Reel-View Ratings: The Bigger The Beard, The Better The Movie
A PERFECT DAY
Four aid workers in the Balkans are confronted with pulling a corpse out of a well before it poisons the water — but nobody in this civil war has any rope they’re willing to spare, so the four maddeningly go back and forth between war-torn towns, fighting off their cynicism, just trying to find some damn rope. It’s an engaging premise with political heft, but this movie unfortunately fails to follow through. The meandering plot doesn’t do its subject justice, and the script doesn’t go nearly as in-depth as it should: The women are barely more than one-note archetypes; the men are stereotypical rugged heroes against the odds. It comes off as, strangely, kind of self-righteous and dull. Plays at 11 a.m., 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 p.m. May 21 at the Movie Museum
THE MEDDLER
Recent widow Marnie (Susan Sarandon) moves cross-country to be closer to her adult daughter Lori (Rose Byrne), bringing with her an insistent, irrepressible urge to mother and meddle with her daughter’s life. When she’s pushed away, Marnie turns to mothering Lori’s friends, as well as complete strangers. It sounds annoying, twee and cloying, but Sarandon deftly makes Marnie charming and familiar, reminding you of your own mother instead of just being a shrill caricature. The movie lacks some needed edge in all that soft sweetness (things just go too well for Marnie sometimes), but hey — it’s a tribute to the meddlesome mother, not a critique. Opens May 20 at Kahala Theatre
THE NICE GUYS
The truth is that you’ll either love it or hate it. Either you’ll think Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling are the newest, coolest unlikely-buddy-cop pairing this side of RDJ and Val Kilmer, or you’ll find this is only the newest formulaic Shane Black buddy cop film. The 1970s-set action-comedy finds Crowe and Gosling (a surprisingly charismatic duo) pairing up to track down a missing lady before a bunch of gangsters do, with lots of snark, violence and period references to smooth the way. It’s fun, but it’s not exactly groundbreaking or anything new for Black. If you like that formula, you’ll love this film. If it ain’t broke, why fix it, right? Opens Feb. 19 at Kahala Theatre
