ONE DAY (Dir. Lone Scherfig, 2011)
This British rom drama, based on the David Nicholls bestseller, traces the entangled lives of Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgis from 1988 to 2006. All the significant events of their will they/won’t they relationship apparently only take place on July 15th, which is St. Swithin’s Day (I’d never heard of it before either) which is apt because this is a pretty swithy movie. I know “swithy” is not a word that means anything – don’t bother to look it up – but I’m going to assign it the definition of “too convoluted and corny.”
ONE DAY is not without a modicum of charm; Hathaway convincing accent wraps itself around some witty lines, there’s beautiful photography, and a nice new Elvis Costello and the Imposters track (“Sparkling Day”) plays during the end credits, but mostly it’s failed fluff.
Hathaway and Sturgis, best known as the McCartney-esque bloke from ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, meet on July 15th, 1988 at the University of Edinburgh and almost hook up, but they decide to be friends – half naked in bed, mind you. We check back in with them almost every year after that on the same day, and see them through relationships with other people (he marries model Romola Garai; she moves in with comedian-wannabe Rafe Spall), and various careers.
Along for the ride through time are Ken Stott and Patricia Clarkson as Sturgis’s parents, and Tom Mison as his overly slick school chum.
Problem is, they’re supposed to be soul mates but the 2 leads have precious little chemistry.
Sturgis is such a cad, a spoiled rich brat who goes up and down the ladder of success as a TV talk show host, then bottoms out in a blast of raving cocaine clichés (showing us that it’s the mid ‘90s) that he’s too obnoxious to care about and we never get what Hathaway sees in him.
Hathaway fares better, but as an aspiring children’s book author, her character is transparent and boring. Still, there’s a little fun to be had seeing her sport a series of period hair styles throughout the years.
Towards the end the film flashes back to the beginning of the story so we see that there was more to that first St. Swithin’s Day than they let on, but it doesn’t resonate in the sentimental manner it’s supposed to. Likewise, a manipulative shocker attempt in the last third.
I don’t want to just write off ONE DAY as a chick flick that guys won’t see unless they’re dragged to, although that’s what it is, because director Scherfig (AN EDUCATION) does add some attractive gloss to this tripe.
It’s just that ONE DAY is way too swithy for its own good. See? I bet I can get that word to catch on.
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30 MINUTES OR LESS (Dir. Ruben Fleischer, 2011)
“2 guys in masks jumped me and strapped a bomb to my chest and now I have less than 9 hours to rob a bank.”
Right there a frantic Jesse Eisenberg sums up the premise of this comedy to his best friend Aziz Ansari as a wise-cracking school teacher who responds just as frantically: “And your first thought was to come to a school filled with young children?!!?”
This is one of many spastic exchanges between Eisenberg and Ansari as they run around through this fast, and very funny farcical heist flick set in Grand Rapids, MI.
Like in his directorial debut ZOMBIELAND, Fleischer takes a well worn genre and jazzes it up with a winking wit.There’s shades of PINEAPPLE EXPRESS in the plotting (along with the casting of Danny McBride), along with RAISING ARIZONA and even bits of BOTTLE ROCKET in the mix, but those elements aren’t what makes 30 MINUTES OR LESS tick.
It’s the ton of hilarious lines and amusing moments, many of which were the obvious results of improv (and many out of the mouth of Ansari), and the infectious spirit of how these folks play off one another.
McBride and Nick Swardson are the slacker criminals who kidnap pizza delivery boy Eisenberg and outfit him with a bomb, and it’s because they want the money he’ll rob to hire a hitman (Michael Peña) to kill McBride’s father (Fred Ward) for the inheritance money.
Meanwhile Eisenberg is in love with Ansari’s sister (Dilshad Vadsaria), which is a romantic subplot that doesn’t really matter except for some third act leverage, but I didn’t mind because it raced by like the rest of the action onscreen.
I laughed a lot during this movie. It’s definitely one of the funniest movies of the year, up there with BRIDESMAIDS and HORRIBLE BOSSES. In a chaotic car chase scene with Glenn Frey’s “The Heat is On” blaring on the soundtrack, recalling BEVERLY HILLS COP, I had the sense of being in on the joke more so than in those other comedies.
Though the story comes close to falling apart in its last half, it’s a brisk but bountiful laugh fest (be sure to stay through the credits for a bonus scene) with the everyman Eisenberg, an amped-up Ansari, a much more on point than in the Medieval misfire YOUR HIGHNESS McBride, and the best big screen work of Swardson I’ve ever seen (though that’s not saying an awful lot judging from his filmography).
30 MINUTES OR LESS is getting some attention because of the similarities to a real life happening, but that incident is quickly forgotten once you get with the tone and the timing of this film, and that took less than 30 seconds for me.
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BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST (Dir. Michael Rappaport, 2011)
Actor turned documentary director Rappaport doesn’t re-invent the band bio-doc format here, but he’s crafted a solid engrossing piece of prime infotainment that pulls no punches in telling the story of hip hop legends A Tribe Called Quest nonetheless.
Rappaport opens the film backstage at a 2008 reunion gig at which band members Q-Tip and Phife Dawg clashed, having never resolved differences since their last album: 1998’s “The Love Movement.”
From there we are taken through the history of the group from Queens with photos, performance footage, clips from music videos, and interviews with Q-Tip, Phife, Jarobi White, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of Tribe as well as testimonials from many of their peers like Mos Def, Ludacris, Common, De La Soul and the Beastie Boys.
It may feel at times like a big Behind The Music episode as it tells the story hundreds of music documentaries have told before that a band’s future is often jeapordized by a couple of guys who can’t seem to get along, but this tale is so compellingly told with tons of infectiously head bopping music pumping throughout that it transcends the overly familiar framework.
Rappaport’s voice can be heard from behind the camera in a few scenes, but he wisely doesn’t incorporate himself into the film. As he’s a huge fan of the band, he obviously wants to pay tribute, but he also wants to get to the bottom of how this band imploded. By the time the film winds back to that 2008 reunion run-in we fully get via the blunt statements from Q-Tip and Phife Dawg more than an inkling of what went down.
Tribe has one more record left on their contract with Jive Records, but the vibe on display here tells us we shouldn’t hold our breath waiting for it.
I only knew a few tracks going in, but this background schooling has made me seek out more Tribe – picked up a copy of “The Low End Theory” (1991) on CD today as a matter of fact. “Beats Rhymes & Life” is an excellent example of a documentary that will satisfy hardcore fans yet at the same time it serves as a great gateway drug for the uninitiated.
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