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Reviews
Door to Door (2002)
Sappy, Manipulative Dribble
WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!
Is the new rule of movie-making that as long as you give your character a physical disability, he immediately becomes likeable, and the movie becomes a "heartfelt classic"? It must be, because so many people have given this movie such high reviews. I found it utterly boring with pathetic characterization.
Here are my main complaints:
First off, they kept the mother for far too long in the story. When she got Alzheimers, they used about twenty minutes of the film moving her from nursing home to back home to an assisted living facility, to the hospital...and none of these changes seemed to affect Porter at all.
When she finally died, the only thing that affected Porter was when he was trying to make a sale, he looked at a baby and couldn't go on. What was the deal with that? Were they trying to make some comment on the frailty of life? It didn't register with me.
Throughout the movie, the constant theme was Porter coping with his disease. Yes, we realize that he has cerebral palsy, so what? Do something with the character! Does he have feelings? I sure hope so, but the filmmakers didn't put any of that in the movie. Okay, he reacts violently to being called stupid, but other than that, he's just the little salesman that could. And the love story is disgustingly contrived. He seems to have a five minute attraction to Shelly, then just lets it go.
They obviously are trying to paint a picture of all the lives Porter touched through his route, but it only comes out as a jumbled mess. About the woman who bought the packages even though she didn't use them: What are they trying to say? Did she have an attraction to Porter? Did she just not have any friends and was desperate for someone to talk to? Was she trying to seduce him? Or did she just want to show some kindness to a "cripple"? The movie leaves all these questions hanging, and, frankly, I didn't care.
And Porter makes so many stupid choices, I wanted him to fail. He walks out in front of a bus. Okay, that was an error on his part, but pedestrians do have the right-of-way. But, in an attempt at nobility, he decides not to settle with the bus company, even just for expenses encountered. Why? The movie didn't show before that he had this sense of morality. Was it something that got put into his head at the hospital?
Porter finally gets redeemed at the end, by being the subject of a story in the local paper. But he did nothing to achieve this! In fact, he opposed it! He's almost an anti-hero, but the movie plays it up like it wants us to feel sorry for him when he's making the stupid choices in the first place!
The one shining light among all this darkness is Macy's portraial of Porter. He did an excellent job of diving into his character. He will probably win an Emmy for it, and I don't mind that. But this one part of this movie is a beacon in a land full of fog.
Forest Gump or I Am Sam it definetly ain't.
4/10
The American President (1995)
pretty darn good movie
Conservatives for years have been blasting away at Hollywood for being left-leaning, biased freaks who only want to push an agenda. This movie gives them more fuel for their fire. It has to be full of the most liberal ideological rhetoric than almost any other film I've seen.
That said, it's a pretty darn good movie.
The dialogue is generally witty and well-written, and the story is very palpable and hardly ever lags. The acting is great, and everyone is cast perfectly. It almost seems like you're inside the Clinton White House (the idealistic liberal's dream of the Clinton White House). Michael J. Fox fits as the George Stephanopolis-type (or however you spell that name), and Andy Shepherd is classic Democrat presidential material.
My only beef with the movie was that when the characters were spouting on about the environment and how guns automatically equal crime (rhetorical question: how come the European country which allows everyone to keep a fully automatic gun in their house -- Switzerland -- also has one of the lowest crime rates in the world? Hmmmmm....), the movie became a little preachy. But, hey, it's about politics; I guess that's the way it's supposed to be, right?
Overall, 3 out of 4 stars.
You Can't Take It with You (1938)
Interesting Picture, Not as good as play
First off, I should say that I played the role of Grandpa Vanderhof in a high school production of the play. I loved working with such a wonderful script, and it remains one of my favorite stories to this day.
I enjoyed the quirkiness of the characters in this movie; however, they have been dummied down from the outrageousness of those in the play. The whole movie suffers from that whole early Hollywood "wholesomeness" that directors were either forced into or chose to stay in those days. Now the play was by no means dark, but it had a sort of edge that caused the family to be depicted as truly unique. Here, they're just a little strange, but nothing that would be noticed.
I like how they really tried to add scenes outside the home, to make it more than just filming the play, but the added scenes don't have the charm of the original Kaufman/Hart script. They could have used a few more rewrites.
The underlying story is good, and I especially liked seeing Lionel Barrymore playing the same role I did (I have to admit, he did a much better job). But if you have already seen the play, you probably will be disappointed slightly with this adaptation. It is still a worthwhile viewing, however.
Undercover Brother (2002)
Just doesn't add up
When I first heard about this movie, I admit, I thought it would be a really cheesy druggie low-brow comedy. But the two times I saw the trailer, I was rolling on the floor. And since the local paper gave it three (out of four) stars, I decided to go see it. I've never been more torn over a movie in recent memory. On one hand, the acting is pretty good, and Griffin and crew deliver some hilarious lines. It starts out in a seventies cop/secret agent TV show--a nice touch. But somewhere in the middle, it falls apart. The TV show style presentation is abandoned, and in its place is a movie that is more boring than not. The truly hilarious jokes are spread out pretty evenly, but there's a long time in between them. There hasn't been many good comedy releases in the past few months, so this isn't a bad choice if that's what you want, but in comparison with the Austin Powers' movies and Zoolander (my favorite comedies of the last five years), it doesn't add up. Rating: 6 out of 10