Does it "earn the privilege of your time?"
At the center of Late Night is Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson), a talk-show host whose tagline is “Excellence without compromise,” although she’s been mailing it in on her “dusty,” declining show for years. No one is bold enough to tell her this, until a network vp informs Katherine that she is being replaced.
“I don’t think you think you hate women,” is how a staffer approaches Katherine on her lack of diversity hiring. This exchange leads her to hire Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling), a chemical-plant manager with no writing experience and cupcakes-the-first-day energy. If you think this sounds like a 2019 variation of The Devil Wears Prada, you are devilishly correct. Similar to that film, Katherine strikes fear amongst her staff yet befriends a newcomer who unrealistically rises to the top.
Late Night takes on race, class, feminism and many modern ideologies with varying degrees of success. It’s an uneven comedy, but a broadly amusing one that arrives at a refreshing time in the summer sequel season.
Who am I kidding? I’d watch Emma Thompson fold laundry for two hours and I would certainly watch her deliver zippy dialogue in an office comedy for an hour and forty-two minutes. She plays a terrible person, but somehow you root for her. Thompson is that good.
In a nutshell: Uneven as comedy and social statement, but the comedic wit of Emma Thompson heightens each scene. It’s delightful to see her in the center of a movie again.
Award potential: Some Golden Globe Comedy nominations seem likely, but no Oscar noms. This is not Broadcast News.
The Ten Buck Review: Thanks to Thompson, it does “earn the privilege of your time.” Worth ten bucks.
It's a
little bit funny, but rock biopics fall into two categories. Those that
should have been on TV and those that serve only to showcase their stars
to Oscar nomination greatness (Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody, Angela Basset in What's Love Got To Do With It and Dennis Quaid in Great Balls of Fire). Not many are great films. The only one to cross that line might have been Walk The Line.
I had
high hopes that this summer release would be an exception. While Elton
John's rocket flight to fame is patent rock biopic material, the
levitated piano playing shown in the trailer suggested a fantasy
approach that would transcend linear biopic film making. It didn't.
Let me first note that Taron Egerton fills the electric boots perfectly, providing great energy and virtuoso vocals. Rocketman achieves
a star-making performance and clearly puts this film in that first
biopic bucket.
The
rest of the movie is as much a mess as Elton's life in the seventies.
Instead of one scene that lets us know his mother was cruel, we have
several hit-you-over-the-head moments every time she appears. And the
narrative framework, set in a rehab, is so remedial that it's almost
insulting. Thank
goodness for those songs. The music is showcased three ways: realistic,
fantastical imaginings of energetic performances and corny broadway
basic music videos. The first two work. I loved a scene early in the
film that captures what it must have felt like to hear Elton in the
seventies. It's a scene where Elton performs Crocodile Rock in L.A.'s famous Troubadour club the day after a Neil Young appearance.
But
here's my other issue with the film. Elton didn't play that song at the
Troubadour and Neil Young wasn't there either. I understand the story
telling need to switch songs or show songs out of timeline sequence, but
why add the incorrect Neil Young reference? Why did they add a specific
scene that indicates his last name was inspired by John Lennon when it
was inspired by London rocker Long John Baldry? Why title "The Border
Song" on a test packet to Elton when Taupin and John would write it
years later? Why include the songs "Daniel" and "I Guess That's Why They
Call It The Blues" in his first audition, when these are songs they'd
write in 1972 and 1983? Why,
with Elton as producer,would any of this happen. I don't understand why
you'd add these details if they weren't true and it's one less reason
you should get your hopes up before watching this film. I suggest you
spend the two hours playing one of Elton's Greatest Hits album or two or
three.
In a nutshell: I hope you don't mind that I put down in words how disappointed I was in everything but Egerton's performance.
Award potential: Julian Day should expect an Oscar nomination for Best Costume and Taron Egerton should be only every shortlist for months. Egerton
is supported with strong performances by Jamie Bell as Bernie Taupin
and Richard Madden as lover and manager John Reid, but I don't expect
these performances to be remembered next January.
The Ten Buck Review: Not worth ten bucks.
Part Superbad. Part super good.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club and Say Anything in the 80s. Dazed and Confused, Clueless, American Pie and 10 Things I Hate About You in the 90s. Juno and Superbad in the 2000s. The Spectacular Now, Perks of Being A Wallflower, Love, Simon and Lady Bird in the 2010s.
The plot of these high school comedies are all the same, but each has its own take. These come around every few years and each time I enjoy discovering the voice, the tone and the music of that generation's version. 2019 offers us Booksmart, directed by actress Olivia Wilde.
Besties Amy (Kaitlyn Dever from Beautiful Boy) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein from LIttle Bird) always assumed their focus on academia would give them a life-long advantage on their YOLO high school peers. You know, those party kids who will stay in town working at the local store and reminiscing about their glory days. However, on the eve of graduation, Amy and Molly discover those fun-loving kids are also moving on to Ivy-league schools. “You guys don’t even care about school,” shouts Molly, to which a popular girl retorts, “No, we just don’t only care about school.” This revelation is the comedic set up for Amy and Molly to pour four years of fun into one wild night, which includes crashing the cool kids' house party. Sounds good, right?
The first half of the film involves a series of mistakes and delays getting to the party, which includes introducing multiple over-the-top characters and raucous scenarios. I didn't enjoy the first half. My age is showing that I was sqirmingly antsy during all the misdirections and worried that our heroines would never actually get to crash that party.
Today I realized that I was just craving a grounded, realistic story (The girls accidentally take a drug that conveniently wears off just as soon as the comic bit was over) and realistic characters (a nerdy classmate throws a million dollar yacht party without any friends to join).
Luckily, this all changes in the second half of the film, where all those kooky characters and classmates meet. In a huge shift, the situation and the characters suddenly become realistic and layered, the stories all start to gel and everything works in that endearing way that the best of these movies do. I wish the whole film had been like the third act. It was so good that I'll have to recommend this film despite wanting to walk out early on.
In a nutshell: Like any true revenge of the nerd story, Booksmart wins over in the end.
Award potential: It had all the buzz at SXSW, but after seeing Eighth Grade get passed over last year, I'd say this zanier, uneven comedy has no chance for Oscar recognition.
A Golden Globe (Comedy) nomination is a long shot, but possible if Yesterday, Late Night or Once Upon A Time In Hollywood don't match expectations. The actresses are strong, but equal in their roles and unlikely to both make a nomination list half a year from now.
The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.
