The Time Traveler’s Wife
Directed by Robert Schwentke

Generally, I make it a priority to read the book before seeing the movie. This being a particularly literary summer (Julie and Julia, Taking Woodstock, etc.) I never got around to reading The Time Traveler’s Wife, and that may be why the film adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s bestselling novel left me with more questions than answers.

The premise itself is a bit confusing. Research Librarian Henry DeTamble (Eric Bana) travels through time. He can’t control when he will disappear from one place in time and every time he disappears, he leaves his clothes behind. He ends up naked wherever he’s going. Henry falls in love with Claire (Rachel McAdams) when she is a young girl, reassuring her that they’ll meet again as adults and fall in love. Everything Henry tells young Claire comes true and they marry when she is an adult. From there things get trickier.

The plot is such a mindbender it doesn’t leave room for much else. Henry’s condition is never fully explained except that, apparently, time traveling is genetic. The bulk of the movie centers on Henry and Claire’s attempts to have a child. They get pregnant, but Claire continually miscarries because their offspring inherit the time traveling gene. Eventually, the couple has a daughter. While the birth of their daughter is supposed to be the highlight of the film, it left this member of the audience puzzled. It’s implied that Claire’s miscarriages were caused by the time traveling fetuses. Does that mean the daughter she eventually gives birth to was coming and going from her womb this whole time? Or was the pregnancy that resulted in baby Alba’s birth a completely separate anomaly? We never find out.

Director Robert Schwentke keeps the action, such as it is, moving at a pace that makes it easier to over look the confusion of the plot. He doesn’t let the scenes get bogged down in melodrama and provides enough time travel sequences to keep things lively.

Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams manage to overcome the oddities of the plot to make Henry and Claire just like any other couple struggling to have a baby. McAdams is particularly good, in a subtle performance. She never makes Claire a martyr to her unusual circumstances, and her chemistry with Bana makes it easy to see why Claire would sacrifice so much to be with Henry. Bana isn’t given a lot to do besides stand around in the nude looking pained. For much of the film’s likely audience, this is probably enough.

The Time Traveler’s Wife is not a bad movie. The capable performances and steady direction make it enjoyable if not altogether understandable. I left the theater confused but entertained and eager to check out the book.

The Bottom Line: A good movie for a first or second date. You’ll both have so many questions about what the heck you just saw that there will be no room for awkward pauses. Everyone else can wait for the DVD.

–Sarah Hudson

(500) Days of Summer
Directed by Marc Webb

About this time a year ago, a film came out that had been a huge hit at the Sundance Film Festival. It had been purchased by its distributor for a record price, and I couldn’t wait for it to arrive. The film was Hamlet 2, and it was one of the worst movies I have ever paid to see. So when posters for (500) Days of Summer started appearing, trumpeting the film as a Sundance hit, I was skeptical. However, after seeing the movie, my faith in the Sundance label has been somewhat restored.

(500) Days of Summer is the story of Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his approximately eighteen month long love affair with Summer (Zooey Deschanel). To say more about this simple tale would be to spoil it. However, when the opening voiceover warns that this is not a love story but a story about love, believe it. The protagonists’ relationship is confusing and simple, heartbreaking and winsome. It’s the most realistic relationship seen on the silver screen since Harry and Sally got together.

The script, from first time screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, is excellent. The dialogue is quotable without being hipper than thou, and many of the scenes are laugh out loud funny, particularly the couple’s trip to IKEA. But it’s the film’s sadder moments, when relationships are ending or beginning, where the writer’s really hit their stride.

Both Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt find what may be their breakout roles here. Gordon-Levitt is sweet and dopey as love-struck Tom. Deschanel is affable yet unattainable and possesses an ethereal but non-threatening beauty that will make her every woman’s new girl crush. She also manages to make Summer infuriating (who dumps a guy who willingly goes to IKEA?) without alienating the audience. Most importantly, the two leads have chemistry. Their chemistry isn’t immediately apparent, and this makes it all the more real and potent when it appears.

After Tom and Summer spend their first night together, Tom dances to work the following morning, to Hall and Oates’ “You Make My Dreams.” To call a dance sequence subtle would be wrong. But, in the case of (500) Days of Summer, it feels completely natural. This is not just a film that you watch; it’s a film that you feel. Tom’s giddy show-stopper never feels out of place because we’re just as excited as he is. This is a mighty feat for a new director, but Marc Webb pulls it off flawlessly.

As the film nears its conclusion, the script begins to show its seams a bit. There are several montages of Tom in his post-breakup behavior when one would have sufficed. Geoffrey Arend and Matthew Gray Gubler, as Tom’s buddies, seem to shift in and out of the film and exist only to be pragmatic foils to Tom’s romantic optimism, which wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t so obvious. Despite such Screenwriting 101 lapses, the finale is perfect; it will absolutely floor you. While (500) Days of Summer is definitely a comedy, be prepared to leave the theater wiping your eyes.

The Bottom Line: (500) Days of Summer has the potential to be Generation Y’s Annie Hall. Go see it, think about it and see it again. Also, if you’re anything like me, you’ll have to stop on your way home to pick up the soundtrack.

–Sarah Hudson

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
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Directed by David Yates

I have never seen any of the previous Harry Potter films. I have also not read any of J.K. Rowling’s novels on which the films are based. No, I don’t live under a rock. I know what a Muggle is, the purpose of a sorting hat, and I can name he-who-must-not-be-named. I figured the books and their subsequent films were just kids stuff. I am willing to admit that I was wrong.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

begins as Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and best pals Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) start their sixth year at Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry continues his training with headmaster/mentor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) to, ultimately, fight his nemesis Voldemort. He is able to see how Voldemort became the evil wizard he is by examining the memories of Tom Riddle, Voldemort’s childhood name. He also comes across a book inscribed by the “Half-Blood Prince,” which leads him on a journey to discover who the book’s owner is. In addition to Harry’s wizardly escapades, there is romance, with Ron and Hermione and Harry and Ginny, Ron’s sister.

A large portion of the film’s audience is built in, with fans of books sure to be first in line. However, anyone with an appreciation of good film-making will enjoy it. In the opening minutes director David Yates takes us on a long, seemingly single-take ride through the streets of London. It’s an extraordinary shot that literally took my breath away. The entire film is beautiful to look at, while avoiding many of the gimmicks that might otherwise make the many flashbacks look cheesy. Yates owes a lot to the stellar work of cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel and production designer Stuart Craig, who craft a distinct but very real world.

To talk about the acting in a Harry Potter film may be missing the point. The young actors all perform admirably but, much more notably, they actually look like teenagers. This a rarity in an industry where anyone under 35 can play a high schooler. The rest of the cast reads like a Who’s Who of British acting royalty, with Jim Broadbent seemingly having the time of his life as Professor Slughorn, the new potions professor. Also, Helena Bonham Carter steals each of her scenes as Voldemort’s most loyal Death Eater.

Steve Kloves, who has adapted all of the novels for the big screen, manages to make 153 minutes feel like not long enough. Kloves’ script also provides just the right amount of exposition. There is enough information so that Potter virgins, like yours truly, aren’t lost – but diehard fans won’t be bored. The script also possesses a distinctly British sensibility, despite the worldwide fame of the books. For example, Harry is referred to as a “tosser,” and anything exciting is met with a chorus of “brilliant.” The cavalcade of actors with Sir or Dame before their name is only the icing on the incredibly English crumpet.

I liked Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but saying that alone sells short its charms. I had fun seeing this film and fun has been in short supply at the multiplex this summer. I also fully expect to see the film clean up in the technical categories come Oscar time.

The Bottom Line: Grab the kids and go! This is a film that needs to be experienced in a theater. I promise you won’t be bored, and you’ll leave counting the days until the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (it’s 491, as of this writing.)

–Sarah Hudson

I Love You, Beth Cooper
Directed by Chris Columbus

I’m not going to beat around the bush. Although I haven’t subjected myself to the new Transformers movie, I will go out on a limb and say that I Love You, Beth Cooper is one of the worst movies of 2009. It’s poorly cast, sloppily directed and edited – but its most gruesome crime is how unfunny it is. All the more troubling, considering how cute and funny its source material is.

On graduation day, class valedictorian and all around loser Denis proclaims to the school his love for the head cheerleader, the titular Beth Cooper. When Beth and her posse show up at Denis’ graduation party (which consists only of Denis and his friend Rich) all hell breaks loose and Denis, Beth, and their friends set off on wild night of fist fights, car accidents, and parties, all before the inevitable happy ending.

The movie’s most obvious problem comes in the form of Paul Rust as Denis. With Rust in the role, Denis isn’t sweet or charming in his awkwardness. His declaration of love doesn’t come across as the heartfelt gesture of a soft-spoken guy; it comes off as weirdly self-serving. Rust lacks the charisma and ineffable attraction of, say Michael Cera, who must have been busy since this role would seem to be tailor-made for his brand of aw-shucks charm. With a lead that’s more annoying than endearing, the film is on shaky ground from the start.

Things improve substantially when Hayden Panetierre, as Beth, appears. With her sweet smile and laid back demeanor, it’s easy to see why Denis would be attracted to her. Panetierre does a good job of balancing the popular, confident Beth the world sees and the damaged, insecure girl hiding underneath. In the film’s quieter moments, she even shows some dramatic ability. I look forward to seeing her in material that is more worthy of her obvious talent.

It’s difficult to know where to place blame for the bulk of I Love You, Beth Cooper’s problems. The script by Larry Doyle, based on his autobiographical novel, contains some of the book’s quirky moments but eliminates many of the more realistic elements that made the characters relatable. I had to consciously lower my eyebrows on a number of occasions, so unbelievable were the hijinks.

Ultimately, the blame for the film’s shortcomings falls on Chris Columbus. Most recently Columbus bastardized the beloved Gen-X operetta Rent for the big screen, so it really shouldn’t be surprising that the man who could suck the pathos out of a character dying of AIDS also managed to make unrequited love boring. When Beth is baring her soul to Denis, Columbus can’t just leave the moment alone. It has to be interrupted by a psychotic raccoon, who serves no purpose other than to distract us from Beth’s surprising confessions and extend the film’s running time.

Despite the overall ham-handedness of even the film’s better scenes, there are some interesting moments for fans of pop culture. Denis’ father is played by Alan Ruck, who most will remember as Cameron Frye, Ferris Bueller’s Ferrari-stealing buddy in the classic teen comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Seeing him as the parent of the hell-raiser is amusing. And the most eagle-eyed viewers should pay close attention to the name tag of the convenience store clerk, played by Samm Levine. Fans of the beloved but short lived Freaks and Geeks will get a chuckle from seeing Levine playing Neil (sort of) on the big screen.

The Bottom Line Brewster’s Millions dvdrip : This movie joins Renee Zellweger’s New in Town on my list of worst movies of 2009, so watch at your own risk. However, I would encourage you to head to a bookstore and pick up a copy of the novel on which the atrocity was based.

–Sarah Hudson

My Sister’s Keeper
Directed by Nick Cassavetes

Spoiler Alert: If you have read the Jodi Picoult’s novel My Sister’s Keeper Hooking Up rip

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and do not want the ending of this film ruined, read no further. (Yes, you read that right.)

Jodi Picoult is the John Grisham of the estrogen-drenched tearjerker, churning out about a book per year, including 2004’s My Sister’s Keeper. Given her penchant for melodrama, usually concerning children, her work seems to have found its cinematic match in director/screenwriter Nick Cassavetes, who also gave us the Nicholas Sparks adaptation The Notebook.

My Sister’s Keeper is the story of the Fitzgerald family, mom Sara, dad Brian and kids Kate, Jesse, and Anna. Kate has been battling leukemia for most of her life. Sara and Brian decided to conceive Anna to provide Kate with the bone marrow and organs she needed to battle her illness. However, after eleven years of being poked and prodded, Anna decides enough is enough and seeks to be medically emancipated from her parents instead of surrendering a kidney Kate needs to survive. Debates about who really has the rights to Anna’s body ensue as the family attempts to deal with the fallout of the Anna’s lawsuit. This is where any resemblance to the source material ceases and Cassavetes and his co-screenwriter Jeremy Leven take over.

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succeeds admirably. Both a testament to the power of family and as pro-life/pro-choice allegory, it can be thought-provoking and moving. Abigail Breslin, beginning to shed her cute-as-a-button image, is first-rate as the put upon Anna and Alec Baldwin reminds us that he is a talented dramatic actor, in a supporting role as Anna’s lawyer.

As the Fitzgerald parents, Jason Patric and Cameron Diaz both significantly improve on what they’re given to work with. Patric’s performance is a reminder that he used to actually act, instead of just drink heavily and sleep with It Girls, and Diaz shows some of hints of the dramatic chops she revealed in In Her Shoes and Vanilla Sky. Her lack of vanity is also to be commended. She looks sleep deprived, with puffy eyes and greasy hair and her wardrobe consists mostly of jeans and ratty sweaters. Few actresses are willing to allow their onscreen look to reflect their character’s reality (I’m looking at you, Jennifer Aniston in Marley and Me.)

But the movie belongs to Sofia Vassilieva as the afflicted Kate. Bald headed and pasty-skinned, she radiates sweetness and warmth. She isn’t given a lot to do besides vomit and bleed but she makes the most of every moment onscreen. With a script that can at times feel manipulative, Vassilieva never makes you pity Kate. She simply makes you root for her.

Even these great performances can’t save the script from itself, especially as its deus ex machina of a finale approaches. We learn that Anna would gladly give Kate her kidney but that Kate is the one who has had enough and wants to die. Anna’s lawsuit is granted and Kate gets her wish. This complete one-eighty from Picoult’s novel is unnecessary and, frankly, not nearly as surprising or rewarding as the original ending. Obviously, the filmmakers had their own story to tell, which begs the question: why not just write something similar but original? Why adapt a novel and disappoint its fans?

The Bottom Line

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: Although there’s some fine acting, you can probably save your eleven bucks, stay home, watch Lifetime, and be satisfied. However, I am adding Sofia Vassilieva to my list of potential Oscar nominees.

–Sarah Hudson

Public Enemies
Directed by Michael Mann

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences recently announced their intention to increase the number of nominees in the category of Best Picture, from five nominees to ten. This, no doubt, pleased the producers of Public Enemies. With the expanded nomination process, this slickly produced, well directed but uneven drama will probably snag a coveted Best Picture nod.

The Best Picture field is not new to Michael Mann, Public Enemies’ director and producer. His masterpiece, 1999’s The Insider, walked away empty handed, as did his well-crafted follow up, Collateral. Fans of those films will recognize immediately that this is Mann’s work. He uses his handheld camera often and to great affect, something that most directors working with his budget wouldn’t dare to try. Mann’s expert camera work creates scenes that are both graphically violent and cartoonish, moving quickly, leaving the audience to wonder what hit them.

Where many films are cursed with a lack of good ideas, Public Enemies is stuffed with too many. The film starts in 1933 and follows the FBI, specifically Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) and J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) pursuit of bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp, handsome as ever) and his gang. Bullets fly at regular intervals as the Feds chase Dillinger and Co. across the Midwest before famously getting their man outside Chicago’s Biograph Theater. What the movie never makes clear is why the audience should care about any of this.

150 Cartoon Classic [Popeye Vol. 8] film When the film opens with an enraged Hoover ordering his publicist to leak information about Congress to Walter Winchell while Dillinger receives a hero’s welcome en route to an Indiana prison, it seems that Mann is maybe making a film about the nature of celebrity. However, the point is dropped, and we never see Depp’s Dillinger received this way again.

At times, the film seems poised to be a cog in the machine of Dillinger’s legend, portraying him as a depression-era Robin Hood. At one robbery about 40 minutes in, he refuses a bank customer’s change, claiming he’s only after the bank’s money. But once again, this focus is dropped, another facet of the character we do not see again.

The film seems to find its focus as a cat and mouse thriller in the last hour, as the audience can see the noose tightening around Dillinger and his crew. But at this point, one hour and forty minutes have ticked by, and we’re lost. We could have been watching Bale’s cat chase Depp’s mouse, but instead we were stuck watching a cat chase its tale.

The production design, by Nathan Crowley, and the costumes, by the always dependable Colleen Atwood, are marvelous, making Public Enemies beautiful to look at. Depp and Bale square off nicely against each other and Jason Clarke, as one of Dillinger’s most trusted men, is excellent. Marion Cotillard is onscreen too briefly but manages to make an impression in the throwaway role of Billie Frechette, Dillinger’s lady love. Billy Crudup, underused as always, is spectacular as J. Edgar Hoover but occasionally seems to be in a different movie, a movie I might have liked better. Note to producers: Just because Crudup has leading man looks, don’t be afraid to make him a character.

Watching Public Enemies felt like a chore, something I don’t think a movie should ever feel like. At 2 hours and 40 minutes, the film is too long, considering the best moments were in the trailer. Part of the frustration is that there is a great film buried in Michael Mann’s generally mediocre effort.

The Bottom Line: The exquisite production deserves to be seen on a big screen but no one will blame you if you sit this one out.

–Sarah Hudson

Look for Sarah Hudson’s movie reviews every Friday on the Open Letters Blog