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- Format: DVD
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WILL, THE QUIRKY STREET PERFORMER WITH A FREE SPIRIT AND A HEART OF PURE GOLD. THE OBJECT OF WILL'S LIFELONG AFFECTION IS EMMA,THE BEAUTIFUL YOUNG ACTRESS WHOM HE HAS NEVER STOPPED LOVING SINCE THEY WERE CHILDHOOD SWEETHEARTS. BUT WHEN THEY REUNITE, AND WILL GETS SWEPT UP IN EMMA'S COMPLICATED PAST?
Waiting for Forever is a film that's unlikely to elicit many neutral opinions; chances are you'll find it either cute 'n' quirky or cloying and annoying. At the center of this 2010 rom-com is the relationship between Will Donner (Tom Sturridge) and Emma Twist (Rachel Bilson). Friends since childhood, when she provided him with comfort and companionship following the traumatic death of his parents in a train crash, they've long since gone their separate ways--or so she thinks. Turns out! that while Emma has been pursuing a career as an actress, Will has turned into a kind of peripatetic Peter Pan, only without the flying chops. A jobless (he earns spare change as a street juggler) dreamer and hopeless romantic who steadfastly refuses to engage with life's quotidian realities, he's been following Emma from place to place, a sort of benign stalker who has never had the nerve to approach or talk to her, preferring to hang back and worship her from afar. That changes when Emma returns to their Pennsylvania hometown, where her father (the reliable Richard Jenkins) is seriously ill and her ditzy mom (Bythe Danner) needs support. Encouraged by his well-adjusted banker brother (Scott Mechlowicz) and other friends, Will at last approaches her and confesses all. Complications ensue--including a credibility-defying, out-of-nowhere subplot involving Emma's L.A. boyfriend and an accidental homicide--but they do little to keep this tale from ending exactly as we expect ! it to. The only question involves whether you'll see "Willie" ! as a cha rming lost puppy who's never gotten over his parents' death and could use a hug, or as an infuriating ne'er-do-well who needs some sense slapped into him. The indie nu-folk music on the soundtrack leaves little doubt about where director James Keach and writer Steve Adams's sentiments lie.
--Sam Graham"The Last Kiss" is a hip romantic comedy about life, love, infidelity, forgiveness, marriage, friendship… and coming to grips with turning 30.A remake of the Italian film
L'Ultimo Bacio,
The Last Kiss was largely ignored in theaters despite its Gen-X themes and appeal of star Zach Braff (
Scrubs), who last made a splash in theaters with his similar twentysomething angst film
Garden State. A drama about midlife crises (mostly for people approaching 30, that is), director Tony Goldwyn (
A Walk on the Moon) has assembled a top-notch cast, but there's not enough likeability in the characters to care. Architect Michael (Zach Braff) is a comm! itmentphobe who wanders into a flirtation with coed Kim (Rachel Bilson) because he's gun-shy about settling down with his perfect girlfriend Jenna (Jacinda Barrett), who's expecting his child. His fellow pals face their own romantic crossroads; one (Michael Weston) desires to settle down with a woman who doesn't love him back; another (Eric Christian Olsen) can't find someone who just wants a meaningless fling like him; and the third (Casey Affleck), ponders leaving his weary wife who's constantly berating his shortcomings as a father. Most depressing is Jenna's mother (Blythe Danner), who's tired of feeling neglected by her stoic husband (Tom Wilkinson). Danner and Wilkinson are compelling as longtime marrieds who've lost their spark, but Braff's character is wholly unlikeable, even aside from his indiscretions. The bright spot is Bilson, in her first movie role, utterly adorable as the sexy college student who's got more parts vulnerability and sass than any stuck in the ! Other Woman role. There's some fine acting in
The Last Kiss! , bu t not enough character development to care about anything they're going through.
The DVD includes a commentary featuring cast members Braff, Barrett, Olsen, Bilson, and director Goldwyn, who all mainly hoot during Olsen's sex scenes and ogle Bilson's seductive dancing. Braff and Goldwyn also imitate Bilson's high-pitched speedchatter throughout, while Barrett educates the cast on the similarities between "the dingo ate my baby" and the O.J. Simpson case (don't ask). It's all the more entertaining compared to a separate commentary track with just Goldwyn and Braff, who mostly drones about the music he picked for the film (Remy Zero, Snow Patrol, Aimee Mann) and raves about the minimalist score, done by singer Michael Penn. And oh, they ogle Bilson's dancing in this one too. -- Ellen A. KimAN ANTHOLOGY FILM JOINING SEVERAL LOVE STORIES SET IN ONE OF THE MOST LOVED CITIES OF THE WORLD, NEW YORKNew York, I Love You feels as patchy as its experimental premise.! Riffing on Paris, je t'aime, this film comprises several segments seeking to reflect the Big Apple's diversity and unlikely relationships forged through it. Ten directors had two days to shoot and one week to edit individual segments that are linked by transitions. As a result, the film has a haphazard visual aesthetic, which works to various degrees. The best segments are those that show odd characters navigating the city in unique ways. The first sequence, shot by Mira Nair, features Rifka (Natalie Portman), a Hassid buying her wedding jewels from Jain gem dealer Mansuhkhbai (Irrfan Khan). While these two at first antagonize one another, the common ground they discover is a source of great comedy. Joshua Marston's segment featuring Mitzie (Cloris Leachman) and Abe (Eli Wallach), an elderly Jewish couple squabbling their way down the street, is both endearing and a tribute to a familiar scenario. Another segment that successfully depicts New York life is director B! rett Ratner's, in which a nosy pharmacist, played by James Caa! n, recru its a trustworthy high school student (Anton Yelchin) to take his wheelchair-bound daughter (Olivia Thirlby) to the prom. Other segments feel completely random. Shekhar Kapur's mysterious piece about a concert pianist, Isabelle (Julie Christie), and her rendezvous with waiter Jacob (Shia LaBeouf), is melodramatic and doesn't channel New York enough to be apparent. Overall, New York, I Love You feels like a washed-out Woody Allen attempt in terms of clever dialogue, though each viewer may find favorite sequences in those few humorous or touching moments when the film does succeed. --Trinie Dalton
