Reel-View Ratings: The Bigger The Beard, The Better The Movie
GENIUS
A celebrated crowd of noticeably British and Australian thespians plays these giants of American literature in this biopic of editor Maxwell Perkins (Colin Firth) — best known today as the man who discovered F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Wolfe (Jude Law). The least famous of the trio is the star here, but Wolfe is not remembered today so widely and fondly as his peers, and the film does little to change that impression. It drones at times, it over-simplifies, it drags on laboriously, and it really only comes to life in spurts and snatches. But like an overly long novel, the film is simply rather dull. Opens June 17 at Kahala Theatre
LOLO
Art director Violette (Julie Delpy) falls in love with bumbling software engineer Jene-Rene (Dany Boon), and all seems to be peachy when he moves near her in Paris … except that her Oedipal son, Lolo (Vincent Lacoste), is not interested in sharing his mother and schemes to chase away the interloper. The film certainly could’ve been a charming meditation on middle-aged, modern love; of dysfunctional mother-son relationships; of, well, a lot of things. Instead it’s just a shallow comedy of errors as Lolo advances his guerilla campaign, and not an especially funny one, at that. Funnier are Violette’s glib sexual jokes and puns, sprinkled in for throwaway — but heartfelt — snickers. Plays at 7:30 p.m. June 24 and 1 p.m. June 26 at Doris Duke Theatre
VALLEY OF LOVE
The starriest of French stars — Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert — star in a meta-take on celebrity and fame. Or, like, maybe they do. It’s not super clear. The two play an old, divorced couple (also named Gerard and Isabelle) reunited after their son’s suicide because he has promised to appear to them in the American desert if they follow a specific travel itinerary. Well, OK, right? This absurdist-aspiring flick could’ve been an interesting experiment, but because it never fully commits to absurdity or normality, it just flounders and fails to engage on either level. The result is simply dull and disconnected. Plays at 4 p.m. June 19, 7:30 p.m. June 21 and 1 p.m. June 22 at Doris Duke Theatre
