Tusk
Dir. Kevin Smith
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#WalrusYes. That phrase may mark the first time a twitter hashtag inspired the creation of a film. Kevin Smith, the writer-director most known for his hit-or-miss catalogue of comedy flicks like Clerks (hit) and Cop Out (a giant miss), is more or less now self-identified as a Podcaster, having created a number of widely successful shows under the banner of his SModco. production company. During a recording of his SModcast with Scott Mosier, Smith became fascinated with an ad he came across where a homeowner offered free housing if the lodger dressed up as a walrus. Inspired by this kooky idea, the two spent an hour spitballing back and forth ideas for a film, and took to Twitter asking fans to post #WalrusYes if they wanted to see this walrus-themed horror film or #WalrusNo if they didn't. And in just over a year's time, the film is released. It's kind of inspirational to me that this film was even made being a huge fan of Smith and his numerous Podcasts, but Tusk just sucks.
Semi-autobiographical in nature, Tusk follows Podcaster Wallace Bryton (Justin Long) with his co-host Teddy Craft (an older, more rotund Haley Joel Osment), who hosts a show called The Not-See Party, where they mock embarrassing viral videos. So Wallace travels to Canada to interview the "Kill Bill kid" (more or less this movie's "Star Wars kid") to the dismay of his girlfriend (Genesis Rodriguez), but upon arrival he finds out that the kid accidentally committed suicide by falling on his own sword. Desperate for a new story, Wallace finds a mysterious handbill in a bar bathroom offering "a lifetime of interesting stories." So Wallace drives to the mansion of the wheelchair-bound seaman Howard Howe (Michael Parks), and what happens next delves into a Cronenberg-ian body-horror picture akin to The Human Centipede, but with humor.
That premise sounds like it could be great, but so much of this movie works against itself. First off, the Podcasting scenes feel surprisingly phony, not taking the conversational tone of Smith's own Podcasts, but more of a traditional "shock jock" show, and the laughter feels cringeworthingly canned. Some of the scenes also drag on and on; although I do think Smith is a fantastic writer, sometimes he doesn't know his limits and his Tarantino-length chunks of dialogue would serve the film so much better had they been cut down. So much of the humor, often coming from force-fed Canadian stereotypes and one surprise character played by a famous actor, just didn't do it for me. And when it came down to it, the special effects were, I think, unintentionally hilarious.
The actors were all really great, however. Michael Parks can sell a crazy hermit really well, and is one of the few characters who felt natural speaking in long diatribes. Justin Long also gives a solid, physically-demanding performance, and although he plays a truly unlikable douchebag, he sells his douchebaginess really well. Also, I was surprised just how fantastic Genesis Rodriguez was; she gets a long, single-shot moment to herself that was strangely emotionally gripping in this offbeat "midnight movie." But other than that, the film was just a joke. I can see it maybe becoming a cult classic just because of how weird it gets, but it didn't work as its own thing. I was really looking forward to and rooting for this film, but it feels really cheap, the only humor in the picture came from the supposedly "horrifying" moments, and even the great acting on display can't make up for the long stretches of pointless dialogue.
Rating: C-
Kill the Messenger
Dir. Michael Cuesta
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As of late, Jeremy Renner's movie parts typically have him running and gunning bad guys (either with bullets or arrows), and Kill the Messenger finally gives him a juicy dramatic part he can sink his teeth into. Here he plays Gary Webb, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist circa 1996, who ran an exposé on the CIA's ties to the rampant crack epidemic facing the country via their billion-dollar investment in Nicaraguan cocaine trafficking to finance a war. It's a standard whistle-blowing procedural, with Renner at the center of it, who nails the part. To see how he becomes a pariah among his colleagues as he attempts to simply tell the truth is certainly prevalent today, and Renner sells Webb's determination and desperation as his work, family, and the government start going against him.
But beyond the lead performance, Kill the Messenger falls prey to the standard biopic issues: time periods are condensed for convenience's sake and Webb is portrayed in such a glorifying way that the movie feels oversimplified. It also suffers from the same problem I had with Zero Dark Thirty: so much of the movie is told through procedural, expository dialogue that it doesn't feel cinematically engaging. It's not a bad movie necessarily, but it would've made for a much more interesting documentary for sure (though I'm sure getting interviewees to speak out would be difficult).
Rating: C
St. Vincent
Dir. Theodore Melfi
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St. Vincent has everything working for it except its overbearing sentimentality. The film stars three of my favorite people: Melissa McCarthy as a single mom living with her son, Bill Murray as a crotchety old neighbor, and Naomi Watts as his pregnant Russian stripper girlfriend. McCarthy, fresh off a messy divorce, needs someone to look after her kid while she's at work late into the night, and of course the least likely candidate to befriend and look after children is the one looking after him, and in the process has a turn of heart (the cliched older guy-kid movie, see: Bad News Bears, Uncle Buck, Bad Words, etc). It's achingly sappy and suffers from almost every cliche you could imagine, but Murray and his co-stars make the film lightly entertaining.
Rating: C+
Fed Up
Dir. Stephanie Soechtig
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Otherwise known as Katie Couric Presents: The Sad Fat Kids Movie, Fed Up is an "exposé" on the food industry, which, if it wasn't already apparent, will do anything to make money. I put exposé in quotations because honestly, who doesn't already know this? If you go to the supermarket and buy a family sized bag of 'Reduced-Fat Oreos' thinking you'll lose a pant-size, you're an idiot. Marketing ploys have existed for ages, and you only have to turn the channel to Nickelodeon during a commercial break to see how advertisements target kids. Fed Up, although it has good intentions and information in it, feels as equally propagandistic as the food industries it's set out to destroy.
Throughout the film we follow a few different children, all of whom are obese and have a smattering of health/psychological issues as a result of their weight. It's sad, yes, but they're all seen as victims of big business and politics, and the film glosses over the parents' responsibility for what their kids eat. As one parent touts, of course you can't stop your kid from eating junk when they go to friend's house or at school; but come on, set an example at home, eat a carrot once in a while! Chowing down on 'Reduced Fat' Cheez-Doodles and washing it down with a Diet Mountain Dew Code Red is not a "healthy alternative," it's a "slightly less horrible for you" alternative.
The documentary has a good message in mind, but it's a little too over-polished and news package-like to get a real sense of the situation (unlike Super Size Me, which felt much more intimate and less biased), it conveniently avoids certain factors to make its points, and it's one of the most "no-duh" documentaries I've ever seen. Sugar is bad for you, junk food is advertised to kids, politicians get nothing done - it's the same old, same old. It's not a boring watch, and there are some interesting facts and funny moments in the film, but it's preaching to a choir that likely already shops at Whole Foods.
Rating: C+
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