I've seen a lot of stuff lately, and not necessarily written proper reviews, so real quick:
- "I Love You Man." Very funny comedy, sort of an Apatow movie that Apatow had nothing to do with. Paul Rudd and Jason Segel play the exact opposite of their usual personas- imagine HIMYM, if Segel played Barney instead of Marshall. Lots of laughs, and it thankfully doesn't depend entirely on gay jokes. Only drawback- so much blatant Apple product placement that the iPhone is practically a third costar.
- "Sunshine Cleaning." I already reviewed this on Philly.com; yeesh. Just "Little Miss Sunshine," "Junebug," and every other recent Sundance movie thrown into a blender, with all of the humor and profundity filtered out. Still, hard not to love that Amy Adams.
- "Duplicity." Great thriller, probably the best movie of the year so far, and I say that as one who absolutely despises Julia Roberts. A typically ingenious script by Tony Gilroy, a twisty plot that in retrospect makes perfect sense, and great chemistry by the leads. The opening credit sequence, in which rival CEOs Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson brawl in slow motion on an airport runway, is the best I've seen in years.
- "The Great Buck Howard." A pretty enjoyable, if slight, showbiz picture that isn't bad at all, but you'll forget it ten minutes after stepping out of the theater. I have something of a soft spot for stories about the fringes of showbiz, and John Malkovich is good as always, as a pseudo-Amazing Kreskin. Colin Hanks showed on "Mad Men' that he can do well in a small role, but he's no leading man; his dad, who produced, is clearly only in the film because his face in the trailer got them a better distribution deal.
Posted by Stephen Silver at March 20, 2009 05:09 PMTom Hanks being in GBH didn't get it a better distribution deal, it maybe helped get it in theaters rather than straight to video. This movie was made a couple of years ago and is lucky is got a theatrical release.
Posted by: A at March 21, 2009 05:39 PM