WELCOME TO MARWEN (2018)

Rated:  PG-13

STARS: Steve Carrell, Leslie Mann, Merritt Weaver, Diane Kruger, Janelle Monae, Eiza Gonzales, Gwendoline Christie
DIRECTOR: Robert Zemeckis
GENRE; Drama/ Fantasy

Mark Hogancamp's story is the stuff that movies are made of. And that brings us to Welcome To Marwen. Mark, an artist in upstate New York, goes out drinking one night at a local bar where he meets some guys who seem friendly. They yuck it up for a while, and then the  tipsy Hogancamp reveals that he is a cross-dresser--he likes to wear women's clothing--with a special fascination for shoes, of which he has a closet full. As he's leaving the bar, he is attacked by the men--who turn out to be neo-Nazis--and beaten to within an inch of  his life. 

When he emerges from a coma, a good chunk of Hogancamp's memory is wiped out. He reverts to an almost childlike emotional state, reacting to his  PTSD by creating a fantasy art installation--a village set in World War 2 Belgium where he is the fighter pilot hero--with a bevy of fetching dolls who are counterparts for some of the real women in his life--played by Leslie Mann, Janelle Monae, Eiza Gonzales, Merritt Weaver and others. Together they set about kicking some Nazi butt. This is his therapy.

Steve Carrell--and you'd be hard-pressed to name a finer thespian today--is Hogancamp in the flesh, and director Robert Zemeckis brings the village and the dolls to life in animated sequences that will blow you (as well as the Nazis) away! Welcome To Marwen has to be commended on its sheer inventiveness alone. The back and forth from Mark's fantasy world to his real life where he is avoiding a court date to face his attackers has come under fire (I'm using a lot of puns here) from critics. They say: it's not quite a comedy and not quite a drama;  gooey dreck;  it's disjointed...  
   
If there's one thing you can count on from film critics, it's a tendency to over analyze. Because they think that's their job. (I've touched on this in previous reviews.) So they seize upon it and dissect it in a cold and calculating way. As if there were ever a perfect film. (Last Tango In Paris notwithstanding!) 

I operate on a more human level. I like what touches me. Sometimes that's difficult to define. I like scenes where I'm going OH WOW--as in when Mark's dolls are marching in lockstep toward the Nazis...looking seductive...with machine guns tucked behind their backs...to the thumping beat of Robert Palmer's "Addicted To Love." That's worth the price of admission right there. 

I liked Welcome to Marwen.  Because I so respect the sincere artistic effort and vision that goes into the making of any film, especially one that takes the chances and flat out goes for broke as this one does. But everyone isn't going to look at a painting and see the same thing. And that's the beauty of movies. You read one review. You read another that's totally different. Someone saw something or got something out of it that you didn't, or vice-versa. Just like real life. 

Grade : B +  

JILL'S TAKE

Call me just another nasty critic but Welcome To Marwen left me colder than a nazi-killing doll. Aside from those other reviewers' quotes that Tim already mentioned, I'd add 'meandering, even meaningless' – unless you find dolls easier to communicate with than humans. But while I'm on the subject of dolls, I must give tremendous credit to those doll designers and digital artists that made these imaginary figures come to life. (Too many names and categories to mention.)

Still, the story was hard to understand and even harder to relate to. And Steve Carrell's performance often reminded me of the character he played in Dinner For Schmucks. He is such a gifted actor, I'm sorry he chose to appear in this movie. Especially since he was so good in another film out this year called Beautiful Boy. Ironically, both films focused on the destructive effects of alcohol. Only in different ways.

If any of you are Nurse Jackie fans (Showtime) or Godless (Netflix) followers, you will no doubt recognize Merritt Weaver in this film as the owner of the doll boutique. I'm impressed with the range of her acting. But I'd rather watch 20 reruns of Nurse Jackie or Godless than be subjected to visiting Marwen again. Once is one time too many!

Grade: D

FUNNY PEOPLE

I freely admit to liking many of Adam Sandler's films. 50 First Dates and Reign Over Me are two of my favorites. Sandler also did Little Nicky, one of the most horrendously awful flicks I've ever seen. Just goes to show that nobody can be ON all the time. In Funny People, a Judd Apatow film about the behind the scenes lives of comedians, Sandler and his supporting cast are definitely ON.

Sandler is George Simmons, a famous comedian who gets a glimpse of his own mortality when he's diagnosed with a rare and likely fatal disease. Ira Wright (Seth Rogan) is an aspiring comic who lucks into the role of joke writer and all around lackey for Simmons. As George contemplates his own demise, his onstage routines become darker. He wants to sell off some of his possessions. He calls his ex-girlfriend, Laura, (Leslie Mann) whom he cheated on, and apologizes.

Ira is there to hold George's hand and humor him. Rogan is excellent as a basically nice guy who's so awestruck to be rubbing elbows with stardom that he'll debase himself in just about any manner, just to stay cozy with George. Ira is clueless about how to score with chicks--mouth agape at how easily the jaded George does it, and otherwise takes the perks and trappings of his stardom for granted.

When George's condition improves, as a result of the experimental treatments he's been receiving, he's at a loss for what to do with the rest of his life. Funny People enters a new phase when George and Laura appear to be getting back together--until her lothario husband, Clarke, (Eric Bana) shows up unexpectedly, and the fisticuffs are on.



Unlike The Ugly Truth, (which is fresh in my mind because I just reviewed it) the laughs in Funny People aren't set up or PLAYED just for laughs--all the events flow in a logical progression from what came before, giving this movie a real life feel to it that is rare these days. The profanity here is descriptive and relentless, but it doesn't FEEL as dirty as the gutter talk in The Ugly Truth, which is gratuitous and comes out of nowhere. Here, the trash talking is funny, a plausible extension of the characters' personalities.

And while Funny People lives up to its name throughout, the movie is too long (2 hours and 25 minutes) and bogs down near the end. But I can understand if Apatow, Sandler, and company felt they had too much good material--so many belly laughs--and couldn't bear to part with any of it.

Through all of its twists and turns, the one thread that runs through this film is that of male bonding, and how it can sometimes get lost in all the posturing and colorful language guys are compelled to bounce off each other...in order to mask their true affection for one another.

GRADE: A-

17 AGAIN

The "I woke up and suddenly I was a different version of me" scenario has been done--probably best in Big with Tom Hanks--but after the magical transformation in that film , everything that proceeded from there was pretty much reality based. In 17 Again, Mike O'Donnell (Zac Efron) is a high school basketball standout who gives up a promising sports career to be with his pregnant girlfriend and raise a family. Fast forward twenty years and the adult Mike (Matthew Perry) is on the outs with wife Scarlett, (Leslie Mann) and his communication with his now high school aged son and daughter leaves a lot to be desired.

Mike's "spirit guide" (a crusty janitor at his old high school) sees that Mike longs to change his circumstances and propels him back into his 17 year old body. Mike appears at the house of his old geeky/trekkie friend Ned (Thomas Lennon) who doesn't recognize him in his teenage body (even though Mike looks the same as he did when he really WAS 17) and immediately tries to KILL the young Mike. Most people would call 911 if they encountered an intruder, but Ned swings battle axe and assorted weaponry/memorabilia he has around the house in a wild drawn-out scene in which Mike is fighting for his life while trying to convice Ned of his true identity. This is where you say to yourself: This is totally cartoonish--and you feel a little disappointed (if you LIKE to have things portrayed in a reality based manner) and must then decide to just go along for the ride and laugh and enjoy whatever else follows. And what follows ARE a lot of laughs. (The teenage girls in the theatre were giggling and snickering and spitting up their soft drinks all the way through.)

Once Ned is convinced of Mike's identity, he decides to act as his old/young friend's father and enroll him back into school. Ned is smitten by the high school principal, Jane Masterson, (Melora Hardin) and that's the beginning of a cute subplot where Ned stalks Jane until she consents to go out with him. They eventually discover that they are both fantasy nerds and made for each other.

Meanwhile, the young Mike gets back on the basketball squad and discovers that the school bully, Stan, (Hunter Parrish) who also happens to be Mike's daughter's boyfriend, has been picking on his son. (You'd think that bully Stan would steer clear of terrorizing his girlfriend's brother just to stay in her good graces, but that's too much reality-based logic for this film.) Mike feels compelled to defend his son and discourage the relationship between his daughter and Stan, which adds to the comedic fun of this movie because nobody knows why he should care. There's more fun when teenage Mike (who has been renamed "Mark" by the way) interacts with the adult Mike's wife, Scarlett, who possesses enough visual acuity to pinch his cheeks and tell him how much he reminds her of her husband--who she is divorcing. Then, when his daughter develops a crush on him and wants to get cuddly, Mike does a squirming act that Houdini himself would be proud of! The young Mike's challenge is to get his kids back on track and somehow turn his wife's head around to where she'll change her mind about the breakup.

17 Again is a romp--just don't try to make much logical sense out of it.

GRADE: B