It's late August, and that means the box-office is in an awkward period where all the blockbusters have come and gone, and the Oscar baits haven't arrived yet. I opted to see an independent film this week, and am surprised to see a "summer" release that is every bit of an Oscar bait, at least for the lead actors.
Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) is a hermit living in the Tennessee woods in the 1930s. Realizing that he is old and everyone dies eventually, he decides to throw himself a funeral party, while he is still alive. He asks if Rev. Horton (Gerald McRaney) would officiate the funeral. When Horton tells him he can't pay for his sins to get to heaven, Felix leaves. Their conversation is overheard by Buddy (Lucas Black), a young clerk working at Frank Quinn's (Bill Murray) Funeral Home. Buddy convinces Frank that they can use Felix's business, and Frank promotes Buddy to commissioned sales associate so Buddy can deal with Felix Bush.
It turns out Felix Bush has a bad reputation in town. Nobody really knows him, but they have heard all kinds of stories, such as how many people Felix Bush has killed in the past. They fear and loathe the old hermit. All except Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek), who has recently returned to her hometown after her husband died. Mattie and Felix used to have a relationship forty years ago, and she knows there's a kind, lovely man behind that fearsome hermit.
Through Buddy's sincere and genuine help, Felix begins to open up. Buddy and Frank try to promote the party, for who would want to go to a crazy man's party just to get shot? Felix also tells the town there will be a drawing: he will give away his huge timberland property after his death to the lucky winner. The town goes into a frenzy and the lottery money keeps flowing in. Meanwhile, Buddy is curious about Felix's secrets and why exactly the old man wants to throw this party.
As Felix Bush, Robert Duvall (The Road) proves once again what a pro he is. His portrayal of the hermit is at once intimidating, taciturn, witty, charming and even funny. How does an actor pull off such a complicated character, with so many different traits, and yet make us believe? Robert Duvall does just that. His performance is understated and nuanced, not at all showy, but you simply can't keep your eyes off of him. That is quite an achievement for an actor who is almost 80 years old!
Sissy Spacek (Four Christmasses) looks amazing as Mattie. She also shows tremendous emotional range and plays off Duvall excellently. There is no question her character is in love with Felix, and we can see why, and how conflicted she is about it. When Mattie learns the truth about Felix, the shock and anger and sadness and hurt are so evident in Spacek's eyes and on her face. They feel real. Now, that's great acting.
Bill Murray (City of Ember) is in good form as the shrewd businessman, but there's just something about Bill Murray that no matter what he plays, he just reminds us we're watching Bill Murray play dress-up. Murray fits the role well, though, so I can't really complain, but it's painfully clear that he has a limited range. Despite his fourth billing, Lucas Black (Friday Night Lights) actually has the second most important role in the film as Buddy, the young, ernest man who becomes Felix's unlikely friend and voice of reason. Black has been acting since he was a child, and his talent continues to remind us his day in the spotlight will come soon.
Supporting cast includes Gerald McRaney (The A-Team) as Rev. Horton, Bill Cobbs (My Summer Friends) as Rev. Charles Jackson, and Scott Cooper (Gods and Generals) as a town bully. They are all fine in their respective roles.
Written by Chris Provenzano (Mad Men), C. Gaby Mitchell (Blood Diamond) and Scott Seeke, the story is based on legends and folktales of a 1930s hermit. Whether the original story is true or not, the writers have created their own version of the events that has its own "magical" quality. Every town has its legends and tales, and the writers succeed in creating that folksy atmosphere. They also choose to take a low-key approach. The dialogue is generally sparse, and the pace is relaxed, though not slow. Much of the emotion is revealed through the characters' interactions with one another, their actions and their facial expressions. The subtleness is well done here. The story is straightforward with the central mystery tightly guarded until the end. That's created enough suspense to keep us hooked, while we learn more about the characters along the way.
Aaron Schneider's (Two Soldiers) direction is meticulous and focused. The production value is good and the costume is fantastic to throw us back to the 1930s. Schneider's background as a cinematographer also helps bring his vision to fruition, with a tight and atmospheric production. The pacing is just right with enough suspense, humor, and heart to keep us interested.
That said, this is an actor's movie. It is all about the performances and Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and the rest of the cast have done a fantastic job. If you're into period movies with great characterization, mystery, and heart, you won't be disappointed with Get Low.Stars: Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Bill Murray, Lucas Black, Gerald McRaney, Bill Cobbs, Scott Cooper
Director: Aaron Schneider
Writers: Chris Provenzano, C. Gaby Mitchell, Scott Seeke
Distributor: Sony Classics
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic material and brief violence
Running Time: 100 minutes
Ratings:
Script – 8
Performance – 9
Direction – 8
Cinematography – 8
Music/Sound– 7
Editing – 8
Production – 8
Total – 8.0 out of 10
Residents of the quiet town near Lake Victoria have only one thing to look forward to (or dread) every year: college spring break. A few days before the festivities begin, a seismic event opens up an underwater passage to a subterranean lake, unleashing thousands of prehistoric piranhas. When Sheriff Julie Forester (Elisabeth Shue) and her deputy (Ving Rhames) discover the body of a local (Richard Dreyfuss), they realize something unusual has happened and call for help.
Meanwhile, spring break is in full swing. Forester's son Jake (Steven R. McQueen) has the hots for the returning student named Kelly (Jessica Szohr). He accepts a job from porn director Derrick Jones (Jerry O'Connell) who is in town to film the Wild, Wild, Wild Girls on Spring Break with two of his stars (Kelly Brook, Riley Steele). Jake manages to string Kelly along and they set out to certain remote areas.
When seismologist Novak (Adam Scott) arrives with his team to help Forester, they realize they have a huge problem in their hands and they must close the lake and shut down spring break. Easier said than done. Soon, the piranhas find their ways to the buffet… I mean, the festivities, and a feast… I mean, mayhem ensures.
Jerry O'Connell (Obsessed) is deliciously creepy as the douchebag porn director, with a bunch of real porn stars under his wings. Adam Scott (Leap Year) gets to play a good guy here as the seismologist. Jessica Szohr (Fired Up!) is cute and fun as Jake's love interest, but she, too, lacks real materials to go deeper with her character.
The cameos are great, though, starting with Richard Dreyfuss (W) giving a great send-off to his Matt Hooper in JAWS. Eli Roth (Inglorious Basterds) has a great time playing a wet T-shirt host. And Christopher Lloyd (Wolf Sheep) does a great sendup of Doc Brown (from Back to the Future) as Mr. Goodman.
The screenplay by Pete Goldfinger (Sorority Row) and Josh Stolberg (Sorority Row) borrows everything from JAWS to Night of the Living Dead. The story is just an excuse for gore, nudity, and violent deaths. Surprisingly, though, the plot holds up very well, despite the requisite cheese and gratuitousness. The arc is typical, stereotypical even. We know where it's all going, with the multiple threads and the largely unseen fish lurking in the murky water. We expect the cheesy and the predictability, and we can't wait when all Hell breaks loose.
That said, the plot, after the prologue, does take a bit too long to unfold. I understand there's a myriad of characters to introduce and a need to build it up. Still, there are enough unnecessary characters (such as Kelly's obnoxious boyfriend and his friend) that rather just muddle everything. And some of the plot twists are ridiculous, even for a B-movie. The dialogue is pure cheese, but there's enough humor -- potty or otherwise -- to defuse some of the intensity.
Liz (Julia Roberts) is trying to have a baby with husband Stephen (Billy Crudup) when she realizes something is terribly wrong with her life and her marriage. She doesn't feel anything. She has no love or passion for anything, except a strong desire to travel and see the world. She decides to call it quits, and goes through a bitter divorce with Stephen. Soon, she's entangled in a brief affair with an actor (James Franco) before she realizes she's following the same pattern and she desperately needs a change.
Against the objection of her best friend Delia (Viola Davis), she makes the decision to leave and spend a year around the world. She's going to live in Italy to eat, then in India to pray, and finally to Bali to visit a medicine man who's the reason for this awakening. And hopefully, through this experience, she would find out who she really is, and what she really wants to do with her life. And most important, to figure out the mystery of relationships.
Julia Roberts (Duplicity) is perfectly cast as Elizabeth Gilbert, who shares the actress's wispy blond hair, tall, thin frame, and personality. Roberts handles the character well (obviously getting help from Gilbert), and it's a likable if self-absorbed character. Liz Gilbert reminds me Julie in Julie & Julia, another self-absorbed writer who is a bit on the whiny side. Roberts does her best with the character, and her performance is commendable, if a bit underplayed.
The large supportive cast is generally superb. Billy Crudup (Watchmen) plays Gilbert's husband, Stephen, an equally self-absorbed man-child. He does his best with the thinly drawn character. Viola Davis (Knight and Day) plays Gilbert's supportive but skeptical best friend solidly. James Franco (The Pineapple Express) is loose and affecting as Gilbert's much-younger boyfriend -- a New York actor who introduces her to Indian spiritual healing.
Tuva Novotny (Dear Alice) is bubbly and cute as a Swedish expat who befriends Gilbert in Rome, and Luca Argentero (Our Country) is charming as Gilbert's Italian tutor. But the standouts are Richard Jenkins (Let Me In) and Javier Bardem (Vicky Christina Barcelona). Jenkins plays a fellow seeker at the Indian retreat Gilbert's staying; he has one of the most touching moments as he recounts his past. Give the guy an Oscar already! And Bardem is extraordinarily sweet and charming as Felipe, a Brazilian businessman who falls in love with Gilbert in Bali.
Director-writer Ryan Murphy (Glee) and Jennifer Salt (Nip/Tuck) have the daunting job of adapting Gilbert's nonfiction self-help book into a coherent story. While they succeed in streamlining the narrative into a plot, the translation loses Gilbert's unique voice. Even at almost two and a half hour, there are parts of the movie that feel rushed and underdeveloped. For example, we never really get a clear idea why Liz and Stephen's marriage falls apart. And Liz comes off as a selfish brat when Stephen asks her, "Why can't you work on finding yourself while still in this marriage?" She offers no answer. The same is true with Liz and her actor boyfriend, David. There is no development, except a vague notion that they simply don't belong together.
That makes the ending rather superficial, when Liz and Felipe fall in love. What makes this relationship different than the ones she had with Stephen and David? I have no clue. The writers spend too much time detailing Liz's experiences in Rome, India and Bali, but not enough time letting us understand Liz's true dilemmas and her arc. What has she learned in 12 months? What transformation has she made? At the end, it seems like she just jumps into another relationship anyway, meanwhile saying, "I'm ready for love again." Huh?
There are also logical and chronological gaps. I mean, Liz has been in Rome for two weeks and she still hasn't experienced the local cuisines yet? And when she arrives in India, she seems totally lost as if she had no idea what she was supposed to do there. Well, so much for planning. Also, the script fails to mention Liz got an advance on a book proposal and that's how she could afford to go on this year-long odyssey and write about it. It's an important point (maybe to the detriment of Liz's story, but still, it's important) that the screenwriters so eagerly ignored.
Murphy's direction is rather good, though. The cinematography is gorgeous and the production is pristine and it flows well. The movie drags in places, though -- as I said, I'd rather he spend more time developing the relationships than taking us on a guided tour. There are times when I don't understand the point other than showing us how delicious Italian food is (duh!).
Still, once Liz goes on her journey, the sceneries are breathtaking. Although we don't know what Liz has learned in Italy (other than to speak better Italian, to appreciate pleasure and "the joy of doing nothing"), it sure makes us want to eat lots of pastas and pizzas, and drink wine. As charming as the locales are, the story lacks the charm and sparks of other "travelog" stories such as Under the Tuscan Sun or Letters to Juliet. The writing simply isn't up to the challenge.
Gamble and Hoitz also don't get along. Gamble is a soft-spoken, intellectual, naive guy with no social skills, and Hoitz is a hot-blooded cop in need of anger management. They're like oil and water, and yet they begin to know more about each other and decide to work together so they can get out of their respective ruts.
Gamble is working on a white-collar case involving an investor named David Ershon (Steve Coogan). Hoitz reluctantly tags along, believing they're chasing after a small petty crime. But they soon find out there's more to Ershon than what meets the eye. Apparently, Ershon has lost a lot of money for his clients and is about to conduct the largest Ponzi scheme in history to cover his tracks. But Gamble and Hoitz lack evidence to convince their boss, Captain Gene Mauch (Michael Keaton), to let them take on the case.
Will Ferrell (Megamind) is in dire need of a comedic hit. His last cinematic outing was the disastrous Land of the Lost. But Ferrell seems to be ready for his "comeback" with two back-to-back comedies: The Other Guys and Megamind. Here, he's back to his root by playing a quirky everyman, which fits him like a glove. Ferrell is the funniest when he plays lovable, earnest but clueless. He's done very well with such roles in Elf, Anchorman or Stranger Than Fiction. 
Ferrell also seems to do better with a worthy partner in crime, and he finds one in Mark Wahlberg, who can't be more different than Ferrell. Wahlberg's has grown as an actor, whether in a drama (The Lovely Bones) or comedy (Date Night). As the hotheaded Hoitz, Wahlberg is peanut butter to Ferrell's jelly. They compliment each other well, with enough bickering to make any gay couple -- ahem, I mean buddy cops -- proud.
Michael Keaton (Toy Story 3) is also back with his goofy charm as Captain Mauch. A wink here and a smirk there, Keaton is in top comedic form and serves well as the third banana to Ferrell and Wahlberg's dynamic duo. Eva Mendes (The Bad Lieutenant) is hilarious as Gamble's gorgeous and devoted wife. She has some of the best spit-inducing lines and she does it with such a lack of self-consciousness that she's one future comedic goddess to watch.
Steve Coogan (Marmaduke), however, feels a bit lost in the ensemble cast. He still has that cocky, smirky quality in his performance but he never rises above what's on the page and is often overshadowed by his cast. Ray Stevenson (The Book of Eli) is excellently menacing as Wesley, the guy behind Ershon's schemes. Samuel L. Jackson (Iron Man 2) and Dwayne Johnson (Tooth Fairy) have some brief but hilarious screen times as a pair of super cops, and they have one of the best and absurd death scenes in films.
Written by writer-director Adam McKay (Talladega Nights) and Chris Henchy (Entourage), the screenplay is rather a hodgepodge of comedic bits and character development, and somewhat lacking in the plot department. The best parts of the screenplay are the characters and their relationships. McKay and Henchy did a fine job with these colorful characters, whose relationships with one another feel real and genuine even though they're often funny. The dialogue is very funny, and there are many hilarious bits.
But that's part of the problem: the movie is uneven. Not every joke works, and when it doesn't, the movie drags because there really isn't much of a plot to support the story. The main plot is thin and the subplots are all over the map. The whole thing lacks coherence and at times it feels more like an episodic TV show (and it's understandable since both writers have done extensive TV work). I feel like I'm watching a few episodes of a buddy cop show sewn together. Remember Starsky & Hutch?
Part of that is also due to McKay's direction. The pace is a little slow at places, and there's a nagging "TV movie" feel to it. The best part of the movie belongs to Jackson and Johnson -- their over-the-top scenes together are hilarious and well put-together. The rest of the film feels lacking after that opening. However, Ferrell and Wahlberg's performances and chemistry save the film and make it more enjoyable than it should be. I can't think of other guys playing those characters.