Tag: Jane Curtin

JULES – Review

(L-R) Jane Curtin as Joyce, Harriet Harris as Sandy, Ben Kingsley as Milton and Jade Quon as Jules, in JULES. Courtesy of Bleecker Street

A reclusive older man (Ben Kingsley), who has built his small-town daily routine around complaints about pedestrian safety at the town council meetings, has his routine upended when a flying saucer lands in his backyard, in director Marc Turtletaub’s dramedy JULES. Although sci fi is part of the premise, the real focus and strength of this whimsical, warm comedy JULES is an exploration of friendship in late life and aging generally, and the fine acting ensemble of Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris and Jane Curtin.

Milton (Kingsley) is more upset that the flying saucer took out his flower garden than he is surprised to find a spaceship in his backyard. With get-off-my-grass outrage, he calls the authorities to report the spaceship but gets the real world response you would expect: disbelief. They think the old guy is losing it. The thing is that is a kind of true, as Milton has been having memory problems, doing things like leaving his keys in the fridge, troubles he is hoping to conceal from his concerned daughter Denise (Zoë Winters).

Shortly after the flying saucer trashed the flowers, Milton is shocked to find an ailing alien (Jade Quon, made up like the usual Area 51 denizen) slumped on his patio. Moved by the alien’s pitiful, pleading gaze, Milton brings him/her/it inside, wrapping the creature in a blanket and setting the visitor on the couch. Milton offers his strange guest a plate with a selection of finger foods like cheese and crackers but the only things the visitor eats are the apple slices.

The creature doesn’t speak but seems very gentle, intuitive and cooperative – and a really good listener. Soon, Milton has a new routine, caring for the creature and then sitting on the couch, watching TV and chatting. He names the visitor Jules.

When Milton becomes even more reclusive than usual and starts buying lots of apples, it sparks the interest of two other seniors, also regular speakers at the city council meetings, Sandy (a wonderful Harriet Sansom Harris) and Joyce (Jane Curtin). Sandy decides to pay Milton a call, and is taken aback at seeing Jules. But she relaxes when Milton assures her the space visitor is harmless, even friendly. Not long after, Joyce, consumed by curiosity, also turns up at Milton’s door. Soon the threesome are inseparable – make that four.

Harriet Sansom Harris might not be a familiar name but you’ll likely recognize her face, and this role gives this talented actor a chance to shine. Director Marc Turtletaub (LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, THE FAREWELL), gives Harris a plum part, as her character is the key to drawing out the reserved Milton, as the three humans form friendships and bond with the mute but attentive and intuitive alien played by Jade Quon. Quon does a fine job in the part despite the challenge of playing a character with a mostly frozen face who is unable to speak.

Along with a message of the value of being a good listener and being open to someone from somewhere else, this well-meaning dramedy explores issues of social isolation and friendship in late life with humor and heart. It is just set within a sci-fi-fantasy tale about an off-world stranger who knows how to listen.

One reason Milton doesn’t talk about the alien in the room is that he is covering his memory problems, particularly around his caring daughter. He worries about being forced out of his nice home into a retirement community or assisted living. Rather than risk calling attention to his memory problems, Milton just stops talking about the flying saucer that ruined his garden and starts spending more time with the wounded alien that crawled out of it and curled up on his patio. When Sandy and Joyce join him, helping Jules becomes everyone’s project, as they share their feelings and inner thoughts.

The acting is very good and the ensemble scenes with Kingsley, Harris and Curtin are often hilarious, and definitely highlights. The bits between Kingsley’s Milton and Jade Quon’s mute space visitor are touching.

With a brisk 87 minute running time, the story is certainly creative but the movie is best when it is about relationships. Eventually, the outer space visitor Jules feels well enough to start repairs on the spaceship but the sci-fi story becomes increasingly wonky and improbable as it unfolds, particularly after feds looking for the spaceship show up. There is a weird bit of ick factor in the solution to fixing the ship, especially for pet owners. In contrast, the funny, warm and believable interpersonal interactions between the characters, and the way it touches on issues of social isolation and worries of aging is always strong, authentic and touching.

JULES is at its best when focused on interpersonal interactions, with the two women, the mute alien and with his daughter. Where the film falls short is in the sci-fi tale part, which doesn’t make entire sense and has a bit of business that pet owners are likely to find off-putting.

JULES opens Friday, August 11, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema and in other theaters nationally.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

GODMOTHERED – Review

So, who could use a little magic? This year, who couldn’t, even with just a few weeks left in 2020? We’re not talking about luck or “good fortune”, but rather the sprinkly, sparkly spells that come straight from witches, pixies, and wizards. Sure, that’s the stuff of faerie tales, but wouldn’t it be great if that mythology had some real-life basis? Sweet, huh? Now other than big blue “motor-mouthed” genies, who’s the big “wish-granter”? Just ask the dazzling blonde rockin’ those glass slippers. She’ll tell you from first-hand knowledge that it’s pretty great to be GODMOTHERED. But would that “fly” today, even using lotsa’ pixie dust?

That question is answered in the new film by taking a trip to another dimension. Where do faerie godmothers come from? Why Motherland, of course. But things are pretty dismal there, as 21st century Earth folk just don’t believe like they used to. The “GMs’ in the magic classes are pretty downbeat, except for the youngest one “in training”, the bubbly smiling Eleanor (Jillian Bell). But she’s even dismayed by the unexpected appearance in class by the “queen mum” and ruler of the land Moira (Jane Curtin). Unless some human is helped, the whole place will shut down and cease to exist. Things seem hopeless, but Eleanor won’t give up. Scouring the “request files” she finds one lonely letter, from little Mackenzie Walsh in Boston, USA. Without Moira’s knowing (she wouldn’t approve), Eleanor, with the aid of her roomie Agnes (June Squibb), dashes through a mystical portal to our world. Thing is, she’s still getting the hang of her wand, so she hitchhikes to “Bean-town” only to discover that her last chance isn’t a child (that letter had been there a while). Mackenzie (Isla Fisher) is the single mother of two young women, Jane (Jillian Shea Spaeder) and Mia (Willa Skye) who’s working as a news segment producer for a struggling TV station. Of course, she thinks Eleanor, in her frilly pink ball gown, is a tad “touched” in the head. Can Eleanor possibly get her “spell-casting act” together and get the Walsh family to believe in magic before that portal closes and Motherland is no more?

After stealing scenes in several studio ensemble comedies (22 JUMP STREET, ROUGH NIGHT, THE NIGHT BEFORE) and headlining an indie (BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON), Bell looks to expand into family flicks as the simple sunny Eleanor. She succeeds for the most part, due to her fearless comic commitment (getting pelted with pumpkin mush while in that pink hoop dress) and slapstick skills (trying to control a wand that seems to have a mind of its own). It’s a smooth stroll from the hard-partying gal-pal to the sweet, clueless, and clumsy conjuror. Luckily the character has a superb straight-man, er…woman, and “reality buffer” in Fisher as the sour, cynical Mackenzie whose tough “outer layer” is slowly melted away by Eleanor’s optimism. She’s got great support at home with the two talented young actresses playing her daughters. Skye’s Mia hasn’t quite shaken her sense of joy and wonder, while Spaeder as big sis Jane is still haunted by the family’s past tragedy which almost stifles her creative musical talents (she’s been given the big solo at the holiday pageant). As for “Mack’s” work “fam”, Santiago Cabrera is an affable encouraging “chum’, who may become something more, as her “roving reporter” Hugh Prince (hmmm…that last name). Much of that applies to Mack’s BFF Duff played with a subtle sense of snark by Artemis Pebdani. Of course, not everybody can be nice and helpful (although both certainly apply to the always fun Squibb as Agnes). Bell’s BRITTANY love interest Utkarsh Ambudkar provides a smidge of comic villainy as Mack’s rating and publicity (“Gotta’ go viral!”) desperate boss Grant. And though she’s tart and intimidating, Curtin as Moira proves to be the “tough love” matriarch that Eleanor needs, though she has a real scary regal vibe about her.

A veteran of two BRIDGET JONES films, director Sharon Maguire does a fairly good job of keeping the story from collapsing under excess whimsy while eliciting great comic work from the cast (would love to see Bell and Fisher teamed again for a more adult romp). Unfortunately, her efforts are often undone by a script that begs too many comparisons to the superior fantasy /modern-day comedy mash-ups ELF and ENCHANTED. Some of the plot machinations are predictable (somehow the station’s ratings skyrocket due to Eleanor’s mishaps) and inconsistent (that wand seems to work correctly when needed for the story). And the attempts at pathos are somewhat heavy-handed, especially in the big musical finale. The various locales around Boston are lovely, as is the “faerie-world” of Motherland (still too many historical problems with that word, though). Big kudos however for the charming “2-D” animated prologue which would be a great medium for a modest follow-up (a bit of a long-shot). Though it’s doubtful that this film could become a perennial fave like the aforementioned flicks, the smallest tykes may be entertained for a bit as their folks indulge in some “cyber-shopping” rather than getting GODMOTHERED.

2 Out of 4

GODMOTHERED streams exclusively on Disney+ beginning December 4th, 2020.

BELUSHI, A Candid Portrait of the Legendary Comedian, Launches on Showtime November 22nd

Candid Portrait of a Beloved Comedy Icon Featuring Previously Unheard Audiotapes Directed by R.J. Cutler (Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry)

By age thirty John Belushi was on the top-rated television show, had the top grossing comedy in movie history and the top grossing record album in the world. But as John’s fame grew, so did his demons. R.J. Cutler directs an examination of Belushi’s life drawn largely from a previously unheard audio archive made shortly after Belushi’s death by his high school sweetheart and later wife, Judy Belushi. Cutler tells the story of his too-brief life illustrated by his own diary entries and poems, and in words of Judy and his collaborators, friends, and family, including Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi, Penny Marshall, Lorne Michaels, Carrie Fisher, Chevy Chase, Harold Ramis, Jane Curtin, and Ivan Reitman.