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Posts Tagged ‘Kristen Bell’

“THE LIFEGUARD”: That sinking feeling

Posted in Art house fare, tagged on August 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »

lifeguard 1“THE LIFEGUARD” My rating: C  (Opening wide on Aug. 30)

98 minutes | MPAA rating: R

For ages Hollywood has thrived on lurid tales of older men and younger women, so in the name of fair play we oughta give a pass to “The Lifeguard,” a film about a 29-year-old woman who has an affair with a 16-year-old skateboarder.

Liz W. Garcia’s debut feature (after several years writing and directing for episodic TV) wants to be taken seriously – but falls apart in the execution. Her screenplay introduces interesting, even provocative ideas, then undermines them with a general aura of seediness and a lack of direction.

Kristen Bell is Leigh, who as the film begins is a reporter in NYC.  But in the wake of a failed romance and a feeling that her life isn’t going the way she planned, she returns to her small home town in Connecticut, moves in with Mom (Amy Madigan) and Dad, and reclaims the lifeguarding job that she gave up a decade earlier.

“I need to take time out from my life,” she explains.

Don’t we all?

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“STUCK IN LOVE”: Love hurts

Posted in Art house fare, tagged , , , on June 28, 2013| 1 Comment »

Lily Collins, Greg Kinnear

Lily Collins, Greg Kinnear

“STUCK IN LOVE” My rating: B (Opens wide on July 5)

97 minutes | MPAA rating: R

“Stuck in Love” isn’t wildly original, but for a writing-directing debut it hits its marks cleanly and effectively, gives a talented cast an exhilarating workout, and leaves its audience convinced that newcomer Josh Boone has great things in his future.

Boone‘s comedy-drama centers on the Borgens, a family of writers living along the Atlantic Coast in New England. And I don’t mean a few blocks from the Coast…I mean in a three-story beach house overlooking the dunes.

The place was purchased with money generated by the first several novels penned by William Borgens (Greg Kinnear). Alas, Bill is now in a slump.  His wife of 20 years, Erica (Jennifer Connelly), left him three years ago for another man, and lately the depressed Bill hasn’t written a word.

For excitement Bill hides in the bushes outside the house where Erica and her new husband live. He’s never happier than when he can eavesdrop on them fighting.

(Kinnear almost seems to be channelling a character he played a few years back in a similar romantic drama, “The Feast of Love.”  He’s good at these roles, but let’s have a bit more diversity, eh?)

Meanwhile Bill has his sexual needs met by a neighbor lady (Kristen Bell) who stops by on her morning run, services him in record time, and delivers unsentimental advice while tugging on her jogging outfit.

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