Mary Louise Parker

  • Boys on the Side (1995)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, July 2022) More than anything else, I’m struck at how Boys on the Side can feel equally timeless, progressive and stuck in the mid-1990s at the same time. Some of its structural issues irk me: what begins as a grand transcontinental road trip movie ends up petering out midway through as the action stops in Arizona and eventually doubles back east to tie up loose ends. But maybe there was no other way to play out the issues exposed during the film’s first half, and Boys on the Side certainly has a grab bag of social issues to sort through. Of the three women making up the lead roles of the film (played by Mary-Louise Parker, Whoopi Goldberg and Drew Barrymore), one is HIV-positive; another is a lesbian; a third is running away from an abusive boyfriend. You can measure some social progress in assessing how those plotlines have aged: While Boys on the Side starts with the absolute best of intentions for a mid-1990s film, society has shifted significantly in the meantime. HIV isn’t the death sentence it once was, and the weepy treatment of its sick character (Parker) now feels anachronistic. Homosexuality is far more accepted as well, making even the film’s sympathetic treatment of its outspoken lesbian (Goldberg) sounds atonal and sometime patronizing. (Not to mention not actually consummating what’s supposed to be the film’s central romance.)  Unfortunately, there’s still plenty of life left for the archetype of the woman with a bad boyfriend (Barrymore), so there’s that. Trying to carve itself a place as an activist women’s picture in the wake of Thelma and Louise (which gets a shout-out), Boys on the Side remain a bit off—and you can take a look at the all-male topline crew to start to understand why. Still, the film does have its moments. The first road-movie half is definitely more fun than the second, and an impossibly young Matthew McConaughey shows up as a policeman with lawful-neutral notions of justice that create plenty of problems with his new girlfriend. There’s a reassuring patina of slick 1990s filmmaking to it all, and Goldberg is easily the most interesting performer here. As a result, Boys on the Side is perhaps more fascinating to watch now, with the parallax view of unfolding social history, than it must have been at release.

  • Red 2 (2013)

    Red 2 (2013)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, December 2013) The original Red dared to combine aging action stars with quirky comedy and strong action sequences to deliver a film that wasn’t entirely successful, but remained distinctive enough to distinguish itself in a crowded field.  This sequel is slightly improved by a better understanding of how to combine humor with action, and it can dispense with the tedious work of introducing its main characters.  Bruce Willis plays his familiar world-weary tough-guy role, quipping when he’s not exasperated at being thrown once again out of retirement.  Among the returning cast, Helen Mirren is as much fun as ever as a top assassin, while John Malkovich is a bit less crazy (but more sympathetic) this time around, even as Mary Louise Parker furthers her transition from adrenaline junkie to rookie operative.  There’s a fascinating “throwback to the cold war era” atmosphere as the action goes well beyond the borders of the United States and to Europe, with Anthony Hopkins bringing new laughs as a crazed weapons designer and Catherine Zeta Jones earning a few chuckles of her own as a once-fatale assassin.  While the CGI works gets a bit tiresome by the end of the final chase sequence, most of the other action scenes are good enough.  Red 2 doesn’t work on a particularly high level, but it’s adequate and in some ways moves past the whole “retired action heroes” shtick into a post-Cold War plot that seems to grow organically out of the characters’ age.  It works just fine as an unassuming action film, and even a little better as a sequel.

  • Red (2010)

    Red (2010)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In theaters, November 2010) By now, the action/comedy genre is so familiar that everyone should cheer whenever a quirky off-beat project tries to do something differently.  While originality isn’t always an advantage (Knight and Day showed that quirkiness can’t replace solid screenwriting), films like Red can tweak the usual formula and make it feel just a bit fresher than usual.  The story is familiar (a renegade secret agent tries to find out who wants him dead, accompanied by a reluctant love interest), but the details aren’t as overused:  The agent is retired, his allies are old and paranoid, his enemies are deep within the government and his would-be girlfriend initially has to be tied, drugged and dragged along before she comes to appreciate the action-comedy lifestyle.  Red flies around the United States, literally showing postcards along the way –which may give you an idea of its particular sense of humour.  Bruce Willis may be the Red’s headliner, but the real appeal of the film is through Mary Louise Parker’s wide-eyed evolution from house-bound kitten to adrenaline junkie.  Helen Mirren is delightful as an aging assassin, while John Malkovich has a typical turn as a deeply paranoid retiree.  Action highlights include a shootout in New Orleans and the use of heavy artillery in a Chicago hotel parking lot.  Much of the plot is routine, but the film is a lot more enjoyable during the comedic moments between the characters.  Fans of the original comic book may want to forget all about the source material, because Red is quirky and light-hearted whereas Warren Ellis’ story was sombre and nihilistic.  While Red often goes spinning too fast in all sorts of directions to be truly effective, the result isn’t too bad as long as you don’t expect the sort of straight-ahead action-with-quips blockbuster: Red is handled with another kind of sensibility, and if the result is often a bit too off-beat to be fully enjoyable, it delivers what is expected with a little bonus that no one asked for.