Album Reviews
Movies
Concert Reviews

Top 10
Resources
Contact Us

"I think people are too self-involved," remarks one of the many self-involved characters in the new movie Lovely and Amazing. The irony is unfortunately obvious, as is much of this independent film.

Actually, the first half of Lovely and Amazing is quite nice, as it focuses on the little things that get in the way of our relationships: the snide comments, the ostensibly innocent but loaded questions, and the festering
resentments borne of self-absorption. The lead character--36-year-old Michelle (Catherine Keener)--might be the most selfish of the bunch, as she alternately ignores and glares at her husband and then impulsively jumps into an affair with her teenage boss (Jake Gyllenhaal). She has dreams of being an artist but mostly creates little knick-knacks that nobody wants to buy and then leaves them on the floor for her husband to "accidentally" step on.

Michelle's younger sister Elizabeth (Emily Mortimer) is an actress, so she's insecure and self-absorbed by definition. Her neediness manifests itself in more socially acceptable forms, however, such as taking in stray
dogs and nagging her agent and boyfriends about whether she's sexy enough. Their mother, Jane (Brenda Blethyn), seems more stable than her daughters, though she's preparing to have liposuction and spends much of the movie wondering whether her doctor is flirting with her. Then there's Annie (Raven Goodwin), a young black girl that Jane has adopted. Being eight years old, her self-absorption is age-appropriate and a useful comparison with the older women in the movie.

Unfortunately,  once Lovely and Amazing has established these characters and their damaged relationships, the movie doesn't know what to do with them. Instead of moving forward or backwards, the script just gives us more of the same. Writer and director Nicole Holofcener (Walking and Talking)
should be commended for avoiding the 'cataclysmic event that transforms everything,' but watching Catherine Keener mutter "[bleep] you" at various characters gets old quickly. And when everyone else starts using the phrase (even Annie), I wondered if the movie had anything else to say.

With such an outstanding cast, it's no surprise that the acting is top-notch. I wish Hollywood would give Keener (Being John Malkovich) more high-profile roles, as she's consistently fantastic. And it goes without saying that Brenda Blethyn is great, though Holofcener criminally underuses her. This is particularly odd given how similar this role is to Blethyn's breakthrough role in Secret and Lies. The comparison could've provided some fascinating insights, but instead we get a self-absorbed movie about self-absorption.   

If Lovely and Amazing starts off well and then loses its way, Never Again veers wildly off course from the first scene. This movie stars Jeffrey Tambor and Jill Clayburgh as two post-middle-age New Yorkers searching for love in all the wrong places. He's Christopher, a pest exterminator who wonders if he's gay after having a homosexual dream. She's Grace, who works at a non-profit and hasn't had a steady relationship in over a decade. Goaded by her friends, she goes online and actually finds a date in a chat
room. It turns out that her date is a dwarf. Wait, it gets worse. The dwarf dumps her. Meanwhile, Christopher somehow decides that having sex with a hermaphrodite is a good transition into homosexuality. Imagine Michael McKean in drag, and then imagine it ten times worse than that.

Of course, our two desperate characters are destined to find each other. Where? A gay bar. How? Don't ask. What follows is a surprisingly raunchy love affair that seems desperate to bring Sex-and-the-City humor into the usually staid environs of AARP romance. The language is bluer than an Eddie Murphy stand-up special, with explicit discussions of oral sex, sex shops, and toys. Interestingly, when the movie isn't bandying about the f-word like it's part of Fowler's Guide to Modern Usage, the humor is reminiscent
of the old I Love Lucy show. You know, like every episode where Lucy would come up with some idea that carried her just slightly out of her depth, everything goes wrong, and then Ricky comes home. Never Again's most notorious scene is just like that, except that it involves a sexual device I can't describe in a family newspaper.

If this sounds like an utter disaster, you're not far wrong. Except that the two lead actors are so fantastic and their quiet scenes with each other so compelling that I was willing to put up with all the nonsense, at least for a while. Jeffrey Tambor is especially great. He has a soft presence and genuine humanity that is wonderful. In the midst of all the chaos, his character is completely believable. And his need for affection and fear of commitment are palpable. It's a remarkable performance, and if Eric Schaeffer's script and direction weren't so stupid, one that might even be Oscar-worthy. But as my friend Garth wisely pointed out, it's hard to know who's going to enjoy Never Again. Anyone under 40 will stare at the screen in bafflement, while anyone over 40 will probably be put off by the language and humor. That's a shame, as Jeffrey Tambor deserves better.