'Solo Mio' A Review

Solo Mio is a romcom about Matt(Kevin James) an American school teacher who is left at the alter during his destination wedding in Rome. He remains on his honeymoon tour group as he can't get a refund and befriends the other couples as well as a local cafe owner Gia(Nicole Grimaudo).

James is his typical charming self and Girmaudo is captivating and the two have good chemistry. Both Alyson Hannigan and Kim Coates are effervescent and funny as one of the couples that Matt connects with. And the rest of the supporting cast are all pretty fun, the tone is all very light and breezy. It is noticeable that both of the men in the couples noted above are 15+ years older than their counterparts.

The camerawork is relatively conventional but the on location shooting makes up for any lack of visual finesse. It's a beautiful place and they let Rome speak for itself. The score is effective if a bit syrupy. The plot is pleasing, somewhat predictable, and kind of positions Gia not necessarily as a manic pixie dream girl but certainly as a very convenient balm for Matt. Even so, in a time where few romcoms are being made and even fewer are being released theatrically this is nice enough.

A sweet if conventional romcom for the middle-aged.

Currently available to rent on most VOD platforms.

Rent It.

 

'The Baltimorons' A Review

The Baltimorons is a romcom about Cliff(Michael Strassner), a comedian battling grief and depression, and Didi(Liz Larsen), a divorced dentist stuck in a rut. The two meet when Cliff has an dental emergency on Christmas Eve and their connection blossoms as the two spend the rest of the day together.

Strassner is unquestionably charming and his humor bubbles over in almost every scene, like a shot of energy through the whole feature. He struggles a bit in some of the more emotional moments but is still adequate but the biggest mistake, one that brings the movie to a skreeching halt, is an ill advised and poorly written sketch/improv "performance" in this style of The Groundlings(where he was trained). This sequence is so long and so cringe it almost singlehandedly brings the movie down a notch. This sequence was clearly written/improvised by Strassner(credited as co-writer) and there's a way to make it work but what we see ain't it. Larsen is a revelation, and she and Strassner have really electric infectious energy. Larsen brings a ton of depth and range and subtlety to her character and is just compelling and present from the jump. A working actor for years hopefully this ups her exposure as she clearly has an ocean of talent. The supporting cast is all talented and effective if not particularly inspired, one would presume some non-professionals or old comedy pals of Strassner's.

Visually the film is a bit pedestrian but it appears to be shot on location and conveys a wry, engaging affection for the titular city. The soundtrack and costuming is subtle and effective but ultimately what it does best is just let Larsen and Strassner be together and play, it's almost like a May-December Before Sunrise. The only fault is the "comedy show" scene and that Cliff's backstory is a bit overstuffed- he's in recovery, suicide, relationship and professional problems etc., it works OK but it's unnecessarily complicated and the resolution of it all causes the third act to slow.

An incredible Larsen makes up for any rough edges.

Currently in theaters.

Rent It.

'Love Hurts' A Review

Love Hurts is an action romcom about Marvin(Ke Huy Quan) a retired hitman turned real estate agent who is pulled back into his former life on Valentine's Day by the return of the woman he was meant to have killed as his final assignment Rose(Ariana DeBose).

Quan is his usual charismatic self and deploy's his martial expertise to great effect but the script isn't really on par with his talent and he valiant tries but mostly fails in resting anything coherent from it. DeBose is miscast, the twenty year age difference between her and Quan is apparent and makes the feints at romance between the two particularly cringe. She's a bit lost in the role and has yet to really meet the promise she showed in West Side Story. The rest of the supporting cast is pretty stacked- Sean Astin shows up and it's wonderful to see the two Goonies share the screen again, Mustafa Shakir as Raven a rival hitman, Lio Tipton as Ashley Marvin's co-worker going through an existential crisis(and who has an actually engaging romantic subplot with Shakir's character), boba tea slurping villain Daniel Wu- other than DeBose it's great casting and they all do something with their roles but both the direction and the script prevent any of them from really soaring.

Shot in Winnipeg the "Milwaukee" setting is kind of insulting, it looks like nameless, faceless suburbia rather than any actual place. The action sequences are thrillingly choregraphed and occasionally extremely graphic which is great but it's also pretty incongruous with the other attempted themes. Tonally it's ambitious, you have to give it that, but it's not successful, part John Wick part Gross Pointe Blank, it careens from heartfelt to broad comedy to brutal gore with little to no management, control, or intent. As a result all the genre's they attempt to meld come up short. There are little islands of great scenes but what surrounds them just frustrates. Despite the considerable powers of Quan it never really takes flight.

Destined to underperform in theaters and become a "hit" once streaming.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Stream It.

'Kinda Pregnant' A Review

Kinda Pregnant is a romcom about Lainy(Amy Schumer) a teacher who becomes jealous of her best friend Kate's(Jillian Bell) pregnancy after she breaks up with her long term boyfriend. She begins to wear a pregnancy belly for the attention but when she meets Josh(Will Forte) while wearing it and sparks fly she has to keeps up the lie.

Schumer is off her game, it's been several years since I Feel Pretty and Trainwreck, and she just doesn't have the same kind of presence, magnetism, or comedic timing here. Jillian Bell is pitch perfect and in the scenes they share it's clear Bell would have been better cast as the lead. Urzila Carlson brings a lot of energy and effort, props to her, but it just doesn't work and you can't help but think she was the third choice after Rebel Wilson and Rachel House declined. Will Forte is great, Alex Moffat brings some heat in too brief a role, Brianne Howey works well with what she has and Lizze Broadway is a welcome jolt of electricity any time she's on screen but overall it just feels like a hodgepodge cast, none of them totally sure what movie they are in, each doing there own thing to varying degrees of success. Some of the fault is on the script which oscillates wildly from broad blue and physical humor to attempts at genuine commentary about pregnancy in the modern age, and as esteemable as the intent may be those two objectivities really clash in the execution. Not to mention the central conceit is an astronomical hurdle, like what Lainy does is pathological, and the movie never really acknowledges that.

Director Tyler Spindel has some talent in this space(straight to Netflix comedies), The Wrong Missy and The Out-Laws weren't great but they were entertaining, this is a step below that. He's never had a particularly strong aesthetic, his movies pretty generic in how they look and are shot, and the script from Schumer and Julie Paiva doesn't give him much to stand on, it feels if not out-of-touch exactly than at least dated. Like it's a script Schumer had laying around from her sketch show days ten years ago that she reworked. Babes from last year which is very similar, although by no means a homerun, is much more successful at getting at the same themes. For that film's faults at least it feels modern. This feels retro in bad way, like Enchanted 2.

Part of the self-fulfilling prophecy of comedy films not getting theatrical releases.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Don't See It.

'Hit Man' A Review

Hit Man is a rom-dramedy about a college professor Gary(Glen Powell) who moonlights as a tech for a contract killing entrapment scheme for the NOPD. When the cop who impersonates the assassin gets cancelled(for unspecified reasons) Gary(a civilian) steps in and you know what, he's pretty darn good at it! He is solicited by Madison(Adria Arjona) to kill her vaguely problematic husband but he tanks the sting because she's attractive and charming. Sparks ensue!

Powell is not a movie star, he may be one day, he certainly has talent, but it is painfully clear here he cannot anchor a movie. Or at least one this poorly and under written. He flounders. His voice over is excruciating. There is no believable character here or any semblance of narrative logic. His parade of various hit man alter egos is presumably meant to be funny but comes across as tonally baffling and thin. Arjona's character is offensively flat, she has talent, but is not asked to do anything aside from contort her automaton of a character to fit the terrible plotting. 

The production is proficient enough but lacks any personality or real creativity, not a surprise from co-writer/director Richard Linklater who's output since Boyhood has been spotty at best(see the truly repugnant Everybody Wants Some!!). But the script is the real culprit. It strains credulity across every aspect, is a confusion of genre and tone, and doesn't deliver on any part of that confusion- its not funny, its not romantic, its not thrilling, its not mysterious. This is the kind of straight-to-Netflix dreck you'd expect from a no-name writer/director/star not an Oscar winner and one of Hollywood's presumptive heir apparents.

Mind-numbing. Worst of the year contender.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Don't See It.

'The Fall Guy' A Review

The Fall Guy is an action romcom about stuntman Colt Seavers(Ryan Gosling) who doubles for the famous Tom Ryder(Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and has a burgeoning relationship with camera operator Jody Moreno(Emily Blunt). At the start of the film Colt and Jody flirt on set but their relationship is cut short by an accident. A year later Jody is directing her first film, a scifi action romance Metalstorm, and shady producer Gail Meyer(Hannah Waddingham) brings Colt out of retirement to work on the film after Tom disappears.  

Gosling and Blunt are in top form. Their chemistry is electric and both give Movie Star caliber performances, necessary in this movie-about-movies where they both need to be both emotionally real and funny but also big and integrate that around large action set pieces. Its wonderful and the blend of tone is successful primarily because Blunt and Gosling make it so. Neither character has a ton of depth on the page, and quite frankly they don't need it, their performances are so purely magnetic, their personalities so charged and engaging its a delight. Waddingham is great as the Diet Coke guzzling producer/puppet-master and although in a briefer role Taylor-Johnson gives his funnest and most compelling role in years as the unhinged ego-driven megastar. Winston Duke, as the stunt coordinator, is underused but still wonderful to see, and the rest of the supporting cast are all good and game and help to create maybe not a deep film but a spectacularly entertaining one.

A love letter to stunt work not 7 minutes goes by without a stunt sequence and they are all made so lovingly, so thrillingly that alone makes this worth a watch. The soundtrack is pitch perfect and exciting. The costuming, especially those pieces for Metalstorm, are so playful and well done. The production, all around is just 10/10. The action is stupendous, the romance pulls the heartstrings, the comedy hits. Its tonally ambitious and they pull it off. At times the plotting is a bit convoluted, a bit convenient, but ultimately those strains are easy to ignore because the pacing is break neck and you know there is a stunt or a joke or a heartfelt moment coming next that will land. Not a perfect film but pretty damn close.

Prioritizes fun above all else, a quality lacking in many recent Hollywood blockbusters.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Don't Miss It.

'Elemental' A Review

Elemental is an animated family romcom about anthropomorphized elements living in a city. Ember is conflicted about running her immigrant father's shop, during a pipe burst she has an accidental encounter with Wade, a city inspector, who reluctantly gives the building multiple citations. The two then work together to save the shop and fall in love in the process.

The voice cast is all talented but emotionally the movie doesn't really get off the ground. The script is trying to do too much, the allegory too convoluted and muddled, and as a result so is the narrative. Its cute, it looks great, although could have used some songs, but its thin and predictable. 

Not that every Pixar movie needs to reinvent the wheel but it seems recently they have fallen prey to Disney's inevitable homogenization. It feels like something we've seen before many times, its made of parts and sequences and scenes we've seen before many times, the setting and the fact the characters are elements is new, cool even, but what they do with it is pretty rote. Too much time is devoted to the inter-elemental conflict as well as the machinations of the store and too little is spent on what, presumably, should be the focus- the romance of the two main characters. Story and emotion are sacrificed for furthering the momentum of the plot.

A cheese plate appetizer rather than a meal, fills the belly but doesn't quite satisfy.

Currently streaming on Disney+.

Stream It.

'Happiness For Beginners' A Review

Happiness For Beginners is a romcom about a divorcee, Helen, who signs up for an Appalachian Trail survivalist course to 'try something new'. Helen(Ellie Kemper) discovers her brother's best friend Jake(Luke Grimes) has also signed up for the trip. The two unpack some baggage and get to know each other better.

Both Kemper and Grimes are stretching a bit, not only with the kind-of straight-down-the-middle Eat, Pray, Love/Wild knock-off but with the script which is better than Hallmark movie-of-the-week but not by much. Even so they put in credible performances, the comedy(which is unfortunately sparring) is effective and the saccharine elements mostly land, it works. The supporting cast is solid- Ben Cook as the trip leader and the various other participates all know their roles and deliver. 

It's a cute, mostly well acted, unsurprising piece of Netflix filler. With the dearth of legit romcoms in the current Hollywood landscape, this is a pleasing piece of entertainment, in the romcom heyday of the 90's and 00's this wouldn't have made the smallest blip.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Stream It.