Hey folks, Harry here with two reviews from the one time denizen of Alcatraz, but who is currently living the high life in Chi-Town... That's right... It's Capone. Capone has recently sat through both DROWNING MONA and WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM... and did he unload his tommygun at em? Well... Read on and see for yourself...
Hey, Harry. Capone in Chicago checking in. I wasn't going to write about a recent screening I saw of Bette Midler's DROWNING MONA, because I'd just assumed this film had been covered on you site, but I did a search and found absolutely nothing in terms of a review. I have to confess that I hated Bette Midler's ISN'T SHE GREAT so much that I was truly dreading seeing this latest offering, but man was I surprised. First of all, she's not really in it that much, and when she is it's just in quick flashbacks. Having said that...DROWNING MONA owes a tremendous debt to the works of John Waters, in particular is early masterpiece PINK FLAMINGOS. Although MONA does not dwell quite as deep in the pile of filth and tastelessness, it aspires to Waters lofty heights of showing us the lives of people on the fringe of society. Director Nick Gomez has written and directed three fairly credible films in the past--all of which were sort of Scorsese-light--is probably best known for his skillfully directed episodes of T.V.’s “Homicide,” “Oz,” and most recently “The Sopranos.” He has a real flair for gritty realism and an unblinking camera. But MONA marks the first time he’s attempted comedy, albeit some of the darkest mainstream comedy I’ve seen in a while. Unlike Waters, Gomez avoids the truly vulgar and outrageous, opting instead for the fairly believable yet still shocking. The film takes place in upstate New York in the town of Verplank, which we are told was the testing ground for the Yugo. This explains why every vehicle in town is a Yugo, including the police cars. The story begins with the death (by drowning, of course) of Mona Dearly, played with unusual venom by Bette Midler. I’m not a huge Midler fan, so any film that begins with her death immediately gets my attention. What follows is an investigation by the local sheriff (Danny DeVito) into her death, which he believes was actually a murder. Unfortunately for DeVito ever member of the community is a likely suspect since Mona was the most hated woman in Verplank. Gomez captures the mentality and almost non-existence of these small towners with his usual biting style. Among the townsfolk (and suspects) or Mona’s son (a creepy and uncaring Marcus Thomas), Mona’s husband (the perfectly sleezy William Fichtner), the son’s business partner Bobby Calzone (Casey Affleck, who has never had a chance like this to show how good an actor he can be), and Bobby’s his wife-to-be (Neve Campbell, who I always knew would be good playing white trash) who also happens to be DeVito’s daughter. Jamie Lee Curtis also does a good job as a mullet-headed waitress, who is having an affair with Mona’s husband and son. The performances are top-notch and the script is good, but the film does have a tendency to drag at times, which is bad for a 90-minute movie.The reason this movie worked for me had to do with Gomez’s attention to detail. If you see this film, look around the rooms behind the actors, look at what’s on tables and end tables and shelves, look at what’s sitting in people’s yards or what they have in their cars. The identity of the killer is not the point of this film (actually it’s revealed well before the end of the story); the focus is on fringe living and a different and less-evaluated type of white trash, the kind that live north of the Mason-Dixon line. Don't get me wrong, DROWNING MONA is without a doubt a comedy, but its dark edges ooze around the sides and through the cracks. Laughing out loud isn't the point of this movie; I found myself smiling at the situations not because they were wacky, but because I recognized some of the personae. Although some of the gags have much in common a Farrelly Brothers film, MONA doesn't have the heart of, say, THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY. The film may not be for everyone, but the freak-loving among us know who we are. Thank goodness somebody recognized John Waters’ films for what they were: profiles of the unpretty people.Capone
And now for this ginrunner's look at WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM?
Hey, Harry. Capone in Chicago here with a look at the surprisingly strong Garry Shandling/Mike Nichol's collaboration, WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM? There were some public screenings of this one nationwide this past weekend, so you'll probably get a bunch of reviews of this one, and with good reason.
In his first feature-film starring role, Garry Shandling breathes real life into the clever and hilarious relationship/sex comedy WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM?, perhaps one of the most off-putting film titles in decades. Shandling (who also co-authored the story) plays Harold Anderson, an alien from a planet comprised entirely of emotionless men, led by Ben Kingsley. Reproduction on this planet is done with cloning and, as a result, the reproductive organs of the inhabitants have withered away. For some ridiculous reason that I can’t remember, the aliens feel the need to take over the Earth by impregnating earth women and creating a race of alien babies who will facilitate an invasion. After extensive training on how to seduce women (which includes saying “You smell nice” and complimenting footwear), Shandling is chosen among his people to be sent to earth and lay the ground work for the invasion.
Posing as a human (which isn’t hard to do since all of the aliens look human), he gets a job as a bank executive (“The perfect job for an emotionless man,” says Kingsley.) The silly kind of cleverness that the film’s script has is what sold me on this movie from the early minutes. Without giving too much away, one of the funniest recurring jokes involves how men with no reproductive organs can function sexually. It involves loud motorized humming. But there are also dozens of great details here, from Shandling being transported to and from earth via an airplane bathroom to his co-worker (Greg Kinnear) taking Shandling to an AA meeting to meet women. (“Look for the weepers,” he advises.) Harold does eventually meet a woman (Annette Bening), but it turns out she won’t have sex until after marriage. So they race to Las Vegas and get married.
Bening, although playing yet another real estate agent, couldn’t be playing a more different character here than she did in AMERICAN BEAUTY. Here, she’s nervous and uncertain, trying to put her life back together after a string of self-destructive relationships. She just wants to find the right guy. Ha! Greg Kinnear is surprisingly great (why do I start to laugh every time I say that about him) as the ultimate male pig, seducing anything that crosses his line of sight. In smaller roles are John Goodman, as an FAA investigator who may be on to Shandling’s transportation method, and Linda Fiorentino as Kinnear’s equally sex-crazed wife. Obviously this is not a science fiction film, but a metaphor on how far apart two people can be sometimes in terms of long-term goals for a relationship. But the film works on so many levels and almost none of the jokes bomb.
It seems a lot of work went into crafting this script (by four writers, according to the credits) and sure there are some flaws (including a sap ending), but just seeing Shandling back in top form allowed me to overlook these minor problems. In addition, much of the film is very R-rated thanks to some well-placed nudity (including a nice shot of Shandling's ass) and some deviant language, plus the fact that the whole damn movie is about fucking! I have to give credit to director Mike Nichols, who once again (as he did in CARNAL KNOWLEDGE and even THE BIRDCAGE) has given us a fresh way to look at the very overdone subject in the movies of relationships. This is probably the hardest I've laughed in the movies so far this year.
Capone
