Author: Christian Sauvé

  • The Longest Yard (2005)

    The Longest Yard (2005)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On TV, February 2015)  Surprisingly enough, this Adam Sandler film doesn’t feel all that much like an Adam Sandler film… largely, I suspect, because it’s a remake of a 1974 film.  Not having seen the original, I’m left wondering at the remake and how I’m pretty sure it has neutralized a lot of the original’s seventies realism in favor of more contemporary jokes.  Sandler isn’t particularly credible as a NFL-level football player, but he’s charming enough in the lead role, and allows the supporting characters to get their laughs.  Chris Rock has a good role as an inmate fixer and so do James Cromwell and William Fitchner on the prison staff side.  Not being a football fan, I found the film interminable during its far-too-long third act, set during a football game that never seems to end despite fairly preordained plot points.  But then again, I’m not really the target audience for this film: I suspect that The Longest Yard will appeal far more to those with an interest in football, prison machismo and Adam Sandler.  There are enough jokes to make much of the film pass by harmlessly.  Of note is the realization, seeing a French-dubbed version of the film, how much I’ve come to associate Chris Rock’s voice with his effectiveness as a comedian.

  • Bad Words (2013)

    Bad Words (2013)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, February 2015)  Jason Bateman’s usual screen persona is usually that of the good guy, albeit often tempered with a bit of bad passive-aggressive behavior.  He rarely goes as full-shmuck as he does in Bad Words, where he undertakes a fairly difficult turn as a highly intelligent, but a just-as- belligerent middle-aged man who finds a way into the national spelling bee contest.  He’s out to prove something, and he doesn’t intend to let anyone stand in his way.  The result is one of the most strikingly unlikable protagonist in recent memory, one that doesn’t do much to earn audience sympathies and, in fact, such a repellant protagonist for so long that when his redemption comes (as it usually does in those films), it feels forced and not entirely convincing.  Still, it’s a strong performance and Bateman does even better as the director of the film, delivering the film’s laughs in an effective fashion.  Still, much of Bad Words is just an unbearable as its lead character: it’s deliberately offensive, rife with bad behavior and takes a long while to earn even a smidge of sympathy.  At least Bateman acquits himself honorably on both sides of the camera (few will be able to call this a vanity project given the unlikeability of his character), with able supporting performances by Kathryn Hahn (playing another character with a streak of depravity) and newcomer Rohan Chand.  Bad Words certainly is a specific kind of comedy that will find fans and haters alike.  Your reaction is likely to be based on your tolerance for the kind of antisocial behavior exhibited by the protagonist.

  • Shallow Hal (2001)

    Shallow Hal (2001)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, February 2015)  There is a surprising strain of magical realism in mainstream movie comedies, where a seemingly unexplainable premise in a contemporary context is explored for laughs even though the film itself is never seen as belonging to the fantasy genre.  Shallow Hal is a good example of this, as it posits a man hypnotized to perceive the inner beauty of someone rather than their surface appearance.  This quickly leads our shallow protagonist to become romantically involved with a grossly obese woman who is perceived as… Gwyneth Paltrow.  Various gags revolve around the difference between reality and perception (or, more accurately, how physical reality strains to accommodate the protagonist’s delusion and how more objective observers also react), leading to a third act where reality finally sets in.  It’s, as you may expect from a mainstream comedy even in the gross-out late-stage, a relatively sweet film whose more outrageous moments are in the service of an unobjectionably “don’t judge by appearances” morality.  It feels serviceable and predictable at one welcome exception, where one ugly character makes it through our protagonist’s distorted perception… and is revealed to be beautiful but evil in reality.  It’s a good moment, and Shallow Hal certainly could have used more of those second-order extrapolations over much of the reheated pap it serves throughout the film.  Jack Black is OK in the lead role, Gwyneth Paltrow appealing as the object of his affections (less so in a fat suit but that’s the point of the film) and Tony Robbins makes a good cameo appearance.  The film’s third act is a bit duller as it goes for emotional significance over jokes, but that’s also something in the nature of comedies.  The final result has a few highlights that help it distinguish itself from so many other movies of the time.

  • Blended (2014)

    Blended (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, February 2015) Low expectations are a powerful thing: Given my track record with Adam Sandler’s most recent comedies, my overall lack of affection for Drew Barrymore, my general exasperation at broad family comedies and the rather pointed criticism of Blended as a borderline racist comedy, I really wasn’t expecting much from the time.  But it turns out that once you’re willing to cut a pick of slack to the film, Blended work relatively well as your average Hollywood family comedy.  Sandler of late seems to be settling into an innocuous father-figure comic archetype, not particularly funny but more palatable than his younger angry man-child persona.  Barrymore is unremarkable and there is some truth to the racism accusations (still, signing Terry Crews is hilarious even in his thankless role), but the African scenery is spectacular, the feeling of being in a five-star resort is credibly rendered, and there are amusing character moments here and there.  It’s not much (and Blended does not end on a high note by stretching out its foregone conclusion past the resort experience) but with the power of lowered expectations it’s just enough to be entertaining.

  • Step Brothers (2008)

    Step Brothers (2008)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Crackle streaming, February 2015)  I’ve been checking off a list of “unseen must-see movies” lately, and some of my least-favourite ones are those films belonging to the filmography of popular comic actors that I don’t find particularly funny… in this case: Will Ferrell.  (Also see; Adam Sandler)  Stupidity is celebrated here as two thirtysomething men with the EQ of unpleasant eight-year-olds are forced to live together when their parents remarry.  From afar, Step Brothers looks like the dumbest thing to have been filmed, and the actual film often feels like it, what with Ferrell and John C. Reilly doing their best impression of socially-retarded man-children.  I can’t deny that some of the sight gags can be amusing, but given my distaste for Ferrell’s typical overgrown-toddler shtick, Step Brothers was often an endurance exercise –especially given how often it relies on the kind of humiliation-comedy gags that I find unbearable.  Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins are particularly enjoyable, but their characters suffer the brunt of most of the film’s jokes.  A surprising amount of Step Brothers is mean-spirited on top of everything else, so it’s no surprise if my final reaction to the film really isn’t all on the positive side. 

  • Superbad (2007)

    Superbad (2007)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Crackle streaming, February 2015)  For some reason, I managed to miss this now-cornerstone of 2000s American comedy until now –I’m not a big fan of teen comedies (Proof: American Pie is still on my to-watch list) and Superbad seemed to be, what, redundant?  Michael Cera acting like a nerd, Jonah Hill like an over-caffeinated potty-mouth?  No surprise there.  But there’s such a thing as best-of-breed movies, and while Superbad doesn’t exactly break molds or revolutionize genre, it’s pretty much hitting all the cylinders that a contemporary teen sex comedy aims for.  It’s superficially crass and aggressive, but it doesn’t take too much tinkering to find the honest beating heart underneath, the paean to friendship and the curiously conventional values at the foundation of the film.  But it works relatively well despite a few lengths, and with a few years of retrospection, you can see not only Cera and Hill’s early-career prototypical roles, but also early good turns by Emma Stone and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.  The result may not be subtle nor unique (co-writers Rogen and Goldberg would go on to make an entire string of films about young-male friendship) but it works as it should.  More broadly, as a piece of significant filmmaking, Superbad fits perfectly in the rise of Judd Apatow as a comedy producing powerhouse. 

  • The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

    The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, February 2015)  A particularly aggressive entry in the “inspirational drama showing the protagonist triumphing against nearly-impossible odds”, The Pursuit of Happyness gives a too-rare grown-up role to Will Smith as the father of a child who finds himself in desperate circumstances after losing his wife, his house, his savings and trying to take care of his son while chasing a near-impossible unpaid internship at a brokerage house.  Eking a meager living on the streets of 1980s San Francisco by night, giving the impression of being a serious stockbroker candidate by day, the story comes from real-life events from businessman Chris Gardner’s life, but dramatically softens some of the harsher edges of the truth.  (Sometimes in ways that don’t quite make sense: seeing a mother abandon her son is nigh-incomprehensible on film, but can be explained in the real story by the fact that he was the son from her husband’s affair.)  Still, this is the kind of film that has no shame in exploiting whatever sympathy we may have for its characters, their brutal setbacks and their tiny triumphs.  Smith is actually pretty good as a father trying to improve life for himself and his son –his performance feels free of his usual showboating tendencies, while allowing him enough opportunities to turn up the charm when necessary.  It may help that his son his played by his real-life son Jaden Smith.  The Pursuit of Happyness is occasionally asphyxiating in its desperation (the protagonist is so poor that every dollar counts) but fairly earns its final triumphs.  It’s definitively praise to point out that the film could have been far more mawkish or sentimental, and that by grounding its story into small and often painful details, it keeps the usual fanfare at bay.  It may not be pleasant viewing during most of its duration, but it amounts to a satisfying viewing experience.

  • RRRrrrr!!! (2004)

    RRRrrrr!!! (2004)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On DVD, February 2015)  Some movies are just stupid, and some movies are just stupid enough.  RRRrrrr!!! falls in the second category so perfectly that it’s not a stretch to say that it’s worth seeing because it’s so unashamedly bone-headed.  Taking place in prehistoric time, this French comedy film purports to tell the story of the first serial killer and the creation of the concept of criminal investigation.  What we do get along the way are a number of set-pieces built to evoke simple-minded silliness.  I caught myself laughing even when I didn’t want to, almost astonished at the film’s willingness to reach for the most ridiculous jokes available.  Director Alain Chabat is a veteran comic filmmaker, and he doesn’t miss a trick.  RRRrrrr!!! will either work or not; I found myself chuckling thirty seconds in at a cheap joke (“This isn’t their story.”) and never quite stopped, but I can see how other people may not react the same way.  One word of warning: The Region-1 DVD (Quebec) doesn’t have subtitles in any language, making it occasionally hard to follow unless you fluently understand idiomatic European French.

  • The Croods (2013)

    The Croods (2013)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On DVD, February 2015)  Dreamworks Animation has always been a bit of a hit-and-miss studio: some of their films are remarkable, while others are instantly forgettable.  The Croods falls somewhere in the middle, its uneven humor bolstered by inspired moments of lunacy but dragged on by an over-eagerness to stuff sentimentalism in a film that doesn’t need it.  As a premise, the idea of following a prehistoric family as their learn modernity and escape a continent crumbling into pieces isn’t too bad: the anachronisms are part of the fun, and the setting offers a lot of colorful possibilities.  Nicolas Cage and Emma Stone deliver standout vocal performances, but it’s really the animation that’s worth seeing, with fantastical creatures and dynamic camera moves working to deliver something interesting.  Some sequences work well, usually when the film stops worrying so much about sentiments and an overused plot structure: The Croods is best in absurdist humor and fast-paced montages.  It’s when it keeps harping on its basic themes that the film slows down to a crawl and gets annoying.  Still, the film does have themes and emotions, which is more than could be said of other films in the Dreamworks Animation filmography.  The Croods is watchable enough, and works even better as a family film.

  • Seven Pounds (2008)

    Seven Pounds (2008)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, January 2015)  The problem beyond movies that crank up their drama beyond a reasonable threshold is that they either become funny or annoying.  Seven Pounds, to its credit, begins with a fascinating mystery: Who is this sad man, what has happened to him and what is he doing?  As the protagonist’s actions are revealed, though, the overwrought drama kicks in.  Are we being shamed in our loose morality by a fictional character so selfless?  By the time the ending rolls by, even the most sympathetic viewers will spot at least two or three major holes in the plot, and it takes a lot of forgiveness to be moved by the film’s extreme sentimentality.  Will Smith is actually pretty good in the lead role, stretching acting muscles seldom used during his career.  Opposite him, Rosario Dawson is unexpectedly captivating, while Michael Ealy makes an impression in a small role.  (One can’t say the same about Woody Harrelson, largely wasted in a generic role).  Some of the details of the film are interesting, and Gabriele Muccino’s direction is handled with skill.  Still, the impression left by the last few minutes of the film is one of increasing bewilderment, if not outright disbelief: By cranking up the dramatic stakes so ludicrously high, Seven Pounds undoes quite a bit of its careful quiet setup.  I’m just not sure it deserves the ending it reaches for.

  • Sabotage (2014)

    Sabotage (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, January 2015)  It’s hard being an aging action star.  Stallone seems unwilling to acknowledge that it’s happening to him, but Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to be trying a few strategies to remain in the game long after his retirement years.  In Sabotage, he takes up guns and a leadership role as an alternative to fisticuffs and stunts, and he’s easily the best in an ensemble cast.  Alas, he may also be the best things in a dirty violent thriller that seems delighted in its own gory nastiness.  Sabotage is all about dirty special agents who have come to believe their own mystique and proceed, in the opening sequence, to try to rob Mexican gangsters out of a few million dollars.  It doesn’t go well: one of them is killed on-site, prompting an official investigation.  When no evidence of wrongdoing is found, the aging leader of the gang goes back to find a unit that has lost its morale.  Thing seem to perk up as they train together, but then they all start dying one after another is a series of bloody murders.  We’d probably care more about the mystery if the victims weren’t all hyper-aggressive killers –it takes a long time for a lawful character to be introduced, and even then all she can do is being duped and witness the carnage.  The ending is very weak, although we’d told that the studio interfered and that the alternate endings available on the DVD are both stronger than the one that ended up in the theatrical release.  Even then, Sabotage remains a far-too-violent routine thriller –much like for his previous Olympus Has Fallen, director Antoine Fuqua ought to lighten up a bit.  In the meantime, it’s a perfectly acceptable entry in Schwarzenegger’s post-governorship career.

  • Grown Ups (2010)

    Grown Ups (2010)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, January 2015)  I watched Grown Ups 2 before its prequel, and no one will be surprised to learn that it didn’t make a bit of difference.  The scripts is written so loosely as to shrug at continuity.  This is a lazily-conceived film in which comedians get to practically play themselves on-screen, lounging around and telling lame jokes.  Fans of those comedians will love seeing them play their persona (I’m a big fan of Chris Rock and Maya Rudolph and I liked seeing them on-screen, so this is speaking from personal experience) but otherwise there isn’t much substance here.  Imagine my surprise, then, when I came to an understanding about the appeal of Adam Sandler’s movies.  They, simply put, are comfort movies.  Dealing in archetypes and cheap jokes, they provide certainly and predictability.  That may appear simplistic, but it’s not given that they can appeal even to those with nothing in common with their characters.  Watching Grown Ups, I know exactly what I’m going to get, which values are being espoused, which stereotypes I will see on-screen.  I become part of a larger society with well-understood rules and conventions.  There’s comfort in not having to think, and understanding the context without making any effort.  Again; I realize that this sounds arrogant, but it really isn’t: My take-away from Grown Ups is that it takes quite a bit of cleverness (much of it innate) to pull off its particular sense of comedy.  I may not be stimulated by the result, but I can’t argue that it works.  Alas, I also remember Grown Ups 2, and realize how much worse this formula can be.

  • Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

    Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, January 2015)  I wish I had something substantial to say about this film… but I don’t.  It’s a certainly follow-up to the original, and its best quality is how it manages to incorporate more of the “Furious Five” group in the story as opposed to an all-Panda show.  (Angelina Jolie’s Tigress even get a few memorable moments that are authentically hers.) I have mixed feelings about how it goes back to the protagonist’s history in order to reveal another layer of hidden secrets –that kind of thing may deepen the series mythology, but it makes it all look interconnected to a degree that’s not always worth scrutiny.  The action sequences, at least, aren’t too bad: there’s a chase set in an urban environment that’s dynamic and fun to a degree that wasn’t seen in the original.  There is some very nice design work here that goes beyond the simple parody or homage to other movies, and it’s coupled with a tone that doesn’t seem as anachronistic as in the prequel.  In the end, people who liked the first film a lot should also enjoy this one, and that’s almost all one asks of a sequel.

  • No Strings Attached (2011)

    No Strings Attached (2011)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, January 2015) It’s hard to watch this romantic comedy about two young people having a physical relationship and trying not to fall in love and not think about 2011’s similarly-themed Friends with Benefits or Love & Other Drugs.  It’s not a comparison that advantages No Strings Attached, which seems to be running at about half the speed and a quarter of the charm of the other film.  Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher are likable, but they don’t do much –given how Portman usually manages to portray smarter characters, it’s a bit of let-down to see her, here, struggle with a fairly dull characters who never gets to explore the most interesting aspects of her personality.  Kutcher is also stuck in a bland romantic lead role, not having much to do that be bewildered and say the right things.  No Strings Attached is often frustrating because it does have interesting quirks and secondary characters who seem to have a lot more life than the protagonist and the main plot –the best scene of the film involves Portman’s roommates and an impromptu prank they play on Kutcher’s character, and it works because the film forgets about its main plot and simply goes with the absurdity of the gag.  Lake Bell and Mindy Kaling are both wasted in small roles.  It doesn’t help that the script isn’t particularly tight –there’s a pair of prologues that do very little in the remainder of the film, which seems inordinately pleased with its premise but unable to actually do anything with it beyond the usual romantic comedy clichés.  To its credit, it’s not as if No Strings Attached is unlikable or exasperating –it’s just annoying in ways that the far-more-successful Friends with Benefits highlights with its more charismatic leads, better writing and tighter plotting.  It’s not that you have a bad time watching the film as much as the certitude that you could have a better time.

  • Left Behind (2014)

    Left Behind (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, January 2015)  This is actually the second time that the infamous 1995 novel Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins has been adapted as a movie, but what’s interesting here is that this second adaptation focuses on a fairly narrow portion of the original novel: what happens to passengers on a transatlantic flight after the Rapture whisks away the righteous, leaving the sinners to fend for themselves.  Compared to the novel, Left Behind quickly dispenses with the wider end-time context to focus on the captain of the flight (a generally restrained performance by Nicolas Cage) as everyone, in the air or on the ground, loses their minds trying to figure out what happened.  It turns into a surprisingly conventional airplane-thriller in time for the harsh-landing ending, leaving for a sequel any mentions of the antichrist and assorted tribulations.  The result may not be entirely credible, but it’s intriguing enough to see such a religious premise being dealt with in almost pure thriller terms.  Even more surprising is the portrait of believers in the film: Many of them are annoying in their righteousness and proselytizing, and once the true believers have been raptured away, those who remain are exposed as frauds or being of insufficient faith.  In short; compared to everything you may have heard about the book, Left Behind isn’t quite your expected fire-breathing radical religious tract.  On the other hand, Left Behind does remain part of the much-maligned Christian-movie subgenre, and no amount of “wow, that’s interesting” considerations can quite patch the actual problems of the film: It’s cheaply-made, poorly written, ridiculous in its plotting (especially as father and daughter collaborate to bring an airplane down on a highway), wastes Nicolas Cage and doesn’t compare favorably to recent examples of airplane thrillers such as Snakes on a Plane or Non-Stop.  I may be fascinated because I have read the book and can see the differences, but I expect that viewers who come to this film cold may not be as interested.