completely horrible to her students, believing in the old adage of an opera singer must ‘suffer’ in order to be able to sing. This all of course does not deter Millie in the slightest and there she is checking into ‘The Filthy Pig’ pub/hotel and is welcomed by pub owner played by Gary Lewis, who is quite funny in his introduction. Here as well, we are introduced to Max (Hugh Skinner), who doubles as the cook/server, as well as anything else that is needed. Crazily enough, Max is ALSO a student of Megan’s, in fact he has been singing his whole life and has been a student for five years and wait for it, is also shooting to win the competition. I think we all know where this is heading from here. Of course Max is jealous and upset at first, then they start singing together and well the rest is rom-com history.
Look, I get it, this is what rom-coms are, sappy, cheesy, where there is always something stopping them from finding ‘true love’ until there isn’t. But it also needs to be a teensy bit believability to pull it off really well and this just isn’t that. What can be said and what director Ben Lewin, did pull off nicely was having two things that made it pleasant enough to still give it a watch. The first of course is the music. Opera can be simply beautiful and while we don’t know if the actors really sang this (somehow I highly doubt they did), it was beautifully done and fun to watch. The second thing is casting the simply wonderful Joanna Lumley as yes, ‘Patsy’ makes this movie watchable, as do a few fun takes from Gary Lewis, but mostly, it’s Lumley who shines the brightest and the best. And that’s perfectly fine in my book.
Grade: C
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Review Screening ~ Courtesy of the Bentonville Film Festival
Falling for Figaro debuts in theaters on Friday, October 1st from IFC Films
I was probably 4 years old when I was first taken to Disneyland. I can’t remember my exact age, but I do know I was very young and my parents took me on the Jungle Cruise ride – and I freaked out and started screaming and crying. Because yes, I thought it was real and I remember so well the big hippo opening his mouth right where I was sitting in the boat and I thought I was going to be eaten, and basically thought lions, tigers and bears were all after me. I cried so hard and was so terrified, that I never went on that ride again until I was a teen – possibly even older! Needless to say, there was no crying watching this version of Disney’s “JUNGLE CRUISE”, only laughter as it is definitely not that ride and a much different story to boot.
This adventure begins with Dr. Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt), who hires a wisecracking skipper, named Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson), to take her down the Amazon in his ramshackle boat. Together, they search for an ancient tree whose petals hold the power to heal all — a discovery that will change the future of medicine. Along for the ride Lily’s posh, upper-crest brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall), who doesn’t clearly belong anywhere in a jungle, but succeeds in stealing a lot of his scenes with his over-the-top persnickety ways, most particularly his interactions with Frank’s pet leopard whom they have on board the cruise. The CGI might have been a bit lacking on the leopard, but Whitehall makes it funny so it’s very easy to overlook.
While ‘Jungle Cruise’ could have just been a simple escapade through the jungle with some good action and laughs thrown in, we do get some long drawn out sections with Johnson’s character Frank explaining a bit of a convoluted backstory of the special flower, and the enhanced version of the long dead enchanted conquistadors of his time. Kids especially, might get a bit lost here as let’s face it, they just want the lions, tigers and fun action aspects of his character that help endear Frank to us more. Director Jaume Collet-Serra gives us a big scale action adventure here with plenty of laughs thanks to Johnson giving us some of his best cheesy humour with one-liner awful, terrible jokes that are so bad they are absolutely downright funny. It’s perfectly done and no one in this film takes it all to seriously and that is possibly it’s biggest highlight except for the fact that the biggest thing that upstages them is the absolute wonderful, electric chemistry between Blunt and Johnson. This would have been a totally different movie without that as together they are an unbeatable team here and yes, the glue that holds this film together. But the supporting cast consisting of Jesse Plemons, and again, Jack Whitehall with his witty-ness, Edgar Ramirez, and Paul Giamatti, all add to the adventure as well and round it all up.
So my advice is no crying – and get your ticket for the fantastical journey that is – Jungle Cruise.
Grade: B-
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Review Screening: Monday, July 26, 2021 at El Capitan Theater ~ Courtesy of Disney Studios
“JUNGLE CRUISE” IS IN THEATERS AS OF FRIDAY, JULY 30, 2021 also VOD on Disney+
The Baby’s are back and bossing us around again this time with director Tom McGrath’s take in “THE BOSS BABY: FAMILY BUSINESS”.
There are few things more certain in this world than sequels, no matter how old the character gets and The latest Boss Baby adventure is no exception to this rule. And get this, the Boss Baby isn’t a baby anymore though not to worry, what would the story be if he didn’t become a baby again, but it’s all in good fun.
Family Business has the Templeton brothers, Tim (James Marsden/Jimmy Kimmel) and his former Boss Baby little bro Ted (Alec Baldwin), as adults with Tim now married to Carol (Eva Longoria). Tim is now a stay-at-home dad raising his two daughters, Tabitha (Ariana Greenblatt), and baby daughter Tina (Amy Sedaris) who, based on the ending of the last one, is a ‘Baby Boss’ as well. Ted, to no ones surprise, is a hedge fund CEO. The two have drifted apart from each other and rarely even speak. But infant Tina decides she must reunite the brothers and turn them back into their younger selves to infiltrate Tabitha’s school which is being ran by Dr. Edwin Armstrong (Jeff Goldblum), who is definitely up to no good. The only way to do this ‘Benjamin Button’ transformation back into babies is quite fun – as it’s all done through a baby formula that only lasts for just 48 ‘teensy weensie’ hours. Tim takes it upon himself to come along and the two brothers wrestle for the formula, getting younger and younger.
The Boss Baby has a lot going on within it. There is the witty banter and sibling relationship issues between the two brothers which can be very fun at times especially when they are back to being their younger selves; There is Precious a pretty pony, a classmate identified only as “Creepy Girl”; there are baby ninjas, and lastly, a tiny toy Wizard named Wizzie (James McGrath), that comes to life. All this goes on while the school putting on a pageant in which Tabitha is terrified of doing a solo performance and Dr. Armstrong is plotting his world-parent takeover. But this movie isn’t just about brothers Ted and Tim. It is also about Tina and Tabitha, and the pressures of school and finding a balance for family, school and life, and not wanting the feeling of disappointing anyone, including ourselves or family.
A bit long in runtime at an hour and 47 minutes with young kids who might get antsy can happen. While it also might just tick off the boxes when it comes to actual points of The Boss Baby itself, it’s truly sweet moments with the young daughters and brothers bonding that make it worth the watch for families.
C+
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Review Screening: Monday, June 28, 2021 ~ Courtesy of DreamWorks Animation & Universal Pictures
“THE BOSS BABY: FAMILY BUSINESS” IS IN THEATERS AND STREAMING ON PEACOCK AS OF FRIDAY, JULY 2, 2021
There is a sizeable cast in director Josh Rubin’sWerewolves Within, and it takes us on a journey to the quaint town of Beaverfield, which to put it lightly, is about to go through some things.
Due to an incident in town, Finn Wheeler (Sam Richardson) arrives to take over as the new Forest Ranger, though he is no stranger to ‘incidents’ himself. His first meeting with another person from the town is also a newcomer, mail carrier Cecily (Milana Vayntrub). She shows Finn around and introduces him to the ‘characters’ in town, of which there are more than one, and fill him in on some of the town gossip as well. Oil man Sam Parker (Wayne Duvall), is here to sell the residents on a pipeline, which not everyone is in favour of, even though he’s willing to pony up a pretty penny to buy up their land. Not everyone is ready to cash out and here is where the tensions begin to boil. Jeanine (Catherine Curtin) is the local Inn owner who hasn’t been right since her husband ran off, but on the plus side, she makes great sandwiches. Against the pipeline completely are Joaquim (Harvey Guillen) and Devon (Cheyenne Jackson) are the married, rich gay couple of Beaverfield, and own and run the local yoga studio. On the plus side of the pipeline are Trisha Anderton (Michaela Watkins), and her husband Pete (Michael Chernus), who is essentially the town creeper who can’t seem to keep his hands to himself. Trisha is obsessed with 3 main things; her dog, her husband and the idea that she will finally get the craft store of her dreams as soon as the pipeline sale goes through. Lastly, there is Gwen (Sarah Burns), and Marcus (George Basil), two completely over-the-top, over sexed and yes, over drugged couple who just happen to be the towns mechanics as well. And what would we be if we didn’t have the mean ol’ hermit guy who lives on the outskirts of town aka Emerson Flint (Glenn Fleshler), whose as big as a bear and just as mean, and everyone just leaves him be. Told you there was a lot of people.
WEREWOLVES WITHIN
The journey that this town goes on is one that must be experienced. There are some true laugh out loud moments, but it’s definitely all the throw away lines and moments that keep the laughs up throughout. Not knowing that it was based on an online game, probably helped make me see it the best way possible, new, fresh and fun as it’s a perfect blend of murder mystery, werewolf movie and comedy. The chemistry of the two leads only escalates this one, and the supporting cast bring it all home.
Just sit back and enjoy yourselves with this one.
B-
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Review Screening ~ Courtesy of IFC Films
“WEREWOLVES WITHIN” IS IN THEATERS AS OF JUNE 25, 2021 AND ON DEMAND AS OF FRIDAY, JULY 2, 2021
There can be a lot of worry and discomfort in the experience of reuniting with friends we haven’t seen in years. Questions can be worrisome like; What are they like now? Will we all get along? Are they the same or grownup versions of what once was? It’s all daunting to see those same friends years later would definitely induce nail-biting anxiety in many. Such is the thought behind director Andrew Gaynord’s “ALL MY FRIENDS HATE ME“.
The film follows Pete (Tom Stourton), who is reuniting with his college friends for his birthday. The reunion gets off to a rocky start when Pete arrives to an empty house and waits for hours for his friends to get back from a pub. As the reunion progresses, Pete begins to wonder if his friends actually dislike him. We watch Claire (Antonia Clarke), Fig (Georgina Campbell), George (Joshua McGuire), and Archie (Graham Dickson), have an easy, comfortable time together, the kind of time that Pete can’t seem to fall back into. Granted they are all from the ‘posh’ crowd or what we in the U.S. call “The Trust Fund Kids”. Ironically, it takes place in an old-fashioned aristocratic mansion out in the middle of the countryside, replete with pheasant hunting. To make matters worse, they seem to have picked up a stranger at the pub named Harry (Dustin Demri-Burns), who dominates the party with his mere presence while being mercilessly hostile to birthday boy Pete and oddly jotting ‘notes’ in a small notebook. The cherry on top is the presence of Claire (Antonia Clarke), Pete’s ex-girlfriend who, according to the group, had attempted suicide just after their breakup, something Pete was not aware of, and is not as okay as she seems.
Among so many unspoken things, mysterious notes and out-of-context information, is the fact that none of them except for Pete seems to have grown up in any way, shape or form, making it difficult for all to be able to tell what is really going on. On the other hand, the film truly captures the discomfort and sensitivity Pete has with overly-familiar Harry, who is intent on making Pete miserable and the butt of a lot of jokes. But there is a lack of something more that while hard to put your finger on completely, it prevents the movie from being great. It’s a more sedate type comedy, rather than a side-splitting, laugh out loud type.
With its fine thread throughout of confirming the game between the “juvenile” and “mature” that lasts the entire film, the story is filled with awkwardness more than it is humour as we wonder if Pete is correct or just being paranoid. While again, a very different type of humour, ultimately, there’s something charming in its oddness.
B-
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Tribeca Virtual screening of ‘’All My Friends Hate Me” ~ courtesy of ID-PR
“ALL MY FRIENDS HATE ME” DEBUTEDAT TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL JUNE 2021
Winner of the Best International Narrative Feature at Tribeca Film Festival, “BRIGHTON 4TH” is noted as being a ‘Comedy/Drama’ which made me do a double take at that one. Drama – yes, in a big way, yet Comedy just didn’t seem to be it’s forte’ as what I watched from director Levan Koguashvili, truly left nothing comedic in it’s path.
It is however a long drawn out story of a former wrestling champion Kakhi (Levan Tediashvili – an actual former Olympic wrestler), who seemingly feels he needs to take on the responsibility for everyone around him and their problems. The story follows his long drawn out trek from his native Georgia to the well-known Russian enclave of Brighton Beach, where many of his fellow countrymen have immigrated to as well. His son Soso (Giorgi Tabidze), went to study medicine, but needs a green card and Khaki had given him $15,000 to do so and if necessary, pay Lena (Nadezhda Mikalkova) to marry him. Instead he is working as a mover and has gambled away the money plus an additional $14,000 he now owes to head of the gambling mob. Khaki finds him in a small room & board house ran by the wife of his best friend who also ended up gambling away his money. Now he seeks to find a solution to it all and while we go through a good hour plus of side stories that include: Kakhi taking a job helping out an elderly couple, and getting sexually propositioned by the wife; as well as a very lengthy deviation that involves Kahki in the midst of a plan to kidnap a man who’s been refusing to pay the Georgian women he hires as hotel maids. All these things relay nothing to the point of the film – what the main goal is – saving his son’s life from the mobsters he owes money to.
We finally get to the point in the final minutes of the film, as it has Khaki challenging the head mobster whom his son owes, to a wrestling match as even though Kakhi is in his 70’s and is at least 20 years older, he does it to take care of the debt his son owes. Oddly, it’s a surprisingly believable moment, even in it’s bleakness. While the acting here is mostly done by non-actors as well, they too are believable within reason. But it’s the length of time that it took to even get to the point here that made it too sluggish and weighed down, and while going through storylines that didn’t lead anywhere. Also, the fact of the oh-so-familiar mob-lines of Russian/Georgian immigrant community in Brighton Beach has a ‘been there – done that’ feel to it all. While the final moment is sweet in it’s own way, it’s the ‘getting there’ long windedness that just didn’t work as well for me as it clearly did for others.
‘C’
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Tribeca Virtual screening of ‘’Brighton 4th” ~ courtesy of Susan Norget Film Promotion
“BRIGHTON 4TH” DEBUTEDAT TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL JUNE 2021
Adding into the mix of films featuring romance during Covid, Tribeca gives us what one is to presume, a fun comedic look at dating, but not regular dating, dating from the point of view of more the traditional arranged marriage ways with “7 DAYS”.
At the start of the film, we meet Ravi (Karan Soni), and Rita (Geraldine Viswanathan). The two have been set up by their old-fashioned Indian parents and are on a pre-arranged date right at the start of the pandemic so they do meet in person, although masked etc. They both gave the idea over video chat, of being people whom it seems they really aren’t as the two of them have absolutely nothing in common. The whole afternoon progresses very awkwardly for both as these things get quite comedically revealed. But with the snap of our fingers, the COVID outbreak gets worse and Ravi can’t get home and must spend the next few days at Rita’s place as he can’t get a car or a hotel. We proceed to watch the unlikely bond that forms as the two spend their time together despite being completely different people.
While this debut film from Roshan Sethi is cute, it’s also quite short with a runtime of just 86 minutes. Yet somehow within this ‘7 Days’ and short runtime, they manage to meet, get serious Covid, be hospitalized, become best friends and find out every little factor within each others lives, including befriending each others parents. BUT, and are you ready for the BUT, one is also to be cured of the serious Covid they were taken by ambulance to the hospital for and .. take a deep breath.. walk out of the hospital no less. This isn’t just aggravating, but a slap in the face to all the people who spent months in the hospital, some never walking out. And it’s too bad because before it hits this part, it’s actually a very well acted, quite funny little comedy with fun moments, like when we discover Rita drinking beer and eating leftover chicken for breakfast despite claiming to be a vegetarian.
But such as it is, at least try and maybe have made it 17 Days or 27 Days, anything to have made it work on all levels without just blatantly being ridiculous.
“C-“
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