The Switch (2010)

Tags

Comedy, Drama, Jason Bateman, Jeff Goldblum, Jennifer Aniston, Juliette Lewis, Movie, Patrick Wilson, Romance, The Switch, Thomas Robinson

can you leave please, we're trying to make a good movie over here...

PG-13

Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, Jeff Goldblum, Juliette Lewis, Patrick Wilson, Thomas Robinson

Sebastian: Let’s put lice in the batter!
Wally: What is so funny to you about the concept of eating your own lice??
Sebastian: I don’t know, it’s just funny!

Wally (Bateman) and Kassie (Aniston) are best friends, though Wally wishes it was more than just a friendly relationship (even if he doesn’t realize that’s what he wants).  Kassie wants to have a baby and soon finds a donor to help her make this happen.  Through a series of events, a very drunken Wally ends up replacing the…donation…with his own…donation, though he doesn’t remember any of this.  Kassie gets pregnant and moves back to Minnesota to be around her family, but 7 years later Kassie and her son Sebastian (Robinson) move back to New York.  Upon meeting Sebastian, Wally begins to notice some similarities between himself and the little 6 year old.  Soon, memories from that night 7 years ago start emerging…

Here’s my theory on this movie (based only in my own imagination and no facts that I’ve seen anywhere):  at some point, there was an interesting, funny-ish script, all set to be made into a quality movie, but then somebody decided to drop it into the big Hollywoodization Machine, and this is what popped out.

In addition to suggesting a very predictable ending, the machine suggested that instead of hiring an actress to play an interesting lead character, Jennifer Aniston should be hired and told to just play herself.  And that’s the big problem with the movie.  There’s this interesting story, with some interesting characters and thought provoking situations, and right in the middle of it is this glamorous movie star.  She just doesn’t fit.

That’s not to say Aniston absolutely shouldn’t have been in the movie.  What I mean is that she should have been playing a character, not unlike the way she played a character in The Good Girl.  She is actually capable of that.  Instead, we have her walking around looking like a movie star, and it makes no sense to see her in the situation she’s in with the characters she’s surrounded by.

Also, the way she’s played (or not played) results in there being absolutely no chemistry between her and Bateman.  He’s a quirky, hypochondriac of a character, and their friendship just isn’t believable at all.  Caroline Dhavernas shows up for about 2 minutes playing a blind date gone sour, and just those two minutes show how much more interesting she would have been in the lead role.  Though, the age difference between her and Bateman probably wouldn’t have worked well either.

Thankfully, there are two characters that do have chemistry, and that’s Wally and the 6 year old Sebastian.  When these two are together, the movie takes on a whole different feel, and I was always sorry when Aniston came back into the mix.  They have interesting and funny stuff to talk about, they grow as characters via their interactions, and you can just tell they’re having a good time with each other.

There’s a good movie here, and it’s a shame that it had to get all Hollywooded up.  A more believable relationship between Wally and Kassie, as well as more nuanced supporting characters (Juliette Lewis and Patrick Wilson are underwritten, Goldblum is actually pretty funny), could have propelled this thing up to a higher level.

As is, it’s watchable, but still a disappointment.  Once again we have a character trying to overcome his fears stuck in a movie that’s too afraid to take chances.

Sometimes people do stupid things when they’re drunk.

10 – 2 because movie star Aniston just doesn’t fit in this movie – 1 because the supporting characters are too one dimensional – 1 because it could have been funnier + .2 for the Wally/Sebastian dynamic = 6.2

Love Happens (2009)

Tags

Aaron Eckhart, Comedy, Dan Fogler, Drama, Jennifer Aniston, John Carroll Lynch, Judy Greer, Martin Sheen, Movie, Romance

I mean, I'm like totally more interesting than you! When do I get to be the one with the starring role!?

PG-13

Aaron Eckhart, Jennifer Aniston, Dan Fogler, John Carroll Lynch, Martin Sheen, Judy Greer

Burke: Funerals are important rituals. They’re not only recognition that a person has died; they’re recognition that a person has lived.

Burke (Eckhart) is a man who has written a book aiming to help people overcome the grief they feel after losing a loved one.  The problem is, Burke really hasn’t overcome his own grief after losing his wife.  Eloise (Aniston) is the standard romantic interest that just might help him do that.

First of all, I must confess that I sort of like Jennifer Aniston.  Even though she basically plays the exact same character in every movie not named The Good Girl, she has a certain something that is appealing about her.  Unfortunately, it’s wasted in middling romantic comedies like this.

This is a good looking movie, with some respectable actors in it, and even a couple of truly touching little moments.  Unfortunately the good, smaller moments are overshadowed by overly cutesy moments juxtaposed with excessively weepy moments.  The big final emotional scene actually had me laughing as though it was something out of a parody of films like this.

You can pretty much go right down the romantic-comedy-drama checklist with this one:  sympathetic male lead with a dead wife?  check.  Self-employed female lead with a string of bad relationships (who knew dating a young musician wouldn’t work out??) but a funny, quirky personality?  uh huh.  A goofy, portly sidekick for the male lead?  indeed.  A helpful, even quirkier sidekick (usually either Judy Greer or Bonnie Hunt – Greer in this case) for the female lead, there to push her along towards a happy relationship?  yep.  Some sort of animal to provide some comedy relief?  you know it.  A big secret being held by the main character that looms over everything?  present.  Repeated flashbacks to a car accident?  che-…oh…well, that’s not really normal I guess.  But the rest apply!

The point is, the movie just seems to be going through the motions.  It’s not all that funny, despite the appealing leads, and you know where it’s all going from frame one.  In fact, if you’ve seen the trailer for the movie, then you’ve basically seen the entire thing in a much more tolerable version.  Plus, there’s even a slow clap in this movie.  Yeah, after a big weepy speech, we get a character who looks around, starts to slowly clap, and eventually is joined by everyone in a standing ovation.  See?  It’s like a self-parody.

If you want to see a better movie about a motivational speaker who needs to get things sorted out in his own life, go watch Up in the Air.  It’s funnier, has better characters, and even an actual surprise or two in the story.

Better title too…Love Happens?  Come on…

Just hit the dog next time…

10 – 2 for fairly weak characters – 2 for a totally predictable story – .8 for a way over the top weepy ending = 5.2

Management (2008)

Tags

Comedy, Drama, Fred Ward, Jennifer Aniston, Management, Movie, Romance, Steve Zahn, Woody Harrelson

here's to letting random strangers into your hotel room in the middle of the night!

R

Steve Zahn, Jennifer Aniston, Fred Ward, Woody Harrelson

Mike: I don’t have enough money.
Sue: What!?
Mike: I only had enough for a one way.  And I thought…I thought, I’m just gonna go for it!
Sue: With me?
Mike: Yes…it was a far flung notion.
Sue: It was a f***ing stupid notion!
Mike: I guess…

Mike (Zahn) is a lonely guy who lives and works at the hotel that his parents own.  He takes a liking to a guest, Sue (Aniston), and manages to befriend her.  The two share a rather intimate moment before Sue leaves town, which Mike takes as a sign that he should fly across the country to see her.  Sue has mixed feelings about all this, and eventually sends Mike away, but that’s not the last time their paths will cross.

Ya know, it would be easy to just say that Mike’s pursuit of Sue is creepy and possibly stalker-ish, but if you can get past that (like Sue does), it’s actually a pretty sweet story.  A story about a man that needs to grow up and be responsible and a woman that needs to realize that it’s okay to let yourself be happy.

Zahn manages to be weird in a non-creepy way instead of a Norman Bates way, which allows us to believe that Aniston’s character could actually find him charming.  Of course, she’s a bit odd and lonely herself, so maybe the attention alone is attractive to her.  Either way, I actually kind of bought their romance.

I didn’t buy Woody Harrleson’s character as much, though he’s not extremely over the top, just a little bit over the top.  Enough that his eccentricities made it hard to believe that Sue would have dated him in the first place, much less go back to him again later.  But I guess that points towards her character’s tendency to not do what’s best for herself.

There’s nothing particularly special about this movie, but there’s nothing particularly bad about it either, other than maybe some of the ridiculous plot conveniences that crop up.  But it is a movie after all.  A nice movie, with some good performances, and a sweet romance.  It also helps repair some of the damage that Psycho did to the reputation of small hotels/motels with talkative, boyish men working at the front desk.  Sure, the situation could end with you getting stabbed in the shower, but other times it could work out pretty well actually.

If you are going to stalk somebody, make sure they are desperate enough for attention that they don’t see your stalking as a problem.

10 – 2 for some silly plot conveniences – .7 because it drags here and there – .3 for Harrelson’s performance that annoyed me a little = 7.0