FILMTHE REEL WORLD
(Over)stating the obvious BY ASIA FREY/FILM CRITIC/AFREY@LAGNIAPPEMOBILE.COM
AREA THEATERS AMC MOBILE 16 785 Schillinger Road South Mobile, AL (251)639-1748 CRESCENT THEATER 208 Dauphin St Mobile, AL (251) 438-2005 REGAL MOBILE STADIUM 18 1250 Satchel Paige Drive Mobile, AL (844) 462-7342 AMC JUBILEE Square 12 6898 Highway 90 Daphne, AL (251) 626-5766
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rom the awkward title to the reliance on excessive voiceover to drive the story, “Brad’s Status” is a decent idea that could have been executed so much more subtly and skillfully. “Status” in the title refers, of course, to social media “status updates” and status in general. This is a topic that haunts the morose and petulant Brad (Ben Stiller,) a reasonably successful husband, father and founder of a nonprofit, who still feels unfulfilled compared to some unusually successful college classmates. Brad seems to have graduated from a particularly promising crop of students at Tufts, because four of his closest friends are wildly rich and famous. Michael Sheen plays another in a string of condescending roles as Craig, a political analyst who is always on TV, publishing books and competing with an equally successful writer wife, while Michael White, who also wrote and directed this film, plays a big movie director. Jemaine Clement is living an outrageously good life in Hawaii with two girlfriends and more money than he knows what to do with, while Luke Wilson is a hedge fund
manager with his own plane. Clearly, Tufts has some quality programs. Compared to these glittering former friends, Brad feels lame, and he resents his wife’s (Jenna Fischer) feelings of contentment. When Brad takes their son Troy on a trip to Boston to visit Harvard and Tufts, his feelings range from pride in his son’s musical genius to jealousy of his son’s imagined future successes. The film takes a break from Brad’s whining to show us some amusing imagined sequences of Troy’s possible futures, and of course, Brad sees them only in terms of himself, and whether his son’s future will reflect poorly or positively on him in the eyes of the world. Brad imagines these eyes of the world to be on him at all times. This is an interesting and certainly relatable enough idea, but it proves too thin to hang the entire film on, and it didn’t go far enough. Every time dialogue starts to drive characterization, the film switches over, maddeningly, to Brad’s voiceover telling us what the film was just starting to show us. Writer/director White just
won’t let the film progress without Brad needlessly explaining what he is thinking, and it’s almost insulting to think that the film’s basic themes might not be clear to the viewer without this further explication. At no point was I wondering what Brad was thinking, until his voice came over to fill me in. Austin Abrams, the actor in the role of the son, saves the film with his delicate and quietly emotional performance. What the director somehow manages to leave beautifully unsaid is that it’s ugly for a parent of such a cool, sweet kid to feel so unhappy when this guy is right in front of him. Far more effective than any declared realizations from Brad are his nicely underplayed scenes with his son. If you have had the kinds of thoughts Brad has, you will experience enough sympathy to get something out of “Brad’s Status.” But if the writer/director had really worked through these issues artistically, and really synthesized these issues further, the film would have been stronger and more satisfying. “Brad’s Status” is currently available to rent.
NEXUS CINEMA DINING 7070 Bruns Dr. Mobile, AL (251) 776-6570 AMC CLASSIC WHARF 23151 Wharf Lane Orange Beach, AL (251) 981-4444 COBB PINNACLE 14 3780 Gulf Shores Pkwy Gulf Shores (251) 923-0785
Photos | Amazon Studios / STX Films
From left: In “Brad’s Status,” a father (Ben Stiller) takes his son (Austin Abrams) to tour colleges on the East Coast and meets up with an old friend who makes him feel inferior about his life choices. The R-rated “The Happytime Murders” follows a disgraced LAPD detective-turned-private-eye puppet as he investigates puppet murders.
NEW THIS WEEK THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS
EASTERN SHORE PREMIERE CINEMA 14 30500 State Hwy 181 Spanish Fort, AL (251) 626-0352
Brian Henson directs this R-rated action comedy about two clashing detectives with a shared secret, one human (Melissa McCarthy) and one a puppet, who are forced to work together again to solve the brutal murders of the former cast of a beloved classic puppet television show. All listed multiplex theaters.
Information accurate at press time; please call theaters for showtimes.
A.X.L. is a top-secret, robotic dog with an advanced artificial intelligence created by the military. After an experiment gone
A-X-L
wrong, A.X.L. is discovered hiding in the desert by Alex, a kindhearted outsider who finds a way to connect with the robot. All listed multiplex theaters.
THE LITTLE MERMAID
Yes, they made a live-action movie of the little mermaid. AMC Mobile 16
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A refugee’s escape, a prisoner’s promise and a daughter’s painful secret all converge, causing their lives to become intertwined in ways they could have never imagined. AMC Mobile 16
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