Richard joins CP24 to have a look at the weekend’s new movies including the dramedy “Brittany Runs a Marathon,” the gender equality doc “This Changes Everything” and the comedy “Road to the Lemon Grove.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard sits in on the CTV NewsChannel with news anchor Marcia MacMillan to have a look at the weekend’s big releases including the life comedy “Brittany Runs a Marathon,” the gender equality doc “This Changes Everything” and the comedy “Road to the Lemon Grove.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard has a look at the new movies coming to theatres, including the hilariously inspirational “Brittany Runs a Marathon,” the gender equality doc “This Changes Everything” and the comedy “Road to the Lemon Grove” with CFRA morning show host Bill Carroll.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
A weekly feature from ctvnews.ca! The Crouse Review is a quick, hot take on the weekend’s biggest and most interesting movies! This week Richard looks at Jillian Bell in “Brittany Runs a Marathon,” the gender equality doc “This Changes Everything” and the comedy “Road to the Lemon Grove.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
“Road to the Lemon Grove” is an old-fashioned comedy with a serious message about cultural identity.
Nick Mancuso is Guido, a linguistics professor who believes that language is the heart and soul of cultural life. He learns more about his own Italian heritage when, as per his father’s last request, he jets off to Italy to spread the old man’s ashes in a Sicilian lemon grove. The seemingly solemn but simple job is made difficult by his prying Zio Vincenzo (Burt ‘Paulie from “Rocky”’ Young) who takes step to prevent Guido from completing the job. Turns out the grove is sacred ground and at the centre of a family dispute. As Guido, accompanied by the ghost of his late father (Charly Chiarelli), navigates his way to the lemon grove—meeting a famous actress Maria Miosogno (Rossella Brescia) along the way—he gets a lesson in who he really is.
Director Dale Hildebrand (who co-wrote the script with Charly Chiarelli) goes heavy with the broad humour, peppering the movie with over-the-top scenes that veer into stereotypical slapstick. Mancuso, best known for serious roles, applies a light touch here, mugging for the camera. There are several genuinely amusing moments but many are marred by the film’s fourth wall breaking style—tell a joke, explain the joke directly to camera. It feels stagey, as though this may have worked as a theatrical performance for Chiarelli who is best known as a storyteller specializing in one person shows.
“Road to the Lemon Grove” is hammier than the local Prosciutto shop but Hildebrand, who is also a cinematographer, has made an undeniably nice looking movie that could double for a Sicilian tourist bureau video. The beautiful scenery may entertain the eye and the film’s nostalgic sense of the importance of family and their sacrifices, though under developed, should resonate with anyone whose forebearers searched for a better life in a new country.
The opening shot of “Win Win,” a new dramedy from “The Station Agent” director Tom McCarthy, tells you almost everything you need to know about the main character, played by Paul Giamatti. Dressed in a tacky bright yellow New Providence Pioneers sweatshirt he’s jogging down a country road. The camera stays with him for a moment until two other, better-dressed older men pass him, running at a loping gait. Breathing heavy, he stops and watches the pair fade into the distance.
The scene tells us, wordlessly and elegantly, that he, no matter how hard he tries, is always getting passed by in life. It’s a quick scene, but what would have been a throwaway in most movies becomes a poignant opening to one of the most enjoyable movies of the year so far.
Giamatti is small-town lawyer and wrestling coach Mike Flaherty. With his practice on the ropes he make a dubious decision to become the legal guardian to client Leo Poplar (Burt Young), a wealthy man suffering from dementia. He desperately needs the $1500 a month pay cheque that comes along with the guardianship, but when Leo’s grandson Kyle (Alex Shaffer) shows up the arrangement becomes complicated.
While there is much to admire in “Win Win,” like the great performances from old pros Giamatti or Amy Ryan, or the stirring work from newcomer Alex Shaffer or even how funny it is, the thing that really stands out about “Win Win” is its heart. McCarthy understands family and friend relationships and it shows in every frame of this film.
These are complicated characters with back stories and shortcomings galore, but McCarthy deftly shows us their relationships, exposing why they behave the way they do, why they like one another, and ultimately why we should care about them.
Part of it is casting—Giamatti is never bad and Shaffer is a thoroughly believable teen—but McCarthy, as writer and director, has to take the credit. It’s a tricky dance to introduce so many story threads—there’s a wrestling subplot, the story of Leo’s living arrangements, the drug addict mother’s relationship with Kyle and more—but McCarthy keep the film on track, keeping the focus where it belongs, on the characters.
