WHIPLASH: The Film Babble Blog Review

Opening today at an indie art house near you:

WHIPLASH (Dir. Damien Chazelle, 2014)

Miles Teller, who I initially disliked as a douche in the asinine 21 & OVER but thought he redeemed himself as a drunk in THE SPECTACULAR NOW, puts in a sharply superb performance as a determined student drummer squaring off against his hard-ass teacher/conductor played by J.K. Simmons, also in one of his finest performances.

Taking place mostly in a dark rehearsal room at the fictional Schaffer Conservatory of Music in Manhattan, the film follows Teller’s Andrew Neyman as he wins a spot in the prestigious school’s band, and undergoes tons of verbal, and some physical, abuse by Simmons’ cruel conductor character Terrence Fletcher.

Simmons’ Fletcher is a brutal bully who believes in pushing his students beyond their limits to achieve greatness. “There are no two words in the English language more harmful than ‘good job,’ he tells Teller.

Teller’s Andrew, who worships at the altar of drumming legend Buddy Rich as we can see from the books, CDs, and posters on his walls, is so driven to be one of the greats that he takes Simmons’ trash talk, but he is quickly approaching his breaking point.

On the side, Teller dates Melissa Benoist, who he had a genuine meet cute with at a movie theater he and his father (a nicely understated Paul Reiser) frequent, but their courtship doesn’t last long as he feels he needs to completely focus on his craft.

In the film’s most compelling sequence, Teller struggles to get to a concert on time after his bus breaks down, he leaves his drum sticks at a car rental agency, and he gets into a major automobile accident on the way back from retrieving them. He makes it there, albeit covered in blood with a broken hand, but blows it by dropping one of his sticks. It’s a grippingly stressful and electrifyingly edited third act starter that sets us up perfectly for the film’s musical showdown climax.

The movie is impressive on all fronts. Both Teller, who it should be noted does all his own drumming, and Simmons deserve awards season action – but in my book (or on my blog) it’s Simmons, who’s a better villain here than the over-the-top ones in most Marvel movies, that should get at least an Oscar nomination for his stunning work here.

The film itself, the feature length debut of writer/director Damien Chazelle, is impressive for its tight narrative construction, especially as it was shot in 19 days on the low budget of $3 million.

Sure to make my top 10 movies of 2014, the beautifully abrasive WHIPLASH takes its name from jazz composer Hank Levy's 1972 standard that Teller nails in his audition, and it features a bunch of blustery big band compositions that keeps the film bumping from beat to beat. It never rushes or drags, to use the parlance of Simmons (“Were you rushing or were you dragging?”), and there’s not one wasted moment that I can recall.

WHIPLASH may leave you feeling as bruised, and bloody as Teller, but you won’t feel beat down by it. It’s ultimately an inspirational tale that if you haven’t had to overcome the tyranny of a control freak asshole you can still relate to, but if you have, man, it will hit you hard.

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It Better Be SPECTACULAR Right NOW!

THE SPECTACULAR NOW

(Dir. James Ponsoldt, 2013)

Perhaps this post’s heading is a bit extreme, but since I missed the press screening for this film when I went on vacation in July, I kept hearing about film critic types in these here internets going absolutely gaga for it. So sure, my expectations may have been too high, but despite thinking that it was a well made melodrama with some fine acting, THE SPECTACULAR NOW felt like a big screen Afterschool Special to me.

However, I will say upfront that Miles Teller, as the slick talking protagonist Sutter Keely, redeems himself for being the obnoxious center of attention in the awful teensploitation flick 21 AND OVER earlier this year. Teller deftly portrays a hard drinking (he seems to always have a flask in hand) high school senior that has no plans for the future, because he lives in the “now.”

After being dumped by his girlfriend (Brie Larson), Teller gets wasted one wild night and on the way home passes out in the lawn of the nice girl from school that he never noticed before, played by Shailene Woodley, best known for playing George Clooney’s precocious daughter in the DESCENDANTS.

The two fall in love but face a rocky road together as she has dreams of leaving their sleepy small town life (the film was mostly shot in Athens, Georgia) and going to college in Philadelphia, but Teller just wants to stay put and keep partying.

Our boozy boy Teller, who works at a men’s clothing store under boss Bob Odenkirk (Mr. Show, Breaking Bad), got his philosophy of life from his deadbeat dad of a father (seen here portrayed by a great sweaty Kyle Chandler). Jennifer Jason Leigh, sadly in too small a part, as Teller’s mother, had the right idea in trying to shield her son from his extremely unfit father. This is something Teller learns, along with Woodley, when they take an ill fated road trip to meet up with Chandler.

An obvious staple of teen romance films is a prom scene, and to the credit of Pondsoldt and writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who based the screenplay on the 2008 young adult novel by Tim Tharp, it’s a nicely understated scene. A glowing, and of course lit, Teller looks around at his schoolmates and says: “This is the youngest we're ever going to be.” We’ve all known somebody who prides themselves on always being the life of the party, and in that moment Teller nails being able to say something as stupid as that and making it almost seem profound.

With the naturistic rhythms of their acting nicely complimenting each other, Teller and Woodley are a very believable couple. The film framing them stays too much on the surface of all the events it depicts though.

I liked but didn't love Poldsoldt’s previous film, SMASHED (2012), his second as director, which was also concerned with the effect of alcoholism on a relationship. I haven't seen his first film, 2006's OFF THE BLACK, but the IMDb description says it has Nick Nolte as “an aging, disillusioned alcoholic” so it would be understatement to say I'm sensing a theme here.

THE SPECTACULAR NOW has a fair share of truthful heartfelt moments, but it's not hard enough on its lead character. It seems to just want us to shake our head disapprovingly at him, but know he'll ultimately shape up and fly right.

But then, so many movies don't have this kind of unpretentious thoughtful tone, and don't even try for the realism that's certainly on display here, so maybe I'm being too hard on it. I mean, come to think of it, there were some excellent Afterschool Specials.

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Warning: The Sordidly Unfunny 21 AND OVER Opens Today

Opening today at nearly every multiplex in the Triangle area: 

21 AND OVER 
(Dirs. Jon Lucas & Scott Moore, 2013)

After writing a string of crappy commercial comedies, including FOUR CHRISTMASES, GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIEND’S PAST , THE CHANGE-UP, and THE HANGOVER movies, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore present their directorial debut, 21 AND OVER, an extremely crappy college party comedy. 

It’s a movie that could be considered “teensploitation,” that is, a film directed at teens by way of ingredients such as sex, alcohol, drugs, and violence. In the course of one crude crazy night, protagonists Miles Teller and Skylar Astin encounter all of these as they try to get their wasted friend (Justin Chon) back home in time for a medical school interview early in the morning.

That’s all the plot there is here. There’s no twist or satiric take on this well worn material, there’s no likability factor present with any of the characters, and worst of all there are no laughs. Not one.

It comes off like a bunch of outtakes from THE HANGOVER movies, but with no star power (there’s not one recognizable name in the cast). It’s like Lucas and Scott decided to make a movie out of the end credits photo collage of wild hard-drinking partying that both HANGOVER movies end with, so we get more than one amped up montage of beer guzzling, shot taking, and drug-taking action.

The first time directors also thought a scene featuring slow motion projectile vomit, spewed by Chon from the top of a mechanical bull, would equal big laughs, but I have a feeling they equate disgusted groans with laughs.

All of this sordid unfunny stuff is made worse by the lack of charisma in the two leads, Teller and Astin.

As the two tired as Hell archetypes, Teller is the snarky obnoxious pushy one who won’t take “no” to partying as an answer, and Astin is the more sensible sensitive one who spends the movie pining for a coed (Sarah Wright). Wright, of course, has a bullyish brute for a boyfriend (Jonathan Keltz) that Astin and Teller tangle with throughout the movie.

Although they drink heavily, Teller and Astin never act drunk. They always seem to have enough of a head on their shoulders to weather what comes at them. Even very late in the movie, when they get captured by angry girls from a Hispanic sorority (who aim to punish them for a crime that I’d rather not go into) and get forced into a gay panic scenario, they seem completely sober. I wish I wasn’t when watching this.

Seth MacFarlane got a lot of flack earlier this week for how racist, sexist, and homophobic his jokes as Oscar host were, but the real problem to me wasn’t his subject matter, it was that none of it was funny. I believe that in terms of comedy, nothing is sacred - no topic should be too taboo - but there has to be some element of relatable humor involved.

In the case of 21 AND OVER there is not one trace of amusement. It’s a base exercise that makes the HAROLD & KUMAR movies look like high comic art. Here’s hoping its target audience will skip it. This is one time that a real night of drinking and debauchery would sure do them a lot more good than seeing this pile of pure puke.

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