THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT: 4 STARS

The people at the center of “The Kids Are All Right” are Nic (Annette Benning) and Jules (Julianne Moore), a long time lesbian couple raising their two kids, Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson) in the suburbs of LA. The Moms are opposites—Nic is a perfectionist doctor, Jules a free spirit still searching for her way—but the family is happy. Happy, that is until Joni contacts her biological father via the sperm bank. Turns out donor dad is Paul (Mark Ruffalo), a SoCal restaurateur who had no idea his sperm bank contributions resulted in one child, let alone her brother Laser as well. Despite Jules and Nic’s trepidation the kids form a relationship with Paul, but his presence brings with it some unwanted consequences.

There is a scene near the end of “The Kids Are All Right” that sums up the feel of the whole film. At a dinner party Nic and Paul sing a Joni Mitchell song. The “performance” is joyful, ridiculous and poignant simultaneously and is a perfect microcosm of the script. Like real life, the ups and downs of this particular group of folks are unpredictable, sometimes funny, sometimes not. This well drawn cast of characters keeps the basic story afloat, adding richness and color to a story that could have been an average romantic comedy.

Bening and Moore are warm but complicated presences. The audience never doubts for a second that they’ve been a couple for twenty years, and their intimate moments, their testy moments, their funny moments and their heartbreaking moments are believable and dynamic because of the skill of these two actors.  
As Joni Mia Wasikowska, such a flatline as Alice in “Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland,” shines here as the brainiac who is just coming into her own.

Also impressive is Mark Ruffalo as Paul, the interloping sperm donor. He’s a lonely guy in search of a family, and despite the trouble he causes—both wittingly and unwittingly—Ruffalo makes him charming and believable.

There’s that word again. Believable. Believability is the main strength of this film. The characters have a lived-in, realistic feel so even when the story falters the people in it don’t.      

It’s a story that is both very specific and rather universal, all at the same time. Nic and Jules may have an nontraditional marriage but their story of parenting issues, mid-life crisis and long term commitment is as traditional—and crowd pleasing—as we’ve seen in a movie this year.

KNIGHT AND DAY: 2 STARS
 
“Knight and Day,” the new couple-on-the-run movie starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, borrows elements from “North by Northwest,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” and even “There’s Something About Mary” to form one whole that is slightly less than the sum of it’s parts.

If this was “North by Northwest” Diaz would have the Cary Grant role. Here she plays June Havens, a single woman who gets sucked into a very dangerous situation. A routine flight from Wichita, Kansas to Boston becomes not so routine when she meets Roy Miller (Tom Cruise), a handsome but deadly spy whose world is divided into two kinds of people—“bad guys” and “worse guys.” Following a crash landing, a some globetrotting and briefings and de-briefings by good guys and bad, June must learn who to trust and more importantly, who not to trust. At stake is a tiny battery that could power an entire city, a nerdy inventor and possibly, just possibly, June’s romantic future.

“Knight and Day” attempts to combine the specialties of its two stars—romantic comedy and action—but it’s not exactly a seamless package.  Diaz has years of rom com experience under her stylish Gucci belt and Cruise adds a comedic edge to his standard issue action hero but the two never quite gel. The movie can’t decide whether it is screwball spy movie like “Get Smart” with bigger guns or a romantic comedy with explosions. It is weighted heavier toward the action, but I couldn’t help but think it would have worked better as a straight up spy drama without the punch lines or the romantic yuks.  

It’s a movie that wants us to care more about the characters than we actually do. Cruise and Diaz are working it here, dodging bullets, exchanging the odd kiss and trying to create some heat, but every time we start to get to know the characters the movie slams the pedal to the metal and kicks into action movie mode. Much of the action is fun, some of it inventive, but none of it is really exciting, perhaps because the stakes are so low. When you don’t really care about the characters who cares if they get blown to bits by Spanish terrorists?

It could be that the on-screen personas of Cruise and Diaz are so firmly etched in our minds—he’s the heroic man of action, she’s going to end up with the guy in the end—that it’s hard to build excitement when you know how it’s likely to end. That’s not a spoiler… just an observation.   

Not that the whole thing is a flat line. Far from it. It’s a slickly made movie that shies away from the new norm of action photography. Here you can actually see what is happening as things blow up and Cruise catches some air on his motorcycle, unlike the recent “A-Team” movie that confused frenetic camera work with exciting action.

“Knight and Day” tries to use the star wattage of Cruise and Diaz to sell a story that tries to be an action movie that will appeal to the rom com set, or a romantic comedy that action fans will like. Unfortunately it falls somewhere down the middle.

THE KARATE KID: 3 ½ STARS

As the aspiring martial artist in the new “Karate Kid” Jaden Smith is a big screen natural like his old man. Whether he'll have a career like Will's or one like Ralph Macchio remains to be seen, but for now, his charismatic presence is the best thing about this big summer reboot.

He plays Dre Parker, a reimagined version of the character Macchio turned into a 1980s icon. This time around he’s a cocky 12-year-old victim of the recession. “There’s nothing left for us in Detroit,” says his mother (Taraji P. Henson) as she packs him up and moves to Beijing to take a job at a car factory. There he is a fish out of water, experiencing both cultural and personality clashes. Falling for a pretty classmate () he runs afoul of class bully Cheng who opens up a forty ounce can of Bruce Lee on Dre. Alone and bruised Dre befriendsmaintenance man and kung fu master--"It's China," he says, "everybody knows kung fu."--Mr. Han (Jackie Chan).  The Yoda to Dre's Jedi, Han teaches his pupil the discipline of kung fu and prepares him for the final showdown with the bullies, while Dre educates his master a thing or two about courage.

To anyone alive in the 1980s the “Karate Kid” story—although really the movie should be called “Kung Fu Kid,” as there’s no actual karate anywhere to be found—is a familiar one. The story has been freshened by a move to Beijing, but the filmmakers have wisely kept the heart and soul of the original. The underdog coming-of-age tale remains as heart tugging now as it was in 1984 hit movie but it doesn't feel like a run-of-the-mill summer blockbuster and that's a good thing. Director Harald Zwart takes his time with the narrative—although at 2 plus hours the simple story begins to feel slightly bloated—allowing the characters and not the action to take center stage. Add to that the beautiful Beijing backdrop and some nice performances and you have the anti-“Prince of Persia,” a movie that relies on wits and personality rather than brawn for entertainment value.

Smith is the centerpiece of the film. He’s clearly still a novice, but has inherited the best bits of both his mother (Jada Pinklett Smith) and father’s collective gene pools (he got his mother’s ears! Yay!) and has charisma to burn. He’s not going to win an Academy Award for this one, but he capably carries a great deal of the movie on his 12-year-old back.

Another surprise is Jackie Chan. Last time we saw him he was mugging his way through the truly awful “The Spy Next Door,” but here he shows his lion in winter side. For the most part he leaves his trademarked high kicking martial arts behind to focus on character and arcane sayings—“When fighting angry blind man it’s best to stay out of the way.”—but when he does fly into action somehow his trick of tying someone up with their own jacket in mid battle never gets old.

“The Karate Kid” is long, and it feels like it, with its tiresome and unfortunate catch phrase “jacket on, jacket off” (say it fast), an update of “wax on, wax off” from the first movie, but the payoff is a crowd pleaser and Jaden Smith is a superstar in the making.

KICK-ASS: 4 STARS

If Quentin Tarantino made a kid’s coming-of-age movie it might look something like “Kick-Ass”. It has most of his trademarks—clever dialogue, good soundtrack and some high octane violence—but there’s a twist. The bloodiest, most cut throat purveyor of ultra violence in the film is an eleven year old girl.  

Based on a wild indie comic of the same name by Mark Millar “Kick-Ass” tells a couple of intertwining stories. First up is Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a fanboy who creates a superhero alter ego called Kick-Ass as a way to boost his self esteem. In life he says his only superpower is being invisible to girls, but when he dons the suit he becomes… only marginally more super. His exploits, however, grab the attention of Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit Girl (Chloë Moretz), a slightly psychotic father and daughter team of masked (and in Hit Girl’s case, wigged) avengers who admire Ass’s style and moxy. For the caped crusaders in “Kiss-Ass”  all roads lead to drug lord Frank D'Amico (a suitably evil Mark Strong) a ruthless tough guy who is unafraid to go all medieval—his men even use a giant microwave as a torture device—on his enemies.

The action scenes are plentiful and frenetic and once you get past the question, “Why would Chloë Moretz’s parents allow her to do this?” they’re really fun. It’s a little unsettling to see a young girl wielding a switchblade, gunning down dozens of bad guys and going hand-to-hand with a full grown man, but for superhero starved audiences—“Iron Man” won’t be out until next month!—Hit Girl could become a guilty pleasure. It’s not right, and the character will likely be controversial, but it is cool. Not since Natalie Portman in “Léon” has the screen seen such a sweet faced assassin.

But Chloë Moretz’s performance isn’t all high flying action. She makes the best of the darkly comic script, playing both sides of the Mindy / Hit Girl character. Out of costume she has a sweet playful side that pretty much evaporates when she puts on the wig and the weapons.

She plays well off Cage, who once again scores with a very loopy performance, but it is her ability to bring some exuberant fun to her scenes that is “Kick-Ass’s” strongest suit.

“Kick-Ass” is an unusual coming of age story in all respects except one, and that is the film’s weakness. The love story between Dave and Katie (Lyndsy Fonseca) is typical teen fare and is soon forgotten when the action kicks in.

Apart from the mushy teen stuff, however, “Kick-Ass” is one movie that lives up to its title.

KNOWING: 1 STAR

How do actors become parodies of themselves? Three of the brightest and the best from the 70s crop of method actors, Jack Nicholson, Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino have, in the mind of director Frances Ford Coppola, gotten lazy and played it safe. "They all live off the fat of the land," he said.

Coppola may want to add another name to the list and a family member at that. In Knowing, a new science fiction thriller, the director’s Academy Award winning nephew Nicolas Cage bottoms out, handing in a ridiculous performance that completes (let’s hope!) his trilogy of Razzie Award worthy work. From The Wicker Man to Bangkok Dangerous and now Knowing, it’s as if Cage is engaging in an experiment with extreme b-movie acting. He’s always ridden the line between the sublime (Wild at Heart) and the ridiculous (Face/Off) but even in his most over-the-top glory the risks he takes have been interesting, if not always successful. Who else would eat a live cockroach on screen?

In recent years though, it’s as if he’s all risk and no judgment. How else do you explain the bear suit in Wicker Man or the absurd wig in Bangkok Dangerous? Knowing marks the third time in as many years that Cage has played a parody of the edgy characters that he used to excel at.

He is John Koestler, an astrophysicist and professor at MIT who, since the untimely death of his wife, has given up his faith and adopted the much darker philosophy of randomness. He now believes that there is no rhyme or reason to the world and sometimes bad things just happen. When his son brings home a 50-year-old letter from a time capsule at his school, John’s faith, or lack thereof, is tested as the mysterious letter seems to accurately predict horrible tragedies. If he doesn’t believe, and doesn’t try to figure out the letter’s strange code many people may die.

The basic idea for Knowing is cool. It’s a supernatural thriller with a surprise sci fi development but Cage seems to be acting in a b-movie while everyone else is trying to make an a-picture. He over acts every scene, tries to sell every one of the script’s silly twists and turns and by the time he utters, “How am I supposed to stop the end of the world?” I didn’t know whether to laugh or hang my head in embarrassment at a career gone so awry.

Like Cage’s excessive performance, Knowing is extreme—extremely loud and extremely overwrought. The volume is cranked both literally and emotionally. The blaring soundtrack almost threatens to drown out the angst everyone in this movie seems to suffer from. A wild subway crash and a large scale sequence involving a plane dropping from the sky add some action eye candy but those expensive effects can’t disguise the fact that this is merely a b-movie trifle with a big budget.

KIT KITTREDGE: AN AMERICAN GIRL: 3 STARS

It’s common place for movie characters to make the leap from screen to store shelves. Almost every movie this summer has a spin-off of some sort available for purchase at the local Toys ‘R’ Expensive, but it’s rare that movies hit the big screen with a line of toys already in place. The new film starring twelve-year-old Academy Award nominee Abigail Breslin, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, takes this backward approach. Inspired by the successful line of wholesome American Girl® dolls, the movie brings to life Kit Kittredge, a plucky depression-era girl who dreams of being a newspaper reporter.

Breslin plays the living doll in this Nancy Drew-esque family-friendly story. Set in Cincinnati (the movie was actually shot in Toronto and Tottenham, Ontario) just as the Great Depression starts to take hold, when we first meet the Kittredges they are a comfortable middle class family. Nine-year-old Kit’s (Breslin) dreams of being the next great newspaper writer are delayed, however, when her father suddenly loses his job and their comfortable existence is changed forever. Dad (Chris O’Donnell) moves to Chicago to look for work while Mom (Julia Ormond) ekes out a living running a boarding house. When a string of “hobo” crimes touches their lives Kit uses her reporting skills to make sure the police arrest the right people.  

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl could have been an orgy of product placement for the American Girl® line, but thankfully it is more than that. Definitely aimed at young kids, I’d say the ten and under crowd, its gentle humor, graceful pacing and colorful characters should keep growing minds engaged. Beyond the pure entertainment of the story though, is a timely message about how people respond to economic hard times and the pluck required to deal with a “foreclosure” sign on your front lawn.

Its values are as old fashioned as the story. It teaches tolerance, friendship and the power of hard work, but Canadian director    Patricia Rozema (Mansfield Park and I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing) never allows the movie to become preachy. Her steady hand ensures that the heavy messages presented here are almost subliminal; that they work to serve the story instead of vice versa.

At the heart of the movie is Breslin in the lead role. Her fresh-faced naturalistic performance should click with young girls looking for a pre-tween role model who saves the day. She ably supported by an interesting cast of old pros including Stanley Tucci as an itinerant magician, flapper Jane Krakowski and Joan Cusack as a mobile librarian and newcomers like Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s daughter Willow Smith as a child hobo.

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl will likely have little or no appeal for the young boys in the house, but should be a hit with ten and under girls.

KUNG FU PANDA: 4 STARS

The funniest movie animal is, of course, the chimp, followed by the talking dog and then the dancing pig. With the release of the new Jack Black animated film you can add to that list the Kung Fu Panda.

In this lush computer animated film Black portrays Po, an overweight kung fu crazy panda who dreams of becoming a master warrior. In his rich fantasy life his enemies would go blind from his “sheer awesomeness.” In reality he is the son of a noodle maker with no moves, no skill.

When he is accidentally crowned Dragon Warrior, a once-in-a-thousand-years-honor, he must look inside himself to conjure the skills to live up to the title and beat the evil Tai Lung (Ian McShane).     

Training with the Furious Five warriors and Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) he learns to leave his insecurities behind. “I’m not a fat Panda,” he says, “I’m the fat Panda.”

His self confidence may be at an all time high, but will it be enough to defeat Tai Lung and bring peace to his valley?

Directors Mark Osborne and John Stevenson use a mixed bag of techniques to tell the story. State of the art computer animation brings the characters to life, but the gorgeous hand drawn animation in the fantasy sequences is uncommonly sumptuous for a story like this and gives the movie real character. Imagine if Akira Kurosawa had directed a kid’s movie and you’ll get the idea.

Also strong is the voice work, particularly from old pros Hoffman and McShane, two nicely cast voices you don’t expect to hear in a movie aimed at kids. 

Beautifully animated and cleverly written Kung Fun Panda should easily fill the space left on the Dreamworks slate until the next Shrek hits the screens. Packed with wit and action it is the rare kind of animated feature that should appeal to all members of the family, although it might not be quite silly enough for the nine and under crowd, but that’s a good thing for parents who will likely have to sit through this one many times over.

KENNY: 4 STARS

Kenny Smyth (Shane Jacobson) is the Dalai Lama of Waste Management. In Australia he’s the guy you call when you need port-a-potties for everything from the racecourse where the Melbourne Cup is run all the way down to fairgrounds and church socials. He’s also the funniest character to emerge from Australian film since Crocodile Dundee.  

Shot in a pseudo documentary style Kenny details the work-a-day existence of a loveable lug who never met a septic tank he couldn’t conquer.  
“It takes a certain kind of person to do what I do,” he says. “No one is ever impressed; no-one's ever fascinated. If you're a fireman, all the kids will want to jump on the back of the truck and follow you to a fire. There's going to be no kids willing to do that with me. So, I don't do it to impress people; it's a job, it's my trade, and I actually think I'm pretty good at it.”    

Originally conceived and shot as a short film Kenny was expanded to full length when Splashdown (‘We’re number one with your number two’s”), a major portable bathroom rental outfit chimed in with the cash for a feature budget. Mostly improvised Kenny takes what could have been a one-joke premise and stretches it to 100 minutes by going beyond the bathroom jokes. Don’t get me wrong, there is enough scatological humor here to make Urinetown seem like The Sound of Music, but there is also much more.

The film’s main asset is Jacobson as the chubby, wisecracking plumber. He’s in virtually every scene, spouting Aussie vernacular and colloquialisms, as he takes us through the nitty gritty of temporary sanitation solutions. He brings an unexpected warmth and self-depreciating sense of humor to the character and the film that is infectious. He’s very funny, with razor sharp timing and an offhand way with a line, but it’s his personal journey that makes him interesting.

When he’s not retrieving rings dropped down toilet bowls or attending the “Pumper and Cleaner” convention in Nashville he deals with real-life issues like a tense father-and-son relationship, a dysfunctional brother and a budding romance. These sidebars elevate the movie from a one-joke wonder to a story with real human interest. Plumbers aren’t often the heroes in movies, but Jacobson’s portrayal of Kenny and his life is a crowd pleaser.

Kenny is a barefaced ‘feel good’ comedy that works as well as any of Christopher Guest's mockumentaries.

THE KITE RUNNER: 3 STARS

The Kite Runner is a condensation of an epic best selling book about two young boys from different social classes who have a profound effect on one another’s lives. Directed by Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland), and set in a pre-Taliban Afghanistan, the release of the film was delayed by Paramount for six weeks for fear that the four young Afghani actors who appear in the film’s pivotal, but non-graphic rape scene, would suffer reprisals. With the boys safely out of Afghanistan and relocated in the United Arab Emirates the film is now in wide release.

The movie is mostly played in flashback. Starting in 2000 the story jumps back to Kabul in 1978. The 12-year-old Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi) and Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada) are best friends, separated only by class. Amir’s family employs Hassan’s but the two boys have grown up as brothers. Together they win a competition to determine the best kite runners in Kabul. When Hassan runs to retrieve their winning kite he is viciously assaulted by a group of older boys who use ethnic slurs to describe Hassan’s Hazara heritage. According to them he is not a “real Afghani” and when they’re done he is brutalized and humiliated.

Amir, looking for his friend, innocently stumbles across the assault but is paralyzed by fear and unable to help his loyal friend. Wracked by guilt at his lack of action he begins to hate his friend who he know regards as a constant reminder of his cowardice. The boys are permanently separated when the Russians invade the country and force Amir and his family to flee to America.

Relocated to California Amir strives to become a writer while his father, once a rich, influential man, is reduced to working at a gas station as his health fails. Cut forward to 2000. On the eve of a promotional tour for his first book Amir receives a phone call from an old friend, now living in Pakistan. Memories of his past are strong enough for him to cancel the tour and put his new life on hold while he goes back home to confront the life he left behind.  

Forster is no stranger to highly charged emotional material. Monster’s Ball tackled racism in American with a raw intensity rarely seen in mainstream movies, and once again he packs an emotional wallop—at least in the first half of the film.

He is aided in this by the casting of Zekeria Ebrahimi as Amir and Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada as Hassan. Their section of the film is the most engaging, containing wonderfully naturalistic performances from these two boys—neither had ever acted before—and a gripping story of how innocence can be brutally stripped away. Mahmidzada particularly shines as the loyal Hassan, a saintly figure who does the right thing no matter what the cost. His strength of character combined with his natural childlike exuberance makes this one of the best kid’s performances of recent memory.

Unfortunately things so south in the latter part of the film. Once the action shifts from California to the Middle East the movie changes pace, taking on the feel of an action film. It’s shame because the story doesn’t warrant or need this kind of treatment. Not helping matters is Scottish actor Khalid Abdalla (best known for his work in United 93) as the grown-up Amir. His performance here has none of the magic of his younger counterpart and falls very flat. His return to the post-Taliban Afghanistan is played like a Bruce Willis movie, but without the bravado necessary to it off. Forster leaves the emotional complexity of the film’s first half behind, completely dropping the textually rich feel of the characters and situation.

The Kite Runner is half of a great movie with a so-so film tacked on to the end.

THE KINGDOM: 3 ½ STARS

Bring ear plugs and sun screen to The Kingdom. So many things blow up that you’ll need ear protection from the sound and tanning lotion to prevent getting a sun burn from the glare off the giant fireballs that light up screen.

Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx is Ronald Fleury, an FBI special agent who leads a rogue band of investigators—Chris Cooper’s explosives expert, an intelligence analyst played by Jason Bateman and a forensics specialist in the form of Jennifer Garner—to Saudi Arabia to track down and arrest the terrorists behind a brutal attack on a compound housing American oil company workers and their families. They have just five days to sift through the evidence and find the evildoers.

The Kingdom has a jittery, over-amped feel that suggests the director, Peter Berg, may have chugged one too many Red Bulls between takes. He stages the action scenes well, and creates a fair bit of tension—particularly in the film’s chaotic final twenty minutes—but I found myself occasionally wishing that the camera would stop flying around so we could focus and actually clearly see what was happening on screen.

Berg’s decision to keep the camera in almost constant motion mostly suits the action oriented tone of the film, unfortunately he doesn’t fare as well at creating compelling, fully rounded characters.

Foxx displays his usual charisma as the FBI team leader and has some nice moments, both tender and butt-kicking but the other members of his team are reduced to stereotypes—Bateman’s smart alec analyst, Cooper’s wise old investigator and Garner’s cute but steely forensics genius—that wouldn’t seem out of place on any of the CSI shows on television. The movie’s top character and best performance comes from Ashraf Barhom as the compassionate but deadly Arab colonel.

Aside from a masterful montage at the beginning of the film which traces the history of U.S.—Saudi involvement from the 1930s onwards, The Kingdom isn’t going to shed light on the conflict in the Middle East. It is essentially a western. They are the good guys and the bad guys and no shades of grey. Not every movie about the Middle East needs to dig deep into the politics of region, but The Kingdom’s take on the way to deal with terrorism, although crowd pleasing, turns the FBI into vigilantes and anyone in a caftan or a kepi into bad guys. 

KNOCKED UP: 3 ½ STARS

There was a time when we wouldn’t be able to discuss a movie with the title Knocked Up in polite company. It wasn’t that long ago that censors wouldn’t allow Lucille Ball to even utter the word “pregnant” on television, let alone use language that wouldn’t be out of place at a trucker’s convention.

Times certainly have changed.

The provocatively titled Knocked Up gives us an r-rated look at an unlikely couple going through the ups and downs of an unplanned pregnancy. As the title suggests, it’s rude, kinda crude but it’s also the funniest movie so far this year.

Alison (Grey’s Anatomy’s Katherine Heigl) is a pretty twenty-something celebrating her new job as an E! Network correspondent. On a wild night out she meets her polar opposite in Ben (Seth Rogen), an unemployed slacker whose biggest ambition is to run his own website called fleshofthestars.com.

They dance and flirt and many drinks later they end up back at her house. The next morning after their booze fueled one-night-stand he has trouble remembering what happened while she would rather forget it.

Cut to eight weeks later. While interviewing James Franco about Spider-Man 3 on the E! set Alison gets morning sickness. She’s pregnant, and is sure that Ben is the father.

Turns out Ben isn’t such a bad guy once you get past the unemployment, drug habit and penchant for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. He steps up and wants to take responsibility. Trouble is, he doesn’t really know how.

From this point on Knocked Up slides into a more conventional farce about the difficulties of raising a family and fear of commitment but is still peppered with loads of laughs. Writer / director Judd (40 Year Old Virgin) Apatow has managed to find the delicate balance between the traditional romantic comedy elements of the story and the bawdy frat boy humor.

There is no one scene here as memorable as the chest waxing scene in Apatow’s last film, The 40 Year Old Virgin—Steve Carell’s shouts of “Kelly Clarkson!” when his hairy chest is stripped of its fur is the stuff of classic comedy—but minute for minute Knocked Up has more laughs than Virgin. It’s worth the price of admission alone to see Ryan Seacrest, mercilessly parodying himself, have a meltdown on the E! set.

Great White North audiences will find much to enjoy here. Knocked Up may be the most Canadian film released so far this year. Seth Rogen is from British Columbia, and in the movie plays a guy from… BC! Fellow Canuck Jay Baruchel plays one of his stoner roommates; their frat house is covered in Canadian flags and posters and even Cirque du Soleil makes an appearance.

Knocked Up’s story may be a little frayed around the edges, but Apatow with the help of Rogen’s chubby charm and a great supporting cast (including the hilarious Paul Rudd), keep the laughs fresh.

THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE

Robert Evans is the last of a dying breed. The kind of Hollywood mogul who calls women “broads” and hands out his phone number with the caveat “I’m only seven digits away, baby.” In other words, a real character. His life is the subject of a new documentary directed by Brett Morgan and Nanette Burstein, based on his autobiography. It’s an stirring story. Evans was offered his first movie role by Norma Shearer who liked the way he looked in a bathing suit as he lounged by the pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He rose from b-actor status to become head of production for Paramount Pictures, putting films like The Godfather, Love Story and Chinatown into production. He led a fairy-tale life – married to a movie star, living in a Beverly Hills mansion, hanging out with Jack Nicholson – until bit by bit his Hollywood dream turned into a nightmare. His films started losing money; he was kicked off his beloved Paramount’s lot; his wife left him for Steve McQueen, and he started using drugs. His high-rolling life unravelled and it seemed he’d never eat lunch in Hollywood again. But to paraphrase the title, the kid stayed in the picture, and has lived to tell the tale. Evans narrates the film without a hint of self consciousness, and entertainingly mimics everyone from Ali McGraw to Roman Polanski. It’s an absorbing look at a complicated, resilient man. Highly recommended.

KISSING JESSICA STEIN

Jessica Stein (Jennifer Westfeldt) can’t seem to find he right man, so she answers a personal ad… from a woman (Heather Juergensen). Kissing Jessica Stein is a nice spin on the usual contemporary single woman story, a kind of lesbian Bridget Jones’ Diary. Strong performances from Westfeldt and Juergensen reveal real warmth and growth in their characters, and even throw a few curveballs at the viewer. Good dialogue, first-rate acting and a compelling bittersweet story make Kissing Jessica Stein a must see.

KNOCKAROUND GUYS

Knockaround Guys is an unremarkable coming-of-age story with a gangland twist. The four sons (Vin Diesel, Seth Green, Barry Pepper, and Andrew Davoli) of Brooklyn mobsters bond together to reclaim a quarter of a million dollars lost in a small Montana town run by a crooked sheriff (Tom Noonan). The money belongs to Matt Demaret’s (Pepper) dad, Benny “Chains” Demaret (Dennis Hopper) and his underboss Teddy Deserve (John Malkovich). If they don’t get it back, it’s one of the three Rs for them – roof, revolver or river. Written and directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, the same team who wrote Rounders, Knockaround Guys has a straight-to-video feel to it, although the uninspired story is rescued by some very good performances. John Malkovich chews through the screen as Teddy, the conniving Brooklyn Mafioso, and Dennis Hopper is a pleasure to watch in his cameo appearance as the big boss. Of the younger actors, Canadian Barry Pepper shows his chops as the conflicted Matty, while Vin Diesel oozes charisma, but by the film’s closing scenes you wish that these talented actors had more of a script to work with.

KISS KISS BANG BANG DVD: 3 ½ STARS

There’s lots of bang—or should that be bang bang—for your buck in the new DVD release of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the neo-noir starring Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer.

Writer director Shane Black was a 1980s wunderkind who penned the script to Lethal Weapon when he was just 22 years old. He continued to script big action movies into the 90s before dropping out of the business, no doubt filled with self-loathing for having written Last Action Hero and The Long Kiss Goodnight. The time away appears to have been a good idea as his script for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang contains all the trademarks that elevated his best work—sharp, funny dialogue, well drawn characters and crazy Pulp Fictionesque violence—with none of the bad—turgid pacing and stupid plots.
As a two-bit east coast burglar who finds himself in the middle of Hollywood life-and-death intrigue Robert Downey Jr is at his madcap best, while Val Kilmer as a private eye named Gay Parry whose cell phone ring tone is I Will Survive, is dangerous and funny. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang has a plot hat may leave you scratching your head, but the black humor and the cool lead performances more than compensate.

Any movie that borrows its title from a book of film essays by legendary movie critic Pauline Kael better be good, and this one is.

King Kong

2005 will surely go down in history as the Year of the Remake. Theatres saw rehashed television shows like Bewitched and The Dukes of Hazzard hit the big screen, while old movies ideas like War of the Worlds and The House of Wax were reused, usually given a big budget do-over.

Unless you have been living on a remote island with only a giant ape and some restless cannibals for company you must have heard that Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson has taken on the biggest recycling project of the year—a remake of the classic 1933 film King Kong. In doing so Jackson has created an epic three-hour movie that adds to the legacy of the original without overshadowing it.

As you might expect the effects are amazing. A T-Rex chase scene is thrilling; Kong’s home base of Skull Island makes Jurassic Park look like Central Park and the Spider pit scene, cut from the 1933 original has been restored in all its gruesome glory but the most amazing thing here is how Jackson (and actor Andy Serkis) make us actually feel something for a 25 foot tall computer animated ape by combining 21st century technological wizardry with old-fashioned heart. Kong Redux behaves more like a real ape than the original, but the emotional core that made the 1933 version so great is still there. This Kong seems as genuine as any of the real-life actors he is working opposite.

With this version of King Kong Peter Jackson confirms his post LOTR reputation as a virtuoso of the epic film, infusing big-picture storytelling with a human touch.

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN: DVD 3 STARS

Two Orlando Bloom movies this week, and two movies directed by the Scott brothers Tony and Ridley. Set during the Crusades in the Dark Ages Kingdom of Heaven sees Bloom playing a blacksmith turned soldier who travels to Jerusalem and becomes the defender of the city. It’s an ambitious story that suffers from the sheer scale of the storytelling. The film gets bogged down with dialogue, but really shines during the epic battle sequences.

Also interesting is the movie’s political stance. The story revolves around the battle between Christians and Muslims for the city of Jerusalem but deftly avoids taking sides. Scott simply seems to be saying that fanaticism of any kind can lead to ruination.  

Compared to Ridley Scott’s other ancient epic, Gladiator, this movie feels overlong, and Orlando Bloom doesn’t have the charisma that Russell Crowe displayed as Maximus.  

I’m giving Kingdom of Heaven 3 stars for the fine collection of extras on the second disc and the incredible battle scenes.