Tag Archives: comedy

Love the Coopers

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Director: Jessie Nelson

Screenplay: Steven Rogers

Cast: Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Ed Helms, Diane Keaton, Anthony Mackie, Amanda Seyfried, June Squibb, Marisa Tomei, Olivia Wilde, Alex Borstein, Jake Lacy, Steve Martin (voice)

Running Length: 107 minutes

Synopsis: Love the Coopers follows the Cooper clan as four generations of extended family come together for their annual Christmas Eve celebration. As the evening unfolds, a series of unexpected visitors and unlikely events turn the night upside down, leading them all toward a surprising rediscovery of family bonds and the spirit of the holiday.

Review: It seems almost like there is one such movie every year – a family reunion dramedy during the festive season – but Love the Coopers is a wholly unremarkable addition to this sub-genre that works only on the most superficial level. And despite the title of the movie, there is very little reason to love the Coopers (or the movie).

One of the biggest problems with Love the Coopers is that the screenplay simply isn’t up to par. The characters are shallowly fleshed out, and most of them remain two-dimensional despite being played by a group of rather talented actors. Most of them are not given much to do, as there are obviously too many characters with too many plot lines that cannot be satisfactorily resolved in the film’s under-two-hour running time. It doesn’t help that some of these subplots are rather confusing (none more so than the interactions between Arkin’s Bucky and Seyfried’s Ruby, which seemed to suggest one thing but ended up being something else altogether).

There are also problems with the believability of some of the characters themselves – Anthony Mackie’s police officer Williams inexplicably opens up to Marisa Tomei’s Emma in a car ride, but I found myself hard-pressed to believe that a man that is apparently super-repressed would reveal his sexual orientation and troubled childhood to a near-complete stranger. Many of the inter-character conflicts either feel like a non-event or come across as being completely artificial, which further detracts from the cinematic experience.

That the whole film culminates in a hospital scene that shamelessly tries to tug at the heartstrings is perhaps to be expected, but given such a low emotional investment in the characters, the denouement rings as hollow as the rest of the film. Love the Coopers is watchable solely because of the collective charisma of the ensemble cast (even the voice of the family dog, who plays narrator, is voiced by Steve Martin), and even then barely passes muster.

Rating: * ½ (out of four stars)

 

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Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

Genre: Horror, Comedy

Director: Christopher B. Landon

Screenplay: Carrie Evans, Emi Mochizuki, Christopher B. Landon

Cast: Tye Sheridan, David Koechner, Cloris Leachman, Halston Sage, Logan Miller, Joey Morgan, Sarah Dumont, Patrick Schwarzenegger

Running Length: 93 minutes

Synopsis: Three scouts and lifelong friends join forces with one badass cocktail waitress to become the world’s most unlikely team of heroes. When their peaceful town is ravaged by a zombie invasion, they’ll fight for the badge of a lifetime and put their scouting skills to the test to save mankind from the undead.

Review: It’s exceedingly clear that anyone shelling out money to watch Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse will have known in advance what they are getting themselves into – as long as one has watched any trailer of the film, they would know that this is more Scary Movie than a scary movie, and that age and enjoyment of the movie has an inverse relationship. Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is unyieldingly sexist and puerile, proudly wearing its T&A badge on its sleeve, yet it still comes up somewhat short even when viewed forgivingly through the eyes of a teenaged boy who managed to sneak into the M18-rated movie.

The problem is mainly that the film doesn’t go far enough, especially since it is supposed to target a slightly older demographic. Other than a few moments of bawdy humour (yes, the strip club is really called “Lawrence of Alabia”, and you’ll be in for treat if you’ve ever wondered about zombie cunnilingus or zombie penises), there is barely anything else that seems to justify its M18 rating. In fact, Tye Sheridan and gang are such sweet leads that they seem more suited to be in a teen romance flick than a zombie film.

While there are certainly great moments of gore, a small number of laugh-out-loud sequences and an excellent opening sequence, a lot of Scouts Guide is painfully predictable, and the film heads steadily downhill as it progresses. Fortunately, it’s a fast-paced and relatively short film, and the end credits starts to roll just as it begins to get tiresome. And despite its title (and its leads staying in uniform the entire time), the Scouting aspect plays a minimal role, which feels somewhat like a missed opportunity.

Rating: * * (out of four stars)

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Pixels

Genre: Comedy

Director: Christopher Columbus

Screenplay: Tim Herlihy, Timothy Dowling

Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage, Josh Gad, Brian Cox, Sean Bean

Running Length: 105 minutes

Synopsis: As kids in the 1980s, Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), Will Cooper (Kevin James), Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad), and Eddie “The Fire Blaster” Plant (Peter Dinklage) saved the world thousands of times – at 25 cents a game in the video arcades. Now, they’re going to have to do it for real. In Pixels, when intergalactic aliens discover video feeds of classic arcade games and misinterpret them as a declaration of war, they attack the Earth, using the video games as the models for their assaults – and now-U.S. President Cooper must call on his old-school arcade friends to save the world from being destroyed by PAC-MAN, Donkey Kong, Galaga, Centipede, and Space Invaders. Joining them is Lt. Col. Violet Van Patten (Michelle Monaghan), a specialist supplying the arcaders with unique weapons to fight the aliens.

Review: The only reason that Pixels gets a passing grade from me is because of the nostalgia it taps into – after all, the 80s video games that the film so relentlessly references formed part of my childhood. Thus, in spite of the paper-thin, messy plot and the lack of any quality acting, I must admit that there were parts of Pixels that I enjoyed. However, the same probably can’t be said of the majority of the moviegoers that would attempt to watch this film.

The premise that aliens chose to attack Earth because of arcade game footage found in an interstellar time capsule is a thin one, and the seams constantly show in Pixels. Stretching out a two-minute short film (that the story is based on) into an almost two-hour movie is ill-advised in this case, and the absolute paucity of plot means the show wears out its welcome very quickly. There’s absolutely no effort to give any background to the attacking aliens, which makes much of the proceedings rather meaningless, carrying no dramatic weight at all. The aliens may be threatening the total annihilation of Earth, but it never feels like anything is at stake.

While Adam Sandler has honed his portrayal of the sullen man-child to perfection over a good number of films, the rest of the casting leaves much to be desired. Josh Gad is unendingly grating and annoying, while Peter Dinklage doesn’t make much of an impression apart from the weird accent he chose to adopt for his role. Michelle Monaghan is given the totally thankless role of playing Sandler’s love interest, and the absolute lack of chemistry between the duo makes the romantic sequences truly cringe-worthy to sit through.

Fortunately, the visual effects are decent enough, especially during the live-action videogame battles. For viewers that grew up in the 80s, it will be fun to look out for videogame icons like Donkey Kong, Mario, Q*Bert, Frogger, Paperboy and more. However, Wreck-It Ralph has already done a much better job back in 2012 integrating these into a movie, and boasts a far stronger plot, despite being an animated film. There’s really only that much nostalgic good-will that one can tap into, and even for myself I was scraping the bottom of the barrel barely halfway through the movie.

Rating: * * (out of four stars)

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Vacation

Genre: Comedy

Directors: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley

Screenplay: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley

Cast: Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Skyler Gisondo, Steele Stebbins, Chris Hemsworth, Leslie Mann, Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Charlie Day, Catherine Missal, Ron Livingston, Norman Reedus, Keegan-Michael Key, Regina Hall, E’Myri Crutchfield, Alkoya Brunson, Hannah Davis

Running Length: 98 minutes

Synopsis: The next generation of Griswolds is at it again – and on the road for another ill-fated adventure. Following in his father’s footsteps and hoping for some much-needed family
bonding, a grown-up Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) surprises his wife Debbie (Christina Applegate), and their two sons with a cross-country trip back to America’s “favourite family fun park”, Walley World.

Review: It has been 32 years since the first Vacation movie opened, and while it is surprising (in this age of remakes and reboots) that a sequel to the franchise hasn’t come along in quite some time (the last official installment being National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 2 back in 2003), this new Vacation actually manages to do very well for itself. Of course, this is also because the expectations for such a movie is quite simple – it just needs to be entertaining and funny, and in these aspects the movie more than delivers.

Shifting focus from Clark Griswold to his son Rusty, now played by Ed Helms, the premise remains largely the same – Rusty is on a quest to bring his family on a road trip to Walley World, and hilarity ensues. Sure, it’s a wildly inconsistent film that perhaps gave away a little too much in its trailers, but when it hits a comedic sweet spot, Vacation can be a truly hilarious experience. Like most comedies of our era, this new episode of Vacation does delve a bit deeper into gross-out and scatological humour that its predecessors, but at least they are well-executed gags (Christina Applegate’s unfortunate visit to her alma mater is a particularly noteworthy one).

It’s to Goldstein and Daley’s credit that they have managed to find some new material for such a well-treaded subgenre – having the younger sibling be the bully is an inspired choice, for example, and breathes new life into the family dynamics of the Griswolds. There are also a good number of cameo appearances, and almost all these don’t disappoint either. Without going into spoilers, the Michael Day sequence as a white water rafting guide is both filmed innovatively and manages to bring on the belly laughs. Of course, it would be a crime not to mention Chris Hemsworth’s cameo as the extremely well-endowed Stone Crandall, and for some this extended sequence with Stone and Rusty’s sister Audrey (Leslie Mann) alone would be worth the price of admission.

Although Vacation starts to flag and lose the energy in its final reel, there’s enough goodwill in the lead up to not make the film feel like a total bust. There’s a nice, affable chemistry amongst the members of the Griswold family, and together with the high hit to miss ratio for the comedic elements, makes Vacation a worthy successor to the Vacation series and a fun cinematic experience for the grown-ups (its M18 rating is a well-deserved one), even if it doesn’t really come close to the iconic status and cultural relevance of the first film.

Rating: * * * (out of four stars)

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Our Sister Mambo

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Director: Ho Wi Ding

Screenplay: Michael Chiang

Cast: Moses Lim, Michelle Chong, Audrey Luo, Ethel Yap, Oon Shu An, Joey Leong

Running Length: 93 minutes

Synopsis: Set against the backdrop of modern Singapore, Our Sister Mambo follows the well-meaning efforts of the spritely second daughter, Mambo (Michelle Chong) to get her sisters – big sister Grace (Ethel Yap), third sister Rose (Oon Shu An) and baby sister June (Joey Leong) hitched, with hiccups and misunderstandings along the way. 

Review: Although it’s somewhat of a corporate vanity project, being Cathay Organisation’s celebratory film marking its 80th anniversary, Our Sister Mambo is a watchable film with relatively few awkward moments, though it does comes across as being too safe a filmmaking venture at times. 

Based loosely on two movies from Cathay’s stable of classic films, Our Sister Hedy and The Greatest Civil War of Our Time, Our Sister Mambo has a slew of plotlines, all revolving around the (mis)adventures of the Wong family, consisting of a genial patriarch (Moses Lim), a Korea-obsessed matriarch (Audrey Luo) and their four daughters. Mambo (Michelle Chong) is the narrator and ostensibly the core of the movie, but unfortunately her lawyer-to-chef storyline is the least interesting of the six family members. That’s not to say that the rest of the plotlines are necessarily that much more interesting – while Michael Chiang does his darnedest to weave the thin story threads together, there are literally no surprises to be had here. In fact, Our Sister Mambo frequently feels like an extended episode of an 80s or 90s TV sitcom, especially so since Moses Lim was, for many Singaporeans, part of essential TV viewing in the mid-90s as the head of the Tan family in Under One Roof. 

While there are multiple familial conflicts that unfold in Our Sister Mambo, there’s never the sense that anything is at stake, and the script is too eager to resolve each plotline and move on to the next, as though there’s an invisible checklist that Wi Ding and Chiang are marking off. There’s also a lot of wasted comedic talent in the film – while Moses Lim, Michelle Chong and even Siti Khalijah are rather heavyweight comedians, almost none of it is on display here, with all three playing their characters on the straight and narrow. 

What does manage to save the show are a slew of great performances from the cast, none more so than Audrey Luo. Although believability is a bit stretched with her being cast opposite Moses Lim despite being literally half his age, the duo shares a great chemistry. Audrey further ups the game with excellent comic timing, and is the main source of the laughs in the show. The four actresses playing the Wong daughters all do a relatively decent job, and it’s only Moses who is, surprisingly, the weak link, with nothing much to do in the show at all. 

Constrained by the need to shoehorn the film into Cathay’s 80th anniversary, the association does at times sit uncomfortably with the rest of the proceedings, but the awkwardness is kept to a minimum, and we are even treated to appearances by Cathay heavyweights Grace Chang and Maria Menado – though I must contest the indignity of the decision to cut away repeatedly from Grace Chang’s recorded video message to focus on a very inconsequential element of the plot. 

Rating: * * ½ (out of four stars)

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Pitch Perfect 2

Genre: Musical/Comedy

Director: Elizabeth Banks

Screenplay: Kay Cannon

Cast: Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, Rebel Wilson, Ester Dean, Alexis Knapp, Hana Mae Lee, Adam DeVine, Kelley Jakle, Chrissie Fit, Hailee Steinfeld, Katey Sagal, Elizabeth Banks

Running Length: 114 minutes

Synopsis: After a disastrous wardrobe malfunction while performing for the President, the Barden Bellas, who are now three-time national champions, have fallen from grace and lost their mojo. Their only hope for redemption is to clinch the top spot at the World A Capella Championships, but they face their toughest battle yet against the formidable German team, Das Sound Machine.

Review: Don’t be fooled by the title – just like the original film, Pitch Perfect is actually a rather pitchy attempt. While Elizabeth Banks’ directorial debut is a perfectly credible one, the seams do show whenever the singing stops. Fortunately, there is a LOT of singing to be found in Pitch Perfect 2, and the astute choice of Banks and screenwriter Cannon to lavish more attention on characters like Rebel Wilson’s Fat Amy makes the proceedings much easier to bear despite the near two-hour running time.

One of the bigger changes from the first Pitch Perfect is that the sequel is much more female-empowered, with virtually every male cast member relegated to the sidelines. There are two romantic subplots (which arguably take up too much screen time despite their affable conclusions) but it’s really all about the girls – this is a movie that passes the Bechdel test with flying colours.

Kay Cannon’s script is filled with great one-liners, mostly given to Rebel Wilson, who is a blast to watch in her expanded role, and also Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins, who return as colour commentators Gail and John, letting rip one sexual innuendo after another. However, Cannon can be accused of trying to include too much in the script – while there are a good number of other plot threads, including Beca’s (Anna Kendrick) internship at a record label, a lot of it feels like filler and doesn’t particularly engage on any level. Bellas newcomer Hailee Steinfeld boasts a lot of charisma, but honestly she isn’t given too much to do, though it can be assured that she will be given a meatier role in the (inevitable) next installment of the franchise.

Much like Glee, the strength of the Pitch Perfect franchise lies not in the drama, but in the musical numbers. In this aspect Banks has managed to do an excellent job. Not only are most of the songs great selections, but whenever she puts together a music set piece it is almost always note perfect. While the performances of Das Sound Machine are all great, nothing beats the finale performance by the Bellas, featuring the song Flashlight (which, among others, includes Sam Smith and Sia as co-writers) and virtually guaranteed to leave one with goosebumps, forgiving almost all the flaws that have come before it.

Rating: * * ½ (out of four stars)

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Hot Pursuit

Genre: Comedy

Director: Anne Fletcher

Screenplay: David Feeney, John Quaintance

Cast: Sofía Vergara, Reese Witherspoon, Jodi Lyn Brockton, Matthew Del Negro, Michael Mosley

Running Length: 87 minutes

Synopsis: An uptight and by-the-book cop (Reese Witherspoon) tries to protect the sexy and outgoing widow of a drug boss (Sofia Vergara) as they race through Texas pursued by crooked cops and murderous gunmen.

Review: I really wanted to like Hot Pursuit. After all, action comedies with female leads are few and far between, and Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara are both likable actors. This also happens to be Vergara’s first proper lead role in a movie, which is kind of surprising given the success she has found off hit TV sitcom Modern Family. Although there are laughs to be had, Hot Pursuit is more lukewarm than hot, the result of minimal chemistry between the leads and a script that simply doesn’t do enough. Hot Pursuit runs a short 87 minutes but still feels laboured before the final reel, and even the gags feel like they have run their course an hour into the film.

It appears from the end-credit outtakes that Witherspoon and Vergara not only had a great time making the film, but that they seem to have developed what seems like a rather healthy camaraderie as well. Unfortunately, I doubt that viewers could tell that from the main feature itself – there are barely any sparks between the two despite sharing significant screen time. It also annoys me that – without going into too much detail for risk of spoilers – the screenplay tries its best to create a will-they-stay-or-will-they-go tension between the odd couple, creating scenarios that then limply resolve themselves in a matter of minutes without making any actual impact to the pairing.

It also seems like half the jokes seem to be about either Witherspoon’s height and boyish (??) looks or Vergara’s age and Latina heritage, and neither actress makes even a concerted effort to rise above the mediocre and rather lazy writing. They are content to play to their characters’ stereotypes, and this is really the essence of why Hot Pursuit doesn’t work that well despite low expectations: nothing comes across as being particularly genuine and as a result it just doesn’t engage enough. When the same joke gets recycled for the fifth time in an hour, even the funniest gag starts to feel like a lame duck.

The audience is never truly vested in what happens to either woman, and since this is a comedy everyone already knows what the eventual outcome would be. The journey is indeed more important than the destination, and in this case the journey just isn’t all that interesting. As a low budget contender for Summer, Hot Pursuit will definitely get its fair share of moviegoers, but given that both Witherspoon and Vergara have producer credits on this film, I really expected it to deliver more than it did.

Rating: * * (out of four stars)

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Rubbers

Genre: Comedy

Director: Han Yew Kwang

Screenplay: Han Yew Kwang

Cast: Yeo Yann Yann, Julian Hee, Lee Chau Min, Marcus Chin, Catherine Sng, Alaric Tay, Oon Shu Ann

Running Length: 85 minutes

Synopsis: Three different stories revolving around condoms unfold on Valentine’s Day: in Balloons, the elderly Hua (Catherine Sng) considers divorcing her husband Niu (Marcus Chin) for his acts of infidelity with a prostitute; in Plumber, journalist Bao Ling (Yeo Yann Yann) hallucinates about a durian-flavoured condom coming to life (Lee Chau Min) and encouraging her to hook up with any man, including a plumber (Julian Hee) whom Bao Ling contacts out of desperation; and finally in Nightmare, condom-hating womanizer Adam Kok’s (Alaric Tay) fantasy with a Japanese AV actress Kawaii Momoko (Ong Shu Ann) comes to life, but at the same time he finds a condom attached to his genitals that he simply can’t remove.

Review: In a society as straight-laced as Singapore, a homegrown sex comedy is almost unheard of, so kudos to Han Yew Kwang for successfully bringing Rubbers to fruition. Boasting three non-intersecting storylines, the film is perhaps a little too ambitious in scope, and really may have fared better if Yew Kwang did not attempt to inject the film with so many disparate tonal styles and plotlines. Simply put, the contrasting styles of the three segments – realism (Balloons), magical realism (Plumber) and absurdist (Nightmare) – do not mesh that well together, especially when intercut with each other.

The good thing about Rubbers is that it does deliver the goods as a sex comedy. There are a handful of laugh-out-loud moments, although some of it does feel a little juvenile (most of which coming from Nightmare). What’s more impressive is that there are actually some tender scenes in the film that manage to elevate it to more than just a crass sex comedy, particularly in Balloons and in the denouement of Plumber. Yew Kwang has also successfully replicated the look and feel of a number of different genres of film in Rubbers, and the one I was most impressed with was a note-perfect “Asian horror” sequence that stars the director himself.

While Yann Yann is definitely the most high-profile actor in the cast, her performance is somewhat of a mixed bag, as her portrayal of Bao Ling ends up feeling a bit too caricaturish and scenery-chewing at times, which is somewhat exacerbated by the virtual non-acting of Julian Hee and the extremely out-of-place performance of Chau Min as the durian condom (to be fair, anyone would have been out of place in that rather thankless role). The other two pairings fare much better – Shu Ann steals the limelight in almost every scene she is in, and shares a great chemistry with Alaric, while Catherine and Marcus both hold their own, especially in a pivotal scene near the end of their tale.

Despite the R21 rating that Rubbers has received, apart from a few suggestive sequences and a number of cuss words, the film is actually visually rather PG, with nary any nudity or even implied sexual activity. It’s also an extremely localized film, with a lot of colloquialisms and Singapore-specific humour that will likely limit the film’s accessibility outside of its home nation. Though Rubbers is a somewhat uneven attempt, it works well as a palate cleanser amidst the heavier-hitting action blockbusters that are currently populating the cinemas, especially for audiences who are looking for a more light-hearted cinematic experience.

Rating: * * ½ (out of four stars)

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The Wedding Ringer

Genre: Comedy

Director: Jeremy Garelick

Screenplay: Jeremy Garelick, Jay Lavender

Cast: Kevin Hart, Josh Gad, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting

Running Length: 101 minutes

Synopsis: Doug Harris (Josh Gad) is a loveable but socially awkward groom-to-be with a problem: he has no best man. With less than two weeks to go until he marries the girl of his dreams (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting), Doug is referred to Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart), owner and CEO of Best Man, Inc., a company that provides flattering best men for socially challenged guys in need. What ensues is a hilarious wedding charade as they try to pull off the big con, and an unexpected budding bromance between Doug and his fake best man Jimmy.

Review: It wouldn’t be too far off the mark to call this movie “Best Men”, since this project was probably greenlit off the success of Bridesmaids (to be fair, director Jeremy Garelick started work on the screenplay together with Jay Lavender more than a decade ago). The concept is not new – see Wedding Crashers and I Love You, Man – and the jokes are for the most part rather predictable and uninspired, but what saves the movie is casting Kevin Hart in the lead role, and the chemistry he shares with Josh Gad.

The first reel of The Wedding Ringer is about as insipid as it gets, with virtually no plot development and very few laughs. Fortunately, things improve quite a bit in the subsequent reels, as Kevin Hart hits his stride and the bromance between him and Gad develops. It’s a believable pairing, and surprisingly can be quite touching at times. Although Gad is a good enough foil to Hart, this is Hart’s movie through and through. In the best scenes, Kevin Hart manages to channel top comedic talents like Eddie Murphy and Robin Williams with his motor mouth and comedic timing, and since this is technically his first leading role it does bode well for his future in the movie industry. The rest of the ensemble cast are not particularly memorable, and Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting is particularly underused, given that she’s quite the established comedic actor herself.

Crude sight gags and humour are now almost gold standards in R-rated comedies, and this is no different in The Wedding Ringer. It is actually quite tame compared to some of the other comedies in the same rating band, and thankfully doesn’t go out of its way to gross out audiences. There are moments that don’t work – the entire football match with Doug’s future father in law is overlong and pointless, for example – but The Wedding Ringer does serve up a good number of belly laughs (and a great parting shot for those familiar with Jorge Garcia’s body of work). It may be a flawed comedy, but in awards season it’s actually pretty astute counterprogramming, and manages to be an entertaining enough diversion.

Rating: * * ½ (out of four stars)

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Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Genre: Drama, Comedy

Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Screenplay: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo

Cast: Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Andrea Riseborough, Emma Stone, Amy Ryan, Zach Galiafianakis, Lindsay Duncan

Running Length: 120 minutes

Synopsis: Birdman is a black comedy that tells the story of an actor, Riggan Thompson (Michael Keaton) – famous for portraying an iconic superhero – as he struggles to mount a Broadway play. In the days leading up to opening night, he battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career, and himself.

Review: If I had to pick just one word to describe Birdman, it would have to be “dazzling”. Not only is the film breathtaking in its technical achievements, it also happens to be an excellent ensemble film, with superlative performances coming from almost everyone in the cast, and boasts an entertaining plot to boot. This is one of the best cinematic experiences I have had in quite some time, and even this early into 2015, I would imagine it to be pretty difficult for any movie to trump Birdman for pole position for the rest of the year.

Although Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has had a pretty impressive CV to date (his four previous feature films – Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel and Biutiful – have all received critical acclaim), they have uniformly been pretty serious, “downer” films. Birdman seems to be the first time the director is having fun, and the result is a film that is a joy to sit through from start to finish, and is so intricately layered that it would be wise to plan ahead and avoid any toilet breaks throughout the 2-hour running time.

It almost seems like an impossible task, but Inarritu, together with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (fresh off his Oscar win for Gravity last year), has managed to create an illusion of a film that is composed of a single, uninterrupted take. Yes, it is essentially a one trick pony, but when the trick is so visually impressive it’s hard to criticize the endeavour. The long and immaculately choreographed tracking shots are incredible to observe, and although not entirely seamless, is an exhilarating cinematic accomplishment. As expected, Lubezki has secured an Oscar nomination and I cannot see any more deserving winner this year.

Michael Keaton gives a career-best performance as Riggan Thompson, and because the role of Riggan Thompson seems to mirror Keaton’s real life career (Keaton walked away from the Batman franchise almost 20 years ago, after a successful two-movie run), the lines between make-believe and reality are blurred to the benefit of the film’s narrative. Equally on form is Edward Norton, perfectly cast as the equally talented and egotistic Mike Shiner, again seemingly lampooning Norton’s real-life method acting quirks. The rest of the cast is uniformly excellent, with special mention going to Emma Stone, who knocks it out of the park playing the damaged, fresh out of rehab daughter of Thompson (and sets the screen alight with the crackling chemistry between her and Norton in a few short, but key sequences).

In this era of tired sequels, endless remakes and big budget Hollywood blockbusters, gems like Birdman come few and far between. That it is both technically accomplished and still an eminently entertaining film is the cherry on top. It feels fresh despite treading familiar tropes, and much like its jazz soundtrack, is reminiscent of improv of the highest caliber. I cannot recommend this enough, and anyone who professes a love for cinema needs to watch Birdman at least once.

Rating: * * * * (out of four stars)

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