Monday at the Movies - August 22, 2016

Welcome to another installment of “Monday at the Movies.”

The Gift (2015) – Hands up if you’ve heard of this film? I suspect not many people are aware of this, Joel Edgerton’s directorial debut in which Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall (two favorites around these parts) play Simon & Robyn Callem, a married couple who relocate to California, where they meet Gordon (Edgerton), an old acquaintance of Simon’s. Husband and wife have varying perceptions of Gordon, disagreeing over whether he’s a lonely friend or a creepy stalker, which unearths latent tensions in the Callem household. That’s a pretty guarded plot summary, because one of the great delights of The Gift is its unpredictability. This movie takes so many bizarre turns and veers into more than a few strange directions that it’d really be criminal to divulge too much in advance. Suffice it to say that Edgerton – who pulls triple duty on acting, directing, and writing – has put together something quite compelling and unsettlingly unique. As ever, Bateman brings his expert comedic timing to bear, but he gets to display here more than most places I’ve seen him (excepting, perhaps, This Is Where I Leave You) how deft he can be with more serious acting roles. Hall is sufficiently unsettled as Bateman’s beleaguered spouse, while Edgerton walks the line between genuine and disturbing in a way that recalls classic flicks like Fatal Attraction or more recently Enduring Love. I’m surprised that this flew under the radar, considering its critical reception and its star power and its overall success as a thriller.

That does it for this week’s edition of “Monday at the Movies.” We’ll see you next week!

Zootopia (2016)

For as much of a Disney shill as I constantly profess to be, I don’t know why I’m continually surprised by how good their recent output is. Case in point: Zootopia. What is there to say? I loved it. My greatest disappointment was that there wasn’t an animated short to play before the film.

Officer Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) dreams of being the first bunny cop in Zootopia, a city populated by a mélange of animals. Her first assignment, parking meter duty, isn’t as glamorous as she had hoped, but it brings her into contact with streetwise fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), who proves to be an unlikely lead in a string of missing animals, which – in the vein of all good cop stories – Judy only has 48 hours to solve.

Zootopia is directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore, who previously directed Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph, respectively, and I think you can, in a way, situate Zootopia roughly between those two. That situation isn’t on a spectrum of good-to-bad, because I really enjoyed both films in rather different circumstances. Zootopia blends the narrative strengths and compelling female protagonist of Tangled with the sweeping world-building and dry wit of Wreck-It Ralph in order to give us this uproariously funny fish-out-of-water action comedy.

There’s been much made in the press around the film about the decision made late in production to place the focus on Judy instead of Nick. And honestly, even if we weren’t living in a world where we still don’t have a female-led solo Avengers film, even if 2016 weren’t the first time in seventy-five years that Wonder Woman was appearing in a live-action film, it still would have been the right decision. Watching the film, it’s difficult to imagine how the story might have worked with Nick at the helm; there’s something much more successful about meeting Zootopia through Judy’s naïve eyes, allowing Nick to take us and Judy by the floppy ears and show us around. Making him the lead protagonist might have stripped him of some of his charm; we don’t know him as well as Judy, which gives Bateman free rein to do the fast-talking snark he’s perfected.

The other real delight in Zootopia is the way it works on two levels. There’s the classic Disney level, with solid storytelling that the kids will love. But then there’s the valence of Zootopia that appeals to the adults in the audience who can appreciate the extended reference to The Godfather, the thick metaphors about difference at play in the film, or the fact that the entire film is basically Chinatown with funny animals. This is the way that “kids’ films” ought to behave, not talking down to the kids or shouting up at the adults. Once again, Disney knocks it out of the park.

Then again, I’d have given Zootopia an all-star rating if it had just been two hours of the sloths working at the DMV. That never gets old.

Zootopia is rated PG for “some thematic elements, rude humor and action.” A scene where we see unclothed animals described as “naturists” is played for laughs, given that all the other animals are fully dressed. Several moments in which animals go savage may frighten younger viewers.

Heads up, True Believers – we’ll continue to Make Yours Marvel this Wednesday with another installment in “The Grand Marvel Rewatch,” so check back then for 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. Or subscribe above, and receive those missives right in your inbox. Nuff said!

Couples Retreat (2009)

The less-than-fabulous streak continues here at The Cinema King with Couples Retreat, a predominantly joyless comedy marked by beautiful scenery and stars phoning it in.

Dave and Ronnie (Vince Vaughn and Malin Akerman) have a marriage that works and a circle of dysfunctionally absurd friends bringing down the ship. Joey and Lucy (Jon Favreau and Kristin Davis) are constantly bickering, and Shane (Faizon Love) is recovering from a divorce by dating a 20-year-old Foot Locker employee. Upon announcing they're mulling divorce, Jason and Cynthia (Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell) convince the others to accompany them on a couples' retreat, promising fun, sun, and much-needed time away. The retreat is governed by New Age crackpot Marcel (Jean Reno), who insists on less fun and more feelings. Hilarity, the trailers promise, ensues.

Only, it doesn't. I went into this movie with the best of intentions, fully expecting to like it. After all, out of six main cast members, five of them are near and dear to my heart (nothing personal, Ms. Davis, I've just never seen you outside of that Seinfeld episode where Jerry put your toothbrush in the toilet bowl). I'm not going to go through an itemized listing of why I like each of the people in the movie, but suffice it to say I've got very good reasons. With Couples Retreat, I've been burned.

It's as though all the actors and actresses are holding back their talents - or worse, phoning it in. What's even more frustrating is that we get tantalizing glimpses of the underlying talents, but they remain unfulfilled; Vaughn, for example, only runs wild two or three times, a shame considering how funny he was in Wedding Crashers when he was let entirely loose. Ditto for Favreau, who's earned a reputation for playing gruff yet well-intentioned characters; he only plays the jerk card once or twice here. And though there is meant to be tension between husbands and wives, it seems the ladies are only in the picture to look good; no character has any real depth, but rather they're all flat, one-note cardboard cut-outs.

Pile onto this the fact that Couples Retreat is predominantly uncheery. It's not depressing in the way that some would-be comedies are, but it's hardly the laugh riot it's being advertised as. Oh, sure, there are some funny moments - Dave and Ronnie's youngest son continually mistakes display model toilets for the real deal - but they're like mile markers which only appear every twenty minutes or so. In between, there are some limp attempts at characterization, cheap attempts for laughs at things that just aren't funny, and some downright unforgivable scenery-chewing (et tu, Jean Reno?). But it's such pretty scenery that maybe this shouldn't be counted as a fault.

On second thought - Yes, it should. When I come to a comedy, I expect to laugh, not roll my eyes. Nice try, Couples Retreat, but you're guilty of the same crime your main characters are - complacency. A lazy attempt at comedy, Couples Retreat takes its audience for granted.

After this string of movies I'm just not enthusiastic about, maybe it's me who needs therapy.

Couples Retreat is rated PG-13 "for sexual content and language." This is your basic sex comedy, so act accordingly.