This must be a worrying time for Sacha Baron Cohen. He has run out of characters. Here he revisits Brüno, the first of his triumvirate of creations that were followed by Ali G and Borat. Using the same format as 2006’s über-hilarious Borat, the film follows the gay, Austrian fashion journalist as he tries to become a superstar in America, freaking out the Bible Belt as he goes.
Turns out it is quite easy to shock the Bible Best by being very camp. Who knew? As with his other characters, Baron Cohen is playing on people’s stereotypes whilst putting them into embarrassing situations. He is an extremely intelligent and funny man, so of course these outrageous situations make you laugh, but a few of them go a bit too far and make you squirm (cf. the scene where Brüno comes on to Republican Congressman Ron Paul).
Sometimes he does highlight the huge amount of homophobia in society (he is actually attacked a few times), which has worth in and of itself, but equally gay people may be upset because a lot of the humour is really about Brüno’s unusual dress sense and sex life.
The trouble is, the original idea behind Brüno was not to make people feel uncomfortable about his sexuality, but to show how stupid people in fashion are. He used to go to fashion shows and make people say the most ridiculous, grandiose statements about the importance of their clothes and generally showed them to be awful human beings. The most successful bits of the film stick with this and deal with the crazy world of fashion and celebrity (the twin charity consultants spring to mind; what planet are they from?).
It may have been too big a leap to make such a stupid character from such a stupid world do something profound, but this film is still stupidly funny. Not as successful as Borat, then, but definitely worth seeing. The question is: what will Sacha do next?
Monday, 20 July 2009
Saturday, 11 July 2009
Review - Telstar
I should probably start this review by stating that Johnny Remember Me by John Leyton is one of my favourite songs. Music producer Joe Meek, the subject of this biopic and the British answer to Phil Spector, was undoubtedly a genius. But, like Spector, he was also crazy and a murderer. His story of hidden homosexuality, egomania and echo chambers takes place during the embryonic stages of the British music scene. Making a name for himself before the Beatles arrived (Telstar was the first British record to reach number one in America), he stubbornly continued to tread his own path and paid the price.
Based on the play by James Hicks, this film version of Meek’s life is quite a claustrophobic affair, taking place almost exclusively in the little house above a shop that he turned into his studio. I hope this is to show Meek’s growing isolation and paranoia, and not because they could only afford one set. Director Nick Moran (of Lock Stock fame) does a good job of handling a necessarily bitty storyline (real lives rarely fit the traditional three-act structure very well), keeping things interesting and funny.
Com O’Neill is terrific as Meek, reprising his stage role. He is scary, charming, damaged and has perfected the funny voice (Meek was from Gloucestershire) that made Meek hard to take seriously and all the more tragic. O’Neill works hard, running around the studio, twiddling with knobs and throwing tantrums. The effect is quite spellbinding.
The only problem is that this sort of production has become the bread and butter of BBC4. They seem to churn out high-quality, low-cost examinations of interesting British figures’ lives set against the backdrop of Swinging London. Having TV favourites Ralf Little and James Cordon in the cast does little to distance the film from this school of TV drama. The presence of Kevin Spacey as Meek’s business partner, though wholly unnecessary, does make it feel a bit more like a film, I suppose.
This is still a very interesting tale set in an interesting time and surrounded by great music that too few people know about. All in all, a well-told version of Meek’s tragic story with a wonderful central performance.
Based on the play by James Hicks, this film version of Meek’s life is quite a claustrophobic affair, taking place almost exclusively in the little house above a shop that he turned into his studio. I hope this is to show Meek’s growing isolation and paranoia, and not because they could only afford one set. Director Nick Moran (of Lock Stock fame) does a good job of handling a necessarily bitty storyline (real lives rarely fit the traditional three-act structure very well), keeping things interesting and funny.
Com O’Neill is terrific as Meek, reprising his stage role. He is scary, charming, damaged and has perfected the funny voice (Meek was from Gloucestershire) that made Meek hard to take seriously and all the more tragic. O’Neill works hard, running around the studio, twiddling with knobs and throwing tantrums. The effect is quite spellbinding.
The only problem is that this sort of production has become the bread and butter of BBC4. They seem to churn out high-quality, low-cost examinations of interesting British figures’ lives set against the backdrop of Swinging London. Having TV favourites Ralf Little and James Cordon in the cast does little to distance the film from this school of TV drama. The presence of Kevin Spacey as Meek’s business partner, though wholly unnecessary, does make it feel a bit more like a film, I suppose.
This is still a very interesting tale set in an interesting time and surrounded by great music that too few people know about. All in all, a well-told version of Meek’s tragic story with a wonderful central performance.
Review - The Hangover
‘Stag party gone wrong’ isn’t exactly an original idea for a comedy. Even ‘stag party gone wrong in Las Vegas’ has been done before (the extraordinarily dark Very Bad Things). But what The Hangover lacks in originality of plot if makes up for in hilarity of execution.
Doug (Justin Bartha) goes on his stag weekend to the aforementioned Las Vegas with his two best friends Stu (Ed Helms) and Phil (Bradley Cooper), and his fiancé’s strange brother Alan (Zach Galifianakis). The guys wake up the next morning to find their hotel room in disarray and Doug missing.
The rest of the film follows Stu, Phil and Alan as they try and piece together what happened the night before, which was some night. Writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (who recently wrote Four Christmases) have filled the script with loads of belly laughs and bizarre set pieces. The director Todd Phillips is a master of these sorts of things (he also helmed Old School and Road Trip), so delivers in style.
The cast is made up of relative unknowns, but I doubt that will be the case for long. Galifianakis is sweet and weird as the loner trying to fit into the group, Helms gets the audience on his side quickly with his geeky and put-upon character, and Cooper makes a great ‘good looking and cool one’. Heather Graham has a lovely little role, showing her undoubted flair for comedy. The only slightly strange part comes from Ken Jeong as a camp mobster, which is perhaps a bit over the top.
This grown-up version of a frat comedy combines a great set up, great performances and great writing to make the funniest film of the year so far.
Doug (Justin Bartha) goes on his stag weekend to the aforementioned Las Vegas with his two best friends Stu (Ed Helms) and Phil (Bradley Cooper), and his fiancé’s strange brother Alan (Zach Galifianakis). The guys wake up the next morning to find their hotel room in disarray and Doug missing.
The rest of the film follows Stu, Phil and Alan as they try and piece together what happened the night before, which was some night. Writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (who recently wrote Four Christmases) have filled the script with loads of belly laughs and bizarre set pieces. The director Todd Phillips is a master of these sorts of things (he also helmed Old School and Road Trip), so delivers in style.
The cast is made up of relative unknowns, but I doubt that will be the case for long. Galifianakis is sweet and weird as the loner trying to fit into the group, Helms gets the audience on his side quickly with his geeky and put-upon character, and Cooper makes a great ‘good looking and cool one’. Heather Graham has a lovely little role, showing her undoubted flair for comedy. The only slightly strange part comes from Ken Jeong as a camp mobster, which is perhaps a bit over the top.
This grown-up version of a frat comedy combines a great set up, great performances and great writing to make the funniest film of the year so far.
Review - Last Chance Harvey
There are lots of films whose trailers are better than the actual feature. Last Chance Harvey is one of them. The ad is the perfect two-minute confection, an adorable romantic comedy with an adorable Dustin Hoffman and an adorable Emma Thompson falling in love in London. He buys her a dress, takes her to his daughter’s wedding and they teach each other how to let go and live again.
All this stuff does happen in the film, but the gaps between these events are long and depressing. Harvey Shine (Hoffman) is a jingle writer (why is jingle writing such a common profession in films and on television?) past his prime and about to lose his job. He travels to London to attend his daughter’s wedding, and finds out she’d rather her step-father give her away during the ceremony (what a bitch!). Hurt and alone, he goes back to Heathrow, but meets Kate Walker (Thompson) who works at the airport, someone else hurt and alone.
The drawn-out ‘meet cute’ and Harvey’s subsequent pursuit of Kate are quite sweet, but all the clichés are wheeled out before the film is through. Every landmark of London is wandered past as they talk (I must say, they take highly convoluted routes to get from A to B) and they talk a lot. This is not a film of action but of conversations, and unfortunately the script is not very funny and just doesn’t ring true.
That’s not to say that the performances aren’t authentic and truthful. No one plays crumpled and disappointed quite as well as Dustin Hoffman and this is really a role made for him. His smile is a little sudden and scary, though. Emma Thompson’s Kate seems like an intelligent and real woman who has just somehow ended up on her own and is therefore sad. Her smile is not scary at all.
This is the sort of film that just about manages to pass the time, but it could have been so much more if the writing had just been a little riskier. A good two minutes spread over one and a half hours makes for a thin gruel indeed.
All this stuff does happen in the film, but the gaps between these events are long and depressing. Harvey Shine (Hoffman) is a jingle writer (why is jingle writing such a common profession in films and on television?) past his prime and about to lose his job. He travels to London to attend his daughter’s wedding, and finds out she’d rather her step-father give her away during the ceremony (what a bitch!). Hurt and alone, he goes back to Heathrow, but meets Kate Walker (Thompson) who works at the airport, someone else hurt and alone.
The drawn-out ‘meet cute’ and Harvey’s subsequent pursuit of Kate are quite sweet, but all the clichés are wheeled out before the film is through. Every landmark of London is wandered past as they talk (I must say, they take highly convoluted routes to get from A to B) and they talk a lot. This is not a film of action but of conversations, and unfortunately the script is not very funny and just doesn’t ring true.
That’s not to say that the performances aren’t authentic and truthful. No one plays crumpled and disappointed quite as well as Dustin Hoffman and this is really a role made for him. His smile is a little sudden and scary, though. Emma Thompson’s Kate seems like an intelligent and real woman who has just somehow ended up on her own and is therefore sad. Her smile is not scary at all.
This is the sort of film that just about manages to pass the time, but it could have been so much more if the writing had just been a little riskier. A good two minutes spread over one and a half hours makes for a thin gruel indeed.
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