Dec 18
When aliens land on this planet to finally take over, one of the things we’ll have to explain will be the Twilight series. Stephenie Meyer’s curious series of novels about Mormon vampires has been a hit, spawning the requisite film series that has also been a hit. The final book in the series, Breaking Dawn, finds itself divided in two for the final two films in the series.
Mike Mills’ Beginners has a heart, probably, but it’s so submerged in paint-by-numbers hipsterism and lumbering mumblecore that it’s difficult to find the humanity. The problem is that there are good performances in this film, especially Christopher Plummer’s, but the characters are ancillary to Mills’ ticking off of hipster boxes.
I have lamented the dearth of good romantic comedies for a long time now, with nearly every single recent picture in the genre turning into a woman-hating ordeal packed with clichés and joyless interaction. Enter Crazy, Stupid, Love. Finally, an exception to what is sadly becoming a rule.
The vampire mythology is one of extraordinary popularity, especially with the Twilight series and other narratives getting the kids going these days. Indeed, vampires have never really faded from popularity and have gone through a lot of transformations since Bram Stoker diagnosed vampirism as a sort of disease. In his narrative, vampirism was a sort of condition. It sprang to popularity in a time of tuberculosis and syphilis.
Miserable, waxy and humourless, Just Go with It is yet another Adam Sandler vehicle that focuses on the passive-aggressive and the dishonest in hopes of mining big laughs. I recognize that standards are low and that Sandler continues to be a box office draw among those who simply want to check out and watch something funny, but no amount of checking out will do the trick with this dreadful picture.
