Flickerings: INDEX OF MOVIE REVIEWS movie camera

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Forgetting Sarah Marshall – Mark Burns

Comedy runs the gamut from tender to lewd in one of the more nuanced and less crass progeny of Freaks and Geeks alumni

Peter (Jason Segel: Knocked Up) is an unremarkable L.A. everydude who’s settled into the gig of scoring episodes for a CSI Miami-like series. The homebody’s also managed to score an improbable long-term relationship with the show’s star, Sarah (Kristen Bell: Veronica Mars). His happy doldrums turn stormy, though, when Sarah sweeps in out of the blue to dump him. Peter vacations to Hawaii to ease his crisis, but he finds himself at the same resort as Sarah and her new squeeze, rocker Aldous Snow (Russell Brand: Penelope). Thus Peter begins a tormented quest to move on, helped along by resort hostess Rachel (Mila Kunis: That ’70s Show), his new crush.

Comedy runs the gamut from tender to lewd. Awkwardly realistic yet exaggerated uncomfortable situations a la The Office represent the former. See Peter as the hypersensitive male, lapsing into doubt, obsession and girlish weep as he tries to adjust. As for the lewd, sexual humor — including a strangely explicit crash-course in lovemaking — it imparts a funny edge. Fun tweaks include a few ridiculous lampoons of pop culture plus one oddly creative late element.

Star Jason Segel follows the lead of fellow Freaks and Geeks alum Seth Rogen in penning his own script here. Freaks auteur Judd Apatow increasingly resembles a comedic Fagin. His creative progeny continue to fan out across the Hollywood scene to spread his aesthetic of explicit humor nuanced with healthy drama and story.

The script is smart. Humor proceeds as ebb and flow, building up to the ridiculous before retreating to subtler fare that gives the drama room to breathe. The two lives of this movie mesh nicely through consistent interplay. As contrast, while Wedding Crashers did both, it loaded all the best fun at the front, then flipped a switch and labored through a heavier finish. Here, transitions are smooth and frequent, and the drama is substantial yet light enough to prevent it from becoming a downer.

Among its filmic cousinry, Forgetting Sarah Marshall seems friendliest for those who’ve thus far shied from Apatow and his ilk. This is one of the more nuanced and less crass of such options to come down the pike. (More surprisingly for its pedigree, there’s no toking.) Plot proves solid, and the story unfolds neatly, if a touch predictably. Flashbacks flesh out the history between Peter and Sarah, and performances benefit from well-developed characters. Surprisingly, heartbreaker Sarah is allowed a dose of humanity rather than relegated to simple villain. Caricature does run a bit thin in Aldous’ dim, libidinous rocker — averaging two-and-a-half dimensions — but the twit proves fun and is even afforded a smarter moment or two.

First-time director Nicholas Stoller does a fine job of capturing the tale, generally evidencing a good sense of comic timing and overall pacing. Certain moments do want for snap, though, and a couple laughs spoiled in previews might lack sufficient additional context to keep them fresh.

Still, such weaknesses are minor strikes. Fans of similar movies will no doubt enjoy, and even doubters may be pleasantly surprised.

Good comedy • R • 112 min.

Fool’s Gold – reviewed by Jonathan Parker

You’ll have more luck finding treasure in the ocean than you will finding laughs in this movie.

A beach bum of a treasure hunter and his former exploring partner of an ex-wife get tangled and entangled looking for their big Caribbean claim in the lame adventure-comedy Fool’s Gold. Director Andy Tennant (Hitch, Sweet Home Alabama) gives us a romantic comedy trying to cash in on the Da Vinci Code/National Treasure movie craze. It fails on all counts.

Matthew McConaughey plays Finn, a fool of a treasure hunter with little of value but the clothes on his back (and his shirt is usually off, so I’m not sure we can even count that). Kate Hudson plays Tess, who was once his much better and smarter half, but has recently divorced him so she can get away from the beach-bumming life and get back to her scholarly reality (smart girl). Before they can officially be rid of each other, their paths cross again. This time the treasure they have spent their lives searching for is practically under the sand beneath their toes.

Director Tennant has one mind to try and give us an Elmore Leonard–esque comedy of assorted odd characters. Finn and Tess get aid from an English tycoon (Donald Sutherland), his socialite tabloid-fodder daughter (Alexis Dziena) and their gay cooks. Trying to stop them are a wealthy gangster rapper (Kevin Hart) and his various island and not-so-island henchman (including Malcolm-Jamal Warner). There’s also a crusty old island treasure hunter (Ray Winstone), Finn’s Ukrainian sidekick (Ewen Bremner) and plenty more. These oddballs provide the pretext for much of the adventure — when Finn isn’t flying through the air in a huff of his own swashbuckling and knuckleheaded hi-jinx.

This movie is indeed romantic comedy meets action comedy of the kind we don’t see much of anymore. The problem is McConaughey; he doesn’t know the first thing about comedic acting. His mugging and gape-mouthed foolishness hardly pass for humor, and he is no more funny when getting punched in the face or conked over the head. On the other hand, Hudson is certainly up to the task at hand; she knows her way around this type of B-list material. Meanwhile, the other actors, especially Bremner, add some spice, but it’s all for naught. You’ll have more luck finding treasure in the ocean than you will finding laughs in this movie.

Poor action-comedy • PG-13 • 112 mins.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer – Jonathan Parker

The effects may be fantastic, but the rest the movie isn’t even close.

That Marvel Comics quartet of superheroes returns to the big screen, and this time they have to — surprise, surprise — save the world in the special-effects heavy and ineffective action flick Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Director Tim Story (Fantastic Four, Barbershop) delivers a product that feels less like a real movie and more like a movie preview extended to an hour and a half.

Since the last film, the Four have become big celebrities. The upcoming wedding of Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic (the guys who stretches like Plastic Man), and Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), a.k.a. the Invisible Woman (the woman who can turn you-know-what), is billed as the wedding of the century. Meanwhile, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans), a.k.a. the Human Torch (he turns to fire and flies), is a celebrated single man about town, and Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis), a.k.a. the Thing (super-strength), can’t avoid the spotlight anymore than he can escape his hulking rocklike visage.

Before Reed and Sue can say I do, the Four need to stop some speeding comet-like contraption in the sky from altering earth’s climatology. Turns out it’s a creature from outer space that looks like a silver surfer (voice of Laurence Fishburne) and has come to destroy the planet. Also getting in on the fun is the American military complex and the Four’s arch-nemesis Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon). Can the Four save the day?

The answer to that question is: Who cares? There is not enough story here to care about the story. Instead, it’s all a special effects show. Each of the Four not only has unique superpowers; they also have superpowers that special effects wizards can go crazy with. See Mr. Fantastic stretch, see Sue Storm turn invisible, see the Silver Surfer be silver and surf, and so forth. The effects are certainly expertly done and no doubt cost a pretty penny.

The producers should have spent a little bit of that effects budget on a quality screenwriter (somehow six people were involved). It feels like the film has no script. Sure the characters say lines, and a narrative happens on the screen. But it’s just what you’d imagine from an elongated Hollywood pitch: familiar characters will do funny things, new characters will appear with amazing effects, there will be lots of wisecracking one-liners. And action, there will be lots of action.

Not really. The effects may be fantastic, but the rest the movie isn’t even close.

Poor action-adventure • PG • 92 mins.

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