About Time

This film might still be playing somewhere, perhaps as a second run. Although About Time takes a somewhat serious premise, it is mostly a lighthearted romantic comedy as well as family drama.

The main character Tim (Domnhall Gleeson) is told by his father (Bill Nighy) that on his 21st birthday he acquires a family power carried by the men in the family. He can return to the past of his own life and if he chooses, make changes. At first we see Tim, being a young man, using this power for what young men have their mind most on--trying to find the right girl. In fact, we see Tim trying again and again to fix and refix his life so that his romance with a woman he meets by chance at a restaurant, Mary (Rachel McAdams), happens with the maximum happiness. But Tim is cautioned by his father that what he changes in the past can change things in the present, for himself as well as for others, so Tim has to be careful how big the changes are. There are plenty of meet-cute moments and romantic-cute moments as Tim often excuses himself so he can go into a dark room (a requirement of the power) to re-fix events.

Later the film gets more serious as Tim sees almost too late that his messed up sister has screwed her own life up, and he tries to help her without, as cautioned before, screwing up events that could be unbuilt by his changes. Tim gets some life lessons from his father (Bill Nighy) who counsels him on whether to live in the moment or try to return to happy times again and again.

Management

A long time ago there was an afterschool special-type movie on TV about the dangers of hitchhiking. A teen girl hitchhiking alone was raped, and subsequently the guy got off because she was dressed "provacatively."

This movie begins with a similar concept although the outcome is definitely different, as it is a romantic comedy. Jennifer Aniston is a traveling saleslady Sue, selling cheesy corporate/hotel art, and stays at Mike's (Steve Zahn) motel. He finds her attractive, but doesn't really know how to approach her so pretends to give her a motel welcome gift of wine which for some reason she shares with him. This happens again the next night, and after Mike expresses how attractive her behind is, Sue allows him to cop a feel. Ugh!

So based on this vaguely creepy meet-cute, Sue returns home and Mike has misguided feelings so that he pursues her several times, despite her returning to her ex-punk rocker boyfriend Jango (Woody Harrelson). Jango's rich but I don't see what else she sees in him. It boils down to Sue wanting the safe life over apparently true love.

Mike then goes on a spiritual quest to forget Sue but there is little doubt how this story is going to end.

Playing for Keeps

Gerard Butler is one of the producers of this film and also plays the lead character, George, an ex-soccer player falling on more desperate times while trying to re-connect with his ex-wife.

George has trouble paying his rent and his own soccer memorabilia doesn't fetch much on the resale market. During his son Lewis' soccer game, he notices the coach is distracted and not very good, and takes it upon himself to teach the team a few things. The parents notice this and ask him to be coach. George's ex wife Stacie (Jessica Biel) is about to be remarried, but George still wants her back. At first he coaches the kids' team in order to get closer back to her, but she warns him that it better be for his son's sake, and not some misguided attempt to woo her back.

Meanwhile, three soccer moms vie for his attention. The married Patty is a desperate housewife whose husband throws money around and suspects her of infidelity when he is doing the same (Uma Thurman, Dennis Quaid). Barb is divorced and depressed (Judy Greer). Denise is a sportscaster who uses her industry connections to help George get a potential sportscasting job with ESPN (Catherine Zeta-Jones). While George at first welcomes the romantic and sexual advances, he becomes a bit more mature and tries harder to work on himself and his relationship with his son Lewis, as well as with Stacie. There is some comic relief with George's landlord (Iqbal Theba) as he asks for the rent money and sees the women come and go from George's house.

Celeste & Jesse Forever

Although the title is "Celeste & Jesse," the story is mostly told from Celeste's point of view. As the title suggests, this is a young relationship, perhaps started from high school or college years with a "never grow old" attitude, and perhaps it is this relationship formed in a time of their lives when the couple has barely dipped their toes into the adult world, that causes the disintegration of the marriage.  When the film begins Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg) are driving home and sharing an inside joke, one apparently they have shared many times before, showing to us how attuned and comfortable they are to each other. When they arrive home though, Celeste goes into the house, while Jesse goes into a studio/garage in the back--they've already been separated yet we see they have a still amicable relationship.  She works at a marketing firm and he is some sort of graphic artist.

At first the story shows that Jesse is the one having a hard time moving on, with Celeste gently trying to encourage him to be active with his life and with women, yet also annoyed at him for not doing so. Jesse dates someone just to get it over with, then later re-meets a woman he had a one night stand with (while he was married, which Celeste claims to be okay with it). Celeste herself is not open to dating really, claiming she is emotionally healthy enough not to have to start something long-term again, but all the dates with supposedly normal men end up being a bit weird. The one normal guy she does date can see she still has some issues and suggests she take some time to work them out.  Conversely she ends up with an annoying guy at her yoga class (Chris Messina) despite her initial cynical reservations.

Love For Rent

This low budget romantic dramedy shows the desperate act an immigrant goes through in order to stay in America--a Colombian Sofia (Angie Cepeda) has married to stay in the U.S. and studies to become a lawyer, but her husband absconds with everything she owns, threatening her immigrant status. She can't get him arrested because he threatens to report her. But that is not the desperate act I am referring to.

One day a fender bender she is involved in with an affluent couple (Nora Dunn, Jim Piddock) leads to an opportunity--the childless couple asks her to become their surrogate mother for a big fee. Sofia takes this job but does not tell her new boyfriend, the emergency room doctor she met after the car accident (Ken Marino). Sofia also watches out for the little foster son of some disinterested neighbors, and the three of them--Sofia, boyfriend Neil and little Max--become an unconventional family.

Lola Versus

Lola (Greta Gerwig) just turned 29.  Although he was the one to propose, her fiance (Joel Kinnaman) suddenly has cold feet and breaks off the engagement.  Lola spends the next year trying to figure out her relationships, and maybe even herself.

She takes comfort with her girlfriend (Zoe Lister Jones, the film's writer) and best male friend (Hamish Linklater).  Lola waffles between her feelings for her male friend and her fiance, and so do the guys with Lola and the girlfriend. Lola ends up feeling she needs her own space to get to know herself better, which she comes to realize by the time she turns 30. Bill Pullman and Debra Winger play her hippie-ish and open-minded parents.

Intolerable Cruelty

Miles (George Clooney), a successful divorce lawyer, meets his match in gold-digger Marilyn (Catherine Zeta-Jones). He wins his latest case against her, despite her having hidden her machinations well.

At her next marriage, she claims it's true love and asks him to draft one of his infamous pre-nuptial agreements, which are renowned for being ironclad, for the benefit of her oil baron fiance. At the wedding, hubby is so in love he tears it up, and Miles is impressed that Marilyn has somehow beaten his unbeatable pre-nup. Divorce, American-style, follows shortly of course.

Now that Marilyn holds the wealth, Miles feels no qualms about falling in love, especially since Marilyn fears dying alone like her friend just did. History repeats itself when he makes a pre-nup for her benefit, they marry, and she tears it up.

Free event Pillow Talk

The Northbrook Public Library continues with some films starring Doris Day. The next screening is Pillow Talk, a comedy costarring Rock Hudson. When did the term “romantic comedy” come into use?


Pillow Talk
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
1:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Northbrook Public Library
1201 Cedar Lane, Northbrook, IL

Tamara Drewe

A modern adaptation of Far From the Madding Crowd, but a romantic comedy.

Tamara Drewe (Gemma Arterton) returns to her childhood home in the country after her mother's death, intending to clear out the house and sell it. She is a successful magazine gossip type writer, who was teased when young due to her large nose. Now that she has had a nose job, she appears more sexy.

Easy

Easy is a small budget, indie romantic comedy. A young woman, Jamie (Marguerite Moreau) says she wants true love but all she goes after are sexual relationships due to her fear of men not wanting to date her unless she has sex with them; thus the types of men attracted to her inherently makes the relationships short-term and non-commital. She re-meets a handsome poet, John (Naveen Andrews), who once taught a class she was in and they start a casual sexual relationship despite him being separated from his wife. Jamie's job involves testing new products to think of a catchy name for them, and a cable comedy talk show host Mick (Brian F. O'Byrne) thinks this is quirky and invites her on the show. This sets up the romantic triangle and Jamie's search to determine what sort of man she wants long-term.

Shall We Kiss?

Two strangers meet when Emilie can't find a taxi during a business trip and Gabriel offers to drive her back to the hotel. There is some attraction, so much so that they share a dinner at the end of which Gabriel leans over to kiss Emilie good night. But she shies away, claiming a "no strings attached" kiss could have big consequences. She tells a story to support her claim.

Married Judith and her platonic single friend Nicolas get together on occasion. One time he admits that he is unable to feel physically/intimately connected to any woman. They have a frank talk and she suggests certain things, all of which Nicolas has tried. Then, she suggests he kiss her to get his juices flowing, so to speak, as since she is a platonic friend there should be no strings attached. Of course, he does so, and there are strings, and that one kiss escalates into a clinical but satisfying sexual encounter.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

This new romantic comedy with elements of drama is based on a book and directed by Lasse Hallstrom.

During the war with Afghanistan, Patricia Maxwell (Kristin Scott Thomas), the British prime minister's press secretary, has to find a feel good story involving the Middle East to deflect negative news reports from the area. She tries to find a fluffy story and comes upon one where a Sheik (Amr Waked) wants to import salmon to put into Yemen waters, since he is avid fly fisher with many estates, including one in Scotland near a river. He is forward-thinking and hopes this Yemeni project will make his country be viewed as more modern and a business prospect for other countries.

Harriet (Emily Blunt), who works at a consulting firm, is in charge of the Sheik's account and so compels government fish expert Fred (Ewan McGregor) to lend his talents and help plan and stock a fishery downstream from a dam the Sheik has built on the Yemen. Fred finds this a wholly useless enterprise, but is strongarmed by his boss and government people to do the project. This further strains his marriage, especially when his wife (Rachel Stirling) makes a business decision without him, and she goes away for a time. This leaves Fred with the opportunity to do the same, so he takes on the fish project.  He gives outrageous demands to Harriet and the government, thinking this will derail the project, but every demand is met and Fred can't help but be impressed.

Meanwhile, Harriet has just met a new guy, a soldier (Tom Mison) who is soon deployed to Afghanistan just when her project is underway. When he is reported MIA, Fred convinces her to join him in the Middle East to help her get her mind off her troubles.

Mouth to Mouth

1995 Spanish film starring Javier Bardem. Usually I find Spanish and Mexican comedies a bit too broad and loud but this one didn't get too bad.

He stars as Victor, a struggling actor. His agent keeps promising him auditions, and there is a big one down the road, but Victor can barely make ends meet. He delivers a pizza to a phone sex office, and eventually ends up working there to tide things over until, he hopes, he can pass the audition and get a good acting job in a Hollywood movie.

While doing his new job, which involves chatting up men as well as women, he impresses "Bill" with his smooth talk. Bill (Joseph Maria Flotats) is a closeted gay but married. Later, another client, Amanda (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), calls and also is impressed with Victor, so much so that somehow she finds out where he lives and they have a tryst. She confesses she is married to "Bill" in a loveless marriage and cannot escape. Victor is taken with her and agrees to help by being in flagrante with Bill so she can get a divorce. But, Victor finds out things are more complicated than that as the mastermind behind this ruse is not really Amanda at all.

Simple Men

A sort of romantic comedy, Mamet-style. Dir by Hal Hartley.

Bill (Robert John Burke), having had his heart broken one too many times, swears he’ll just bed the next woman he meets and throw her away. In fact, his last girlfriend dumped him when they were pulling a bank robbery.

His younger brother Dennis (Bill Sage) has not yet been ruined by love. He’s nearly obsessed with trying to track down their father, accused of a bombing in the 60s, who was captured but escaped again; dad’s a sort of folk hero to everyone but Bill, who can only see that the man abandoned his family. Mom now plans to leave him, but gives the sons an old photo and phone number of “Tara,” the only clue she may have to where dad may be. With only $20 between them, the guys head for Long Island to try to track dad down.

The brothers meet two women who may or may not know dad.

Elina (Elina Lowensohn), a Romanian eplileptic, seems to entrance Dennis who wants to befriend her. She’s very wary despite Dennis not really pressuring her into anything. Maybe he needs some mystery and wildness in his life.

Conversely, Bill meets Kate (Karen Sillas), an earthy gentle type, and he attempts to seduce her as he claimed he would, but it’s obvious he can’t act on his earlier anger; it’s not a seduction but something more emotional. She seems to need him around as much as he wants to stick around. Maybe he needs some stability and quietness.

Sweet Talker

This film is a remake/version of the stage musical The Music Man. It is co-written by Bryan Brown, who plays the lead Harry, a con man. One of the film's producers is Taylor Hackford, Helen Mirren's husband.

As he is leaving prison, Harry distracts his cellmate with dirty magazines while he is stealing his research for a get rich scheme: duping a small Australian town to finance the discovery of a sunken treasure ship that may or may not exist. On his way out of jail he pickpockets a supercillious businessman and heads for the town, Beachport. He stays at an inn run by Julie (Karen Allen), and her young son David.

Harry starts to drop clues and signs to convince the town that he knows what he's talking about. He plays on their greed and paints a dream of making Beachport a tourist attraction if the ship is found, and the town falls into his trap. Soon everyone wants to invest and are throwing money at Harry. They are spiffying up the town with souvenir shops and bus tours and the scheme of a theme park.

Leap Year

It's Leap Year this year so I thought I'd pass on my review of this movie. I called it "cotton candy" because that's what the film is--kind of pretty but with fake colors and really made of mostly air.

This movie failed in my opinion on all fronts. Neither of the main characters played by Amy Adams and Matthew Goode were inherently likeable, and neither actor gave their performance any kind of specialness or individuality to differentiate them from other romantic comedy characters. It is a retread of a theme done before--a woman is engaged to be married, has mishaps with another man who appears to be against her type, but ends up falling for him and seeing how her fiance is totally wrong for her.

Flores de Otro Mundo

Lonely Spanish men organize a matchmaking festival with a busload of women from South America.  The film focuses on a couple of the matchups, as well as a couple of non-matched people.  There are two immediate matches:  Patricia, a Santo Domingan with two young kids, with Damian, a meek farmer who lives with his mother; and Marirosi, a supposed virgin, with Alfonso, a greenhouse gardener, who are both almost middle aged. There's Damian's middle aged friend Carmelo brings his sexy young girlfriend over from Cuba, Milady--she's going to see how she likes it here before she decides if she wants to marry Carmelo.

Friends with Benefits vs. No Strings Attached

I thought I'd compare two similarly themed romantic comedies, one which is still on current screens.

Midnight in Paris

I thought I'd give Midnight in Paris a try because I like the early Woody Allen works such as Radio Days and The Purple Rose of Cairo. His recent stuff hasn't appealed to me as they don't feel very "worthy" of the supposed high reputation he has garnered over the years.  I feel like they have been a variation on the same topic--a younger and often naive woman is attracted to an older man, sometimes to the point of adoration--and because the films are star-studded, they feel like a modern day version of the TV show The Love Boat.