Snap Judgments - a Quick Review of 5 Movies

In a Better World

A doctor alternates working between an African refugee camp and his hometown in Denmark. He has marital problems and his sons are having trouble at school. But it really doesn't compare to the horrifying lives the Africans have. Which is the whole point director Susanne Bier bluntly brings home. Bier made the same point more subtly in After the Wedding, which was much less manipulative about white guilt and how the affluent create problems for themselves to solve. But, the acting and emotions ring true and it never hurts to have a reminder of how good we still have it. This won last February's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. B-

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Liam Neeson and his wife (January Jones) arrive in Berlin for a medical conference. When he discovers his briefcase is missing, he takes a cab back to the airport (without her). The cab gets into a wreck and he slips into a coma for 4 days. When he wakes up, no one recognizes him - and he may not even exist. Neeson is in full Taken mode here, but it's not nearly as sharp, invigorating, or honorable. Taken played it straight while films like this will obviously have lots of twists. The best scenes belong to Bruno Ganz (Downfall) who plays a former Stasi agent that's become an investigator. His comments about modern generations forgetting about their past could have spun off into another movie, which would have been more interesting than what we got. C+

Just Go With It

Adam Sandler plays a plastic surgeon who finally wants to settle down (with Brooklyn Decker) after years of falsely wearing a wedding ring to pick up women. After she finds the ring, he has to fake a marriage (and impending divorce) with his assistant (Jennifer Aniston), who has 2 kids from a previous marriage. Lies begat more lies until everyone learns the elusive life lesson that it's better (and easier) to tell the truth. The simplicity of the message matches the obviousness of the humor - and the predictability of the conclusion. What exactly is the elegant Nicole Kidman doing in this? And why is Sandler so physically abusive to the kids? At least I laughed at the sheep getting the Heimlich maneuver. So there's that. C

Paul
Two nerdy Brits (Simon Pegg, Nick Frost) are traveling across the American Southwest when they discover Paul, an escaped alien (voiced by Seth Rogen). They then try to protect him from the pursuing FBI agents. The script (by Frost and Pegg) seems to only exist in an attempt to discredit Christianity. A fundamentalist Christian (Kristen Wiig) loses her faith immediately when Paul feeds her brain all sorts of information through his hand. She quickly becomes a foul-mouthed slut and is happier for it, of course. The script certainly doesn't exist to provide any laughs. We can safely say the success of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz belongs entirely to former Pegg-collaborator and director Edgar Wright, who succeeded without him with Scott Pilgrim. Director Greg Mottola has done good (Superbad) and great (Adventureland, Arrested Development) work, but the heavy Lucas-Spielberg references and ridiculous plot leaves him stranded. The sole bright spot is Jason Bateman, who deadpans every one of his agent's acerbic lines beautifully. D+

Take Me Home Tonight

A recent MIT grad (Topher Grace) returns home and regresses to living with his parents and working at the mall. His twin sister (Anna Faris) is about to marry her shallow boyfriend (Chris Pratt) and his schmuck best friend (Dan Fogler) just lost his job. But his unrequited love of high school is back in town and the group heads to a party for one crazy night that will change everything. The message of "you can't win if you don't take a shot" is fine, but the writing lets the hard-working actors down. There are no memorable lines or moments and the whole thing feels like a retread from every coming-of-age movie (or TV show) ever. The movie is set in 1988 for apparently no other reason than to have an expensive soundtrack of 80s pop songs. They should have spent more money on a rewrite. C-