Friends with Kids (2012)

Dir: Jennifer Westfeldt
Writers: Jennifer Westfeldt
Starring: Jennifer Westfeldt, Adam Scott, Maya Rudolph, Kristin Wiig, Scott O'Down, Jon Hamm

I saw this movie earlier this year in the theaters, but my thoughtful brother sent me the DVD as a birthday gift a couple of months ago.

I've been a huge fan of Jennifer Westfeldt since I saw Kissing Jessica Stein when I was in college, and a few years ago when I saw Ira & Abby. She wrote both of those movies, which are smart, funny, and not your run-of-the-mill rom-com or lady comedy. Friends with Kids is her directorial debut, and I liked it a lot, too.

Overall, this film is about three couples, two who are in romantic relationships and have kids, and another who are strictly platonic but decide to have kids due to the ol' biological clock and because they observe that kids can take all the romance out of a relationship. It can seem a bit winded when typing it all out. But the movie is funny and charming, while there are some things I have to ignore in order to like it, but that's the case with most films, isn't it? I think Westfeldt understands that her characters are not the most realistic or smart -- but there wouldn't be an interesting movie without these two best friends agreeing to a slightly kooky life plan. So, I have to suspend my disbelief, and Westfeldt puts in some great scenes to demonstrate that yeah, this is kind of crazy. The supporting cast (all plucked from Bridesmaids) are particularly great in these scenes.

Westfeldt and Adam Scott play off each other really well, and I love them both. You root for all the characters, and there are moments of sadness throughout, even though it's more of a comedy. I do like how odd and different the plot was from most movies out these days--it seemed more thoughtful--but the ending still seemed a little trite against the rest of the movie. I mean, I feel great that it all works out, but sometimes I want the characters to be challenged a little more!

The Best: When the other two disapproving couples come over to the new parents' apartment for the first time and think they're about to walk into a harried scene, but it ends up exactly the opposite. The outtakes on the gag reel from this scene are also hilarious.

Fact: Westfeldt's been dating co-star Jon Hamm in real life for over ten years. He had bit parts in all of her movies pre-Mad Men era!

Rating: ******** (8 out of 10)

2 Days in the Valley (1996)

Dir: John Herzfeld
Writer: John Herzfeld
Starring: James Spader, Danny Aiello, Jeff Daniels, Eric Stoltz, Teri Hatcher, Charlize Theron

This movie isn't quite remembered by many people. It's odd, given that it's a decent movie, but perhaps it's because it was trying to be as slick as Tarantino after Pulp Fiction. Not very many movies come close to that one. It's got some comedy simmering there beneath the crime thriller it's masquerading as.

The many characters in the film are all caught up in a web of intrigue starting with two hitmen (Spader and Aiello) whose interests diverge, so to speak, after the first scene. The movie then follows the cool (to the point of frigid) and stylish Spader to his waiting-in-the-wings girlfriend played by Charlize Theron in one of her first roles. Aiello ends up in a less-controlled situation and his bumbling character Dasmo falls into some bad luck but also the funniest parts of the movie.

And then there's Eric Stoltz and Jeff Daniels, vice cops who stumble on the hitmen's work. Daniels is so ferociously angry, it's strange after seeing him in something like Dumb and Dumber. He does it well, though. Stoltz seems to have been playing the same role for years, but his perceptive cop gets him into trouble, too.

The ride is enjoyable, but this writer/director did nothing quite as good as this. This type of movie was, in my opinion, later perfected with Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight, and to an extent, Ocean's Eleven. 2 Days in the Valley goes just a bit more grittier in the California heat, but Soderbergh was able to slick it up. In the end, the movie plays well, but I can't help but compare it to all the better movies that came before and after.

Best: I have to give it to Danny Aiello and his scenes with Glenne Headly. He's a lovable gangster and defends Headly's assistant character from her mean-spirited boss. Plus, he's the best comic relief in the movie.

Fact: This was Charlize Theron's first credited role in a film; previously she had an uncredited role as Young Woman in Children of the Corn III. Later in 1996 she appeared in That Thing You Do! and the following year in The Devil's Advocate.

Rating: ******* (7 out of 10)

(500) Days of Summer (2009)

Dir: Marc Webb
Writers: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel

When I first saw (500) Days of Summer, I was fully prepared to write it off as a quirky rom-com without much to it. However, it surprised me in its clever storytelling and assessment of modern romance. More interestingly, the movie acts as a sort of Rorschach test.

The anonymous narrator says from the beginning: "The is a story about love, but this is not a love story."

The relationship of Tom and Summer spans 500 days, and because it is told through the eyes of Tom (with varying amounts of sad moments and funny, imaginary asides), the audience inevitably will root for him. Upon rewatching this, I realized how it really resonates with my generation more than it might with others. It's more than just the Smiths references - it's the fact that Tom builds a relationship on a girl liking "the same stupid crap" he does (Chloe Moretz playing his all-knowing little sister spouts truths throughout the movie).

Many relationships these days begin because of shared interests, but I get the feeling that finding a mutual, obscure band to bond over was not such a prevalent romantic inspiration until these more modern years. And in another part of the movie Tom blames greeting cards, pop music, and movies for leading him astray about romance - and that may be the most universal moment in the whole movie.

Because though Summer embarks on a sort-of relationship with Tom, from the beginning she tells him she does not believe in love, she does not want "anything serious," and when he asks her what they are doing later into their time together, she doesn't give in and tell him what he wants to hear. They continue on, and she breaks it off with him in a scene where she calls herself the Sid to his Nancy - the scene happens early on, and it's hilarious.

The writer Neustadter apparently based this in part on his own relationship, and cringingly calls her out in the opening credits. But the breakup scene happens early on because the movie carries it's audience back and forth between day (1) and (500). We see the promising beginnings to the bleak post-breakup days.

The movie is a Rorschach test because people opine so differently on who they relate to or side with. Some people come away with thinking Summer is a complete and total bitch and Tom is their dream guy. The movie does a good job of making these characters three-dimensional, because I don't think you can make any black-and-white decisions about these two personalities. And Summer, I believe, is so misconstrued as "the bitch" to some people, I can't grasp it - do people hate her character because they are Toms that have been done in by a pretty girl before? Do they not see all of her verbalized views of the non-relationship? Did they also watch The Graduate the way that Tom did in the movie?

Summer is not the villain here - there are no villains - but it's quite telling if someone watches this movie and makes her out to be the bad guy. That's someone that can't see what's right in front of them at all. They are missing the social cues. And Tom, for much of the time, does too. He's the romantic, she's the realist - and that's all there is to it. I think people get a little too caught up in the gender roles we normally see in film, and this movie turns it around.

Fortunately, that's what makes the movie layered and interesting. Not everybody who falls in love are meant to be together forever. Also, it's the prettiest I've ever seen Los Angeles, the editing is perfect, and the script entreats you to consider your own romantic dealings. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel play the main characters wonderfully, and Webb (previously a music video director) makes a strong and beautifully shot feature-length directorial debut. (And bonus points for a GREAT soundtrack!)

The Best: Zooey's all blue-eyed beauty and adorableness, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt knocked it out the park with his emotional wavering between happy-dancing and all-out depression. (He also "knocks it out of the park" during some choreography in a hysterical song-and-dance number!)

Fact: I had noticed all the blue in the movie (particularly the outfits of all those dancers!), but apparently it was a director decision to do so in order to bring out the color of Ms. Deschanel's very blue eyes (which is very hard to miss!).

Rating: ********* (9 out of 10)