Review
Roundup is a thing I do whenever I see a few movies but can’t quite bring
myself to write full posts/reviews about any of them. Since no one is paying me, I
throw some disorganized thoughts on all of them into a single blog post and
there’s nothing you can do about it. Today, I discuss Oliver Stone’s Savages and the indie comedy Safety Not Guaranteed.
Savages
Dir: Oliver Stone
One
common—and deserved—criticism of Oliver Stone is that he isn’t much for
subtlety. Take, for instance, the Wall
Street scene in which Charlie Sheen stands out on the balcony and wonders
aloud “Who am I?” Or, even worse, the use of bursting bubbles as an
irritatingly obvious symbol in its sequel Money
Never Sleeps. However, Stone’s sledgehammer-like approach can work quite
well if the material he’s working with is as gloriously over-the-top as he has
the potential to be. This certainly hasn’t been the case for most of his films
in the last decade, as Stone has simply pumped out neutered prestige picture
after neutered prestige picture in a run that seemed to indicate that he lost
any mean streak he once had.
His
new film Savages is a messy but
glorious return to the R-rated Stone of old; a bloody tale about the southern
California drug trade and the despicable folks who make it their line of work.
At the center of it all are Ben (Aaron Johnson) and Chon (Taylor Kitsch), two
growers who are making quite a living for themselves by the beach. They share a
mutual girlfriend in O (Blake Lively), who doesn’t have much of a life outside
of her time with these two. After Ben and Chon turn down an offer to “merge”
with the Mexican cartel, O is kidnapped and they prove that they’ll go to
whatever means necessary to get her back. At the head of the cartel is Elena
Sánchez (Salma Hayek), while henchmen Lado (Benicio del Toro) and Alex (Demián
Bichir) take care of the dirty work.
Stone
isn’t as surefooted here as he probably could be; the film quickly becomes
uninteresting whenever it spends too much time dealing with the folks north of
the border. However, the more we spend with Hayek and her lackeys—including a
very good del Toro essentially reprising his role in Licence to Kill—the more Stone seems invested in the story he’s
telling. Savages is at its best when
it flaunts its dark sense of humor, and some of the funniest scenes come
courtesy of a brief turn by John Travolta as a DEA agent. (Probably Travolta’s
best work in ages.) Stone’s film never quite becomes the scathing,
ultra-violent satire it could have been, but it’s a wonderfully successful
antidote for those looking to escape the PG-13 summer blockbuster landscape.
Grade: B+
Safety Not Guaranteed
Dir: Colin Trevorrow
Based
on her supporting work in the NBC sitcom Parks
and Recreation, not a whole lot would suggest that Aubrey Plaza is on her
way to movie stardom. As good as she is on that show, she mostly exists to roll
her eyes at the eccentricities of the characters around her. You don’t have to
go far into her first starring vehicle Safety
Not Guaranteed to see how wrong that assumption is, as she and the rest of
her cast elevate the too-familiar material and turn it into a funny and
occasionally poignant comedy about a group of 20 and 30-somethings trying to
find some purpose in their otherwise ordinary (and often disappointing) lives.
Plaza
is Darius Britt, an intern at a Seattle magazine who joins reporter Jeff (Jake
Johnson) and fellow intern Arnau (Karan Soni) on a quest to find the author of
a mysterious newspaper ad asking for a time travel companion. While Jeff is
more focused on reconnecting with an old high school sweetheart (Jenica
Bergere), Darius is stuck dealing with the ad’s author Kenneth (Mark Duplass),
an achingly sincere grocery store clerk who wants to go back in time to save
his girlfriend. She plays along in order to discover his real goal, but as the
film goes on it seems as if he completely believes every word he’s saying.
As
it goes on, Safety Not Guaranteed is
less about the story and more about the character moments that take place, a
handful of which are great. For much of the first half, the film is a little
too thin on substance or laughs to feel like it’s going to leave a deep impact,
but there some startlingly terrific scenes in the back half that show just how
important this trip is to all the characters. Say what you will about the film’s
numerous shortcomings, but it takes everyone and everything completely
seriously. In its sub-90 minute running time, nothing feels truly extraneous,
and for that writer Derek Connolly and director Colin Trevorrow should be commended.
Even
then, it’s the stellar performances that give the film whatever minor power it
has. Plaza, Johnson and Duplass have all done fine work before, but this feels
like the film that could push all of them to the next level. (Duplass in particular
is having a monster year in which he’s directed two films with his brother and
is starring in five.) It’s unfortunate that the material ultimately forces them
into an ending that doesn’t quite feel earned, but the film in general has an admirably
emotional center that never disappears. It never becomes transcendent like it
could, but Safety Not Guaranteed is
above all a fine showcase for a bunch of talented people with bright futures
ahead of them.
Grade: B
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