THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS: 1 STAR
Make no mistake, 鈥淭he Happytime Murders鈥� is not a Muppet movie. Sure, the puppets look like they just wandered in from 鈥淪esame Street,鈥� but the latest Melissa McCarthy film takes place a few blocks away in a much worse part of town.
Set in a Los Angeles where humans and puppets co-exist鈥攊magine 鈥淲ho Framed Roger Rabbit鈥檚鈥� Toontown with hand puppets鈥斺�淭he Happytime Murders鈥� is an R-rated comedy that sees the felt cast members of '80s children's TV show 鈥淭he Happytime Gang鈥� systematically murdered by a mysterious killer.
Next on the hit list is Jenny (Elizabeth Banks), a burlesque dancer who was the 鈥淭he Happytime Gang鈥檚鈥� sole human cast member. She鈥檚 also the ex-girlfriend of Phil Philips (Bill Barretta), the first puppet to join the LAPD.
After a scandal pushed him off the force he became a private investigator but when his older brother and 鈥淭he Happytime Gang鈥� actor, Larry (Victor Yerrid), is offed, and with Jenny in danger, he teams up with his former partner Detective Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy) to find the puppet serial killer. 鈥淚f it gets crazy,鈥� he says, 鈥淚鈥檓 going to get crazy.鈥�
Repeat after me, 鈥淭he Happytime Murders鈥� is not a movie for kids.
With the first F-bomb less than thirty seconds in, the tone is set early. By the time we get to the puppet porn shoot and McCarthy snorting ecstasy with down-on their-luck puppets it鈥檚 abundantly clear this isn鈥檛 your father鈥檚 Muppet movie.
Trouble is, I鈥檓 not sure who it is for. The idea of a raunchy puppet flick isn鈥檛 new, 鈥淢eet the Feebles,鈥� 鈥淭eam America鈥� and others have put the 鈥楻鈥� in marionette with great success but they did it with wit as well as in-your-face vulgarity.
In 鈥淭he Happytime Murders,鈥� easily the least funny comedy to hit screens this year, the laugh lines mostly get laughs because we鈥檙e not used to seeing puppets in鈥� er鈥� ahhh鈥� compromising positions. Watching McCarthy and Maya Rudolph, who plays Phil鈥檚 love struck secretary Bubbles, flounder in a sea of felt and unfunny 鈥済ags,鈥� is almost as sad as seeing the vaunted Henson name in the opening credits.
You know when someone constantly swears just for the sake of swearing? That鈥檚 shock value. 鈥淭he Happytime Murders鈥� is all shock, very little value.
PAPILLON: 2 ½ STARS
The remounted 鈥淧apillon,鈥� starring Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek in the roles made famous by Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffmann in the original, maintains the brutality of the 1973 film but plays more like a buddy flick than the resilience-of-the-human-spirit epic it should have been.
Based on the "75 percent true" tale of Henri Charrière, a safecracker nicknamed Papillon, the 1930鈥檚 era story sees him sent to a hellhole jungle penal colony in French Guyana for a crime he didn鈥檛 commit. Sentenced to life in prison with hard labour on Devil's Island, he begins to plot his escape as soon as he arrives, despite the fact that no one has ever successfully fled the island.
To assist and finance his plan he offers protection to Louis Dega (Malek), a spindly, wealthy, white-collar criminal with a relative fortune hidden in a place where the sun don鈥檛 shine. Faced with abominable conditions and dictatorial prison guards the pair, along with a couple of others, stages a daring run at freedom.
Leaner and meaner than the original the reboot nonetheless hews fairly closely to the 1973 screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and Dalton Trumbo. Some grisly scenes featuring crocodiles and lepers have been blue-pencilled but the basic idea of the bond between the two men in the face of unimaginable adversity remains.
Hunnam and Malek make a good team鈥攚ith Malek even giving the Degas character more inner life than Hoffmann managed鈥攂ut the movie itself doesn鈥檛 contain the same sense of struggle. Certainly there is violence, Hunnam is frequently covered in blood, mud or worse, but the previous film was grittier, less refined. Dialogue was sparse鈥攊n the new one Hunnam and Malek chatter like school kids throughout鈥攁nd there was a sense of hopelessness that fuelled the need for escape. Here their mission feels pat, like a typical prison drama. It鈥檚 less meaningful, simply a run from the violence and horrors of their incarceration, and not a spiritual journey.
鈥淧apillon鈥� gets much right and features nice performances from the leads but feels like an unnecessary revamping of the story.
LITTLE ITALY: 1 STAR
鈥淟ittle Italy,鈥� a new rom com starring Hayden Christensen and Emma Roberts, is good hearted enough but feels like it arrived via a marinara sauce splattered time capsule from 1985.
Leo Campo (Christensen) and Nikki Angioli (Roberts) were inseparable while growing up in Toronto鈥檚 Little Italy. 鈥淭o us Little Italy wasn鈥檛 just a few blocks, it was our whole world.鈥� Their families were tight, working side by side at the Napoli Pizza Parlour until the Great Pizza War erupted, causing a split that saw the pizza place sliced down the middle, cleaved into two separate businesses. Years pass. 鈥淚t鈥檚 Little Italy鈥檚 oldest food fight.鈥� Nikki moves to England to study the culinary arts while Leo stays home, working with his father.
Five years later Nikki returns home to renew her English work visa and is drawn back into the world she thought she had left behind. My Nikki is coming home today,鈥� says mother Dora (Alyssa Milano). 鈥淣ow we have to find her a husband so she鈥檒l stay.鈥� Will there be amore? Will the moon hit her eye like a big pizza pie or will she return to her cooking career in London?
鈥淟ittle Italy鈥� is an 鈥淚鈥檓 not yelling I鈥檓 Italian鈥� style rom com. Desperate to establish the flavour of Little Italy it parades stereotypes across the screen speaking in loud exaggerated Italian accents. It鈥檚 annoying but it is all played for laughs, tempered with the easy sentimentality of the most rote of rom coms.
Director Donald Petrie, whose 鈥淢ystic Pizza鈥� made a superstar out of Roberts鈥檚 Aunt Julia, never finds the balance between the slapstick, romance and cliché. Sometimes it feels like sketch comedy, other times like every rom com you鈥檝e ever seen. Either way, it never feels original or particularly likeable. Top it off with a been-there-done-that run to the airport climax that would likely get everyone involved, if this is anything like real life, arrested and you have a movie that is all about love that is anything but loveable.
CROWN AND ANCHOR: 3 ½ STARS
鈥淐rown and Anchor,鈥� co-written by and starring 鈥淎rrow鈥� actor Michael Rowe, is billing itself as a 鈥減unk rock drama.鈥� Shot on location in St. John鈥檚 Newfoundland, the crime drama embodies punk鈥檚 DIY ethic but don鈥檛 expect thrash and trash.
To stretch the musical analogy one step further, this well measured movie has more to do with the introspective stripped-down sounds of a band like Television than the loud 鈥榥 fast rush of The Ramones. In other words, it鈥檚 like punk with guitar solos.
Rowe plays police officer James Downey, a disciplined man who fled Newfoundland years before to get away from his abusive alcoholic father Gus (Stephen McHattie). Returning for his mother鈥檚 funeral he must confront the past he left behind. Gus is safely tucked away behind bars but cousin Danny (Matt Wells) is loose, desperate for money and wallowing in booze and drugs. He鈥檚 also involved with some very bad people. Thrown back into the kind of family drama that forced him to leave the island years before, Downey stays put confront the past and present.
Don鈥檛 expect a tourism board approved view of Newfoundland and Labrador. 鈥淐rown and Anchor鈥� is all about the dark corners. The echoes of the grief, tragedy and violence of James and Danny鈥檚 lives reverberate throughout. Director Andrew Rowe is unflinching and uncompromising in his presentation of the underbelly of St. John鈥檚 life.
Shot in long takes, often in uninterrupted close ups, 鈥淐rown and Anchor鈥� showcases its strong performances. The leads, along with Natalie Brown as Danny鈥檚 wife Jessica and Robert Joy, bring authenticity to roles that could have veered into caricature.
鈥淐rown and Anchor鈥� is a slow burn. It takes its time getting where it is going, building tension with long scenes. Rowe gives his scenes room, allowing them to marinade. It鈥檚 old school indie, but in our era of frenetic editing it feels fresh and new.
BREATH: 3 ½ STARS
鈥淏reath,鈥� directed by 鈥淭he Mentalist鈥� star Simon Baker in his helming debut, is a coming-of-age tale about two boys who learn about life and love through surfing is specific in its subject but universal in its themes.
Bruce and Ivan, a.k.a. Pikelet and Loonie (Samson Coulter and Ben Spence) are teenagers growing up in remote 1970s western Australian. Desperate for adventure they form an unlikely friendship with Sando (Baker), a former surfing star who now mentors young athletes. Sando is spiritual surfer who not only teaches the kids about how to glide across the water but also how to live their lives. Their idyllic life lessons are threatened when Pikelet has a brief affair with Sando鈥檚 wife, Eva (Elizabeth Debicki).
鈥淏reath鈥� is an enjoyably but languidly paced film that captures the slower pace of life in 1970s Australia. Baker displays a connection to the material, allowing the story to play out in its own time. The affair subplot dips into melodrama but the rest of the film is an evocative portrait of the time and place.
On a technical note, the cinematography鈥攃redited to 鈥渨ater cinematographer鈥� Rick Rifici鈥攁dds much visual flair to the storytelling.
MADELINE鈥橲 MADELINE: 2 ½ STARS
鈥淢adeline鈥檚 Madeline鈥� begins with a nursed telling the audience, 鈥淲hat you are experiencing is just a metaphor.鈥� That sets up the tone for what is to come, a boldly dissociative study of creativity and identity told through the lens of a sixteen year old girl.
The film essays the main people in Madeline鈥檚 (Helena Howard) life, with her mother Regina (Miranda July), acting teacher and maternal figure Evangeline (Molly Parker) and, finally, herself as she prepares to be part of an avant grade theatre production.
鈥淢adeline鈥檚 Madeline鈥� is a bold film. Madeline鈥檚 experiences, both real and imagined, merge creating a dreamy, unsettling pastiche of real life. She is a complicated character, beautifully played by newcomer Howard, with a multi-faceted personality that may be the result of mental illness or in expression of her creative spirit or her troubled relationship with Regina. Director Josephine Decker sets the stage, employing frenetic editing, overwhelming sound design and other experimental film techniques to place the viewer in Madeline鈥檚 headspace.
鈥淢adeline鈥檚 Madeline鈥� may prove too challenging, too psychedelic for casual viewing. Howard is a powerhouse, careening through the film untethered to the realities of narrative form but the oblique storytelling does the viewer no favours.
