Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
Our various Sundance correspondents are kicking ass at this point, and we could always use even more of you reporting in. Today, Opie’s back with his look at two female-driven titles that are playing as part of the fest:
Greetings all from Day Three of the Sundance Film Festival. Been a few disappointments since the last report, with wait-list shutouts for Brosnan in THE MATADOR, the popular doc THE ARTISTOCRATS, and the oft-mentioned BRICK. But hopefully, today will yield better results.
However, I did manage to catch a couple of flicks yesterday, and the reviews will hopefully dovetail nicely into each other, as they both featured strong comic performances by blonde actresses.
ELLIE PARKER
I wrote a long-winded diatribe about how uneven, bloated with filler, and occasionally brilliant this satire is... But the damned internet cafe computer here shut me off when I ran out of time. I wrote a lot of ink on this one, people. But as anyone who is a writer knows, once you've put a lot of thought into writing something, and then you lose it, the last thing you want to do is write it again. So, because I'm in a rush to start talking about DIRTY LOVE, all you get is bullet-points. Sorry.
-Naomi Watts, one of the most exciting, daring actresses working today, acts her ass off here, in a film that is not worthy of her talent.
-The film is about 50% brilliant humor, and about 50% filler.
-The project started as a series of shorts, and should've stayed that way.
-When you get a comedy legend like Chevy Chase to appear in your film, and you can not give him a single funny thing to do or say, you're in big trouble.
-The audition scene in the first twenty minutes of the film, a major highlight, would be an excellent companion piece to Watts' audition scene in Mulholland Dr.
There, I'm spent. On to the highlight of yesterday.
DIRTY LOVE
Oh, baby. I did not expect to like this film so much. This film is what "The Sweetest Thing" so deperately wanted to be: A raunchy sex comedy from the woman's perspective. It's audacious, gross-out humor, which mines the comedic potential of just about every orifice in the human body, and all of the sounds they make, offset with a brilliant (yes, I used the word BRILLIANT) comedic performance by Playmate/game show hostess/all-around perfect woman Jenny McCarthy, working from her own script.
The plot, thin as it is, involves McCarthy as Rebecca, a professional photographer who is shattered when her model boyfriend is caught cheating on her. After a visit to an oddly blunt and unsympathetic psychic, she begins to plot revenge, continually escalating her efforts, all in order to regain some of her dignity, and claim the romantic love that she feels entitled to.
Now, Jenny McCarthy has always been a bit of a goofball. We've all known that. It was this quality that seperated her from other models, and actually endeared her to men and women alike. We also already knew that she has a smoking hot body. The suprise here is just how gifted she is, as she uses that body to full effect, to get both easy, broad laughs (bending it, contorting it, abusing it during pratfalls, spraying it with assorted messy substances), and more subtle ones (priceless reaction shots, including one moment that she has alone with a mirror that makes me smile every time I think of it). The festival guide compares her to Lucille Ball, and while Lucille Ball certainly never shook her bare breasts outside of a nightclub, as McCarthy does here, it's actually a pretty apt comparison. Carol Burnett is another one of the physical comedy greats that McCarthy can look forward to being compared to. You go ahead and shake your head, but mark my words: This is a breakout performance.
What makes this movie succeed where other raunchy comedies fail, is, like the American Pie films, it roots its humor in immensely likeable characters, and invests the story with plenty of heart. This is not crudeness for crudeness' sake; You really care about Rebecca, and feel for her even when she is having what, for most women, would be the most embarrassing moment of their lives, a huge set piece involving a mad scramble through a grocery store that I will NOT ruin for anyone here. And when, in the movie's Cinderella-ish climactic moment, she screams perhaps the goofiest line in movie history, instead of groans, it provokes cheers, laughs, and, for this viewer, a broad, ear-to-ear smile.
The supporting cast all get their moments, as well. Eddie Kaye Thomas, fresh off of Stifler's Mom, again provokes envy as the everyman who really, legitimately loves Rebecca, if only he could find the words to tell her (everyone sigh, all together now). Carmen Electra, who for the first few scenes was completely unrecognizeable, gets in a few choice laughs with her waaaay-over-the-top performance as a wannabe gangsta type, and Guillermo ("Yo, you better wrap that shit UP, B!") Diaz, also unrecognizeable without his soul patch, was a riot, with his oddball portrayal of a magician and potential suitor to Rebecca.
There are so many gags in this film that will stay with me for a long time, including one scene that will find its place in the pantheon of the great cinematic comedy bits of all time. I cannot recommend this film enough for some great belly laughs, some sweet "Awww" moments, and one virtuoso comedic performance by Jenny McCarthy.
She's also really hot, did I mention that? I enclosed a picture.
That does it for Day Two. Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza just walked in to the internet cafe. Man, I wish I could've gotten into THE ARISTOCRATS last night so I'd have something to talk to them about. Oh, well. Off to go try and hit up Game 6.
-Opie
Thanks, man. Keep up the great work.
"Moriarty" out.
