a&e | FILM
Movie Guide
Edited by Aly Comingore
The following films are playing in Santa Barbara FRIDAY, JUNE 27, THROUGH TUESDAY, JULY 1. Descriptions followed by initials — DJP (D.J. Palladino) and KS (Kit Steinkellner) — have been taken from our critics’ reviews, which can be read in full at independent.com. The symbol ✯ indicates the film is recommended.
FIRST LOOKS Chinese Puzzle (117 mins.; R: language, sexual content)
Reviewed on page 59.
✯ Jersey Boys
Riviera
(134 mins.; R: language
throughout)
Reviewed on page 59. Fairview/Paseo Nuevo
✯ Obvious Child (84 mins.; R: language, some bloody violence) That there have been no loud public protests over this film probably is proof that the Christian Right is losing its grip. What we have here is a fine, level-headed look at abortion, with just enough tears and dark humor provided not to trivialize the issue. And it doesn’t cop out like Juno did, either. The idea here is that terminating a pregnancy is a serious issue but clearly more common and more called for than timid popular culture admits. The story concerns a young standup comedian named Donna who gets dumped by a jerk and then meets nice guy Max (Jake Lacy). Some weeks after their bouncy-drunk hook-up scenes, Donna’s breasts get tender. The way she deals with her unexpected pregnancy — they thought they had used a condom — is surprisingly moving and nuanced. The downside of this otherwise subtly turned-out film is how poorly written Donna’s part is. There is a stand-up renaissance out there in the real world, with many brilliant women making us laugh and think, and the fact that our heroine is not only self-absorbed but also mostly lame undermines the first 20 minutes of this New York hipster issue feature. But the second half soars by clinging to the courage of its convictions. Donna has friends like Nellie (Gaby Hoffmann) and a mom (Polly Draper) who seems icy but has her own abortion story to tell. There’s an imperfect crew that knows where she is going and what it might be like. The moral here might be obvious, even if the morality isn’t to everyone’s liking. Better still, it’s the kind of thing we don’t see enough of in movies. (DJP) Paseo Nuevo The Rover (102 mins.; R: language, some bloody violence)
From the land that brought us On the Beach, Mad Max, and The Coca-Cola Kid, here’s an apocalyptic shaggy-dog story set, as the movie puts it, “10 years after the collapse.” The film opens on a ragged desert with Eric (Guy Pearce) brooding inside his car as a tiny fly flits across his face. Near the end, there is a similar scene, though in the intervening 103 minutes, we’ve followed Max through a dried-up Australian outback, where each human confrontation takes place at gunpoint and half end with someone dead left behind. In the meantime, Max meets Rey (Robert Pattinson), a wounded bird he needs for a quest we don’t quite understand. One reason to see this movie, made by David Michôd, who did the brilliant Animal Kingdom, is to see how he manhandles these handsome faces, particularly Pattinson, who is virtually unrecognizable for his first five minutes onscreen. Both Pearce and he are scabby, unkempt, and dusty, but Pattinson is also oddly affected in a way that’s hard to pin down. He’s a cross between Lennie in Of Mice and Men 60
THE INDEPENDENT
june 26, 2014
and somebody weird in a David Lynch film. The movie seems to serve best not only as a cheap tour of anarchy’s domain but also as a nice reinforcement of Australia’s recently enacted anti-gun laws. It’s grim, violent, and very thoughtful, though you might not enjoy watching it as much as you will have fun figuring out the dogged behavior Guy Pearce exhibits in this blood-and-dust shortcut across hell. (DJP) Plaza de Oro Think Like a Man Too (106 mins.; PG-13: crude sexual content including references, partial nudity, language, drug material)
The 2012 romantic comedy Think Like a Man brought together its powerhouse ensemble cast to tell the story of four women who stumble across a book of dating advice for men and decide to use the advice to their advantage, and when the men realize they’re being played, they retaliate with similar stealth. Its sequel, Think Like a Man Too (which took boxoffice first place this past weekend, its opening, with a $30 million haul), follows the couples a few years down the line as they caravan to Vegas for a wedding. Everyone is now at different places in their respective relationships, and with this shift comes a whole new slew of problems. Lauren (Taraji P. Henson) and her boyfriend, Dominic (Michael Ealy), have both been offered their dream jobs on opposite sides of the country; Mya (Meagan Good) is haunted by the promiscuous past of her boyfriend, “Zeke the Freak” (Romany Malco); Kristen (Gabrielle Union) wants to have a baby with her reluctant partner, Jeremy (Jerry Ferrara); and bride-to-be Candace (Regina Hall) must maneuver her way around the impossible-to-please mother (Jenifer Lewis) of her fiancé, Michael (Terrence Jenkins). Comedian Kevin Hart manically plays the ringmaster of this four-ring circus, providing both antics and voiceover. Think Like a Man Too moves like a bat out of hell. It’s a speed demon of a romcom that refuses to leave its audience bored for a millisecond, but sometimes it leaves you wishing you had a chance to breathe during the hour-and-45-minute runtime. That said, the film is always tons of fun and intermittently laugh-out-loud funny. Sure, it moves at a seemingly methamphetamines-induced pace, but that doesn’t stop it from bringing real heart to the relationships it explores. It’s impressive that the movie can cover so much ground in such a limited amount of time. It’s also refreshing to see a minority ensemble cast hold center (and equally refreshing to see its white characters good-naturedly poked fun at), and a welcome sight to see the rom-com, now considered an endangered animal in the film world, free in the wild. (KS) Camino Real/Fiesta 5
PREMIERES Tammy (96 mins.; R: language including sexual references)
After losing her job and being cheated on by her husband, a woman (Melissa McCarthy) and her foul-mouthed grandmother (Susan Sarandon) take to the road. Camino Real/Fiesta 5 (Opens Tue., July 1)