Merv: Doggone ordinary

Merv (2025) • View trailer

Three stars (out of five). Rated PG, for mild profanity and suggestive elements

Available via: Amazon Prime

By Derrick Bang

This easygoing rom-com is cute … but dumb.

 

Unlike its title character, who is cute and smart.

 

Anna (Zooey Deschanel) isn't happy when Russ (Charlie Cox) drags her along for a
visit with his parents, but Merv — in the back seat — is delighted. He'll get to spend
time with all of his favorite people.

Director Jessica Swale’s modest film has three things going for it: human stars Zooey Deschanel and Charlie Cox, and an amazingly expressive wire-haired terrier rescue mix named Gus. Beyond that, Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart’s script is as predictable as morning dew and noontime sun, with nary a surprise along the way.

 

Granted, the result often is charming and goes down easily; there are worse ways to spend 105 minutes. Happy endings can be quite satisfying, even when they’re telegraphed from the onset.

 

Boston-based Anna (Deschanel) and Russ (Cox) share alternating custody weeks of their beloved dog, Merv (Gus), after having gone their separate ways. Their break-up — after several years together — came as surprise to friends and family, who believed them an ideal couple destined for marriage.

 

Russ works as an elementary school teacher, and has a good time with his young students. Alas, he’s a wreck at home: listless, unwilling to clean up stuff, clearly unhappy. Anna, an optometrist, is professional but stoic; she conceals her feelings to friends and colleagues.

 

Christmas is approaching, and — regardless of who he’s with — Merv is inconsolable. He mopes constantly and shows little interest in playing. A concerned visit to a vet (Andrea Laing) reveals nothing physically wrong, but she perceptively notices that Merv is depressed. Why? Because he likes having both of his people around.

 

Well, that isn’t in the cards (although we know it is, eventually). Meanwhile, Russ impulsively feigns the flu to get out of work, and bundles Merv up for a relaxing and playful week at a Florida-based doggy spa. This setting is laden with opportunities for sight gags, and Clark and Stewart don’t miss any: dogs doing yoga, an oh-so-sincere animal “spiritual healer” (Wynn Everett) and plenty of lunatic owners.

 

The dynamic gets even more chaotic when Anna crashes the party: not because she misses Russ (although she clearly does), but supposedly so Merv can benefit from a week with both of them.

 

Russ loves the beachified surroundings; Anna is (ahem) allergic to sunlight, which gives costume designer Allison Pearce an excuse to pour Deschanel into all sorts of unflattering outfits. Apparently that’s intended to be funny, but it comes off as weird.

 

Trolls: Hair today, gone tomorrow

Trolls (2016) • View trailer 
Three stars. Rated PG, and needlessly
By Derrick Bang

Occasional successes such as The Lego Movie notwithstanding, Hollywood’s track record with respect to designing films from toys has been spotty, at best.

After several of their friends are kidnapped by the evil, Troll-chomping Bergen chef, the
eternally cheerful Poppy, left, tries to persuade the eternally gloomy Branch to join her
on a rescue mission.

Anybody out there remember GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords? Or Bratz: The Movie? Kit Kittredge: An American Girl? Clue? Battleship? Jem and the Holograms? Or — God help us all — The Garbage Pail Kids?

Contrary to what is assumed by far too many of today’s Tinseltown deal makers, good movies rarely spring from 15-word concept pitches, regardless of the source material. At the beginning, middle and end of the day, it always comes down to story, story, story.

Which is the ingredient most sorely lacking in DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls.

To be sure, the film’s “fuzzy immersion” look is fabulous, with everything given a luxurious, yarn-like quality. The color palette is equally pleasing: bright pastel hues that favor rich blues, greens, pinks and purples. No question: It’s a razzle-dazzle delight, populated by adorable animated characters that are certain to please very young viewers.

Anybody over the age of 6 or 7 ... not so much.

Adults ... not at all.

The derivative, threadbare script aside — Erica Rivinoja, Glenn Berger and Jonathan Aibel couldn’t have spent much time on it — this film’s insufferable, gooey-sweet tone is guaranteed to send diabetics into sugar shock. It’s syrupy overkill on par with the slushy, mushy movies based on the Care Bears, Rainbow Brite and My Little Pony.

Ya gotta worry about a movie that promises to help viewers Find Their Happy Place.

So. This vividly multihued realm is inhabited by fuzzy, barefooted Trolls of various shades (and a few unusual sizes). All possess the ability to expand and manipulate their hair, with the skill of Spider-Man and his web-shooters. By and large, though, the forever cheerful Trolls are much too busy with “hug attacks” every 30 minutes, and their tendency to burst into song at random moments.

Alas, the Trolls share this kingdom with the much larger, uglier and nastier Bergens: dour, pessimistic creatures who look much more like the actual trolls of ancient myth, than the little Trolls themselves. The Bergens yearn to be happy, and learned long ago that the only way to achieve such bliss ... was by devouring Trolls. Baked, fried, sautéed, fricasseed or simply popped into the mouth and chomped, like a gumball.

Even if the Troll is still alive and protesting.

(Like, seriously? That’s a rather grim concept for such a family-friendly endeavor.)

Rock the Kasbah: The day the music died

Rock the Kasbah (2015) • View trailer 
Two stars. Rated R, for profanity, violence, drug use and sexual candor
By Derrick Bang

Bill Murray has been Hollywood’s magic bullet for a little over than a decade now, ever since delivering such a memorable performance in 2003’s Lost in Translation.

See anything you like? Richie Lanz (Bill Murray) is unsurprisingly awed by his first glimpse
of Merci (Kate Hudson), little realizing that she'll soon become a business partner.

His presence automatically enhances the quality of a given film, no matter how small the role. As a star, he can elevate familiar and otherwise mediocre material (as with, say, St. Vincent); as a supporting or bit player, his scenes are standouts. (Olive Kitteridge and Zombieland come to mind.)

There’s something about Murray’s deadpan expression that speaks volumes, but defies ready description. World-weary but not defeated. Smugly condescending, but not to the point of cruelty. Skeptical but, nonetheless, open-minded.

His characters always seem on the verge of saying something along the lines of “Show me what you’ve got; I’m ready to be amazed” ... even as his glance implies serious doubt that the person in question has anything, let alone anything amazing.

In short, Murray is a guaranteed treat.

But not even he can save this film.

A closing-credits text blurb explains that Rock the Kasbah honors Setara Hussainzada, the “girl who danced” during her 2008 performance on Afghan Star, Afghanistan’s answer to our own American Idol. Merely singing on live TV in that country is highly dangerous for women; to do so brands them as blasphemers in the eyes of fundamentalists, who are inclined to view killing such “transgressors” as wholly justified.

But to compound the felony by dancing? Unthinkable.

Okay, Hussainzada’s courageous act definitely demands a story, and scripter Mitch Glazer has embraced that challenge. But rather poorly, as it turns out. Rock the Kasbah hasn’t the faintest idea what it wants to be — comedy, drama or rock-hued homage — and not even a director as talented as Barry Levinson can create a pearl from this tone-deaf grain of sand.

(500) Days of Summer: Charming idyll

(500) Days of Summer (2009) • View trailer for (500) Days of Summer
4.5 stars (out of five). Rating: PG-13, for profanity and sexual candor
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 8.6.09
Buy DVD: (500) Days of Summer• Buy Blu-Ray: (500) Days of Summer [Blu-ray] with Digital Copy


Linear narration is a conceit of published fiction.

When encouraged — or forced — to recount life-changing events that have pleased or saddened us, we never tell the story from start to finish; it's more a jumble of isolated events as they leap to mind. We interrupt ourselves constantly, jumping back and forth in time as one memory prompts another that may relate only tangentially.

Music fuels every aspect of the blossoming relationship between Tom (Joseph
Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel); when not setting up
imaginary households in an Ikea outlet, their favorite afternoons are shared in
a downtown music store, where indie releases share bins with classic rock
albums. But friction can emerge even in this setting, as when Tom learns --
with perhaps too much amusement -- that Summer's favorite Beatle is
Ringo Starr.

Some bits of the tale are vibrant and breathlessly emerge immediately; others, perhaps less consequential but still an essential part of the whole, only surface later.

Family members and good friends — those who've known us a long time — generally can sort out the results, unconsciously sequencing things in order to "build" a coherent story from the rush of almost random date. The result, when the speaker finally runs out of steam, usually has a beginning, middle and ending ... but some work may be needed to arrange it thusly.

(500) Days of Summer, an audaciously clever deconstruction of a relationship's highs and lows, is built in just such a fashion. It's a giddy, lovingly assembled and impeccably acted little charmer with considerable bite: a script that cuts very close to the bone, and will feel achingly familiar to anybody who remembers — once upon a time — the maddening frustration of a love affair that never quite played out the way it should have (that massive gap separating hope from reality).

This is a sensational big-screen feature debut for director Marc Webb, who may have been inspired by 2000's back-to-front Memento. Webb's frothy romance doesn't require nearly as much concentration, though; its not entirely random extracts of narrative are remarkably easy to follow, thanks to a sharp and savvy script by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber.

Things get off to a clever start even before the action begins, with a snarky dedication that'll raise a giggle and remind viewers that one should never, ever mess with a writer who's in a position to extract the ultimate revenge.

And you'll want to pay close attention to this film's narrator, who never lies to us, starting with a prefatory caution: "This is a boy-meets-girl story ... it is not a love story."

Yes Man: Affirmative!

Yes Man (2008) • View trailer for Yes Man
3.5 stars (out of five). Rating: PG-13, for brief profanity, fleeting nudity and smutty sexual content
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 12.18.08
Buy DVD: Yes Man • Buy Blu-Ray: Yes Man [Blu-ray]

After a depressing stretch that began with 2000's The Majestic and continued through Fun with Dick and Jane and last year's gawdawful Number 23 — with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind the only ray of, well, sunshine — I'm happy to report that Jim Carrey is back.

The clever and funny Jim Carrey. The guy who made such a splash with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber.

When his socially inept boss invites him to a Harry Potter theme party, the
suddenly always agreeable Carl (Jim Carrey) embraces the moment — in a
rented costume several sizes too small — with his new girlfriend, Allison
(Zooey Deschanel).

The actor who knew, once upon a time, how to modulate his goofy, giddy deliver in order to maximize genuine laughs ... as opposed to wigging out entirely on camera, and becoming the sort of tediously desperate man-child on which the likes of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly have built entire careers.

Carrey's always had much more talent than that, but many of his artistic decisions have been ... inadvisable. Like Robin Williams, Carrey wants to stretch and exercise his more serious side: display the inner human being who hides beneath the exterior clown. Sometimes the results have been captivating, as with The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine.

Then again, The Majestic and Number 23 were anything but captivating.

Happily, though, Carrey and director Peyton Reed have found the sweet spot with Yes Man. Carrey's Carl Allen, while frequently an unrestrained cut-up, never goes too far overboard; we're always able to relate to him as an actual person, which persuasively sells this guy's response to an unusual life-path decision.

Then again, maybe the success of Yes Man can be attributed to co-star Zooey Deschanel, who I've decided is one of Hollywood's best secret weapons. She also contributed to the charm of Elf, one of the few palatable Will Ferrell comedies. Deschanel's measured snarkiness helps ground the puffed-up tendencies of her high-profile co-stars; she has both a deadpan stare and comic timing to die for.

Deschanel made Ferrell better than he deserved to be in Elf, and she similarly helps Carrey's character here. They fit well together.

Carl, still pining over a marriage that hit the shoals several years earlier, has become a nabob of negativity. It comes easily at work, where as a bank loan officer he routinely stamps "rejected" on every application that crosses his desk. But this attitude also spills over into his social life, to the growing consternation of best buds Peter (Bradley Cooper, late of TV's Alias) and Rooney (Danny Masterson).

Indeed, Carl has become such a shut-in that he's in danger of losing his friends forever.