Chances are good you already know whether you’re going to see Wicked: For Good. That’s because, at this point, between the long-running Broadway show and the award-winning first film, the Wicked universe has garnered a large, devoted fanbase.
Suffice it to say, For Good arrives with some pretty high expectations and an incessant promotional campaign that has only made the movie more of a must-see for that fanbase. So, yes, maybe a review feels unnecessary.
Every awards season seems to have one: An unassuming crowd-pleaser that sneaks up on voters and somehow finds its way into the race. (Think CODA.) This year, that film might be Rental Family. It’s not a prestige drama, and it’s certainly not hitting theaters with a tidal wave of buzz like some other films are (ahem, Wicked: For Good). Rather, it’s a smaller film that’s gentle, observant, and deeply human, and anyone who sees it is bound to be moved.
Rental Family stars Oscar-winner Brendan Fraser (Encino Man, The Whale) as Phillip Vandarpleog, a struggling American actor living in Japan, who is still waiting for his big break. Till that happens, he gets by with random commercial gigs and other blink-and-you’ll-miss-them acting jobs.
It’s this unsteady, in-between life that makes him the perfect candidate for an unusual company called Rental Family — a business that hires actors to play whatever stand-in role a client needs: a best friend, a mistress, a funeral attendee, a sibling, a spouse, or a groom. Essentially, it’s human companionship as a service. (HCaaS?) Or, to put it another way: “We sell emotion,” Phillip’s new boss (Takehiro Hira) tells him.
Everyone, that is, except Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke), Rodgers’ former songwriting partner, who leaves the show during its title number and heads down the block to Sardi’s, where he proceeds to lambaste everything about the production, from its corny lyrics (pun intended) to the exclamation point in the show’s title.
It’s clear from the start that Hart is not just being catty; he’s also jealous of Rodgers and contemptuous of the show’s success. He knows it’s a lesser work. He still wishes he’d written it. “Am I bitter?” he asks the bartender (Bobby Cannavale). “Fuck yes!”
That’s the setup for Richard Linklater’s excellent new film, Blue Moon, which resists the usual biopic sweep, and focuses not on the stories behind Rodgers and Hart musicals like Pal Joey, On Your Toes, and Babes In Arms, or songs like “My Funny Valentine,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” and the film’s title song, but rather, on the moment when Hart watches Rodgers leave him behind and move on to even greater success with Hammerstein. (The duo would go on to become the most successful songwriting team in American musical theater history, writing such enduring Broadway classics as Carousel, The King and I, South Pacific, and The Sound of Music.)
Eschewing the conventional rock biopic format — in which a significant portion of a performer’s life is covered in flashback, usually from the moment of a pivotal career milestone (see Walk the Line or, for a less serious take, Walk Hard) — Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere defies expectation.
It zeroes in on a specific year, starting in 1981 on the final night of Bruce Springsteen’s The River tour, during which he achieved his greatest success to date. Not surprisingly, his record label wanted to strike while the iron was hot, but 32-year-old Bruce (The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White) was uncomfortable with all that fame and still grappling with some heavy, unresolved issues involving his father. So, he decided to retreat to a house in Colts Neck, N.J., to chill out for a bit. As he tells his longtime friend and manager Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong, Succession) early on here, “I just need to get home and slow things down a little.”
Scarlett Johansson sure didn’t choose an easy, vanity project for her directorial debut.
Yes, Eleanor the Great is another enjoyable, well-acted outing in which June Squibb (Thelma) plays a spunky old woman who still has a lot of life left in her, despite her relatives wanting to shut her down.
And it’s a very nice showcase for Johansson to celebrate her Jewish roots — surprisingly so, given that she hardly ever mentions her heritage and has said very little (if anything) in support of the Jewish people or Israel since October 7.
But the film is centered around a problematic plotline that will probably give many viewers the ick and that detracts from what’s good about it overall.
Let’s start with some good news: James Gunn’s take on Superman, perhaps the world’s best-known superhero, is a 180-degree departure from Zack Snyder’s take. Gunn’s Superman is not dark, glum, and overly serious. Rather, it’s bright, attractive, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. In fact, many frames and scenes of the movie look like they’re a live-action adaptation of something from the Silver Age.
The problem is, the movie is also completely meh. It’s one of my least favorite films of the year so far.
Matchmaking and marketing have a lot in common. In both cases, the job involves understanding the client or customer and then offering solutions that meet their needs, all in an effort to build a relationship that lasts.
That’s obviously simplifying things, but for many “buyers,” what they want — or rather, what they say they want — is equally simple. And sometimes, to connect with people and attract them, marketing messages have to be simple. And those messages have to tick all their customers’ boxes. Otherwise, there won’t be a match.
Writer/director Celine Song’s new movie, Materialists, ticks a lot of boxes. The marketing campaign certainly tried to tick them all, playing up the attractiveness of the cast and the romantic nature of the plot. The film’s trailer, with its clichéd narration, even used Madonna’s song “Material Girl” to get the message across. (Of course, it did.) It made the film appear to be something straight out of the late 2000s, a film that, like 27 Dresses, probably would have starred Katherine Heigl, Ed Burns, and James Marsden if it had been made around then.
And maybe that’s a good thing, because that kind of marketing will probably put a lot of butts in seats. Thankfully, the film is a good match that offers actual value.
Meghann Fahy broke out on the small screen in two of the buzziest TV shows of recent years, the second season of TheWhite Lotus (her performance was Emmy-nominated) and The Perfect Couple.
Now, she’s making the leap to the big screen in Drop, a faux-Hitchcockian thriller that casts her as a woman on the most stressful of first dates. Everyone from Julia Roberts (Sleepingwith the Enemy) to Rachel McAdams (Red Eye) to Jennifer Lopez (Enough) has starred in a similar kind of film, so you might say this type of role is a rite of passage for young actresses looking to expand their career prospects.
Maybe you’ve heard, but the movie adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical Wicked hits theaters later this month, starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda. It looks fantastic.
As of this posting, I have not seen the movie. (Womp womp.) But here’s a fun fact: Back in the day, when she was starring as Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway, I interviewed Idina Menzel. The interview took place more than 20 years ago, in March 2004, before Menzel won the Tony award for the role. (And before Frozen, and before John Travolta called her “Adele Dazeem”, and before everything else that happened after she left the show.)
The article was the cover story of the May 2004 issue of Continental — yes, the inflight magazine of Continental Airlines. Menzel and I spoke over the phone, but I did go to New York shortly thereafter to see her in the show. And then, after Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth bewitched me in their iconic roles (the latter played Glinda), I went backstage to hang out with Ms. Elphaba in her dressing room — after she’d showered and washed off all the green makeup, of course.
Unfortunately, these were the days before iPhones, otherwise I’d probably have photographic proof of this. Oh well.
Another fun fact: Six years later, in 2010, I interviewed Chenoweth, as well. (Again, over the phone.) It was when she was starring in the first-ever Broadway revival of Promises, Promises. During our conversation, I asked Chenoweth why she thought Wicked had touched such a chord in so many people. “There is in every one of us a little bit of Elphaba and a little bit of Glinda,” she explained. “Elphaba, who is green and is immediately outcast because of that, actually has quite a tough little exterior but is not so tough on the inside. Glinda is pretty on the outside, but what drives her? Insecurity. And then she grows into heartbreak. The show is about love and forgiveness and friendship, and those are the reasons why it has become a classic. Nothing makes me prouder than to have been a part of something like that.”
Anyway, I know you aren’t reading this post to learn more about me. You want to read my article about Menzel. So here it is, in its entirety. Enjoy!
Here we are in August, the dog days of summer. If you’ve already seen big movies like Deadpool & Wolverine (entertaining fan service, minus a plot), you may be looking for something else to watch while you enjoy some air conditioning.
Two new releases promise entertainment, but only one of them delivers. Here are my reviews of Sing Sing and The Instigators.
Martin's Musings 