Save Our Bluths: The Movie

Welcome to the many, MANY visitors from Beingfamous. I’m the Sickness/El Gigante and I love movies.

Let’s get down to it.

You would be hard pressed to find a bigger Arrested Development fan than I. I think the show serves as a benchmark for quality television comedy. The kind of show that deserves to be mentioned in the same breathe as Your Show of Shows, All in the Family, Taxi, the old Simpsons, the Larry Sanders Show, the Office; really the best of the best. But now that the strike is over can the potential AD join the ranks of great movie comedies? I’m cautiously optimistic. Obviously the die-hard fans will come out (maybe we’ll do a big ribbon cutting premiere) but does the cast appeal to the common man? Perhaps, but who the big pull may surprise you as I run down the MOVIE CAREERS OF THE BLUTH FAMILY.
The reason for this article is for my late-night-can’t-sleep-screening of The Brothers Solomon. Damn it all the math just didn’t work at all. I mean check it out.

Will Arnett=Funny, Bob Odenkirk=Funny, Will Forte=Funny, Chi McBride=funny

But somehow

(Will Arnett+Will Forte+Chi McBride) x Bob Odenkirk=Not funny

This is why I scored so low on my math SAT’s. It’s really made me reconsider my whole stance on Will Arnett as a viable filmic leading man. On Arrested the guy is fall on the floor funny just by existing, but is it that I find GOB Bluth that funny and not Arnett? Blasphemy I know.

Ok so let’s run it down:
Jason Bateman: A frequent face in the "Comedy clique" films people may recognize him from his work in Dodgeball, Starsky & Hutch or the Break Up all of which did big business. As Bateman branches out he begins to demonstrate greater range he is not pulling in an audience in films like The Kingdom or Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. Too many he’s the wryly funny supporting guy. He ain’t a lead.
UPDATE: Oh crap, I forgot Juno. Or did I? Could my omission be a tacit reaction to my feelings on Bateman in the film? Or am I just an idiot?

Will Arnett: God knows they’re trying to make him a legitimate member of the comedy clique but nothing is sticking. The studios don’t push his comedies and then to compound the problem the movies aren’t that funny. Let’s Go to Prison? The Brothers Solomon? Sorry even the biggest Will Arnett apologist would be hard pressed to call these “good.” Sterling and amusing supporting work in films like Hot Rod and Blades of Glory are all well and good but he’s not the flashiest or funniest thing in either film. Maybe his work as an announcer in the forthcoming Semi-Pro will give him a Fred Willard-esque bump.

David Cross-The Mr. Show vet is a dynamic performer and powerful voice in alternative stand-up comedy. But again, the guy doesn’t bring in a massive audience. Except he appeared in a 200 MILLLION dollar grossing film last year. Oh sure, he got a mountain of shit for it but the fact is to thousands of little kids he’s Ian, Alvin and the chipmunks dastardly manager. Could seeing ole Ian bring in the kiddies? Maybe.

Portia De Rossi: Her life as Mrs. DeGeneres (and you know, give her a fulfilling relationship) may put her in a lot of magazines but nothing in her filmography suggests that audiences know who she is.

Tony Hale: Oh yes I can see it now “Oh hey that guy from the short lived Andy Richter TV series!”

Alia Shawkat: Puberty has been VERY kind to her. Who could blame the boys for flocking to see a lovely young woman?

Jessica Walter: Menopause has been VERY kind to her. Who could blame the septuagenarians for flocking to see this GILF? Watch out boys loose seal on the loose.

Jeffrey Tambor: I love that his mst successful film work has been in the Hellboy films. Should Golden Army be a success (and I don’t see why not considering Guillermo’s traction post Pan’s Labyrinth) Tambor could bring the geeks who don’t already know AD. Oh and on a personal note, please Mr. Tambor no more sub-par TV series. You’ve been on two of the greatest TV shows of all-time (AD and The Larry Sander Sanders Show) so why settle for Welcome to the Captain.

Michael Cera: Ladies and gentleman, meet the reason why an Arrested Development movie will be successful. The two movies he appeared in in 2007 broke 100 million. Heck even the most strident detractors of Superbad (which is to say most women) think Michael Cera is adorable and hilarious and EVERYONE likes Juno. Except the people who like to be contrary. Cera is now a bonnafide movie star with huge appeal to audiences, if virgins will check-out an AD movie, it will be to see Cera. “Everybody likes you, you’re George Michael.” Well said Michael, well said.

Juno What I Mean: A Special Guest Review

Dearest bloggeratti,

Sickness here, while this may be my blog I am not so vast in my power I can be everywhere I want to be at once. So when something cool comes along like a screening of the much buzzed about Juno with a follow-up Q&A with star Ellen Page all the way in San Francisco, I know something must be done. Luckily one of my agents and friend of the site Carold Finkelstein was on hand to cover the event. Cary as a huge fan of virtually everyone involved in this picture has all the passion and knowledge I'd want from a guest-reviewer so consider yourself lucky to be reading his opinion.

I'll be checking in with Cary in a follow up entry to pump him for more information (yes, yes, I really do have it coming sometimes) about the flick and chatting with Miss Page in person. Let me go on by saying that I am incredibly pleased with Cary for not only writing up an especially eloquent and savvy review, but doing it so quickly amidst me yelling at him like J. Jonah Jameson (by which I mean I gchatted him saying to get me pictures of Spider-Man). Kudos to you Carold, go have a fashion show at lunch. Here's Cary:
Juno tells the story of a high school girl (Page) who gets pregnant and decides to keep the baby. There's no political or social statements about abortion. Juno doesn't have to fight her way across picket lines or deal with any religious backlash. Diablo Cody, in her sparkling screenwriting debut, leaves those at the door. Juno freely talks about the "sea monkey" growing in her belly or when it's going to pop out her "vag." The dialogue crackles with one-liners that will leave you slumping over your movie seats and wishing you had a remote to go back and catch the lines you missed while laughing so hard.

The movie doesn't waste anytime when Juno takes that fateful pregnancy test in the opening minutes. And here's where things get interesting: instead of turning into some Lifetime movie, Juno takes this opportunity to look at marriage, friendship, parenthood, and yes, love. It doesn't preach, it doesn't suggest any message or any way to live your life. Like any great comedy, it makes you laugh so hard that you don't realize how affecting it is until the closing credits roll.

All of the praise heaped on Ellen Page for this breakthrough role (yes I'm aware she was in Hard Candy and X-Men: the Last Stand, but this one is a career-maker), is well earned. Juno is smart, sassy, tender, confident, weak, and like most teenagers, unsure about who she is and where her life will go. Page hits the bulls-eye and effortlessly balances all of these traits. She doesn't come off as "too much" of anything, she comes off human.

But there is so much more to this movie than the luminous Page. It won't be long before you see posters of Michael Cera in a track uniform next to those of Zac Efron. Cera brings a subtle sweetness and the awkward romancing that made us love him in Arrested Development. Jason Bateman (Cera's father in Arrested Development) as the still-stuck-in-youth father to be and JK Simmons (best known for yelling "Parker!" in the Spidey movies) as Juno's endearing father delight. However, the true supporting stars are the women. Allison Janney redefines every fairy tale as Juno's stepmother Bren; she'll zip and zing her way into your heart. And the real surprise is Jennifer Garner as Vanessa, the adoptive mother of Juno's baby. Garner can do MUCH more than change wigs and beat people up. She takes a seemingly perfect and shallow character and brings more depth than you could imagine with one simple scene in a mall.

As a special treat at my screening, Ellen Page was on hand for a brief Q & A. I suspect she inhabited this character so deeply that it has rubbed off on her (or perhaps the other way around). Page is just as delightful in person - cracking jokes, very insightful, and honest. She really believes in this movie and in the Cody's screenplay and Jason Reitman's direction. I felt like I wanted to be on that movie set because of how much fun she made it sound. After accidentally saying the word "shit" Page proclaimed, "We're getting pretty loose at this Q & A. I bet Cate Blanchett doesn't get to have this much fun." And yes, I got to shake her hand. No you cannot touch it. Maybe she remembers my name.

There is so much more to tell about this movie but the best thing to do is to see it for yourself (no Fox Searchlight did not pay me to say that). When you're listening to the near-perfect soundtrack of Kimya Dawson and the Moldy Peaches, you'll understand. Juno is the kind of movie that you can't sum up in a couple sentences, or even in a short review for that matter. Yes Juno is about a girl who gets pregnant and decides to keep the baby, but that's not what it's really about, that's just what happens in the plot. After telling her parents she's pregnant Juno says, "I don't know what kind of girl I am" and even at the end of the movie, she's still figuring it out and so are we.

The Best Film You'll See About a Wonder Emporium All Year

Whimsy is a trick thing to convey on film. Its trickier when you consider the fact that in order for it to work the filmmaker needs the audience to meet him half-way. Try to force your hand, get too treacly, too cloying, too romantic and cynical audience members will laugh it off as utter nonsense. For every genuinely whimsical Mary Poppins, Labyrinth or Toy Story you get stuck with a North, a Toys or a Space Jam. Then there are the in-betweens, the ones people furiously argue over, your Hooks, your Joe Versus the Volcanoes, your Goonies. When a story-teller tries to conjure up those squishy, child-like feelings they're normally derided. Its a narrow tight-rope to walk on and in his newest film rookie director and much buzzed about screenwriter Zach Helm throws his hat into the arena of whimsy. Most of the critical community has chosen to spit in this hat, but I am more than happy to toss a few shillings in myself.

I have a confession to make. I like Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. A lot. Its not perfect, not by a long shot. By the movie just worked for me. On a purely chemical level; the plot, the characters, the dialogue, it just worked. I like that it isn't really a "be-yourself" or "you-can-do-it" sort of morality tale that has infected children's films like a virus. It also encourages imagination but doesn't ignore that even magical people are bound to certain financial responsibilities. At its core, Magorium is about coming to terms with death and moving on from it.

Mr. Magorium (an occasionally grating Dustin Hoffman) is pushing 240 some odd years and in a career that includes inspiring Thomas Edison to create the light bulb, inventing the paper airplane, his crowning achievement is a magical toy store. Magorium, though, feels his time is up so he wants to pass on the store to his assistant and former piano prodigy Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman). Before doing so he wants to ensure his affairs are in order so he hires Henry Weston (my beloved Jason Bateman playing an amalgamation of Ferrel's character in Stranger than Fiction and Michael Bluth from Arrested Development). Henry is the no-nonsense workaholic who naturally fails to see the magic of the place, but he's not so closed minded as he befriends another Emporium employee, Eric (odd but not odd enough Zach Mills). If the movie were just Magorium passing on the store to Mahoney the movie wouldn't work. Bateman is perfect casting because as the centerpiece of a show that was all about ironic detachment and being too cool for traditional "messages" he's a natural cynic. Watching his heart grow two-sizes too big is what makes the movie so damn likable. From the moment he's being interviewed by Magorium, Helm writes him in such a way that everyone can see that it won't take much for the wonders of the place to slowly peel away his stick-in-the-mud exterior.
From its charmingly designed opening titles (there's something comforting about well-stylized titles that clue you into what the movies about) Helm shows that while this is a movie for kids it refuses to talk down to its audience or leave the adults out of the proceedings. The material stay light but the pall of death lingers over the proceedings. Helm is careful to not use the "d" word until it is absolutely inevitable. The store begins to reflect Mahoney and the other characters feelings about Magorium's inevitable passing and the store begins to lose control of itself (walls deteriorate, colors drain and lemurs appear) wreaking havoc with the patrons (and heading dangerously close toward Jumanji territory). The film is not without its quiet somber moments and this is where the film really separates itself from its more embarrassing peers. In one scene its just Magorium talking to the store, expressing his disappointment in the buildings temper-tantrum. The other involves Magorium chatting about King Lear and how after an incredible work of fiction, Shakespeare kills of this epic character with the simple piece of text "he dies." Magorium concludes that if its good enough for Shakespeare its good enough for him. Furthermore, death is what puts the beauty of a life into sharp relief. The perfect punctuation. Its heady stuff for a children's film but its all pitched at a level that parents can appreciate and clever children will pick up on.

Prior to Stranger than Fiction's release there was much ballyhooing about how Helm was the new Charlie Kaufman. I think its an unfair comparison. While both writers tamper with conventional structure, stretch and skewing narrative in unusual ways, the two have separate concerns and very separate styles. I also think Helm is more of a romantic than Kaufman, he believes in the good, the magic in all people to be exceptional. Anyone whose seen Human Nature or Confessions of a Dangerous Mind would be hard pressed to say the same of Kaufman.
Helm's Stranger than Fiction earned a small but earnest following last year and hopefully with time Magorium will do the same. The film is too clever to be dismissed outright and deserves a look by anyone willing to give it a chance.

One last thought before I go: the film features a quick, but wonderful cameo that is simply too perfect to spoil. Lets just say that one of the customers of the Wonder Emporium used to host a beloved 70's variety show and has starred in a bunch of movies himself. It was great seeing him again.