New Reviews: Despicable Me & Cyrus

The Good Thief

Today, unless your film comes underneath the banner labeled Pixar, it's hard to find a place in the overcrowded marketplace for an animated film. It's already tough enough for a DreamWorks picture to make a dent. What many have also come to expect from many animated films without the Pixar name is that if it can barely get by with a satisfying story and humorous characters, then that's enough for it to be a standout among the many others that fail. This particular film doesn't succeed all the way, but in terms of being suitable family fare that kids and parents can have some fun with, it's a winner.

Steve Carell voices Gru, a super-thief bent on creating a name for himself as the world's greatest villain. His main competition is a younger, smarter thief named Vector (Jason Segel) who has just stolen one of the Giza pyramids. To restore his credibility, Gru concocts a plan to steal the moon using a shrink ray. His plan includes the use of an older scientist inventing (Russell Brand) contraptions in his basement, those little yellow creatures that have populated the ad campaigns, and three little girls he's adopted to influence his plan, the oldest voiced by iCarly's Miranda Cosgrove.

A good test for most animated films is to see if the kids will enjoy it and the adults can tolerate it. The humor here isn't as sophisticated as in Pixar films, though it fortunately doesn't indulge in too many pop culture references (though there is a "Bank of Evil" joke that is probably the film's best). Kids will more than likely eat up all the slapstick, particularly in the first half of the movie, but the adults might be a bit restless with the subpar storytelling. Still, there's enough manic elements here to keep everyone involved, and by the time the sentimental side rears its head, you're already on board with most of what the film has to offer. Also, this is a 3D feature that actually uses 3D to great effect, especially in the gimmicky end credits. For as many examples there are as 3D being used as a depth tool, it's nice to every once in a while see a gimmicky 3D film.

The voice acting all around is pretty well done, particularly since it's one of the few where the actors are actually trying to put a performance in their voice rather than just reading lines in an empty room. Carell's Slavic English adds a lot of fun to a character that isn't much on the page. Segel, Brand, and others including Julie Andrews playing against type as Gru's disinterested mother, contribute to the overall feel the film gives off, and they're nicely used. The girls are probably the weakest part: the characters are only flaunted for their cuteness and the voices are rather flat.

It's not a great animated film, and there's no way in hell that it's going to unseat Toy Story 3 at critical acclaim, and probably at the Oscar podium as well. However, I am here to say that if you're looking for passable family fare, you could do worse. In fact, you might end up smiling at quite a bit of it. Granted, this has no where near the emotion and intelligence as a Pixar film, but for light, breezy family film that employs some great use of 3D, I'd say that it's worth a look.

B

Family Feud

Sometimes, despite a potential promise a film can offer, it just doesn't live up to it. I won't say that I was particularly expecting this film to be magnificent, and since I heard the directors were pioneers in the "mumblecore" movement, I was certainly expecting to be hesitant to enjoy it. However, I saw the impressive cast that was being advertised, and a potentially humorous premise, I thought that maybe I could end up liking it. That would not be the case. Not only would I end up not liking it, but I thoroughly had a major distaste for nearly everything offered in the film.

John C. Reilly is a forty-something loner named John still reeling from the divorce from his wife, played by Catherine Keener, seven years ago. When she's about to get remarried, John decides to try to enter into another relationship. That relationship is with Molly (Marisa Tomei), a single gal herself. The one hiccup is that she's got a twenty-two-year-old son, Cyrus (Jonah Hill), who shares an unhealthy, close relationship with her and attempts to disrupt what John and Molly have going on.

If I'm going to start with the things that I hated the most about this film, it's the way that it's directed. To be fair, I haven't seen any of the other films in the brothers Duplass' category, but if what they have to offer is manic overdirection with nauseating camera zooms, then I'm thoroughly turned off by what they have to offer. Not only is the direction awful and lacking in a consistent pace, but the way the script handles these characters is frustrating. I hated all of them. I hated the dysfunctional nature of John, I hated Molly's gullibility to be manipulated by her son, I hated Cyrus's manipulation over his mother and his creepy demeanor, I even hated Catherine Keener for not showing up more and saving this movie. Every character is a horrendous mess with no reason to justify it, and what is left is a ninety-minute escapade not worth watching.

As I said, I like all these actors, and occasionally they offer glimpses into a world in which they elevate the material. There's one scene in which Cyrus is performing a musical number in front of John, and the intensity that Hill shows automatically forces a laugh. Early in the film, Tomei appears to give some light charm in her role to make it seem like the horrible shooting process will be no match for her. But then she succumbs into a horribly drawn out character and she's wasted. Everyone in this cast is wasted, though in the case of Keener, she's used to it by now. As for Reilly, it's just an incredibly mediocre performance: I didn't hate it, but I can't sing praises for it either.

Much of this movie was torture to sit through, and a relatively short running time still doesn't diffuse the agony. The direction is poorly staged, the writing is uninteresting, the characters are a pain to endure, and the acting, no matter what little humorous territory they mine, is undercut by all the other negative elements in the film. I suppose I shouldn't give movies huge promises, because they'll end up just disappointing. Oh wait, Inception is coming out this weekend. Well, at least the bar's been set low by the time Friday rolls around.

C-