Except it didn't. I fully expected to like this movie, much like I enjoyed Sexy Beast a few years ago. The elements were in place-good cast, quirky protagonist, a bit of gunplay, Buffalo in winter and yet it didn't work for us. Too much of its time was spent in AA meetings and how many times have we been there? That might have even been okay if they had a new take on it but they didn't. We needed more or less humor, more or less violence, more or less pathos. And Ben was as flat as a well-you know what. I don't know if the accent made him seem flat or if he was playing it like that.
And can you just stroll into a funeral home and start prepping corpses? And what was Tea Leoni's backstory. Seemed like that had been cut. Ah well, I've seen four good movies this summer: Waitress, Once, Away from Her and After the Wedding. How much can I expect? It is summer, right?
6 comments:
Well, at least you missed the biggest misfire of the summer, FAY GRIM (in the sense of Coulda been a contender; Fay Grim is the anti-Bourne). FWIW, WAITRESS and KNOCKED UP are almost the same film.
For that matter, I was amused to see SEXY BEAST and THE OTHERS when they were both released in the US...one directed by a Brit and set on an island off Spain, the other directed by a Spaniard and set in an island off Britain.
Darn, and I've always liked Hal Hartley movies. But Parker is a character actor so I imagine that didhn't help. Too quirky for the lead.
Actually, no...Posey was great, the other actors certainly good enough. It was Hartley that killed the beast...he never bothered to integrate the farcical, suspense and human drama aspects of the script. This is one of the most uneven films I've seen, and I've been on some seesaws. Another draft before filming might've made this a dynamo.
Posey did everything that was asked of her and more...you could actually believe the witty clownish character of the early film was the desperately improvising attempted savior of several other characters as well as herself by the end. (Part of what I mean by the "anti-Bourne"--Grim is determined to not hurt anyone, even those who threaten her and her family, if she can help it.)
See now you've said enough good things about it that I will probably see it. I'm always looking for a way in to the theater...any slight push will do. Do you usuall like Hartley? didn't like the last two, (Henry the Fool) but the first ones...Trust, especically was fine.
Yep. FAY GRIM is a loose sequel to HENRY FOOL. I think HH is having too hard a time taking the whole filmmaking thing seriously these days.
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