Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011, U.S.)

This was a really fun comedy. As I was adding all the tags for this post, I realized that it comes to us from the same directors as I Love You, Phillip Morris. They have a strange gift, those two.

The concept of this movie was quite fresh, the actors were great, the writing was funny. The whole thing just worked. To start with the concept: a woman (Moore) has an affair (due to a midlife crisis) with a coworker (Bacon) and wants to divorce her husband (Carrell). The husband starts spending a lot of time in a bar bemoaning the fact, where a hot young ladies' man (Gosling) overhears him and decides to take the older man under his tutelage. (Ladies' man, meanwhile, has his eye on a special girl in the bar, who is very reserved, doesn't fall for his tricks, and is wrapped up in a loveless relationship already.) While all this is happening, the middle aged couple's 13-year-old son has fallen in love with his 17-year-old babysitter, who in turn has fallen in love with his dad. This seems very complicated and confusing, yet the execution of all these overlapping stories is flawlessly done, perfectly illustrating the many types and facets of love.

This is in large part due to the excellent writing. From the very beginning, there are some laugh out loud, hilarious lines. One of my favorites was something Moore's character said to explain her midlife crisis, along the lines of: "You know when I told you when I had to work late? I really went to go see the new Twilight movie by myself, and it was so bad. Why did I do that?" There's just witticism after witticism, along with some funny physical comedy. (I especially love Gosling repeatedly slapping Carrell to make him snap out of it.) It all culminates with an excellent scene that brings the entire cast together. It's visually and verbally funny, as well as touching, sad, and very real.

The actors really help pull this off. I have mixed feelings about Steve Carrell, but like his performance in Dan in Real Life, I thought he was wonderful here, as a father, lover, friend, man, person. Gosling, as usual, was great. This wasn't his best ever movie, but he was still on his game. And boy was he sexy with his playboy mannerisms, perfectly tailored suits, self-confidence, and naked sauna scene! The supporting cast was also strong, especially the kids. They gave clever, believable, funny performances.

I think the only reason I couldn't give this a higher rating was because I didn't like how much Moore's character got away with. She was such a hypocrite, causing huge messes that everyone else cleaned up and then apologized to her for. Also, I'm always hesitant when a character has to dramatically change (a la Grease) to get the girl/guy. Otherwise, really great romantic comedy/family drama/ensemble piece.

Rating: 3.5

Savage Grace (2007, U.S.)

So, here I go on my quest to see every Eddie Redmayne film I can get my hands on! It has to be said that in my (so far limited) experience, he makes any film he's in exceptional.

Savage Grace is based on the real life murder of Barbara Baekeland, wife of the grandson of the inventor of Bakelite plastic. So one goes into this film knowing that young Tony is going to murder his mother in the end, and that what the film is ultimately about is not the destination (as it were) but the journey. The problem is that with the scripting, Tony seems to have very little motivation until the final days before the murder. Yes, he has a pretty bad upbringing, especially considering he's a wealthy child, and yes, his parents alternate between suffocating and neglectful, but still. The motivation just didn't seem that strong, nor was his mental illness that apparent. Watching this, I wouldn't have been surprised to hear he murdered his father rather than his mother; that's how off it seems.

It's interesting that much of what is presented in the movie never happened according to some firsthand accounts, and even the murder wasn't staged as it was occurred actuality. In this case, I think the true story would have made for much more gripping drama.

Parts of this film were extraordinary. For instance, as they take snapshots of this affluent life in the 1940s through the 1970s, the subtle changes in dress, decoration, and the like are very well done. And of course, acting is key here. Brooks Baekeland wasn't very memorable and Tony's grandmother was good (though she played a minor role). Hugh Dancy stood out as a gay man who was a sort of professional society companion. Julianne Moore, a very talented woman, was both lovable and loathe-able as Barbara Baekeland, a perfect combination. And Eddie Redmayne, of course, was brilliant beyond words. Watching him murder his mother, pick up the phone to order takeout, and then eat out of the white Chinese box with chopsticks while sitting next to his mother's body is just chilling. The combination of vulnerability and ruthlessness, childishness and maturity, is especially striking when portrayed by his genius. He really makes this one worth watching.

Rating: 3.0

The Kids Are All Right (2010, U.S.)

I have some lesbian friends who told me this was a great movie, the first "mainstream" film they've seen that portrays same-sex parent families as families like any other, and I do agree with that analysis to some extent. To begin with, Nic and Jules and their kids Joni and Laser seem like any other family, eating dinner, playing Scrabble and ping pong, having fights, and getting ready to send the oldest child to college. In some ways, it seemed healthier than the average family—with two moms, there was much more communication, a very positive part of the family.

Of course, the main arm of the plot is a problem that would be much less common in a straight family—the kids search out and meet their sperm donor, who becomes a part of their lives and even starts an affair with one of their moms. (This part really threw me. She cheated on her wife with a man?! Horrible.) This created quite a soap opera feel without getting too trashy.

I loved a lot of this movie. There were some funny parts and some parts that made me tear up. I didn't care 100% for the way they treated Paul (the donor), acting like he purposefully broke up their family when meeting them wasn't even his decision (though he did act poorly quite often and was generally a self-centered big-head). Still, I thought it was a touching story about what makes a family and how we struggle though the tough parts because we love each other. Jules' monologue on marriage—"If only I read more Russian novels, I might..."—was especially priceless.

I liked the cast too. Julianne Moore is great. Mia Wasikowska (who I only know as Alice in Wonderland) was perfect as the older kid. And I don't know if I've ever seen an Annette Bening film, but perhaps I should make an effort. She was fabulous in this movie, and I loved her especially in this good ensemble.

Open-minded people will enjoy this family's story. I doubt closed-minded people would even watch it, and if they did they'd find something wrong with it, but I thought it was lovely.

Rating: 3.5

A Single Man (2009, U.S.)

Wow. This is a truly beautiful film, but in a quiet, understated way. Basically, it's about a man who was in a long term relationship, and his partner dies in a car accident. Because they're gay, the man isn't able to properly or publicly grieve.

It was directed by a fashion designer, which I thought was very clear in the overall look. Everything was brown, white, tan, and black, but then there are moments of bright color, like a little girl's dress—why that? When George remembers the deceased Jim, everything turns into this reddish gold, glowing tone, which is very effective in making his memories feel pleasant and warm, especially in contrast to the stark, painful present.

Colin Firth is absolutely phenomenal. His performance is so subtle and detailed and believable. He was George Falconer. The rest of the cast was good too, but they didn't shine as much as Firth. They also had a great script to work with. It used poetic writing without being saccharine. I thought the plot was more effective than if a woman was mourning her husband because a) he is a man and therefore less able, or allowed, to share his grief with anyone and b) because he is gay and therefore has to hide his love for Jim and therefore his grief.

A lot of the film revolves around the importance of human connection to pull George back from his suicidal grief. It's the "stranger" (student) who does more than George's close and intimate friend. The writer also uses a Huxley novel to talk about minorities and fear. In a college class he teaches, George compares the Nazi fear of Jews to the current fear of homosexuals, and he compares the fear of the unknown (from which most persecution of minorities stems) to the pervading fear of being alone. It was well done, much more smoothly than I can explain it.

The score was one of the best I've heard in awhile, especially as a companion to the film. It is understated for the most part, lovely but unremarkable until the end, when it is very heavy on the violins and much more prominent, as if an audio parallel to the clarity George is finally getting.

The 1960s sets and costumes were beautiful and realistic, which gave the movie a strangely dated feel when the subject matter seemed so current. It really underlines the fact that we have the same problem with gays that we've had for years, and that it's a really backwards mindset to have. Paired with the classroom discussion of Nazi antisemitism, it subtly says, "This is just as prejudiced and just as ridiculous." It was so subtle that I didn't even notice it until I started thinking about the film afterward. I do wonder why they chose a 1960s setting. I see why they didn't use present day and why they wanted to use a post-WWII setting. It's just interesting because the last movie I saw about a socially unaccepted sexual relationship was An Education, which was also set in the 1960s. I guess it's just a good decade to show a parallel with the current hypocritical decade, sexually repressed/judgemental and sexually open all at once. Interesting.

Rating: 4.5