This review of “The Black Phone” was first published June 19, 2022, after its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.
The creepiest (and best) moments in the kiddie-kidnap horror pic “The Black Phone” take full advantage of the movie’s basic setup: a suburban teen gets abducted and then struggles to escape his captor’s sound-proof basement.
That scenario, co-adapted from a Joe Hill (“NOS4A2”) short story by director Scott Derrickson (“Doctor Strange”) and co-writer C. Robert Cargill, folds neatly into the mini-trend of quasi-nostalgic horror-adventures that both “Stranger Things” and the 2017 “It” adaptation brought back into vogue.
Derrickson and Cargill successfully tailor their focused and mostly compelling narrative to a Steven Spielberg/Amblin Entertainment–esque bit of Stephen King–sploitation. There’s nothing in “The Black Phone” that you can’t also get in more inventive recent King adaptations (like “Doctor Sleep”) or King-like homages.
Also Read:
Ethan Hawke Is a...
The creepiest (and best) moments in the kiddie-kidnap horror pic “The Black Phone” take full advantage of the movie’s basic setup: a suburban teen gets abducted and then struggles to escape his captor’s sound-proof basement.
That scenario, co-adapted from a Joe Hill (“NOS4A2”) short story by director Scott Derrickson (“Doctor Strange”) and co-writer C. Robert Cargill, folds neatly into the mini-trend of quasi-nostalgic horror-adventures that both “Stranger Things” and the 2017 “It” adaptation brought back into vogue.
Derrickson and Cargill successfully tailor their focused and mostly compelling narrative to a Steven Spielberg/Amblin Entertainment–esque bit of Stephen King–sploitation. There’s nothing in “The Black Phone” that you can’t also get in more inventive recent King adaptations (like “Doctor Sleep”) or King-like homages.
Also Read:
Ethan Hawke Is a...
- 6/23/2022
- by Simon Abrams
- The Wrap
Despite the rich texture of its late-1970s setting—the beginning of the latch-key kid era—Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone fails to transcend its central premise. At its heart it is a contained thriller with only a few new ideas. In this adaptation of the fairly straightforward short story by Joe Hill, the specter of disappearing children haunts a North Denver suburb where children seem to grow up too quickly, getting into real fights that in the current day might lead to lawsuits and therapy. Rather than grabbing for ice and calling the lawyers, kids are told to walk it off.
Family violence is a theme running through this film, which focuses squarely on the Shaw family—8-year-old Finney (Mason Thames), 9-year-old clairvoyant Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), and their abusive alcoholic father Terrence (Jeremy Davies). Gwen has visions of the local snatcher that has stolen a few neighborhood children,...
Family violence is a theme running through this film, which focuses squarely on the Shaw family—8-year-old Finney (Mason Thames), 9-year-old clairvoyant Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), and their abusive alcoholic father Terrence (Jeremy Davies). Gwen has visions of the local snatcher that has stolen a few neighborhood children,...
- 6/21/2022
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
“One minute you’re invisible and the next minute the whole state knows your name.” A young and phantom voice speaks this ominous fact over a rotary phone receiver into the ear of the town’s latest kid who’s gone missing. Isolated in a basement with a single window too high to access and an antiquated phone, Finney Shaw (Mason Thames) accepts his new reality like he does every day in the outside world. He’s used to being the victim of everything kids fear: bullies, the death of a loved one, being unpopular, crossing an abusive caregiver, saying the wrong thing to your crush, even jumping too much while watching a scary movie alone. However, with a little help from beyond the grave, Finney may have just enough fight left in him to face his ultimate fear head-on.
Adapted from Joe Hill’s short story of the same name,...
Adapted from Joe Hill’s short story of the same name,...
- 9/26/2021
- by Marisa Mirabal
- Indiewire
Animated feature films were included for the first time this year, Coco among them.
The Art Directors Guild has announced nominations for the 22nd Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards in multiple categories including features, television, and commercials.
Nominees in the feature film categories include Darkest Hour, The Shape Of Water, Downsizing, Get Out, and Lady Bird.
Among the television nominees are this year’s Emmy stand-outs The Handmaid’s Tale and Game Of Thrones.
Animated feature films were included in the nominations for the first time this year and include top-earning titles Cars 3, Coco, and Despicable Me 3.
The Awards Gala is set for January 27 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland.
Excellence In Production Design For A Feature Film Period Film
Darkest Hour, Sarah Greenwood
Dunkirk, Nathan Crowley
Murder On The Orient Express, Jim Clay
The Post, Rick Carter
The Shape Of Water, Paul Denham Austerberry
Fantasy Film
Beauty And The Beast, Sarah...
The Art Directors Guild has announced nominations for the 22nd Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards in multiple categories including features, television, and commercials.
Nominees in the feature film categories include Darkest Hour, The Shape Of Water, Downsizing, Get Out, and Lady Bird.
Among the television nominees are this year’s Emmy stand-outs The Handmaid’s Tale and Game Of Thrones.
Animated feature films were included in the nominations for the first time this year and include top-earning titles Cars 3, Coco, and Despicable Me 3.
The Awards Gala is set for January 27 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland.
Excellence In Production Design For A Feature Film Period Film
Darkest Hour, Sarah Greenwood
Dunkirk, Nathan Crowley
Murder On The Orient Express, Jim Clay
The Post, Rick Carter
The Shape Of Water, Paul Denham Austerberry
Fantasy Film
Beauty And The Beast, Sarah...
- 1/5/2018
- by Elbert Wyche
- ScreenDaily
At first blush, “Hannibal” looks like the conceptual twin of CBS timeslot rival “Elementary,” a series that seeks to leverage a brilliant literary character to sell a moody procedural. It’s also a little like “It Takes a Thief,” only here substituting a serial killer. Stick with the series through a handful of episodes, though, and it’s clear that showrunner Bryan Fuller has brought a semi-hypnotic quality to this prequel adaptation of Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lecter character — ungainly and messy, but at times visually arresting, and thanks in large part to the central trio of Mads Mikkelsen, Hugh Dancy and Laurence Fishburne, quite interesting. Bon appetit.
Granted, NBC’s Thursday lineup is a devalued piece of real estate, and sustaining the show for any length of time seems like a high-wire act. As A&e’s “Psycho” precursor “Bates Motel” demonstrates, the benefits associated with such a well-known property can...
Granted, NBC’s Thursday lineup is a devalued piece of real estate, and sustaining the show for any length of time seems like a high-wire act. As A&e’s “Psycho” precursor “Bates Motel” demonstrates, the benefits associated with such a well-known property can...
- 3/28/2013
- by Brian Lowry
- Variety Film + TV
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (The Academy) are pleased to co-present the first U.S. retrospective of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, developed in collaboration with the Kubrick Estate and the Deutsches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt. The exhibition (November 1, 2012.June 30, 2013) provides access to the director.s extraordinary vision and working methods while illuminating the network of influences and conditions that came together to make his films universally regarded as modern masterpieces. The Los Angeles presentation is made possible by a generous gift from Steve Tisch.
.By featuring this legendary filmmaker and his oeuvre in his first retrospective within the context of an art museum, Stanley Kubrick will reevaluate how we define the artist in the twenty-first century, and simultaneously expand upon Lacma.s commitment to exploring the intersection of art and film,. said Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director of Lacma.
.By featuring this legendary filmmaker and his oeuvre in his first retrospective within the context of an art museum, Stanley Kubrick will reevaluate how we define the artist in the twenty-first century, and simultaneously expand upon Lacma.s commitment to exploring the intersection of art and film,. said Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director of Lacma.
- 8/16/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Lacma and The Academy will co-present the first Us retrospective exhibition of Stanley Kubrick. The retrospective, which launched in Frankfurt and has toured Berlin, Melbourne, Ghent, Zurich, Rome, Paris, and Amsterdam, was developed in collaboration with the Kubrick Estate and the Deutsches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt, but will be designed specifically for Lacma by film production designer Patti Podesta. The exhibition provides access and insight into the filmmaker's vision and methods that led to his universally adored masterpieces, from "Full Metal Jacket," "Lolita" and "Dr. Strangelove" to "2001: A Space Odyssey," "A Clockwork Orange" and "The Shining." Lacma board member Terry Semel worked closely with Kubrick on many of these films when he was running Warner Bros. Pictures (one little known fact: Kubrick spawned the modern box office report.) The film retrospective kicks off on November 7 with "An Academy Salute...
- 8/16/2012
- by Anne Thompson and Sophia Savage
- Thompson on Hollywood
The Art Directors Guild (Adg) has announced the winners of its 16th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards for 2011. "Hugo" won in the Period Film category, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" received the Fantasy Film award, and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" took home the Contemporary Film trophy. Oh yeah, and the 83rd Oscars won in the Awards, Music, or Game Shows category, and Activision: Call of Duty won the Commercial or Music Videos category.
Winners of the 16th Annual Adg Awards were announced at a black-tie event at the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Here is the full list of winners (highlighted) and nominees (to see winners/nominees of other award-giving bodies, visit our Awards Avenue coverage right here)
Winners For Excellence In Production Design For A Feature Film In 2011
Period Film
The Artist -- Laurence Bennett
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy...
Winners of the 16th Annual Adg Awards were announced at a black-tie event at the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Here is the full list of winners (highlighted) and nominees (to see winners/nominees of other award-giving bodies, visit our Awards Avenue coverage right here)
Winners For Excellence In Production Design For A Feature Film In 2011
Period Film
The Artist -- Laurence Bennett
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy...
- 2/5/2012
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Hugo, Deathly Hallows 2, Mildred Pierce: Art Directors Guild Awards
Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara in David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Dante Ferretti, Tony Walton, Stuart Craig, Alfred Junge: Art Directors Guild Awards Feature Films Period Film The Artist Production Designer: Laurence Bennett * Hugo Production Designer: Dante Ferretti The Help Production Designer: Mark Ricker Anonymous Production Designer: Sebastian Krawinkel Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy Production Designer: Maria Djurkovic Fantasy Film * Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Production Designer: Stuart Craig Captain America: The First Avenger Production Designer: Rick Heinrichs The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Unicorn Production Designer: Tbd Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Production Designer: John Myhre Cowboys & Aliens Production Designer: Scott Chambliss Contemporary Film * The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Production Designer: Donald Graham Burt The Descendants Production Designer: Jane Anne Stewart Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close Production Designer: K. K. Barrett Drive Production Designer: Beth Mickle Bridesmaids Production Designer:...
- 2/5/2012
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
HollywoodNews.com: The Art Directors Guild (Adg) today announced nominations in nine categories of Production Design for theatrical motion pictures, television, commercials and music videos competing in the Adg’s 16th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards for 2011. The nominations were announced by Adg Council President Thomas A. Walsh and Awards co-producers Tom Wilkins and Greg Grande. Deadline for final voting, which is done online, is February 2. The black-tie ceremony announcing winners will take place Saturday, February 4, 2012 at the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills with Paula Poundstone serving as host for the third consecutive year.
A Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Emmy Award® winning Production Designer Tony Walton. In addition, the Adg will induct the following legendary Production Designers from the past into its Hall of Fame: Robert Boyle, William Darling and Alfred Junge. This year’s Art Directors Guild Cinematic Imagery Award will...
A Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Emmy Award® winning Production Designer Tony Walton. In addition, the Adg will induct the following legendary Production Designers from the past into its Hall of Fame: Robert Boyle, William Darling and Alfred Junge. This year’s Art Directors Guild Cinematic Imagery Award will...
- 1/4/2012
- by Josh Abraham
- Hollywoodnews.com
As anyone who watched James Franco's take on Oscar hosting can tell you, Hollywood award shows can be weird, weird things. Whether it's Adrien Brody planting a kiss on Halle Berry or just Ricky Gervais insulting everyone in the audience, things can get strange very fast.
But for certain awards, they don't need all the fanfare (or malice) to entice audiences; sometimes the nominees alone are enough. The Art Directors Guild awards fall squarely into this category, with their wide-ranging nominees for excellence in production design, announced last night. Where else would "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," "Captain America," and "Anonymous" all be nominated for something?
The announcement of the winners will be made at the annual awards ceremony on Feb. 4.
Check out the list of nominees:
Period Film
The Artist, Production Designer: Laurence Bennett Hugo, Production Designer: Dante Ferretti The Help, Production Designer: Mark Ricker Anonymous, Production Designer:...
But for certain awards, they don't need all the fanfare (or malice) to entice audiences; sometimes the nominees alone are enough. The Art Directors Guild awards fall squarely into this category, with their wide-ranging nominees for excellence in production design, announced last night. Where else would "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," "Captain America," and "Anonymous" all be nominated for something?
The announcement of the winners will be made at the annual awards ceremony on Feb. 4.
Check out the list of nominees:
Period Film
The Artist, Production Designer: Laurence Bennett Hugo, Production Designer: Dante Ferretti The Help, Production Designer: Mark Ricker Anonymous, Production Designer:...
- 1/4/2012
- by Sarah Crow
- NextMovie
The Art Directors Guild has announced the nominees for its 16th annual Excellence in Production Design Awards, to be handed out Feb. 4 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Art Direction may not be at the top of your priority list for movies or TV, but I think it should be higher than many people hold it. Without art direction the tone of what you watch would be greatly impacted. I love being transported into a unique universe, and art direction helps make my movie and TV viewing experiences more enjoyable.
Here are the nominees:
Nominees For Excellence In Production Design For A Feature Film In 2011:
Period Film:
The Artist Production Designer: Laurence Bennett
Hugo Production Designer: Dante Ferretti
The Help Production Designer: Mark Ricker
Anonymous Production Designer: Sebastian Krawinkel
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Production Designer: Maria Djurkovic
Fantasy Film:
Harry Potter And The Deathly
Hallows Part 2 Production Designer: Stuart Craig...
Here are the nominees:
Nominees For Excellence In Production Design For A Feature Film In 2011:
Period Film:
The Artist Production Designer: Laurence Bennett
Hugo Production Designer: Dante Ferretti
The Help Production Designer: Mark Ricker
Anonymous Production Designer: Sebastian Krawinkel
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Production Designer: Maria Djurkovic
Fantasy Film:
Harry Potter And The Deathly
Hallows Part 2 Production Designer: Stuart Craig...
- 1/4/2012
- by Tiberius
- GeekTyrant
Kevin McNally, Johnny Depp in Rob Marshall's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Steven Spielberg/War Horse Bypassed, Tintin In: Art Directors Guild Award Nominations Feature Films Period Film The Artist Production Designer: Laurence Bennett Hugo Production Designer: Dante Ferretti The Help Production Designer: Mark Ricker Anonymous Production Designer: Sebastian Krawinkel Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy Production Designer: Maria Djurkovic Fantasy Film Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Production Designer: Stuart Craig Captain America: The First Avenger Production Designer: Rick Heinrichs The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Unicorn Production Designer: Tbd Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Production Designer: John Myhre Cowboys & Aliens Production Designer: Scott Chambliss Contemporary Film The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Production Designer: Donald Graham Burt The Descendants Production Designer: Jane Anne Stewart Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close Production Designer: K. K. Barrett Drive Production Designer: Beth Mickle Bridesmaids Production Designer:...
- 1/4/2012
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Tell Tale (playing this week at the Tribeca Film Festival) is a movie that serves as a metaphor for itself on a couple of levels. It’s about a physical heart that’s transplanted from one body to another; the script transplants Edgar Allan Poe’s 19th-century classic story “The Tell-Tale Heart” into a 21st-century chiller; and the direction by Michael Cuesta, in concert with the performances, transplants an unusual amount of figurative heart into what could have played as B-movie material.
After opening with a juicy operation sequence, the movie settles in with Terry Bernard (Josh Lucas), the recipient of the new ticker who has another medical situation occupying his attention: His young daughter Angela (Beatrice Miller) has a genetic disorder that requires frequent visits to the family doctor, Elizabeth Clemson (Lena Headey). Terry and Elizabeth’s professional interactions are starting to develop into a personal relationship, to Angela’s approval,...
After opening with a juicy operation sequence, the movie settles in with Terry Bernard (Josh Lucas), the recipient of the new ticker who has another medical situation occupying his attention: His young daughter Angela (Beatrice Miller) has a genetic disorder that requires frequent visits to the family doctor, Elizabeth Clemson (Lena Headey). Terry and Elizabeth’s professional interactions are starting to develop into a personal relationship, to Angela’s approval,...
- 4/28/2009
- Fangoria
The Art Directors Guild announced its nominees for the 2008 Excellence in Production Design Awards. The much beloved "The Dark Knight" is one of the nominees in the Fantasy film category.
Adg members will vote for the winners by Feb. 12th, and the awards gala will be a Valentine for the top dogs for it will be held Feb. 14th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Click Read More to see the complete list of nominees for the best Production Design in 2008.
13th Annual Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Awards
Nominations
Period Films
Changeling
Production Designer: James J. Murakami
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Production Designer: Donald Graham Burt
Doubt
Production Designer: David Gropman
Frost/Nixon
Production Designer: Michael Corenblith
Milk
Production Designer: Bill Groom
Fantasy Films
The Dark Knight
Production Designer: Nathan Crowley
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
Production Designer: Guy Hendrix Dyas
Iron Man...
Adg members will vote for the winners by Feb. 12th, and the awards gala will be a Valentine for the top dogs for it will be held Feb. 14th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Click Read More to see the complete list of nominees for the best Production Design in 2008.
13th Annual Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Awards
Nominations
Period Films
Changeling
Production Designer: James J. Murakami
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Production Designer: Donald Graham Burt
Doubt
Production Designer: David Gropman
Frost/Nixon
Production Designer: Michael Corenblith
Milk
Production Designer: Bill Groom
Fantasy Films
The Dark Knight
Production Designer: Nathan Crowley
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
Production Designer: Guy Hendrix Dyas
Iron Man...
- 1/11/2009
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
This review was written for the festival screening of "Smart People".Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- With a title such as "Smart People", this satiric film revolving around academia signals that its characters may be too smart for their own good. Intelligence plus too much specialized knowledge can leave people incapable of coping with life and frustratingly disconnected from family and friends. Come to think of it, what friends? But there's always family and two debuting filmmakers, novelist Mark Jude Poirier and award-winning commercial director Noam Murro, locate their comic mischief in the very core of family life.
The smart casting of Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church and "Juno's" hot young star Ellen Page in, seemingly, tailor-made roles, gives Miramax plenty of marketing hooks for its April 11 release. Reminiscent of the recent Sundance hit "The Squid and the Whale" in its depiction of a burnt-out academic and off-campus family disruptions, "Smart People" should attract similar adult audiences with the caveat that the smugness of some characters may be an initial turn-off.
For students at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Quaid) is a horror show: An acerbic widower who has lost interest in even his own specialty, Victorian literature, he is self-absorbed, demanding, arrogant, contemptuous of his students and grouchy as hell. He doesn't warm up one bit at home; nevertheless, he is a role model for his young daughter Vanessa (Page), who is already as friendless and conceited as dad. She is even a Young Republican. Older brother James (Ashton Holmes) lives in a dorm, presumably to escape the poisonous atmosphere at home and to keep his many secrets.
Into these lives come two "corrupters," characters who will undermine the pomposity of father and daughter and seduce them back to something resembling normalcy. A head trauma, the result of his own pig-headedness, sends the professor to ER where his doctor, Janet (Parker), is a former student who once had a crush on him. Naturally, he fails to remember her. Crashing the Wetherhold household without an invitation is Lawrence's financially challenged brother Chuck Church), a permanent adolescent whom Lawrence is careful to always refer to as his "adopted" brother.
The chief disappointment in Poirtier's screenplay is that while the affects these two will have on the family is wholly predictable, the writer never finds a way to trip up audience expectations. There's a hint of this in Vanessa's misreading of her uncle's seduction of her but mostly the dramatic course is too steady and true for surprises.
What exactly motivates Janet to rescue Lawrence from his self-destruction? She may have had a schoolgirl crush once, but she's a physician now, surely with more life experiences, and all the professor ever gave her was a C and a rude remark.
One would like to see what she sees him but Quaid doesn't make that easy. He's not a warm and fuzzy burn-out like Michael Douglas' character in "The Wonder Boys". That chip on his shoulder has given Lawrence a permanent slouch and the caustic manner feels like less like a facade than his real personality. Clearly though, something died within him when his wife passed. He even still hangs on to her wardrobe.
You do see why Uncle Chuck would take on the Vanessa reclamation project. She's too young to be so old. He wants to instill in her a rebellious streak and outlaw spirit before it's too late. Theirs is the more interesting relationship, which could've stood more development: It needed to go beyond smoking weed and underage drinking at a bar. And Page as an actress is too much a free spirit to be completely believable as a Young Republican.
On the other hand, Poirier is a master at dialogue. His script crackles with sharp lines and he gives all his scenes a splendid comic undertow. His characters arrive at their epiphanies -- despite Lawrence's denial he even had one -- with intelligence and logic.
For his part, Murro allows actors plenty of leeway to develop richly idiosyncratic characters, and for a commercial maker he shows a noble resistance to selling his story with slick images and quick cuts. He paces scenes well and lets the emotions filter through with no undue emphasis or contrivance. This is a solid feature debut for Murro.
Cinematographer Toby Irwin and designer Patti Podesta make a campus film that for once feels like one. They superbly use the real locales and smartly dress sets in ways that suit the autumnal tones of the color scheme.
SMART PEOPLE
Miramax Films
Groundswell Prods.
Credits:
Director: Noam Murro
Writer: Mark Jude Poirier
Producer: Bridget Johnson, Michael Costigan, Michael London, Bruna Papandrea
Director of photography: Toby Irwin
Production designer: Patti Podesta
Music: Nuno Bettencourt
Costume designer: Amy Westcott
Editors: Robert Frazen, Yana Gorskaya
Cast:
Lawrence Wetherhold: Dennis Quaid
Janet: Sarah Jessica Parker
Chuck: Thomas Haden Church
Vanessa: Ellen Page
James: Ashton Holmes
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
PARK CITY -- With a title such as "Smart People", this satiric film revolving around academia signals that its characters may be too smart for their own good. Intelligence plus too much specialized knowledge can leave people incapable of coping with life and frustratingly disconnected from family and friends. Come to think of it, what friends? But there's always family and two debuting filmmakers, novelist Mark Jude Poirier and award-winning commercial director Noam Murro, locate their comic mischief in the very core of family life.
The smart casting of Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church and "Juno's" hot young star Ellen Page in, seemingly, tailor-made roles, gives Miramax plenty of marketing hooks for its April 11 release. Reminiscent of the recent Sundance hit "The Squid and the Whale" in its depiction of a burnt-out academic and off-campus family disruptions, "Smart People" should attract similar adult audiences with the caveat that the smugness of some characters may be an initial turn-off.
For students at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Quaid) is a horror show: An acerbic widower who has lost interest in even his own specialty, Victorian literature, he is self-absorbed, demanding, arrogant, contemptuous of his students and grouchy as hell. He doesn't warm up one bit at home; nevertheless, he is a role model for his young daughter Vanessa (Page), who is already as friendless and conceited as dad. She is even a Young Republican. Older brother James (Ashton Holmes) lives in a dorm, presumably to escape the poisonous atmosphere at home and to keep his many secrets.
Into these lives come two "corrupters," characters who will undermine the pomposity of father and daughter and seduce them back to something resembling normalcy. A head trauma, the result of his own pig-headedness, sends the professor to ER where his doctor, Janet (Parker), is a former student who once had a crush on him. Naturally, he fails to remember her. Crashing the Wetherhold household without an invitation is Lawrence's financially challenged brother Chuck Church), a permanent adolescent whom Lawrence is careful to always refer to as his "adopted" brother.
The chief disappointment in Poirtier's screenplay is that while the affects these two will have on the family is wholly predictable, the writer never finds a way to trip up audience expectations. There's a hint of this in Vanessa's misreading of her uncle's seduction of her but mostly the dramatic course is too steady and true for surprises.
What exactly motivates Janet to rescue Lawrence from his self-destruction? She may have had a schoolgirl crush once, but she's a physician now, surely with more life experiences, and all the professor ever gave her was a C and a rude remark.
One would like to see what she sees him but Quaid doesn't make that easy. He's not a warm and fuzzy burn-out like Michael Douglas' character in "The Wonder Boys". That chip on his shoulder has given Lawrence a permanent slouch and the caustic manner feels like less like a facade than his real personality. Clearly though, something died within him when his wife passed. He even still hangs on to her wardrobe.
You do see why Uncle Chuck would take on the Vanessa reclamation project. She's too young to be so old. He wants to instill in her a rebellious streak and outlaw spirit before it's too late. Theirs is the more interesting relationship, which could've stood more development: It needed to go beyond smoking weed and underage drinking at a bar. And Page as an actress is too much a free spirit to be completely believable as a Young Republican.
On the other hand, Poirier is a master at dialogue. His script crackles with sharp lines and he gives all his scenes a splendid comic undertow. His characters arrive at their epiphanies -- despite Lawrence's denial he even had one -- with intelligence and logic.
For his part, Murro allows actors plenty of leeway to develop richly idiosyncratic characters, and for a commercial maker he shows a noble resistance to selling his story with slick images and quick cuts. He paces scenes well and lets the emotions filter through with no undue emphasis or contrivance. This is a solid feature debut for Murro.
Cinematographer Toby Irwin and designer Patti Podesta make a campus film that for once feels like one. They superbly use the real locales and smartly dress sets in ways that suit the autumnal tones of the color scheme.
SMART PEOPLE
Miramax Films
Groundswell Prods.
Credits:
Director: Noam Murro
Writer: Mark Jude Poirier
Producer: Bridget Johnson, Michael Costigan, Michael London, Bruna Papandrea
Director of photography: Toby Irwin
Production designer: Patti Podesta
Music: Nuno Bettencourt
Costume designer: Amy Westcott
Editors: Robert Frazen, Yana Gorskaya
Cast:
Lawrence Wetherhold: Dennis Quaid
Janet: Sarah Jessica Parker
Chuck: Thomas Haden Church
Vanessa: Ellen Page
James: Ashton Holmes
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 1/22/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- With a title such as Smart People, this satiric film revolving around academia signals that its characters may be too smart for their own good. Intelligence plus too much specialized knowledge can leave people incapable of coping with life and frustratingly disconnected from family and friends. Come to think of it, what friends? But there's always family and two debuting filmmakers, novelist Mark Jude Poirier and award-winning commercial director Noam Murro, locate their comic mischief in the very core of family life.
The smart casting of Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church and "Juno's" hot young star Ellen Page in, seemingly, tailor-made roles, gives Miramax plenty of marketing hooks for its April 11 release. Reminiscent of the recent Sundance hit The Squid and the Whale in its depiction of a burnt-out academic and off-campus family disruptions, Smart People should attract similar adult audiences with the caveat that the smugness of some characters may be an initial turn-off.
For students at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Quaid) is a horror show: An acerbic widower who has lost interest in even his own specialty, Victorian literature, he is self-absorbed, demanding, arrogant, contemptuous of his students and grouchy as hell. He doesn't warm up one bit at home; nevertheless, he is a role model for his young daughter Vanessa (Page), who is already as friendless and conceited as dad. She is even a Young Republican. Older brother James (Ashton Holmes) lives in a dorm, presumably to escape the poisonous atmosphere at home and to keep his many secrets.
Into these lives come two "corrupters," characters who will undermine the pomposity of father and daughter and seduce them back to something resembling normalcy. A head trauma, the result of his own pig-headedness, sends the professor to ER where his doctor, Janet (Parker), is a former student who once had a crush on him. Naturally, he fails to remember her. Crashing the Wetherhold household without an invitation is Lawrence's financially challenged brother Chuck Church), a permanent adolescent whom Lawrence is careful to always refer to as his "adopted" brother.
The chief disappointment in Poirtier's screenplay is that while the affects these two will have on the family is wholly predictable, the writer never finds a way to trip up audience expectations. There's a hint of this in Vanessa's misreading of her uncle's seduction of her but mostly the dramatic course is too steady and true for surprises.
What exactly motivates Janet to rescue Lawrence from his self-destruction? She may have had a schoolgirl crush once, but she's a physician now, surely with more life experiences, and all the professor ever gave her was a C and a rude remark.
One would like to see what she sees him but Quaid doesn't make that easy. He's not a warm and fuzzy burn-out like Michael Douglas' character in The Wonder Boys. That chip on his shoulder has given Lawrence a permanent slouch and the caustic manner feels like less like a facade than his real personality. Clearly though, something died within him when his wife passed. He even still hangs on to her wardrobe.
You do see why Uncle Chuck would take on the Vanessa reclamation project. She's too young to be so old. He wants to instill in her a rebellious streak and outlaw spirit before it's too late. Theirs is the more interesting relationship, which could've stood more development: It needed to go beyond smoking weed and underage drinking at a bar. And Page as an actress is too much a free spirit to be completely believable as a Young Republican.
On the other hand, Poirier is a master at dialogue. His script crackles with sharp lines and he gives all his scenes a splendid comic undertow. His characters arrive at their epiphanies -- despite Lawrence's denial he even had one -- with intelligence and logic.
For his part, Murro allows actors plenty of leeway to develop richly idiosyncratic characters, and for a commercial maker he shows a noble resistance to selling his story with slick images and quick cuts. He paces scenes well and lets the emotions filter through with no undue emphasis or contrivance. This is a solid feature debut for Murro.
Cinematographer Toby Irwin and designer Patti Podesta make a campus film that for once feels like one. They superbly use the real locales and smartly dress sets in ways that suit the autumnal tones of the color scheme.
SMART PEOPLE
Miramax Films
Groundswell Prods.
Credits:
Director: Noam Murro
Writer: Mark Jude Poirier
Producer: Bridget Johnson, Michael Costigan, Michael London, Bruna Papandrea
Director of photography: Toby Irwin
Production designer: Patti Podesta
Music: Nuno Bettencourt
Costume designer: Amy Westcott
Editors: Robert Frazen, Yana Gorskaya
Cast:
Lawrence Wetherhold: Dennis Quaid
Janet: Sarah Jessica Parker
Chuck: Thomas Haden Church
Vanessa: Ellen Page
James: Ashton Holmes
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
PARK CITY -- With a title such as Smart People, this satiric film revolving around academia signals that its characters may be too smart for their own good. Intelligence plus too much specialized knowledge can leave people incapable of coping with life and frustratingly disconnected from family and friends. Come to think of it, what friends? But there's always family and two debuting filmmakers, novelist Mark Jude Poirier and award-winning commercial director Noam Murro, locate their comic mischief in the very core of family life.
The smart casting of Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church and "Juno's" hot young star Ellen Page in, seemingly, tailor-made roles, gives Miramax plenty of marketing hooks for its April 11 release. Reminiscent of the recent Sundance hit The Squid and the Whale in its depiction of a burnt-out academic and off-campus family disruptions, Smart People should attract similar adult audiences with the caveat that the smugness of some characters may be an initial turn-off.
For students at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Quaid) is a horror show: An acerbic widower who has lost interest in even his own specialty, Victorian literature, he is self-absorbed, demanding, arrogant, contemptuous of his students and grouchy as hell. He doesn't warm up one bit at home; nevertheless, he is a role model for his young daughter Vanessa (Page), who is already as friendless and conceited as dad. She is even a Young Republican. Older brother James (Ashton Holmes) lives in a dorm, presumably to escape the poisonous atmosphere at home and to keep his many secrets.
Into these lives come two "corrupters," characters who will undermine the pomposity of father and daughter and seduce them back to something resembling normalcy. A head trauma, the result of his own pig-headedness, sends the professor to ER where his doctor, Janet (Parker), is a former student who once had a crush on him. Naturally, he fails to remember her. Crashing the Wetherhold household without an invitation is Lawrence's financially challenged brother Chuck Church), a permanent adolescent whom Lawrence is careful to always refer to as his "adopted" brother.
The chief disappointment in Poirtier's screenplay is that while the affects these two will have on the family is wholly predictable, the writer never finds a way to trip up audience expectations. There's a hint of this in Vanessa's misreading of her uncle's seduction of her but mostly the dramatic course is too steady and true for surprises.
What exactly motivates Janet to rescue Lawrence from his self-destruction? She may have had a schoolgirl crush once, but she's a physician now, surely with more life experiences, and all the professor ever gave her was a C and a rude remark.
One would like to see what she sees him but Quaid doesn't make that easy. He's not a warm and fuzzy burn-out like Michael Douglas' character in The Wonder Boys. That chip on his shoulder has given Lawrence a permanent slouch and the caustic manner feels like less like a facade than his real personality. Clearly though, something died within him when his wife passed. He even still hangs on to her wardrobe.
You do see why Uncle Chuck would take on the Vanessa reclamation project. She's too young to be so old. He wants to instill in her a rebellious streak and outlaw spirit before it's too late. Theirs is the more interesting relationship, which could've stood more development: It needed to go beyond smoking weed and underage drinking at a bar. And Page as an actress is too much a free spirit to be completely believable as a Young Republican.
On the other hand, Poirier is a master at dialogue. His script crackles with sharp lines and he gives all his scenes a splendid comic undertow. His characters arrive at their epiphanies -- despite Lawrence's denial he even had one -- with intelligence and logic.
For his part, Murro allows actors plenty of leeway to develop richly idiosyncratic characters, and for a commercial maker he shows a noble resistance to selling his story with slick images and quick cuts. He paces scenes well and lets the emotions filter through with no undue emphasis or contrivance. This is a solid feature debut for Murro.
Cinematographer Toby Irwin and designer Patti Podesta make a campus film that for once feels like one. They superbly use the real locales and smartly dress sets in ways that suit the autumnal tones of the color scheme.
SMART PEOPLE
Miramax Films
Groundswell Prods.
Credits:
Director: Noam Murro
Writer: Mark Jude Poirier
Producer: Bridget Johnson, Michael Costigan, Michael London, Bruna Papandrea
Director of photography: Toby Irwin
Production designer: Patti Podesta
Music: Nuno Bettencourt
Costume designer: Amy Westcott
Editors: Robert Frazen, Yana Gorskaya
Cast:
Lawrence Wetherhold: Dennis Quaid
Janet: Sarah Jessica Parker
Chuck: Thomas Haden Church
Vanessa: Ellen Page
James: Ashton Holmes
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 1/22/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
VENICE, Italy -- Set among the guests and staff at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on the day in 1968 when presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was murdered, "Bobby" is a sentimental love letter from writer-director Emilio Estevez to his hometown and the slain politician. A well-crafted piece with a large ensemble cast featuring some big names, the film's success will depend on whether audiences respond to its rose-tinted view of Los Angeles in the late 1960s and its clear belief that RFK was a saint.
With its strong liberal bias, the picture will appeal to nostalgic left-leaning audiences in the U.S. It might well prosper internationally as it presents a very different face of American politics from the one on offer from the current administration.
Estevez obviously is one of the many who believe that Bobby Kennedy traveled from his bullying younger days via the Damascus road, picking up an epiphany along the way that made him America's last great hope following the death of Martin Luther King Jr.
"Bobby" features many clips showing RFK addressing campaign audiences and by the time he ran for president, he was certainly talking the talk. Its preamble also uses real footage to set the scene showing bombs falling in Vietnam, the march on Selma and the Cesar Chavez protests.
Estevez focuses, however, on the people at the Ambassador who include hotel fixture John Casey (Anthony Hopkins), who will reminisce about its glamorous history at every opportunity and always has time for a chess game in the lobby with his old pal Nelson (Harry Belafonte).
There's also hotel manager Paul (William H. Macy), who is married to Miriam Sharon Stone) but having an affair with Angela (Heather Graham), one of the switchboard operators. Well liked and a committed Democrat, Paul fires the hotel's racist catering manager, Timmons (Christian Slater), after he declines to let his staff of blacks and Latinos off work to vote.
Estevez does a good job of cutting between many story elements that cover Kennedy's political team at work. In the kitchen, blacks and Latinos strive to get along. Guests include a businessman (Martin Sheen) and his self-conscious younger wife (Helen Hunt); a drunken singer (Demi Moore) and her unhappy husband (Estevez); a young woman (Lindsay Lohan), getting married to save her groom (Elijah Wood) from Vietnam; and a would-be actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who works in the coffee shop and tries to help two very stoned Kennedy volunteers (Brian Geraghty and Shia LaBeouf), high on LSD purchased from a whacked-out dealer played by Ashton Kutcher.
The dialogue is heavy with aspiration and regret. Laurence Fishburn has a good scene lecturing on racial pragmatism. Hopkins and Belafonte reflect wryly on growing old, and so do Stone and Moore, though in a very different way.
Cultural references are used cleverly with Los Angeles Dodger Don Drysdale's effort to achieve six straight shutouts on everybody's mind, and people talking about such films as "The Graduate" and "Planet of the Apes".
Cinematographer Michael Barrett captures Patti Podesta's production design in expert fashion. Editor Richard Chew helps Estevez keep all the identities clear as the events of the day gather pace. Mark Isham's score is as expert as usual.
As the climax nears, Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" plays. Whether or not Bobby Kennedy was the man his supporters believed him to be, the film makes a persuasive case that something important in America was silenced when he was gunned down.
BOBBY
MGM
Bold Films/The Weinstein Co./Arclight Films
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Emilio Estevez
Producers: Edward Bass, Michael Litvak, Holly Wiersma
Executive producers: Daniel Grodnik, Gary Michael Walters, Anthony Hopkins
Cinematographer: Michael Barrett
Production designer: Patti Podesta
Music: Mark Isham
Editor: Richard Chew
Cast:
Nelson: Harry Belafonte
Patricia: Joy Bryant
Dwayne: Nick Cannon
Tim Fallon: Emilio Estevez
Edward Robinson: Laurence Fishburne
Cooper: Brian Geraghty
Angela: Heather Graham
John Casey: Anthony Hopkins
Samantha: Helen Hunt
Wade Buckley: Joshua Jackson
Jimmy: Shia LaBeouf
Diane: Lindsay Lohan
Paul: William H. Macy
Lenka Janacek: Svetlana Metkina
Virginia Fallon: Demi Moore
Jose: Freddy Rodriguez
Jack: Martin Sheen
Timmons: Christian Slater
Miriam: Sharon Stone
Miguel: Jacob Vargas
Susan Taylor: Mary Elizabeth Winstead
William: Elijah Wood
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 120 minutes...
With its strong liberal bias, the picture will appeal to nostalgic left-leaning audiences in the U.S. It might well prosper internationally as it presents a very different face of American politics from the one on offer from the current administration.
Estevez obviously is one of the many who believe that Bobby Kennedy traveled from his bullying younger days via the Damascus road, picking up an epiphany along the way that made him America's last great hope following the death of Martin Luther King Jr.
"Bobby" features many clips showing RFK addressing campaign audiences and by the time he ran for president, he was certainly talking the talk. Its preamble also uses real footage to set the scene showing bombs falling in Vietnam, the march on Selma and the Cesar Chavez protests.
Estevez focuses, however, on the people at the Ambassador who include hotel fixture John Casey (Anthony Hopkins), who will reminisce about its glamorous history at every opportunity and always has time for a chess game in the lobby with his old pal Nelson (Harry Belafonte).
There's also hotel manager Paul (William H. Macy), who is married to Miriam Sharon Stone) but having an affair with Angela (Heather Graham), one of the switchboard operators. Well liked and a committed Democrat, Paul fires the hotel's racist catering manager, Timmons (Christian Slater), after he declines to let his staff of blacks and Latinos off work to vote.
Estevez does a good job of cutting between many story elements that cover Kennedy's political team at work. In the kitchen, blacks and Latinos strive to get along. Guests include a businessman (Martin Sheen) and his self-conscious younger wife (Helen Hunt); a drunken singer (Demi Moore) and her unhappy husband (Estevez); a young woman (Lindsay Lohan), getting married to save her groom (Elijah Wood) from Vietnam; and a would-be actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who works in the coffee shop and tries to help two very stoned Kennedy volunteers (Brian Geraghty and Shia LaBeouf), high on LSD purchased from a whacked-out dealer played by Ashton Kutcher.
The dialogue is heavy with aspiration and regret. Laurence Fishburn has a good scene lecturing on racial pragmatism. Hopkins and Belafonte reflect wryly on growing old, and so do Stone and Moore, though in a very different way.
Cultural references are used cleverly with Los Angeles Dodger Don Drysdale's effort to achieve six straight shutouts on everybody's mind, and people talking about such films as "The Graduate" and "Planet of the Apes".
Cinematographer Michael Barrett captures Patti Podesta's production design in expert fashion. Editor Richard Chew helps Estevez keep all the identities clear as the events of the day gather pace. Mark Isham's score is as expert as usual.
As the climax nears, Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" plays. Whether or not Bobby Kennedy was the man his supporters believed him to be, the film makes a persuasive case that something important in America was silenced when he was gunned down.
BOBBY
MGM
Bold Films/The Weinstein Co./Arclight Films
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Emilio Estevez
Producers: Edward Bass, Michael Litvak, Holly Wiersma
Executive producers: Daniel Grodnik, Gary Michael Walters, Anthony Hopkins
Cinematographer: Michael Barrett
Production designer: Patti Podesta
Music: Mark Isham
Editor: Richard Chew
Cast:
Nelson: Harry Belafonte
Patricia: Joy Bryant
Dwayne: Nick Cannon
Tim Fallon: Emilio Estevez
Edward Robinson: Laurence Fishburne
Cooper: Brian Geraghty
Angela: Heather Graham
John Casey: Anthony Hopkins
Samantha: Helen Hunt
Wade Buckley: Joshua Jackson
Jimmy: Shia LaBeouf
Diane: Lindsay Lohan
Paul: William H. Macy
Lenka Janacek: Svetlana Metkina
Virginia Fallon: Demi Moore
Jose: Freddy Rodriguez
Jack: Martin Sheen
Timmons: Christian Slater
Miriam: Sharon Stone
Miguel: Jacob Vargas
Susan Taylor: Mary Elizabeth Winstead
William: Elijah Wood
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 120 minutes...
PARK CITY -- There is nothing new under the creative sun in this slight satire of California suburbia. Fried dry with a mordant sensibility, "Chumscrubber" should skim some teenage appreciation from nouveau cineastes who might enjoy sendups of their environs, but more sophisticated and seasoned viewers will be less-than-dazzled by its puffy plottings.
If nothing else, "Chumscrubber" should be a front-runner for the worst title of the year award. What does the title mean? It's not worth explaining.
Set smack dab in one of those Golden State environs that seems a cross between "E.T". burgs and "Edward Scissorhands" blocks, "Chumscrubber" centers on Dean (Jamie Bell), a sullen loner who discovers his closest acquaintance hanging from the rafters of his pool house. Dean neglects to tell anyone that his neighbor has offed himself. His indifference is partly prompted by the fact that anything he says his to self-absorbed father (William Fichtner) crams into psychobabble best sellers. Not that anyone would listen to Dean anyway, because he is bereft of friends, and all the adults in the neighborhood are too daft or tranked to comprehend.
Screenwriter Zac Stanford's lightweight scenario revolves around drugs, spinning out around the dead kid's stash. A gang of three, who might in more Disney-esque times resemble the Apple Dumpling gang, kidnap a tyke who they think is the hanged-one's little brother. Their idea is to get dull Dean to retrieve the departed one's bag of pills. But, they get the wrong kid.
Nobody seems to notice the kid heist, which is, perhaps, the funniest part of this comedy. Most wickedly, the kidnapped child's mother (Rita Wilson) is too absorbed in the logistics of her upcoming wedding to miss him. Similarly, her fiance (Ralph Fiennes) is undergoing a California-style personal conversion, so he's too spaced to notice also.
Despite the tired narrative, there are some funny, dry moments as the varied goofballs of the burb go about their self-absorbed business. The cast, especially Wilson as the preoccupied mother, are the film's highlights. Additionally, Fichtner is wonderfully oily as a self-promoter, while Glenn Close's wide-eyed glaze as the dead boy's mother is amusingly wacko.
Overall, director Arie Posin's comic rendering is most effective in visualizing the lifestyle looniness, courtesy of the deadpan production design of Patti Podesta and the fractured compositions of cinematographer Lawrence Sher.
The Chumscrubber
Newmarket Films
A film by Arie Posin
Credits:
Producers: Lawrence Bender, Bonnie Curtis
Director: Arie Posin
Screenwriter: Zac Stanford
Story: Arie Posin, Zac Stanford
Co-producers: Lee Clay, Susanne Bohnet, Manfred D. Heid, Gerd Koechlin, Robert Katz
Line producer: Michael Beugg
Executive producers: Bob Yari, Joseph Lautenschlager, Philip Levenson, Michael Beugg, Andreas Thiesmeyer
Director of photrography: Lawrence Sher
Editors: William S. Scharf, Arthur Schmidt
Music: James Horner
Music supervisor: Chris Douridas
Production designer: Patti Podesta
Casting: Anya Colloff, Amy McIntyre Britt
Cast:
Dean: Jamie Bell
Mrs. Johnson: Glenn Close
Charlie Stiffle: Rory Culkin
Dr. Bill Stiffle: William Fichtner
Michael Ebbs: Ralph Fiennes
Officer Lou Bratley: John Heard
Boutique owner: Lauren Holly
Terri Bratley: Rita Wilson
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 102 minutes...
If nothing else, "Chumscrubber" should be a front-runner for the worst title of the year award. What does the title mean? It's not worth explaining.
Set smack dab in one of those Golden State environs that seems a cross between "E.T". burgs and "Edward Scissorhands" blocks, "Chumscrubber" centers on Dean (Jamie Bell), a sullen loner who discovers his closest acquaintance hanging from the rafters of his pool house. Dean neglects to tell anyone that his neighbor has offed himself. His indifference is partly prompted by the fact that anything he says his to self-absorbed father (William Fichtner) crams into psychobabble best sellers. Not that anyone would listen to Dean anyway, because he is bereft of friends, and all the adults in the neighborhood are too daft or tranked to comprehend.
Screenwriter Zac Stanford's lightweight scenario revolves around drugs, spinning out around the dead kid's stash. A gang of three, who might in more Disney-esque times resemble the Apple Dumpling gang, kidnap a tyke who they think is the hanged-one's little brother. Their idea is to get dull Dean to retrieve the departed one's bag of pills. But, they get the wrong kid.
Nobody seems to notice the kid heist, which is, perhaps, the funniest part of this comedy. Most wickedly, the kidnapped child's mother (Rita Wilson) is too absorbed in the logistics of her upcoming wedding to miss him. Similarly, her fiance (Ralph Fiennes) is undergoing a California-style personal conversion, so he's too spaced to notice also.
Despite the tired narrative, there are some funny, dry moments as the varied goofballs of the burb go about their self-absorbed business. The cast, especially Wilson as the preoccupied mother, are the film's highlights. Additionally, Fichtner is wonderfully oily as a self-promoter, while Glenn Close's wide-eyed glaze as the dead boy's mother is amusingly wacko.
Overall, director Arie Posin's comic rendering is most effective in visualizing the lifestyle looniness, courtesy of the deadpan production design of Patti Podesta and the fractured compositions of cinematographer Lawrence Sher.
The Chumscrubber
Newmarket Films
A film by Arie Posin
Credits:
Producers: Lawrence Bender, Bonnie Curtis
Director: Arie Posin
Screenwriter: Zac Stanford
Story: Arie Posin, Zac Stanford
Co-producers: Lee Clay, Susanne Bohnet, Manfred D. Heid, Gerd Koechlin, Robert Katz
Line producer: Michael Beugg
Executive producers: Bob Yari, Joseph Lautenschlager, Philip Levenson, Michael Beugg, Andreas Thiesmeyer
Director of photrography: Lawrence Sher
Editors: William S. Scharf, Arthur Schmidt
Music: James Horner
Music supervisor: Chris Douridas
Production designer: Patti Podesta
Casting: Anya Colloff, Amy McIntyre Britt
Cast:
Dean: Jamie Bell
Mrs. Johnson: Glenn Close
Charlie Stiffle: Rory Culkin
Dr. Bill Stiffle: William Fichtner
Michael Ebbs: Ralph Fiennes
Officer Lou Bratley: John Heard
Boutique owner: Lauren Holly
Terri Bratley: Rita Wilson
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 102 minutes...
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