Tag: Jason Isaacs

Review: ‘Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd,’ starring Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Andrew King, Peter Jenner, Storm Thorgerson and Andrew ‘Willow’ Rawlinson

July 30, 2023

by Carla Hay

An archival photo of Pink Floyd members Roger Waters, Rick Wright, Nick Mason and Syd Barrett in “Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd” (Photo courtesy of Syd Barrett Music Ltd./Abramorama)

“Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd”

Directed by Roddy Bogawa and Storm Thorgerson

Culture Representation: The documentary film “Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd” features a nearly all-white group of people (with one Latino) discussing the life of Pink Floyd co-founder Syd Barrett, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2006, when he was 60 years old.

Culture Clash: Barrett, who was in Pink Floyd from 1965 to 1968, rocketed to fame when the band’s first two singles and first album were hits, but his drug abuse, mental breakdowns and increasing unreliability led to him being fired from the band, and he became a recluse from the mid-1970s until his death. 

Culture Audience: Besides appealing to the obvious target audience of Pink Floyd fans and rock music fans, “Have You Got It Yet?” will appeal to people interested in true stories about the psychedelic 1960s and the highs and lows of fame.

An archival photo of Syd Barrett in “Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd” (Photo by Aubrey Powell/Hipgnosis/Abramorama)

“Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd” is a fitting biography of Syd Barrett (co-founder of the British rock band Pink Floyd), with an impressive array of exclusive interviews with his associates. Some viewers might be surprised that many people interviewed for this documentary (including co-director Storm Thorgerson) died years ago. There have been several books and articles written about Barrett (who died of pancreatic cancer in 2006, when he was 60 years old), as well as a few unauthorized documentaries about him.

However, “Have You Got It Yet?” (which has narration by actor Jason Isaacs) is by far the most comprehensive documentary about Barrett’s life because of the numerous people who were close to him who are interviewed for this film. The documentary also has a few of Barrett’s famous musician fans weigh in with their thoughts. There’s also commentary from some psychiatrists (because Barrett had serious mental health issues) and a few writers.

Directed by Thorgerson (who died in 2013) and Roddy Bogawa (one of the producers of this documentary), much of “Have You Got It Yet?” was obviously filmed several years before this documentary was completed and released. Thorgerson, who knew Barrett since the early 1960s, was a longtime colleague of Pink Floyd’s because Thorgerson was a co-founder of the art design group Hipgnosis, which designed almost all of Pink Floyd’s album covers since 1968. In “Have You Got It Yet?,” Thorgerson’s voice is heard asking and reacting to many of the questions asked of the people interviewed. He also appears on camera to do his own interview commentary.

A lot of facts about Barrett are already known to many people who are knowledgeable about rock music. Born in 1946, in Cambridge, England, his birth name was Roger Keith Barrett. He got the nickname Syd as a child, although his family still called him Roger or Rog. Barrett was the third of five siblings who grew up in a middle-class home with married parents. His pathologist/botanist father Arthur Max Barrett encouraged Syd’s artistic inclinations.

Syd became an avid painter of abstract art and a musician, with the guitar as his main instrument of choice. Several people in the documentary describe Syd as highly intelligent, constantly curious, and very talented, before he became a recluse and many people he knew were no longer in contact with him. Johnny Gordon, a childhood friend from Syd’s art school days, remembers that Syd “had a flair way beyond his years.”

Syd’s father Arthur died of cancer in 1961, when Syd was 15 years old. There’s nothing in the documentary that talks about how Syd was emotionally affected by his father’s death. It’s mentioned that the family moved to a new house in Cambridge after Arthur died. Moving to this new neighborhood led to Syd meeting his first serious girlfriend: Libby Gausden, who lived near the Barrett family and met Syd at a local public swimming pool.

Gausden, who is interviewed in the documentary, says that she and Syd dated from 1961 to 1964. She remembers, “He was kind, he was gentle, he was generous. He liked buying presents. He wrote to me all the time.” Syd attended Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology, where he met future Pink Floyd member David Gilmour, who also knew Gausden. She says that Gilmour was with her at the swimming pool on the day that she met Syd.

Gilmour remembers how Syd was at the time: “He walked with a bounce.” The romance between Syd and Gausden fell apart in 1964, after Syd moved to London to go Camberwell College of Arts. During his time at Camberwell College of Arts, Syd’s next serious girlfriend was Jenny Spires, who says in a documentary interview that she and Syd began dating about a week after they met. She describes him as fun and romantic, but she broke up with him for reasons that she doesn’t give details about in the movie. Spires vaguely says that she just wanted to move on from the relationship.

Out of all of his siblings, Syd was closest to his younger sister Rosemary Breen, who became his caretaker during Syd’s reclusive years. Breen remembers Syd this way before he had his drug-induced mental breakdowns: “He was always wanting the next bit of fun.” She also says that she only saw Syd perform once with Pink Floyd, sometime in the late 1960s. Breen remembers that Syd didn’t look like he was having any fun, and she wasn’t interested in seeing him perform on stage again after that experience.

Breen being in this documentary is crucial to why “Have You Got It Yet?” stands out from other accounts of Syd’s life. She is the only person interviewed in the documentary who knew what Syd was really like during all the years when he chose to disappear from the public eye. The pain of what she went through is etched all over her face when she talks about Syd’s reclusive years (she says he was incapable of having a job), but she also shares her fond memories of what Syd was like before fame and drugs destroyed a lot of the vibrancy that he had in his youth.

Like many British rock stars who found fame in the 1960s, Syd went to art school, which was a viable option for teenagers who couldn’t see themselves working in traditional or conventional jobs. When Syd moved to London in 1964, he ended up living in the same apartment as the musicians who would be in the original lineup of Pink Floyd: vocalist/bass guitarist Roger Waters, keyboardist Richard “Rick” Wright and drummer Nick Mason. (Pink Floyd, which was formed in 1965, was originally called the Pink Floyd Sound, and later the Pink Floyd.) They were influenced by blues music, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.

Syd sang lead vocals, played lead guitar, and wrote most of Pink Floyd’s songs at the time. He also came up with the band’s name, which was a combination of the first names of two blues musicians he admired: Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. By all accounts, Syd was Pink Floyd’s original mastermind.

In the documentary, Waters says of Pink Floyd’s success: “It wouldn’t have existed if it hadn’t been for Syd. We would’ve been one of thousands and thousands of bands who come up … and then disappear.” In the first few years of Pink Floyd, the band quickly went to the forefront of the emerging psychedelic rock scene, where LSD (nicknamed acid) was consumed as often as many people drank coffee or drank alcohol.

Although Pink Floyd’s music and image changed after Barrett was ousted from the band in 1968, Pink Floyd was considered one of the pioneers of psychedelic rock. The characteristics of psychedelic rock included long jam sessions for each song, experimental noises, and hypnotic and dazzling light shows. At the time, it wasn’t just different to perform rock music this way. It was revolutionary. Syd began making enough money as a working musician in Pink Floyd, so he eventually quit art school and never went back.

The documentary “Have You Got It Yet?” gets its title from a notorious song of the same name that Syd wrote where he deliberately kept changing the song. The ironic joke was that the answer would be “no” if anyone asked in reference to fully knowing the song: “Have you got it yet?” In the documentary, Nick Laird-Clowes (of Dream Academy fame) describes Syd’s songwriting this way: “He has a strange bridge of Edwardian musical vaudeville and his own particular brand of psychedelia.”

After signing with EMI Records, success came quickly for Pink Floyd, whose first two singles, released in 1967—”Arnold Layne” and “See Emily Play”—hit No. 20 and No. 6, respectively, on the United Kingdom’s singles charts. The band’s 1967 debut album, “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,” was a Top 10 hit in the United Kingdom. By all accounts, Syd was uncomfortable with fame, and his drug use escalated. He began to disappear when the band needed to work.

Peter Jenner, who was Syd’s former manager, says in the documentary: “There was religious acid-taking at that time. Syd was one of the saints of that underground cult.” Unfortunately for Syd, he became a “poster boy” for excessive drug use, which led to his personal downfall. In addition to Syd having drug-induced mental breakdowns, it became more difficult for him to function and communicate. If he showed up somewhere, it wasn’t unusual for him not to know where he was or not recognize people he knew.

Gilmour remembers visiting Pink Floyd in 1967 and being dismayed at the deterioration of Syd: “He had lost his bounce and spark. And that was really an odd and uncomfortable moment.” In 1968, guitarist/vocalist Gilmour joined Pink Floyd as a fifth member, around the time that Syd started to become increasingly unreliable and estranged from the rest of the band. Syd was eventually fired a few months after Gilmour became an official Pink Floyd member. In the documentary, Mason says the obvious about Syd: “He didn’t want to be a pop star.”

Syd’s personal life was also in shambles. Lindsay Korner, who dated Syd at the height of Syd’s fame, describes how he went from being a sweet-natured guy to being erratic and abusive. Korner says she ended her relationship with Syd after he physically attacked her with a mandolin.

Gala Pinion, who was Syd’s fiancée in the early 1970s, describes having a co-dependent and wildly unpredictable relationship with him. He ended their engagement by sending her a breakup letter, and then he sent her another letter a few days later to say that he changed his mind. The relationship didn’t last anyway. Syd never married and did not have any known children.

With the help of Gilmour as a producer and musician, Syd released two solo albums in 1970: “Madcap Laughs” (which was a modest hit) and “Barrett” which was a flop. In 1972, Syd was briefly in a band called Stars, with drummer Twink and bass player Jack Monck. Syd quit Stars after the band did a few performances.

Syd’s last known recording sessions were in 1974, for a third solo album that never happened. For the rest of his life, Syd withdrew from being a public artist. Syd continued to make paintings, but friends and associates in the documentary say that he often destroyed his artwork soon after showing it to people. It’s mentioned more than once in the documentary that Syd often thought of himself as two people: Roger the painter and Syd the musician.

Hardly anything is said in the documentary about whether or not anyone tried to get Syd any professional help for his problems with drugs and mental health. Gilmour briefly mentions that Pink Floyd tried everything to help him, but Syd refused to get professional help. When Syd was still in the music business, Syd didn’t reach a point where he had to be involuntarily put into an institution. And remarkably, even with his widely known drug addiction at the height of his fame, he was never arrested for drug possession or other drug-related crimes at a time when many of his rock star peers were being targeted for drug busts.

The domestic violence incident with Syd’s ex-girlfriend Korner was not reported to police, which isn’t too surprising, since most victims of domestic assault decline to press charges. Korner describes the attack as very out of character for Syd, but it was enough for her to decide to end her relationship with him. It’s unknown if Syd received psychiatric help while he was under the care of his sister. Neither she nor Syd’s ex-fiancée Pinion mention Syd getting professional help during the years that he was out of the public eye. Pinion describes Syd’s mother as being very doting to Syd, but his mother was in denial about his problems, even when there was glaring evidence that he was very unwell.

Syd essentially cut off contact with the people he knew from his Pink Floyd life, except for one notorious incident. “Have You Got It Yet?” includes the well-known story of how Syd showed up unannounced during one of Pink Floyd’s recording sessions for the band’s 1975 album “Wish You Were Here.” The album’s title song, as well as the album track “Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” were about Syd. When Syd showed up at the recording studio, he looked very different from the last time his former bandmates had seen him: Syd had a completely shaved head and he had gained weight.

Mason admits that he didn’t recognize Syd at first and thought he was a random stranger who had wandered into the studio. Phil Taylor, who was Gilmour’s guitar tech at the time, took the famous photos of Syd at the recording studio. Taylor remembers that this Pink Floyd reunion with Syd was bittersweet but mostly sad because Syd’s memory was foggy, and he was not in the right mental shape to be a fully functioning musician.

It was the last time Syd’s former Pink Floyd bandmates saw him in person. For the rest of Syd’s life, he struggled with financial problems and mental health issues. Syd occasionally appeared in “where are they now” tabloid stories, which featured ambush photos taken of him outside. Syd’s former Pink Floyd bandmates did not attend his funeral.

As most Pink Floyd fans know, the band had its biggest hits after Syd was no longer in the band. Pink Floyd’s 1973 album “Dark Side of the Moon” and 1979 album “The Wall” remain the band’s best-selling albums. But that didn’t mean turmoil didn’t leave Pink Floyd. Waters (who quit Pink Floyd in 1984) has been feuding off and on for years with Gilmour. As of this writing, Waters continues to actively tour as a solo artist (his concerts feature many Pink Floyd songs), while Gilmour and Mason have settled into semi-retirement. Wright died of lung cancer in 2008, when he was 65.

Pink Floyd’s last tour was in 1994, in support of the album “The Division Bell.” Gilmour has stated in many interviews over the years that Pink Floyd will no longer tour or release studio albums of new songs. The last such Pink Floyd album was 2014’s “The Endless River.” In 2022, the first new Pink Floyd single was released since 2014. Gilmour, Mason, bass guitarist Guy Pratt and keyboardist Nitin Sawhney recorded the Pink Floyd single “Hey, Hey, Rise Up!,” featuring vocals from BoomBox singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk, as a song protesting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The proceeds from the “Hey, Hey, Rise Up!” single (which was released in April 2022) went to the charity Ukrainian Humanitarian Relief.

The last one-off Pink Floyd reunion performances featuring Waters, Gilmour, Wright and Mason were the Live 8 all-star charity concert at London’s Hyde Park in 2005, and the 2007 “Madcap’s Last Laugh” Syd Barrett tribute concert at the Barbican Centre in London. The Live 8 show was the last time that Waters, Gilmour, Wright and Mason performed songs on stage together as a band. They performed the Pink Floyd song “Breathe (In the Air), “Breathe (Reprise), “Money, “Wish You Were Here” and “Comfortably Numb.” Waters performed separately from “Have You Got It Yet?” shows part of the Live 8 performance of “Wish You Were Here” during the documentary’s closing credits.

The closing credits also has an “in memoriam” montage of all the people in the documentary who were interviewed but were deceased at the time the documentary was released in 2023. They include Syd’s friends such as Thorgerson, John “The Vet” Davies, Nigel Lesmoir Gordon, Anthony Stern, Mick Rock, Peter Whitehead and Duggie Fields. Andrew “Willow” Rawlinson, one of Syd’s childhood friends, is probably the most opinionated of the friends who’s interviewed in the film.

Other interviewees who knew Syd include friends Seamus O’Connell, David Gale, Aubrey “Po” Powell, Diana McKenna and Sue Kingsford. Colleagues were are interviewed include former Pink Floyd lighting engineer Peter Wynne-Wilson; former art professor Jasper Rose; musician Jerry Shirley, who worked on Syd’s “Barrett” solo album; music publishers Cora Barnes and Peter Barnes, who say they helped Syd get his publishing royalties sorted when Syd was financially broke; and former manager Andrew King.

Famous fans have nothing but praise for how they say Syd influenced them. The Who guitarist/chief songwriter Pete Townshend says, “The only time I deliberately missed a gig with The Who was when I heard that Pink Floyd was doing a concert. And I didn’t tell the band [The Who], and I went to the UFO Club and took some acid and danced like a hippie.” Other musicians and artists express their admiration for Syd, such as Graham Coxon of Blur, Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT, former Catherine Wheel member Rob Dickinson, Cedric Bixler-Zavala of the Mars Volta, art curator Will Shutes, biographer Julian Palacios, comedian Noel Fielding, writer Mark Blake, and biographer Rob Chapman.

“Have You Got It Yet?” doesn’t make Syd’s drug use look glamorous but it doesn’t completely condemn it either, since most people interviewed in the documentary seem to believe that Syd’s drug use fueled Syd’s creativity, even if it harmed him in the long run. The documentary admirably includes the perspectives of several psychiatrists who give facts and opinions about how psychedelic drug use affects people’s brains and mental health, with the caveat that individual effects can vary. The psychiatrists interviewed are Julian Leff, Sam Hutt, Mark Collins, David Nutt. And philosopher Tim Freke is interviewed too.

“Have You Got It Yet?” has a very good and cohesive mix of archival footage with the exclusive documentary interviews. The movie isn’t a completely fawning tribute because it discusses Syd’s flaws and as well as his admirable qualities. The most impactful parts of the documentary are those that not about the glitz and glamour of rock stardom but in moments when people describe Syd as a human being instead as of an icon.

Gilmour expresses regret about not visiting Syd during Syd’s most reclusive years, even though he says the Barrett family discouraged people from Syd’s Pink Floyd life to visit Syd. Some other people in the documentary also share similar feelings of regret. It’s a lesson in humility that fame and fortune aren’t always what they’re hyped up to be and certainly can’t buy the things in life that really matter.

Abramorama released “Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd” in select U.S. cinemas on July 14, 2023, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on July 21, 2023. The movie was released in the United Kingdom on May 15, 2023.

Review: ‘Spinning Gold,’ starring Jeremy Jordan, Michelle Monaghan, Lyndsy Fonseca, Jay Pharoah, Ledisi, Tayla Parx and Dan Fogler

March 31, 2023

by Carla Hay

Jeremy Jordan in “Spinning Gold” (Photo courtesy of Hero Partners and Howling Wolf Films)

“Spinning Gold”

Directed by Timothy Scott Bogart

Culture Representation: Taking place from 1951 to 1979, primarily in New York City and Los Angeles, the dramatic film “Spinning Gold” features a cast of white characters and African American characters (with a few Latinos) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy in this biopic of music mogul Neil Bogart.

Culture Clash: Bogart found hitmaking success with artists such as Donna Summer, Kiss, Gladys Knight & the Pips and the Isley Brothers, but his life was plagued by personal problems, such as marital infidelity, cocaine addiction, gambling and being millions of dollars in debt. 

Culture Audience: “Spinning Gold” will appeal primarily to fans of the movie’s headliners and the artists featured in the movie, but there are noticeable factual omissions in this movie that takes a very glossy and over-exaggerated look at the movie’s protagonist.

Tayla Parx in “Spinning Gold” (Photo courtesy of Hero Partners and Howling Wolf Films)

“Spinning Gold” would be perfectly fine as a jukebox musical on stage. But as a cinematic experience, this flashy movie erases too many important facts. “Spinning Gold” makes it look like agents and attorneys didn’t exist in the 1970s music industry. This biopic of music mogul Neil Bogart also has questionable depictions of him as a music creator and innovator. This rewriting of history does a disservice and is disrespectful to the real people whose work is sidelined or removed from this movie’s story.

If you believe this movie, then you’d have to believe that Bogart was the one who told Donna Summer to make orgasmic moans in the recording studio when she recorded her breakthrough 1975 hit “Love to Love You Baby.” (These moans made the song controversial at the time and generated a lot of publicity for the song.) You’d also have to believe that Bogart made “Love to Love You Baby” a hit, simply by gluing the record to an influential radio DJ’s turntable and playing it on the radio, while enticing the DJ to be handcuffed in another room by two prostitutes. If you believe this movie, then you’d have also to believe that Bogart was the one who came up with the idea of the Kiss Army fan club, when it was actually Kiss fans Bill Starkey and Jay Evans who founded the Kiss Army, when they were teenagers in 1975.

Written and directed by Timothy Scott Bogart (one of Neil’s sons), “Spinning Gold” does tell viewers up front that this version of Neil’s story is told through a very rosy perspective of what Neil’s memories would be if he told the story himself. Neil Bogart died of cancer in 1982, when he was 39 years old. The movie is supposed to be narrated by the ghost of Neil Bogart looking back on his life. This narration is a little excessive and over-explains many things that are already shown in the movie.

As the Neil Bogart character (played by Jeremy Jordan) admits near the beginning of the film, the story presented in “Spinning Gold” isn’t very accurate: “It’s just that memories are complicated. We remember what we want to remember. We forget what we want to forget.” This trite explanation will just make viewers think that “Spinning Gold” lacks credibility. And indeed, most of the movie looks like a fairy tale, if the fairy tale had the expected clichés of sex, drugs and rock and roll in the music industry.

“Spinning Gold” certainly delivers when it comes to rousing and entertaining performances of beloved songs by artists who were signed to record companies (Buddha Records and Casablanca Records) that were led by Neil Bogart at the time. The movie features hits from Summer, Kiss, the Isley Brothers and Parliament, among others. To their credit, the “Spinning Gold” cast members who perform these songs use their real voices instead of taking the easier route of lip syncing the original recordings. Many of the acting performances are charismatic, especially by Jordan, who gives the Neil character enough roguish charm in Neil’s attempt to justify many of the sleazy and corrupt business tactics that Neil uses in the film.

However, some of the cast members are jarringly miscast and do not look convincing as the real people they are supposed to play, by looking too old for the role or by not looking anything like the real people. For example, Tayla Parx, who has the role of disco queen Summer, does not look anything like the real Summer. Casey Likes (who plays Kiss lead singer/bassist Gene Simmons) and Samuel Harris (who plays Kiss lead singer/rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley) also have no physical resemblance to the real people. In the case of Harris, he looks about 10 years older than the real age (mid-20s) that Stanley was in real life during the Kiss years that are depicted in the movie.

Many of the movie’s scenes are filmed and lighted like a stage musical, which might or might not appeal to viewers, depending on how much they like stage musicals. The cinematography, production design and costume design are among the best aspects of “Spinning Gold.” But the film editing is hit-and-miss. There’s an over-reliance on quick-cutting montages. The timeline of the story is also jumbled, as it’s told in non-chronological order, with the constant narration doing little to clear up any confusion.

The movie tells viewers from these disjointed flashbacks that Neil had a hustling entrepreneur personality from an early age. Throughout his life, Neil changed his name (his birth name was Neil Bogatz) and reinvented himself several times. Neil had a dysfunctional childhood, growing up in a working-class part of Brooklyn, New York. His father Al Bogatz (played by Jason Isaacs) worked as a mail deliverer for the U.S. Postal Service and was a gambling addict who frequently owed money to people.

A scene in the movie shows young Neil witnessing his father getting beaten up by some thugs over gambling debts. (Winslow Fegley portrays Neil as an 8-year-old child.) As a child, Neil started a laundry business using the washers and dryers in the apartment building where he lived. In a short period of time, underage Neil was making more money than his father, according to Neil. (It’s another story that sounds embellished.)

Neil’s mother Ruth Bogatz (played by Ellen David) is barely in the movie and isn’t shown speaking until much later in Neil’s life, after Neil becomes the wealthy owner of Casablanca Records, and he buys his parents a big house. The movie has repeated references to Neil having “daddy issues” of wanting to be a gambler like his father, but to become rich and successful at it, unlike his father. Although there are a few scenes of Neil gambling in casinos, his real gambles were with money in the music industry.

By the time Neil was in his late teens in 1961, Neil had changed his named to Neil Scott and became an aspiring singer and dancer. “Spinning Gold” depicts Neil meeting his first wife Beth Weiss (played by Michelle Monaghan) while he’s working in a ballroom at a hotel owned by her father. She’s seated at the same table as her sister Nancy (played by Peyton List), who would later become one of Neil’s record promoters. Neil asks Beth to dance, and she says that she doesn’t dance with the staff.

And then, the next thing you know, Beth and Neil are slow dancing by themselves on the dance floor, while everyone in the ballroom watches them. Neil clutches Beth from behind, and he asks her to tell him what she dreams about at night. Neil can sense that Beth wants to break out of her “pampered princess/good girl” image that she has and hook up with a “bad boy,” just to annoy her domineering father. And Neil is right.

Neil soon becomes a small-time pop star, when he’s able to win a local radio contest hosted by Murray the K (a famous New York radio DJ) where listeners could vote for Neil’s song “Cherry on Top” versus whatever was Elvis Presley’s latest single at the time. Neil shrewdly knew that only local people would be voting, so he figured out a way to get enough votes. (The movie never shows how.) He gets a lot of publicity for being an artist who received more listener votes than Presley. “Cherry on Top” becomes a minor hit. Neil eventually ended up as a one-hit wonder, but he got a taste of the music business, and he was hooked.

Neil and Beth were married in 1964, and they later had three children together: Jill, Tim and Bradley. (In the movie, their daughter’s name is spelled Jill. In real life, her name is spelled Jylle.) By 1964, Neil had changed his name to Wayne Stewart and Wayne Roberts when he had a short-lived stint as a porn actor (a scene in “Spinning Gold” shows Neil saying he made porn to pay for Beth’s engagement ring) and as a record promoter for MGM Records. Neil’s porn work isn’t recreated in “Spinning Gold” but Neil’s wheeling and dealing in the music industry are depicted in ways that are both overly sentimental and cynically selective.

His first big hit for MGM was Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs’ 1964 pop-rock song “Wooly Bully.” He is also shown bribing local record stores to carry this single as a way to increase sales. Eventually, Neil became the president of MGM Records. His MGM experiences breeze by in the film in many quick montages. Later in the movie, there is brief acknowledgement that Beth taught Neil most of what he learned about accounting and other business skills he would need in a managerial position.

Bribing people to promote or sell music (also called “payola”) was a tactic that “Spinning Gold” admits that Neil used throughout his career and is shown in multiple scenes in the film. There was a U.S. government crackdown on music industry payola in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but payola was openly done before then. Payola hasn’t gone away, but people aren’t as blatant about it as they were in Neil Bogart’s heyday.

The payola bribery would be through cash, drugs, prostitutes, high-priced gifts and other ways for people to be persuaded by whoever was giving out these bribes. “Spinning Gold” portrays influential New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker (played by Chris Redd) as being a frequent recipient of payola. In the movie, Neil justifies it by saying that no one he bribed ever played music that they didn’t want to play. It’s a statement that sounds as phony as a $3 bill.

“Spinning Gold” shows that Neil (now going by the name Neil Bogart) left MGM Records to have even greater success at Buddah Records. The movie’s opening scene takes place in 1967. It depicts Neil showing up at an African American church where the Edwin Hawkins Singers are performing “Oh Happy Day” as the church choir. Edwin Hawkins (played Obi Abili) is sitting at the side of the altar, while Neil tries to persuade Edwin to sign this choir to a record deal.

Neil is convinced that “Oh Happy Day” will be the first gospel song to be a major crossover pop hit. And in order to convince Edwin, Neil takes wads of cash out of his briefcase. And then, when Neil is sure he’s sealed the deal, he joins the choir on stage and sings in front of them, as if he’s the star of the show. It’s a crassly corny and unrealistic scene. Neil tells the “Spinning Gold” audience in one of his many voiceovers that is not how it happened in real life, but that’s the way he wants to remember it.

Neil’s other successes at Buddha that are depicted in “Spinning Gold” include signing Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Isley Brothers and Bill Withers. Gladys Knight (played by Ledisi) is shown in a somewhat amusing scene where Gladys and Neil are in the recording studio. She convinces him that the song “Midnight Plane to Houston” should be changed to “Midnight Train to Georgia,” which was a hit for Gladys Knight & the Pips in 1973. It’s one of the few times in the movie that someone other than Neil is shown coming up with an idea that would turn out to be a hit. Gladys Knight & the Pips signed with Buddha Records after leaving Motown Records.

“Spinning Gold” also depicts Neil as the one who came up with the riffs for the Isley Brothers’ 1969 hit “It’s Your Thing.” In real life, Ronald Isley, O’Kelly Isley Jr. and Rudolph Isley wrote “It’s Your Thing,” but the movie makes it looks like Neil was an uncredited writer for the song. Neil persuades Ronald Isley (played Jason Derulo), who is shown as the leader of the Isley Brothers, to have the Isley Brothers leave Motown Records for Buddha Records, because Neil promised the Isley Brothers could have their own record label, with Buddha as distributors.

The segment on Withers is also portrayed as Neil being able to “poach” another artist from Motown. According to the story presented in “Spinning Gold,” Bill Withers (played by Pink Sweats) was close to signing Motown, but Neil discovered the young singer and convinced him to sign instead to Sussex Records, a spinoff of Buddha Records. “Spinning Gold” features performances of the Withers hits “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Lean on Me.”

As a result of Motown “losing” Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Isley Brothers and Withers because of Neil’s business persuasions, the movie depicts Neil getting “punished” for it. There’s a segment showing Neil getting roughed up by goons who were sent by Motown founder Berry Gordy. This attack happens in front of some of Neil’s record company colleagues who are in Neil’s inner circle. Neil then implies to the thugs that he has connections with the Italian Mafia, so the attackers back off from this assault. It’s all handled in a very flippant way in the movie, as if to show that Neil could talk his way out of anything.

By this time, Neil’s team at Buddha included his best friend Cecil Holmes (played by Jay Pharoah), who worked in promotions and artists and repertoire (A&R); sister-in-law Nancy, who worked in promotions; Buck Reingold (played by Dan Fogler), who worked in publicity and would become Nancy’s husband; and Neil’s cousin Larry Harris (played by James Wolk), who started as a record promoter and later became an executive vice president at Casablanca Records. Cecil is the only one in this group who is shown questioning some of Neil’s wild spending, or standing up to Neil when Neil’s ego gets out of control.

All of these team members would continue to work with Neil when he left Buddha in 1973, to launch his own label: Casablanca Records. This new venture also meant that Neil, Beth and their children would relocate to Los Angeles, where Casablanca was headquartered. In real life, Bogart, Holmes, Reingold and Harris are listed as co-founders/partners of Casablanca. In “Spinning Gold,” Bogart is depicted as the sole founder and the only one who decided to eventually sell 49% of Casablanca to Polygram.

At the time Casablanca was launched, Kiss was the only act signed to Casablanca, which had a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records. Kiss was selling out concerts, but the band’s albums were flops early in the band’s career. An early scene in “Spinning Gold” shows a lavish launch party for Casablanca being a showcase for a Kiss performance. (The Kiss song “Shout It Out Loud” is performed in this scene, even though “Shout It Out Loud” wasn’t released until 1976, about three years after this party scene is supposed to take place.)

The party ends in disaster because all the smoke from the smoke machines on stage set off the room’s sprinklers, sending drenched partygoers out the door. And what does Neil do? He dances with his daughter Jill (played by Sloane Bogart) while water rains down from the sprinklers, because he promised her a dance at the party. Some people might consider this scene to be endearing, while others will find it annoying in its sappy phoniness.

“Spinning Gold” shows the friction that Neil and his Casablanca cronies had with the executives at Warner Bros., particularly Warner Bros. Records chief Mo Ostin (played by Nick Sandow), who was starting to see Casablanca as a very bad investment. Casablanca was heavily in debt to Warner Bros., for about $5 million to $6 million, with no hit artists on Casablanca. Warner Bros. eventually cut its losses and ended its deal with Casablanca in 1974. The movie depicts it as a situation where Neil basically told Mo a version of “You can’t fire me because I quit.”

As a completely independent label in 1974, Casablanca was still losing millions of dollars from overspending. It didn’t help that Neil had a drug problem and a gambling habit. The company’s first release as a fully independent label was an album compilation of Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” highlights titled “Here’s Johnny: Magic Moments From the Tonight Show,” which was a major bomb for Casablanca.

Other acts on Casablanca weren’t making hits. George Clinton (played by Wiz Khalifa), lead singer of the funk group Parliament, convinces Neil that the band needs a high-priced spaceship that operates on stage during the band’s concerts. George brags in the movie that everyone else in the band got new cars from Casablanca, but he got a spaceship. Parliament songs “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)” and “Mothership Connection (Star Child)” are performed in “Spinning Gold.”

There are several scenes of Neil negotiating directly with artists, with no mention of agents and attorneys, who are never shown in this movie. People with extensive knowledge of the music industry of the 1970s are the most likely to notice all the mistakes that “Spinning Gold” makes about how the music industry worked back then and, to a certain extent, still works now. These music aficionados are among the people in this movie’s target audience, so it matters tremendously whether or not “Spinning Gold” has credibility with a great deal of the audience.

The only artist managers (not the same as agents) who are depicted in the movie are Kiss co-managers Bill Aucoin (played by Michael Ian Black) and Joyce Biawitz (played by Lyndsy Fonseca), who is portrayed as someone who started off having a transactional extramarital affair with Neil soon after they met, but they eventually fell in love with each other. Neil says in the movie that he was in love with Beth and Joyce at the same time.

Joyce would become Neil’s second wife in 1976, but their wedding is never shown in the movie, and neither is the birth of their son Evan, nicknamed Kidd. Fonseca, who has believable chemistry with Jordan, gives one of the standout non-musical performances in “Spinning Gold” as quick-thinking and ambitious Joyce. Neil says in one of the movie’s many voiceovers that Joyce reminded him a lot of himself.

One of the movie’s best scenes is an argument about Kiss’ future with Casablanca Records. Kiss co-manager Bill and Kiss members Gene and Paul are on one side; Neil is on the other side; and Kiss co-manager Joyce is caught somewhere in between, but she’s leaning toward siding with Neil. It’s the only scene in the movie that realistically calls out Joyce’s conflict of interest of being an artist manager while also being romantically involved with the artist’s record company president, who is in disputes with the artist for underpaying the artist.

The story behind Kiss’ big hit ballad “Beth” is depicted as the band’s way of making fun of the love triangle between Beth, Neil and Joyce. Neil and Joyce are shown as being very offended by the song, which wasn’t released until 1976, a few years after it was written. The movie never bothers to show how Beth felt about a song that was supposedly named after her. “Spinning Gold” also shows that there were disagreements between band members, the band’s management and Casablanca executives over whether or not this bittersweet ballad was the right fit for Kiss’ image as a fun-loving, partying rock band. (Kiss’ 1975 signature anthem “Rock and Roll All Nite” is performed in “Spinning Gold.”)

There were other complications with “Beth” that the movie doesn’t detail. “Beth” had lead vocals by Kiss drummer Peter Criss (played by Alex Gaskarth, who performs the song in the movie). There were ego issues with Simmons and Stanley, who were the main lead singers and songwriters of Kiss and were not involved with writing the song. In real life, even though Criss got a co-songwriting credit for “Beth,” there have been reports that he actually didn’t have anything to do with writing the song, whose co-songwriters are Stan Penridge and Bob Ezrin.

Casablanca still had massive financial problems in the record company’s first few years. Casablanca was millions of dollars in debt to Warner Bros. Records—a debt that Neil says he later paid off when Casablanca became profitable. Neil was also taking out personal loans for Casablanca and for his gambling. A Mafia-type thug named Big Joey (played by Vincent Pastore) shows up in the movie occasionally to loan money to Neil and make threats when Neil doesn’t pay back his debts on time. There’s a scene in the movie where Neil gets assaulted by some of Big Joey’s thugs, and Neil says in the narration that it’s sadly ironic how Neil became just like his father.

As depicted in “Spinning Gold,” Casablanca’s blockbuster success really happened because of disco queen Summer, who had a string of big hits with Casablanca from 1975 to 1979, including “Bad Girls,” “Dim All the Lights” and “Last Dance,” which are performed in the movie. The success of Summer began when Casablanca re-released Summer’s “Love to Love You Baby” as a 17-minute single. And you guessed it: Neil is credited with coming up with this idea, which he took credit for in real life. “Love to Love You Baby” was written by Giorgio Moroder, Summer and Pete Bellotte, but you get the feeling that if “Spinning Gold” could get away with it, the movie would want to give credit to Neil Bogart for co-writing the song too. Bellotte was the producer of “Love to Love You Baby,” but “Spinning Gold” erases him completely from the movie.

The scene depicting Summer re-recording “Love to Love You Baby” is quite ludicrous, even though the movie wants this scene to be sexy. The scene shows almost everyone in the studio, including music producer Giorgio Moroder (played by Sebastian Maniscalco, wearing a very bad wig and having a questionable Italian accent), storming out in disgust because Neil insists that the song will be released as a single that’s more than 15 minutes long. Everyone except Neil thinks the song will flop because radio stations won’t play a song of this length.

The only people left in the studio are Donna and Neil, who then takes over the role as producer. Neil coos in Donna’s ears and rubs up against her to “motivate” her to sound sexier as she sings and moans the song. It reaches a point where Donna is lying on her back on the studio floor and almost masturbating while she’s still recording the song. The scene gives the impression that if Donna started using her microphone as sex toy, then Neil would’ve been right there grinning along, as long as it meant that the song would be a big hit.

“Spinning Gold” makes it look like Neil generously spent a lot of money on his artists because he believed in them wholeheartedly. There’s no question that he had a strong belief in his artists. However, the movie irresponsibly avoids detailing the exploitation that is only hinted at in certain scenes. In one scene, Donna is shocked to find out that Neil changed her real name to the stage name Donna Summer (her birth name was LaDonna Gaines) without her knowledge and permission. This type of exploitation is quickly mentioned once and then never mentioned again.

Not surprisingly, “Spinning Gold” never mentions the real-life lawsuits that artists (including Summer) filed against Casablanca when Neil Bogart was in charge of the company. Summer would eventually leave Casablanca and signed a deal with Geffen Records in 1980. Her split from Casablanca is also not in the movie. In a “Spinning Gold” scene, Neil says in a voiceover that he and Casablanca Records completely fabricated and controlled her image and that Summer’s real personality was hidden from the public.

The problem with “Spinning Gold” is you can’t make those kinds of statements without backing it up with something substantial. It’s a well-known fact that in real life, Summer came from a religious background, and she was deeply conflicted about the sex-oriented disco music she was making. But in “Spinning Gold,” this inner conflict is just cavalierly mentioned in a throwaway line where Donna says that she’s worried about what her mother will think about “Love to Love You Baby.”

The movie also never fully explores the damage that Neil’s infidelity and divorce did to his first wife Beth and their children. There’s a scene where Beth and Neil separate (it’s clear that she’s the one who dumped him), long after she knows he’s having an affair with Joyce. He selfishly says to Beth: “You’re breaking my heart.” Beth replies that now he knows how it feels. The children’s feelings are nowhere to be seen in this movie.

Neil’s cocaine addiction is shown in several scenes, but the movie ultimately glosses over this addiction. It’s never shown if he ever sought professional help for this addiction, or if anyone close to him urged him to go to rehab. The closest that a loved one comes to pointing out that Neil’s addiction is a big problem is his father Al, in a scene where Al visits Neil at Neil’s home in California. Al is alarmed that Neil is openly snorting cocaine in front of him. Al scolds Neil a little bit by telling him that drugs will make Neil do stupid things, but then Neil sends Al on his way after giving Al some cash as a gift/handout.

Much of “Spinning Gold” depicts Neil’s showmanship ability to get media attention for publicity stunts that the movie credits him for creating. It’s questionable if he came up with all of those ideas himself in real life. And the one publicist depicted in the movie (Buck) is hardly shown doing any work at all. He’s just portrayed as a minion who parties a lot, occasionally gets into physical fights, and shows up at meetings to agree with what Neil says.

Noticeably absent from the movie: Cher, who was briefly signed to Casablanca Records, which released two Cher albums (“Take Me Home” and “Prisoner”) in 1979. Cher’s biggest hit song for Casablanca was the title track to “Take Me Home,” which hit No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified gold in the United States. Cher’s omission from “Spinning Gold” is probably because the filmmakers couldn’t get the rights her music and because the movie quickly mentions toward the end that Neil left Casablanca by 1980. That was the year that Polygram bought the remaining shares of Casablanca, and when disco’s popularity was on the decline.

The Village People (Casablanca Records’ admittedly manufactured pop group, with most of the original members not having any singing talent) are quickly mentioned and shown in non-speaking roles toward the end of “Spinning Gold.” The movie doesn’t mention Neil Bogart’s failed attempt to become a hit filmmaker: He was an executive producer of the 1978 disco comedy flop “Thank God It’s Friday,” starring Summer, Valerie Landsburg, Jeff Goldblum, Terri Nunn (future lead singer of Berlin) and Debra Winger.

Also not mentioned in “Spinning Gold”: After leaving Casablanca, Neil founded Boardwalk Records, whose biggest breakout act in the early 1980s was Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. “Spinning Gold” is already overstuffed with a jumbled narrative, so adding these details wouldn’t help the movie anyway.

“Spinning Gold” is at its best when it’s about nostalgia for 1960s and 1970s music. But this movie is supposed to be a biopic, not a music compilation. Although “Spinning Gold” has some talented cast members who do the best they can with the material that they’ve been given, other cast members look like they don’t belong in this movie. And no matter how many times a scripted drama will take liberties with facts in telling the story of a real person, audiences still expect a core of authenticity in telling the story. A more accurate title for “Spinning Gold” is “Spinning the Truth.”

Hero Partners and Howling Wolf Films released “Spinning Gold” in select U.S. cinemas on March 31, 2023.

Review: ‘Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,’ starring Lesley Manville, Isabelle Huppert, Lambert Wilson, Alba Baptista, Lucas Bravo, Ellen Thomas and Jason Isaacs

July 11, 2022

by Carla Hay

Pictured in front: Lambert Wilson, Lesley Manville, Guilaine Londez, Dorottya Ilosvai and Alba Baptista in “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” (Photo by Dávid Lukács/Focus Features)

“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”

Directed by Anthony Fabian

Culture Representation: Taking place in 1957, in London and Paris, the comedy/drama film “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” features a nearly all-white cast of characters (with a few black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A widowed housekeeper in London goes to Paris, where she wants to fulfill her dream of buying a haute couture Dior gown, but she experiences obstacles and bigotry from snobs who think she isn’t worthy because of her working-class background.

Culture Audience: “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of star Lesley Manville and the book on which the movie is based, as well as to people who are interested in 1950s high fashion history and stories about working-class people navigating in upper-class society.

Isabelle Huppert and Roxane Duran in “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” (Photo by Dávid Lukács/Focus Features)

Despite a tendency to be cloying and cliché, the comedy/drama “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” has exuberant charm that’s hard to resist. Lesley Manville shines in this fairytale-like story about a woman who believes it’s never too late to chase a dream. On the surface, her dream is to buy a haute couture Dior gown, but the gown represents something much bigger to her: an ability to go outside her comfort zone to get what she wants in the pursuit of happiness.

Directed by Anthony Fabian, “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” is based on Paul Gallico’s 1958 novel “Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris.” The novel was also made into a 1992 TV-movie of the same name, starring Angela Lansbury in the title role. In the “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” movie directed by Fabian, the title character is played by Manville. Fabian co-wrote the movie’s adapted screenplay with Carroll Cartwright, Olivia Hetreed and Keith Thompson.

“In Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” it’s 1957, and Mrs. Harris is Ada Harris, a widowed housekeeper who’s in her 50s and who lives in London. (“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” was filmed in London and Paris—the two cities where the story takes place—but the movie was also filmed in Budapest to simulate Paris in the 1950s.) Ada dreams of having a more glamorous life. Ada’s often cheerful demeanor often hides her sadness over not knowing what happened to her husband Eddie, a military man who went missing in action during World War II in 1944.

Because Eddie hasn’t contacted her for all of these years, he’s presumed dead, but Ada can’t bring herself to face this probability. Ada, who lives alone and has no children, has not had a special man in her life since Eddie disappeared. She has long since given up on finding love because she thinks because of her age, occupation and physical appearance, she’s not very desirable.

“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” spends a little too much time in the first third of the movie showing Ada stuck in her drab routine life in London. There are repetitive scenes of her going to a bridge at night, where she talks out loud to her long-lost husband Eddie. Viewers of “Mrs. Harris Go to Paris” will have to have some patience before the movie gets to what the movie’s title is all about.

Ada’s best friend is Vi Butterfield (played by Ellen Thomas), a Caribbean immigrant who is around the same age as Ada. Vi (who also lives alone and has no children) is as confident as Ada is insecure. When Ada and Vi go out together at social clubs, Vi often has to give Ada pep talks to help boost Ada’s self-esteem. When they go out to these clubs, Ada is more likely to play cards at a table than to mingle and dance.

It’s at this nightclub, when Ada and Vi are sitting together at a table, where Ada gets the courage to open a package from the U.K. military that she has been dreading to open in front of Vi. Inside the package are a telegram and some of her husband Eddie’s personal possessions, including what appears to be a university ring.

Ada reads the telegram out loud to Vi. The telegram confirms that Eddie is dead. He was killed in action near Warsaw, Poland, on March 2, 1944. Ada is saddened but not too surprised. After getting this news, she goes to the bridge again and stares mournfully at Eddie’s ring, as if she’s trying get closure over the reality that Eddie won’t be coming back.

Someone whom Ada and Vi see often is their mutual friend Archie (played by Jason Isaacs), a middle-aged local bookie whose social manners are a little rough around the edges. Archie is a bachelor who thinks of himself as a seductive ladies’ man. Whenever, Ada and Vi see Archie at a nightclub, he always seems to have a different woman as his date.

During one scene in the movie, Archie has brought his two dogs Spring and Summer to the nightclub where Ada and Vi frequently go. Archie asks Ada and Vi to look after the two dogs while he goes on the dance floor with his date. Ada sighs and says to Vi about how the men at this club don’t see them as attractive enough: “We’re invisible women.” Vi’s sassy response is: “Speak for yourself! They see me coming!”

Two of the women who are Ada’s regular clients are very different from each other. Pamela Penrose (played by Rose Williams) is a 23-year-old aspiring actress who looks like a cross between Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe. Pamela is constantly worried about auditions and whether or not she will ever make it big as a movie actress, which is her life goal. Even though Pamela rents an apartment that she can barely afford, she pays Ada on time and appreciates Ada’s cheerful kindness.

The same can’t be said for Lady Dant (played by Anna Chancellor), a middle-aged socialite who spends lavishly but who has come up with many excuses not to pay Ada for the past several weeks. The latest excuse is that Lady Dant has to pay for her daughter’s wedding, which Lady Dant claims is financially draining. When Ada tactfully and politely asks Lady Dant when she can be paid the money that’s owed to Ada, Lady Dant is haughtily dismissive and scolds Ada to be more patient and understanding. Lady Dant also tells Ada that her work hours will be reduced, effective immediately.

Christian McKay is under-used in a small role as Giles Newcombe, one of Ada’s housecleaning clients. A running gag in the movie is that Ada often passes by Mr. Newcombe on a flight of stairs as Ada is arriving and he is leaving the building with a woman who looks young enough to be his daughter, whom he always introduces as his “niece.” The implication is that Mr. Newcombe is married, these young women are really his mistresses, and they have their trysts at the apartment he has in this building.

Ada and Mr. Newcome always greet each other in a friendly manner, with Ada seeming to know that Mr. Newcombe isn’t the “uncle” of these women. Ada is discreet and plays along with the charade though, because Mr. Newcombe is always kind to her. Ada doesn’t judge whatever Mr. Newcombe’s extramarital activities might be because she doesn’t know all the details of his marriage. It’s also this movie’s way of showing that Ada isn’t a nosy gossip.

One day, Ada is doing some housecleaning in Lady Dant’s home, when she sees a stunning floral print sequined dress displayed on a bed. Ada is enchanted by this dress and can’t resist picking up the dress and holding it up to herself while she looks in a mirror. Lady Dant catches Ada admiring the dress, but Lady Dant doesn’t seem to mind.

Lady Dant brags to Ada that the gown is haute couture Dior and that she paid £500 for the dress during a recent trip to Paris. Lady Dant orders Ada not to tell Lady Dant’s husband about this purchase because he will think that she overpaid. As soon as Ada hears about how and where Lady Dant got the dress, it sparks an a near-obsession for Ada to do the same thing.

Ada begins saving her money for a trip to Paris. She also starts a small business on the side called Invisible Mending, where she does seamstress work and other sewing jobs. However, Ada gets a temporary setback when she places a losing £100 bet at a dog-racing track where Archie works.

But then, in an “only in a movie” sequence of events, three things happen literally within minutes of each other that change her fortunes: (1) Ada gets a visit from a military official telling her that the military owes her back payments for being a war widow; (2) Ada gets reward money for returning a lost diamond pin; and (3) Archie shows up at her home to tell her that he actually placed her bet on the racing dog that won, not the losing dog she wanted to bet money on for the race.

And so, with enough money to travel and buy her dream Dior haute couture gown, Mrs. Harris goes to Paris. At the train station in Paris, she meets three homeless winos, and one of them is kind enough to show here where the House of Dior is. Ada notices that there’s a lot of garbage on the streets of Paris, so the homeless man tells her that it’s because garbage collectors are currently on strike. This worker strike is used as a few plot developments later in the movie.

Outside the House of Dior, a model who’s running late for a fashion show, stumbles out of car and trips in front of the entrance. Her name is Natasha (played by Alba Baptista), and she accidentally drops her purse without noticing. Ada picks up the purse and goes inside the building to return it to Natasha, who is grateful.

But those pleasantries are about to end when the pompous House of Dior director Claudine Colbert (played by Isabelle Huppert) notices that Ada is treating the House of Dior like a regular retail store, where people can just walk right in and buy what they want if they have the money for it. Madame Colbert snootily tells Ada that Dior’s haute couture customers have invitation-only access.

Ada most definitely does not have an invitation. Ada gets upset and hastily explains to Madame Colbert that she’s a housekeeper from London who saved up all of her money for this trip and she won’t leave without buying a Dior haute couture gown. When Ada takes out the wads of cash that she has with her, Madame Colbert is even more disgusted by what she sees as crassness from Ada.

However, a society gentleman named Marquis de Chassagne (played by Lambert Wilson), who has been invited to Dior’s upcoming haute couture collection show, notices Ada’s plight and generously tells Ada that she can be his guest at the show. Madame Colbert is miffed, but there’s nothing she can do about it. Unbeknownst to the general public, Dior has secretly been having financial problems, so Madame Colbert tells Dior accountant André Fauvel (played by Lucas Bravo), who has been observing Madame Colbert’s attempted shunning of Ada, that at least they might get a sale out of Ada being there.

Another person who’s annoyed that a “common” housekeeper is attending the show is a spiteful socialite named Madame Avallon (played by Guilaine Londez), who is attending the show with her pouty young adult daughter Mathilde Avallon (played by Dorottya Ilosvai). Madame Avallon gets even more irritated when she sees that Ada will be sitting next to her at the show. And guess who wants the same gown as Ada?

Ada is dazzled by the runway show, but two gowns in particular get her the most excited. Her first choice is a red stunner called Temptation. Ada also literally gasps when she sees an emerald green gown called Eden. Madame Colbert makes sure that Madame Avallon gets the Temptation gown. Oscar-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan did top-notch, award-worthy costume for “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris.”

As a consolation for not getting the Temptation gown, Ada is told that she can be fitted for the Eden gown. However, these fittings would require Ada to be in Paris for several more days. Ada can’t afford to stay in Paris for longer than she had planned, As a show of generous support, André invites Ada to stay for free at the house of his sister, who is away on a trip. Ada eagerly accepts this offer.

A meticulous Dior atelier employee named Monsieur Carré (played by Bertrand Poncet) oversees the fittings for Ada. Predictably, he is sometimes irritated by Ada’s ignorance of haute couture traditions and customs. Fashion icon Christian Dior (played by Philippe Bertin) makes a few brief appearances, as this movie depicts the last year of Dior’s life. (On October 24, 1957, Dior died of a heart attack at the age of 52.) As expected, Ada is star-struck to be in the presence of Dior.

House of Dior’s seamstresses, including seamstress director Marguerite (played by Roxane Duran), are charmed by Ada’s working-class pluckiness in the face of upper-class elitism, so they are rooting for her behind the scenes. While Ada is starting to befriend Isabel and André, she notices that André has romantic feelings for Isabel. And you know what that means: Ada is going to try to play matchmaker for André and Isabel. Meanwhile, Marquis de Chassagne has taken a liking to Ada and asks her out on a date. Could this be the beginning of a romance for him and Ada?

“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” often goes down a very formulaic route, but it’s always watchable, due in large part to the talented cast members, led by Manville. Huppert plays her “villain” role to the hilt, but Madame Colbert shows some vulnerability and warmth later in the movie. Not everything in the movie is predictable, but there’s enough familiarity in how this story is told that “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” is like having comfort food with a longtime friend.

Focus Features will release “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” in U.S. cinemas on July 15, 2022.

Review: ‘Monster Family 2,’ starring the voices of Emily Watson, Nick Frost, Jessica Brown Findlay, Ethan Rouse, Emily Carey, Catherine Tate and Jason Isaacs

October 23, 2021

by Carla Hay

Emma Wishbone (voiced by Emily Watson), Frank Wishbone (voiced by Nick Frost), Max Wishbone (voiced by Ethan Rouse) and Fay Wishbone (voiced by Jessica Brown Findlay) in “Monster Family 2” (Image courtesy of VivaKids)

“Monster Family 2”

Directed by Holger Tappe

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, Scotland, the Himalayas and outer space, the animated film “Monster Family 2” features an all-white cast of characters representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: A British family that can transform into monsters is targeted by an American family in a spaceship that wants to capture all monsters that they think are menaces to society. 

Culture Audience: “Monster Family 2” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the first “Monster Family” movie and people who don’t mind seeing a substandard animated film with a silly story and messy production values.

Maddox Starr (voiced by Daniel Ben Zenou), Mila Starr (voiced by Emily Carey) and Marlene Starr in “Monster Family 2” (Image courtesy of VivaKids)

“Monster Family 2” is one of those sequels that shouldn’t have been made because hardly anyone was asking for it and it’s worse than its predecessor. The 2017 animated film “Monster Family” was a huge flop with audiences and critics. It’s mind-boggling that anyone thought it was a good idea to do a sequel to a movie that clearly was such an unequivocal dud in every sense of the word. But here is “Monster Family 2,” a time-wasting, incoherent and dull movie that fails at any attempt to be funny or interesting.

Holger Tapper, who directed “Monster Family,” is also the director of “Monster Family 2.” The first “Monster Family,” as atrocious as it was, still had a story that was simple enough for people of many ages to follow: Count Dracula (voiced by Jason Isaacs) became infatuated with a married woman named Emma Wishbone who, along with her husband and two adolescent children, got cursed and the Wishbone family all turned into monsters. A lot of shenanigans ensued until the curse was predictably lifted. And (spoiler alert) at the end of the movie, Count Dracula was frozen into an icicle-like cage with his own snowflake weapon.

In “Monster Family 2,” Count Dracula is able to free himself from his icicle prison, but he isn’t in this sequel as much as he was in “Monster Family.” Instead, the family ends up spending part of the movie in outer space because of a convoluted story involving a spaceship-residing human family that wants to capture the world’s worst monsters. David Safier, who co-wrote the first “Monster Family” movie with Catharina Junk, is the sole screenwriter for “Monster Family 2.” Because he’s the only screenwriter this time around, it’s now easy to see who’s mainly responsible for coming up with all the bad story ideas for this movie franchise, which is based on Safier’s children’s book “Happy Family.”

Through a series of circumstances, the Wishbones are turned into monsters again: Emma Wishbone (voiced by Emily Watson) is turned into a vampire. Emma’s husband Frank Wishbone (voiced by Nick Frost) becomes Frankenstein. Emma and Frank’s daughter Fay Wishbone (voiced by Jessica Brown Findlay), who’s about 16 or 17, is transformed into a mummy. Emma and Frank’s son Max Wishbone (voiced by Ethan Rouse), who’s about 12 or 13, is changed into a werewolf. The Wishbone family is British and live in a middle-class home in New York City.

In the beginning of the movie, the Wishbones are at the wedding of Baba Yaga (voiced by Catherine Tate), the elderly witch who put a spell on them in the first “Monster Family” movie. Baba Yaga is friendly with the Wishbones now. Her groom is an elderly man named Renfield. The Wishbones are the only guests at the wedding, which takes place in a church. Count Dracula’s three annoying (and thankfully mute) bats are still hovering around being the pests that they were in “Monster Family.”

The Wishbones think that they have gone back to their regular lives as human beings. The only “turmoil” in the family in the beginning of the story is that Fay—who is constantly on her phone to take selfies and to use her social media—is expressing some teenage rebellion because she’s secretly thinking about dropping out of school. Max, who is an insecure brat, knows this secret and threatens to tell the parents. Emma is generally more level-headed than her husband Frank, who is sort of a bumbling goofball when he gets overly excited.

Unbeknownst to this small wedding party, they are all being spied on by an American family of three people in a spaceship, which is called the Starr Copter. These spies are the Starr Family, whose motto is “I can make the world a better place.” The family consists of a billionaire philanthropist couple named Maddox Starr (voiced by Daniel Ben Zenou) and Marlene Starr and their teenage daughter Mila Starr (voiced by Emily Carey), who is sent to do all the dirty work for her parents.

Actually, the Starrs think that what they’re doing is the opposite of dirty work. These do-gooders are fanatical about finding and capturing the worst monsters in the world. They want to keep these monsters imprisoned in pods on their spacecraft. Mila ends up capturing Dracula. Her parents praise her and tell her to capture Baba Yaga next.

And that’s how Mila ends up literally crashing the wedding, where she states her intentions. She has drones that can lift people in the air. The Wishbone family tries in vain to stop Mila from abducting Baba Yaga and Renfield, but Mila whisks the bride and groom away and holds them captive on the Starr Copter.

During this weirdly slow-paced battle, Mila gets into an argument with Max and insults him by calling him “Pizza Boy.” Mila gives him this nickname because she says that the only thing it looks like he knows how to do in life is order pizza. It’s a mean-spirited dig at Max’s body size because he’s a little chubby.

“Monster Family 2” has some strange comedy that falls very flat, not including the body-shaming jokes that are downright moronic. During her argument with Max, Mila kisses him on the lips, which suggests that she’s actually attracted to him. After Mila kisses Max, they both say in disgust, “Eww!” This kissing scene just looks out-of-place in this movie.

Max is also dressed like a 1980s pimp when he goes to the wedding: He’s wearing gold chains, a brown fur-lined jacket, baggy pants and sneakers. Max’s father Frank compliments Max and tells him he looks great. It’s an odd remark, considering the outfit looks more like a Halloween costume than something an adolescent boy should be wearing at a wedding.

Even more bizarre: There’s an Oedipal moment when Max emerges in this inappopriate attire, he swaggers like he thinks he’s a pimp, and he looks at his mother and touches her face in a way that suggests that he thinks even his own mother could fall for his seductive charms. This is all being depicted for a boy who isn’t even old enough to have a driver’s license. And this hint of incestful thoughts from this boy is just too creepy for a family-oriented movie—or any movie for that matter.

Out on the street before they go into the church, Max happens to see a girl he has a crush on. But right at that moment, his baggy pants fall down. The girl and the friend who’s with her take photos on their phone. Max is naturally embarrassed. It’s a scene that’s awkwardly presented in the movie. And let’s just not discuss the cheesy dancing to MC Hammer’s 1990 hit “U Can’t Touch This” that comes later in the movie.

In the quest to rescue Baba Yaga and Renfield, the Wishbones are turned into monsters again when Max uses a magical amulet that he got from Baba Yaga. Mila’s parents tell her that the Loch Ness Monster and the Yeti (also known as the Abominable Snowman) are next on her list of monsters to capture. What follows is a lot of ridiculousness involving the Wishbone family (in monster form) going to Scotland and the Himalayas.

The action scenes in “Monster Family 2” are poorly staged, with characters in the film moving too slow and/or standing around talking in what are supposed to be high-energy chase sequences. The dialogue is simply awful. The story is extremely tedious. The characters are unappealing, while the voice performances are mediocre. And there’s a truly cringe-inducing moment toward the end where some of the characters sing the Human League’s 1986 hit “Human,” in a scene that’s supposed to be sentimental for all the reasons you think, if you know the lyrics to the song.

The only notable thing that “Monster Family 2” has going for it is that the animation is very colorful. Worst of all, for a movie about a “monster family,” there is hardly anything spooky (even in a comedic way) about this film. Any movie that under-uses an iconic villain such as Count Dracula is a movie that’s not worth seeing.

VivaKids released “Monster Family 2” in select U.S. cinemas on October 15, 2021. Sky Group premiered the movie in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2021.

Review: ‘Mass’ (2021), starring Martha Plimpton, Jason Isaacs, Ann Dowd and Reed Birney

February 6, 2021

by Carla Hay

Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton and Breeda Wool in “Mass” (Photo by Ryan Jackson-Healy)

“Mass”

Directed by Fran Kanz

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city, the dramatic film “Mass” features an almost all-white cast (with one African American) representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: Two men and two women, who have a tragedy in common, gather in a church meeting room to air out their differences.

Culture Audience: “Mass” will appeal primarily to people interested in dialogue-heavy movies about grief, mental illness and coping with the violent death of a loved one.

Ann Dowd and Reed Birney in “Mass” (Photo by Ryan Jackson-Healy)

The title of the movie “Mass” can have a double meeting. On the one hand, the movie, which takes entirely at or near an Episcopal church, can refer to the religious ceremony called a mass. On the other hand, it could refer to the deadly mass shooting that has directly affected two men and two women, who have gathered at an Episcopal church in an unnamed U.S. city to have a difficult meeting about this tragedy. (The movie was actually filmed in Hailey, Idaho, but almost all of the movie’s scenes take place indoors.) Fran Kanz, who is known as an actor in the 2012 horror flick “The Cabin in the Woods” and the sci-fi TV series “JourneyQuest,” makes an impressive debut as a feature-film director in “Mass,” a movie which he also wrote. “Mass” had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.

“Mass” is a very well-written and intense film that relies entirely on the actors to make or break the authenticity in this gripping story. The movie centers on four people who have a painful discussion about a tragedy that has left them emotionally broken and damaged. Before these four people meet at the church, the story unfolds in layers, as viewers see a church office manager named Judy (played by Breeda Wool) nervously preparing for these visitors to gather in a room that has been reserved specifically for this meeting.

Judy asks a college-age assistant named Anthony (played by Kagen Albright) to help her get the room ready. Soon, a woman named Kendra (played by Michelle N. Carter) arrives to inspect the room and make sure that it’s appropriate for the meeting. Kendra seems to have been the one to choose the church as a meeting place. Judy is eager to please Kendra, who looks over the room in a business-like and no-nonsense manner.

The first clue that this meeting is about a traumatic, violent incident is when Kendra notices some stained-glass hanging decorations on the windows. Red is one of the decorations’ main colors. And from a distance, the red could look like bloodstains. Judy notices it too, and anxiously explains to Kendra that these stained-class decorations were made by some of the church kids. Judy says that the decorations could be removed before the visitors for the meeting get there. Kendra says it isn’t necessary.

Kendra is obviously the meeting’s facilitator, but she tells Judy that she will not be in the room during the meeting, in order to give the people in the meeting their privacy. It’s another clue that the meeting is of a very sensitive and confidential nature. Is Kendra a social worker? A counselor? Someone else? It’s never really made clear what her occupation is, but in the brief time that she’s on screen, Kendra seems to have the role of someone who is supposed to remain neutral in something that seems to be controversial.

Who are the people who will be participating in this tension-filled meeting? The married couple that viewers see first are Gail and Jay Perry, who drove down from an unnamed city for this gathering. Gail (played by Martha Plimpton) and Jay (played by Jason Isaacs), who are in their 50s, drive up to the church and park their car outside. However, Gail gets nervous and tells Jay to drive away so she can have more time to brace herself for this meeting.

They park near a fenced field that has a red ribbon tied to the fence. The camera lingers on the ribbon. It’s an obvious sign that this was the site of a makeshift memorial. Who died and why are these four people meeting? All the clues are there: A violent death, a makeshift memorial, two couples having an emotional discussion together for the very first time.

Gail feels ready to go back to the church. And when Gail and Jay go back to the church, they are greeted warmly by Judy and Kendra. Based on Judy’s comments, she’s not so eager to meet the other two people who arrive next, although when they do arrive she has a forced, polite smile. The other two visitors are a divorced couple in their 60s. It’s obvious that they’re no longer together when they arrive separately and aren’t seen wearing wedding rings.

Former spouses Richard (played by Reed Birney) and Linda (played by Ann Dowd) haven’t seen each other in a while. Richard no longer lives in the area, because he said that he traveled by plane for this somber occasion. Later, he says he won’t be staying in the area for the rest of the day. Richard gives the impression that he’s a busy businessman, while the career backgrounds of Gail, Jay and Linda are never revealed. At one point in the story, Richard says that he isn’t religious, so meeting in a church is outside of his comfort zone.

Linda has brought a bouquet of wild flowers, which she offers to Gail as a gift. Gail declines to take the flowers but later changes her mind in order to not create any further tension. It’s another clue about where the hard feelings are between these four people. After some awkward small talk is exchanged, Kendra and Judy show Gail, Jay, Linda and Richard to the meeting room and leave the four visitors there to talk. Kendra says before she leaves them together, “I’m hopeful that we think this was a good thing to do by the time we leave here today.”

And that’s when the movie starts to peel back the layers of turmoil and trauma that have led to this excruciating meeting. It won’t be revealed in this review who died and who committed the mass murder. But it’s enough to say that those details come out in bits and pieces. And then the floodgates open with the blame, anger, sadness and confusion over how the murders could have been prevented.

What makes “Mass” so outstanding is that there isn’t a single line of dialogue or action that looks or sounds phony. Because 80% of the movie takes place in this one room, “Mass” could very much be a play. It’s not an easy film to watch for anyone who is very sensitive to the topic of mass murder. However, “Mass” presents an excellent story that looks at this type of tragedy from various perspectives of loved ones who are left behind.

All four of the main actors give stellar performances. However, Plimpton and Dowd shine the most because their characters Gail and Linda express their emotions more freely than the men do. “Mass” is also a raw look at different ways that people grieve and try to make sense of a senseless crime. And it’s also a realistic portrayal of survivor guilt and how people who didn’t cause the crime can still feel responsible for it.

Kanz’s directing style is as minimalist as his writing style is rich with naturalistic language. It’s a combination that works for the movie’s setting. And the movie greatly benefits from being well-cast with actors who never strike a false note with their characters. “Mass” is a movie that will linger in people’s memories long after they watch it. And it will be a story that will come to mind when people think about how mass murders cause untold traumas that don’t necessarily make headlines.

UPDATE: Bleecker Street will release “Mass” in select U.S. cinemas on October 8, 2021.

Review: ‘Scoob!,’ starring Will Forte, Frank Welker, Zac Efron, Amanda Seyfried, Mark Wahlberg, Gina Rodriguez and Jason Isaacs

May 16, 2020

by Carla Hay

Daphne (voiced by Amanda Seyfried), Velma (voiced by Gina Rodriguez), Shaggy (voiced by Will Forte), Fred (voiced by Zac Efron) and Scooby-Doo (voiced by Frank Welker) in “Scoob!” (Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Scoob!”

Directed by Tony Cervone

Culture Representation: Taking place primarily in California’s Venice Beach and other parts of the universe, the animated film “Scoob!” has a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans, Asians and Latinos) representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: A villain is out to kidnap Scooby-Doo, the lovable, talking Great Dane that’s the best friend of one of the four young people who’ve started a detective agency called Mystery Inc.

Culture Audience: “Scoob!” will appeal primarily to fans of the original “Scooby Doo” TV cartoon series and to people who are looking for lightweight animation for entertainment.

Dick Dastardly (voiced by Jason Isaacs) and Scooby-Doo (voiced  by Frank Welker) in “Scoob!” (Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

People who loved the original “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” TV series should brace themselves if they see the animated film “Scoob!,” because the uncomplicated charm of the TV show has been turned into a overly busy, often-mediocre film that has a serious identity crisis. The “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” TV series was essentially a detective show, with each mystery solved at the end of each episode. The “Scoob!” movie tries to be too many things at once—a comedy, a mystery, a superhero story, a supernatural horror movie and a sci-fi adventure. But the worst change in the “Scoob!” movie is that Scooby-Doo and the four young detectives at the heart of the “Scooby-Doo” series are split up for most of the “Scoob!” movie.

“Scoob!” begins with showing how the talking Great Dane known as Scooby-Doo ended up with his best friend Shaggy. In the bohemian beach city of Venice, California, a homeless Great Dane puppy is being chased by a bicycle cop and hides out in a mound of sand on the beach. It just so happens that a lonely boy named Norville “Shaggy” Rogers (who’s about 9 or 10 years old) is nearby on the same beach and discovers the dog.

Shaggy names the dog Scooby Dooby Doo. And when the bicycle cop catches up to the dog, Shaggy convinces the cop that he’s the dog’s rightful owner. Shaggy takes Scooby home with him, and they become fast friends. As a token of their friendship, Shaggy gives Scooby a dog collar with a tag engraved with the initials “SD” on it.

Shaggy’s favorite superhero is Blue Falcon, who has a canine sidekick named Dynomutt. Shaggy keeps action figures and pictures of them in his room. Shaggy is such a fan that, for Halloween, he dresses up as Blue Falcon and Scooby as Dynomutt. While they’re out trick-or-treating, some kid bullies steal Shaggy’s candy and knock him  and Scooby down on the sidewalk as they run away.

It’s here that Shaggy and Scooby first meet the three young people who will become their close friends: brawny Fred, compassionate Daphne and brainy Velma. For their Halloween costumes, Fred is dressed as a knight in armor, Daphne is dressed as Wonder Woman and Daphne is dressed as Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Shaggy mistakes Daphne for trying to be someone in a “Harry Potter” movie.

Fred, Daphne and Velma offer to help Shaggy after seeing him get knocked down, but he says the only things that are bruised are his “ego and tailfeathers.” (This line is one of the many signs that this movie was written by adults who can’t write realistic kids’ dialogue.) As soon as Scooby and this quartet of new friends start to bond, they encounter their first big mystery together, as they enter what’s rumored to be a haunted house.

They’re immediately terrorized by a menacing ghost in the house. Instead of running away (which is always Shaggy’s inclination), they band together to fight the ghost, which turns out not to be ghost, but a thief who has kept a houseful of stolen electronics and appliances stashed there. And, of course, when he’s arrested, he snarls that he would’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for those meddling kids. It’s the first real mystery solved by the four friends and Scooby.

Fast forward about 10 years later, and the four friends are now in their late teens/early 20s. They’ve started a detective agency named Mystery Inc., and are trying to figure out how to raise money to keep the business going. While they have a meeting at a diner, Velma (voiced by Gina Rodriguez) thinks that they should find investors.

And lo and behold, Simon Cowell (voiced by the real Cowell) randomly shows up unannounced at the diner, sits down at the table, and says that he’s willing to invest in the detective agency—but only if they get rid of Shaggy and Scooby, since Cowell thinks they’re useless. Cowell cynically adds, “When you get in trouble, friendship won’t save the day.”

Shaggy and Scooby are so insulted, that they don’t wait around to hear how Fred (voiced by Zac Efron), Daphne (voiced Amanda Seyfried) and Velma react to Cowell’s ultimatum to get rid of Shaggy and Scooby. Leaving in a huff, Shaggy and Scooby end up at a bowling alley, where they encounter bowling balls and bowling pins that turn into minion-like robots with chainsaws for hands.

The robots chase Shaggy and Scooby around a bowling alley. Just then, a blue light beams down. It’s the Falcon Fury spaceship owned by Blue Falcon (voiced by Mark Wahlberg) and navigated by pilot Dee Dee Skyes (voiced by Kiersey Clemons), who rescue Shaggy and Scooby from the robots. Dee Dee tells Shaggy and Scooby that the robots are from a villain called Dick Dastardly (voiced by Jason Isaacs).

While on the ship, Shaggy meets his hero Blue Falcon. The superhero is really a guy named Brian who’s taken over the Blue Falcon superhero persona from his retired father, and he hides his insecurity by putting up a blustery brave front. Dynomutt (voiced by Ken Jeong) has the power to extend his neck to great lengths and he’s a loyal and enthusiastic sidekick to Blue Falcon.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Velma has found out through research that Dick Dastardly is wanted by authorities for stealing archeological artifacts from Peru (including a giant skull of a dog) and for taking genealogical records of dogs from the Global Kennel Club. It’s pretty easy to figure out at this point that Scooby is the target of Dick Dastardly’s evil plans. But why? The movie answers that question, but there’s a lot of filler action, as the movie zigzags from genre to genre the way that the characters zig zig from Earth to outer space.

“Scoob!” has four screenwriters—Adam Sztykiel, Jack C. Donaldson, Derek Elliott and Matt Lieberman—and the whole movie gives the impression that the screenplay had “too many cooks in the kitchen.” It tries to be a comedy, but the jokes aren’t very good. When one of the characters calls athletic Fred “a poor man’s Hemsworth,” Fred asks, “Chris or Liam?” And the “mystery” in the movie is very easy to solve, even for young children who might be watching.

As for the animation, when there are Pixar movies in the world, many other animated films look inferior in comparison. The best action sequences in “Scoob!” are with the fearsome Cerberus (the three-headed hound of Hades), which has to do with the supernatural horror aspect of this messy film. There’s a chase scene through an abandoned amusement park that ramps up the action, but nothing in this movie is awards-worthy.

Although the actors do a good job with the screenplay that they’ve been given, it seems as if the Blue Falcon character was added to the world of Scooby-Doo just to jump on the bandwagon of superhero movies and to create a possible cinematic universe with various Hanna-Barbera characters. And the celebrity cameo from Cowell just seems weird and out of place. Cowell’s son Eric even has a voice role in the movie. (Did someone on the “Scoob!” filmmaking team owe Simon Cowell a favor?) Tracy Morgan has a cameo as Captain Caveman on Mystery Island, but his wacky character is very under-used in a script that needed more originality instead of a derivative superhero subplot.

And since Shaggy and Scooby are separated from Fred, Daphne and Velma during most of the movie, this estrangement ruins the original appeal of the “Scooby-Doo” series, which is all about the teamwork and camaraderie between this lovable dog and his four human friends. Another travesty: Mystery Inc.’s 1970s-style van the Mystery Machine is literally destroyed in the movie, which is an apt metaphor for how this movie wrecks the spirit of the original “Scooby-Doo” series. If “Scoob!” had stuck to a well-crafted story about a good mystery that needed solving—instead of trying to be too many things to too many people—then it would have turned out to be a much better movie.

Warner Bros. Pictures released “Scoob!” on digital and VOD on May 15, 2020.

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