Easy Virtue
This delightful comedy comes from the Ealing Studios, which has always been famous for producing delightful comedies. Based on a play by Noel Coward, the movie is set at the end of the Roaring Twenties, and it concerns a brazen and notorious American widow who catches the eye of a young English aristocrat. Eventually, they have to leave the South of France and return to England, to face the wrath of an outraged family. Jessica Biel is terrific as the American ‘hussy’, while Ben Barnes is suitably insipid as her new love-crazed husband. Kristin Scott Thomas is outstanding as the family matriarch, desperately trying to hold together their crumbling country estate, while Colin Firth, as the head of the family, and a shell-shocked victim of WWI, is superbly content to drift through the movie, awaiting further developments. One of the best features of the movie is its screenplay. Much of Coward’s original pretentious dialogue, which, in hindsight, can now be regarded as ‘high camp’, has been replaced with more contemporary and witty puns, without destroying the inherent charm of the mad-capped plot. Granted, though, most of Coward’s better quips and barbs have still been retained, and, this gives this enchanting movie a lovely effervescent ‘fizz’.
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Screenwriter and director Paul J. Hogan first came to fame in 1994 with his Australian movie ‘Muriel’s Wedding’. This was also the movie which brought Australian actress Toni Collette to International Stardom. Hogan was to follow-up this success with the extraordinary hit ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ (1997), starring that Mega-Super-Star Julia Roberts. Hogan has always had an eye for interesting Leading Ladies! In his latest movie, ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’, Hogan introduces new-comer Isla Fisher to the silver screen. Isla is no Toni Collette or Julia Roberts, but, she possesses a vivacious personality which makes her quite enjoyable to watch throughout this entertaining comedy. Isla plays a serious shopper, who runs up a serious credit card debt, and then takes a job with a financial magazine writing about financial management, which she is hardly qualified to discuss. Various amusing incidents and situations then follow. Hidden away in the background is another new-comer, Krysten Ritter, who only has one or two unimportant scenes, but, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find that Paul J. Hogan was to be engineering something expressly for her right now!
Twilight
This low-key ‘vampire’ movie has been an outrageous success with its targeted teenage audience. It seems that teenagers, and especially teenage girls, have gone crazy about the movie. It’s not hard to see why. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke, the movie is a highly stylized modern day ‘Romeo and Juliet’ love story. The new girl in town meets in biology class, at the local high-school, the local moody ‘rebel’. And, of course, she falls in love with him. No guessing what he turns out to be! The movie is shot in soft ‘dewy’ focus. It has heaps of spectacular scenery, and, everyone in the film, including the young stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, are utterly gorgeous! Parents should not be too over-concerned. There are no horrific implications. No nasty ‘fangs’. Just lots and lots of schmaltzy romanticism.
Two Lovers
This is another movie with lots and lots of schmaltzy romance. Joaquin Phoenix plays a nice Jewish boy who is living at home with his parents, after a heart-rending breakup with his fiancée. He falls in love with a beautiful gentile girl, a new resident in their apartment block, not knowing that true love can be found with the daughter of family friends. This over indulgence of pure saccharine is directed by James Gray, and it also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw and Isabella Rossellini. It is amazing that all these creative people can make something that is so sentimental, yet entertaining.
Marley & Me
There really is nothing to this movie. Its simplicity is the key to its success. Adapted from a book by John Grogan, directed by David Frankel, and starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, the movie is all about a man and his dog. When happily married Owen and Jennifer think it is about time to start a family, they decide first to buy a puppy, and see if they are ready to cope with parenting. Marley, their Golden Labrador, quickly becomes Owen’s best friend, and, when material starts running out for his newspaper column, Owen begins writing about his exploits with Marley. Soon after that the column becomes a huge hit, and all sorts of exciting job offers pour in. The schmaltz level in this movie is actually pretty low. It’s really quite an enjoyable movie, and it makes wholesome and terrific family entertainment.
New in Town
Whoever told Renee Zellweger that she was a sexy woman obviously lied! Renee struts around in this movie like a French Poodle in heat, and she only succeeds in coming across as repulsive. The movie is pretty repulsive as well. Renee plays a high-powered corporate executive, sent from Miami to a quaint small town in the wilds of Minnesota, to oversee the restructuring of an unprofitable manufacturing plant. In the end, she falls in love with the town, the factory, its employees, and their union representative. Shudder!
Bride Wars
This comedy, starring Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway, is appalling. Even its subliminal theme of unrequited lesbian love fails to grab the imagination.
