Postby Mister Tee » Fri Jan 22, 2010 5:33 pm
Sometimes I think, if you can't catch a movie prior to the reviews, it's best to wait for the hype/overkill/backlash/backlash to the backlash cycle to all pass, so you can go see it as just a movie, not as a pawn in the critical/Oscar industrial complex.
Having seen this film pass through all those stages (all within a few weeks of release -- talk about a truncated cycle!), I had no way of guessing how much or how little I'd like it.
Well..I'm way up the ladder. I think this is a tender, grown-up, incisive film about contemporary situations, with well drawn characters and sparkling dialogue. From some of the reaction here, you'd think such things came along once a month, rather than being a Halley's Comet rarity in our current mainstream culture. I can only credit goddamn awards fever, for raising people's expectations so high that only an "And the Oscar goes to" orgasm could justify the film.
As Damien says, it's not as if Reitman has suddenly become a stylist, but he has a strongly humane touch with his characters, and, simply in writing terms, I think this film is a quantum leap over his previous efforts. The movie has a pleasing humor throughout -- never getting to manic highs (I don't even know what "big laugh" people are referencing), but also never losing a light comic touch. Even when the film strays into more somber areas, I felt like Reitman hit the sweet spot: it seemed to flow from what had come before, not mark a sudden downbeat.
I think Clooney does solid work here, and, I too thought what Damien said about Cary Grant -- just because he makes it look easy doesn't mean it's not to be cherished. And both ladies are wonderful. I, too, would opt for Farmiga first among equals, partly because I've long been fond of her, and partly because her character went more interesting directions. (And I have to say I was very surprised by the reveal about her in the closing momenst. I fully expected she'd have someone else; I'd just never have dreamed the extent of the riskiness of her life. When she said she was like Clooney with a vagina, she wasn't being truthful by half)
I do agree the running offstage moment was movie-false; I'd have tweaked it so he did his professional best and THEN took off. On the other hand, I don't get people gripning this wasn't a movie more centered on the situations of the newly unemployed. Alot of those complaints reminded me of Gene Siskel's perennial "if I were making a movie on this subject, it would have been about..." -- go ahead and make that movie if you want, but don't criticize Reitman for not doing it.
I still think this film has a faint shot at best picture, just because Avatar seems too trivial and Hurt Locker too grueling for middle-aged audiences -- this film seems like it might fill the Goldilocks "just right" slot. I recognize awards season is not going all that well for it at the moment, but I wonder if the new graduated-voting system might help a compromise choice like Up in the Air this year.