Diminished Capacity. Directed by Terry Kinney. Written by Sherwood Kiraly. Release Date: July 4, 2008. Country of Production: USA. Key Cast: Matthew Broderick (Cooper), Alan Alda (Uncle Rollie), Virginia Madsen (Charlotte), Dylan Baker (Mad Dog McClure), Louis C.K. (Stan).
Matthew Broderick continues his self-exploration through independent cinema in this charming, quirky comedy about overcoming your inhibitions and insecurities. Alan Alda steals the show with a winning performance as Cooper's (Broderick) eccentric uncle. Plus, I think Virgina Madsen is really hot. Ever since I saw her in The Number 23, I've had a little thing for her. Now, she's no Uma Thurman, but what a smile.
Maybe it's just me, but it seems like there is this trend of overly-grounded protagonists in a lot of comedies I've seen lately. These characters are more or less crippled by their own neuroses, and the grand resolution of the movie is them regaining their confidence. I think this movie had a great execution of this theme, it didn't dwell too much on it, and whenever it did, there was a great punchline to rev it back up again, but I think this might somehow be linked with the impersonalization of our society through computers and cell-phones, etc.
This is linked, specifically in this movie, to the love interest (Madsen). They don't come out and say "technology". In fact, Broderick's forgetfulness and cautious behavior are the result of a severe concussion, but it made me wonder: this message of lost confidence speaks more and more verbally to a generation that is becoming characterized by our impersonality, where face-to-face human interaction is being replaced by AIM game. Are we being digitally sapped of our social essence?
Jumper. Directed by Doug Liman. Written by David S. Goyer and Jim Uhls and Simon Kinberg. Release Date: February 14, 2008. Country of Production: USA. Key Cast: Hayden Christensen (David Rice), Jamie Bell (Griffin), Rachel Bilson (Millie Harris), Diane Lane (Mary Rice), Samuel L. Jackson (Roland), Michael Rooker (William Rice).
I don't really know what to say. I'm sure it must have been pretty cool as a novel, but there had ot have been more to the story than this. The parts that I was interested in, such as the renegade Jumper (someone who can teleport) named Griffin and his guerrilla war against the Paladins (those who oppose, hunt down, and kill the Jumpers, like Sammy L.) were just glossed over, while the parts that I didn't care for at all (namely the central love story between David and Millie) took up the whole fucking movie! Also, Diane Lane is way too huge a name for her two scene cameos of the movie, and the comic book references were pastiche, at best.
Also, none of these characters were really likeable. I didn't know who to root for. Roland is obviously the villain, but the supposed heroes of the film are a bunch of sociopathic, bank-robbing neerdowells, who by the end of the movie, don't really learn any kind of lesson, or even to be responsible for their powers. It seemed like the moral was going to be something like "there are always consequences" and another line in the movie was (and I'm paraphrasing here): "they hate us because we can do whatever we want". Well, by the end of the movie, through some luck, David ends up being able to avoid this whole dispute entirely by not choosing a side and goes on to live his life of hedonism uninhibited by any sense of purpose or good acting. And he gets the girl.
Maybe if they had committed to their amoral villainy the same way that Wanted had, it would have been more engaging, but try as I might, I couldn't make myself root for the protagonist... or against him, and it was my apathy that killed it for me.
Hayden Christensen, you almost ruined Star Wars for me. I guess I keep giving you chances because I really liked Shattered Glass and Life as a House, but I can't take it anymore. You're dead to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment