Movies in June, Part Two

Mr. and Mrs. Smith



Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a relatively entertaining action flick about two assassins (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, ostensibly before they were an item) who are married to each other. The only problem is, neither one knows that the other is also an assassin. As you may imagine, they find out and lots of shooting happens. But so does a lot of entertaining humor about relationships, trust, and marriage troubles. Mr. and Mrs. Smith has its best moments when the banalities of American suburban living are juxtaposed with the glamorous and deadly world of international assassins. Particularly funny is a scene where Pitt and Jolie take on a team of hit men while driving the minivan they stole from their neighbors. As is often the case, the ending is more over-done than funny, but the movie still has its charm. It's a good summer movie; I'm glad I finally got around to seeing it.

∗∗1/2





The Break-up

If you like Vince Vaughn, you will probably like The Break-up. This is basically all his movie, and it practically drips with his unusual humor. Fortunately, he is usually kept in check by an impressive supporting cast and a couple capable writers. The funniest moments of The Break-up happen when Vince Vaughn's humor is carefully tempered and honed to some good lines, rather than the rambling and often crude schtick that fills the out-takes and deleted scenes.



Vaughn's idea of doing the anti-romantic comedy is intriguing, and even though it isn't always entirely fun to watch, it's interesting to see the classic genre played in reverse. Vaughn's character and his girlfriend (Jennifer Aniston) slowly enter a downward spiral after an argument, but both refuse to move out or give up. The result is awkward and mostly comical. My favorite scene is near the beginning, when they have their big argument. The writers managed to craft a dialogue that included almost every line relationship cousnelors will tell you not to say. I didn't like everything about The Break-up, but it had some good moments.

∗∗





National Treasure: Book of Secrets



After the amusing and light-hearted success of the first National Treasure movie, a sequel was sure to follow. And like so many other Jerry Bruckheimer movies, the philosophy for the sequel was to throw in more money, more big-named actors, and less plot. The first movie flirted with the edge of absurdity, but it stayed just on this side of the line. Book of Secrets marches past the line and never looks back. Despite the addition of Ed Harris and the fantastic Helen Mirren, this movie is just plain silly. But it is kinda fun, so if you are willing to utterly suspend your disbelief, you might like it.

∗1/2





Persuasion (2007)



Persuasion is actually my favorite Jane Austen novel. (Yes, I have a favorite. Yes, I know that makes me a Girlie-Man.) The book follows Anne, the daughter of a spendthrift nobleman, who has no money and no marriage prospects. (That should sound familiar to any Austen readers.) There is a previous movie version of Persuasion that has lots of fans, but it isn't fabulous. So the BBC did a new version of the book last year. The new movie does a lot of things I like. The new male lead character is a lot better looking than the guy from the old movie, but he seems a bit young for the part. I would say that the new one is better than the older version, if it weren't for a utterly foolish and unnecessary sequence at the very end of the new BBC production, in which Anne runs in a panic all around the the town of Bath. Despite that last sequence, I liked the movie well enough, though I still would like to see a definitive version at some point.

∗∗





Sense and Sensibility (BBC Miniseries)

The BBC undertook another well-loved Jane Austen book earlier this year, this time in a mini-series. The three-hour length allowed for a slower pace, and the performances were quite good, but this version just isn't as good as the Academy Award-winning version by Emma Thompson and Ang Lee. Still, I liked this version a lot, and it is inferior only because the 1995 version is so excellent. I would recommend this version to an Austen fan.

∗∗









P.S. I Love You





These last two movies have something in common other than being romantic comedies. Both movies begin with the death of a husband or fiance, and deal with the emotional fall-out the woman experiences. P.S. I Love You is the stranger of the two, but it was also the better. After her husband dies of a brain tumor, a young woman (Hillary Swank) becomes emotionally unstable until she begins to receive posthumous letters from her husband. He knew she would be devastated by the loss, and he plans out tasks and activities for her to do. In the process, she begins to cope with the loss and let go. Part of the movie takes place in Ireland, so the scenery alone makes for some good watching. It has some really stupid parts, but P.S. I Love You also has some charm.

∗∗





Catch and Release



Jennifer Garner stars as a woman whose fiance dies in a fishing accident the day before their wedding. She then discovers that he had a secret life she never knew about, with some good and some bad consequences. Catch and Release is a very underwhelming movie in most respects. It isn't all bad, but the story is absurd and the performances unconvincing. Jennifer Garner's character never really shows much emotion, even though she lost her soon-to-be husband and goes through plenty of drama with his friends afterwards. The best part about the movie is some of the scenery, since it takes place in Boulder, Colorado. The rest of it you won't miss.

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