Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Christopher Walken, Rachel McAdams, Isla Fisher, Jane Seymour, Bradley Cooper
CRITIC'S CHOICE
Don't let all the tuxedos up there onscreen fool you. There's nothing elegant about the bawdy humor filling this high-energy comedy about buddies (Wilson and Vaughn) in Washington, D.C., whose hobby is crashing nuptials. But who needs classy when the laughs come as fast and frequently as they do in Wedding Crashers?
Posing as distant relatives of either the bride or groom, the two enthusiastic bachelors merrily go where they haven't been invited, availing themselves of free grub, booze and willing female guests. It's only when Wilson falls for the sister (McAdams) of a bride whose father (Walken) is a government bigwig that he and his pal become more deeply entangled in their deception than they'd bargained for.
Like so many movies today, Crashers goes on 20 minutes too long, the better to squeeze in a late-in-the-game surprise cameo. But, by playing to each other's strengths, the laid-back Wilson and rat-a-tat Vaughn make for a hilarious comic duo. (R)
COMEDY-DRAMA
Lisa Kudrow, Steve Coogan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tom Arnold
Lisa Kudrow could recite the multiplication table and she would imbue those numbers with nuance, neurosis, wit and traces of deep hurt. Here, the talented Friends star reteams with writer-director Don Roos, for whom she last worked in 1998's wonderful The Opposite of Sex, to portray an L.A. divorcée who decides to track down the now teenage son she gave up for adoption as an infant. Her character's tale is but one of a half-dozen overlapping stories crammed into Happy Endings, an often amusing, occasionally affecting picture.
Though the movie at times grows giddy with its own cleverness (like the title cards that pop up to spell out character's futures), much of Endings is indeed smart, and it overflows with exceptional performances. Besides Kudrow, standouts include Gyllenhaal as an avaricious opportunist, Tom Arnold (yes, that Tom Arnold) as a wealthy businessman whom Gyllenhaal gloms onto, Jesse Bradford as a manipulative filmmaker who hints to Kudrow that he has information about her son and Steve Coogan as Kudrow's gay stepbrother, a man with a gift for making life so much more complicated than it ever needs to be. Not all these folks get a happy ending, but viewers do.(R)
FAMILY
Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore
Timing is everything. This close to the recently concluded Michael Jackson trial, it's just plain off-putting—at least for adults—to watch a movie in which an oddly childlike man wearing his hair in a Prince Valiant bob and dressed in a foppish, high-collared velvet waistcoat cozies up to children by offering them a tour through his chocolate factory.
The creepy confectioner is Willy Wonka (Depp), the mysterious figure at the center of director Tim Burton's overwrought adaptation of Roald Dahl's dark 1964 kids' book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (The 1971 screen version was called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.) The film begins promisingly enough, introducing viewers to likable Charlie Bucket (Highmore), a poor boy who lives contentedly with his folks (Noah Taylor and Helena Bonham Carter) in a lopsided shack in the middle of a city. But once Charlie and his grandpa (David Kelly) go to visit Wonka's factory—Charlie, along with four other children, wins the tour as a prize in a contest—the movie turns into an overbudgeted bore. Garish production numbers, all seemingly influenced by Devo's "Whip It" video, follow one upon the other, and the heart of the story gets lost. Depp, showing no depth here, lets his makeup, costume and a silly chipmunky voice do all the work. (PG)
Modigliani
As self-destructive early 20th-century artist Amedeo Modigliani, a soulful Andy Garcia drinks, does drugs and treats his girlfriend (Elsa Zylberstein) shabbily in a plodding bio. (R)
Mad Hot Ballroom
While waiting for the next season of TV's Dancing with the Stars, check out this irresistible documentary about New York City public school students taking competitive ballroom dancing lessons. (PG)
Fantastic Four
Cheesy comic book film. Four adults gain super powers after an accident and then squabble endlessly among themselves. (PG-13)
Million Dollar Baby ($39.98)
Movie:
This year's Best Picture Oscar winner arrives for the small screen in a bloated three-disc set. Like a cagey ring veteran, director Clint Eastwood lulls viewers with right jabs, as his grizzled manager bonds with headstrong boxer Hilary Swank, before blindsiding us with a knockout left hook in the form of a staggering twist. Extras: Fairly lightweight: two skippable documentaries, a round-table cast interview by sycophantic James Lipton and a CD soundtrack of Eastwood's tender score. (PG-13)
Bride & Prejudice ($29.99)
Movie:
Fresh off the giddy Bend It Like Beckham, director Gurinder Chadha returns with this flawed but fun Bollywood take on the Jane Austen classic (with an Indian Elizabeth and an American Darcy). The musical numbers are deliriously vibrant (look for fancy footwork from Lost's Naveen Andrews) but overlong and hamstrung by disposable lyrics ("life is great/let's celebrate"). Extras: Chadha, so entertaining in behind-the-scenes footage (she and the crew perform a Bride production number to blow off steam), delivers a disappointingly sedate commentary. She does point out the Bollywood staples she included (opening shot of a religious icon) and left out (gratuitous slow-mo). (PG-13)
- Contributors:
- Lean Rozen,
- Jason Lynch.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
