She's Out Of My League, Our Family Wedding, Film Noir

Hopefully, better films will be opening soon, but in the meantime, I've managed to see another stinker--one that I hoped would be better because the lead--America Ferrera, is the talented actress of TV's UGLY BETTY and was featured in THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS films. The film in question, OUR FAMILY WEDDING (and that's a vague and forgettable title if there ever was one) also features Forest Whitiker, Oscar winner for THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, but the story is so cliched and the jokes so belabored that I found myself wincing instead of laughing. For a film about a cross cultural/mixed race wedding (she's Hispanic, the groom is black, and the director is Japanese) there were a lot of stereotypes that kept appearing. Also, the wacky plot was totally illogical (she's quit law school to travel to Laos with her new husband who's volunteering for Doctors without Borders--how will they live?) and some scenes like a single goat nearly physically destroying the wedding (after downing a dozen Viagra!?! --don't ask) keep sabotaging the proceedings. And somehow, I just couldn't get my mind around Whitiker as the father of the groom as a "player" who's also a late night jazz DJ who keeps juggling a handful of women less than half his age. You know a film is bad when you'd want to turn the station when it plays on TV eventually.

Same day, after a lunch break during which we joked that this could be THE BAD MOVIE DAY of the year, the three of us went to see SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE, about a geeky guy who somehow starts dating a "total 10" much to the disbelief of his parents, family and friends. (It's interesting to me how the concept of a rating system for women (and men) has lasted for 30 or more years after being popularized in the classic film by Blake Edwards called "10"(1979!) which featured Dudley Moore, Julie Andrews and Bo Derek and which managed to satirize such a rating system....). Well, thankfully, SHE'S OUT...is a master work compared to the above WEDDING film with a clever plot and charming (mostly unknown) actors to give some depth (and subtlety) to the characters. It won't end up on any one's TOP TEN list, but at least I didn't feel ripped off in the logic department, and it proved to be a satisfying comedy.

It took me a few minutes to remember that I'd seen THE BIG HEAT(1953) about two years ago, but I couldn't remember much about it except certain scenes were familiar. Glenn Ford, Jocelyn Brando, Lee Marvin and Gloria Grahame are the leads, and it is not the edgiest of film noir, but it is engrossing and has a couple of sharp lines and a memorable scene of scalding coffee in the face that is still rather shocking. Jocelyn Brando is the older sister of Marlon Brando, and had a more modest career, but she is still quite effective as Ford's loving wife, as is Gloria Grahame as a Bad girl trying to be Good while still living in a world of lowlife criminals. The film was a big hit when it opened, so director Fritz Lang was hired a year later to team again with Ford and Grahame in the intriguing HUMAN DESIRE (1954) which I just saw and wrote about last month.

It was low budget night a few days ago as a friend loaned me one of his favorite DVD's--which featured two films from the "glory" days of Vestron which was "big" in the 1980's. For SIFF oldtimers, Vestron was the big joke of the festival during the late 80's--SIFF director and creator Dan Ireland left the Festival to work for Vestron, and so we got a steady stream of Vestron product, and it ranged from awful to forgettable to mediocre--there was often an audible groan when the credits revealed the Vestron logo. To be fair, Dan Ireland has gone on to become a decent director, with his best films becoming minor classics, specifically THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD with Vincent D'Onofrio, and newcomer Renee Zellweger. So it was with low expectations that I started with PARENTS (1989) which starred Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt and in what was her 2nd to last role, Oscar winner (for WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF) Sandy Dennis. The film was directed by actor Bob Balaban, and it was a black comic horror film about a young boy who suspects his parents of serving him questionable meat. The plot is thin, but there was a lot of stylish tension and odd dreams/fantasies scenes, and the film held my interest, even as the finale became grotesquely violent and predictable. A well done "B" movie.

The other film on the disc was FEAR (1990) which featured Ally Sheedy, Lauren Hutton and Michael O'Keefe, about a young writer who is psychic and helps police track (serial) murders, until one day she realizes the killer she is tracking through her mind is also tracking her. The plot seemed quite predictable and the gimmick has now been used by a dozen TV shows like Medium and The Mentalist among others. Yet despite this, I was absolutely riveted to the screen because of Ally Sheedy, who was quite popular in the '80's as part of the Brat Pack in movies like ST. ELMO'S FIRE and BREAKFAST CLUB, as well as SHORT CIRCUIT, WARGAMES and especially HIGH ART. Lately she's been doing a lot of TV guest appearances. When she's on, she's so intense and sucks you into her world with her empathic style of acting. I have to admit that I enjoyed being scared for her in FEAR, (not to be confused with FEAR from 1996 which featured a young Mark Wahlberg.)