THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX (2009) - Wes Anderson

If you grew up any time in the last 30 years, you should know the story of Roald Dahl’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox. But for those of you who spent your youth under a rock, three farmers, Boggis, Bunce and Bean want to evict (and kill) Mr. Fox for stealing chickens, geese and apple cider belonging to the three farmers. They try to dig Mr. Fox out of the home he has set up underneath a tree, and in the process also disturb the other animals living there. Mr. Fox, feeling responsible for the other animals’ lives, strives to set up new lives for himself, his family and his animal friends.



This film had a winning formula. A well-loved and widely known story. The idiosyncratic style of Wes Anderson applied to stop-motion animation. And yet somewhere, something didn’t connect. There are brilliant, and truly original aspects to the film. The animation is gorgeous. The story, while transported to the US from England is close-enough to the original story with a few tweaks that can be forgiven. The voice acting (Clooney again, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman) is lively when it needs to be but retains that droll nature we’ve come to expect from Anderson’s films. But something isn’t right with the film. It just didn’t do it for me for some reason. Maybe on another viewing, the film would click with me. But despite my love for Anderson’s films, I just think he missed the mark here. It’s good. It’s just not as great as it should have been.


7/10

GET SMART (2008) - Peter Segal

I have a vague recollection of watching Get Smart on television in the late 1980’s. It was one of those television shows channels here bought from the US and broadcast in the 6pm slot along with The A-Team, Night Rider and other safe for kids shows. I don’t remember much about the show other than the opening titles. And as for Maxwell Smart, Don Adams, well, people from my generation are more familiar with him for providing the voice of Inspector Gadget. So I went into the film adaptation of Get Smart with no investment to the television show what so ever.

Steve Carell plays Maxwell Smart, an analyst for the covert government operation, CONTROL. Max isn’t the brightest of agents, but he’s a superb analyst with a desire to become a field agent. After taking the field agent test for the eighth time, Max passes. But due to his skills as an analyst, he’s refused field agent status. However, CONTROL is infiltrated by the evil organisation, CHAOS, and almost all field agents are exposed. Max, and Agent 99 are the only two agents who still retain their secret status, so Max finally gets his chance to become the agent he’s always wanted to be. And thus, hilarity ensues.



Well, no so much hilarity, as mild amusement. Finding Get Smart funny depends on one vital factor. Whether or not you find Steve Carell funny. He’s the star of the show and as such, gets all the jokes. Literally, all of them. There are one or two jokes for the other characters in the film, but really, they’re just there to provide Carell with something to work off. And having said all this, you can really tell Carell had a hand in the writing to some degree. The comedy here is quite similar in ways to Carell’s work on The Office. Sure, there’s no reality TV element, but the general feel off the film is you’re watching Carell in Michael Scott mode.

It’s not that Carell can’t do anything other than Michael Scott. Carell was great in The 40 Year Old Virgin. And he showed that he can act in Little Miss Sunshine. But here, he’s just another version of Michael Scott. Which, for me, isn’t bad. The Office is a show which has ditched it’s ties to the original and classic British version and has found it’s own feet, largely down to the work of Carell. And when he’s funny in Get Smart, Carell is very funny. However, it’s a strange thing. While Maxwell Smart is somewhat dumb, he’s also quite intelligent, and it’s this which causes things to unravel somewhat. I don’t know if it’s because we’re predisposed as an audience as to comedy archetypes, or if it’s down to poor writing, but I just found myself unsure of how I was supposed to feel about Max. Something about his character didn’t quite fit.



The support cast don’t really get up to much. Alan Arkin, Carell’s co-star from Little Miss Sunshine get’s most of the support comedy, but it’s not exactly hilarious. Dwayne Johnson fills the role of the super-agent without breaking much of a sweat, but he also feels underused as comedy support. The Rock’s a big guy, and has that whole tough thing going on, and something could have been done with that, but alas no. Even General Zod himself, Terence Stamp is reduced to fleeting scenes. So much more could have been done with him. In fact, the best support part came from the criminally underused Patrick Warburton who turns up for a tiny cameo towards the end of the film. The man’s voice alone is hilarious. As for Anne Hathaway. She’s got nothing to do but look good and occasionally throw a punch. Hell, they even manage to provide Bill Murray with a cameo which isn't funny. HOW DO YOU MAKE BILL MURRAY UNFUNNY?!

Get Smart isn’t terrible. It’s got it’s moments. But these moments are reserved for Carell and there in lies the rub. If you like Carell, you will find plenty of laughs. If you don’t, avoid the film. You’ll find nothing here to keep you entertained.


6/10

THE DARJEELING LIMITED (2007) - Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson is one of those filmmakers who you either get or you don’t. Since his debut feature, Bottle Rocket, released in 1996, Anderson has continued to divide audience opinion of his films. The Royal Tenenbaums, released in 2001 came the closest to uniting opinions on Anderson’s work. His style is absolutely unique, and because of this, some people just don’t get the type of humour that permeate his films. The Darjeeling Limited is Anderson’s fifth feature. Once again, it has some of the trademark Wes Anderson touches and themes. But it’s also one step further in Anderson’s maturity as a filmmaker.

The Darjeeling Limited once unites Anderson with his five-time collaborator, Owen Wilson who plays Francis Whitman, the eldest of three estranged brothers. He puts out a call to his two brothers, Peter and Jack to join him on a train journey across India. His brothers arrive to find Francis’ face has suffered quite a few injuries. What the source of these injuries are, Francis is hazy with the details. Peter, who’s wife is pregnant with his son, cannot get over the death of his father, one year previous. Jack is wary of this reunion with his brothers, and has a ticket to Italy ready for him to leave when he’s had enough. He’s also obsessed with his ex-girlfriend and constantly wants to check her answering machine.
Francis struggles to keep his brothers together, and while he has invited them to India in order for them to reconnect as a family, he has ulterior motives that he keeps to himself.



In a move that is new to Anderson, he presents the audience with a short film that precedes The Darjeeling Limited. Hotel Chevalier stars Natalie Portman and Jason Schwartzman, who plays Jack Whitman in both films. As I watched Chevalier, I was somewhat concerned at the lack of laughs to be found within. It was only as The Darjeeling Limited unfolded that the full effect of Chevalier could be appreciated. It’s an excellent move by Anderson and sets up not only the Jack character, but also the tone of The Darjeeling Limited, and some excellent jokes that pay off later in the film. The Darjeeling Limited is after all, a comedy, and while the short is intentionally far less funny than the feature, the feature itself has some excellent and hilarious moments.

Anderson’s humour has always been, and I hate to use this word, quirky. His characters seem to inhabit some sort of parallel universe, where everything you see is familiar, but there is just a different feel to everything. The elements that add to this tone, as seen in his previous films, are present here, but this time Anderson has made his characters a little more grounded in reality. And this works very well. The one thing that remains unchanged, and has so since Bottle Rocket, is the theme of family and belonging. In each of his films, Anderson has created characters that are struggling to find their place in this world. And here, we have three distinct and well written characters that are each struggling with this need in their own ways. While Francis’ objective of having the brothers find themselves is somewhat contrived and ill thought out, once the brothers allow themselves to adapt to what is happening to them, rather than trying to maintain control, they do find what they’re trying to achieve.



Wes Anderson’s direction is once again top notch. Even more so than his previous films. Almost everything on screen is meticulously thought out and executed, down to the soundtrack, which again, is perfect. There are some of the old stalwarts present once again, The Kinks and The Rolling Stones. But Anderson also employs music from the Satyajit Ray films, and the music fits the images perfectly. The cast, as always in these films are on top form. Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman, who have both worked with Anderson, seem right at home with their roles. And Adrien Brody, who plays Peter, is also a brilliant addition to the long list of Anderson collaborators. Even Bill Murray gets in on the act once again, in a tiny, but brilliantly funny (thanks to Murray’s ability to perfectly capture world weary ennui) dialogue-free cameo. Natalie Portman pops up in Hotel Chevalier in a small, but pivotal role and Anjelica Huston also returns to working with Anderson in an equally pivotal cameo.

As I’ve mentioned before, Anderson’s films are pretty much a matter of taste. Personally, I’m a big fan of all his films. I was slightly disappointed in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou after The Royal Tenenbaums, but The Darjeeling Limited once again shows that Wes Anderson is the master of this type of American quirky indie film making. It’s a beautiful film in every way, and one that will stay with you long after you see it.


9/10

KINGPIN (1996) - Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly

Bobby and Peter Farrelly first came to prominence in 1994 with Dumb And Dumber, a film that helped in the meteroic rise of Jim Carrey. In 1998, they hit the big time with There’s Something About Mary. But in between these two success, the writer-director brothers had a bit of a miss-fire with the bowling movie, Kingpin.

Roy Munson is a young bowler who becomes state champion in 1979. In the final, he faced bowling legend, Ernie McCracken. McCracken, the sleaziest of sleaze-bags sees his chance to take advantage of the naive Munson and uses him to hustle some unsavory types out of some money. McCracken leaves Munson to the mercy of the gangsters and they take Munson’s hand as payment fot the cash they lost. Seventeen years later, Munson, now a one-handed alcoholic bowling supply salesman spots a young Amish man with a talent for the ten pin game. Munson convinces the Amish man, Ishmael to take to the professional bowling circuit to raise money to save his family’s farm.

I have to admit, I’m a pretty big fan of most of the Farrelly brothers films I’ve seen. While they’ve never been the types of films to challenge the intellect, they’ve got their own niche, and the gross out humor in these films always raise a chuckle. So I’ve been looking to watch Kingpin for quite a while. I just never got around to it. And to be honest, I wasn’t really missing anything. There’s nothing particularly wrong with the film, it’s just not as funny as Dumb And Dumber, There’s Something About Mary, or even Me, Myself And Irene.



The cast, led by Woody Harrelson as Roy Munson and Randy Quaid are perfectly fine. Harrelson’s a very decent actor, and can make the switch between the naive young Munson and the world beaten older Roy Quite well. Quaid, who had experience with the National Lampoons movies and Saturday Night Live is also perfectly fine. But if there’s one reason to watch the movie, it’s Bill Murray’s turn as Ernie McCracken. Murray, one of the greatest comedic actors of all time, steals every single scene he’s in. His character is kind of like the worst aspects of every sleaze-ball Murray’s ever played rolled into one character. However, his character isn’t in the film nearly enough.



I can understand why Kingpin isn’t accepted as a Farrelly great. They did well with Dumb and Dumber. And it feels like this movie was an exercise in working out the kinks before they hit pay-dirt with There’s Something About Mary. Not awful. But not particularly good.


5/10