Thriller proves to be forgettable
Denise Di Novi Rosario Dawson, Katherine Heigl, Geoff Stults, Isabella Kai Rice 1 hour 40 minutes
is one of those problematic Katherine Heigl movie titles, like — is it a science documentary? — or
which suggests advice from her agent. This one is in fact highly forgettable. A better name might have been Gone (Crazy) Girl or, to borrow a line from the screenplay, Psycho Barbie.
The plot, by Christina Hodson and David Johnson, is one of those every-woman’s-worst-nightmare scenarios. Julia (Rosario Dawson) has an abusive ex-boyfriend in her past, and starts a relationship with nice-guy David (Geoff Stults), whose ex-wife, Tessa (Heigl), is evil.
You can tell she’s evil because Di Novi has swapped out the usual rom-com filter used to film Heigl, replacing it with a 35-mm evil lens. Also, she has an evil/crazy look in her eye, and does crazy/evil things like steal Julia’s phone and hack into her life. Even her wind chimes, inexplicably hung inside the house, sound evil. You don’t need a degree in psychology to come up with this stuff, although a course or two in screenwriting might have helped.
Anyway, the straight-ahead plot finds Tessa doing her best to mess with Julia’s head, while David remains conveniently off-screen, tending to his start-up brewery. There’s also a daughter from the first marriage, played by Abigail Breslin clone Isabella Kai Rice.
Cheryl Ladd also pops up as Tessa’s neurotic mom, as if to prove that it takes one damaged blonde to produce another. And Julia has a shrink and a couple of good friends that help drain what tension there is out of the movie; surely the idea with an effective thriller is to isolate the protagonist?
But isn’t an effective thriller. Di Novi uses creepy music and camera angles to represent honest emotion, and physical closeness between characters in place of any real connection. There’s little in the way of shocks or surprises and a final-scene sortof twist produced more groans than gasps from a recent preview audience. They seemed eager to forget the experience. Fortunately, that shouldn’t prove difficult. Chuan Lu Monkeys and leopards and the voice of John Krasinksi 1 hour 16 minutes
Nature documentaries can take one of three main paths when showing us adorable animals in gorgeous natural environments — science (learn about me!), conservation (save me!) or entertainment (love me!).
Disney nature productions started off in the science camp
and narrated by James Earl Jones and Pierce Brosnan), swung too far into entertainment and with dreadful, simpering voiceovers by Tim Allen and John C. Reilly) and now seem to have found a fine balance in a co-production with Shanghai Media Group, and narrated (in its North American release) by John Krasinksi.
The film divides its kid-friendly 76 minutes among five groups of animals: A troupe of golden snubnosed monkeys; a mother panda and her newborn cub; a herd of Tibetan antelope (or chiru antelope to use their more Sinotolerable name), a female snow leopard raising two cubs; and a flock of red-crowned cranes, who have to compete against cute mammals and thus get the least screen time.
Certain themes emerge from the footage, lovingly shot by director Chuan Lu and his team of cinematographers. (Stay during the closing credits to meet some of them in outtake footage.)
Motherhood is hard, but so is growing up and striking out on your own. Reproduction and death are a necessary part of the circle of life (yes, the film uses the phrase), but both are presented with enough circumspection that your own cubs won’t be unduly ruffled.
The musical choices are often spot-on — nothing backs a wobbly baby antelope like a glockenspiel — and there are numerous howdid-they-do-that shots, given how shy and reclusive pandas and snow leopards are. And while I’m guessing (hoping) that the local yakherders got compensation when the leopard tried to snatch one of their animals, for the most part the footage doesn’t look as though it has been set up.
The difficulty of getting wilderness footage might even be why the film is a year late coming to cinemas. Disney had planned a release for Earth Day 2016, but held off until this Earth Day, which falls just after the film’s April 21 release.
And while may double down on the cuteness factor, it’s also likely to inspire curiosity and conservation in its young target audience.
As no doubt will due out in a year’s time and advertised in a trailer that will play before the main feature. The circle of filmic life continues.