Burt and Verona are two very interesting characters. They're a little bit emotionally stunted, but not in a bad way.
Although they are in their 30s, neither has had to fully enter the responsible adult phase of their lives. They live like mellow hippies, but aren't actually part of the counterculture. They've both got good jobs that are really quite contemporary. The couple is able work out of their dilapidated home. Burt is an insurance-rate handicapper and Verona is an artist who creates drawings for medical books.
They are good for each other and kind to each other. They're smart, amusing and healthy physically and mentally. It seems as if life hasn't delivered any hard knocks their way. Verona hasn't found being biracial an issue. Soon everything will change because she is pregnant. So the pair, who are not married, decide to travel across the United States and Canada and visit friends to find the perfect place to raise their child.
The movie is called "Away We Go," and even if it has some imperfect moments, overall it's a nice film at which to spend some time. The biggest reasons for this are the performances of Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski as Verona and Burt. Their acting meshes in a way that makes every odd little thing they do seem utterly reasonable and absolutely acceptable. They are truly quirky people. I love characters like them, because you can be interested in what they say and do, even if some of the silliness around them takes you out of the movie for a second. One example is Allison Janney as the first longtime friend they visit. Janney comes on too strong as a woman with an unexplained, festering anger and not much of a grip on reality.
irector Sam Mendes ("Revolutionary Road," "American Beauty," "Road To Perdition") and screenwriters Dave Eggers and his wife, Vendela Vida, start off the road trip at too high a level, due to Janney's rage. She reads her lines as comedy, but the effect is unfunny and a touch tragic. Maggie Gyllenhaal is another woman character with issues, but her anger rises out of a belief system and a sincere, albeit ugly reaction to things Burt and Verona say and do.
There is also a visit to Burt's mother and father, potential grandparents, who make a strange announcement, and another visit to friends with children in Montreal, who may be the sanest of the people on the place-hunting adventure.
Through it all, there's very solid banter between Verona and Burt, and you grow to like them and hope they succeed. Rudolph and Krasinski give their characters depth and honesty, a rarity in movies, and a pleasure. And both have lovely character traits. Burt's eyeglasses, for instance, deserve star billing.
Their drive around North America is all about a good life for their baby. You understand it and appreciate it.
"Away We Go" offers two people in love who are content with each other in a way that is refreshing. They are not smug; they are happy. Nothing wrong with that. I wouldn't mind traveling cross-country with either of them, but preferably both.
"My Sister's Keeper" has a powerful premise. Parents of a young girl with leukemia allow for the test-tube birth of another daughter, a child who will essentially provide spare parts and bodily fluids (a kidney, bone marrow, blood, etc.) to assist her sick sister. I know nothing about Jodi Picoult's novel upon which the movie is based, except that it exists, but if this isn't an audience grabber, I don't know what is.
There is in the annals of medicine an actual case about just such a parts-sharing occurrence. The mind boggles. The film is a medical melodrama that goes to the next level. It calls for the younger child, who is basically a work bench of replacement parts, to grow weary of being used to help her older sister Kate. The donor's name is Anna and she is tired of the operations and recuperations and wants a life of her own. So she decides to go to court, sue her parents and seek medical emancipation. The family is torn apart, to say the least.
In one regard, the feature is a superb tearjerker, with a screenplay by Jeremy Leven and Nick Cassavetes, who also directed, that is top-notch. It never panders and it never preaches. In another regard, "My Sister's Keeper" is an expert debate platform for all manner of opinions on organ donation, child abuse, family cohesion, medical ethics and simple human love. Cassavetes directs with a sure and steady hand. You really do ride the waves -- and stay on them -- with this picture.
The entire cast is wonderful. It includes Abigail Breslin as the kid fighting for freedom, Sofia Vassilieva as Kate, Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric as their parents, Joan Cusack as a judge, and best of a very good lot, Alec Baldwin as the lawyer willing to counter a mother being appalled, a father trying to be objective, a society going rabid, one child wanting to be loved for who she is not what she can provide, and a very sick child's future. Baldwin has become one of the best character actors in the history of movies. He makes it look easy, and that may be to his detriment. But he deserves an Oscar nomination for his acting here.
"My Sister's Keeper" is old-fashioned in a good way.
I want to warn you about "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," an unspeakably bad movie. This sequel to "Transformers" is relentless in its brutality (it doesn't matter if those are robots battling each other -- humans are still in jeopardy), contemptuous of its audience (nothing is left to chance -- you are loudly pounded over the head about every pointless detail), and utterly bereft of talent anywhere (even from Shia LaBeouf, a formerly promising young actor, who it seems is just as craven as the next piece of studio meat). Fine, cash your paycheck, but don't go on television and pretend you're making action high art.
LaBeouf is the geeky lad of the first film, now attending college. The bad robots are everywhere, trying to get revenge for what happened in the earlier feature. Megan Fox, the hottie of the month, is along as his sexually overheated gal pal for prurience sake. Fox has no talent of any kind. Her voice is a Valley-girl hell of absolute nasal annoyance. You want the evil Decepticons to tear her limb from limb.
Director Michael Bay has apparently decided that a movie needn't be interesting, entertaining, or energizing. It's official: He is now creatively bankrupt. The nonsensical screenplay is by Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, all three of whom should hang their heads in shame. Even at 149 minutes in length, the film lacks coherence. You'd have thought with all that time, they'd have found some way to explain things.
Do not take young children, because they will be pounded into submission. If you go and you see your kid entering a state of stupor, leave the theater. If this is what torture is like, I'll tell you everything you want to know.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | June 30 2009 |