Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 12 July 2001

Evolution suits Duchovny’s style as it’s not a “laugh out loud” comedy.  Dr Ira Kane (Duchovny) and Dr. Harry Block (Jones) are lecturers at the Glen Canyon Community College in Arkansas.  One evening, a meteor crashes through the atmosphere and destroys the car of young Wayne Green (Scott) who’s working out in the desert.  Ira and Harry investigate the meteor and after taking a sample back to their lab, find single cell organisms living inside.  Is this history in the making?  Is this alien life?

Dreaming each of the Nobel Prize, they try to keep the discovery to themselves but government agents soon arrive and headed by scientist Dr. Allison Reed (Moore), they take command of the crash site.  Within a couple of weeks, the organisms begin a transformation - they are rapidly evolving and adapting to Earth’s climactic conditions.  In the space of one month, they’ve developed further than man has in 5,000,000 years and it’s only a matter of time before they overrun the entire planet.

That’s where our team of heroes comes in.  Ira, Harry and Wayne find the government is oblivious to the true gravity of the situation and realise that it’s up to them to save the world.

From the above description, you could be fooled in thinking this is a sci-fi drama but it’s actually a spoof comedy of the same genre.  Subtlety done, there’s a pleasant uneasiness to the whole film that I believe is it’s greatest plus - you’re never quite sure what you’re supposed to think of the movie because the plot is so ludicrous and yet the characters are so serious.

Ivan Reitman is a director who knows a thing or too about screwball comedies having made Six Days Seven Nights, Junior, Dave, Kindergarten Cop, Twins, Stripes, Meatballs and yes, Ghostbusters.  The film has a few too many similarities with Ghostbusters which I won’t detail for risk of spoiling some of the plot developments I haven’t mentioned.

Despite the hilarity, more could have been made of the material.  There were a few dead scenes and worthless characters detracting from the main storyline.  Despite lukewarm reviews from other critics, I still feel many will enjoy the freshness of Evolution and it’s certainly worth a look.  I’m curious as to what others will make of the whole concept.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 05 July 2001

Behind the scenes, the voluptuous Page has gotten herself a job as Dean’s secretary (but of course Dean doesn’t know she’s Maxine’s daughter).  The day after the wedding, Page makes her move.  Knowing Dean to be a womaniser, she leads him on and sure enough, Maxine walks in and catches the two in a rather uncompromising position (with her hair stuck in Dean’s zipper).

It’s now off to divorce court and Maxine cleans Dean out with a big settlement in her favour.  This is Maxine’s 13th marriage (and 13th scam) and all the money she has accumulated has raised a few eyebrows at the tax office.  Claiming years of back-taxes and penalties, Maxine and Page are left without a dime.

There’s only one way to get back on top and that’s to go for a final big score and the two set forth for Palm Beach.  The prime candidate is William B. Tensy (Hackman), an elderly unmarried billionaire.  Maxine begins her con but behind the scenes, Page is falling for a young bar owner named Jack Withrowe (Lee) who may be worth a couple of million himself.  With all this deceit going on, it’s all a matter of who to trust and a question of who’s working for who.

What an abomination!  Heartbreakers is an appalling film flooded with bad performances and supported by an equally disgusting script.  What pushes the film over the edge is its length.  It’s rare for a comedy to stretch longer than two hours so you can imagine the discomfort I felt during the last half-hour.  If you’ve seen the trailer or the ads, you’ll know how it’s all going to end and if you haven’t, you’ll see it coming anyway.  It’s like having to listen to someone tell a joke for 123 minutes when you know the punchline in the opening minute.

Ray Liotta is the only positive ingredient of the film but it’s a minor role when compared with the rest of the cast.  The sappy and sentimental scenes between Weaver and Hewitt will make you squirm and flinch in horror.  How can people think this is funny?  This is director David Mirkin’s second feature and isn’t an improvement on his first effort, Romy & Rochelle’s High School Reunion, which was lame in its own right.

My own heart was broken after seeing Heartbreakers.  It hurts to see Gene Hackman and Sigourney Weaver lower themselves to this level.  It hurts to see people waiting in line to pay $13 admission to see this film.  It hurts that I’ve wasted an hour of my life in writing this review.  It hurts.  Period.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 12 July 2001

Jane’s a person who tends to over-analyse confronting situations.  In looking for the right man, destiny sets her up with Ray Brown (Kinnear), a Washington producer who’s just started working for the same television studio as Jane.  Despite admitting to having a girlfriend, neither seems hindered and within six weeks, the “L” word (love) is being uttered whilst they look for an apartment to move into.

Just when things start looking serious, Ray gets cold feet.  He is confused over his attraction for two different people and he retreats from Jane who cannot understand why.  Thus, her “old cow” theory is formed. 

Emotionally fragile, Jane moves in with another workmate, Eddie (Jackman), who is quite the “ladies man”.  Jane is repelled by the idea that he picks up women every night but in his differences she finds insight.  They are both intelligent people and in opening up to each other, they learn that you can find true love more than once and they may soon be finding it in each other...

Based on Laura Zigman’s book, Someone Like You is told somewhat like a novel.  Creatively, the film is split into chapters with witty titles popping up on the screen every so often to let us know we’re moving on another tangent.  This is evident more so in the beginning and disappointingly, the film resorts to a more standard style in the final half-hour.

Despite the inevitable predictability that exists in a romantic comedy, actor turned director Tony Goldwyn (A Walk On The Moon) and writer Elizabeth Chandler (A Little Princess) keep things new.  It doesn’t suggest that some men are total scumbags and some men are perfectly perfect.  It tells women that there isn’t much difference between the two and that it’s sometimes their own insecurities and misconceptions that give this impression.

Yes, this film/fantasy is targeted at women and yes, women are going to enjoy it much more than men but yes, this is a romantic comedy worth seeing.  Ashley Judd and Hugh Jackman make a nice couple although it’s a hard to believe that a woman as beautiful as Judd could have such trouble finding a date.  Greg Kinnear may also consider a character change having played the sweet, charming guy once too often.  Aside, Someone Like You is not too heavy, it’s not too light, it’s just right.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 05 July 2001

Sammy has felt alone for a long time.  Both parents were killed in a car accident when she was young and her brother hasn’t been heard from since working in Alaska over six months ago.  Her ex-husband split and suffice to say, isn’t someone she wants to see again.

Unexpectedly, she receives a letter from Terry (Ruffalo), her brother, who writes to say he’s coming home.  Sammy is overjoyed by the news and in her enthusiasm, thinks that everything will be like it always was.  As we’ve all learnt, time changes people and Terry isn’t how Sammy remembered him to be.  He’s broke, has just spent three months in jail and has a girlfriend who just unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide.  He hasn’t really come home to visit Sammy - he’s come home because there’s nowhere else to go.

Despite initial reservations from Sammy and Rudy, Terry’s presence breaths new life into the household.  He develops a bond with the impressionable Rudy who appreciates a male influence.  Sammy just loves being surrounded by the two most important people in her life and she suddenly finds herself with purpose and direction.

The developing instability in the house has brought secrets to the surface.  Rudy wants to know about his father, Sammy is sleeping with her boss and Terry’s depressed at having no future prospects.  As stress levels rise, all three realise things are changing and will never be the same again...

This is a beautiful story from writer/director Kenneth Lonergan and you will be hard pressed to find two better performances this year than those offered by Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo.  Both characters are vulnerable and their facial expressions say more than words ever could.  Scenes between Linney and Ruffalo are absorbing thanks to the honestly furnished dialogue crafted by Lonergan.  It examines human emotions that are often considered too in-depth to explore in a simple movie.

Linney was rewarded with a deserved Academy Award nomination (but lost to Julia Roberts) but unfortunately Ruffalo couldn’t muster the same attention in the Oscar advertising bandwagon.  Lonergan was rewarded by his peers when the Writers Guild of America found his original screenplay worthy of the award for the year’s best.

You Can Count On Me is frankly one of the best films released to date in 2001.  It’s a story about love, it’s a story about friendship and it’s a story about family.  There are people we love who shape our own lives but it’s usually only in retrospect that we understand and appreciate just how much so.  Those special people, who no matter what, we can always count on.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 05 July 2001

At his daughter’s 16th birthday dinner, John is interrupted by Joey the Raccoon who comes tapping at his window.  He asks that John come into the woods and meet “The Beaver”, a mafia-like figure who is both respected and feared by the other animals of the forest.  The Beaver has called on Dr. Dolittle as he believes he’s the only person that can help them - the forest is to be logged by a corporate giant and with government approval, there isn’t much time until they’re all out of home.

With the help of a friendly zoologist, John finds a female Pacific Western bear in the forest that is on the endangered species list.  Being the only resident of her species, the court refuses to recognise her right to survival leaving John searching for a solution.  Looking for a mate, he finds a circus bear named Archie but he’s long been domesticated.  Can John break nature’s rules and reintroduce Archie into the wild to save the species (and the forest)?  Not only can he do it, he’ll make sure it’s a hilarious journey.

We aren’t talking brilliant comedy here but it’s funny enough to appeal to both adults and kids.  In the first film, much time was wasted introducing Dr. Dolittle and how he first realised he could talk with animals.  That problem is not replicated in the sequel.  Despite the improvement, the film still feels like you’re watching a bunch of unrelated skits.  Many scenes don’t flow but to their credit, they’re still amusing.

Eddie Murphy is super and it’s nice to see the “real” Eddie for a change.  In the past three years, he’s played a voice twice (in Shrek and Mulan) and in most every other film, he’s covered himself in make-up to play more than one character (The Nutty Professor, The Nutty Professor 2, Bowfinger).  Murphy has a great sense of humour but is more controlled in this film than his previous works.  I believe it works in the film’s favour.

How many celebrities did they get to provide animal voices in this film?  Just when I’m racking my brain to recognise one particular voice, another chimes in leaving me even more perplexed.  A simple check of the Internet Movie Database tells the full list includes Andy Dick, Jamie Kennedy, Lisa Kudrow, Norm Macdonald, Mandy Moore, Frankie Muniz, Michael Rapaport, Molly Shannon, Steve Zahn and even Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Dr. Dolittle 2 isn’t going to win any awards but it’s innocent enough to earn my approval and recommendation.  A silly film that makes you laugh at just right times.