Tag: Dark Comedy

HOW TO MAKE A KILLING – Review

Charming Glen Powell goes after what should have been his, in the dark comedy crime tale HOW TO MAKE A KILLING, in which the son of a disowned daughter sets out to eliminate the seven other relatives standing between him and a 28 billion dollar fortune. Classic movie buffs will recognize this plot as a retelling of Alec Guinness dark comedy KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, in which Guinness plays all the relatives. Glen Powell doesn’t try anything so ambitious in acting here – he just plays the lead character – but writer/director John Patton Ford (who also directed the top-notch EMILY THE CRIMINAL) adds a new layer that makes his murderous campaign more personal.

The central character of Alec Guinness’s original just accidentally discovers he was in line for a fortune, and sets out to kill relatives he doesn’t know and has nothing against, other than that they are in his way. HOW TO MAKE A KILLING is different. Even though he also has never met any of them, Glen Powell’s Becket Redfellow has a personal history, and potential proverbial ax to grind, on behalf of a mother who was disowned by her father, the patriarch of the family. Revenge, for himself but also his mother, as well as greed, drives this version. There weren’t any moral gray areas in the Alec Guinness film but the personal history of being wronged changes that for this one.

Glen Powell’s natural charm and charisma does much to sell this story, where the audience finds itself hoping a character gets away with murder. But that doesn’t look likely since the film starts with Glen Powell’s Becket Redfellow on Death Row telling his tale to a priest (Adrian Lukis).

In HOW TO MAKE A KILLING, writer-director John Patton Ford puts nepotism, the idle rich, unearned wealth and privilege, and income inequality on full display here. The Redfellows have money and largely have no intention to do anything good or constructive with it.

It isn’t just the injustice done to Becket’s mother, it is the character of those Redfellow relatives who are in line to inherit, a string of useless “trust fund baby” types – yacht owing party boy Taylor Redfellow (Raff Law), egotistical wannabee artist Noah Redfellow (Zach Woods), self-centered would-be philanthropist Cassandra Redfellow (Bianca Amato), showboating explorer and thrill seeker (think Howard Hughes crossed with Richard Branson) Mcarthur Redfellow (Alexander Hanson) and, weirdest of all, the shady rock star pastor of a mega-church Stephen Redfellow (Topher Grace). At the very top is the ruthless grandfather who disowned his daughter, Whitelaw Redfellow (Ed Harris). This family is knee-deep in entitlement, self-absorption and arrogance, with cold-hearted ruthlessness at the top.

Becket’s mother Mary Redfellow (Nell Williams) was stubborn and proud, and despite living in a humble home in New Jersey, worked to give him a proper, cultured education while raising him with a sense of upper-crust values and as much cultural refinement as she could. Becket has archery lessons, piano lessons, and learned how to dress properly and have aristocratic manners, and rubbed some elbows with his mother’s upper class.

Although the Redfellows are mostly stinkers, Becket does find decent people in the family tree, an uncle, Warren Redfellow (Bill Camp), who does something to right his father’s wrong, but that kind gesture of taking Becket under his wing also showcases the power of nepotism (he is literally a nephew) in corporate success.

Two love interests both complicate and sometimes drive the plot, The first is Julia (Margaret Qualley) whom Becket meets as a child and becomes enamored with immediately. She becomes enamored with him when he tells her about the fortune he’s in line to inherit – maybe. The other is Ruth (Jessica Henwick), the girlfriend of one of those relatives standing in Becket’s way. Sparks fly between them when they meet, as her relationship is fizzling.

HOW TO MAKE A KILLING’s greatest strength is Glen Powell, who makes his character sympathetic and likable despite what the character is doing. Powell’s Becket is complicated but Glen Powell makes him also so charming and such a sweet, decent guy that it is easy to forget his mission, which is partly driven by his mother’s last words, to “get what is his,” as well as his own ambitions. Even Becket at times wavers in his aim but the basic unpleasantness of his relatives often helps him along.

As Becket goes about his bloody business. HOW TO MAKE A KILLING offers some damning social commentary as it showcases a rogues’ gallery of individuals bent by unearned wealth and privilege. Still, this film story is comedy, satiric dark crime comedy, like the film that inspired it. Since it is comedy, this one doesn’t have the bite of the director’s crime drama EMILY THE CRIMINAL, where a conviction, for assaulting an abusive partner, is a black mark that hangs unfairly over an ambitious businesswoman. HOW TO MAKE A KILLING is lighter, more fun, despite the murderous plot and an ironic ending, but it does still have some punch with its look at entitled people with more inherited wealth than sense and little in the way of decency or humanity.

HOW TO MAKE A KILLING opens in theaters on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT – Review

A scene from SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT. Courtesy of Cineverse

Are you feeling a bit of déjà vu from seeing the title SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT? That’s probably because there have been a morgueful of sequels and derivatives from the original 1984 Christ-X-mas splatter-fest of the same name. Besides its five sequels, and a 2012 remake (just called SILENT NIGHT), plus a slew of other Seasonal slasher sprees like SANTA’S SLAY (my favorite title), NIGHTMARE ON 34TH ST., SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT, and AXEMAS, to name a few. The juxtaposition of innocent holiday cheer and gruesome gore makes for a proven formula.

So, this one is a reboot of the original, with eight-year-old Billy horrified by the sight of his parents being slain by a psycho in a Santa suit (I wonder if Bruce Wayne would have turned into a serial killer instead of Batman if his parents’ murderer had been similarly attired? Discuss among yourselves.) Flash-forward to adult Billy (Rohan Campbell) doing a mashup between the original plot and “Dexter.” He’s been traveling around for years, guided by a voice in his head (Mark Acheson) like Dexter’s “dark passenger” who teaches him to recognize the bad people they’ll target for their December sprees, plus mentoring on how to do it without getting caught. That detection is like a Spidey Sense, but for a significantly different purpose. Bullies, corrupt officials, cheating spouses and others belonging on the Naughty List, including the occasional supremely bratty kid, are all fair game for Billy’s Santa suit and his axe or other weapon of “mess” destruction.

In this current December, he arrives in a small Wisconsin town and is quickly drawn to a babe named Pamela (Ruby Modine; yes, Matthew’s daughter). He starts working with her in her dad’s Christmas shop. Billy has an Advent Calendar to keep track of his killing regimen by putting a drop of each victim’s blood under the flap for the day, much like Dexter’s collection of blood drops on microscope slides. He’s also got a full closet of Santa suits and beards, because each gets soaked in more blood than anyone could clean before the next visit. Or ever.

The killings are plentiful and grisly, with some darkly comic aspects running throughout, so no gore-fest fan will be disappointed. There are a couple of highlights, including a murder montage and a group scene on top of the standard one-on-ones. But if you’re hoping for nudity in the titillation mix, look elsewhere – like the 2012 remake, which featured flashes of boobage.

Campbell looks like a young Tom Berenger, playing his character close to the vest. He’s devoted to his “calling”, but starting to chafe at the rootless lifestyle, especially when his interest in Pamela starts appearing to be mutual.  His killings come from a righteous determination to remove the scumbags from each year’s venue, rather than sadistic glee. Ms. Modine plays a much more interesting role. She reminds me of a young Juliette Lewis, simultaneously sweet, sexy and borderline crazy, with the latter two mostly bubbling under the surface – all in one petite package.

So, if you’re seeking respite from the ubiquitous holiday music and décor providing a backdrop for miles and miles of mindless smiles, here’s a quick fix that oughta do the trick.

SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT opens in theaters on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

BUGONIA – Review

Jesse Plemons stars as Teddy in director Yorgos Lanthimos’ BUGONIA, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features © 2025 All Rights Reserved.

Jesse Plemons gives a jaw-dropping performance as conspiracy-obsessed young man who convinces his pliant cousin to help him kidnap the high-powered woman CEO, played by Emma Stone, of a Big Pharma/agra-chemical company, driven by the belief that she is an alien from another planet who is set on destroying the world, in BUGONIA, Yorgos Lanthimos’ darkly comic, oft horrifying but ultimately humanly touching social commentary on our crazy modern world. Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos is known for his award-winning, imaginative films with a dark world view, such as THE LOBSTER, THE FAVOURITE, and POOR THINGS. BUGONIA is actually a loose re-make of a South Korean film, SAVE THE GREEN PLANET, and the pair of young men plan to force the CEO alien to contact her emperor and call off the destruction of Earth. Basically, it comes down to a face-off between the obsessed conspiracy-theorist and the heartless corporate CEO, in a battle of the wills filled with twists and enough unexpected turns to spin your head around.

The strange title actually comes from an ancient Greek ritual in which a bull is sacrificed in such a way that it was believed that the carcass would produce bees. This plan to have the alien CEO contact her space alien emperor seems as likely to succeed.

While this premise seems ripe for comedy, audiences should be warned that the film has plenty of violence, and a horror aspect, not just talking in the basement where the two are holding her.

What really makes this film is Jesse Plemons’ startling performance. Plemons gives an Oscar-worthy performance unlike anything you have ever seen from him, as a young beekeeper and environmentalist in a fading small town, who has been driven mad by terrible events in his life and too much time spent on the conspiracy-theory drenched internet. He lives in the crumbling old house outside of town where he grew up with his mother, along with his neurodivergent cousin.

Beyond saving the planet, Jesse Plemon’s character has more personal issues with Emma Stone’s CEO. One of his issues with her company is linked to colony collapse disorder, which the beekeeper links to certain chemicals, and the other has to do with his mother’s experimental treatment for drug addiction, which had devastating results.

While Plemon’s character is a lost soul with a tragic history, Emma Stone’s CEO is a soul less, hard-driven executive in spike heels who works out with martial arts and seems to have little feeling for people. In one of her first scenes, the CEO is recording a diversity message for her employees, when she flubs a line saying “diversity” too many times, with an expression that makes it clear she’d rather not say it at all. She walks down a hall, reminding her employees they now can leave work at 5:30pm. adding “Your call!” but then “unless you have work to finish,” undercutting the whole work-life balance initiative she is launching. “Your call!” she repeats.

Plemon’s character Teddy’s partner in crime is his pliant cousin Don, played well by fuzzy-haired newcomer Aidan Delbis, who lives with Teddy because he has no one else. Don adores his smart, slightly older cousin, who apparently is the only one in town who treats him with kindness and a level of respect. Plemon’s Teddy is clearly smart but absorbed in his elaborate tin-hat theories, which the pliant cousin listens to and accepts – partly because he feels he has no choice.

Teddy wants to kidnap alien CEO Michelle to force to contact her Emperor and call of the attack on Earth. The kidnapping doesn’t go smoothly but the pair do get her back to Teddy’s basement. However, he does not want her to contact her Mothership for rescue, so he cuts off her hair – which is how she sends messages to other aliens.

At first our sympathies are more with the broken, lost Teddy, but that turns rather quickly. And turn back again, and again, with a series of shockers and twists that continue to the end.

None of these characters are simple or black-and-white. The film gives all the characters depth and complexity, which adds an unexpected layer of humanity and heart to the tale, despite the sometimes awful events than unfold.

Whether it is aliens or just alienation, BUGONIA delivers a punch, but primarily through the outstanding performances, especially by Jesse Plemons, one that should win him an Oscar nod at a minimum.

BUGONIA opens Friday, Oct. 31, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

“Trompoppie” – TV Series Review

A scene from the South African TV crime comedy series “Trompoppie.” Courtesy of MHz Choice

The title of the darkly comic murder-fest “Trompoppie” is Afrikaans for drum majorette. We first meet aspiring South African gymnast Luna (Melissa Myburgh), whose mom died leaving her with a drunk, depressed and broke dad. Poppa wants the best for her – a top-notch gym academy in Russia – but they can’t even cover their daily overhead. During a workout, she’s seen by a wealthy local celeb, Jill (Marion Holm), who decides to pay for Luna to attend the city’s posh high school and live with her family, in exchange for adapting her skills for the majorette squad her daughter Zanne (Celeste Loots) is due to captain. There’s a big competition that means the world to Jill and the school, and Luna seems to offer the pizzazz element needed to boost them from also-rans to champs. That contest seems far more important to them than it should.

The privileged jock milieu isn’t what Luna aspires to, but she agrees because it’s the only known path to her own goal. Luna is warmly embraced by Zanne, but immediately and callously spurned by the rest of the squad – especially Mindy ((Elzet Nel) – the current captain and leader of the pack. Mindy is straight out of a MEAN GIRLS clone, complete with intimidated minions in the roost she rules, and contempt for the new girl from the poor side of town. Luna perseveres, with Jill’s staunch backing. She’s a strident Karen among Tiger Moms, and throws her weight around liberally and loudly. She also looks uncomfortably like Eddie Izzard in his drag mode. As a veteran soap opera star, Jill can impose her will more forcefully than most, and without reservation or remorse.

For ten 50-minute episodes, we follow a tragic accident, a desperate cover-up and a string of consequential murders, with suspense about who is doing the rest of the killing. Suspects ebb and flow among members of the squad, their handsome coach (Armand Aucamp), Jill’s surly other adopted daughter, Elke (Luca Human), Zanne’s short-fused beau Tomas (Cantona James), and others. We root for Luna because she’s as pleasantly earnest and sympathetic as Lindsay Lohan’s character from MEAN GIRLS. She’d advocated for doing the right thing after the initial incident, but was outvoted and out-muscled by Mindy and the rest of the squad, ala HEATHERS.

Etienne Fourie apparently wrote and directed the entire miniseries. His effort contains considerable merit, including some effective misdirects and twists.  The script’s wry, morbid humor blends nicely with the suspense. The media frenzy and fickle reactions of the public add a fine social satire element. Jill’s high profile and central involvement make the ongoing situation a big attention-grabber, as we see from inter-cut scenes of random folks’ responses to the swinging pendulum of the unfolding story. Performances are fine across the board from a large cast of featured players. On the downside, this would have been much better if compressed to seven or eight episodes. A lot of fat could have been excised without losing any of the meat. The acts of violence and their results occur mostly off-camera. For those expecting a bunch of titillating scenes of young lasses in skimpy outfits, locker rooms and shower scenes, cool your libidos. There ain’t many such cheap thrills to be found.

There’s a lot to like, including some laugh-out-loud moments and a satisfying ending. Perhaps others will have more patience than I for the length of the winding path to reach it.

“Trompoppie,” mostly in Afrikaans with English subtitles, starts streaming on MHz Choice on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

SORRY, BABY – Review

Eva Victor as Agnes, in writer/director Eva Victor’s indie drama/comedy SORRY, BABY. Courtesy of A24.

Offbeat independent drama/comedy SORRY, BABY accomplishes a rare feat, combining a smart, witty yet touching drama about recovery from trauma with a surprising dark humor and social commentary, while also offering a portrait of the power of true friendship. SORRY, BABY is a different kind of story about pain and healing, a portrait of a quirky, appealing woman named Agnes, who seems fine at work but secretly is stuck still struggling with the pain of a traumatic experience from her graduate student days, while everyone else has moved on. Ultimately, Agnes finds a way towards healing, with the help of her best friend, the only person who really gets her.

Eva Victor directs, wrote and stars in SORRY, BABY, her directorial debut film, which opened at Sundance to critical acclaim. While it finds dark humor in unexpected situations, SORRY, BABY also a drama that always feels honest and real, in that odd, strange way real life sometimes is. That realism is part of the appeal of SORRY, BABY and its tale of pain and healing in real life, seen through a dark humor lens.

When we first meet her, Agnes (Eva Victor) is an English professor at a small New England college but she is still grappling emotionally with a traumatic event that happened when she was a graduate student, where she was a star pupil recognized as a gifted writer. With a quirky, quiet, easy-going personality, the professor is well-liked by both students and colleagues, (apart from one jealous one), but her calm, stoic surface conceals a pain that few know about. Everyone has moved on after her traumatic assault but it still haunts her. Only her best friend Lydie (Naomi Ackie), who shares her offbeat sense of humor, really gets Agnes, and understands the depth of her hidden trauma. A visit from Lydie helps Eva recognize how stuck she is, prompting her to move towards healing.

Director/writer/star Eva Victor structures this drama/dark comedy beautifully, starting midway in the story and then flashing back and forward in chapters. SORRY, BABY is divided into chapters and it told out of sequence but does not leave us confused by the end. Starting in the middle lets us see how stuck Agnes is, while life and everyone else has moved on from the trauma that still haunts her. Agnes conceals her pain from her students and colleagues, but it is expressed in odd ways, like using her graduate thesis to paper her windows in place of curtains. The story is told in little chapters with oddball titles, where flashbacks let us see the cause of her pain, and the flash forwards let us see her progress towards healing, as life inevitable moves forward. It is quite an impressive first film, polished, moving and appealing, and one of the year’s best so far.

One of the magical aspects of this film is how it can take a serious scene and wring unexpected comedy from it, while revealing and mocking the false concern and hurtful behavior underneath the surface. After Agnes’ traumatic experience, she meets with representatives of her college, who make all the right concerned noises, while dodging responsibility and doing nothing helpful. It is both strikingly pointed commentary and darkly funny, and not the only scene that fits that description.

Part of the key to that, and the success of the film as a whole, is the cast, particularly Eva Victor and Naomi Ackie. As Agnes and Lydie, the pair are very funny and very believable as best friends who share a weird sense of humor that can’t be suppressed. After Agnes experiences her traumatic event, Lydie is her ever-present support, always there but often with a joke as she staunchly stands up for her friend, when she can’t speak for herself. The scenes where Lydie defends her less-assertive friend Agnes are often laugh-out-loud funny, in situations that are anything but humorous, while the scenes also offer very pointed commentary on how victims of assault are treated by in cookie-cutter fashion by institutions that should be helping.

The cast is strong throughout this indie film, and those excellent performances help this offbeat drama/comedy win us over. Eva Victor gives a splendid nuanced performance, revealing Agnes’s hidden pain in unconventional way, while she maintains a stoic if pleasant face to the world. Only Lydie really sees what is going on, as Agnes struggles with the pain she is stuck in, and Naomi Ackie delivers a winning performance as Agnes’ bestie Lydie.

Other cast members also excel, with Louis Cancelmi, Kelly McCormack and Lucas Hedges in supporting roles, dramatic and comic. All turn in well-crafted performances that support the narrative well, in both its serious or lighter moments.

SORRY, BABY is an unexpected delight, one of the year’s best so far, a unique film that is appealing and moving, offering an different approach to healing after trauma, and a tribute to the power of friendship.

SORRY, BABY opens in theaters Friday, Aug. 1, 2025.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

FRIENDSHIP – Review

This week’s new indie comedy (a “micro-budgeted” flick squeezed in between two holiday-weekend studio “tentpoles”) explores the difficulty for adults to make new, meaningful connections in the hectic modern world. Now it’s not really a “rom-com” (though some may interpret it as such) about the meet-cute and “wooing” of two “camera-ready” twenty-somethings. This focuses on a duo in their early 40’s, though one of them was a recent People Magazine “Sexiest Man Alive”. It’s concerned with the convoluted, rocky road to acquiring a new pal, echoing a similar film from one of the actors, 2009’s I LOVE YOU MAN. He’s considered a “mainstream” star (he’s in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, y’know) while the other is the offbeat star/creator of several streaming cult comedies. So, one of the film’s big questions, and a “curiosity factor” is, will they somehow form a convincing and compelling FRIENDSHIP?

We first meet one of the two men at an unlikely setting for the opening scene of a comic romp. Craig Waterman (Tim Robinson) is at a meeting of a cancer support group with his wife Tami (Kate Mara) where she talks of her concerns about her disease returning. Craig tries to lighten the mood with some ill-timed humor that falls flat with the attendees. Back at their suburban home in Clovis, Colorado, Tami dives back into her flower decorating job, taking phone orders for arrangements, helped by their high-school-aged son Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer). Apart from prepping the house for a possible sale (they want a bigger place), Craig has little to do away from his “team-builder” nine-to-five job at an online PR firm. He can’t even get his wife or kid to join him at the multiplex for “the new Marvel”. Tami suggests that he should try to make some new friends. The next day, a mistaken package delivery sends Craig on his new quest. This parcel on his doorstep is intended for the newly occupied house down the street. He walks it over and meets his new neighbor, recently relocated TV “weatherman” Austin Carmichael (Paul Rudd). This “television star” (on the morning news) is gregarious, welcoming, and so very “cool”, offering Craig a chance to “hang” that evening. Later, they share a beer and take a walk in the nearby woods, where Austin guides Craig on an “adventure” as they “trespass” into the town’s long dormant maze of underground sewage tunnels (they even emerge in the city hall). The next night, Austin invites Craig to see him play guitar with his “band” at a local pub, prompting Craig to order a drum set so they can “jam”. He’s smitten, but a big “speed bump” (unlike the ones Craig got the city to install on their busy street) appears when Austin invites him over to have some “brews” with some of his old buddies. Craig is eager to be part of the “gang,” but his attempts to bond (they have a familiar “shorthand”) horrifyingly “backfire,” and Austin “ghosts” him. Can Craig somehow “thaw” this brutal “freexe-out” and somehow repair this exciting burgeoing “bromance”, or is this the beginning of a devastating downward spiral?

Though he’s not the big “box office draw”, this film is a showcase for the ‘particular” (and some might say “peculiar”) skill of Robinson as the socially awkward (that’s an understatement) Craig. Those unfamilar with his unique streaming shows “Detroiters” and “I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson” may be lulled by the opening scenes into thinking that Craig is dim but sweet, with a “wonky internal filter” until his encounter with his “ideal hang”. “All bets are off” as he’s submerges into Austin’s whirlpool of “coolness”. Many viewers may be repulsed by his awkwardness, while others are somehow “drawn in” (guilty), like watching a collision (with only property damage) in slow motion. Robinson truly “goes for it” with no retraint or concerns about “likability”. Rather than softening his “edges” in his feature film lead acting role, Robinson sharpens them to a prickly, painful point. Perhaps he seems most extreme while alongside the relaxed acting style of the ever-charming Rudd, a tsunami of “chill” whose vibe is a near-fatal siren call to Craig. He’s a more mellow spin on his iconic ANCHORMAN role of Brian Fantana, while mixing in elements of the earlier-mentioned I LOVE YOU MAN in which he was looking for a BFF, though with little of Craig’s awkward obsessions. But Austin’s not perfect as we see his own trepidations at fitting in at his new station (I’m guessing he’s been bouncing from “market to market” for more than a decade), which may account for his need to extend a well-manicured hand to his nerdy neighbor. As for the “support squad,” Mara is very good as the vulnerable Tami, who has the patience of a saint in dealing with her hubby, making us wonder if Craig may have turned a “corner” in his personality during her health struggles. And Mara is a superb straight “woman” as she reacts to Craig’s bizarre rants and retorts. Ditto for Grazer as the teen who, like most, his age is uncomfortable spending time with dad, while becoming overprotective of his mum, and a tad too physically affectionate (no worries, it doesn’t go “there”).

This marks the feature film debut for writer/ director Andrew DeYoung, who has contributed to many of the most innovative cable and streaming comedy shows (along with some shorts) of the last couple of decades. Here he expertly taps into the strengths of Rudd and Robinson (I thought this may have been his own script) and elicits excellent work from them along with a wonderful group of supporting players. The plot flows smoothly, even as it builds and connects several inspired set pieces and “set-ups” which had me chuckling to myself while walking out the theatre doors (no spoilers, but here’s a hint at one: “frog”). This springs from the sub-genre of awkward comedy, perhaps best exemplified by TV’s “The Office”, though a better phrase may be the classification of “cringe comedy”. Viewers may literally squirm in their seats (think of a horror flick with odd behavior replacing gore), as we brace for the social “trainwreck” happening before us. DeYoung doesn’t offer quick cuts or flashy editing to ease our discomfort, but rather hits us “head on” with the often baffling “man-child” Craig. And remember the old adage of the “Seinfeld” TV show: “No hugs. No lessons learned”, as the story careens to a very “off the rails” finale. Yet DeYoung does bring some “heart” as he establishes the town’s setting as cold and dreary until the “awesome Austin” brings the sun and warmth to the place, and especially to Craig’s life. Yes, the Robinson persona is certainly an “acquired taste”, but for those who relish his unique brand of weird and wacky “quirk”, FRIENDSHIP is a very entertaining and engaging voyage through the rough waters of male bonding.

3.5 Out of 4

FRIENDSHIP is now playing in select theatres

THE TROUBLE WITH JESSICA – Review

Indira Varma, Olivia Williams, Alan Tudyk, Shirley Henderson, and Rufus Sewell, in THE TROUBLE WITH JESSICA. Courtesy of Music Box Films

The British dark comedy THE TROUBLE WITH JESSICA has trouble for all, in a satirical tale where a dinner party between old friends goes so very, very wrong. Director Matt Winn’s dark tale features a starry British cast, with Rufus Sewell, Shirley Henderson, Alan Tudyk and Olivia Williams, with Indira Varma as Jessica. The trouble with Jessica (Indira Varma) is that she is a lot of trouble, something which architect Tom (Alan Tudyk) and wife Sarah (Shirley Henderson) already have in abundance. And what happens when she comes to dinner is even more trouble. However, the film THE TROUBLE WITH JESSICA has plenty of troubles of its own.

Tom and Sarah appear to have a comfortable life but they are in a terrible financial bind, due to a big architectural project that fell through, and now they are forced to sell their lovely London home. The good news is that they have found a buyer just in time to rescue them from financial disaster. The married couple are planning to have one last dinner party in their home before they must leave, with just their best friends, Richard (Rufus Sewell) and Beth (Olivia Williams), whom they have known since college.

But then Tom gets a phone call from Richard, asking if they can bring along another old friend from college, Jessica. Reluctantly, Tom agrees, optimistically hoping it is alright with wife Sarah. It’s not, but now they’re stuck. The trouble with beautiful Jessica is she is braggy and self-absorbed, and with her new book, a memoir, a bestseller, she’ll be more so. Plus, as Sarah complains, she always flirts with her husband Tom, although Tom points out Jessica flirts with everyone. But Tom has cooked plenty of food for another guest, including his signature special dessert, a clafoutis.

American audiences may not be familiar with this French dessert but it is a cherry, custard and sponge cake favorite featured on British baking shows, so anyone arriving in the house in this British dark comedy will recognize the tasty treat. And the appealing dessert becomes part of the plot.

The dinner guests arrive, and Jessica does flirt with both men and she does get on Sarah’s nerves. After a seemingly minor remark, Jessica leaves the table in a huff. When the dessert is brought out, someone eventually goes out into the back garden to check on her, where they find Jessica has hanged herself.

And this is where things get really weird. You would expect that finding that a long-time friend, no matter how much she irritates you, has committed suicide would create more of a emotional reaction, shock if not grief, in the friends that find her. And it does, but more briefly and less deeply than you would expect. That moment of shock, grief, even guilt, passes very quickly, although Beth, who is the more emotional one in the group and prone to moralizing too, holds on to is much longer, further into film.

There is something both unconvincing and creepy about the characters’ reactions to the suicide, reactions that would be cold even if she were a stranger. It makes the situation unconvincing and makes the characters seem unsympathetic as well.

The friends’ reaction is this: The suicide in shocking enough but doing it in someone else’s garden? Outrageous. Who does that? So inconsiderate because it creates special problems. Quickly, Sarah thinks of one special problem: will the suicide impact the sale of the house? Will the buyers back out because someone died there? Beth immediately chides Sarah for her coldness, but the others agree that it does seem likely to cause trouble. So Sarah hatches a plan: instead of calling the police or an ambulance, they move Jessica’s body to her own apartment and make it look like the suicide happened there. Then Sarah sets about bullying everyone else into going along with it.

Gallows humor rules the day, and the dead body becomes a prop, which might have worked if the comedy were broader. What is ensues is a series of bad decisions and bad behavior, as personalities clash, and events bring out the worst in everyone, plus a few secrets too. Everyone has their flaws: hard-eyed Sarah is a manipulator, lawyer Richard is a liar, moralist Beth is a hypocrite, and architect Tom is a dreamer who thinks it will all work out fine in the end. But there is isn’t anything very surprising in the way the film mocks these too-comfortable people.

However, the cast of British powerhouse talents are fantastic, and do what they can to milk the script for darkly comic stuff, a script that turns farcical every time someone new, like the police or a nosy neighbor (Anne Reid), turns up at the door. Which happens more than you’d think.

The cast is strong even if the film’s basic concept isn’t, with Scottish actor Shirley Henderson leading the pack. American audiences may know her best from a string of Mike Leigh films, like TOPSY TURVY or the Harry Potter ones. As Tom’s accountant wife, Henderson’s Sarah knows that selling their house is the only way out of their financial pickle, after architect Tom’s big grand project, for which he borrowed after losing his backer, went bust. She brings all her iron will, and some blackmail, to bear in pressuring the others to go along with her illegal plan.

Rufus Sewell is close behind, also giving a good performance as a character who has a charming demeanor but all kinds of moral shadiness. American audiences may recognize Sewell from his roles in “The Diplomat,” “Man in the High Castle” or PBS’ “Victoria,” and he sparkles here as egotistical, slippery lawyer Richard, whose specialty is defending rapists, although he claims to hate it.

Olivia Williams’ teary-eyed Beth seems ready to clutch her metaphorical pearls as she tries to claim the moral high ground, only to cave-in to pressure. Alan Tudyk’s Tom, the architect, just seems to want to stay out of everyone’s way, while closing his eyes and hoping it will all work out in the end.

The characters’ troubles, twists and bad decisions are divided into chapters with on-screen titles that all begin “The Trouble With..,” followed by “moving a body” or so forth. That is a technical flaw in a film that is already queasy on a humanity level. There are too many of these inserted title cards, all with little darkly funny comments, and they break up the flow of the action a bit too often. While the titles do focus our attention on the characters’ foibles or dilemmas, ethical and otherwise, they also break our concentration and take us out of the film, and sometimes make the film feel a bit smug itself.

Surprisingly often, more people arrive at the door, a few of which make it inside. Every time they do, the newcomer inevitably gazes longingly at, and comments on, the tempting dessert, the fruit-studded creamy clafoutis, on the table, placed there shortly before the discovery of the body and all the trouble started. That dessert even plays a role before all it done,

While there is some biting satire, plenty gallows humor, and darkly funny moments poking fun at these people’s human foibles, and it does feature a splendid cast, but there is a certain limpness in what should have been a wild tale of a quiet dinner gone oh-so-wrong where a dessert might help save the day

THE TROUBLE WITH JESSICA opens Friday, Apr. 25, at selected theaters.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

A DIFFERENT MAN – Review

Sebastian Stan in A DIFFERENT MAN. Credit: By Matt Infante. Courtesy of A24.

Sebastian Stan plays Edward, an aspiring actor with a medical condition that causes facial disfigurement, whose life is dramatically transformed by a new medical treatment. With a new face and a new life, Edward now has a dream life, but his dream changes to nightmare when he finds himself now shut out of the role he was born to play. In writer/director Aaron Shimberg’s darkly comic horror thriller A DIFFERENT MAN, Sebastian Stan gives an impressive performance in a tale that centers on identity, and the contrast between outward appearance and the inner person, in this very clever, original, horror film-tinged and darkly funny film.

Edward (Stan) struggles to find acting work, and suffers from loneliness and isolation in his cramped city apartment. When a pretty playwright, Ingrid (Renate Reinsve), moves into the neighboring apartment and even befriends him, a ray of hope enters his life. Edward is falling for her but crushing insecurity about his looks prevents him from doing anything about it, even when the playwright talks about writing a play specifically for him. Meanwhile, Edward’s doctor tells him about a new experimental medical treatment for his condition, and the actor seizes the chance and enrolls as a test subject.

Treatment transforms his face and his life. Edward looks like a different man, not just “normal” but handsome (this is Sebastian Stan, after all). Strangers greet him warmly, people flock to him, and women fall into his arms. Adopting a new name and concealing his past identity, his future look bright and unlimited. Sudden his fortunes rise, socially and financially, but in changing his identity, he lost track of his pretty neighbor.

But all this dream-come-true comes with an ironic twist, when the actor comes across a play that seems made for him, or who he was in his old life. With any role now available to him as an actor, Edward becomes obsessed by a role that would have been perfect for him with his old face, even though he would now need to wear a mask to play the part. He becomes particularly unsettled when a different man, Oswald (Adam Pearson), who also has a similar facial condition, appears on the scene.

To outward appearances, Sebastian Stan’s character is changed into a different man on the outside but inside he is still who he was. The new guy, Adam Pearson’s Oswald, is a different man inside and out – outgoing, confident, talkative and displaying a range of talents and skills. Plus he’s just fun to be around.

The dark humor is drives this tale but underneath is a challenging topic to tackle in a movie, how people are judged by their outward appearance. This is particularly so, since movies are a medium where appearance dominates so much. However, writer/director Shimberg tackles it well, and brings some personal credentials to making a movie on such a difficult subject, having been born with a cleft lip. Early on, Shimberg reminds us about the bias people have for the more attractive, something well established in research studies, and then goes on to use his film to highlight how people are commonly, rightly or wrongly, by judged by surface appearance, while slyly underlining the differences between the outer form and inner person, through this cleverly funny dark tale.

A DIFFERENT MAN starts out like a drama but there are plentiful horror film references lurking around and the film develops and edgy tension. But then it takes an unexpected turn, slowly morphing into dark, satiric, absurd comedy. Edward’s life is changed repeatedly, first by a ray of hope in the form of a pretty playwright who moves into the next apartment and befriends him, then by his medical miracle that transforms his outward appearance and how he is perceived, and then by the arrival of a different man who looks something like how Edward used to look, who steps into the part that the actor feels born to play but now must wear a mask to play it.

Things get even crazier as Shimberg’s film unfolds. Sebastian Stan does an impressive job with this character who goes through so many changes, in his looks and in his life. Adam Pearson is charming and charismatic throughout as Oswald, which makes Stan’s character’s rage at him all the funnier. Their scenes together are wonderful, and the same can be said for scenes with Stan and Renate Reinsve as Ingrid, whose own flightiness, selective memory, and penchant to pick up and drop romantic partners quickly and with little feeling, adds to the boiling pot. There is plenty of laugh-out-loud moments but Shimberg makes razor-sharp points underneath it all.

A DIFFERENT MAN is an impressive film, sincere and deep but filled with snappy, smart dialog, original, fearless storytelling and fine performances, although it’s quirkiness and dark commentary might not appeal to all. Some might quibble about the pacing, which is a bit slow at times, but really, this is such an original and effective film, that it hardly seems to matter.

If you have a taste for dark humor, an appreciation of original filmmaking and of fine acting, A DIFFERENT MAN is a different film that should not be missed.

A DIFFERENT MAN opens Oct. 4, 2024 in theaters.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars

POOR THINGS – Review

Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo in POOR THINGS. Photo by Atsushi Nishijima. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

Smart, clever and inventive, POOR THINGS is described by the filmmakers as “the fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a young woman brought back to life from the brink of death by the brilliant, daring scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe).” Based on the novel by the late Scottish author Alasdair Gray, director Lanthimos and scriptwriter Tony McNamara also reference Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” making this off-beat coming-of-age fantasy a kind of “feminist Frankenstein” that is part dark comedy, part adventure thriller and pure smart entertaining fantasy with an uplifting message.

POOR THINGS is a wild science fiction coming-of-age tale set in an alternate Victorian world that is part steam punk and part anachronistic fantasy from the writer/director who gave us THE FAVORITE and THE LOBSTER, Yorgos Lanthimos. It is also a whole lot of fun and an eye-popping visual treat, in which a young innocent meets a villain but it upends melodrama rules by essentially rescuing herself. The film is somewhat in the vein of a coming-of-age sexual romp like “Tom Jones” but flips the script on that male-centric sexual adventure by putting a young woman on that rule-breaking journey, making it a rollicking feminist adventure tale. Some of those adventures are bawdy, as they would be if the lead character were a young man, and the whole tale relishes breaking the rescue-the-maiden rules of melodrama.

Lanthimos and McNamara also collaborated on THE FAVOURITE, and audiences familiar with that fantasy retelling of Queen Anne’s real relationship with her closest friend, and with Lanthimos’s darker THE LOBSTER, know that this director can skillfully balance dark humor with thriller and even horror themes, turning from one to the other on the proverbial dime but without audience whiplash.

Set in a Victorian fantasy world that is part steam punk and part Merchant-Ivory film, Bella Baxter (Emma Stone ) is the creation of brilliant, eccentric scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Curious, energetic Bella has the body of a beautiful young woman but the brain of a baby, the result of Dr. Baxter’s experiment to save two lives by reviving a recently-dead body. We watch as Bella quickly grows from precocious as a curious child to an intellectually questing, sexually curious as a young woman eager to learn about the wider world.

Bella longs to explore the world beyond her sheltered home with her protective father-creator Dr. Godwin Baxter, whom she calls “God.” When the inquisitive woman-child also shows sexual curiosity, the doctor arranges for his medical student protege Max McCandless (Ramy Youssef) to become engaged to her. While Bella likes her new fiance, she is tempted by tales of the wider world told by crafty, unethical cad Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), and runs off with the villain.

While Dr. Baxter and Bella’s fiance are in frantic pursuit of the runaways, Ruffalo’s serial exploiter plans to seduce the innocent Bella and then discard her, of course. But Bella herself turns the tables on this familiar plot,” rescuing” her herself in her own way, while embarking on a grand tour combined with intellectual, philosophical and feminist coming-of-age journey.

This old-fashioned melodrama set-up is played for both drama and tongue-in-cheek comedy, with scenes sometimes mixing both serious and humorous. Bella embarks on an adventure that has a strong elements of “Tom Jones,” a continent-spanning journey that is a sexual adventure and intellectual/philosophical exploration, with a definite feminist twist. Who is exploiting who becomes the question.

Emma Stone gives an outstanding performance as the brilliant, irrepressible Bella, perhaps Stone’s career best so far, creating a character who is constantly surprising yet irresistible. Mark Ruffalo is also excellent as the villainous abductor, who more than gets his just desserts. Willem Dafoe’s doctor looks like an experiment gone wrong but turns out to have a heart of gold and Ramy Youssef makes his sweet, loyal assistant more than we expect too. The film is peppered with other memorable characters, with striking performances by Christopher Abbot , Suzy Bemba, Jerrod Carmichael, Kathryn Hunter, Vicki Pepperdine, and Margaret Qualley particularly.

POOR THINGS is a visual banquet, thanks to cinematography by Director of Photography Robbie Ryan, and production designers James Price and Shona Heath, and costume designer Holly Waddington. The colorful, creative costumes signal that we are in a very different world. From the waist up, Bella looks the picture of Victorian modesty, with high collars, ruffles, and puffy shoulders, but below the waist, she is dressed in mini-skirts, shorts, or skirts of gauzy fabric. Everyone else is dressed in proper Victorian attire, yet no one notices Bella’s wild, revealing outfits. The gorgeous sets are all lush Belle Epoque, Beaux-Arts architecture and plush velvet furniture, but with unexpected little visual twists to remind us we are in the realm of the fantastic.

This mix of dark humor, sexual adventure and feminist empowerment means POOR THINGS adds up to a very entertaining, smart movie, with both a brain and a heart, and topped by an uplifting message that will leave you bouncing out of the theater.

POOR THINGS opens Friday, Dec. 22, in theaters.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

DREAM SCENARIO – Review

(L-R) Nicolas Cage in DREAM SCENARIO. Photo Credit: Jan Thijs. Courtesy of A24

DREAM SCENARIO is more of a nightmare for Nicholas Cage’s character, in this darkest of comedies from Norwegian writer/director Kristoffer Borgli, a social satire commenting on the power and irrational nature of social media. While Cage’s character is not having a good day, actor Nicholas Cage looks like he is having a grand old time, relishing this role as a hapless guy at the center of this outside-the-mainstream dark comedy.

Like his role as a backwoods recluse in PIG, Cage is anything but prettied up for this part, playing an aging, balding professor whose ordinary guy life is upended when random people start seeing him in their dreams.

At first, Cage’s middle-aged academic is sort of flattered by the attention, although he has done nothing to cause his dream appearances. The biology professor hopes it will help him find a publisher for his book on animal behavior, a book he hasn’t yet even written.

A running theme in this satiric comedy, which goes darker and darker until its bitter end, is the pervasive power of social media, to elevate and to demonize, even when the focus on that attention does nothing to deserve either. But so are the danger in unfulfilled dreams and a wasted life. In some ways, Cage’s professor has done this to himself by setting the stage for the destruction – by not doing enough with his life, by just drifting and floating downstream in his comfortable life.

Hapless family man Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) has a pretty comfortable life. A dowdy tenured professor at a small college, he lives in nice home with his beloved wife Janet (Julianne Nicholson) and two daughters Sophie (Lily Bird) and Hannah (Jessica Clement). Still he radiates a sense of feeling like he is missing out, of unfulfilled potential. He is irritated by students who barely listen in his zoology lectures, and he talks frequently about publishing a book on his research but worries about finding a publisher. Right now, Paul is unhappy that another academic , someone he worked with in grad school, is publishing a book on research on ant behavior they did together. Of course, Paul never published his work himself but he’s still upset.

Actually, Paul hasn’t even written the book he talks about endlessly. He feels left out that another professor he’s known for years has never invited him and his wife to their storied, intellectual dinner parties. Basically, he doesn’t feel like he is taken seriously. And he’s right, because he’s been drifting through life for years, wrapped in the comfort of his family life, while everyone around him has moved forward.

Paul plans to confront this former colleague, who was also an old girlfriend, about her book, when they meet for coffee, where Paul assumes she is going to ask for permission to use their shared research. He hasn’t seen her in years yet she reached out about meeting, and although he loves his wife, Paul also seem a bit too eager to see this old girlfriend, wondering if that she is still carrying a torch for him.

Instead of discussing her upcoming book or any romantic feelings, he discovers what she wants to talk about is her dreams – nightly dreams in which he has started appearing. She wants permission to write about that on her blog.

Then it turns out a lot of people are seeing Paul in their dreams – millions of people he never met – and suddenly Paul is a social media sensation.

He just appears in their dreams as a passive presence, not a participant, even if terrible things are happening in the dream to the dreamer. Paul is kind of unhappy that he does nothing to help but there isn’t anything he can do to change someone else’s dream.

The professor is confused about the sudden fame, because after all he isn’t actually doing anything, but he quickly warms to all the attention. People seek him out, ask for his autograph and listen in his lectures – or at least seem to listen.

Then the dreams shift, and suddenly Paul becomes a negative presence, even a threatening one, in the dreams. The social media landscape changes with that, and then so does Paul. DREAM SCENARIO heads into ever-darker comedy and eventually towards psychological horror.

Tim Meadows gives a very funny, dry humor performance as Paul’s boss and friend, who really does not understand anything of what is happening. Michael Cera is spot-on in his role as one of the marketing executives hoping to cash in on Paul’s unexpected, unique fame.

This wicked comedy is the work of writer/director Kristoffer Borgli, whose previous film SICK OF MYSELF is a Norwegian/Swedish film also in a darkest comedy vein. Nicholas Cage is clearly having a wonderful time playing this schlub of a man, vain and unaccomplished soul despite his apparent early promise. This comically stiff character is very different from the reclusive slob Cage played in PIG but the actor’s skill and joy in stretching his acting muscles is just as apparent.

Cage is a great choice for this part, exceeding in the comic parts that dominate early on, but able to give the character a depth and complexity to carry the film as he falls into his personal hell. Despite Cage’s penchant for silly shallow roles and scenery chewing, a film like this shows that the actor really does have the goods to soar in his crafts.

One of the funniest satiric moments comes when Cage’s clueless professor agrees to work with a promotional company, a particularly absurd idea. The professor is hoping to find a publisher for the scholarly book he has not yet written but the agency has other things in mind, looking for ways to cash in on his unexpected fame, suggesting finding a way to insert product placement into his appearances in other people’s dreams. That nightmarish thought is persists as this tale unfolds.

The first two-thirds of DREAM SCENARIO are howlingly funny but then it takes a sinister turn, where the last 20 minutes are a painful slog of deep humiliation for Cage’s sad character. Having stripped everything away from Cage’s flawed but harmless character, writer/director Kristoffer Borgli continues to beat this dead horse long after the point has been made about toxic social media. With the plot’s social media-driven events having destroyed 90 percent of this character’s life, the film goes on to make sure we see every crumb of that life smashed and ensure we are clear there is no hope left at all, a squirm-inducing experience that strips any sense of comedy from the film’s remaining moments, transforming it into nightmarish tragedy. Borgli just doesn’t know when to leave this party, and seems determined to leave us with as grim and uncomfortable feeling as possible. Perhaps the director wants to ensure his film is memorable, and the last section does do that. It is memorable but not in a good way, just making us want to avoid ever seeing the film again.

DREAM SCENARIO offers a cautionary tale about social media and about a life not fully lived, in a darkest comedy form. Nicholas Cage gives a hilarious and then wrenching performance as a too-passive, too-small man whose life is upended by social media and events over which he has no control. Cage’s performance and the first two-thirds of the movie are excellent but the last twenty minutes, for many of us, are not an experience you’ll want to repeat.

DREAM SCENARIO opens Friday, Dec. 1, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars