Step Brothers

Boy Brains
Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly Almost Grow Up
By Cole Smithey

Goofy, bawdy, and full of slapstick physicality "Step Brothers" takes advantage of the natural comic chemistry between Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly to generate a coming of age comedy that’s funnier than any of Will Ferrell’s recent outings. Dale (Reilly) and Brennan (Ferrell) are 40-year-old boy-men still living at home with their respectively divorced parents Nancy (Mary Steenburgen) and Robert (Richard Jenkins). A love-at-first-sight meeting between Nancy and Robert justifies a quick wedding that brings the four together as a family under the same roof. Dale and Brennan go through a boyish bonding ritual that necessarily includes bouts of synchronized sleepwalking, filthy insults, showing off their childish prized possessions, and a knock-down-drag-out fistfight. But when Nancy and Robert announce their plans to sell the house and retire to sail around the world, Dale and Brennan are forced to grow up overnight.

Director Adam McKay ("Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" and "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby") co-wrote the script for "Step Brothers" with Will Ferrell, and both men share executive producing credits along with Judd Apatow whose name has come to represent a specific brand of American comic sensibility. If there’s a monopoly on reliable Hollywood comic features, it’s certain to include the Judd Apatow stamp. "Step Brothers" fits easily into Apatow’s genre of risqué comedies that pick up where the once promising Farrelly brothers’ flagging career left off. When Brennan runs to rub his testicles on Dale’s drum set, it generates the same howls of laughter that "There’s Something About Mary" induced in young audiences unprepared for its similar visual gag of naughty bits. Like Apatow’s "40 Year Old Virgin," "Step Brothers" carries a theme of middle-aged development that belies its characters’ immature charisma.

Brennan and Dale have never worked a day in their life, and you can’t help but marvel at the image of two 40-year-old guys living a spastic lifestyle predicated on which toy to play with next. These are guys whose wardrobe consists entirely of tee shirts silk-screened with things like galloping horses or a giant Star Wars Yoda. Brennan’s younger brother Derek (hilariously played by Adam Scott – "Art School Confidential") is the smarmy antagonist that the boys rally against when he worms his way into a stomach-churning friendship with their patriarch Robert during a family dinner. Derek is the kind of SUV-driving tool who spends $1200 a week on singing lessons for his family to sing pop songs in four part harmony when he isn’t bragging to anyone who’ll listen about the $550,00 he earns every year. Dale reaps lusty rewards from Derek’s alienated wife Alice (Kathryn Hahn) who sees in him a wellspring of sexual liberation. Their brief romantic encounters make for some of the movie’s more over-the-top moments, thanks to Reilly’s awkward reception of Alice’s not so subtle advances.

John C. Reilly’s extensive work in dramatic roles during his career informs his sense of comic timing and tonal range that compresses Will Farrell’ matter-of-fact-humor into a steady stream of bent logic. There’s an undertow of infectious interplay in every scene for audiences willing to go along with the idea of two middle-aged guys waking up to the adult demands around them. You don’t have to think like a 12-year-old boy to appreciate "Step Brothers," but it helps.

Rated R, 119 mins. (B) (Three Stars)

Mamma Mia! The Movie

From Greece With Abba and Streep
Meryl Conquers the Mediterranean With Song
By Cole Smithey

Once it gets past its high-pitched squeals of estrogen-fueled excitement in the opening sequences, director Phyllida Lloyd’s screen adaptation of the popular Broadway play based on Abba songs, settles into a harmonically pleasing musical comedy set amid the extraordinary beauty of the Greek isle of Skopelos. Former 80s’ girl-trio singer Donna (exquisitely played by the ever-surprising Meryl Streep) has single-handedly raised her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) on the island where the two operate a rundown hotel villa. On the eve of her marriage to local hunk Sky (Dominic Cooper), Sophie has used information she culled from her mom’s old diary to invite Donna’s three former boyfriends to the wedding in the hope of discovering the identity of her unknown father. Stellan Skarsgard, Pierce Brosnan, and Colin Firth do the honors as the trio of possible dads, and their arrival times well with that of Donna’s cherished band pals Rosie (Julie Walters) and Tanya (Christine Baranski). "Mamma Mia! The Movie" is tilted toward the play’s target audience of middle aged to elderly members, but that’s not to say there isn’t plenty of entertainment to be had for everyone else in this pop-tinged travelogue of Grecian opulence.

The biggest part of any director’s job is casting. It’s a dirty little secret that all the directing experience in the world can’t succeed without the right counterbalance of actors, conscious of the style and subtext of the material. To that end, renowned opera director Phyllida Lloyd makes her foray into feature film with the blessing of a perfectly balanced cast pitted with, and against, type so that each serves to ballast a far-fetched narrative in need of every bit of grounding it can get. Loosely constructed from the plot template for the 1968 romantic comedy "Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell," starring Gina Lollobrigida, Telly Savalas, Peter Lawford, and Phil Silvers, "Mamma Mia!" artificially shoehorns more than 15 Abba songs into hit-or-miss plot point set pieces that give background on the spotlighted characters. It’s a carousel approach that refreshes the movie every five minutes with infectious joy, and exposition.

Dressed in high-water overalls and flimsy deck shoes, Meryl Streep is the ultimate ex-patriot matriarch living an idyllic existence with her sun-kissed daughter. Streep’s opening number "Money, Money, Money" announces Donna’s need for a man of means and establishes her no make-up approach to the woman at the eye of an emotional whirlwind that we already know will end well. It’s Meryl Streep making musical theater look not only easy, but also natural to a fault. With Streep’s famed glamour kept peacefully at bay, the film makes way for the unconventional casting of character actors Christine Baranski ("Bonneville") and Julie Walters ("Becoming Jane") to shine. The three women tear into an inevitable rendition of "Dancing Queen" that works all the better for the credible chemistry between them as they sing about past glories with Donna as their center of attention.

The lavish beauty of glistening Mediterranean blue water beneath majestic hilltops is barely a distraction during Donna’s climatic singing of "The Winner Takes It All" to the long-suffering Sam (Pierce Brosnan) as he does the math on their missed opportunities for romance and happiness. Brosnan’s palpable discomfort with singing and dancing, supports his character’s sense of displacement, and mirror’s Streep’s doughty embrace of Donna as a strong-willed woman without an ounce of artifice, save her constant need to break into song.

From its imaginative choreography and faux retro music production mode, "Mamma Mia! The Movie" is an explosion of pop sensibilities in a movie that makes lip-syncing look a far-sight better than anything on "American Idol." If there’s anything Meryl Streep can’t do on film, we haven’t seen it yet.

Rated PG-13, 108 mins. (B+) (Four Stars)

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Jules Verne Goes 3-D
Piranhas and Dinosaurs Attend
By Cole Smithey

This maiden feature-length Digital 3D movie is a breathtaking adaptation of Jules Verne's classic sci-fi novel, filled with eye-pleasing gags and sudden shocks of surprise that fall under the spell of strong performances from its terrific three-person cast. Icelandic newcomer Anita Briem makes an impressive debut as Hannah, the strong-willed guide who takes scientist Trevor Anderson (played by Brendan Fraser) and his nephew Sean (played by Josh Hutcherson) deep inside the planet. Briem serves as an ideal straightman to Fraser’s signature Boy Scout delivery of comic physicality. "Journey to the Center of the Earth" is a memorable kid's action/adventure movie that has as much respect for its young audience as it does for its exciting sense of spectacle. Giant flying prehistoric piranhas, enormous Venus fly traps, and ancient dinosaurs are just some of the discoveries our trio of fearless explorers find even if they never sweat in the scorching conditions at the Earth’s core.

The glaring flaw is the constant presence of a heat-measuring device that Trevor and Hannah constantly refer to in gauging their level of danger. It’s an unnecessary plot contrivance that could have been edited out without affecting the storyline, especially because none of the team ever sweats more than a drop or two of perspiration. On the one hand you have unbelievably beautiful set pieces filled with lush colors and impressive creatures, and then you have this ham-fisted attempt to bring in a trace of realism that’s constantly negated. It’s as if a crew person on the set were ringing a bell every few minutes to remind the audience they’re watching actors working on against a green screen.

The movie makes no bones about being a showcase for digital 3-D technology, and its primary appeal lies in its fulfillment of those expectations as a cinematic thrillride complete with an obligatory rollercoaster sequence on a mine shaft train track of questionable, if steep, stability. There’s never a moment of danger as our three proxy explorers hang on for dear life when their rock-hauling cars jump over deep chasms of missing track to land miraculously on a piece of jagged racetrack awaiting their landing. The three do plenty of free falling on their way to the title’s destination, and the imagery taps into the nightmares that most of us endure at one time or another of dropping endlessly through space. The 3-D effects make the experience all the more stomach dropping, and it’s in these scenes that the surge and momentum of the movie transports the viewer as if they were on an air-conditioned 21^st century amusement park ride.

"Journey to the Center of the Earth" is a fun summer movie that gives audiences a chance to enjoy the current state of the quickly advancing 3-D technology that is already set to enable viewers to enjoy it without the aid of glasses. But for now, pop on the latest pair of "REALD" spectacles and soak up the action.

Rated PG, 97 mins. (B)

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Del Toro’s Hollywood Order
Gifted Director Holds Back the Dream
By Cole Smithey

Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy sequel is a simultaneously exhilarating and underwhelming experience due to the idleness of its characters and nebulous sub-plot elements that contrast blankly against del Toro’s trademark of baroquely drawn details. Hopelessly macho lug Hellboy (exquisitely played by the one and only Ron Perlman) lives a clandestine existence with his newly-pregnant pyrokinetic squeeze Liz (played by Selma Blair) in the guarded confines of New Jersey’s Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. Dark Prince Nuada (played by Luke Goss) escalates from a saber rattling practice routine to go on a violent rampage to obtain the missing part to a crown that will awaken an army of indestructible clockwork soldiers and enable him to rule the world. Hellboy and his fighting team, that includes a creature-from-the-black-lagoon-styled pal Abe Sapien and a not-so-welcome German gas-bag named Johann, do battle with Nuada’s weird creatures when they aren’t concerned with more mundane chores of romance and pregnancy issues. The super-hero battles aren’t choreographed and edited with enough pizzazz to meet heightened audience expectations raised with every new addition to the comic book movie genre. Nonetheless, this is a visually delightful movie packed with enough eccentric character elements that keep it entertaining.

Del Toro co-wrote the screenplay with Hellboy originator/comic artist Mike Mignola, and yet their union produces a lighter atmosphere than suits the famously dark-toned source material. There’s never any question as to the style of del Toro’s vision providing the substantive meat for the narrative, as with all of his films, but the story here veers irreparably off-track when Abe Sapien and Hellboy join in a duet of Barry Manilow’s "I Can't Smile Without You." The moment comes after a love-struck Sapien pines for Prince Nuada’s alter-opposite twin, Princess Nuada (Anna Walton). It’s the kind of ironic, sappy faux sentimentality that bends too far left toward an ostensibly celibate fanboy audience at which the movie is already predisposed to entertain.

Part of the problem stems from the film that del Toro made between the Hellboy movies. An R-rated adult fantasy tale, "Pan’s Labyrinth" presented a sophisticated allegory that modulated between fantasy elements of diabolical creatures in an atmosphere of war that constantly threatened its young female protagonist. It introduced the world to a different type of fantasy film, one that could sustain dark symbolism with a sense of historic significance to emphasize a troubled social condition. Mike Mignola’s Hellboy is a demon delivered to the Earth by Nazi occultists before he was co-opted by the U.S. Government to do their bidding. His Thing-like right hand is a giant club, and he has a devil’s tail that only accents his leathery skin’s red color. Objectively, it seems like an ideal character and milieu for del Toro to dig into with a story that might resonate with the same brand of anti-establishment logic he used for "Pan’s Labyrinth." But that is not the case. Instead of advancing a superhero genre for adults, "Hellboy II" is a coming-of-age comic melodrama with touches of spectacle battles that err on the side of Robin Hood sword fights rather than 21^st century fighting techniques.

There is no question that Guillermo del Toro wouldn’t have done a better job directing the recent "Hulk" movie, but this is a visionary director capable of much more than we see on the screen here. It could be that del Toro is a selfish auteur hoarding his best work for his own films, rather than this kind of Hollywood gig, but it doesn’t suit his talents to create kid’s movies. Somewhere inside, Guillermo del Toro is a raging genius bursting at the seams to make his own "Blue Velvet" or "Exorcist." His true nature is not suited to making PG-13 movies. Give us the dark, demented and perverse animal biting to get out of his directorial cage. That’s the real Guillermo del Toro.

Rated PG-13, 110 mins. (B)

Wanted

Adrenaline Rush
Kazakh Director Timur Bekmambetov Storms Hollywood
By Cole Smithey

James McAvoy is a better actor than Angelina Jolie is. He’s more skilled at creating a character than Morgan Freeman. So it is that the Scottish actor, most famous for his role in "The Last King of Scotland," commands Kazakh director Timur Bekmambetov’s eye-popping action picture with a gravitas and sinewy instinct that brings the audience inside its visually pleasing set-pieces as a welcome partner in crime. Based on a comic strip by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, "Wanted" is about Wesley Gibson (McAvoy), a nerdy low-level office clerk with an inbred gift for assassination that he only discovers under the cruel tutelage of a similarly gifted group of killers led by Morgan Freeman’s detached character Sloan. Bekmambetov earned a loyal following with his groundbreaking films "Night Watch" and "Day Watch," and more than pays off on his promise as the most graphic-minded director in the industry with a startling Hollywood debut that will be studied for years by the next generation of action film directors.

From start to finish, "Wanted" is a virtuoso piece of high-tech action cinema. Its opening assassination sequence plays out amid a high-rise Chicago skyscape where the human target is every bit as efficient and nasty as the group of men curving specialized bullets at him. Our sitting duck runs down a long corridor away from the giant plate-glass windows that explode inward with gut-wrenching velocity. He waits for an elevator that we presume will enable his escape. Yet when it arrives, he steps inside to dig his heel into the lift’s steel back wall for the additional amount of trajectory he needs to eject himself to the skyscraper across the street where his attackers work their high-powered rifles. We breathe in the time-bending adrenaline rush before being sucker-punched with an almost jokey plot twist that will eventually bookend the story.

Where the visual dynamics of the Wachowski Brothers’ "Matrix" movies used a palate of starkness, Bekmambetov’s cinema is filled with balanced micro and macro visual cues and details that get sandwiched neatly between character motivation and reaction. Wesley’s transformation from browbeaten office wonk to confident man-of-the-world comes via Sloane’s 1000-year-old "Fraternity" of killers, who inform the newbie executioner that he is being trained to avenge his father’s death by killing an assassin named Cross (Thomas Kretschmann). The indoctrination process for Wesley’s hard-earned bullet-curving skills make up the film’s most significant sub-plot, and allow the camera to paint Angelina Jolie’s tattooed body with plenty of fleshy attention.

"Wanted" marks a transition into a new brand of spectacle cinema rooted in character study, and with an impermeable veneer of anti-authoritarian satire. It’s a movie that’s as closely related to "Fight Club" as it is any John Woo film. It also galvanizes James McAvoy as an actor capable of delivering humor, emotion and empathy with a transparent performance that everything else gravitates around. He’s a better actor than Russell Crowe because everything he does is unfettered and effortless. You’ll come for the action; you’ll enjoy it more because of James McAvoy.

Rated R, 110 mins. (A-) (Four Stars)