Tag: Lil Rel Howery

Review: ‘Unexpected Christmas’ (2025), starring Lil Rel Howery, Anna Maria Horsford, DomiNque Perry, Tabitha Brown and Reagan Gomez

November 7, 2025

by Carla Hay

Howie Bell, Cecelia Friday, Trell Woodberry, Reagan Gomez, Lil Rel Howery, Anna Maria Horsford, Ricco Ross (back row), Terrence Terrell (back row), DomiNque Perry and Tabitha Brown in “Unexpected Christmas” (Photo courtesy of 3 Diamonds Films)

“Unexpected Christmas” (2025)

Directed by Michael Vaughn Hernandez

Culture Representation: Taking place in Texas and briefly in New York City and in Los Angeles, the comedy/drama film “Unxpected Christmas” features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with a few Latin people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A family gathering at Christmas time turns into a roller coaster of emotions, as family members navigate tensions and long-held resentments.

Culture Audience: “Unexpected Christmas” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and entertaining dramedies about family reunions during the end-of-year holiday season.

DomiNque Perry, Lil Rel Howery and Reagan Gomez in “Unexpected Christmas” (Photo courtesy of 3 Diamonds Films)

“Unexpected Christmas” follows a typical comedy/drama formula about holiday gatherings where family members argue, show love, and reveal secrets. The second half of the movie is better than the first half. The performances are engaging but not outstanding.

Directed by Michael Vaughn Hernandez and directed by Cassandra Mann, “Unexpected Christmas” takes mostly place in an unnamed city in Texas over a Christmas holiday weekend. There’s a brief scene in the beginning of the movie that takes place in New York City. “Unexpected Christmas” was filmed in Los Angeles.

“Unexpected Christmas” begins in New York City, by showing Marissa Dudley (played by DomiNque Perry) having a romantic night with her boyfriend Richard (played by Lil Rel Howery) during the Christmas holiday season. They are cuddling in her bed when he says that she never told him what she wants for Christmas this year. Marissa smiles happily at him and suddenly turns into a Mariah Carey song when she tells Richard what she wants for Christmas: “All I want is you.”

Marissa (who is a coffee shop owner in her late 30s) and Richard (who is an emergency room doctor in his mid-40s) have been dating for only three months, but Marissa is already getting impatient about knowing where this relationship is headed. “What are we doing?” Marissa asks Richard, to prompt him to give him a definite answer on how much of a commitment he’s willing to make to her. Richard tactfully tells Marissa that they’re “having fun,” he likes the way things are going, and he wants to keep things casual. Marissa smiles and agrees, but she still looks a little disappointed.

When Richard temporarily leaves the room to use the restroom, Marissa accidentally knocks over his toiletry bag (Richard plans to spend the night) that was on a nightstand. She notices inside the bag, there’s a ring box with a diamond engagement ring inside. Marissa doesn’t tell Richard that she found this ring because she assumes he’s planning to give her a surprise marriage proposal. A day or two after finding this engagement ring, Marissa gleefully tells her platonic best friend Michael (played by Terrence Terrell) that she’s pretty sure that Richard is going to propose to her.

The marriage proposal never happens. Richard breaks up with Marissa and cuts off contact with her because he says he has to go away to “find himself.” A heartbroken Marissa goes to Texas for a family reunion during the Christmas holiday weekend. The reunion will be held at the home of Marissa’s mother Marie Scott, nicknamed Momma Scott (played by Anna Maria Horsford), and Marie’s second husband Willie Scott (played by Ricco Ross), who is a retired military officer. Marie and Willie are happily married.

Marie’s unnamed first husband—who was the father of Marissa and Marissa’s younger brother Kyle (played by Trell Woodberry, one of the producers of “Unexpected Christmas”)—died when Marissa and Kyle were children. Within a year of his death, Marie was married to Willie. At the time that Marie met and began dating single father Willie, he had custody of his daughter Kerry, who is around the same age as Marissa.

It’s explained later in the movie that Kerry’s biological mother, who was never married to Willie, had a severe drug addiction and died a few years after she lost custody of Kerry. When Marissa and Kerry were living in the same household as stepsisters, Marissa felt that Marie paid more attention and was a more loving parent to Kerry than to Marissa. This alleged preferential treatment caused a lot of conflicts between Marissa and Kerry for most of the time that they’ve known each other.

Marissa and Kerry (who lives in Los Angeles) have not seen or talked to each other for years. Marrisa and Kerry (played by Reagan Gomez, also known as Reagan Gomez-Preston) have opposite personalities and fashion styles. Marissa is not career-driven and prefers to dress casually (jeans and sweatshirts), wear her hair in a ponytail, and not wear a lot of makeup. Kerry is a workaholic financial broker who wears upscale business suits and likes to look as glamorous as possible all the time.

For a while, Marissa was also estranged from Marie and Willie, but the relationship between the three of them has been mostly mended. Marissa and Kerry will be at this family reunion at the house of Marie and Willie. The other relatives who are attending this Christmas family reunion are laid-back Kyle and his high-maintenance wife Alicia (played by Cecelia Friday); Marie’s sassy cousin Debbie (played by Tabitha Brown); and Marie’s frisky bachelor brother Earl (played by Howie Bell), who enjoys being single and available.

Three of these family members bring unexpected dates. As already revealed in the “Unexpected Christmas” trailer, the biggest shock for Marissa is when Kerry shows up with Richard as her date. Richard insists that he didn’t know that Marissa and Kerry were stepsisters because they never talked about each other to him. How long were Richard and Kerry dating each other? That question is answered in the movie when Richard makes a confession to Marissa.

Not long after Marissa finds out that Richard and Kerry have been dating each other, Marissa convinces her best friend Michael to be her Christmas holiday date and asks Michael to pretend that he’s her new boyfriend. Earl’s date is a “video vixen” type named Imani (played by Koryn Hawthorne), who is young enough to be Earl’s daughter. Earl learns something about Imani that will make him rethink their relationship.

During the course of the holiday weekend, the family members experience ups and downs with secrets that emerge and loyalties being tested. Kyle has been avoiding being sexually intimate with Alicia. She begins to suspect that Kyle is having an affair when Alicia sees text messages on his phone from a woman she doesn’t know named Rachel, who is asking things in the messages such as, “When are you going to tell your wife?” You can almost do a countdown to when Alicia, who gets increasingly agitated with her suspicions, confronts Kyle to demand that he tell her who Rachel is.

That’s not all that is causing turmoil in the family during this Christmas get-together. A company named CZN Industries is pressuring the family to sell the land where the family owns Prosperous Spirit Baptist Church, which has been in the family for generations. The father of Marissa and Kyle is buried at the church’s cemetery. CZN Industries, which wants the land to build commerical buildings, has given a recent purchase offer of $1.5 million. The family’s general consensus is that the family will refuse to sell the land, no matter what the offer is.

The main conflict in the story has to do with the love triangle between Marissa, Richard and Kerry. Richard, who seems to still have strong romantic feelings for Marissa, comes from a family of doctors, but Richard isn’t happy being a doctor and is thinking about quitting medicine. Kerry dislikes this idea and has been pushing Richard to quit emergency room work to open up his own private practice. Kerry has ambitions to eventually own her own brokerage firm.

Some of the secrets are more predictable than others. And although the movie has some laugh-worthy jokes, other parts of “Unexpected Christmas” sometimes drag with slow pacing and lukewarm comedy. After a while, the character of Debbie isn’t given much to do but be a bystander to the family drama. Some of the best scenes in the movie are when the men have a candid talk with each other about relationships, and when Marie, Kerry and Marissa have heart-to-heart talks about their mother/daughter relationships with each other.

One of the best things about “Unexpected Christmas” is that even though some moments are unabashedly sentimental, all of it looks authentic to what the characters would do in that moment. The outcome of the Marissa/Richard/Kerry love triangle is also handled realistically. All of the cast members give believable performances, with Perry, Horsford and Gomez-Preston having to do the most in the emotional scenes.

“Almost Christmas” also has a memorable soundtrack with original songs from several artists, such as October London (“Unexpected Christmas”), K-Ci Hailey (“Christmas Just Ain’t Christmas”) and Kevin Ross (What Christmas Means To Me”). Movies about family reunions can often go down an over-the-top-path to try to stand out from the pack. Although “Almost Christmas” has some surprising family secrets exposed, the movie keeps things on a relatable level that many people from various backgrounds can enjoy.

3 Diamonds Films released “Unexpected Christmas” in U.S. cinemas on November 7, 2025.

Review: ‘Dog Man’ (2025), starring the voices of Peter Hastings, Pete Davdison, Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher, Lucas Hopkins Calderon and Ricky Gervais

January 29, 2025

by Carla Hay

Chief (voiced by Lil Rel Howery) and Dog Man (voiced by Peter Hastings) in “Dog Man” (Image courtesy of DreamWorks Animation/Universal Pictures)

“Dog Man” (2025)

Directed by Peter Hastings

Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional Ohkay City, the animated film “Dog Man” (based on the book series of the same name) features a cast of characters depicting humans and talking animals.

Culture Clash: A part-human, part-dog police officer battles his criminal nemesis: a cat named Petey.

Culture Audience: “Dog Man” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in seeing silly animated films that pander to the lowest possible intelligence.

Petey (voiced by Pete Davidson) and Li’l Petey (voiced by Lucas Hopkins Calderon) in in “Dog Man” (Image courtesy of DreamWorks Animation/Universal Pictures)

Just like an unruly dog that becomes too obnoxious to tolerate, the animated film “Dog Man” is a noisy and incoherent attack on the senses that ends up leaving an unpleasant mess. The visuals and story are amateurish and unappealing. And even though the title of the movie is “Dog Man,” at least half of the movie does a detour into a subplot about the villain cat and his innocent cloned “son.”

Written and directed by Peter Hastings (who also voices the title character), “Dog Man” is based on Dav Pilkey’s book series of the same name. The “Dog Man” movie looks like a misguided vanity project that was privileged to have the financial backing of major animation studio. There are better animated films that can be found for free on YouTube or other video platforms.

The “Dog Man” movie panders to the lowest common denominator and can’t even stay focused on its simple-minded plot. “Dog Man” takes place in the fictional Ohkay City, where humans and talking animals co-exist. The movie establishes early on that the main plot is about the city’s law enforcement wanting to apprehend an elusive cat criminal named Petey (voiced by Pete Davidson), who is mostly a thief.

During a high-speed chase to find Petey, a human police office and his loyal dog get into a serious accident. At a hospital, the medical professionals decide to do a radical surgery, by putting the head of the dog on the man’s body. Dog Man is now born.

Dog Man is still under pressure to find Petey. His unnamed police chief boss (voiced by Lil Rel Howery) is a grouch who is constantly yelling, mostly at Dog Man. However, the chief seems to have a soft spot for an inquisitive local TV reporter named Sarah Hatoff (voiced by Isla Fisher), who is frequently on the scene during the various mishaps that ensue.

Petey isn’t happy that Dog Man exists. He snarls about the police officer and dog that have now become the spliced mutant Dog Man: “I tried to get rid of these two ding dongs. And instead, I made a supercop.”

Petey comes up with idea to clone himself so he can increase the number of crimes he commits. What results isn’t exactly an adult clone but a kitten named Li’l Petey (voiced by Lucas Hopkins Calderon), who has the voice and intelligence of a human child in the age range of 6 to 8 years old. Li’l Petey (who calls Petey “Papa”) is sweet and naïve—which is why Petey wants nothing to do with Li’l Petey at first.

“Dog Man” becomes an irritating repetition of Petey getting captured and then escaping. In the last third of the film, the movie seems to forget all about Dog Man and goes off on a “daddy issues” tangent involving Petey, Li’l Petey and Petey’s father Grampa (voiced by Stephen Root), who is just as curmudgeonly as Petey. A sarcastic fish named Flippy (voiced by Ricky Gervais) becomes a shared enemy of Dog Man and Petey.

The movie has several supporting characters who don’t have much personality and are mostly forgettable. These characters are Butler (voiced by Poppy Liu), who is Petey’s assistant; Seamus (voiced by Billy Boyd), who is Sarah’s camera operator; Milly (voiced by Lunell), a cop co-worker of Dog Man; and 8DHD, a non-talking, sphere-shaped robot with human-like arms and legs. The voice performances are mediocre.

Children under the age of 10 might enjoy “Dog Man” because it’s a very energetic film, but the weak plot grows tiresome very quickly. Viewers looking for a good story will more likely be disappointed or bored by “Dog Man,” which wastes a lot of its frenetic energy on unimaginative visuals and tedious characters. This subpar animated film is like watching a dog chase its tail: Some might find amusement in watching it, but it’s ultimately a shallow spectacle of empty, repetitive and meaningless activity.

Universal Pictures will release “Dog Man” in U.S. cinemas on January 31, 2025.

Review: ‘One of Them Days,’ starring Keke Palmer and SZA

January 18, 2025

by Carla Hay

Keke Palmer and SZA in “One of Them Days”(Photo by Anne Marie Fox/TriStar Pictures)

“One of Them Days”

Directed by Lawrence Lamont

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Los Angeles area, the comedy film “One of Them Days” features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with some white people, Asian people and Latin people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Two roommates/best friends have less than 12 hours to come up with rent money that was stolen from them, or else they’ll be evicted.

Culture Audience: “One of Them Days” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and comedies about best friends who experience wacky mishaps.

Keke Palmer and SZA in “One of Them Days”(Photo courtesy of TriStar Pictures)

“One of Them Days” isn’t a great comedy, but it’s entertaining enough to show that Keke Palmer and SZA are a dynamic duo deserving of a better screenplay. The movie relies on over-used “broke from the ‘hood” stereotypes. The engaging performances by many of the cast members elevate what would otherwise be a checklist of tired clichés.

Directed by Lawrence Lamont and written by former “Insecure” writer Syreeta Singleton, “One of Them Days” takes place mostly over a 24-hour period in the Los Angeles area, where the movie was filmed. “One of Them Days” is the feature-film directorial debut for Lamont, whose previous directorial work has been in music videos and in television. Lamont and Singleton previously worked together on the 2022-2023 comedy TV series “Rap Sh!t.” Former “Insecure” star/executive producer Issa Rae (the creator of “Rap Sh!t”) is a producer of “One of Them Days.”

In “One of Them Days,” two apartment roommates—career-oriented Dreux (played by Keke Palmer) and artsy Alyssa (played by SZA)—are best friends who are struggling and hoping for better lives than they have now. Dreux (whose name is pronounced “Drew”) works as a server at a Norms diner and wants to be promoted to franchise manager. She has an interview for the job later that day. Alyssa is a painter artist who hasn’t had much luck selling her work.

For the past six months, Dreux and Alyssa have had a third person living in their apartment unit: Alyssa’s boyfriend Keshawn (played by Joshua David Neal), a wannabe rapper who’s unemployed. Dreux isn’t thrilled about this arrangement because—as she says later in the movie—Keshawn was originally supposed to stay with them for only three days. Keshawn is a smarmy sweet-talker who shouldn’t be trusted because he’s a habitual liar.

The friendship between Dreux and Alyssa is like a yin-yang relationship. Dreux tends to be a practical realist. Alyssa tends to be a philosophical dreamer. If they have problems, Dreux is more likely to come up with a logical solution, while Alyssa is more like to say that things will work out in the universe if they put out positive vibes and “manifest to the ancestors.”

As already shown in the movie’s trailer, when the apartment landlord Ushe (played by Rizi Timane) comes over to demand $1,500 for the roommates’ overdue rent money, Dreux soon finds out that Alyssa gave the rent money to Keshawn, who was supposed to give the rent money to Ushe. Instead, Keshawn spent the money on T-shirts advertising himself as a rapper. Dreux and Alyssa don’t have any money in their bank accounts and don’t know anyone who can lend them the $1,500 they need for the rent.

To make matters worse, Alyssa finds Keshawn in bed with another woman, who lives fairly close by. The other woman’s name is Berniece (played by Aziza Scott) and she thinks that Keshawn is her man exclusively. Quicker than you can say “cat fight,” Berniece goes on an angry vendetta against Dreux and Alyssa, because the two roommates intruded in Berniece’s house when they were trying to track down Keshawn.

Ushe tells Dreux and Alyssa that they need to have the rent money by 6 p.m., or else Dreux and Alyssa will both be evicted. (Viewers will have to suspend disbelief, because in real life, the eviction process is much longer and complicated than what’s depicted in the movie.) A countdown clock occasionally appears on screen to show how much time Dreux and Alyssa have before the deadline. When they are given the deadline, they have eight hours to come up with the money.

The rest of “One of Them Days” is a series of misadventures that Dreux and Alyssa experience, as they frantically try to find ways to get some quick cash. They end up encountering some eccentric and over-the-top people along the way. Some of the scenarios are funny, while other scenes fall flat and drag on for too long.

Other characters who appear in the movie include:

  • Mama Ruth (played by Vanessa Bell Calloway), a generous neighbor who has a maternal-like relationship with Dreux and Alyssa.
  • Maniac (played by Patrick Cage), a random good-looking guy who has a “meet cute” moment with Dreux at Mama Ruth’s place and who later offers to buy Dreux and Alyssa some fast food after their fast-food order gets stolen at a drive-by window.
  • Ruby (played by Janelle James), a newly hired and nervous nursing assistant at a blood donor location.
  • Lucky (played by Katt Williams), a disheveled bystander who stands outside a loan shark office and warns people not to go inside.
  • Kathy (played by Keyla Monterroso Mejia), an impatient administrator at the loan shark office.
  • Jameel (played by Dewayne Perkins), Dreux’s openly gay hair stylist who lives in the same apartment complex.
  • Bethany (played by Maude Apatow), an idealistic new tenant who moves in the apartment complex and tries to befriend Dreux and Alyssa.
  • An anonymous man (played by Lil Rel Howery), who wants to buys a pair of Nike shoes from Alyssa, who found the shoes hanging on a landline wire pole outside.
  • King Lolo (played by Amin Joseph), a thug who goes after Alyssa and Dreux because he claims to be the rightful owner of the shoes.

Some of the characters have subplots that don’t work very well. Bethany is the only white person living in the apartment complex where Dreux and Alyssa live. The movie tries to poke fun at Bethany being oblivious to the racial tension/suspicion that her presence brings to the building. Bethany is friendly but very naïve, so making her the butt of some of the racial jokes seems ill-placed and mean-spirited. By contrast, Berniece is an “angry black woman” stereotype in a subplot that’s reminiscent of Tyler Perry comedies and not interesting at all.

Jameel is a very underdeveloped character who should’ve had more screen time in the movie. As it stands, the main “joke” about Jameel is that he’s supposed to be so “ghetto,” he doesn’t have a work space to style people’s hair, so he has to do his hair stylist work with customers in a chair in the apartment complex’s front yard. There are hints that Jameel has a big personality, but he isn’t in the movie long enough to see more of what he could do to make this story funnier.

The characters of Ruby, Lucky and Kathy are by far the most hilarious supporting characters in the movie. Most viewers already know James from the comedy series “Abbott Elementary” and Williams for his stand-up comedy, so their comedic talent is expected. The movie’s breakout revelation is the performance by Monterroso Mejia, who’s a scene stealer with excellent comedic timing in the short time (less than 15 minutes) that she has in the movie.

As for Palmer and SZA, their performances are truly the heart and soul of “One of Them Days.” Even though Dreux and Alyssa get in ridiculous situations, the winning performances of Palmer and SZA make the friendship between these two characters entirely believable. “One of Them Days” is the feature-film acting debut of Grammy-winning R&B singer SZA, who shows she has a very promising future as a movie actress.

Some people might compare “One of Them Days” to 1995’s “Friday” (starring Ice Cube and Chris Tucker) because both movies are comedies about two best friends from Los Angeles who have a limited time to find money to pay a debt. “Friday” is much more of a stoner comedy that’s rougher around the edges. “One of Them Days” has a breezier tone that leaves room for romantic possibilities among all the rowdy antics. However, both movies are appealing enough that they’ve got “franchise” written all over them.

TriStar Pictures released “One of Them Days” in U.S. cinemas on January 17, 2025.

Review: ‘Harold and the Purple Crayon’ (2024), starring Zachary Levi, Lil Rel Howery, Benjamin Bottani, Jemaine Clement, Tanya Reynolds, Zooey Deschanel and the voice of Alfred Molina

July 31, 2024

by Carla Hay

Lil Rel Howery, Zachary Levi, Tanya Reynolds and Benjamin Bottani in “Harold and the Purple Crayon” (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures)

“Harold and the Purple Crayon”

Directed by Carlos Saldanha

Culture Representation: Taking place in Providence, Rhode Island, the fantasy film “Harold and the Purple Crayon” (based on the book of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Children’s book characters Harold (who uses a magic purple crayon that can make illustration things become real things) and friends Moose and Porcupine go to the real world to find their book narrator and experience various misadventures. 

Culture Audience: “Harold and the Purple Crayon” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the book on which the movie is based, and anyone who doesn’t mind watching substandard entertainment geared to families and underage children.

Pictured clockwise, from left: Benjamin Bottani, Zachary Levi, Lil Rel Howery and Zooey Deschanel in “Harold and the Purple Crayon” (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures)

“Harold and the Purple Crayon” is as sloppy and muddled as someone doodling while drunk. This mishandled movie looks like a rejected TV show aimed at children, with most of the cast members looking embarrassed to be there. “Harold and the Purple Crayon” might be acceptable for viewers who want to have something to watch without any expectations of being fully engaged or entertained by what they’re seeing. But for people expecting imagination and charm in a movie about characters who can use a magic crayon to draw things that become reality, then “Harold and the Purple Crayon” is not the movie to watch.

Directed by Carlos Saldanha, “Harold and the Purple Crayon” is based on Crockett Johnson’s 1955 children’s fiction book of the same name. The “Harold and the Purple Crayon” book is the first in a series of Johnson’s books that have a 4-year-old boy named Harold as the main character. David Guion and Michael Handelman co-wrote the “Harold and the Purple Crayon” adapted screenplay, which is a dreadful concoction of stale jokes, hollow characters and boring scenarios. The movie (which takes place mostly in Providence, Rhode Island) updates the story to take place in the 2020s. Johnson’s “Harold” books were also adapted into a short-lived HBO animated series called “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” which lasted for one season from 2001-2002.

In the beginning of the movie “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” a voiceover narrator (voiced by Alfred Molina) explains that illustrated drawing characters Harold and his animal pals Moose and Porcupine are best friends. Harold, who is supposed to be a 4-year-old boy, has a magical purple crayon where anything he draws becomes a reality. The movie spends less than three minutes showing Harold, Moose and Porcupine in their illustrated book world before the movie abruptly shifts to making these illustrated characters come to life.

That’s because sheltered Harold, who is now physically grown up but still has the naïveté of a child, suddenly gets curious about who this narrator is and wants to meet him in person when the narrator goes silent. Harold assumes that this narrator is his elderly father, so Harold wants to go to the real world to find his “old man,” which are words that Harold repeatedly uses throughout the movie to describe the narrator. Moose and Porcupine are reluctant to go to the real world because they heard it can be a scary place where bad things can happen.

Harold is determined though, so he goes through a magical portal and ends up in the “real world,” which is Providence. Why is this story located in Providence? As the movie explains later, Providence is the location of the Crockett Johnson Museum. Harold doesn’t know anything about his “old man,” including the name of the “old man,” so part of the movie (which gets distracted by other things) is about Harold thinking any elderly man he sees is his “old man.”

When Harold enters the “real world,” he is a fully grown man (played by Zachary Levi) wearing the same thing that Harold the book character wears: a blue onesie. Harold might look like an adult, but he has the life experience and intelligence of a child. Sound familiar? In “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” Levi is doing another version of the “boy trapped in an adult body” superhero character that he played in the “Shazam!” movies, but “Harold and the Purple Crayon” is much worse than the “Shazam!” movies.

Eventually, Moose goes through the portal, but his transformation goes from looking like a moose to looking like a man (played by Lil Rel Howery), who wears clothing with moose illustrations on it. Moose can randomly turn back into a moose, apparently when he’s startled or scared. The movie does a horrible job of explaining how and why Moose can switch back and forth between looking like an animal and looking like a human.

Porcupine is the last person to go through the portal to the “real world.” She also appears in the real world as an adult human (played by Tanya Reynolds), but the only visual reference to her being a porcupine is that in human form, she has a purple-streaked Mohawk. Porcupine is the most annoying of the three pals. She’s so annoying, this movie has Porcupine separated from all the other characters for a great deal of the story because Porcupine is looking for Harold and Moose.

This movie’s costume design is a failure of imagination. Porcupine wears a black leather jacket and black trousers, but that outfit should’ve been accented with a lot of studs or spikes, to make it look like she’s a porcupine in human form. Later in the movie, Porcupine wears a motorcycle helmet with black Mohawk spikes, but it’s too little, too late. By then, the movie has gone completely off the rails, and no creative costume design can save it.

The portal to the real world leads to an unnamed park in Providence. Harold wants to hug every elderly man he thinks might be his “old man,” and gets the expected “get away from me” responses. When Harold starts running next to a jogger (played by TJ Jackson) in the park, he asks the jogger: “What are we running from?” The jogger replies, “Grown men in a onesie,” as he moves away from Harold. This is the type of cringeworthy “comedy” that’s in this misfire of a movie.

Harold and Moose soon find each other in the park. Moose and Harold accidentally get hit but not seriously injured by a car driven by a widow named Terry (played by Zooey Deschanel), who is in the car with her son Melvin, nicknamed Mel (played by Benjamin Bottani), who’s about 11 or 12 years old. Because of the accident, Terry’s car gets a flat tire. No problem. Harold takes out his purple crayon and draws a new tire, which becomes a purple tire that Terry can use for her car.

Terry feels guilty about this car accident, so when Harold and Moose tell Terry and Mel that they’re new to the area and need a temporary place to stay, Mel convinces Terry to let Harold and Moose stay at their house. Harold and Moose have to stay in the attic, but they are thrilled because the attic has things they’ve never seen before in their limited book-illustration world. And what a coincidence: Terry still has some of her deceased husband’s clothes, and he happened to be same size as Harold. Terry lets Harold borrow these clothes so he isn’t walking around looking like a Super Mario Bros. character.

Mel is a lonely kid who is bullied at his school. Mel has an imaginary friend named Carl, which he describes as a creature that’s a combination of an eagle, a lion and an alligator. Harold treats Mel with kindness and encourages Mel (who likes to draw) to use his imagination and indulge in fantasies. And you just know what’s going to happen when later in the movie, Harold breaks his magic purple crayon in half and gives this half of the crayon to Mel. When Carl does finally appear (which isn’t a secret because this creature has already been revealed in official photos from the movie), it actually looks more like an oversized lizard with wings.

Harold and Moose find out that even though Terry is a very nice person, she hasn’t been happy ever since her husband died. (The husband’s cause of death is not mentioned in the film.) Terry also says she hates her job. She works as a shelf stocker for Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, a discount general store that’s similar to Walmart. Terry’s dream job is to be a concert pianist. Mel tells Harold that he wants his mother to be happy again. You know where all of this is going, of course.

“Harold and the Purple Crayon” plods along with lackluster scenarios, such as Terry waking up one day, after her new house guests have arrived, to find out that Harold and Moose have made several blueberry pies and are eating them for breakfast with Mel. Mel has drawn a flying tarantula-sized spider with fangs, which Harold brings to life by using his magic crayon. This creature flits around and scares some people on more than one occasion, and then just flies out of the scene. It’s all so pointless.

Harold, Moose and Mel go to the C.C. Barrister Library to try to get information on Harold’s “old man.” At the library, they meet chief librarian Gary Natwick (played by Jemaine Clement), a pompous creep who has written an unpublished fantasy novel where the novel’s “hero” (who dresses like a knight) is a version of Gary. Gary has an unrequited crush on Terry, so Gary becomes jealous and alarmed when Harold innocently tells Gary that he’s been seeing Terry and is spending nights at Terry’s home.

Harold, Moose and Mel become a tight-knit trio who get involved in various misadventures. And where is Porcupine during all of this male bonding? Getting herself into bungling trouble, such as when she goes to a house because she’s sure that’s where Harold and Moose are, but it’s someone else’s house, and the owners think she’s a burglar. With Porcupine being so separate from the main story, there’s a whiff of sexism in repetitive scenarios showing her as a “troublemaker” while the three guys (Harold, Moose and Mel) get to have almost all of the fun.

The acting performances in “Harold and the Purple Crayon” are mediocre to terrible. Levi looks like he’s trying the hardest to stay in character. But in reality, he’s woefully miscast as Harold. Very few middle-aged actors can be convincing as a character who’s supposed to have the mentality of a human child but in an adult’s body. And in this case, it actually looks creepy and weird in “Harold and the Purple Crayon.”

And it doesn’t help that “Harold and the Purple Crayon” has such an uninteresting villain. Clement’s hilarious comedic talent (which can be seen in other on-sceen entertainment) is completely squandered in this cinematic flop. The depiction of Gary looks like half-baked campiness, which doesn’t really fit the earnest tone that the rest of the movie has.

Deschanel, Howery and Bottani are servicable in their “Harold and the Purple Crayon” roles but don’t do anything that’s noteworthy. Reynolds stands out for the wrong reasons: Her acting is either too stiff or over-exaggerated. Most of the celebrity cast members in this movie do not look emotionally invested in their characters at all and look like they’re just there to collect a salary.

The movie’s visual effects are basic, while the movie’s pacing is often sluggish. The misguided filmmaking in “Harold and the Purple Crayon” could trigger a thousand pun jokes about needing to go back to the drawing board for fresh new ideas. And those jokes would be inifinitely better than the uninspired swill that this disappointing movie dud turned out to be.

Columbia Pictures will release “Harold and the Purple Crayon” in U.S. cinemas on August 2, 2024.

Review: ‘We Grown Now,’ starring Blake Cameron James, Gian Knight Ramirez, S. Epatha Merkerson, Lil Rel Howery and Jurnee Smollett

April 28, 2024

by Carla Hay

Blake Cameron James and Gian Knight Ramirez in “We Grown Now” (Photo courtesy of Participant/Sony Pictures Classics)

“We Grown Now”

Directed by Minhal Baig

Culture Representation: Taking place in Chicago, in the autumn of 1992, the dramatic film “We Grown Now” features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with a few white people and Latin people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Two 10-year-old boys, who are lifelong best friends in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing projects, have their friendship tested during a time when their crime-ridden neighborhood has become increasingly dangerous. 

Culture Audience: “We Grown Now” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in emotionally authentic movies about childhood relationships in challenging circumstances.

Blake Cameron James, S. Epatha Merkerson and Madisyn Barnes in “We Grown Now” (Photo courtesy of Participant/Sony Pictures Classics)

Artistically made and emotionally moving, “We Grown Now” avoids many of the cringeworthy traps of African American struggle dramas. The beautiful and brotherly friendship between two boys in 1992 Chicago are the heart and soul of the movie. “We Grown Now” has some stereotypes that have been seen before in many other films about people who live in low-income housing projects, but these stereotypes are not demeaning because the movie shows the reality that most people who are in these circumstances are not criminals.

Written and directed by Minhal Baig, “We Grown Now” had its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and screened at other festivals that year, including the Chicago International Film Festival and AFI Fest. The movie received three nominations at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards: Best Feature, Best Cinematography and Best Editing. Baig is originally from Chicago. She did extensive research about the Cabrini-Green Homes housing project (usually referred to as just Cabrini-Green), where the main characters in “We Grown Now” live.

“We Grown Now” (which takes place in the autumn of 1992) is centered on two 10-year-old boys, who have known each other their entire lives and have both been raised their entire lives in Chicago’s Cabrini-Geen. Cabrini-Green was a group of government-funded apartment complexes built from 1941 and 1962, in order to provide affordable and safe housing to low-income people. About 15,000 people lived in Cabrini-Green during its peak residency. Cabrini-Green was demolished from 1995 to 2011 and became a mixed-used development property for businesses and residences.

In 1992, Cabrini-Green had become a dangerous place to live because of the high rate of crimes, but many of the residents couldn’t afford to live anywhere else in Chicago. That’s the situation with the immediate families of Malik (played by Blake Cameron James) and Eric (played by Gian Knight Ramirez), who are classmates in the same public school. Malik is the more outgoing, confident and academically talented of the two pals. Eric is introverted, sensitive and is comfortable with Malik taking the lead in many of their activities.

Malik lives with his divorced mother Dolores (played by Jurnee Smollett); his talkative younger sister Diana (played Madisyn Barnes); and Dolores’ widowed mother Anita (played by S. Epatha Merkerson), who shares stories with her grandchildren about the family’s history. Eric lives with his widowed father Jason (played by Lil Rel Howery) and Eric’s older sister Amber (played by Avery Holliday), who’s in her late teens or early 20s.

Dolores doesn’t like to talk about her ex-husband, who is not involved in raising Malik and Diana. The movie never shows or explains what caused the divorce and why this ex-husband is an absentee father. However, there’s a great scene in the movie that reveals how Malik still thinks about his father.

Malik’s household is religious, while Eric’s household is not. This difference is apparent when Malik and Eric have a discussion about whether or not there’s life after death. Eric believes that death is final. Malik thinks that there could be truth in the concept of an afterlife. Malik also believes that the afterlife can include rewards or consequences for how people lived before they died.

Malik and Eric (who are being raised by good people in loving households) are typical children who like to have fun. They are both big fans of the Chicago Bulls and naturally admire Michael Jordan, who was known for his high-jumping style of playing basketball. When Eric and Malik are on playgrounds, one of the things that Malik and Eric like to do is play games to see who can jump the highest.

Malik says in a voiceover near the beginning of the movie: “In Cabrini-Green, there’s only one rule on the playground: It don’t matter how old you are, how much money you got, how big or tall or small. All that matters is if you can jump.”

In school, Malik is more likely to speak up in classroom sessions. He is intelligent and curious. Eric and Malik are good kids overall, but they are occasionally a little bratty. For example, they have a classmate friend nicknamed Slug (played Giovani Chambers), whose real name is Samuel but who prefers to be called Tyrone. Eric and Malik sometimes tease Slug over little things, such as his real name.

Something that Malik and Eric like to do, which is shown more than once in the film, is they when they are outside in open spaces, they shout, “I exist! We exist!” Sometimes, they make these statements when no one else is there. Sometimes, they say these things so people can hear them.

One day, the atmosphere at the school suddenly changes when the news spreads about Dantrell Davis, a 7-year-old boy from Cabrini-Green, who was killed by gun violence while walking to school with his mother. (“We Grown Now” brings this real-life tragedy into the movie.) Davis was the unfortunate victim of gunshots fired by a gang member who intended the bullets for a rival gang member. As a result of this tragedy, the school where Eric and Malik attend begins requiring all students to have ID cards in order to enter the school property.

It’s under these tension-filled circumstances that Dolores (who works in the payroll department at an unnamed company) starts to re-think being stuck in a job where she can barely afford to pay her bills. Dolores feels like she’s overworked and underpaid. There’s an opportunity for her at the company to apply for a job promotion in a managerial position that would give her a higher salary.

However, Dolores confides in her mother Anita that she’s afraid to apply for the job because she’d be competing with people who have a college education—something that Dolores doesn’t have. Dolores also says she’s afraid that she might get fired if she indicates she wants to leave her current position for something better. There are racial implications to how Dolores is feeling because she mentions the company has almost no black people in managerial positions.

Anita is encouraging and supportive of all of her family members. Some of the most important parts of the movie are when Anita shares her advice and family stories. What Anita has to say isn’t always immediately appreciated in the moment but might be understood later. Anita and her husband Gordon, who died in 1987, took a big risk by leaving their families behind in Tupelo, Mississippi, to start a new life in Chicago. Dolores has spent her entire life living in Cabrini-Green, just like Malik.

Malik shows signs that he’s more mature than a typical 10-year-old boy. When Malik and Eric play hooky from school one day, it’s Malik’s idea that they should spend the day at the Art Institute of Chicago. These scenes of Malik and Eric together are a joy to watch, whether the two friends are looking in respectful awe at some of the museum’s artwork, or mischievously speculating what an arguing couple are quarreling about from a distance.

However, this day of educational fun comes crashing down with the reality that Malik and Eric were missing for several hours without telling anyone else where they were. The fallout of this unapproved trip will have an impact on Malik and Eric. In Cabrini-Green, where kids often have to grow up fast, it’s still a reality for Malik and Eric and they are not adults who can go wherever they want, when they want.

In 1992, Cabrini-Green had also become a place where law enforcement officers could enter a home without a warrant and do a destructive search. One of the families in this story has this painful and humiliating experience when officers raid the household after midnight for no plausible reason. It’s a harsh lesson that the kids in the family learn.

However, “We Grown Now” falls short in showing the realities of how black families in America have to educate their kids about how they can be treated differently because of racism. The movie didn’t need to have any preachy or corny lectures. However, when one of the kids gets yelled at by a parent for skipping school for that a day trip to the museum, the parent mostly mentions safety issues and not the racism reality that black kids (especially black boys) have to fight a negative stereotype of being problematic troublemakers.

Another flaw in “We Grown Now” is that Eric’s father Jason is a fairly underdeveloped character. Jason would have a lot to teach his son as a black male growing up in America, but those conversations aren’t really shown in the movie. And whatever happened to Malik’s father remains a mystery. In other words, the black men in the movie don’t have as much importance as the black women.

Despite these shortcomings, “We Grown Now” is still worth watching for the compelling and charming performance by James, who absolutely shines in his role as Malik. James has a natural way of acting that makes everything Malik does entirely believable. He embodies the character instead of just reciting lines of dialogue. Smollett and Merkerson are also quite good in their roles, but they’ve played variations of these types of characters in other movies or TV shows.

“We Grown Now” is not a pity party for low-income people. It’s also not a stereotypical “warning” movie about “at risk” youth who need “saving” from do-gooders, who usually come from outside the community. At its core, “We Grown Now” is a poignant and effective story about the power of true friendships and learning not to take life and loved ones for granted.

Sony Pictures Classics released “We Grown Now” in select U.S. cinemas on April 19, 2024, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on April 26, 2024.

Review: ‘PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie,’ starring the voices of Finn-Lee Epp, Mckenna Grace, Christian Convery, Taraji P. Henson, Ron Pardo, Marsai Martin and Lil Rel Howery

September 27, 2023

by Carla Hay

Rocky (voiced by Callum Shoniker), Marshall (voiced by Christian Corrao), Rubble (voiced by Luxton Handspiker), Zuma (voiced by Nylan Parthipan), Chase (voiced by Christian Convery), Skye (voiced by McKenna Grace), Liberty (voiced by Marsai Martin), Nano (voiced by Alan Kim), Ryder (voiced by Finn Lee-Epp), Mini (voiced by North West) and Tot (voiced by Brice Gonzalez) in “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” (Image courtesy of Spin Master Entertainment/Nickelodeon Movies/Paramount Pictures)

“PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie”

Directed by Cal Brunker 

Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional Adventure City in North America, the animated film “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” features talking dog characters and a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans, Latinos and Asians) representing the middle-class and working-class.

Culture Clash: A boy and his team of rescue dogs must stop a ruthless scientist and a villainous former mayor, who plant to take over the world with meteoric crystals that give superpowers to people in possession of the crystals.

Culture Audience: “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” will appeal primarily to fans of the “Paw Patrol” TV series and people who want escapist, children’s-oriented entertainment that has a superhero plot.

Victoria Vance (voiced by Taraji P. Henson) in “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” (Image courtesy of Spin Master Entertainment/Nickelodeon Movies/Paramount Pictures)

In a world overloaded with superhero films, “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” is an adequate option for anyone who will watch entertainment geared to kids under the age of 10. Like many sequels, it tries to do more than the original, but it’s not cluttered. However, by introducing more characters and adding a new villain, some of the regular characters are sidelined in this movie. “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” is a sequel to 2021’s “PAW Patrol: The Movie.” Both films are directed by Carl Brunker and are based on Nickelodeon’s “PAW Patrol” series.

For the hero characters in “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” (which was co-written by Brunker and Bob Barlen), an almost entirely new cast of voice actors replaced the voice actors who were in “PAW Patrol: The Movie.” In “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie,” Ryder (voiced by Finn-Lee Epp) is a 10-year-old boy who’s in charge of a team of rescue dogs that have the voices of human kids who are around the same age and can do many things that humans can do, such as drive vehicles. Ryder and the dogs all live in Adventure City, which is somewhere in North America. Members of the PAW Patrol help the community in various ways, by acting as unofficial police officers and firefighters.

The dog who’s closest to Ryder is a male German Shepherd named Chase (voiced by Christian Convery), who has a reputation for being the bravest dog in the pack, with a keen sense of sight and smell. Chase is allergic to cats though, which is a hindrance since this movie’s villain has several cats. All of the other PAW Patrol dogs look up to Chase in some way as their “alpha dog.”

In addition to Chase, there’s Skye (voiced by Mckenna Grace), a bold 7-year-old female tan cockapoo, who has aircraft skills and a custom-made pink-and-grey helicopter. Marshall (voiced by Christian Corrao) is a goofy 6-year-old male Dalmatian with firefighter and paramedic skills and a custom fire engine truck. Rocky (voiced by Callum Shoniker) is a 6-year-old grey-and-white male Schnauzer/Scottish Terrier mixed-breed dog, who is skilled at recycling and handyman duties, and he has a green recycling truck.

Zuma (voiced by Nylan Parthipan) is a 5-year-old male brown Labrador Retriever whose specialty is water rescues. He has an orange hovercraft that can be used on water or on land. Rubble (voiced by Luxton Handspiker) is a 5-year-old male white-and-brown bulldog who is the team’s construction expert, and his custom vehicle is a yellow bulldozer. Smart and sassy Liberty (voiced by Marsai Martin) is a brown dachshund who was added as a new character in “PAW Patrol: The Movie.” All of the voice actors for these characters are different in “PAW Patrol: The Movie” and “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie,” except for the characters of Liberty and Rocky.

“PAW Patrol: The Movie” begins with J&H Scrap junkyard owner spouses Janet (played by Kristen Bell) and Hank (played by James Marsden) seeing a mysterious person stealing a crane and a 10-ton electromagnet. Janet and Hank report this theft to the police. It turns out that the thief is a ruthless scientist named Victoria Vance (voiced by Taraji P. Henson), who wants the electromagnet to attract a meteor to Adventure City.

Why this meteor? It has special crystals that can give superpowers to anyone who has these crystals. Why does she want these superpowers? To take over the world, of course. Victoria’s devious plan works, and the meteor crashes into Adventure City, but this crash destroys Pup Tower, the headquarters of the PAW Patrol.

This disaster couldn’t have come at a worse time for the PAW Patrol. The team has added three new members as Junior Patrollers, who are Pomeranian puppies named Mini (voiced by North West), Nano (voiced by Alan Kim) and Tot (voiced by Brice Gonzalez), who are all eager to become full-fledged members of the PAW Patrol. North West and her brother Saint West (who voices the Meteor Man character in the movie) are the children of Kim Kardashian, who has small role in the movie as a pampered poodle named Delores.

Victoria is a knowledgeable scientist, but she makes the stupid mistake of going online to brag that she caused the meteor crash. She’s quickly arrested and put in jail, where her cell mates are the disgraced Mayor Humdinger (voiced by Ron Pardo) and his six companion cats. Victoria tells Mayor Humdinger (who was the chief villain in “PAW Patrol: The Movie”) about the crystals. He convinces her to form an alliance and make a deal with him: If he can break them both out of jail, she will give him one of the crystals. Humdinger still has his buffoonish arrogance and deceptive ways.

Through a series of circumstances, the PAW Patrol find the crystals, which become attachments to their dog tags. While wearing these crystals, the dogs develop superpowers based on their strongest characteristics, except for Liberty, who is dismayed that she did not receive any superpowers from wearing a crystal. Liberty is also annoyed that she’s been tasked with looking after Mini, Nano and Tot while her team mates on the PAW Patrol take off to battle the villains. Babysitting the Junior Patrollers is not what Liberty had in mind when she joined the PAW Patrol.

“PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” borrows a lot from the story in Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War,” because much of the movie is about a villain wanting to get a collection of precious stones, in order to rule the world. The voice cast members in “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” get the job done well enough, but Skye and Liberty are the only two PAW Patrol members who have significant storylines and screen time in “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie.” Liberty is uncomfortable about not having found her own superpower, while Skye is insecure about her past as the runt of her litter.

Victoria and Mayor Humdinger are frequently amusing to watch, but the story really only needed one chief villain, not two. As a dastardly duo, the chemistry between Victoria and Humdinger is hit and miss. Parts of “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” get jumbled when the movie tries to cram in distractions that serve no purpose except to increase the length of the film. The plot is easy to follow though, even if there’s nothing particularly innovative about it.

“PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” has some voice cameos that only seem to be in the movie so the filmmakers could say that they got some famous people to be voice actors in the film. Serena Williams makes a cameo (that’s about 10 seconds long), as the voice of a yoga instructor named Yoga Yvette. Chris Rock utters a few lines as one of Mayor Humdinger’s cats in a similarly “blink and you’ll miss it” cameo. Lil Rel Howery, who is the voice of TV reporter Sam Stringer, has one of the longer cameos, since his dialogue is about five minutes in the film.

“PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” looks exactly like what it is: A feature-length, bigger-budget version of a TV episode of “PAW Patrol.” Do not expect a masterpiece in animation, but don’t expect the fiilm to be low-quality either. “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” seems happy to occupy a space that is somewhere in the middle and made for people who just want to see a lightweight and enjoyable animated film.

Paramount Pictures will release “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” in U.S. cinemas on September 29, 2023.

Review: ‘Deep Water’ (2022), starring Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas

March 17, 2022

by Carla Hay

Ana de Armas and Ben Affleck in “Deep Water” (Photo by Claire Folger/20th Century Studios/Hulu)

“Deep Water” (2022)

Directed by Adrian Lyne

Culture Representation: Taking place in New Orleans, the dramatic film “Deep Water” features a cast of predominantly white characters (with a few Latinos and African Americans) representing the middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A wealthy husband, who has an open marriage, becomes the main focus of suspicion when some of his wife’s lovers end up dead. 

Culture Audience: “Deep Water” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of stars Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas, who are the main attractions in this frequently dull and formulaic crime thriller.

Jade Fernandez, Tracy Letts and Kristen Connolly in “Deep Water” (Photo by Claire Folger/20th Century Studios/Hulu)

“Deep Water” is proof that it’s not enough to have good-looking people in a stylish-looking film. It has a basic mystery that’s not very suspenseful, in addition to monotonous mind games played by the central married couple. Perhaps most disappointing of all is that “Deep Water” does nothing new or clever in the seemingly endless stream of movies about marital infidelity that causes chaos in people’s lives.

“Deep Water” director Adrian Lyne has made a career out of these types of movies, with a filmography that includes 1987’s “Fatal Attraction,” 1993’s “Indecent Proposal” and 2002’s “Unfaithful,” his previous film before “Deep Water.” Zach Helm and Sam Levinson adapted the “Deep Water” screenplay from Patricia Highsmith’s 1957 novel of the same name. Unfortunately, the movie has a drastically different ending from the book. The movie’s conclusion is intended to be shocking, but it just falls flat.

Executives at 20th Century Studios obviously thought “Deep Water” was an embarrassing dud, because the movie’s theatrical release was cancelled. “Deep Water” was then sent straight to Hulu and other Disney-owned streaming services where Hulu is not available. It’s also not a good sign that the stars of “Deep Water” have distanced themselves from “Deep Water” by not doing any full-scale publicity and promotion for the movie.

Up until the ending, the “Deep Water” movie (which takes place in the early 2020s) adheres very closely to the book’s original story, with some modern updates and a change of location. Wealthy married couple Vic Van Allen (played by Ben Affleck) and Melinda Van Allen (played by Ana de Armas) live in New Orleans with their precocious 6-year-old daughter Trixie (played by Grace Jenkins), who has an interest in science and is somewhat fixated on the children’s song “Old McDonald.” (In the “Deep Water” book, the story takes place in a small, fictional U.S. town called Little Wesley.) The Van Allens seem to have a perfect life of privilege and leisure. Vic is a retired millionaire because he invented a computer chip that’s used in war drones. Melinda is a homemaker/socialite.

It’s common knowledge among Vic and Melinda’s close circle of friends that Vic and Melinda have an open marriage, although Vic and Melinda have never really come right out and told their friends the details of this arrangement. Melinda flaunts her extramarital affairs by inviting her lovers to the same parties where she and Vic will be. At these parties (the movie has several of these party scenes), Melinda openly flirts with her lovers and sometimes has sexual trysts with them at the parties. Vic ends up meeting these lovers and is mostly polite but distant with them.

Vic and Melinda’s close friends include musician bachelor Grant (played by Lil Rel Howery); married couple Mary Washington (played by Devyn A. Tyler) and Kevin Washington (played by Michael Scialabba); and married couple Jonas Fernandez (played by Dash Mihok) and Jen Fernandez (played by Jade Fernandez). Whenever these friends try to tactfully talk to Vic about Melinda indiscreetly showing off her lovers, Vic brushes off their concerns. Vic gives the impression that he doesn’t want to be a possessive and jealous husband, and that he and Melinda have a “don’t ask, don’t tell” agreement when it comes to any of her extramarital affairs.

During the course of the story, three of Melinda’s past and present lovers are shown in the movie: musician Joel Dash (played by Brendan Miller), who ends up moving away to New Mexico; lounge pianist Charlie De Lisle (played by Jacob Elordi), who has been giving piano lessons to Melinda; and real-estate developer Tony Cameron (played by Finn Wittrock), who is visiting the area to scout for some property. All three men are good-looking and younger than Vic, but Vic has a lot more money than they do. And at some point or another, all three of these lovers are separately invited into the Van Allen home for a social visit.

Melinda has apparently made it a habit to invite each of her extramarital lovers to parties and other social gatherings, but never so that all of the lovers are in the same place at the same time. At these events, Melinda introduces a lover as her “friend,” even though it’s obvious that he’s more than a friend. When Melinda and Vic are at these parties, Melinda spends more time and is more affectionate with her lovers than she is with her husband. Vic often just stands by and doesn’t confront her about it.

There are several scenes that show Melinda drunk at these parties, or coming home drunk, implying that she abuses alcohol. Some of the couple’s friends seem to feel sorry for Vic, because they think he doesn’t deserve to be a cuckold. More than once, Vic is told that he’s a “good guy” who’s well-respected in the community. Not much is told about Melinda’s background (she’s an immigrant who can speak English and Spanish), but several scenes in the movie show that Melinda thinks that she’s quite the seductress.

In the beginning of the movie, it’s mentioned that a man named Martin McCrae, who was one of Melinda’s lovers, has been missing for the past several weeks. Friends and acquaintances of the Van Allen spouses are gossiping that Vic could have had something to do with the disappearance. At a friend’s house party, where Melinda has invited Joel, the gossip goes into overdrive after Vic and Joel have a private conversation in the kitchen, and Vic tells Joel that he killed Martin. Joel can’t tell if Vic is joking or not, but he takes Vic’s comments as a threat, and he quickly leaves the party. Word soon spreads that Vic made this “confession,” and more people in the community begin to wonder if Vic could have murdered Martin.

Before Joel moves to New Mexico because of a job offer, he’s invited to dinner at the house of Vic and Melinda. Vic seems to delight in making Joel uncomfortable with snide remarks. Vic also makes backhanded insults at Melinda. When Vic and Joel are alone together, Vic once again tells Joel that he killed Martin by hitting Martin on the head with a hammer. However, Vic tries to make light of uneasy comments that he makes, by trying to pass them off as misguided sarcasm. Vic’s passive-aggressiveness is an obvious sign that Melinda’s extramarital affairs bother him.

Someone who doesn’t take Vic’s wisecracks lightly is fiction author/screenwriter Don Wilson (played by Tracy Letts), who has recently moved to the area. Don has had middling success by selling a few screenplays that haven’t been made into movies yet. One of these screenplays is about a man (whom Don based on his own personality/background) who uncovers a murder conspiracy in his town.

Vic and Melinda meet Don and Don’s much-younger wife Kelly Wilson (played by Kristen Connolly) at an outdoor party attended by many of the Van Allen couple’s friends. Don likes noir mysteries, so he fancies himself to be an amateur detective. Throughout the movie, Don lets it be known to anyone who’ll listen, including Vic, that he suspects that Vic has something to do with what happened to Martin, whose murdered body is later found shot to death.

Vic’s reputation appears to be saved when another man (who’s never seen in the movie) is arrested for Martin’s murder. However, Martin isn’t the only lover of Melinda’s who ends up dead. It’s enough to say that who’s responsible for the crimes is revealed about halfway through the movie. But even if that information didn’t happen until the end of the film, there are too many obvious clues. The only mystery in the story is if the guilty party will be caught.

One of the biggest failings of “Deep Water” is how it reveals almost nothing about how and why Vic and Melinda fell in love with each other, or even how long they’ve been married. Without this context, it might be difficult for a lot of viewers to care about this couple. Vic and Melinda’s marriage is presented as just a blank void, dressed up with a superficial parade of parties, squabbling and occasional sex. (Affleck and de Armas were a couple in real life when this movie was made, but they’ve since had a breakup that reportedly wasn’t very amicable.)

Vic and Melinda tell each other “I love you” several times, but viewers don’t see any credible passion or respect between these two spouses. The only thing that viewers will find out about what retired Vic likes to do in his free time at home is that he hangs out with his pet snails that he keeps in an aquarium room. The snails are supposed to be symbolic of how Vic acts in his marriage to Melinda.

It could be a marriage of convenience. It could be that Vic and Melinda don’t want the hassle of getting a divorce. They are also devoted parents to Trixie—Vic is more patient with Trixie than Melinda is—and these spouses might not want their child to grow up with divorced parents.

Regardless of the reasons why Vic and Melinda have decided to stay married to each other, “Deep Water” is more concerned with staging repetitive scenes where Melinda tries to make Vic jealous with her lovers, and then she tries to take his mind off of her affairs by getting Vic to have sex with her. Melinda also makes rude comments to Vic such as: “Joel might be dumb, but he makes me enjoy who I am,” and “If you were married to anyone else, you’d be so fucking bored. You’d kill yourself.”

In one of the movie’s party scenes, Vic makes an attempt to show Melinda that he’s attractive to other women when he does something he almost never does at a party: He dances. And he asks Don’s wife Kelly to be his dance partner, as they twirl together and snuggle flirtatiously on the dance floor. Other people, including Melinda, notice the chemistry between Vic and Kelly. Predictably, Melinda gets jealous and tries to re-assert her status as the most desirable and sexiest woman in Vic’s life.

In addition to the superficiality of Vic and Melinda’s marriage, another aspect of “Deep Water” that makes it look phony is that the movie repeatedly tells viewers that Vic is supposed to be very rich, but Vic and Melinda apparently have no house servants, since no servants are ever seen working for this family. Melinda does the family’s cooking, which is not entirely unrealistic for someone of her marital wealth. However, Melinda being the family cook doesn’t ring true when Melinda comes across as a pampered trophy wife who can stay out all night and party with her lovers whenever she feels like it. It wouldn’t have that been hard to cast a few people as background extras to portray servants, since it’s hard to believe that Melinda and/or Vic do their own housecleaning and upkeep of their large home.

An underdeveloped characteristic of “Deep Water” that should have been explored in a more meaningful way is how some people tend to think that those who are wealthy are automatically better than people who aren’t wealthy. In the scene where Don meets Vic for the first time, Don impolitely tells Vic that Vic is probably the person most likely to have done something harmful to Martin. Grant, who is Vic’s most loyal friend, tries to diffuse the tension by smiling and saying: “The moral of the story is Vic is a genius. And he’s rich as fuck.”

Grant’s comment is a reflection of how some people think that being smart and wealthy is the equivalent of being a “good person,” without taking into account that being a “good person” has nothing to do with how much intelligence or money someone has. This false equivalence is a huge dismissal of core values that define people’s true characters and personalities. “Deep Water” seems to make a half-hearted attempt to show how some people are more likely to excuse or overlook bad conduct from someone who is intelligent and rich, but the movie ultimately takes the lazy route by just going for cheap thrills that have been in similar movies.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the cast members’ performances, but there’s nothing that will make viewers feel any real emotional connection to any of these characters. Affleck and de Armas, regardless of their real-life romantic relationship while filming this movie, don’t have much that’s compelling about how they portray Vic and Melinda. After all, Affleck has played many privileged jerks on screen, while de Armas often has the role of a character who uses sex or sex appeal to get what she wants.

A chase scene toward the end of “Deep Water” is extremely hokey and not very believable. “Deep Water” was already paddling around in a sea of mediocrity for most of the movie. But by the time the movie reaches its terrible ending, it ruins any chances that “Deep Water” could have been a “guilty pleasure” thriller.

Hulu will premiere “Deep Water” on March 18, 2022.

Review: ‘I Love My Dad,’ starring Patton Oswalt, James Morosini, Claudia Sulewski, Amy Landecker, Lil Rel Howery and Rachel Dratch

March 16, 2022

by Carla Hay

James Morosini and Patton Oswalt in “I Love My Dad” (Photo courtesy of I Love My Dad LLC/Hantz Motion Pictures)

“I Love My Dad”

Directed by James Morosini

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city and in Augusta, Maine, the comedy film “I Love My Dad” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A divorced father, who is a pathological liar, tries to reconnect with his estranged, young adult son by creating a fake online profile where the father impersonates a woman who pretends to be romantically interested in the son.

Culture Audience: “I Love My Dad” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in quirky comedies that have incisive social commentary on “catfishing” (creating a fake online persona to deceive people) and dysfunctional family relationships.

James Morosini and Patton Oswalt in “I Love My Dad” (Photo courtesy of I Love My Dad LLC/Hantz Motion Pictures)

Inspired by a true story, “I Love My Dad” is the type of comedy that adeptly turns its most cringeworthy moments into its funniest moments. It’s not an easy challenge, considering that it’s a movie that will make many viewers uncomfortable. “I Love My Dad” has a double meaning, because it’s about a divorced father who pretends to be an attractive young woman online, so that he can lure his estranged son into an online emotional relationship. It’s all because this disturbed father is so desperate to reconnect with his son, he’s concocted this elaborate ruse, even if he knows it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

It’s the type of warped story that people might think could only be fabricated for a movie. However, it happened in real life to “I Love My Dad” writer/director James Morosini, who also stars as the hapless and beleaguered son in this movie. “I Love My Dad” had its world premiere at the 2022 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival, where it won the event’s top grand jury prize: Best Narrative Feature. As messy as the movie’s subject is, it’s also a wild and entertaining ride that’s made all the more poignant because it’s a deeply personal story.

“I Love My Dad” opens with a flashback scene of Chuck Green (played by Patton Oswalt) and his son Franklin Green (played by Seamus Callahan), who’s about 8 or 9 years old, taking home a stray black Labrador retriever that they found on the street. Eager to please his son, Chuck tells Franklin (who has no siblings) that they can keep the dog, which is male. Franklin asks, “What if he’s lost?” Chuck just shrugs.

As Chuck and Franklin walk home together with the dog, Chuck sees a “missing dog” flyer posted on a telephone pole. The dog in the flyer’s photo is the same dog that Chuck has taken, and the owner wants to find the dog. Out of Franklin’s sight and without any guilt, Chuck tears the flyer off the pole because he wants to keep the dog. It’s an indication of Chuck’s personality: impulsive, wanting immediate gratification, and very selfish.

The movie then fast-forwards to showing Franklin in his early 20s. His parents have been divorced for years, and Franklin is in therapy for anxiety and depression—mostly because his irresponsible and unreliable father Chuck has caused a lot of emotional damage to Franklin. Chuck is a chronic liar whose dishonesty was the main cause for the divorce.

Franklin is a misfit loner who lives with his mother Diane (played by Amy Landecker), who is very protective and concerned about Franklin’s mental health. Franklin is currently unemployed, but his dream job is to be a computer coder for a video game company. He spends a lot of time playing video games. The movie doesn’t mention where Franklin and Diane live, but it’s thousands of miles away from Chuck. Diane has not been in regular contact with Chuck for a long time—and she wants it to stay that way.

Meanwhile, Chuck (who lives in Augusta, Maine) is despondent because Franklin, whom he has not spoken to in about a year, has recently blocked Chuck from all of Franklin’s social media. Chuck is sulking about it at his office job (the movie never mentions what Chuck does for a living), and his mopey attitude is noticed by a co-worker named Jimmy (played by Lil Rel Howery). Jimmy asks Chuck why he looks so sad, and Chuck tells him about Franklin’s online snubbing.

Jimmy mentions to Chuck that when he was blocked online by an ex-girlfriend, all he had to do to continue following her on social media was to create a phony online persona and get on her online “friends” list again. Jimmy brags that the trick worked, and he was able to keep tabs on what this ex-girlfriend was doing. It’s an idea that Chuck takes to extremes.

Shortly after getting cut off from Franklin, Chuck goes to eat by himself at a local diner called Carl’s Kountry Kitchen. (“I Love My Dad” was filmed in New York state, and the movie includes the real Carl’s Kountry Kitchen, which is in Syracuse, New York.) Chuck’s server is a friendly woman in her early 20s named Becca (played by Claudia Sulewski), who has a “girl next door” attractiveness about her.

When Chuck goes home, he looks up Becca on the Internet and finds all of her social media. And that’s when he gets the idea to pretend to be Becca and contact Franklin. Chuck steals Becca’s identity and many of her online photos to create fake online profiles of her. When Franklin accepts the fake Becca’s friend requests, Franklin asks her during a chat why he’s the only person she’s following.

As the fake Becca, Chuck quickly comes up with an excuse that “Becca” has new accounts because she deleted her previous accounts when she took a break from social media. Franklin believes this excuse. Over time, Franklin and “Becca” get closer, as they open up to each other about their emotions and family problems. And it should come as no surprise that Franklin ends up falling for “Becca,” as Chuck gets more caught up in this elaborate and twisted masquerade.

Chuck is ecstatic that Franklin is talking to Chuck again, even though it’s all based on Chuck’s concocted lies. Chuck confides in his co-worker Jimmy about the fake online persona. Jimmy warns Chuck not to continue this deception because Franklin might permanently cut Chuck out of Franklin’s life if Franklin finds out the truth. Chuck ignores this advice because he’s self-centered and has become accustomed to lying to get what he wants.

One of the funniest aspects of “I Love My Dad” is how it shows Becca appearing to exist in person with Franklin when he’s chatting with her online or having fantasies about her. But then, the camera suddenly switches to the reality that Chuck is talking to Franklin, so Chuck is shown doing the things with Franklin that Franklin is simultaneously imagining that Becca is doing with Franklin. This switch of perspectives is cleverly edited to bring many laugh-out-loud moments for people watching the movie. Chuck has fantasies too, where he places himself in moments where he wants to emotionally bond with Franklin.

Franklin knows that “Becca” doesn’t live near him, but he eventually wants some kind of contact with her beyond words and photos on a screen. When he tries to set up an online video chat, “Becca” comes up with the excuse that her computer’s video camera is broken. Whenever Franklin becomes skeptical of “Becca” being real, Chuck thinks of something to continue the ruse.

At one point, Franklin insists on talking to “Becca” on the phone. And so, Chuck averts Franklin’s suspicions that “Becca” is a fake persona when Chuck enlists a neurotic co-worker whom he’s been dating named Erica (played by Rachel Dratch) to impersonate “Becca” over the phone. Erica is infatuated with Chuck, but she’s very reluctant to be a part of this deceit. Chuck lies to Erica by saying that it’s a prank that he and Franklin play on each other as a father-son tradition. Erica participates in this con only after she gets Chuck to agree to have sex with her at their office.

Of course, there’s a sexual component that becomes a part of Franklin’s online “romance” with “Becca.” It’s a part of the deception that makes Chuck the most squeamish and feeling very guilty about what he’s doing. But that doesn’t stop dishonest Chuck from making Erica an unwitting accomplice during a hilarious scene involving online sex talk.

To be clear: “I Love My Dad” does not condone incest or sexual abuse. Rather, it shows in amusing and unsettling ways how pathetic online liars can be with their con games. The people who know Chuck’s secret (his co-workers Jimmy and Erica) express their disapproval to Chuck, but Chuck is the type of person who will do what he wants, no matter what other people say about it being wrong. The movie makes it obvious that as much as Chuck thinks he’s too smart to get caught, he’s really the one who’s degrading himself the most.

“I Love My Dad” has some hilarious twists and turns as Chuck’s lies get bigger, and he goes to greater lengths to prevent his lies from being exposed. This movie works so well as a comedy, mainly because the story doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s really a “truth is stranger than fiction” movie that seems so absurd, it might as well be a comedy. Morosini admirably channels what must have been a very painful time in his life into a story that can not only entertain people but also provoke thoughtful discussions about healing from family dysfunction, deciding what to forgive, and choosing which family members to have in one’s life.

The lead performances by Morosini and Oswalt make this movie’s engine run with a crackling energy of two characters who are at odds with each other but also weirdly co-dependent on each other for emotional validation. Some viewers might not care for how “I Love My Dad” ends, while other viewers will love the movie’s ending. Either way, the intended message of “I Love My Dad” is that there’s sometimes no way to predict what people will do to be close to the ones they love.

UPDATE: Magnolia Pictures will release “I Love My Dad” in select U.S. cinemas on August 5, 2022. The movie is set for release on digital and VOD on August 12, 2022.

Review: ‘National Champions,’ starring Stephan James, J.K. Simmons, Alexander Ludwig, Uzo Aduba, David Koechner, Jeffrey Donovan, Kristin Chenoweth and Timothy Olyphant

December 9, 2021

by Carla Hay

Stephan James, J.K. Simmons and David Koechner in “National Champions” (Photo by Scott Garfield/STX)

“National Champions”

Directed by Ric Roman Waugh

Culture Representation: Taking place during three days in New Orleans, the dramatic film “National Champions” features a cast of African American and white characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Two football players for the fictional Missouri Wolves college team launch a boycott, right before a national championship game, in protest of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) policy that NCAA student athletes are not entitled to salaries, disability pensions and health insurance for playing in NCAA games. 

Culture Audience: “National Champions” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching well-acted movies about civil rights in athletics and in the workforce.

Uzo Aduba and David Koechner in “National Champions” (Photo by Scott Garfield/STX)

“National Champions” is a memorable sports movie where all the action and battles take place outside of the game. This tension-filled drama about a college student-athlete boycott features standout performances and a diverse look at various sides of the debate. How you feel about this movie will probably come down to how you answer these questions: Should student athletes of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) get salaries, disability pensions and health insurance? And should NCAA student athletes form their own union?

Those questions are at the heart of the issues that are contentiously argued about in “National Champions,” directed by Ric Roman Waugh and written by Adam Mervis. Although the story is fictional, it takes a realistic-looking “what if” approach in depicting what would happen if NCAA football players decided to boycott playing in games, in order to get the NCAA to change its longstanding policies over these issues. And what if that boycott was staged just three days before a national championship game?

Those are the high-pressure circumstances under which the movie opens. “National Champions” does not let audiences go from its tightly wound grip during this entire movie, which is a suspense-filled ride from beginning to end. Even though this is a fictional story where the outcome can easily be predicted, the movie’s intention is to draw attention to the issues that are intensely debated in the movie. People who are not aware of these issues before seeing “National Champions” probably won’t look at NCAA sports in the same way again after seeing this movie.

At the beginning of “National Champions,” which takes place entirely in New Orleans, NCAA football player LeMarcus James (played by Stephan James) is seen at 6:10 a.m. on the balcony of his hotel room, as he gears up for the biggest fight of his life. He’s about to hold a press conference announcing the boycott and the list of demands that he and his fellow boycotters want to be fulfilled by the NCAA, in order to end the boycott. The national championship game is being held in New Orleans, and LeMarcus is expected to be a star of the game.

LeMarcus, who is 21, is the current quarterback for the fictional Missouri Wolves. He recently won the Heisman Trophy. And he is widely predicted to be the first overall pick of the next National Football League (NFL) draft. LeMarcus is well-aware that by launching ths boycott, it will likely ruin his chances to play in the NFL, since he will be branded as a “troublemaker.” However, he is determined to fight for what he strongly believes in, no matter that the consequences.

LeMarcus knows he’s facing an uphill battle in this boycott. At this point in time, LeMarcus and his best friend Emmett Sunday (played by Alexander Ludwig), who is also a Missouri Wolves teammate, are the only two athletes who are solidly committed to this boycott. They both come from working-class backgrounds and have gotten full athletic scholarships to attend their university because of football.

While in New Orleans for the natonial championship game, LeMarcus and Emmett have planned to “go missing” from practice. They move around from hotel to hotel, so that they can’t easily be found. During the course of the movie, they only allow a select number of trusted people into their hotel room. LeMarcus is also battling a nasty cold, but it doesn’t deter his inner strength to fight for his cause. LeMarcus and Emmett are starting this boycott without any help from attorneys.

Emmett, who is the more laid-back of the two friends, doesn’t seem to like public speaking because he’s not seen in the movie making speeches or doing press conferences. Emmett is happy to let LeMarcus take the lead as the spokesperson for the boycott and as the one who articulates the demands that they want the NCAA to follow. Throughout the movie, Stephan James gives an effective performance that shows how LeMarcus has a powerful talent of persuasion and a steely determination to not give up in the face of several obstacles. LeMarcus’ stubbornness and refusal to compromise make him a formidable but very underdog opponent.

LeMarcus has his share of skeptics and naysayers. Before the press conference, a teammate named Orlando Bishop (played by Julian Horton) tries to discourage LeMarcus from going through with the boycott. Orlando tells LeMarcus that the NCAA system won’t change just because LeMarcus doesn’t play in the national championships. “Aint nobody marching in the streets for the number-one anchor. You’re going to embarrass yourself, bro,” Orlando comments. When the boycott is underway, someone else warns LeMarcus that LeMarcus is going to be blacklisted from professional football, just like former NFL star Colin Kaepernick, who is outspoken in his support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

During the brief televised press conference, LeMarcus gives the list of demands that the boycotters want from the NCAA:

  • (1) NCAA will create of a non-revokable trust fund for every Division 1 varsity athlete.
  • (2) NCAA will contribute to a disability penision for Division 1 athletes who are injured in college athletics
  • (3) NCAA will recognize and collectively bargain with the proposed NCAA players’ union, submitting to all federally mandated guidelines of a unionized workforce.

LeMarcus doesn’t sugarcoat what he thinks is going on with the NCAA having a policy forbidding NCAA athletes from being paid athletes: He calls it “slave labor,” where the athletes work for free and other people get rich off of them. “Slave labor” is a hot-button phrase, because it can’t be ignored that most of the NCAA football players are African American, while most of the NCAA officials who are millionaires because of their NCAA salaries are white.

The NCAA doesn’t pay NCAA athletes because of a policy that refuses to classify NCAA athletes as NCAA employees. The NCAA makes a bulk of its profits from licensing its games to television, as well as from collecting money from sponsors that pay the NCAA and individual teams for NCAA athletes to wear sponsor items or use sponsor equipment for free advertising. People who don’t want the NCAA to pay its athletes say it’s because NCAA athletes are college students, not working professionals, and if these athletes got paid, they’d be more likely to be corrupted and drop out of college to spend the money.

During the press conference, LeMarcus gives a damning example of the disparity between how the athletes are not compensated for their work and how the NCAA officials are being highly compensated. He mentions how the unpaid NCAA athletes have to pay for their own medical bills if they are injured during games, while high-ranking NCAA officials each get millions of dollars in salaries and employee perks, such as health insurance benefits, life insurance benefits and lucrative pensions. The billions of dollars that flow through the NCAA, after expenses are paid, end up mostly with an elite group at the top.

To make his point, LeMarcus names the multimillion-dollar annual salaries of some high-ranking NCAA officials, including the salary of Missouri Wolves head coach James Lazor, who is not happy about having his salary being revealed for the whole world to know. By contrast, many NCAA athletes spend so much required time on their sport (which is usually more than a regular 40-hour work week) in additon to their academic requirements, they don’t have time to get salaried jobs, and many of them are financially struggling. NCAA athletes are not allowed to accept high-priced gifts and donations. However, in July 2021 (after “National Champions” was filmed), the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a monetary limit that the NCAA wanted to keep on student-athletes getting education-related gifts and benefits.

The fact that many NCAA athletes get their college tuition and living expenses paid for through scholarships (which usually comes from the athlete student’s college/university, not the NCAA) is of little comfort if it comes at a price of being injured from NCAA games or NCAA training, and the NCAA won’t help with health insurance or medical bills for the injuries. And if athletes in the NCAA have career-ending injuries, or if the athletes don’t make it to the professional leagues, then they are often stuck with paying for medical bills for injuries that they got while playing for the NCAA.

By the time athletes make it into the NCAA, they’re already at least 18 years old, in most cases. And because almost all NCAA athletes are legal adults and working full-time hours for the NCAA, many people believe that NCAA should be compensated like full-time employees. However, too many people are invested in keeping the status quo because they don’t want to share the NCAA’s wealth with the athletes.

These are harsh realities that many people don’t want to think about when they root for their favorite American college teams and athletes. However, as depicted in “National Champions,” people who believe in a boycott of the NCAA until things change in favor of athletes’ civil rights think that the only ways that these changes happen are if the public puts pressure on the NCAA and if activists play hardball with the NCAA. LeMarcus knows that he will probably ruin his promising football career with this boycott, and changes might not come in his lifetime, but he wants to get the ball rolling.

At first glance, it might seem that the plan to launch this boycott is poorly conceived, since only LeMarcus and Emmett seem to the only athletes who are part of the boycott. But the plan, although very risky, is actually a bold strategic move. And that’s because LeMarcus and Emmett plan to use the media to get the word out quickly to a massive audience and gain as much public support as possible.

If LeMarcus and Emmett had secretly tried to recruit other athletes for weeks behind the scenes, the word would’ve gotten out to the people who would want to stop the boycott. By staging the boycott right before the national championship game (the most lucrative football game for the NCAA), it would catch the NCAA off guard and force them to make a decision, or else possibly have the game cancelled. And because of the media attention, the NCAA has to make its decision publicly. LeMarcus and Emmett are fully prepared not to play in the game, but what other NCAA football players will join them?

The media blitz part of the plan works, because the boycott becomes big news. And there are some star NFL athletes who voice their support of the boycott, including Russell Wilson and Malcolm Jenkins, who portray themselves in cameos in the movie. These celebrity endorsements convince some other NCAA national championship football players to join the boycott too. The movie has a scene where LeMarcus gives a passionate speech in a hotel room that further convinces some of his fellow NCAA football players to join the boycott.

It isn’t long before so many Wolves team members are boycotting the game, the team is in danger of having mostly inexperienced freshman left as available team members. An emergency meeting takes place with the key players who will put up the fight in trying to squash the boycott. The people in this meeting are:

  • Coach James Lazor (played by J.K. Simmons), the hard-driving leader of the Missouri Wolves, who sees his athletes as his surrogate sons.
  • Richard Everly (played by David Koechner), the arrogant, sexist and crude leader of the powerful Southeastern Conference (SEC).
  • Wes Martin (played by Tony Winters), a Big 12 Conference executive who has some sympathy for the boycotting athletes.
  • Kevin McDonald (played by David Maldonado), director of communications for College Football Playoff (CFP), who is loyal to his employer and has to run interference with the media.
  • Mike Titus (played by Jeffrey Donovan), senior vice-president of championships for Division 1 NCAA Football, who is calm and level-headed.
  • Katherine Poe (played by Uzo Aduba), who describes herself as “outside counsel,” and seems to have a specialty in crisis management.

In this initial meeting, the men do almost all of the talking, while Katherine mostly sits quietly and listens in the background. But as time goes on, Katherine proves to be a fierce competitor in this boycott war. And she’s willing to do what it takes to win, including digging up some of LeMarcus’ secrets that could hurt his credibility. Coach Lazor wants the boycott to end, but he’s reluctant to play dirty in ways that could ruin LeMarcus’ life and reputation.

In a cast of very talented actors, Aduba and Simmons give outstanding performances not only because their characters are so strong-willed and outspoken but also because Coach Lazor and Katherine have their own unique charisma and flaws. Aduba and Simmons give two of the best monologues in the movie. The screenwriting for “National Champions” is mostly solid, and these cast members definitely elevate the material.

Coach Lazor’s big moment comes when he assembles the remaining Wolves team members in a hotel conference room and gives a rousing and emotional speech about how money doesn’t make someone happy and that he’s not a coach for the NCAA because of the money. He shares a story about his personal background and how his dreams to become professional football player were dashed, but he found a way to channel his passion for football by coaching. Coach Lazor says that money shouldn’t be these athletes’ motivation, but glory should be the main motivation.

Katherine’s impactful monlogue comes in a scene when Emmett accuses her of being heartless. It’s in this scene where Katherine, who comes across as obsessed with her job and somewhat mysterious up until this point, unleashes a tirade to show her human vulnerabilities and emotional pain. She also reveals that she’s not siding with the NCAA because it’s her job, but also because she truly believes that the boycott will hurt NCAA funding for lower-profile sports that don’t get as much attention as football and men’s basketball.

Katherine is probably the most interesting and complex character in this movie. There are many sports movies that show clashes between athletes and authority figures. However, almost all of these movies are about ego conflicts between men. Katherine embodies every woman who’s in a male-dominated job who is constantly underestimated because of her gender. She also happens to be African American, which is adds another layer of discrimination that she no doubt has experienced for her entire life.

It’s this type of life experience that makes her more clear-eyed and prepared for the times when people’s worst natures come out, compared to people who are unprepared and gullible because they go through life never having to experience real discrimination or hatred. Katherine’s way of dealing with opposition can be too extreme, by a lot of standards. She wants to win at all costs, even if she gives up a lot of compassion or empathy that she might have.

“National Champions” is at its best when it focuses on the characters of LeMarcus, Coach Lazor and Katherine. The movie tends to falter when it goes off on other tangents. There’s a soap opera-like subplot about Coach Lazor’s philandering wife Bailey Lazor (played by Kristin Chenoweth) and her lover Elliott Schmidt (played by Timothy Olyphant), a college professor who decides that he’s going to take a job in Italy. The movie shows if Bailey decides to run off with Elliott or not, in the midst of this boycott crisis.

Meanwhile, some supporting characters are introduced in the movie, but their character development is non-existent. Lil Rel Howery portrays Ronnie Dunn, the Wolves’ defensive coordinator coach, who might have to step in for Coach Lazor during the championship game when Coach Lazor seems to be on the verge of having a personal meltdown. Tim Blake Nelson is Rodger Cummings, the head of the Missouri Wolves boosters club, who is not about to let all the booster donations that were poured into the team possibly go down the drain with a boycott that could cost the Wolves the championship game. Andrew Bachelor portrays Taylor Jackson, another wealthy booster of the Wolves.

All the other football players depicted in the movie aren’t given enough screen time for viewers to see if they have distinctive personalities. Cecil Burgess (played by Therry Edouard), who has the nickname the Haitian Hammer, is another star athlete for the Missouri Wolves. However, Cecil only has a few brief scenes, mainly to show that he’s staying loyal to the NCAA, and he thinks the boycott is a mistake. Emmett is portrayed as a nice guy, but his personality is fairly bland.

Despite some of the flaws in the “National Champions” screenplay, the movie is directed, filmed and edited in a way that makes this an engaging thriller for people who want to watch movies about the business side of sports. “National Champions” might disappoint people who think they’re going to see a lot of football playing in the movie. But for other people who appreciate what the film is actually about, they’ll understand that it’s about real-life stakes that are much higher than a championship game.

STX will release “National Champions” in U.S. cinemas on December 10, 2021. The movie is set for release on digital and VOD on December 28, 2021.

Review: ‘Free Guy,’ starring Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Joe Keery and Taika Waititi

August 5, 2021

by Carla Hay

Jodie Comer and Ryan Reynolds in “Free Guy” (Photo by Alan Markfield/20th Century Studios)

“Free Guy”

Directed by Shawn Levy

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city, the action comedy film “Free Guy” features a predominantly male, mostly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans, Asians and one Māori/indigenous cast member) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A video game’s simulated city becomes the focus of conflict from the game’s characters and the gamers in the real world who want to manipulate actions in this simulated city.

Culture Audience: “Free Guy” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in comedic action movies that revolve around video game culture and put more emphasis on style over substance.

Taika Waititi, Utkarsh Ambudkar and Joe Keery in “Free Guy” (Photo by Alan Markfield/20th Century Studios)

“Free Guy” looks like an outdated idea for a video game movie that would’ve worked better when the SimCity video game was first released in 1989. It’s a dumb action comedy that tries to be clever with convoluted video game scenarios to dress up its very weak plot and cringeworthy jokes. The movie overloads on tech jargon and formulaic action scenes as gimmicks that can’t hide this movie’s lazy banality.

Directed by Shawn Levy and written by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn, “Free Guy” was obviously made to appeal to video game enthusiasts as a target audience. However, because video games have progressed immensely since the early years of SimCity—especially when it comes to world building, visual effects and multilayered outcomes—much of the video game that’s at the center of “Free Guy” looks simplistic and boring. The only real nod to 21st century gaming that this movie has is that people worldwide have the ability to play the game simultaneously over the Internet.

The video game in “Free Guy” is called Free City, which is about a simulated city called Free City that’s supposed to be a mid-sized American city where chaos and destruction can happen at any moment. (“Free Guy” was actually filmed in Boston.) Players of Free City get more points and can advance to the next level (also known as “leveling up”), based on acts of unprovoked hostility and violence that they can put in the game.

Every day, an armed robbery takes place at Free City Bank. This financial institution is the place of employment for cheerful bank teller Guy (played by Ryan Reynolds) and his wisecracking best friend Buddy (played by Lil Rel Howery), who’s a security guard. It’s a scenario that plays out with such routine predictability that Guy has come to expect it.

Guy, who is the voiceover narrator and protagonist of the movie, explains that in Free City, laws are like “mild suggestions.” The “heroes” in Free City can be identified by wearing special eyeglasses. Later, Guy finds out what happens when someone in Free City puts on these special eyeglasses. But in the beginning of the movie, Guy is just a character that’s supposed to stick to the same routine every day.

Guy is stuck in a rut and doesn’t even know it at first. When he wakes up in the morning, he says and does the same things. When he goes to a local coffee shop before heading to work, he places the same order: coffee with cream and two spoons of sugar. Guy is the type of character who says, “Coffee: It’s like losing my virginity, but in my mouth.”

Almost everyone in Free City has a daily routine. The city is so basic that there are no tourist attractions, and anyone who doesn’t have the special eyeglasses is just supposed to fade into the background. In other words, whoever thought up this video game has terrible world building skills and gave the players very limited options what they could do. In this city, people are either aggressors or potential targets for that aggression.

However, one day, Guy’s life takes an unexpected turn. At the local coffee shop, he orders a cappuccino instead of his usual coffee with cream and sugar. The barista named Missy (played by Britne Oldford), who always serves the same order to Guy, freaks out because she doesn’t know what to do because Guy has ordered cappuccino.

On that same day, when the bank robbery occurs at Guy’s job, instead of handing over money to the robber, Guy gets into a fight with the thief, takes the thief’s gun, and shoots the thief. During the altercation, Guy takes the thief’s special eyeglasses. And that’s when Guy can see and experience Free City in a whole different way. He immediately notices that when he wears the glasses, he has superhuman strength and things appear in his sight that he wouldn’t be able to see without wearing the glasses.

While wearing the glasses, Guy sees a medical bag floating in front of him. And when he takes the bag, the wounds he sustained during the bank robbery fight (such as cuts, bruises and a broken nose) are automatically healed. When Guy goes to an ATM to get money from his bank account, he sees that the money he had in the account (less than $150) has turned into thousands of dollars, because the ATM now acts like a jackpot machine.

Meanwhile, Guy has “infatuation at first sight” when he sees a mysterious woman (played by Jodie Comer) on a motorcycle and armed with a gun on the street. She wears the special eyeglasses. She seems to be independent and fearless. And she’s wearing an outfit (white button-down shirt with black trousers, suspenders and thigh-high boots) that looks like a costume rejected by Charlize Theron’s badass assassin character in 2017’s “Atomic Blonde.”

Guy is convinced that this mystery female on a motorcycle is the woman of his dreams. Guy and this woman eventually meet. She calls herself Molotov Girl, but she’s really a British avatar for an American video game developer named Millie Rusk. Molotov Girl wears her black hair worn in a bob, while Millie has long blonde hair.

In the real world, Millie is embroiled in a messy lawsuit with Soonami Studios, the video game company that released Free City, a game that has become a big hit for Soonami. Millie is suing because she claims that Soonami stole intellectual property that is the basis of Free City. Back in 2015, Millie and her former business partner Walter “Keys” McKeys (played by Joe Keery) were considered hot up-and-coming video game developers of a game called Life Itself.

Soonami’s greedy and corrupt founder/CEO named Antwan (played by Taika Waititi) bought the rights to Life Itself (one of the most boring video game titles in history) for Soonami, and then promptly shelved Life Itself, only to release the game under the name Free City. Why isn’t Keys suing Soonami too? Because he now works for Soonami as a programmer, but he spends much of his work time actually being a customer support representative. Keys’ best friend at the company is a coder with a sarcastic personality named Mouser (played by Utkarsh Ambudkar), who worships Antwan and does pretty much anything Antwan tells Mouser to do.

Why is Millie spending so much time playing Free City using the avatar Molotov Girl? Because she secretly wants to find certain proof that the game has the intellectual property that was stolen from Millie and Keys. Meanwhile, Guy becomes emboldened by his newfound powers due to the special eyeglasses. He starts doing things (many of them heroic) of his own free will, and his character becomes a worldwide sensation. Free City game players around the world have given him the nickname Blue Shirt Guy because of the blue shirt that Guy wears to work every day.

Not everyone is a fan of Blue Shirt Guy, of course. Antwan is furious because he thinks Blue Shirt Guy is a major “bug” (or error) in the game. There’s a kind of a silly sequence of Keys and Mouser disguising themselves with avatars to go into the Free City game and to try find out why Guy, a non-player character (also known as an NPC), seems to be acting of his own free will. Keys is dressed as a cop, while Mouser is dressed up in a ridiculous-looking pink rabbit costume. Why is Mouser dressed like he’s at a kids’ costume party? Just because he felt like it.

In fact, much of “Free Guy” consists of half-baked ideas thrown in between the hackneyed action scenes. There’s a stretched-out subplot about getting to a certain person’s stash house. There’s another subplot about how Soonami is about to release a Free City sequel called Free City: Carnage (also known as Free City 2), so there’s a race against time involving the release date.

The budding romance between Guy and Molotov Girl looks kind of icky because he comes across more like her dorky, much-older brother rather than a potential boyfriend. Guy is in his 40s, while Molotov Girl/Millie is in her 20s. It’s yet another Hollywood movie where the male lead actor gets a female love interest who’s at least 15 to 20 years younger.

In an attempt to gloss over this big age difference, there’s monotonous repetition of how Guy and Millie have some superficial things in common. They both love Mariah Carey’s 1995 hit song “Fantasy,” bubblegum ice cream and playing on swings. How old are these people again? Twelve? “Fantasy” is played enough times in the movie that it will get stuck in your head after the movie is over. And that’s not a good thing if you don’t like the song.

“Free Guy” is yet another Hollywood action movie where the cast members who get top billing are several men and only one woman. Comer is the only woman with a significant speaking role in the movie, and her Moltov Girl/Millie character is severely underdeveloped. Moltovgirl/Millie doesn’t have a life outside of anything to do with how the male characters affect her.

The featured male characters in “Free Guy” have friends and/or co-workers, while Millie does not. And the movie tries to make Millie look like some kind of feminist gaming prodigy, but everything she’s shown accomplishing in this movie is because she got help from a man. People who are fans of Comer because of her stellar, Emmy-winning work in “Killing Eve” will be disappointed at how limited her character is in “Free Guy.” The character of Millie, just like Molotov Girl, is just a hollow avatar who was created to be a sidekick for a male character who gets most of the glory.

As for Keys, he is portrayed as a wimpy and shy “nice guy.” But looking at his actions, Keys really has dubious morals and shaky loyalty, because he will go along with anyone who will benefit him in some way. He betrayed Millie by working for their enemy, and he doesn’t support her in her lawsuit to get justice for all the hard work that they did. And to make matters worse, Keys wasn’t even given a lofty position at Soonami. He’s now essentially a low-paid customer service representative at Soonami, where he is treated like dirt by rude and condescending Antwan.

It’s supposed to make viewers feel sorry for Keys, because the company is wasting his talent. But it just makes Keys look like a fool who’s being taken advantage of because his own bad choices. There are other companies he could work for besides the one that screwed over Keys and Millie. But if he worked for another company, there wouldn’t be the predictable “inside man” plot development that you know is part of this movie. There’s a trite character arc for Keys that’s extremely phony and doesn’t feel deserved.

There are fundamental plot holes in “Free Guy,” because it’s obvious that the filmmakers don’t want anyone watching the movie to think too much. For example, if Free City is so popular worldwide, and the point of the game is for players to create as much violent chaos as possible in Free City, then there would be a lot more death and destruction in Free City than what’s presented in this movie. Free City looks too pristine and orderly, as if hardly anyone is playing this game, which contradicts the movie’s premise that Free City is supposed to be a worldwide hit.

Much of the plot is based on Millie’s lawsuit against Soonami, but “Free Guy” purposely keeps things vague. Don’t expect any mention of the fact that it’s very common for corporations to buy the rights to intellectual property from independent creators and then just shelve it. And buying the rights also means buying any patents associated with the intellectual property and the right to release the intellectual property under a new name. In all likelihood in the real world, Millie doesn’t have a legitimate case for her lawsuit.

“Free Guy” also muddles the logic of how Millie needs to be an avatar in a video game in order to find the coding proof that she needs. Any good computer programmer/video game developer would have kept that coding proof, even after the intellectual property had been sold. But this movie isn’t about being realistic or logical. And that’s excusable if the characters and story had been much better than the unimaginative stereotypes and uninspired dialogue in “Free Guy.”

Keery and Ambudkar play the typical video game nerds. Howery plays the typical loyal best friend. Waititi plays the typical over-the-top villain. Waititi, who is naturally funny, tries to do his best with terrible lines of dialogue, but even he can’t overcome how stilted and awkward everyone looks in what are supposed to be hilarious scenes.

Reynolds has done plenty of action films and comedies where his character starts out as an underdog and then becomes a celebrated hero. It’s all so mind-numbingly monotonous, because he doesn’t do anything new as an actor in “Free Guy,” which is far from his best movie. The stale jokes in “Free Guy” seem like they were programmed by a computer from the 1990s.

The movie’s action scenes and visual effects are so basic and forgettable. One of the “Free Guy” trailers revealed that Guy fights a giant He-Man-ripoff version of himself, so this trailer reveal ruins that surprise. There are a few “surprise” celebrity cameos in the movie that don’t have much of an impact. Channing Tatum pops up in a scene, but he wears out his welcome with his one-note character. Chris Evans has a cameo that lasts a few seconds and should get some quick laughs.

“Free Guy” (from 20th Century Studios) is such a soulless and corporate movie that it has shameless plugging of movies from other Disney-owned studios. There’s “Star Wars”-influenced light saber fighting, in a nod to Disney-owned Lucasfilm. And there’s a reference to Captain America, the superhero character that Evans portrayed in several movies from Disney-owned Marvel Studios. No references to Disney princesses though, because the filmmakers of “Free Guy” want men to dominate in this movie.

Movies like 1982’s “Tron” and 2018’s “Ready Player One” have shown how it’s possible to be creative in a movie about people who transport themselves into a video game and end up having real connections with characters in the game. “Free Guy” could have brought a clever comedic spin to this concept, but the movie is just a messy compilation of lousy jokes and garbled plot developments. There are lot of video games that are better than a junkpile movie like “Free Guy.”

20th Century Studios will release “Free Guy” in U.S. cinemas on August 13, 2021.

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