I appear on “CTV News at 11:30” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the best movies and television to watch this weekend, including the Netflix cartel drama “Griselda,” the Paramount+ movie “Self Reliance” with Jake Johnson and the teen traumedy “Fitting In.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 19:40)
I sit in with NewsTalk 1010 host Jim Richards on the coast-to-coast-to-coast late night “NewsTalk Tonight” to play the game “Did Richard Crouse Like This?” This week we talk about the spy spoof “Argylle,” the music doc “The Greatest Night in Pop” and the teen “traumedy” “Fitting In.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to have a look at the spy spoof “Argylle,” the music doc “The Greatest Night in Pop” and the teen “traumedy” “Fitting In.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres and streaming including the spy spoof “Argylle,” the music doc “The Greatest Night in Pop” and the teen “traumedy” “Fitting In.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to do a push-up! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the spy spoof “Argylle,” the music doc “The Greatest Night in Pop” and the teen “traumedy” “Fitting In.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
A quote from French existentialist philosopher Simon de Beauvoir sets up the tone of writer/director Molly McGlynn’s semi-autobiographical sex comedy “Fitting In.” “The body is not a thing,” reads the title card, “but a situation.” It’s the perfect sentiment to set the stage for this raunchy, reproductive health coming-of-age film.
16-year-old Lindy (Maddie Ziegler) lives with her therapist mom Rita (Emily Hampshire) in Sudbury, Ontario. Abandoned by her father years ago, she and Rita has survived and thrived, and now Lindy finds herself in a new high school with supportive BFF Vivian (Djouliet Amara) and new boyfriend Adam (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai).
In anticipation of being intimate with Adam, she makes an appointment with a gynecologist to get a prescription for birth control pills. She’s never had a period, so the doctor refers her to a male specialist who, after a routine examination, matter-of-factly drops a bomb. She has Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome, which means she was born without a uterus, and will never be able to give birth or “have sex without manual or surgical assistance.”
The news devastates her, leaving her shamed and anxious, unwilling to accept help from Rita or her friends. Overwhelmed by doctors who prescribe dilatators—”It’s like vagina bootcamp!”— her carefully crafted life begins to fall apart. There is tension at home, she quits the track team and, when she recoils from physical contact, her relationship with Adam becomes frayed.
“Pretty much my worst nightmare is people finding out,” she says.
The only person she feels comfortable confiding in is Jax (Ki Griffin), a nonbinary and intersex schoolmate whose relationship with their body goes a long way to ease Lindy along on her journey to defining her sexual identity. “I don’t feel like an object of medicine anymore,” Jax says. “I feel like being intersex gives me a superpower. To own who you are, however you define yourself, is up to you. No one should ever make you feel ashamed of that.”
Frank and funny, “Fitting In” is being described as a “traumedy,” a portmanteau of trauma and comedy. Director McGlynn certainly captures the struggle of Lindy’s situation but does so with relatable humour. Much of that comes courtesy of Ziegler, whose on-screen naturalness makes her an audience surrogate, guiding us through the ups-and-downs of Lindy’s life. From vulnerable and edgy to self-possessed and impulsive, Ziegler captures the chaotic inner workings of a teen coping with a life changing situation.
Much of “Fitting In” works well. McGlynn shows a deft hand with the scenes involving gynecological health care visits and details the alienating manner in which the male doctors advise their female patients. The teen scenes feel realistic, and the “big teen movie speech,” where Lindy finally finds a way to express herself, has a nice vindicating feel, but at 106 minutes the material overall feels stretched a bit too thin.
A weekly feature from from ctvnews.ca! The Crouse Review is a quick, hot take on the weekend’s biggest movies! This week Richard looks at Steven Spielberg’s virtual reality flick “Ready Player One,” the family drama “Mary Goes Round” and the financial documentary “The China Hustle.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard joins CP24 anchor Nick Dixon to have a look at the weekend’s new movies including Steven Spielberg’s virtual reality flick “Ready Player One,” the family drama “Mary Goes Round” and the financial documentary “The China Hustle.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
“Mary Goes Round,” a new film starring “You’re the Worst’s” Aya Cash, has a clever tagline that pretty much sums up the story, “Blood is thicker than vodka.” The story of emotional resolution is part “Days of Wine and Roses,” part “Jersey Girl.”
Cash is the title character, a young woman and barely functioning alcoholic. A rough upbringing saw her left to her own devices after the death of her mother. She barely got to know her father (John Ralston) or teenaged half-sister Robyn (Sara Waisglass). In an only-in-the-movies twist she’s also a substance abuse counsellor who loses everything after a drunk driving charge. Put on extended leave by her job she returns to her hometown, Niagara Falls where she discovers her father is dying of cancer. With the help of an AA sponsor (Melanie Nicholls-King) and a gradual blossoming of self-awareness Mary battles her inner demons.
“Mary Goes Round” doesn’t break new ground. Sobriety dramas usually involved both spectrums of human behaviour, from the lowest points in the character’s lives to some sort of reckoning and this movie is no different. What it does well is build characters we want to root for. With some dark humour and several genuinely poignant moments director Molly McGlynn—who loosely based the story on her own life—gives Cash, Waisglass, Ralston and Nicholls-King the space to create characters all dealing with some level of shame and addiction but mostly, humanity.
The film’s expected uptick at the end feels earned, coming with the message that looking beyond one’s own borders might reveal the path to happiness. It’s a sentimental end to a story that begins with a harder edge but through strong direction and nice character work, it satisfies nonetheless.
