The Oath

First Hit: Compelling and oddly interesting story about what happens to a family when they disagree about a restrictive mandate by the government.

I do think the idea around this film was interesting and one that would spark a host of anger and division in our country. The program, as defined here, was to have everyone in the country sign a loyalty oath to the United States and the current President. The government attempts to make clear that there will be no retaliation to any individual if they don’t sign it, but if you do sign you will be rewarded, including tax breaks. Because this is such an important issue, the President allows people nearly a year to make their decision by giving them until the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, to sign The Oath.

Chris (Ike Barinholtz) and his wife Kai (Tiffany Haddish) are adamantly opposed to such government intrusion in their lives and join campaigns designed to reject The Oath. Time passes, and Chris’ support and engagement continues to grow. He’s always looking at the news and getting upset as government troops tamp down protests against The Oath. Kai, supports her husband’s actions of support, but is less engaged to make a big deal of the oppression.

As Thanksgiving approaches and Mason and Kai are expecting all of Mason’s family to join them, tensions  and anticipation rise. After the parents arrive. Dad is hard of hearing and is technologically challenged, and when Chris asks him to turn down the television, hilarity ensues.

Then his sister Eleanor (Nora Dunn) arrives with her husband (Jay Duplass) and children. The husband is sick and is in bed through the entire film, until the end. Eleanor has many of the same beliefs as Chris. Family animosity arrives when Chris’ brother Pat (Jon Barinholtz) and his girlfriend Abbie (Meredith Hagner) come to the door. The arguments begin when Chris calls Abbie “Katie” because that was the name of Pat’s previous girlfriend.

Both Abbie and Pat have signed the Patriot Oath and are ultra conservative. The characters are made to have the look and feel of conservative Trump surrogates. This causes the dinner conversation to be both hilarious and pointedly filled with anger. All during the erupting fights Kai is attempting to calm Chris down so that they can make it through Thanksgiving. All the while, watching the news, Chris learns people are getting killed during protests against The Oath.

Then on Black Friday, agents from the CPU (a government investigative agency) come to the door to ask Chris why he’s not signed The Oath. Because everyone else in the house has signed the paper, he’s adamant he’s got a right to not sign it and without a warrant order’s them out of the house.

The agents Mason (Billy Magnussen) and Peter (John Cho) are sort of a good cop bad cop team. Peter tries to keep the situation calm while Mason is highly jacked up on conservative right-wing righteousness. When Mason’s aggression really elevates to a high level, all hell breaks loose in the home and the story and film gets very dark.

Ike Barinholtz comes off as acting his role, versus being the role. Starting with the initial scene, the tone of this pressing of this role starts and stays all the way through. He seemed to overact the part. I think another actor would have made this role and film more compelling. Haddish, on the other hand, was excellent. I loved her dance through her maniac husband's issues with the government and his family, with her love for their daughter. Magnussen was excellent as the very right-wing conservative maniac. His intensity created most all the film’s tension. Cho was excellent as the mediator CPU agent. Jon Barinholtz was very good as the conservative brother that supported and protected his brother in the end. Dunn was excellent as the sister who mediates the brothers differences while being a calming voice through the film. Hagner was wonderful as Pat’s conservative girlfriend. Ike Barinholtz is a better writer than actor and his direction of everyone except himself was strong.

Overall: In this highly charged political environment and with a President who likes loyalty, this film is very poignant.

Beatriz at Dinner

First Hit: At times funny, but more of a sad and depressing drama to me and I’m not sure why the producers only tagged this as a comedy.

This film started interestingly for me for a couple of reasons. One, the locations where this is filmed are very familiar. Santa Monica and Newport Beach, where most the film takes place, are places where I grew up. And two, I also think that there is truth to the energy healing that Beatriz (Salma Hayek) performs as her vocation.  At the cancer center in Santa Monica where she works, the patients believe she is critical to their healing.

One of her patients, Suzana (Natalia Abelleyra), gained strength and healing through the work Beatriz did. Suzana’s mother Cathy (Connie Britton) has invited Beatriz to Newport so that Beatriz can give her a massage prior to a business dinner she and her husband Grant (David Warshofsky) are giving for Doug Strutt (John Lithgow) his third wife Jeana (Amy Landecker) and Alex and Shannon (Jay Duplass and Chole Sevigny respectively).

They are at dinner to discuss a big land deal that will allow them make a lot of money although it appears that they already have enough money based on the home they are in and cars they drive.

After Beatriz gives Cathy a massage, she’s asked to stay for dinner, as a friend, because her car doesn’t start and she is stuck there for a while.

The comedy and drama really start when Beatriz starts to speak to this obviously conservative, money focused, and egocentric people. She tells them about when she was a little girl and when her father caught a white octopus and asked her to kill it by kicking it. When she reached down and touched it she felt the pain of the octopus and from then on she became aware that all humans and animals are connected.

Doug shares about his killing a rhino in Africa and passes around a phone picture that so upset Beatriz that she throws the phone across the room at Doug. The hosts, Cathy and Grant ask Beatriz to leave the room and home.

Before she does there is a sequence where she gives thought to murdering Doug, then the film goes even darker and more depressing.

Hayek was good and she was believable but the script and story was a letdown. I’m not sure the flashbacks of her on a river looking for her white goat or the other dream sequences served the film or story. Lithgow was excellent as an arrogant, self-absorbed, conservative, and egocentric guest. I bought his character fully. The rest of the cast was good and nothing stood out. Mike White wrote this screenplay and it seemed to be a bit too esoteric. As I said I don’t think the dream sequences worked and the ending was not called for. Miguel Arteta did well in directing the cast, but think he could have effectively cut some of the dream sequences and maybe asked to create additional effective scenes. It is almost like this film could have been a good 1 hour movie special.

Overall:  I was hopeful for this film, but it failed for many reasons.

Table 19

First Hit:  Poorly conceived, not funny, and poorly executed.

When a film isn’t clearly defined, and has no real point, the audience will struggle. When a film adds poor execution to a lack of direction it ought to be tabled.

There is so little about this film that works, I cannot imagine the producer seeing it for the first time in the screening room saying, I can’t wait to get this distributed. So why did someone put this in theaters? They may have been hoping that the stars who are in it would fill seats ($).

Briefly, Eloise (Anna Kendrick) has become the ex-maid of honor after being dumped via text from the bride’s brother Teddy (Wyatt Russell). The story tells us she had known the bride her whole life and she was shocked to find out that she was also dumped from the bridal party as maid of honor. I did like the scene where she kept checking both the regrets and acceptance boxes on the wedding invitation. In her own disgust at her behavior, she finally sets it on fire and then puts out the flames and sends the burnt invitation back to the bride Francie Millner (Rya Meyers). Arriving at the wedding, her seating assignment is Table 19 the table furthest from bride a groom. This is the table for outcasts, people who the bride and groom wished had sent their regrets.

When Eloise gets to the table, she finds Nanny Jo (June Squibb), Bina and Jerry Kepp (Lisa Kudrow and Craig Robinson) Renzo Eckberg (Tony Revolori), and Walter Thimple (Stephen Merchant). Eloise explains the entire room table setup because she did the seating chart and why the people she’s sitting with are not important to the wedding party. With this knowledge, the table leaves the wedding party and spends time outside learning more about each other.

There are several scenes when the camera is aimed at the wedding reception and wedding party and it is just wasted film. There is no reason for the camera pan and these scenes add no value to the story. There is a set of scenes when Eloise meets a handsome guy named Huck (Thomas Cocquerel) who dances with her, but the team at Table 19 find out later he’s the groom to a wedding just down the hall. There are several set-up scenes which could have evolved into a funny sub-plot or something interesting but they all failed.

The film tries to be funny and it has some wonderful actors who could have made it funny like Kendrick, Squib, Kudrow, Robinson, and Merchant, but most everything failed to be funny. The other side of the film wanted to be dramatic with the subplot of having Eloise pregnant with Teddy’s baby but it failed to gain traction.

Kendrick was as good as she could be with the material she had. I’d suggest that she do a better job of script selection. Squib was thoroughly underutilized and didn’t have an opportunity to share her comedic chops. Kudrow and Robinson as a couple failed. There was no chemistry and I could buy their story of how they got together. We know they both can be funny given good material but… alas. Merchant had a very odd role which if stretched could have been funny, but again the script and direction failed. Revolori was interesting as I couldn’t figure out why he was in the film. His character didn’t fit and the comedic scenes with him didn’t work. Walking up to a table and telling a young woman about the size of his penis didn’t work. Meyers was gracious in her minimal dramatic role. Russell was mediocre in his role. I know the role has him being a bit slow and not too bright, but it didn’t work. Jay and Mark Duplass wrote this strangely weak and poorly constructed screenplay that really had no real beginning, middle, or end. It just started at one level, ran for a couple hours and fizzled out all-together. Jeffery Blitz had no chance to make this film work because of the script, but it is important to note that his direction didn't help the film either.

Overall:  One of the worst films that will come out in 2017.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home

First Hit:  Although I didn’t anticipate much, this film was touching and more interesting than I originally thought.

Jeff (Jason Segel) lives at home. He’s over 30 years old, watches the film “Signs” often, smokes a lot of pot, and is totally lost in his life.

Trying to find his way, he looks for his own signs that will give him a clearer picture of what he needs to do with his life. Jeff is a pacifist and mourns the loss of his father.

His brother Pat (played by Ed Helms) is struggling in his marriage to Linda (Judy Greer) and is trying to spice his life up with a new car. Jeff and Pat’s mother Sharon (played by Susan Sarandon) works in an office, doesn’t know how to motivate her son Jeff and is being admired by someone in her office.

Jeff gets a call from someone who is asking for “Kevin”. There is no Kevin so Jeff, while on an errand for his mom, leaves the house and then runs into a young man with “Kevin” written on his shirt. He thinks it is a sign. He eventually runs into his brother Pat.

Pat on the other hand, has bought a Porsche which he and his wife cannot afford because he thinks he’s missing out on life. They run into Linda who is meeting up with a male friend. Sad that Pat doesn’t talk with or listen to her any longer, she ends up in a hotel room with him.

Then Sharon getting anonymous instant messages from someone at the office has her in an emotional tizzy. The ingredients are interesting and result in a very nice finale.

Segel is very good as Jeff the wayward slacker lost in life. Helms is good as the highly wound-up brother who just wants something different in his life and doesn’t see he needs to look within. Sarandon is wonderful as the lost mother of two boys who are on their own unhealthy paths. Greer is great as the wife who has had enough and wants things to change. It was very nice to see Rae Dawn Chong again in her role as Sharon’s office friend. Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass co-wrote and co-directed this pleasantly interesting and engaging film.

Overall: This is a thoughtful and interesting film.

Cyrus

First Hit: Disturbing, insightful, funny and well-acted film which surprised me.

I’m not a Jonah Hill fan; however as Cyrus he is dead-on perfect. He plays a character who is disturbed, overly protected by his mother Molly (played by Marisa Tomei), intelligent, and very shielding of his relationship with his mother.

However, the film is really a vehicle for John C. Reilly to display both his comedic and dramatic talents. John (played by Reilly) is lost after his divorce 7 years ago. His ex-wife Jamie (played by Catherine Keener) is getting married but spends a lot of time trying to get John better adjusted because he is floundering. She makes him go to a party where he makes some funny and very awkward attempts to make conversation with some of the guests.

Then he meets Molly who sees him and accepts him immediately. They spend the evening together and eventually he meets her son Cyrus who pretends to like him, but really is plotting to get him out of the house. There is nothing hidden from the audience but it doesn’t matter the characters are strong enough to make it work.

Reilly is very good as the lonely guy who thinks of himself as Shrek with no hope of meeting someone as amazing as Molly. He is able to show a multitude of feelings and expressions without it being forced. He is natural in this role. Tomei is wonderful. Seeing her in a role reminded me about how good she is and why I like seeing her in films. Hill, as I stated before, is very good in this role and embodies Cyrus, a boy/man who is lost but talented and intelligent.

Overall: I liked this film and thought that writers and directors Mark and Jay Duplass created a wonderful, thoughtful and insightful film.