Flower

First Hit: The acting lifts this bizarre storyline to funny, engaging and entertaining levels.

Before seeing this film, I was hard pressed to think that it would be well acted and funny. Why? The first scene has a young seventeen-year-old girl giving oral sex to a police officer, then blackmailing him for money so that she can bail her father out of jail.

We learn that Erica (Zoey Deutch) has been doing this often because the bail is over $15,000. She has two friends, Kala (Dylan Gelula) and Claudine (Maya Eshet), that assist by videotaping the oral sex events. This is how they blackmail the offenders.

What makes it funny is the matter of fact, open, and deliberate way the engagements are talked about and happen.

Erica has an odd and permissive relationship with her mother Laurie (Kathryn Hahn). Laurie is desperate for a relationship and finds Dale (Eric Edelstein) who also has an overweight son Luke (Joey Morgan) about Erica’s age. However, Luke has been in rehab for over a year because of opiates.

When Luke gets out of the rehab he stays with Laurie, Dale, and Erica. He’s a sad soul and clearly troubled. Erica does her best to engage him including offering oral sex. "It's not like we're related" and "I'm an expert at oral sex." The way these lines are delivered are priceless.

What we discover is that Luke hides his feelings and emotions through eating and drugs because he indicates he was sexually assaulted by Will Jordan (Adam Scott) a grade school teacher.

Erica, Kala, Claudine and Luke set out to expose Will and in this way, get some revenge for Luke and blackmail Will for money that Erica can use to get her father out of jail.

When we get to the end, we find out the truth and the characters find out their own truth.

The events and the way this story unfolds is amusing and quirky. The characters are odd, believable, and fun.

Deutch is excellent. Her laissez faire yet intelligent approach to getting through her life was amazing. I loved watching her be this character on the screen. Morgan was wonderful as the young man attempting to do right at the detriment of his own health. Gelula and Eshet were perfect as the supportive friends. They wonderfully added to this comedic adventure. Hahn was wonderful and the supportive yet exasperated lonely mother. Edelstein was good as the new man in Laurie’s life. Scott was strong as the accused former teacher who loves bowling.  Alex McAulay and Matt Spicer wrote a funny and engaging script. Max Winkler did a wonderful job of making this film work.

Overall: I was pleasantly surprised at the acting and the funny bits in this film.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

First Hit:  Uneven, partially compelling and entertaining enough to keep me engaged.

Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) is an anonymous film librarian for a major magazine. He daydreams about taking and having adventures in his life especially when they include co-worker Cheryl Melhoff (Kristen Wiig) whom he likes but cannot seem to connect with. An example the film uses is when he cannot even leave her a wink on a dating site because his profile is so boring and lacking information.

The magazine is going to be going digital and therefore his and most of his co-workers’ jobs will be eliminated. Leading the change in the magazine is Ted Hendricks (Adam Scott). But for the last issue, famous photographer Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn) sends a negative (#25) for the magazine to use.

However, Mitty and his co-worker Hernando (Adrian Martinez) cannot find it in the role that was sent by O’Connell. Where this negative actually resides was no surprise and easily deduced. However because Hendricks is pushing to see the negative and Mitty doesn’t have it, he decides to find O’Connell. This trip takes him to explore many frozen north countries and towns.

Some of these scenes and cinematography are magnificent and make one want to go visit them. However, the drunken Icelandic helicopter pilot scenes weren’t necessary and put in for comedy relief. Another one of many writing and direction errors. Yes, there is enough going for the film it is watchable.

Stiller was, at times, fun to watch and does his role as well as he can do it. However, other scenes seemed to just move the plot along. These poorly conceived scenes are part acting issues but poor directing - by Stiller. Penn was fun to watch and to see his natural aging bringing out a deeper character was good. Scott was both good and poor in his role. The beard was a poor wardrobe and character choice. Wiig is one of the better and more consistent parts of this film. Steve Conrad wrote an over ambitious script by trying to put too many twists into it. Stiller, as previously mentioned, tried to do too much with the film (think – diving from Subway platform into a window) and at other times didn’t do enough.

Overall:  This was entertaining enough to watch and stay with it.

Friends with Kids

First Hit:  At times meaningful and insightful while at other times, crass, long, and uninteresting.

There are moments in the film where tears flowed, other times where I cringed with disgust, and other times I was waiting for the next scene.

Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt) is best friends with Jason (Adam Scott). They live in the same building and have known each other since college when they dated briefly. Both in their late 20’s they have relied on each other for everything but mostly for their deep friendship and funny interesting conversations.

They have other college friends (couples) who have married and have children. When they see their friend’s lives, they cringe with sadness. Ben and Missy (played by Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig respectively), are filled with desire for wild sex with each other and they do so in anyplace they can find. But when a baby comes it all changes.

Scenes with them as they begin to ignore and ridicule each other are very sad and directly reflective of what happens to a couple when they substitute living with alcohol. The other couple Leslie and Alex (Maya Rudolph and Chris O’Dowd respectively) have a child, have gotten out of shape, and their house is a chaotic mess.

There forms of communication are yelling, ignoring, and nagging at each other but you have a sense there is something there, a staying power in their relationship. Julie and Jason want to have a child and decide that they will have a child together, not be married and have their vaunted sex and social life outside of their equally split job of raising their child.

At first it is very idyllic and it works. After they get a great start in raising their baby, they each find other romantic partners. The film then becomes less of a comedy and more about digging deeper into what love really is. This movie has great lines and overly crass lines.

A point of context is; at the defining moment of Jason and Julie’s relationship (at the very end of the movie) he wants to prove something and the way the script is written it felt crass and not about love.

Westfeldt, didn’t do it for me as the female character. There seemed to be something missing from her being fully the character and maybe it was because she wrote the script and also attempted to direct herself. As script writer I thought much of the swearing was more than needed - it didn’t make the movie more hip. However, some of the dinner scenes had great dialogue. As a director, there were times the film was very lost - looking for a path and other times it was on target. Again, the dinner scenes with all the couples in attendance were the best things she shot. Scott was much better in his role and seemed fully engaged in his part. His shallowness was perfect as well as the depth-ness he expressed as he realized what was important to him. He carried these feelings with equal clarity. Hamm was best as the sarcastic drunk while Wiig was very good as the woman who found herself in a hopeless relationship and was deciding to drown herself in wine. Rudolph was intense and occasionally wise and really displayed the kind of irritation one can get when their overwhelmed with parenthood. O’Dowd was good as the husband who was taking things in stride and also giving up on having a life he once knew.

Overall: An OK film, something to watch on video when you want some entertainment.

Leap Year

First Hit: The film was reasonably entertaining even though the story was telegraphed and there were no surprises.

Amy Adams is a very fine actress. And without her in this film I’m sure I wouldn’t have found it entertaining at all.

She has an ability to express so many feelings and thoughts without dialogue which places her on the top shelf of today's actresses. Unfortunately this film doesn’t allow her to fully practice her craft.

The obvious story line for this film is that she plays a social climber with a long time boyfriend, whom she wants to marry, and accidentally finds someone else she wants to marry when she walks into a small town bar in Ireland.

The rest of the film is about entertaining the audience through pratfalls and trials and tribulations so that we care about the ending we already know is coming. Yes, the film is entertaining enough but something about the minimal amount of chemistry between Anna and Declan (Matthew Goode) kept me wondering why him. Yes, he is a solid sort of guy, is good looking, but I couldn’t really see what the attraction was for either of them.

However, this minimal chemistry was far more than the chemistry between Anna and her long time boyfriend Jeremy (played by Adam Scott). Their relationship felt like a business relationship and totally devoid of any deep romantic love. So, if Anna had to pick between the two men, it had to be Declan.

Adams made this film watchable; I just wish it would have been better written with deeper and more interesting character development. Goode’s performance was a little too distant for me and he didn’t bring much vibrancy to the role. However, I would have to say that much of his performance, or lack thereof, was probably due to the script and the mediocre direction received by Anand Tucker.

Overall: This is a quiet interruptible Sunday evening film or video with your girlfriend, lover or wife.