***

Where’d You Go, Bernadette -rm

At best, the main character is a quirky brilliant architect who is married and has a lovely daughter. They care deeply about each other and the connection between them is very touching. Circumstances and misunderstanding lead them on a wild adventure to the Antarctica and the South Pole.

The cast is top notch staring Cate Blanchett, Trojan Bellisario, Billy Crudup and Kristen Wiig, also featuring Judy Greer and Laurence Fishburne, all working under the guidance of veteran director, Richard Linklater.

The film obviously touched the funny bone of much of the audience as we heard frequent out loud laughter. However, we viewed the main character as a misunderstood, if relatable woman frustrated by the events in her life and seemingly suffering from a potentially serious depression which supported her husband’s attempt to arrange an “ intervention “ with a mental health therapist. Viewing this film about a troubled person made it hard to appreciate the humor that was obviously there and enjoyed by much of the audience. (2019)

****

The Diary of a Teenage Girl – nf

On one hand this very well done film gets into the head and feelings of this 15-year-old girl as she has her first sexual experience. We can imagine that so many teenagers will identify with the excitement, bewilderment and glorious feelings that she relates into her tape recorder as she tries to preserve the special moments. As well done as this depiction and as universal as these feelings may be, her particular situation was certainly nowhere typical. The setting was San Francisco in the 1970s and her first lover is her mother’s boyfriend. What follows is more and more sex, parties, drugs and some same-sex sex.

One would hope that all of this will not reflect the typical teenage experience. However, we would be naïve not to believe that the modern teenager may very well know some version of the scene. It is ironic that most teenagers could not be admitted to this R-rated movie. The star of this film is Bel Powley, an experienced actress who was in her early 20s when she portrays 15-year-old Minnie. Her immature party mom is played by Kristen Wiig and the boyfriend who was more of a period piece than an outright cad was played by Alexander Skaarsgard.

Credit for the success of this movie is first time director Marielle Heller, who also wrote the screenplay based on a novel by Phoebe Gloeckner. To give you an idea of her accomplishments, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, in addition to  nominating Ms. Heller for Best Woman Director and Best Woman Screenwriter, also nominated this film for Best Depiction of Nudity, Sexuality or Seduction – a well-deserved award.

This movie goes beyond these accomplishments and captures the complicated universal joy and wonder of sexual awakening. (2015)

 *** Anchorman 2 : The Legend Continues –rm  Nobody should be surprised by this movie. Either you have seen the first version of Anchorman or you have seen the massive publicity and the trailers about this movie. If you haven’t, feel free to take a moment and watch one of them which has a good many of the film’s “funny” lines and bits: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elczv0ghqw0‎ The jokes are juvenile, slapstick with a lot of screaming along with racial, antigay, sexist jokes and even makes fun of people who are blind. Of course the characters are also making fun of themselves and they will make you gasp and /or laugh, sometimes. Adam McKay, who co-wrote it with Will Ferrell, directs it. MacKay also co-wrote the first Anchorman. The movie opens with Ron Burgundy (Will Farrell) being fired by the retiring veteran anchorman (Harrison Ford) who at the same time names his own replacement to be Ron’s co-anchor and wife (Christine Applegate). A new 24-hour/day-television news station subsequently hires Ron and he rounds up some of his previous colleagues from the old days who are played by Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner. They have lots of interactions with the television station people especially one tough, sexy boss played by Linda Jackson. The storyline is thin, disjointed and flows in order to allow the jokes and comic routines. There are bit to middling roles by Kristen Wiig, Sacha Baron Cohen, Steve Coulter, Kanye West, Tina Fey, Greg Kinnear, Liam Neeson and Amy Poehler to name a few. They really don’t change the level of the comedy, which comes mainly from Ferrell. With so many great films out at this time of the season, if you don’t see a large number, we don’t know why you would choose this one. But on the other hand, we realize that there are a lot of folks who go for this type of comedy so after some discussion we decided that it might fit our criteria for three stars. (2013) 

***

Bridesmaids-rm– First of all, this is not just a “chic flick.“ Certainly, the out loud laughter in the movie theatre seemed to more weighted from the young men in the audience. It is an hour and half of good comedy in the genre of Saturday Night Live. Not surprising since the screen writer and the star of the movie is Kristen Wiig. She is Annie, the bests friend of Lillian (Maya Rudolph),the bride to be. Annie’s own life  is not  quite on track especially guy wise and job wise . She is asked to be the maid of honor but encounters Helen (Rose Bryne) who is a recent friend of the bride and seems to have things together including great ideas for the wedding party, wedding dress and just about everything else. There are some great physical comedy bits and lots of clever lines with some very fine comedic acting especially by Ms. Wiig and Melissa McCarthy who plays Megan, the bridesmaid who is as tough as nails but with a heart of gold.  There is also an amusing sex scene and a wild escapade on an airplane. Perhaps some things are a little too far fetched as we are asked to believe that a state trooper albeit one from Wisconsin, (Chris O’Dowd)-the true love interest of Annie- would drive around in his patrol car with  a girl in whom he was interested. Although you are seeing the movie for its comedy, you are also  given a sharp satire that also raises questions about the extremes people go to  in planning the wedding event (picking the dress, the batchelorette party and how the girls support or don’t support each other.) Of course the ending is predictable and there are additional comedy pieces interspersed during the titles at the end. After all it is that kind of film. (2011)