The Rum Diary

First Hit:  This film started strong and fully engaged me, but started falling apart in the middle and by the end it was definitely time to go.

My guess is that this film was a way to honor Hunter S. Thompson who wrote the novel from which the screenplay is based. I did wonder if this story and film were a way to reflect Thompson’s real or imagined escapades.

Having read most of Thompson’s stories and stories about Thompson; Johnny Depp played Kemp (story’s main character) much like Thompson (his real life friend) himself. 

The film traces Kemp arriving in Puerto Rico to take a job at the local paper. He’s looking for a place to land and to find a career. The paper is being run by Lotterman (played by Richard Jenkins), a crusty old guy with a bad toupee who is halfway attempting to save the paper. Kemp learns early that he’s the only semi-sane reporter on staff as the other prime reporter Moburg (played by Giovanni Ribisi) is perpetually high on something but mostly rum.

Kemp gets courted to write positive words about a team of people, led by Sanderson (played by Aaron Eckhart), who are attempting to build hotels on an island owned by the US Government. Sanderson, has a girlfriend named Chenault (played by Amber Heard) whom Kemp falls in love with.

The longer the film goes the more it meanders. Half way through the film, I was left wondering what the point would be in the end. At the end, I didn’t care what the point was.

Depp did a good impression of Thompson for about ¾ of the film but lost the film lost it point the longer it went. Jenkins was good as the old newspaper guy who didn’t care much. Ribisi was very good as the perpetually high reporter who never went to work. Eckhart was strong as the sleazy guy who thinks he can get anyone to do what he wants. Heard was sweet and sultry as “the girl”. Bruce Robinson wrote this meandering screenplay and directed it the same way.

Overall: I had high hopes for this film and they faded by the middle of its 2 hour presentation.

Friends with Benefits

First Hit: Smart fun writing and great chemistry result in a totally wonderful, engaging and interesting film.

There is nothing like a smart script to make a film satisfying.

The dialogue here is clever, interesting, up-to-date, and downright spot on. The next step for a film is to have a clear idea of what the film wants to say, and here Will Gluck directed this with clear unfailing vision.

The coup de grace was the choice of actors. Here Justin Timberlake plays Dylan, a mathematically challenged designer, to the hilt. He is handsome, slightly “damaged” by his childhood, caring of people, wanting to do the right thing, but doesn’t have the chops to settle down with one woman.

In the other camp is Mila Kunis playing Jamie a high-level headhunter who wants her prince charming to sweep her off her feet and her damaged view of relationships keep men away after a few short go-a-rounds. She is whippet smart, outgoing, fun, and has a mom that cannot even tell her the ethnicity of her father.

Jamie contacts Dylan while searching for a head designer for GQ magazine. He comes to New York City to “check out his options” and go through the interview process. From the get go there is chemistry. It is fun, spontaneous, quick-witted and a delight to watch. She “sells” him that this is the right move for him and he takes the job.

Arriving in New York, knowing no one, he and Jamie become fast friends. And here is the kicker as to why this film works; you believe they are and can be friends. One evening while they are lamenting about past relationships, they decide they can have sex with each other without any emotion or feelings; “just like playing tennis”. Of course they do (hence the film title) and their sex is amazing for each of them.

The frank repartee in and out of the bed is out-loud funny and inwardly touching. Their family representatives as played by Richard Jenkins (Dylan’s dad) and Patricia Clarkson (Jamie’s mom) are amazingly great in their roles and only add to the intrigue. Woody Harrelson, playing Tommy GQ’s gay sportswriter is hilarious and perfectly cast.

 Timberlake is downright perfect in this role and, in my mind, has shown he has wonderful acting chops. My personal favorite scene is in the bedroom when he starts to dance and rap to a Kris Kross song. It shows his musical talents, dancing ability, all while staying in character. Kunis is sublime. She is open, beautiful, sharp, and downright loveable. She carried her share of the load fantastically. Jenkins had me in tears when he talked about the “love of his life” while in his underwear at the airport. Clarkson was a perfect blend of part hippy, part fox, and part mother who could never really stay in one place or with one man. She is a hoot. Harrelson seems to know how to play so many different characters with belief. Here, as a gay man, he’s fun. Keith Merryman and David A. Newman get kudos for writing such a smart script. From the outset the words clearly define the times while engaging the audience. Gluck caught the mood, and dynamics in a perfect way – outstanding.

 Overall: We all know the end of the film when it starts, but it makes no difference because the joy in this movie is in the ride so don’t miss it.

Hall Pass

First Hit: A better than average comedy.

The premise of Hall Pass is that two married men, who like to fondly remember they college days as ladies men, get a free week away from their marriage.

The wives think that by giving the men Hall Passes they will realize they have it best with their current wives. Rick (played by Owen Wilson) and Fred (played by Jason Sudeikis) are the husbands married to Maggie (played by Jenna Fischer) and Grace (played by Christina Applegate) respectively. When they receive their Hall Pass they spend their time with their friends (who want to watch them get laid), at odd places like Applebee’s to try to pick up women.

The film is mostly about their haphazard attempts to find women to sleep with. The scenes are out-loud funny with a ring of truth running through it all. The women also discover that by granting a Hall Pass to their husbands that they’ve also given themselves a Hall Pass. What happens to Maggie and Grace is with more intent and more calculating than the men.

Wilson is in one of his better roles here. He just isn't a smart-alecky guy. Here he is more controlled and through this control he is actually funnier. Sudeikis is, at times, the over the top guy. The scene of him masturbating in his car is pretty off the wall and funny. Fischer is very good as Wilson’s wife who has to rediscover her love. Applegate is wonderful as Sudeikis’ wife. She is sexy, smart and is an excellent casting choice. Nicky Whelan plays a coffee shop girl that Wilson is infatuated with and she does a good job of being that woman. Richard Jenkins is really funny as a character named Coakley who is the Wilson's and Sudeikis' sex and woman mentor. Pete Jones and Peter Farrelly wrote this very tight and funny script. Bobby and Peter Farrelly co-directed this film very tightly and with a real bent to bring out the real funny aspects of married men.

Overall: This was an unexpected joy because it kept its reins in enough to make it both funny and with a point.

Eat Pray Love

First Hit: Although the film is long, I enjoyed it because there are strings of the truth in it.

I’m usually not fond of seeing films based on books I’ve read. This one, for me, captured the important points of the book and although it didn’t do it wonderfully, the points were there to hear (not see) if you paid attention.

Based on the book of the same name by Elizabeth (Liz) Gilbert, the story is about finding inner peace and transforming the main character into being of love versus looking for love outside of herself. Because I’ve done my own inner work, have traveled the world, sat in meditation and silence for 3 months in one stint, and have engaged in spiritual retreats in communities around Europe, U.S, the Far East and India I have a perspective that many other watchers of this film will not have.

It is difficult to express what goes on in a meditative mind on film. Changes in how one behaves in the world which are developed through meditation can take years to assimilate into one’s life. Showing this in a film is difficult.

What can be shown are some of the processes the person goes through, initial results, and more importantly perceptive dialogue. Although this film is long, it isn't long enough to cover the Liz's real journey then and how it is still unfolding. If I were to adjust it, I’d take out some of the time in Italy and add more in the India segment.

This is a film about a woman’s growth into the beginning stages of her spiritual evolution. The key factors expresses are: Forgiveness – one has to forgive themselves.

The path to love is through loving oneself. See things with equanimity which will require balance. Say “yes” with an openness to learn from the people, decisions, obstacles and paths which unfold in front of you in each and every moment. Takes risks and step out of the bounds from which we perceive is our security. Security is an illusion, doesn’t exist in nature and therefore it doesn’t exist.

Julia Roberts is a fine actress. I love her laugh and in this film, I’ve never seen her be more at peace (inner) with herself. I would bet she’s done her own work over the past few years and that this performance just wasn’t acting. However, the problem with reading the book first I felt as if Roberts was too old for the part but all in all she did a very good job with it. Richard Jenkins was very good as Richard from Texas. Javier Bardem was good in his expression of Felipe. Again however, my impression of him from the book was very different, here Felipe was quite buff and younger than I expected. Ryan Murphy did a credible job of directing this story.

Overall: I enjoyed the film and filled in some of the pieces that were missing from the memory of the book.

Dear John

 First Hit: This film was designed to bring tears and evoke emotion which it does.

This was an obvious film from the beginning and stayed obvious to the end. I mean with a title like "Dear John" and the main character is in the Army, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out one of the story lines. It doesn’t necessarily mean it was a poor film; it is just means that the audience knows what's coming. And, frankly I enjoyed it.

Savannah’s (played by Amanda Seyfried) purse falls off the edge of pier, and John (played by Channing Tatum) was standing nearby and he jumps off the pier and recovers the purse. There is an instant attraction and so they start seeing each other.

They have two weeks of dating because they are both just visiting the area. During this time, as you suspect, their love for each other grows. However, she has to go back to school and he has to return to his Special Forces unit and head off to unknown places.

They stay connected by writing each other long letters. He promises to be back and out of the Army in a year, but then September 11th happens and he decides to stay in the Army, for the good of the cause, instead of coming home to her.

Seyfried, is attractive, interesting and holds up her end of the film. Tatum is charming, smoldering and attractive enough to ensure the chemistry between these two worked. Richard Jenkins plays Tatum’s father who is a bit autistic and obsessed with coins. And as Jenkins generally is, he is perfect and wonderful in this role.

Overall: This is a safe predictable film and enjoyable enough to sit back and let yourself be bitten by it's emotional predictability.