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Review: 'The Producers'

By Erin Randolph

Though the musical version of "The Producers" was adapted from the stage for the big screen, it still feels like watching the stage version - as though the play was recorded more for posterity than for anything else.

"The Producers" is a Mel Brooks movie from 1968 featuring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, which was adapted into a musical for an overwhelmingly popular Broadway production (it's still running) that earned a record-breaking12 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Director, Best Actor in a Musical and Best Choreography. Now, the theatrical version has been made into a film of the musical with some of the original stage actors intact.

Chief among the returning actors is two-time Tony Award winners Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock, the morally corrupt theatrical producer who bangs old ladies to fund his plays, and Matthew Broderick as Leo Bloom, a mousy accountant with a strange obsession with his "blue blankie" who dreams of becoming a Broadway producer. As Bloom goes through Bialystock's less-than-perfect books, he unwittingly comes upon the perfect moneymaking scheme: to raise far more money than is necessary to produce a Broadway flop, never having to return the investments because nobody will expect anything in return, allowing the two to pocket the cash.

But first, they need a sure-fire flop. Enter Franz Liebkind (Golden Globe-nominated Will Farrell), a neo-Nazi playwright who's penned "Springtime for Hitler," a love letter of sorts that Bialystock and Bloom reason will offend just about everyone. They also hire cross-dressing director Roger De Bris (Gary Beach), who's joined by his assistant, walking gay stereotype Carmen Ghia (Roger Bart), and Ula (Uma Thurman), the beautiful Swedish leading lady/assistant.

So Bialystock disappears to woo his walker-wielding financial backers and rehearsals begin, and everything seems set to fail miserably as planned as opening night approaches. But, of course, the worst happens: the audiences actually enjoy the musical, which they see as a sarcastic masterpiece.

Susan Stroman, the Tony Award-winning director of the original Broadway production of "The Producers," directed the musical film version, and she stays almost too faithful to the staged version (perhaps because she was too close to the material, or perhaps because she isn't knowledgeable enough about filmmaking). To that end, the acting stays true to the theater, given in over-the-top doses that are far too much for the big screen. Particularly distracting is Broderick, whose stage acting makes one completely aware of the fact that he's playing a character, not that he's become a character.

However, the other Broadway production alum, Beach and Bart, provide an injection shot to the film that's not provided by the other original cast members - especially Bart, who steals every scene he's in, even when he's relegated to the background, thanks to his over-the-top performance of a stereotype that perfectly personifies Brooks' comedy style.

It's impossible to muffle the jokes in one of Brooks' scripts, so regardless of the turnout, "The Producers" was going to be hilarious. And although this film version of the musical can be extremely entertaining at times, the end result is a movie that, while entertaining, just doesn't quite live up to the intensity and excitement of seeing the Broadway production of "The Producers." CV

Review: 'Munich'

By Joshua Tyler

Steven Spielberg's "Munich" explores something much bigger than the 1972 slayings of Israeli Olympic athletes by Arab terrorists in Munich, Germany. Those murders serve only as a catalyst for what follows, as a group of Israeli Mossad agents are sent to track down and assassinate the Black September members responsible. And, as Spielberg makes clear in his extremely intense story, in doing so, the individuals charged with killing the killers nearly become terrorists themselves.

Mossad is the Israeli version of the CIA, and Avner Kauffman (Eric Bana) is a member. After the events of Munich, he's given a mission: Make the Arab terrorists pay. As far as the government is concerned, he no longer exists. They don't know him. But he has a mission. He has money. And he has a team of specialists to help carry it out. The rest is up to him.

But this isn't merely a spy movie, or an action movie - although the action can be extreme. There is spying involved and a couple of elements that look as though they dropped straight out of "The Bourne Identity," but that's not the point. Through Avner's story, "Munich" examines terrorism from every angle. Of course, the Munich attack resonates throughout the film. However, it's not just the impact of Munich itself we're exploring, but rather the impact of all kinds of terrorism inflicted on all kinds of people, both the victims and the killers. But what makes a terrorist a terrorist? Avner is waging a war on terror, yes, but is he that different from the men he's hunting? It's self-examination James Bond never has to bother with - license to kill or not.

In the end, "Munich" is a unique and sometimes emotionally crushing experience. This is easily Spielberg's best film since "Saving Private Ryan," and it's ever so satisfying to see him return to heavier, more exacting material that gave him Academy gold with "Schindler's List." Of course, it helps that Spielberg gets so many amazing performances. Powerful, imposing, yet warm and human ones from Bana and Daniel Craig pile on to make "Munich" a great movie, one that will stay with you long after you leave the theater. CV

Review: 'Fun With Dick and Jane'

By Erin Randolph

There are a lot worse movies to see this holiday season than "Fun With Dick and Jane." Then again, there are a lot better movies to see, too, as this movie just can't hold up to the award season releases lighting up the big screen. The comedy starring Tea Leoni and Jim Carrey is entertaining enough, even though we've seen all of Carrey's physical comedy antics before.

"Fun With Dick and Jane" is a remake of a 1977 comedy that starred Jane Fonda and George Segal, and this time around the plotline is updated for modern times - sort of. This incarnation takes place in 2000, so as to have exactly one joke correspond to the future implosion of Enron. (Why this wasn't made closer to that scandal is anyone's guess.)

Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni play Dick and Jane Harper, an upper-middle class couple with a large, suburban house, a BMW and the luxury of having a Mexican housekeeper, Blanca (Gloria Garayua). That housekeeper has basically raised the Harper's son Billy, who appears to be more fluent in Spanish than in English because of this fact.

Dick is a corporate cog, looking to climb the ladder at Globodyne, a worldwide consolidator of media companies, where he's worked for 15 years. When it's finally apparent that he's going to be promoted to be a vice president, he encourages Jane to quit her job to take care of Billy fulltime. However, Dick's first day on his new job goes horribly wrong, as Globodyne completely implodes, leaving employees franticly shredding possibly incriminating documents. Now unemployed and facing bankruptcy, the Harpers become bandits after they realize their home, luxury car and yet-to-be-installed hot tub will soon disappear.

Carrey and Leoni are entertaining enough as clumsy, inexperienced criminals, and the plot has something to say about the corporate way of life and how those at the top of the ladder often turn their backs on those who got them there. And in the end "Fun With Dick and Jane" is fun enough. Sometimes that's, well, enough to warrant the purchase of a movie ticket. CV

Review: 'King Kong'

By Dan Vinson

This just in: Peter Jackson can do anything. The long-awaited take on his favorite screen monster is nothing short of spectacular. The performances, period sets, effects, and score highlight this beautifully and lovingly made escape, or, as Jackson puts it, "pure cinema."

The chaotic desperation and dichotomy of the early 1930s - hungry denizens on the streets, the rich dining lavishly above - established in only a few shots at the beginning, says more than many entire movies. A struggling vaudevillian, Naomi Watts' Ann Darrow wanders aimlessly after her revue goes belly up. Elsewhere, Jack Black's Carl Denham screens yet another "adventure picture" for thoroughly unimpressed producers. Carl coaxes Ann into making a movie in Singapore (with her favorite playwright, Adrien Brody's Jack Driscoll), also suppressing the real location from Capt. Englehorn and the S.S. Venture crew: Skull Island.

The duped captain (whose crew includes Kong himself, Andy Serkis) prepares to turn back, but they're already there, stuck on rocks. While one crew is working to patch leaks, the other is paddling toward the island. Seemingly deserted and appropriately creepy, Carl starts shooting scenes. Ann screams for the camera. A distant roar. Then the downright scary natives suddenly overrun them. The captain and crew save the day with guns, but the natives don't forget the golden Ann. That night, just as the ship gets freed, Ann gets kidnapped.

After Ann's "sacrifice," various chases and escapes ensue. Taking Ann to his lair, Kong must fend off all manner of dinosaurs, while Carl, Jack and assorted Venture crewmembers trail behind, fending off all sorts of other creatures. A few die. At Kong's abode, Ann feels strangely comfortable. She performs bits of her vaudeville routine, they share a sunset, but mostly, they just marvel at each other. If not precisely love, it's a much closer (and believable) bond than previous Kong movies. Jack alone finally rescues Ann while Carl, who lost his film in the jungle, now plans to capture Kong. Over Ann's strenuous, emotional objections, they fell the beast.

Back in New York, Kong's exploitation is much more unseemly than previous versions. You want him to break those chains. He does, of course, smashing plenty of Broadway marquees, cars and people, but he doesn't have to look long for Ann. She knows that only she can soothe this savage beast, so she goes to him. Unfortunately, the Army interrupts a lovely, whimsical moment in Central Park, sending Kong up the side of the Empire State Building. His death scene is operatic, even elegant. Here, Ann cowers in the corner no more. In the end, she too plays a protector (or tries).

Trimming a couple of dinosaur/creature chase sequences could have tightened up the much-expanded story, but otherwise Jackson does everything right. The battered and bruised Watts was the perfect choice for Ann, and Black, Brody, and the supporting players are all terrific. Saying little in the middle section, Watts gives basically a silent (save for screams) film performance - all in the expressions. Likewise for "synthespian" Andy Serkis, whose Kong nuances include a range of grunts, huffs and roars. (Despite Watts' vocal support, he will be overlooked again at Oscar time.) Jackson and fellow screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, know that action and effects must never - can never - stand in for real emotion. Even as he pushes filmmaking boundaries, Peter Jackson's longstanding reverence for "King Kong" should continue keeping him rooted in the cinematic past. CV

Review: 'The Squid and the Whale'

By Erin Randolph

Divorce isn't pretty. So wisely, writer-director Noah Baumbach didn't try to portray it as such in his brilliant semiautobiographical divorce drama, subtly imbued with welcome moments of unexpected humor. Instead, "The Squid and the Whale" is a candid and, at times, crude look at how divorce affects children.

The Berkmans are a family divided by jealousy. Bernard is an egotistical intellectual whose writing career is slipping while his wife Joan's (Laura Linney), to whom Bernard once served as a mentor of sorts, is just taking off. Their impressionable sons Frank (Owen Kline) and Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) are pulled into Bernard and Joan's messy separation, taking sides while also dealing with their parents' new relationships - Joan with a tennis pro (William Baldwin), and Bernard with one of his graduate students (Anna Paquin). All of a sudden, young Frank is cursing like a sailor, drinking like an Irishman and dealing with his budding sexuality in a most inappropriate way, while Walt becomes his father's understudy of sorts, employing his perilous ego, ostentatious manner of speak and condescending attitude toward Joan.

As the separation plays out, faults are exposed and egos crash, and the Berkmans are left to pick up the pieces of a profoundly damaged family as its relationships are redefined, and as the children suffer the crushing blow of realizing that their parents are deeply flawed individuals.

And while Baumbach's superb script gives his audience a complex set of character studies to chew on over the course of the film's 88 minutes, Daniels and Linney play the roles of their respective careers (both have been nominated for Golden Globes for their performances as the Berkmans), bringing to life the ugliness of their characters while the audience feels, in equal parts, a sense of pity, sympathy and contempt for them.

"The Squid and the Whale" has been nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture, and with good reason. While this is not a family movie, it's an honest family portrait taken in the midst of an ugly backdrop. And there's something to be said for that. CV

Review: 'The Ringer'

By Ben Spierenburg

Jumping into a packed holiday lineup of films, first-time screenwriter Ricky Blitt's "The Ringer" knocks it out of the stratosphere. Widely expected to be deplorably cruel and prejudiced, the notorious Farrelly brothers ("Kingpin") deliver a film about the mentally challenged that is sensitive, hilarious and important all at once. Marketed heavily towards junior high kids, this surprisingly inspiring and beautiful film shatters the negative stereotypes which plague those with intellectual disabilities.

The film opens with decent-hearted corporate slug Steve Barker (Johnny Knoxville) getting a promotion to management. His first task is to fire Stavi the janitor (Luis Avalos). To make up for this mean deed, he hires Stavi to mow his lawn. Stavi quickly loses three fingers, and penitent Steve must raise the money to get them reattached.

Morally bankrupt uncle Gary (Brian Cox) has also accrued a large amount of debt through his addiction to sports gambling. After seeing an ad featuring cocky champ Jimmy (Leonard Flowers - an actual Special Olympics champion), Gary strikes upon the contemptible idea of persuading Steve to use his unique talents to fix the Special Olympics.

Steve signs up to compete and is immediately enchanted by love-interest Lynn (Katherine Heigl). Soon after gaining entry to the games, he is discovered by six of his fellow Olympians. However, rather than report him, they decide to enlist his help in defeating egotistical Jimmy.

From there the gang of seven become inseparable. Steve is woken up at dawn and rigorously trained to have a chance at winning. In the process he learns valuable lessons about self-esteem, heart and what it means to truly be a winner.

In an era where comedy consistently tries to out-shock and out-offend, this film pairs its premise with a message of love and understanding. Like the athletes it depicts, "The Ringer" is truly special, with acres of heart, a landmark film which will surprise. CV

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