Jeff, Who Lives At Home
About eight minutes after this column was posted last week I became aware of this trailer. Thankfully, it has not wound up being a terrible oversight. This movie looks … good, but nothing more. It takes Jason Segel and Ed Helms, two of the most popular comedic actors today, and puts them both in straight, dramatic roles. What’s the draw? Segel plays the titular Jeff, and he does in fact live at home. Helms is his brother who, like all Ed Helms characters, finds out he is being cuckolded. This leads them through a series of events that may or may not be necessary, while references to destiny are sprinkled throughout. How can a movie be so hopeful when the core conflict appears to be infidelity? Also, why is Susan Sarandon so happy when the sprinklers go on in her office? Isn’t she worried about the ruination of her documents?
Darling Companion
This is a movie about a dog, which always a difficult proposition. The trailer does nothing to convince me that the movie can pull it off. After Diane Keaton and daughter Elisabeth Moss take in a stray dog, father/husband Kevin Kline reacts by being too incredulous and then losing any sense of incredulity. Moments later, the dog (the stray dog) runs away when Kline is taking him for a walk. Keaton loses her shit and blames this on Kline’s talking on the phone, because … the dog hates business calls? People are capable of paying attention to dogs while they’re on the phone. Whatever. Then, despite the dog just arriving in the family, everyone they know is rallied to find this dog. THEN, Ayelet Zurer’s character claims (based on intuition and/or craziness) that she can see that the dog, Freeway, is just fine. This leads to a search for the dog is presented as some sort of life-altering quest for a bunch of old people who only seem partially interested in finding Freeway. Even worse, he comedic timing in this sequence is cringe worthy. How can a cast with so many Academy Award winners and nominees (and Elisabeth Moss!) be so boring? Also, this movie comes out on 4/20. Talk about not knowing your audience.
Seeking Justice
After learning that his wife has been assaulted, Nicholas Cage’s character is approached by Guy Pearce’s character, who offers to kill the wife’s attacker. In exchange, Cage’s character will be asked to do “a favor” in the future. Since he has apparently never seen a movie, he agrees. What, did you think they would ask you to paint their house? Immediately after, Jones’ character is fine and Cage’s character is tasked with killing a sex offender. He balks, and then explains to his wife that he can’t go to the police about the situation because the shady outfit Pearce represents is filled with cops. Why didn’t they go to the cops in the first place? Have they no faith in due process? I understand she was injured, but she got better awfully quickly. Moving on, Cage is somehow able to outrun a careening truck on a highway. Impossible. Next up, he screams, “I’m done!” into a phone. If they can arrest you and charge you with murder, I’m pretty sure they say when you’re done, but whatever. Nicolas Cage is absurd, and this movie fits perfectly into everything else he has done recently. It may only appeal to anarchists, but I suppose that’s better than nothing.
Mirror, Mirror
When we last left Mirror, Mirror, it was presenting itself as the saccharine, less necessary Snow White film. This new international trailer offers more of that. While the focus is more on Snow White (Lily Colllins) and the Seven Dwarves, it goes through the same general beats while revealing a little bit more about a story that everyone already knows. Snow White and the Huntsman, it’s your move. To be fair though, you could release a trailer that is just two minutes of Kristen Stewart scowling and it would still be more interesting than this trailer.
Dan Spritz / Cherry On Top / @DanSpritz
