Love Lies Bleeding

Director: Rose Glass
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Katy O' Brian, Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov, Dave Franco, Ed Harris
Running Time: 104 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)  

While A24's wild and exhilarating Love Lies Bleeding takes inspiration from of darkly comic, noirish thrillers like Blood Simple and Bound, it also manages to feel like a grittier, far superior alternative to what Ethan Coen couldn't pull off with the recent Drive-Away Dolls. It starts slowly before taking what would otherwise be considered B-movie material to a higher level than the elevated trash suggested by its plot description. Gloomy and violent, it also has a wicked sense of humor, with co-writer/director Rose Glass taking a stylistic approach ideally suited to all the pulpy madness that unfolds. 

Much of its success can be attributed to the leads, each of whom give magnetic performances that only grow more absorbing as the story's complications multiply. After initially playing her cards very close to the vest, Glass teases at serious trouble before flying off the rails in fresh and exciting ways, cornering us into awkwardly rooting for these troubled lovers in over their heads.

It's 1989 in a rural New Mexico town when Crater Gym manager Lou (Kristen Stewart) encounters Oklahoma native Jackie (Katy O' Brian), a bisexual bodybuilder passing through en route to a competition in Las Vegas. Disturbed by her sister Beth's (Jena Malone) marriage to physically abusive sleazebag J.J. (Dave Franco) and constantly hit on by clingy friend Daisy (Anna Barishnikov), Lou quickly bonds with Jackie, supplying her steroids.

Before long, Lou and Jackie are in a relationship and living together when Lou discovers her new girlfriend began working as a waitress at her estranged father Lou Sr.'s (Ed Harris) gun range alongside J.J. As the F.B.I. trails Lou for information about her dad's sordid criminal past, a traumatizing event sends her over the edge, causing a protective, chemically altered Jackie to take drastic action. All this leads to a big problem that desperately needs cleaning up before Lou Sr. handles it first. 

When we first meet Lou she's unclogging a toilet and evading Daisy's sexual advances so Jackie's presence couldn't be more welcome. Stuck in this depressing town while managing a dingy gym that lives up to its "Crater" moniker, it's no wonder she's instantly intrigued. It's not like there's much else to occupy her in a place barren and lonely enough for residents to commit crimes out of sheer boredom. 

For the withdrawn Lou, Jackie's initially calm, supportive demeanor proves a welcome respite from the violent insanity that's defined her family. Sleeping under highway overpasses on her way to Vegas, Jackie proves she'll do whatever it takes for cash and accomplish her goal of not only entering this bodybuilding competition, but winning it. And we immediately get the impression she could.

As Lou deals with J.J. regularly beating the hell out of her sister while the feds lurk, a single crime  changes everything. Glass and Weronika Tofilska's script wisely holds back in revealing too much about Lou Sr., even if Ed Harris's casting is strong enough a clue. With his creepy, quietly menacing presence and long, stringy skullet, it's obvious that whatever Lou Sr.'s into is unimaginably bad. Those complaining Harris is too old for the role are probably right but few could play this kind of part better.   

It's hard to argue Stewart's quirky but effortlessly cool persona isn't used to its fullest potential in smaller, more daring projects like this. She again proves up to the task as Lou holds a lot back until a series of circumstances cause her to completely boil over. But the surprise is O' Brian, who's subtly terrific as a woman whose dreams of making something of herself are both enhanced and derailed by this relationship. 

Even those familiar with real life former bodybuilder O' Brian from her more restrained role in The Mandalorian will have a tough time identifying her because she's so unrecognizably jacked. And Glass definitely takes full advantage of that, lingering on close-up shots of expanding muscles and bulging veins as Jackie's roid rage leads her down a path that feels lifted from the old Incredible Hulk TV series. Like Lou, she yearns to prove her family wrong, if only they even cared. Now her world revolves around a competition she may not even make it to, but revealing more risks spoiling the film's most humiliatingly uncomfortable scene.

The last act is a thrilling cat-and-mouse game that forces Lou to finally break a poisonous lifelong cycle. Lou Sr. knows the power he wields, and if push comes to shove, eliminating his own daughter isn't off the table. With a grungy mood and atmosphere that feels dead on, Glass takes some big swings that could have seemed derivative with a less talented filmmaker at the controls. It also has some tricks up its sleeve, like a moment in the closing minutes that defies explanation by asking viewers to abandon all pretense and take a leap as gigantic as one of its characters. It shouldn't work at all, yet somehow does, convincing us this is the ride we signed up for all along.   

Spencer

Director: Pablo Larraín
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Timothy Spall, Jack Farthing, Sean Harris, Sally Hawkins, Jack Nielen, Freddie Spry, Stella Gonet, Richard Sammel, Elizabeth Berrington, Amy Manson, Emma Darwall-Smith
Running Time: 117 min.
Rating: R 

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

Spencer isn't the kind of biopic you can warmly embrace, fittingly keeping itself at an arm's length. In fact, it isn't even really a biopic at all, with director Pablo Larraín hardly interested in what did or didn't happen during the dissolution of Diana's marriage to Prince Charles, key events in her life, or reconstructing a timeline. It's a psychological horror film, plain and simple. And one that gets so far into the head of its subject that some viewers are bound to be turned off, criticizing it for being an artsy, depressing slog. While they wouldn't be entirely wrong on those counts, what's more questionable is whether it's fair to consider those flaws, especially considering how rare it is that a historical figure gets such a fearless, no holds barred treatment. Say what you will, but Larraín's approach is uncompromising, not budging an inch as far as what mainstream viewers would want or expect out of a movie about Princess Diana.

Almost completely inaccessible and wacky beyond belief, Larraín's film honorably refuses to meet us even halfway, mirroring the defiance of its subject herself. Full of eccentricities, narrative detours, dream sequences and melodramatic excursions, it falls so squarely in the wheelhouse of Kristen Stewart's indie work from the past decade you'll be wondering how Diana transformed into the actress rather than the other way around. And yet it still somehow fits, visually leaning into areas of her psyche that no news report or comprehensive novel on her life could possibly replicate. All of it anchored by a tremendous performance from Stewart that really digs deep, ranking in the upper echelon of nominated biographical portrayals, not to mention her biggest risk in a career full of them.

It's December 1991 and the Royal Family is spending Christmas at the Queen's Sandringham estate in Norfolk, right next to Diana's (Stewart) long-abandoned childhood home, Park House. With the Princess of Wales' already strained marriage to Prince Charles (Jack Farthing) on its last legs due to his  affair with Camilla Parker Bowles (Emma Darwall-Smith), she has second thoughts about attending. Lost, frustrated and on the verge of emotional collapse, Diana encounters Royal Head Chef Darren McGrady (Sean Harris), who convinces her to go, only to find she's ignored by the entire family immediately upon arrival. 

With the exception of young sons William and Harry (Jack Nielen and Freddie Spry), Diana receives a chilly reception, finding comfort in her friendship with Royal dresser Maggie (Sally Hawkins), who offers invaluable advice and guidance. Despite being under constant surveillance by the family's eyes and ears, Major Gregory (Timothy Spall), Diana refuses to conform, yearning for a normal life free of the burden and responsibility this position entails. She's become a prisoner in her own mind, dreaming of escaping to a simpler, happier time.

A key scene that encapsulates everything Diana's going through is her only seen conversation with Charles, which only further confirms that they're orbiting different planets, with no hope for reconciliation or compromise. At the crux of the argument is his belief that she needs to just give in for appearance sake and maintain a certain public facade like everyone else. Of course, none of this applies to him since his position within the family has already long been secured. She's just not built for this, and much of the film's running time is spent showing us in painstaking, sometimes torturous detail, exactly how. 

In a constant state of depression and misery, a fragile Diana's wings have been clipped, making you wonder how the marriage even lasted this long, regardless of Charles' affair. She regurgitates dinner, gets repulsed by the clothing selection, raids the dessert fridge after hours and even imagines mutilating herself with wirecutters. But her most telling form of rebellion comes in the middle of the night with an escape to her abandoned childhood home. All of these happenings are juxtaposed against the stately, regal backdrop of Guy Hendrix Dyas' production design and Jacqueline Durran's costumes, the latter of which serves the dual function of replicating Diana's iconic style, even as she's emotionally suffocated by it. And sharply contrasting with the pageantry surrounding her, Jonny Greenwood's jazzy, propulsive score races with a tense uneasiness that matches Diana's anxiousness.

If the worry going in was Stewart's ability to look or feel comfortable in this woman's skin, that's precisely the point since there's hardly a moment where Diana does, as she's constantly isolated and overwhelmed by her surroundings. The actress also nails her speech, mannerisms and strikingly resembles the Princess of Wales enough that that the real person pushes her way to the surface as Stewart becomes more unrecognizable, completely inhabiting the role. And while doing it, she finds a new way in, conveying a sadder, but strangely softer side to her that actually hasn't been beaten into the ground by previous cinematic and TV treatments. 

Steven Knight's script flies off the rails in inspired, unexpected ways, like when Diana's overcome with memories and hallucinations while dancing through the halls of her old home, briefly reconnecting with a life that never seemed further out of reach. This and Maggie's support push her forward, if only for William and Harry's sake. Neither receive much screen time, but hardly need it, as current events lend their scenes even more poignancy than they already would knowing Diana's eventual fate. Through them, she momentarily finds something that resembles joy and an actual identity outside the family's shackles. Viewed in this light, the film's title seems even more relevant, as a reclamation of her own life and name, if only briefly.       

In exploring how a down-to-earth, free spirited personality could survive when everything she is slowly gets stripped away, Spencer establishes itself as an ambitious piece of speculative historical fiction. It also asks a lot from its audience, who might sometimes feel just as equally trapped. But the experience stays with you largely due to methods used to convey that Diana's situation was far worse than reported or imagined. This entire arrangement was never going to work for either side, but this is the most brutally honest film about it, holding little back in telling a familiar story through fresh eyes.  

Happiest Season

 

Director: Clea DuVall
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Dan Levy, Mary Holland, Victor Garber, Mary Steenburgen, Ana Gasteyer, Jake McDorman, Sarayu Blue, Timothy Simons, Lauren Lapkus
Running Time: 102 min.
Rating: PG-13 

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

Going strictly by appearances, Hulu's original holiday feature, Happiest Season, would seem to be the fluffiest of romantic comedies, going down fairly easily while providing little in the way of sustaining value. But what's most surprising about director/co-writer Clea DuVall's semi-autobiographical effort is how in taking what could have easily been a one-joke premise stretched very thin, it actively exposes itself as a smart human drama.With its fair share of laughs sandwiched in between some cringy moments, it tackles a scenario you'd figure happens a lot, though not as deliberately kooky as we see here. How such a dream team of a cast was assembled for this starts to become less of a question the longer it runs, with the material conveying a certain level of self-awareness we're unsure it possesses at the start.

It's easy to initially be taken aback by a premise that takes elements that are questionably funny on paper and blends them together to make a point in a way that is. And it cleverly does so with good writing and worthwhile characters, enabling us to laugh without guilt at how terribly most of them behave. Snickering, eye-rolling and face palms are more common than laugh-out loud moments, but it just keeps picking up steam. And then there's that cast, comprised of fan favorites few expected to be sharing screen time together, much less in a Christmas comedy that appropriately showcases all of their strengths.

Lesbian couple Abby Holland (Kristen Stewart) and Harper Caldwell (Mackenzie Davis) have been dating almost a year when Harper invites her to spend the holidays with her family in their hometown. Still harboring a dislike for Christmas stemming from her parents' deaths, Abby reluctantly agrees to the trip, even planning a marriage proposal on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, Harper failed to clue her in on the detail that she not only hasn't told her image-conscious family about their relationship, but hasn't come out to her parents. 

At Harper's insistence, Abby pretends to be her straight roommate, at least until her father Ted's (Victor Garber) mayoral campaign is over and the holidays pass. But they'll also have to pull one over on Harper's perfectionist mother, Tipper (Mary Steenburgen), eccentric sister Jane (co-writer Mary Holland) and uppity older sister Sloane (Alison Brie). If that's not already an extremely uncomfortable situation, Abby must also contend with the surprise returns of Harper's high school exes Connor (Jake McDorman) and Riley (Aubrey Plaza). Relying on best friend John (Dan Levy) for emotional support, Abby's doubtful she and Harper's relationship can survive this visit, unless the latter decides to tell her family the truth.

This has all the makings of a dumb screwball farce, and while some of that's definitely present, what stands out most is just how terribly the protagonist is treated early on. Abby takes a lot of abuse from Harper and her family, to the point where you really start to question what the movie's up to or how could it possibly land in a place that's comedically satisfying given the assumptions we're left to make about these people. Aside from being labeled an "orphan" (in an admittedly funny bit), framed for shoplifting and facing other humiliating indignities for going along with her girlfriend's charade, Abby's sidelined as Harper spends most of this time with her ex-boyfriend.  

The Caldwells are so hung up on their public image that the characters threaten to veer into outright parody, if not for Garber and Steenburgen's game performances preventing the portrayals from going off the deep end. And that's a very good thing considering it's tough to name a more discomforting set-up right now than wealthy, conservative parents potentially shunning their adult gay daughter. But by honestly owning that premise rather than backing away from it with the low-brow humor expected from such a set-up, we're invested. DuVall and Holland's script is actually interested in the "why?" attached to this idea and from that spawns most of the picture's biggest laughs.          

Stewart seems so much more comfortable and relaxed on screen lately that it's hard to even remember the time when "awkward" was the most popular adjective the media ascribed to her acting style and entire persona. Here, she's actually called upon to deliberately channel that quality in a situation where she's playing the aggrieved party, unintentionally victimized by her girlfriend's inability to break free from her parents' shackles. Stewart has a lot to do, but she's more than up for it, and has a great screen partner in Mackenzie Davis, with their chemistry together providing all the explanation necessary as to why her character's willing to put up with this. 

Davis, who had "future star" written all over when she played rebellious computer programmer Cameron Howe on AMC's criminally underrated Halt and Catch Fire, now gets a somewhat larger platform to impress. Despite some big screen starts and stops since, watching her in this only reaffirms the possibility of her really breaking through is still very much on the table. Harper's treatment of Abby is basically borderline-awful, but Davis still finds a way to find truth in the character, subtly conveying that most of her behavior stems from an almost understandable level of fear and insecurity given the dysfunctional family environment in which she was raised. That they've gone so far out of their way to appear perfectly functional seems to be at the root of Harper's issues, with us rooting for her to literally come out from under them before Abby becomes another romantic casualty. 

Aubrey Plaza fans have good reason to celebrate her smallish, but pivotal role as Harper's ex Riley, as her cool, sarcastic wit is used to maximum effect in a surprisingly compelling sub-plot with Abby that doesn't exactly play out as you'd expect. Anyone checking this out for the actress alone won't be dissappointed as she casually comes in and hits all her marks in that distinctive Aubrey Plaza way, making everything weirder and better. 

While it's also great to see Alison Brie back playing elitist snobs since few do it better, recent Schitt's Creek Emmy winner Dan Levy is cast exactly as you'd hope as Abby's practical and brutally honest friend John, giving Plaza some legitimate competition in the sarcasm department. His part only increases in entertainment value the more immersed he finds himself in this crazy situation, which delightfully flies even further off the rails in the last act. 

If the very release of this has garnered praise for being the rare mainstream Hollywood romantic comedy centered around a same sex couple featuring major stars, DuVall sort of flips that script by incorporating that long-standing institutional prejudice into the story itself in the form of these wealthy, perfectionist parents and adult children too obsessed with image to realize that obsession is the worst look of all. Many might find that the ending wraps things up too tidily, but for a comedy, it's kind of refreshingly messy, getting where it needs to go by taking a circuitous route that works for the story. 

Enjoyable not because of its topic, but how it's handled, we're invited to spend over an hour and half with people who feel authentic, brought to life by actors who make us appreciate their quirks. DuVall juggles a lot of balls in the air as the humorous hijinks and misunderstandings pile up, but most of that pales in comparison to the well-developed characters we begrudgingly grow to care about in wildly different ways. Headlined by two actresses completely at ease in their roles, Happiest Season avoids insulting our intelligence, likely pleasing even those turned off by the very idea of another holiday rom-com.

Charlie's Angels (2019)

Director: Elizabeth Banks
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, Ella Balinska, Elizabeth Banks, Patrick Stewart, Djimon Hounsou, Sam Claflin, Jonathan Tucker, Nat Faxon, Chris Pang, Noah Centineo
Running Time: 119 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

Maybe it was a happy accident for me to have recently caught the opening minutes of the 2003 version of Charlie's Angels in passing before seeing last year's reboot. In many ways it served as an eye-opening reminder that there's a certain level of quality this franchise can attain regardless of the cast, director, script or marketing. Barring a complete overhaul of the original material that inspired it, we'll probably never get a great Charlie's Angels movie, which almost seems appropriate. And now, judging from the reception to writer/director Elizabeth Banks' updated take, we may not get another one at all, at least for a very long time.

Many aren't losing sleep over the film's tepid reaction, but it's still kind of a shame considering how tough it is to determine what viewers expected or even wanted from this. Bashed as a feminist propaganda piece showing us how women have been held down by men, Banks was criticized for crafting an empty manifesto protesting the sexual objectification of the Angels by male moviegoers and filmmakers everywhere. With her excuses for its box office implosion doing little to change this perception, you could imagine my surprise at discovering that's not even close to what we get. It's light, mindless fun, in line with previous incarnations, but with a slightly less ridiculous tone.

Save for some occasionally cringe-worthy dialogue, no messages are being shoved down our throats, as the joke would have been on Banks considering the franchise will always be viewed for exactly what it is: escapist entertainment both genders watch for the women and action. In the end, all that actually matters is whether the film's any good. And this works as well or better than the others, with some minor missteps along the way. Declaring it mildly recommendable may seem like damning with faint praise, but the two hours fly by and the casting and performances result in a interesting dynamic between the leads. The trio may even be the most distinctive in terms of personalities, with the seemingly odd Angel out really rising to the occasion and silencing the skeptics. Chalk it up to lowered expectations, but this is a good time, surprisingly delivering exactly what it should, and maybe even a little more

A year after a team of Angels led by the Townsend Agency's Edgar "Bosley," (Djimon Hounsou) successfully capture international criminal Jonny Smith (Chris Pang), engineer Elena Houghlin (Naomi Scott) helps develop a groundbreaking energy conservation device called Calisto for entrepreneur Alexander Brok (Sam Claflin). But after uncovering a plot by her boss, Peter Fleming (Nat Faxon), to hide its potentially fatal side effects, she brings her findings Edgar to investigate. But when he's murdered by a mysterious, tattooed assassin named Hodak (Jonathan Tucker), this brings in the Angels, wise-cracking Sabina Wilson (Kristen Stewart) and Edgar's ass-kicking protege, Jane Kano (Ella Balinska).

The Angels are given their new assignment by Charlie's assistant Rebekah (Banks), an ex-Angel who's taken over for Edgar and risen up the ranks following the retirement of senior operative John Bosley (Patrick Stewart). Using Elena as their undercover decoy, Sabina And Jane must now break into the corporate headquarters to steal the Calisto prototypes before they can be duplicated and eventually weaponized. But the plot ends up running deeper than any of them anticipated as they fight against and unseen mastermind whose motivations may be more personal than expected.

Casting can be a real difference maker if the script's a mess, but luckily Banks' screenplay, while a bit convoluted, does mostly deliver the goods after brief stalling at its mid-point before the action kicks into high gear. On paper, Kristen Stewart was always going to be the wild card since she just isn't an actress most would associate with a buddy female action comedy or really any light, mainstream entertainment audiences consider "fun."

Rightly or not, Stewart's been frequently picked apart for having a dour, awkward onscreen presence cultivated from appearing in the dark indie dramas she's gravitated toward since becoming a household name from Twilight. Now, she's gone so far in the other direction, with impressive results, that it seems impossible to believe she's even in a franchise movie again, especially one that seems so sharply opposed to her substance-over-style career approach. And that's exactly why she ends up being the shot in the arm this project needs, as there's no denying that as Sabina she displays a goofy, comedic edge and charm that's rarely been evident in even her lightest of roles.

If the general consensus was that Banks was trolling fanboys by casting an actress they couldn't objectify, she must have known something since Stewart gives the film's liveliest performance. By making her a total, unabashed goofball who quickly flips the switch to get down to business when the situation calls for it, she redefines the concept of an Angel, with her character providing a perfect contrast to the more stoic Jane. Played by English actress Ella Balinska, she's the more prototypical choice, box-checking what's been the long-established franchise template of crushing bad guys while managing to look great doing it. As a character, she's presented more seriously than many of her predecessors, with combat skills being emphasized over looks, the latter of which few would blame her for coasting on. But she doesn't.

As the Angel who's yet to earn her wings, recent Power Rangers and Aladdin star, Naomi Scott, brings the goofiness as clumsy brainiac Elena, the "origin" in this origin story. In over her head and guided through a criminal ordeal unlike anything her naive character's experienced, Scott is earnestly likeable as the eyes and ears of the audience, making up her own rules as she goes along. Of course, after some fun interplay, she'll eventually earn the begrudging respect of Bosley and the Angels, with all sharing surprisingly solid chemistry together.

The plot takes a number of twists and turns, some more expected than others, but comes out on the high-end in terms of minimizing the nonsense typically associated with a franchise that's always had a problem with tone, frequently straddling the lines of what it wants to be. This fares better than most. As for the action sequences, they're competently filmed and hold your attention, while fully acknowledging this probably won't be confused with the latest John Wick anytime soon. The good news is that these scenes play considerably better than the music video-style trailers and commercials teased, or threatened, in the lead-up to its release. 

The closing minutes hint that Banks had her creative engine revving for a follow-up and you can't really fault her optimism since that was undoubtedly the plan. Now, she'll have to shelve it as studio executives scratch their heads wondering what happened, surely contemplating another brilliant idea for rebooting this property. There's not a whole lot wrong with this, so unless they have this fresh, new approach to re-purposing a 1970's female-lead action-comedy adventure series on the big screen, it might be a better idea to just hire everyone back with a better, tighter script. Then again, it's entirely possible no one wants to see any Charlie's Angels movie, even one that manages to get a lot right.

   

Dennis Has a Podcast: 2012 Movie Preview

I once again joined Dennis on Dennis Has a Podcast to discuss some of our most (and least) anticipated movies of 2012 and a bunch of other fun topics including the Hunger Games craze, Kristen Stewart, Joseph Gordon Levitt, The Rock, the James Bond franchise and The Dark Knight Rises. 

Listen here (51:16)

...And be sure to check out previous episodes of DHAP on itunes.

The Runaways

Director: Floria Sigismondi
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon, Stella Maeve, Scout Taylor-Compton, Alia Shawkat
Running Time: 109 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

You can accuse The Runaways of many things but subtlety shouldn't be among them. Not when its opening image is of menstrual blood dripping to the ground. It doesn't pull punches in its depiction of the first major all-girl rock band or shy away from casting controversially to provoke a reaction. But it does condense, occasionally going through the obligatory beats of a standard by-the-numbers rock bio when the project could have used more ambition. But in its favor, the music is great, many sequences are well directed and there's a surprisingly sensational performance marking the maturation of a major actress who proves herself more talented than anyone could have suspected.

While the film somewhat solidifies typical misgivings about biopics and highlights the problems faced when bringing a really compelling true life story to the screen. Watching, you wouldn't have a clue that The Runaways had members other than Cherie Curie and Joan Jett or were incredibly talented musicians. Listening to the music, you would. Despite focusing on my preferred genre of music and being set in probably my favorite time period, I still can't shake the nagging feeling that we're being given the cliff notes version of a larger story and that the band deserved more. But that's not to say it still doesn't have its thrills.

Picking up in 1975, eccentric record producer Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) seemingly by chance assembles the band on the fly, seeing dollar signs and jailbait in pairing aspiring musician Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) with the 15-year-old Cherie Currie, who has no singing experience outside of lip-syncing David Bowie at her school talent show (in one of the film's best scenes). They're joined by drummer Sandy West (Stella Maeve), lead guitarist Lita Ford (Scout Taylor Compton) and Robin (Arrested Development's Alia Shawkat), a fictionalized version of their real-life bassist, Jackie Fox. The film wisely centers around Currie and Jett, with a primary emphasis on Currie's Behind The Music-like descent into the drug addiction that eventually broke up the band and ended her career. She's gone on to work a chain saw artist and write Neon Angel: Memoir of a Runaway, the autobiography on which this film is based, while Jett and Ford survived the implosion, using it as a stepping stone to hugely successful music careers of their own.

It was unquestionably the right call focusing on the two big names, but had I not listed the other band members it would be impossible to tell from the film that they existed at all, especially Shawkat's "Robin" who I don't remember even appearing, much less having a single line of dialogue. Aside from one angry outburst (in a scene that recalls the t-shirt argument in Almost Famous, but with a magazine), Ford is invisible as well. That's less excusable considering Lita Ford is hardly a minor figure in music and you have the benefit of an actress as good as Taylor-Compton playing her. Only Maeve's Sandy gets what could be considered minimal screen time at best, but still no defining role or personality. In a way, the big meltdown scene plays ironically since this film is just as guilty of ignoring the rest of the band as the media and the public was. If it disappoints as biopic or a look into the disintegration of a band, that's made up for with its success as a coming-of-age story.

I kept waiting for the scope of the film to catch up with the power and intensity of Fanning's performance but that just wasn't meant to be, and in retrospect, would almost be impossible. Not only considering physical resemblances, on paper you couldn't make two better casting choices for Currie and Jett than Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart, but it's Fanning who delivers, carrying the entire film. Supposedly years before she was even old enough for the role, Fanning was always Currie's top choice to play her and now really clear why. Anyone who watched her as a child star is in for a shock as she turns a rock cliche into a devastating performance of brutal honesty and pathetic desperation. Besides transforming from a timid, waif unable to sing a note in key into an enigmatic powerhouse commanding the stage in a corset, she makes Cherie's fall off the deep believable by not completely losing touch with the innocent little girl we're familiar with her playing. Even by the end of the film you still see her, but through a sad, empty shell.

Less successful is Stewart as Jett, as I never really got past the fact that this just felt like Stewart being Stewart, but with a mullet, attempting an impersonation rather than embodying the persona. Onstage she conveys Jett's swagger as a performer but in the scenes off of it she often falls back on certain annoying "Stewartisms" like mumbling and hanging her head. At points she even looks physically uncomfortable in the part, particularly a later scene where she comes off as an 80's Jett impersonator at a costume party. It's a disappointment since I was looking forward to her potentially re-proving herself as the talented dramatic actress we saw in Into The Wild and Adventureland after selling her soul for Twilight paychecks. This effort won't do it, but in her defense she had the pressure of tackling one of the most famous rock figures of all-time in Jett whereas Fanning could more easily benefit from creating the perception she's building a character from the ground up with the lesser known Currie. Compounding Stewart's problem is that she's starring in a movie about celebrity while currently being overexposed as one herself. It's possible her performance just needs time to be looked on more favorably, but Fanning is so impressively poised in the more pivotal role she's able to easily cover for her. As the only main male figure in the cast, Michael Shannon adds maniacal Kim Fowley to his repertoire of scary creeps and after seeing photos of the real person it's amazing just how much he physically resembles him. Sure, he's a cartoon, but weren't all record producers larger-than-life cartoons back then? I wouldn't argue with anyone more interested in seeing a spin-off biopic focused on his character.

First time writer/director Floria Sigismondi has a history in music videos which should have made her the ideal candidate to direct this, and in a way, she is. The band as a unit is ignored but their music isn't. Sigmundi's sense for time and place stands out with the set design and costumes, as well as distorted visuals and a color palette that gets progressively grimier and darker as the story progresses to its conclusion. The concert scenes are the among strongest and both Stewart and Fanning do a better than passable job recreating the vocals, which is no easy task. These sequences and the soundtrack would make those unfamiliar with The Runaways' music check them out, which should always be the primary goal in a movie that's supposed to be all about the music. That the film can even be mentioned favorably in relation to something like Almost Famous (which take place during the same period and covers similar musical territory) is a victory in itself. The one complaint always leveled against that picture was that it took an R-rated subject matter and made it PG-13. That approach wouldn't fly here. This is what these girls did, this was how old they were and there's no getting around the dirty details. Sigmundi doesn't gloss over them, giving us the uncomfortable feeling we're witnessing something we shouldn't without crossing the line into needless exploitation.

This is a really close call for me as the film seems better now than when I was actually watching it, which could just speak for my enthusiasm for the subject and desire to see more than just a slice of what should have been an epic rock bio. Though it's Fanning's performance pushing the material over the top, the riskiest decision made is presenting the band just as lucky as they were good. There was a little of both for sure, but it's mostly the former that shines through here, making The Runaways work better as a cautionary coming-of-age tale than a biographical account. And more proof that sometimes it pays just being at the right place at the right time.

Adventureland

Director: Greg Mottola
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Martin Starr, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Margarita Levieva, Matt Bush
Running Time: 107 min.
Rating: R

★★★ 1/2 (out of ★★★★)

What a year for coming-of-age films this is turning into. It's infrequent that I see two movies in a row that are so similar thematically and manage to strike the same chord. Both Adventureland and (500) Days of Summer were both misrepresented as fluffy comedies, the former more severely. Both deal with a transforming summer relationship. In each, music is a major component. And both focus their gaze on a twenty-something male protagonist wrestling with post-grad blues, invoking recollections (one very literally) of The Graduate. 2009, which was feared to be heading down the same underwhelming path as '08, has turned some kind of a corner recently and it's been fun to watch the reaction. I've yet to see all the films triggering this widespread enthusiasm but at least now I can scratch another off the must-see list and report it met expectations.

Greg Motttola's Adventureland received mostly mixed reviews when it opened in April and didn't connect with audiences who mistakenly went in expecting another Judd Apatow-style comedy in a year when even Apatow didn't feel like making a Judd Apatow-style comedy. We had I Love You, Man to fill that niche, which it did quite well. Unfortunately, when you splash the words, "FROM THE DIRECTOR OF SUPERBAD" across a film's poster, certain expectations will accompany it, all of which Adventureland couldn't have delivered on because it just isn't that kind of movie. But those who had actually seen and liked it didn't just merely like it. They LOVED it. No matter what it was marketed as, it was clear that it really spoke to them in a big way, piquing my interest in it further. This is a drama with very few huge laughs and you'll enjoy it best if you prepare yourself for that before tackling it. What it does expertly instead is succeed at invoking a very specific time period, mood and atmosphere that makes it easy to see how it's connected with a vocal minority of viewers on the level it has. In avoiding many of the pitfalls that plague this genre and choosing to go a more subtly intelligent route, the film definitely deserved much more attention than it was paid.

It's 1987 and recent Oberlin College graduate James Brennan (Jessie Eisenberg) is looking forward to touring Europe for the summer before attending Columbia University grad school to study journalism in the fall. That is until his parents (Wendie Malik and Jack Gilpin) break the news that they can't subsidize him and he'll have to put his dreams of going to Europe on hold to instead spend the summer working in his hometown of Pittsburgh. He lands a gig at Adventureland, the local amusement park run by an eccentric married couple (SNL's Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig), that employs a wide variety of interesting, colorful characters.Despite his desire to work on RIDES, James is incorrectly sized up by management as a GAMES guy. Or as his t-shirt reads, GAMES GAMES GAMES GAMES. In a just world where audiences actually went to see this movie, millions of those shirts could have been sold. The awkward, intellectual James immediately befriends the even geekier and more awkward Joel (Martin Starr) and despite still nursing a broken heart from college, starts to develops serious feelings for the captivating Em (Kristen Stewart). Besides wrestling with a troubled home life, she's been having a fling with the park's married maintenance man, Connell (Ryan Reynolds), a former musician whose claims to have jammed with Lou Reed are dubious. Things are complicated further for James with the return of seductive rides operator Lisa P. (Margarita Levieva), a Madonna clone who transfixes all the guys at the park. Whether he likes it or not, his worst summer ever is on a path to become the best and most memorable of his life.

Adventureland is the kind of movie likely to dredge up a lot of memories (some painful) for those who watch it. What laughter there is comes from the situations where you can stop and say, "Yeah, I've been there." And even if you haven't been there, it kind of feels like you were anyway. Unlike (500) Days of Summer, it doesn't go for the jugular in its depiction of romantic relationships and is more sentimental, unapologetically drenching itself in nostalgia. It also fits into one of my favorite movie sub-genres: Cool workplaces. Think Clerks or Empire Records. I've always found it compelling to watch people who would have never otherwise met be thrown together by chance in a job only to end up forging a lasting friendship. James is lucky enough to get that experience but his post-grad struggles before taking this seemingly lame, dead-end job. are shown realistically by Mottola and reverberate with personal sentiment. The cold, hard fact that college can't possibly prepare you for life is thrown in James' face when the comparative literature major is simultaneously over-qualified AND under-qualified for every menial job for which he applies. James is too introspective, too observant, and too sensitive for his own good. In a way, his sincerity is his own worst enemy and he needs something or someone to break him in. His relationship with Em provides that.

Eisenberg (who first impressed in 2005's The Squid and the Whale) has been criticized for giving performances too reminiscent of Michael Cera in their awkwardness. While I'm sure Cera would be flattered (offended?) by the notion that he actually has a "style" of acting that can be imitated, his persona didn't consciously occur to me at all as I watched Eisenberg. Cera is more sarcastic, which perfectly fits a raucous film like Superbad, but would be ill-suited for more dramatic material like this. It's insane to assert the two actors are interchangeable. What Eisenberg does bring to it is a subtly grounded approach, thankfully choosing not to play James as some kind of stuttering, stammering dork incapable of social interaction. As cliche as it's becoming to see the geek get the girl in every major comedy released these days, thanks to him it at least comes off more bearable than usual.

Strangely though, the movie's success doesn't begin and end with him. This is a rare occasion where the female love interest is being presented pitch-perfectly both in terms of writing and performance and ends up being the more fully realized character. What's most refreshing is that there isn't a phony, insincere bone in Em's body and she doesn't play games. She's given a difficult home situation but the card isn't overplayed and we feel bad for her because she's essentially a good soul who just doesn't know it yet. You can see what James sees in her, and Stewart conveys everything Em's going through with little more than a glance in a revelatory supporting performance.It's a shame she's sabotaging her career by starring in big-budget projects beneath her as I'd like to believe she can recover and continue to do meaningful work like she did in Panic Room and Into the Wild. It would be awful if despite her contribution, the film ages poorly merely because of her star presence in it. The last thing anyone wants to do is remember this as the amusement park movie with "that girl from Twilight." Her and the film deserve better. While the idea of Ryan Reynolds' character getting it on with Stewart's, who looks (and probably is) about half his age, is pretty creepy, the challenging sub-plot is pulled off in an effective, mostly non-creepy way, which is a real credit to the two actors. They make us view it as the mistake that it is and they know it to be as well. When Connell finds out about James' feelings for Em his reaction isn't what you'd expect. He isn't a jerk, just a decent guy with an ego struggling through some issues, an important distinction that would go missing in a lesser script and performance. It's a relatively small part for Reynolds, but it's his most complex to date and he finds a lot of truth in it.

Anyone who says '80's music is discreetly slid into the picture must have been watching a different film than me. Hardly a single scene goes by where key music of the era isn't blasting, whether it be Lou Reed, INXS, Falco, Expose, Husker Du, The Replacements, Crowded House and just for old times sake, The Velvet Underground. It's overkill but I didn't mind since song-for-song it's the best soundtrack to come along in a while. Beyond perfectly capturing the era in terms of music and dress, this joins movies like Donnie Darko and Son of Rambow in not only harnessing the feel of the '80's, but feeling like it was made during that period. Terry Stacey's cinematography and Yo La Tengo's score only reinforces that atmosphere. What laughs there are come from the painful truths of growing up more than anything else, while the rest are filled in by Hader and Wiig, (who are crazy but reined in) and James' former childhood friend Tommy Frigo (Matt Bush), who remains in a perpetual state of adolescence. The one character who didn't really work for me was Lisa P., who seemed more a walking stereotype for the decade and a plot marker than an actual human being.

This is an optimistic film coming-of-age-film that understands life can be filled with disappointment and darkness but every once in a while something really incredible happens and you just want stop time and hold onto it for as long as possible. It operates with the knowledge that life can suck sometimes and you'll still survive, but doesn't condescend in any way or succumb to cheap sentimentality (aside from a closing scene that reeks of pure fantasy to the point it feels like a dream sequence). I'm not entirely sure how you can even market movies like this, which is a shame, because coming-of-age films can be the most rewarding of all genres when presented well. Why it's even rated "R" or wasn't given a more advantageous summer release date are valid questions. In a way it reminds me of Judd Apatow's the short-lived TV masterpiece, Freaks and Geeks, which also managed to perfectly capture a mood and time period not too far off from this one. This movie will hit hardest for those who were teenagers in the '80's but everyone else will probably find a lot to appreciate also. Mottola really put himself on the line. It would have been easy money to follow Superbad with another vulgar comedy but he instead chose to tell a story that clearly meant a lot to him. This is one movie I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel of since I cared about these characters and would want to know what they're up to now. It isn't good for anyone when a quality film like Adventureland flops because too many people already think no one cares about their story or what they have to say. The last thing they need is another excuse to not share it.