Review: Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

* *
Director: Elizabeth Banks
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson

I'm almost loath to review Pitch Perfect 2 because female filmmakers get so few opportunities in general that when one makes a bad movie it almost seems like that casts a pall over all of them. However, given that Pitch Perfect 2 made $183 million against a production budget of $29 million, its financial success may do more to open doors than the artistic success of better films with female directors behind them. I'm not suggesting that this movie isn't funny - it is; I laughed quite a bit, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a film with enough actual story to cover maybe 45 minutes, stretched out to a shapeless and messy 115. Of course, I feel like a lot of films have the "too many detours, not enough getting to the point" problem, which makes me think that teachers ought to play the audio clip of Milhouse van Houten whining, "When are they going to get to the fireworks factory?" every 15 minutes or so during screenwriting classes.

Review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

* * *
Director: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Josh Hutcherson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson

There will come a time once The Hunger Games series finishes when I'll revisit all of the films and perhaps at that point I'll have a better appreciation for Mockingjay - Part 1. Right now I'm having a hard time finding an artistic justification for the series having joined the increasingly annoying trend of splitting the final story of a would-be trilogy into two films (the economic justification is, of course, obvious). Don't get me wrong, Mockingjay - Part 1 is a good movie and I liked it well enough, but there's no denying that it feels distinctly... padded. At 123 minutes it's the shortest film of the series by nearly half an hour, yet it lacks the sense of urgency of either of the predecessor films and the amount of table setting for the next film is much more obvious here than it was in either The Hunger Games or Catching Fire. If those films were representative of Katniss being the "girl on fire," Mockingjay - Part 1 is representative of Katniss being the "girl on a slow simmer."

Review: Our Idiot Brother (2011)

* * 1/2
Director: Jesse Peretz
Starring: Paul Rudd, Emily Mortimer, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel

Before even getting started with Our Idiot Brother, I feel the need to talk briefly about one of the trailers attached to it, the one for the Adam Sandler film Jack and Jill, wherein Sandler plays the protagonist Jack as well as Jack's twin sister, Jill. I have a lot of questions about this film. Specifically, I would like to know Why? and How is this a movie? If you haven't had the pleasure, please watch the trailer.

Review: Zack and Miri Make A Porno (2008)

* * * 1/2
Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Seth Rogan, Elizabeth Banks

For all its crudeness, Zack and Miri Make A Porno turns out to be a surprisingly sweet movie. I mean, sure, the set-up allows for a lot of nudity and profanity and a little bit of toilet humour, but in the final analysis it’s very much a film about the changing relationship between two people – one that’s more realistic than most on-screen relationships. To my mind Dogma is Kevin Smith’s best film, but Zack and Miri and Clerks run neck and neck for the runner up position.

Seth Rogan and Elizabeth Banks star as the eponymous Zack and Miri, two childhood friends who are now roommates with a pile of unpaid bills to their names. The water and power are soon turned off and the threat of eviction looms, forcing them to consider an extreme solution. Inspired by his encounter with a gay porn actor (Justin Long) at their high school reunion, Zack comes up with a plan for them to make their own porno and then use reunion mailing list as the starting point for marketing and distributing it. Miri insists that no one wants to see them having sex to which Zack counters, “Everyone wants to see anyone having sex.” If the internet can be distilled down to one single lesson, I believe that’s what it would be.

They work out a story – a Star Wars parody – and begin recruiting a crew and co-stars, including Bubbles (Traci Lords), Lester (Kevin Smith mainstay Jason Mewes), Stacey (Katie Morgan), Barry (Ricky Mabe), Delaney (Craig Robinson) and Deacon (Jeff Anderson). They also begin to confront what it will mean for their relationship if they have sex, even if it is only for the camera. They’ve known each other forever and have a good, solid friendship which could be ruined if they have sex and things become weird between them. On the other hand, they may have sex and realize that they were meant to be together all along – but they won’t know until they take the leap.

Various mishaps befall the production, forcing the filmmakers to start over from scratch with a completely different story and using the coffee shop where Zack works as their set. Problems also arise between Zack and Miri due not to the prospect of having sex with each other, but the jealousy each begins to feel about the thought of the other having sex with someone else. Rogan and Banks are well-matched here and manage to convey a sense of Zack and Miri’s long history and the complexity of their feelings for each other. Banks, who has popped up time and again over the last couple of years in smaller roles, proves that she has talent and charisma to spare. She’s particularly good in the moment when Miri realizes exactly how she feels about Zack, a moment without dialogue which nevertheless manages to express every single nuance of the revelation.

The trajectory of Kevin Smith’s career has been interesting. His first few films are loosely interconnected – characters in one know characters from another – and tend to feature the same actors over and again. Zack and Miri is self-contained and the regulars are mostly absent, save for Mewes and Anderson (although, I swear Ben Affleck makes an uncredited cameo as the demolition foreman – somebody tell me I’m not crazy) and the feel of it is markedly different from previous Smith films. I can’t decide whether I prefer his scrappier early work or the glossier efforts of late, but I think he’s one of the more consistently smart writer/directors out there right now and Zack and Miri proves that though excrement jokes still come easily to him, he's also maturing a lot as a storyteller.