“Everything Everywhere All at Once” is one of the few films in Oscars history to win Best Picture, Best Director and Best Editing plus prizes for acting and writing. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won Best Director and Best Original Screenplay while they shared in the Best Picture win with Jonathan Wang. Paul Rogers took home Best Film Editing while the film claimed three acting victories: Best Actress for Michelle Yeoh, Best Supporting Actress for Jamie Lee Curtis, and Best Supporting Actor for Ke Huy Quan.
“Forrest Gump” was the last movie to win these top awards. it won Best Picture in 1995 for Wendy Finerman, Steve Starkey, and Steve Tisch while Robert Zemeckis won Best Director, Tom Hanks won Best Actor, Eric Roth won Best Adapted Screenplay, and Arthur Schmidt won Best Editing.
Several other movies have come close to achieving this feat, with “American Beauty” (2000), “A Beautiful Mind” (2002), ” “No Country For Old Men...
“Forrest Gump” was the last movie to win these top awards. it won Best Picture in 1995 for Wendy Finerman, Steve Starkey, and Steve Tisch while Robert Zemeckis won Best Director, Tom Hanks won Best Actor, Eric Roth won Best Adapted Screenplay, and Arthur Schmidt won Best Editing.
Several other movies have come close to achieving this feat, with “American Beauty” (2000), “A Beautiful Mind” (2002), ” “No Country For Old Men...
- 2/15/2024
- by Jacob Sarkisian
- Gold Derby
“Matt Dillon comes across like a young Brando or James Dean.” —Houston Post
Coolness Personified As Matt Dillon Stars In Mvd Rewind Collection’S ‘Liar’S Moon’ Making Its Long-awaited Debut On Blu-ray Through Mvd Entertainment Group. –The 1982 Teen Drama On Blu-ray Coming February 2022.
Here’s a trailer for the restoration:
Matt Dillon (The Outsiders) stars in this tender tale of love’s first promise… and its enduring strength. Dillon plays Jack Duncan, an athletic, hardworking boy from the small town of Noble, Texas. Jack is happy just enjoying himself with the local boys, until he meets Ginny Peterson (Cindy Fisher), the town’s wealthiest young lady. Despite their obviously different backgrounds, Jack and Ginny fall desperately in love. Even though their parents have forbidden them to meet, Jack and Ginny sneak out, and finally elope, hoping to find happiness far from their hometown. But theirs is a love that falls...
Coolness Personified As Matt Dillon Stars In Mvd Rewind Collection’S ‘Liar’S Moon’ Making Its Long-awaited Debut On Blu-ray Through Mvd Entertainment Group. –The 1982 Teen Drama On Blu-ray Coming February 2022.
Here’s a trailer for the restoration:
Matt Dillon (The Outsiders) stars in this tender tale of love’s first promise… and its enduring strength. Dillon plays Jack Duncan, an athletic, hardworking boy from the small town of Noble, Texas. Jack is happy just enjoying himself with the local boys, until he meets Ginny Peterson (Cindy Fisher), the town’s wealthiest young lady. Despite their obviously different backgrounds, Jack and Ginny fall desperately in love. Even though their parents have forbidden them to meet, Jack and Ginny sneak out, and finally elope, hoping to find happiness far from their hometown. But theirs is a love that falls...
- 1/11/2022
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This review was written for the theatrical release of "Wild Hogs".NEW YORK -- With its clever premise and quartet of appealing comedic star turns, "Wild Hogs" is a step above the typical comedies rolling off the assembly lines of the major studios. Unfortunately, though it gets off to a promising beginning, the film soon degenerates into typical slapstick silliness that, while it should prove crowd-pleasing, squanders its considerable comedic potential.
Demonstrating the sort of star teaming that the Walt Disney Co. employed so successfully in the 1980s, the film stars Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy as four middle-age buddies who confront the crises involving their professional and home lives by donning leather jackets and taking off on their motorcycles for a cross-country road trip.
At first it seems like a good idea, as the men revel in their newfound freedom. But what starts out as a lark soon turns disastrous as they run afoul of a massive biker gang led by the cheerfully sadistic Jack (Ray Liotta, entertainingly working in his villainous "Something Wild" mode). When the guys manage to accidentally blow up the gang's bar, it eventually leads to a showdown in a bucolic small town named Madrid (emphasis on the first syllable), where the local sheriff (Stephen Tobolowsky) is of little help.
Brad Copeland's screenplay starts out well enough, briefly and entertainingly delineating the dissatisfactions of the titular quartet, from nerdy computer programmer Macy's trouble with women to dentist Allen's not having had a vacation in years to Lawrence's henpecked hubby's professional woes to Travolta's loss of his supermodel wife and successful business.
But it isn't long before the humor reaches a lowest common denominator level, much of it, strangely enough, centering on the theme of homosexual panic. From the quartet's disturbing encounter with a gay motorcycle cop (funnily played by the normally macho John C. McGinley) to the endless gags revolving around Travolta's discomfort with Macy's physical familiarity and throwaway bits like an effete male singer performing a Pussycat Dolls song, the film approaches a level of offensive stereotyping not seen since "Cruising".
Still, the onscreen chemistry demonstrated by the likable performers, who clearly seem to be enjoying one another, goes a long way toward overcoming the film's mechanical and distasteful aspects. And the subplot involving Macy's awkward courtship of a beautiful waitress (Marisa Tomei) has a sweetness that contrasts well with the otherwise vulgar humor.
There's also a fun surprise cameo toward the end, from an actor who seems to be enjoying a career renaissance exploiting his iconic screen association with motorcycles.
WILD HOGS
Buena Vista Pictures
A Touchstone Pictures release of a Tollin/Robbins production
Credits:
Director: Walt Becker
Screenwriter: Brad Copeland
Producers: Mike Tollin, Brian Robbins, Todd Lieberman
Executive producers: Sharla Sumpter Bridgett, Amy Sayres
Director of photography: Robbie Greenberg
Production designer: Michael Corenblith
Editors: Christopher Greenbury, Stuart Pappe
Costume designer: Penny Rose
Music: Teddy Castellucci
Cast:
Doug Madsen: Tim Allen
Woody Stevens: John Travolta
Bobby Davis: Martin Lawrence
Dudley Frank: William H. Macy
Jack: Ray Liotta
Maggie: Marisa Tomei
Red: Kevin Durand
Murdock: M.C. Gainey
Kelly Madsen: Jill Hennessy
Billy Madsen: Dominic Janes
Karen Davis: Tichina Arnold
Running time -- 99 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Demonstrating the sort of star teaming that the Walt Disney Co. employed so successfully in the 1980s, the film stars Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy as four middle-age buddies who confront the crises involving their professional and home lives by donning leather jackets and taking off on their motorcycles for a cross-country road trip.
At first it seems like a good idea, as the men revel in their newfound freedom. But what starts out as a lark soon turns disastrous as they run afoul of a massive biker gang led by the cheerfully sadistic Jack (Ray Liotta, entertainingly working in his villainous "Something Wild" mode). When the guys manage to accidentally blow up the gang's bar, it eventually leads to a showdown in a bucolic small town named Madrid (emphasis on the first syllable), where the local sheriff (Stephen Tobolowsky) is of little help.
Brad Copeland's screenplay starts out well enough, briefly and entertainingly delineating the dissatisfactions of the titular quartet, from nerdy computer programmer Macy's trouble with women to dentist Allen's not having had a vacation in years to Lawrence's henpecked hubby's professional woes to Travolta's loss of his supermodel wife and successful business.
But it isn't long before the humor reaches a lowest common denominator level, much of it, strangely enough, centering on the theme of homosexual panic. From the quartet's disturbing encounter with a gay motorcycle cop (funnily played by the normally macho John C. McGinley) to the endless gags revolving around Travolta's discomfort with Macy's physical familiarity and throwaway bits like an effete male singer performing a Pussycat Dolls song, the film approaches a level of offensive stereotyping not seen since "Cruising".
Still, the onscreen chemistry demonstrated by the likable performers, who clearly seem to be enjoying one another, goes a long way toward overcoming the film's mechanical and distasteful aspects. And the subplot involving Macy's awkward courtship of a beautiful waitress (Marisa Tomei) has a sweetness that contrasts well with the otherwise vulgar humor.
There's also a fun surprise cameo toward the end, from an actor who seems to be enjoying a career renaissance exploiting his iconic screen association with motorcycles.
WILD HOGS
Buena Vista Pictures
A Touchstone Pictures release of a Tollin/Robbins production
Credits:
Director: Walt Becker
Screenwriter: Brad Copeland
Producers: Mike Tollin, Brian Robbins, Todd Lieberman
Executive producers: Sharla Sumpter Bridgett, Amy Sayres
Director of photography: Robbie Greenberg
Production designer: Michael Corenblith
Editors: Christopher Greenbury, Stuart Pappe
Costume designer: Penny Rose
Music: Teddy Castellucci
Cast:
Doug Madsen: Tim Allen
Woody Stevens: John Travolta
Bobby Davis: Martin Lawrence
Dudley Frank: William H. Macy
Jack: Ray Liotta
Maggie: Marisa Tomei
Red: Kevin Durand
Murdock: M.C. Gainey
Kelly Madsen: Jill Hennessy
Billy Madsen: Dominic Janes
Karen Davis: Tichina Arnold
Running time -- 99 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 2/27/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A textbook example of how not to mess with success, "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" is every bit as forced, synthetic, banal and mawkish as the first edition, meaning there's no reason to assume it shouldn't come close to matching the $138 million-plus taken in by its equally underachieving predecessor.
There may be a new director on board -- hitmaker Adam Shankman ("The Pacifier", "Bringing Down the House") -- with Eugene Levy and Carmen Electra joining the party of 14, but this sequel to the remake of the old Clifton Webb-Myrna Loy chestnut keeps all the subsitcom histrionics tediously intact.
The families of all sizes who responded so enthusiastically to the original likely will be pleased to know they're getting exactly what they're paying for, but it would have been nice if all involved had at least made an effort to freshen things up just a little.
It's the beginning of summer vacation, and Tom Baker (Steve Martin) and wife Kate (Bonnie Hunt) are beginning to get a taste of being empty-nesters, at least relatively speaking. With so many of their older offspring planning to go off in different directions, Tom announces that there'll be one last Baker family gathering at their old summer vacation home in Lake Winnetka, Wis.
But the promise of an idyllic season of bonding proves short-lived when Tom bumps into his old, more successful rival Jimmy Murtaugh (Levy), and the two drag their respective extended families into heated competition with each other.
Although the original was shot on studio soundstages, "CBTD2" set up camp outside of Toronto, and those long-distance bills must have been steep given the number of those involved who seem to have phoned it in.
While screenwriter Sam Harper, who shared scripting duties in the original, is content to continually trade off the slapstick and the sappy shtick, Shankman keeps his camera trained on Martin's usually dependable mug, ready to zoom in at a moment's notice to capture every "Parenthood"/"Father of the Bride"-dictated tear of joy and pain.
That promise of a Martin-Levy rematch after the two worked so well together in "Bringing Down the House" fails to pay off here, while poor Hunt has little to do but stand back and watch her sharp comedic skills go largely untapped as she's reduced to being the supportive housewife.
Behind-the-scenes contributions are sturdy enough, but virtually everything about this "Cheaper" production, which just wrapped principal photography in September, feels hurried along to meet its lucrative release date.
Cheaper by the Dozen 2
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox presents a 21 LAPS production
An Adam Shankman film
Credits:
Director: Adam Shankman
Screenwriter: Sam Harper
Based on characters created by: Craig Titley
Based upon the novel "Cheaper by the Dozen" by: Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Producers: Shawn Levy, Ben Myron
Executive producers: Jennifer Gibgot, Adam Shankman, Garrett Grant
Director of photography: Peter James
Production designer: Cary White
Editors: Christopher Greenbury, Matthew Cassel
Costume designer: Joseph G. Aulisi
Music: John Debney
Cast:
Tom Baker: Steve Martin
Jimmy Murtaugh: Eugene Levy
Kate Baker: Bonnie Hunt
Lorraine Baker: Hilary Duff
Charlie Baker: Tom Welling
Nora Baker-McNulty: Piper Perabo
Sarina Murtaugh: Carmen Electra
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 94 minutes...
There may be a new director on board -- hitmaker Adam Shankman ("The Pacifier", "Bringing Down the House") -- with Eugene Levy and Carmen Electra joining the party of 14, but this sequel to the remake of the old Clifton Webb-Myrna Loy chestnut keeps all the subsitcom histrionics tediously intact.
The families of all sizes who responded so enthusiastically to the original likely will be pleased to know they're getting exactly what they're paying for, but it would have been nice if all involved had at least made an effort to freshen things up just a little.
It's the beginning of summer vacation, and Tom Baker (Steve Martin) and wife Kate (Bonnie Hunt) are beginning to get a taste of being empty-nesters, at least relatively speaking. With so many of their older offspring planning to go off in different directions, Tom announces that there'll be one last Baker family gathering at their old summer vacation home in Lake Winnetka, Wis.
But the promise of an idyllic season of bonding proves short-lived when Tom bumps into his old, more successful rival Jimmy Murtaugh (Levy), and the two drag their respective extended families into heated competition with each other.
Although the original was shot on studio soundstages, "CBTD2" set up camp outside of Toronto, and those long-distance bills must have been steep given the number of those involved who seem to have phoned it in.
While screenwriter Sam Harper, who shared scripting duties in the original, is content to continually trade off the slapstick and the sappy shtick, Shankman keeps his camera trained on Martin's usually dependable mug, ready to zoom in at a moment's notice to capture every "Parenthood"/"Father of the Bride"-dictated tear of joy and pain.
That promise of a Martin-Levy rematch after the two worked so well together in "Bringing Down the House" fails to pay off here, while poor Hunt has little to do but stand back and watch her sharp comedic skills go largely untapped as she's reduced to being the supportive housewife.
Behind-the-scenes contributions are sturdy enough, but virtually everything about this "Cheaper" production, which just wrapped principal photography in September, feels hurried along to meet its lucrative release date.
Cheaper by the Dozen 2
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox presents a 21 LAPS production
An Adam Shankman film
Credits:
Director: Adam Shankman
Screenwriter: Sam Harper
Based on characters created by: Craig Titley
Based upon the novel "Cheaper by the Dozen" by: Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Producers: Shawn Levy, Ben Myron
Executive producers: Jennifer Gibgot, Adam Shankman, Garrett Grant
Director of photography: Peter James
Production designer: Cary White
Editors: Christopher Greenbury, Matthew Cassel
Costume designer: Joseph G. Aulisi
Music: John Debney
Cast:
Tom Baker: Steve Martin
Jimmy Murtaugh: Eugene Levy
Kate Baker: Bonnie Hunt
Lorraine Baker: Hilary Duff
Charlie Baker: Tom Welling
Nora Baker-McNulty: Piper Perabo
Sarina Murtaugh: Carmen Electra
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 94 minutes...
Opens Friday, Dec. 12
To hear the Farrelly brothers tell it, the idea for "Stuck on You" -- about a pair of conjoined twin brothers -- has been sticking around for 13 years, right around the time the filmmaking siblings wrote "Dumb and Dumber".
The stick-to-it-ive-ness may be admirable, but the extended gestation period hasn't resulted in a stronger comedy.
While it has its moments of pure Farrelly inspiration and swell performances from Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear (not to mention Cher and an uncredited Meryl Streep), the patented blend of the outrageous and the sweet that has become the brothers' trademark struggles to find the desired balance here.
This time, when in doubt, the Farrellys continually err on the maudlin side.
That kind of sticky stuff is not what the "There's Something About Mary" crowd has come to expect from the brothers, and, along with its slightly older-skewing cast, the film will probably be in the still-respectable "Shallow Hal" vicinity in terms of total boxoffice.
Joined at the hip for all of their 32 years, nonidentical Tenor twins Bob Damon) and Walt (Kinnear, who, in the poster looks more like Jeff Daniels' twin), haven't let their physical condition get in the way of living normal-type lives in their close-knit Martha Vineyard,'s Mass., neighborhood.
But when amateur actor Walt, who has just finished playing Capote in a local production of the one-man show "Tru" (with panic attack-prone Bob cowering at his side breathing into a paper bag), decides it's time to take his act to Hollywood, things keep finding a way of coming between them.
For one, there's Bob's surprisingly successful career, with him landing a dream gig playing opposite Cher on the hit TV drama, "Honey and the Beaze".
For another, there's May Fong (newcomer Wen Yann Shih), Bob's longtime Internet girlfriend who is still being kept in the dark as to why Bob and Walt go everywhere together.
Ultimately, the only resolution appears to be finally having the operation that will physically separate them, but with them sharing one liver that mainly belongs to Bob, there's a 50-50 chance that Walt won't make the cut.
It's easy to see why Bobby and Peter Farrelly initially responded to the idea (first pitched by Charles B. Wessler & Bennett Yellin) of brothers playing such an integral role in each other's lives, but, ironically, it might be their close proximity to the story's themes that keeps getting in the way of the comedy.
Every time inspired momentum starts to build, it's often thrown off track by bits of ill-timed sentiment. And that's never a good thing when you're dealing with what's essentially a one-joke premise.
The players are certainly more than game. While Damon and Kinnear navigate their imposing physical situation (effectively contained by special makeup effects supervisor Tony Gardner's clever prosthetics) with supple dexterity, Cher has evident fun playing off her diva image and Streep cuts loose as Kinnear's co-star in an all-singing, all-dancing (with choreography by director Adam Shankman) stage production of "Bonnie and Clyde".
STUCK ON YOU
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox presents
a Conundrum Entertainment/Charles B. Wessler production
Credits:
Director-screenwriters: Bobby Farrelly & Peter Farrelly
Story by: Charles B. Wessler & Bennett Yellin & Peter Farrelly & Bobby Farrelly
Producers: Bradley Thomas, Charles. B. Wessler, Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Executive producer: Marc S. Fischer
Director of photography: Dan Mindel
Production designer: Sidney J. Bartholomew Jr.
Editors: Christopher Greenbury, Dave Terman
Costume designer: Deena Appel
Music supervisors: Tom Wolfe & Manish Raval
Cast:
Bob Tenor: Matt Damon
Walt Tenor: Greg Kinnear
April: Eva Mendes
May: Wen Yann Shih
Herself: Cher
Morty O'Reilly: Seymour Cassel
Mimmy: Pat Crawford Brown
Himself: Griffin Dunne
Running time -- 118 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
To hear the Farrelly brothers tell it, the idea for "Stuck on You" -- about a pair of conjoined twin brothers -- has been sticking around for 13 years, right around the time the filmmaking siblings wrote "Dumb and Dumber".
The stick-to-it-ive-ness may be admirable, but the extended gestation period hasn't resulted in a stronger comedy.
While it has its moments of pure Farrelly inspiration and swell performances from Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear (not to mention Cher and an uncredited Meryl Streep), the patented blend of the outrageous and the sweet that has become the brothers' trademark struggles to find the desired balance here.
This time, when in doubt, the Farrellys continually err on the maudlin side.
That kind of sticky stuff is not what the "There's Something About Mary" crowd has come to expect from the brothers, and, along with its slightly older-skewing cast, the film will probably be in the still-respectable "Shallow Hal" vicinity in terms of total boxoffice.
Joined at the hip for all of their 32 years, nonidentical Tenor twins Bob Damon) and Walt (Kinnear, who, in the poster looks more like Jeff Daniels' twin), haven't let their physical condition get in the way of living normal-type lives in their close-knit Martha Vineyard,'s Mass., neighborhood.
But when amateur actor Walt, who has just finished playing Capote in a local production of the one-man show "Tru" (with panic attack-prone Bob cowering at his side breathing into a paper bag), decides it's time to take his act to Hollywood, things keep finding a way of coming between them.
For one, there's Bob's surprisingly successful career, with him landing a dream gig playing opposite Cher on the hit TV drama, "Honey and the Beaze".
For another, there's May Fong (newcomer Wen Yann Shih), Bob's longtime Internet girlfriend who is still being kept in the dark as to why Bob and Walt go everywhere together.
Ultimately, the only resolution appears to be finally having the operation that will physically separate them, but with them sharing one liver that mainly belongs to Bob, there's a 50-50 chance that Walt won't make the cut.
It's easy to see why Bobby and Peter Farrelly initially responded to the idea (first pitched by Charles B. Wessler & Bennett Yellin) of brothers playing such an integral role in each other's lives, but, ironically, it might be their close proximity to the story's themes that keeps getting in the way of the comedy.
Every time inspired momentum starts to build, it's often thrown off track by bits of ill-timed sentiment. And that's never a good thing when you're dealing with what's essentially a one-joke premise.
The players are certainly more than game. While Damon and Kinnear navigate their imposing physical situation (effectively contained by special makeup effects supervisor Tony Gardner's clever prosthetics) with supple dexterity, Cher has evident fun playing off her diva image and Streep cuts loose as Kinnear's co-star in an all-singing, all-dancing (with choreography by director Adam Shankman) stage production of "Bonnie and Clyde".
STUCK ON YOU
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox presents
a Conundrum Entertainment/Charles B. Wessler production
Credits:
Director-screenwriters: Bobby Farrelly & Peter Farrelly
Story by: Charles B. Wessler & Bennett Yellin & Peter Farrelly & Bobby Farrelly
Producers: Bradley Thomas, Charles. B. Wessler, Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Executive producer: Marc S. Fischer
Director of photography: Dan Mindel
Production designer: Sidney J. Bartholomew Jr.
Editors: Christopher Greenbury, Dave Terman
Costume designer: Deena Appel
Music supervisors: Tom Wolfe & Manish Raval
Cast:
Bob Tenor: Matt Damon
Walt Tenor: Greg Kinnear
April: Eva Mendes
May: Wen Yann Shih
Herself: Cher
Morty O'Reilly: Seymour Cassel
Mimmy: Pat Crawford Brown
Himself: Griffin Dunne
Running time -- 118 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 12/19/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Opens Friday, March 21
There would be nothing wrong with the romantic comedy "View From the Top" if this were 1960 and Sandra Dee and Pat Boone were available to play these roles. But it is 2003, a time when women can aspire to more than being a first-class international airline stewardess. Sorry, make that flight attendant -- the film's time warp does that to you. The film cries out for a satirical edge, some self-awareness that dumb-blonde comedies must be retooled for the modern age. But director Bruno Barreto, who once handled such sophisticated, multilayered comic works as "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands" and "Gabriela", plays things absolutely straight without the least bit of vibrancy or subtlety in his direction. The result is a flat, superficial comedy that never establishes a tone that would allow the film to take potshots at such eminently hittable targets as flight training schools or airline travel in general.
Already postponed four times from previous release dates, this lackluster Miramax comedy appears headed for a quick theatrical payoff. Thanks to star Gwyneth Paltrow, its primary appeal will be to female adolescents and teens.
Paltrow plays a woman anxious for any escape from her small Nevada town and trailer-park mom. That escape comes in a flight attendant job, initially for a local commuter airline reminiscent of the one immortalized in Bob Newhart's classic routine about the Grace L. Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Co. Here she meets her first mentor, pert attendant Kelly Preston, and first back-stabber, the unprincipled Christina Applegate.
Paltrow and Applegate move on to a training program at prestigious Royalty Airlines. They come under the tutelage of Mike Myers, who attempts to create an entire comic character out of one physical characteristic -- a highly aggressive wall-eye that causes each eye to focus elsewhere. At flight school, Candice Bergen, author of a memoir about her career as a flight attendant and therefore Paltrow's idol, takes over as Paltrow's mentor.
When Paltrow's final exam results prove bafflingly poor, she is assigned a commuter route out of Cleveland. The good news is that Mark Ruffalo, a young man she flirted with before joining Royalty, also winds up in Cleveland, where he goes to law school. They become an item, perhaps fall in love even, but face a dilemma when Paltrow is allowed to retake her final exam: Will She choose a career as an international flight attendant or marry an up-and-coming lawyer?
In its costumes and art direction, which favor overly bright solid colors and occasional pastels, the film acts like a period piece. Even the soundtrack contains few songs under 20 years' vintage. Yet Barreto fails to follow up on the retro look, playing the film's mild comic bits against a modern albeit fake world.
Eric Wald's tepid screenplay lacks conflict at nearly every turn. Applegate turns out to be Paltrow's nemesis, but other than one poorly staged catfight, no one really impedes Paltrow's rise to the top. Her attempt to play an airhead blonde feels strained throughout, while Ruffalo has little to do other than drop into the movie from time to time, looking handsome and eager.
Comic elements throughout are weak, though Myers does at times relieve the movie of its tedium. Cameos or virtual cameos by Rob Lowe, Chad Everett and George Kennedy add little. Technical credits are pro.
VIEW FROM THE TOP
Miramax Films
Brad Grey Pictures/Cohen Pictures
Credits:
Director: Bruno Barreto
Screenwriter: Eric Wald
Producers: Brad Grey, Matthew Baer, Bobby Cohen
Executive producers: Amy Slotnick, Robbie Brenner, Alan C. Blomquist
Director of photography: Affonso Beato
Production designer: Dan Davis
Music: Theodore Shapiro
Costume designer: Mary Zophres
Editors: Christopher Greenbury, Ray Hubley
Cast:
Donna: Gwyneth Paltrow
Christine: Christina Applegate
Ted: Mark Ruffalo
Sally Weston: Candice Bergin
Sherry: Kelly Preston
John: Mike Myers
Steve: Rob Lowe
Running time -- 87 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
There would be nothing wrong with the romantic comedy "View From the Top" if this were 1960 and Sandra Dee and Pat Boone were available to play these roles. But it is 2003, a time when women can aspire to more than being a first-class international airline stewardess. Sorry, make that flight attendant -- the film's time warp does that to you. The film cries out for a satirical edge, some self-awareness that dumb-blonde comedies must be retooled for the modern age. But director Bruno Barreto, who once handled such sophisticated, multilayered comic works as "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands" and "Gabriela", plays things absolutely straight without the least bit of vibrancy or subtlety in his direction. The result is a flat, superficial comedy that never establishes a tone that would allow the film to take potshots at such eminently hittable targets as flight training schools or airline travel in general.
Already postponed four times from previous release dates, this lackluster Miramax comedy appears headed for a quick theatrical payoff. Thanks to star Gwyneth Paltrow, its primary appeal will be to female adolescents and teens.
Paltrow plays a woman anxious for any escape from her small Nevada town and trailer-park mom. That escape comes in a flight attendant job, initially for a local commuter airline reminiscent of the one immortalized in Bob Newhart's classic routine about the Grace L. Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Co. Here she meets her first mentor, pert attendant Kelly Preston, and first back-stabber, the unprincipled Christina Applegate.
Paltrow and Applegate move on to a training program at prestigious Royalty Airlines. They come under the tutelage of Mike Myers, who attempts to create an entire comic character out of one physical characteristic -- a highly aggressive wall-eye that causes each eye to focus elsewhere. At flight school, Candice Bergen, author of a memoir about her career as a flight attendant and therefore Paltrow's idol, takes over as Paltrow's mentor.
When Paltrow's final exam results prove bafflingly poor, she is assigned a commuter route out of Cleveland. The good news is that Mark Ruffalo, a young man she flirted with before joining Royalty, also winds up in Cleveland, where he goes to law school. They become an item, perhaps fall in love even, but face a dilemma when Paltrow is allowed to retake her final exam: Will She choose a career as an international flight attendant or marry an up-and-coming lawyer?
In its costumes and art direction, which favor overly bright solid colors and occasional pastels, the film acts like a period piece. Even the soundtrack contains few songs under 20 years' vintage. Yet Barreto fails to follow up on the retro look, playing the film's mild comic bits against a modern albeit fake world.
Eric Wald's tepid screenplay lacks conflict at nearly every turn. Applegate turns out to be Paltrow's nemesis, but other than one poorly staged catfight, no one really impedes Paltrow's rise to the top. Her attempt to play an airhead blonde feels strained throughout, while Ruffalo has little to do other than drop into the movie from time to time, looking handsome and eager.
Comic elements throughout are weak, though Myers does at times relieve the movie of its tedium. Cameos or virtual cameos by Rob Lowe, Chad Everett and George Kennedy add little. Technical credits are pro.
VIEW FROM THE TOP
Miramax Films
Brad Grey Pictures/Cohen Pictures
Credits:
Director: Bruno Barreto
Screenwriter: Eric Wald
Producers: Brad Grey, Matthew Baer, Bobby Cohen
Executive producers: Amy Slotnick, Robbie Brenner, Alan C. Blomquist
Director of photography: Affonso Beato
Production designer: Dan Davis
Music: Theodore Shapiro
Costume designer: Mary Zophres
Editors: Christopher Greenbury, Ray Hubley
Cast:
Donna: Gwyneth Paltrow
Christine: Christina Applegate
Ted: Mark Ruffalo
Sally Weston: Candice Bergin
Sherry: Kelly Preston
John: Mike Myers
Steve: Rob Lowe
Running time -- 87 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 3/21/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Leave it to those wacky Farrelly Brothers ("Dumb & Dumber," "Kingpin") to put a fresh, mischievous spin on the formulaic, mushy romantic comedy.
An outrageous romp, "There's Something About Mary" giddily pushes the good-taste envelope at every opportunity and manages to generate face-hurting laughter in the process.
But all the high jinks have been tempered by a rather sweet innocence at the picture's core (a Farrelly trademark) that serves to make it an attractive proposition to the "Wedding Singer" set as well as the legions of 14-year-old boys.
While the film is certain to draw the wrath of the prude patrol, "Mary" should handily emerge as the sleeper hit of the summer.
The fun stuff begins with a mid-'80s flashback sequence during which nerdy Ted Stroehmann (Ben Stiller) -- a vision in bad hair, big-time braces and a truly ugly tux -- watches his prom-night dream date with the beguiling Mary (Cameron Diaz) go down the drain when a hasty bathroom pit stop results in Ted severely snagging his, uh, frank and beans (Farrelly-speak) in his zipper.
More than a dozen years later, Ted seems to have survived the traumatic experience, but he's more smitten than ever with the memory of Mary, whose family moved to Florida at the end of the school year. He's convinced by good buddy Dom (Chris Elliott) to hire a detective to track her down.
The two-bit dick in question, Pat Healy (Matt Dillon), not only manages to find the elusive Mary but falls for her himself. His attempts to throw Ted off the trail with a series of outlandish lies about her current condition only strengthens Ted's resolve to head to Miami to see her for himself.
As it turns out, there are actually more than three points on this romantic triangle as others have also discovered there's something about Mary.
If Stiller, in his best role since "Flirting With Disaster", makes the ideal wide-eyed Farrelly innocent, then Diaz, with her winning combination of exotic but approachable looks, warm personality and game comic playfulness, is the brothers' official poster girl. There's simply nobody else who could have done Mary justice.
Diaz's boyfriend Dillon, meanwhile, finally gets a chance to show a deft comedic side as the eternally smarmy Healy. Also amusing are Farrelly regular Lin Shaye as Mary's leathery neighbor Magda (a good reason for extensive use of sun block if there ever was one); Elliott as Ted's hives-afflicted, duplicitous pal; and musical cult favorite Jonathan Richman as a strolling troubadour (in fond tribute to "Cat Ballou") who occasionally pops up to take the picture's emotional pulse.
While the blend of romance and raucousness doesn't always make for nimble pacing -- a situation not helped by the unnecessarily lengthy two-hour running time -- co-directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly, working from a screenplay they developed with sitcom writers Ed Decter and John J. Strauss ("The Closer", "Boy Meets World"), nevertheless manage to keep the traditionally separate audiences in surprisingly harmonious tow.
On the technical end, the usual gang of Farrelly suspects -- including director of photography Mark Irwin, visual consultant Sidney J. Bartholomew Jr., costume designer Mary Zophres and editor Christopher Greenbury -- do fine work.
In addition to Richman's wonderfully whimsical songs, music supervisors Happy Walters & Tom Wolfe dig up the old Foundations chunk of bubble gum, "Build Me Up Buttercup", for a rousing end credit finale.
THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY
20th Century Fox
A Farrelly Brothers Movie
Directors: Peter Farrelly & Bobby Farrelly
Screenwriters: Ed Decter & John J. Strauss
and Peter Farrelly & Bobby Farrelly
Producers: Frank Beddor & Michael Steinberg
and Charles B. Wessler & Bradley Thomas
Executive producers: Peter Farrelly & Bobby Farrelly
Director of photography: Mark Irwin
Editor: Christopher Greenbury
Visual consultant: Sidney J. Bartholomew Jr.
Costume designer: Mary Zophres
Music: Jonathan Richman
Music supervisors: Happy Walters & Tom Wolfe
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ted: Ben Stiller
Mary: Cameron Diaz
Healy: Matt Dillon
Dom: Chris Elliott
Magda: Lin Shaye
Tucker: Lee Evans
Sully: Jeffrey Tambor
Warren: W. Earl Brown
Mary's Mom: Markie Post
Mary's Stepfather: Keith David
Running time -- 119 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
An outrageous romp, "There's Something About Mary" giddily pushes the good-taste envelope at every opportunity and manages to generate face-hurting laughter in the process.
But all the high jinks have been tempered by a rather sweet innocence at the picture's core (a Farrelly trademark) that serves to make it an attractive proposition to the "Wedding Singer" set as well as the legions of 14-year-old boys.
While the film is certain to draw the wrath of the prude patrol, "Mary" should handily emerge as the sleeper hit of the summer.
The fun stuff begins with a mid-'80s flashback sequence during which nerdy Ted Stroehmann (Ben Stiller) -- a vision in bad hair, big-time braces and a truly ugly tux -- watches his prom-night dream date with the beguiling Mary (Cameron Diaz) go down the drain when a hasty bathroom pit stop results in Ted severely snagging his, uh, frank and beans (Farrelly-speak) in his zipper.
More than a dozen years later, Ted seems to have survived the traumatic experience, but he's more smitten than ever with the memory of Mary, whose family moved to Florida at the end of the school year. He's convinced by good buddy Dom (Chris Elliott) to hire a detective to track her down.
The two-bit dick in question, Pat Healy (Matt Dillon), not only manages to find the elusive Mary but falls for her himself. His attempts to throw Ted off the trail with a series of outlandish lies about her current condition only strengthens Ted's resolve to head to Miami to see her for himself.
As it turns out, there are actually more than three points on this romantic triangle as others have also discovered there's something about Mary.
If Stiller, in his best role since "Flirting With Disaster", makes the ideal wide-eyed Farrelly innocent, then Diaz, with her winning combination of exotic but approachable looks, warm personality and game comic playfulness, is the brothers' official poster girl. There's simply nobody else who could have done Mary justice.
Diaz's boyfriend Dillon, meanwhile, finally gets a chance to show a deft comedic side as the eternally smarmy Healy. Also amusing are Farrelly regular Lin Shaye as Mary's leathery neighbor Magda (a good reason for extensive use of sun block if there ever was one); Elliott as Ted's hives-afflicted, duplicitous pal; and musical cult favorite Jonathan Richman as a strolling troubadour (in fond tribute to "Cat Ballou") who occasionally pops up to take the picture's emotional pulse.
While the blend of romance and raucousness doesn't always make for nimble pacing -- a situation not helped by the unnecessarily lengthy two-hour running time -- co-directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly, working from a screenplay they developed with sitcom writers Ed Decter and John J. Strauss ("The Closer", "Boy Meets World"), nevertheless manage to keep the traditionally separate audiences in surprisingly harmonious tow.
On the technical end, the usual gang of Farrelly suspects -- including director of photography Mark Irwin, visual consultant Sidney J. Bartholomew Jr., costume designer Mary Zophres and editor Christopher Greenbury -- do fine work.
In addition to Richman's wonderfully whimsical songs, music supervisors Happy Walters & Tom Wolfe dig up the old Foundations chunk of bubble gum, "Build Me Up Buttercup", for a rousing end credit finale.
THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY
20th Century Fox
A Farrelly Brothers Movie
Directors: Peter Farrelly & Bobby Farrelly
Screenwriters: Ed Decter & John J. Strauss
and Peter Farrelly & Bobby Farrelly
Producers: Frank Beddor & Michael Steinberg
and Charles B. Wessler & Bradley Thomas
Executive producers: Peter Farrelly & Bobby Farrelly
Director of photography: Mark Irwin
Editor: Christopher Greenbury
Visual consultant: Sidney J. Bartholomew Jr.
Costume designer: Mary Zophres
Music: Jonathan Richman
Music supervisors: Happy Walters & Tom Wolfe
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ted: Ben Stiller
Mary: Cameron Diaz
Healy: Matt Dillon
Dom: Chris Elliott
Magda: Lin Shaye
Tucker: Lee Evans
Sully: Jeffrey Tambor
Warren: W. Earl Brown
Mary's Mom: Markie Post
Mary's Stepfather: Keith David
Running time -- 119 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
In the hallowed tradition of quest movies comes "Booty Call". While Indiana Jones may have quested for the Lost Ark and Jason quested for the Golden Fleece, Bunz and Rushon quest for a latex condom. Given the fine and foxy ladies they're on a mission for, modern-day urban audiences might consider Bunz and Rushon's quest much more important than the mere retrieval of old religious arcana.
Accordingly, there should be considerable first-weekend box-office booty for Sony from black, teen audiences, and, to boot, "Booty" should call up some nifty cash from the frat-boy crowd and MTV-heads everywhere.
A risque romp centered around a double date, this Columbia movie is a bawdy blend of hormones laced over with pseudo-sociological sermonizing about the necessity for safe sex. The comic carnality centers around Rushon (Tommy Davidson) and Nikki (Tamala Jones). Rushon and Nikki have gone together for what passes for a long time by today's romantic standards -- seven weeks. Both are upwardly mobile and somewhat strait-laced, but both feel the urge to "do it."
These feelings are fired up by their two libidinous, good-time friends: Womanizer Bunz (Jamie Foxx) goads Rushon to quit jerking around and get Nikki in bed, while Nikki's gal-pal Lysterine (Vivica A. Fox) doesn't believe in holding out for more than 30 minutes.
Unabashedly crude and lewd, "Booty Call" is, especially in its first 45 minutes, a hoot. A strong dose of sexual slapstick lathered up with safe-sex strictures, "Booty" sashays as a first-rate farce. Screenwriters Takashi Bufford and Bootsie have smartly wadded up a batch of sexual frustration, crammed it together with opposite character types, and then massaged it with some tried-and-true comic pleasers like a feisty pet, a hyper Chinese waiter (Gedde Watanabe) and two Punjabi convenience clerks.
Indeed, there's not a lot of correctness gunking up the hilarity and, as you might expect, the subject matter does not hold up throughout, even at 77 minutes.
Not dilly-dallying around with much aesthetic foreplay, director Jeff Pollack keeps things tight and light, but it's the four lead performances that are this callipygean carnality's most alluring charms. Davidson is finely cast as the well-meaning but frustrated Rushon, while Foxx is perfect as a dreadlocked, 'hood rat.
On the distaff side, Jones is a perfect blend of sweetness and sexiness as good-girl Nikki, while Fox smolders as the highly charged Lysterine. Watanabe is terrific as an addled Chinese waiter, a perfect reactive character for the sexual shenanigans.
BOOTY CALL
Sony Pictures Releasing
Columbia Pictures
A Turman/Morrissey Co. production
A film by Jeff Pollack
Producer John Morrissey
Director Jeff Pollack
Screenwriters Takashi Bufford, Bootsie
Director of photography Ron Orieux
Production designer Sandra Kybartas
Editor Christopher Greenbury
Costume designer Vicki Graef
Music Robert Folk
Co-producer John M. Eckert
Casting Mary Vernieu, Ronnie Yeskel
Sound mixer Douglas Ganton
Color/stereo
Cast:
Bunz Jamie Foxx
Rushon Tommy Davidson
Lysterine Vivica A. Fox
Nikki Tamala Jones
Chan Gedde Watanabe
Akmed Art Malik
Singh Scott LaRose
Running time -- 77 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Accordingly, there should be considerable first-weekend box-office booty for Sony from black, teen audiences, and, to boot, "Booty" should call up some nifty cash from the frat-boy crowd and MTV-heads everywhere.
A risque romp centered around a double date, this Columbia movie is a bawdy blend of hormones laced over with pseudo-sociological sermonizing about the necessity for safe sex. The comic carnality centers around Rushon (Tommy Davidson) and Nikki (Tamala Jones). Rushon and Nikki have gone together for what passes for a long time by today's romantic standards -- seven weeks. Both are upwardly mobile and somewhat strait-laced, but both feel the urge to "do it."
These feelings are fired up by their two libidinous, good-time friends: Womanizer Bunz (Jamie Foxx) goads Rushon to quit jerking around and get Nikki in bed, while Nikki's gal-pal Lysterine (Vivica A. Fox) doesn't believe in holding out for more than 30 minutes.
Unabashedly crude and lewd, "Booty Call" is, especially in its first 45 minutes, a hoot. A strong dose of sexual slapstick lathered up with safe-sex strictures, "Booty" sashays as a first-rate farce. Screenwriters Takashi Bufford and Bootsie have smartly wadded up a batch of sexual frustration, crammed it together with opposite character types, and then massaged it with some tried-and-true comic pleasers like a feisty pet, a hyper Chinese waiter (Gedde Watanabe) and two Punjabi convenience clerks.
Indeed, there's not a lot of correctness gunking up the hilarity and, as you might expect, the subject matter does not hold up throughout, even at 77 minutes.
Not dilly-dallying around with much aesthetic foreplay, director Jeff Pollack keeps things tight and light, but it's the four lead performances that are this callipygean carnality's most alluring charms. Davidson is finely cast as the well-meaning but frustrated Rushon, while Foxx is perfect as a dreadlocked, 'hood rat.
On the distaff side, Jones is a perfect blend of sweetness and sexiness as good-girl Nikki, while Fox smolders as the highly charged Lysterine. Watanabe is terrific as an addled Chinese waiter, a perfect reactive character for the sexual shenanigans.
BOOTY CALL
Sony Pictures Releasing
Columbia Pictures
A Turman/Morrissey Co. production
A film by Jeff Pollack
Producer John Morrissey
Director Jeff Pollack
Screenwriters Takashi Bufford, Bootsie
Director of photography Ron Orieux
Production designer Sandra Kybartas
Editor Christopher Greenbury
Costume designer Vicki Graef
Music Robert Folk
Co-producer John M. Eckert
Casting Mary Vernieu, Ronnie Yeskel
Sound mixer Douglas Ganton
Color/stereo
Cast:
Bunz Jamie Foxx
Rushon Tommy Davidson
Lysterine Vivica A. Fox
Nikki Tamala Jones
Chan Gedde Watanabe
Akmed Art Malik
Singh Scott LaRose
Running time -- 77 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 2/24/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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