The Good Girl

"The Good Girl" does not have a very promising premise. It's an indie movie--cue the spare acoustic guitars--starring Jennifer Aniston. Aniston is a bored suburban retail worker who has an affair with a younger man. Looks like we're going to get a rote version of "American Beauty" crossed with "Madame Bovary."

But "The Good Girl" has some tricks up its sleeve. By its conclusion, it seems more like a cross between a milder version of a Coen brothers movie and a milder version of "Revolutionary Road." Like the former, its seemingly plain characters are actually capable of some dastardly acts. Like the latter, it tests the limits of its protagonist's willingness to escape suburban malaise.

To be clear, "The Good Girl" is not as ambitious or jarring as the above references; these characters are never quite at each other's throats. The filmmaking signals this throughout. Like its score, the camera reflects the film's modest aims, sitting back to encompass the relevant characters and letting them tell the story.

But "The Good Girl" is never boring either. The film is briskly paced, picking up momentum as it runs along. Director Miguel Arteta manages to surprise us frequently by momentarily withholding information in a scene. The screenplay by Mike White offers some light comic touches to keep things moving.

The acting is serviceable, if not spectacular. Aniston gives us a passable Texas accent and manages to do what is needed. (Luckily, the plot is interesting enough that she doesn't have to carry it.) John C. Reilly is her dopey husband. He's frequently cast in roles like this because he looks the part, and he's more than up to the task. Jake Gyllenhaal, Aniston's lover, already had plenty of experience playing a brooding young man from "Donnie Darko."

"The Good Girl" will not change your life. But there are much worse ways to spend 90 minutes.

The Silence of the Lambs

"The Silence of the Lambs" is regarded by many as one of the greatest thrillers ever made. I fully agree--if we're talking about Michael Crichton thrillers.

Unfortunately, "Silence" can't hold a candle to the truly great, as opposed to merely entertaining, thrillers.

Why not? First off, the ridiculous premise. Jodie Foster is Clarice, an FBI agent-in-training who is called on to interview Hannibal Lecter, one of the most dangerous serial killers on the planet. Lecter is believed to have information on Buffalo Bill, a serial killer who is still on the loose. Why is Clarice chosen for this job, despite her total lack of experience? Because Jodie Foster is an extremely attractive woman. In fact, throughout the film we are reminded that Jodie Foster is a woman, that Jodie Foster is hot and that men will behave irrationally in the presence of hot, hot women like Jodie Foster.

If you can get past this silliness, you may enjoy the movie. But you'll also have to deal with ridiculous plot twists. Such as: when Hannibal uses the word "yourself," Clarice realizes that this is unusual and must be a clue. (Apparently she is a master linguist in addition to being an ace amateur detective.) This tips Clarice off that Hannibal has a unit at the "Your Self Storage Facility," where she finds...a severed head. Which is gross. But not particularly frightening.

In fact, many of the "scary" moments in "Silence" are really just gross-out moments, not much different than what you would see these days on your average CSI episode. And that's part of the problem: when you rely on shock value, your movie becomes dated very quickly.

A good thriller works by making us afraid of what will happen next. "Silence" only achieves this at the very end, and even then, it can't resist another silly moment as the killer is gunned down.

It's a shame "Silence" couldn't be a better film. It squanders a couple of artful twists, along with a very good performance by Anthony Hopkins. But most of this movie leaves one too incredulous to be scared.

Sophie's Choice

"Sophie's Choice" wants desperately to be a Great Hollywood Epic. Instead, it has to settle for merely being worthwhile.

Superficially, the film does feature the hallmarks of an Oscar-winning classic. It's an actor-driven drama featuring a love triangle with two principals who harbor Dark Secrets. Even better, one of those characters is a Holocaust survivor.

But only one of the film's assets can fairly be described as timeless: Meryl Streep's Oscar-winning performance as a Polish immigrant who has only recently survived Auschwitz. Streep has to carry this film and she absolutely nails it. The acrobatics required for her emotionally ravaged character would be difficult enough to negotiate without her also affecting a Polish accent. Her phrasing and mannerisms as a non-native English speaker are impeccable.

Streep's performance alone makes the film worth seeing. She is assisted by Kevin Kline, who turns in a strong effort as her unstable lover. Alan Paluka's austere directing also pays dividends at times, as when the camera lingers over the suffering masses of Auschwitz. The other point to recommend the film is its plot, which features enough twists to keep us interested most of the way.

But these strengths are undermined throughout "Sophie's Choice." Chief among the film's weaknesses is the performance of Peter MacNicol as a young writer who befriends the two lovers. With his overly earnest acting, MacNicol seems like he's wandered in from the set of a bad '80s B-movie. He threatens to derail every scene in which he is a focal point; the film works best when he is merely an observer of Streep and Kline.

Another major issue is the score, which is a total clunker. From the opening strains of strings in the first scene--more awkward than stirring--we know we will have to suffer through some maudlin music at moments which should be genuinely moving.

Pakula's patient approach also outlasts that of the audience at times. He seems determined to draw every last scene out, and throws in a brief romantic dalliance involving MacNicol which is utterly pointless.

The plot also has a couple of leaps that strain credulity. They are symptomatic of the film as a whole: when "Sophie's Choice" should be soaring, we are reminded that it's only a movie.

Adventureland

"Adventureland" is a coming-of-age dramedy about a recent college graduate. No one will applaud it for originality. But neither will they accuse it of insincerity.

At a time when it seems like 40 percent of Hollywood releases are blood and or boob vehicles for adolescent men, it's nice to see a film explore the male perspective in a more intelligent vein.

Written and directed by Greg Mottola, "Adventureland" stars Jesse Eisenberg as James, a socially awkward pseudo-intellectual. He plans to take the requisite trip to Europe before beginning graduate school. But when his parents' finances take a hit, his plans get downgraded to working at a theme park in Pittsburgh in the summer of 1987.

Here he meets a motley band of amusingly written stereotypes, including the crazy park manager, the hot girl and the brooding depressive. But his most important new acquaintance is Em (Kristen Stewart). As soon as Em and James meet, we know their fate. But Mottola creates enough reasonable obstacles in their courtship that the plot doesn't feel labored.

The chief barrier is Em's affair with the park's maintenance guy, Mike Connell (Ryan Reynolds). Inside the park Connell gives off an impenetrable aura of coolness. Outside, he takes women to his mother's basement to cheat on his wife.

Em's attraction to Connell is a symptom of her low self-esteem, which is explained by her dysfunctional family situation. Her mother has died of cancer and her father has remarried a wicked stepmother. James' own parents are similarly unsupportive and irresponsible: his father hides a bottle of liquor in the car, which James uses with unfortunate consequences.

These characters amount to yet another lampooning of the Baby Boomers for irresponsibility. There's some truth and some unfairness in the accusation, but at least it's used here to help explain the protagonists' background and motivations.

Mottola's previous work was as director of "Superbad," but he has replaced most of that film's crude humor here with quality filmmaking. He strikes just the right balance between comedy and drama, and moves the film along at a varied pace. Some scenes fly by, while other plotlines are drawn out. This pacing matches the speed of life; time can seem to drag on forever, and then suddenly events happen in a flurry.

Mottola also aptly evokes the '80s with a soundtrack featuring the Replacements and the Cure. The cinematography always feels appropriate for the scene, varying from close-ups to hand held shots.

"Adventureland" is hardly perfect. The final quarter of the movie veers a bit wildly, as Mottola seeks to bring James down before his inevitable redemption. But with well-made, charming films as rare these days as slasher flicks are common, we should celebrate "Adventureland" in spite of its flaws.

Step Brothers

"Step Brothers" is the latest film written by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay and directed by McKay. Their first two projects, "Anchorman" and "Talladega Nights," may have been the funniest films of the decade.

"Step Brothers" is not.

Ferrell and McKay have taken their usual manchild formula and replaced all of the witty, madcap humor with profane and unfunny jokes. "Anchorman" gave us Ferrell playing the "jazz flute" atop the tables of a restaurant. "Talladega Nights" gave us Ferrell driving a stock car with a Cougar painted on the hood next to one word: "Me."

"Step Brothers" gives us Ferrell putting his testicles on a drum kit.

That drum kit belongs to John C. Reilly, who, like Ferrell, is a 40-year-old who still lives with his single parent. When Reilly's father marries Ferrell's mother, they have to learn to live under one roof.

The setup is fine, if a little sparse. But where Ferrell and McKay once made fun of the ignorance and self-importance of the American male, they now simply drop F bombs and references to putting various things up various people's anuses.

Part of the problem is that the supporting characters have almost no humor potential at all. "Anchorman" featured Rob Cordry, Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd as Ferrell's hilarious sidekicks. "Talladega Nights" gave us a ridiculous villain played by Sacha Baron-Cohen. But "Step Brothers" just offers a shrill father, a coddling mother and Ferrell's painfully unfunny biological brother.

"Step Brothers" does have its moments. When Ferrell and Reilly put together a ridiculous tape for their start-up venture, "Prestige Worldwide," they become indignant when their father won't invest in a scheme with no ostensible purpose. The film's conclusion is also suitably silly.

But most of "Step Brothers" falls flat. Perhaps Ferrell and McKay rely a great deal on improvisation over multiple takes; that would certainly explain the hit and miss nature of this material. Between this film and the unspeakable "Semi-Pro," Ferrell is on now on a serious losing streak. We can only hope he still has some genuinely funny manchild antics left in his bag of tricks.

Igby Goes Down

melodrama-a drama such as a play, film, or television program, characterized by exaggerated emotions, stereotypical characters, and interpersonal conflicts

melodrama on steroids-see "Igby Goes Down"

"Igby Goes Down" is a perfect example of the pitfalls of melodrama. This film may have worthwhile things to say about the aimlessness of youth or the emptiness and hypocrisy bred by capitalism. But in making these points, it uses a jackhammer where a flyswatter would suffice.

Igby is a 17-year-old professional smartass who specializes in getting kicked out of the expensive boarding schools to which his heartless mother sends him. With a schizophrenic father and an utterly superficial brother, he has little emotional support or guidance.

The film follows a similar vein to "The Graduate" and "Garden State," portraying the frustrations of a young man who just can't seem to care about the things people keep telling him are so important. But while those films were ridiculous at times (they had to be in order to point out their characters' hypocrisy), they stayed grounded enough that their critiques had to be taken seriously.

Thus, the protagonist of "Garden State" struggles to feel anything inside because his father insists he continue to take lithium. Igby, in contrast, witnesses his father angrily hurl pills at his mother, who greedily consumes one while throwing guilty looks at her sons.

Likewise, "The Graduate" pokes fun at capitalism through an older man who urges our hero to invest in "plastics." "Igby Goes Down" goes a bit more extreme, with a one-dimensional character named D.H. who cares about absolutely nothing except making money and keeping up appearances.

Oh, and I did I mention Igby's mother tells him that D.H. is his real father as she cheerily consumes a poison to commit suicide? This sort of thing happens every day among the fabulously wealthy, I'm sure.

The film is further undermined by its endlessly snide tone. We're treated to dozens of verbal jousts such as this:

"Jeez, you would think you hate your brother."
"I do."

"Igby Goes Down" seems to find the notion of hating one's relatives shocking. Even if it were, it doesn't astound quite as much when you pack your film with jokes about it. This line came about an hour in; by this point I already knew what Igby's punchline would be. My dog Chester could probably have figured it out too.

The film's conclusion tries and fails to show some emotional growth in Igby. He sobs "Sorry..." to his dead mother following her suicide. Yet the very next scene shows him calling her friends to giddily announce her death. He then embraces his brother, accidentally smashing his drink-a clumsy symbol of how they will never be close. Finally, Igby visits the man he thought was his father. Yet he has always felt close to this man, mainly because he believes that he himself will one day suffer a nervous breakdown. Far from demonstrating a desire to reach out to loved ones, Igby's intimacy here merely satisfies his delusions of martyrdom.

The real problem is that this is a film which, like its hero, thinks it's great. But with its hyperbole and too-hip dialogue, it wholly lacks the earnestness necessary to deal with its themes on a serious level.

Yi Yi

Modern cinematography is defined by quick cuts and copious close-ups designed to cater to our ever-shrinking attention spans. One of the problems with this approach is that it fails to give us a sense of place, a feel for how the characters interact with their environment.

Fortunately, there are still some filmmakers willing to pull the camera back and give their characters some space. Edward Yang's urban family drama "Yi Yi" perfectly illustrates the rewards of this approach. Yang lets us watch his players from a distance, paradoxically demonstrating both the claustrophobia and vastness of city life. In one scene, we see a young couple arguing while also viewing the street and park below. In another, the camera looks into a room as a woman sobs, while also showing us the reflection of the imposing city skyline off the windowpane. These characters are painfully packed in like sardines, yet their conflicts seem miniscule in the context of a sprawling city.

"Yi Yi" takes us through a turbulent year in the life of a Taiwanese family. At the center of the tale is NJ, an executive struggling to prop up a failing business while also rediscovering his passion for an old flame. His wife, Min-Min, is undergoing a spiritual conversion, while his children, son Yang-Yang and daughter Ting-Ting, struggle through the hormones and hassles of growing up. Min-Min's brother Ah-Di dreams big but can't get keep his finances or his marriage together, while her mother has gone into a coma.

Got all that? These characters obviously have a lot of emotional baggage, which leads to many poignant moments, as when Min-Min weeps to her unconscious mother over the depressingly dull routine of her life. Their various quests-for love, money, God, wisdom-lead them to a deeper understanding of both the joys and shortcomings of life. Like the characters of "Yi Yi," the viewer will need patience, but the results are quite rewarding.