Director: Pamela Adlon
Writers: Ilana Glazer, Josh Rabinowitz
Stars: Ilana Glazer, Michelle Buteau, Hasan Minhaj

Synopsis: It tells the story of Eden who becomes pregnant from a one-night-stand and leans on her married best friend and mother of two to guide her.

A buddy comedy is only as good as the chemistry between the two leads. They have to be in sync and play off each other’s strengths. Often that means an odd couple, but it’s even better if they have their moments of balance between wild and reserved. There is such an alchemy in the performances of Ilana Glazer and Michelle Buteau. These two take every emotion and play it out between each other so superbly. They are the best buddies the buddy comedy has had in a while.

Babes takes everything that’s changed about comedy in the last 20 years and makes it work. The film is charming, heart warming, and hilarious. Not only is it a top notch buddy comedy, but it’s also a great body comedy. There have been several comedies about pregnancy and they have the pain, the screaming, the frustration; but they rarely go farther than one note into the nitty gritty. Babes takes us all the way through and then some. We get a pregnancy comedy that not only gives us one birth, but two, and builds on what happens after the baby is out while balancing everything that happens while the baby is still in. The good, the bad, and the gross things the human body goes through.

In a grossly funny scene, Eden (Ilana Glazer) is teaching her yoga class and morning sickness strikes. She doesn’t run to the bathroom, she doesn’t stop class, she doesn’t even stop talking, she pretends like nothing is happening. Eden takes her class through the poses as she does everything to keep her stomach contents in her body. She even goes far enough to have to swallow it back down, much to the disgust of the student directly in front of her. It’s a terrific work of physical comedy.

There’s a lot of terrific physical comedy in Babes, but its comedic heart is in the story penned by Ilana Glazer and Josh Rabinowitz. The two writers do the hardest work of a comedy in making this type of story fresh. It comes in the combinations of plots that all come together seamlessly. It’s the lifelong best friends trying to figure out how to be with each other as adults. It’s the new love blossoming. It’s the married couple trying to understand how they can really do this even if they have nothing but each other. It’s in the ludicrously funny C plot of an OB/GYN, Dr. Morris (John Carroll Lynch), who just can’t figure out how best to be bald. Glazer and Rabinowitz have found a great balance within this work.

The balance of this complex, but not convoluted, story is held intact by the superb direction of Pamela Adlon. Her eye for the comedic is unmatched. There’s a series of scenes in Babes that are utterly terrific, with Adlon putting her own spin on the New York City walk and talk. She stages a sit and chat on the subway. Eden travels a long way from her apartment to visit with Dawn (Michelle Buteau). She’s got to change trains three times. After good samaritan, Claude (Stephan James), keeps her from being trapped on a line going the wrong way, the two of them strike up a conversation because it turns out they live in the same neighborhood and have the same commute to make. Their chemistry is off the charts and results in the two of them spending the night together. It’s a terrific sequence with cinematographer Jeffrey Kim giving us different passenger points of view on the pair and editors Annie Eifrig and Elizabeth Merrick cutting together the best bits of this delightful sequence in tandem with Dawn’s troubles post birth. It’s a sequence that sets up so much of the film and the layers in between everything that’s to come.

There are some very predictable moments and Babes hardly reinvents the genre. It falls a bit toward that habit of late ’00s and early ’10s comedies that think there needs to be a lot of alternate improv takes within the same sequence, dragging the story down while we watch a sort of gag reel. Yet, there’s enough freshness and boldness that we can ignore the small voices in our heads and just revel in it. Babes is a hilarious, heartwarming, and empowering film. It’s the kind of comedy you need on the big screen. It demands laughs and tears among a room full of strangers having the same experience.

Grade: A

Directors: Jared Hess, Lynn Wang
Writers: Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess, Aaron Blabey
Stars: Brittany Howard, Will Forte, Jon Heder

Synopsis: When a rare pink and glitter-filled moment of fate makes Thelma the Pony’s wish of being a unicorn come true, she rises to instant international pop-superstar stardom, but at an unexpected cost.

Netflix animation cartoons, the majority of the time, can be cute, but the animation lacks a certain flair and individuality. For every Klaus, you have a dozen or so Pets United or The Magician’s Assistant. However, Thelma the Unicorn has that “it” factor, and vibrant animation that always falls short of Pixar, Disney, and DreamWorks is finally captured. It may not quite reach those lofty standards, but the artistry finally matches the inner beauty of its wonderful characters.

Based on Aaron Blabey’s children’s book series of the same name, Thelma the Unicorn follows Thelma (Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes fame), a talented and adorable miniature pony who dreams of singing professionally with her friends. Thelma’s best friend, Otis (a very funny Will Forte), is a sweet donkey who amps up a mean electric guitar. Along with their affable drummer, a llama named Reggie (Napoleon Dynamite’s Jon Heder), they are The Rusty Buckets, a country-rock band destined for stardom. The only problem is that Thelma and The Rusty Buckets lack that “it” factor that is so popular nowadays.

That becomes all too apparent to Thelma when the band is not even allowed to perform during their farm community’s big bash, “The SparklePalooza.” It happens when the three-judge panel automatically votes in a trifecta of majestic horses who are all style and have little to no substance. It’s devastating to Thelma, who we see going back to hitching a wagon to her back to move manure over the past. However, soon, that wagon, without knowing it, will be hitched to a rising star.

That’s because while lamenting the chance that slipped through their fingers with Otis, a crusty trucker (Zach Galifianakis) with terrible driving skills and etiquette, transporting paint and glitter, takes a sharp turn and douses Thelma with a nice coat of sparkling stuff. Oh, and it just so happens that Thelma had a long, crooked carrot stuck to her forehead at the moment, making her look like a unicorn with that “it” factor those judges were talking about. Soon, she becomes a social media star, and Thelma gets a shot at stardom, but will she bring her friends with her?

Thelma the Unicorn is from Jared Hess, of Napolean Dynamite and Nacho Libre fame, who co-directed the film with Lynn Wang (Teen Titans Go!). They represent a new union of sorts of animation, where a live-action director teams up with an experienced creator of animation to offer a steady hand. (In this case, Don Hall and Blindspotting’s Carlos López Estrada in Raya the Last Dragon or The Week Of’s Robert Smigel pairing himself with Robert Marianetti and David Wachtenheim with Leo.) This offers a simple collaboration of specializations with comedy and artistry. 

Thelma the Unicorn is very funny while offering vibrant visuals and wonderful themes for parents and their children. There is a deep bench of experienced voice actors who display pitch-perfect comic timing. The trio of Edi Patterson and Jermaine Clement, who play an assistant and agent to a malicious Norwam (Ally Dixon), take turns garnering the most belly laughs as exaggerated versions of the Hollywood elite. You then have a series of ongoing gags with a group of four pool boys constantly dancing around, reminding me of Meekus and friends lighting a cigarette at a gas station in Zoolander. 

The message is substance over style regarding integrity, character, and inner beauty, rather than faux style and material possessions that can lead to issues of body image, self-esteem, and self-worth. The film also offers the rewards of resilience, friendship, and inner connections, as the characters will do anything to make a buck and keep their careers afloat. That’s the core of most mainstream animated family films, and Hess and Wang manage to evoke the essence of Blabey’s book series beautifully.

That said, Thelma the Unicorn is supported by a strong and dynamic voice performance, especially by singer Brittany Howard in her rousing musical numbers. Her soulful, gritty, and emotionally resonant voice and sassy comic delivery make her a remarkably versatile performer. 

While this animated film may lack the elevated artistry of the big animated studios, Thelma the Unicorn has more than enough going for it to bring humor and substance to the genre, uniting families and friends to enjoy together.

Grade: B

Director: Andrew Baird
Writer: Ronan Blaney
Stars: Alex Pettyfer, Guy Pearce, Crystal Yu

Synopsis: A man, Fallon (Alex Pettyfer) roams the land as a creature of the night as he comes to terms with tragic loss of his family at the hands of a brutal demagogue, Reynolds (Guy Pearce).

After harassment from the ruthless, racist baron Joe Reynolds (Guy Pearce), Yan (Crystal Yu) takes in the mysterious and hungry for blood Fallon (Alex Pettyfer). Years before, Fallon was also terrorized by Reynolds and his mother (Olwen Fouéré) and left as an offering to The Red Coat – a cryptic figure said to roam the local wilderness. Yan’s son Edward (William Gao) intends to take revenge on Reynolds, but not before Fallon has a chance for his own bloody vengeance thanks to The Red Coat.

Director Andrew Baird (Zone 414) opens the 2024 horror drama Sunrise with warnings of First Nations demons and sacrificial appeasement to the forest evils demanding blood. I appreciate that this small production means there’s no period prologue, but dang I would have liked to have seen this history. After a disturbing hate crime and strong arming a farmer into a crooked deal and ultimately worse, Sunrise jumps to three months later and continues restarting as we meet everyone amid reports of dead animals and fears that The Red Coat has returned. Some of the rowdy men cursing and daring the meek to do something is hammy, but the rah rah speeches and big man over the top feel accurate as they readily draw guns and abuse authority. Bills pile up on the table, the bullying escalates, and chickens are killed to provide fresh blood, yet the horror and the hazing remain disjointed. Early on it’s quite apparent that Sunrise is at least two stories in one and there’s not enough time for everything. Is this about the vampire rescued by the immigrant family, The Red Coat giveth and taketh undercurrent, or the real world horror commentary that could have been a straight drama without anything supernatural?

The point of view struggles between our Asian family and the bad guys whilst also showing Red Coat flashbacks from our vampire drifter – first with the bloody feedings, then intercut with “ten years earlier” onscreen notations, which are definitely needed because everything looks the same. Unlike other independent productions that endeavor with a one and the same writer/director and no second eye, perhaps Baird and writer Ronan Blaney (Love Bite) simply needed more time to cohesively polish this framework. The individual dramas and horrors are not necessarily confusing, but the noticeable juggling makes the audience pause, clarify, and ask; why wasn’t the story just told in order? Sunrise should have opened with the supernatural Red Coat horror that allows the subsequent revenge to take place so viewers can appreciate the delirium in the woods and bloody comeuppance without deflating, contrived detours. Seemingly natural deaths force villains to remember their killer part as subtle visions of The Red Coat come back to haunt them. One’s usual drink doesn’t taste right after a bite on the neck, but why The Red Coat kills one and imbues another with his blood is not important – only the fear, anger, and just desserts.

The Loi Family is obviously struggling without their father, and Crystal Yu (Casualty) objects to the suggestion that her husband has left her. Yan has the rifle at the ready, for she isn’t afraid but knows she can’t trust the police. Teen son William Gao (Heartstopper) is bullied on the school bus, but they agree to help this drifter in their barn until he’s well. The youngest daughter brings her tea set and doctor kit to help him, adding innocence to the bittersweet conversations. Yan recounts being stigmatized since her family’s arrival in America, telling of a deceased family member written off as just another thing on the nurse’s to-do list. The Lois continue to face go back where you came from apathy, and Sunrise simply does not give them enough time when this should be their story. 

As the brooding Fallon hides in the corner as daylight slivers across the room, top billed producer Alex Pettyfer (The Infernal Machine) should have actually received the “and” credit. His past connection to The Red Coat is only given piecemeal to the audience; even when the bullied Edward tells Fallon he doesn’t know what it’s like and wants to take revenge on Reynolds and asks for Fallon’s help, the teen receives nothing but platitudes. Fallon inexplicably never tells anyone who he is and what has happened to him and his Black wife at the hands of Reynolds, unfairly withholding the reasons for his own vengeance from characters who could benefit from them. Setting Fallon’s story ten years prior compared to perhaps a more immediate ten months makes viewers wonder what he’s been doing for the past decade. Why is he helping on the farm, defending The Lois, keeping watch, and taking the sheriff’s gun now? If Sunrise is Fallon’s story, why didn’t we begin with him? He asks The Lois to trust him when he tells them to leave and pursues Reynolds at the church and ultimately to the forest but his vengeance only happens because the movie is over, not because Fallon took any proactive action. Sunrise has too many characters when our strong Chinese Woman or the harassed immigrant son could have teamed with The Red Coat themselves.

Ma Reynolds Olwen Fouéré (Zone 414) drinks her medicine in the back of their bar, admitting they aren’t peace loving, reasonable people and she’ll take action over her belief in The Red Coat. She thinks he laughs at them, lingering in the wilderness while their petty fears feed him. Her son Guy Pearce (Memento) disagrees, but he buttons up her shirt for her and kisses her a little too long on the lips – a subtle indication of how nasty and insular The Reynolds are. 

Joe says trouble is caused when people are where they aren’t supposed to be, and his good kinfolk don’t mix with “you people” and he will make “them” understand, quoting the Bible as he washes his hands. Reynolds even praises the hard working immigrants and their smartness compared to his lazy hangers-on – oozing his perceived superiority with demented slurs, vile insults, and such ingrained, deep seeded ease. He wears a seemingly suave suit but looks the hooligan, blabbing that he knows everyone’s secrets, affairs, and crimes. Joe picks and chooses chapter and verse, smiling as he threatens to cut the throat of the next person who disrespects him. He’ll look after his own, yet Sunrise under-utilizes Reynolds’ daughter, a quiet teen afraid to be touched for obviously icky reasons who’s more a plot point than a fully realized character. From the pulpit, Joe spouts his self-appointed ideology to keep people in their place because the system is broken when it benefits others freely without serving him first. Sunrise‘s best scenes are when Reynolds’ evil meets the horror as he delivers a disturbing eulogy and gory consequences. Unlike other pandemic projects where Pearce has had a smaller role but still participated in numerous virtual press interviews and podcasts, I understand why he didn’t for Sunrise, for he already said all that’s needed in this despicably effortless characterization. What’s most horrifying is you know damn well there are such backwoods people and places in America like this – probably a lot closer than we’d like to think.

The Irish production stands in well for the Pacific Northwest thanks to the misty forest and rural buildings, and it’s a pity small ninety minute films like this can’t be made unless there are fifteen a production of/in association with companies listed in the open credits. There’s thirty-two producers listed, too, which is a lot. The red imagery among the rustic greenery is a little on the nose, yet it’s also welcome amid the otherwise mellow palette thanks to blood, red trucks, the shadowed moon, neon signs, and firelight suggesting the Chinese positive red as well as our Republican negative. Radio exposition and deer heads displayed in the general store hit home the back country. 

However, the interior scenes are too dark and mood lighting should not call attention to itself. It’s noticeably jarring when we cutaway to sunny dream flashes, overhead meandering drives through the woods, and unnecessary incidental shots of animals. Transition shots are also slow, panning too long over coloring books when not every scene has to have an establishing shot. Repeated shots of smoking, lighters, and ashtrays likewise seem to be edgy cool foreshadowing, yet they come off as unnatural, and rapid horror flashes don’t look cool – they just remind us the picture is out of order. Herky jerky camerawork reflecting delirium prevents us from seeing the character’s struggle, and shaky cam, swirling haze during the one on one fighting feels low budget, cutting corners so we don’t see the action. Excess heavy breathing sounds and every single footstep creaking are a bit much, but fortunately, the low heartbeat we hear even with a toy stethoscope and tolling church bells provide gothic touches. Sunrise also shrewdly does not rely on gore, providing choice blood drops, neck bites, dead birds, and dipping hands in the bloody bowl.

Despite imminent danger, the pace in Sunrise is uneven, drawn out in some scenes before everything seems easily resolved with an ironic staking and fiery finish. Although The Red Coat is a minor supernatural element allowing the vengeance to happen, the narrative framework is frustrating with poor editing and not enough time to tell the whole story. Montages and piecemeal tellings don’t develop an emotional feeling the way a linear structure would build justice. Sunrise never decides which one of the good guys done wrong we should invest in – viewers know where our hate is because the real world horrors are more recognizable. The farmer seeking the American dream finds out that not only does it not exist, but it’s actually a nightmare, and he’s blamed for the violence because he didn’t leave when he was told. It’s interesting that a non-American production has that handle on all our flaws, but Sunrise doesn’t hone in on the straightforward drama nor can you expect all out horror – leaving viewers to notice mistakes in the narrative. This is certainly watchable several times for the performances and the social commentary, but Sunrise doesn’t quite put it all together, trying to do too much and rushing what could have been a chilling examination.

Grade: C

Director: Chris Pine
Writers: Chris Pine, Ian Gotler
Stars: Chris Pine, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Danny DeVito

Synopsis: Darren Barrenman is an unwavering optimist and native Angeleno who spends his days looking after the pool of the Tahitian Tiki apartment block and fighting to make his hometown a better place to live.

At the opening of Poolman, there is a sequence that lulls and cradles us into a process. The process is testing and maintaining a small pool. We watch Darren (Chris Pine) in this process and it shows dedication to a craft. The craft of filmmaking is on display here, as well, with Pine as director leading his craftspeople into a stellar sequence. Matthew Jensen as cinematographer builds the sequence capturing several points of view to help us understand the process. Editor Stacey Schroeder cuts the sequence into a beautiful flow that speeds up and slows down like the waves in the tide. It’s a tremendous shame the rest of the film doesn’t live up to this potential.

The tragedy about this comedy is that the script’s an absolute mess. Chris Pine and Ian Gotler obviously wear their influences on their sleeves with the overlapping dialogue of Robert Altman, the comedic ensemble tenor of the Coen brothers, and the convoluted, twisting plots of Robert Towne. The problem is that none of that works in concert with each other. That overlapping dialogue is nonsense and aggravating, Darren (Chris Pine) isn’t anywhere near The Dude’s charming slacker, and to have a complex convoluted plot you need to come up with your own instead of cribbing all the answers from Towne’s masterpiece, Chinatown.

It’s ridiculous that an L.A. noir pastiche would twist itself in so many knots referencing Chinatown so overtly. So overtly in fact that Darren himself begins to just tell everyone else how much like Chinatown this situation is. Poolman almost begs its audience to walk out of this film and watch a much better one instead. It’s likely because Poolman doesn’t know what it wants to be. It is a comedy, but it’s not funny in a laugh out loud kind of way. It’s funny in that way in which you recognize the comedy of a scene and can nod along noting the humor inherent there.

It’s likely that the film loses its way because its protagonist is so unlikeable. Not unlikeable like a Diablo Cody heroine, like most people in a Yorgos Lanthimos film, or a Paul Schrader diarist. He’s unlikeable because he’s a tremendous narcissist in the most uninteresting of ways. Darren masquerades as an activist, a person who cares about making Los Angeles better for people, but only wants to make Los Angeles better for his own nostalgia. He cares so little about the actual feelings of the people who surround him, is so lost in his head about everything around him, that the character actually sucks the charm out of any performance Chris Pine could give and that man has more charisma than two of the four currently famous handsome white guy Chrises combined. Which is why it’s sad that the only scene where Darren isn’t steamrolling over someone else and actually listening ends without him learning the true lesson underneath.

Yes, there is a pointedly good scene within Poolman. It comes as Stephen Toronkowski (Stephen Tobolowsky) finishes a performance of his secret passion project and Darren confronts him in the dressing room. Darren is thinking he has it all figured out. Toronkowski, Darren’s foil on the L.A. city council, sits the poolman down and has an intimate talk with him. They share a beautiful moment of honesty and humanity. It’s an actual conversation with give and take. It’s a breath of fresh air the way it is because of the genius of Tobolowsky’s performance style. Even in an out of character outfit, the actor can find a beautiful slice of character work. It’s cut way too short because Darren has to get back to his Chinatown shenanigans, but it gives a tiny glimmer of hope that the film could have had a point or something under its surface. When taken as a whole, it’s obvious Poolman is just window dressing.

Poolman is anachronistic, derivative, pointless style over substance. The most irksome affectation isn’t in the cars from the early 20th century or the fact that they use outdated physical media, but in that there are two tough guys with no lines dressed exactly like Crockett and Tubbs from the “Miami Vice” TV show. Is this a reference to police corruption? Is this a nod to a great detective show? Are these characters detectives of some kind? It’s never made explicit and the answer is probably inane. Poolman is full of tedium like this. It dives deeply into unfunny absurdity, wanting us to wade in with it, so it can drag us to the deep end and dunk us into a passionless film full of uninteresting noodles of ideas. It has so much potential, but, like its main character, it is too full of itself to actually want to succeed.

Grade: D

Director: Michael Showalter
Writer: Robinne Lee, Michael Showalter, Jennifer Westfeldt
Stars: Anne Hathaway, Nicholas Galitzine, Ella Rubin

Synopsis: Solène, a 40-year-old single mom, begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell, the lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet.

If there’s one thing the world needs more of, it’s solid, sweet films that allow big name actors and actresses to show off great chemistry and individual charm. That’s not a facetious statement, we genuinely need more of this. So often, the middle of the road romance and rom-com lacks the kind of star power to attract a big audience. Fortunately Michael Showalter’s The Idea of You, starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine, delivers just that. The film sees Solène (Hathaway) as an art gallery owner in Silver Lake have to last minute chaperone her daughter and her friends at Coachella where one of the bands is August Moon, with heartthrob Hayes Campbell as the band’s centerpiece. After a chance encounter in Hayes’ trailer (featuring an all time Mr. Pibb product placement), he and Solène have several interactions throughout the festival and it’s clear that Hayes is quite smitten with her. 

Much of the film’s early tension revolves around the fact that Solène is 16 years older than Hayes, the former having just celebrated her 40th birthday. The implications of this kind of age gap, particularly an older woman with a younger man, are seen throughout the movie. The reactions from certain people as they discover the love affair are less than positive, and, at times, outright antagonistic. This not only affects the couple themselves, but many of the people they are closest to in the world. 

The best thing The Idea of You has going for it is the chemistry between its two leads. They are incredibly believable as love interests, and you can feel the tension rise from the second they meet. Anne Hathaway is great as always, and truly blows everyone else out of the water. She has no need to give as good of a performance in this as she does, but it truly is remarkable. Nicholas Galitzine’s star continues to rise as he gives a decent Harry Styles-infused popstar performance. With well received turns in the Netflix quick hit Purple Hearts and the over-the-top comedy Bottoms in recent years, Galitzine continues to show promise as both a leading man and a supporting character. While there are some side characters, this really is a two person show with not much coming from outside the leads. 

The script and direction from Jennifer Westfeldt and Michael Showalter are where the film starts to unravel. Showalter is known for his intentionally over-practical visual style, and it doesn’t quite work here. There’s a blandness that can be seen all throughout the movie, even when we are whisked away with Solène to New York and extravagant places in Europe. None of the locations pop off the screen or feel special or romantic in any way. In addition to this, the way the script approaches the driving conflict between Solène and Hayes’ age gap is not really earned or even realistic. Once people in the world find out about their relationship, all kinds of derisive social media comments are shown that feel as if they were generated by a bot. They may be mean or have a similar opinion, but these just feel made up to make the conflict bigger than it actually is. The Idea of You does pose the interesting question of whether the difference in age would matter as much if the genders were swapped, but doesn’t follow through on exploring that to the depth it deserves. 

Without Anne Hathaway’s star power and incredible performance, this movie would come across as another lazy romance from a streamer that knows it will get views from a particular demographic and not much else. She elevates a below average script and helps it to far exceed its potential had there been any lesser actress in the role. While her performance is stunning, it is not enough to save the otherwise plain and contrived storytelling that unfolds as the film inches closer to its climax. Hopefully more stars like Hathaway will come to the aid of these borderline Hallmark films and turn out similarly stellar turns to make them more widely seen by bigger audiences.

Grade: C+