Jennifer Check (Fox) since early childhood. Even though—or because—Needy knows that Jennifer is self-absorbed and shallow, she constantly cuts her friend a great deal of slack, which comes to a head when Jennifer runs off with a creepy rock band and reappears possessed by a demon. Despite her better judgment, Needy opts to overlook her friend’s peculiar change—until Jennifer starts devouring the male populace. Since the film is structured as a tale being told by Needy from the confines of a padded cell, it’s not hard to tell where the tale is going. That said, there are some interesting points along the way—not the least of which is that Cody realizes that Needy isn’t the needy one. That honor goes to Jennifer and her desire to be the hottest and coolest girl in school. It’s constantly suggested that Needy views herself as Jennifer’s one-girl support group, even in the full knowledge of her friend’s limitations. This is even clear on some level to Jennifer, who—even in demonic form—is about as bright as she is secure. Their relationship is interesting in other ways, too, since it’s casually lesbian in nature, despite all the boys involved. When Needy breaks away from a Sapphic encounter with Jennifer, it’s not because of the encounter, but because of Jennifer’s murderous activities. No, Jennifer’s Body is never as frightening as it should be, and it’s certainly never as hip and funny as it would like to be, but neither is it a disaster. With a better director than Karyn Kusama—whose direction of the 2005 dud Aeon Flux suggests a filmmaker with little sense of intentional humor—it might have worked much better. (What Jason Reitman did with Cody’s Juno screenplay has always been undervalued.) Still, that doesn’t keep Jennifer’s Body from being more interesting and more on target than has been claimed. Rated R for sexuality, bloody violence and brief drug use. — reviewed by Ken Hanke Playing at Carolina Asheville Cinema 14, Cinebarre, Epic of Hendersonville, Regal Biltmore Grande Stadium 15, United Artists Beaucatcher Cinema 7.
Love Happens JJJ
Director: Brandon Camp Players: Aaron Eckhart, Jennifer Aniston, Dan Fogler, John Carroll Lynch, Martin Sheen
Romantic Drama
Rated PG-13
The Story: A self-help guru falls into a relationship with a florist while still dealing with the baggage of his wife’s sudden death three years earlier.
seen such an avalanche of syrup since the 1919 Boston Molasses Disaster that killed 21 people and injured more than 150. OK, so maybe I’m being just a smidge hyperbolic, but the schmaltz is laid on thick. However, the thing is, the movie somehow ends up being better than it has any business being. Director Brandon Camp brings more style to the movie than it deserves, which raises the question: Why couldn’t he pick a better project to start his feature career with? The film never gets a handle on what it’s supposed to be. The setup is simple, with psychologist and self-help guru Burke (Aaron Eckhart) heading up a seminar in Seattle, the city where his wife (Michelle Harrison) died three years earlier in a car accident. Burke has made a living off these seminars, based on a book he wrote to help him cope with loss—which is fine, though I have a hard time swallowing the idea that the first thing he wrote after his wife’s death is something as hokey as, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Nevertheless, it seems Burke still has some issues related to his wife’s death, something that causes his father-in-law (Martin Sheen) to call him a liar and a hypocrite. It also makes him too scared to ride elevators for some unknown reason, though he’ll still climb stairs to the top of the Space Needle. In any case, it’s Burke’s attempts at overcoming his past that make up the bulk of the film. Love Happens is a teary-eyed look at surviving the pains of death and learning how to live again—complete with a parrot that’s meant to symbolize freedom. Only this isn’t all, since we also get a budding romance between Burke and a florist named Eloise (Jennifer Aniston) that gets plopped into the middle of things with some cheesy romancing and the occasional fits of screwball comedy. The problem is this part of the film doesn’t quite fit together properly; it only serves to make the movie about 20 minutes too long. In the end, it all could’ve been much worse, but that’s far from a superlative endorsement. Rated PG-13 for some language, including sexual references. — reviewed by Justin Souther Playing at Carolina Asheville Cinema 14, Epic of Hendersonville, Regal Biltmore Grande 15, United Artists Beaucatcher Cinema 7.
My One and Only JJJJ
Director: Richard Loncraine (Wimbledon) Players: Renée Zellweger, Logan Lerman, Kevin Bacon, Mark Rendall, David Koechner, Chris Noth
Comedy/Drama/Semi-Biopic
Rated PG-13
The Lowdown: A slickly-made adult The Story: A divorcée—and her two romance marred by gooey sentimentality sons—goes on a journey to find a new and an inability to find the right pitch. husband to support her. Even with giving Love Happens a measly twoand-a-half stars, I feel like I’m being more than generous to this movie than my preconceived notions would’ve allowed. First off, there’s the film’s awful, utterly forgettable title (Love happens? So do dermatitis and peanut allergies), while the film’s trailer painted a picture of the worst kind of hokey, melodramatic, sentimental hogwash imaginable. And don’t get me wrong, the sentimentality is there—the world hasn’t
The Lowdown: An utterly charming, often very funny little movie that reestablishes Renée Zellweger as an actress of note. Twice I’ve told people that Richard Loncraine’s My One and Only is a kind of biopic about George Hamilton’s teenage life—and twice I’ve been asked, “Why would I be interested in that?” The truth is that I really haven’t an answer,
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