3 BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

Rated:  R

STARS: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, John Hawkes
DIRECTOR: Martin McDonagh
GENRE: Dark Comedy/Drama

Think of how hard it is to get through life without making a wrong move. Or a boatload of them. Next to impossible. It's not easy in the movies either, which portray life in a manner that involves a lot more forethought than most of us use in our real life decisions. It's easier to go off the rails than not. Wrong moves in casting...pacing...length...effectiveness of the message--if there even is one, etc. That's why it's rare to find a movie that makes all the right moves from start to finish--and that film is 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which deftly balances the darkly comical aspects of its characters with the serious drama they create.

A young woman has been raped and murdered. The perpetrator has not been caught. The victim's mother, Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), is a feisty old firebrand (the townsfolk have other names for her) who has grown weary of the lack of progress since many moons ago in solving the case, and she's out to hold the local sheriff, Bill Willoughby  (Woody Harrelson), accountable. This she will do in a big way, by renting out three billboards that remind the locals of the crime, and call the sheriff out by name.

Sheriff Willoughby is well-liked in the town, and there are folks who want Mildred to shut her trap. And some will try to do it for her. One of them is officer Jason Dixon, a mama's boy and a racist, with a penchant for violence. Sam Rockwell plays him to clueless perfection, and that's why when Dixon actually stumbles upon a major clue--as things really begin to heat up--he becomes a more interesting and unpredictable character. It's the unexpected twists and turns of 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri that are part of the reason why it's so good. Along with providing tasty food for thought in asking the question: Should one man pay for another man's crime, solely because it appears he may have committed a similar evil?

Frances McDormand will undoubtedly receive an Oscar nomination for her work here--and I wouldn't be surprised to see Rockwell and Harrelson joining her. And let's go on record as predicting a Best Picture nomination as well. That's what comes when you make all the right moves and go down the right roads right up till the end...which, by the way, is as poignantly perfect as any I can recall.

Grade:  A

JILL'S TAKE

Dammit, Tim. Our readers prefer these joint reviews when we disagree. But that won't happen this time as I couldn't agree with you more. Except perhaps for the movie's lengthy title. (Three Billboards would've worked just as well.) The one element you didn't mention that I just loved was the score. Carter Burwell has outdone himself this time. I'm not at all surprised that he also created the musical background for another cinematic gem that was set in a small town with a bumbling sherriff's deparment:Fargo.

But since Tim has covered just about everything I would've written, I want to digress. About a month ago, I was watching "Real TimeWith Bill Maher" on HBO. He and Woody Harrelson were reminiscing about the good old days when they were both pot smokers. Apparently Harrleson has been clean now for a year. Maher remarked that his friend's new weed-free status had undoubtedly upped Woody's film-making energy! (I would have to agree since we've reviewed him in three major movies in the last three months: The Glass Castle, LBJ and nowThree Billboards.) Right on, Woody. Right on!

What I admired most about Three Billboards was its unexpected twists and turns. I'm not one of these movie-goers who automatically predicts outcomes before they happen. Many of my movie buddies are which often makes me feel like a mental sloth. But I challenge any of them to guess the outcomes in this flick! (Full credit belongs to English director/writer Martin McDonagh.)

If for no other reason than you are addicted to "Game of Thrones," go see this movie for the wonderful cameo by Peter Dinklage.

Grade: A

LBJ (2017)

LBJ Library photo by Yoichi Okamoto

Rated:  R

STARS: Woody Harrelson, Jennifer Jason-Leigh, Richard Jenkins
DIRECTOR: Rob Reiner
GENRE: Docudrama


Many of us who lived through the sixties remember Lyndon Baines Johnson as a redneck from Texas who rose above the prejudices of his upbringing to instigate the most important piece of social legislation in the history of the United States--the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But we also despised him for escalating the Vietnam war, and it was his unpopularity due to the war that brought him to the decision not to run for a second term. That aspect of his legacy is given scant attention in LBJ. Instead, the film concentrates almost exclusively on the period leading up to the historic legislation of 1964 and how it was accomplished. So in this particular version of history, the man comes out smelling like a rose.

The major flaw in LBJ is that it's too talky--way too talky--as Johnson twists arms and makes deals, even while sitting on the crapper. Not unexpected, I suppose, for a character study about a politician (too much talk and not enough action!) Rob Reiner--a director I admire--does what he can to counteract the draggy parts by interspersing them with an impressively realistic recreation of that terrible day in Dallas when John Fitzgerald Kennedy met his fate.

Woody Harrelson knocks it out of the park in the title role. Only they've got him made up to look even uglier (sorta grotesque even) than the real Lyndon Johnson was, and that's saying something. On the other hand, Jennifer Jason Leigh as Lady Bird Johnson is so spot on in appearance and mannerism it's scary. You have to use your imagination with the rest of the supporting cast---Jeffrey Donovan in particular, who bears little resemblance to JFK, though he has the accent down. I guess William Devane is too old to play the forever young president now. 

Those who remember the charismatic Bobby Kennedy will be taken aback by Michael Stahl-David's portrayal. He comes off as a kind of vindictive little shit in his not so well publicized at the time feud with LBJ. I don't think it does Bobby's legacy justice.

But LBJ is a film you may want to see--especially if you're a history buff--as it provides some deft insight into the character of the 36th president of the United States.   

Grade:  B -

JILL'S TAKE

Tim pretty much covered it in his review. I, too, thought they overdid the makeup on Woody Harrelson. (On the other hand, I thought Bryan Cranston as LBJ in "All The Way" looked incredibly like the former president.) What I admired most about this cinematic slice of history was the editing. Whether the credit belongs to Rob Reiner (director), Joey Hartstone (screenplay writer) or Bob Joyce (film editor), the way they kept flashing back and forth between Dallas and JFK's actual assassination, and LBJ's life before that horrific event, was a definite tension-builder.

For me, the one actor Tim didn't mention gave an Oscar-worthy performance. Having already received a Best Actor nomination for The Visitor(2009), Richard Jenkins deserves a Best Supporting Actor this year for playing the old school segregationist Senator Richard Russell. (Jenkins became one of my personal favorites when he appeared in the TV series "Six Feet Under.")

But while I'm on the subject of Oscars, I'm sorry that Woody Harrelson, who will probably be nominated twice this year for both this flick and The Glass Castle, won't win anything. (Double nominees never do.) If I were voting, I'd give him the gold statuette for his role as Rex Walls not LBJ....

As I was leaving the theater, comparing notes with my film-going accomplice, an elderly woman turn to us and said "We lived through this time, didn't we!" It made me wonder how a younger generation, one unfamiliar with this particular segment of political history, would view the movie. Would it hold their attention? I'm betting it would.

Grade: B +

THE GLASS CASTLE (2017)

Rated: PG-13

STARS: Woody Harrelson, Brie Larson, Naomi Watts, Ella Anderson, Max Greenfield
DIRECTOR: Destin Daniel Cretton
GENRE: Drama

He did a lot of shitty things, but he had his moments. If I had to pick one quote from the movie to sum up Woody Harrelson's character in The Glass Castle, it would be that one. Harrelson takes on the persona of Rex Walls, who was either the most free-spirited drunk, or the drunkest free spirit you'd ever be likely to meet.

Director Destin Daniel Cretton takes on a whopper of a challenge in putting together the screen adaptation of Jeanette Walls' best-selling memoir about growing up in a dysfunctional family with a capital "D."

The film opens in 1989, where we meet the adult Jeanette Walls (Brie Larson), a successful gossip columnist for New York Magazine. Her story is told in flashbacks that jump around a lot and can be confusing, but what film have I ever seen that employs this technique wasn't confusing?  You've gotta be up to the challenge if you're going to be a reviewer, because few films are strictly linear anymore. (You don't play this game in short pants, even though most of the attendees in the theater were wearing them!)

Ms.Walls may be the shining example of survival and triumph in overcoming, along with her three siblings, one of the crappiest childhoods anyone would never ask for. Rex Walls, her dad, could never hold down a job and subjected his family to a nomadic lifestyle in poverty-stricken conditions, as he was usually staying one step ahead of the law. He was a raging alcoholic who would go on benders and leave his family neglected and without food for days at a time. His wife, Rose Marie (NaomiWatts), a self absorbed hippie-flippy type who fancied herself as a talented painter, was his enabler. Where the "he had his moments" part came in was that Rex Walls tried to instill in his children an extraordinary sense of independence and self-reliance. In other words, he gave them what they needed to survive HIM. As you will see in the end, it took.

In one sense, I see The Glass Castle as a series of scenes, taut and dramatic, many of which are nothing short of brilliant--each trying to outdo the other on the wow factor scale. The best of them is when dad challenges the adult Jeanette's fiancee (Max Greenfield) to an arm wrestling match. The players are all in on this one--in sports terminology you would say they left it all on the field. The scene transcends into something truly primal. It's worth the price of admission.

Woody Harrrelson, who in real life is a really good guy with a good heart, has nonetheless never shied away from playing some really scary, even sinister types. In acting your alter-ego gets to take over, and Harrelson has taken good advantage of those opportunities. Naomi Watts may be the most versatile of the actresses we see all the time in seemingly everything. They are buoyed by a fine cast of young thespians, most notably Ella Anderson as the young Jeanette.

The Glass Castle is a tad over two hours long, but don't vault out of your seat the moment the closing credits begin to roll, because you get to meet the real Rex Walls and family. Fascinating. That most of his kids still had a soft spot in their hearts for the guy after his passing is a testament to something.

Stockholm Syndrome is my guess.

Grade:  A

JILL'S TAKE

I know it's early yet, and there are bound to be some great performances coming out of Hollywood this year, but my money's on Woody to win an Oscar. It's a real challenge to play such an unlikable character -- and make him sympathetic. Despite Rex Walls' obvious flaws as a father, his spirit is sometimes infectious. Until it isn't anymore.

Harrelson's acting credits began as a likable drunk on the hit TV series "Cheers" and has certainly progressed dramatically since then. I thought it was a wise choice on the director's part to give Woody a toupee to wear. Not only did it make him more closely resemble the real Rex Walls, it made me forget him as a bald psychopathic murderer in the 1994 classic Natural Born Killers.

The Glass Castle was, for me, a gasp-a-minute film. The twists and unexpected turns kept me on the edge of my seat, eyes riveted on the screen. For a family to live in such squalor and actually survive is impressive. More impressive still is the fact that Jeanette Walls, even as a child (played brilliantly by Ella Anderson), was able not only to escape but to become successful. And I loved the irony that she was the closest child to her broken down dad.

The sets, the costumes, the score (subtle as it was) were all authentic as hell. And I have to really struggle to come up with a negative about this impactful film. But here is my miniscule criticism. As the end credits rolled and we were given cameos of the real cast of characters, I felt it went on too long and interrupted what I wanted to be left with after viewing the movie. A few still photographs would've been just as effective. That being said, run don't walk to the nearest theater where this cinematic gem is being shown....

Grade: A +

OUT OF THE FURNACE (2013)

Rated:  R

Stars: Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson,  Zoe Saldana,  Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafole, Sam Shepard

Director: Scott Cooper

Genre: Drama


Out Of The Furnace is evidently trying to make a point about senseless violence. The senseless violence of war. The senseless violence that permeates the drug culture. The senseless violence of clandestine bare-knuckle boxing (the human equivalent of cockfighting). The senseless violence of shooting animals at close range for "sport."  So as you might have guessed, there's a lot of senseless violence in this film,  but the only point that gets made is that Americans continue to possess a disturbing and unrelenting blood lust for senseless violence in their films, TV shows, video games, and sports. (Soccer--another excuse to hold a riot!)  

We're a bunch of sick puppies.

The most sympathetic character here is Russell Baze, (Christian Bale) a steel mill worker in a depressed area of Pennsylvania. More than the rest, you could say he's a victim of circumstance. He has a sweet thing going with his girlfriend (Zoe Saldana) until he gets convicted of vehicular manslaughter and sent off to prison. She drops him, but he will attempt a reconciliation when he gets out. 

Russell has a loose cannon brother, Rodney, (Casey Affleck)  who just returned from four tours of duty in Iraq. Russell tries to get Rodney to see the practical wisdom of working at the mill, but Rodney would rather get involved with a scumbag bookie (Willem Dafoe) who sets him up in the world of bare-knuckle boxing. His handler is a twisted sociopath named  Harlan DeGroat, (Woody Harrelson) a local drug mogul whom  you don't want to cross. If you owe money to DeGroat and don't ante up, you could be paying with your life.  Rodney has stepped out of the furnace and into the fire, and there ain't no turnin' back.  

Out Of The Furnace is an old-fashioned revenge tale, pure and simple, which skulks  with a palpable sense of dread toward its inexorable climax, aided by yet another winning score from Dickon Hinchliffe (Winter's Bone, Project Nim, Last Chance Harvey).


Woody Harrelson and Casey Affleck turn in  memorable performances--Affleck as the ticking time bomb, and Harrelson for the brooding evil he summons forth from the darkest regions of the human soul. Why Harrelson, who by all accounts is one of the good guys in real life,  (environmentalist, vegan) continues to take on these kinds of lowlife roles is a curious and intriguing mystery to me--but he probably just wants to demonstrate his range. 

Out Of The Furnace is superb for what it is, but it covers no new ground. In fact, it covers some very ancient ground. The eternal, relentless, and invariably futile barbarism of exacting an eye for an eye.  

Grade:  B

JILL'S TAKE

It's a funny thing about OUT OF THE FURNACE. The script has more holes in it than a pound of Swiss cheese. For this reason alone I'd normally give it low marks. But I was hooked from start to finish. Even when the finish didn't make any sense whatsoever. Kill me, shoot me, but I like violent flicks. And believe you me, writer-director Scott Cooper ("Crazy Heart") kept me tense and terrified throughout. I definitely wasn't bored. But after the movie ended, I wasn't particularly inspired, either. Or moved. Just confused.

I could pick on plenty of stuff about this movie that got my nose out of joint: e.g. hard to buy into the idea that skinny Casey Affleck could beat up on guys twice his size. And why did Forest Whitaker choose to play such a minor and meatless role? But I've got to be honest. For all it's flaws and implausibilities, OUT OF THE FURNACE had me jumping at every punch thrown, completely gripped by the madness I kept on witnessing. So even though my head tells me I should be objective about the script's structural flaws (cowritten with Brad Ingelsby) and grade this flick accordingly, I refuse to do it. Why? Because part of movie-going for me (and millions of others, I suspect), is to escape. And OUT OF THE FURNACE is perfect escapist entertainment. Especially for psychopaths....

GRADE: B

THE HUNGER GAMES (2012)

Rated: PG-13


STARS: Jennifer Lawrence,  Josh Hutcherson,  Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz,  Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks
DIRECTOR: Gary Ross
GENRE: Drama, Action-Adventure, Sci-fi


Normally, I wouldn't lower myself to see a film aimed at 15 year-old girls,  but I wanted to see for myself if all the hype and the hoopla surrounding The Hunger Games--the screen adaptation of Suzanne Collins' best-selling teen novel--was justified. I didn't read the book, but in my book, a movie should stand (or stagger) on its own merits anyway.   


The brief synopsis: In the dystopian future kingdom of Paner, a yearly "special" Olympics--of sorts--has been devised, which pits twenty-four young people between the ages of twelve and eighteen against each other in a battle to the death. Only one of them will come out alive and be declared the winner. (This person gets that stupid looking Mirabal Trophy from Dancing With The Stars ...NOT!.) The games serve as an ongoing punishment (and a way of keeping the uppities in their place) to the twelve outlying districts of the kingdom for an uprising against the all powerful central government,  headed by President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Each district must cough up one male and one female gladiator to compete in the televised gore fest, which employs low-tech weaponry with blades, or bows and arrows, to maximize the up close and personal aspect of the killing.


Our heroine, from District 12--which appears to be the poorest and most downtrodden of the suburbs--is the brave and resourceful Katniss Everdeen,  played with effectiveness by Jennifer Lawrence, (Winter's Bone) as the blue-eyed Everygirl who rises to the challenge when it's do or die. Her saving grace is that she's a crack shot with a bow and arrow. And she's our hero because, unlike those other crass kids who just want to survive, she only kills in self defense--when there is no other way out. (Back home, I noticed, she's not as compassionate--she goes deer hunting, and likes to shoot other types of small defenseless furry creatures betwixt the eyes.)


Alliances form among the contestants  (like in Survivor, or Big Brother) and Katniss and her male counterpart from District 12,  Peeta Mellark, (Josh Hutcherson) are there for each other. Will they make it to the end?  Will romance bloom amidst the pervasive carnage? And what of the rule that only one teen must survive?


The first half of The Hunger Games  drags, as it's partly exposition, and then the mental and physical preparation the kids must undergo to give themselves a fighting chance. I could sense the mostly teen audience at the showing I attended chomping at the bit like the ancient Romans in the Colosseum--because, let's face it,  the video games and comic books they are into are mostly violent in nature.  


The second half of the movie gave them their fix.


 Woody Harrelson brings a touch of levity to the grisly proceedings as the drunken sot "mentor" to Katniss and Peeta, (gotta love those names)  who dispenses mostly thanks-but-no-thanks advice on their upcoming ordeal.    


Oh, and you've got to see the most MENACING looking beard in the history of filmdom--sported by Wes Bentley, as the organizer of the games. The sharp-edged design of it--as if he were wearing cutlery on his cheeks--is so heavy handed that it's funny, and it brings me to a pet-peeve about sci-fi films. You know, when the space ships that the invading aliens are traveling in are designed to look like nasty, evil creatures themselves--so there's no second guessing for us as to what they're all about.  But I don't think the aliens would  advertise their nastiness in such a blatantly obvious manner.  In reality,  evil often comes in the guise of a beautiful woman-- like a Casey Anthony--or that mass murderer in Norway with the movie star good looks. 


And while the dystopian image of a future world--the one depicted in The Hunger Games--seems heartless and cold,  that same world exists today.  And has existed among our species since pretty near the beginning. A world where innocents--who have no personal reason to hate their adversaries because they've never even met them--are pitted against each other in a kill-or-be-killed spectacle coordinated by governments. Often for no better reason than to gain some strategic political advantage in the world.


It's called war.   


Grade:  C +

ZOMBIELAND (R)

I told you to watch out for that mad cow disease, DIDN'T  I? Well, if I didn't, I thought about it. But you kept stuffing that crappy fast food down your gullet--and NOW,  in Zombieland, most of the world's inhabitants have turned into marauding, cannibalistic you-know-whats.  

Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is one of the few "normal" people left. He's a nervous, hypervigilant young dude with a laundry list of common sense rules to help him stay one step ahead of the zombies. Like: Always DOUBLE TAP the suckers to make sure they're out of commission. He teams up with Tallahassee, (Woody Harrelson) who only wants to go by the names of everyone's home towns because he doesn't want to get too familiar. Tallahassee is a swaggering drifter who relishes in the art of smashing and bashing zombies in various creative ways. He's also scouring the country to find the last edible Twinkie. ( You'll never take Twinkies for granted again!)  For all they know, the two of them might be the last remnants of humanity--until they meet up with Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock, (Abigail Breslin) two young sisters who con them out of their wheels and take off hell-bent for Naugahyde.  Now, the guys not only have to run the gauntlet of zombies coming at them from all sides--they have to find those little double crossing grifters as well.

When I first saw the trailer for Zombieland,  I almost dismissed it as total B-movie trash. DON'T MAKE THAT MISTAKE. (I should have known that Woody Harrelson--not only a good actor but a fine, conscientious human being--wouldn't steer me wrong.) This is a funny, clever, inventive piece of film making that shows that just because the drooling, snarling, disgusting un-dead are lurking behind every crapper stall door, (and you thought the scariest  thing you'd encountered in there was when the previous occupant forgot to flush)  it doesn't mean a zombie flick can't also be poignant and life-affirming as well. Zombieland will blaze new trails for the sub-genre: There'll be the zombie romantic comedy, (starring Sandra Bullock, of course) the zombie doctor drama, (Katherine Heigl) etc.

Harrelson is a natural for the role of Tallahassee, a swashbuckler in the mold of Indiana Jones--a guy you'd definitely want to have on your side. Eisenberg,  (Adventureland)  who is 26, easily passes as the nerdy kid just out of high school--it has served him well in these roles--but he's in danger of being typecast. Emma Stone's Wichita has the street smarts that only a young  girl who's been out there surviving day to day can develop. And 12-year old Abigail Breslin  (Little Miss Sunshine) is a precocious young actress who is going to be the next Jodie Foster, or Drew Barrymore...or, maybe, Gary Coleman.

But what truly puts Zombieland over the top is a cameo by one of the biggest superstars of comedy. I won't give anything away, except to say that it surely is his most inventive, deliciously off-the wall turn to date.

There's little speculation here about how these four might survive the long haul in a world where everyone else out there wants to eat you. They live in the moment--eternally on guard like zebras sharing a water hole with lions--but they've got each other...and I wouldn't bet against them.

GRADE:  A
       

TRANSSIBERIAN (now playing at home where watching movies is good for your mental health--watching the news is not)

I dig trains. Started riding them around age seven. There is a romance (of the road) to train travel that no other mode of transportation can match, and you never know who you'll run into(speaking of romance) in the dining car. In Transsiberian, Woody Harrelson's character, Roy, loves trains and he knows a lot about them--knowledge that will prove essential to his and wife Jessie's survival on the Beijing to Moscow run in this engaging mystery/thriller.

Roy's kind of a good ole boy. Jessie's been around--trying to settle down now, but maybe she wasn't quite ready for it and their marriage is a bit shaky, like some of the hand-held camera shots in this film that we've come to accept since the days of NYPD Blue, when connoisseurs of the female form (such as myself) were too busy checking out the ubiquitous semi-nudity on the show to pay much attention to the fine points. (The hand-held camera is supposed to give the action more of a gritty feel, I guess--like when you discover there's dirt in your spinach when you're chewing it.)

Jessie (Emily Mortimer) and Roy share quarters with a young couple--Carlos (Eduardo Noriega) and Abby (Kate Mara). Tension builds because the Russian narc police are going to be shaking down train passengers at one of the upcoming stops (like the federales on the trains in Mexico do-but all they made me and my companion do was take off our shoes--thinking maybe they'd nab a couple of really STUPID gringos). When Abby hears about the impending drug search her expression gives her away and clues us in to what she and her companion might be up to.

From the get-go, it's evident that Carlos has an eye for Jessie. When Roy gets left behind
(drooling over old locomotives) at one of the stops, Carlos moves in on Jessie--who is too preoccupied worrying about Roy to notice it much at first. But there is something untamed (and wanton--even) in Jessie that is bubbling just beneath the surface, and Emily Mortimer brings that out in her character in a way that piques our interest bigtime in what might transpire between Carlos and Jessie.

What happens proves to be one of the film's major plot twists.

The wild card in all of this is Russian narcotics detective Grinko, (Ben Kingsley) who plays it close to the vest at first--but Grinko has all the conflicting good cop/bad cop traits within himself (played with cunning deceptiveness by Kingsley) and when the bad side emerges, Transsiberian becomes a harrowing thrill ride with unexpected twists and turns and a life or death struggle that will have you shouting, "GIT ME A BEER, MABEL!" cuz you won't want to leave your seat.

The cinematogrophy helps to establish a hypnotic mood with majestic aerial views of the train as it snakes along its icebound path. And the mesmerizing sound track by Alfonso De Vilallonga is one that I'd consider purchasing.

The only thing I'll deduct a few points for is the American muzak that plays over the train's PA system (somebody takes note of it when they finally shut it off). Guess you can't get away from it--even in Russia.

GRADE: A-

TIMMY'S TIDBITS: Woody Harrelson is a peace and environmental activist...he has dated Moon Unit Zappa. (I dated Betty from Pluto, but she's not famous).

Emily Mortimer doesn't like washing her hair, so she uses dry shampoo. (DRY shampoo? How do you "lather, rinse, repeat" with that?)

SEVEN POUNDS (now playing at home where your cat is joyfully digging his claws into your chest as you watch this movie)

One of the songs featured on the soundtrack of Seven Pounds is the old standard, "Feeling Good," from Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. But contrary to what any of the pre-release hype for this film MAY have suggested, or what may be implied on the front and back covers
of the DVD case, this is NOT a feel-good movie! It's a bleak and disturbing film that raises serious questions about how far one human being should go to redeem himself for creating a devastating but unintentional screw-up. It also wants us to shed happy tears at the end and concur in lemming-like fashion that the end justifies the means.

Up front we witness Ben Thomas (Will Smith) calling 911 to report a suicide. It's his OWN, just before the fact. The rest of the film is a flashback, because if you start with the ending and proceed from there, it's a very short movie (my logic always astounds me). As we go along, we're given short glimpses of WHY he thinks his life is no longer worth living. Yes, he made a tragic mistake, but the script wants us to accept that ending one's life in response is a moral and noble thing to do because Ben has figured out a way to impact the lives of seven strangers, most of whom will benefit directly from his death. I guess he never considered how many people's lives he MIGHT have changed if he had just stuck around and lived a long life in devotion and service to his fellow man. But he's a little too warped for that.

When Ben begins a serendipitous romance with heart patient Emily Posa, (Rosario Dawson) you start to think maybe he'll change his mind--but we can't forget the scene at the beginning where's he's calling in his own self-inflicted demise--so the tension of this film lies in whether he might have a change of "heart" at the last minute.

There are three vegetarians in this flick: Emily, Emily's Great Dane, and a blind guy named Ezra, (Woody Harrelson) who also stands to benefit from Ben's earthly departure. It's not clear how the veg angle ties into anything, but none of them gets preachy about their lifestyle choices, and no one else is making a LOT of fun of them for having a conscience (as most movies do--created by carnivores, of course). Nobody was going to make fun of the dog, anyway-at least not to his face. There's some deliberately off-key piano plunking on the sound track--and it's not clear what that's supposed to represent either. But it was annoying.

Forget about the mentally unstable sense of of self-sacrifice this picture may send to kids--it's likely to have more impact on ADULTS, many of whom are on the verge of doing something really bizarre at any time. So if you want me to give this film a backhanded compliment--what Ben did was definitely better than shooting up a mall and taking innocent folks along with him on his way out.

GRADE: C

TIMMY'S TIDBITS: In 2008, Rosario Dawson attended the national conventions of BOTH the Democratic and Republican parties (hmm...that could give one a severe aversion to BALLOONS!)

As a rapper, Will Smith has had a number of hits, including: "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" (love that jiggy pudding during the holidays).