I won't be writing a review of David Gordon Green's Snow Angels because I don't have much to say. I'm not one to shy away from unhappy films. I like a good tragedy but sometimes I wonder about bleakness for bleakness' sake... or about films that try to do other things simultaneously, expecting me to purge the massively depressing thing I've just seen to jump back into other lighter stories. I enjoyed pieces of the film --Amy Sedaris really pops as a local waitress and the teen romance within is well played by Michael Angarano & Olivia Thirlby. I remain unconverted when it comes to Kate Beckinsale. This film asks more of her (a lot more of her) than her recent oeuvre but I never get a lot from her as an actress.
I wrote about Married Life briefly when I saw it at the New York Film Festival but I've expanded my Patty-drooling antics over @ Pajiba for a full review (discuss the movie there if you're feeling chatty). I created this blurb whore image before I watched I Could Never Be Your Woman (last night in fact) but I'm not quite ready to talk about what I saw. Give me time to digest... or cleanse as it were.
previously on blurb whore
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19 comments:
Ah, yes: the mixed experience that is watching I could never be your woman. For me, the good (La Pfeiffer, Paul Rudd's effortless charm, the goofyness) outweighed the bad (which I'm not going to even start on), but not by a whole lot. I'm curious to know what you thought!
Off-topic: Nat, have you seen who Tracy Ullman is impersonating on her new show? I speak of the first image at that link, of course. Figured you'd appreciate.
On topic: I agree that Miss Beckinsale was a little over-matched with her material in Snow Angels. I actually thought Sam Rockwell seemed a little out-of-his-element as well; for some reason I never buy it when he's called on to cry. The jarring changes in tone, however, I think I found those a little less unnerving than you; it's a signature of DGG's films, I think, and one I think he handles well. Think of Patricia Clarkson's dramatic scene in full clown make-up in All The Real Girls. They're weird, off-kilter places he concocts, and I like it. The kids - Michael Arangano and Olivia Thirlby - were def. the strongest part of the film. Ass for bleakness... it was actually less bleak than I was anticipating. There was a lot of much-appreciated humor I wasn't expecting.
"Ass for bleakness"???
Sigh.
Yeah, Sam Rockwell, who I usually love, was good but I agree with the crying thing. Weird. The kids were awesome, though I kept waiting for the movie to pull the trigger on Connor Paolo's weird touchy-feely thing he had going with Michael Angarano.
I'm pleased to see Patty doing something meaty and substantial after so long. I've been worried about her career lately, especially after watching the Catherine Zeta-Jones vehicle No Reservations. Not only is Patty's role in it completely thankless, it reeks of misogyny (the character as written, not the acting.) Can't wait to see her performance in this one, even if the movie didn't impress...
Sorry to hear about the I Could Never Be Your Woman, but no surprise considering its post-production baggage. I'm still tempted to give it a rent for Pfeiffer + Rudd + Ronan.
@ja
i was about to post that. now all i can is this:
ULLMAN! ULLMAN! ULLMAN!
omg. love that squinched face.
I love how I read the cast headliners: "Beckinsale; Rockwell"... and then I read "'A Bummer.'"
Oh, wait. You were talking about the movie.
;o)
Rob
I have just googled and seen I Could never be your Woman it is directly on DVD in the US!! Shame on the distributors!
It opened here almost one year ago in theatres. I watched it then and as far as I can remember, it was a fine, amusing comedy, especially for Pfeiffer and Rudd. One of those little movies everybody knows will be no big deal, but whose performers and makers enjoy in the process of making it, and that shows beyond the screen.
But, hey, I'm a die-hard Pfeiffer fan.
Sorry for the anonymous thing, I just can't log in. ;)
i don't care if people use "anonymous" to comment --i've just always asked that they type in a name at the end of their comment so that if people want to respond to them they have a name ;)
it's totally fine not to have a log in.
the only reason i might have to one day get rid of the anonymous option is the increase in spam.
it's hard for me to find the time to delete it so if it gets worse i'll probably have to not allow anonymous comments.
but i believe you can still post without a blogger idea so long as you put name / url or whatever...
Michael Angorano!!!!
As far as David Gordon Green films go, UNDERTOW is by far my favorite.
I'm the one who left the last anonymous comment.
I promise I had in mind including my signature, as I had in mind making a point in my comment... But just too often my hands don't do what my mind says.
What I wanted to say was not only that I don't get how distribution works. How is it possible that Superbad (with no big names on it) gets worlwide distribution and I Could Never Be Your Woman doesn't make it into theatres in Pfeiffer's home place? That's for me one of the biggest mysteries of film world, the second being who and with which criteria translates titles internationally.
But, most important, and my real concern was if this could be a sign that La Pfeiffer star-power has started to decline. I just don't want to believe it. Because, let's face it, a world where Pfeiffer doesn't get a proper job where to show her inmense talent and beauty is a worse place to live.
Iggy
P.S. By the way, I got to your site some weeks ago, through Awards Daily and the Annual Symposium on Oscars and I've been reading you ever since. ;)
Re: I can never be your woman, Entertainment Weekly had an article a few weeks ago about Amy Heckerling's headaches (to put it mildly) when Bauer Martinez studio mishandled the project:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20175469,00.html
RedSatinDoll
Thanks for the link, RedSatinDoll.
Though usually I'm not fond of getting to know the stories behind the scenes, this one was a really interesting reading. It explains so many things...
Right now I adore Pfeiffer more than ever for reducing her salary. It's just such a pity a fine movie goes nowhere because it gets in the wrong hands, causing that discouragement in Heckerling...
Iggy
Iggy, could be that Superbad was good and I Could Never Be Your Woman appears to, well, not be.
Also, it received theatrical release throughout Europe, right?
Kamikaze, I didn't intend to question Superbad quality. A minimum standard of quality is taken for granted if a movie is exhibited worlwide, independently of particular opinions on a specific movie. It was only an example of a movie without big star names that got worldwide distribution. The other recent example that came to my mind was Juno, but Juno added the Oscar nods to the reasons for its distribution (besides its qualities).
What I meant is that I've always assumed a movie with a big name on it (Pfeiffer in this case) was almost guaranteed exhibiton anywhere, while a movie without big names had to fight for it, so to speak.
I'm not surprised when certain American movies don't make it into theatres in Europe, and go directly to DVD or TV (I must confess that in those cases I assume they're just too bad, i.e. High School Musical 2). But it's precisely that in this case I Could Never Be Your Woman went the opposite way, got into theatres in Europe and not in the US what struck me most, because I don't think it's very frequent.
According to the Entertaintement Weekly article RedSatinDoll linked, most of trouble in this case came from the studio and its somehow wrong handling of the movie, and not so much from its quality.
That said, I Could Never Be Your Woman is not a bad movie at all, it's not great nor memorable either, but I don't think in terms of standard quality is anything inferior to 27 Dresses or to any other romantic comedy you can find at multiplexes any time. It just got bad luck.
I'm still in the denial phase, refusing to accept Pfeiffer's power might be declining. ;)
Iggy
"I could never be your woman" was a weird viewing-experience for me. I really thought it was odd (and not in a good way) yet I enjoyed myself way too much to now call it a bad movie.
I'm not praying at the Pfeiffer altar as Nathaniel is, but I do love her in just about everything. And don't get me started on Paul Rudd - I adore him anyway(as does everybody else, I guess) and he's utterly nonchalant here.
Also: Saoirse Ronan.
Thanks for the article - I actually only heard about the film because of all the trouble. I remember Rudd on the Daily Show last year having no clue what to say on the issue...
Looking forward to your review/thoughts, Nathaniel.
Please people, let's forget about I could never be your biggest bomb of the universe and let's concentrate on Cheri !
Thank You Stephen Frears, Great Lord of the Movies, please make a great film and let us watch it in awe.
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