'Landline'

'Landline' Movie Review

'Landline'

Posted on July 29, 2017 on CWAtlanta.cbslocal.com

Wayback Machine Archive Post

Landline (2017)

It’s Labor Day in 1995, and Dana (Jenny Slate) and Ben (Jay Duplass) are attempting to have sex, and between the bugs, weird noises and Dana’s parents next door, it’s not going well. Dana and Ben emerge from the woods just in time to get in the car and leave the family vacation home. We meet Dana’s parents, Alan (John Turturro) and Pat (Edie Falco) and her younger sister, Ali (Abby Quinn). As the family drives back to the city, Alan and Dana revel in singing along with the radio. Pat is working on a crossword puzzle, and Ali is showing her disdain at the singing. Ben corrects Dana on a lyric to the song, and Alan backs him up. Ali and Pat argue over what schools Ali should apply for. The whole family starts arguing as the car drives down the highway.

Back in the city, Alan is working a play that he has been writing for quite a while. Pat walks by Ali’s room and realizes that she is still up. Pat demands that Ali hangs up the phone and goes to bed. Ali resists at first then gives in. The next day, Dana goes to work, complaining about a rash she got while vacationing. She discusses her love life with her co-worker, and it’s obvious that Dana and Ben are kind of in a rut. We cut to a bedroom where Ali is making up a song as she sings to her boyfriend Jed (Marquis Rodriquez) and he takes a puff or two on a pot pipe. She has Jed spray her with cologne before she leaves so that her mother ‘the drug sniffer’ won’t smell the pot on her.

Ali comes home, and that family gets ready for dinner. They discuss Dana reluctance to set a wedding date. Alan tells the family that he wants them all together when his play is read at a friend’s house. Neither Pat nor Ali reacts to this news with any excitement. We cut to Dana and Ben taking a shower together. They discuss that she might have gotten poison ivy at the vacation home. Dana and Ben go to a friend’s house for a party. Dana bumps into an old boyfriend, Nate (Finn Wittrock) and this chance encounter just might change Dana’s life, possibly destroying her marriage before it has even started.

There is a big problem with this film, no matter how much I love Jenny Slate (she should be in every ‘rom-com’ that is made from this point on), her character, Dana isn’t likable. Dana makes one mistake after another (if you can call cheating on her fiancé just a mistake) and never seems to learn from them. It’s as if co-writer/director Gillian Robespierre thought that because Slate, the actress, is sweet and lovable we would find Dana cute and adorable but in reality, we never can get behind anything that she does. Dana isn’t the only unlikable character; Alan (played by John Turturro) is having an affair with an unknown woman, and Ali is determined to find. Pat (played by Edie Falco) is always belittling her husband. Ali (played by Abby Quinn) is skipping out to go clubbing, taking drugs and talking back to her parents at a constant rate. The only character that is somewhat likable is Dana’s fiancé Ben (played by Mark Duplass) who comes off ok but a sad sack of a guy. These are severely dysfunctional people that seem to look for trouble.

The one stand out of this cast is Abby Quinn who is incredible as the high-strung little sister Ali. Quinn shows an excellent singing voice and is a joy to watch as the fiery young woman who feels that her parents are overbearing. Ali is convinced that nothing is going to hurt her, whether it’s the drugs that she takes, the bad influence her friends have on her and her determination to figure out who is her Dad’s mistress is. It’s a performance full of life, spunk, and Quinn nails the part.

The plot seems a little disjointed, trying to cover too much instead of focusing on the problems of Dana and Ben. Landline is funny at times and occasionally touching, but I wanted more heart and charm. I was disappointed in this movie because it comes from the same team that gave us the brilliant Obvious Child and has a cast that most films could only dream of, but Landline never quite comes together, making the film seem incomplete.    My Rating: Bargain Matinee

My movie rating system from Best to Worst:  1). I Would Pay to See it Again  2). Full Price  3). Bargain Matinee  4). Cable  5). You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again

Landline opens Friday at Regal Tara Cinema 4

"God's Pocket" Movie Review

My review of "God's Pocket" starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christina Hendricks, Richard Jenkins.

"God's Pocket"

Posted on May 16, 2014 on CWAtlanta.cbslocal.com

Wayback Machine Archive Post

Photo courtesy of IFC Films

“God’s Pocket”  (2014)

A newspaper reporter writes in his column describing the men of God’s Pocket as people who live their whole life in the same city they were born in and never seeing any other part of the world. In fact, if you are not from God’s Pocket, you are considered an outsider and to be looked down on.

The writer, heard in a voiceover at the start of the film, is the city’s newspaper regular columnist, Richard Shellburn (Richard Jenkins). Shellburn is a hard drinking man, the kind that always has a beer by his side, even when driving his car. Both he and the city have seen better days. It’s as time stopped in the 1970’s though the rust on the cars and the disrepair of the buildings tell us time has marched on.  Shellburn turns into his editor his anniversary column, the same one he has written four years in a row.  Like the rest of the townspeople, Shellburn is just going through the motions, whether it’s writing his column or picking up journalism major at the local bar, he’s just not going to put a lot of effort in the exercise.

Mickey (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) is a low level criminal, the type you hire to steal a truck full of meat.  Mickey is well liked in the community but because he has only lived in the area for the past 17 years, he is seen as an outsider. Mickey is married to Jeanie (Christina Hendricks), a housewife who is from God’s Pocket, giving Mickey a little credibility in the community. Mickey is the stepfather to Jeanie’s twenty two year old boy, Leon (Caleb Landry Jones), a fowl mouthed pill popping day laborer who likes to brandish a straight razor for fun.  Jeanie sees her son in a different light than the rest of the community, waking him up each morning and making him something for breakfast that he immediately throws away.

Leon is killed in what is described as a construction accident, but Jeannie is convinced that something bad happened to her only child and she implores Mickey to find out. This sends Mickey on a tangled tale to not only find out what happened, but also need to find a way to pay for the stepson’s funeral.

This is one of the last performances that we will see on the big screen of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, one of this generations greatest actors and, unfortunately, is just misses the mark. The film, directed by actor John Slattery (“Mad Men”) and written by Alex Metcalf and Slattery, never quite finds the voice of the film. It’s a gritty, working class of a film that has a few comedic moments, but it is filled with characters that are too one dimensional.  I would have liked the film to be a little more extreme in either its drama portion or its comedic moments. The story-line moves around quite a bit and never lets us completely focus on one character, making the film stop and start too many times.

Hoffman is given a character that we instantly like, even though he does some bad things, like getting drunk on the night his stepson is killed. Mickey is not there for his wife, who reacts badly to the death, staying at the bar till closing, even though it is right across from where he lives. But his character is very simple to figure out, not allowing Hoffman to give the sort of complex performance that we know he is capable of.

Of the fine cast, which includes John Turturro, who plays Mickey’s best friend, and Eddie Marsan, who plays a slimy funeral owner, Christina Hendricks  playing the grieving mom, is the one that stands out.  Her character is multi-layered and we see the grief and the pain her son’s death has caused in her every scene.  She gives us a woman who inside is complicated and one that lets her emotions get the better of her.

While not a bad first effort by John Slattery, it’s a film that never quite meets its potential. It’s a film that because of its great cast, led by the legendary Hoffman, you want to be more substantial than it ends of being.  Like the men of God’s Pocket, the film never finds its way to a better story.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee

My movie rating system from Best to Worst:  1). I Would Pay to See it Again  2). Full Price  3). Bargain Matinee  4). Cable  5). You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again

“God’s Pocket” is playing exclusively at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema

“God’s Pocket” Website