ROMANTIC COMEDY
Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. That's Jane's story. She's the excessively accommodating heroine of 27 Dresses, a maddeningly uneven but enjoyable romantic comedy. Jane (Heigl, of Grey's Anatomy) has preceded brides down the aisle 27 times, resulting in a closet stuffed with garish frocks. ("If you shorten it, you can wear it again," the brides always claim, falsely.) Jane's willingness to put everyone else's needs first is tested when her spoiled sexpot sister (Akerman) asks Jane to help plan her nuptials to Jane's boss (Burns), a businessman whom Jane—who's his assistant—secretly loves.
Heigl is endearing and can, given the chance, slyly set a punch line spinning. Marsden, who impressed recently in Hairspray and Enchanted and plays a reporter here, makes for a sexy potential suitor. And the incomparable Greer (13 Going on 30), as Jane's man-hungry pal, steals every scene she's in. So what's the problem? Dresses dithers, particularly during a slow midsection devoted to Ackerman and Burns' romance. We all know where the film is going, so let's get there already. If Dresses were 27 minutes shorter, it would be 100 percent better.
Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson, Sean Hayes, Beverly Todd | PG-13 |
COMEDY
Where are Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon when you need 'em? Even those two dear departed stars, at their grumpiest, couldn't have saved this mawkish comedy about fatally ill geezers who embark on a whirlwind global trip to tick off goals ("Witness something truly majestic") on a list of things to do before kicking the bucket. Having met as hospital roommates, a mechanic (Freeman) and a business tycoon (Nicholson) set off to skydive, race cars and visit the pyramids in Egypt. But The Bucket List—and director Rob Reiner—mistakes a saccharine, would-be wacky travelogue for a journey into the soul. Freeman is his usual no-nonsense self while Nicholson gnaws noisily on a ham bone.
Ice Cube, Tracy Morgan PG-13 |
COMEDY
The key to Morgan's comic persona is pure, unfettered id. He's like a willful 5-year-old stuck in a man's body, grabbing at whatever he wants. First Sunday wisely gives Morgan free rein and he, in turn, provides this well-meaning, slapdash comedy with its liveliest moments. Overall, though, the film is an uneasy mix of earnest uplift, mild yuks and preaching about community values. Morgan and a sullen Cube play cousins in Baltimore who try to rob a local church's safe but wind up holding its parishioners hostage at gunpoint. By the time the duo realize crime is not the answer, First feels like a sermon.
The Eve's Bayou actress, now 21, makes some compelling arguments (with a little help from director Denzel Washington) in The Great Debaters.
WHAT WAS FILMING LIKE? We did some scenes in Shreveport, La., and everybody fell victim to the chiggers—bugs that bite and crawl under your skin—except for Denzel. He'd joke that the bugs couldn't catch him because he was too quick.
OUCH! HOW DID YOU BEAT THE BUGS? I put nail polish on my skin to suffocate them out. Sometimes I'd put on pink, glittery polish. I have to be creative.
YOU HAVE FIVE SIBLINGS. MUST HAVE BEEN A CRAZY CHILDHOOD. We did everything together, even family workouts with my mom to Jane Fonda—not the VHS but the vinyl album!
ONE OF YOUR FIRST GIGS, AT AGE 3, WAS A COMMERCIAL WITH JOE MONTANA. WERE YOU NERVOUS? I was grabbing his collar and flirting with him. I had a little crush.
Looking to beat those postholiday doldrums? Local multiplexes are brimming with terrific films, many of which opened in big cities last month and are now making their way across the country. Here are a handful of titles I enthusiastically recommend.
CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR This shrewd comedy breezily shows how a U.S. congressman (Tom Hanks) helped fund a covert war in the mid-'80s in Afghanistan. Julia Roberts (above) costars. (R)
ATONEMENT A young English couple (Keira Knightley and James McAvoy) have their lives ruined by a child's lie. This beautiful period drama packs a wallop. (R)
SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET Johnny Depp sings and slashes his way through director Tim Burton's brilliant musical. (R)
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN Mixing suspense and dark wit, a haunting crime drama set in Texas is directors Ethan and Joel Coen's most mature film. (R)
JUNO A pregnant teenager (the dazzling Ellen Page, below left, with Michael Cera) decides to give her baby up for adoption in a warm, smart-alecky comedy that grows on you. (PG-13)
His character in Little Miss Sunshine refused to speak, but the actor, 23, is opening up about playing Blood's sermonizing preacher Eli Sunday.
YOU GIVE QUITE A CONVINCING SERMON. It was a rush! The "congregation" of locals where we shot in Texas latched onto me. They'd follow me around a bit: "That was a great sermon, Brother Eli!"
BUT THEN COSTAR DANIEL DAY-LEWIS BEATS YOU UP! Yeah, I had the privilege of being slapped and getting mud stuffed in my mouth by Daniel. But I did have one scene where I slapped the hell outta him too, so that was thrilling.
THERE'S OSCAR BUZZ AROUND YOU AND THE FILM. WANT ONE? I might have had a delusion or two of that as a boy....
YOU ATTEND THE NEW SCHOOL IN NEW YORK. HOW DO YOU JUGGLE EVERYTHING? I should be working on a paper right now for Russian utopian literature, but I'm not! I'm so behind, I can't even remember what my topic is.
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!
