Jennifer Anniston

  • Murder Mystery (2019)

    Murder Mystery (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, December 2020) If you believe in the documented theory that Adam Sandler picks projects partially in order to get paid holidays in picturesque locations with a bunch of his friends, then Murder Mystery becomes almost inevitable. The premise is familiar enough, as a couple of ordinary Americans become embroiled in an escalating series of murders among the European jet-set. It’s executed with the very, very broad humour of Sandler’s other films, and Jennifer Anniston should be used to the proceedings given that this is her second pairing with him. The result is a decent comedy, although there’s a sense that it’s dragged down by the personas of its lead actors: While the plot outline of Murder Mystery is solid enough, the film seems contractually obliged to sabotage itself in order to let Sandler or Anniston showboat. It could have been a cleverer film (the twists and turns of the finale almost make sense) but that’s really not what Murder Mystery is interested in, as it moves from a yacht to the picturesque French Riviera. It’s no real surprise if the film does better with its supporting characters: Terence Stamp makes a brief impression, whereas Luke Evans and Gemma Atherton do better. It’s interesting to see noteworthy French comedian Danny Boon take a role as a crusty French policeman in an American film –Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel finally have a successor! The result, to be clear, is still reasonably entertaining… even if it coasts on the familiar appeal of a classical murder mystery with ordinary people tackling the case. It could have been worse, but somehow, I keep judging Murder Mystery on the ways it could have been much better, starting with different lead actors.

  • Rumor Has It… (2005)

    Rumor Has It… (2005)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On TV, June 2020) If you’re willing to concede that Rumor Has It has more to do with the way people behave in Hollywood films than in real life, then it’s not quite as terrible is it looks in the first place. Ill-conceived from the start as a “sequel” of sorts to The Graduate, it sets itself up for failure early on, as it clearly doesn’t have what it takes to fulfill its ambitions, nor the guts to actually do anything truly transgressive. Instead, director Rob Reiner (working from a script by Ted Griffin, the first director of the film, fired early in the production) plays everything like a frothy meaningless romantic comedy. It’s a dumb comedy with puppet-like characters in many ways—the premise simply isn’t believable, and the characters seldom behave like real people. This is not necessarily a bad thing in the world of romantic comedies—but it is here, as the characters go for wild speculations rather than anything like realistic conclusions. (i.e.: if someone is born barely nine months after their parent’s wedding, do you speculate about honeymoon whoopee or leap to the conclusion that the mom had an affair?) If Rumor has It has a quality, it’s probably a cast with several familiar names—But it has its limits. Kevin Costner was still in the phase where he could convincingly play older romantic leads, but Jennifer Anniston is unusually bland in the lead role. Supporting characters include Richard Jenkins, Mark Ruffalo, Christopher MacDonald, Mena Suvari and a rather good late-career turn from Shirley MacLaine—who does give Costner a scene worth a look. Alas, the rest of Rumor Has It is a disappointment. It’s not as funny as it thinks it is and it’s afraid to be eccentric while playing with eccentric elements: By the time it ends, the lead couple is so exasperating that the climactic reunion feels like a bad idea.

  • Office Christmas Party (2016)

    Office Christmas Party (2016)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, December 2019) There’s a Christmas movie ghetto that may limit some movies from getting the attention they deserve the other eleven months of the year. In most respects, Office Christmas Party is as good as R-rated comedies got in the mid-2010s: An efficient script, an escalation of madness that justifies the adult rating, a great soundtrack, tight editing, and especially a solid ensemble cast doing what they do best in their usual screen persona. The plot is right there in the title, as a corporate Christmas Party gets wilder as its stakes go up. There’s some perfunctory narrative to wrap up the madness and bring comic personalities together (something to do with a brother and sister fighting to keep a technology company open despite a dearth of big clients and low morale) but let’s not fool ourselves: the high point of the film is in its third-quarter, when everyone goes wild in the corporate party of the century-so-far. (In a decent example of the directors Will Speck and Josh Gordon’s cinematographic craft, there’s a great pullback shot of the company’s two floors engulfed in wild partying as the rest of the office building is shut down for the night.)  If you’ve seen any of the contemporary R-rated comedies, you know what to expect from Office Christmas Party. Still, when it works it works: Jason Bateman is once again the level-headed straight man of the bunch, holding the core of the film alongside the always cute (and sensible!) Olivia Munn. Jennifer Anniston adds another unsympathetic comedy character to her repertoire in the footsteps of the Horrible Bosses movies. Other known comic quantities such as T. J. Miller, chameleonic Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Rob Corddry, and others all contribute their part to the anarchic mess. Given that it ends on Christmas, there’s some techno-magic to save the day. Office Christmas Party is great good fun, fully lives up to its name and should provide raucous entertainment for anyone driven to distraction by their own dull office Christmas celebrations. But it’s sufficiently upbeat that it remains decent viewing for the rest of the year— this Office Christmas Party is worth attending even in January.