Tag: SXSW

Review: ‘Clown in a Cornfield,’ starring Katie Douglas, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormac, Kevin Durand and Will Sasso

May 31, 2025

by Carla Hay

A scene from “Clown in a Cornfield” (Photo courtesy of RLJE Films and Shudder)

“Clown in a Cornfield”

Directed by Eli Craig

Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional city of Kettle Springs, Missouri, the horror film “Clown in a Cornfield” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A 17-year-old girl moves with her widower father to Kettle Springs, and they find out that Kettle Springs has been plagued by serial killngs of someone dressed as a mascot clown named Frendo.

Culture Audience: “Clown in a Cornfield” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the book of the same name and horror movies about killer clowns.

Verity Marks, Cassandra Potenza and Katie Douglas in “Clown in a Cornfield” (Photo courtesy of RLJE Films and Shudder)

Some fans of the book “Clown in a Cornfield” might be disappointed by the movie’s tonal changes to this horror story about serial killings done by a mascot clown. The self-aware comedic revisions mostly work well, thanks to the movie’s appealing cast. The movie leans more into having sarcastic jokes in the story, compared to the book, and this satire is effective because the cast members have very good comedic timing.

Directed by Eli Craig, “Clown in a Cornfield” (which had its world premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival) is based on Adam Cesare’s 2020 horror novel of the same name. Carter Blanchard and Craig co-wrote the “Clown in a Cornfield” adapted screenplay. The story takes place in the fictional city of Kettle Springs, Missouri. The “Clown in a Cornfield” movie was actually filmed in Winnipeg, Canada.

The “Clown in a Cornfield” movie begins in 1991, during a party that teenagers are having in a cornfield. A teenager named Jessica (played by Kaitlyn Bacon) takes off her top and runs into a secluded part of the field. Another teen named Tyler (played by Dylan McEwan) follows Jessica because he thinks she might want to fool around.

Tyler notices that there are some large footprints in the muddy field. These footprints look too big for Jessica. Tyler sees Jessica in front of him. She’s vomiting because she’s been fatally wounded. And you can predict what happens next: Someone dressed as a creepy-looking clown suddenly appears and impales Tyler with a machete.

“Clown in a Cornfield” then fast-forwards to 2025 to show a teenage girl and her father arriving from Philadelphia on their first day as new residents of Kettle Springs. Quinn Maybrook (played by Katie Douglas) is a moody and introverted teenager who doesn’t really want to live in Kettle Springs because she thinks she will be bored in this small city. Quinn’s father Glenn Maybrook (played by Aaron Abrams) is a medical doctor who has accepted a job to be Kettle Springs’ chief physician.

It’s autumn, and Quinn will be a starting her last year of high school in Kettle Springs. Quinn and Glenn are grieving over the death of Quinn’s mother/Glenn’s wife a few months ago. It’s later revealed that Quinn’s mother died of a drug overdose. Glenn wanted a fresh start in a place that’s very different from Philadelphia, which is why he decided to move to Kettle Springs.

Quinn is dismayed to find out that Glenn bought the two-story farmhouse where they live in Kettle Springs without going in person to look at the house. He made the purchase based on photos he saw online. When they arrive at the house, Quinn gets even more upset when she finds out there’s no WiFi service in the house. The house also has a nasty odor, which turns out to be a dead raccoon that’s stuck in the chimney.

A big cornfield near the house can be seen from various windows in the house. Quinn notices that in this cornfield is a large building with a sign that says Baypen Corn Syrup Factory. The company clown mascot also appears on the same sign. Quinn later finds out that this clown is named Frendo, and the factory has been abandoned.

Quinn is a loner type who’s not very concerned about how popular she’ll be in her new school. Her first day at the school also happens to be her 17th birthday. A teenager named Rustin “Rust” Vance (played by Vincent Muller), who’s also a student at the school, lives nearby and has noticed that Quinn and her father have moved into this house.

Rust visits the house, introduces himself to Quinn and Glenn, and offers to walk with Quinn to the school. Glenn approves because Rust seems like a friendly guy. On the way to the school, Rust tells Quinn that hunting and fishing are the main leisure activities for the teenagers in Kettle Springs.

“Not everyone is a redneck,” Rust says. “I don’t really care what people think. Be careful who you hang out with. There are some real weirdos at this school.” Quinn thanks Rust for his advice but doesn’t really know what he means by “weirdos.”

Quinn is late for her first class, which is teaching astronomy. The no-nonsense teacher for the class is Mr. Vern (played by Bradley Sawatzky), who becomes furious when he finds out that unknown students have played pranks on him. First, they put a photo of Mr. Vern’s head on a photo of someone else’s muscular body so that this altered photo appears on the video projector in the class. No one in the class will confess to this prank, so Mr. Vern punishes everyone by giving them a surprise quiz.

Mr. Vern then sees that his dating profile has been copied on a surprise quiz that he hands out to the students. He has a screaming meltdown, which gets recorded by Janet Murray (played by Cassandra Potenza), who likes to think of herself as the school’s “queen bee.” Quinn quickly finds out that the pranksters are the school’s clique of “cool kids,” who introduce themselves to Quinn during this class. Janet is in the clique.

The clique is led by self-assured Cole Hill (played by Carson MacCormac), who comes from the wealthiest and most influential family in Kettle Springs. Also in the clique are Janet’s neurotic best friend Ronnie Queen (played by Verity Marks), Matt Trent (played by Alexandre Martin Deakin), who is Ronnie’s athletic boyfriend; and Tucker Lee (played by Ayo Solanke), who has a fun-loving personality.

This clique has a YouTube channel, where they like to post videos of pranks they’ve pulled on unsuspecting people. Quinn later finds out that Cole and Rust used to be very close, but they had a falling out and no longer speak to each other. The clique has a reputation for being brats who commit petty crimes.

Cole’s ancestors founded Kettle Springs. Cole’s image-conscious father Arthur Hill (played by Kevin Durand) is the current mayor of Kettle Springs. Cole’s great-grandfather founded Baypen Corn Syrup, which used to be the largest company employer in Kettle Springs, until a fire destroyed the inside of the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory about a year ago. The factory has remained abandoned. Kettle Springs has been suffering economically ever since.

Even though Kettle Springs has been going through hard times financially, the city is still continuing its tradition of having its Founders Day parade, where the biggest attraction is a float of Frendo. There’s been widespread gossip that Cole and his friends accidentally started the fire during while partying in the factory after-hours. For this reason and because of the clique’s prank videos, Sheriff York Dunne (played by Will Sasso), who’s in charge of law enforcement in Kettle Springs, has this clique on his radar as potential troublemakers.

The first time that Quinn is invited to hang out with Cole and his friends, they play a prank on her by having Tucker dress up as Frendo and scaring Quinn. They film this prank and post the video on social media. However, Cole notices that there seems to be a shadowy figure of someone else dressed as Frendo in the background of this video. None of this is spoiler information, because the trailer for “Clown in a Cornfield” reveals a lot of what happens in the movie.

Quinn develops a growing attraction to Cole, who seems to be attracted to her too. But this possible romance gets tested during a teen party at the warehouse, where various things happen. All hell breaks loose when people start getting killed in what turns out to be a Frendo massacre.

“Clown in a Cornfield” has many action-packed chase scenes and other terror scenes that should please horror fans but have a lot of typical horror stereotypes of people walking right into a trap when they should be going elsewhere to get help. The gore in “Clown in a Cornfield” is intense but it’s not excessive. This is the type of movie that knows how goofy it is but at the same time it keeps people guessing on who’s behind this killing spree and why certain people are being targeted. (The answer is eventually revealed.)

The movie doesn’t take itself seriously and has some comedy that spoofs how people in horror movies often do idiotic things. For example, there’s a scene where Janet and Quinn are trapped in a place where the only phone they can find is a rotary phone, which they don’t know how to use because they only know how to use phones that operate by pushing buttons. There’s another scene in the movie that’s a not-so-subtle dig at the stereotype of black people get killed off quickly in horror movies, when a terrified Ronnie (who’s black) mentions this stereotype when she says that she’s going to be the next one killed.

“Clown in a Cornfield” is effective because all of the cast members are believable in their roles, although no one is going get nominated for any awards for this movie. The story has some gravitas when it comes to Quinn’s tense relationship with her father and how they’re navigating grief over the loss of Quinn’s mother. Cole seems to be confident on the surface, but he’s also dealing with some insecurity issues having to do with his family and his identity. “Clown in a Cornfield” has an ending that raises some questions that aren’t adequately answered. But considering that the “Clown in the Cornfield” book has sequels, it seems inevitable that “Clown in the Cornfield” will also continue with movie sequels in franchise.

RLJE Films and Shudder released “Clown in a Cornfield” in U.S. cinemas on May 9, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on June 10, 2025.

Review: ‘Sew Torn’ (2025), starring Eve Connolly, Calum Worthy, K Callan, Ron Cook, Thomas Douglas, Caroline Goodall and John Lynch

May 25, 2025

by Carla Hay

Eve Connolly in “Sew Torn” (Photo courtesy of Vertigo Releasing)

“Sew Torn” (2025)

Directed by Freddy Macdonald

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in the United States, the dramatic film “Sew Torn” (based on the 2019 short film of the same name) features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A seamstress, who is struggling to keep her business operating, faces three choices when she comes across two wounded men and a suitcase full of cash on a deserted road.

Culture Audience: “Sew Torn” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in quirky thrillers that present multiple outcomes for different choices made by the story’s protagonist.

Thomas Douglas, Eve Connolly and Calum Worthy in “Sew Torn” (Photo courtesy of Vertigo Releasing)

“Sew Torn” can get tedious with its overabundance of offbeat characters. However, it’s an intriguing story showing three different outcomes when a lonely seamstress decides what to do about finding cash and two wounded criminals on a deserted road. The performances rise to the challenge of maintaining viewer interest, even though the characters aren’t quite as developed as they could be.

Written and directed by Freddy Macdonald, “Sew Torn” is his feature-film directorial debut and is based on Macdonald’s 2019 short film of the same name. The feature-length “Sew Torn” had its world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival. The short film “Sew Torn” had no dialogue, while the feature-length “Sew Torn” has dialogue, some of which is darkly amusing, some of which is stuff and unnatural. Each movie has different cast members.

The feature-length “Sew Torn” (which takes place in an unnamed rural U.S. town; the movie was actually filmed in Switzerland) begins with a voiceover from protagonist Barbara Duggen (played by Eve Connolly), as the camera shows dead bodies on a floor. Barbara says in a flat voice: “If I were to tell you why I did what I did, when I was broke and alone, would you pity me, or would you say my actions were justified? Perhaps you’d relate to my isolation, my need. Or perhaps you’d simply see my lack of morality.”

The movie then shows a glimpse of who Barbara is to explain the choices she could make in the story. Barbara is a loner who owns a shop called Home of the Talking Portraits, which sells unusual products: custom-made yarn portraits that have audio recordings installed. Barbara inherited the shop from her deceased single mother (played by Petra Wright), who made several portraits of herself and Barbara. As part of the business, Barbara (who is a skilled seamstress) also operates a mobile sewing service, where she drives to do sewing jobs for customers.

Barbara is feeling despondent because ever since she took over the business, it’s been failing. In fact, the beginning of the movie shows that Barbara has already put up a Going Out of Business signs on display in the shop’s front windows. She is going to one of her last house appointments before she intends to close the shop for good.

This house appointment involves some last-minute mending and sewing of a wedding dress on the wedding day of a demanding socialite name Grace Vessler (played by Caroline Goodall), who will be marrying her third husband. Barbara is nervous because she’s a little late for the appointment. Grace is rude and tells Barbara that Barbara’s mother was better at doing business.

Barbara needs to sew a button on the wedding dress. However, Grace has been so obnoxious and impatient, Barbara pretends to accidentally let the button slip down a grate, when Barbara actually flicked the button down the grate. Grace is upset and Barbara uses this “lost” button as an excuse to go back to her shop to get another button. She assures Grace that she will be back as soon as possible.

While driving on a deserted road back to her shop, Barbara sees a bizarre sight. There’s been a motorcycle accident. The two men (one in his 40s, one in his 20s) are lying face down and wounded on the road. As Barbara drives closer, she sees that the younger man has a broken handcuff on his wrist, while the older man (wearing a motorcycle helmet) is grabbing the younger man by one of his legs, as if he doesn’t want the younger man to move any farther.

The younger man seems to be attempting to crawl to the briefcase on the road. Attached to the briefcase is the chain of the other handcuff. There are two guns nearby. Both men are too wounded to reach the guns and the briefcase. Barbara soon finds out that the briefcase is full of cash.

It’s pretty obvious that this is probably some crime that went awry. It’s later revealed that it’s a botched drug deal. Barbara has three choices: (1) Commit the perfect crime. (2) Call the police. (3) Drive away and do nothing about what she saw. The rest of “Sew Torn” shows what happens when Barbara makes each of these three choices.

Committing the perfect crime is what’s shown first. In this scenario, Barbara intricately threads yarn to each gun and to her car so that when she puts her car in motion, the guns will move close to each man to reach each gun. What happens next is exactly what she was expecting: Each man shoots each other. Barbara then backs up the car and steals the briefcase full of cash. This “perfect crime” scene is the entire plot of “Sew Torn” short film, which does not show what happens to the seamstress after she drives away.

The feature-length “Sew Torn” shows what happens after the seamstress drives away and thinks she has committed the perfect crime. Without giving away too much information, it’s enough to say that Barbara encounters several other characters in the movie. The younger gunman’s name is eventually revealed as Joshua Armitage (played by Calum Worthy), and the older gunman’s name is Beck (played by Thomas Douglas), whose job was to supervise Joshua.

Other characters in the movie are Joshua’s gun-toting father Hudson Armitage (played by John Lynch), who is a wealthy crime boss; a nosy elderly neighbor named Oskar (played by Ron Cook); and the town’s eccentric police chief Ms. Engel (played by K Callan), who is also the town’s notary and works as a wedding officiator on the side. “Sew Torn” has some compelling thriller sequences, but after a while, the characters in the movie might be a little too cartoonish for some people’s tastes. The movie uses a recurring motif of segueing to different scenes by showing a sewing machine stitching words with yarn.

Connolly does a very good job as the central character, considering that Barbara remains emotionally aloof for most of the film. “Sew Torn” is stylish on a technical level, but some viewers will have a hard time connecting emotionally to the movie, which keeps its characters fairly two-dimensional. If want to see a richly detailed movie about people with memorable personalities and interesting lives, “Sew Torn” is not that movie. If you’re in the mood to watch a unique movie to see how someone tries to get out certain dangerous predicaments with sewing skills, then “Sew Torn” is worth watching.

Vertigo Releasing released “Sew Torn” in select U.S. cinemas on May 9, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on June 13, 2025.

Review: ‘Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted,’ starring Swamp Dogg, Moogstar and Guitar Shorty

May 23, 2025

by Carla Hay

Swamp Dogg in “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” (Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)

“Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted”

Directed by Isaac Gale and Ryan Olson

Culture Representation: Taking place in California’s San Fernando Valley, the documentary film “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” features an African American and white group of people cast of characters discussing the life and career of singer/songwriter Swamp Dogg.

Culture Clash: Swamp Dogg (whose real name is Jerry Williams Jr.) has had ups and downs in his career, including hit songs and being dropped by Elektra Records in the 1970s for his extreme left-wing views on the Vietnam War.

Culture Audience: “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Swamp Dogg, music from the late 20th century, and documentaries about unconventional entertainers.

Moogstar in “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” (Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)

“Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” is a unique documentary reflecting underrated singer/songwriter Swamp Dogg: eccentric, rambling, creative, and unpredictable. Some viewers won’t like this nonconformist storytelling style, but others will appreciate it. The movie gets its title from the fact that the swimming pool at Swamp Dogg’s house is being painted while he tells his story during this biographical documentary, which blends archival footage with footage filmed specifically for the documentary. By the end of the movie, the artwork painting in the swimming pool is revealed.

Directed by Isaac Gale and Ryan Olson, “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” is narrated by musician/visual artist Greg Grease. The movie had its world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Film and TV Festival. “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” jumps back and forth between being a retrospective and being a present-day chronicle of what Swamp Dogg was doing with his life at the time this documentary was filmed.

Swamp Dogg was born as Jerry Williams Jr. on July 12, 1942, in Portsmouth, Virginia. He’s not a household name, but he’s written about 2,000 songs and worked with 500 artists, according to Grease’s narration in the documentary. Swamp Dogg has co-written some well-known hits, including Gene Pitney’s 1969 song “She’s a Heartbreaker” and “She’s All I’ve Got,” a 1971 song originally recorded by R&B singer Freddie North and made more famous by country singer Johnny Paycheck.

Black artists who make music tend to be stereotyped as only capable of working in certain genres, such as R&B, funk, dance, hip-hop, jazz and blues. Unlike many of his peers, Swamp Dogg defied those stereotypes by also working in country music as well as R&B and funk. His unconventionality didn’t catapult him to superstar status, but he’s been a well-respected artist precisely because of being so authentic to himself.

“Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” begins by showing the pool painter arriving at the Swamp Dogg’s house in California’s San Fernando Valley. Also living at the house are Swamp Dogg’s musical partners Moogstar and Guitar Shorty, who also give their insights and commentary. The documentary shows some of the trio’s jam sessions and songwriting collaborations, which aren’t spectacular but aren’t terrible either.

Swamp Dogg and Moogstar have a relationship that’s similar to the musical partnership that George Clinton and Bootsy Collins had when they were band members in Parliament-Funkadelic. Moogstar has a persona that’s reminiscent of Collins because Moogstar dresses flamboyantly and often talks in “trippy” ways, like he’s on another planet. Guitar Shorty, a longtime venerated blues musician, is not as talkative as Moogstar. But since Guitar Shorty is in the same age group as Swamp Dogg, Guitar Shorty’s has a valuable perspective of certain eras that he lived through long before many other people in the documentary were born.

Swamp Dogg gives a brief overview of his earliest years in the music business. In 1954, when he was 12, his first recording “HTD Blues (Hardsick Troublesome Downout Blues)” was released on the Mechanic record label in 1954. Back then, he used the stage name Little Jerry Williams and continued to record under than name into his teenage years and 20s. In 1964, he had a minor hit with “I’m the Lover Man,” a song which he wrote. His breakthrough song as Little Jerry Williams was “Baby You’re My Everything,” which reached No. 32 on the R&B single chart in 1966.

Throughout the late 1960s, he continued to work as a solo artists and as a songwriter and producer for other artists, including Patti LaBelle & the Blue Belles, Dee Dee Warwick and Doris Duke. It was during this period of time that he also began collaborating with Gary U.S. Bonds (real name: Gary Anderson), who’s had a prolific career as a singer/songwriter. By the end of the 1960s, Williams wanted a change and reinvented himself.

Williams changed his name to Swamp Dogg in 1970. The 1970s were a decade that also marked his transformation as an outspoke political activist. He began to experiment more with the then-emerging genres of funk and psychedelic soul. But this experimentation also included getting scathing criticism for his 1971 album of cover songs “Rat On!,” which was a sales flop.

In the documentary, Swamp Dogg speaks with fondness of joining the “Free the Army” tour, an anti-Vietnam War tour that also featured left-wing progressive Jane Fonda and Dick Gregory. The documentary makes this statement: “His radical political views got him placed on the FBI’s watch list and dropped from Elektra Records.”

Swamp Dogg candidly shares that the 1970s were a decade of his greatest commercial success and most destructive personal excesses. He spent a lot of time back then recording in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. “I became a millionaire down there,” Swamp Dogg comments. “I was eating Zoloft like you eat M&Ms.”

All the drug-taking made him paranoid that people were out to trick him and kill him, Swamp Dogg says. It was a period of time when he bought nine cars that he didn’t need. Swamp Dogg reflects on his tendency at the time to want to show off with material possessions: “I wanted to be grand, but that’s not what it’s all about.”

Swamp Dogg, who says he is accustomed to having strong women in his family, gives credit to his wife Yvonne for being a steady presence in his life and keeping him from getting too out of control. The couple got married in 1963. Yvonne became his business partner, who managed many his dealings in the volatile music industry. Yvonne died in 2003, but the documentary has some archival footage of her.

Swamp Dogg’s daughter Dr. Jeri Williams (whom he calls his “main daughter” out of his five daughters) is interviewed in the documentary. She says she “feels sort of bad” that he put some of his career to the side to help raise her and her siblings. She compares her father to being a like a CIA operative with secrets, because she says that there are many things in his life that she doesn’t know about and he won’t discuss.

“Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” shows the expected array of clippings from magazine and newspapers, as well interviews and appearances on radio and TV, for the “blast from the past” parts of the documentary. Not surprisingly, some of the footage is grainy, which fits this scrappy, low-budget documentary just fine. There are slightly amusing mentions and clips of Swamp Dogg’s 2021 appearance on “The People’s Court” (a reality TV show for small-claims court cases), when musician Lloyd Wright sued him $1,425, for non-payment of 19 musical tracks. Swamp Dogg lost his case on “The People’s Court” and didn’t seem bothered by it in the show’s post-judgment interview with him.

Aside from Swamp Dogg’s confession to having a drug problem in the 1970s, he doesn’t get too revealing in the documentary about any of his personal shortcomings or scandals. The documentary is quirky in telling some things that we really didn’t need to know about Swamp Dogg. For example, Swamp Dogg says that he got a vasectomy in 1996. He claims it was Yvonne’s idea.

The documentary shows Swamp Dogg getting some celebrity admirers as visitors while his pool is being painted. They include actor/comedian Johnny Knoxville, “SpongeBob SquarePants” creator Tom Kenny, animator Mike Judge (best known for “Beavis and Butt-Head”), visual artist Art Fein and songwriters Jenny Lewis and John Prine. Lewis and Prine collaborated on some of the songs on Swamp Dogg’s 2020 album “Sorry You Couldn’t Make It.” Toward the end of the documentary, there’s footage of a backyard barbecue party for Swamp Dogg’s house, with some of these famous guests in attendance.

Some famous entertainers have the type of personality where a “hangout” documentary is a better fit for them, compared to a “tell all” exposé. Swamp Dogg is one of those artists. A great deal of “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” is nostalgic. But the overall feeling is that Swamp Dogg isn’t stuck in the past and is still living life to the fullest in the present.

Magnolia Pictures released “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” in Los Angeles on May 2, 2025, and in New York City on May 9, 2025.

Review: ‘Friendship’ (2025), starring Tim Robinson, Kate Mara, Jack Dylan Grazer and Paul Rudd

May 9, 2025

by Carla Hay

Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd in “Friendship” (Photo courtesy of A24)

“Friendship” (2025)

Directed by Andrew DeYoung

Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional U.S. city of Clovis, the comedy/drama film “Friendship” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A married marketing executive becomes fixated on having a close friendship with his married weatherman neighbor, resulting in discomfort and some things that spiral out of control. 

Culture Audience: “Friendship” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and dark comedies about obsessive people.

Kate Mara and Jack Dylan Grazer in “Friendship” (Photo courtesy of A24)

“Friendship” is intentionally dark “cringe comedy” that won’t appeal to everyone. This memorable story (about a man who becomes obsessed with having a close friendship with his neighbor) blurs lines between what is socially awkward and mentally ill. It’s a compelling satire, but at times it comes dangerously close to being a cruel mockery of people with mental health struggles.

Written and directed by Andrew DeYoung, “Friendship” is his feature-film directorial debut, after directing several TV episodes (for shows such as “PEN15” and “Shrill”) and short films. “Friendship” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and its U.S. premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. This is a movie that can be described as “an acquired taste.” You’ll know within the first 15 minutes if it’s going to be interesting enough for you to keep watching.

“Friendship” begins by showing a support group for cancer survivors and their loved ones. In the meeting are spouses Craig Waterman (played by Tim Robinson) and Tami Waterman (played by Kate Mara), who have very different personalities. Tami is calm and laid-back. Craig is fidgety and high-strung. Tami mentions that she’s been cancer-free for 12 months. (It’s never revealed in the movie what type of cancer she had.)

Tami also gets candid and says that because of the toll that the cancer recovery has taken on her, she wonders if she’ll ever have an orgasm again. Crag pipes in and says that he’s pretty sure that he’ll have an orgasm. It sets the tone of what’s to come as the movie shows how rude, narcissistic and lacking in self-awareness that Craig can be. He doesn’t see himself that way. He sees himself as a good guy who is misunderstood.

Craig (who is a marketing executive at a company called Universal Digital Innovation) and Tami (who has her own home-based florist business) live in a middle-class house in the fictional U.S. city of Clovis. (The state were Clovis is located is never mentioned in the movie, but Clovis is in a state that has snow during the winter. “Friendship” was actually filmed in Yonkers, New York.) Near the beginning of the movie, it’s revealed that Craig and Tami’s house is for sale because Tami wants a bigger house for her floral business.

Tami and Craig have a teenage son named Steven (played by Jack Dylan Grazer), who has his 17th birthday about halfway through the movie. Steven and Tami are very close, but Steven has a very distant and tension-filled relationship with Craig. It goes beyond teenage rebellion against a parent. Craig is just downright embarrassing to be around because of his very strange and off-putting way of interacting with people. Craig acts like a man-child, with an emotionally immature outlook on life.

One day, a package is mistakenly delivered to the Waterman household. The package is meant for Austin Carmichael (played by Paul Rudd), who leaves near the Watermans on the same street. Craig brings the package over to Austin’s house and is greeted in a friendly manner by Austin, who thanks Craig for giving him the package. Austin, who is a meteorologist for a local TV station, lives with his wife Bianca (played by Meredith Garretson), who is barely in the movie. Austin and Bianca have no children.

At first, Craig doesn’t think too much about this interaction with Austin. Shortly after Craig and Austin have met, Tami says she’s going out to have drinks that evening with an ex-boyfriend named Devon, who is never seen in the movie. Tami tells Craig that Austin invited Craig over to Austin’s house as a thank you for Craig making sure that Austin received the package. Craig whines that instead of going to Austin’s place, he’d rather go see the latest Marvel movie playing in a theater. Craig asks Steven if he wants to go see the movie with him, but Steven isn’t interested.

Craig reluctantly goes over to Austin’s house to hang out for a while. This experience will change both of their lives—and not necessarily in a good way. But during this first time they hang out together, things go fairly well. Austin shows Craig an unusual stone that Austin says was used as a carving tool used by humans in the prehistoric era. Craig warms up to Austin because he can see that Austin has eccentric tendencies, just like Craig.

Austin confides in Craig that he feels underappreciated at work. Austin works the night/evening shift, but what he really wants is to get the more prestigious morning shift so that he doesn’t have work at night. Craig also relates to Austin in this way because Craig also feels disrespected at his job. Craig is treated like a weirdo by his co-workers, who exclude him from a lot of their clique activities outside of the office.

On the night that Austin and Craig first hang out with each other, Austin convinces Craig to go on a spontaneous “adventure” with Austin. They go to a fenced-in area that has a “Restricted Access” sign and sneak through the fence. At first, Craig is very nervous, but he lets Austin lead the way. Austin shows Craig that this fenced-in area has a discontinued underground aquaduct tunnel that leads to Clovis’ city hall. Austin has been secretly using this tunnel, just for fun.

Craig feels flattered that Austin has been sharing secrets with him. And he starts to feel like Austin is now his best friend. Austin can see that Craig is emotionally needy and maybe a little off-balance mentally. But Austin likes feeling that someone is looking up to him in admiration, so he is manipulates Craig a little bit.

It doesn’t help that Austin does some unusual things that give the impression that he’s offbeat like Craig. A major example is when Austin calls Craig at work while Craig is in the middle of an important meeting. Austin doesn’t care and tells Craig to meet him in a wooded area right away.

When Craig meets Austin in the woods, he finds out that Austin just wants to show him where non-poisonous, non-psychedelic mushrooms are in the woods. Craig and Austin then pick several mushrooms, some of which Craig takes home and fries for a meal. This mushroom-picking excursion in the woods is the beginning of Craig’s obsession with Austin.

Several times in the movie, Craig has vivid fantasies. For example, Austin moonlights as the lead singer/guitarist of a punk rock band called Mayor Nichols Sucks. Austin invites Craig and Tami to watch the band play at a local bar. While the band is playing on stage, Craig has a fantasy that he’s the drummer in the band. A few days later, Craig shows up at Austin’s front door with a full drum kit and says, “Let’s jam.” (Austin’s reaction is exactly what you would expect it to be.)

Craig’s bizarre outbursts and antics won’t be described in full detail here. But it’s enough to say that Austin begins to distance himself from Craig after a social gathering that turns into a very uncomfortable disaster. Austin also gets the job promotion that he wants, which also affects his attitude toward Craig, as Austin becomes more image-conscious about things that will affect his career.

There are many scenes in “Friendship” where the story starts to wander and doesn’t really go anywhere. Certain scenes look like mini-comedy sketches that aren’t essential to the plot but are just more examples of how awkward and strange Craig can be. For example, there are multiple scenes of Craig trying to befriend an 18-year-old sales clerk named Tony (played by Billy Bryk) at an electronics store, but if these scenes weren’t in the movie, it would make no difference to the plot.

The movie also seems to have things to say about how Austin and Craig, in their own ways, have disdain for bureaucratic authority, but “Friendship” doesn’t go beyond surface level with these ideas. For example, Austin despises Clovis’ mayor Seth Nichols (played by Alex Webb) so much, the name of Austin’s band is Mayor Nichols Sucks, but there are no real details about why Austin has this hatred for Mayor Nichols. Meanwhile, Craig’s department gets hired to do the marketing for the mayor’s re-election campaign, which leads to yet another meltdown from Craig.

The movie under-develops the situation of Craig and Tami selling their house. The house sale is briefly talked about in a few scenes in the beginning of the movie and is then never mentioned again. A real-estate agent and potential buyers are seen quickly leaving the house in one scene, but the movie could’ve had more comedic situations for the house sale. It’s a missed opportunity to show how Craig’s obsession with Austin would be affected if Craig knew he had a limited period of time before he had to move away from the same street where Austin lives. You never get the sense of who in Craig and Tami’s marriage is really dealing with decisions about selling the house.

“Friendship” has cast members who are very talented in comedy, so their performances are what keeps this movie afloat. Robinson and Rudd play their roles well, even when their characters occasionally veer into caricatures. The tag line for the movie is “Men Shouldn’t Have Friends.” Although “Friendship” seems to be a message about masculinity in friendships, to say that this movie is about mostly masculinity would be missing the bigger picture. “Friendship” is much more about mental health than masculinity.

The movie depicts uncomfortable situations where people are faced with dilemmas about how to deal with Craig—someone who is clearly becoming mentally unhinged. Are there some laugh-out-loud moments in “Friendship”? Yes—mostly having to do with harmless slapstick comedy. But there are also plenty of moments that aren’t as funny as intended. The movie has a tone of laughing at Craig during his mental unraveling. He obviously needs therapy or some type of counseling, but no one steps in to help.

“Friendship” is a fictional comedy/drama and not a public-service announcement. However, by making Craig the “buffoon villain” of the story, the movie tends to perpetuate the worst stereotypes that cause mentally ill people to be hated. If the movie succeeds in one area of how it depicts mental illness, it’s to point out the sad reality that when people who are close to a mentally ill person do nothing to help, then they are part of the problem too.

A24 released “Friendship” in select U.S. cinemas on May 9, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on May 23, 2025.

Review: ‘The Surfer’ (2025), starring Nicolas Cage, Julian McMahon, Nic Cassim, Miranda Tapsell, Alexander Bertrand and Justin Rosniak

May 2, 2025

by Carla Hay

Nicolas Cage in “The Surfer” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)

“The Surfer” (2025)

Directed by Lorcan Finegan

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Australia, the dramatic film “The Surfer” (a remake of the Telugu-language movie of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asian people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An Australian-born, American-raised businessman goes back to the Australian beach area where he spent part of his childhood so that he can go sufing, but he encounters a group of hostile, violent and terroritorial surfers who don’t want him to surf there. 

Culture Audience: “The Surfer” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star Nicolas Cage and suspenseful psychological thrillers where everything might not be what it seems.

Nicolas Cage and Julian McMahon in “The Surfer” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)

“The Surfer” evokes a moody fever dream where the protagonist is an unreliable narrator. This psychological thriller (about a man in conflict with a group of menacing surfers) is suspenseful but might be too weird or confusing for some viewers. It’s the type of movie that has enough to hold viewers’ interest, even if the ending of the film could be considered divisive.

Directed by Lorcan Finnegan and written by Thomas Martin, “The Surfer” had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The movie subsequently made the rounds at several other film festivals, including the 2024 BFI London Film Festival and the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. “The Surfer” takes place in an unnamed city in Western Australia and was actually filmed in Yallingup, Australia.

“The Surfer” is a movie inspired by a mix of fact and fiction. In “The Surfer” production notes, Martin says he got inspiration for the screenplay from Australian writer Robert Drewe’s short stories; John Cheever’s 1964 short story “The Swimmer”; and the 1968 “The Swimmer” film adaptation, starring Burt Lancaster. “The Surfer” is also based on the true crime stories about the real-life surfing gang the Bay Boys, who were headquartered in Palos Verdes, California, and caused terror throughout the 1970s.

“The Surfer” begins by showing an unnamed businessman (played by Nicolas Cage) parked in a car with his teenage son Charlie (played by Finn Little) at Luna Bay, a beach area where this father spent the earliest years of his childhood. The man (who is identified only as The Surfer in the movie’s end credits) speaks reverentially about surfing and how it can teach important life lessons. This is the first time that The Surfer has brought Charlie (who is about 15 or 16 and is identified only as The Kid in the movie’s end credits) to Luna Bay, which The Surfer considers to be a very special place.

The Surfer wants to spend some time surfing with Charlie at Luna Bay. Charlie is not so enthusiastic and wonders out loud why his father told him to skip school for this excursion. The Surfer is in the area because the Lunda Bay house where he spent the earliest years of his childhood is now up for sale. The Surfer is obsessed with buying this house because it’s the last connection that he has to his father, who died when The Surfer was a boy.

Observant viewers will immediately notice that The Surfer has an American accent, while his son Charlie has an Australian accent. It’s explained later in the movie that The Surfer was born in Australia, but he and his mother moved to California after his father died. Charlie’s mother Helen (played by Patsy Knapp and voiced by Brenda Meaney) also has an American accent, which implies that The Surfer and Helen met in the United States but have been raising Charlie in Australia.

The Surfer and Helen have been separated for an untold period of time and are headed for a divorce. In a phone conversation shown later in the movie, Helen urgently asks The Surfer to sign the divorce papers because Helen wants to marry her boyfriend Derek, who is not seen or heard in the movie. Helen has another announcement for The Surfer that isn’t surprising because of how she wants this divorce to be final as quickly as possible.

The first indication that Luna Bay is an unfriendly place to strangers is when a man named Pitbull (played by Alexander Bertrand) brushes past The Surfer and snarls, “Fuck off,” even though The Surfer wasn’t bothering anyone. Just as The Surfer and Charlie are about to hit the waves on their surfboards, they are approached by hostile surfer known only as Blondie (played by Rory O’Keeffe), who gruffly says to these two out-of-town strangers: “Don’t live here, don’t surf here.”

It’s eventually revealed that Blondie is part of a Luna Bay all-male surfing gang called the Bay Boys. The gang’s leader is a wealthy heir named Scott” Scally” Callahan (played by Julian McMahon), who comes across as charming but it’s a mask for his true vicious personality. The Bay Boy gang members are extremely territorial about the beach and will instigate violent attacks on anyone who defies their orders to not surf at the beach. Scally runs the gang like a toxic fraternity, including having macho rituals, dangerous hazing initiations, and rowdy parties with plenty of alcohol and drugs.

Someone who’s a lot friendlier to The Surfer is an unnamed elderly homeless man (played by Nic Cassim), who is identified in the end credits only as The Bum. The Surfer and The Bum establish a rapport, partly because The Bum reminds The Surfer of The Surfer’s father. The Surfer also meets a friendly unnamed photographer (played by Miranda Tapsel) on the beach and has a brief conversation with her where he reveals that when he was young, he spent a number of years being as a surfer and travelogue writer

Someone who isn’t helpful at all (and is on the Bay Boys’ side) is an unnamed local cop (played by Justin Rosniak), who is called to the scene when The Surfer phones in a complaint about the Bay Boys assaulting The Surfer and stealing The Surfer’s surfboard. The cop does nothing about these crimes because he says that Scally’s family is too rich and influential. The corrupt cop also confirms Scally’s lie that the Bay Boys have had the surfboard on display at their beach shack for months. It’s also revealed that several local residents enable and excuse the Bay Boys’ reign of terror.

During this conflict with the Bay Boys, The Surfer becomes increasingly stressed-out about the sale of his childhood house. Early in the movie, the estate agent Mike (played by Rahel Romahn) told The Surfer in a phone conversation that a family has offered a better deal buy the house and pay $1.7 million in cash. The Surfer had made an offer to pay $1.6 million for the house and pleads for more time to match the other potential buyer’s offer. Mike gives Ther Surfer an extra two days to come up with the additional $100,000. Meanwhile, his mortgage broker (voiced by Greg McNeill) tells The Surfer that The Surfer’s credit is stretched to the limit.

It’s never stated what The Surfer does for a living, but he’s a businessman who has clients. He also seems to be successful because he drives a Lexus. But there are signs that The Surfer’s mental health has been unraveling, and his job could be in jeopardy. The Surfer has taken a personal day off from work to spend time with Charlie at Luna Bay on a day that The Surfer should have been in business meetings. A phone conversation with an office colleague reveals that The Surfer wasn’t wearing shoes and socks at a recent client meeting.

As the tension and anger start to build and boil over between The Surfer and the Bay Boys, some other things go wrong for The Surfer. In between, he has dream-like memories of his childhood. The movie’s cinematography is excellent at creating a retro idyllic glow to these scenes that seep into the story when The Surfer wants some escapism from his harsh reality. At several points in the movie, viewers might be asking, “Where is this story going?” How much you will enjoy “The Surfer” will depend on your curiosity to see how the movie ends.

Cage is known for playing a long list of eccentric characters. In “The Surfer,” he does an admirable job of not playing this character as too over-the-top (which is a major criticism that Cage has gotten for his recent performances) but as someone who has sides to himself that are not immediately apparent. McMahon also stands out as the villainous Scally, although there’s nothing complex about this evil character.

Looking beyond the obvious crime thriller aspects of the story, “The Surfer” also has subtle commentary about how outward appearances can be deceiving, when it come to who can be trusted as honest and credible. The Bum is often dismissed by people who think he’s mentally ill and worthless because of his physical appearance and his poverty, but he is a truth teller. That’s in contrast to The Surfer, who has the image of being a respectable businessman, but he could be telling lies to himself and to other people. “The Surfer” might disappoint some viewers looking for a straightforward and predictable story, but this film is actually an artistic depiction of how memories (good and bad) can shape someone’s reality in the past and present.

Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate released “The Surfer” in U.S. cinemas on May 2, 2025. The movie will be released in Australia on May 15, 2025.

Review: ‘Another Simple Favor,’ starring Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Andrew Rannells, Elizabeth Perkins, Michele Morrone, Alex Newell, Elena Sofia Ricci, Henry Golding and Allison Janney

April 30, 2025

by Carla Hay

Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively in “Another Simple Favor” (Photo by Lorenzo Sisti/Amazon Content Services)

“Another Simple Favor”

Directed by Paul Feig

Some language in Italian with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place on Italy’s Capri island and briefly in the United States, the comedy/drama “Another Simple Favor” (a sequel to “A Simple Favor”) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A lifestyle vlogger/author, who is invited to the wedding of a homicidal friend-turned-enemy, gets involved in another murder mystery case during the wedding celebration.

Culture Audience: “Another Simple Favor” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners; the book and movie “A Simple Favor”; and sarcastic dramedies about insecure and image-conscious people.

Cast members of “Another Simple Favor.” Pictured in front: Blake Lively and Michele Morrone. Pictured in back: Alex Newell and Anna Kendrick. (Photo by Lorenzo Sisti/Amazon Content Services)

“Another Simple Favor” doesn’t have the original zest of “A Simple Favor,” but it’s still an enjoyable watch for the performances and to see how the characters deal with the inevitable murder mystery. The movie crams in too many plot twists near the end. Leading up to these turns in the story, there’s enough snappy banter and intriguing “whodunit” sleuthing to keep most fans of these types of movies interested in seeing what will happen next.

Directed by Paul Feig and written by Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis, “Another Simple Favor” had its world premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. “Another Simple Favor” is a sequel to 2018’s “A Simple Favor,” which was directed by Feig and written by Sharzer, with the adapted screenplay based on Darcey Bell’s 2017 novel of the same name. Is it necessary to know what happened in “A Simple Favor” to watch “Another Simple Favor”? No, but it definitely helps because “Another Simple Favor” reveals many of the plot twists that happened in “A Simple Favor.”

In “A Simple Favor” (which took place in an unnamed U.S. city), the two friends-turned-enemies at the center of the story are neurotic and talkative Stephanie Smothers (played by Anna Kendrick) and smug and manipulative Emily Nelson (played by Blake Lively), who’ve been in a battle to outwit each other, ever since [spoiler alert] Emily faked her own murder. Emily faked the murder by staging Emily’s “disappearance,” then killing her estranged identical twin sister Faith McLanden (also played by Lively) by drowning her in a lake, and then going into hiding, knowing that when Faith’s body would be found, people would assume that the body was Emily’s. Emily tried to frame Emily’s husband Sean Townsend (played by Henry Golding) for the crime.

In “A Simple Favor,” Stephanie (a widowed mother) was a domestic lifestyle vlogger, while Emily worked in public relations at a fashion company. Emily and Sean have a bratty son named Nicholas “Nicky” Townsend-Nelson (played by Ian Ho), who was about 5 years old during the events that took place in “A Simple Favor.” Stephanie’s son Miles Smothers (played by Joshua Satine), who is about the same age as Nicky, became best friends with Nicky because they’re school classmates. Stephanie and Emily met because of the friendship between Miles and Nicky.

Why did Emily fake her own death? Sean was a one-hit-wonder novelist who became a university professor, but he wasn’t making enough money for Emily. The couple was heavily in debt, due to Emily’s overspending. Emily’s plan was find a way to get the insurance money from her faked murder and then start a new life under a new identity with Nicky.

During the investigation into Emily’s fake death, Stephanie played amateur sleuth and ended up having a romance with Sean. When Emily found out, she set out to ruin Stephanie’s life too. In the end, Emily made a confession that Stephanie secretly livestreamed, and Emily was arrested. The movie’s epilogue mentioned that Emily was convicted of murder and other crimes, and she was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

All of this background information is a lot to know before watching “Another Simple Favor,” which starts with a not-so-great summary of the previous events that took place in “A Simple Favor.” Without knowing all the nuances of how and why the relationship changed between Stephanie and Emily in “A Simple Favor,” it will be harder for viewers to connect with these characters in “Another Simple Favor.”

“Another Simple Favor” picks up five years after the events of “A Simple Favor.” Stephanie’s role in exposing Emily’s crimes has now made Stephanie semi-famous and gotten her millions of followers on social media. Stephanie’s vlog is now named “A Pinch of Murder,” a combination of lifestyle advice and true-crime case solving. Stephanie’s slogan for the vlog is “Your one-stop shop for hot home tips and cold case flips.”

The movie begins by showing Stephanie on the Italian island of Capri while she is doing a livestream to tell her audience that she is under house arrest. She says, “I want to be clear: I did not kill Emily’s husband.” How did Stephanie end up as a murder suspect who’s under house arrest? And why is she in Italy? The movie then unfolds to show to what happened.

Stephanie has written a non-fiction book called “The Faceless Blonde” about her experiences with Emily. However, sales for the book have been disappointing. And Stephanie had to temporarily shut down her vlog because she got public backlash for exploiting her role in Emily’s murder case.

To promote the book, Stephanie does a book reading. In attendance at this book reading are her book agent Vicky (played by Alex Newell); Detective Summerville (played by Bashir Salahuddin), the lead police investigator in Emily’s criminal case; and three of the gossipy neighbors who were in “A Simple Favor”: Darren (played by Andrew Rannells), Sona (played by Aparna Nancherla) and Stacy (played by Kelly McCormack). And there’s someone else who shows up at the book reading: Emily. Of course, people start filming this surprise appearance of Emily on their phones, and the videos goes viral.

Emily makes her grand entrance and explains that she was able to get out of prison because her high-priced attorneys got the conviction reversed by successfully arguing that there was evidence tampering that led to her conviction. Emily, who got divorced from Sean while Emily was in prison, is now engaged to a wealthy Italian man named Dante Versano (played by Michele Morrone), whom she met years ago when they had a fling in Italy when Emily was in her 20s. Dante, who is described as madly in love with Emily, reconnected with Emily while she was in prison, and he paid for Emily’s legal defense that got her out of prison.

Emily has shown up at Stephanie’s book reading to invite her to the lavish wedding, which will take place on Capri and will be a first-class, all-expenses-paid trip for members of the wedding party. Emily wants Stephanie to be her maid of honor. Stephanie says no to the wedding invitation at first.

But with Miles away at summer camp, and Vicky pressuring Stephanie to do something bold to promote the book, Stephanie changes her mind and says yes to the wedding invitation. Stephanie instinctively knows that Emily holds grudges and might have a devious plan in mind for Stephanie. Just in case, Stephanie does a lot of livestreaming and video posting during the trip so that her millions of followers can keep track of what’s happening.

Sean and Nicky are guests at the wedding too. Nicky is still a brat. Sean is now a very angry and bitter person. He spends most of the wedding getting drunk and complaining about how horrible his ex-wife Emily is. There’s also a lot of tension at the wedding for other reasons: Dante’s domineering mother Portia Versano (played by Elena Sofia Ricci) disapproves of Emily and isn’t afraid to show it. Dante is also feuding with Matteo Bartolo (played by Lorenzo de Moor), a longtime business rival who is at the wedding.

As already shown in the movie’s trailers, there’s also tension because Emily’s estranged mother Margaret McLinden (played by Elizabeth Perkins) is an unwelcome guest but has shown up with Margaret’s older sister Linda McLinden (played by Allison Janney), who was invited to the wedding. The role of Margaret was played by Jean Smart in “A Simple Favor.” Margaret’s different physical appearance in “Another Simple Favor” is explained as Margaret having had “work done”—in other words, plastic surgery.

Which of Emily’s husbands will be murdered? This review won’t reveal that information since it was not revealed in the movie’s trailers. However, there are plenty of suspects and motives for people to frame someone for any murder that happen in the story. “Another Simple Favor” is a bit overstuffed with new characters, which might annoy or frustrate some viewers.

By taking the story from a generic suburban American location to the gorgeous locales of Capri, “Another Simple Favor” obviously looks a lot more glamorous than “A Simple Favor.” There are scenes in private jets and five-star resorts. “A Simple Favor” had retro-chic French music for the soundtrack, while “Another Simple Favor” has retro-chic Italian music for the soundtrack. But ultimately, putting “Another Simple Favor” in more luxurious settings is just dressing up a screenplay that’s messier than “A Simple Favor.”

“Another Simple Favor” also continues a few of the provocative storylines that were in “A Simple Favor.” Both movies show that despite Emily’s and Stephanie’s hatred of each other, there’s some underlying sexual tension between Emily and Stephanie. Emily kisses Stephanie in a seductive way in both movies. And people they know describe Emily and Stephanie as being obsessed with each other.

In addition, Stephanie isn’t as squeaky-clean as she appears to be. When Emily and Stephanie started to get to know each other as friends in “A Simple Favor,” Stephanie confessed to Emily that Stephanie knowingly committed incest years before Stephanie was married to her husband Davis (played by Eric Johnson), when Stephanie had sex with a man she had recently found out was her long-lost half-brother Chris (played by Dustin Milligan). Years later, when Stephanie and Davis were married, Davis noticed that Stephanie and Chris seemed too close for comfort, and he confronted Chris about it during a car ride. The car crashed and killed Davis and Chris.

Stephanie thinks that Chris and Davis were probably arguing about her during that car ride, so she feels guilty about both of their deaths. Emily uses that information to taunt and somewhat blackmail Stephanie, including calling Stephanie a “brother fucker.” In “Another Simple Favor,” there’s another incest incident. It’s not played for laughs, but it just seems tacky and unnecessary.

“Another Simple Favor” undoubtedly has a talented cast keeping things afloat when the scenarios get too campy or ridiculous. Kendrick and Lively have many more scenes together in this sequel, which is one of the few things in “Another Simple Favor” that’s better than “A Simple Favor.” Kendrick excels at playing dorky people pleasers, while Lively seems to be having fun hamming it up as self-absorbed Emily. Janney is a scene stealer as strong-willed Linda in “Another Simple Favor,” while other new characters in “Another Simple Favor” are hollow and aren’t nearly as interesting.

“Another Simple Favor” is prettier to look at than “A Simple Favor,” but the overall personality of the movie is more superficial. The end of “Another Simple Favor” hints that the filmmakers want another sequel. The novelty of these characters is now gone, so if the saga between Stephanie and Emily continues, they’re better off being in a situation that’s more credible and lasts longer than a wedding trip.

Prime Video will premiere “Another Simple Favor” on May 1, 2025.

Review: ‘A Nice Indian Boy,’ starring Karan Soni, Jonathan Groff, Sunita Mani, Zarna Garg, Harish Patel, Peter S. Kim and Sas Goldberg

April 28, 2025

by Carla Hay

Karan Soni and Jonathan Groff in “A Nice Indian Boy” (Photo courtesy of Blue Harbor Entertainment)

“A Nice Indian Boy”

Directed by Roshan Sethi

Some language in Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Vancouver, the comedy/drama film “A Nice Indian Boy” (based on the play of the same name) features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An Indian Canadian doctor, who is openly gay, meets and falls in love with an openly gay white photographer, and the doctor worries about commitment issues and whether or not his own parents will accept their interracial relationship.

Culture Audience: “A Nice Indian Boy” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in romantic comedies/dramas with likable characters dealing with LGBTQ relationships and family issues.

Harish Patel, Karan Soni, Zarna Garg and Sunita Mani in “A Nice Indian Boy” (Photo courtesy of Blue Harbor Entertainment)

“A Nice Indian Boy” follows the same formulas of romantic comedies where one person in a couple is more commitment-phobic than the other. However, this charming movie has a rare perspective of an interracial gay couple confronting family differences. If “A Nice Indian Boy” falls short on surprises, it more than makes up for it with a vibrant authenticity that can resonate with anyone who has experiences with adult relationships.

Directed by Roshan Sethi and written by Eric Randall, “A Nice Indian Boy” had its world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival. The movie is based on Madhuri Shekar’s “A Nice Indian Boy” play that had a stint in Los Angeles in 2014. “A Nice Indian Boy” takes place in Vancouver, where the movie was filmed on location.

“A Nice Indian Boy” is told from the perspective of and narrated by 31-year-old Naveen Gavaskar (played by Karan Soni), an introverted and socially awkward doctor, who works at Karloff Memorial Hospital. Naveen is openly gay and looking for love, mostly on dating apps. The movie’s opening scene is a flashback to the lavish wedding of Naveen’s overachieving younger sister Arundhathi (played by Sunita Mani), who has seemingly found her ideal match in her husband Manish Rao (played by Sachin Sahel), who would go on to become an orthopedic surgeon.

In voiceover narration, Naveen says of this wedding: “I was 25 when my sister got married. This was the best day of my mother’s life” because his mother was proud that Arundhathi had married “a nice Indian boy.” Although Naveen is out of the closet to his family and close friends, a lot of the guests at the wedding don’t know that he is gay. And so, he has several people commenting to him at the wedding that he will be next to have a big Indian wedding, and they assume that he will be marrying a woman.

“Just one concern,” Naveen says in the voiceover. “What would it be like if I brought home a nice Indian boy?” Naveen’s family knows that he is gay. He just hasn’t introduced them to any of his boyfriends or lovers. It’s an emotional roadblock that Naveen has to covercome if he wants a serious and committed relationship.

Naveen’s mother Megha Gavaskar (played by Zarna Garg) is opinionated and has a tendency to be overbearing. For example, an early scene in the movie, Megha calls Naveen at his job to remind him to renew his AAA car insurance membership. Megha, tries hard to be a supportive parent to her gay son, but she admits she doesn’t know much about what to talk to him about. And so, she says things to Naveen such as she likes to watch Out TV and movies like the Oscar-winning “Milk,” a biopic about gay civil rights activist Harvey Milk, who was murdered in San Francisco in 1978.

Naveen’s father Archit Gavaskar (played by Harish Patel) is much quieter and more laid-back than Megha. However, he’s not so laid-back about Naveen’s sexuality. He’s uncomfortable talking to Naveen about Naveen being gay. Archit seems to have a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy when it comes to Naveen’s love life.

Archit and Megha had an arranged marriage, which affects their views on how their children should approach marriage. Although Megha says that spouses in arranged marriages can learn to love each other (or at least like each other), Megha seems bored and restless in her own marriage. Most of the time that she’s with Archit, she seems to be irritated by him.

That’s because Megha thinks Archit has gotten lazy in their relationship and believes that he takes her for granted. The more that Megha seems annoyed by Archit, the more he shuts down emotionally, which causes a cycle of frustration in their marriage. Observant viewers will notice as the movie goes on that Naveen is a lot like his father Archie in how he has difficulty expressing his emotions, while Arundhathi is a lot like her mother Megha by being very outspoken with her emotions.

“A Nice Indian Boy” is told in four chapters. Chapter 1 is titled “The Boy.” Chapter 2 is titled “The Love.” Chapter 3 is titled “The Family.” Chapter 4 is titled “The Music.” Most movies about gay men who introduce a boyfriend to family members for the first time have to do with anxieties over the whether or not the family will accept the boyfriends’ queerness. In “A Nice Indian Boy,” the anxieties have more to do with racial acceptance.

Naveen’s closest friend is his lively co-worker Paul (played by Peter S. Kim), who is also an openly gay doctor. Paul encourages Naveen to go out and meet more potential love partners in person at fun events instead of online. A comedic montage shows a lonely Naveen calling men he’s made contact in the past to try to reconnect and leaving a series of awkward voice mail messages.

One day, Naveen is praying at a Hindu temple when a good-looking man (played by Jonathan Groff), who’s in his 30s, sits down behind Naveen and prays too. Naveen barely glances at this stranger but seems to be aware that this man is physically attractive. It won’t be long before Naveen will see him again.

One day, the hospital employees are getting their photo portraits done. The photographer is a handsome and friendly frelancer named Jay Kurundkar (played by Jonathan Groff), who is much more open about his feelings than Naveen. Jay and Naveen are instantly attracted to each other. Jay asks Naveen out on a date, and Naveen nervously says yes.

During this first date, they see a movie and then go to a gay bar. Jay tells Naveen that Jay (who has no siblings) spent his early childhood in foster homes and was adopted by Indian parents, who are now decased because Jay’s adoptive parents adopted him much later in their lives. Jay also mentions that his favorite movie is the 1995 romantic Bollywood drama “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.”

Jay isn’t shy about being occasionally dorky, such as when he sings lines from “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” to Naveen. Jay also vapes marijuana during the date and admits that he vapes when he’s nervous. This vaping results in a pivotal scene that affects Jay’s relationship with Naveen. Naveen is much more self-conscious and stoic during the date. Jay interprets it as Naveen not being very interested in him.

For example, Jay also opens up to Naveen about what Jay’s fantasy wedding would be like. He describes a big ceremony and reception with a lot of joy and choreographed dancing and at least one song from “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.” Naveen barely reacts out of nervousness, but Jay gets embarrassed because he thinks he might have turned off Naveen by talking about his dream wedding on their first date.

“A Nice Indian Boy” has some plot development clichés, but what the movie handles very well is the dialogue. This is not a movie where the would-be couple have an amazing first date. It’s not a completely terrible first date. It’s a realistic first date that shows two strangers trying to get to know each other better and doing their best not to make a bad impression on the other.

Jay eagerly brings Naveen into Jay’s world, by inviting Naveen to Jay’s photo gallery exhibit and by bringing Naveen to a house party, where Jay introduces Naveen to Jay’s supportive friends Billie (played by Sas Goldberg) and Neel (played by Sean Amsing). The problem is that Naveen is much more reluctant to bring Jay into Naveen’s world. Naveen keeps postponing the opportunity for Jay to meet Naveen’s family.

As already shown in the trailer for “A Nice Indian Boy,” Jay eventually does meet Naveen’s family. But that doesn’t mean it’s all smooth sailing from there, because Naveen’s parents expected him to have a partner with Indian heritage. And because the caste system is part of Indian culture, there’s some social-class snobbery from Naveen’s parents, who are disappointed that Jay has a job that has less stability and a much lower income than Naveen’s doctor job.

In addition to having appealing dialogue, “A Nice Indian Boy” has very entertaining performances from all the principal cast members. Naveen and Jay are an “opposites attract” couple, but it looks believable. Garg gives a standout performances as strong-willed matriarch Megha, who has a lot more sensitivity and vulnerability than she shows to most people.

The movie also shows in meaningful ways how the marriage experiences of Naveen’s parents and sister affect their perspectives and attitudes. Certain people in the family have to learn how to gracefully deal with disappointments when life doesn’t go exactly as planned. Rather than reducing the love story of Naveen and Jay to being a “will they or won’t they get married” dilemma, “A Nice Indian Boy” goes beyond the wedding issues and offers an adorable (but not too cutesy) tale of a family navigating changes without losing love for each other.

Blue Harbor Entertainment released “A Nice Indian Boy” in select U.S. cinemas on April 4, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on May 9, 2025.

Review: ‘On Swift Horses,’ starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elodri, Will Poulter, Diego Calva and Sasha Calle

April 23, 2025

by Carla Hay

Will Poulter, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jacob Elordi in “On Swift Horses” (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

“On Swift Horses”

Directed by Daniel Minahan

Culture Representation: Taking place from 1956 to 1957, in California and in Nevada, the dramatic film “On Swift Horses” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A bored and unhappy wife pines over her bisexual/queer brother-in-law, while she starts a secret affair with a female neighbor.

Culture Audience: “On Swift Horses” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and the book on which the movie is based, and are interested in dramas about queer relationships in the 1950s.

Jacob Elordi and Diego Calva in “On Swift Horses” (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

Even with a talented cast, “On Swift Horses” is a superficial drama about five people who have sexual entanglements based mostly on infatuation. The movie is adapted from a novel but seems more inspired by pretty postcards with vapid thoughts. “On Swift Horses” tries but fails to convince that any of the main characters are experiencing true love. The lover who is the most “sought-after” in the story is actually selfish and unreliable and is considered attractive mostly because of his physical appearance.

Directed by Daniel Minahan and written by Bryce Kass, “On Swift Horses” is based on Shannon Pufahl’s debut 2019 novel of the same name. The movie had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival and its U.S. premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. “On Swift Horses” takes place from 1956 to 1957, in California and in Nevada, with filming taking place in California. The nearly two-hour run time of “On Swift Horses” suggests that it could have been a sweeping and engaging epic romantic film. Instead, it’s mostly plodding and dull, with contrived-looking sex scenes that fizzle more than sizzle.

“On Swift Horses” begins with one of these sex scenes by showing military man Lee Walker (played by Will Poulter) having sex with his girlfriend Muriel (played by Daisy Edgar-Jones) at the Kansas house that Muriel inherited from her deceased mother. It’s obvious that Muriel isn’t really enjoying the sex. She seems to be going through the motions out of obligation. Lee is on leave from military service in the Korean War and has to go back in three days. He asks Muriel to marry him. She says no.

Muriel certainly perks up when she meets Lee’s younger brother Julius (played by Jacob Elordi), a handsome rebel who’s got “heartbreaker” written all over him. As soon as Julius comes to visit, and he meets Muriel for the first time, it’s obvious that Muriel is much more interested in Julius than she is in Lee. (The “meet cute” moment between Julius and Muriel happens he asks her to toss him a cigarette.) Julius and Muriel slow dance in front of Lee, who seems oblivious or in denial about the mutual attraction between Muriel and Julius.

That’s all you need to know about what type of person that Muriel is: She has no qualms about possibly causing a rift between two brothers for her own self-centered reasons. Julius is even more selfish than Muriel. “On Swift Horses” has an annoying way of treating these two toxic people as star-crossed “unlucky in love” lovers whom viewers are supposed to root for, when anyone with enough life experience can see how much emotional damage that Muriel and Julius cause and how Muriel and Julius don’t deserve admiration.

During Julius’ visit with Lee and Muriel, it’s mentioned that Julius also served in the military during the Korean War, but he has been discharged. Julius is queer or bisexual. Lee has known for years that Julius is not heterosexual, but Lee and no one else in the movie say the words “queer,” “gay” or “bisexual” out loud. People who are not heterosexual in the movie are just politely called “different.” It’s a very unrealistic portrayal of how queerness was described in 1950s America, when hateful homophobia was not only openly expressed but it was also legal.

Julius’ sexual attraction to men is probably why Lee doesn’t see Julius as a threat to Lee’s relationship with Muriel. In his ignorance, Lee probably thinks Julius is gay, not bisexual. Lee (who is socially rigid but an overall good guy) is the only person of the movie’s five main characters who shows unconditional love to his partner, even though that love is wasted on someone who doesn’t love him and doesn’t hesitate to cheat on him.

The insipid dialogue starts to pollute the movie within the first 10 minutes. In a scene during Julius’ visit of Lee and Muriel, the three of them play poker. Julius says, “The thing about cards is poker isn’t just poker.” Before he serves the deck of cards, Julius babbles some more nonsense by saying that a card is a symbol of time.

Muriel looks at Julius as if he’s a poker philosopher extraordinaire. But her fantasy about him sweeping her off of her feet comes crashing back down to reality when it becomes obvious that Julius is a drifter who has no intention of settling down in a committed relationship. Sometime after the poker game, Lee proposes marriage again to Muriel while Julius is in the same room. This time, Muriel says yes.

If Julius is jealous, he doesn’t show it. Lee wants to settle down with Muriel and buy a house in Arroyo Canyon in California. In order to get the money to buy a house, Lee asks Muriel to sell her childhood house in Kansas. Muriel is reluctant to sell the house because the house is the last connection she has to her family.

“On Swift Horses'” then abruptly switches to showing Lee and Muriel as a married couple living in California. Muriel has been writing letters to Julius and asking him to come back to California. Not long after Lee finishes his military service, he and Muriel decide to move to San Diego. Lee becomes a factory worker. Muriel works as a waitress at a diner.

The newlyweds are financially struggling and get tired of living in cramped living quarters. And so, Muriel changes her mind about selling her childhood Kansas home. Lee and Muriel use the money from the sale to buy the middle-class home that they want. Muriel secretly keeps some of the leftover money from the sale in a hiding place in the home. She later hides some other cash that she gets from betting on horse races without Lee’s knowledge.

Muriel acts bi-curious when she spends some time at Del Mar Racing (a horse racetrack), after she has overheard some horse-betting tips from customers at the diner. Muriel ends up winning money from horse-race bets and notices that a woman named Gail (played by Kat Cunning) is flirting with her at the racetrack. Muriel is somewhat surprised by this attention but she doesn’t reject it. Gail (a socialite who’s married to a much-older, wealthy man) is a frequent customer at a local lesbian bar, which is where Muriel goes out of curiosity and to see how far things might go between her and Gail.

Julius tells Muriel in letter correspondence that he’s moving to the California city of Stockton, which is about 460 miles northeast of San Diego. Even with this long distance, that’s all Muriel needs to hear to get excited that Julius could be in her life. Julius asks her for money for this relocation. She sends the money to Julius, but he uses the money to move to Las Vegas instead. Muriel is hurt when she finds out that Julius told Lee that it was good that Lee married Muriel because “that sad girl needs somebody to tell her what to do.”

“On Swift Horses” then meanders along as it shows what Julius did when he was in Las Vegas. He ends up meeting Henry (played by Diego Calva), another drifter/hustler type, on Julius’ first day of his job as a security worker at a casino. Julius and Henry are co-workers whose job is to hide in a secret room overlooking the casino floor and look out for any gamblers who are cheating during card games. Julius and Henry then have to report any cheaters to the casino’s security bouncers, who rough up and throw out the cheaters.

Henry flirts with Julius and immediately figures out that Julius is attracted to him. Henry makes the first move when he and Julius become lovers. It’s hard to believe that Henry and Julius (who are both self-absorbed and opportunistic) are really in love because their relationship is based mostly on lust and convenience. Henry and Julius eventually decide to become con artists together by going to other casinos and cheating at card games in the same ways that they’ve seen other cheaters have done it.

Meanwhile, Muriel (who’s still pining over Julius but she doesn’t want to admit it) meets androgynous Sandra (played by Sasha Calle) when Muriel and Lee decide to move to the San Fernando Valley and look for houses there. Sandra has a mini-farm on her property and sells things like olives and eggs. Sandra’s house, which has been in her family for 60 years, is near the house that Lee and Muriel end up buying.

The first time that Muriel and Sandra meet, there’s sexual tension between them and very unsubtle homoerotic subtexts. Sandra tells Muriel to taste some of her olives. When Muriel does and spits out one of the olive pits, Sandra holds out her hand and expects Muriel to spit the olive pit onto Sandra’s hand. You know where all of this is going to lead, of course.

The relationship with Muriel and Sandra is described as “love” in the marketing materials for “On Swift Horses,” but it sure doesn’t look like mutual love. Sandra is the one who seems to be falling in love with Muriel, but Muriel acts like Sandra is a just a fling and tells Sandra that their affair is just about having sexual fun. If this sounds like spoiler information, it’s only to let viewers know that there really is no great love affair in this disappointing and torpid movie, which pulls an irritating bait and switch in many ways.

Worst of all, “On Swift Horses” awkwardly fumbles the movie’s last 15 minutes, turning the film into an unrealistic mushfest where two people desperately look for Julius at the same time—as if disrespectful fraudster Julius is the answer to their problems and unhappiness. Edgar-Jones and Calle do their best to try to give their respective characters some depth in “On Swift Horses,” but they can’t overcome the maudlin screenplay that reduces potential romances to scenes of insecure people using each other for sexual companionship. The other principal cast members are even more stymied by portraying characters with cardboard personalities. And ironically, this movie with the word “swift” in the title has slow and drab pacing. By the time “On Swift Horses” lumbers along to its corny and vague ending, you probably won’t care about seeing these characters ever again.

Sony Pictures Classics will release “On Swift Horses” in U.S. cinemas on April 25, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on April 14, 2025.

Review: ‘Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie,’ starring Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong

April 22, 2025

by Carla Hay

A 1970s photo of Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin in “Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie” (Photo by Ed Caraeff/Keep Smokin’)

“Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie”

Directed by David Bushell

Culture Representation: The documentary film “Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie” features a racially diverse group of people (Latin, Asian/multiracial, African American and white) discussing the lives and careers of former comedic duo Richard “Cheech” Marin and Tommy Chong, better known as Cheech & Chong.

Culture Clash: Cheech & Chong rose to great heights in the 1970s and 1980s with their brand of “stoner comedy,” but the partnership fell apart because of conflicts over power, creative control and egos.

Culture Audience: “Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie” will appeal primarily to people are fans of Cheech & Chong, classic stoner comedies and documentaries about famous entertainers.

A 1970s photo of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong in “Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie” (Photo courtesy of Keep Smokin’)

“Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie” is a very nostalgic documentary that’s partly a narrated retrospective by the former comedic duo and partly a semi-scripted road trip. The movie has some unique elements that are contrived but clever. This biographical film serves as a reminder that Cheech & Chong were groundbreaking for their time and had a comedy act that would still be considered unusual today, as interracial celebrity stand-up comedy duos are still very rare.

Directed by David Bushell, “Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie” is Bushell’s feature-film directorial debut. He has been a longtime movie producer, with producer film credits that include 1996’s “Sling Blade” and 2010’s “Get Him to the Greek.” Bushell is also a producer of “Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie,” which had its world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival.

“Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie” goes back and forth between two formats, with plenty of archival footage in between. One format is a traditional interview format that shows Richard “Cheech” Marin and Tommy Chong talking in separate interviews in a studio setting. In these interviews, they tell their life stories, going all the way back to their respective childhoods up until the Cheech & Chong partnership first broke up in in the mid-1980s. The other format shows a more casual conversation between Marin and Chong while they are driving on a desert highway, with Marin as the driver. Along the way, certain people from their lives appear in the car’s back seat for occasional commentary.

Cheech & Chong can be considered a duo that is very much a case of “opposites attract.” Chong was born in May 24, 1938, in the Canadian city of Edmonton, Alberta. He was the younger of two sons born to a Chinese immigrant father and a Canadian mother with Scottish Irish ancestry. The family lived mostly in poverty, according to Chong. Born in Los Angeles on July 13, 1946, Marin was born to parents of Mexican American heritage and lived in a middle-class household.

Chong describes his upbringing as religious, but his childhood was marred by racism that he experienced for being half-Chinese. He says his mother taught him from an early age: “You’re different, so you have to be your best.” Chong, whose childhood education included Bible camp and being enrolled in the Canadian Cadets, says he dropped out of the cadet school soon after he discovered smoking marijuana and the music of Ornette Coleman at around the same time.

Marin says that his father—a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department and a World War II veteran of the U.S. Navy—was a tough and abusive parent at home. Marin remembers that from an early age, he learned to lie to his father. Marin quips, “That was my first role as an actor.” Marin says that his relationship with his father was “always contentious” and they got into physical fights. He mentions that during the last brawl that they had, Marin threatened to kill his father if his father ever attacked him again.

For much of his childhood, Marin lived in South Central Los Angeles, which has mostly black residents. Although his family was middle-class, Marin says he wasn’t shielded from violence in the neighborhood: “I saw three murders right before my eyes before I was 7,” Marin says. Marin’s family moved to suburban Granada Hills, where Marin was exposed to a more racially integrated environment. He also switched from going to public school to Catholic school. When he was a teenager, Marin says he discovered a love of pottery making and smoking marijuana around the same time.

After dropping out of cadet school, Chong moved to United States for a while, including a stint in San Francisco at the height of the counterculture era in the late 1960s. He became a musician with modest success in various R&B/pop bands, including The Shades, Johnny and the Bachelors, and Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers. Chong says, “When I discovered black culture, my life changed beautifully.” By 1965, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers were signed to Gordy Records, which was part of Berry Gordy’s Motown Records. Chong also had a co-songwriting credit on Diana Ross & the Supremes’ song “Does Your Mama Know About Me,” which was on the group’s 1968 album “Love Child.”

The road to Marin and Chong meeting each other began after Marin dropped out of college and moved to Canada to avoid being drafted in the Vietnam War. For a while, Marin worked as a ski instructor in Vancouver, as he bided his time to figure out what he really wanted to do with his life. By sheer coincidence, Marin says that when he was recovering from a broken leg from a skiing accident in Vancouver, he was staying at a friend’s house, and the only album in the house was “Love Child,” which he played repeatedly. Marin had a vague idea that he might be a comedic writer and/or performer, but at the time, he didn’t have enough connections to get started in showbiz. Marin says he was also influenced by left-wing political ideas and greatly admired writer/activist David Harris, who “influenced me the most.”

By 1969, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers had broken up. Chong had soured on the music business and had moved to Vancouver. Chong says he became enamored with stand-up comedy and performance art, especially after he had seen an avant-garde performing arts group called The Committee. Chong (who admits that he copied a lot of ideas from The Committee) formed his own unconventional comedy improv group, which is how he met Marin, who was recommended to Chong. Marin started as a writer for the group and eventually became a performer.

The improv group fell apart, so it wasn’t long before Marin and Chong decided to perform as a duo. Marin got the nickname Cheech because when he was a baby, an uncle said he looks like a little chicharrón, a fried pork rind that is a well-known snack in Mexican culture. Cheech & Chong’s comedy act had the duo portraying themselves or various characters, with many of the jokes about drug use, especially marijuana, as a reflection of the druggie lifestyles that Chong and Marin had in real life.

And the rest is history: Cheech & Chong became a popular comedy act based on their “stoner” personas. Cheech & Chong had sold-out live shows, hit albums and major studio movies written by Marin and Chong, who both relocated from Vancouver to Los Angeles during this period of success. Cheech & Chong won their first and only Grammy Award for their 1973 album “Los Cochinos” (which mean “The Pigs” in Spanish), their third comedy album. Cheech & Chong’s first movie—1978’s “Up in Smoke”—was an immediate hit (it grossed $104 million on a $2 million production budget) and is still considered Cheech & Chong’s best scripted movie.

Lou Adler had signed Cheech & Chong to his company Ode Records, produced Cheech & Chong’s comedy albums, and directed “Up in Smoke,” a movie that Adler independently financed and sold to Paramount Pictures. Cheech & Chong learned a harsh lesson in showbiz when they found out that the contract they signed with Adler only gave Cheech & Chong 10% of the grosses from Cheech & Chong album sales and tickets for “Up in Smoke,” while Adler got about 90% of the grosses. Cheech & Chong had to tour in order to make most of their income.

Determined to have more creative control and more money for their movie work, Chong directed four of the five subsequent “Cheech & Chong” movies, which had diminishing returns in commercial success and critical acclaim. (The other Cheech & Chong movies are 1980’s “Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie,” 1981’s “Nice Dreams,” 1982’s “Things Are Tough All Over,” 1983’s “Still Smokin’,” and 1984’s “Cheech & Chong’s The Corsican Brothers.”) Chong and Marin also parted ways with Adler as their manager and replaced Adler with Howard Brown, who is described in the documentary as a sleazy New York wannabe gangster type. Chong and Marin both say in the documentary that Chong liked Brown a lot more than Marin did.

In the documentary’s car commentary, Marin and Chong have mostly comedic conversations. When they bicker and disagree, it’s about what went wrong in their partnership. Marin says that Chong didn’t give Marin enough credit for Marin’s ideas when they made movies together. Chong says that Marin didn’t give enough respect to Chong’s role as director of the movies.

They both agree that a breaking point came when Chong refused to be in Marin’s 1985 music video for “Born in East L.A.,” a parody of Bruce Springsteen’s song “Born in the U.S.A.” Chong (who sometimes refers to himself in the third person) said he didn’t want to be in the music video because he thought having a small role in the video would be beneath him. “Born in East L.A.” (the song) was a hit. Marin later starred, wrote, and directed a critically panned 1987 comedy movie flop of the same name.

Adler is one of the people who shows up in the documentary car’s back seat. He mostly just sits back and watches Chong and Marin talk but he occasional chimes in with obviously scripted jokes. So do Chong’s first wife Maxine Morrow, formerly known as Maxine Sneed (whom he was married to from 1960 to 1970), and his current wife Shelby Chong, whom he’s been married to since 1975. “Things Are Tough All Over” director Tom Avildsen appears in the back seat very briefly to look like an awkward bystander during one of the Cheech & Chong arguments about creative control of their movies.

The documentary has the expected archival footage that shows mostly clips from Cheech & Chong’s movies, stand-up comedy shows and TV appearances. There’s a clip of an interview that Cheech & Chong did at the Playboy Mansion in the mansion’s famous grotto area, where two topless women dive and swim in the background. TV journalist Geraldo Rivera was a big fan of Cheech & Chong and is seen in several of the archival interview segments shown in the documentary.

In the interviews filmed for the documentary, Tommy Chong is more forthcoming about his personal life than Marin is. Marin married Natasha Rubin, his third and current wife, in 2009. Marin has been divorcd twice, and the only marriage he briefly mentions in the documentary his first wife Darlene Morley, whom he was married to from 1975 to 1984.

Tommy Chong says that for a period of time from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, he was juggling simultaneous relationships and children with Maxine and Shelby. He says that he began his love affair with Shelby in 1967, and they took LSD on their first date. Tommy Chong comments on the love triangle by saying Maxine was “cool about it” for a while.

Maxine then suddenly appears in the back seat and says, “I wouldn’t say I was cool about it, but I had two kids, and I loved him.” Their two daughters are Rae Dawn Chong (who became a famous actress in the 1980s) and Robbi Chong, who is one of this documentary’s producers. Cheech & Chong’s children are not interviewed for the movie.

Even though the bickering in the documentary shows some of the bitterness that led to the duo’s split, “Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie” ends on “good vibes” tone. Marin admits that in the early years of the partnership, he learned a lot from Tommy Chong, but he compares their breakup to a student outgrowing a teacher and needing to move on to other things. During the end credits, there’s a compilation of clips showing some highlights of what Marin and Tommy Chong did after they parted ways in the mid-1980s. Cheech & Chong have had sporadic reunions since their mid-1980s breakup. This documentary is a worthy tribute to Cheech & Chong’s history and their legacy.

Keep Smokin’ will release “Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie” in U.S. cinemas on April 25, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on April 20, 2025.

Review: ‘The Accountant 2,’ starring Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Daniella Pineda and J.K. Simmons

April 21, 2025

by Carla Hay

Jon Bernthal and Ben Affleck in “The Accountant 2” (Photo by Warrick Page/Amazon MGM Studios)

“The Accountant 2”

Directed by Gavin O’Connor

Culture Representation: Taking place in the United States and briefly in Germany, the action film “The Accountant 2” (a sequel to the 2016 movie “The Accountant”) features a predominantly white group of people (with some Latin people and African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class, wealthy and the criminal underground.

Culture Clash: Christian Wolff, who works as an accountant for wealthy criminals, teams up with his younger brother Braxton to find a missing immigrant family and a mysterious assassin who is hunting human traffickers.

Culture Audience: “The Accountant 2” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the 2016 movie “The Accountant” and formulaic but well-acted action movies that have several comedic moments.

Daniella Pineda and J.K. Simmons in “The Accountant 2” (Photo by Warrick Page/Amazon MGM Studios)

“The Accountant 2” overcomes its predictable action formulas with a scene-stealing performance from Jon Bernthal. This overstuffed sequel is best enjoyed by viewers who’ve seen 2016’s “The Accountant.” “The Accountant 2” is more stylish and comedic.

Directed by Gavin O’Connor and written by Bill Dubuque (the same director/writer duo for “The Accountant”), “The Accountant 2” is much more of a cross-country road-trip buddy film than “The Accountant,” which had the title character as very much a loner protagonist, with most of the action taking place in the Chicago area. “The Accountant 2” had its world premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. The characters in the movie travel to various states, including Maine and California.

“The Accountant 2” assumes that viewers know about some of the spoiler information that was revealed in “The Accountant.” In “The Accountant,” Christian Wolff (played by Ben Affleck) is an accountant who works for wealthy criminals. Christian has a high-functioning form of autism. At the end of the movie (spoiler alert), Christian finds out that an assassin who was hunting him is his younger brother Braxton Wolff (played by Bernthal), who was estranged from Christian for several years.

Christian gets client work with help from a secretive operative named Justine (played by Allison Robertson), who was revealed in “The Accountant” to work at Harbor Neuroscience Academy in Hanover, New Hampshire. Justine, who has autism that makes her non-verbal, uses a voice translator device that makes her voice sound British (voiced by Alison Wright) as a way to disguise her identity. All of this background information is necessary to get the full context of the characters who are in “The Accountant 2.”

Seeing “The Accountant” also gives viewers an explanation for why Christian and Braxton are expert combat fighters. As shown in “The Accountant,” their strict and abusive father (played by Rob Treveiler) was a former U.S. Army officer in psychological operations. When Christian and Braxton were pre-teen children, he forced them to go through rigorous military training that he oversaw entirely himself. The mother of Christian and Braxton left the family because she could no longer tolerate the oppression that he was inflicting on her and her children.

In “The Accountant,” Christian was also being hunted by Ray King (played by J.K. Simmons), director of the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, with Ray tasking data analyst Marybeth Medina (played by Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to do most of the legwork in the investigation. Ray retired at the end of the movie, and it was implied that Marybeth would get a job promotion. In “The Accountant,” the chief villains were executives at a robotics company involved in financial fraud.

In “The Accountant 2,” the chief villains are human traffickers who exploit undocumented immigrants from Latin America. In the beginning of the movie, Ray is a private detective looking for a family of three undocumented immigrants from El Salvador who disappeared eight years ago when they entered the United States: Edith Sanchez; her husband Gino Sanchez (played by Abner Lozano); and their son Alberto Sanchez. Alberto (played by Yael Ocasio), who was 5 years old when the family disappeared, is now 13 years old.

On April 7, 2025, Ray is in a seedy bar somewhere in the Washington, D.C. area. It’s the type of dive bar where people are playing bingo in the scene where Ray goes there to meet a stranger for this investigation. Ray is meeting with a mysterious assassin/mercenary named Anaïs (played by Danielle Pineda), who apparently has important information on this missing persons case. Ray wants to hire Anaïs to find the missing Sanchez family.

The meeting between Ray and Anaïs has barely started when some armed goons, who work for the human traffickers, storm into the bar and cause a shootout that kills Ray. (This murder is already revealed in “The Accountant 2” trailers.) Anaïs is able to slip out of the bar unharmed, but surveillance video caught her on camera leaving the bar at the time of the shooting.

Marybeth is now deputy director of the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. When she finds out that Ray has been murdered and that he wrote “Find the Accountant” on his arm, she knows she has to find Christian again. Christian is currently an escaped convict who is a fugitive from the law. Marybeth finds Christian, of course.

Marybeth promises that she won’t arrest Christian if he helps her solve the mystery of Ray’s homicide. And as already revealed in trailers for “The Accountant 2,” Christian enlists the help of his brother Braxton. When they find out that Ray was looking for the missing Sanchez family, that becomes part of the investigation too. It’s a bit much and makes “The Accountant 2” at times very unfocused and messy.

Viewers will have to suspend a lot of disbelief in several of the movie’s scenes, particularly when it to comes to Marybeth, who acts more like a homicide detective than someone investigating financial crimes. “The Accountant 2” also does a terrible job of explaining how Marybeth is able to spend all of this time hanging out with Christian and Braxton with no supervision. Someone in her position would have to answer to a lot of people about her travel activities across the United States.

Marybeth becomes a frequently awkward third wheel to the bickering brothers Christian and Braxton, who are complete opposites of each other. Christian is methodical and stoic. Braxton is impulsive and emotional. Braxton is a very loose cannon with a bad temper, which predictably gets them into more trouble. Christian loses his temper too, but he’s more robotic about it.

Marybeth spends much of her time scolding Christian and Braxton, as if she didn’t know what she was getting into by teaming up with two violent criminals. “No more violence,” she tells Christian in a laughable part of the movie when he viciously beats a shady witness to get the witness to tell him certain information. Marybeth sees Christian and Braxton commit many crimes and eventually has to pretend that she never saw these crimes in order to continue working with Christian and Braxton.

“The Accountant 2” (which has Affleck as one of the producers) goes off on a few tangents to show that Christian is making an effort to “lighten up” and have more of a social life. As already seen in a trailer for “The Accountant,” Christian goes to Idaho for an event called the Boise Romance Festival, where he does speed dating for the first time. (The results are disastrous for Christian.) He has a much better time on the road trip with Braxton, when Christian does some country music line dancing at a bar.

The back-and-forth banter between Christian and Braxton is the most entertaining aspect of “The Accountant 2,” which has very generic and uninteresting villains. The human trafficking network’s operations in the Americas is led by Burke (played by Robert Morgan), who looks more like an accountant than the movie’s title character. Burke has a sleazy thug named Cobb (played by Grant Harvey), who does a lot of the dirty work that Burke doesn’t want to do.

Burke has a grudge against Anaïs because she ruined some of his human trafficking business almost two years ago. And just so the movie makes it clear that this human trafficking network extends beyond the Americas, Burke is seen making phone calls to the person he reports to: a mega-rich European named Batu (played by Andrew Howard), who gives the impression that it would be a major scandal in his high-society circles if people found out that much of Batu’s fortune comes from human trafficking. Batu’s presence in the movie just raises more questions that the movie doesn’t answer, because Burke and his crew seem awfully understaffed if they’re working for someone who is as wealthy and powerful as Batu.

The amusing scenes between Christian and Braxton follows a tried-and-true formula of many comedic male duos: One is the “straight man” who is calmer and more level-headed, while the other is the “wild one” who is more likely to go off the rails. One of the reasons why Braxton is the most interesting character in the movie is that even though he’s a ruthless killer, he has some neurotic quirks and some surprising vulnerabilities, especially when it comes to pet animals. (You’ll have to see “The Accountant 2” for more details.) The rest of the cast members’ performances are capable, but not outstanding.

“The Accountant 2” is one of those over-the-top action films where people who are outnumbered and outgunned still manage to fight their way out of situations. Just like in “The Accountant,” there’s a surprise twist involving someone’s identity. “The Accountant 2” invigorates what could have been a stale sequel by making Braxton a charismatic eccentric and a major part of the story. “The Accountant” franchise has now entered sequel territory, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the franchise spawns any spinoffs based on the Braxton character.

Amazon MGM Studios will release “The Accountant 2” in U.S. cinemas on April 25, 2025. A sneak preview was shown in U.S. cinemas on April 15, 2025.

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