Short Review: Any film where the State Department is shown to be a gaggle of heartless, incomprehensibly inept baboons is cool with me.


Remarkably, this movie not overly political. Given that the film industry feels compelled to shoehorn pathetic political snipes in even films about middle-aged cookbook authors, the fact that this movie saves its lefty political jabs for the opening credits and the final moments of the film, is notable. When you toss in the fact that this film has U. S. agents scuttling around in the sand in the Middle East, the lack of a “blame America first and blame America often” haranguing is almost unbelievable.

While this film begins with a simplistic, and lopsided, but visually interesting history of how American intrusion into Saudi Arabia (for the purposes of obtaining oil) has lead to the modern Islamic terrorist, the movie overall refrains from finger pointing. This said, the opening historical review does somehow manage to only show Republican Presidents and their administrations adding flames to the Islamic fires. Democratic administrations are remarkably absent. The review also avoids holding the Saudi’s, or more importantly the Islamic terrorists, accountable for their own actions.

Overall, the film overall is a gripping thriller. Islamic terrorists conduct a horrific bombing of an American interest in Saudi Arabia and a team of FBI agents investigates the crime. During the process, the lead investigator. Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx), has to contend with Saudis restricting his access, but also the American State Department hamstringing his efforts.

The script by Matthew Michael Carnahan is tight and intelligent. The investigation is smartly handled and doesn’t unfold too neatly. Carnahan does a great job of playing off of the disconnect between Fleury and his fellow investigators (Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman) and their Saudi hosts. The agents are in a foreign land and they are not welcome guests. The continual threat of violence heightens the tension.

The biggest failure of the script is in character development. With a twisting plot, the multiple characters get lost in the shuffle and many lose dimension. In particular Jason Bateman’s character Adam. To be honest, I am not certain why he was brought along on the investigation. His character literally does nothing of note to assist in the investigation except interrupt with humorous lines about how much he doesn’t like being involved.

In addition to the aforementioned flaw in the script, director Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) fails to deliver meaningful close. In the advertisements there is particular attention paid to the thrill of the final half-hour. The final segment of the film is indeed riveting. The final segment has some good pacing and it will guarantee to impact an audience. All of this good work devolves into a typical, and sadly predictable, Hollywood ending. It is a very safe resolution slathered in moral relativism. The terrorists are bad, but we’re no good too. No one is right because everyone is wrong. With the intelligent story that preceded it, the ending feels cheap and sanctimonious.

Despite the character issues and the troublesome ending, I think most audiences will enjoy the film. It's just a shame it could have been better.



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Labels: Ashraf Barhom, Chris Cooper, film, Jamie Foxx, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, Jeremy Piven, movie review, Peter Berg, Tim McGraw

It could have been funny but they went for crude instead. Saying filthy things in place of actual punchlines doesn't equate comedy, it just means you're copping out.

Don Ready (Jeremy Piven) and his crew of mercenary used-car salesmen are brought in to help a dealer who is facing being bought out. This is a great concept, but there is absolutely no payoff. There is some sparks at the opening, in particular with Piven's character. Once the plot begins to mix we discover that all of the ingredients are flavorless.

The comedy comes in two fashions here. There are semblances of some good comedy setups but no payoffs or the setups are so stupid they have nowhere to go. An exmple of both of these issues melding into one disjointed bit that comes up multiple times: Craig Robinson plays a d-jay who refuses to conform to his audience's tastes. He grumbles with a psychotic mantra about not being pushed around as be throws out vile rap to a crowd of shoppers. There is nothing that comes from this set up and no reason for it to be introduced in the first place...which essentially sums up the movie.




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Labels: David Koechner, Ed Helms, film, Jeremy Piven, Kathryn Hahn, movie review, Ving Rhames, Will Ferrell

This trailer actually made me laugh. Trailers rarely make me laugh. Ken Jeong's expression during the Pearl Harbor bit kills me.






Screenwriters: Andy Stock and Andy Stempson
Director: Neal Brennan
Actors: Ed Helms (The Hangover), Will Ferrell (Land of the Lost), Jeremy Piven (The Kingdom), Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction) and David Koechner (Get Smart)

Labels: David Koechner, Ed Helms, film, Jeremy Piven, movie trailer, Ving Rhames, Will Ferrell

A simple star vehicle for Nicholas Cage, this kind movie is a cinematic version of an easy chair - it’s comfy, warm and approachable. Cage stars as Jack Campbell a investment broker who falls into a Christmas Carol type dream world where he forgives his high-powered, Wall Street life for the pleasures of the normal life. If you can ignore the idea of a bunch of Hollywood folks telling the rest of us how wonderful regular life is like, you will find a kind and enjoyable movie with some good messages, even if it is directed by Brett Ratner.


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Labels: Don Cheadle, film, Jeremy Piven, movie review, Nicholas Cage, Téa Leoni