Tag: comedy

Review: ‘Saturday Night’ (2024), starring Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Ella Hunt, Dylan O’Brien, Lamorne Morris, Matt Wood, Cooper Hoffman and Willem Dafoe

October 1, 2024

by Carla Hay

Kim Matula, Emily Fairn, Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott and Matt Wood in “Saturday Night” (Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures)

“Saturday Night” (2024)

Directed by Jason Reitman

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, on October 11, 1975, the comedy film “Saturday Night” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: In the 90 minutes leading up to sketch comedy/variety series “Saturday Night Live” debuting on NBC, the cast and crew experience various mishaps, conflicts and setbacks.

Culture Audience: “Saturday Night” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, “Saturday Night Live” and large ensemble films with a talented cast.

Pictured standing in the front row, from left to right: Ella Hunt, Kim Matula, Cooper Hoffman, Rachel Sennott, Lamorne Morris, Josh Brener and Gabriel LaBelle in “Saturday Night” (Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures)

Whether people like or dislike the live sketch comedy/variety TV series “Saturday Night Live,” there’s no denying it’s become an American institution in pop culture. Much like the real “Saturday Night Live,” this comedic film about “SNL’s” TV premiere is hit and miss with its jokes, full of manic energy that sometimes fizzles. However, the performances are entertaining to watch, with many transcending mere impersonations. The movie’s scenarios veer into ridiculous sitcom territory, but much of the dialogue is snappy, if at times a little too contrived-sounding.

Directed by Jason Reitman (who co-wrote the “Saturday Night” screenplay with Gil Kenan), “Saturday Night” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The movie takes place in the frantic 90 minutes before the New York City-based weekly series debuted at 11:30 p.m. Eastern Time on NBC on Saturday, October 11, 1975. Viewers will have to keep up with the intense flurry of activities and numerous cast members who populate the movie. Obviously, people who are familiar with who was in the original “Saturday Night Live” cast will have the most appreciation for this semi-factual re-enactment of the show’s series premiere.

Much of what’s in “Saturday Night” is obviously exaggerated for the movie, but there are other parts of the movie that look toned down, especially when it comes to the notorious drinking and drugging that took place behind the scenes. There are some references to people taking illegal drugs (cocaine snorting, spiking someone’s marijuana joint with an animal tranquilizer), but they’re very tame references, compared to the reported realities of the backstage debauchery and addictions. For example, “Saturday Night Live” creator/showrunner Lorne Michaels (played by Gabriel LaBelle) isn’t even shown smoking a cigarette or drinking coffee during his clearly sleep-deprived, stressed-out state of being as several things go wrong before the show goes on the air.

Curiously, John Belushi (played by Matt Wood) and Gilda Radner (played by Ella Hunt), who were widely considered to be the most talented and funniest members of the original “Saturday Night Live” cast, are treated like supporting characters in “Saturday Night.” Instead, the “Saturday Night” movie gives most of the cast-member screen time to smirking playboy Chevy Chase (played by Cory Michael Smith) and fast-talking Canadian wisecracker Dan Aykroyd (played by a Dylan O’Brien, doing a spot-on portrayal), who happens to openly be having an affair with Lorne’s wife: “Saturday Night Live” writer Rosie Shuster (played by Rachel Sennott), a hard-working and sarcastic feminist. Lorne knows about the affair, but he’s more concerned with launching “Saturday Night Live.”

Through conversations in the movie, viewers find out that Lorne and Rosie (who’ve been married for eight years at this point) have an unconventional, open marriage that is more like a business arrangement. What they have in common is a passionate belief that “Saturday Night Live” will be a success, even though the odds were stacked against this show that starred a then-unknown group of comedians in their 20s. The background on the relationship between Rosie and Lorne is Lorne and Rosie started off as friends, he fell more in love with her than she fell in love with him, and it seems like they got married because Lorne kept pursuing Rosie, and she finally gave in to his persistence.

“Saturday Night” begins by showing Lorne anxiously going outside of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan (where the “Saturday Night Live” studio is) to look for a special guest he wants to have on the show’s first episode: a then-unknown eccentric comedian named Andy Kaufman (played by Nicholas Braun), who emerges from a cab, much to Lorne’s relief. Lorne has also ordered a pet llama to be in this episode. Why? Because he can.

Meanwhile, Lorne gets nervous when he notices an NBC page (played by Finn Wolfhard), who’s handing out flyers on the street to invite people to be in the studio audience, isn’t having much luck. Almost everyone whom this page approaches doesn’t seem interested in going to see an unknown show at 11:30 p.m., even if it’s going to be on national TV. Inside the studio, various mishaps and meltdowns happen. A lighting rig falls down from a ceiling and narrowly misses injuring people. The show’s only trained lighting director quits in disgust.

Lorne is under pressure to cut the length of some of the sketches, but he refuses to do it. Various cast members trick the very unhip, middle-aged script supervisor Joan Carbunkle (played by Catherine Curtin) into keeping racy slang in the script, such as “golden showers” and “clam digger,” by lying to her with fake definitions for these terms. John throws a fit and disappears because he doesn’t want to wear a bee costume. Mild-mannered puppeteer Jim Henson (also played by Braun, who’s better in his portrayal of Henson than as Kaufman) defensively worries that “Saturday Night Live” won’t take his Muppets seriously.

Drug-addled guest comedian George Carlin (played by Matthew Rhys) storms off the set because he thinks he’s too good for the show. Lorne frantically tries to find someone who can be the new lighting director as the clock keeps ticking toward showtime. (And there’s literally a time stamp showing the time at various parts of the movie.) Musical guest Janis Ian (played by Naomi McPherson) is one of the few people on the show’s first episode who isn’t depicted as a complainer or someone who causes problems.

The other original “Saturday Night Live” cast members who are portrayed in the movie are laid-back Jane Curtin (played by Kim Matula); neurotic Laraine Newman (played by Emily Fairn); and frustrated Garrett Morris (played by Lamorne Morris, no relation), a Juilliard graduate who goes through a range of emotions when it dawns on him that he’s being treated like a token black person who is deliberately being sidelined and not given much to do. Garrett repeatedly asks no one in particular why he’s just being expected to stand around and not do much, in a tone that suggests he knows exactly why, but he doesn’t want to say the word “racism” out loud. Garrett is never asked for any comedic input and instead has to show his comedic talent when he jokes around during rehearsals with musical guest Billy Preston (played by Jon Batiste), the only other black person in the movie who gets a significant speaking role.

Also featured in the movie is Dick Ebersol (played by Cooper Hoffman), NBC’s director of weekend late night programming, who is Lorne’s closest business confidant and the person credited with helping Lorne develop “Saturday Night Live.” Years later, Ebersol would become an executive producer of “Saturday Night Live” (from 1981 to 1985) and chairman of NBC Sports (from 1998 to 2011). Lorne is an ambitious dreamer, while Dick is more of practical realist. Dick is the one who tells Lorne that NBC executives are expecting that “Saturday Night Live” will fail because the show is being used as a pawn in contract renegotiations with “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson, who wants reruns of his “Tonight Show” episodes to air in the time slot that “Saturday Night Live” has.

One of those NBC executives who thinks “Saturday Night Live” will be a flop is NBC talent chief Dave Tebet (played by Willem Dafoe), a ruthless cynic who lurks around and makes cutting remarks about how the show is being run by people who don’t really know what they’re doing. Dave isn’t completely wrong. Lorne is like an inexperienced fire chief who has to lead a team putting out one fire after another, even before the fire engine can leave the station. Dave is also on edge because he’s invited several executives from local NBC affiliate stations to watch the debut of this unproven new show.

“Saturday Night” has brief depictions of people who would end up becoming longtime associates of “Saturday Night Live”: musical director Paul Shaffer (played by Paul Rust); announcer Don Pardo (played by Brian Welch); writer Alan Zweibel (played by Josh Brener); writer/actor and eventual “Saturday Night” Live cast mate (and later disgraced politician) Al Franken (played by Taylor Gray); and writer/actor Tom Davis (played by Mcabe Gregg), who was one-half of the Franken & Davis duo on “Saturday Night Live.” These appearances are fleeting and only seem to be there to check some boxes in the long list of people that the “Saturday Night” filmmakers wanted to include in the movie.

As overcrowded as “Saturday Night” is with its ensemble cast, the movie is at its best when there is snappy dialogue between two or three people. One of the funniest scenes in the film is when guest star Milton Berle (played by a scene-stealing J.K. Simmons) trades very hostile insults with Chevy when Milton begins flirting with Chevy’s fiancée Jacqueline Carlin (played by Kaia Gerber), who is the latest of many wannabe actress girlfriends whom Chevy insists should be hired to work with him. Chevy calls Milton an old has-been. Milton calls Chevy an irrelevant nobody. And then, elderly Milton (nicknamed Uncle Milty) does something that’s even more shocking and outrageous than anything that the young rebels in the “Saturday Night Live” cast would do.

LaBelle’s magnetic portrayal of Lorne is a combination of cocky and idealistic—someone who forges ahead with his visionary goals, even when Dick tells him that NBC executives have set up “Saturday Night Live” to fail. Under pressure, Lorne is willing to entertain ideas that other people tell him won’t work at all. And all these years later, when the Emmy-winning “Saturday Night Live” has lasted longer than most TV shows that will ever exist, it’s easy to see who has the last laugh. Nicknamed as the show for the “Not Ready for Prime Time Players” of television, “Saturday Night Live” has become the very “insider” establishment that these TV outsiders used to sneer at and mock.

As much as “Saturday Night” seems to be a love letter to the first version of “Saturday Night Live,” it’s a love letter that has some blind spots that lower the quality of the movie. The movie portrays but doesn’t have a critical look at how women and people of color are treated as inferior to white men in the business of comedy. The female characters in the movie are literally supporting characters, who are depicted as catering to the needs and whims of whatever the men are deciding.

For example, instead of showing anything about why Gilda Radner was the type of brilliant comedian who could create unique characters, Gilda’s biggest moment in the movie is when she persuades a petulant John (who’s hiding out at the Rockefeller Center ice skating rink) to come back to the “Saturday Night Live” set and wear the bee costume that he hates. Instead of showing why Gilda was a talented comedian in her own right who would become in real life one of the breakout stars of “Saturday Night Live,” she is relegated to being a quasi-therapist to John.

Laraine’s big moment comes when she opens a long coat to reveal she’s wearing a bikini. Jane is so bland and generic, she doesn’t make much of an impression, and she’s still in the role of being a helper to the men on the show. To put it bluntly: The men in “Saturday Night” get the best lines, the most memorable character personalities and the most attention.

Rosie is the only female character who is depicted as having a full life (the movie shows or tells nothing about the female “Saturday Night Live” cast members’ personal lives), but the movie repeatedly points out that Rosie is in a position of authority because she’s married to Lorne. Rosie is supposed to be one of the top writers on the staff, but the biggest decision she is shown making is whether or not she should use her maiden surname or Lorne’s last name for her surname on the “Saturday Night Live” credits. As one of the top writers on the show, she is never shown making any real writing decisions when the first episode gets shaken up with various revisions on short notice.

In real life, “Saturday Night Live” has also had a very problematic history when it comes to race and racism. The “Saturday Night” movie rightly points out that Garrett Morris was used as a token (he was the only person of color in the original “Saturday Night Live” cast), but the movie’s approach to this uncomfortable subject matter is a bit timid. Garrett makes a thinly veiled diatribe (cloaked in a comedy bit) against white supremacist racism when he jokes that he wants to kill white people. Garrett gets all the white people in the room to laugh at this joke, but then it’s back to business as usual, and Garrett is mostly ignored.

Women of color in the “Saturday Night Live” world of 1975, as in this movie, just simply don’t exist as valuable team members and aren’t considered important enough to be included as decision makers in this world. Because as much as “Saturday Night” wants to portray this ragtag group of “outsiders” as the “rebel underdogs,” within that group of “rebel underdogs,” the sociopolitical hierarchy was the same as the establishment they wanted to rail against: White men get to have almost all of the power, and everyone else has whatever the white men will decide they’ll have.

Reitman and Kenan have previously collaborated on 2021’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and 2024’s “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.” The “Ghostbusters” franchise was co-created by Aykroyd, who has starred in most of the “Ghostbusters” movies with Bill Murray, another “Saturday Night Live” alum. “Ghostbusters” co-creator Harold Ramis was the third main star of the franchise, while Ernie Hudson (just like Garrett Morris) was treated as an inferior sidekick, even though Hudson was an official Ghostbuster too. Jason Reitman’s father Ivan Reitman directed the first two “Ghostbusters” movies and was a producer of all the “Ghostbusters” movies until his death in 2022, at the age of 75.

“Saturday Night” has some of the same problems that “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” has: In its eagerness to cover a lot of bases in fan service, it gets overstuffed and unfocused when trying to show off how many quipping (and sometimes annoying) characters it can cram into a movie. However, “Saturday Night” has the advantage of having main characters as people who became celebrities in real life, so viewers already know what to expect from a lot of these characters. “Saturday Night” is a zippy and sometimes-messy nostalgia piece that is like a series of sketches rather than a comprehensive overview of what went into the launch of “Saturday Night Live.” As long as viewers don’t expect to see an in-depth history of “Saturday Night Live” in this movie, it works just fine as a film that’s somewhere in between lightweight and substantial.

Columbia Pictures released “Saturday Night” in select U.S. cinemas on September 27, 2024, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on October 4 and October 11, 2024.

Review: ‘Wolfs,’ starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt

September 22, 2024

by Carla Hay

Brad Pitt and George Clooney in “Wolfs” (Photo courtesy of Apple Studios)

“Wolfs”

Directed by Jon Watts

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the comedy/drama film “Wolfs” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Two fixers compete over who’s better at covering up the same scandal.

Culture Audience: “Wolfs” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt and movies about dirty dealings that aren’t as edgy and smart as they try to appear to be.

George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Austin Abrams in “Wolfs” (Photo courtesy of Apple Studios)

Wolfs is like a sheep in wolf’s clothing. It’s a boring and derivative dark comedy with George Clooney and Brad Pitt as rival fixers who repeatedly snipe, scowl, and smirk though a weak and bland plot about a scandalous hotel tryst and stolen heroin. The movie tries very hard to make these two fixers seem like dangerous underworld characters, but the performances of Clooney and Pitt fail to convince. These two actors just look like exactly what they are during this entire movie: overpaid, privileged movie stars just going through the motions while doing an unimaginative movie.

Written and directed by Jon Watts, “Wolfs” had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice Film Festival. The movie, which takes place and was filmed on location in New York City, starts off as a potentially intriguing story. The opening scene shows the Manhattan skyline at night and then zooms in on an upscale hotel, where there’s the sound of glass breaking and a woman screaming in horror.

Viewers eventually find out what happened: A divorced, middle-aged district attorney named Margaret (played by Amy Ryan) was sexually hooking up with an unnamed guy (played by Austin Abrams), who’s young enough to be her son, in the hotel suite she had rented for the night. The guy, who is identified in the film’s end credits as Kid, is an undergraduate college student in his late teens or early 20s, who met Margaret at the hotel bar and accepted her invitation to “hang out” with her in her hotel suite.

While jumping up and down on the bed, Kid fell backward and right into a portable glass bar table. He’s bloody and presumed to be dead. In a panic, Margaret calls an unnamed “fixer” (played by Clooney), based on a referral. Margaret tells this fixer (who is identified as Margaret’s Man in the film’s end credits) that an unidentified man she knows gave her this phone number to call if she ever needed serious help.

Margaret’s Man is suspicious and asks her multiple times how she got his phone number. Margaret then seems to say the magic words because she tells this fixer: “He said to say there’s only one man in the city who can do what you do.” And just like a password unlocking a portal, the fixer changes his wary attitude and is convinced he can trust Margaret.

He hears what Margaret’s problem is and calmly assures her: “Everything is going to be fine.” He also orders her not to touch anything and wait for him to arrive at her hotel suite. When he arrives, he finds a nervous Margaret, who tells him that she can’t be connected to this scandal because she’s a district attorney. Margaret’s Man talks to her about establishing an alibi. They agree that she should go home and pretend she was with her teenage daughter all night.

Margaret denies that this unnamed young man in the suite is a prostitute. It’s used as a weird running joke in the movie, where various people assume that Kid is a sex worker and someone replies, “He’s not a prostitute.” This “joke,” which really is pointless and silly, gets tiresome very quickly. Because really: Even if this guy were a sex worker, the bigger problem is that he could be seriously injured or dead.

Just as Margaret’s Man fixer is about to start cleaning up and disposing of the body, another fixer shows up who is there for the same reason. This other fixer is identified in the end credits as Pam’s Man (played by Pitt) because he works for Pamela Dowd, the owner of this fairly new hotel. Margaret’s Man and Margaret find out that the hotel has a hidden video camera in the suite (which is totally illegal surveillance and one of the many stupid plot twists in the movie), and Pamela was alerted about this tryst gone wrong that was recorded by the hidden camera.

Pamela gets on the phone and tells Margaret’s Man that her fixer will take care of the problem because she’s going to do whatever is necessary to preserve the reputation of the hotel by covering up this scandal. Even though Margaret’s Man points out this illegal surveillance is a felony (and whatever was recorded probably wouldn’t be admissible evidence in court because the video is an illegal recording), Pamela ignores Margaret’s Man insistence that he should be the one to do the job. Pam’s Man immediately tries to make Margaret’s Man feel like an interloper, while Margaret’s Man tries to make Pam’s Man feel like an amateur

Margaret suggests that these two fixers work together. The two fixers reject the idea. They immediately despise each other in such a stereotypical way, if “Wolfs” hadn’t been such a hollow display of macho heterosexual posturing between these two fixers, then you could easily think that this “instant dislike” for each other might turn this movie into gay romantic comedy. And so begins a tedious back-and-forth egotistical battle between Margaret’s Man and Pam’s Man to prove who’s the better fixer.

Margaret has already gone home when Margaret’s Man and Pam’s Man find out there’s going to be more to this situation than cleaning up the room and getting rid of evidence, including Kid’s body. The two fixers find out that Kid has some bricks of heroin in his backpack. The fixers immediately deduce that whoever owns the heroin will come looking for it, so it’s better to find that person and give back the heroin.

It’s all just a silly excuse to prolong the movie with time-wasting detours. The trailer for “Wolfs” already reveals that Kid really isn’t dead. He becomes an annoying third wheel who gets caught between the bickering between these two smug fixers.

Margaret’s Man is supposed to be the ice-cold fixer, who thinks he’s superior because he has more experience and more underworld connections. Pam’s Man is supposed to be the wisecracking fixer, who thinks he’s superior because he’s in better physical shape and more skilled at new technology. It’s really just Clooney and Pitt do pale imitations of their characters in the “Ocean’s” movie franchise.

As for Abrams, because of his physical resemblance to Timothée Chalamet, he will get inevitable comparisons to Chalamet, who has more acting range. Abrams isn’t terrible in his “Wolfs” role, but he gives the type of performance that never lets people forget that he’s acting. “Wolfs” looks like a movie that Chalamet probably rejected, so the “Wolfs” filmmakers decided to go with a Chalamet look-alike.

The dialogue in “Wolfs” is often irritating and very artificial-sounding. Nowhere is this more evident than in a self-pitying monologue that Kid spews out in the middle of the movie. There are the typical scenes of bumbling criminals, gun fights and car chases that don’t do anything clever but just play out in a predictable manner.

Zlatko Buric has a small role as a Croatian gangster named Dimitri, who has a run-in with Margaret’s Man and Pam’s Man when the two fixers crash the wedding of Dimitri’s daughter. In an effort to hide from Dimitri, the two fixers try to blend in during a group circle dance. It looks as ridiculous as it sounds.

“Wolfs” has eye-catching cinematography but it can’t make up for such a lackluster story. Women in this shallow movie are background characters or disappear quickly. People who want to see Clooney and Pitt co-star in a more entertaining movie are better off watching “Ocean’s Eleven.”

Apple Studios released “Wolfs” in select U.S. cinemas on September 20, 2024. Apple TV+ will premiere the movie on September 27, 2024.

Review: ‘Skincare,’ starring Elizabeth Banks

September 15, 2024

by Carla Hay

Elizabeth Banks and Lewis Pullman in “Skincare” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films)

“Skincare”

Directed by Elizabeth Banks

Culture Representation: Taking place in Los Angeles, the comedy/drama film “Skincare” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans, Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An esthetician’s life spirals out of control after she is targeted by a mysterious harasser who seems to want to put her out of business.

Culture Audience: “Skincare” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of star Elizabeth Banks and dark satires about blind ambition.

Luis Gerardo Méndez in “Skincare” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films)

“Skincare” is more of a dark comedy about ambition than a mystery thriller about harassment. Elizabeth Banks carries this uneven but interesting movie with her performance as an increasingly unhinged esthetician. “Skincare” is best appreciated if viewers don’t have expectations that it’s a horror movie.

Directed by Austin Peters, “Skincare” was co-written by Peters, Sam Freilich and Deering Regans. It might have been better off as short film, because the plot is very simple, and the middle section of the film tends to drag with repetition. The movie, which takes place and was filmed in Los Angeles, has some biting commentary on the fickleness of celebrity worship culture, but it doesn’t bite hard enough. “Skincare” is loosely based on the real-life case of Los Angeles-area aesthetician Dawn DaLuise, who was accused in 2014 of a murder-for-hire plot against a rival.

“Skincare” begins by showing esthetician Hope Goldman (played by Banks) in a TV studio dressing room, as she’s about to get ready for a interview that will be recorded for a talk show called “The Brett & Kylie Show,” hosted by sleazy Brett Wright (played by Nathan Fillion) and perky Kylie Curson (played by Julie Chang). Hope is doing her own makeup, which is the first sign that she’s probably an image-obsessed control freak. It’s likely she refused to have the show’s makeup artist do Hope’s makeup because Hope wants to prove she’s the best skincare expert.

Hope is the owner of Hope Goldman Skincare, which has some celebrity clients, including a starlet named Jessica (played by Ella Balinska), whom Hope considers to be one of her most important customers. Hope is doing this TV interview mainly to promote a new Hope Goldman Skincare product line that’s she launching in the near future. Hope brags that her high-end products are made in Italy. In the interview, she says: “I took everything I learned from 20 years in this business and bottled it.”

Hope (who is a bachelorette with no children) might appear to be successful and living out her dreams, but behind the scenes, her life is kind of a mess. She’s overdue on her rent at the small boutique-styled space that she uses for her skincare business. And her new skincare product business has been costing her money that she can’t afford. As she explains to her landlord Jeff (played by John Billingsley), when he mildly scolds her for not paying her overdue rent: Hope’s chief investor has suddenly disappeared, and she’s had to pay for the expenses that the investor was supposed to cover, but she promises Jeff she will pay the rent in the coming days.

Hope has only one employee who is shown in the movie. Her name is Marine (played Michaela Jaé Rodriguez), who has various duties, including being a receptionist, administrative assistant and public relations manager. It’s one of the noticeable flaws in “Skincare” that Hope’s employee situation looks unrealistic. Anyone launching this type of skincare business on such a wide scale would have more than one employee. Marine is competent, hard-working and very loyal to Hope. Marine also seems to be the closest thing that loner Hope has to being a friend.

One day, Hope finds out that another esthetician has opened a business across the street from her business. Jeff is also the landlord for that retail space. Hope’s new rival is Angel Vergara (played by Luis Gerardo Méndez), the ambitious owner of Shimmer by Angel, which has a flashier and trendier aesthetic than Hope Goldman Skincare. At first, Hope is cordial to Angel because she thinks that they have different clientele. But their competition becomes bitter when Angel tells her not to park in the space that’s reserved for his customers, and Jessica ends up becoming Angel’s customer.

Hope complains to Jeff about Angel and asks Jeff to evict him, but Jeff’s business-minded response is that he doesn’t evict tenants who pay their rent on time. To make matters worse for Hope, someone hacked into Hope’s email database and sent an embarrassing message from her email address to her nearly 5,000 email contacts. The messages had a rambling confession saying that Hope is lonely, horny, and financially broke. Some the recipients of this message are Hope’s clients, who cancel appointments with her because they now think that she’s mentally ill.

Hope is convinced that Angel is responsible for the hacking, even though she has no proof. She is also getting harassing phone calls where the caller breathes heavily and then hangs up. Hope thinks Angel is also the cause of this phone harassment because he’s the only person she can think of who would have a motive to sabotage her business. It sets her on a path to stop the harassment by any means necessary.

The fake email message goes viral and damages Hope’s reputation. As a result, her prerecorded interview on “The Brett & Kylie Show” gets cancelled. And what a coincidence: “The Brett & Kylie Show” replaces Hope’s interview with an interview that the show did with Angel. A tire on Hope’s car is later slashed.

While all of this turmoil is going on, Hope meets Jordan Weaver (played by Lewis Pullman), a 26-year-old who has recently moved to Los Angeles. Jordan is having a casual fling with elderly and affluent Colleen (played by Wendie Malick), one of Hope’s customers. Colleen, who is old enough to be Jordan’s grandmother, is the one who introduces Jordan to Hope. Jordan says he’s an aspiring actor, but in the meantime, he’s a “life coach” who teaches martial arts and spiritual healing.

Jordan and Hope eventually become friendly with each other, in the way that people become close when they think they can use each other for personal benefits. Angel’s business starts to experience even more success as Hope’s business goes on a steep decline, which enrages Hope and fuels her jealous quest to get revenge before her skincare product line officially launches. There’s a shady character named Armen (played by Erik Palladino) who comes into the picture and has a pivotal role in the story.

The plot of “Skincare” goes off into some tangents that could have been explored better but are just left to dangle without any meaningful follow-up. For example, there’s a scene where Brett (who is married but tells Hope that he’s on the brink of divorce) makes sexual advances on Hope after the “Brett & Kylie Show” cancelled her interview to be televised. Brett hints that he could put her back on his TV show if she gives him what he wants sexually.

Hope handles this sexual harassment in an astute way, but there’s really no purpose to this scene except to show that Brett is corrupt, and Hope has ways to get out of this type of tricky situation. It also seems odd that the movie makes it look like “The Brett & Kylie Show” is the only possible TV show that would be interested in interviewing Hope, before her scandal happened. Brett ends up being a character who is barely in the movie, which gives the impression that perhaps there were more scenes in the film that didn’t make the final cut.

This sexual harassment scene seems to be part of the movie’s larger commentary on the shallowness of transactional “quid pro quo” relationships, particularly in a celebrity-oriented city such as Los Angeles. A recurring “joke” in the movie is that Hope offers free samples of her skincare products as a way to ingratiate herself to people whom she thinks can do her favors later on. Hope also chases fame for herself just as much as some of the celebrities whom she wants as clients.

“Skincare” might leave some viewers confused about the intended tone of the film. The movie starts off looking like a drama but then it becomes more darkly comical as it goes along. Some of the characters seem more like caricatures the more time that they spend on screen. Thanks to Banks’ “go for broke” performance, “Skincare” blurs the lines between victims and villains, which will make some viewers more uncomfortable than others.

IFC Films released “Skincare” in U.S. cinemas on August 16, 2024.

Review: ‘My Old Ass,’ starring Maisy Stella, Percy Hynes White, Maddie Ziegler, Kerrice Brooks and Aubrey Plaza

September 13, 2024

by Carla Hay

Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza in “My Old Ass” (Photo by Marni Grossman/Amazon Content Services)

“My Old Ass”

Directed by Megan Park

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Muskoka Lakes area of Canada’s Ontario province, the comedy/drama film “My Old Ass” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few black people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: In the summer before she goes away to college, a restless teen takes psychedelic mushrooms on her 18-year-old birthday and meets her 39-year-old self, who gives her some advice that the teen is reluctant to take.

Culture Audience: “My Old Ass” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and well-acted stories about growing pains in young adulthood.

Kerrice Brooks, Maisy Stella, and Maddie Ziegler in “My Old Ass” (Photo courtesy of Amazon Content Services)

“My Old Ass” capably blends comedy, drama and fantasy in this sarcastically sweet coming-of-age story about an 18-year-old communicating with a manifestation of her 39-year-old self. Maisy Stella gives a standout performance as a teen on an identity quest. The movie isn’t for everyone but it will find appeal with open-minded people who aren’t offended by how obscene cursing, casual sex and illegal drug use are presented as part of a teenager’s life.

Written and directed by Megan Park, “My Old Ass” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The tone of the movie is much lighter than “The Fallout,” Park’s feature-film directorial debut about teenagers dealing with the aftermath of a mass-murder shooting at their school. Park has a knack for casting very talented people in the roles that are right for them because they inhabit their roles in authentic ways. “My Old Ass” is Stella’s impressive feature-film debut after having roles in television, such as the TV series “Nashville.”

“My Old Ass” takes place during a summer in an unnamed city in the Muskoka Lakes area of Ontario, Canada, where the movie was filmed on location. Main character Elliott (played by Stella) lives on a cranberry farm owned by her parents Tom (played by Al Goulem) and Kathy (played by Maria Dizzia), who are very loving and supportive of each other and their three children. Elliott is the middle child.

Elliott’s older brother Max (played by Seth Isaac Johnson) is about 19 or 20. He has chosen to be in the family business of cranberry farming. Max and Elliott have an emotionally distant relationship because they are almost polar opposites of each other. Max is introverted and straight-laced. At one point in the movie, Max says to Elliott: “I’m everything you hate. I like farming. I like sports. I hate [the TV series] ‘Euphoria.'”

The younger brother of Max and Elliott is Spencer (played by Carter Trozzolo), who is nice but doesn’t have much of a personality. Elliott definitely likes Spencer more than she likes Max. Still, Elliott doesn’t really hang out with her brothers very much. Elliott also tells anyone who will listen that she can’t wait to move away from this cranberry farm and live her life in the big city of Toronto. In the meantime, Elliott spends a lot of time cruising on a motorboat in a lake.

In the beginning of the movie, Elliott will be leaving in 22 days for her freshman year at the University of Toronto. Also in the beginning of the movie, Elliott identifies as a lesbian, but that will change when she falls for a guy about a year or two older than she is. Elliott has a flirtation with a teenage woman named Chelsea (played by Alexandria Rivera), who’s about the same age, and the flirtation turns into a sexual fling.

Elliott’s two best friends are also free spirits: Ruthie (played by Maddie Ziegler) is tactful and a romantic at heart. Ro (played by Kerrice Brooks) is more outspoken and pragmatic. For Elliott’s 18th birthday, the three pals plan to go camping overnight in the woods and take psychedelic mushrooms that were purchased by Ro. Elliott doesn’t bother to tell her family about these camping plans, so there’s a scene of Elliott’s family waiting forlornly at their dining table with a birthday cake that Elliott never sees on her birthday.

While high on the mushrooms, Elliott is near a campfire when she suddenly sees a woman (played by Aubrey Plaza) sitting next to her. The woman says that she is Elliott at 39 years old. Elliott doesn’t believe her at first until the woman shows Elliott that she has the same torso scar that Elliott got from a childhood accident. Both of the Elliotts have some back-and-forth banter—younger Elliott thinks 39 is middle-aged, while older Elliott thinks 39 is still a young age—and trade some snide quips about what the future holds for Elliott.

The older Elliott will only reveal that she is a Ph. D. student in Toronto and is dating a woman. Younger Elliott asks Older Elliott for life advice. Older Elliott tells Younger Elliott to be nicer to her family and not take them for granted. Younger Elliott also asks older Elliott what her definition is of healthy love. Older Elliott says that healthy love is safety and freedom at the same time. After some of the jokes and semi-insults, older Elliott gets serious and gives younger Elliott a dire warning to not have sex with someone named Chad, but older Elliott won’t say why. It’s a warning that confuses and haunts younger Elliott for most of the movie.

Elliott goes home after the camping trip and thinks older Elliott was just a hallucination until she sees that older Elliott had put her phone number in younger Elliott’s phone. Not long after this psychedelic experience, Elliott is skinny dipping in a lake when has a “meet cute” experience with a guy named Chad (played by Percy Hynes White), who’s also in the lake for a swim. It turns out that Chad is an undergrad college student who is working at the farm for the summer. He has plans to eventually get a master’s degree in pharmacology.

“My Old Ass” then becomes mostly about Elliott trying to navigate and understand her growing feelings for Chad, who is intelligent, funny and kind. Elliott is confused not only because her older self told her to stay away from Chad but also because Elliott had always assumed that she would only be sexually attracted to women. Chad is clearly attracted to Elliott too, but she is very reluctant to get involved with Chad.

“My Old Ass” has a lot of familiar “will they or won’t they” scenes in movies about two people who are romantically attracted to each other, but one person is hesitant to act on these feelings. The movie has some quirky comedy, including another hallucinogenic experience involving Justin Bieber’s 2009 hit “One Less Lonely Girl.” All of the principal cast members are utterly believable in their roles and have great comedic timing in the performances.

What might surprise viewers and is perhaps somewhat disappointing is that the older Elliott isn’t in the movie as much as the trailer for “My Old Ass” would lead people to believe. In fact, there’s a great deal of the movie where younger Elliott is frantic and frustrated because older Elliott won’t return younger Elliott’s phone calls. There are also huge parts of the movie where best friends Ruthie and Ro aren’t seen at all.

“My Old Ass” has themes that are timeless, but a lot of the movie’s jargon and pop culture references are very mid-2020s and already kind of outdated. Some of the dialogue sounds forced, like an adult’s idea of what a progressive-minded, motormouthed teen (Elliott) would sound like when it just sounds like movie dialogue, not real-life dialogue. These are small flaws in a movie that is overall well-paced, fairly unique and elevated by a very talented cast.

Even though there could have been more scenes between younger Elliott and older Elliott, the movie makes a point of showing that this story doesn’t want to rely too heavily on a time-traveling gimmick. And although the movie’s title is “My Old Ass,” the story’s focus remains consistently from the perspective of younger Elliott. Viewers will be curious to know what older Elliott’s secret is about Chad, but the most interesting and best part of the movie is how Elliott reacts when she inevitably finds out this secret.

Amazon MGM Studios released “My Old Ass” in select U.S. cinemas on September 13, 2024, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on September 27, 2024.

Review: ‘I’ll Be Right There,’ starring Edie Falco, Jeannie Berlin, Kayli Carter, Charlie Tahan, Michael Beach, Sepideh Moafi, Michael Rapaport and Bradley Whitford

September 10, 2024

by Carla Hay

Jeannie Berlin, Edie Falco and Kayli Carter in “I’ll Be Right There” (Photo courtesy of Brainstorm Media)

“I’ll Be Right There”

Directed by Brendan Walsh

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in New York state, the comedy/drama film “I’ll Be Right There” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few African Americans and one person of Middle Eastern heritage) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A queer divorcée, whose family members are over-reliant on her, juggles family problems with her sexually fluid love life.

Culture Audience: “I’ll Be Right There” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and “slice of life” movies with good acting.

Charlie Tahan in “I’ll Be Right There” (Photo courtesy of Brainstorm Media)

“I’ll Be Right There” has neurotic characters and a meandering storyline that can be frustrating and funny. Edie Falco’s performance improves this comedy/drama that can inspire debate about family loyalty versus co-dependency. Viewers who expect definitive conclusions and predictable character developments probably won’t like this movie very much. Although there are some moments that seem to be straight from a sitcom, “I’ll Be Right There” ultimately takes a believable approach to the reality that most people can’t or won’t change their flaws in just a few months and might not change their flaws at all.

Directed by Brendan Walsh and written by Jim Beggarly, “I’ll Be Right There” had its world premiere at the 2023 Hamptons International Film Festival. The movie, which was filmed in New York state, takes place in an unnamed small suburban city in New York state. It’s the type of small city where neighbors know each other’s personal business, and gossip quickly spreads.

“I’ll Be Right There” begins with main character Wanda (played by Falco) accompanying her hypochondriac, widowed mother Grace (played by Jeannie Berlin) to a doctor’s appointment. Grace, who has been a longtime smoker, is convinced that she has lung cancer. Grace and Wanda are waiting for Grace’s physician Dr. Hoover (played by Fred Grandy) to tell them what are the results of Grace’s recent physical exam.

As an example of the movie’s somewhat dark comedy, Dr. Hoover cheerfully delivers a good news/bad news diagnosis: The good news is that Grace does not have lung cancer. The bad news is that she has leukemia, but she hasn’t shown symptoms of leukemia yet. Dr. Hoover concludes the appointment by telling Grace: “You might die of something else entirely before the leukemia ever presents itself.” After the appointment, Grace’s reaction is to immediately light up a cigarette.

Wanda works as a bookkeeper and has been divorced for many years. She has a prickly relationship with her unreliable ex-husband Henry (played by Bradley Whitford), who has three sons under the age of 12 with his current wife Allison, who is not seen in the movie. Henry still lives in the area, but he spends almost all of his family time with Allison and their children instead of the children he has with Wanda.

Henry and Wanda have two children in their 20s: Sarah (played by Kayli Carter) is pregnant with her first child (a boy) and due to give birth soon. Sarah is eight months pregnant in the beginning of the movie; the father of the child is her fiancé Eugene (played by Jack Mulhern), who is unsophisticated and passive. Sarah is determined to get married in a traditional wedding before she gives birth. Wanda and Henry’s other adult child is Mark (played by Charlie Tahan), a recovering crack cocaine addict who is a habitual liar and chronically unemployed.

The movie barely shows Wanda doing any work at her job. Instead, she spends most of her time being at the beck and call of Grace, Mark and Sarah. Mark has a love/hate relationship with Wanda. At times, he complains that she is inattentive and that he has abandonment issues because of Wanda. Other times, Mark expresses deep resentment toward Wanda because he thinks she’s interfering in his life too much. Grace and Sarah are very close to Wanda—perhaps too close because they expect her to be like a therapist and a chauffeur for them.

Wanda isn’t saintly, but she shows extraordinary patience in dealing with the volatility and ungratefulness in her family. Later in the movie, she gives a monologue where she makes it clear that not only does she like having her family depend on her so much, but she also lives for this co-dependency and it’s what gives her the most joy, even when it can be very emotionally painful. Adding to the complexity of the character, Wanda is overly involved in her adult children’s life, and yet they still keep some secrets from her.

Meanwhile, Wanda (who doesn’t say what her sexual identity is) has a big secret of her own: She’s been dating an English professor named Sophie (played by Sepideh Moafi), who’s about 15 to 20 years younger than Wanda and who goes over to Wanda’s house for their sexual trysts. Wanda mentions at one point in the movie that dating women is a fairly new experience for Wanda. Sophie and Wanda are semi-closeted in different ways. Wanda doesn’t want her neighbors to know that she’s dating a woman, and she’s not ready to tell her family members.

Sophie doesn’t have a problem with Wanda’s neighbors knowing about their affair, but Sophie won’t introduce Wanda to anyone else in her life, and she doesn’t want Wanda to come over to Sophie’s place. Wanda and Sophie don’t go out on “couple’s dates”; they only have sexual hookups. It bothers Wanda that Sophie won’t let Wanda into other parts of Sophie’s life because Wanda wants to be more than just a casual fling to Sophie. Wanda tells Sophie about these concerns, but Sophie explains that she likes to keep Sophie’s life in compartments.

At the same time, Wanda has been dating an emotionally insecure restaurateur named Marshall (played by Michael Rapaport), who is in love with her, but Wanda does not feel the same way about him. Wanda hasn’t told Marshall that she is cheating on him and that she’s not heterosexual. Marshall is a bit of whiner who likes to complain about getting old and about an injury that he got from a broken wrist a long time ago.

Around the same time that Wanda is having these love-life complications, she becomes re-acquainted with a former classmate from high school named Albert Newman (played by Michael Beach), a divorced dad who has recently moved back to the area and is working as a firefighter. When Albert was in high school, he was bullied for being small and scrawny. As an adult, he is now muscular and confident.

Early on in the movie, there’s a scene that’s an example of how Wanda lets herself be used as a go-to problem solver and counselor for every real or imagined challenge in her family. Wanda is late going to Mark’s therapy session because Sarah has insisted that Wanda go with Sarah to a hospital. Sarah is having an emotional meltdown because she hasn’t felt her unborn baby kick for about 10 hours, so she assumes the baby might be dead. It turns out to be a false alarm.

Viewers might have varying feelings about Wanda’s co-dependency, based on how they think adults should or should not be involved in the lives of their parents or adult children. Is Wanda in the habit of rescuing her family members, or is she enabling them? “I’ll Be Right There” offers realistic performances, led by Falco, who has such exceptional talent, she can make even the silliest scene look somewhat credible. “I’ll Be Right There” is a solidly entertaining character study that doesn’t force the characters to go through drastic changes, but allows these characters to simply be who they are, whether it makes people comfortable or not.

Brainstorm Media released “I’ll Be Right There” in select U.S. cinemas on September 6, 2024. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on September 27, 2024.

Review: ‘My Penguin Friend,’ starring Jean Reno and Adriana Barraza

September 1, 2024

by Carla Hay

Jean Reno and Adriana Barraza in “My Penguin Friend” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)

“My Peguin Friend”

Directed by David Schurmann

Some language in Portuguese and Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the 2010s in Brazil and in Argentina (with a brief flashback to the 1980s), the comedy/drama film “My Penguin Friend” (inspired by true events) features a predominantly Latin group of people (with a few white people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Brazilian fisherman João Pereira De Souza rescues a migrating Argentinian penguin from an oil-spill health hazard, and the penguin returns to visit him every year.

Culture Audience: “My Penguin Friend” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and heartwarming stories about the bonds that can develop between humans and wild animals.

Alexia Moyano in “My Penguin Friend” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)

“My Penguin Friend” won’t rank among the very best movies about adorable penguins, and the cast members’ performances are mismatched. However, this comedy/drama (based on a true story) is pleasant enough to watch as family-friendly entertainment. “My Penguin Friend” (formerly titled “The Penguin and the Fisherman”) tends to get a bit repetitive, and some of the pacing is sluggish, but it’s sufficiently enjoyable and doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not.

Directed by David Schurmann and written by Paulina Lagudi and Kristen Lazarian, “My Penguin Friend” begins sometime in the early 1980s, in Ilha Grande, Brazil. That’s where fisherman João Pereira De Souza (played by Pedro Urizzi) and his wife Maria (played by Amanda Magalhães) live with their son Miguel (played by Juan José Garnica), who’s about 6 or 7 years. They are a happy family living in a modest home.

Miguel will soon have a birthday. His close friend Calista (played by Beatriz Lima) has shown him a small gift-wrapped box that she says is her birthday gift to him. Calista makes Miguel promise that he won’t open the gift until his birthday.

Sadly, Miguel won’t live to see his upcoming birthday. One day, João takes Miguel on a rowboat excursion in the ocean. They get caught in a sudden storm that overturns the boat. João does his best to save Miguel, but the current is too strong, and Miguel drowns. Some of the movie’s visual effects in the ocean scenes are hit-and-miss when it comes to being convincing.

About 30 years later, João (played by Jean Reno) and Maria (played by Adriana Barraza) still live in the same house. João feels extremely guilty about Miguel’s death. João and Maria did not have any more children. João still works as a fisherman. And although he has fisherman colleagues, he is introverted and somewhat emotionally withdrawn because Miguel’s death has left him a somewhat broken person.

One spring day, João finds a male penguin that is covered in oil from an oil spill. João takes the bird home and cleans him up. He decides to keep the bird until the penguin is well enough to be put back in the ocean. Maria isn’t thrilled to have this wild bird in the house, but João says the penguin will be in the home for only a few days.

A week later, João and the penguin have developed a friendly bond. João aks for “one more week” to keep the penguin, which he eventually names DinDim. You know where all of this is going, of course. That week turns into more weeks.

João doesn’t keep DinDim in captivity. He also doesn’t treat DinDim like a possession that only he can own. DinDim is allowed to roam around wherever he wants. DinDim often follows João around and sometimes goes with João on fishing trips. DinDim becomes a well-known fixture in the João’s community, which includes a now-adult Calista (played by Thalma de Freitas), a widow who has an underage daughter named Lucia (played by Duda Galvão).

One day, João has noticed that DinDim seems to have left the area for good. João assumes that he might never see the penguin again. But to the surprise of João and many other people, DinDim comes back to visit João every year, around the same time of year when DinDim first came into João’s life.

Where did DinDim come from? And where does he go when he’s away from Ilha Grande? It’s revealed fairly early on in the movie that DinDim is part of a community of penguins being studied by marine biologists in Patagonia, Argentina. His annual migration to Brazil to visit indicates that penguins have emotional intelligence that might be underestimated by people who think that penguins aren’t capable of having emotions.

Three marine biologists in particular are the focus in the parts of the movie that have to do with DinDim’s life in Argentina. They are Adriana (played by Alexia Moyano), the analytical leader of the trio; headstrong Carlos (played by Nicolás Francella); and eager-to-please Stephanie (played by Rocío Hernández), who is the youngest and least-experienced of the trio.

Eventually, a freelance TV journalist name Paulo (played by Ravel Cabral) finds out the amazing story of DinDim migrating thousands of miles every year to visit João. Paulo wants to do a feature story on João and DinDim. At first, João doesn’t want to be interviewed. However, he eventually changes his mind when Paulo agrees to João’s request that Paulo’s story needed to mention that DinDim comes and goes as DinDim pleases.

The best scenes in “My Penguin Friend” are obviously those between DimDim (who was played by various real penguins) and João, who treats this penguin like a friend and a child. I João’s relationship with DinDim is clearly João’s way of trying to heal some of João’s wounds about losing his son Miguel. The movie barely scratches the surface of how Miguel’s death affected the marriage of João and Maria. That aspect of these characters’ lives could have been explored better in the movie.

Likewise, all of the supporting characters to João and Maria are a bit generic. It doesn’t help that many of the people playing these characters have a lot less acting skills than longtime actors Reno and Barraza. It results in several somewhat awkward scenes where Reno and Barraza clearly give the best performances, while other members of the “My Penguin Friend” cast struggle with saying their lines in ways that are realistic and believable.

Despite some stiff acting from some of the cast members, “My Penguin Friend” can maintain viewer interest because of the heart of the story: the unusual friendship between a human being and a penguin. The movie sends a great message that wild animals should not be kept trapped inside people’s homes and exploited for money and/or attention. It’s a simple but effective story of two beings who form an unlikely and emotionally meaningful bond by being themselves.

Roadside Attractions released “My Penguin Friend” in U.S. cinemas on August 16, 2024.

Review: ‘Pilot’ (2024), starring Jo Jung-suk, Lee Ju-myoung, Han Sun-hwa and Shin Seung-ho

August 14, 2024

by Carla Hay

Jo Jung-suk in “Pilot” (Photo courtesy of Lotte Entertainment)

“Pilot” (2024)

Directed by Kim Han-gyul

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2023 and 2024, in South Korea, the comedy film “Pilot” features a nearly all-Asian cast of characters (with one white person) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A disgraced hotshot pilot, who’s been blacklisted from the airline industry, pretends to be a woman when he finds out that an airline is recruiting female pilots. 

Culture Audience: “Pilot” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and comedies about gender swapping.

Jo Jung-suk in “Pilot” (Photo courtesy of Lotte Entertainment)

The breezy comedy “Pilot” has similarities to the 1982 film “Tootsie,” but Pilot has updated themes that demonstrate the role that social media can play in shaping public images. Even with its amusing moments, “Pilot” has a lot to say about gender stereotypes. There are some scenes that require a suspension of disbelief, but they are explained in a way that’s fairly reasonable in the context of the story, which still has a few plot holes.

Directed by Kim Han-gyul and written by Jo Yoo-jin, “Pilot” takes place in 2023 and 2024, in unnamed cities in South Korea, although it can be assumed that much of what happens is in Seoul. The movie’s opening scene shows what appears to be a female airline employee running frantically through a busy city street while being chased by dozens of people. Who is this person? And why are so many people chasing this person?

The first two-thirds of the movie explain what happened before circling back to this scene in the last third of the movie. The protagonist of “Pilot” is Han Jung-woo (played by Jo Jung-suk), a hotshot pilot with Hankuk Air, a leading South Korean airline company. In 2023, Jung-woo is 31 years old and a star employee on the rise who has recently been promoted from co-pilot to captain. He does TV interviews on behalf of Hankuk Air, which treats him like a celebrity, because Jung-woo is featured in Hankuk Air’s advertisements.

At first glance, Jung-woo seems to have it all: He has a lovely wife named Soo-young (played by Kim Ji-hyun) and an adorable 6-year-old son named Si-hoo. Jung-woo’s career is thriving. He has the respect and admiration of many people. Soo-young, a dancer who teaches ballet to children, is also doing well in her job. What could possibly go wrong?

But things go terribly wrong. Jung-woo has become arrogant. He has a dismissive and sexist attitude toward women in the airline industry. One day, at a company meeting, Jung-woo stands up and loudly compares flight attendants to bouquets of flowers that can wilt. His misogynistic comment is controversial and causes public outrage.

Jung-woo’s comment comes during a rough time for Hankuk Air. The company is experiencing a power struggle between the two siblings who are set to inherit the company brother Noh Jeong-wook (played by Hyun Bong-sik) is the vice president who takes credit for the hard work and innovative ideas of his older sister Noh Moon-young (played by Seo Jae-hee), who is the director of the company.

Due to Noh Jeong-wook’s mismanagement, the company’s stocks are plunging. Staff cuts are made. Jung-woo is one of the people who is fired, mostly because of his sexist remarks that he said in public. As a result of the scandal. Jung-woo has problems finding a job at another airline. He eventually finds out that he’s been blacklisted.

Things go from bad to worse for Jung-woo. Shortly after he gets fired, Soo-young tells Jung-woo that she wants a divorce and that she’s been thinking about ending their marriage for quite some time, long before he got fired. Soo-young later tells Jung-woo she doesn’t want to be married to him anymore because he’s become too self-absorbed. In their quickie divorce, Jung-woo loses custody of Si-hoo, but Jung-woo gets unsupervised visitation rights.

Because of the divorce, Jung-woo needs a new place to live. He moves back in to the apartment that he bought for his widowed mother Kim An-ja (played by Oh Min-ae) and younger sister Han Jung-mi (played by Han Sun-hwa), who live together. Jung-woo is still paying the mortgage for the apartment, but he’s too ashamed to tell his mother that he got fired from his job. Jung-woo feels obligated to continue to give this financial support to his mother and sister because he’s grateful that they helped raise him when he was younger.

Jung-woo is dismayed and embarrassed to find out that getting too caught up in hotshot pilot job has come at an emotional cost: His mother has become an obsessive fan of pop star Lee Chan-won (playing a version of himself) and has decorated the apartment’s spare bedroom with posters of Lee Chan-won. Jung-mi tells Jung-woo that their mother thinks of Lee Chan-won as her “new son” because Jung-woo has been neglecting his family.

During his job search, Jung-woo applies for a job at Han Air, which is owned by the same company that owns Hankuk Air. Noh Moon-young is on a panel of people interviewing Jung-woo, who is rejected. A Han Air pilot named Seo Hyun-seok (played by Shin Seung-ho), who is 35 years old and is a jealous rival of Jung-woo, tells Jung-woo that Han Air is giving hiring preference to female pilots. It’s implied that this gender preference is a public-relations move to make up for the scandal that Jung-woo caused with his misogynistic comments.

A dejected Jung-woo goes home and tries to figure out his next career move. Jung-mi is an ASMR beauty influencer who does videos for an unnamed social media platform. One day, Jung-woo gets a call for a job interview as a pilot for Han Air. Jung-mi is shocked to find out that Jung-woo used her name on the job application. Jung-woo then asks for Jung-mi’s help to make him look like a woman for this job interview.

At first Jung-mi refuses to do it. But then, Jung-woo reminds her that he needs to make enough money to continue paying for their home’s mortgage. He tells her if he can’t pay the mortgage, they’ll lose their home. Jung-mi quickly changes her mind and agrees to help. She also promises her brother that she will keep this gender deception a secret.

The rest of “Pilot” has plot points that are a lot like “Tootsie,” the Oscar-winning film starring Dustin Hoffman as a blacklisted actor who pretends to be a woman to get a role on a TV soap opera, he becomes a popular star of the show, and he ends up falling for a female co-star (played by Jessica Lange), who doesn’t know his true gender identity. The main difference in both movies (beside the jobs of the protagonists) is that the protagonist in “Tootsie” is a never-married bachelor with no family, whereas the protagonist in “Pilot” is a divorcé with a family.

Jung-woo uses his sister Jung-mi’s name, and he dresses like a woman when he goes to the Han Air interview, where Noh Moon-young is once again the leader of the interview panel. Several uncomfortable interactions ensue as he awkwardly adjusts to presenting himself as a woman. Despite a few mishaps, Jung-woo quickly gets hired by Han Air.

There are some glaring plot holes that are addressed later in the movie, such as how Jung-woo was able to get hired using a fake name and by misrepresenting his gender. Some of the comedy in the movie is about Jung-woo (dressed as Jung-mi) trying to prevent Hyun-seok from recognizing him as Jung-woo. That’s explained because Hyun-seok was a casual acquaintance of Jung-woo and is too narcissistic to notice the physical resemblance between Jung-woo and the newly hired Jung-mi.

As already revealed in the trailer for “Pilot,” the fake Jung-mi eventually becomes a star employee and a social media sensation after saving 215 passengers from a plane crash. Jung-woo’s mother An-ja becomes a big fan. How could An-ja not notice that this female celebrity pilot has the same name as her daughter and looks a lot like her son? The movie has an explanation for that too.

Meanwhile, cocky Hyun-seok becomes attracted to his new co-worker Jung-Mi, whom he thinks is a woman. Jung-woo becomes attracted to female co-worker who doesn’t know that new employee Jung-Mi is really a man named Jung-woo. Jung-woo’s love interest is a career-oriented pilot named Yoon Seul-gi (played by Lee Ju-myoung), who has the same ambition of being promoted to captain. Seul-gi and the fake Jung-Mi become very close and spend time together outside of work.

Seul-gi thinks of “Jung-Mi” as a sister. Jung-woo, who can’t tell Seul-gi that he’s really a man, wants more than a friendship with her. During a “girls’ night out,” Jung-woo (as Jung-Mi) tells Seul-gi that he knows many men whom he could introduce to Seul-gi as potential boyfriends. He asks Seul-gi what type of man is her ideal man. Seul-gi says her ideal man is someone who can understand how much she loves her job and someone who doesn’t lie to her. Uh-oh.

“Pilot” has some exepcted slapstick comedy moments about the lengths that Jung-woo goes to keep his secret and keep up the charade. The cast members’ talent and very good comedic timing are the reasons why some of these moments are laugh-out-loud funny instead of cringeworthy. Jo’s gender-swapping performance is entertaning to watch, even if “Pilot” is nowhere near a classic movie like “Tootsie” that’s worthy of several Oscar nominations.

The most ridiculous part of “Pilot” is the plane crash scene, which has cheat editing. One minute, the plane suddenly catches on fire. Jung-woo (as Jung-Mi) and Hyun-seok are piloting the plane, but Hyun-seok panics, and Jung-woo (as Jung-Mi) takes over flying the plane. A few minutes later, Jung-woo (as Jung-Mi) wakes up in a hospital. The movie completely skips over showing how the plane landed.

Despite some obvious flaws, “Pilot” doesn’t take itself too seriously—and neither should viewers. The movie could have taken a completely sappy direction in showing the outcome of one particular problem, but “Pilot” instead shows a realistic outcome. That’s not to say that “Pilot” is entirely realistic, but it does have some clever moments that show how a man can learn to better appreciate and understand women if he had to live for a period of time as a woman.

Lotte Entertainment released “Pilot” in select U.S. cinemas on August 9, 2024.

Review: ‘Coup!’ (2024), starring Peter Sarsgaard, Billy Magnussen, Sarah Gadon, Skye P. Marshall, Faran Tahir, Kristine Nielsen and Fisher Stevens

August 11, 2024

by Carla Hay

Peter Sarsgaard in “Coup!” (Photo courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment)

“Coup!” (2024)

Directed by Joseph Schuman and Austin Stark

Culture Representation: Taking place in 1918 in California, the comedy/drama “Coup!” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with one African American and one person of Arab heritage) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A mysterious con man assumes the identify of a dead chef to infiltrate and cause havoc in the household of a wealthy, politically progressive journalist. 

Culture Audience: “Coup!” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and comedies/dramas that poke fun at social class snobbery.

Sarah Gadon and Billy Magnussen in “Coup!” (Photo courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment)

As a satire about social class biases, “Coup!” loses its edge in the last 15 minutes. However, this comedy/drama (about a con artist who works as a chef for a wealthy family in 1918) has enough entertaining performances to keep it mostly afloat. “Coup!” had its world premiere at the 2023 Venice International Film Festival.

Written and directed by Joseph Schuman and Austin Stark, “Coup!” has a concept that’s familiar in stories about con artists who set out to fool and possibly steal from rich people: The fraudster usually targets wealthy people not just for monetary reasons but also to prove that these wealthy targets aren’t as smart as they think they are. Money can’t buy class, but the con artists also want to show that money can’t buy intelligence.

“Coup!” never reveals the real name or personal history of the middle-aged con artist who’s at the center of the story. In the beginning of the movie, the con artist (played by Peter Sarsgaard) is seen in a residential room where a professional chef named Floyd Monk is seated at a table. Floyd (who’s about the same age as the con artist and slightly resembles him) is dead, with a bullet wound on the left side of his head. There’s a gun on the table.

The con artist mutters some comments in a tone that sounds as if he knows Floyd and thinks it’s a shame that Floyd had to die this way. The con artist then takes Floyd’s photo identification and other personal items, with the intent to assume Floyd’s identity. For the rest of the movie, this fraudster is only known as Floyd Monk. Was Floyd’s death a suicide, accident, or murder? The answer is revealed toward the end of the movie.

The fake Floyd Monk is then seen going to a mansion in a remote wooded area on a small fictional island called Egg Island, which is located somewhere in California. (“Coup!” was actually filmed in New Jersey.) The fake Floyd goes to this mansion because he knows the real Floyd was supposed to start a new job as chef for the family who lives at the mansion.

The mansion is owned by a politically liberal, muckraking journalist named Jay Horton (played by Billy Magnussen), a wealthy heir who lives in the mansion with his socially tolerant wife Julie Horton (played by Sarah Gadon) and their two somewhat spoiled children: Molly (played by Willa Dunn) and Tom (played by Callum Vinson), who are very close in age to each other. Molly is about 5 years old, while Tom is about 4 years old.

Also living on the property are three servants, who have their own living quarters, separate from the mansion. Catherine McMurray (played by Kristine Nielsen) is an authoritative governess, who sees herself as the enforcer of the household’s strict rules. Ruth Tidwell (played by Skye P. Marshall) is an obedient maid. Kaan (played by Faran Tahir) is a loyal chauffeur.

During this period of time in 1918, World War I is still happening (but would end in November of that year), and the world was affected by a pandemic of influenza, also known the Spanish flu. In scenes that will remind people of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns of 2020, there is paranoia about getting infected, as people wear masks and are under strict quarantine. In the beginning of the story, isolated Egg Island hasn’t been affected by the influenza outbreak, but that situation will eventually change.

Jay expects Julie to share the same political beliefs as he does. Jay wants his family to be known as vegetarians, pacificists and “conscientious objectors” to World War I. In multiple scenes in the movie (including early on in the story), Jay is seen typing angry letters to the editor of a newspaper called the Progressive Tribune. In one of the letters, Jay rants that the president of the United States is focused on the war in Europe, when the “true killer” is “the flu from Spain.”

Jay believes that America’s employers aren’t giving the average employees enough protection from influenza. “The real victims are the workers,” Jay says in one of his letter rants. Much of the comedy in “Coup!” derives from how Jay seems to always want to portray himself as an advocate for working-class people, yet he doesn’t necessarily apply those same preachy ideals in his own household when it comes to his own employees.

It’s eventually revealed that Jay has ambitions to run for governor of California. Jay admires and is envious of progressive liberal Upton Sinclair (played by Fisher Stevens), who is mentioned several times in the movie. People who know about California’s history will know probably know about Upton Sinclair’s involvement in California politics and Sinclair’s candidacy for governor of California.

When the fake Floyd meets Jay for the first time, there’s immediately a rivalry to see which one can outwit the other. Jay is somewhat suspicious that Floyd has arrived a day later than expected. Floyd makes an excuse that there was a mixup with his travel paperwork. When the fake Floyd shows the real Floyd’s photo ID, the real Floyd’s photo is blurry enough for the fake Floyd to convince anyone who sees the ID that he’s the one in the photo.

Jay desperately needs a chef for the household, so he puts his suspicions on hold for a while. Floyd immediately charms Julie. However, Catherine is a lot less impressed and notices that this new chef doesn’t like to follow rules and seems unfamiliar with cooking in a kitchen. The con artist is able to talk his way out of people questioning his qualifications and experience.

It doesn’t take long for Floyd to start to erode the authority that Jay wants to impose in his household. First, Floyd befriends Ruth and Kaan by planting ideas in their heads that they should demand raises and better living conditions. When it’s reported that influenza has spread to Egg Island, the household goes under quarantine, thereby making grocery trips or any trips outside the house more of a hazard. Through manipulations and some sabotage, the fake Floyd uses this quarantine to his advantage.

Publicly, Jay has political views that could be considered socialist. Privately, Jay has an attitude that’s very similar to the elitist capitalism that he likes to rant against in his writing. The mansion’s swimming pool is symbolic of the social class divides. Jay has a rule that the servants cannot use the swimming pool, but Floyd breaks that rule anyway by swimming in the pool in front of Jay.

The quarantine causes tensions to rise in the household and the power struggles to escalate between Jay and Floyd. Without giving away too many details, it’s enough to say that at one point, the household experiences a food shortage. And that’s a problem when Floyd thinks the family should start eating meat that can be obtained by hunting wildlife in the woods, while Jay wants the family to stick to their vegetarian principles.

Adding to the growing discord in the household, Julie seems to be attracted to Floyd’s rebellious spirit. Late one night, Julie sees Floyd, Ruth and Kaan having small party in the mansion, where they’re playing cards and drinking alcohol, which is against Jay’s rules. Instead of scolding these employees, Julie asks to join them instead.

“Coup!” has a tendency to get repetitive in making its point about how politically liberal rich people who think they’re enlightened and progressive can actually be extremely hypocritical. The biggest flaw in the movie is not enough is known about the con artist to really understand his motivations for this elaborate fraud. At a certain point in the story, it’s obvious he’s not playing these con games for the money. Why is he putting himself at risk for this fraud? What are his personal stakes? Don’t expect “Coup!” to answer to those questions.

The performances in “Coup!” are commendable but not particularly outstanding. Making the protagonist (the con artist) such an enigma is a big risk that doesn’t quite pay off in the movie and at times becomes frustrating if viewers want a substantial reason to care about the protagonist. Some viewers will also have a problem with how a certain showdown ends and is dealt with in the story. In addition to watchable performances, “Coup!” has very good cinematography, production design and costume design. It’s the type of film that is perfectly fine to watch to pass some time, but it isn’t an award-worthy movie that’s destined to be a classic.

Greenwich Entertainment released “Coup!” in select U.S. cinemas on August 2, 2024. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on September 3, 2024.

Review: ‘Kneecap,’ starring Naoise Ó Cairealláin, Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, JJ Ó Dochartaigh, Josie Walker, Fionnuala Flaherty, Jessica Reynolds and Michael Fassbender

August 6, 2024

by Carla Hay

Naoise Ó Cairealláin , JJ Ó Dochartaigh and Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh in “Kneecap” (Photo by Helen Sloan/Sony Pictures Classics)

“Kneecap”

Directed by Rich Peppiatt

Irish and English with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the late 2010s in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the comedy/drama “Kneecap” (a biopic of the rap group of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A schoolteacher and two hoodlums become unlikely musical partners in Kneecap, a rap trio that causes controversy for its pro-Irish, anti-British rhetoric. 

Culture Audience: “Kneecap” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and biopics about rebellious underdogs.

Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh and JJ Ó Dochartaigh in “Kneecap” (Photo by Ryan Kernaghan/Sony Pictures Classics)

The comedy/drama “Kneecap” is partly a musical biopic, partly a call for Irish pride, and partly a celebration of rebellious hedonism. The members of Kneecap credibly portray versions of themselves. This isn’t the type of movie where it looks like the non-professional actors are struggling to keep up with the professional actors. This is a movie where everyone performs in a seamless and realistic way that might make some people squirm but it will be hard for viewers to look away.

Written and directed by Rich Peppiatt, “Kneecap” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival (where it won the NEXT Audience Award) and later premiered at the 2024 SXSW Film &TV Festival and the 2024 Tribeca Festival. The movie (which takes place in the late 2010s in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is an origin story of Kneecap but also a ragtag history lesson on the fight for the United Kingdom to make Irish an official language in Northern Ireland.

The voiceover narrator of “Kneecap” is Mo Chara (the stage name of Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, who plays a version of himself in the movie), who is heard telling a wild story something that happened in the youth of his best friend/musical partner Móglaí Bap (also known as Naoise Ó Cairealláin, who plays a version of himself in the movie). According to Mo Chara, the baptism of Móglaí Bap happened outdoors in a wooded area at night.

Móglaí Bap’s parents Arló Ó Cairealláin (played by Michael Fassbender) and Dolores Ó Cairealláin (played by Simone Kirby) are caught off guard when a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) helicopter suddenly appears in the air to take Arló into custody? Why? Because Arló is an outlaw Irish Republican Army (IRA) member, who is considered to be a terrorist.

It’s later explained that Arló abandoned the family and went into hiding. He didn’t contact Móglaí Bap/Naoise and Dolores for years. Eventually, Arló was presumed dead and a funeral service/memorial was held for him. There’s a running joke in the movie about Arló’s mysterious disappearance. Chara says of Móglaí Bap/Naoise’s chaotic childhood: “I mean, what fucking chance did the wee boy have?”

“Kneecap” has a lot of surrealistic imagery that’s meant to be a reflection of the drug-addled perspective of the Kneecap protagonists. The movie has a constant stream of scenes where drug abuse is either mentioned or shown. After a while, it gets a tad annoying because “Kneecap” over-relies on drug jokes and comes dangerously close to making it overtake the story when there are much more interesting aspects to these characters.

As kids at about 7 or 8 years old, Móglaí Bap/Naoise (played by Aidan McCaughey) and Mo Chara/Liam (played by Cillian Kernan) irst come into contact with drugs when they’re on a street and a drug dealer, who’s being chased by police on foot, throws a bag of marijuana at bystanders Naoise and Liam to get rid of this evidence.

The police run by without knowing that the two boys now have this drug dealer’s marijuana stash. As a prank, altar boys Liam and Naoise spiked the communion juice with this marijuana at their church. An adult Liam then smugly says in a voiceover: “Next Sunday, the congregation doubled.”

As young adults, Liam and Naoise are drug-abusing partiers and small-time drug dealers who spend a lot of time in nightclubs. Naoise and Liam are very proud of their Northern Irish heritage and prefer to speak Irish instead of English. The two pals are at a nightclub that gets raided. Naoise (who is high on ketamine) escapes. Liam (who’s high on Ecstasy) gets arrested.

Liam is brought in for interrogation at a police station, which has provided an Irish-language interpreter named JJ Ó Dochartaigh (playing a version of himself), who has a day job as music teacher at a local high school. During this interrogation, JJ notices that Liam has a notebook, which has handwritten lyrics as well as a sheet of psychedelic drugs. JJ takes the sheet of drugs home with him because he likes to get high too. JJ hides his drug use from his co-workers, his students and his loyal wife Caitlin (played by Fionnuala Flaherty), who still suspects that JJ has secrets.

Liam is eventually released from police custody. When he reunites with Naoise, these two troublemakers continue to raise some hell. While on a street one day, Liam sees some Royal Irish Rangers, a light infantry regiment of the British Army considered to be the enemy of the IRA. Liam insults these Rangers, who then chase him on foot on the street.

JJ happens to be on driving on the same street when he sees that Liam is in trouble. JJ comes to the rescue by giving Liam a car ride to escape from the Rangers. They soon meet up with Naoise. JJ tells Naoise and Liam that he saw the lyrics in Liam’s notebook and thinks that Liam has real talent. JJ suggests that they make rap music to the lyrics in the Irish language.

At first, Naoise and Liam are skeptical and laugh at the idea because they think the chances are slim to not that an Irish-language rap act can make it big. But when JJ mentions that he has a small recording studio that Naoise and Liam can use, Naoise and Liam take up JJ on his offer, and the three of them end up forming a musical group called Kneecap.

JJ becomes Kneecap’s DJ (with the stage name DJ Próvai) and wears a ski mask when performing with Kneecap in public, because he doesn’t want people who know he’s a schoolteacher to find out that he’s been moonlighting in this radical rap group. Kneecap’s recording sessions are drug-fueled binges where they write songs and make music in between using drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, Ecstasy and ketamine.

“Kneecap” has a subplot about Liam getting sexually involved with a domineering and sassy young woman named Georgia (played by Jessica Reynolds), who likes to act as if she doesn’t really like Liam. She uses light S&M techniques on him during their sexual encounters to show him that she’s the one who’s in charge in their relationship. Liam is relatively inexperienced and tolerates it all because he falls in love with Georgia.

And what a coincidence: Georgia’s mother is Detective Ellis (played by Josie Walker), the same officer who’s leading the investigation to find Arló and to bust the drug dealing of Naoise and Liam. Detective Ellis doesn’t believe that Arló is really dead. And neither should viewers of “Kneecap,” since there’s no way a movie like this would have a star like Fassbender and just have him do a few flashbacks scenes as a cameo. The truth of what happened to Arló is eventually revealed in “Kneecap.”

“Kneecap” is about as “in your face” as it gets when it comes to depicting the sex, drugs and hip-hop lifestyle if Kneecap. There’s also a subplot about Naoise and Liam clashing with members of an activist group called Radical Republicans Against Drugs. A lot of it is played for laughs and should not be take too seriously. However, some viewers might be offended if they think the movie makes this hedonism look glamorous. If anything, the movie probably tones down or leaves out a lot of naughty things that really go on behind the scenes with Kneecap.

As for the music, whether or not a viewer likes rap, the performances (especially on stage) are electrifying. (Kneecap songs on the “Kneecap” soundtrack are “Belfast,” “C.E.A.R.T.A.,” “H.O.O.D.,” “Amach Anocht,” “Sick in the Head,” “Better Way to Live (featuring Grian Chatten), “Guilty Conscience,” “Thart Agus Thart” and “Parful.”) Even the admitted hooligans of Kneecap have a purpose that’s bigger than just getting wasted on drugs. They see themselves as staunch warriors of Irish pride who advocate for adding the Irish language as an official language in Northern Ireland instead of having only English as Northern Ireland’s official language. The story of “Kneecap” takes place during the controversies of turning this initiative into the law.

The slapstick comedy and serious political commentary don’t always blend well together in “Kneecap.” However, the principal cast members’ performances work quite well with the movie’s often madcap tone. Fassbender, who doesn’t do a lot of comedies, looks like he’s having a lot of fun in this role as a deadbeat dad who think he’s made sacrifices for a noble cause. “Kneecap” is perhaps most relatable to a specific audience who is at least familiar with Northern Irish culture. However, the movie can also be recommended viewing for anyone who likes bawdy comedies about “underdogs” who find a way to triumph against an oppressive system.

Sony Pictures Classics released “Kneecap” in U.S. cinemas on August 2, 2024. The movie was released in Ireland on August 8, 2024.

Review: ‘Bad Newz,’ starring Vicky Kaushal, Triptii Dimri and Ammy Virk

July 30, 2024

by Carla Hay

Triptii Dimri in “Bad Newz” (Photo courtesy of AA Films)

“Bad Newz”

Directed by Anand Tiwari

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Indian cities of Mumbai and Mussoorie, the romantic comedy/drama “Bad Newz” (a quasi-sequel to 2019’s “Good Newwz”) features a predominantly Indian cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: An ambitious chef has sexual intercourse with two men (her ex-husband and her boss) on separate occasions on the same night, she gets pregnant with twins, and all three adults find out that the twins were conceived in a rare situation where the twins have two different biological fathers. 

Culture Audience: “Bad Newz” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and don’t mind watching shrill and silly romantic dramedies that are more than two hours long.

Vicky Kaushal and Ammy Virk in “Bad Newz” (Photo courtesy of AA Films)

The comedy/drama “Bad Newz” squanders the movie’s unusual concept of a woman pregnant with twins from two different fathers and how she copes with the love triangle that ensues. This moronic film just lazily rehashes tired stereotypes of superficial romantic comedies. And with a total running time of 140 minutes, “Bad Newz” quickly wears out its welcome, like an obnoxious suitor who won’t go away.

Directed by Anand Tiwari, “Bad Newz” was written by Ishita Moitra and Tarun Dudeja. This bloated movie is completely predictable and does absolutely nothing clever with the rare situation of twins having two separate biological fathers and one biological mother through natural means—not through in vitro fertilization or other artificial fertility methods. This pregnancy condition is called heteropaternal superfecundation. The words “heteropaternal superfecundation” are said a few times in the movie—and that’s the closest that “Bad Newz” gets to showing any intelligence.

“Bad Newz” is a quasi-sequel to the 2019 hit movie “Good Newwz,” a comedy/drama about two married couples who get pregnant through vitro fertilization and find out that each husband’s sperm was accidentally used to fertilize the wrong wife’s egg. “Bad Newz” begins in Mumbai, India (where the movie was filmed on location), by showing a chef named Saloni Bagga (payed by Triptii Dimri) meeting with actress Ananya Panday (playing a version of herself) for lunch at a restaurant. Paparazzi and fans have followed Ananya to this restaurant. Saloni and Ananya are meeting because Ananya is going to portay Saloni in a movie.

What is so unusual about Saloni’s life that would be turned into a movie where Saloni will be portrayed by a famous actress? “Bad Newz” then goes into flashback mode for most of the movie to show that Saloni is the one who’s had a heteropaternal superfecundation pregnancy. The long-winded plot (which is padded with generic song-and-dance musical scenes) has no surprises in depicting the “love triangle” that caused this unusual situation.

Saloni is about 26 or 27 years old. At the beginning of this flashback, she is living in Mumbai, where she is the head chef at a restaurant called Panama Cafe. Her dream is to be the head chef of a retaurant that gets the highest-rated Meraki Star, which is this fictional movie’s version of the Michelin star. Eventually, Saloni also wants to own her own restaurant.

Saloni goes to a wedding reception and meets vain and arrogant Akhil Chadha (played by Vicky Kaushal), who likes to describe himself as the Greatest of All Time (his self-appointed nickname) when it comes to being a lover. Akhil (who’s about four years older than Saloni) immediately makes it known to Saloni that he’s attracted to her and he wants to date her. She resists his advances because she says she wants to stay focused on her career.

However, Akhil is persistent, and Saloni agrees to date him. Saloni and Akhil have a whirlwind courtship and then get married. Why would Saloni agree to marry this jerk? She sees a vulnerable and caring side to Akhil when he tells her that he checks up on his mother often, out of guilt, because he wasn’t with his mother when his father died.

There are problems in the marriage from the start. Akhil (whose profession is never mentioned in the movie) apparently has nothing better to do than show up at the restaurant where Saloni works as a head chef to interrupt her work and harass people. When he’s at the restaurant, he expects Saloni to pay full attention to him while she’s supposed to be working.

Akhil also demands that customers excessively praise Saloni. He makes disruptions by shouting to anyone who listens that Saloni is an amazing chef. He thinks he’s being a supportive husband, but he’s not. Saloni asks Akhil to stop showing up at her job and acting in this boorish way, but Akhil won’t listen.

Akhil’s rude and overbearing attitude erupts into violence one day when he physically assaults a restaurant customer who complains about Saloni’s cooking. The Panama Cafe manager (played by Navin Kaushik) orders Akhil out of the restaurant, while the assaulted customer leaves in an angry huff. Saloni is understandably humiliated and ashamed by Akhil’s abusiveness.

When Akhil and Saloni go home after this assault incident, they have a big argument, which ends with Akhil ordering Saloni to move out of their home. She willingly goes and then files for divorce not long afterward. Akhil and Saloni were married for almost six months when they had this nasty breakup.

Saloni’s parents disapprove of Saloni getting divorced and try to get her to change her mind and reconcile with Akhil, who also wants the reconciliation. However, Saloni stands firm in her decision. Akhil’s widowed mother Vishni Chadha (played by Sheeba Chadha) also wants to see the couple get back together. Saloni’s aunt Ma Corona (played by Neha Dhupia) often acts as a peacemaker and advisor for Saloni’s love life problems.

Back at the Panama Cafe, the restaurant is being visited by Meraki Star judges. Saloni is expected to be in top form. Unfortunately, Saloni is stressed-out and distracted by her divorce problems, so she flops during the judging session, and the restaurant doesn’t win the Meraki Star. Because of her blunders, Saloni is fired from Panama Cafe.

Akhil comforts Saloni after she is fired. But it’s still not enough for Saloni to change her mind about the divorce. Saloni tells Akhil that they rushed into the marriage, which is why she thinks the marriage was doomed to fail. She also tells him, “Our dreams will always clash.” Akhil changes his mind about contesting the divorce and agrees to the divorce.

After the divorce, Saloni decides to start fresh by moving to Mussoorie, a small town about 1,742 kilometers or 1,082 miles away from Mumbai. Even after this move, Saloni can be heard saying in a voiceover that maybe her decision to divorce Akhil was too hasty. Saloni gets a job as the head chef of a restaurant owned by an available bachelor named Gurbir Singh Pannu (played by Ammi Virk), who has a personality that is the opposite of Akhil’s personality. Of course he does, because this is a cliché-ridden movie about a love triangle.

Saloni sees right away that Gurbir (who’s slightly older than Akhil) is kind, polite and humble to everyone. At the restaurant, Gurbir is able to diplomatically smooth over conflicts, whereas Akhil is the type of person who is more likely to cause conflicts. Gurbir, whose parents died when he was a child, is attracted to Saloni, but he doesn’t want to make the first move.

Gurbir is enough of a gentleman to be aware that as a boss, he should not be trying to date an employee unless he is absolutely sure that the employee wants this type of relationship. Saloni thinks Gurbir is a nice guy who’s emotionally mature. She is also lonely because she doesn’t have any friends in Mussoorie. In the meantime, Gurbir and Saloni hang out together as platonic colleagues.

One fateful night, Gurbir and Saloni are one of these platonic dates during a trip where they’re both staying at the same hotel. Saloni gets drunk and impulsively has sex with Gurbir in his hotel room. When she goes back to her hotel room, she’s shocked to see Akhil waiting for her because he wanted to surprise her. (Can you say “stalker”?)

Akhil has brought a cake with him because that day happens to be the ex-couple’s wedding anniversary. Saloni is drunk and lonely, so she has sex with Akhil on the same night, within less than an hour after having sex with Gurbir. And because “Bad Newz” already reveals in the beginning that Saloni has a heteropaternal superfecundation pregnancy, you can easily guess what happens during the rest of this movie.

“Bad Newz” tediously drags with unimaginative scenes of the rivalry that develops between Akhil and Gurbir when they find out that they are both the biological fathers to the twins that Saloni is carrying. Expect to see Akhil and Gurbir try to outdo each other to prove to Saloni who will be the better father. All of it is very outdated comedy, with jokes that fall very flat.

Saloni has a hard time deciding which man she’ll choose to be her co-parent, or if she will choose to raise the twins on her own. Has she really fallen out of love with “bad boy” Akhil? Might she fall in love with “good guy” Gurbir? And what about the fact that Akhil and Gurbir stubbornly accuse each other of not being a suitable parent to these twins? Will anyone care by the end of this overly long mushfest?

Kaushal, Dimri and Virk don’t do much to make these characters endearing to audiences. Akhil is an egotistical creep who thinks his physical appearance entitles him to get any woman he wants. And if Akhil goes through any personality changes in the movie, it just looks phony. Dimri’s portrayal of Saloni makes her look flaky and a little bit manipulative. Virk’s depiction of Gurbir gives this character a decent personality, but it’s too bland and without the charisma needed to convince viewers that Gurbir can charm Saloni into the passionate love affair that she wants.

The movie’s depictions of Saloni’s visits to her obstetrician Doctor Baweja (played by Faisal Rashid) are also off-putting. Dr. Naweja treats Saloni more like a scientific experiment than a human being. He doesn’t care what the stress of this love triangle might be doing to pregnant and vulnerable Saloni. (Predictably, Akhil and Gurbir show up during these doctor visits and argue in front of the doctor.) Dr. Naweja just seems to want to have bragging rights that he’s a rare doctor who treated a patient with a heteropaternal superfecundation pregnancy.

“Bad Newz” is also one of those movies that has an incessantly annoying music score and soundtrack that are punctuated with silly comedy sound effects. The movie’s uneven tone also shifts to soap opera territory with over-styled scenes where people have wind flowing through their hair while they stare off wistfully into the distance, as if they’re at a photo shoot for a romance novel. “Bad Newz” isn’t the worst movie you could ever see, but “Bad Newz” asks viewers for too much time for a story that is as flimsy and boring as it is.

AA Films released “Bad Newz” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on July 19, 2024.

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