WHAT WOULD TOTO WATCH? » Steve Martin

‘It’s Complicated’ – Rom-com hijinks for the boomer set

cftoto — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:09:03 +0000

Writer/director Nancy Meyers has a genre practically all to herself – the Baby Boomer rom-com.

And if “It’s Complicated” is any indication, the new genre is in capable hands.

The new comedy stars Meryl Streep as a divorced woman who starts an affair with her ex-husband (Alec Baldwin) while fending off the advances of a new suitor (Steve Martin).

And if you think that kind of casting can’t possibly create a bad movie – pass “go” and collect $200.

But “It’s Complicated” takes a while before its simmering romance reaches the boiling point.

Streep plays Jane, a successful entrepreneur who’s finally come to grips with her divorce. It’s been 10 years, but she’s forgiven the infidelity that chased Jake (Baldwin) from her life.

Suddenly Jake decides he’s tired of his trophy wife (Lake Bell) and wants Jane back.

Jane finds odd comfort in having an affair with a married man, especially since they’re fooling around behind the back of the woman who separated them in the first place.

But Jane isn’t sure it’s the right thing to do, and her suspicions are doubled when a new man (Martin) enters her life.

The first third of “It’s Complicated” suffers from Cheery-Chick-Flick-itis, a horrible condition in which every main characters laughs too hard and greets friends and family as if they hadn’t seen them in 30 years.

See “Sex and the City: The Movie” for a textbook example of this malady.

Even Streep, who could walk on water at this point and no one would suspect special effects, falls prey to this over-stimulation.

But Meyers, who directed the terrific boomer romance “Something’s Gotta Give,” knows this territory too well to let audiences down.

Once Streep and Baldwin start, well, renewing their intimacies, the jokes hit their mark with more frequency.

It helps that this is the best comic performance by Martin in ages. Never mind the pratfalls from “The Pink Panther” films or his family friendly excursions. Here, he’s simply an older man trying to find new love.

In one raucous scene, Martin’s character shares some weed with Jane before their first date.

Cheech and Chong would be proud.

“It’s Complicated” can’t help but insert a few scenes with Jane chatting with her older gal pals, and audiences can practically predict every line from these stale sequences. And Jane’s children are so idealized, so buffed of any imperfections that they grate on our nerves.

“The Office’s” John Krasinski, playing the beau of one of Jane’s homogenized brood, is given the best reaction shots and makes the most of them.

Between “Away We Go” and “It’s Complicated,” the young actor seems ready to segue to a big screen career once he gets the pink slip from his day gig.

“It’s Complicated” even delivers a few belly laughs as the romantic storylines head toward some expectedly complex conclusions. Suffice to say you’ll never look at a web cam the same way again.

If Meyers has a genre all to herself, let’s hope her films remain as smart, sophistacted and sexy as “It’s Complicated.”

(Photo: Exes Jane (Meryl Streep) and Jake (Alec Baldwin) flirt in the new film from writer/director/producer Nancy Meyers, “It’s Complicated”, a comedy about love, divorce and everything in between.
Photo Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon. Copyright: © 2009 Universal Studios. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Nothing funny about Martin’s denial

cftoto — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:54:21 +0000

Steve Martin can take one helluva pratfall, but he needs a lesson in accepting constructive criticism.

The comic actor drew withering reviews for his latest screen comedy, “The Pink Panther 2.”

Justifiably so. It’s hardly Martin’s finest hour.

But Martin isn’t taking the hint. Instead, he claims he’s always received reviews like that.

He told reporters gathered at the Berlin Film Festival, where “Pink” was inexplicably in competition for the festival’s Golden Bear Award, that bad reviews are par for his course.

“I have received bad reviews my whole life. I received bad reviews for my stand-up act. The Jerk, one of my most enduring films, was universally panned and criticized in America. Comedians always have to overcome critical snobbery, that’s just the way it is. … Comedy is just not a critic’s medium.”

He’s right … to a point.

Comedies rarely get much love from Oscar voters, and it often takes years, or even decades, before the critical masses acknowledge the talents of popular comics. But some comics enjoy strong praise throughout most of their careers – Larry David, Richard Pryor and George Carlin quickly come to mind.

Oh, and Steve Martin, who’s considered not only one of the better stand-up comics ever by most cultural critics but a fine playwright and humorist.

So dismissing the hostile reviews for “Pink 2″ in such fashion proves Martin is either fooling himself – or he takes his audience for fools.

Wish I Wrote That: The ‘Pink’ edition

cftoto — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:59:35 +0000

Here’s The San Francisco Chronicle’s Peter Hartlaub on the new “Pink Panther” film and its curious casting choices:

“Both love interests for the 63-year-old Martin are in their mid-30s, which is annoying and distracting – especially considering the wealth of beautiful, talented actresses in their 40s and 50s. If nothing else, Jane Curtin is probably looking for work …”

No related posts.

‘The Pink Panther 2′ – Martin’s Clouseau detects few laughs

cftoto — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:47:53 +0000

Audiences long ago stopped expecting Steve Martin comedies to entertain people over the age of 13.

The Kennedy Center Honoree once blazed a comic trail like few others, but for the past decade he’s been content to tickle family-friendly funny bones.

Can “Cheaper by the Dozen: The Cheapiest” be too far away?

So it’s hard to muster up much outrage that his latest film, a sequel to his unnecessary franchise reboot “The Pink Panther,” falls squarely in line with his past outings.

“The Pink Panther 2″ does commit a new cinematic foul for the silver-haired comic. The movie assembles a killer cast and wastes every last one of ‘em.

Just try making Lily Tomlin and John Cleese unfunny. It isn’t easy.

Someone is stealing the greatest artifacts ever, from the Shroud of Turin to the Pink Panther diamond.

Who you gonna call?

Enter Inspector Clouseau (Martin) who as the film opens is writing parking tickets to snobby Parisians. He’s quickly assigned to find the new master thief in town by Dreyfus (Cleese, replacing Kevin Kline here).

Clouseau teams up with a detective dream team, which includes Andy Garcia and Alfred Molina, to sniff out the thief.

Within 10 minutes the film drags out its “ahm-bur-gare” gag from the first film. Is the sequel out of fresh material already? Yup, although a few sight gags, including Clouseau dealing with a cascade of falling wine bottles, are moderately amusing.

Martin’s French accent remains a curiously funny concoction, but the set pieces around him are so hastily assembled, so obviously shoehorned into the narrative, that it’s hard to find pleasure in his performance.

And could the franchise bring a smidgen of consistency to Clouseau? In one scene his deductive skills are downright scary, but the next moment he’s so dumb it’s a wonder he can tie his shoes.

It’s lazy scriptwriting, and since Martin gets a screenwriting credit here he shoulders some of the blame.

Tomlin appears for a few disjointed scenes as a sensitivity expert, but her exchanges with Martin won’t make anyone forget their classic pairing in “All of Me.”

“The Pink Panther 2″ delivers a few mild chuckles, but it’s a comedy best appreciated by audiences who never saw Martin strut across the stages as King Tut – or wearing an arrow threw his head.

(Photo: Steve Martin strains to bring the funny in “The Pink Panther 2.”)

WWTW Rewind – ‘The Lonely Guy’ (1984)

cftoto — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:51:42 +0000

The Lonely Guy” served as a minor family favorite for years, like an inside joke we’d chuckle over while perusing the local video store’s collection. My Dad, never an easy sell with movies, clung to the film’s shtick for years.

Guess I shouldn’t have rescued it from Ross’ discount DVD bin last week.

Steve Martin stars as Larry Hubbard, a greeting card scribe who discovers his girlfriend is sleeping around with every male in their zip code. So he’s suddenly alone, and when he meets a fellow bachelor (Charles Grodin sans artificial turf) he realizes he’s become a Lonely Guy.

You know the type. Desperately single. Talks to plants. Eats dinners by himself in fancy restaurants.

There’s a few wickedly funny moments buried here, and most belong not to Martin but to Grodin’s sad sack slug. Grodin’s stooped shoulders and Fred Rogers’ sweaters epitomize the Lonely Guy Fall Collection.

It’s all Martin can do to keep up with his co-star, but back in ‘84 the salty haired comic still had that manic gleam in his eye that could make the worst jokes pop off the screen. Those eyes get a workout here, even though Neil Simon gets a screenwriting credit. Some of the “Guy” gags are older than Grodin’s moth-eaten ensembles.

“The Lonely Guy” runs out of material at the two-thirds mark, so it repeats the romantic arc between Larry and a six-time divorcee (Judith Ivey) to pad the running time.

Sorry, Dad. “The Lonely Guy” ain’t what he used to be.

(Photo: Steve Martin plays a desperately single New Yorker in the fitfully amusing comedy “The Lonely Guy”)