Film Review: Due Date
It’s very American is all I can say, by which I mean clearly made for a very broad, undemanding, Friday night, cheap-and-easy-laughs market. That would be all well and good in itself if it weren’t such a drab, lifeless, cynical and uninteresting film, which has nothing to say about its characters and doesn’t even pull the comedy off well. Robert Downey Jr plays an architect in Atlanta desperate to get home to his wife in Los Angeles who’s about to give birth to their first child. At the airport he comes into contact with Zack Galifianakis, a perm-headed lunatic with behavioural problems far more serious than just tourettes. Galifianakis gets them thrown off the plane and onto a no-fly list, forcing the most unlikely road movie ever; without even his wallet, Downey has no choice but to join him driving across the US.
It would be all well and good if this were merely a re-run of the far superior ‘Planes, Trains & Automobiles’ but this film fails in every area where Steve Martin and John Candy succeeded. Galifianakis has no redeeming qualities worth speaking of – he portrays the lovable Candy figure from time to time but is hindered by a one-note script. Downey has the same problems – where he’s supposed to be the straight man, he’s written as the fully straight man – he’s not terribly likable either, nor terribly interesting, and has to get by on his charisma alone (of which he admittedly has in abundance). To succeed and overcome its lack of originality this film needs charm, but mystifyingly neither of the leads offers it. Galifianakis may not yet have proven any ability more than he demonstrated in ‘The Hangover’, not so Downey. I can’t fathom why he accepted this role which, given his enormous comedic talents, he then appears to sleepwalk through. I’m sure he needs a quick film between Marvel film appearances, but this shouldn’t have been it. The only time he comes alive is with Jamie Foxx – hardly surprising given their chemistry in ‘The Soloist’, but it makes you wonder why either of them bothered with this.
You could yourself write most of the thrills and spills they get into – Galifianakis falling asleep at the wheel, their accidental incursion into Mexico, the confrontation at the Grand Canyon, but for reasons known only to the committee of screenwriters an extra level of conflict is added – could they not agree a more convincing motivation to justify Foxx’s casting? But it’s a mystery too why punching a child in a film otherwise relatively serious should be deemed funny, or why Downey’s character should be written as so relentlessly mean in a film meant to be a comedy. Perhaps the American audiences aren’t thought to care that much – the British one never raised much more than a titter. A confused and pointless film, just not uniformally hateful.
5/10
Film Review: Sherlock Holmes (Spoilers)
How Guy Ritchie of all people managed to put together a perfectly good and highly enjoyable Sherlock Holmes movie, and with Robert Downey Jr in the lead, is beyond me. But the fact remains that his brazen attempt to both reboot Holmes and to set up a franchise succeeds, in an odd way a little too well. The ex-Mr Madonna and his screenwriters Michael Robert Johnson and Anthony Peckham actually cram far too much detail into an otherwise lovingly crafted and straightforward conspiracy against the British state, and leave the first half a little bloated and a bit too clever for its own good. Is Lord Blackwood (the sublime Mark Strong) really a black magician, using dark arts to take over Britain and then the world? With highly enjoyable twists and turns, the fractious Holmes and Watson investigate.
The first half of the movie is quite perplexing, despite some excellent scenes where we see the world from Holmes’ point of view. The bare knuckle fight sequence may upset film Holmes purists, but getting a snapshot of how his mind works adds a valuable dimension to Downey’s oddball performance. Whilst he clearly can’t decide still whether to play the character or just ‘do Downey’, he errs on the side of caution for the most part and is a highly watchable, charismatic lead; to manage Holmes and Stark simultaneously is no mean achievement. And Jude Law as a heavily retooled Watson is a delight too – the chemistry between them dominates the movie, as they both chew their way through every scene they share. And the back half of the movie – the payoff – is extremely strong and remarkably traditional; anyone expecting the Hollywoodised style of the trailer couldn’t be more wrong. Whilst Ritchie’s pacing is as rapid as you might imagine, it’s never at the expense of story. Well almost never – it might have helped to have known more about Holmes’ past relationship with Rachel McAdam, but this is a minor quibble.
The rebooted Sherlock Holmes for a new century is a definite success and great entertainment for audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. Its highly impressive look, its eschewing any form of origin sequence (I mean who doesn’t know who Holmes is?) and the decision to take a whole new approach with Holmes and Watson casting are all triumphs for Ritchie. The lead-in to the sequel (which seems to have now been greenlit) is also pretty welcome; I can stand to revisit these characters quite happily. All in all an excellent balance between a cerebral mystery and out and out action – a very pleasant surprise.
7.5/10
Film Review: The Soloist (Spoilers)
If you’re expecting sentimentality you’ll be sadly mistaken – director Joe Wright’s adaptation of the real world Steve Lopez’s (Robert Downey Jr in the film) book about his real life relationship with Nathaniel Anthony Ayers (Jamie Foxx) might have a thin plot, but it’s well-steered into territory which is occasionally awkward. Sure the pitfalls are there – journalist desperate for a story finds musical prodigy on the streets and tries to help, not acknowledging to himself that his helping is pretty much entirely an opportunity to boost his own ego. With actors less capable than Downey and Foxx this could have descended into trite schmalz, but Wright gets two powerhouse performances by actors at the top of their game, who lift this into much more interesting fare. Downey particularly impresses – even though he doesn’t play the character afflicted with mental illness, he himself recently survived his own brush with madness, and it clearly affects his performance. Where his Lopez could have come across as merely egotistical or overly ambitious or insensitive, Downey allows his own feelings about Ayers’ reality to shine through. That mixture of anger and fear won’t be his big moment – there’s clearly at least one Oscar in his future – but I don’t think we have much longer to wait.
Foxx in turn plays Ayers with an unaffected grace, yet leaves no doubt this is a tormented character. He imbues Ayers with an easily recognisable humanity, whilst emphasizing just how impossible it is to truly know him (and how impossible it is for him to know himself). No there isn’t a happy ending, but no it’s not all doom and gloom either – writer Susannah Grant’s screenplay leaves serious questions over Ayers’ ultimate fate, and whilst she’s occasionally a bit preachy, succeeds nonetheless at balancing out difficult social issues around mental illness with the need to entertain. Given that Downey’s Steve Lopez fails to handle the same issues compassionately it’s no mean feat. There are clunky bits – all the scenes involving Tom Hollander’s cringeworthy cello teacher are poorly thought out – but otherwise this is above average fare which is well worth your time.
7.5/10
