Kicking off another year of Film Fight in a particularly late fashion comes the January 2008 update.
Dan in Real Life hits an interesting balance between a character study of a man falling apart with feelings of jealousy and inadequacy, and lightweight family comedy. Steve Carrell plays the titular character who falls in love with a woman he can’t have. Under slightly cliched circumstances, they are forced to spend a substantial amount of time together and shenanigans ensue. While at times it falls short, with schmaltzy scenes and some resolutions that are a little too easy, it proves itself to be a surprisingly good film. It’s warming fun, without being unbearably cookie cutter. Worth seeing.
Almost in stark contrast, Charlie Wilson’s War is a lot more lightweight and throw-away than it should have been. The film follows a minor congressman through the period where he shadow funded Afghanistan against Russia, in order to bring about the end of the cold war. The subject matter could’ve been the stuff of heavyweight political drama and dark dealings, but we’re left with a fairly insubstantial fluff piece about a womanising politician trying to do something with his life. The one stand out performance is Philip Seymour Hoffman as an aggressive but ultimately brilliant CIA agent who masterminds the broad strokes of the plan; his performance making it a real shame that the thrust of the film wasn’t better conceived.
The Coen brothers return to form with a new modern masterpiece, No Country for Old Men. Excluding a slightly over-long and fruitless final scene, acting as a diminuendo, this film hits home perfectly. It has a quiet mood to it: dialogue is sparing (particularly in the early part of the film), scenes are framed in shadow, and plot revelations are left largely to what the central character knows. Josh Brolin plays that well-trodden Coen archetype: a man in the wrong place at the wrong time, presented with an opportunity, and he pulls it off superbly. His performance is only bettered by Javier Bourdem, a killer who is terrifying and ruthlessly homicidal, while being fair, principled and honest. Throughout he comes across like a force of nature: uncompromising, unchallengeable but not malicious. Brilliant from any angle, and well worth seeing.
Sweeney Todd is a complete change of pace. Based on the musical, it sees a typical Tim Burton cast sing their way through a dark comedy about revenge, treachery and mince pies. While the opening hour is painfully slow and the various accents laughable, it really starts picking itself up for a solid, if somewhat predictable, finale. Going a few steps off the beaten path have certainly made an odd concept work surprisingly well.
Finally, Walk Hard sees John C. Reilly step out of the shadow of his peers and into the limelight, somewhat mimicking the on-screen change of a Johnny Cash wannabe hitting the big time. For the most part the jokes are obvious and somewhat cheap, but that doesn’t stop Reilly hitting the mark. A particular highlight is the cameo-laden Beatles scene, full of bickering and in-fighting (as well as terrible Liverpudlian accents). It won’t win any awards, but is worth seeing once.
The first film fight winner of 2008 is: No Country for Old Men, another notch for the Coens.