Catching up on 2011 - Henry Saw: Bad Teacher and Horrible Bosses

As with most comedies I don't have that much to say about either film...


Bad Teacher:

"A comedy centered around a foul-mouthed, junior high teacher who, after being dumped by her sugar daddy, begins to woo a colleague -- a move that pits her against a well-loved teacher." (Via IMDB)

Bad Teacher had some moments that made me smile, very few that actually made me laugh out loud, and more than a couple that made me squirm in my seat. Cameron Diaz proves once again that she only really works when working in an out and out comedy while Justin Timberlake shows that he and his agent might need to be a bit more selective if he wants to break through as a movie star. The standout in the cast ended up being Lucy Punch who plays the goody-two-shoes teacher driven to near madness by Cameron Diaz.

When this ends up on HBO, and there's nothing better on, you may want to give it a shot. It's certainly not the worst comedy I've seen this year...but that's about as strong a recommendation as I'm willing to give.

Grade: C+

Best Scene: Cameron Diaz's conversation with a heartbroken student near the end of the film...one of the scenes that really did make me laugh out loud.


Horrible Bosses:

"Three friends (Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis) conspire to murder their awful bosses (Colin Farrell, Jennifer Aniston, and Kevin Spacey) when they realize they are standing in the way of their happiness." (Via IMDB)

Horrible Bosses is fairly solid comedy but not an incredibly likable one. It has a really strong premise, which it basically mines successfully, and actually manages some clever plot twists that keep the story interesting throughout. The sad thing, at least for this audience member, is that I just find a great deal of the cast to be less than appealing performers. There are seven (!) moderate to big stars in the movie and I really only like two of them (Charlie Day and Colin Ferrell). Which is not to say that the other five are bad in the film. Everyone seems to be having a good time, which is an integral component of any good comedy, but I just did not find any other members of the cast to be particularly funny

Some of the jokes don't work, especially when they go for pure gross-out humor, but others are refreshingly dark and twisted. I especially appreciated Colin Farrell's reasons for firing some of his staff. The problem is that there is very little wit to be found in any of the other scenes. Most of the jokes, though often funny, are quite cheap and predictable. It makes for a film that is enjoyable the first time through but that doesn't make you care if you ever see it again. Which makes it perfect for something like a plane ride, but not exactly something you should feel the need to rush out and find. Still, I did like it, and that's better than I can say for most comedies this year.

Grade: B-

Best Scene: Colin Farrell telling Jason Sudeikis why he has to fire some of their employees...

Henry Saw: Two Documentaries focusing on beloved figures of the early 1990s...

American: The Bill Hicks Story and Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest


American: The Bill Hicks Story:

A fairly standard talking heads doc that recounts the life and death of one of the most respected comedians of all time. Through interviews with his friends, family, and a few of his fellow performers, we are told of Hicks' youth in Houston, Texas, his first forays into comedy when he was still in high school, his rise to fame in the United Kingdom, and then his tragic death due to cancer.

The strongest thing that American has going for it are the clips of Hicks doing his standup. While his story is interesting, and in some ways inspiring, what made him an icon was his material and not the narrative of his life. What's different about Bill Hicks is that he was not exactly laugh out loud hilarious. His comedy was just very sharp, and thought provoking, and in many ways he was more like a social critic than a comedian with standard "bits".

So even though American is just a few steps above what you might expect from a special on the Biography channel, it's subject is compelling enough to make it worth your time. So check out this film, especially if you are not familiar with Bill Hicks and his still relevant brand of humor.

Grade: C+




Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest:

When I learned that Michael Rapaport, an actor who has appeared in such films as Bamboozled, Deep Blue Sea, and The 6th Day, was directing this look at the founding and disintegration of one of my friend Ben's favorite rap groups...I did not have high hopes. Fair or not, I have always assumed that Mr. Rapaport was just as stupid as the characters he tends to play. Well, Beats Rhymes & Life is not exactly the best made or most focused documentary I've ever seen, in fact it really doesn't have a central definable narrative, but Rapaport's failure as a filmmaker ended up not hurting the film a great deal. That's because the men who made up A Tribe Called Quest (Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi White) are all fascinating in different ways.

Whether it is watching Q-Tip demonstrate how he came up with the sound mixing for my favorite A Tribe Called Quest song "Can I Kick It", or how Phife Dawg failed to deal with his diabetes, or how calm and reasonable Ali Shaheed Muhammad is throughout, or just what a sweet dude Jarobi White is...the members of the group are what make this film so eminently watchable.

As someone who is not that knowledgeable about the history of rap I found the film to be both enlightening and frustrating. While I learned a great deal about how all these rappers came up together in the New York era, and changed the face of hip-hop, I also thought that Rapaport failed to put into context what made A Tribe Called Quest different from what had come before. I also thought he strangely ignored how the world of rap changed during the early-to-mid nineties and how that effected the group's popularity.

Whatever the shortcomings of the film-making I still found Beats Rhymes & Life to be a consistently engaging movie. While it was not the most academic examination of the group, it did give you a strong sense of their personality and their music. If you have any interest in A Tribe Called Quest, or even if you are a devoted connoisseur of their records, I think you will find a great deal to like about Beats Rhymes & Life. It's not exactly a very good movie...but it is certainly an entertaining one.

Grade: B

Catching up on 2011 - Henry Saw: Cracks

This was made in 2009 but only reached theaters earlier this year. I can understand why no one rushed to get this one out there...


Which is not to say that Cracks is a bad movie. It just fails to resonate and leaves one with the unsatisfying feeling that it was just a few rewrites away from being a really intriguing picture. Despite solid efforts from the cast, and an eerie tone that director Jordan Scott (daughter of Ridley) layers over the entire film, Cracks does not quite come together as a complete movie.

"Set in a strict elite boarding school in the 1930s, the story centers on a clique of girls who idolize their enigmatic swimming instructor, Miss G (Eva Green). When a beautiful Spanish girl named Fiamma Coronna (Valverde) arrives at the school, Miss G's focus is shifted away from the other girls. Di Radfield (Juno Temple) has a crush on Miss G, and is the firm favorite and ringleader of her group. It becomes a triangle: Miss G gets increasingly obsessed with Fiamma, Fiamma is disturbed by Miss G and also openly disgusted by the teacher's hypocrisies and deceptions, and Di is terribly jealous and makes Fiamma's life hell." (Via Wikipedia)



The two films one has to think of when watching Cracks are Heavenly Creatures and Picnic at Hanging Rock. Unfortunately, Jordan Scott's debut feature film lacks the intense passion of the former and the beguiling mystery of the latter. Cracks teases the audience into believing it is telling a nuanced story of deceit and jealousy but sadly unravels into pure melodrama that borders on farcical.

The fault does not lie with the actors. Eva Green is an absolutely captivating screen presence. Not only is she beautiful, but few actresses are as capable of playing a believably intelligent and seductive character as she is. We understand why all her students are so infatuated with her, beyond her inherent sexiness, and Green is even able to sell the sillier aspects of her character as the film progresses. Juno Temple is also effective as the ring leader of her circle of friends. Naive, but trying to act world weary, Temple has a history of playing these kind of characters (Atonement) but only because it is something she does quite well. The rest of the cast fills their roles suitably though Maria Valverde is perhaps slightly out of her league playing the girl that the whole film ends up revolving around.

I wanted to like this movie much more than I did. There just wasn't enough drama to be found in any of the subplots that Scott sets up in the first two-thirds, and then the grim final third ends up feeling awkward and forced rather than creepy or tragic. In the end, Cracks is not a film I can fully recommend. It's interesting, and the pieces are all there for a superior movie, but it never fully comes together.

Grade: C

Best Scene: When Fiamma shows us that Miss G may not have led the adventurous life she would have her girls believe...