The Girl Next Door isn’t a typical high school comedy, though it certainly does a good job of camouflaging itself as one. Included are all the necessary ingredients: the loser who might look vaguely attractive if he got a haircut and an Urban Outfitters gift certificate, his nerdier, uglier friends and the gorgeous blond that saves them from an eternity in A/V club purgatory. But in this particular film, that life-saving blond is an ex-porn star. The loser in question is Matthew Kidman, played by newcomer Emile Hirsh, who falls in love with his neighbor, Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert), the instant he sees her. The film then proceeds to try to convince us that Matthew’s love has very little to do with Danielle’s curvaceous figure or pouty lips, but rather her ability to bring him out of his shell. The movie depicts every teenage boy’s fantasy, as Danielle immediately takes Matthew under her wing and introduces him to a life of skipping class, belly shirts, and strip clubs. But the plot seems secondary to director Luke Greenfield’s desire to experiment with the use of porn as a motif while still adhering to the restrictions of an R rating. The mold of the standard high school film is certainly broken with The Girl Next Door, but in this particular instance, the result is merely soft-core blandness. (DME)
GOOD BYE LENIN!
Good Bye Lenin! centers on the experience of East Berliner Alex Kerner, played by wide-eyed 24-year-old Daniel Brühl, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. After fainting during the Berlin riots, Alex’s mother (Katrin Sass) enters a deep coma for several months. Upon his mother’s release, the doctor cautions Alex that he must insulate her from any shocks, because a stressful event could kill her. Since his mother was fiercely loyal to the idealism of the DDR, Alex makes it his goal to keep her from finding out about the dramatic political changes through which she slept. Good Bye Lenin! is dotted with distilled illustrations of the many facets of the reunification, some of which shine much brighter than others. He does not fall into the trap of romanticizing the past at the expense of historical fact; his characters cherish their new conveniences and freedom of expression, and don’t miss the panoptic party structure of socialism. (WBP)
HELLBOY
Although this had all the makings of a routine genre exercise—only one man can stop a madman from taking over the world—director Guillermo del Toro and star Ron Perlman are too witty to settle into cliché. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable action-comedy that takes obvious pleasure in its faith to its comic book roots and Jeffrey Tambor. Really, what more can you ask? (SAW).
JERSEY GIRL
After the death of wife Gertrude (Jennifer Lopez), Ollie Trinke (Ben Affleck), a workaholic music publicist whose pathological impatience is both his greatest asset and worst liability, is left to take care of their baby, a daughter he names Gertie. Unable to cope with his wife’s death or his new role as parent, Trinke immerses himself in work until his father, Bart (George Carlin), refuses to take care of Gertie any longer. Flustered, abandoned, and completely covered in baby powder, Trinke has a very public nervous breakdown at a news conference. Though Affleck should never attempt to cry on film (or say the line “I’m gonna be the best daddy in the world!”), Jersey Girl nevertheless benefits from his non-method approach to acting, which fits in with the film’s down-to-earth style and subject matter. Like all of Smith’s previous movies, Jersey Girl is almost as littered as New Jersey itself with curse words, sex jokes, and an long list of A-list cameos (some amusing if predictable, others genuinely surprising). Having based his career thus far on sexual innuendoes and pot references, Smith has produced a surprisingly insightful movie about definitions of family and success in an ever-accelerating world. With an ending that is predictable without being formulaic, Jersey Girl should appeal to a wide spectrum of moviegoers. (NKB)
JOHNSON FAMILY VACATION
Take another trip with this update on the Chevy Chase vacation saga. Cedric the Entertainer is the patriarch of an adorably wacky family—which features the no longer lil’ Bow Wow—traveling cross-country for a family reunion. Watch as the antics get more and more clichéd, but enjoy the random bursts of dumb fun, like the hot tub antics with two obese white women and the legitimately humorous guest appearance of frequent Cedric collaborator Steve Harvey as Cedric’s brother. (SAW)
THE LADYKILLERS
The Coen brothers’ limp remake of a classic Alec Guinness comedy has its occasional laughs, but ends up becoming boring in its pursuit of essentially sweet comedy. Tom Hanks is the leader of a gang of robbers forced to masquerade as a band in order to rent church-lady Irma P. Hall’s basement because it connects to the basement of their target. Although the Coens’ affection for southern tradition is sweet and the manic third act brings things up a notch, it isn’t enough to save this essentially mediocre film. (SAW)
THE PUNISHER
Thomas Jane is Frank Castle, a former undercover cop whose family is massacred by Howard Saint (a flamboyant John Travolta) whose son had been killed in one of Castle’s undercover operations. In return, Castle seeks what he says “isn’t revenge. This is punishment.” Watch as Saint’s minions are brutalized in a variety of intriguing fashions with a Guns and Ammo fetishist’s dream array of tools. Often though, this revenge flick is a bit too strong for genre tourists, just for those who have come to stay. (SAW)
THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND
Seemingly intelligent high school student Leland P. Fitzgerald (Ryan Gosling) has just killed an autistic boy for no clear reason. In juvenile hall, he has to come to terms with what he has done. Outside, his alcoholic father (Kevin Spacey), his girlfriend (Jena Malone) and others in the community grapple with the repercussions of this terrible act of violence. What does it mean for their community? Although many critics have mocked the film as a now predictable execration of the darkness behind modern suburbia, in this time of school shootings and anti-depressants, Leland at least stands out as an interesting and intentionally boundary pushing work. (SAW)
THE WHOLE TEN YARDS
For those three people that demanded it, the stars of The Whole Nine Yards reunited for even more even staler neurotic assassin jokes. Although Matthew Perry seems to be attempting to channel Leslie Nielson, he doesn’t do it well-enough to redeem this unfunny farce which quickly looses whatever little affection the cute original deserved. (SAW)
—Happening was compiled by Ben B. Chung, Dominique M. Elie, Jayme J. Herschkopf, Tiffany I. Hsieh, Halsey R. Meyer, Alexandra B. Moss, Will B. Payne, Sarah L. Solorzano, Benjamin J. Soskin, and Scoop A. Wasserstein.