Sunday, March 29, 2009

I Love You, Man

Ummm, well, hmmmm, it IS funny. In a guy way. It is raunchy and silly and unlikely. But what makes this movie actually work is that the lead couple in the film- Paul Rudd and Rashida Jones- are actually a GOOD couple. You are rooting for them from the moment you meet them. Though the film is supposedly a bromance, but in many ways, it is a true romance in that this couple shows real respect and tolerance for one another. It isn't that there is no conflict, it is just that they really act like they love one another. The relationship between Paul Rudd and Jason Segel is pretty lame. In fact, it is ludicrous. But funny. And Segel's character is insecure and childish. But that works. Not well, but it works. Unfortunately, there were two 11 year old girls with their dad next to me- it was incredible that father did not have the good common sense to get up and LEAVE when the men were talking about masturbation. I was flabbergasted.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Sunshine Cleaning

Crime scene clean up is indeed very lucrative. And to my knowledge, no one has ever made a movie about it until now. Briefly, two sisters (Amy Adams and Emily Blunt) lost their mother to suicide when they were kids- leaving Adams to hold her flighty dad (alan arkin) and angry sister together as a family. It's obvious that she took care of things for them. But it leaves her as a former cheerleader still clinging to her now-married-to-someone-else boyfriend and working as a maid. She starts a business, with her sister, as a crime scene cleaner. And it goes from there. Adams has mastered the skill of acting with her eyes. You don't have to watch the rest of her face- just her eyes. Other actresses have to work with everything they have. Because Adams projects a basic goodness and sweetness, the film has you rooting for her. It is not a brilliant movie, but it is unique. And there is somehow a kindness to this film- a feeling that most of the people in it are truly decent and are just trying to keep it all together. I would recommend it for that alone.