Review of reviews: Film

Michael Clayton

Directed by Tony Gilroy (R)

A corrupt lawyer confronts his misdeeds.

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Michael Clayton is proof that less is more, said Ann Hornaday in The Washington Post. Stripped of action and built around dialogue, the film contradicts all we’ve come to begrudgingly accept from modern-day conspiracy thrillers. For his directorial debut, Tony Gilroy, best known as the screenwriter for the Bourne trilogy, leaves formula behind to recall the “gritty urban realism, suave sense of style, and moral complexity” of the great American films of the 1970s. He strikes an impressive balance “between the brutal and the balletic, the star and the anti-star, the glamour and the grit.” Thanks to Gilroy’s nuanced touch, “it isn’t until nearly an hour in that you notice how conventional a movie it actually is,” said Dana Stevens in Slate.com. George Clooney plays Clayton, a veteran “fixer” who is called in by the defense on a major class-action suit after their litigator (a convincing Tom Wilkinson) loses his marbles. His “snappy bravado and self-aware charmer’s glint” still intact, Clooney unveils a weariness we’ve rarely seen before, said Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly. “He’s the classic American cynical-sharpie hero, like Bogart in Casablanca, who has only just begun to notice that he’s sinking into the muck around him.” Clooney plays down his star quality, Gilroy holds back on high jinks, and their accomplished film “restores your faith” in Hollywood.

Lake of Fire

Directed by Tony Kaye (Not Rated)

A documentary on abortion shows shades of gray within the debate.

It was a good idea to film Lake of Fire in black and white, said Manohla Dargis in The New York Times. “The absence of color blunts the force of the images, which allows you to watch the movie rather than avert your gaze.” In his unwavering look at the abortion debate, director Tony Kaye aims to unearth shades of gray amid this seemingly black-and-white issue. He talks to “an awful lot of men talking about what women should and should not do with their bodies,” but sets off these conversations with graphic, harrowing images of aborted fetuses and actual abortions. In the most unnerving interview, a doctor sifts through a tray of fetal parts to make certain none is left inside the patient, which could lead to poisoning or death. Kaye spent 17 years working on Lake of Fire, and it “lives up to its promise of definitiveness,” said Maria Garcia in Film Journal International. In a surprisingly fluid 152 minutes, the film “skillfully delineates every imaginable political, philosophical, and moral position on abortion.” Kaye interviewed everyone from Noam Chomsky to John Burt, an ex–Ku Klux Klan member turned radical anti-abortion minister. He also includes idiosyncratic voices, said J. Hoberman in The Village Voice, such as pro-life leftist Nat Hentoff and representatives of Catholics for a Free Choice. In Kaye’s eyes, “the ultimate distinction is not between pro-choice and pro-life, but between those who articulate moral unease and those who speak with absolute conviction.”

The Heartbreak Kid

Directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly (R)

Two Stillers and two Farrellys remake a Neil Simon classic.

The Heartbreak Kid “marks the first time in my life I haven’t laughed at Jerry Stiller and around the 100th time I haven’t laughed at his son,” said Stephanie Zacharek in Salon.com. Reuniting the Farrelly brothers with Ben Stiller, the star of 1998’s There’s Something About Mary, would seem foolproof. Unfortunately, it isn’t. Even the lovable, always laughable Jerry can’t save this film about a guy who gets married, regrets it, and falls in love with another woman while on his honeymoon. The Heartbreak Kid ostensibly is a remake of Neil Simon’s 1972 comedy, though the only similarity is the title and basic premise. Apparently it took five screenwriters, including the Farrellys, to “excise all traces of humanity and character-based comedy” from Simon’s screenplay, said Carina Chocano in the Los Angeles Times. The wit that defined Simon’s original has been replaced with gross-out gags involving everything from nose mucous to explicit bestiality. Repulsion is what the Farrellys do best, but “there’s something surprising about the undercurrent of hostility and disgust that runs” throughout the film. It all depends on how much smut you can stand, said Desson Thomson in The Washington Post. The directors always had a way of “stretching the familiar taboos and embarrassing moments of real life to their satirical breaking point.” In the Heartbreak Kid, they push them a bit beyond.

The Good Night

Directed by Jake Paltrow (R)

A man finds an escape from an unhappy relationship in his dreams.

The Good Night is “as thin and wispy as a dream you can’t quite remember in the morning,” said Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News. Jake Paltrow’s directorial debut, about a man who falls out of love with his girlfriend and in love with a girl who exists only in his dreams, suffers from rookie mistakes. Paltrow’s connections might have saved him: The 32-year-old assembled a strong cast that includes his sister Gwyneth, Danny DeVito, and Martin Freeman (from the original, British version of The Office). But Paltrow’s inexperience comes through, as he wastes the comedic talent of Freeman, turns Gwyneth into a shrew, and makes you wish DeVito had directed the movie instead. The Good Night “comes off like a third-rate Woody Allen movie,” said Kirk Honeycutt in The Hollywood Reporter. The screenplay reads like a first draft and the plot grows wearying, rather than intriguingly complex. Flashes of bookish wit confirm that Paltrow has some talent, said David Edelstein in New York. He “takes familiar (embarrassingly familiar) male-angst material” and “hits you from behind and underneath while the bleakness smacks you in the face.” Paltrow might be another case of a member of Hollywood royalty presuming he can write and direct. Then again, he might be the real thing.