Goodrich: An engaging family dramedy

Goodrich (2024) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated R, and perhaps too harshly, for profanity

Available via: MAX

By Derrick Bang

This seems to be “Memory Lane” season for Michael Keaton.

 

He resurrected his saucy demon in last summer’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and this dramedy is a sorta-kinda reboot of 1983’s Mr. Mom.

 

Parenting isn't easy, as absentee dad Andy (Michael Keaton) discovers, when trying to
make up for lost time with his 9-year-old twins, Mose (Jacob Kopera) and Billie
(Vivien Lyra Blair).

But only sorta-kinda. Writer/director Hallie Meyers-Shyer eschews broad comedy strokes in favor of gentler, kinder humor that arises organically from her story’s plot beats.

That said, Keaton is inherently, effortlessly funny, even when dialed down; this has been obvious since his breakout supporting role in 1982’s Night Shift. His signature smirky grin is disarming; the recipient never knows whether a joke is being playfully shared, or if he’s the victim of the zinger.

 

Here, though, that twitchy smile is a reflexive self-defense mechanism, designed to conceal true feelings ... which is at the heart of the title character’s failings.

 

Andy Goodrich (Keaton) is a 60-year-old Los Angeles art dealer. He’s always taking calls, courting the next Hot Talent, and working long hours at his boutique gallery in order to prepare an upcoming installation ... all at the expense of spending time with his much younger wife, Naomi (Laura Benanti), and two 9-year-old twins, Billie (Vivien Lyra Blair) and Mose (Jacob Kopera).

 

The film begins as a phone call blasts Andy out of bed one morning; it’s Naomi, calling from the rehab clinic where she has just checked in for a 90-day detox program. As it happens, this will span the holiday season of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

 

Andy is gob-smacked, having been oblivious to her prescription pill addiction. That only makes the situation worse, and Naomi coldly demands that he not visit her.

 

He tries anyway, only to be rebuffed by a cheerfully unhelpful receptionist who won’t even confirm or deny Naomi’s presence. 

 

Kimberly Condict, as the receptionist, is on camera for barely a minute, but her sweetly condescending, I’ve-got-your-number-buster manner is absolutely hilarious.

Wolfs: Crime served wry

Wolfs (2024) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated R, for violence and frequent profanity

Available via: Apple TV+

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 10.6.24

This quietly sardonic crime thriller demonstrates anew the captivating power of star wattage.

 

Because — to be blunt — writer/director Jon Watts’ film wouldn’t be such a much, absent George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

 

Despite competitive wariness, two professional "fixers" — Brad Pitt, left, and George
Clooney — reluctantly admit that they'll need to work together, in order to clean up
what has become an increasingly troublesome mess.

They make it sparkle.

Watts clearly designed this project with them in mind, playing to their unruffled charisma, and the fact that both — along with their characters — gamely make the most of being in their early 60s. You’ll also detect a strong echo of the Danny & Rusty vibe from Ocean’s Eleven and its two sequels, including some familiar bits of dialogue: “What’s the play here?” (Clooney) and “I don’t work that way” (Pitt).

 

Or, for those with longer memories, the similarly well-bonded banter between Paul Newman and Robert Redford, in 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

 

But it doesn’t begin that way here.

 

Watts opens his story with a bang, as ambitious New York politician Margaret (Amy Ryan), blood splattered all over her dress, finds herself in a fancy hotel suite with the body of a young stud. Panicked, knowing full well that this could destroy her career, she dials a number listed in her phone solely as a pair of brackets.

 

That reaches Clooney’s anonymous character — known solely, from this point forward, as “Margaret’s Man” — who shows up sporting a fashionable black turtleneck, leather coat ... and latex gloves, along with assorted other, um, tools of his trade. That would be “cleaner,” or “fixer,” or “calmly methodical fellow who makes problems go away.”

 

He has barely begun to work when his apparent twin (Pitt) shows up: similarly dressed, clearly in the same line of work, and equally irritated to discover that he has competition. He has been summoned by hotel owner Pam (Frances McDormand, making the most of her brief voice-only phone performance). She has all her rooms bugged and on camera, and wants this mess cleaned up for the same reason: to avoid bad publicity.

 

Pitt’s character, equally anonymous, is subsequently known as “Pam’s Man.” (Or perhaps we should just call them George and Brad, since Watts clearly wants us to identify with their signature screen presence.)

 

Clooney and Pitt make the most of the wry squabble over the “best way” to deal with this problem, how best to clean up the room and dispose of the body, and so forth ... while poor Margaret frets, gasps and blinks in wide-eyed helplessness.

 

(I suspect an actual seasoned politician would be more calm and self-assured, but Ryan had to play the cards that she was dealt.)

Turtles All the Way Down: A touching teen drama

Turtles All the Way Down (2024) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for dramatic intensity, brief profanity and sexual references

Available via: MAX

By Derrick Bang

Far too much time has passed between captivating film adaptations of John Green novels: not since the marvelous one-two punch of The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns, in 2014 and ’15, respectively.

 

Although Aza (Isabela Merced, left) is nervous about wearing this dress on what might
become an actual date, Daisy (Cree) assures her that it's perfect.

While director Hannah Marks’ handling of Turtles All the Way Down isn’t quite in their league, it’s nonetheless a poignant character study anchored by richly nuanced performances from its two stars.

Green’s books sometimes have been labeled “teen tragedy wallows,” but that’s unfair; it’s more accurate to credit him for sensitively bringing attention to people who — in real life — often get marginalized by debilitating conditions. That’s definitely the case here, and scripters Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker have delivered an impressively faithful adaptation of Green’s 2017 novel.

 

On the surface, Aza Holmes (Isabela Merced) seems like any other 16-year-old Indianapolis high school student, but she’s often crippled by anxiety and acute OCD. She obsesses about the contents of her microbiome and is terrified of infection, particularly the spore-forming bacterium C-diff (Clostridium difficile). During panic attacks, she scratches open an unhealed callus on one finger, hoping to drain imagined pathogens.

 

It’s impossible to avoid wincing each time Aza does this. Although Marks certainly doesn’t linger on the bloody result, there’s something primal, awful and invasive about witnessing this act of minor self-mutilation ... and it certainly establishes this young woman as tragically damaged.

 

Aza frequently skips the meds that would ease such anxiety, much to the frustration of her caring psychiatrist, Dr. Kira Singh (Poorna Jagannathan, recognized from TV’s Never Have I Ever). But it’s clear that Aza doesn’t “feel like herself” while on the meds: an excuse that’ll be recognized by all who are forced to make such a choice.

 

“Your now is not your forever,” Dr. Singh stresses.

 

Aza is burdened further by having lost her father — the one person who “really got her” — at a young age. Her devoted mother Gina (Judy Reyes, late of TV’s Scrubs and Devious Maids) does her best to compensate, but is well aware — to her anguish — that it isn’t quite enough.

 

Fortunately, Aza is blessed with a longtime loyal friend, Daisy Ramirez (Cree Cicchino, now going solely by her first name). Daisy is everything Aza isn’t: vivacious, enthusiastic, bold, effortlessly cheerful and flamboyant in appearance. She’s sensitive to Aza’s condition, and does her best to “normalize” their time together; they’re also mutual friends with Mychal Turner (Maliq Johnson), an aspiring artist who’s clearly sweet on Daisy.