By BRUCE DENNILL
A Simple Favour / Directed by Paul Feig / 16DLNSV
Vuil Wasgoed / Directed by Morne du Toit / 16LPV
A Family Man / Directed by Mark Williams / 13L
The Last Word / Directed by Mark Pellington / 13DL
Isle Of Dogs / Directed by Wes Anderson / PGLV
Anna Kendrick is a charming, cuttingly funny screen presence and Blake Lively is an old-fashioned bombshell, so when noting that the former plays a “mommy vlogger” in this project and that their respective characters meet on the school run one day, the stage seems set for a run on clichés about families and their challenges. Kendrick’s Stephanie appears, to begin with, to be someone exactly in line with these expectations, but the actress’ track record confirms that there are likely to be several layers for patient viewers to discover. Lively, however, give’s the piece’s standout performance, making her bored, rich Emily a concentrated nastiness that makes it difficult to sympathise with her, even as her looks and vitriol-laced humour make her desirable. The relatively strait-laced Stephanie quickly develops a strong bond with her outrageous new friend, which allows Emily to take advantage of the situation – something which she does in a shocking, unexpected way. There are notes in A Simple Favour of edgy comedies such as Mean Girls as well as dark thrillers like Gone Girl, combined in a way that entertains throughout, even if the resolution isn’t as clever as might have been suggested by the set-up.
It’s uncertain what the goal with Vuil Wasgoed was. If it was to emulate a peak Guy Ritchie-style crime caper, with all the over-the-top violence and breakneck pacing, it fails – though the sketching of the characters seems to suggest an admiration of that sort of approach. If it was aim for some kind of adult slapstick arrangement, it fails too – there are too many moments that are simply not funny. The piece was expanded from a short film, and it may be that whatever worked well in that format simply fell apart once it was stretched thin enough. There are good, talented performers here, and high production values – the high-octane scene at the end is the equal of many American action thrillers. But many aspects of the story don’t hold together well, and there are often questionable performance choices. There are hints at a new direction for the Afrikaans action genre here, but to call this a successful experiment would be a stretch.
A Family Man spends half of its running time doing a decent job of convincing the viewer that its protagonist, Dane Jensen (Gerard Butler) is an unlikeable git, a corporate headhunter focused on his job and business success to the exclusion of just about everything, including morals. However, when his child becomes seriously ill, the value of all those commercial pursuits is thrown into doubt, and he can choose to either redeem himself or be an even more disagreeable prat. Though there is some solid star wattage on board – Alison Brie plays Dane’s major competition for a promotion at the office and Willem Dafoe is their company’s boss – it’s hard to shake the suspicion that A Family Man is anything more than an effort to paint Butler as something more than a snarling, bellowing action star. In that a thread about a sick child is difficult to be completely cynical about, the piece succeeds to a very limited extent. But it’s otherwise a deeply average offering that plays more like background music than a headline attraction.
There’s a conceit in The Last Word that seems somewhat out of its time – that newspapers still have people on staff for the more or less sole purpose of writing obituaries. Still, if such a nostalgic position did exist, and someone as devoted to her craft as Anne (Amanda Seyfried) was filling it, it’s possible that this storyline might develop. Shirley MacLaine plays Harriet, a retired businesswoman used to both privilege and influence. Wanting to be remembered as someone as important as she thinks she is, she enlists Anne’s help after noticing the latter’s skills in embellishing the life of a late acquaintance of hers. It’s an assignment the studious Anne takes very seriously, determined to properly research her subject’s life and achievements, which is not something that Harriet necessarily wants, as she knows how her behaviour has made her a less than desirable presence in many people’s lives. The development of the relationship between two strong women with different worldviews and intentions is the core of the film, and though the script is not terribly strong – the beginning of the piece is likeably cynical, but it gets ever more routine from there – their individual appeal is just about enough to carry the project through. Pleasant enough, but never inspiring.
Visionary director Wes Anderson’s second stop-action film after the Roald Dahl adaptation Fantastic Mr Fox, which lived up to the first part of its title, Isle of Dogs is less immediately gratifying, though it’s not without plentiful charms. In a offbeat tribute to classic samurai films, the action is set in Japan, where an epidemic of dog flu has seen all the dogs interned on Trash Island. A young boy named Atari is convinced his beloved pet Spot has been taken there, and decides to mount a rescue mission, enlisting the help of one of the packs of feral hounds who roam the apocalyptic landscape. In Anderson’s trademark style, this whole richly imagined universe is minutely detailed and fascinatingly stylised, and as usual, it’s possible to enjoy the film for its aesthetics alone. But unlike most of Anderson’s other work, there is something off in the flow and pacing of this offering. It’s a little stilted, perhaps a touch too aware of itself and what is now expected from such a distinctive filmmaker. The highs are very high, like a helter-skelter chase scene that makes bewilderingly creative use of the art styles used throughout the film but, while there are never any truly low lows, there is more “average” in Isle Of Dogs than there has been in most Anderson films.
