The Names of Love (Le nom de gens)

First Hit: I enjoyed this tongue-in-cheek film about a woman who wants to change fascists to liberals through sex.

However, don’t think you’re going to watch a lot of sex in this film.

This film is about family, the different aspects and quirks of families, and love. Baya (played by Sara Forestier) is brought up by a leftist French mother who married a Muslim man from Africa. Because her mother was always out leading some social charge and with the stigma of her father’s way of life, through her sexiness and wild abandoned ideas she thinks she can change fascists (and she thinks just about everyone is a fascist) into more liberal thinkers, like herself.

One day she meets Arthur (played by Jacques Gamblin) who is Jewish but doesn’t own up to it because his grandparents were killed by the Germans in WWII. The family took a name change and therefore is immediately seen as non-Jewish. They find within each other a tolerance for their beliefs and a deep caring about the other.

How this film intertwines family, beliefs, relationships, the past, and the future is where the magic lies. It intercuts between all of these items, except the future while hinting at it ever so slightly. The joy and sadness of each principal, how they misunderstand the other and more importantly how they find the depth of their relationship is the real story, not that Baya sleeps with fascists to convert them.

Forestier is amazingly open forthcoming and believable in her part as Baya. She draws you in with her infectiousness and brazen style. Gamblin, is perfect as the man who wants to let loose a little more but also wants to keep control over his life. Baya draws him out. Michel Leclerc and Baya Kasmi wrote a stellar funny and yet poignant script. Leclerc directed this with a clear thought of what he wanted to see in the end.

Overall: This was a very enjoyable film and its characters were well defined and well acted.

The Change-Up

First Hit: An old idea with varying results.

The idea of people inhabiting someone else’s body is old and there are at least a ½ dozen films around this premise. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing unless there is nothing new in it.

As with all the other films like this, while they are in the other person's body they learn something about themselves and the other person all before they go back into their own body. Nobody stays in the other person's body.

Therefore how much is there to tell about this film? Some of the jokes are out-loud funny. Some of the bathroom humor could (flying baby poop in the face) could be removed and not affect the overall film one iota. Nor did I find that Mitch Planko (played by Ryan Reynolds) to be very believable. I didn’t think he fit being a lorno (light porno) film star, nor did I think he was much of a ladies man if he spent weeks trolling Lamaze clinics looking for a sex partner.

I thought his gross and crass language while being around his best friend Dave Lockwood (played by Jason Bateman) and his wife Jamie (played by Leslie Mann) and their children to be more than required as a setup to how different the guys will be when they embody the other person.

For them to transfer brains/spirit, they pee into a fountain, the lights go out and then the next morning they become the other person. Funny it took them until the next morning to discover they were a different person, because when they reversed the spell it was almost immediately.

There are numerous funny bits that each get to perform being the other life which made the film watchable.

Reynolds was, for me, more OK as Dave than his original character Mitch. Bateman was also better as Dave than he was Mitch. And neither one of them felt very spot on as the other, only caricatures of the other person. The film makers made more of the physical scenes being reversed than hold true to the real characters being reversed. Mann was very good as Dave’s wife; however it was very unrealistic that she wouldn’t have caught on that her husband Dave wasn't really Dave but someone else. They were nowhere near the same people to her. Jon Lucas and Scott Moore wrote a occasionally funny script. David Dobkin didn’t do much to build some depth to the characters while relying on obvious, and at times, humorous scenes.

Overall: This film was good enough for the moment and immediately forgettable afterward.

Crazy, Stupid, Love.

First Hit: This film had some very funny, sad, thoughtful moments, but wasn’t memorable.

Cal (played by Steve Carell) is married to Emily (played by Julianne Moore) and they’ve been married for a long time. They were each other’s soul mates but they’ve grown apart.

Emily has an affair with David Lindhagen (played by Kevin Bacon) and it devastates Cal. He moves out. They have three children one is grown and gone while the other two are younger. The boy Robbie (played by Jonah Bobo) is smart, wise and in love with the babysitter Jessica (played by Analeigh Tipton) who is 5 years older than Robbie but she has a crush on Cal.

Cal goes to a singles bar to drown his sorrows and watches as Jacob (played by Ryan Gosling) picks up woman after woman each and every night. Jacob, in turn, watches Cal telling tales in the bar about how his wife did him wrong and decides to help him out. He invites Cal on a shopping trip and then lets him listen to how he picks up women. One night Cal picks up Kate (played by Marisa Tomei) who likes his honesty and charm. He learns that Kate is a “5 years sober” teacher.

In the meantime we watch Hannah (played by Emma Stone) get shut down by a guy who offers her a job when she thought she was going to be proposed to. In a fit of upset, she finds Jacob, whom she turned down on an earlier encounter and makes him take her to his house for sex.

However, they end up in a long conversation and begin to fall in love. As they fall in love, Cal is busy picking up a string of women but missing Emily. Emily dates David but misses Cal. Robbie is making Jessica feel uncomfortable with his ever present text messages outlining his undying love.

This is the setup for what I think was the funniest and most interesting scene in the film. I won’t spoil it, and it has to do with people meeting people and the police having to separate all the men fighting each other.

Carell is good as a heart broken man and good as the newly coiffed player. However the word I used was good, not great as I continued to feel separateness from and not an embodiment of of the character he was playing. Moore was very good as the woman who was searching for femininity and inner glow again. Bacon was perfect for the short but important part as the “other man”. Bobo was very good, although some of his lines and actions seemed more than what a 12 year old would say or do. Tipton was wonderful and perfect as the babysitter who is beautiful, doesn’t know it, and feeling the pressure of her first crush. Tomei was outstanding as the teacher who finds out she slept with, yet another man, who lied to her. Gosling was fully engaging as the guy with the photo-shopped body and used his charms to pick up women but then was able to meet someone whom he really cared about. Dan Fogelman wrote a strong and, at times, surprising script although I think the 12 year old lines were overly adult at times. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa directed the film with skill in many places including the little surprises that lead to a nice climax. However, it was longer than needed and there could have been some pruning of a number of scenes (including lawn raking and bar pickup bits).

Overall: The film was enjoyable and surprising moments that were really funny.

Friends with Benefits

First Hit: Smart fun writing and great chemistry result in a totally wonderful, engaging and interesting film.

There is nothing like a smart script to make a film satisfying.

The dialogue here is clever, interesting, up-to-date, and downright spot on. The next step for a film is to have a clear idea of what the film wants to say, and here Will Gluck directed this with clear unfailing vision.

The coup de grace was the choice of actors. Here Justin Timberlake plays Dylan, a mathematically challenged designer, to the hilt. He is handsome, slightly “damaged” by his childhood, caring of people, wanting to do the right thing, but doesn’t have the chops to settle down with one woman.

In the other camp is Mila Kunis playing Jamie a high-level headhunter who wants her prince charming to sweep her off her feet and her damaged view of relationships keep men away after a few short go-a-rounds. She is whippet smart, outgoing, fun, and has a mom that cannot even tell her the ethnicity of her father.

Jamie contacts Dylan while searching for a head designer for GQ magazine. He comes to New York City to “check out his options” and go through the interview process. From the get go there is chemistry. It is fun, spontaneous, quick-witted and a delight to watch. She “sells” him that this is the right move for him and he takes the job.

Arriving in New York, knowing no one, he and Jamie become fast friends. And here is the kicker as to why this film works; you believe they are and can be friends. One evening while they are lamenting about past relationships, they decide they can have sex with each other without any emotion or feelings; “just like playing tennis”. Of course they do (hence the film title) and their sex is amazing for each of them.

The frank repartee in and out of the bed is out-loud funny and inwardly touching. Their family representatives as played by Richard Jenkins (Dylan’s dad) and Patricia Clarkson (Jamie’s mom) are amazingly great in their roles and only add to the intrigue. Woody Harrelson, playing Tommy GQ’s gay sportswriter is hilarious and perfectly cast.

 Timberlake is downright perfect in this role and, in my mind, has shown he has wonderful acting chops. My personal favorite scene is in the bedroom when he starts to dance and rap to a Kris Kross song. It shows his musical talents, dancing ability, all while staying in character. Kunis is sublime. She is open, beautiful, sharp, and downright loveable. She carried her share of the load fantastically. Jenkins had me in tears when he talked about the “love of his life” while in his underwear at the airport. Clarkson was a perfect blend of part hippy, part fox, and part mother who could never really stay in one place or with one man. She is a hoot. Harrelson seems to know how to play so many different characters with belief. Here, as a gay man, he’s fun. Keith Merryman and David A. Newman get kudos for writing such a smart script. From the outset the words clearly define the times while engaging the audience. Gluck caught the mood, and dynamics in a perfect way – outstanding.

 Overall: We all know the end of the film when it starts, but it makes no difference because the joy in this movie is in the ride so don’t miss it.

Horrible Bosses

First Hit:  Uneven film from the beginning but in the end it came together enough to be enjoyable.

Nick Hendricks (played by Jason Bateman) works in a large corporation for Dave Harkin (played by Kevin Spacey) who is the perfect ultimate jerk of a boss.

He lies about Nick, takes advantage of his work ethic, and is vindictive. Dale Arbus (played by Charlie Day) who only wants to be married to his fiancé works as a dental assistant for Dr. Julia Harris D.D.S. (played by Jennifer Aniston) who is a very horny dentist and spends most of her time trying to persuade Dale to screw her at work while the patients are under anesthesia. Kurt Buckman (played by Jason Sudeikis) is a top account manager for a local company. He works for Jack Pellit (played by Donald Sutherland) who admires Kurt, but Jack dies and his son Bobby (played by Colin Farrell) is anointed to run the company.

Bobby is self-obsessive and a cocaine and sex addict. He begins to make Kurt’s life miserable. The three are friends and during one of their nights out they hatch a plan to kill their bosses. Of course they know nothing about it and end up seeking advice from Dean “MF” Jones (played by Jamie Foxx).

After the introduction of these characters and their reasons why they want their bosses dead, the film falls into series of bits, some funny some not.

Eventually the film finds its story and legs and comes home in a reasonably satisfying way.

Bateman is the settling energy and most reasonable person in this film. He’s also funny. Spacy is, for me, the scene stealer. When he’s on the screen he’s definitely worth watching. Day is at his best when he accidentally inhales a bunch of cocaine he’s cleaning up. Aniston is playing a role very unlike her normal roles and she is a hoot to watch. Sudeikis is suave as a guy who is not necessarily handsome but smooth enough to get almost anyone to have sex with him. Farrell is almost non-recognizable but his abilities to express are all Farrell. Fox is wonderfully intense and funny to watch as the professional murder consultant. Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley, and Jonathan M. Goldstein wrote this script and for the most part it felt like a bunch of un-integrated bits. Seth Gordon directed the film but seemed lost after the strong beginning, but was able to bring it home well enough.

Overall: Although this film was lost much of the time, it did come together at the end to make the sit worthwhile.