Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans | R |
REVIEWED BY SARA VILKOMERSON
DRAMA
Youth may be wasted on the young, but for Roger Greenberg (Stiller), the adage gets an acidly misanthropic twist: "Life is wasted on ... people," he moans. Back home in L.A. for six weeks, Greenberg-pessimistic, narcissistic and totally neurotic (plus, worst backseat driver ever)-struggles with the realization that at fortysomething, life hasn't exactly gone as planned. While trying to reconnect with old friends (including a terrific Ifans) and a former flame, he's taken by surprise when he instead falls into an unlikely relationship with a similarly adrift young woman (Gerwig). Thanks to writer-director Noah Baumbach's sharply witty dialogue and poignant performances from Stiller and Gerwig, you can't help but root for these lost souls to find their happy ending.
The Bounty Hunter
Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler, Christine Baranski
PG-13 |
REVIEWED BY RENNIE DYBALL
ACTION COMEDY
Jennifer Aniston might just be the most charming woman on the planet. But she doesn't stand a chance on this bumbling ride. As Nicole Hurley, an accidental felon and the World's Hottest Newspaper Reporter, who's chasing a big scoop while trying to shake her bounty hunter ex-husband (Butler), Aniston still works her scrappy, endearing comedic sparkle. But it's all for naught. Bounty never targets an identity. Action movie? Romantic comedy? Goofy romp? It misses all the marks while parading a plot line as believable as Hurley's huge newspaper salary. Just as predictable: the exes' fate and the actors' buzzed-about chemistry, which, while tasty at times, is hardly enough to satisfy.
Chloe
Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Amanda Seyfried | R |
REVIEWED BY ALYNDA WHEAT
DRAMA
Catherine Stewart (Moore) may be an upscale doctor, but she's her own patented brand of dumb, hiring a stunning call girl (Seyfried) to bait her professor husband (Neeson) into taking a nibble. Only it's Catherine who gets bitten-by insecurities, an unhinged interloper and a marriage so empty the couple's showpiece Toronto house practically echoes. It's all meant to be a sexy, tony thriller, but the script embroils Moore and Seyfried in such mortifying tawdriness that it exposes Chloe for what it is: soft-core porn without the courage of its convictions.
>The star, 27, of two new films cops to his inner (romantic!) geek
MOST PEOPLE FIRST SAW YOU IN KNOCKED UP. STILL CLOSE WITH COSTAR SETH ROGEN?
Seth is like family. I used to live with him. In that movie we are doing what we did each night after work.
SURPRISE PERK OF DOING HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON?
I'm a Happy Meal toy! It's so cool.
IN SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE YOU'RE MANSCAPED. CRAZIEST THING YOU'VE DONE FOR LOVE?
Never any manscaping! I dropped about $3,000 on a Gucci diamond ring that wasn't an engagement ring for a girl.
>People.com POLL
Their film was a bit tepid, but Aniston and Butler certainly sizzled. Readers chime in on Jen's other top movie matchups:
19%
Owen Wilson
37%
Vince Vaughn
20%
Ben Affleck
>If Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law's city swashbucklers in Sherlock Holmes seem delightfully familiar, well, that's elementary, says director Guy Ritchie, whose sleuth update is now on DVD: "We were going for a sort of Butch-and-Sundance relationship." Thief Rachel McAdams adds spice."She's not naive and vulnerable."
>• The indie It Girl, 26, breaks out in her first studio film, opposite Ben Stiller-and savors the yummy perks of a big-budget movie.
THE BASICS
The Sacramento native studied English and theater at Barnard College and caught the acting bug early on: "At 13, I had this overwhelming feeling that I had to act or life would not be worth living."
SAY THAT AGAIN?
She's the queen of so-called "mumblecore" films-low budget, largely improvised movies shot on video. "I'm like Julia Roberts at art-house theaters in New York," she jokes.
LOVING BEN
Her costar Stiller "is so smart and charismatic. But he disappears in the role and I forgot who he was. When we were filming, people would stare and it took me a second to remember why."
HAM OR TURKEY?
"I couldn't believe there was a craft-service truck (on the Greenberg set). Every sandwich meat I could ever want was there."
>THEY'LL GET IT
Every kid can relate to Greg (Zachary Gordon) and his quest to climb the daunting middle school social ladder.
THE LAUGHS
Kid is full of insightful comedy-and the standard bits of bathroom and booger humor.
HAPPY PARENTS
Adults will enjoy the awkward memories.
>• No stranger to the '80s, the star of the new comedy Hot Tub Time Machine, 43, relives the Reagan era-the good, the bad and the ugly.
LET'S BE HONEST: DO YOU EVEN REMEMBER THE '80S?
Sure I do (laughing). Most of it. I went to the (Chicago) Bears Super Bowl in 1986 with Tim Robbins, right around the time when this film takes place. And I remember partying really hard.
SOME PRETTY BAD TRENDS BACK THEN-RECALL ANY YOU SPORTED?
Not only do I remember falling into those traps, but they're immortalized in my films. Some of the outfits you can tell came from before the time of costume designers.
ANY SONGS THAT REALLY TAKE YOU BACK?
That Lionel Richie song "All Night Long." And "Africa"-remember that? That probably was never not on the radio in the '80s.
THE FILM IS ABOUT LOSING TOUCH WITH FRIENDS-YOU STILL IN TOUCH WITH OLD PALS?
Definitely. I went to high school with the director, Steve Pink. I still have friends from when I was 17.
>The star, 27, of two new films cops to his inner (romantic!) geek
MOST PEOPLE FIRST SAW YOU IN KNOCKED UP. STILL CLOSE WITH COSTAR SETH ROGEN?
Seth is like family. I used to live with him. In that movie we are doing what we did each night after work.
SURPRISE PERK OF DOING HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON?
I'm a Happy Meal toy! It's so cool.
IN SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE YOU'RE MANSCAPED. CRAZIEST THING YOU'VE DONE FOR LOVE?
Never any manscaping! I dropped about $3,000 on a Gucci diamond ring that wasn't an engagement ring for a girl.
>People.com POLL
Their film was a bit tepid, but Aniston and Butler certainly sizzled. Readers chime in on Jen's other top movie matchups:
19%
Owen Wilson
37%
Vince Vaughn
20%
Ben Affleck
>If Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law's city swashbucklers in Sherlock Holmes seem delightfully familiar, well, that's elementary, says director Guy Ritchie, whose sleuth update is now on DVD: "We were going for a sort of Butch-and-Sundance relationship." Thief Rachel McAdams adds spice."She's not naive and vulnerable."
>• The indie It Girl, 26, breaks out in her first studio film, opposite Ben Stiller—and savors the yummy perks of a big-budget movie.
THE BASICS
The Sacramento native studied English and theater at Barnard College and caught the acting bug early on: "At 13, I had this overwhelming feeling that I had to act or life would not be worth living."
SAY THAT AGAIN?
She's the queen of so-called "mumblecore" films—low budget, largely improvised movies shot on video. "I'm like Julia Roberts at art-house theaters in New York," she jokes.
LOVING BEN
Her costar Stiller "is so smart and charismatic. But he disappears in the role and I forgot who he was. When we were filming, people would stare and it took me a second to remember why."
HAM OR TURKEY?
"I couldn't believe there was a craft-service truck [on the Greenberg set]. Every sandwich meat I could ever want was there."
>THEY'LL GET IT
Every kid can relate to Greg (Zachary Gordon) and his quest to climb the daunting middle school social ladder.
THE LAUGHS
Kid is full of insightful comedy—and the standard bits of bathroom and booger humor.
HAPPY PARENTS
Adults will enjoy the awkward memories.
>• No stranger to the '80s, the star of the new comedy Hot Tub Time Machine, 43, relives the Reagan era—the good, the bad and the ugly.
LET'S BE HONEST: DO YOU EVEN REMEMBER THE '80S?
Sure I do [laughing]. Most of it. I went to the [Chicago] Bears Super Bowl in 1986 with Tim Robbins, right around the time when this film takes place. And I remember partying really hard.
SOME PRETTY BAD TRENDS BACK THEN—RECALL ANY YOU SPORTED?
Not only do I remember falling into those traps, but they're immortalized in my films. Some of the outfits you can tell came from before the time of costume designers.
ANY SONGS THAT REALLY TAKE YOU BACK?
That Lionel Richie song "All Night Long." And "Africa"—remember that? That probably was never not on the radio in the '80s.
THE FILM IS ABOUT LOSING TOUCH WITH FRIENDS—YOU STILL IN TOUCH WITH OLD PALS?
Definitely. I went to high school with the director, Steve Pink. I still have friends from when I was 17.
