Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
Even I don’t know what these festival headlines mean. It’s 2:30 in the morning and I’m flying in four hours. Whattaya want... coherence?
I’ll leave that up to J-Man, even if he doesn’t quite seem to be sure which festival he’s attending right now:
Hello, AICN peeps. J-Man here with my first taste of the Austin Film Festival in six or seven years. Good to be home! Or, is it....
DANCE PARTY, U.S.A.
Aaron Katz's lousy titled debut puts one of those random partygoing dudes from so many dumb teen comedies under the microscope. Gus unburdens his soul, about one night at one party where this one "stupid" thing happened, to Jessica on the tail end of... yet another party.
They part ways. What happens the next day, and forward, I didn't quite connect the dots on right away. DP,USA, snuck up on me. Which is a testament to writer/director Katz, who made the film for scratch. $3K; nothing. He captures the empty conversation of young people - most underage – while they're not too young to sit around getting wasted, not too old to still be able to go somewhere in life. So, yeah, they are directionless, for the time being, and spend weekends getting stupid drunk saying stupid things. It's funny, but then it's kind of sad and pathetic.
Which is right where Gus chooses to do what he does: make amends with a certain someone over a certain incident. We see him become a slightly better person. The film is crude; way too many um's and like's and you-know's in the dialogue, for my taste. I guess that's high school, though. And, just because Gus has evolved by the closing credits doesn't necessarily make him any more likeable.
I did like Anna Kavan, as Jessica, with her imperfect face and missing a tooth. She's got charm. The film ends almost perfectly, and it left a good impression on me.
FRIENDS WITH MONEY
Speaking of wears out its welcome. Here, we have a circle of friends comprised of successful screenwriters, successful fashion designer, etc. All well-off, except for the odd man out. She is Olivia (Jennifer Aniston), a pothead maid who stocks up on free facial cleansers, and probably refills the Heinz bottle from those tiny condiment packets.
They question her lifestyle - "How can you clean someone else's toilet?" - and, she theirs' - "They should be in couple's therapy, not expanding their home." They wonder if they should loan her money, she doesn't want to be a charity case. Nicole Holofcener's film is entertaining (to an extent), intermittently funny, and yeah it has moments of observant truth.
The main problem I have with Holofcener's script is Olivia. She's a pushover. Example: her blind date (Scott Caan.. need an asshole in your movie, call him) eyes other women the whole time, and yet she inexplicably agrees when he invites himself to come along with her on a housekeeping assignment. And then demands payment for helping. Later, she dresses up in a French maid's costumer for him, fucks him, and pays him again. When she follows him into a bar, spies him with somebody, we want her to confront this guy, take a stand, cause a scene -- something. But, no. People walk all over her, and she's pissed about it and we kind of feel for the girl, but you know what.. so what if she doesn't try and change? At least attempt. Sure, she finds a guy in the end who isn't a total deadbeat; great, good for her. Too little too late.
FRIENDS WITH MONEY is meandering, and ultimately not really about anything.
EVEN MONEY
The biggest waste of time, thusfar. Beward of movies with a huge cast of name actors and no distribution.
We got a nurse (Carla Gugino) who bails on her boyfriend, a bookie, when she finds out what he does for a living. His partner (Jay Mohr), with chronic indigestion, working undercover for the Feds. A cop nicknamed Sticks (an unrecognizable Kelsey Grammar) investigating the murder of yet another bookie. A struggling novelist (Kim Basinger) who comes home late to her teacher husband (Ray Liotta), on account of her gambling addiction. The grifter magician named Walter (Danny DeVito) who helps her win at blackjack; I can't imagine a worse L.A. CONFIDENTIAL reunion. Anyway, there's also an in debt plummer (Forest Whitaker – a lot less caffeinated than this on the current season of The Shield) who keeps insisting that his high school basketball star brother (Nick Cannon) shave points. And, so on. And, so on.
There isn't a single interesting relationship, or development. The narration is shit. The dialogue is laughably bad ("Walter, I'm no magician's assistant." Or, or... "You're a bookie. You hurt people." "But, I love you."). The film is completely overacted -- especially by Basinger, who has a scene in a coffee shop with Liotta that rivals even Cary Elwes in the first SAW.
Have I mentioned that everything comes down to one final shot in the big game? Ugh! EVEN MONEY is grating and trite and not focused for a second. Overwrought, and underwhelming.
Tomorrow, it's a full day at the downtown Alamo Drafthouse. Love that place! And, I can't wait for HARD CANDY, Tuesday evening.
Enjoy the rest of South By, J-Man, and feel free to send us more reports!
"Moriarty" out.
