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In the Company of Men – nf – Early in the movie the premise of the story line is made clear. Two Yuppie businessmen away on a project in a branch office are discussing their relationships with women. They tell each other how badly they have been treated by them and how downtrodden they feel. This leads one of them to come up with a plan, which he convinces the other fellow to join in with him. They will find an unsuspecting, susceptible young woman during the six weeks that are away. They will each wine, dine and romance her simultaneously and then both will dump her and leave town. As one of them puts it, in the future no matter how badly they are treated by girlfriends, their wives or even their bosses, they will look back and know that nobody treated them as badly as they were going to treat this women. Nice guys? Now what does this movie show us? What insight into the human mind or into the mind of some subtype of men can we glean? Well, they carry out the plan albeit with some complications. When she realizes what was done to her, the young woman says to one of the men, “Why did you do this?” He answers, “Because I could?” Does that line sound familiar? Although the line became famous a few years after this movie was made Bill Clinton is the person who immortalized those words in response to a question from Dan Rather in a 60 Minute TV interview as to why he had his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton replied,

“I think I did something for the worst possible reason-just because I could. I think that’s the most, just about the most morally indefensible reason that anybody could have for doing anything. When you do something just because you could… I’ve thought about it a lot. And there are lots of more sophisticated explanations, more complicated psychological explanations. But none of them are an excuse.”

Those psychological reasons may vary from person to person and there were two male characters in the movie and of course Clinton is a character himself. In some there is a core of self-centeredness or narcissism, some of which may make you a good leader or a boss but too much of it will be a disaster. Then in some individuals there is a great insecurity, which can include jealousy and aggression. We saw a mixture of these in our characters in the movie. Director Neil LaBute made the six week time span move quickly and actors Aaron Eckhart and Matt Malloy were excellent. Although the performance of Stacy Edwards was also top notch, there was controversy in some circles who thought that a real deaf actress should have played the part. We should have mentioned that the character of the susceptible attractive young women who was to be dumped had lost her hearing at age 8 and had a speech impairment. Some may find this movie very thought provoking. Hopefully it won’t be too close to home. (1997)

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The Bishop’s Wife – nf – As part of our continued attempt to take a close look at some of the classic films we viewed this oldie starring Cary Grant as an angel, David Niven as the Bishop and Loretta Young as the Bishop’s wife. The Bishop’s attempt to get a great Cathedral built brings into play an examination of his values of not only of how to address poverty in society but how to achieve happiness with his wife and child. This all comes about when the Bishop is visited by an angel who while doing his good deeds has great chemistry with his wife. It is a delightful film which couldn’t compete with today’s best movies but actually was nominated for best picture in 1948. 1947

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The Closet – nf – A middle aged accountant is about to be fired from his job, people at work think he is a nerd, his teenage son living with his ex-wife thinks he is a bore which leaves our main character about to end it all by jumping off his apartment balcony. A new neighbor who is an older gay man convinces him that he can save his job by spreading a rumor with some doctored photographs that show he is homosexual. This premise changes everything! Suddenly he is considered an intriguing person and the boss doesn’t want to fire him since it wouldn’t look good if he fired a gay man. The plot moves from here with all sorts of comedic developments with co-workers, women and even his son which also is a clear commentary on society’s attitudes about this situation. The film was released in 2000 and the point which it is making is somehow not quite as relevant as it was nearly a decade ago. It is in French with subtitles and has excellent acting. However we don’t think it makes our “must see” list which reminds us how much we liked the French films Tell No One (a mystery) and Paris 36 (a delightful musical comedy) 2000

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The Great Buck Howard – sp – We don’t think this is for everyone. It is a charming movie loosely based “ Kreskin” a mind reader/magician of sorts who made many appearances on the Johnny Carson Show as well as other well TV shows in the past. The movie makes the point that people should do what they really enjoy doing and do well even if it isn’t what you are expected to do. It stars Colin Hanks and John Malkovich who demonstrates his somewhat comedic ability as he fills the shoes of the protagonist of the film. Tom Hanks does have a small role as father of the character played by his real life son and was also one of the producers of the film. It is quite enjoyable but we are not sure how long it will stay with you. 2008

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The Last Kiss – nf – This is a movie that tries to examine the nature of love as well as marital and impending marital relationships in young people close to turning 30. The main focus is a couple confronting parenthood and the need to get married. Michael (played by Zach Braff who is a perfect younger Ray Romano look alike) realizes he is frightened about his future prospects with Jenna his lovely girlfriend (Jacinda Barrett)of three years who is now pregnant. He allows himself to get drawn into a brief affair with younger very tempting college student. His close buddies are dealing with their own variations of the relationship theme. One can’t get over a breakup, another married guy with small child ( played by Casey Affleck) walks out on his wife and still another can’t figure out what to do even though he is successful in seducing women. At the same time Jenna’s parents (played very well by Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson) are examining their 30 year marriage. All the main characters ultimately confront their vulnerabilities, are insightful and try to be honest with their partners and themselves. That is the strength and the somewhat refreshing component of the film. However, the movie is a cliché. The storyline is shallow and old hat. The comedy component is average TV sitcom material. We liked the characters but weren’t moved by them. It probably isn’t worth your time unless perhaps you are under 30. 2006

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The Proposal – rm – This is another one of those mediocre movies offered to us as the only choice on a cross-country flight, which Susan chose to see. It stars Sandra Bullock who plays a demanding high powered boss who realizes that she has to get married to keep from being deported back to Canada because she didn’t complete her US citizenship papers. She convinces her compliant ambitious male assistant played by Ryan Reynolds to agree to do the nuptial deed. All the expected events then begin to happen. It might make you think of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew”. The storyline was really quite predictable with no unforgettable moments. It doesn’t deserve our recommendation but Susan admits that she enjoyed it. 2009

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The Squid and the Whale – nf – A poignant story of a family breaking up by Noah Brambach. Well acted, somewhat engrossing and multilayered.

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Me and You and Everyone We Know – nf – This is a slice of life with characters who have problems communicating in the everyday modern world. It includes a divorced shoe salesman and father of two children( John Hawkes ) and a young performance artist( Miranda July) who is drawn to him. We thought this was a movie we wanted to see but we couldn’t relate very well to the characters. Although it was well performed particularly by the child actors we would suggest a pass on this one. 2005

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Whatever Works – rm – People who like Woody Allen usually like Larry David. Allen chooses David to speak his words and act out his state of mind which basically is “what really matters, we are all going to die “. Thus we see a divorced, could have been a Nobel Prize winning physics professor, after a botched suicide attempt decides to live on his own in Manhattan. Along comes a pretty young girl from Mississippi who ends up living with the good professor. Allen’s current views on love, sex, relationships, death and everything else are seemingly demonstrated through the characters who inhabit this film. Everyone seems to be in an incongruous situation which makes for good comedy at the same time as we get insight into the struggle of the characters and of Woody Allen sitting at his typewriter or ultimately directing his actors. As expected the directing, production and acting by Larry David, Ed Begley Jr. Patricia Clarkson, and Evan Rachel Wood are on target and move this film into the higher level of a must see rating ( unless of course you don’t like Woody Allen ) 2009

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Sunshine Cleaning – rm – We had to miss this movie when it was screened in our film course and we are very glad that we caught up with it. It stars Amy Adams, Emily Blount and Alan Arkin who all turn in outstanding performances. It is a quirky, sweet, very well done movie. The premise is that a single mother figures out that her previous skills in the cleaning business can be put to good use in cleaning up crime scenes. It is about hope, perseverance and family dynamics. Definitely worth seeing. 2008