Brad's Status

First Hit:  What I loved about this film was Brad’s (Ben Stiller) authentic realistic internal dialogue about comparing.

Although there were comedic moments, they are mostly situationally driven, this film is a strong film about learning to not compare yourself with others.

Brad is living with his wife Melanie (Jenna Fischer) and their son Troy (Austin Abrams) in Sacramento. Brad created a non-profit and has made a decent living from this and Melanie works for the government. Troy is a musician and has done well in school and is now ready to tour and interview colleges. Brad and Troy head back to Boston to visit Harvard and Tuffs Universities. Tuffs happens to be Brad’s alma mater.

However, this trip brings up Brad’s college friendships and how all of them have become wealthy. He lays awake at night thinking about his friend’s success and how he and Melanie will be able to afford Troy’s education. Brad becomes obsessed with his financial lot in life. Melanie tells him everything will be alright as they will figure it out as they’ve always have done. However, Brad’s obsession won’t stop.

All of this is shared with the audience with voice over as we watch Brad on a trip with Troy to visit these schools.

At Harvard, Troy mistakenly misses his interview day and Brad, after trying to brag to other waiting parents, is now upset at Troy. Being a protective and caring father, he loudly argues with the admissions staff, trying to find a way to make the interview happen and embarrasses Troy and himself.

He and Melanie remember that one of Brad’s famous rich college friends Craig Fisher (Michael Sheen) [as a visiting professor] teaches a government communications course at Harvard, and has some pull, being a well known author and former White House insider. Reluctantly, Brad calls him and discovers that their other two college friends all have been in communication with each other but have left him out. He thinks it is because he lives in Sacramento, has a non-profit, and makes very little money.

This is the theme of the film, looking at the past and comparing oneself with others. Meeting some of Troy’s musician friends, he gets re-reminded of his past idealistic view of the world and starts pushing his position on Troy’s friends. They show him how his comparing mind is his struggle, not the money he makes. The point is driven home when Ananya (Shazi Raja) tells him where she grew up, just having some food and water was a very rewarding thing and that his current lifestyle is the envy of millions in the world. She tries to put it into perspective for him.

The other aspect of the film I really liked is how parents can feel when their child does well in life by making good choices. The sweet and difficult conversations between Troy and Brad are very well done.

Stiller is strong as the self-critical, obsessive, and comparing father who wants to be seen as some of his friends are seen, rich and famous. Abrams was good as the son. He was appropriately embarrassed and concerned by his father’s behavior. I loved the scene of he and his father wrestling on the bed. Sheen was very good as the arrogant old college mate of Brad. Raja was great as the idealist and realistic Harvard College friend of Troy. Fischer was very good as Brad’s wife. Mike White both wrote and directed this film and I thought many of the insights about how the comparing mind can take one away from actually living life as it shows up to you based on your decisions.

Overall:  I think this film presented a fairly realistic view how comparing success in the business world with my one’s longtime friends can hamper accepting life as it is.

While We're Young

First Hit:  Uneven and the up moments happen more often than the down moments.

There are moments of insight, like when Josh (Ben Stiller) says that he’s been too focused on himself (his ego) and how he’ll be seen in the world instead of just doing the work.

He’s a documentary film maker that is 8 years stuck in a project. He’s an idealist and caught in his idealism. His wife Cornelia (Naomi Watts) has a famous documentary film maker father Leslie (Charles Grodin) and this adds all sorts of complications for all three of them.

Josh and Leslie strike up a friendship with Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried) who are almost 20 years younger than them. They enjoy the aliveness of this young couple and spend lots of time with them. But is the relationship really what it is perceived to be? That is the question Josh needs to figure out.

Stiller is OK, there is something about his intensity that worked for and against him in this role. Watts is far better and watching her learn hip-hop was funny and wonderful. Driver is strong as the guy who will bend the truth and look honest doing it. Seyfried was very good and her ability to be seen in the film this well as the fourth character shows her strength. Grodin was great as the crotchety, yet kind, documentarian. Noah Baumbach wrote and directed the film. There are strong moments as well as moments that needed to be cleaned up.

Overall:  It was enjoyable enough and there are some funny bits in this film that make it entertaining.

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.

Tower Heist

First Hit:  There are some very strong funny laughs in this totally improbable story.

From the beginning of the film, there are strong laughs, out loud laughs.

Maybe it helped that the woman behind me was fully engaged in her very out-loud amusing laugh at many of the situations. But like her, at times, I found some of this film very funny.

Arthur Shaw (played by Alan Alda) is a Bernie Madoff type character who has been accused of inappropriate use of investor money. “The Towers” where he lives in the penthouse suite which has his pool on the roof and a hundred dollar bill painted on the bottom.

“The Towers” (looking like Trump Tower), has a staff that is there to fully serve the residents. The manager is Josh Kovacs (played by Ben Stiller) who has a staff of willing workers including Charlie (played by Casey Affleck) the concierge, Lester (played by Stephen Henderson) the doorman, and Odessa (played by Gabourey Sidibe) as a chambermaid.

There is also a resident named Mr. Fitzhugh (played by Matthew Broderick). When Shaw is arrested trying to sneak out of the country by FBI special agent Claire Denham (played by Tea Leoni), the staff realizes that all their money, invested by Shaw, is gone. After a suicide attempt by Lester, the staff and Mr. Fitzhugh decide to find the $20 million dollar stash that is believed Shaw has hidden in his penthouse.

Also in the Penthouse is Shaw’s pride possession, a Ferrari once owned by Steve McQueen. The staff, guided by, their expert thief Slide (played by Eddie Murphy) set out to find the $20M only to find more but not in the form they expected.

Stiller is perfect as the controlling, yet flexible, Manager. Alda is beyond perfect as the arrogant financier who thinks he’s getting away with something. Murphy is great as the smart-alecky thief. Affleck is very good as the overly cautious father-to-be, who is only looking to have his baby born healthy. Sidibe is funny in this comedic role. Broderick is more forlorn than usual which fits him. Leoni is very funny as the FBI agent who wants to play by the rule book, gets drunk well, and wants The Tower’s staff to get their just deserts. Ted Griffin and Jeff Nathanson wrote a funny and impossible story. Brett Ratner did a good job of pulling laughs from the characters and dealing with improbability.

Overall: This film has a great cast, was funny often but what and how they rob Shaw was not realistic.

Greenberg

First Hit: A mildly entertaining film with one wonderful performance and one mediocre performance.

Ben Stiller plays another version of Ben Stiller. Comparing this to Woody Allen, who tends to play a version of himself in films, I am more intrigued by Allen and am usually bored by Stiller. Seeing Stiller playing another version himself was disappointing because he came off as self absorbed and not intellectually stimulating enough to warrant this sort of exposure.

Here he plays Roger Greenberg a guy who has just been released from a mental hospital in New York and has decided to stay at his brother Phillip’s (played by Chris Messina) house in California. Phillip and his wife Carol (played by Susan Taylor) have a nanny Florence Marr (played by Greta Gerwig) who becomes Roger’s contact point while he stays in their home for a month or so.

Roger is prone to fits of defensive anger and rudeness. He thinks he’s right and expresses his rightness regardless of how it may affect others. Roger is alone, lonely and generally depressed. The problem with all this is there’s little to indicate how or why he ended up in a mental hospital or what created this self absorbed person.

Conversely we have a small number of scenes with Florence at the beginning which give us a very clear picture of who she is and how she operates in the world.

So is this excellent acting by Gerwig and poor acting by Stiller? Or is this poor story development? My bet is that it is a little of both but mostly because Stiller continues to be Stiller and he just isn’t that interesting and is unwilling to embody the character he is playing.

Stiller is mediocre as Roger. Gerwig is wonderful at Florence. She was totally believable and made this film worth watching. Noah Baumbach had a good cast (except Stiller) to direct and this might have as interesting as “Margot at the Wedding” and “The Squid and the Whale” but fell short.

Overall:  This is worth watching on video but only if you have some time to kill.