The Jerk (1979) * * *

Directed by:  Carl Reiner

Starring:  Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Carl Reiner, Mabel King, Richard Ward, Bill Macy, M. Emmet Walsh, Catlin Adams

Maybe The Jerk isn't an apt description of Navin Johnson (Martin).   He is more of a simpleton, a doofus, or slow on the uptake.   Otherwise, he is an eternally optimistic guy mostly because he isn't exactly bright enough to figure out what's going on around him.    For example:  A gun-toting madman (Walsh) picks Navin's name out of the phone book and targets him for death.    He tracks Navin to the gas station where he works and begins firing.    The shots hit the cans of oil on display, but not Navin, so Navin deduces, "He hates these cans!"   Navin is a nice guy, but a bit dense.  

It takes Navin years to realize he was adopted even though he is white and his family is black.   But, he takes this news as an opportunity to leave his family's shack in the South and venture West to stake his own claim in the world.    The Jerk is an amusing comedy with more hits than misses with its barrage of both verbal and visual gags.    Navin may be a goof, but he's likable and played with an eternal grin by Steve Martin, in his first feature-film starring role.    Martin would team again with director Carl Reiner in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982), The Man with Two Brains (1983), and All of Me (1984), with the two former films relying on laff-a-minit gags while All of Me succeeds as a slapstick love story with the soul of Lily Tomlin inside Steve Martin's body.

Navin falls for Marie (Peters), who at first leaves him because he's dopey, but then they reunite and marry after he hits it big as the inventor of Optigrab, a small piece of metal which prevents eyeglasses from sliding down your nose.    Navin and his money are soon parted, as he and Marie spend money on a grotesquely lavish mansion and are suckers for anyone who comes in looking for a hand out.    A priest from Mexico shows Navin a film of "cat juggling" (Martin is also the cat juggler in the seedy film) and Navin whips out the checkbook.    The Optigrab itself is a huge success, until its side effects are publicly revealed by none other than Carl Reiner himself, who blames the Optigrab for a tragic movie set accident.    "It's not about losing the money," Marie whines, "I just don't want to lose all the stuff,"

The Jerk throws gags and jokes at the wall at a dizzying pace, but it mostly succeeds because it is often more funny than not.    Martin's career was launched and over the years has proven to be not just a brilliant comic actor, but an actor with depth in movies like Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and LA Story.    We've seen him evolve since The Jerk, but The Jerk was a good start to a distinguished movie career. 

The Front Runner (2018) * * *

Directed by:  Jason Reitman

Starring:  Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons, Sara Paxton, Alfred Molina, Bill Burr, Kaitlyn Dever, Kevin Pollak, Mamoudou Athie

Gary Hart knew more about politics and policy than he did human nature.   When he was the clear leader for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, and likely the future President, an alleged affair brought his campaign crashing down in a matter of three weeks.     Besides his own moral shortcomings, Hart failed to see the changing world around him.    He tried in vain to talk about economic policies when the world only wanted to know about the woman who was seen entering and leaving his Washington townhouse one Saturday night.   Was Hart naïve?   Arrogant?  Out of touch?    Possibly all three.    Four years later, Bill Clinton sidestepped questions about alleged affairs to win the presidency.    Now, we have a sitting chief executive who was elected despite a history of philandering and even being caught on tape bragging about grabbing women's private parts.   

The Hart scandal represented a shift towards tabloid journalism.    Ben Bradlee (Molina) tells a story of how Lyndon Johnson told the Washington Post that women would be coming in and out of the White House and expects the same "courtesy as Kennedy".   In other words, there was an unspoken agreement between the media and the president not to approach certain subjects.    The agreement was broken with Hart, because the story was simply too juicy to pass up.    The Post did not break the story (the Miami Herald did), but everyone jumped on the bandwagon.    Gary Hart could complain all he wants about the Herald reporters camping outside his home and breaking a story he felt was no one's business, but the truth is, he opened that can of worms himself by challenging reporters who ask about his previous marital separation to follow him and proclaiming, "You will be very bored,"   They picked up the gauntlet thrown down by Hart.   

Hugh Jackman plays the photogenic Hart as a man who is much more comfortable discussing politics than himself.    When asked about Donna Rice, the woman seen at his apartment, he defensively handles the reporters' questions and further fans the flames.    He thinks a brief denial would be enough to quell the story, but it only made the media dig deeper.    Soon, Hart's long-suffering wife Lee (Farmiga), who has come to terms with her husband's nature, has reporters camped outside her Colorado home 24/7 and can't escape a matter which is humiliating enough without millions of people watching or reading about it.

The Front Runner's approach to its subject keeps us on the outside of Hart, while bringing us inside on the long hours and damage control expertise needed to handle such a high-profile campaign.    Why anyone would want to undergo the scrutiny a president endures is beyond me.     Gary Hart was likely thinking the same thing, but someone has to do it.    The Front Runner is not as interested in involving us with Hart as it is the turmoil surrounding him.   In a way, the movie is an example of its own point:   The salacious details are much more compelling than the people involved when the media sinks its teeth into such a story.    Gary Hart couldn't find a way to survive it, and it appears he was four years too early.    Had he run in 1992, maybe we would be talking about his presidency than a presidency which never happened.    We'll never know. 

Traffic (2000) * * * *

Directed by:  Steven Soderbergh

Starring:  Michael Douglas, Benicio del Toro, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Don Cheadle, Miguel Ferrer, Dennis Quaid, Luis Guzman, Steven Bauer, Clifton Collins, Jr., Albert Finney, Erika Christensen, Topher Grace, Amy Irving, James Brolin

With marijuana being legalized in numerous states, the jury is still out on whether this is the first step towards legalizing other more addicting, deadlier drugs like cocaine or heroin.    Whatever the future holds, Traffic's message is as relevant today as it was when it was made eighteen years ago:   The War on Drugs is a losing proposition.    Even a government as large as the United States' can't possibly come up with adequate money or resources to fight it.    The cartels can outspend any government, and trying to shut them down is equivalent to Whack-A-Mole.   One is knocked down, then another pops up elsewhere.

Traffic does not take the defeatist approach, however.    Its message is hopeful.   The war on drugs can't be won in one fell swoop.   Its customers need to get clean and, one by one, a client who decides to stay clean is one less customer the drug pushers can sell to.    Writer Stephen Gaghan and director Steven Soderbergh understand that drugs are a national health crisis, and many years later, it seems we are only coming around to this realization.    The cartels depend on keeping their products inexpensive so the customers can continue to buy them cheaply.    Robert Wakefield (Douglas) is a judge appointed the new drug czar (even that title makes him sound like the head of a powerful cartel) who naively believes his "ten-point plan" and cooperation with corrupt Mexican government officials will even make a dent.    Then, the drug issue hits closer to home for Robert, as his teenage daughter Caroline (Christensen) gets hooked on hard drugs and Robert realizes there is no ten-point plan which can rescue her.    How would it look for the U.S. drug czar to be unable to control addiction in his own household?    Which is the point: addiction is not something which can be controlled by external forces.    It can only be controlled by the addict. 

Traffic contains other stories which interlock either directly or indirectly to Robert's.    A Tijuana cop (del Toro) is caught up unwittingly in the war between rival cartels, and just tries to use his wits to stay alive.    We also have a California millionaire (Bauer), who is arrested by the DEA for drug trafficking and leaves his wife (Zeta-Jones) desperate and with no access to the frozen accounts.    She believed her husband was a legit businessman, but discovers otherwise, and her story takes a surprising turn.    We also meet the DEA agents (Cheadle and Guzman), who spend their time in a van wise-cracking and performing surveillance while trying to extract information from a cynical government witness (Ferrer), who wonders aloud about what putting away one drug trafficker will mean in the grand scheme of things.

Soderbergh keeps the tension ratcheted as lives sacrificed to the drug wars are played out.    Morals are out the window as the participants just try to survive one more day.    Caroline, once an A-student and a young woman with a bright future, is now prostituting herself for a fix and, if she can see her way to the other side, will spend the rest of her days as a recovering addict.    That is the upside.   The downside is death or prison.    There isn't much in-between.    For Javier Rodriguez (del Toro), his own interaction with the cartels leads to his own private hell.    He sees friends murdered and lives destroyed, but he must keep his wits about him in order to survive.    del Toro (who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role) keeps everything close to the vest, relying on the slightest facial expression or body language to convey his thoughts to us.  

If there is a character we can identify the most with, and I surely could, is Robert, who is trying to juggle his daughter's drug crisis with his professional responsibility to his new position, leaving his wife (Irving) to handle the ever-worsening problem almost on her own.    Caroline is soon stealing valuables from her home and traveling to the inner city for her next high.    Her boyfriend (Grace) explains to Robert that drug dealing is more lucrative than getting a real job because a dealer can make more in two hours than others can make in a forty-hour work week.    What would you do if presented with that opportunity? 

Traffic allows us to come to our own conclusions about whether the war on drugs is really worth it.    It doesn't beat us over the head with pious morality, but instead presents its issues in realistic terms and asks us to decide.    This makes Traffic all the more engrossing.   What would we do if we were in their shoes?    Despite the movie's own leanings that the war on drugs can't practically be won, it gives us a hopeful ending in which one of the characters achieves his dream of seeing a baseball field built in his hometown.    He understands that giving people a way out of their harsh lives in one step towards winning.  

Creed II (2018) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Steven Caple, Jr.

Starring:  Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Florian Munteanu, Wood Harris

I'm sure just as night follows day that there will be a Creed III, with another son of a fighter from Rocky Balboa's past itching to avenge his father's defeat from thirty-plus years ago.    Adonis Creed (Jordan) apparently doesn't have any other heavyweight contenders to fight.    The division just sits around waiting for the Viktor Dragos of the world to rear their ugly heads.    But, I am through fighting the fact that any Creed movie will ostensibly be a Rocky movie for the younger generations.  There is nothing that Adonis Creed doesn't go through in Creed II that Rocky didn't experience in the Rocky films.    These movies are what they are.   I can roll my eyes at the potential Clubber Lang, Jr.-Adonis Creed match in Creed III, but it's coming and I can't do anything about it.   If you recall in Rocky III, Clubber disses Apollo Creed when he tried to shake hands with him before the first Rocky/Clubber brawl.    So, Adonis will have to avenge that.   

With all of that being said, Creed II is a serviceable sequel to 2015's Creed, which saw the rise of Adonis Creed, son of Rocky's formidable foe turned buddy who was killed in the ring by Soviet monster Ivan Drago (Lundgren) in 1985's Rocky IV.    Now, years later, Creed wins the heavyweight title and is soon challenged by Ivan Drago's monstrous son Viktor (Munteanu), who ferociously knocks opponents out much like his old man did.    Creed takes the fight, knowing that Ivan killed his father in the ring, although Adonis would've been maybe a few months old (if that) at the time of his sperm donor's death.    Creed's trainer Rocky (Stallone) is afraid of history repeating itself and dredging up old regrets and demons.   He chooses not to train Adonis for the fight, and Adonis gets his butt kicked, but manages to keep the title through a disqualification.    But, nonetheless, his body and spirit are shattered, and his fiancee Bianca (Thompson) is now pregnant, so Adonis needs to figure out if stepping back into the ring with Viktor is a wise move. 

Creed II kills time until its inevitable finale, which like Rocky's fight with Ivan Drago takes place in Russia and if I were the Dragos, I would not fight within 1000 kilometers of Russia.    They do better on American soil.   The primary issue with Creed II, and its predecessor, is that Adonis doesn't have the personality or the charisma to keep us engrossed.    He's something of a dud, and the peripheral characters like the wise, aging Rocky, the down-on-his luck Ivan, and even Adonis' adoptive mother Mary Anne (Rashad) deserve more screen time.    They are just plain more entertaining to watch.    I would've liked to have seen Viktor's relationship with his dad fleshed out more.    Just how does he feel about being Ivan's pawn in his attempt to regain the respect of the Russian powers that be vicariously through his son?    Creed II seems to forget that the Ukraine and Russia are no longer part of the same country. 

As the wiser, older, and slower Rocky Balboa, Stallone hits the right notes.   This version of Rocky suits him considering that Stallone is now 72.    Just please don't let Rocky back in the ring.    Lundgren himself hints at his own inner torment during his heart-to-heart with Rocky, and I would've preferred to see Ivan and son presented as more than just mere one-dimensional villains for Adonis and Rocky to crush.   We know Ivan has fallen on hard times since his loss to Rocky thirty-plus years ago, and there is ample opportunity to show us how and why.    Viktor is not given much dialogue, and thus isn't allowed to anything but a Ukrainian wrecking machine.    There is a story here Creed II isn't into focusing on. 

Jordan looks the part of a boxer and can authentically move around the ring, but as a character he's dull.    But, since the movie is titled Creed II and not Drago I, or Rocky VIII, the movie has to be about him.    I watched the movie in a Dolby surround sound theater, and the body blows and head shots deliver some wicked thuds.   The fight scenes are well-done, and manage to remain somewhat convincing even for a Rocky film, and they all reach surprising conclusions.    But, I remain staunch in my belief that we don't need to see any more Rocky Balboa or Adonis Creed.    There isn't any direction which can be taken that hasn't already been covered.    But, if you're going to end the series at some point, at least do so before Mason "The Line" Dixon's son decides he wants to box for a living. 

Green Book (2018) * * * *

Directed by:  Peter Farrelly

Starring:  Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini

I could listen to these two guys talk all day.    Green Book is about two men from very different backgrounds who forge a friendship in the racially tense 1960s.    The film is a road movie, but transcends the clichés associated with the genre with two distinct, unforgettable performances and warmth, truth, and humor.    You think just by the plot description (based on a true story) that you know Green Book will check off certain boxes and arrive at a predictable conclusion.    You would be only sort of right, and you would also be moved by this poignant and often funny journey.

We first meet Tony Lip (Mortensen), a paunchy bouncer at the Copacabana in New York circa 1962.  Local mafioso frequent the place to see singers like Bobby Rydell grace the stage, and Tony Lip isn't above roughing up patrons who get out of line, even if they are connected.   After the Copa is closed briefly, Tony Lip bounces around the Bronx finding odd jobs and taking bets on whether he can eat more hot dogs in one sitting than the local diner record holder.    He adores his wife Delores (Cardellini) and his kids, while also preferring not to work for the local mob bosses who want to hire him as muscle.   Tony Lip is an affable guy, who hasn't quite reached enlightenment as far as his racial attitudes.    Those more or less mesh with the times.    His reaction to witnessing black repairmen drink from his glasses tells you all you need to know.

Soon, concert pianist Dr. Don Shirley (Ali) ("a doctor of piano playing" as Tony puts it) inquires around about needing a driver for his fall concert tour of the South, and Tony's name comes up.   Doc lives in a posh apartment above Carnegie Hall.   It is full of antiquities and Caribbean-inspired decorations, including a throne which Doc sits in when interviewing Tony for the job.   The two men's backgrounds and approach to the world could not be more evident.    Tony smokes, stuffs his face, talks endlessly, and murders the English language, while Doc is proper, mannered, impeccably dressed, and educated.    But, in a twist you wouldn't expect, Doc is not condescending of Tony, and Tony is not threatened by Doc's mannerisms.    They are a study in contrasting personalities who find each can learn from the other and find common ground.

It comes as no surprise that Doc's façade hides immense shyness, while Tony is surprisingly understanding and enlightened when he learns more about Doc.   What makes Green Book such a treasure, is how both men remain themselves, while allowing themselves to grow and see things from different perspectives.    We know Doc will encounter racial prejudice during the trip.   The "green book" is a book published by AAA noting establishments which would welcome blacks.    This is how integrated racism and discrimination was back then.   Even though we still have a long way to go towards racial equality, at least such books are no longer published.  

Mortensen and Ali are a delight to watch at every turn in Oscar-worthy performances.    They never have to reach for laughs or sentimentality.    We feel an instant connection with them.   We are touched when we see their lifelong friendship evolve before our very eyes.    It is refreshing to see that they aren't at each other's throats in the beginning and warm up to becoming friends, which would be typical of a lesser film.    Each understands the other, accepts their differences, and work from there.    The changes each man goes through are subtly drawn through humor and observance of their natures.    Doc is Tony's guy, and Tony never wavers in his duty to get Doc through his tour and protect him from some of the more cruel people they meet.  

Green Book, directed by Peter Farrelly (yes, that one who directed Dumb and Dumber, There's Something About Mary, and even The Three Stooges with his brother Bobby) never steps wrong.   It knows who Tony is and knows who Doc is, and we can wholly believe how and why they became friends and remained so until they died within four months of each other in 2013.    There is a crucial point in the film in which Tony makes a discovery about Doc he may or may not have suspected earlier, but he comforts Doc by saying, "it's a complicated world".   This is exactly how Tony would, and should say about this situation, and it is a pleasure to see this movie stay so true to Tony's, and Doc's, voice.

Boy Erased (2018) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Joel Edgerton

Starring:  Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Joel Edgerton, Flea, Joe Alwyn, Xavier Dolan, Troye Sivan

A different type of abuse is at the heart of Boy Erased, based on the Garrard Conley memoir about a gay teen sent to "conversion therapy", or a center where a group of religious zealots attempt to exorcise the homosexuality out of teens.    The movie doesn't take place in the 1940's or 1950's, but in 2004, and enlightenment has apparently befallen the Love in Action center, led by the villainous Victor Sykes (Edgerton) who foolishly believes homosexuality is caused by external factors like alcoholic uncles or faulty DNA.    The abuse here is trying to suppress people into forsaking their sexual identity through a system of tyranny, guilt, shame, and manipulation.    Phrases like "God will not love you until you rid yourself of this sin," are used in order to somehow force these impressionable kids into squelching their true emotions.    You would think in the 21st century, most of society would have come around to the understanding that there are homosexuals in the world, but it appears our confidence is misguided. 

Boy Erased is Joel Edgerton's follow-up to The Gift (2015), which was one of that year's best films.   He proves once again he is an excellent director, expertly managing the complex themes and emotions at play.    The sequences at the therapy center rile up the most outrage, while the quieter, subtler scenes between Jared (Hedges) and his spiritual parents are the most powerful.    Boy Erased doesn't make the mistake of turning Jared's parents (Kidman and Crowe-both remarkable) into insufferable, backward creeps, but instead shows them as loving parents who never thought they would have to encounter homosexuality in their son.   Marshall (Crowe) runs a successful auto dealership and is a pastor at his local church.    Nancy (Kidman) is a supportive wife and mother who never questioned her husband's actions...until now.   Jared plays basketball, has a girlfriend, and soon attends college.    But, his girlfriend doesn't turn him on and he soon comes to understand his same sex desires.    Jared tries to hide his sexual orientation, but an encounter with a college friend (Alwyn) turns ugly and forces Jared's feelings into the light. 

Marshall consults with church elders and pays thousands of dollars sight unseen to Love in Action in hopes it would "cure" his son.   Sykes runs the center like a prison, and in many ways, it is one.    He conducts exercises such as role playing, confessions, lessons in "manliness", and drawing up family trees to figure out where in the genealogical line "things went wrong".   Sykes is a supposedly converted homosexual, although I am at a loss to determine what that means.    Sykes, and others, mistakenly believe you can rid someone of their desires through physical action.    In the case of one wayward teen, parents and friends publicly whip him in order to cast out demons.     These disturbing scenes would almost seem like parody or satire if such places didn't actually exist. 

Edgerton never plays Sykes as an over-the-top fanatic frothing at the mouth.   His cruelty is more subtle and hidden in a façade of support and love.   Hedges, who with this film and previous strong work in Manchester by the Sea, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Lady Bird, is forging quite a terrific body of work.    His Jared is quiet, trying to be all things to all people and go along, but soon forges his assertiveness and stands up to Sykes after comprehending that what's going on is just plain wrong.    Hedges provides a sympathetic center, and the people in his life need to adjust to him, not the other way around.    Kidman and Crowe both have their own quietly moving and triumphant scenes in which they understand their own complicity and short-sightedness and find ways to learn and grow.  

Boy Erased is not an anti-religion film, but an anti-small mindedness one.    When Jared finally musters the courage to escape from the center and choose to live life on his terms, I felt exalted and nearly shouted "YES!" from my theater seat.   And Jared's final conversation with Marshall feels nothing short of true, complex, and human, which could be said of the movie itself.  

Office Christmas Party (2016) * *

Directed by:  Josh Gordon and Will Speck

Starring:  Jason Bateman, T.J. Miller, Jennifer Aniston, Courtney B. Vance, Jillian Bell, Rob Corddry, Kate McKinnon, Olivia Munn

Office Christmas Party nearly transcended its objectives and almost morphed into a potent satire on political correctness and its effect on the workplace, until it decided to dumb things down and play it safe.    To my astonishment, I found myself caring a lot more about the events of Office Christmas Party more than I ever had a right to.    We know things will turn out well in the end for everyone, but the party itself isn't simply an excuse to showcase lazy sight gags and gross-out humor.    The man throwing it wants to prove his worth as a boss to his joyless staff and his cold CEO sister, and we find ourselves interested to see how that would turn out.   

But, then the movie flies off on its least amusing subplot involving an escort and her unstable female pimp and all hope for something fresh is out the window.   It's a pity.   Office Christmas Party has some very funny and adept comic actors all over it, and in many cases, they bring some inspiration and energy to a routine plot.    So, why lose faith by falling back on a car chase, gunplay, and over-the-top desperation to cause the movie to wheeze on its way across the finish line?    It's a tribute to Office Christmas Party that it even had a chance to work.    Although, like in numerous movies in which an all-out bash is at the center, I find myself wondering how much money was spent on the decorations, the endless supply of alcohol, food, and drugs, and then how much it will cost to clean up.    That is more intriguing than watching a guy swing half-naked like Tarzan from a string of Christmas lights.

We first meet the workers of the Chicago branch of Zenotek, which produces computer servers, but misses out on the big clients because it isn't Dell or Intel.    The branch is struggling financially, and the boss Clay Vanstone (Miller) wants to throw a Christmas party (or a "non-denominational gathering with a one drink maximum") to liven up the branch's sour morale.    Matters get worse when Clay's no-nonsense, resentful, sleek sister/company CEO Carol (Aniston) shows up and informs her brother of some grim news:  They have two days to land a huge client or be closed down.    Clay, his right-hand man Josh (Bateman), and the firm's top techno geek (Munn) pitch a stuffy client and invite him to the Christmas party which Carol forbade them from throwing.    Can they close the client and keep everyone's jobs?    Will they be able to throw the party without HR manager/resident party pooper Mary (McKinnon) having apoplexy over the inappropriate behavior which is sure to follow?

The party itself doesn't present many huge comic opportunities, but it doesn't sink the movie either.   We witness debauchery, lust, and inappropriateness on a massive scale, and I still haven't seen a truly riotously funny movie party since Sixteen Candles.    We know what will happen next, and Office Christmas Party checks those boxes.    This is not a movie you watch for strong character development or even its plot.    But, I must say the first hour or so kept me compelled until the bottom fell out and the movie ended with a whimper.