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June 2008

Grace Is Gone

Grace Is Gone John Cusack 3 out of 5 stars Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

I like John Cusack. I hate movies with kid actors. Imagine my dilemma when I received “Grace is Gone,” a weeper in which Cusack suddenly finds himself the sole parent for his two young daughters. Taking a bullet for Cusack’s sake, I tried to take in “Grace Is Gone” with an open mind. And guess what? Director/writer James Strouse tried so hard to make Cusack’s Stanley Phillips believable he turned him into a lifeless zombie who’s more bound up than a bar of government cheese. Cusack is too good an actor not to have an impact, even when he’s starting from a deficit, but it’s Shelan O’Keefe (who plays Stanley’s oldest coming of age daughter, Heidi) who’ll command your interest. Score one for the kid actors.

Stanley Phillips leads a humdrum life. Discharged from the army because of his poor eyesight, he’s a supervisor at the local hardware megastore. He takes his job and his life seriously, huddling with his employees to psyche them up for the workday with a sales chant. At home he’s a strict but loving humorless dad who expects his two daughters, 12 year-old Heidi (O’Keefe) and 8 year-old Dawn (appropriately gregarious Gracie Bednarczyk), to get good grades. Stanley’s one great desire was to serve his country, and with his dream shattered, he’s been sleepwalking thorough life. He loves his family, particularly his wife, Grace, who’s fighting in Iraq, living the life he wanted, but he’s bored at work and is more of a caretaker than a father at home. Stanley yearns for the day when Grace can come home and they can be a family again. Heidi respects her father, but feels she can’t talk to him about her problems. She’s so worried for her mother’s safety she’s developed a sleep disorder and sneaks glimpses at graphic news reports about the war that Stanley has forbidden her to watch. But Dawn’s got her mom issues too. Dawn and her mother have set their watches to a specific minute of the day so they can take a moment to think about each other.

Stanley’s humdrum existence gets a lot more stressful when he opens up the door one morning and finds two grim-faced Army officers on the other side. He knows they’re not going to ask him to sing with the U.S.O., and reacts to the news the same way you or I might – denial, shock, grief, denial. Stanley can’t figure out how to tell his girls their mom isn’t coming home, so in full renunciation, he does the exact opposite of what the regimented, logical Stanley would do – he takes his daughters on a trip to the “Enchanted Gardens” amusement park. It’s a long drive, and proves to be an odyssey of discovery and enlightenment for Stanley and his daughters.

In Stanley, Cusack has taken on a no win role and gives a plausible performance. Because Stanley’s so encumbered emotionally, he’s equally stiff when dealing with his co-workers and family. Cusack shows how unfulfilled Stanley’s life is through his mannerisms, hutching Stanley’s shoulders and giving him a slight, put upon limp. Stanley’s hair is a shaggy, lifeless mop, the frames of his wire rim glasses are out of date, and he dresses in dull khakis and work shirts that scream BORING. He has that dead shark stare that mass murderers get before they wind up on the front page of The Post. It’s a tough task to make a blank sheet of a man likeable to an audience, but Cusack succeeds by portraying Stanley as having a strong sense of duty, a strict sense of morality and an unconditional, undying love for Grace, so much so that while he and his daughters are on the road he still leaves messages on the answering machine for his late wife. Cusack’s biggest hurdle is James Strouse’s prosaic script, and even Cusack’s considerable talents can’t get around the clichés... Heidi is the serious one (especially when she puts on her scholarly specs)…Dawn is playful, and dad doesn’t know how to talk to his daughters... He argues with his slothful no good liberal hippie brother, James (wounded outlaw Alessandro Nivola)... Of course Stanley and John clash over politics, especially the Iraq War. (Gotta love how John refers to Bush as “Your Monkey Boy President.”)…

The trip to “Enchanted Gardens” is indeed magical because it alters Stanley, but since he’s already essentially a good father and a good person, the only thing the audience has to look forward to is that he’ll become more of a fun dad. If taking you kids on a spur of the moment trip for a few days, doing doughnuts in a parking lot, or teaching your daughter to smoke so she won’t learn it from predatory teenage boys strikes you as radical behavior, then Stanley changes big time.

Shelan O’Keefe’s Heidi fits the young actress like an expensive prom dress. O’Keefe can act, and one hopes that unlike so many child actors before her she’ll still be making films when she’s an adult. She’s the serious sister, the one who’s so worried about her book report she calls her teacher for an extension. She also catches on quickly that there’s more to Stanley’s decision to go to Enchanted Gardens than a sudden desire to bond with his kids. O’Keefe can register suspicion, disbelief and happiness on her face without mugging, which child actors often do.

Gracie Benardczyk plays cuddly, outgoing Dawn, a/k/a “Bear,” the family comedian. She bounces on hotel beds, teases her sister, and spontaneously breaks into silly songs and dances. Where Gracie excels is in scenes where her mother’s absence catches up with her. Watch her in the scene in the department store where she goes from being ecstatic over her new clothes to despondent when she sees a young boy shopping with his mom; few young actresses could make the joy drain from their faces as effectively. (Pamelyn Ferdin and Jodi Foster come to mind, but I always believed they were midgets masquerading as kids!). Gracie also dredges up the old “Are we there yet? (No) ...Are we there yet? (NO!)” routine, and she’s good enough at it you won’t entertain thoughts of child abuse. I’m happy to report that Bernardczyk is so effective in her role that at no time was I tempted to utter the phrase, “Say goodnight, Gracie.”

One lingering question that’s never asked or answered… If Stan’s gallivanting cross-country with his girls, who’s taking care of the funeral arrangements? Maybe one of the many unseen relatives. (Grandma for example is mentioned but never seen, and John finds out about Grace’s demise from another unseen relative via Ma Bell.)

More Grace…The Extras

“Grace Is Gone” is goosed by a trio of atypical extras, “A Conversation on Grace,” “The Inspiration for Grace Is Gone (Life After Loss),” and “T.A.P.S. Support Network.” The latter two features come from the Pentagon Channel and are introduced by bullet-headed Marine Sgt, Brian Buckhalter, who’s definitely taken a healthy swig of whatever Kool Aid the Monkey Boy President has been handing out. “Life After Loss” profiles former Army officer Warren Pellegrin and his four children. His Navy enlistee wife, Corrine, died at age 39 in 2000 after contracting a rare virus. Pellegrin vividly recalls Corrine’s passing: “I held her hand while we were dating, while we were married and now in death.” The feature follows Pellegrin’s struggle to deal with his wife’s death, how he’s adjusted to being a single parent, and his advice to John Cusack, who called to tell him he was portraying a character based on his life in the movie.

A look at T.A.P.S. (Tragedy Assistance for Survivors) highlights the work of Ami Neighberger-Miller, whose brother was killed in Iraq in 2007. The bulk of the extra footage and the most entertaining segment is “A Conversation With Grace” with the stars and writer/director James Strouse making nice for the camera. In summing up why he took on the role of Stanley Phillips, Cusack says: “It was a beautifully written story about grief and loss and families. It was also the story of Heidi becoming a woman too fast.” The feature affords the viewer the opportunity to see how cuddly Grace Benardczyk is and how surprisingly grown up Shelan O’Keefe acts.

Grace’s subject matter may be a bit daunting for kids Dawn’s age. No child that young will want to see a fellow eight year-old fretting over their mother and worse, grieving over her loss. The climatic scene that brings Stanley, Heidi and Dawn closer together will choke you up, and at 82 minutes, “Grace Is Gone,” won’t burn up your Saturday night schedule. Despite the ponderous plot (it takes the Phillips trio the better part of three days to get to the amusement park and sometimes you’ll feel ever inch), “Grace” features a superlative performance by Shelan O’Keefe and is a good excuse for parents to get together with their tweens to discuss the serious facts of life, love, and death. And if “Grace” can open up the lines of communication between parents and their kids, I’m all for it.

Posted June 28, 2008 Permalink

The Upright Citizens Brigade - ASSSSCAT

ASSSSCAT The Upright Citizens Brigade 3 out of 5 stars Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

Improvisational comedy is the equivalent of watching a blind man balance on a high wire greased with margarine with a group of famished lions waiting below. If you’re not quick enough or smart enough, your ass belongs to the cats. That may not be how the Upright Citizens Brigade came up with “ASSSSCAT,” the title for their latest DVD, but the same concept applies. The troupe performs skits suggested by members of the audience, a dangerous concept if your audience is primary college kids with tricked out bongs. Every line is made up on the spot, and as the ideas begin to flow, the comics move in and out of the sketches like wrestlers in a tag team match.

With as many as eight performers on stage, plus two “Monologists” (guest celebrities sweating out solo performances), there’s certainly enough mad cap ideas to go around. The troupe does occasionally walk the wire between mad cap and mad crap, but when the cats get their asssses in gear, “ASSSCAT” can be a real howl. (I love being able to use the title to be naughty.)

Founded in 1990, the Renegade Citizens Brigade is bi-coastal comedy troupe that performs in Hollywood and New York City. “ASSSSCAT” was shot in March 2007 at the Renegade Citizens Brigade Theater in Hollywood, featuring main jokesters Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh. Of the four, Poehler is the most recognizable from her regular stint on “Saturday Night Live” and from her film roles in “Mr. Woodcock,” “Blades of Glory” and “Baby Mama,” the last flick shot with one of the improv’s most famous former members, Tina Fey. Featured members Chad Carter and Sean Conroy don’t leave much of an impression, but Andrew Daly and Horatio Sanz are deliriously funny and original.

The DVD also spotlights guest monologists Thomas Lennon and Kate Walsh, who do a pair of monologues designed to set up the skits that follow their lead. Listening to Lennon riff on a single idea, such as a tour in a cramped Mayan mine, you get the feeling he could do stand up for an entire night. Credit his experience as a screen writer (“The Pacifier,” “Night at the Museum,”) and his droll portrayal of Lieutenant Jim Dangle on Comedy Central’s “Reno 911,” (a show he helped create), with giving him an easy access stage presence. His stories are linear and build up to a punch line: “It’s been a while since I’ve smoke marijuana. It’s like ten Madi Gras in one!”

Kate Walsh (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Private Practice”) tries hard, but apparently the deadpan humor of her “husband” Matt hasn’t rubbed off. (The Walsh’s aren’t related, but I had to spend a lot of time finding out, so I’m including it, thank you.) She’s a bit jumpy, as if sensing the audience is saying, “Hey, she’s an actress. Does she really think she’s funny?” Her first bit about wanting to dump a boyfriend then taking him on a skiing trip after he gives her a great gift peaks quickly (“It was like, maybe we should give this a second chance”), then crashes as it nears a predictable conclusion that borders on cruelty. The moral? Date Ms. Walsh at your own risk! Walsh’s second monologue about receiving a Christmas care package from her mother is more amusing because the actress relaxes: “She sent me tights that would be good for a seven year-old. She also sent a can of military gas, because it’s more effective than mace.”

As the only woman in the cast, you’d think Amy Poehler would have to endure a lot of sexist and derogatory comments. Sexist, yes. Derogatory, well…yes. But barbs bounce off of the petite prankster and she fires back insults like a gag-filled Gatling gun. Poehler occasionally gets caught up those “F me? F you!” circular screaming matches, but the audience seems to love it when she gets potty mouthed. When Poehler’s ex-wife character becomes the focus of an otherwise all male divorce party and the other comics start ganging up on her, Poehler fires back: “You...You ever have a girlfriend? You…Everybody knows you live with your mother! And Andy, everybody knows you’re gay!” Andrew Daly’s immediate reaction is one of the funniest sight gags on the tape.

Ian Roberts may look like the local pizza guy, but he delivers the laughs. Roberts is quick witted and self assured, plus he’s downright funny. Matt Walsh can be creative, but he’s a bit gun shy for an improv comedian and picks his spots. You want assertive, wacky? The other Matt, Matt Besser (any relation to Joe?) is the troupe’s most outrageous boundary breaker. Besser has a knack for creating and following up on the group’s most outlandish set ups. Picking up on Lennon’s Madi Gras gag, Besser adds:

Besser: (Smoking) this is like ten Madi Gras. However, the end of the joint is like Hitler’s birthday.

Conroy: You didn’t leave me a lot.

Besser: C’mon, man. There’s like three Madi Gras left.

The comment sends the cast off on a hilarious jag in which Conroy takes one toke too many and Roberts bravely assays a “sensitive” Hitler who’s upset because no one will sing “Happy Birthday” to him. The subject matter pushes the boundaries of good taste, but comedy does that sometimes, especially when it’s spontaneous, so be prepared to suppress your racial/societal/political/sexual hang-ups when you hit the play button.

The wild card is pudgy, sleepy-eyed Horatio Sanz, who looks like a Hispanic John Belushi. Sanz’s ideas are completely left of center. When Besser starts off a sketch about a staff meeting in which he complains about a problem with buzzards, the sketch goes nowhere until Sanz steps forward and deadpans: “Have you checked to see if there are any dead cowboys in the basement?”

Cast members confronted by Sanz’s off the cuff lunacy sometimes find themselves perplexed for a response. Even the unflappable Besser has to stop to ask Sanz, “What the **!! was that about?” But when Sanz’s disconnected gags work, they’re among the funniest in the show. He breaks up the audience and his fellow comedians with a single line (“Toilet scissors”) that’s so successful, astute jokers Besser and Roberts carry it into the next sketch as “pizza scissors” and believe me, you don’t want these guys cutting up your pie. In the extras, when a lubricated member of the audience makes himself part of a sketch by wandering across the stage to get to the bathroom, Sanz re-enters moments later, claiming he was kidnapped by bathroom boy, then takes his spot in the audience.

Andrew Daly is one of those unassuming Wally Cox types you’d automatically dismiss as humorless because he wears glasses and looks like he ought to be doing your taxes instead of cracking wise. He’s one of the funniest members of the cast and is an expert at starting sketches off with bizarre one liners and then topping himself, and I’m not just saying that because he once lived in my hometown of Mount Kisco, New York:

Daly: I’ll be glad to look after your boy for the weekend, but I’ll warn you, we have an anything goes household.

Sanz: Well, usually that’s okay. But I don’t want him seeing any pornographic movies.

Daly: That’s probably going to happen.

Not all of the routines reach their intended goal of maxing out your funny bone. “The Kodiak Grill” has the interesting premise of a talking moose head that can read the inner thoughts of philandering husbands. Poehler naturally plays the betrayed wife, and Chad Carter’s analytical Bullwinkle comes up with a few funny lines (“I see myself as the moose of honesty”), but as the sketch drags on he can’t follow up, even when Matt Walsh attempts to rescue things by counseling the moose: “You’re bringing everybody down!” Another thin idea puts Roberts at a wedding as a Seventh Day Adventist who refuses to toast the bride and groom. Besser and Walsh give him a hard time and eventually pummel Roberts for refusing to drink. Sanz comes up with another bizarre interlude that raises a smile (“You ever see Deer Hunter? Guy spills wine on himself and he ends up with no feet…NO FEET!”), but the idea amounts to an interminable hangover.

More ASSSS For You Cats…The Extras

The extra footage answers the nagging question “What the heck is an ASSSCAT?” I’m not giving much away if I tell you that Horatio Sanz figures in the explanation. Other entries include commentary by the Upright Citizens Brigade, the ASSSSCAT Theme, “We Love Our Audience,” “Monologous Interruptus” and an interview with main cats Proehler, Walsh, Besser and Roberts. Their comments prove that being a member of the Upright Citizens Brigade means blissfully checking your sanity at the stage door. The quartet takes the audience through the Brigade’s origins, best known ASSCATS, how the act’s format developed (yes alcohol and illegal substances did play a part), and their favorite memories. Besser recalls an amusing moment when Sanz came out with a tray of Buffalo Wings and punted them into the audience. “We’ve paid for a lot of cleaning bills,” he comments.

Joining the Upright Citizens Brigade doesn’t require a secret handshake or password, just an open mind and a desire to laugh. Will you have fun with their latest DVD? You bet your ASSSSCAT.

Posted June 28, 2008 Permalink

Cassandra's Dream

Cassandra's Dream Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell Director: Woody Allen 3.5 out of 5 stars Reviewed for Coffeerooms by Mike Jefferson

What would you do to help your brother, your favorite uncle…yourself? Lie? No problem. Scheme? It’s my middle name. Kill? Well, that’s gonna cost ya. Woody Allen’s 2007 enjoyable suspense drama “Cassandra’s Dream” follows the plight of two working class Londoners, brothers Terry (better than you may think Colin Ferrell) and Ian (Ewan McGregor cast as the level-headed sibling), who find themselves behind a financial eight ball. The brothers are offered a risky way out that could either fulfill their dreams or turn their lives into an ongoing nightmare.

Inveterate gambler Terry works as a mechanic and lives with Kate (the delightfully spunky Sally Hawkins). Ian works at their father’s restaurant, but is making plans to invest in hotels across the pond in California. Terry has a hot streak at the dog track and at the poker table. The brothers decide to blow their winnings on a sailboat, which they christen “Cassandra’s Dream,” in honor of the pup that provided Terry with his big payday. One afternoon Ian borrows a Jaguar from Terry’s garage for an afternoon of sailing with a girl from work. On the way back to London they pass a beautiful woman whose car has broken down. Ian helps the woman, Angela Stark, an actress (stiff Hayley Atwell, miscast as an actress!) who invites him to her next performance. Ian pursues the high maintenance hottie until she falls in love with him. Meeting Angela further ignites his desire to invest in the hotel venture. But Terry’s luck at poker deserts him, leaving him 90,000 pounds in debt to people who aren’t interested in “I’ll get it to you later” as an excuse. The brothers have no recourse but to go to their Uncle Howard (a very unsteady Tom Wilkinson) for the money. Uncle Howard will give them the money, if his nephews agree to handle some “business” for him. He wants Terry and Ian to get rid of Martin Burns, a business partner working with the feds whose testimony could send him to jail.

The brother weigh the consequences, particularly Terry, who’s convinced no good will come from offing Burns. Despite their reservations, the brother’s agree to the deal. In a stroke of irony (and Allen pushing the boundries of believability) Angela takes Ian, Terry and Kate to a swanky cast party where Terry meets intended target Burns and finds him to be a friendly, likeable man, furthering Terry’s fear that killing him is wrong: “I can’t look him in the eye and kill him.”

Terry makes two disposable zip guns for the hit. The brothers break into Burns’ home, their resolve waning as they lay in wait for their victim.

Terry: What if there’s a God, Ian. What if all those nights we used to lie awake in the dark and curse the fate of every human soul, what if we was too angry?

Ian: Don’t turn your back on what you know in your heart to be true just because we’re facing a difficult task.

Burns unexpectedly brings home a guest. Figuring they’ll have to kill her as well, the amateur assassins lose their nerve and flee.

The following night Terry and Ian track Burns to his mother’s house. Terry insists they wait until Burns has had the chance to see his 91 year-old mother one last time before they kill him. Tension between the brothers rises as they wait for their quarry. They track Burns to a deserted street. Following the loud report of their homemade guns, the deed is done.

The aftermath and consequences of the brother’s act is what makes “Cassandra” dreamy. Will the brothers get away with it, or will Terry’s prophecy come true? The slam bang ending neatly ties Ian and Terry’s fates together.

“Cassandra’s Dream” may falter a bit in spots, but you can’t blame the soundtrack. From the opening credits, Philip Glass’ dramatic score notifies the viewer when a crucial moment is about to occur. Glass’ score is sometimes as subtle as a smack of Thor’s hammer on the noggin, but gives the movie a sense of Hitchcockian style and respectability.

There’s one obvious machination Woody Allen employs that I did not like in the least. In interviews about the film, Colin Farrell was quoted as saying he did more takes for one scene in “Miami Vice” than he did for the entire film. In some ways committing less than perfect takes adds to the film’s realism; after all people mumble, stare down at their toes and stammer when they’re nervous. Just don’t show me a finished film where they do it. In one scene, Tom Wilkinson gets so involved in his character’s emotional turmoil he stutters out his lines like a jammed sewing machine: “I have made some very difficult decisions to avoid being ruined! I was aware when I made them that I was having…that I was making some kind of risk!”

Okay, so having a character falter under pressure makes the dialogue sound more “real.” It’s also makes Wilkinson look like an under rehearsed moron. There aren’t a lot of scenes where a virbal bottleneck was kept in, but McGregor has a few Porky Pig moments too. Cut! Take two! I know you wanted to keep the costs down, Woody, but spending an extra buck fifty on film to reshoot a few scenes wouldn’t have hurt.

The flubs would actually be cool if the entire picture was shot that way. Leaving a few scattered scenes in their tattered form just says “I’m sloppy and I don’t care.” Wilkinson suffers the most. When he’s able to remember all his lines, his Uncle Howard comes across as a power broker trying to mask a cold heart. When he sputters and flounders it weakens the character, detracting from Uncle Howard’s powerful aura.

Cheers to Colin Farrell. The smarmy ladies man pulls off an acting coo by playing against his playboy persona. Terry is a good guy with some bad recreational habits and no stomach for violence. Watching Farrell decend into consuming guilt as he chain smokes, swills hootch, simpers, grows a three days beard and paints pictures of imminent doom should dispel any notions that this guy can’t act. (And believe me, I was one of those people with a notion or two.)

Cheers to you too, Ewan McGregor. Like Farrell’s Terry, McGregor’s Ian is a good man who makes a bad decision. It’s Ian’s capacity to live with that mistake that makes his character equally fascinating. I’ve seen my share of flicks where actors go against type to show that, well they’re actors (for example, the recently reviewed “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”), but it doesn’t work if it’s too much of a stretch. (Try picturing Mr. All American, Ronald Regan, as a violent, Angie Dickenson-smacking villain. He was, in his last film, 1964’s “The Killers.”) McGregor breaks the mold because he makes us believe it’s not inconceivable that there’s someone like Ian out there who’s so desperately in love and wants to get ahead that he’ll entertain taking someone else’s life.

The screen lights up whenever Sally Hawkins is in a scene. She portrays Kate as vivacious and very cockney, a woman who’s aware of her social shortcomings, yet remains loving and optimistic. Kate is the type of hard-working, pugnacious, honest woman you couldn’t help but fall in love with or befriend. Hawkins has a bright, endearing smile and a sunny/serious side that fleshes out her character.

Hayley Atwell has the misfortune of playing Angela Stark, a shallow actress. It’s not hard to see why Ian would fall in love with her. What’s difficult to understand how he could stay in love with her. Angela is such a self-absorbed bed hopper that when she finally professes her love for him, he doesn’t quite believe her and you won’t either. Ice just doesn’t melt so easily. Angela isn’t a likeable character, and her shortcomings help taint Atwell’s rigid performance. She walks through her scenes detached with off-putting flaky superiority that would offend Thurston Howell III. At first I thought, okay, that’s what she’s supposed to do; her character is a status seeking snob. But since she’s playing an actress, you’d think she’d shine in the scenes when Ian is watching her on stage. That should be the one place where Angela should come to life. But Atwell is even more limp in her stage scenes, which leads me to conclude that Atwell isn’t that good an actress.

I watched Tom Wilkinson give a semi-salvagable performance in “Dedication,” a heinous waste of film. Wilkinson’s rep has been enchanced by a supposedly good performance in “Michael Clayton” (which I haven’t seen) and as Ben Franklin in HBO’ “John Adams” (ditto). Because Wilkinson has a few scenes where he’s obviously searching for his lines and stammering, I‘m inclined to say Tom should turn in his SAG card. His performance is a head-shaker. At times he sounds like a forgetful amateur, and at other times you admire his focused intensity. His bumbling drains the pivotal scene in which he strikes up a deal with his nephews to the point where it looks as he belongs on a Dick Clark blooper reel. In his final scene with McGregor, Wilkinson is a knot of tensed resolution, and he’s able to convincingly illustrate his character’s intended villainous intent.

Woody was right to set the action in London. You get the subtle nuances of English behavior (such having a state of conscience) you wouldn’t get if the characters were from Philly or New York. It’d be badda bing badda bang, Mr. Burns is toast without an afterthought. Allen once made movies that made me laugh (although the last one was “Take the Money and Run”), and I still think that’s where his strength as a filmmaker lies. You may not like the long arm of justice ending, but I think you’ll agree it’s the performances of Ferrell, McGregor and Sally Hawkins that make “Cassandra” dreamy.

Posted June 28, 2008 Permalink