“The 40-Year-Old
Virgin”
Universal Pictures
Directed by Judd Apatow
Written by Apatow and Steve Carell
Starring: Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco and Seth Rogen
Rated R/116 min
Opened Aug. 19, 2005
Three-and-a-half out of four stars
Here’s a story a lot of Utah guys can relate to.
“Daily Show” vet Steve Carell plays Andy Stitzer, a 40-year-old stock-room manager who collects action figures, rides a bicycle to work and-surprise, surprise-has never gotten laid.
It sounds like the setup for a smutty sex comedy, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Director Judd Apatow’s “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” is sweet, smart and drop-dead hilarious.
Perhaps that shouldn’t come as such a surprise. Apatow created “Freaks and Geeks” and “Undeclared,” two of the funniest, most sympathetic TV shows about teens and young adults.
In “Virgin,” Andy’s secret comes out during a game of poker with his workmates (Paul Rudd, Romany Malco and Seth Rogen), a horny hodge-podge of guys’ guys. While trading sex stories, Andy has to improvise: “…and her breasts felt like bags of sand.” Insert sound of scratching record here. Determined to get Andy some action, the guys introduce him to speed dating, “drunk chicks” and the invaluable advice, “Don’t talk. Just ask questions.”
Beyond the crude jokes, there’s a level of sophistication and insight in “Virgin.” Andy and his friends are the ultimate “man-children.” They’d be at home in Nick Hornby’s universe.
So does Andy eventually “lose it?” Mum’s the word, but let’s just say it’s the perfect ending to the best comedy so far this year.
“Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo”
Columbia Pictures
Directed by Mike Bigelow
Written by Rob Schneider, David Garrett and Jason Ward
Starring: Rob Schneider, Eddie Griffin and Jeroen Krabbe
Rated R/83 min
Opened Aug. 12, 2005
Zero out of four stars
Who is this review for? Anyone interested in seeing “Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo” is certainly not interested in reading the criticisms of yet another highbrow film snob-hell, the film’s star, Rob Schneider, and his fans probably can’t even read.
Schneider is back as the one-joke “man-whore,” this time selling his wares in Amsterdam.
The twist: He’s the bait for catching a gigolo killer!
Think about that. Rob Schneider as a lure? Oh, is that the joke? HA!
The original film elicited a few chuckles, but the sequel aims low, low, low, getting zero mileage out the kind of scatological jokes that would make Tom Green retch. The woman with the…ahem…man-tool for a nose is the bottom of the barrel.
Did anyone involved in making this film actually think it was funny? Did anyone involved in the making of this film even think?
It’s as if Schneider is deliberately waving his privates at the critics-a big “F*** you!” to anyone who doesn’t appreciate his work. The biggest problem, however, is that’s everbody.
“I don’t make movies for the critics,” he once said.
Judging by “European Gigolo’s” paltry box-office take so far, he’s apparently not making movies for anyone else, either.
“Red Eye”
Dreamworks SKG
Directed by Wes Craven
Written by Carl Ellsworth
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy and Brian Cox
Rated PG-13/85 min
Opened Aug. 19, 2005
Two-and-a-half out of four stars
More deadly than the in-flight meal, assassin Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy) tells his cutie-pie seatmate, Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) to follow his instructions or it’s curtains for her father (Brian Cox).
That’s the flight plan in Craven’s brisk and chilling “Red Eye.” It’s a killer premise (yuk-yuk), but thriller dj vu and too many “oh, yeah right” moments prevent this film from truly taking off.
Star-in-the-making McAdams lends authenticity and beauty to Lisa, and Murphy is wicked nasty as the wolf in sheep’s clothing. After this performance and his ghoulish turn in “Batman Begins,” Murphy is fast becoming one of Hollywood’s most sinister villains.
With such effective performances, it’s a shame the story crash-lands into the same old cat-and-mouse-around-the-house slasher antics in the end.
“Broken Flowers”
BAC Films
Directed by Jim Jarmusch
Written by Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Bill Murray, Sharon Stone, Jeffrey Wright, Francis Conroy and Julie Delpy
Rated R/ 105 min
Opened Aug. 19, 2005
Three-and-a-half out of four stars
Pompadoured indie-film icon Jim Jarmusch puts down the coffee and cigarettes in his most recent and accessible film to date, “Broken Flowers,” starring Bill Murray.
Murray plays Don Johnston, an aging Don Juan forced to re-examine his life and the myriad relationships which comprised it when his beautiful young girlfriend (Julie Delpy) leaves him, and a mysterious pink letter informs him that, sometime about 20 years ago, he sired a son.
Spurred on by his pot-smoking, aspiring-sleuth of a neighbor ( Jeffrey Wright), the letter and the stark realization that his life of womanizing has left him a lonely and beleaguered old charmer, Murray sets off on a Homeric journey to figure out what went wrong in his life, what went right and how he ended up alone in his living room watching old Westerns on TV.
In his odyssey, his path crosses with a diverse group of old flames, such as professional closet-organizer Sharon Stone and her sexually precocious daughter. Although the search for his theoretical son reaches a string of dead ends, Murray still manages to find a degree of closure as he once again departs from the lives of the women who once loved him.
With arguably the most expressive face in Hollywood, Murray’s subtle gesturing imbues Johnston with considerable humanity. His deadpan delivery and razor-sharp timing give nearly every one of Murray’s lines a tragic, telling air, rendering his character far more multi-dimensional than the monochromatic, over-the-hill loser he might have been. Jarmusch gives Murray creative control and reigns in his own sometimes-haughty directorial style this time around, making “Broken Flowers” a must-see this fall.
“Four Brothers”
Paramount Pictures
Directed by John Singleton
Written by David Elliot, Paul Lovett
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin, Garrett Hedlund and Terrence Howard
Rated R/108 min
Opened Aug. 12, 2005
Three out of four stars
Don’t mess with Mark Wahlberg. He plays bad-boy Bobby Mercer in John Singleton’s “Four Brothers,” an entertaining rock ’em, sock ’em revenge flick fed on formula.
A brutishly funny Wahlberg owns every scene he’s in. He’s the “big” brother in his foster family, including brothers-from-another-mother Angel (Tyrese Gibson), Jack (Garrett Hedlund) and Jeremiah (Andr Benjamin). They return home to bury Evelyn Mercer (Fionnula Flanagan), their beloved adopted mother who was suspiciously gunned-down in a “random” convenience store robbery.
Bobby and his kin do some improbable sleuthing. It might seem like a good idea, but waving a gun around at a downtown Detroit basketball game would probably elicit more than boos from the crowd and discover a conspiracy involving dirty cops, Detroit gangsters and possibly someone on the inside…
It’s an engrossing story, but too clever for its own good. Jeremiah hatches a plan that requires certain bad guys to act in certain ways that couldn’t have been predicted. Risky? Yes. Contrived? Definitely-but the movie’s gang-war zing carries us past those moments.
