The Will Smith movie behind the oblique marketing campaign; Mickey Rourke’s comeback; Jim Carrey returns to formula.
It’s difficult to say whether the fall/winter movie season is getting any better, but it’s at least getting more crowded. This week three films open on the heels of major hype, either from studio marketing machines or, in one case, mammoth Oscar buzz. One stars probably the most dependable box office draw in the world right now. Another stars an actor who can no longer lay claim to that title, while the third features a long-awaited comeback for an actor once expected to reach such heights who, for reasons mundane and strange alike, never managed to meet those expectations.
Finding three films with less in common would prove an interesting question, but they represent the last cluster of releases before the contestants in this year’s Best Picture horserace – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Revolutionary Road, and Frost/Nixon – all hit theatres nationwide around Christmas.
Seven Pounds: The marketing campaign for this Gabriele Muccino-directed melodrama has run the gamut from “opaque” to “tight-lipped,” since Columbia Pictures reportedly wants to build “mystery” leading up to its release. Or maybe they’re afraid the downer subject material will scare away audiences? Ben Thomas (Will Smith) poses as an IRS agent to find seven individuals worth “saving.” Stricken with guilt after an act of selfishness caused the death of his fiance and seven others, Thomas plans to commit suicide and donate his body as an act of penance. Rosario Dawson, Barry Pepper, and Woody Harrelson play various people Thomas seeks out for evaluation.
Smith brought Italian director Muccino on to the production after the two collaborated on 2006’s The Pursuit of Happyness. TV sitcom writer Grant Nieporte wrote the original script.
The Wrestler: Hollywood loves a comeback. The seamy riches-to-rags-to-riches saga The Wrestler has Mickey Rourke, the actor once considered the heir apparent to James Dean, in a performance that early acclaim has all but guranteed an Oscar nomination. Rourke, older and bent with age but still with the crackling energy he displayed two decades ago, plays Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a former champion who gets a chance at a rematch with his longtime rival The Ayatollah (real-life wrestler Ernest “The Cat” Miller.) Robinson’s weak heart means the match will likely kill him. Marisa Tomei plays the stripper in his corner, while Evan Rachel Wood is his estranged daughter.
Substitute a brain aneurisym for the weak heart and boxing for wrestling, and Rourke has more or less made this film before : 1988’s Homeboy, a forgotten gem of a neo-noir that co-starred Christopher Walken as a petty crook and period femme fatale Debra Feuer as the weary soul Rourke’s boxer loves. The Wrestler also presents something of a comeback for director Darren Aronofsky, whose early promising work Pi (1998) and Requiem For A Dream (2000) were met with such hysterical over-praise that his next film, the beautiful but overreaching The Fountain (2006), fell victim to a vicious backlash. Aranofsky has never been accused of subtlety, nonetheless, and the trailer shows that earnestness in full force. The film opened in limited release Wednesday, and opens nationwide January 16.
Yes Man: Jim Carrey all but had a license to print money in the 1990s, thanks to a string of lowbrow screwball comedies like Dumb and Dumber and Liar, Liar that played well to his genial idiot screen persona. His bankability started to falter as he segued towards dramatic roles, starring in films both bland (Man On The Moon) and brilliant (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Recently his career has dropped into freefall, with rumors of major projects cancelled while films actually released – last year’s The Number 23, 2006’s Fun With Dick and Jane – die quick box office deaths or earn meager returns.
Based on a true story by British humorist Danny Wallace and directed by Peyton Reed (The Break-Up), Yes Man plays to the formula that made earlier films like Liar, Liar and Bruce Almighty blockbuster hits: stick Carrey in an improbable constraint that allows his too-much-is-never-enough shtick free room to react to routine situations. Rather than cursed to tell the truth or become saddled with omnipotence, this time Carrey’s white collar drone challenges himself to say “yes” to everything. Life lesson-producing antics and strange facial contortions ensue. Danny Masterson, Bradley Cooper, and Zooey Deschanel co-star.
As a suggestion for your moviegoing, consider visiting a theatre you don’t normally frequent. Many cities have movie theatres struggling to survive, and losing such venues to these harsh economic times will mean they’re still gone once conditions improve. Have a good weekend.
- Michael Kabel
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