SYNOPSIS: During the 1960s Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union, a relationship develops between the NASA lunch director and a New York advertising executive brought in to make sure every American knew what NASA was all about. “When I’m done,” says advertising exec Kelly Jones of the Apollo 11 astronauts, “these men are going to be bigger than the Beatles.”
CAST: Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Jim Rash, Anna Garcia, Donald Elise Watkins, Noah Robbins, Colin Woodell, Christian Zuber, Nick Dillenburg, Ray Romano, Woody Harrelson. Directed by Greg Berlanti.
REVIEW: Space Age rom com “Fly Me to the Moon” reaches for the stars, but never quite gets there. Charming a-listers Johansson and Tatum play fictional characters, a fast talking advertising executive—“The Killer From Manhattan,” they call her—and a tightly wound NASA launch director. As per the rom com formula, they meet cute, have an immediate attraction, and then spend much of the remainder of the movie’s over-long 2-hour and 12-minute runtime falling in and out of lust.
As if that wasn’t enough, their flirtation takes place against a backdrop of one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs—and one of the biggest conspiracy theories—of the Twentieth Century.
It’s an odd mix, and one that only works sporadically. When director Greg Berlanti allows Johansson and Tatum to parry, the movie works.
Johansson’s Kelly is a compulsive liar, someone who doesn’t mind bending the rules to get what she wants—for instance, she hires actors to do news interviews for press shy NASA engineers—and when she is in full flight, the character is wicked and fun. “We’re not lying to customers,” she says slyly, “we’re changing the way they think.”
Tatum has less to do, but is a solid leading man who can play it straight or bring a laugh when necessary. It’s not rocket science, but he pulls it off.
It’s when the movie shifts toward the moon launch story that it begins to fizzle like a wet firecracker. The move away from romance toward the supposedly tense July 16, 1969 Apollo 11 lift-off adds little to the movie except an extra half-hour.
Despite fun 1960s period piece details and charming leads, “Fly Me to the Moon” gets lost on lift-off.
A movie best described as a melancomedy, a mix of melancholy and comedy, “Sometimes I Think About Dying,” now playing in theatres, is a subdued, tender study of social anxiety and disconnection.
Daisy Ridley pauses the blockbuster phase of her career to play Fran, a withdrawn office worker who avoids eye contact, lives alone and rarely says a word. Her jocular co-workers mostly just ignore her, leaving her alone, save for her computer and spreadsheets, in the faraway corner of their workspace.
At night, in the privacy of her own home, she passes the time imagining herself dead, her body displayed in various, artful tableaus, like a Viking funeral or pastoral forest setting. She doesn’t have a death wish, she’s just fascinated with the morbid idea of it all, of how it might feel to be dead. Of how the void of death would differ from the void that is her life.
She is invisible to everyone at work, except new hire Robert (Dave Merheje). He’s a chatty, friendly guy who fills the air with stream of consciousness observations about what would happen if an armchair was actually shaped like an arm, and the like.
On his first day on the job, he tells everyone he likes Thai food, going to the movies and uncomfortable silences. Sounds like he and Fran will get along just fine.
And they do.
Their friendship begins with a work-related e-mail exchange which blossoms into a movie date. Desperate for connection, they are drawn to one another, uncomfortable silences and all.
“Sometimes I Think About Dying” is a quiet film that revels in its mundanity. From the idle chit chat around the office and the casual bonhomie of friends playing a murder mystery game to the awkward getting-to-know-you stage of a relationship and falling asleep while watching a movie, it’s a case study of everyday life, from the perspective of a person overwhelmed by life.
Ridley hands in a career best performance as someone uncomfortable even in her own comfort zone. Fran could have been a cipher, a character with no discernable traits, but Ridley does a lot with a little. Her extreme reserve is a mask, and Ridley haltingly allows personality to peek through. It’s a beautiful, quiet performance that could have been dreary, but Ridley creates something in the absence of any front facing personality traits.
Another stand-out is Marcia DeBonis as Carol, a former workmate who delivers a devastating, but understated monologue near the end of the film. Carol and Fran have nothing in common except for occupying the same space while they worked together, but in a heartfelt, and heartbreaking way, Carol gives Fran hope. No spoilers here, but this scene and the one immediately following are the film’s payoff.
“Sometimes I Think About Dying” is beyond low key, with no real conflict to speak of, other than one unexpectedly caustic remark that, given the quiet tone of the film, lands with the power of as punch in the mouth. Driven by ideas rather than story points, the movie requires patience, but for a film about the absence of emotion, delivers a sensitive and emotional conclusion to Fran’s story.
The last time we saw William Shatner and Christopher Lloyd on screen together they were outer space enemies battling over a doomsday device in “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.” Reunited in “Senior Moment,” a new old-codger rom com now on VOD, their relationship this time around is more earthbound.
Shatner is retired NASA test pilot Victor Martin. He tools around Palm Springs with the love of his life, a vintage Porsche convertible. One afternoon, after spending the day with his BFF Sal Spinelli (Lloyd), he’s stopped at a light when Pablo Torres (Carlos Miranda) pulls up and challenges him to a street race. Never one to back down Victor agrees, and a few out-of-control minutes later, his license is pulled and his beloved car impounded by DA Tess Woodson (Beth Littleford).
A chance encounter with cafe owner Caroline Summers (Jean Smart) on public transit leads to romance. At least, when Victor’s jealousy of Caroline’s friendship with painter Diego Lozana (Esai Morales) doesn’t get in the way.
“Senior Moment” offers the pleasures of watching the seasoned cast breathe some life into the hackneyed material. For instance, Shatner talking dirty to his car — “A good shower before a wild ride is all you need. Ooh my, you make heads turn. I like that.”— is a joke that’s been around for as long as there have been filthy cars to talk dirty about. The jokes may be stale, but Shatner, Smart and Lloyd milk whatever entertainment value can be squeezed from a script that feels like it migrated to the screen from another era.
“Crazy Rich Asians,” based on the phenomenally successful books by Kevin Kwan, is a mix of “Cinderella” and a rom com with a side order of “Pride and Prejudice.”
Constance Wu plays Rachel Chu, an NYU economics professor, who dates historian Nick Young (Henry Golding). After a year of seeing one another he invites her to his best friend’s wedding and to meet his family in Singapore. She jumps at the chance because she knows nothing about them. Every time she brings up the family he changes the subject. “Maybe his parents are poor and he has to send them money,” says her mother Kerry (Kheng Hua Tan).
Turns out just the opposite is true.
When it begins to dawn on Rachel that his family is well off she asks him straight up. “We’re comfortable,” he says. “That is exactly what a super rich person would say,” she says. He is the son of unimaginably rich parents, the wealthiest people on the island. Nick is prince charming, a good-looking heir to a fortune who downplays his status. “Damn, Rachel, says Goh Peik Lin (Awkwafina), “he’s like an Asian Bachelor.”
She is the Meghan to his Harry but there are problems. Catapulted into a world of opulence Rachel finds herself under scrutiny. Nick’s family doesn’t approve of her job, her background or the fact that a single mother raised her. “If Nick chooses me,” she says to his mother Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), “he would lose his family. And if he chooses his family, he might spend the rest of his life resenting you.”
“Crazy Rich Asians” is an effervescent concoction so fizzy it’ll make your tongue tingle. A glittery surface built around a solid chassis, it contains a bit of something for everyone, from romance and Lifestyles of the Rich and Singaporean to melodrama and philosophy, from exotic locations to comedy. But at its heart it is the story of a woman, Rachel, who is secure enough in her own place in the world to not be seduced by the cornucopia of riches on offer. It’s about character and how it relates to individualism versus tradition.
The plotting is pure rom com—couple fall in love, are forced apart and (SPOILER ALERT ONLY IF YOU’VE NEVER SEEN A ROM COM BEFORE) yet find a way to make their love work despite all obstacles—but it is populated with appealing characters to guide the story.
Wu is the film’s beating heart, bringing empathy and humanity to the high-flying world portrayed. Ditto Gemma Chan, an extravagantly wealthy woman trying to make sense of a marriage torn apart by money and status. As Nick’s icy mother Michelle Yeoh displays an ability to reveal much by doing very little.
On the com side of things is Awkwafina as Rachel’s best friend. She steals every scene she’s in, even when up against veteran eye catcher Ken Jeong.
“Crazy Rich Asians” is an escapist fantasy that entertains with its labyrinthine soap opera twists and turns, lush settings and all Asian cast—a first in a quarter century in Hollywood—but also digs a little deeper into the similarities and differences between the characters and cultures.
In its first hour, the new film Permission looks and feels a lot like a traditional romantic comedy — but this is a trick, says actress Rebecca Hall.
“When we first started out making this (director Brian Crano) said, ‘I want this to look like a classic rom-com from the ’90s. Lots of backdrops from Manhattan. Lots of completely gorgeous-looking apartments that, inexplicably, these people are living in. Everyone is beautiful. Everything is beautiful,” explains Hall.
And just when you think you’re on cosy ground, “the rug is pulled out from under you. You feel gut-punched.”
In the film, Will, played by Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens, and Anna (Hall) have been sweethearts since high school. Now, on the cusp of her 30th birthday he’s about to pop the question. First though she drunkenly proposes they sleep around a bit. Not break up, but get some life experience before they settle down. At first they encourage one another in a bit of harmless fun but as their polyamorous relationships start to deepen, uncomfortable realities are revealed.
“Over the years we’ve all had conversations about relationships and where they were heading,” Hall says. “Brian noticed a general trend that happened somewhere around the ages of 27 to 30-something, where people who had been in shockingly monogamous, stable relationships either got married or broke up. This was something he was interested in because so many of his friends were children of divorce or had complex attitudes toward monogamy. Some were fundamentally monogamous while others were exploring other options.”
Permission’s final third contains the film’s most essential truths. In a dramatic shift in tone from the first hour, the harsh realisms of this arrangement appear.
“The thing we were interested in weren’t the moral rights or wrongs, if there are any, of having an open relationship,” she says. “It was more about these two people who are stuck, who have not allowed each other growth because they have been together for so long and have not had the level of communication in the relationship that is necessary. The film is really about giving ourselves permission to question a relationship that is basically good. It sounds like a nothing statement but no matter how sophisticated and evolved and progressive we have all become there is still this strange pressure to do the right thing. If the relationship is good you stay in it because if you leave it you might be mean or a failure.”
The film takes a thoughtful and mature approach to its story, asking: How far can you stray, even with permission?
“Brian and I used to play a little game,” Hall says, “where we would try and think of films and stories where women have sexual agency but aren’t kooky, crazy people who end up being psychopaths or pixie dream girl stereotypes. It was difficult to come up with. The construction of Anna was really someone who is working out what that means. She is going to discover what sexual agency means for her. She is going to own it and be empowered by it. I think that is a really important message to put out there right now.”
Recently CNN reported on a study that claimed cuckolding can be positive for some couples. Their reporting of it was roundly mocked on line, with one twitter user dubbing CNN the “Cuckolding News Network” while another called it, “a brilliant idea for strengthening your relationship in time for Valentine’s Day!” Validity of the study aside, “Permission,” a new movie starring Rebecca Hall, explores the same territory.
Will (Dan Stevens) and Anna (Hall) have been sweethearts since high school. Now, on the cusp of her thirtieth birthday he’s about to pop the question. First though she drunkenly proposes they sleep around a bit. Not break up, but get some life experience before they settle down. At first they encourage one another in a bit of harmless fun but as their polyamorous relationships start to deepen uncomfortable realities are revealed.
Director-writer Brian Crano takes a thoughtful and mature approach to the material but his delivery of it feels scattershot. The first hour has an effervescence to it that disappears as the various story threads wrap up. In the beginning it feels sexy and dangerous but as Anna’s relationship with musician Dane (Francois Arnaud) and Will’s fling with divorcée Lydia (Gina Gershon) heat up questions arise. How far can you stray even with permission?
The final third contains the film’s most essential truths. In a dramatic shift in tone from the first hour, the harsh realisms of this arrangement appear. Also effective is a subplot about Anna’s brother Hale (David Joseph Craig), his boyfriend Reece (Morgan Spector) and their desire (or not) to have a baby. It is heartfelt and could definitely been given more screen time.
“Permission” is easily more interesting than CNN’s treatment of the same material. Although uneven it is an interesting look at the responsibilities that come with adult relationships.
