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Mark0099
Reviews
Children of Men (2006)
An excellent, if incredibly depressing, must-see
The projection of the most dismal future imaginable -- one where all humans are infertile so there's no reason to care for anything because the world will be empty within most people's lifetimes, and where a violently repressive society treats immigrants like animals -- is well done and horrifyingly realistic. It evokes Orwell's 1984 but is much more slimy and hopeless. A few elements mix despair and hope, but it's very hard to process either one.
The timing of the end was a little frustrating, and I thought to myself that it might be intended to leave room for a sequel. But on reflection, I'm not sure one would be desirable.
This is definitely NOT a "date movie," but it needs to be seen by everyone who expects to live another two decades.
Contadora Is for Lovers (2006)
Such a waste it's hard to give it even a zero
I could quickly tell there was something very false about this movie, and even just the first few minutes of dialog were so fake and contrived they were hard to stomach. The situations are laughably improbable, the sets are grotesquely overdone, the lighting is comical, and the soundtrack is beyond annoying. My revulsion has nothing to with the gay storyline (I myself am gay); this film is just a monumentally underdone, underacted pile of nothing. If it had been in any theater, it surely would have closed after one night and emptied the auditorium well before the halfway mark.
It's not worth seeing even as a curiosity. DON'T waste your time!
Silent Hill (2006)
A waste
Maybe this movie means something to fans of the video game, but having literally no experience with (or knowledge of) the latter, I found it immensely tedious. Much of the dialog is sloppy or hackneyed, and the first several plot points are so contrived it's almost embarrassing -- a lot like a very bad sit-com. Further in, it's clear the goal is to seem otherworldly & artsy, but that failed, and I had the recurrent urge to fast-forward. Now I wish I'd given in to it.
The child actor's long lecture about 3/4 of the way through is clumsy, ponderous, borderline laughable, and even recited poorly. Virtually all of the interior or underground shots are needlessly under-lit, and most of the special effects are cheap and pointless, even if a few might have merit for being startling in their grotesqueness.
The Langoliers (1995)
Loved it, hated it, can't decide
As many have noted, the acting is mostly horrible, but the dialog was far worse, and I can't bring myself to think the actors weren't cringing inside while filming.
By far the most annoying and destructive aspect of the script is the huge number of scenes where the plot would seem to dictate great screaming urgency but the characters waste time with blank stares or senseless pauses. Any writer who thinks those devices work to heighten suspense needs to go back to school, preferably the 5th grade. It's enough to make you root for the bad guys, er, bad things.
That said, the story was incredibly engrossing -- sufficiently so that we kept the disc running with only one pause in the whole 3 hours. I'm still not sure if that was smart or stupid. I'd like to be able to vote both 2 and 9 simultaneously.
Garçon stupide (2004)
Tedious, not touching
I don't see what justifies the rave reviews. Apart from the exposition, it came off fairly boring. Yes, Loic is enigmatic and incredibly attractive, and the film could have developed well based on that, but instead it wanders hopelessly after its first 20 minutes and becomes essentially 90% talk and 10% plot. That gets old fast. Even the few unusual "incidents" toward the end -- which I'd guess are there to provide a shock or epiphany -- seem pointlessly surreal.
The director indulges a number of disconnected fetishes for no apparent purpose. What are we supposed to make of the recurring shots of the Alps, or the distressed and always-bandaged eyebrow piercing? If these are supposed to be symbolic of something about Loic, their meanings are far too obscure. If the writers intended to make us guess at these things, that's a tired, pretentious technique that I think ends up being merely annoying, not clever.
A History of Violence (2005)
Has its moments, but pretty uneven
It's a good watch, with some nice action & suspense, but the acting jobs by some of the cast, including the mom and most especially the daughter, leave so much to be desired that they prevented me from enjoying the rest. Vigo M is great in his complex role, but the script seems to have pulled scenes from a dozen other films. That is to say, several times during the film I felt "ok, another formula sub-plot here." Some concepts were just plain overdone -- the exposition for one, practically beating you over the head with images & dialog designed to demonstrate what a sweet down-home little town Millbook is.
If I'd seen it in a theater I'd be annoyed....
Borstal Boy (2000)
Excels in spite of its flaws
As others have mentioned, the dialog was a real obstacle at times -- I couldn't even tell if the dockside conversation at the end was English or Gaelic. In most any other film, this would have had me at the point of surrender before reaching even the halfway point. But the story shines through here. And while parts are admittedly improbable or inaccurate, this didn't distract one bit. In the shocking final newsreel scene, I was just as distraught as Hatosy's character -- I replayed the scene at least 10 times, each time quite undone its emotional wallop.
High marks to Hatosy, Dyer, and Inglesby, whose other work I will now purposefully seek out.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Astounding
I'm amazed to see so many lukewarm reviews here, but it's pretty clear from the user-ratings graph that they don't represent a cross-section. Not having read the book, I went in with limited expectations, but was thoroughly entertained and left the theater in great spirits, as did an apparent majority of the audience -- after some spontaneous and sustained applause as the credits rolled.
Mentioning almost any details of the film's numerous innovative gags and subplots would spoil it badly, so I'll try not to. But who can dismiss such inspired things like the dolphin exodus, the violently idea-repellent planet, the moping robot, or the erudite book's hilarious explanations? The sheer density of the laugh-source material almost causes one's brain to overflow, so that it's actually hard to remember them all afterward. My only direct advice is: don't leave the theater in the middle. A trip to the candy counter or the bathroom will cause you to miss enough to feel the void it leaves.
One other observation: anyone who waits for the video is going to be horribly disappointed. This is definitely a must-see-on-the-big-screen kind of film.
Clearly a 10.
Eden's Curve (2003)
Your eyes may hurt, but it's worth it.
Others have remarked that the video quality on the DVD is poor. No argument there. I thought at first maybe I'd been spoiled by a recent visit with a friend's HDTV, but I had to squint the whole time. The sound is sub-average too. Discounting that, the film itself is quite deep, quite surreal, and the sort that will keep you very quiet while watching.
The pace is slow, which I normally despise, but in this case it enhances the whole impression. Watch it when you're NOT in a hurry.
Bryan Carrol as Billy has a screen presence I can't begin to describe. I'll want to see anything else he does.
9/10.
The Singing Forest (2003)
Don't!
While I don't agree with most here who say this is the worst movie I've ever seen, I certainly would classify it in my bottom five....
The premise *could* have been interesting. And if you're unfortunate enough to have rented this mess before reading these comments, it may help to watch the 'special features' (bunch of odd shorts) before, or instead of, the film. They're no better, but they have some shock value and, being shorts, do not drag on & on about nothing.
The shorts and other features on the DVD clarify, for me, what's really wrong: the filmmaker thinks he can succeed by doing little more than recording actions, sets, and dialog and calling it a movie. Everything else on the disc is as emptyheaded as the movie. The filmmaker seems proud of the film in the way you might be proud of spreading garbage over an acre of fresh lawn, that is, he thinks it's most important to be
The only noteworthy performer is Craig Pinkston, but only because he looks halfway hot in the brief scene with his shirt off.
The Station Agent (2003)
Very hard to describe the reason it's so good
I ordinarily despise slow-paced movies, but I loved this one. I rewound several scenes several times to savor them again, and I teared up more than a few times, yet was often unable to say why. I notice other commenters hint at similar reactions -- unable to pinpoint exactly what hit them in the heart, but still appreciating it thoroughly. It's possible that the sheer mystery of how it works is part of why it works so well.
This is a stunningly fine film with no strong similarity to any other I can think of. Peter Dinklage gives an amazing performance, proving incidentally that *quantity* of dialog can be irrelevant to *quality* of acting. Many have said the movie isn't really focused on the fact that Fin is a dwarf, but I think it's an essential element. It explains, in part at least, Fin's preference for solitude, having presumably been mistreated for much of his life. This is clearly offered in 'sampler' format -- the cackling store clerk snapping his photo, the teasing from both kids and trashy adults, etc.
(That said, I'm eager to see his work in future roles and feel confident they won't all relate to his physical stature.)
On the flip side, Fin's arrival touches both Joe and Olivia immediately and positively. Joe wants a friend, Olivia wants -- well, we don't really know for sure, do we -- but they both also want to be kind and welcoming without being condescending. That proves a tough chore, but it obsesses both of them, and that's just plain uplifting. Both of them have their own stressful lives, yet they push themselves to interfere benevolently (at least from their POVs) in his. It makes you ache for all 3 of them.
The IMDb message boards for the majority of current movies quickly degenerate into rudeness. (I'm talking about the casual, unscreened posting threads labeled by topic, not the IMDb-approved comments you're reading now.) It says something good about this film that EVERY ONE of its message-board entries is calm and civil, even when expressing disagreement, and that many are unusually insightful. I think a lot of that is responding to the goodness in the film.
My easiest vote ever: 10 out of 10.
Dreamcatcher (2003)
Has problems, but they don't matter
It's hard to explain why a movie so "bad" by ordinary measures remains a mesmerizing experience, and it's even harder to do it without spoilers. The uneven, wandering, genre-crossing plot is indeed bizarre, but often exquisitely so. The characters are all likable if seriously flawed. The odd story, the many interesting photographic vignettes, and some unique sequences that should not be divulged here, make this a worthwhile rental in spite of itself.
We've all seen similar menacing-monster effects before, but these have a peculiar rawness that sets them apart. (You can't really appreciate the complexity of a beast that seems to be mostly teeth-and-evil until you see it rendered.) Parts of the film are terrifying, and while there is a LOT of carnage, virtually all of it is filmed skillfully so that the Gasp Index is high, but flat-out gratuitous on-screen gore is minimal. I like that. Finally, after a short while one is always aware of a second layer of reality & telepathy that is executed well.
The user-ratings graph for this film is all over the place, so obviously not everyone reacts the same way. (I haven't seen such an inconclusive distribution since Blair Witch...)
I recommend seeing it on DVD for the alternate ending, which I preferred. It's much sadder, but less cheesy in that it forgoes the saved-at-the-last-second triteness of the final worm-squishing.
For some reason films set in New England are often loaded with geographical inaccuracies. Nobody in Maine would speak of driving south as going "toward Massachusetts" (which does not border Maine at all.) In the first scene that mentions the Quabbin Reservoir, it's said to be "not far" from the travelers' current position, which is presumably in southern Maine, and the dialog implies one could make the drive from one to the other in about 15 minutes. In reality it's over 100 miles. And much mention is made of a town called Derry, Maine, which does not exist but which is in fact the name of one of a well-known cluster of towns in southern New Hampshire, in an area very close to the part of Maine where this story takes place. Why this oddity was necessary I'll never know. If this seems like a small complaint, imagine how distracted you might be by a story set in a fictional Nevada town called Los Angeles, whose name was repeated several times per hour.
7/10
A Night at the Roxbury (1998)
Embarrassingly good
We're all supposed to hate this kind of movie -- the bonehead comedy, combined with the whole lovelorn-losers shtick. And to be honest, I almost always do. But it was on TV last week. I fell into it during the first 10 minutes and stayed through the end, even though I had things to do. It's FUNNY. It's not a masterpiece or at all Oscarworthy, but it's more than just a check-your-brains popcorn flick. A few specific scenes stand out as memorably cute, most especially the way Doug (Chris Kattan) interrupts the wedding. Kattan's lines, mannerisms, and expressions are probably most of what elevates this film above the crap it could have been, but they're not the overdone mugging one sees in, for example, Jim Carrey (whom I can't tolerate, but who I understand co-wrote this film - hmm.). I think most everyone else's performances were enhanced by Kattan's presence.
Obviously nobody who hates the song "What is Love" should see this film. But for the rest of us, it really was a serviceable romp and I don't think I would've been upset if I'd paid money to see it in a theater.
Quills (2000)
Excellent and disturbing
Anyone who truly values freedom of expression will love this film (and be periodically enraged by it). A clear 10 out of 10, with solid performances not only by Geoffrey Rush and Joaquin Phoenix but by everyone in each lesser role. Definitely not a popcorn movie...!
The Spitfire Grill (1996)
Burstyn's performance outweighs a lackluster script and ending
That really says it in a nutshell. The scenery and small-town vignettes are sweet in their own way but this movie really just affirms that some stars just can't make a bad movie. True, the accents in most of the characters (not all) are badly flawed.
One major goof -- SPOILER AHEAD -- and I would've submitted this in the "Goofs" section but it's empty right now and apparently you can't add to an empty category: Toward the end when a character dies a horrible death by falling through several hundred feet of rapids and waterfalls, we see a shot of the character's lifeless body. Anyone else who died in this violent manner would be bruised and bloodied, if not dismembered, by the ordeal, but there's not a scratch on this person's face. Ahem.
The Princess Bride (1987)
Inconceivably....perfect
It's hard -- good grief, it's IMPOSSIBLE -- to expand on what other commenters have said. But with a movie like this, nobody can stop me from trying anyway! So here are some specifics to add to the general cheer:
1. This movie proves that there's still a place for the hackneyed phrase "entertaining for all ages."
2. I'm not the least bit surprised to hear some reviewers report that this movie affected their love life or even catalyzed their marriage. I don't know of any contemporary film, and in fact I'm hard-pressed to think of any film of ANY era, that addresses "true love" so openly, so perfectly, and with such lasting effect. Here is a film that treads boldly in an area that almost always suffers from excessive schmaltz or cuteness, yet handily escapes both. Anyone who dislikes The Princess Bride is probably a very unhappy and pitiable person.
3. This movie has the wrong title. I can't suggest an alternate but I'm sure I would have seen it years earlier had it been named something else -- possibly *anything* else. ;)
4. It's a major accomplishment for a movie that doesn't easily fall into one of the ultra-standard drama categories to rate a spot on the IMDB's "Top 250" list, especially 13 years after its release.
5. If you're the kind of person who reads the "Memorable Quotes" section here before you see the movie, try to resist that. The most precious lines in this film -- and there are dozens -- have many times more impact when you don't see them coming.
6. See it with someone you care about. Or if that's not possible, see it to help you realize how easy it is to care about someone.
The Princess Bride (1987)
Inconceivably....perfect
It's hard -- good grief, it's IMPOSSIBLE -- to expand on what other commenters have said. But with a movie like this, nobody can stop me from trying anyway! So here are some specifics to add to the general cheer:
1. This movie proves that there's still a place for the hackneyed phrase "entertaining for all ages."
2. I'm not the least bit surprised to hear some reviewers report that this movie affected their love life or even catalyzed their marriage. I don't know of any contemporary film, and in fact I'm hard-pressed to think of any film of ANY era, that addresses "true love" so openly, so perfectly, and with such lasting effect. Here is a film that treads boldly in an area that almost always suffers from excessive schmaltz or cuteness, yet handily escapes both. Anyone who dislikes The Princess Bride is probably a very unhappy and pitiable person.
3. This movie has the wrong title. I can't suggest an alternate but I'm sure I would have seen it years earlier had it been named something else -- possibly *anything* else. ;)
4. It's a major accomplishment for a movie that doesn't easily fall into one of the ultra-standard drama categories to rate a spot on the IMDB's "Top 250" list, especially 13 years after its release.
5. If you're the kind of person who reads the "Memorable Quotes" section here before you see the movie, try to resist that. The most precious lines in this film -- and there are dozens -- have many times more impact when you don't see them coming.
6. See it with someone you care about. Or if that's not possible, see it to help you realize how easy it is to care about someone.
Nurse Betty (2000)
Uneven but engrossing
Nurse Betty has that odd but winning combination of a repellent, unease-inducing plot with extraordinary characters. In the same way I loathed Fargo on first viewing, then realized I was still thinking about it days later and enjoying it somehow, I liked Nurse Betty a lot more the day after I saw it. Hard to understand, harder to explain. As others have said, it's quite forced in many ways, but that seems to be part of what makes it so striking.
Fair job by Greg Kinnear, great work from Morgan Freeman (although I worry that he's being stereotyped as the principled villain). Chris Rock was good but not a standout. Rene Z. is so natural it's unnerving -- i.e., unnerving to be "natural" playing someone not well in the head. Also liked the sort of "abrasive sparkle" performance from Allison Janney in a small part.
Don't go expecting as much of a "road movie" as you might assume from some synopses. (There is "road," but it's only barely relevant.) Rated 8/10.
What Lies Beneath (2000)
Very good, and a little bad -- some (minor) SPOILERS here
Overall rating (1-10) = 8
Scare factor (1-10) = 9+
Number of characters you sometimes just want to slap >1
First of all, comments seen here and elsewhere note that most of this movie's many scary moments are thoroughly preannounced, by swelling music and such. This is correct. Only a very few of the main fright points are done in "Jaws" style, i.e., sprung upon us when we can't help but be off-guard. Still, in my view, this doesn't detract much. This a VERY scary movie and a good investment if you like shock and surprise. I definitely *wouldn't* advise seeing it while holding a hot coffee or a fragile dessert.
That's not to say there's nothing in this film that detracts. First, what talent Michelle Pfeiffer has is largely wasted during the first hour on a script that's way too full of boomer-angst cliches. A big piece of the film's first half -- showing her character's daughter leaving for college and mom's resulting slushy reaction -- could have been easily condensed or evaporated, trimming several minutes from the total 129. If this was there to demonstrate what a good friend of mine likes to call EMS (Excessive Mom Syndrome) and to help confirm the idea that ole mom is even more delicate than she looks, then I suppose it worked. But so did several other shorter & simpler scenes, which sufficed. (At one point I heard a Valley-Girl sort of voice in the row behind me mutter, after a heavy sigh: "Okaaaaay, so she's wound a little too tight, we've *got* that already...." It was an accurate point. Somebody please wake me when this stock character type -- the artsy, wispy, idle, tormented, 40-ish upper-middle-class housewife with white teeth and a whiter Volvo -- breathes its last.
Some comments have also noted considerable over- and under-acting by both Ford and Pfeiffer. I agree. The mix of super-calm moments and shocker scenes, while effective, is jarringly uneven. I don't mean to imply that a horror/thriller film should always jolt us only at neat and regularly spaced intervals; but one could almost wonder if this film was divided into several parts at the beginning, each then being assigned to a separate director who rarely spoke with his or her collaborators. That said, I can't fault the *intensity* of any of the several pee-in-your-pants moments. As predictable and hollow as many of them are, each is a definite seat-grabber, and it would be hard to "spoil" any of them, even with a detailed verbal description.
The often-noted similarities to "Rear Window" are obvious, even too obvious, but *not* essential to the plot and in retrospect may seem gratuitous. Again, while the film may keep your mind engrossed and your breathing shallow, the overkill factor is high. Some of the camera or editing work seems overdone in the same way -- sometimes almost playfully so, and to such an extent that I can't really say for sure if the performers are guiltier there than the director.
For example, at one point about halfway through, a progressively more unnerved Claire [Pfeiffer] is inside her home peering intently at her neighbor's house, which we see in the predictable breathless pan from window to window, supposedly through her binoculars. When she finally sights Thorwald -- ooooooooops, I mean her neighbor Warren Feur -- we of *course* see his scowling face in a lightning-zoomed close-up with a loud blast of eerie music. and while this isn't done quite as badly as, say, the Large Marge eyeball-popper scene in "Pee-wee Herman's Big Adventure," it's in the same class when it comes to timing & soundtrack! It's quite a scary moment, but you might easily feel cheated by it soon afterward because (1) you realize that the zoom is a major part of what made the shot so scary, and (2) this Feur guy isn't really involved in the plot except to affirm, yet again, that Claire's a borderline basket case.
Miscellany: The film is set in Vermont, where I once lived, and I was pleased with some of the accuracies while also struck by some inaccuracies or improbabilities. None are really worth mentioning, except for the repeated mentions of the town of Adamant. Adamant is a real place in Vermont, but it's referred to at least twice in the script as being "down seven," meaning south on U.S. Highway 7 -- a main north-south thoroughfare, running the length of Vermont's western edge and traversing the Burlington/Lake Champlain area where the film's characters obviously live. But Adamant lies some 40 miles EAST of Route 7, a little over halfway across the state. It can't realistically be described as "down seven" from anywhere else in in Vermont or even Quebec, and in fact does not lie astride *any* numbered highway. (If the multiple mentions of this town's name are a new kind of "product placement" technique, I'd be interested to know the rationale for so thoroughly mislocating it!)
What happens *in* Adamant does have some bearing on the plot, but the town itself is not significant, or at least not significant enough to justify its quirky repetition. (If I missed something about this while making a quick visit to the john, someone please clue me in.)
Special effects: Not many, but those that we do see are quite good. No extraordinary innovations, just good scream-fuel.
Bottom line: It's scary and worth checking out. It's lame in spots and the story isn't all that new, but these things won't likely make you sad you went.
Crazy in Alabama (1999)
Everything I didn't expect
One doesn't tend to expect much from an actor's directorial debut, especially from a relatively young actor and especially from one who seemed to have risen to fame at least partially by being, um, well, a studmuffin. One also typically expects a movie in which a husband directs his wife in a lead role to be fairly shallow or at least unbalanced. I crossed this movie off my list pretty early, expecting a forgettable Griffith-overload creation and little more.
Wrong! It's well-acted, engrossing, funny, and uplifting without feeling schmaltzy or (despite its farfetched plot) artificial. Every so often you want to rewind a bit, to hear some extra-cute bit of dialog again, or savor an especially well-done shot. (The camera work and sets, both indoor and outdoor, show unusual care, flash, and detail; this didn't dawn on me for most of the first hour but a rewind made it obvious.) Overall, 9 stars out of ten. But:
I wouldn't urge anyone to see this movie for Melanie Griffith. She does a fine job, but she's not what puts it over the top. As with quite a few recent films, I found that the performances of the extremely well-chosen supporting actors were a big part of what held the film together and made it so much more than it might have been. Most notable here is Rod Steiger as the judge, who captivates utterly; John Beasley as Nehemiah -- though his character could have stood a lot more development; and the perpetually underrated Meat Loaf as the slimy sheriff. Performances like Steiger's make you want to ransack the video store to rent all his older films.
Finally, I believe Lucas Black is destined for greatness. I couldn't watch him without remembering River Phoenix as Chris in "Stand By Me."
Why this film doesn't even rate a Maltin summary is beyond me.
Final Destination (2000)
Bad but good
I agree with the many commenters here who rate Final Destination highly while conceding its lame script and painfully one-dimensional portrayals. Seems like every few minutes there was a line of dialog or plot device that made me want to roll my eyes. Yet the film still rattled me in the right places. It's very suspenseful despite several elements that just about anyone would find predictable or contrived. In the latter category (MILD SPOILER AHEAD), I was both entertained and embarrassed by the incredibly convoluted Rube-Goldberg-style buildup to almost every death or near-death. It's quite unrealistic that nobody dies *simply* in this film, but the whole premise of the story pretty well dismisses a requirement for realism anyway.
Frequency (2000)
Sparkling
Not since American Beauty have I heard so much entertained cackling from an audience, and not since E.T. have I heard so much sniffling during the heartstring-tugger parts. It was well worth our 8 bucks. And for time-travel or time-hole freaks, it's a screaming bargain at that price.
Given the obvious difficulties in Frequency's premise, the film could very easily have ended up somewhere between forgettable and laughable. Somebody clearly worked hard to prevent this, and it shows. Indeed, all of the standard leaps and twists inherent a time-screw movie are executed *believably*, and I think this is a big reason Frequency succeeds. It also doesn't hurt that Dennis Quaid finally proved he still has the talent we last saw from him seven zillion years ago, in Breaking Away. Won't someone give this guy another good script or three?
The ending is imperfect, and I would guess it's the main reason for the dearth of "10" ratings here. But I seriously doubt anyone alive could have dreamed up a more satisfying resolution. This is still one of those films where most people leave the theater beaming and wishing there were more movies like it.
And if anyone still needs more proof that previews can be bad representations of the movies they promote, this is it. Very little of Frequency is anywhere near as schmaltzy as its trailer implies. Bottom line: See it.
Judy Berlin (1999)
You'll squirm with irritation in spite of yourself
These are uniformly dislikable characters, in a dislikable setting, with dislikable attitudes and lives, but somehow you put up with, and at times even sympathize with, each (or at least several) of them.
At about the 20-minute mark I almost might have left, cursing to myself and wondering if films like this should have warning labels, reading "You may be seized with the urge to poke the eyes out of certain characters." Fortunately we stayed. If you have an Actual Life, especially one that's well-removed from the nose-wrinklingly sterile mess that is American suburbia, this film and its characters may tick you off briefly, but after a while you realize your shuddering is a good sign.
Popular (1999)
A refreshing surprise
Who woulda thought a teen series on the WB could hold my interest (I'm 45) for even 5 minutes, let alone make me a dedicated fan? It's got the kind of script, cast chemistry, and innate fun that most shows of its type can only dream of. It's true that quite a lot of it is just plain off-the-wall, but trust me, off-the-wall has never been done with such finesse!
When you discount the predictable who-looks-hottest comments, you start noticing things about the individual actors. All of them are excellent, but you have to admire two in particular for their skill. First, Leslie Grossman ("Mary Cherry") does an amazing job. It's VERY hard to play an over-the-top character on a show that itself is already over-the-top in many ways, but so far she always seems to get the weirdness exactly right, and that is NOT easy. Also, Christopher Gorham ("Harrison John") has something extra that I just can't place. According to one of the fan sites, he's the only one of the (non-parent) cast who has a degree in theater (from UCLA, I believe), and that may be what sets his performance apart.
Before I discovered Popular, both my TV and my VCR were programmed to *skip* the WB channel. Nuff said.
The Next Best Thing (2000)
Another reason to ignore the critics
This film has many, MANY small flaws.... none of which really detracts measurably. At some point I realized that just about any film like this would have received the same overly cool reception. Why? Because everyone knows from the get-go that it's a "gay movie" and most people also know it's got an un-gay twist in it. So a lot of straight people see it braced for some gut-level discomfort, and a lot of gay people see it prepared to grimace at the un-gay elements. Thus, probably way too many viewers arrive at the theater with their colons already in a knot. Added to this are the perhaps 8 million garden-variety cynics who've trained themselves to loathe anything Madonna is involved in and who will want their voices heard.
No matter. Maybe have a cocktail first, then just sit back and enjoy. Everett and Bratt are quite good, Madonna is adequate (not horrible, but adequate), and several of the smaller roles are done well in spite of the quirky, uneven script -- which, granted, is substandard, but not nearly the atrocity some are making it out to be.
Nobody in the cast will win any awards for this film, and those of us who came for the story won't care.