LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER (2013)

Rated:  PG-13

Stars: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo

Director: Lee Daniels (What was your first clue?)

Genre:  Drama

Witnessing one's father being gunned down in cold blood because he stepped out of line in the white man's world in the pre-civil rights era will have a lasting effect on a child. . For Cecil Gaines, the central character in Lee Daniels' The Butler, it shaped his entire life. And while we could say that Mr. Gaines rose to the top of his profession as a butler at the White House--he was still walking on egg shells in another man's world. Don't express opinions. Especially about politics. Know your place and stay in it.  Ironic, then, that Cecil would have a son who became active in the civil rights movement of the sixties, throwing his lot in with the freedom riders down south, and later joining the militant Black Panther party. 

 The Butler is a tale of two generations as different as black and white. ( And please don't make me insert "Lee Daniels" as a prefix  every time I mention the name of this movie. Does Quentin Tarantino put his name in the title of his films? Let's just name another football stadium after its corporate sponsor and leave it at that.)

 It's a good thing that the character of Cecil  Gaines is a composite, loosely based (and blatantly inaccurate) on the life of Eugene Allen, the man who served eight presidents in the White House from 1952 to 1986. Because Mr. Gaines is not an admirable or likable individual throughout most of this film.  It's not his Uncle Tom attitude. Given the era he came up in, we can allow  him that.  It's his outright hostility and barely concealed resentment toward his son, Louis, who represents everything Dylan was waxing nasally about in "The Times They Are a--Changin."  The boy just seems to have a nose for trouble. Challenging authority and landing his ass in jail. Why ya tryin' to upset the apple cart?  Riding in the back of the bus ain't so bad.

But times change, and people do too. And if you are like me, you'll be rooting for Cecil to come around as well. 

I've felt that Forrest Whitaker was one of our finest actors since seeing him in The Last King of Scotland. He has solidified that opinion here. Oprah Winfrey, as his wife,  does a credible job as a woman starved for attention--seeking it elsewhere because Cecil is up in the big house...er,  I mean White House, doing his thing. And then we have all those cameos by Robin Williams, John Cusack, Alan Rickman, James Marsden, Jane Fonda, and Liev Schreiber, representing the various presidents and/or their wives from Eisenhower to Reagan . Going strictly by appearances, some miss the mark,  as Marsden doesn't look much like Kennedy. But Alan Rickman and Jane Fonda absolutely nail Ronald and Nancy Reagan.  Especially Fonda, who has the first lady's mannerisms and walk down pat.  I was expecting to hear "just say no" dribbling mindlessly from her lips at  any moment. The irony of casting some of these Hollywood "pinkos"  as the likes of Richard Nixon and  Ron and Nancy Reagan is not lost on those of us who lived through the era.

And the era is the real star of The Butler. The turbulence of the civil rights struggle is dramatized,  then complemented with actual footage of redneck cops beating up peaceful marchers...the vicious dogs...the high powered water hoses--it's all there to remind those too young to have witnessed it that yes, these things really happened in a place  we called America. At times, however,  the film slips into mawkish stereotypes, as when Louis and his girlfriend sit down to dinner with his parents. Louis never removes his Black Panther beret, and his gal sports an Afro that rises about two feet atop her head. It's all for dramatic,  and rather humorous effect; but I tend to think that a real version of Louis, with everything he's been through, would have the sensitivity to remove his hat at the table. 

We aren't really sure whose side the movie is on until the closing credits, which give credit where credit is due. 

Grade: B+

JILL'S TAKE

Nice review, Tim. Well-expressed and thoughtful. But if we had gone to see this flick together and you had called Oprah Winfrey's performance "credible," I would've beaten you over the head with my ticket stub! Credible? She was (blankety-blank-blank) brilliant. Mark my Oscar-predicting words, she's gonna win this year's gold statuette for Best Supporting Actress. Kudos to everyone involved in this movie. But special praise must be given to the editors. The cuts—from a posh White House dinner to a lunch counter sit-in where the protesters are being spat upon—speak visual volumes about that era in history.

As far as the various presidential cameos go, the one of Lyndon Johnson played extremely well by Liev Schreiber is about as unflattering as you can get. No doubt, an accurate portrayal. (I encourage those of you with HBO to catch this actor in "Ray Donovan.")

When the end credits rolled and I tried to stop weeping and sniffling, choking down more tears, the fellow I went to see THE BUTLER with made a comment I agree with. (See, Tim? I do agree with some opinions!) He felt it was slow in the beginning, a bit confusing at that party with the bickering neighbors. Yes, the drunk guy—played with missing front teeth by Terrence Howard—figured into the plot later on. But if I had anything to criticize about this fantastic film, it would be the subplot between him and Cecil Gaines' wife. I felt it was unnecessary.

Grade: A

THE ATTACK (2013)

Rated: R

Stars: Ali Suliman,  Reymonde Amsellem
Genre: Drama
Director: Ziad Doueiri


A Palestinian surgeon, who has built a successful career for himself in Israel, is about to be honored at an awards ceremony. As he waits to be introduced, he receives a call from his wife,  but dismisses her with his can't-you-see-I'm-in-the-middle-of-something-important attitude. So early on, what lies at the heart of The Attack is revealed (though not all will recognize it as such). 

A failure to communicate.

So much so that I thought the film should have been titled "The Call," (but there is another recent movie with the same name).

When a suicide bombing brings a flood of broken rag-doll victims into the hospital where Dr. Amin Jaafari (Ali Suliman) is employed, he must work feverishly to try to save them. Then, the ultimate punch in the gut. Dr Jaafari's suddenly deceased wife (Reymonde Ansellem)  is suspected of being the bomber. His life will never be the same. Initially, he is accused of being a party to the plot.  When his name (but not his reputation) is cleared on that front, he embarks upon a harrowing mission to Palestine to search for answers as to why the woman he thought he knew could be led so tragically astray.

The Attack features fine performances from Suliman and Ansellem, who is shown in flashbacks of their life together before the shrapnel hit the fan. The ending is haunting,  and perfectly poignant. The film doesn't favor either side in the Arab-Israeli conflict. And it doesn't attempt to answer substantial questions as to why the madness of their situation has gone on, and continues on with no resolution or end in sight. (Don't be fooled by the upcoming "peace talks." That's just a political show.) 

A more important question, I think, is what turns human beings into suicide bombers in the first place. The obvious answer is that a people who feel so downtrodden and so utterly without hope or faith in the political process, may come to  feel that there is no alternative. We live in an end-justifies-the-means world. But when we make the decision to go there, we relinquish all claim to the humanity we purport to be defending.  No, in the end it's about communication, or the lack thereof on a human level. 

When all around we see only  "other,"  then there is no brother.

Grade:  A

  

JILL'S TAKE

Usually, I read what Tim writes before adding my two cents. This time I must make my comments ahead of his. (I'll be out of town when he sees THE ATTACK and reviews it.) I want to start by saying that a good friend of mine back east recommended this film well over a month ago, saying it had 'changed his life!' I kept waiting for it to come to La Jolla. When the preview arrived, I gathered that THE ATTACK was a foreign film, most likely shot in Israel, about a surgeon who fainted when he was told that his wife was a terrorist. A helluva a teaser!

Tim has already filled you in on the plot. I prefer to fill you in on the feelings I had when—dazed and saddened—I staggered out of the movie theatre, mumbling to myself, "Nothing is all wrong or all right, all good or all bad..." THE ATTACK forces the viewer to come to terms with this. No matter what your politics are. I used to be married to somebody Jewish; a non religious man who, although he was bar mitzvahed, knew next to nothing about what it meant to be a Jew. (Even as a shiksa, I spoke more Yiddish than he did having worked at a guitar store in the heart of Manhattan.) Years later, I dated an Arab who was born in Lebanon but moved to Montreal. He was raised Catholic and I remember him telling me that when one of his four sisters married a Muslim, his family disowned her. I've never been big on history or religion but this fellow certainly gave me a different perspective on why there is such hatred among the Palestinians for the Israelis. I'm neither pro-Israel nor pro-Palestine but I can definitely identify with the horror (and confusion) of being lied to by someone you love. For me, THE ATTACK tries to explain—if such a thing can really be explained—what motivates a suicide bomber. Everything about this film was thought-provoking and brilliant.

GRADE  A +

   . 

THE WAY, WAY BACK (2013)

Rated: PG-13

Stars: Liam James,  Steve Carell,  Sam Rockwell,  Toni Collette,  Maya Rudolph,  Annasophia Robb,  Allison Janney,  Amanda Peet

Director: Nat Faxon,  Jim Rash 

Genre: Comedy/ Drama  

When I was fourteen, I avoided speaking  to adults--they were just too uncool. In my case, that wasn't just some warped teenage perception. Adults really weren't very cool back then. In The Way, Way Back, fourteen year-old Duncan (Liam James) is a similarly withdrawn kid, surrounded by some modern day adult lamesters.  Until he arrives at the beach house where his divorced mom (Toni Collette) and her condescending ass of a boyfriend, Trent, (Steve Carell) and his teenage daughter will be spending at least part of the summer, trying the blended family experiment on for size. 

At the beach house, Duncan is introduced to a more colorful ilk of of freaky folk. Allison Janney, as Betty, is a scene stealer as one of the funniest female drunks in recent memory. Then there is Owen, (Sam Rockwell) manager of the  Water Wizz amusement park, where Duncan is drawn when he finds an old bike in the garage and cuts out on the sappy grown ups. He gets hired on at the park, and Owen--an overgrown adolescent stuck in class clown mode--is the ideal mentor to help Duncan, in the shadow of that giant water slide, to emerge from his shell. 

The Way, Way Back is a coming of age tale with a familiar plot,  though it doesn't completely span that outhouse to penthouse emotional arc. The ending they opted for is a more thoughtful one that may leave some viewers feeling deflated, but reflecting on it, this is a movie about incremental rather than sweeping change.   

Steve Carell plays against type in yet another role. He may be dissatisfied with just being a comic genius,  feeling that he's been typecast, maybe? This turn has a bit more depth than the totally deadpan psychiatrist he played in Hope Springs, (a  waste of his talents, in my opinion) but if he really wants to be known as  a serious actor, he needs to take on roles that are way more challenging than this.

Maya Rudolph conveys a sweet vulnerability as Owen's main squeeze at the water park. She strikes me as a surprising choice, but their chemistry works. 

Toni Collette, as Duncan's mom, is a woman who lacks the necessary self-esteem to dump the asinine Trent, even in the face of his infidelity. 

Funny, endearing, poignant. The Way Way Back is all of that. At the end, I felt like I had just spent the summer with some truly memorable characters. And like Duncan, I kinda hated to leave. 

 Grade:  B  +

JILL'S TAKE

The way Tim and I work this joint reviewing is simple. He writes his review first, sends it to me via email, and I then add my two cents. (Or three? Or four?) I always wait nervously, fearing he will make the exact same comment I was planning to make. In effect, stealing my insightful thunder. Luckily for me, it hasn't happened. Until now. And we aren't exactly on the same page here.

We both agree that Steve Carell's character in THE WAY, WAY BACK is a departure from previous roles. Unlike Tim, I was impressed with his performance as an A-1 a-hole. Most comic actors—from Charlie Chaplin to Eddie Murphy—have a likablity factor that makes playing villains an uphill battle. Kudos to Mr. Carell for carrying it off! I did have a bit of a problem with Sam Rockwell's character going from perpetual teenager to romantic lead. (Okay, that's stretching it a bit.) And I also though the screen writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash could have come up with a snappier title than THE WAY, WAY BACK. ("Endless Summer, Pt. 2"? "Hell in the Hamptons"? Even "Water Wizz" would have worked better in my view.)

I've given the last two films an "A." So I really can't do it a third time although I'm tempted to. If I'm being totally honest, it's not so much because the movie deserves it. It's just that I am filled with gratitude that this movie isn't yet another comic book rip-off for the mindless minions of kids on vacation. I did exit the theater feeling a bit more sympathy for those teenagers steeped in gawkiness rather than gangdom.

GRADE:  B

UNFINISHED SONG (2013)

Rated: PG-13

Stars: Terence Stamp, Vanessa Redgrave, Gemma Arterton, Christopher Eccleston

Director: Paul Andrew Williams

Genre: Comedy/ Drama/ Musical 


Arthur (Terence Stamp) is a cranky old Brit.  He's cranky with his wife, Marion, (Vanessa Redgrave) who is in ill health and not long for this world. And he's especially cranky with their son, James,  (Christopher Eccleston) a rather hapless sort who needs to be prodded to come and sit with his mother while Arthur tends to other things. Arthur and son don't get on with each other-- they've never really been that close, apparently, but there is no background provided on why that might be. 

Marion, in her waning days,  is a member of a senior citizen glee club led by Elizabeth, (Gemma Arterton) a perky young woman who thinks it's cute to get them to sing hi-hop and other semi-modern songs like, "Let's Think About Sex" (baybeeee) and have them do the robot. We learn next to nothing about her though, except for the one time when she gets weepy about a broken relationship. 

The pensioners are all sort of cute in their ineptness, as one and then another gets carted away after pulling or straining something.  And while they have lots of on-screen time, they are all just extras, really, because besides Marion, none are even partially developed as characters. And therein we have the main flaw of Unfinished Song--the lack of character development (other than the shining performances of Stamp and Redgrave)--providing and unintended irony to the film's title. 

In the beginning, the plot centers around Marion's stiff upper lip in the face of her terminal diagnosis.  When she passes on, Unfinished Song becomes Arthur's story--a tale of redemption in how choir director Elizabeth gradually brings him out of his shell to get on with the business of living--getting involved with the choir himself as they prepare for a big competition they've been invited to participate in.

There will be plenty of moist eyes in the theater when the emotionally manipulative Unfinished Song  is finished. The most effective films manipulate you, but you don't mind because what they're doing isn't all that obvious and it takes you by surprise--like a marionette performance where you don't notice the strings.  In Unfinished Song, however, those strings are clearly visible.  


Grade:  B --

JILL'S TAKE

For me, one of the most highly satisfying things in life is when you suddenly hear a favorite oldie on the radio – a song you used to play over and over again in your youth. Well that happened to me in UNFINISHED SONG. Emotionally manipulated or not, Billy Joel's "Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angel)" has been one of my all-time favorites since it first appeared on the scene in his album titled 'River of Dreams" (1993). After seeing UNFINISHED SONG through "moist eyes," I went home and promptly got on YouTube to uncover the story of what motivated Joel to pen such an incredible masterpiece. According to him, he wrote the song for his daughter who was six at the time. It was his way of answering that age-old question all kids ask their parents at some point: "What happens when you die, Daddy?"

As for UNFINISHED SONG... Here is my prediction: Terence Stamp will garner an Oscar nomination for his stellar performance. He's played some interesting characters in previous films (from a transsexual in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to an English vigilante in The Limey). But his role as an unlikeable/likeable curmudgeon in SONG is by far his most challenging to date. I realize it's early to be talking Academy Awards. Still. There's always one early release every year that offers viewers a tour de force on film. (Inglorious Basterds was released nine months before voting began and even then we all knew Christoph Waltz would walk away with a Best Supporting Actor award.) Speaking of which, I'd also give "Lullaby" a Best Song Award. Only it probably won't qualify since it wasn't written specifically for this film.

GRADE: A

20 FEET FROM STARDOM (2013)

Rated: PG-13

Stars: Darlene Love, Lisa Fischer, Merry Clayton, Claudia Lennear,  Tata Vega,
Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen,  Mick Jagger, Chris Botti,  Sting,  Lou Adler

Director: Morgan Neville

Genre: Documentary/rockumentary 


So close and yet so far. 20 Feet From Stardom  chronicles the careers of several backup singers--including Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Claudia Lennear, and Tata Vega--who were prominent  within the music industry, but virtually unknown to the general public. Unknown, that is, until you realize you've been singing along with them for a good portion of your life.  As in Clayton's visceral duet with Mick Jagger on "Gimmie Shelter,"  or Darlene Love's unheralded lead on some of the hits that were credited to The Crystals. 

Darlene Love, of course, was the backup who beat the odds, and she is the central figure in  20 Feet From Stardom.  It was a long and bumpy road,  fraught with setbacks, on her way to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. There are other notable exceptions here too, such as Sheryl Crowe and Luther Vandross. Others, supremely talented in their own right,  eventually embarked upon solo careers, but for whatever reason--luck, timing, fate--never achieved that elusive stardom they were seeking. .

The beauty of 20 Feet From Stardom is that one minute were gaining insightful information about music history from Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger (our first totally wrinkled rock star) and Chris Botti--and the next moment the theater is rockin' with archival concert footage from the likes of Ike and Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones, and Ray Charles.

We even get to see the mad genius himself,  Phil Spector,  at work back in the day. And while maybe their story didn't exactly fit here, I was hoping to at least get a glimpse of The Ronettes. After all, The Ronettes records WERE the Phil Spector sound in all of its thundering glory. (But I won't deduct any points for that.)

Simultaneously uplifting and heartbreaking, 20 Feet From Stardom is a film I will eagerly see again. It's the kind of flick you want to tell your friends about, and then take them to the theater with you to groove on their reaction.  If you love soul...if you love rock....this movie will knock your socks off. 

Hell, it will blow you clean away. 

Grade:  A

JILL'S TAKE

Darn. Here I go again, agreeing wholeheartedly with Tim. I knew from the minute I entered that movie theater I was going to experience something special. Why? Because the place was packed with people at the 11:10 morning show on a sunny Saturday in La Jolla, California. I figured if those folks were willing to give up surfing for singing it had to be a winner flick.

And it was!

Back in the 60s, when I was a professional songwriter in New York City, I distinctly remember using Gloria Jones on some of my demos (i.e. demonstration records made of acetate before CDs were even invented!). They don't mention it in 20 FEET FROM STARDOM but those backup singers made good money singing on demos. In fact, some equally talented vocalists worked exclusively as demo singers. But I'm getting off track here... This movie not only offered music aficionados a behind-the-scenes look at how a star is not born. It also gives you insights into what it takes to become a solo act.

(Like my dad used to say, "I'd rather be lucky than smart.") I absolutely loved the superstars' comments about their back-up singers. They know full well how important those doo-wahs are when it comes to creating hits. If I had to point out a flaw in this fantastic documentary, it would be from a totally personal point of view. Watching these hotties age before my very eyes—gain weight, moles and wrinkles—was a downer. Nobody is ever gonna convince me that wisdom outweighs beauty...

Grade: A

BEFORE MIDNIGHT (2013)

Rated: R

Stars: Ethan Hawke,  Julie Delpy,  Seamus David-Fitzpatrick

Director: Richard Linklater

Genre: Drama/Arthouse


In Before Sunrise and Before Sunset,  Jesse and  Celine  (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy)  were falling in love.  In the third leg of the trilogy, Before Midnight, we find them as a  middle-aged couple with two young daughters. Jesse has a teenaged son who lives with his estranged wife back in the states.  

The film opens with Jesse and his boy, Hank, (Seamus David-Fitzpatrick) at the airport. Hank is returning to Chicago after spending some time on dad's turf in Europe. The father -son connection will figure prominently into the plot, as it's ripple effect will cause some tension between Jesse and Celine. Jesse wants them to consider moving to the states so he can be a real part of his son's life. Celine feels that's too radical of a shift. 

So we are there in the car with Jesse, Celine, and their adorable daughters, who are zonked out in the back seat. The two adults talk about all manner of mundane subjects. They talk. And they talk. And they talk. And while this extended scene is playing out, I'm beginning to wonder if I might soon be joining the little ones in la la land. 

And then I catch on.

Before Midnight is to be a movie in the mold of My Dinner With Andre, where the entire film is one long conversation around the dinner table. Here we thankfully get a few changes of scene along the way, but the similarity between the two films can't be ignored. We are the third wheel--the fly upon the wall--along for the ride to witness all the intimacy of this couple's life together, which ranges from an extended dinner table conversation with extended family, (everything about this film is extended) to some real intimacy in the bedroom where the sparks begin to fly. 

And it's all freaking BRILLIANT!

I gotta figure that much of the dialogue is off the cuff, because who is going to be able to deliver rehearsed lines in one continuous take that runs for a half an hour or so, without messing up?  Can you imagine the director, Richard Linklater, yelling "CUT"  twenty minutes into the scene, and they have to go back and take it from the top like, a hundred times? 

The brilliance of Before Midnight is that it is so fascinatingly real. In these tour-de-force performances from Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, there is more than just acting going on here. These two have immersed themselves into their characters to a degree that is rarely seen these days. Life, death, love, loathing, conflict, philosophy--it's all there. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the extended toplessness of  Delpy in the bedroom scene. That really topped it off for me.   

Grade: A

JILL'S TAKE

Finally: a film that backs up the boxing kangaroo image.... I couldn't disagree more with Tim's praise-worthy review of this endless talkathon. I haven't seen the other two films in this tired trilogy but BEFORE MIDNIGHT has the power to make any "hopeless romantic" give up Valentine's Day. Clearly the two actors had a hand—a heavy one—in the improvised script for which they both get a credit at the end. We all know that women can drive you crazy with their incessant, unforgiving, beating-a-dead-horse repetitions of what pisses them off. And we also know that a man's best (and sometimes only) defense is deflecting the situation with humor. Yes, French-American actress Julie Delpy has a nice set of knockers. And yes, Ethan Hawke (ex hubby of Uma Thurman) uses his boyish smile effectively. But do I really need to sit through one hour and forty-eight minutes of this self-indulgence? For me, nice tits and a nice smile aren't nearly enough.

If I had to say something positive about this film? The scenery is spectacular. And I suppose I'd have to compliment director Richard Linklater for the relaxed and realistic way he shot that last supper scene which was, for me, the only redeeming five minutes in the entire film. In this instance, Tim and I saw BEFORE MIDNIGHT separately (him in Tucson, me in La Jolla). Had we seen it together, we'd probably still be in the empty movie theater arguing about our very divided reactions!

Grade: D

  

AT ANY PRICE (2012)

Rated : R


Stars: Dennis Quaid,  Zach Efron,  Maika Monroe,  Kim Dickens,  Heather Graham

Director: Ramin Bahrani

Genre: Drama

In At Any Price, Henry Whipple (Dennis Quaid) is a glad-handing, stab you in the back kind of guy--not exactly what comes to mind when you hear the word "farmer." Henry inherited a family farm that at one time was a neighborly kind of operation--I know because I spent many of my formative years on an Iowa farm, like Henry. So what made him this way?  Big business, which has extended its money-grubbing reach and turned farming into a cut-throat enterprise, as the mantra "get big or die" echoes o'er the land.  At least that is the case for those like Henry, a salesman for the Liberty Company and its genetically modified corn seeds. Henry competes with other salesmen to carve out his territory by being the most successful sales rep in a multi-county area. 

The Liberty Seed Company--as anyone who has a mild awareness of what's going on in the agribusiness these days will recognize--is a stand-in for Monsanto. If you don't know the whole Monsanto story and the way in which genetically modified seeds have been foisted upon the farming community, you need to see a revealing documentary called "Food, Inc." which will get you up to speed.  

Henry would like to see his son, Dean, (Zach Efron) join him in the business, but Dean has dreams of becoming a NASCAR race driver, as he routinely picks up trophies for winning races at the local track. But is Dean a born racer, or are his aspirations born more out of a disgust for his father's lack of integrity?  We will find out, so don your helmet and strap yourself in. 

Henry's family is fractured in other ways as well. He has another son who is off climbing mountains in South America and doesn't want to come back. His wife, Irene, (Kim Dickens) tells him she loves him, but that he makes her feel like a fool for it everyday. Mix in his mistress, the alluring Meredith, (Heather Graham) stir that pot, and you've some toil and trouble a brewin.' .

Throughout At Any Price we see those monolithic windmills towering above the cornfields. But they're different from the old style windmills we had when I was a kid--sleeker looking---and the way in which director Ramin Bahrani keeps returning to them is highly symbolic of the prevailing winds that now blow over these vast fields of green---an ill wind that blows no good. 

Despite it all, we'd like  to see Henry's family come together in the end--but the way in which that is accomplished is the dark and sinister part of this film. Is this a marriage of convenience--as in three conspirators who need each other to keep their stories straight to cover for some serious misdeeds--or have they finally grown to appreciate each other for who they are? At any rate, you will leave the theater in a reflective mood. 

At Any Price features good performances from Quaid and Efron, though Quaid's Henry--with that cemented on ear to ear grin-- may be a bit more of a caricature than I  am willing to totally buy into. 

Grade:  B +

JILL'S TAKE

If I shared what I felt was the major flaw in AT ANY PRICE, I'd ruin it for you. And if there's one thing that really pisses me off it's reading a review that reveals too much about a movie. Suffice it to say that I didn't buy the idea that all three "conspirators" would be able to pull off the conspiracy. (That didn't give away anything, did it?)

Dennis Quaid's character adds new dimensions to the word "smarmy." And his devoted wife has definitely never read an issue of "Cosmo." But the actor who impressed me the most was Zach Efron (whose last name means "lark" in Hebrew). From Farley Granger to Tab Hunter, Hollywood has always had its quota of pretty boy actors. And before I saw this 25-year-old golden boy in AT ANY PRICE, I would've put him in that same category. But despite his perfect face and well plucked eyebrows, Zach Efron has acting chops. And the role of Dean Whipple gives him plenty of opportunities to use them.

Since Tim forgot to mention it—but I know he agrees with me—the score by Dickon Hinchliffe was excellent. Too often people take the background music for granted. But it is "instrumental" (pardon the pun) in creating a mood. As was a wonderful scene in this movie where bleachers full of corn-fed spectators at a local drag race sing The National Athem a cappella. What a marvelous way to cement those folksy faces in our minds. Americana at its best – and worst. When I went to see this flick, I wasn't expecting to like it. But by the time I left the theater, I couldn't stop talking about the many underlying themes.

GRADE: B