Car Wash

I can't believe I watched the whole thing. Car Wash must be the highest grossing no-plot film of the 60's era. The film purports to follow the workaday lives of a big city car wash crew. It parodies religion, love, hope, and expectation without ever really delving satisfyingly into any one character's experience. On the bright side, Car Wash does attempt to reconcile itself in the last half hour. Its attempts at real drama, however, are too little, too fast, and far too late. Thus, in spite of the nostalgia for the past that it brings, Car Wash cannot be viewed in any other light save in glorification of the past. And its humor is fleeting, dashing any expectation that a film so comically studded would produce at least more than a chuckle. George Carlin and Richard Pryor barely exude talent in their performances.

Milk

Alas, Milk is not yet out on DVD. Instead, here is a trailer to the film The Times of Harvey Milk.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

I left the theater with my friends thinking, "Wow. That was like a documentary about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." The similarities between the life of Dr. King and Harvey Milk are uncanny. They were both civil rights activits, both fighting for the rights of underprivielged groups, both leaders among their peers, and both meeting the same demise. Harvey Milk was assassinated, like Dr. King, for standing up to established injustices. He is a hero among the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities, and he is a hero among straight people, too. Again, the same is true for Dr. King. You don't have to be white or American or straight to love either of these men.

Sean Penn acted out the life of Harvey Milk beautifully, and with such elegance. Often, we see straight men act out homosexual roles with exaggerated flamboyance. And while Penn did portray one "flaming" role, he did so respectfully so as not to turn the role into a farce. I appreciated that. Penn played a man so familiar to us all that the Harvey Milk on the screen could just as easily have been the lesbian next door.

The power of Milk is that it urges us to think. We think about stereotypes and consider how they conflict with reality. We're also called to remember how viciously people treated homosexuals, how it was difficult just for people to come out. I also think about how many people were forced out, too, simply because in spite of butch or macho they seemed, to everyone else something about them was queer.

I wholeheartedly recommend Milk.

The Devil Wears Prada

First, please see my book review for The The Devil Wears Prada on my blog at Walking Toward Wisdom and on Amazon.com. I give the book a pretty good review in spite of the widespread criticism against it. Conversely, with the film, I have to admit that the book was better and that film was really, well, too small for Meryl Streep.

Meryl Streep really made this film a hit while the other actors were entirely supporting, even the woman/model who played the book's main character, Andrea Sachs. Andrea was played as a woman straight from college with no wits about her save her ability to have a sexual relationship with a man. There was no complexity about her character, no conflict. Even the story line in the book about Andrea's drunken friend was eliminated.

Comparing the film to the book is not entirely fair, of course. So on the merits of the acting alone, the screenplay, the direction, and all that go into producing a blockbuster film, my final review is that The Devil Wears Prada is a flimsy tale without much substance worth spending money to watch. Fans of Meryl Streep, will be pleased, however, for Ms. Streep entirely steels the show. In this role, she could have acted the entire film alone, saved the studio tons of money to make a better film, and even won an Oscar in the end. It was really that bad, and Meryl Streep was really that good.

A movie about a high powered executive in publishing, struggling to achieve the highly sought after work/life balance, raising two children all in a world that values beauty and youth over aging wisdom would have been a better movie. Yet, for a light (and, I do mean light) film with a simple story line and not much challenge, the movie awaits for your viewing pleasure.

Dan In Real Life

Before I go further, let me announce my biases. I am attracted to Steve Carell, and I immensely enjoy watching him in The Office (I'd love to watch him out of the office, too.). I've been a fan of his since his work in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and I have followed most of his releases since then. The one I haven't seen is Get Smart. So many people have commented so poorly on the film, I've had no interest in seeing it, but I will definitely get around to it, and I will definitely make a post here.

All of that being said, my review of Dan in Real Life is that it is a must-see film. So much more than just a romantic comedy, Dan in Real Life plays out the excruciating story of unrequited love, happenstance, and family relations. The story line is a common one, but the characters play their roles so beautifully that it is difficult not to feel their emotions. Dan is a widow with three intelligent girls: one older and wise, one young and in love, the other just shedding her childhood innocence. Dan puts all of his energy into being a good father and in providing for his girls as a writer for an advice column. Then, one day, life catches up to him, and somewhere between being a man and being a father, serendipity draws him to an anonymous woman who turns out to be his brother's girlfriend.

At the end of the film, Dan in Real Life leaves viewers with a void, a longing for love and a desire to stay with the characters with whom they've developed a relationship. It is a testament to the film's screenwriters, the director, and film editing staff.

Dan in Real Life seems like such a simple film, yet it calls out for big emotion. As of the writing of this review, you can find Dan in Real Life on Netflix on demand and at Blockbuster. Happy viewing!

Milk

Look for a review of this film in an upcoming post.