Movie review

  • 2006-03-08
Shopgirl
The Producers
Where the Truth Lies

Shopgirl
"Shopgirl" is a bittersweet and melancholy tale of love and heartbreak. Claire Danes plays a timid and lonely woman who so desperately needs love that she enters into relationships with two polar opposites 's neither of whom seem right. This is both a whimsical fairytale and a serious relationship drama, but the movie has trouble finding the right way of mixing the two genres. The feature starts out as an unmistakable, but unfunny romantic comedy, and then switches abruptly to serious drama. It's strange the way the movie sometimes comes close to finding its rhythm, comes close to telling an interesting story about interesting people 's but never quite succeeds. "Shopgirl" has moments of depth, but lacks the finesse to tie those moments into a meaningful whole.


( Julie Vinten )

This nauseatingly insipid film actually has the nerve to pass itself off as a profound meditation on love. Set in a moodily lit Los Angeles, Mirabelle (Claire Danes) is a lonely glove salesgirl in a plush department store, given to staring dreamily into the distance during working hours. Then along comes nerdy but good-hearted Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman) and they get together in an awkward sort of way. But then there's mega-rich, middle-aged Ray (Steve Martin), who sweeps Mirabelle off her feet with his private jet. But Ray doesn't love Mirabelle like Jeremy does. What's the shop girl from Vermont to do? Who cares? If you want to see a brilliant film about "shop girls" and deluded romance, find a copy of "Les Bonnes Femmes." "Shopgirl" is about as lyrical as a 50 Cent poem. 
( Tim Ochser )

The Producers
Mel Brooks' original 1968 screen version with Gene Wilder was occasionally funny, but this new version (now played as an all-out musical comedy) is simply unbearable. When Broadway producers Leo (Matthew Broderick) and Max (Nathan Lane) realize that with the right creative accounting, it can be more profitable to make a flop than a hit, they set out to create the worst show in the history of Broadway. As astounding as it may seem, the star cast and the splendid choreography, costumes, sets and upbeat musical numbers mean nothing because the execution of the movie is unbelievably terrible. Director Susan Stroman sees no difference between "exaggerated" and "funny" and has thus created one of the most painfully unfunny and agonizingly boring comedies I have ever seen. It's a complete crash and burn.  
1/2 ( Julie Vinten )

"The Producers" is extremely enjoyable if overlong and overzealous, in keeping with the irreverent spirit of the 1968 original. The story of failed Broadway producer Max Bialystock (Nathan Lane) and timid accountant Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick) is still somewhat amazing for its audacity. The two men try to produce the worst play ever staged after Bloom observes that a failed play can make more money than a successful one. The result is the Fuhrer-friendly musical "Springtime for Hitler." Will Ferrell is hysterically funny as Franz, the Nazi-worshipping playwright, while Uma Thurman does a delightful turn as Ulla, a Swedish actress with a fondness for herring and early morning sex. But while it is certainly very funny in places, the film's 60s-style hysteria is simply exhausting in the end. 
( Tim Ochser )

Where the Truth Lies
Young journalist Karen (Alison Lohman) is set on writing a book about her heroes, the showbiz team of Lanny (Kevin Bacon) and Vince (Colin Firth). But how far is she prepared to go to find the truth about what happened to the woman whose body was found in the two men's hotel room 15 years earlier? This is a decent thriller, which keeps you guessing 's though without ever really getting your blood pumping. There is more Friday-evening'sTV-dinner-entertainment to "Where the Truth Lies" than cinematic quality and suspense, but the feature does give us some interesting characters. Bacon and Firth's unconventional pairing works quite well. However, the feature loses itself completely at the end with an entirely unrewarding solution to the whodunit mystery.
1/2( Julie Vinten )

Director Atom Egoyan has made some excellent films over the years but unfortunately this is not one of them. "Where the Truth Lies" is a convoluted tale about ex-TV stars Vince (Colin Firth) and Lanny (Kevin Bacon) and Lanny's young biographer Karen (Alison Lohman). In the heyday of the duo's fame, a dead woman was discovered in their hotel suite bath. Lohman slowly tries to piece the story together after realizing that their version of events doesn't add up. The film begins promisingly but lapses into mediocrity toward the end when it becomes just another pointless whodunit. It's riveting viewing at times and the acting is compelling, but in the end you merely think: "Right, what next?"
1/2( Tim Ochser )
 

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