‘Anyone But You’ is a Silly, Sexy, and Self-Aware Riff on Shakespeare

December 21, 2023

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Sydney (and Glen) in Sydney (CREDIT: Brook Rushton/Sony Pictures Entertainment)

Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell, Alexandra Shipp, GaTa, Hadley Robinson, Dermot Mulroney, Rachel Griffiths, Michelle Hurd, Darren Barnet, Bryan Brown, Charlee Fraser, Joe Davidson

Director: Will Gluck

Running Time: 103 Minutes

Rating: R for Naughty Bits and Cheeky Language

Release Date: December 22, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: After an improbably passionate meet-cute that ends as terribly as possible, Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell) find themselves inexplicably thrust back into each other’s lives several months later when her sister Halle (Hadley Robinson) and his good friend Claudia (Alexandra Shipp) are getting married at a destination wedding in Sydney, Australia. Their petty sniping threatens to ruin the nuptials, so the brides and a few other guests concoct a scheme to get them to reignite the spark. Bea and Ben quickly catch on to the ruse, but instead of getting upset, they decide that the best way to get everyone off their backs is to just play along. Plus, their respective exes (Darren Barnet, Charlee Fraser) are also both in attendance, so this charade could siphon away some of the awkwardness from those encounters, or maybe even spark some jealousy. Of course, this being a romantic comedy and all, Bea and Ben are probably on a path to discovering that the fake relationship should maybe become the real deal.

What Made an Impression?: Only in Rom-Coms: The typical rom-com formula requires plenty of suspension of disbelief, what with all the unlikely encounters and easily resolvable misunderstandings. Anyone But You kind of pushes the limits of cliché, perhaps even to the point of parody. Bea and Ben’s meet-cute is especially absurd, as she runs into a coffee shop just to find a place to pee, and he buys her a drink so that she can become a paying customer. And this proves to be chivalrous enough for them to spend the night together! Then their big initial misunderstanding is based on the thinnest of circumstances, as she leaves his apartment the morning after before he wakes up, only to turn around just in time to hear him masking his insecurity by lying to a friend that he meant nothing to her. They eventually have ample opportunity to clear the confusion up, but both of them are too petty to do so. But the ridiculousness is kind of the point. The setup had to be that infuriating to really establish Bea and Ben as the ultimate rom-com protagonists.
All the Romance is a Stage: While I was eager to be charmed by Anyone But You‘s friendly cast and sunny harborside exteriors, I found some of the dialogue to be stilted and unnatural. But then I eventually locked into the vibe that it was going for. The story is based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, so it’s all about trickery and subterfuge, and self-awareness about that trickery and subterfuge, and self-awareness about that self-awareness. It’s hard not to occasionally sound like a doofus while diving too deep into this silly game. Considering the source material, I wonder how Anyone But You would’ve worked as a stage production, especially if it had encouraged mass audience participation. As it stands now in its cinematic form, it wisely encourages silliness on the part of all of its cast members, and also smartly decides to have low stakes masquerade as high stakes.
Stripping Down: Romantic movies that feature a lot of skin tend to be of the “erotic” or “gross-out” variety, but Anyone But You bucks that trend by maintaining the sweetness while also dropping trou on more than a few occasions. Part of that is surely attributable to a more liberal attitude towards nudity among Australians compared to Americans. Whatever the full reasoning behind this cheekiness, it helps to bolster the theme of vulnerability being good for the heart. And here’s the thing: with a combination of goofball energy, sunny beaches, and horniness, certain parts are just going to pop out at some point. It’s enough to drive you wild, and help you come to an important epiphany.

Anyone But You is Recommended If You Like: Vicarious traveling, Dermot Mulroney’s Silver Fox Era, Awkward everyday acrobatics

Grade: 4 out of 5 Deceptions

‘Barbie’ Review: A Doll Discovers the World, and Herself

July 20, 2023

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Hey, Barbie … wassup! (CREDIT: Warner Bros. Pictures/Screenshot)

Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Helen Mirren, America Ferrera, Will Ferrell, Ariana Greenblatt, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Sharon Rooney, Ana Cruz Kayne, Dua Lipa, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Marisa Abel, Michael Cera, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Scott Evans, Ncuti Gatwa, Rob Brydon, John Cena, Rhea Perlman, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Emerald Fennell, Ann Roth, Annie Mumolo, Lauren Holt

Director: Greta Gerwig

Running Time: 114 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Discussions About Doll Genitals, or Lack Thereof

Release Date: July 21, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Barbie has had remarkable staying power. The eternally popular line of dolls represents a sort of perfect womanhood that’s impossible to achieve in real life. But in Barbieland, that perfection is a plain fact. Or so the opening of the 2023 film version of Barbie would have us believe. But that intro also quickly reveals some cracks in the glittery pink feminine utopia. The classic version of the title character, aka “Stereotypical Barbie” (Margot Robbie), is inexplicably starting to ponder her mortality. So she and one of the Kens (Ryan Gosling) head off to the real world to discover where this negative energy is coming from. They get a rude awakening with a very different status quo on Venice Beach, and then they head to Mattel headquarters to meet their makers. If it all works out, our relationship to Barbie and her relationship to us promise to never be the same.

What Made an Impression?: A Thin Line Between Fantasy and Reality: What’s especially striking about the mechanics of Barbie is just how easy it is to travel between Barbieland and the real world. While in the throes of her existential crisis, Stereotypical Barbie seeks counsel with the somewhat outcast Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon). She’s basically this movie’s Morpheus, but instead of offering a blue or red pill, the choice is between high heels and Birkenstock sandals. Once Stereotypical Barbie opts for the hero’s journey, all she has to do is drive, and soon enough, she’s in sunny Southern California. That ease of transport cuts both ways, as the only requirement to travel into Barbieland appears to just be rollerblades. It’s a wonder there hasn’t been more interaction between worlds before this point! But maybe there actually has been. Indeed, the Mattel employees refer to some previous similar incidents, and while Barbie’s fish-out-of-water routine leads to some assumptions that she’s mentally unwell, the ultimate conclusion is that it’s perfectly reasonable that a flesh-and-bones version of this classic doll would appear eventually.
A Thorough Education: I’m not one to always advocate for the primacy of Showing over Telling, as there are times when exposition is perfectly satisfying. But Barbie does lean a little hard on the Telling side of the equation and ends up a bit in Didactic territory. Characters spell out simple emotions that they’re experiencing for the first time, with a bluntness that threatens to rip away all of the magic. There’s ultimately a similarly blunt conflict that I found surprising, though perhaps I should have seen it coming. When the main Ken encounters the patriarchal systems of the real world, he excitedly smuggles those ideas into Barbieland and transforms the dreamhouses into mancaves with no resistance from the suddenly hypnotized Barbies. Masculine insecurity becomes the enemy perhaps too simplistically, although I do appreciate the fact that Ken thought the patriarchy was actually about horses. That cluelessness is an ace in the hole, while the chauvinism is more run-of-the-mill.
That Mattel Magic: While the title and so much of the dialogue squeals “Barbie!,” the heart of the movie can actually be found in some of the more human characters. To wit: the Mattel office, which initially appears to be as stiflingly patriarchal as the Kens eventually become. And it certainly is in one respect, as all of the top executives are men in suits making decisions about what’s best for girls and women. But it’s a little more complicated than that. Led by Will Ferrell in his most eager-to-please form as the CEO, their core motivation is to genuinely provide the world with the best possible version of Barbie. They embrace the fun and frothiness and rollerblading of it all in a way that I can only hope is true of all toy executives.
But the crux of the narrative lies with America Ferrera as Gloria, the CEO’s assistant, as well as her tween daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt). Whereas Sasha views Barbie as the source of all of the unrealistic expectations heaped on women, Gloria can’t help but hold on to a girly fantasy world. But if Barbie is to still mean anything to Gloria (and by extension everyone) else in 2023, then she needs to embrace the anxiety-inducing messiness of life. Barbie the Movie invites viewers to adapt Barbie the Concept into whatever version they need at whatever particular moment they’re going through. It may be a little frightening to have that lesson centered around a corporate product, but it’s what we’ve got in the culture.

Barbie is Recommended If You Like: The Lego Movie, Rollerblading, eBay-focused nostalgia

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Dreamhouses

Movie Review: The Newest ‘Shaft’ is Not the Baddest Mother. Shut Your Eyes.

June 13, 2019

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CREDIT: Warner Bros./YouTube

Starring: Jessie T. Usher, Samuel L. Jackson, Richard Roundtree, Alexandra Shipp, Regina Hall, Avan Jogia, Titus Welliver, Method Man, Matt Lauria, Robbie Jones, Luna Lauren Vélez

Director: Tim Story

Running Time: 111 Minutes

Rating: R for Shameless Ladies Man Behavior and a Fair Amount of Gunfire

Release Date: June 14, 2019

Private investigator John Shaft has been the epitome of cinematic cool ever since his debut nearly fifty years ago. In the 2000 reboot, Samuel L. Jackson was an obvious choice to continue Richard Roundtree’s legacy as John II, the original Shaft’s nephew. But in the latest iteration, Jessie T. Usher is about as far from badass as he can possibly be as John II’s estranged son JJ. That is meant as both objective fact and damning criticism. He’s supposed to be out of step with the men in his family. He’s working for The Man as an FBI data analyst, and while he’s got some sweet chemistry with a longtime friend (Alexandra Shipp), he’s hardly a sex machine to all the chicks. The idea is that when JJ teams up with his dad to solve a case of wide-ranging corruption, he’ll finally be able to live up to the Shaft legacy, but the concept of cool on display here is too outrageous and unchill to actually be cool.

If you’re expecting a blaxploitation throwback, you’ll need to recalibrate right quickly. This is much more of a culture clash buddy comedy, solidly in the vein of director Tim Story’s work in the Ride Along series. The central conflict is between Sam Jackson Shaft pushing a toxic form of big dog masculinity and Jessie Usher Shaft being a reasonable human being. It’s nice that JJ pushes back against his dad’s bullheaded ideas of how to be a man, but it doesn’t help that every Jackson delivery of emotional immaturity and gay panic is meant to be a laugh line. Overall, this Shaft is confused and vastly out of touch, as exemplified by a stunning moment of gun fetishization in which JJ shows off his firearms skills to the tune of a classic Phil Spector Wall of Sound needle drop and then immediately afterward reiterates his distaste of guns. Adding to the confusion is John Sr. and John II acting like they’re now father and son instead of uncle and nephew. Perhaps that’s an effort to distance the original from a potentially legacy-killing sequel, which is an understandable decision.

Shaft is Recommended If You Like: Stomping all over the classics

Grade: 1.5 out of 5 Trench Coats

Movie Review: ‘Dark Phoenix’ Plays It Way Too Safe by Both X-Men and General Movie Standards

June 5, 2019

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CREDIT: Twentieth Century Fox

Starring: Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Jessica Chastain, Tye Sheridan, Evan Peters, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Scott Shepherd, Ato Essandoh

Director: Simon Kinberg

Running Time: 114 Minute

Rating: PG-13 for Getting Suddenly Violently Tossed About by Telekinesis

Release Date: June 7, 2019

I love the X-Men. They’re my favorite superhero team, and still, through it all, my favorite superhero movie franchise. They’ve delivered some dizzying cinematic heights but also some flicks that have driven me batty. So it pains me to say that Dark Phoenix did not make me feel much in the way of any strong emotions.

Some say that the X-Men series is burdened by tangled, contradictory continuity. I say it’s bolstered by it. Whereas other cinematic universes are careful to keep every little thread in line for the health of a sturdy timeline, the Merry Mutants traverse decades willy-nilly, tossing off whatever plotlines just aren’t working and cruising along with whatever’s exciting and vibrant, paradoxes be damned! Dark Phoenix doesn’t reject that approach, but it doesn’t embrace it either. It’s mostly content to tell a straightforward story, while occasionally throwing out some half-baked ideas. It’s a movie unstuck in time, instead of proudly giving the middle finger to any temporal concepts.

Dark Phoenix is clearly a labor of love. It’s the directorial debut of Simon Kinberg, who’s been with the franchise for over a decade, and it’s based on one of the most beloved comics storylines, in which telepathic telekinetic Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) bonds with a super-hot cosmic force to become the most powerful creature on the planet, perhaps the whole universe. It’s a huge climactic big screen culmination that’s been promised to us for quite some time, but after seeing how it’s turned out, I mainly want to say: we would have been okay without this movie. Or maybe now just wasn’t the right time for it. It’s arriving hot on the heels of an X-Men movie whose title literally referred to the end of the world and another that said a fitting goodbye to a pair of iconic X-characters.

But it shouldn’t have been impossible for Dark Phoenix to be another rousing, revolutionary statement so soon after those conclusive paradigm changes. In fact, it would have totally been in keeping with this franchise’s always-moving-forward ethos. But that’s not going to happen when a climactic battle scene takes place in some random New York hotel or when Professor X and Magneto run through the same old rigamarole of bickering and then making a temporary peace. When the stakes are this high, you have to go for broke.

Dark Phoenix is Recommended If You Like: X-Men completism, if you gotta

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Firebirds

This Is a Movie Review: A Dog’s Way Home

January 25, 2019

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CREDIT: James Dittiger/Sony Pictures

A Dog Way’s Home is about a mutt who would probably make it home a lot faster if she would just slow down and let someone help her. In fairness, not everyone Bella (voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard) encounters is particularly helpful, but she has a stubborn streak that ensures she is going to finish her journey on her own terms. But when she causes multiple accidents and gets herself hurt while trotting across six lanes of highway traffic, and then just walks off without anyone chasing after her (or is somehow able to outrun everybody), it starts to strain a little credulity. When movies like this slightly anthropomorphize dogs by giving them a human narrator, they come off as a mix of highly capable but also pitiable that feels somewhat uncanny valley-ish. That can be offset by leaning into goofiness, but A Dog’s Way Home is so earnest that it leaves me in a weird and unsettled emotional state, as opposed to a preferable combo of relieved and heartwarmed.

I give A Dog’s Way Home 2.5 Missing Dog Tags out of 5 Questionable Pit Bull Classifications.

This Is a Movie Review: ‘Tragedy Girls’ is Pleasantly Gory But Hampered by a Muddled Social Message

October 19, 2017

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CREDIT: Gunpowder & Sky

This review was originally posted on News Cult in October 2017.

Starring: Alexandra Shipp, Brianna Hildebrand, Jack Quaid, Kevin Durand, Nicky Whelan, Craig Robinson

Director: Tyler MacIntyre

Running Time: 98 Minutes

Rating: R for Sanguine Hacking and Squirting

Release Date: October 20, 2017 (Limited)

Is it possible to be so addicted to social media status that it drives you to serial killing? Tragedy Girls sure seems to think so. But the way it presents this scenario is a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg situation. When we meet high school besties McKayla (Alexandra Shipp) and Sadie (Brianna Hildebrand), they are already both rising Instagram stars AND in the midst of a killing spree. Their attention for fame does not fuel their bloodlust so much as the former provides a channel to express the latter. Any satirical point about how social media obsessions can be deadly is blunted by how much their murderousness is just a part of their nature.

But maybe Tragedy Girls isn’t really meant to be a takedown of what the kids are up to these days. Maybe it is more just the latest profile of banal evil that lurks in supposedly picture-perfect suburbia. Shipp and Hildebrand are certainly committed enough to pull that off, their delightedly and delightfully psychotic performances the highlight of the film. They seem to be operating in a bit of a Zodiac vibe, where part of the thrill is acting as amateur journalists of their own spree.

That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t much matter when everything else around them is a bit too scattershot. Famous faces like Josh Hutcherson and Craig Robinson pop up, only to be quickly dispatched. In the case of the latter, his presence makes sense, since he is also a producer. But Hutch is clearly there as a favor to someone so that there is a big name to be splashy with promotional materials, but in the actual product, he is a distraction from what could have been an unassuming, low-budget charmer.

Tragedy Girls is worth recommending somewhat for the fun of its murderous set pieces. The gore is smeared with squishy goodness and fully imbued with glee. McKayla and Sadie are practically magical in how clean and precise their slicing and dicing (and cleanup!) skills are. It’s enough to remind us the joy of feeding our taste for violence on screen and the safety of eschewing it in real life.

Tragedy Girls is Recommended If You Like: Final Destination at its most cartoonish, the Child’s Play series, Jennifer’s Body

Grade: 2 out of 5 Haters Ruining Prom