Kevin Kline

The Dog Days of Diane Keaton in ‘Darling Companion’

PatrickMcD — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:40:18 -0400

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – “If you want a friend in Washington,” Harry S Truman once said, “get a dog.” The same can be said for the film industry, as they keep producing canine quandaries. Diane Keaton, Kevin Kline, Sam Shepard and Elisabeth Moss cozy up to their own ‘Darling Companion.’

This is about folks of a certain age who are contemplating some of their own mortality, and what prompts such action is a person’s best friend, a mutt named Freeway. The film is unusually paced, almost leisurely so, and the cast is all-around excellent, no doubt dog lovers all. Diane Keaton still has the power to shoulder a film, and old pros Dianne Wiest, Richard Jenkins and Kevin Kline also get to sink their teeth into a film that’s about losing that dog, but never allowing it to sink into cloying sentiment. Pets become one of our most treasured relationships, and their unconditional love teaches us a few lessons in human relations, as the film illustrates.

Beth (Diane Keaton) and her graduate student daughter Grace (Elisabeth Moss) come upon a injured dog on the side of a freeway. They take a risk and bring it to a veterinarian named Sam (Jay Ali), and he brings the pooch back to health. Beth decides to keep the dog – much to the consternation of her husband Joseph (Kevin Kline) – and Sam also starts to date Grace. A year later, the couple becomes engaged (so far, if the dog wasn’t involved, this would be the plot to “The Five-Year Engagement”). Freeway, as they now have named the dog, has become so entrenched in the family he participates in the wedding ceremony.

Diane Keaton (Beth) and Elizabeth Moss do a Freeway Rescue in ‘Darling Companion’
Photo credit: Wilson Webb for Sony Pictures Classics

All the guests staying are staying at Utah mountain lodge where the wedding took place, including Joseph’s sister Penny (Dianne Wiest), her boyfriend Russell (Richard Jenkins) and her son Bryan (Mark Duplass). The happiness of the weekend dissipates when Freeway runs away, putting into motion a search effort that will involve the lodge manager named Carmen (Ayelet Zurer), a woman with a gypsy heritage who can sense where Freeway might be, and the local law enforcement through Sheriff Morris (Sam Shepard). As the family searches for the dog, they also confront certain life issues that desire resolution.

There is a nice sense of urgency and reality within the dog tale that “wags” itself. The story unfolds naturally, and although the lost dog might be serving as a metaphor, it still creates suspense around the other issues that start to happen. This is a premise that could easily unravel, and there are parts that are a bit over-the-top, but the bottom line is the fine cast delivers the story with a sincerity and effort that uplifts the material.

It says a lot that the film industry has room to keep giving Diane Keaton lead roles, both for challenging the demographic expectations of filmgoers, and for Keaton herself. She is marvelous in this film, asked to walk from fretful distress over her lost canine companion, and to face up to her longtime human companion, her husband Joseph. Both her and Kevin Kline has good chemistry for the type of couple they’re playing, newly minted empty-nesters wondering all of a sudden why they wake up next to the other person.

Dianne Wiest and Richard Jenkins are also fun as a sexually charged older couple. Now this type of “humorous” situation has been exploited before, but there is a subtlety to how it becomes important in contrast to the Keaton/Kline couple and the potential coupling of Bryan with the lodge manager. The younger actors don’t have as much going for them in the story as the older ones and their performances are a bit weaker because of that – the gypsy stuff comes off more annoying than mystical.

Kevin Kline (Joseph) is Naturally Skeptical in ‘Darling Companion’
Photo credit: Wilson Webb for Sony Pictures Classics

This also features playwright/actor Sam Shepard, virtually unrecognizable as the town sheriff, and is co-written and directed by old pro Lawrence Kasdan (“Body Heat,” “Silverado” and “Mumford,” among others). This is definitely a fable for the current time in the older character’s lives, much as Kasdan’s “The Big Chill” served the same purpose for that cast. If there is one catch, it’s the upper middle class fantasy elements, but that’s probably the types that Kasdan knows best.

Is the dog found again? Well, that answer is important, but what becomes more prevalent is the question – does it matter to the characters? The same inner light that would keep seven people searching for a lost dog, also has the radiance to cure some relationship ills, if only when practicing the same unconditional love.

“Darling Companion” continues its release on April 27th in Chicago. Check local listings for theaters and showtimes. Featuring Diane Keaton, Kevin Kline, Dianne Wiest, Richard Jenkins, Elizabeth Moss, Sam Shepard, Mark Duplass, Ayelet Zurer and Kasey as Freeway. Screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Meg Kasdan. Directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Rated “PG-13”

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

‘The Conspirator’ Has Lessons That Resonate Today

PatrickMcD — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 18:16:50 -0400

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – The Latin term “Inter arma silent leges.” (There is no law on the battlefield) is coldly stated in “The Conspirator,” directed by Robert Redford. In plain truth, the new film recreates one of the most controversial military trials in American history.

Today, April 15th, is the 146th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s death, assassinated by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. This is also the week of the 150th anniversary (April 12th) of the start of the American Civil War. Both these events reverberate to the consequences of trading in our freedoms during wartime, which centralizes power and legitimizes fear. The Conspirator is about Mary Surratt, a southerner who ran a boarding house in Washington, D.C., where the plot was hatched to murder President Lincoln.

The film begins on a battlefield during the Civil War, where two friends lie injured. Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) insists that his comrade Nicholas (Justin Long) be treated first. Fast forward two years later to April 14th, 1865, the two friends are reunited at a party in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the end of the war only days earlier. A courier interrupts the proceedings to bring the news that President Lincoln has been shot while attending a play at Ford’s Theater right down the street.

Aiken rushes to the scene, and sees the mortally wounded Lincoln being laid in a small bedroom in the Peterson House across from the theater. He also sees Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (Kevin Kline) moving his way through the crowd, to take the reins of government while participating in Lincoln’s death watch. Across town, Secretary of State William Seward is being attacked, but survives, and Vice President Andrew Johnson dodges an assassin’s attempt because the shooter has lost his nerve.

Defense Rests: Robin Wright (Mary Surratt) and James McAvoy (Frederick Aiken) in ‘The Conspirator’
Photo credit: Claudette Barius for Roadside Attractions

Booth and the two other men are part of a plan to murder the upper echelon in Lincoln’s cabinet, but only Booth succeeds. This plot was hatched in the Surratt boarding house in Washington, and Mary Surratt (the overseer of the property, portrayed by Robin Wright) is arrested, along with the other conspirators. Booth is shot and killed while on the lam.

What follows is the trial of Mary Surratt, defended by Frederick Aiken. The war veteran is a young attorney, and he is appointed by Senator Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkerson) to defend against what is essentially a railroading of justice. The military tribunal, hand-picked by Stanton for quick prosecution, hears the arguments for Surratt’s innocence – her assertion is that she ran the boarding house but knew nothing of the plot – but the guilty verdict seems forgone.

This is a serious story, and it is given the “serious story” gravity that is often found in historical recreations. But the subject matter is absorbing enough to stand up to a little costumed overacting. At times it seems the actors are self conscious about portraying the Civil War-era icons, especially Justin Long and Kevin Kline (who I suspect watched tapes of Dick Cheney). Robin Wright as Mary Surratt is the best of them, portraying a tragic martyr to post-war hysteria.

James McAvoy is basically the centerpiece of the film, playing a rather conflicted defense attorney. At first, his persona is out of place in the proceedings, but Redford’s direction leads the character into a better place, and McAvoy finds his footing nicely within the apparent travesty of justice. He is particularly effective towards the end, as he desperately comes up with something, anything to make sure that Surratt isn’t executed.

The depiction of the trial, which was held in the old Arsenal Building in Washington, is the most telling and gripping part of the narrative. The guilty verdict for Surratt is a pre-conceived measure, notable because Stanton wanted the justice to be swift to inject fear (understandably) into any other potential Confederate assassins. But the swift sword also cleaves justice in this case, and the prisoners abide in a kangaroo court. The holes in the truth are presented dramatically and effectively.

The look and feel of 1865 America is complete. Redford uses claustrophobic settings to keep the period look clean, and in many scenes has the sun pouring into the cramped courtroom and Surratt’s cell, as if trying to shed light upon the darkness of the ugly proceedings. The recreation of Lincoln’s assassination is stark, especially the tiny quarters of the Peterson House, where Lincoln had to be placed perpendicularly on a simple bed, the large man becoming smaller in death.

Point of Justice: James McAvoy and Tom Wilkerson (Reverdy Johnson) in ‘The Conspirator’
Photo credit: Claudette Barius for Roadside Attractions

The aim of Robert Redford in the construction of The Conspirator is obviously to parallel the circumstances of the last 10 years, where the fear of terrorism has led to perpetual war and the suspension of highly regarded constitutional beliefs in exchange for an illusion of safety. The debate about that legality in the film consists of the same concerns that takes regarding the Guantanamo Bay detention camps and the politicians who believe that war powers means the suspension of fair trials, privacy and yes, freedom.

Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, ironically could not extend that titular morality to the perpetrators of his demise. It is a sad and almost evil legacy to the events of that horrible Civil War, that still reverberates 146 years later.

“The Conspirator” opens everywhere on April 15th. Featuring Robin Wright, James McAvoy, Evan Rachel Wood, Justin Long, Tom Wilkinson and Kevin Kline. Screenplay by James D. Solomon, directed by Robert Redford. Rated “PG-13”

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

Ashton Kutcher, Natalie Portman With ‘No Strings Attached’

PatrickMcD — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:06:05 -0500

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – When a handsome studmuffin meets a fetching, fabulously hot doctor, what’s the outcome? That’s right, sex without a relationship, AKA Friends with Benefits. And a movie featuring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman called “No Strings Attached.”

Directed by comedy veteran Ivan Reitman (”Ghostbusters”), No Strings has an unevenly funny execution, anchored by some decent comic performances by the pretty leads. In a swift and resolute fashion, it takes the predictable story and gives it some well-appointed starch.

Natalie Portman is Emma, presented to us in a flashback to her camp days as a 14-year old. She is being “seduced” by Adam (Ashton Kutcher) who is awkwardly trying to get over his parent’s divorce. They don’t meet again until several years later, as college kids at the University of Michigan. Emma decides to ask Adam to accompany her on a date. This encounter is memorable, but the couple go their separate ways.

Flash forward again to Los Angeles, where the pair meet again, this time in more adult circumstances. Emma is now a resident physician at a teaching hospital, and Adam is a production assistant on a “High School Musical Meets Glee” type of television series. A little of the same initial spark is exchanged, but Adam is involved with Vanessa (Ophelia Lovibond) and again the opportunity has seemed to pass in another chance meeting.

Let Us Be Lovers?: Natalie Portman (Emma) and Ashton Kutcher (Adam) in ‘No Strings Attached’
Photo credit: Dale Robinette for © 2011 DW Studios, LLC

That is until Vanessa separates from Adam to take up with his father (Kevin Kline), a foppish ex-sitcom star living off the fame of his big hit series, “Great Scott.” This development puts Adam into a tailspin, and he ends up drunk and nude (who doesn’t?) on the couch of Emma and her doctor roommates. This is where the first tryst takes place, and where Emma gets the idea that she and Adam will be Schtup Buddies. Where will they go from there?

This is not the type of film that will attempt to do anything new with a predictable outcome, but it certainly generated a fair amount of laughs. There were actually several sharp gutbusters in the flashback prologue, and the absurd TV sitcom that Adam works introduces itself in appropriate hilarious fashion. But the the story, by Elizabeth Meriwether and Michael Samonek, has to focus back on the arrangement between Adam and Emma, and somehow, even with brief nudity, it’s not as interesting or funny.

Natalie Portman – who is co-starring in two currently released films with two different ex-cast members of “That ‘70s Show” – displays some nice comic energy as the 80-hour-a-week working doctor. It takes her and the coupling through some absurd elements of the arrangement (are they going to do it in a car? Oh my!), but her and Kutcher have some chemistry, even through the will-they-or-won’t-they cliché of every romantic comedy in the past 100 years.

The supporting cast is underutilized, and larger than it needed to be. There are several friendships in both Adam and Emma’s places of employment, and the anticipation – for example – of Mindy Kaling from “The Office” trading some witticisms with the main players is reduced to about six lines. Kevin Kline has become a prime up-stage player in his later career, chewing scenery like a wily old scene stealer. The rapper Ludacris plays a wise-cracking bartender whose line readings sounded like he was using a TelePrompTer.

But the heart of this matter is in Kutcher and Portman, and judging from the cooing, sighing and applause from the audience in attendance they are a successful cinematic pairing. I can actually imagine other circumstantial movie pairings down the line, ala Tracy and Hepburn, of course minus the substance.

Paging Dr. Love: Natalie Portman takes advice from Greta Gerwig (Patrice) in ‘No Strings Attached’
Photo credit: Dale Robinette for © 2011 DW Studios, LLC

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, No Strings Attached gets out of the gate early and may even win the battle in the expected tournament of romantic films. It has a funny sensibility and even manages a few highly swooning lines from the lovely and youngish (but watch out for the close-ups) Mr. Demi Moore.

And in the expectation of true love, it is always the early part of the relationship that yields the most heat. As a comedy, No Strings Attached fans this flame, it will be up the observer as to how close they will get to it and how warm they will become.

“No Strings Attached” opens everywhere January 21st. Featuring Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Kevin Kline, Greta Gerwig, Cary Elwes, Olivia Thurby, Ludracis and Mindy Kaling. Screenplay/story by Elizabeth Meriwether and Michael Samonek and directed by Ivan Reitman. Rated “R”

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

Kevin Kline, John C. Reilly Are Eccentric New Yorkers in ‘The Extra Man’

PatrickMcD — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:08:56 -0400

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – The beauty of watching creative character actors like Kevin Kline and John C. Reilly is that they seem to revel in the craft of embodying their roles. In “The Extra Man,” they both take a trippy and literate script and apply some additional magic that helps to flesh out a young man’s journey into the heart of Manhattan.

Louis Ives (Paul Dano) is a twentysomething man who doesn’t quite fit in this particular modern era (he channels a 1920s ethos). As a moony literature professor at a private boarding school, he secretly lusts after his female high school age students and displays a certain pan sexual quirk that to date has gone unfulfilled. After he is laid off from his teaching position, he takes a leap of faith and finally heads to his dream world of New York City, to be a real working writer and man about town.

As fate would have it, he finds a room on the upper west side of the city, with a strange man whose inquiries are instinctively passive aggressive. He is Henry Harrison (Kevin Kline), an eccentric on the upside of age sixty, continuing a peculiar city adventure by offering himself as an “extra man.” He escorts rich widows to swanky society events, and partakes in the finer amenities without having to pay. Young Louis is intrigued by this, and longs for older mentor to introduce him into the extra man realm, which Henry does reluctantly and with a great deal of foppish complaining.

Just Some Gigolos: Louis Ives (Paul Dano) and Henry Harrison (Kevin Kline) in ‘The Extra Man’
Photo Credit: © Magnolia Pictures

After securing a job at an environmental magazine, Louis starts to explore the side of himself that Manhattan can easily provide. So while acclimating to his new job, attempting to connect to Henry and falling for an attractive co-worker (Katie Holmes), Louis allows himself to completely be the “man” that has been percolating inside his whole life. The consequences of that expression has implications for every person and circumstance involved, including a silent neighbor named Gershon (John C. Reilly).

This film clings tenaciously to itself, barely holding up its flimsy and derivative premise. The actors save it with their sincerity, and actually overcome some very questionable narrative motivations by going with the flow. And although on the surface it may seem that the characters are over-the-top, the deeper the actors were willing to go, the higher they flew. It gave some background players like Celia Weston, Marian Seldes and Dan Hedaya an opportunity to flex some character muscle.

Paul Dano also played something a little beyond his soft persona. He was asked to do a lot of the heavy lifting in the narrative, and his approach was consistent throughout. His namby-pamby nature and indecisiveness was somewhat annoying, but that was the point, and it did mirror a real life sensibility, where nothing is cut and dried. He created small victories, and that is enough for the journey he experiences.

John C. Reilly has a small but significant role, and after seeing him this summer in this film and “Cyrus,” his range as an actor is becoming more impressive. He is an imposing, mysterious figure in The Extra Man, a bicycle riding mountain man (he grew his hair and beard to extraordinary length) whose presence is silent for half of the film. When he finally speaks it is a marvelous surprise, and he then turns his character around from imposing to sympathetic.

Kevin Kline is a notable king of comedy, his turn in “A Fish Called Wanda” will resonate through the ages. His portrayal of Henry Harrison is a tad on the hambone side, but again that may be the point. The screenplay, by Robert Pulcini, Jonathan Ames and Shari Springer Berman, fusses with Kline’s character the most. Is he brain damaged? A monster? A misunderstood genius? Like a weathervane, Kline has to point in all these directions and it is distracting, although it is always a pleasure to see him working.

The direction (by Pulcini and Berman) is choppy and haphazard, and the ending left a little to be desired – it felt like it had been changed – but it is the acting and the characters that make this small little art film a worthy contender for a number of Independent Spirit Awards. It is fun to watch them, even Katie Holmes, because you can tell they believe in what they’re doing.

And like the ladies who are escorted by the extra men, the audience is taken out for a nice little character driven experience, different from the 3D, animated, blow-up-the-world country fare of summer. Nothing wrong with that.

“The Extra Man” continues its limited release in Chicago on August 13th. See local listings for theaters and show times. Featuring Kevin Kline, John C. Reilly, Paul Dano, Katie Holmes, Cathy Moriarty, Celia Weston, Patti D’Arbanville, Marian Seldes and Dan Hedaya. Screenplay by Robert Pulcini, Jonathan Ames and Shari Springer Berman, directed by Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman. Rated “R”

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

‘Definitely, Maybe’ Borrows From Successful Romantic Comedies, Adds Fresh Hook

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:05:05 -0500

CHICAGO – The makers of “Love Actually” and “Notting Hill” know how to do romantic comedy that doesn’t somehow fall into the trap of a formulaic chick flick like “27 Dresses”. “Definitely, Maybe,” which is their latest effort, on the other hand isn’t particularly original and really isn’t very funny.

Isla Fisher in “Definitely, Maybe”.
Photo credit: IMDb

That said, the picture still feels fresh and doesn’t do anything overly cutesy that will elicit groans from the reluctant boyfriends who will be dragged to the film this weekend. So long as you pick a comfortable seat, you’ll have an enjoyable two hours.

Ryan Reynolds plays Will Hayes: the quintessential Manhattan advertising executive. His hectic life gets a little crazier when he’s served with divorce papers.

On top of that, he learns his 10-year-old daughter, Maya (Abigail Breslin from “Little Miss Sunshine”), just started sex education in school. She begins asking questions about why his parents can’t stay together and wonders about her father’s romantic history, which leads him to tell the story of the women in his life since the early 1990s.

In most romantic comedies, you know Meg Ryan will be getting together with Tom Hanks in the final scene and you just have to hold on for the ride. “Definitely, Maybe” seems to borrow from TV’s “How I Met Your Mother” and doesn’t immediately reveal who Maya’s mother is or why that woman is divorcing Will.

Adding to that, the viewer knows – despite what happiness comes about in the flashbacks – the character is ultimately going to have to deal with the impending divorce before the movie ends. It’s the elements of mystery mixed with underlying depressing tone set at the beginning that makes this movie more emotionally involved than your run-of-the-mill Valentine’s Day release.

Elizabeth Banks and Ryan Reynolds in “Definitely, Maybe”.
Photo credit: IMDb

Ryan Reynolds is solid and it’s his goofy, lovable looks that sell what would possibly be a dull script. Isla Fisher from “Wedding Crashers” sparkles in every one of her scenes.

Fisher, who is about two seconds from being a box-office draw on her own right, shares the billing for this film with the equally beautiful and gifted Elizabeth Banks and Rachel Weisz.

Kevin Kline plays Weisz’s father: an opinionated, old writer complaining about the state of everything in society.

The film was penned and directed by lovey-dovey film veteran Adam Brooks. Brooks can be credited for “French Kiss” and “Practical Magic” and blamed for “Wimbledon” and “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason”. Most of the elements of this picture feel strongly borrowed from other successful romances.

The locations in the upper west side of New York bring back memories of “You’ve Got Mail” and “Serendipity”. His creative jobs in advertising and politics remind you of “What Women Want” and “When Harry Met Sally”. The soundtrack of Will’s life even includes Badly Drawn Boy, who was last featured on the big screen accompanying another manboy in “About a Boy”.

What makes or breaks a romantic comedy is the ending. While the “Definitely, Maybe” finale doesn’t tread any new ground, it comes across warm without feeling hokey. In the genre that has a spectrum ranging from “Sweetest Thing” to “Annie Hall,” this film clearly falls into the more intelligent side.

The picture makes for a nice Valentine’s Day date that won’t leave the men emasculated. “Definitely, Maybe” gives an enjoyable experience that the audience can walk away from not thinking they’ve found another guilty-pleasure film.

“Definitely, Maybe” opened on Feb. 14, 2008.

Click here for our full “Definitely, Maybe” image gallery!

By DUSTIN LEVELL
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
dustin@hollywoodchicago.com