Puccini for Beginners
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Movie Reviews of Puccini for Beginners
Movie Review: Puccini for Beginners
Summary: 4 Stars
I doubt anyone's lifestyle is this carefree, much less the lead character's, but a lot of care went into this movie and so I liked it.Movie Review: Likable Romantic Triangle Comedy Hamstrung by a Lackluster Lead and Plodding Pacing
Summary: 3 Stars
Directed and written by Maria Maggenti (The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love), this disheveled 2007 romantic triangle comedy has several likable elements, but it never seems to coalesce into something more resonant. The chief problem is that the protagonist, a neurotic, opera-loving lesbian writer appropriately named Allegra, is so perpetually self-absorbed that her dilemma never elicits much sympathy. Elizabeth Reaser (superb in Sweet Land - A Love Story) is an appealing character actress but frankly not charismatic enough to get away with the commitment-phobic shenanigans that Maggenti throws her way in the acerbic script. The gap causes an odd imbalance with her more intriguing co-stars Justin Kirk and Gretchen Mol. Kirk, who soared as Prior Walter in Mike Nichols' epic 2003 adaptation of Tony Kushner's Angels in America, harnesses his quirky persona effectively to play Philip, a bored philosophy professor who becomes attracted to Allegra.
In turn, Allegra finds herself drawn to Philip but is still reeling from a break-up with her conflicted girlfriend of nine months. Meanwhile, Mol (refreshingly frank as The Notorious Bettie Page) seems to be channeling a bit of Meg Ryan's flaky self-righteousness in playing Grace, a pert glass-blower who just broke up with Philip. Grace meets Allegra, and the standard complications ensue. Even with the lesbian angle, which Maggenti handles with aplomb, the indie movie feels more like a throwback to a 1930's screwball farce, especially seen in a hectic party scene where all three principals converge in a most haphazard way. Emotional isolation is a worthy theme to explore, but Maggenti can't make the film snap with the strength of her witty observations. One would have also expected a reference to Puccini, in particular, his tragic opera Turandot, to be reflected more fully than it does here through the plodding plot structure. The 2007 DVD has an insightful commentary track from Maggenti and editor Susan Graef, as well as a couple of deleted scenes.
Movie Review: Nessun Dorma . . .With Everyone Else
Summary: 3 Stars
This movie is about as subtle as a meat-tenderizing hammer as it's beating us around the head with its pro-gay agenda. But appealing performances keep it from being just a self-conscious film school project. The luminous Elisabeth Reaser stars as Allegra, our prickly, sexually-confused heroine. After a breakup with her longtime girlfriend (Julienne Nicholson), Allegra finds herself carrying on a flirtation (and soon much more) with a man (Justin Kirk) who happens to be quite nearly engaged to someone else (Gretchen Mol). In a turn of events that could only happen in a Manhattan-based sex comedy, Allegra is soon introducing her male lover's clueless girlfriend to the joys of Sapphic love as well. Juggling booty calls from two lovers, one of each gender, proves exhausting, not to mention morally ambiguous (!). So when Allegra's lovers find that they have two-timing each other with Allegra, both Allegra and the audience are quite relieved. In another twist that could only happen in a Manhattan-based sex comedy, this disclosure happens at a swank catered party, with Allegra wearing catering duds. I'm not sure, but I'd wager that Woody Allen's been there done that already. Reaser is a quirky rising talent who we should be seeing a lot more from. She played Diane Keaton's eldest daughter in "The Family Stone" and with good reason--she strikingly resembles the young Keaton. She has a wry way of delivering her lines through her teeth, almost as if she's delivering them as asides. "Can you believe this dreck?" she seems to say as she grits out lines like "Marriage is slavery." Kirk (recently of "Angels in America") seems to be an odd vehicle for helping Allegra to discover her latent heterosexuality; he is not nearly as appealing as the women in this film, which is probably the whole point. Gretchen Mol is charming and I'd chose her over Justin Kirk, too, and I'm straight. This is a highly stylized, picture-postcard Manhattan, where it never rains, the streets aren't crowded and nobody ever works or has to wait for a table . . .they just have a lot of sex in their fabulous apartments, have arguments in fab restaurants and attend glossy parties, at which they fight some more. These people are silly and shallow but it's fun, for 82 minutes, to pretend that it's really possible to live this way. Pair with a couple episodes of "Sex and the City" for a longer experience of sexual absurdist theatre.Movie Review: Cute and complex, yet irritating
Summary: 3 Stars
SPOILERS AHEAD.
This movie was kinda cute and charming. Fun for a bit of mindless entertainment -- you can't allow yourself to get too focused on the fact that in the city of 8 million people this one chick happens to find herself in a room with her boyfriend, her girlfriend who is also the boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, and her ex-girlfriend at the same time.
The movie would have more endearing if I liked Allegra more. As it was, though, the movie was intended to be a chronicling of her growth, and that pretty much means she has little redeeming qualities in the first instance. And I found it very hard to care about her character when, after finding out that the two people she's "dating" (term used loosely) are an ex-couple and after being expressly advised by her best friends to dump them both, she apparently makes little to no attempt to do so -- as if she WANTED to get busted anyway.
I'm giving this movie 3 stars because I enjoy the acting talent of Mol and Kirk... but Allegra's character leaves a lot to be desired, and while she's meant to be "complex," she's also really kind of a jerk.
Movie Review: Amusing comedy of manners
Summary: 3 Stars
Elizabeth Reaser is the attractive star of this amusing New York comedy of manners. She plays the defiantly lesbian Allegra who can't seem to commit. When her girlfriend Samantha walks out, Allegra quickly meets two attractive strangers -- philosophy prof. Phillip and glass blowing banker Grace. What she doesn't know is that Phillip and Grace are a long-standing and unhappy couple.
Before long, Allegra is cavorting with both (separately), surprised to be enjoying a physical relationship with a man, still trying to work out her commitment issues. Of course, it's only a matter of time until the distraught couple realize they are both sleeping with Allegra. (I'm not giving anything away here -- it's all laid out in the opening scene of the movie.)
There's nothing very profound about this film but the acting is good and there are some witty moments, all of which makes it pleasant entertainment.