Tag Archives: Nick Offerman

2017 Film Reviews

“The Hero”

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LOUISA: 4 STARS

LOUISA SAYS:

I was blown away by the melancholy beauty that is “The Hero,” the story of an aging actor (Sam Elliott) coming to terms with his own mortality. It’s a theme that’s been done hundreds of times before, but somehow this story manages to feel fresh.

Hollywood legend Lee Hayden (Elliott) is an aging Western screen icon with decades of beloved performances under his belt. With his glory days well behind him, Lee spends his afternoons getting high with his neighbor Jeremy (Nick Offerman), accepting low rent fan awards in the ballroom at the Holiday Inn, and daydreaming about days gone by.

After a routine checkup, Lee learns that he has a very fatal form of cancer and he begins to struggle to right many of the wrongs of his past. Now filled with regret over a failed marriage and a severed relationship with his estranged daughter (Krysten Ritter), he attempts to break down the wall of solitude he’s built for himself and begin living life to the fullest — including starting a whirlwind relationship with a decades younger, spunky stand-up comic Charlotte (Laura Prepon).

The basic plot is very straightforward but never feels forced. Brett Haley and Marc Basch, the team behind 2015’s fantastic “I’ll See You In My Dreams” (ranked #13 on my list of the very best films of that year), have written a strong, fully developed, and very complex character. The dialogue is true blue in its honesty, boosted by a quiet and thoughtful performance from Elliott. There’s great acting all around, with a talented supporting cast that complements the true tender poetry of Elliott’s understated lead performance.

I give serious props to Prepon for tackling the role of Charlotte because it’s a casting choice that could’ve felt more icky than powerful. She lends a refreshing take on the May – December romance and for once, there’s a younger woman who is interested in an older man not for his money or status, but because she is truly in love.

There are weighty themes at play throughout but this film isn’t a standard issue tearjerker. It’s elegantly photographed by cinematographer Rob Givens and the direction from Haley is just as lovely. “The Hero” is a beautiful, moving film that’s one of my favorites so far this year.

2017 Film Reviews

“The Founder”

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LOUISA: 3 STARS

LOUISA SAYS:

The story of the real McDonald’s brothers and how door-to-door salesman Ray Kroc creatively swindled them out of their rightful share of the McDonald’s franchise fortune is the focus of “The Founder,” a fascinating true tale about the building of an American fast food empire. What starts off as a retro-looking commercial celebrating McDonald’s later takes a darker turn with the realization that Ray Croc (Michael Keaton), while a savvy businessman, wasn’t a very nice person. In fact, he was a first class jerk.

Kroc was a nasty yet shrewd hustler, a man with a “me first” business sense that helped him steal and build a worldwide brand. It’s not that Kroc was particularly smart, but he was a savvy, cutthroat, persistent opportunist who paid attention to those around him and had no qualms about stepping on the little guy if it could work in his best interest. He’s the man you love to hate, but can you really blame him for recognizing an easy opportunity and seizing on it?  If nothing else, this film serves as a warning of what not to do when you’re making business deals. Kroc cheated the McDonald’s brothers (enjoyable performances from both Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch) out of their “handshake deal” to give them 1% of all sales (in what would amount to $100 million per year). As tasty as those crispy fries are, knowing the background story leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

And that’s where this movie really fails — in its contradictions. At first it’s a love fest for the fast food restaurant but then morphs into something different: “Yay, McDonald’s!” turns to “Boo, McDonald’s!” At first it left me craving a burger but by the end, it made me feel like boycotting the restaurant forever. It’s not exactly a comedy but it’s not exactly a drama either.

The McDonald’s franchise story is interesting and one that is extremely important to the history of American business, but the movie overall comes across as far too bland and pedestrian. As is a problem with most biopics, the actors are laser focused on getting the mannerisms of their real-life counterparts so perfect that they become trapped within their roles, becoming a restrained impersonator rather than a gusty performer. Keaton sleepwalks through the role to the point where it feels like he’s doing a cheap imitation of Croc rather than something new and interesting.

While I didn’t love the film, it’s well crafted, well photographed, and well written in a clear, concise and straightforward way. But with such a compelling story, I just wish it had been so much more.

2017 Film Reviews, Sundance

Sundance Review: “The Little Hours”

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LOUISA: 2.5 STARS

LOUISA SAYS:

I really wanted to love “The Little Hours,” the latest film from “Life After Beth” and “Joshy” director Jeff Baena. He has a sense of humor that directly mirrors mine and when I heard that he was tackling a religious themed comedy based on Giovanni Boccaccio’s classic literary text “The Decameron” as his next project, I was sold. Unfortunately, the film aimlessly wanders around the screen in a cloudy haze of expletives for two hours instead of being something truly special.

The film is full of talented, funny comic actors but they just don’t have great material to work with. We first meet Sister Fernanda (Aubrey Plaza), Sister Alessandra (Alison Brie), and Sister Genevra (Kate Micucci) quietly going about their daily routine. When the gardener wishes them a good morning, they turn violent, verbally abusing him with an f-bomb laced tirade, throwing turnips at his face, and spitting at him. A group of nasty, rude and cursing nuns is a funny premise for sure, but this one-note joke gets stretched over the entire course of the film and quickly becomes repetitive (and rapidly loses its humor).

Mother Superior (Molly Shannon) runs the convent with Father Tommasso  (John C. Reilly, the true scene stealer in the film). After a chance encounter in the woods, Tommasso crosses paths with runaway servant Massetto (Dave Franco), a man who has been kicked out of his master’s (Nick Offerman) castle for schtupping the lady of the house. Father Tommasso drunkenly laments that he ran out of water and “had to drink the sacramental wine,” and comes up with the grand idea to invite Massetto  back to live with and work for him. Once Massetto arrives he grabs the attention of the sexually repressed, bi-curious nuns, and they scheme to seduce the new farmhand by any means necessary.

While it’s not an original idea to take a classic piece of literature and put a modern spin on the story, there are some truly hilarious concepts at play, including several riotous confession scenes that will no doubt be memorable long after you see the movie. Although the film is set in a 14th century Italian convent, the trio of bad nuns speak in modern slang and give in to their uncontrollable carnal desires, habit be damned.

The film is off-color, bawdy, and seems hell-bent with determination to push the buttons of the devout. I’m not a religious person (nor am I a prude) but I did find many of the jokes, at the expense of Catholics in particular, for the most part only mildly humorous. The film wants to be a screwball comedy but it just gets too weird too fast — and it’s not the good kind of weird. There are several orgy scenes (including what are basically attempted rapes), a bizarre subplot about a coven of witches (who take to nude dancing around a woodland fire), and a laundry list of curse words that would make a sailor blush.

The entire project feels as if it’s raunchy solely for the sake of being raunchy, and I wanted so much more.

This film was screened and reviewed at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.