Tag: comedy

Review: ‘The 4 Rascals,’ starring Trấn Thành, Lê Giang, Lê Dương Bảo Lâm, Uyển Ân, Tiểu Vy, Quốc Anh and Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên

March 15, 2025

by Carla Hay

Trấn Thành, Tiểu Vy, Quốc Anh, Uyển Ân, Lê Giang and Lê Dương Bảo Lâm in “The 4 Rascals” (Photo courtesy of 3388 Films)

“The 4 Rascals”

Directed by Trấn Thành

Vietnamese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Vietnam, the comedy film “The Four Rascals” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Four people interfere in the volatile romance of a married couple, whose marriage falters when a female business colleague of the husband plots to seduce him and have him for herself.

Culture Audience: “The 4 Rascals” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and romantic comedies that adeptly blend slapstick scenarios with sentimental messaging.

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên and Quốc Anh in “The 4 Rascals” (Photo courtesy of 3388 Films)

“The 4 Rascals” comedy film mixes zany antics with a few dark plot developments in this story about friends and family members who want to steer the direction of a couple’s troubled romance. There’s some predictability but also some refreshing surprises. The movie is elevated by the cast members’ great comedic time and believable chemistry with each other.

Written and directed by Trấn Thành, “The 4 Rascals” (which takes place in an unnamed city in Vietnam) begins by showing a montage and voice narration from a woman in her 20s named Kiều (played by Uyển Ân), who confesses that she has always been envious of her best friend Quỳnh (played by Tiểu Vy) because things come easily for Quỳnh. Kiều, who describes herself as nerdy and stubborn, is jealous that physically attractive but shallow Quỳnh is able to easily get attention and advantages in life without having to do much.

The beginning of the movie also shows that while Kiều is stuck with an average-looking boyfriend who doesn’t treat Quỳnh very well, Quỳnh has a rich and handsome boyfriend who treats her like a queen. Quỳnh’s boyfriend is Quốc Anh (played by Quốc Anh, also known as Tran Quốc Anh), a banking executive who quickly rose through the ranks at his job. Quỳnh met Quốc when she was a customer of his. They had an immediate attraction to each other and soon began dating.

Quỳnh and Quốc get married. About six years into their marriage, they run into problems when Quốc becomes more consumed with his job. Quỳnh starts to feel neglected, so she becomes needy and argumentative with Quốc, resulting in Quốc keeping more of an emotional distance from Quỳnh. Their arguments are usually about Quỳnh and Quốc feeling disrespected by the other.

Quỳnh goes to a flamboyant fortune teller named Chết Xi Cà (played by Lê Dương Bảo Lâm) and asks if Quốc is cheating on her. The fortune teller says yes. Quỳnh is devastated and vows to find out who is the woman who could possibly wreck Quỳnh’s marriage to Quốc . Kiều feels a friendship connection to Chết Xi Cà (who is openly gay), and they start hanging out together. Kiều and Chết Xi Cà say that they will help Quỳnh any way that they can.

It’s around this time that Quốc has indeed met someone who could become his mistress. Karen (played by Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên) is a seductive and wealthy business executive who meets Quốc at his bank because she might become an important client of the bank. Karen is attracted to Quốc, and she doesn’t care that he’s married. She flirts with him and makes sexual advances on him, but Quốc resists because he wants to stay faithful to Quỳnh, even though their shaky marriage is currently going through a rough patch.

During this time of marital strife, Quốc and Quỳnh go on a road trip vacation to visit some relatives of Quỳnh. Kiều and Chết Xi Cà are along for the ride. When they arrive in a marketplace area, a helmet-wearing man on a bike accidentally collides with the car and ends up on the car’s front windshield. Luckily, this bike rider isn’t injured.

And to Quỳnh’s surprise, she sees that this bike rider is none other than one of her uncles. In the movie, he is only referred to as Uncle 11 (played by “The 4 Rascals” director by Trấn Thành), and he is one of the goofiest characters of the movie. Uncle 11 is married to Dì Bón (played by Lê Giang), who is nosy and likes to be in other people’s personal business.

Chaos seems to follow Uncle 11 and Dì Bón wherever they go. When Quốc, Quỳnh, Kiều, Chết Xi Cà, Uncle 11 and Dì Bón go to a restaurant together, a fight breaks out between Uncle 11 and some other men. This dinner party of six people have to leave the restaurant in disgrace. Another scene at another restaurant shows Uncle 11 and Dì Bón trying to skip out on paying the bill by pretending that they thought the food was bad.

Karen uses certain tricks to try to seduce Quốc. She arranges for them to have what Quốc thinks will be a business dinner at a restaurant. When he gets there, he finds out that Karen rented out the entire restaurant so that she and Quốc could have a romantic dinner there by themselves. Later, Karen gives Quốc a expensive bottle of cologne as a gift, which he politely declines.

The rest of “The 4 Rascals” shows the roller coaster ride of Quốc and Quỳnh marriage, and how Kiều, Chết Xi Cà, Uncle 11 and Dì Bón (the “four rascals” referenced in the movie’s title) get involved in the couple’s marital problems. Although Kiều is the narrator of the film, “The 4 Rascals” really begins to center on Quỳnh and how her story evolves for the rest of the movie. Kiều’s envy of Quỳnh also changes because Kiều sees that Quỳnh’s life isn’t so perfect after all.

“The 4 Rascals” sometimes gets over-the-top ridiculous. However, it’s in the spirit of comedy, so none of the outlandish scenarios should be taken that seriously. There’s some brutal violence in the movie that is a tonal shift from the mostly lightweight comedic scenes. The violence isn’t gratutitous but seems meant as an emphasis that the stakes are high in what will happen to this marriage.

Longtime co-stars Trấn Thành and Lê Giang continue to have a great rapport with each other, while their younger co-stars also do well in their roles. Tiểu Vy’s performance is the standout in this film, since Quỳnh goes through unexpected things that change Quỳnh’s life. “The 4 Rascals” won’t be considered a groundbreaking, classic film, because it relies on many familiar romantic comedy formulas. However, the movie leaves enough room for some delightful twists that bring “The 4 Rascals” to a satisfying conclusion.

3388 Films released “The 4 Rascals” in select U.S. cinemas on March 14, 2025. The movie was released in Vietnam on January 29, 2025.

Review: ‘Dilruba’ (2025), starring Kiran Abbavaram, Rukshar Dhillon, Kathy Davison and John Vijay

March 15, 2025

by Carla Hay

Rukshar Dhillon and Kiran Abbavaram in “Dilruba” (Photo courtesy of Sivam Celluloids and Yoodlee Films)

“Dilruba” (2025)

Directed by Viswa Karun

Telugu with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Mangalore City, India, the romantic comedy/actio film “Dilruba” features an all-Indian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A former mechanical engineering student becomes a violent thug, as he gets caught up in a love triangle with his current love and his former childhood sweetheart.

Culture Audience: “Dilruba” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and don’t mind watching a time-wasting movie that doesn’t have much to say.

Kathy Davison in “Dilruba” (Photo courtesy of Sivam Celluloids and Yoodlee Films)

As a romantic comedy, “Dilruba” is dull, derivative, and definitely not worth your time. It has an unimaginative plot about a love triangle that is stretched out to irritating levels in this overly long film that has mediocre-to-bad acting. This poorly written, 153-minute movie stumbles from scene to scene with a weak narrative that gets repetitive because the plot is so thin.

Written and directed by Viswa Karun, “Dilruba” is told in non-chronological order, with flashbacks taking up a great deal of the movie. The tone is very uneven in how comedy, action, and song-and-dance numbers are clumsily placed throughout the film. “Dilruba” (which is a Telugu-language term of endearment for females) is very forgettable because this type of story has been in too many other movies to count.

“Dilurba” begins with a quick montage and mishmash of voiceovers taking place from 2022 to 2025 to explain what went wrong in the romance between two people who are now in their 20s: Siddharth “Siddhu” Reddy (played by Kiran Abbavaram) and his childhood sweetheart Maggie (played by Kathy Davison) grew up together in India. They broke up in 2024, because Maggie moved to the United States.

Maggie was the one who dumped Siddhu. The movie later reveals that there was another reason why Maggie broke up with Siddhu. It has to do with a business deal gone bad between the fathers of Siddhu and Maggie. This led to a tragedy in one of the families that has caused Siddhu to be angry and bitter. Ever since this tragedy, Siddhu refuses to say the words “sorry” and “thank you.”

In 2025, Siddhu isn’t completely over Maggie, who lives in New York City. He still calls her and sends her text messages, even though Maggie is now married to a man named Prakash, and she’s pregnant with their first child. Siddhu has a pregnant wife named Anjali (played by Rukshar Dhillon), who knows about Maggie. The movie has many flashbacks showing the up-and-down romance of Siddhu and Anjali.

After Siddhu was jilted by Maggie, he was abusing alcohol and was directionless in his life. He eventually decided to have a responsible life and became a mechanical engineering student at a local university in Mangalore City, India. Siddhu met his best friend Balaram Viraj (played Satya) at this university because they were in the same mechanical engineering class together.

Siddhu met Anjali at a pub frequented by sex workers who are under the control of a domineering pimp named Vicky. When Siddhu first saw Anjali, she was sitting next to Vicky but seemed fearful of him. She made eye contact with Siddhu and made a silent signal for help with her hands. And quicker than you can say “idiotic movie,” Siddhu has broken a beer bottle on Vicky’s head, and the two men get into a violent brawl in the bar. Siddhu wins this fight, but Vicky confronts Siddhu later to get revenge.

Siddhu is shocked to find out that Anjali is not only a student at the same university where he is, but she’s also the only female student in one of his mechanical engineering classes. Anjali seems to have gotten an instant crush on Siddhu because of how he “rescued” her from Vicky. This infatuation leads to several tedious and awkward scenes of Anjali aggressively pursuing and stalking Siddhu to try to get him to date her.

Siddhu eventually gets worn down by Anjali’s peskiness, and they end up dating. Anajli is quick to experess her feelings of love for Siddhu, but he still has unresolved feelings for Maggie. In the movie’s jumbled timeline, Maggie ends up becoming a visiting lecturer in one of Siddhu’s classes, as already revealed in the “Dilruba” trailer. Predictably, Anjali gets jealous.

“Dilruba” is nothing but scene after scene of Anjali and Siddhu having a relationship that turns hot and cold repeatedly. In addition to Siddhu still having feelings for Maggie, the other major source of conflict between Anjali and Siddhu is that Siddhu has a tendency to get into violent fights because of his bad temper. Anjali’s widowed father Mahadev Prasad (played by Aadukalam Naren) is a police inspector who’s skeptical that Siddhu can be a good match for Anjali. The scene where Siddhu meets Mahadev for the first time is one of the worst in the movie because of how badly written it is.

Much of “Dilruba” involves a silly subplot about Siddhu and a crime boss named Machi, nicnkamed Joker (played by John Vijay), which just drags out this annoying movie even more. The present-day scenes show mopey Siddhu still pining over pregnant Maggie, while pregnant Anjali worries about how Siddu’s lovesick feelings toward Maggie will affect Anjali’s marriage to Siddhu. It all becomes so tedious to watch after a while.

Siddhu doesn’t deserve much sympathy because the movie goes to great lengths to portray him as an underdog hero, when in reality he’s just a selfish jerk. Anjali apparently has a thing for bad boys because she gives Siddhu the nickname Villain. Anjali, who is just as insufferable as Siddhu, should’ve known what she was getting into with Siddhu when he rudely told her early on in their relationship: “Don’t be too smart. You’ll regret it if someone actually gobbles you up.”

“Dilruba” is supposed to be a romantic story, but it has a very problematic way of depicting male/female romances. Anjali repeatedly makes a fool of herself for Siddhu, who often treats her like garbage, and the movie promotes a fantasy that this abuse is supposed to be real love. In a movie filled with unimpressive acting, Dhillon gives the worst performance, as she overexaggerates Anjali’s ditsy actions and words. By the end of “Dilruba,” you won’t care who ends up with whom, as long as you don’t have to see these aggravating characters again.

Sivam Celluloids and Yoodlee Films released “Dilruba” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on March 14, 2025.

Review: ‘Riff Raff’ (2025), starring Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Harris, Gabrielle Union, Lewis Pullman, Pete Davidson and Bill Murray

March 9, 2025

by Carla Hay

Gabrielle Union, Miles J. Harvey and Ed Harris in “Riff Raff” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate)

“Riff Raff” (2025)

Directed by Dito Montiel

Some language in Italian with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Maine and in Boston, the comedy/drama film “Riff Raff” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An ex-criminal, his wife and his teenage stepson have their lives disrupted when his estranged adult son from a previous marriage unexpectedly shows up because he’s hiding from criminals who want to kill the wayward son.

Culture Audience: “Riff Raff” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and don’t mind watching a meandering and clumsy crime dramedy that isn’t as interesting as it thinks it is.

Bill Murray, Pete Davidson and Scott Michael Campbell in “Riff Raff” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate)

“Riff Raff” would’ve been more interesting if this comedy/drama focused on the mismatched criminals played by Bill Murray and Pete Davidson, who have the best scenes in the movie. The dysfunctional blended family at the center of the story is a dull drag. Murray and Davidson, whose “Riff Raff” characters are bickering opposites, have wickedly funny scenes that succeed in the movie’s intention to be a dark comedy. Unfortunately, their scenes are less than one-third of this disappointing dud of a film.

Directed by Dito Montiel and written by John Pollono, “Riff Raff” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. “Riff Raff” is obviously trying to be like the crime movies that filmmaker Quentin Tarantino made in the 1990s, but “Riff Raff” falls woefully short because most of the characters are tedious and two-dimensional. The story is supposed to unfold in layers but ends up being a jumbled mess.

“Riff Raff” (which takes place in Maine and in Boston) begins by showing an elderly man named Vincent Gaultier (played by Ed Harris) having an easygoing, heart-to-heart talk with his teenage stepson DJ (played by Miles J. Harvey) in the living room of the family’s vacation home in Maine. (“Riff Raff” was actually filmed in New Jersey.) The movie’s opening scene has Vincent and DJ talking about DJ’s future.

DJ’s mother is a homemaker named Sandy (played by Gabrielle Union), who has been married to Vincent for an untold number of years (definitely less than 10 years), after being a widow. Sandy (who’s about 20 years younger than Vincent) was previously married to DJ’s father Laurence (played by Eli Massillon), whose sudden death is something that Sandy doesn’t like to talk about. However, a flashback shows how Laurence died. Sandy doesn’t like to talk about her marriage to Laurence at all.

DJ is going to be a first-year student at Dartmouth College in the autumn. Throughout the film, there are many examples of why DJ was accepted into this prestigious Ivy League college: He’s very intelligent and unapologetically nerdy when spouting trivia facts that he seems to infuse in almost every conversation.

DJ has recently had his heart broken by a love interest named Brittany, who’s never seen in the movie. It’s unclear if Brittany was ever DJ’s official “girlfriend” or if they were just casually dating, but it’s mentioned that Brittany abruptly dumped DJ for a soccer player right before DJ and Brittany were supposed to go to their prom together as dates. “Brittany’s a jerk,” Vincent tells DJ to comfort him. As for DJ’s future dating prospects, Vincent advises DJ to repeat to himself: “You’re not going to settle.”

DJ’s despondency over his love life leads Vincent to tell DJ a secret that he knows Sandy doesn’t want DJ to know: Laurence cheated on Sandy during their marriage. Vincent makes DJ promise that DJ won’t tell Sandy that Vincent told DJ this information. Vincent also wants DJ to pretend that DJ doesn’t even know this information.

It’s the first indication that this family has secrets and hidden resentments. And it’s also the first indication that Vincent isn’t the great father he appears to be. There is no good reason for Vincent to tell DJ this information about DJ’s dead father. Telling this information to DJ would hurt DJ’s feelings and would selfishly make Vincent look like a better husband/father than Laurence was. Laurence died when DJ was very young, so DJ has mixed feelings about Laurence not being in his life.

By all accounts, Vincent and Sandy have a solid marriage where they are faithful to each other. Sandy is the type of person who likes things to be as perfect as possible, without any disruptions to her plans. The home is meticulously well-kept. The family also owns another upscale home in the Boston area. It’s later mentioned that this vacation house in Maine is a “secret getaway” house that Vincent owns under someone else’s name.

A lot of Sandy’s “perfect life” image is a façade: Vincent obtained his wealth by being a criminal, but Vincent has now “retired” from a life of crime. Flashbacks reveal that Sandy knows about Vincent past life as a criminal but doesn’t really care, as long as he’s not currently involved in criminal activities, and she can enjoy the life of being a spoiled and pampered housewife.

However, Vincent’s past comes crashing back into his current life on this day when he’s having this talk with DJ. Three people who live in the Boston area show up unannounced at this vacation house: Vincent’s adult son Rocco (played by Lewis Pullman), who is brooding and has a violent bad temper; Rocco’s pregnant Italian-immigrant girlfriend Marina (played by Emanuela Postacchini), who is open and friendly; and Vincent’s ex-wife/Rocco’s mother Ruth (played by Jennifer Coolidge), who is unconscious when they arrive at the house.

When Ruth regains consciousness, she says she was drugged without her knowledge. However, it’s obvious that frequently intoxicated Ruth probably had a lot to do with why she was in that unconscious state. Ruth is the most obnoxious character in the movie, because she mostly just complains rudely, insults other people, and acts ditzy in her frazzled state of mind. Coolidge continues to be typecast as a talkative, scatter-brained character.

Rocco has not seen or spoken to Vincent in quite some time. Vincent isn’t happy at all to see these uninvited visitors—especially ex-wife Ruth, because they had a very bitter divorce. Rocco quickly introduces Marina as someone he’s been dating for almost a year. Marina is eight-and-a-half months pregnant with their first child, who is a boy. Before Rocco and Marina became a couple, she dated another thug in the Boston area named Johnnie (played by Michael Angelo Covino), which means she has an attraction to “bad boys.”

When people ask Rocco or Marina if a name has been chosen for the couple’s unborn son, these expectant parents say yes, but it’s a secret. The end of the movie shows what they’ve named their son. And it’s the most predictable choice possible. It’s also a missed opportunity for “Riff Raff” to have a great joke at the end of the film, instead of having a boring and formulaic ending.

“Riff Raff” stumbles for far too long with awkward family scenes before it’s finally revealed the reason why these three unexpected visitors went to this vacation house in Maine: Rocco is hiding from a crime boss named Leftie Hannigan (played by Murray), who wants to kill Rocco because of something that Rocco did. (It’s revealed in a flashback what Rocco did to get Leftie on a murderous vendetta.) Leftie’s sidekick is a bumbling dimwit named Lonnie (played by Davidson), who constantly frustrates cold and calculating Leftie for making stupid mistakes.

Marina and Ruth both know what Rocco did to be put on Leftie’s hit list. Vincent knows Leftie from Vincent’s criminal past. But at least half of “Riff Raff” is about Ruth and Rocco showing resentment for the comfortable and “respectable” life that Vincent has made for himself, Sandy and DJ. Predictably, Ruth and Sandy despise each other. Rocco is jealous of DJ because DJ gets the type of devoted fatherly attention from Vincent that Rocco never got from Vincent.

Leftie and Lonnie’s hunt for Rocco is oddly dropped into the story about halfway through the movie, when it should have been introduced much earlier in the story. The one truly hilarious scene in “Riff Raff” is when Leftie and Lonnie go to the house that Vincent owns in a Boston suburb. Instead of finding Rocco there, Leftie and Lonnie encounter two nosy and talkative neighbors: a married couple named Garrison (played by P.J. Byrne) and Janet (played by Brooke Dillman), who are curious about these two strangers.

“Riff Raff” undoubtedly has a very talented cast. However, their talents are wasted in this film that moves at an uneven pace and focuses mostly on the blandest characters in the movie. Union does a serviceable job as image-conscious Sandy, but the rest of the characters in Vincent’s family have hollow personalities, with equally hollow acting performances. The contrasts between the “Riff Raff” scenes with and without Murray and Davidson are too noticeable in showing that “Riff Raff” really only comes alive when Murray and Davidson are in the film. All the other scenes are like watching potentially good ideas slowly die from a painful death.

Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate released “Riff Raff” in U.S. cinemas on February 28, 2025.

Review: ‘Novocaine” (2025), starring Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Ray Nicholson, Betty Gabriel, Matt Walsh, Lou Beatty Jr., Van Hengst, Conrad Kemp and Jacob Batalon

March 8, 2025

by Carla Hay

Jack Quaid in “Novocaine” (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

“Novocaine” (2025)

Directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen

Culture Representation: Taking place in San Diego, the action film “Novocaine” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and Asians and one Native American) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: An assistant bank manager, who has a rare medical condition where he cannot feel pain, turns into a vigilante who goes on a dangerous mission to rescue his co-worker/love interest, who was kidnapped by bank robbers.

Culture Audience: “Novocaine” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and action movies where a “common man” turns into a brave vigilante.

Jack Quaid and Amber Midthunder in “Novocaine” (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

The likable action comedy “Novocaine” is anything but numbing. Jack Quaid delivers a knockout performance as a mild-mannered man, who can’t feel pain and who turns into a vigilante to save a kidnapped love interest. The movie’s breezy comedy is adeptly blended with its cartoonish violence.

Directed by Darn Berk and Robert Olsen and written by Lars Jacobson, “Novocaine” excels because of its talented cast, adrenaline-packed stunts and an uncomplicated story that doesn’t take itself too seriously. As ridiculous as many of the fight scenarios are, the characters in the movie remain believable, thanks to skilled acting from the “Novocaine” cast members.

In “Novocaine,” Quaid plays 30-year-old Nathan “Nate” Caine, a socially awkward nerd who works as an assistant manager at San Diego Trust Credit Union, a bank in San Diego. (“Novocaine” was actually filmed in Cape Town, South Africa.) It’s later revealed in the movie that when he was a student, people at Nate’s school gave Nate the unflattering nickname Novocaine because he was born with a rare medical condition that makes him immune to pain, much like the drug novocaine is used as a way to numb pain. Nate also can’t feel changes in temperature.

Because of this medical condition, Nate’s overprotective parents (who are now deceased) raised him to be a very sheltered child. For years, Nate was told that he couldn’t eat solid food, in order to prevent him from accidentally biting his tongue off while eating. He was also taught to stay indoors as much as possible, which has caused Nate to be a loner as an adult.

At home, Jacob spends most of his free time playing online video games. His closest “friend” is someone he hasn’t met in person yet: another avid online video gamer named Roscoe (played by Jacob Batalon), who is as confident as Nate is insecure. Nate also has a friendly acquaintance (in person) with a local hardware store owner named Earl (played by Lou Beatty Jr.), an elderly man who gets help from Nate when Earl’s store is close to getting out of business.

Most of the story takes place during the late December holiday season. Nate is feeling lonely because he has no family members or friends to be with for the holidays. Because of his extremely sheltered upbringing, Nate is inexperienced in dating. Fairly early on in the movie, it becomes obvious that Nate is a virgin who’s never had a steady girlfriend.

That doesn’t mean that Nate is asexual. He’s attracted to a co-worker named Sherry (played by Amber Midthunder), who works as a bank teller at San Diego Trust Credit Union. Sherry, who is an aspiring painter artist, knows that Nate has a crush on her, so she’s the one who approaches him and asks him out on a date.

Nate and Sherry’s first date is at local diner, where Nate tells Sherry about his medical condition. Sherry convinces Nate to eat some of the pie that she has ordered. Nate overcomes his fear of eating solid food, eats some of the pie, and finds out to his delight that the pie tastes great, and nothing bad happened to him when he ate the pie.

This pie experience is the icebreaker that brings Sherry and Nate closer together on this date. Sherry (who is originally from Tucson, Arizona) opens up to Nate about her troubled past: She spent much of her childhood in foster homes until she was adopted into an abusive home. Amber tells Nate up front that she’s in therapy. It’s later revealed that Amber is in recovery for being a self-harming cutter.

Nate and Sherry continue their date at a local bar, where an unnamed bully (played by Tristan de Beer) from Nate’s past approaches Nate and teases him about being nicknamed Novocaine. Nate is embarrassed but tries not to let it show to Sherry. When the bully starts to flirt with Sherry, something happens that proves Sherry is not interested in this jerk. Sherry assertively tells Nate that she wants to spend the night with Nate.

The day after their sleepover date is Christmas Eve. Sherry and Nate (who has already fallen hard for Sherry) both have to work that day, which turns into a nightmare. Three armed bank robbers, who are all disguised as Santa Claus, storm into the bank. They don’t just want the cash that’s in the registers were the bank tellers are. The robbers want whatever is in the bank vault that’s locked in the back.

The leader of the robbers is Simon (played by Ray Nicholson), a sadistic psychopath who doesn’t hesitate to shoot and kill. Simon’s accomplices are two brothers: Andre (played by Conrad Kemp) and Ben (played by Evan Hengst), who is the younger brother. Ben is the lookout and getaway driver.

Things go horribly wrong during the robbery. Bank manager Nigel (played by Craig Jackson) sees what Simon’s face looks like without the disguise. And you can easily guess what happens to Nigel. Nate is then forced to open the bank vault because he’s the only other person in the bank who knows how to unlock the vault.

Police arrive, and there’s a massive shootout that leaves several people wounded and a few people dead. Before the robbers make their getaway, they take Sherry as a hostage. Nate impulsively takes the gun and police car of a wounded cop (played by Keeno Lee Hector), so that Nate can chase after the kidnappers/robbers because he wants to rescue Sherry. Nate thinks that the police won’t act fast enough.

The two police detectives in charge of the investigation are Barbara Mincy (played by Betty Gabriel) and her cop partner Detective Coltraine (played by Matt Walsh), who soon arrive at this crime scene. Barbara immediately suspects that Nate is in cahoots with the kidnappers/robbers. Detective Coltraine is a little more willing to give Nate the benefit of the doubt.

The rest of “Novocaine” is about Nate haphazard rescue attempt, as Nate is being hunted by police. The movie gets repetitive in showing how many painful injuries that Nate sustains, but the scenes have so much playfully intense energy, these scenes don’t really drag. Each injury sems to make Nate emotionally stronger, if not more confident, as he shows an unrelenting determination to save the person he believes could be the love of his life.

“Novocaine” has above-average stunt work and makeup design (for the fight injuries) that give some realistic-looking aspects of an intentionally absurd film. Much of the comedy comes from Nate getting himself in situations where he has no idea what he’s doing, but he has to make quick-thinking decisions along the way. Some of these decisions turn out to be mistakes, so Nate has to find a way to get out of any mess that he created.

The appeal of “Novocaine” is centered mainly on Quaid’s dynamic performance as Nate, who evolves from being timid to being courageous, while still remaining a “nice guy.” “Novocaine” has a lot of brutal violence, but the heart of the movie is really mushy sentimentality about the extremes that people will go to for love. Somehow, that mushiness works well because it’s wrapped up in a movie that expertly mixes engaging action with charismatic comedy.

Paramount Pictures will release “Novocaine” in U.S. cinemas on March 14, 2025, with sneak previews on March 3 and March 8, 2025.

Review: ‘Mickey 17,’ starring Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo

March 5, 2025

by Carla Hay

Naomi Ackie and Robert Pattinson in “Mickey 17” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Mickey 17”

Directed by Bong Joo Ho

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2054, on the fictional planet of Niflheim, the sci-fi comedy/drama film “Mickey 17” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some black people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An “expendable” worker, who is regenerated as a clone after he dies, gets involved in an “us versus them” conflict with the oppressive elites who control Niflheim society.

Culture Audience: “Mickey 17” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Bong Joo Ho and sci-fi movies that take familiar topics and put them in a unique setting.

Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette in “Mickey 17” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Mickey 17” gets messy when it crams and juggles varying ideas and tones. Despite these flaws, this sci-fi movie can be engaging because of the performances and the movie’s dark comedy about sociopolitical issues and technology. “Mickey 17” is both a satire and a warning of what life could be like if humans populated another planet and lived in a cult-like society.

Written and directed by Bong Joo Ho, “Mickey 17” is his highly anticipated follow-up to 2019’s Oscar-winning South Korean drama “Parasite,” the first non-English-language movie to win Best Picture. “Mickey 17” had its world premiere at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival. “Mickey 17” is better than the average sci-fi movie but it’s not as Oscar-worthy as “Parasite,” simply because the screenplay for “Mickey 17” tends to wander, with important characters disappearing with no explanation for large chunks of the film.

Bong’s movies often have themes of the divides between social classes, with lower classes rising up in some kind of rebellion against the privileged elite upper classes. In “Mickey 17,” these social-class conflicts don’t go away just because people move to a new planet that is populated by humans who previously lived on Earth. Most of the story takes place on a planet called Niflheim, where the terrain is snowy and icy all year.

“Mickey 17” takes place in the year 2054—four-and-a-half years after the humans from Earth arrived by a giant spaceship to inhabit Niflheim. The humans still live on this spaceship, presumably because it’s too cold to have regular housing. But it’s also a way for the humans to be easier controlled and surveilled by the totalitarian leaders in charge of this new society.

The beginning of “Mickey 17” shows title character Mickey Barnes (played by Robert Pattinson), the story’s narrator, is lying down on the ground and nearly covered in snow. Mickey has severely injured his leg from a fall on down an icy crevasse. Mickey can’t get up because of this injury.

A man named Timo (played by Steven Yeun), who’s armed with a gun, appears above the crevasse and asks Mickey, “You haven’t died yet? They’re going to reprint you out tomorrow anyway. What’s it like to die?” Timo doesn’t get the answer to that question because a giant creature (about 20 feet tall that looks like a combination of a walrus and a “Dune” sand worm) suddenly appears and seems to swallow Mickey.

The movie then shows that Mickey is back on the spaceship, inside of a body scan chamber. When he comes out of the chamber, he is actually a 3-D printed scan clone of himself. His previous memories are uploaded to his brain. Mickey is kind-hearted but simple-minded and socially awkward. It’s possible for something to go wrong in the cloning process, and his clone could have a different personality.

In voiceover narration, Mickey explains what’s going on here. The version of Mickey who is the narrator is version 17, also known as Mickey 17. Flashbacks show much of what happened as Mickey 17 tells the story. People who aren’t inclined to like science fiction might feel disconnected or confused by a great deal of this movie.

Mickey says that he and Timo know each other because they were friends when they lived on Earth in a U.S. city that is never named. According to Mickey (who now calls Timo a “shitty friend”), Timo convinced Mickey to invest with him to open a macaron store, which ended up being a commercial failure. Mickey and Timo had borrowed money from a loan shark named Darius Blank (played by Ian Hanmore) to open the store.

Timo and Mickey are heavily in debt to Darius, who wants immediate payment. Darius sends some thugs to kidnap and beat up Timo and Mickey, who are told that they will be murdered if they don’t pay off their debt to Darius very soon. Mickey and Timo have no doubt that this threat will be carried out, because they’ve seen the torture that Darius and his goons have inflicted on others, but Mickey and Timo still don’t have the money to pay the debt.

It’s around this time that a former U.S. congressman named Kenneth Marshall (played by Mark Ruffalo), who has a cult-like following, has made international news for launching a spaceship that will take a select number of people to Niflheim, a planet previously not inhabited by humans. An unnamed religious group is believed to be funding this in-demand migration. It’s mentioned in the movie that Kenneth lost his two most recent elections. Clearly, migrating to Niflheim is a way for Kenneth to reinvent himself as a powerful leader of this new society.

Kenneth has a Lady Macbeth-type wife named Yifa (played by Toni Collette), who is the real schemer and manipulator of this couple. Kenneth is mostly a blustering buffoon who does what Yifa advises or orders him to do, but Kenneth puts up a front that he’s the one who’s really in charge. Kenneth and Yifa are treated like famous royalty on Niflheim, where Kenneth stars on a live TV show called “Tonight With Kenneth Marshall.” Kenneth and Yifa take full advantage of this celebrity worship by abusing their power and inflicting cruel punishment on those who disobey their orders.

It doesn’t take long for Mickey and Timo to sign up to go on this migration to Niflheim, in order to escape their troubles on Earth. The movie implies that almost everyone who wants to be part of this migration signs up for similar reasons, so that they can start a new life on another planet. Mickey makes a mistake that changes the course of his existence on Niflheim.

On the application form to go to Nifleim, Mickey checks the box that lists him as an “expendable”—a low-life human who will allow the Niflheim government to do whatever it wants to his body. Even when given a chance to change his application so he won’t be classified as an expendable, Mickey declines to do so, mainly because he thinks he’ll have a better chance of his application getting approved if he’s listed as an expendable.

Mickey explains in a voiceover that after he arrived in Niflheim, he found out that expendables are exploited to do all types of dangerous explorations and scientific experiments that could kill them. However, Niflheim has a cloning machine (the body scan chamber) that can do 3-D clone printouts of people who previously died. This technology was illegal on Earth but is legal on Niflheim. Expendables such as Mickey are revived as clones after they die, with their previous memories uploaded into their brains.

On Niflheim, the expendables are treated as the lowest of the low in the social class hierarchy. Mickey is living a bleak and lonely existence where he has died and has been printed out as a clone multiple times. Sad sack Mickey thinks it’s his deserved “punishment” because he feels a lot of guilt for accidentally causes his mother’s death when he was 5 years old: While he was a front-seat passenger in the car that she was driving, he pushed a brake button in the car that caused the car to crash. (The actual crash is never shown in the movie.)

One bright spot in Mickey’s Niflheim life happens when the original Mickey Barnes meets Nasha Barridge (played by Naomi Ackie), an assertive and feisty government employee who works as a soldier, a police officer and a firefighter. Timo is also some type of government soldier and sometimes works in a group with Mickey, Nasha and two female soldiers who are best friends: Kai Katz (played by Anamaria Vartolomei) and Jennifer Chilton (payed by Ellen Robertson). Timo isn’t seen again for most of the movie until a crucial part of the story. Mickey’s and Timo’s lives before Niflheim are shown in the movie, but Nasha’s life when she was on Earth is never revealed.

One day, in the public cafeteria where the “working class” residents gather to eat, almost everyone in the cafeteria goes into a star-struck frenzy when Kenneth and Nifa make a surprise appearance. Mickey and Nasha are the only two people in the room who don’t go gaga over Kenneth and Nifa. Nasha and Mickey lock eyes across the room, as two people do in movies where you know those two people are going to hook up.

And sure enough, Nasha becomes Mickey become best friends and loved. Nasha stays loyal to Mickey, even when he has died and is cloned over and over. Nasha is also very possessive of Mickey. In another cafeteria scene, Kai somewhat flirts with Mickey while she’s seated next to him. Timo is seated on the other side of Mickey.

When Nasha sees Kai talking flirtatiously with Mickey, Nasha immediately pushes Timo aside so she can get his seat. Nasha then grabs Mickey and starts making out with him. Nasha’s unspoken message is clear to Kai: “This is my man. Stay away from him.”

Meanwhile, Kenneth has decided that the walrus-like creatures that live outside the spaceship are a threat, even though there’s no proof that these creatures kill humans. Kenneth decides that these creatures are to be called “creepers.” A storyline involving the creepers takes up the last third of the movie.

Niflheim has a law that no two clones can exist at the same time. As already revealed in the “Mickey 17” trailer, another clone of Mickey (Mickey 18) gets created when Mickey 17 is still alive, which causes havoc in Mickey 17’s world. Pattison does some of his best acting in the movie when Mickey 17 and Mickey 18 are interacting with each other. This clone drama, the creepers, the love story of Mickey and Nasha, and Niflheim’s sociopolitical and environmental issues make for an abundance of storylines in “Mickey 17.” Sometimes these storylines are woven together skillfully; other times, they become jumbled.

“Mickey 17” has plenty to showcase when it comes to the inner thoughts of Mickey and his clones who are shown in the movie. However, other characters in the movie are either caricatures (Kenneth and Nifa) or are underdeveloped (everyone else except Mickey). It’s to the credit of the talented cast members that they bring these characters to life to make viewers interested. That interest can spark viewer curiosity about these memorable characters, but many questions about these characters are never answered.

Visually, “Mickey 17” will delight sci-fi fans because the world of Niflheim looks realistic, even though Niflheim is an awful place to live under the oppressive rule of Kenneth and Nifa. Because “Mickey 17” is another Bong movie where there are conflicts between the “haves” and “have nots,” there’s an inevitable showdown that is the suspenseful highlight of the movie. Some scenes in “Mickey 17” are dark and depressing, while other scenes are absurdly comedic and heartwarming. “Mickey 17” refuses to be pigeonholed into one consistent tone, which some viewers might see as an unforgivable flaw, while other viewers might see as part of the movie’s charm.

Warner Bros. Pictures will release “Mickey 17” in U.S. cinemas on March 7, 2025.

Review: ‘Superboys of Malegaon,’ starring Adarsh Gourav, Vineet Kumar Singh, Shashank Arora and Anuj Singh Duhan

March 4, 2025

by Carla Hay

Saqib Ayub and Adarsh Gourav in “Superboys of Malegaon” (Photo courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios)

“Superboys of Malegaon”

Directed by Reema Kagti

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Indian cities of Malegaon and Mumbai, from 1997 to 2010, the comedy film “Reema Kagti” (based on true events) features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A video store worker decides to become a filmmaker and enlists some of his friends to help make their own independent films, but some members of the group have conflicts over creative control and decision making.

Culture Audience: “Superboys of Malegaon” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in watching a well-acted comedy/drama about independent filmmakers who live and work in small cities.

Pictured from left to right: Vineet Kumar Singh, Adarsh Gourav, Anuj Singh Duhan, Saqib Ayub, Pallav Singh and Shashank Arora in “Superboys of Malegaon” (Photo courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios)

The movie is a bit too long, but the comedy/drama “Superboys of Malegaon: is a compelling roller coaster ride for anyone who has a passion for movies. This story about independent filmmaker friends can be inspiring, even if it takes some formulaic turns. “Super Boys of Malegaon” isn’t just about filmmaking. The story’s bigger message is about valuing friendships and teamwork in co-worker situations.

Directed by Reema Kagti and written by Varun Grover, “Superboys of Malegaon” is based on a true story and inspired by the 2012 documentary “Supermen of Malegaon,” directed by Faiza Ahmad Khan. “Supermen of Malegaon” was originally filmed to be a 2008 TV special for Singapore TV but it wasn’t released in Indian cinemas until 2021. “Superboys of Malegaon” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.

“Superboys of Malegaon” takes place from 1997 to 2010, mostly in the small city of Malegaon, India. The city is so small, it doesn’t have a movie theater. The closest thing to a movie theater that Malegaon has is a room inside a video store, where people pay money to watch old movies that are played on a VCR. The movie is told in chronological order and starts in 1997.

To entice more people to go to these movie exhibitions, an enterprising employee at the store named Nasir Shaikh (played by Adarsh Gourav) decides to compile clips from old movies starring Charlie Chaplin and Bruce Lee and make them into comedy action films. The video store eventually gets raided and smashed up by local police for copyright violations for these illegal movie exhibitions. The raid motivates Nasir and some of his movie-enthusiast pals to join forces to make their own independent films that they can show in Malegaon and possibly elsewhere.

Here are the people who are on the filmmaking team, which operates under the company name S.N. Films:

  • Nasir Shaikh takes the role of director and producer for all of the movies that they make. He has a very clear sense of what he wants, which sometimes clashes with what other people on the team want. Nasir finds out how difficult it can be to get financing for an independent film. He supplements his income by being a videographer for events, such as weddings.
  • Shafique Shaikh (played by Shashank Arora), no relation to Nasir, is Nasir’s best friend, who has a day job as a power loom employee at clothing mill. Naturally, Shafique is the most loyal to Nasir out of all of the members of the group. Shafique is easygoing, sweet-natured, and is as helpful as he can be as a crew member and as an actor.
  • Farogh Jaferi (played by Vineet Singh) is a ambitious screenwriter who has insecurities because his unnamed father (played by Athar Nawaaz) and unnamed stepmother (played by Kavita Pais) do not approve of this career choice. Foragh’s father tells Foragh: “You’re not a writer. You’re an oddball.” Farogh is the team member who clashes with Nasir the most.
  • Akram Khan (played by Anuj Duhan) is the team’s cinematographer and casting director. Akhram works as a photographer as his day job. He is hard-working but sometimes gets frustrated by Shafique’s tendency to be too bossy and too dismissive of other people’s ideas.
  • Irfan Ilyas (played by Saquib Ayub) is the main actor of the group. He is tall, good-looking and usually portrays a character who is a dashing hero in the team’s movies. Irfan has an adventurous personality and helps out with various crew duties.
  • Aleem Tahir (played by Pallav Singh) is a sturdy worker who helps out with various crew duties. Aleem has a day job working as a school teacher. He often stays in the background, but he’s not afraid to speak his mind if he disagrees with something or has his own ideas.

The only woman who becomes a consistent colleague to this team is Trupti (played by Manjiri Pupala), who is hired to act in multiple movies for S.N. Films. When the team first starts making movies, Akhram has difficulty finding any local women to agree to be actresses in the film because in many conservative households, a women becoming an actress was considered sinful and disreputable.

However, Nasir meets Trupti by chance when they are both standing near each other at a food hall serving table. Nasir tells her about the movie and auditions her on the spot. Trupti, who is unhappily married and has a toddler son, is a bit of a diva because she expects to be treated like a big-budget movie star on the team’s low-budget independent films, even though she’s an inexperienced actress.

Trupti is in for a rude awakening on the first day she has to shoot her scenes: There’s no one to do her hair and makeup, so she pouts and complains that she has to do her own hair and makeup for the movie. For filming that takes place outdoors, she expects a trailer, so she gripes when she sees she’s not going to get that accommodation either.

Eventually, Trupti learns to deal with the ultra-low-budget filmmaking of S.N. Films. She continues to work with the team and becomes one of S.N. Films’ most loyal cast members. And a lot of her devotion has to do with Trupti and Shafique having a growing attraction to each other.

Nasir decides that S.N. Films’ first movie will be titled “Malegaon Ke Sholay” (which means “Sholay of Malegaon” in Hindi), a parody of the 1975 action film “Sholay.” The movie is an immediate hit in Malegaon. S.N. Films then makes several other parody films.

But with success come jealousy and power struggles. Farogh thinks Nasir is taking Farogh for granted. Farogh also repeatedly tells Nasir that S.N. Films should branch out and do movies based on original screenplays that Farogh wants to write.

Nasir disagrees and wants to continue to do movies based on adapted screenplays. Nasir is actively pursuing a business deal with a famous playwright named Asif Albela (played by Yash Yogendra) to make one of Asif’s plays into a movie. Nasir also gets caught up in chasing even more success, sometimes at the expense of forgetting or sidelining some of the team mates who helped Nasir along the way.

In the beginning of the movie, Nasir has a steady girlfriend named Mallika (played by Riddhi Kumar), who is very supportive of Nasir’s filmmaking. Nasir and Mallika are very much in love but something happens that dramatically changes their relationship. A woman named Shabeena (played by Muskkaan Jaferi) also play an important role in Nasir’s life.

“Superboys of Malegaon” clocks in at 131 minutes, but the story could’ve been told in 90 minutes or less because some of the scenes are repetitive in their purpose of showing behind-the-scenes conflicts. However, all of the cast members’ performances are among the highlghts of the film. Gourav is the obvious standout because Nasir is the main protagonist, who is a flawed but entirely believable.

“Superboys of Malegaon” is the type of movie that goes through a wide range of emotional arcs. The last 30 minutes go into tearjerker territory, but it’s not mawkish. Ultimately, “Superboys of Malegaon” is a love letter to friendship in filmmaking and all the joy and heartbreak that can come with it.

Amazon MGM Studios released “Superboys of Malegaon” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on February 28, 2025.

Review: ‘Las Tres Sisters,’ starring Marta Méndez Cross, Valeria Maldonado, Virginia Novello, Adam Mayfield, Gonzalo Garcia Vivanco, Pilar Ixquic Mata and Cristo Fernández

March 3, 2025

by Carla Hay

Virginia Novello, Marta Méndez Cross and Valeria Maldonado in “Las Tres Sisters” (Photo courtesy of Myriad Pictures)

“Las Tres Sisters”

Directed by Mar Novo

Some language in Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Mexico and in the United States, the comedy/drama film “Las Tres Sisters” features a predominantly Latin cast of characters (with some white people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Three Mexican American sisters go on a trek through Mexico in tribute to their deceased grandmother and have conflicts along the way.

Culture Audience: “Las Tres Sisters” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching an adult-oriented comedy/drama about sibling relationships.

Cristo Fernández and Valeria Maldonado in “Las Tres Sisters” (Photo courtesy of Myriad Pictures)

The comedy/drama “Las Tres Sisters” sometimes has an awkward mix of being sentimental and bawdy. However, this story about three squabbling sisters on a trek together in Mexico is engaging and heartfelt. This is the type of movie that covers a wide range of emotions and tackles issues such as secrets that family members keep from each other.

Directed by Mar Novo, “Las Tres Sisters” (which “las tres” means “the three” in Spanish) was written by Marta Méndez Cross, Youssef Delara, Valeria Maldonado and Virginia Novello. Méndez Cross, Novello and Maldonado co-star as the movie’s title characters—sisters Maria, Sofia and Lucia—as adults. Camila Sahagún, Orianna Hernández and Mariela Corona have small roles in the film as, respectively, the childhood Maria, Sofia and Lucia,

The movie begins by showing a Mexican grandmother named Guadalupe (played by Laura Patalano) telling her three granddaughters (all sisters), who are all under the age of 8, the story of the traditional pilgrimage walk that she and others take through Mexico, especially if the travelers want a miracle. This trek, which has stops at several landmarks, is supposed to take place over six days and five nights. “Las Tres Sisters” is not a religious movie, but the story is about at least one of the main characters believing through religious faith that miracles can happen.

After this opening scene, the movie switches to Maria, Sofia and Lucia as adults, who are in their 30s and leading separate lives. They each have very different personalities. The three sisters all used to be very close to each other when they were younger. But something happened that damaged the relationship between the three sisters, who have been estranged from each other ever since.

Eldest sister Maria (played by Méndez Cross) is an open-minded homemaker who lives in Houston with her loving and devoted husband Harold Jacobs (played by Adam Mayfield), who is the type of spouse who leaves Post-It love notes around their home. Maria has two medical secrets. one that she keeps from Harold, and the other she keeps from her sister. These secrets inevitably get revealed.

Middle sister Sofia (played by Novello) is a sexually free-spirited bachelorette who lives in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Sofia also has alcoholism. She is first seen in the movie having sex with a male sex worker, who later argues with her about the payment that he’s expecting.

Youngest sister Lucia (played by Maldonado) is a prim and proper attorney who lives in Los Angeles. Lucia is a bachelorette who is the caretaker for her disabled mother Patti (played by Pilar Ixquic Mata), who uses a wheelchair. Lucia has started to feel resentment that she is the only family member who takes care of Patti, who lives with Lucia.

It should come as no surprise that personality opposites Sofia and Lucia have the most conflicts with each other. Maria often gets caught in the middle. Lucia and Sofia have had a major falling out (the details are eventually revealed in the movie), and these two estranged siblings haven’t seen or spoken to each other in years. Sofia is the only one of the three sisters who is fluent in Spanish.

Maria wants to go on this pilgrimage trek through Mexico with her sisters because Maria thinks she needs a miracle to help her with her medical issues. Maria tricks Lucia and Sofia into meeting up with her in Mexico, by not telling Lucia and Sofia in advance that their “enemy” sister will be there at this reunion. Many conversations and scenarios ensue that seem to be inspired by “Sex and the City.”

During this excursion, the sisters meet various people, including an introverted botanist named Kin (played by Cristo Fernández) and an extroverted rancher named Manuel Lopez (played by Gonzalo Garcia Vivanco), who both help the sisters in different ways when they get lost or need transportation. Kin, who is a widower, takes a romantic interest in Lucia. Manuel and Sofia have a lusty attraction to each other.

“Las Tres Sisters” has some predictability in how the plot unfolds, but the acting and movie’s direction are solidly entertaining. This is movie is about family issues, but some of the subject matter is not meant for underage children or people who get easily offended by graphic sex talk or semi-explicit sex scenes. The last 20 minutes of “Las Tres Sisters” have the most impact in the movie’s message about making the most out of life before it’s too late.

Myriad Pictures released “Las Tres Sisters” in select U.S. cinemas on February 21, 2025.

Review: ‘Ex Ex Lovers,’ starring Jolina Magdangal and Marvin Agustin

March 1, 2025

by Carla Hay

Marvin Agustin and Jolina Magdangal in “Ex Ex Lovers” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. International)

“Ex Ex Lovers”

Directed by JP Habac

Tagalog and English with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Malta and in the Philippines, the comedy film “Ex Ex Lovers” features a predominantly Filipino cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Two ex-spouses try to figure out what type of relationship they want to have after they are invited to their daughter’s upcoming wedding.

Culture Audience: “Ex Ex Lovers” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and pleasantly lightweight romantic comedies.

Pictured clockwise, from left: Loisa Andalio, Marvin Agustin, Jolina Magdangal and Juan Karlos in “Ex Ex Lovers” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. International)

Cute and predictable, “Ex Ex Lovers” can be an entertaining romantic comedy about how two ex-spouses handle their unresolved feelings toward each other and their daughter’s upcoming wedding. Jolina Magdangal and Marvin Agustin continue their co-star magic. This is by no means their best project together, but it’s good enough for people who want to see a romantic comedy with cast members who have believable chemistry with each other.

Directed by JP Habac, “Ex Ex Lovers” was written by Antoinette Jadaone and Kristine Gabriel. The movie reunites longtime co-stars Magdangal and Agustin, who have been appearing in TV shows and moves together since the 1990s, beginning with ABS-CBN’s 1996 to 1999 teen drama series “Gimik.” Some of their other co-starring projects are the ABS-CBN’s soap opera “Labs Ko Si Babem”; GMA Network’s drama series “I Luv NY”(2006) and “Adik Sa’Yo” (2009); and the movies “Adarna: The Mythical Bird” (1997), “Kung Ayaw Mo, Huwag Mo!” (1998) and “Labs Kita… Okey Ka Lang?” (1998), and “Hey Babe!” (1999).

In “Ex Ex Lovers,” Magdangal portrays Joy Hermoso, a divorcée who lives in the Philippines capital of Manila. Joy is very close to her 23-year-old daughter SC (played by Loisa Andalio), who was raised primarily by Joy. SC is nice but a little spoiled. The father of SC is Cedric “Ced” Hermoso (played by Agustin), who became a deadbeat dad when he abandoned the family about 10 years ago. Joy is still bitter about the abandonment because Ced used to be her best friend, and he was her first love.

Joy and Ced haven’t seen or spoken to each other in years. There’s one major reason why Joy and Ced’s relationship hasn’t officially reached closure. Ced and Joy haven’t legally ended their marriage. (Because divorce is not legal for most residents of the the Philippines, Joy and Ced will have to get an annulment.) Joy complains that Ced has a frustrating habit of running away from responsibilities. And making their annulment final has been one of those responsibilities that he’s been avoiding.

In the movie’s first scene, Joy is meeting SC for lunch at a restaurant. SC is accompanied by her boyfriend of two years: Joey (played by Juan Karlos Labajo, also known as Juan Karlos), who is easygoing, friendly and comes from a rich family. Joey has a surprise during the lunch: He asks SC to marry him. A delighted SC immediately says yes, while a dismayed Joy immediately says no at the same time.

Joy is miffed and insulted that Joey did not ask Joy for her blessing for this marriage proposal. She doesn’t really approve of SC and Joey getting married because she thinks they’re too young for marriage. SC tries to smooth things over by saying Joey would have asked for Joy’s blessing, but Joy has been too busy at Joy’s bank job.

Viewers will get the impression that Joy is the type of divorcée who hasn’t dated much since her marriage fell apart. Joy doesn’t seem to have a large circle of friends. Her best friend is a woman named Mimi (played by Mylene Dizon), who is about the same age as Joy and who listens sympathetically when Joy has gets emotionally wound up over something. (And expect to see Joy wound up a lot because most of the movie’s comedy comes from her reactions to whatever happens.)

Ced has been living in Valletta, Malta. For the wedding, SC wants Ced to have the traditional role of the bride’s father walking the bride down the aisle. Joy knows Ced better than SC knows him, so SC asks Joy to be the one to ask Ced to have this role in the wedding. And because this is a romantic comedy, Joy has to make this request in person. SC and Joey offer to go to Malta with her because they SC wants Ced to meet Joey. It’s all just an excuse for the movie to have gorgeous-looking scenery in Malta.

Not surprisingly, this family reunion has a lot of tension and plenty of ups and downs. Ced immediately tells SC that he’s sorry for abandoning her and that he’ll never stop asking for her forgiveness. SC is more willing to forgive Ced than Joy is willing to forgive, but does Joy still have romantic feelings for Ced? And has he really changed his irresponsible ways?

Most of “Ex Ex Lovers” is about Joy and Ced bickering, flirting, and deciding whether or not they want to rekindle their relationship. SC is a romantic and wants her parents to get back together. Joy is the most skeptical that getting back together with Ced would be a good idea. Ced (who has a very charming side) is open to the idea, but he has a long way to go before Joy can consider him to be trustworthy.

The movie begins in a very over-the-top manner, with a lot emoting from the cast members. Some of the dialogue and mannerisms are exaggerated in “Ex Ex Lovers,” particularly with the characters of Joey’s parents Andres (played by Dominic Ochoa) and Sophia (played by G Tongi), who are negative stereotypes of wealthy, entitled people. It would be easy to assume that there will be a certain outcome to the love dilemma between Joy and Ced. However, “Ex Ex Lovers” ends up being more realistic than a lot of romantic comedies would be with a similar concept.

Despite some flaws in the movie’s tone and performances, the “Ex Ex Lovers” plot does not go off track into ridiculous fantasy-level wish-fulfillment, which is usually the biggest flaw of romantic comedies. “Ex Ex Lovers” has capable supporting performances from Andalio and Labajo as engaged couple SC and Joey. However, Magdangal and Agustin are the main attractions in “Ex Ex Lovers” and do not disappoint in giving winning performances that have authenticity in showing how relationships can evolve over time.

Warner Bros. International released “Ex Ex Lovers” in select U.S. cinemas on February 21, 2025. The movie was released in the Philippines on February 12, 2025.

Review: ‘Dragon’ (2025), starring Pradeep Ranganathan, Anupama Parameswaran and Kayadu Lohar

February 28, 2025

by Carla Hay

Gautham Vasudev Menon and Pradeep Ranganathan in “Dragon” (Photo courtesy of Phars Film)

“Dragon” (2025)

Directed by Ashwath Marimuthu

Tamil with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India from 2014 to 2024, the comedy film “Dragon” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A man goes from being a college dropout to a con artist who buys a fake college degree so he can get a high-paying computer technology job, but his lies end up catching up to him.

Culture Audience: “Dragon” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in watching a high-energy comedy that takes a few unpredictable turns.

Mysskin, Pradeep Ranganathan and VJ Siddhu in “Dragon” (Photo courtesy of Phars Film)

“Dragon” starts off looking like a slapstick comedy that’s too absurd for its own good. However, this movie about a rebellious con artist gets better as it goes along, and it ends in a surprisingly meaningful way. The performances elevate the story. The movie’s biggest drawback is that it’s a little too long (157 minutes), but there are enough twists and turns in the plot to almost justify this lengthy run time.

Written and directed by Ashwath Marimuthu, “Dragon” takes place in India, from the years 2014 to 2024. The movie begins by showing Dhanapal Ragavan (played by Pradeep Ranganathan), who is a student at ASG Engineering College in Vellore, India. Dhanapal has a crush on another student named Anjana (played by Gopika Ramesh), even though Dhanapal already has a steady girlfriend named Keerthi Deepak (played by Anupama Parameswaran), who is also a student at the school.

One day, Anjana tells Dhanapal that she is attracted to “bad boys.” And then, quicker than you can say “dishonest chameleon,” Dhanapal becomes a troublemaker at school. He leads a group of other student hooligans, including his best friend Anbu (played by VJ Siddhu), for several misdeeds, such as starting physical fights and committing vandalism. Dhanapal gives himself the nickname Dragon when he decides he’s going to have a “bad boy” reputation.

Dhanapal gets punished by school officials but he is such an academically gifted student, he’s been able to avoid getting expelled. But one day, Dhanapal takes things to far. He throws a bottle, which happens to break the car window of the school’s dean Mayilvahanan (played by Mysskin), who is in the car at the time of this vandalism.

An enraged Mayilvahanan suspends Dhanapal, but other students beg Mayilvahanan to give Dhanapal another chance. Mayilvahanan agrees on one condition: Dhanapal must attend all of Mayilvahanan’s for the next three months. Dhanapal rejects this offer and drops out of school in a huff.

Dhanapal is still living with his loving and supportive parents—father Dhanapal Sr. (played by George Maryan) and mother Chitra (played by Indumathy Manikandan)—who have no idea that Dhanapal has dropped out of college. His parents are financially struggling, partially because they took out a loan to pay for Dhanapal’s education. Dhanapal pretends that he graduated from college. He lies to parents by telling them he’s gotten a fairly well-paying engineering job at an information technology company.

In reality, Dhanapal has been extorting his law-breaking pals to give him money, which Dhanapal pretends to his parents is his “salary.” Dhanapal gives his parents some of the money to help pay for the parents’ expenses, but he come up with phony excuses for why he needs to keep most of the money for himself. When Dhanapal pretends to go to work, he’s actually hanging out with his partier friends and getting drunk. Dhanapal’s rejects Anbu’s suggestion to become a rideshare driver because Dhanapal says that type of job doesn’t pay enough.

Dhanapal doesn’t feel much guilt about leading a double life and all the deceit that he perpetuates. In fact, he makes his parents feel guilty and sometimes yells at them if they ask him for money to help with their expenses. His mother gets a little suspicious from time time, but his father completely trusts and believes everything that Dhanapal says. Whenever, Chitra asks Dhanapal questions that could expose the truth, Dhanapal Sr. will scolds his wife by telling her she’s being too paranoid.

Dhanapal is a dishonest jerk, but he hasn’t been able to foool everyone. Keerthi knows that he’s an unemployed loser. And when Keerthi’s parents arrange for her to marry a math professor at Delhi University, she breaks up with Dhanapal during a tension-filled dinner at a restaurant. Dhanapal had wanted to marry Keerthi, so he’s angry and heartbroken.

Dhanapal reminds Keerthi that she proposed marriage to Dhanapal, so he doesn’t understand why she’s now rejecting him. Keerth bluntly says, “You can be a good lover, but not the right life partner.” Keerthi and Dhanapal have a shouting argument in the restaurant when he does something despicable during the argument: He puts his hands around her neck, as if he’s going to choke her. But then he stops before things go too far.

Dhanapal spends the next several weeks in a drunken stupor. One day, he’s driving a moped while drunk and gets into a accident where he falls down on the moped and injures himself. At the hospital where he gets medical treatment for his injuries, he tells the doctor that he hasn’t been sleeping well because he feeling sad over a recent breakup. The doctor tells Dhanapal to focus on being successful.

One evening, Dhanapal gets invited to a party at the upscale house of his friend Gowtham (played by Ashwath Marimuthu) and his wife Sherin (played by Anveshi Jain), who seem to enjoying an upper-middle-class lifestyle because of Gowtham’s job as an engineer. Dhanapal is slightly envious and asks Gowtham how he’s been able to get the engineering job without a college degree. Gowtham confides in Dhanapal that he paid for a fake college degree and gives him the name and contact information of the place where Dhanapal could get the same thing done for him.

This advice sets Dhanapal on a path of more deception. Dhanapal meets with the sleazy operator Rajesh M.S. (played by Fatman Ravinder) who sells these phony college degrees. It’s enough to say that Dhanapal’s life ends up changing in different ways. He decides that he no longer wants to be an engineer and wants to focus on computer programming instead.

Dhanapal gets a job at a computer software company called Lateral View, where he reports to a vice president named as Vale “Vel” Kumar (played by Gautham Vasudev Menon), who was the same person who interviewed Dhanapal. Dhanapal does very well at Lateral View. Because of Dhanapal’s financial success, he attracts many women, but he stays focused on his work, until he meets and falls for Pallavi Parasuram (played by Kayadu Lohar), the daughter of a wealthy businessman named Parasuram (played K. S. Ravikumar), who is eager to have Pallavi marry Dhanapal.

None of the above is really spoiler information, since a lot of these plot points are revealed in the movie’s trailer. There’s a lot more to the story, because Dhanapal still hasn’t completely gotten over the breakup from Keerthi. Something happens that causes a predictable love triangle. Furthermore, Dhanapal’s lie about his college education ends up coming back to haunt him.

Throughout “Dragon,” there are flashbacks and musical numbers, most of which didn’t really need to be in the movie. There are also scenes of Dean Mayilvahanan in an ASG Engineering College lecture hall, where he tells assembled students about Dragon and warns them not to make the same mistakes. This lecture takes on a new meaning by the end of the story.

“Dragon” is often very hyper and loud, but the comedic timing and acting talent of the cast members make ths movie mostly entertaining to watch. Ranganathan skillfully plays Dhanapal as someone who is easy to despise in the beginning of the film, but layers of Dhanapal’s personality gradually emerge and viewers might change their feelings about him during certain parts of the movie. Lohar is also quite good in the role of Pallavi, who has the unfortunate circumstance of falling in love with someone who’s still hung up on a previous love.

Even some of the most stereotypical things that happen in a comedy with a love triangle (such as pretending to one love interest to be somewhere else in order to be with the other love interest) is amusing in the movie. However, some of these antics come close to being repetitive and irritating when the jokes get a little over-used. There’s also a character named Vetri (played by Harshath Khan), who calls himself Kutty Dragon, who is intentionally annoying. “Dragon” is a flawed by watchable film that doesn’t sink into mediocrity, thanks to the last 20 minutes of the movie, which ends in an impactful way.

Phars Film released “Dragon” in select U.S. cinemas on February 21, 2025, the same date that the movie was released in India.

Review: ‘The Monkey’ (2025), starring Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Elijah Wood, Christian Convery, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell and Sarah Levy

February 17, 2025

by Carla Hay

A scene from “The Monkey” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

“The Monkey” (2025)

Directed by Osgood Perkins

Culture Representation: Taking place in Vancouver, the horror comedy film “The Monkey” (based on the short story of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Identical twin brothers are haunted by a mysterious toy monkey that used to be owned by their father and causes gruesome deaths to the people who become targets of the monkey’s curse.

Culture Audience: “The Monkey” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and filmmaker Osgood Perkins, but some viewers might find the movie’s dark comedy off-putting and awkward.

Theo James in “The Monkey” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

“The Monkey” blends dark comedy with gory deaths in this horror film about a homicidal toy monkey. The movie (whose first half is better than the second half) isn’t that scary and is more about seeing the bizarre ways that people die. “The Monkey” is far from being a masterpiece, but it’s a good-enough option for people who like horror movies about deadly toys.

Written and directed by Osgood Perkins, “The Monkey” is based on Stephen King’s 1980 short story of the same name. Not much was done to expand on the short story, which is why the screenplay often seems thin and repetitive. After writing and directing the grim horror movies “Gretel & Hansel” (released in 2020) and “Longlegs” (released in 2024), Perkins makes his first horror comedy with “The Monkey.”

The results are mixed. The big showdown scene at the end of “The Monkey” drags out for too long and nearly ruins the film, because by this point in the movie, it’s obvious who will live and who will die. However, up until that point, “The Monkey” is a spectacle of creatively staged kill scenes that are meant to be absurdist.

“The Monkey” (which was filmed on location in Vancouver) begins sometime in the early 1990s, by showing an airline pilot captain named Petey Shelborn (played by Adam Scott) frantically bursting into a pawn shop and carrying a creepy-looking toy monkey that is seated with a drum. The monkey has a wind-up screw that makes the monkey play the drums when the screw is wound up. Petey, who has blood on his pilot uniform, doesn’t care about selling this item. He just wants to get rid of it.

Petey tells the unnamed pawn shop owner (played by Shafin Karim): “I need you to take this thing off my hands and make it someone else’s problem … It’s not a toy. Don’t ever call it that … You do not ever want the drumstick come down. Because if it does, we are all fucked to hell.”

The pawn shop owner takes the monkey with curiosity. And the most predictable thing happens next: The monkey still has some of its playing power left over from when the last time it was wound up. The monkey starts playing the drums.

A rat in the shop suddenly chews on a rope, and the broken rope causes the pawn shop owner to be harpooned by a spear that was in the shop. It’s an elaborate booby-trap-styled kill. Petey then uses a flamethrower to try to burn the monkey.

The movie then abruptly cuts to 1999. What happened to Petey? It’s never revealed exactly, but his wife Lois (played by Tatiana Maslany) hasn’t had contact with Petey for years. Lois has bitterly assumed that Petey has abandoned her and their identical twin sons Hal (played by Christian Convery) and Bill (also played by Convery), who are about 13 or 14 years old in 1999.

Why has Lois assumed that Petey is a deadbeat absentee dad? Because of his pilot job, Petey traveled a lot and was an unfaithful husband, according to Lois. She has assumed that Petey ran off with a mistress and started a new life somewhere else. That’s what she has been telling Hal and Bill, who have mixed feelings of resentment toward Petey but also wishing that Petey was still in their lives.

Bill was born first and is a dominant bully to sensitive and introverted Hal. An adult Hal is the narrator of the film. Most of the movie’s scenes that take place in 1999 are about Bill being cruel to Hal. But one day, Hal decides he’s going to get revenge on Bill. And he knows just how to do it.

Before Petey disappeared, he would come home from his airline travels and bring gifts for his Lois and the twins. One day, Hal and Bill are rummaging through things in their home when they discover a wind-up toy monkey that can play a drum. It’s the same monkey that Petey tried to get rid of at the pawn shop. The monkey is mute.

It isn’t long before the twins find out that if the monkey plays the drum, someone nearby will soon die a very violent death. However, as repeated in the movie, the monkey “doesn’t take requests” on who will be the next to die. Therefore, anyone who tries to use the monkey to kill someone might accidentally have someone else killed who isn’t the intended target.

That’s the main reason why watching “The Monkey” is an unpredictable ride. However, movie falls short when it comes to developing characters that viewers will actually care about besides Hal. The deaths in the movie are so freakish, “The Monkey” tends to over-rely on these deaths in substitute for an suspenseful story.

Hal and Bill have a babysitter named Annie Wilkes (played by Danica Dreyer), who takes the twins to a Benihana-type of Japanese restaurant while Lois is on a blind date. (Fans of King’s books will notice that Annie Wilkes is the same name for the villain in King’s 1987 novel “Misery,” which was later made in to an Oscar-winning 1990 movie of the same name.) The monkey is left in the car and starts playing the drums. It’s the first time that the twins see the evil power of the monkey.

Without giving away too much information, at one point in the movie, Hal and Bill have to spend time living with Lois’ brother Chip (played by Perkins) and Chip’s wife Ida (played by Sarah Levy), who don’t want really want to spend time taking care of children. Chip also tells the twins that he and Ida are swingers. You can easily predict that something bad will happen to Chip and/or Ida.

When Bill and Hall find out that they’re in possession of an evil monkey toy, they decide to do something about it. These actions will follow them into their adulthood, which is shown in the second half of the movie. This second half of “The Monkey” is a bit of a tonal mess but has fairly good performances, despite the movie going overboard with nonsensical kills.

The adult years for Bill and Hal take place in 2024. Hal (played by Theo James) is now a single father who works at as a low-paid sales clerk at a general store. Hal is an emotionally aloof loner who has a distant, almost non-existent relationship with his teenage son Petey (played by Colin O’Brien) not because of a custody arrangement but because Hal deliberately does not want to get too emotionally close to Petey. Hal, who sees his son Petey only once a year, still has a lot of unprocessed trauma from his past regarding the toy monkey and Hal’s own absentee father.

Hal’s son Petey (who is about 13 or 14 years old) was born from a fling that Hal had with Petey’s mother (played by Laura Mennell), who doesn’t have a name in the movie. Petey’s mother is married to a pompous self-help guru/author named Ted (played by Eljah Wood), who is a religious expert on fatherhood. Ted has written books titled “Jesus Dad” and “Fatherhood VII.” Hal starts to regret being mostly unavailable to Petey when Hal finds out during his annual visit with Petey that Ted is going to adopt Petey.

Hal and Bill (also played by James) are estranged and have not seen and spoken to each other in years. But in a movie like “The Monkey,” you know that there will be a reason for Hal and Bill to see each other again. Meanwhile, Hal decides to take Petey to an amusement place called Horror Heaven during a father/son excursion that will take place just a few days before Ted officially adopts Petey.

The “daddy issues” are all over this movie because there’s a flimsy subplot about an unnamed cop (played by Paul Puzzella) and his hooligan son Ricky (played by Rohan Campbell), who has been hired to find the menacing monkey. Why can’t this monkey be destroyed? There’s a rushed and not-very-believable explanation for that in the movie.

“The Monkey” walks a fine line between being wickedly laughable and being downright silly. The origins of the monkey are never explained, which is a huge letdown in the movie’s flawed screenplay. The cast members are serviceable in their roles, but the movie starts to lose its edge once the monkey is in the hands of adults, not children. The filmmakers of “The Monkey” obviously want this film to be the start of a series or franchise, but any other stories based on this one should have more reasons to care about the main characters.

Neon will release “The Monkey” in U.S. cinemas on February 21, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on February 12, 2025.

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