Edie Falco Archives – CULTURE MIX

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)

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: ‘Fool’s Paradise’ (2023), starring Charlie Day, Ken Jeong, Kate Beckinsale, Adrien Brody, Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman, Common and Ray Liotta

August 11, 2023

by Carla Hay

Kate Beckinsale, Charlie Day and Ken Jeong in “Fool’s Paradise” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)

“Fool’s Paradise” (2023)

Directed by Charlie Day

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Los Angeles area, the comedy film “Fool’s Paradise” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans Asians and Latinos) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A mostly mute man goes from being patient at a psychiatric facility to impersonating a famous actor while also hanging out with a con-man publicist.

Culture Audience: “Fool’s Paradise” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, because their name recognition is the only thing that this embarrassing dud has going for it.

Charlie Day and Adrien Brody in “Fool’s Paradise” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)

“Fool’s Paradise” is more like viewer’s hell, for anyone expecting this comedy to be funny. It looks like the type of flop whose all-star cast members are there because the director begged them to be in his movie, instead of the screenplay being good. Not only is “Fool’s Paradise” painfully unfunny, but it’s also relentlessly boring.

Written and directed by Charlie Day, “Fool’s Paradise” is Day’s feature-film directorial debut. Day has made a name for himself by mostly doing comedies on TV and in movies. (He’s one of the stars of the long-running comedy TV series “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”) You’d think that someone with all of these years of experience in comedy would’ve learned how to make an entertaining comedy film. “Fool’s Paradise” looks like a movie directed by a complete amateur who convinced several famous people to be in the movie.

There isn’t much to the rambling and garbage plot of “Fool’s Paradise,” which takes place in the Los Angeles area. Day portrays two characters in the movie: the constantly confused main character Latte Pronto and look-alike difficult actor Sir Thomas Kit Bingsley. Someone who buzzes around like an annoying insect in the movie is a con man named Lenny (played by Ken Jeong), who has decided he’s going to convince people that he’s a publicist in the entertainment business. Much of “Fool’s Paradise” is about the silly antics that happen after Lenny meets Latte.

“Fool’s Paradise” begins by showing Lenny in a tense meeting at a diner with an unnamed comedian (played by Andrew Santino), who is furious because he hired Lenny to introduce him to agents and managers, but Lenny hasn’t delivered on that promise. Lenny makes weak excuses, but this angry client has had enough of Lenny and fires him on the spot. With no more clients to deceive, Lenny goes on the hunt for his next scam victim.

Meanwhile, at a psychiatric facility, two unnamed doctors (played by Peter Mackenzie and Christine Horn) decide that they have to discharge one of the patients at the facility. The first doctor says about this hapless patient (played by Day): “The patient is a nobody. He has no family or friends. He has the mind of a 5-year-old or a Labrador retriever.” The doctor adds that the state won’t pay for any of Latte’s therapy, “so we’re going to put his ass on the first bus downtown.”

While this displaced man is now homeless walking on a street, he’s spotted by an unnamed producer (played by Ray Liotta), who is driving by and immediately notices that this person on the street looks identical to hard-drinking actor Thomas. The producer is frustrated because Thomas has been acting like a spoiled, alcoholic diva on the set of the producer’s latest movie, which is a Western.

The producer decides to meet this stranger and hire him as Thomas’ double whenever Thomas is too drunk to work. Even though this stranger seems incapable of telling anyone who he is, the producer decides to go through with the plan. The producer invites the stranger to be on the movie studio lot. During a lunch with the stranger, the producer orders someone to get him a “latte, pronto.” And that’s how the stranger begins to call himself Latte Pronto.

The problem? Latte has lost his ability to speak. That’s supposed to be the movie’s main gimmick, but “Fool’s Paradise” is so stupid, it does away with that gimmick by showing that Latte is mute, except when he has to deliver his actor lines when he’s impersonating Thomas. His co-star in the movie is Chad Luxt (played by Adrien Brody), who plays the villain character Black Bart in the producer’s Western movie.

Before the movie can be completed, Thomas is found dead from self-asphyxiation. At the producer’s urging, Latte takes over Thomas’ identity completely, in order to finish the movie. The producer doesn’t want to lose his investment in the film. Latte then begins to live the life of a movie star, including having Lenny as his publicist. Also in Latte’s entourage are an agent (played by Edie Falco), an attorney, a stylist and an intern (played by Shane Paul McGhie).

An actress named Christiana Dior (played by Kate Beckinsale) starts off in the story as Chad’s girlfriend, but she dumps Chad to marry Latte. Christiana is a shallow trophy wife and one of the worst-written characters in “Fool’s Paradise.” Jason Sudeikis has a brief supporting role as a movie director. Jason Bateman makes a cameo as a special effects technician.

John Malkovich and Tom O’Rion portray wealthy businessman brothers Ed Cote and Dartanon Cote, who are heavly involved in political campaigns. It’s an obvious spoof of the real-life Charles Koch and David Koch. Hip-hop star/actor Common has a small supporting role as a homeless guy named The Dagger. Most of the characters in “Fool’s Paradise” do not have names.

There are some really awful movies where you can tell that at least the cast members were having fun. That’s not the case with “Fool’s Paradise,” which is the type of dreadful misfire where the principal cast members look like they know they’re stuck in a horrible movie, and they all (including Day) give lackluster performances. The sluggish pacing makes this cinematic cesspool of bad comedy even worse. The only good thing that might come out of “Fool’s Paradise” is that if Day directs another movie, hopefully he’ll learn from this colossal failure of creativity, and he won’t make the same mistakes again.

Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions released “Fool’s Paradise” in U.S. cinemas on May 12, 2023. The movie was released on digital and VOD on June 2, 2023.

Review: ‘Avatar: The Way of Water,’ starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis and Britain Dalton

December 13, 2022

by Carla Hay

Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldaña, Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss and Sam Worthington in “Avatar: The Way of Water” (Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios)

“Avatar: The Way of Water”

Directed by James Cameron

Culture Representation: Taking place on Earth and on the fictional planet of Pandora, the sci-fi action film “Avatar: The Way of Water” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans, Latinos and Asians) portraying humans and non-humans.

Culture Clash: Jake Sully and Neytiri, the heroes of 2009’s “Avatar,” are now the leaders of the Omatikaya clan on Pandora, but Jake becomes the target of revenge for being a traitor to Earth, so he and his family escape to live with another clan on Pandora, with an old enemy in pursuit.

Culture Audience: Besides appealing to the obvious target audience of “Avatar” fans, “Avatar: The Way of Water” will appeal primarily to people interested in watching a top-notch sci-fi film.

Sam Worthington, Kate Winslet and Cliff Curtis in “Avatar: The Way of Water” (Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios)

“Avatar: The Way of Water” has set the bar even higher for sci-fi epics. The movie’s technical achievements and story surpass the first “Avatar” film. Expect to be immersed in a visually stunning world that has a lot to say about protection of families and the environment. At 192 minutes, “Avatar: The Way of Water” is a more than worth the time of anyone who wants to be entertained for a little more than three hours by a magnificent achievement in sci-fi cinema.

Directed by James Cameron, “Avatar: The Way of Water” is a movie that is fully appreciated if viewers have seen or know about what happened in 2009’s Oscar-winning blockbuster “Avatar,” which was also directed by Cameron. Mild spoiler alert for those who haven’t the first “Avatar” movie, which took place in the year 2154: The movie’s main hero, Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington), a wheelchair-using U.S. Marine, was assigned to be a bodyguard for Dr. Grace Augustine (played by Sigourney Weaver), the leader of the Avatar Program that gives the ability for humans to appear in the form of something else.

Jake defied the government’s plan for military people to disguise themselves as Pandora natives call the Na’vi, in order to deplete the moon planet of Pandora (located in the Alpha Centauri system) for the precious resource unobtanium. Na’vi people are a humanoid species with blue skin, and the average Na’vi adults are about 10 feet tall. At the end of the first “Avatar” movie, Jake left behind his human life on Earth to become a Na’vi.

At the beginning of “Avatar: The Way of Water” (whose screenplay was written by Cameron, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver), it is about 15 years after the first movie took place. Jake (who has fully inhabited his Na’vi body) has been happily married to Neytiri (played by Zoe Saldaña), the female Na’vi who saved his life in the first “Avatar” movie. Jake and Neytiri fell in love in the first “Avatar” movie. They now live on Pandora, where Jake is the leader of the Omatikaya clan, which lives and thrives in the forest.

Jake and Neytiri are now parents to four children: teenage son Neteyam (played by Jamie Flatters) is the “role model” eldest child; teenage son Lo’ak (played by Britain Dalton) is slightly rebellious and living in the shadow of Neteyam; adopted teenage daughter Kiri (played by Weaver) is haunted by the memories of her biological mother; and pre-teen daughter Tuk (played by Trinity Jo-Li Bliss) is friendly and playful. The four Sully kids are very close to a human named Spider (played by Jack Champion), who was orphaned by the war between the Na’vi and humans.

The movie later reveals Spider’s family background and who one of his biological parents is. Spider spends so much time with the Sully kids that he’s almost like part of the family. However, Neytiri is nervous and wary about Spider becoming so close to the kids because she doesn’t completely trust humans, who are called Sky People by the Na’vi. The humans were responsible for nearly destroying Neytiri’s family in the first “Avatar” movie. One of the survivors was Neytiri’s mother Mo’at (played by CCH Pounder), who makes a brief appearance in “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

Kiri’s origins are revealed near the beginning of the movie: She was created from the DNA of Dr. Augustine. Mild spoiler alert for those who don’t know what happened in the first “Avatar” movie: Dr. Augustine died in the first “Avatar” movie, but she makes an appearance in flashbacks in “Avatar: The Way of Water.” Throughout the movie, Kiri feels a psychic connection to that is both confusing and comforting to Kiri.

In the first “Avatar” movie, the U.S. government’s Resources Development Administration (RDA) was in charge of raiding Pandora for unobtanium because resources on Earth have diminished. The RDA still exists in “Avatar: The Way of Water,” and they consider Jake to be a traitorous enemy because of what happened in the first “Avatar” movie. As described in the “Avatar: The Way of Water” production notes: “In addition to having an armada of weaponized land, air and sea vehicles at their disposal, the RDA has brought with them a secret weapon: an elite team of soldiers resurrected as recombinants (recoms). Recoms are autonomous avatars embedded with the memories of the humans whose DNA was used to create them.”

This group of recom soldiers has been tasked with one primary mission: find and kill Jake. The leader of this mission is Recom Colonel Miles Quaritch (played by Stephen Lang), the avatar of the human Colonel Miles Quaritch (also played by Lang), who was head of RDA’s security force and Jake’s biggest adversary in the first “Avatar” movie. During this mission, the recom soldiers appear in the form of Na’vi when they go to Pandora to hunt down Jake.

Through a series of circumstances, the Sully family is are forced to leave their home. They flee to another part of Pandora, where they are taken in as refugees by the green-skinned Metkayina clan. Whereas the forest is the primary domain of the Omatikaya clan, the ocean is the primary domain of the Metkayina clan, which reluctantly lets the Sully family live with them because it’s a Na’vi tradition to help refugees of Pandora.

The leaders of the Metkayina clan are upstanding and fair-minded Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). and his compassionate wife Ronal (played by Kate Winslet), who is pregnant when this story takes place. Ronal and Tonowari tell their teenage children—daughter Tsireya (played by Bailey Bass) and older son Aonung (played by Filip Geljo)—to attempt to teach the Sully kids how to adapt to the clan’s water activities, customs and traditions. Aonung is somewhat hostile to these newcomers, while Tsireya is welcoming.

Tsireya and Lo’ak have an immediate “attraction at first sight” the first time that they meet each other. It leads to some romantic moments but also some tensions, particularly from Aonung, who clashes with and bullies Lo’ak during much of the story. The residents of Pandora have much bigger problems though, when Recom Colonel Miles Quaritch and his marauding team of soldiers invade Pandora in their hunt for Jake.

“Avatar: The Way of Water” has some of the most eye-popping and gorgeous visuals (especially the underwater scenes) that movie audiences will ever see in a sci-fi movie. In addition to the movie’s visual effects, “Avatar: The Way of Water’s” enchanting cinematography and production design are particularly noteworthy. “Avatar: The Way of Water” also has emotionally impactful stories about the connections that humans and humanoids can develop with other animals. And just like in the first “Avatar” movie, “Avatar: The Way of Water” has a very pro-environment message that isn’t preachy but is presented in a way that serves as a warning of what could happen when a planet’s inhabitants don’t take care of their planet.

The majority of the cast members in “Avatar: The Way of Water” do not appear in human form, due to visual effects, so their acting is on par with similar big-budget movies that use visual effects to alter the appearance of the cast members. However, Weaver (as Kiri) and Dalton have some standout moments as children who feel like misfits in their family and who feel like they have something to prove about their worth in their family. Champion’s portrayal of Spider is also admirable, because Spider goes through his own issues dealing with self-esteem, identity and family loyalty.

Other characters in “Avatar: The Way of Water” include General Ardmore (played by Edie Falco), a ruthless official from RDA; Captain Mick Scoresby (played by Brendan Cowell) and Dr. Ian Garvin (played by Jemaine Clement), who are recruited by RDA to help track down Jake and find more unobtanium; and scientists Dr. Norm Spellman (played by Joel David Moore) and Dr. Max Patel (played by Dileep Rao), who were allies to Jake in the first “Avatar” movie.

The “Avatar” universe is best experienced from the beginning to fully understand the nuances and developments of “Avatar: The Way of Water” and other “Avatar” sequels. “Avatar: The Way of Water” is a movie that has Oscar-worthy technical prowess, but the dialogue is a little on the simplistic and generic side. What the movie lacks in dazzling dialogue it more than makes up for in delivering a poignant, thrilling and entertaining story with a big heart that viewers will want to revisit.

20th Century Studios will release “Avatar: The Way of Water” in U.S. cinemas on December 16, 2022.