BEFORE: I spent the whole day yesterday working at a documentary festival, I don't mind these long 14-hour shifts, especially when the money comes in to my account. But they are draining, and physically I may be too old for the job. I think maybe it's only a matter of time before something gives out, either my legs, knees or shoulders. I'm getting exercise, which is important at any age, but especially important for someone in their 50's - but I just wonder if I'm getting too much exercise.
There was extra security at some of the shows, because one documentary was about Ukraine and another was about school shootings, so jeez, anything could happen at one of those screenings. Later there was a doc about Julian Assange's father trying to free him, which I didn't realize was also a controversial issue - but the protestors disrupted the screening of the film about Ukraine. Actually they disrupted the panel after the film, which means the protestors PAID for tickets, sat through the whole film, then caused a ruckus during the panel after the film. Jeez, I would like to believe in the power of documentary filmmaking to think that maybe their views could have been changed while watching the film, but apparently not. Thankfully there was no violence at the theater, the two protestors were just escorted out, and honestly that's the best outcome we could have hoped for. I can think of several ways it could have been worse.
Kevin Kline carries over from "The Starling".
THE PLOT: When veteran comedy writer Charlie Burnz meets New York street singer Emma Payge, they form an unlikely yet hilarious and touching friendship that kicks the generation gap aside and redefines the meaning of love and trust.
AFTER: Well, this film keeps the theme from last week going, it's another film where a person has their life unexpectedly transformed by a chance encounter with a stranger. Pretty much every film last week used that as a plot point or a jumping-off point, from "Kajillionaire" to "The Starling", and here it is again. An older comedy writer with some form of dementia has lunch with a younger woman who gives him a new outlook on life. It's extremely contrived, Charlie participated in some form of charity auction where people bid to have lunch with him, and thus are two strangers thrown together. Emma Payge doesn't know who Charlie is, but her boyfriend bid at the auction, and she's recently broken up with the boyfriend, but kept his prize somehow.
So these two people have nothing, NOTHING in common, except they're both performers in a way, she's a singer for an amateur jazz band or something, they play on the streets mostly, but they're looking to go out on tour in the near future. Sure, that happens, right? Street performers go out on tour like big-time music acts with album deals? I'm just kidding, that never happens. This film doesn't really worry too much about reflecting reality, so it's probably best not to focus too much on the details, or I'll be here all night listing NITPICK POINTS. Charlie Burnz is a comedy writer for a show called "This Just In" which seems very much like "SNL" in many ways, which makes sense because Billy Crystal spent time on that NBC skit show, and one presumes he was a writer there as well as a performer. So I trust him on depicting what goes on behind the scenes of a show like "SNL", except for the fact that there ARE no other shows like "SNL", they've all given up over the years, so how does "This Just In" fit into reality? It can't.
Crystal co-wrote this screenplay with Alan Zweibel, and I've got a bunch of questions about the parts of the film that are NOT related to the sketch comedy show within the movie. How much of this film is grounded in reality? Crystal plays a widower here, one with dementia, and I don't think those elements come from his personal life, so then where do they come from? What was the inspiration here? Does it matter? Should it matter? Well, yes, I suppose, if someone's going to write a film about an aging comedy writer with dementia, then I want to know if that's based on anyone in particular. But also, on another level, it's really none of my business.
That lunch meeting goes terribly wrong, as Emma orders a big seafood platter and then has a terrible allergic reaction to it. It's physical comedy, sure, I get it, but does it make sense? Why would she order shellfish if she's allergic to it? Maybe she didn't KNOW that she had a shellfish allergy, but that would mean that she's never eaten it before, and if she's never eaten it before, why would she order it, because then she wouldn't know if she liked it or not. And I've already thought about this much more than the writers did, haven't I? Is this more lazy writing, as just a quicker way to throw them together, to give them one more thing to endure together? Or just a plothole in the road?
After these two very different characters become friends - and I'll admit it, who becomes friends with who is a somewhat inexplicable process, but in the real world it's a safe bet that people with things in common are more likely to form friendships - the movie doesn't seem to know which direction it wants to go with their story. Are they dating? Potential lovers? Is Emma scamming Charlie for his money? Nah, she pays him back in installments for those medical bills. So they're just friends, then, so why the scene where she sleeps over? And when Emma comes with Charlie to his granddaughter's Bat Mitzvah, and Charlie's adult kids assume that he's sleeping with the younger Emma, why can't Charlie just TALK to his kids and correct them on this point? It's a simple enough thing to have him do. I assume the movie didn't want to take their relationship too far in any one direction, but then what we're left with is a muddle - they tried not to alienate anyone who thought maybe Charlie and Emma COULD or SHOULD get together, but at the same time, maybe somebody in the audience wouldn't approve of this interracial romance with a large age difference, so they couldn't piss off those people either?
It's very confusing, this relationship, but whatever it is, the movie's got other things to deal with, like getting to the bottom of what happened to Charlie's wife. She was in an accident, and it happened shortly after she and Charlie had a fight, one that was never resolved. So this explains a lot of things, like why Charlie is trying to write a book about their relationship before he manages to forget it all, and why Charlie is alienated from his kids, but still, there are so many lingering questions, like why does Charlie have an Asian granddaughter? It doesn't need to be explained, perhaps, so she was adopted, big deal, but NOT mentioning that is a bit of an odd choice.
Meanwhile, Charlie's mental state is slowly deteriorating. He functions by memorizing his walk to work, and something as simple as a street blocked by construction can throw a monkey wrench into his routine. And thoughts of the summer house and trying to explain to his granddaughter why her grandmother is no longer alive cause him to run off into the woods. And during a panel interview, he forgets the name of Sharon Stone, who plays a version of herself here. But perhaps this new friendship can give Charlie the courage to tell his kids that he's sick and mentally deteriorating.
Also starring Billy Crystal (last seen in "Wolfgang"), Tiffany Haddish (last seen in "The Oath"), Penn Badgley (last seen in "Easy A"), Laura Benanti (last seen in "Tick, Tick...Boom!"), Joanna Adler (ditto), Louisa Krause (last seen in "The Phenom"), Anna Deavere Smith (last seen in "Rent"), Matthew Broussard, Alex Brightman, Andrew Durand, Max Gordon Moore, Audrey Hsieh, Nyambi Nyambi, Brandon Uranowitz (last seen in "The Kitchen"), Dierdre Friel, Susan Pourfar (last seen in "In the Heights"), Gianmarco Soresi (last seen in "Hustlers"), Sarah Stiles, Justin Linville, Andy Grotelueschen, Josh Lamon, Drew Levy, Shiloh Verrico, Chayim Frenkel, Steven Castillo, Peter Grosz (last seen in "The Weather Man"), Charlie Pollock, Clay Singer, Alan Zweibelwith cameos from Sharon Stone (last seen in "Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story"), Barry Levinson (last seen in "Dean Martin: King of Cool"), Bob Costas, Itzhak Perlman.
RATING: 6 out of 10 post-it notes
No comments:
Post a Comment