09/23/2002 Entry:
"Hollywood Ending - Woody Allen (2002)
About A Boy - Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz (2002)"

Seeing a movie on a plane is far from an ideal experience, and usually I just take a pass. The films are pan and scan, typically edited for language, and aside from anything else they tend to be terrible. However, these were two movies I had been curious about and planned to catch up with on rental at some point, so I just went for it on my recent trip to Vegas for a trade show.

Hollywood Ending, the latest from Woody Allen, fits well into the category of late Allen material in that it is entertaining enough, but nothing special. The first half is actually pretty good, endless Hollywood in-jokes fired off one after another. One of them (Haley Joel Osment's lifetime acheivement award) actually made me laugh out loud in public, which is quite a feat. However once the main plot kicks in, the film starts falling more flat and while I never lost interest, I never laughed again either thats for sure. The fairly predictable ending wrapped up this film quite neatly, and while I have long since given up on Allen ever making another movie as good as Manhattan, I am left wondering if we'll even ever get another movie as good as freaking Bullets Over Broadway.

I never really decided if I wanted to see About A Boy. Pro, its based on a book by Nick Hornby and was well-reviewed. Con, Hugh Grant. Really this wasn't so bad, and Grant was easily the least irritating I've ever seen him. Again, the first half of this has more energy and gusto than the second, but the last third doesn't fall flat and while its predictable and hackneyed, I can't say I would have preferred any other kind of ending. Or maybe I'm just ashamed to admit that I was kind of moved by the concept of Hugh Grant and a 12 year old boy singing Killing Me Softly in a high school gym.

I should note that although About A Boy is generally a pretty nice looking film, it contained several instances of a filmmaking device I am getting pretty sick of seeing. The rotating overhead camera, used to represent the swirling moody thoughts in a character's head, typically underscored by some hartfelt angst-ridden pop song (here ably supplied by Badly Drawn Boy.) Been there, done that, please do something new. I couldn't decide whether or not I liked the horizontal wipes to underscore the crosscutting between Grant and the kid. I would probably need another viewing to really get a feel for that. The narration definitely needed to go in some segments, there were points where I felt like I was being told what to feel, which is never good for any film. Let the actors do their jobs and their feelings will come naturally, we can figure it out (even if we figure out something other than you intended, its OK, really.)