Movie Review - The Call

The Call (2013)

Starring Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin, Morris Chestnut, Michael Eklund, Roma Maffia, and Michael Imperioli

Directed by Brad Anderson

I'm wary to even post this review saying that the Halle Berry-starring The Call is actually decent simply because I know full well that it's a piece of schlock cinema produced by the WWE (that's World Wrestling Entertainment...you know, the same people that bring you fake wrestling on tv).  It's exploitative and, at times, a bit uncomfortable to watch in its ceaselessly violent children-in-peril nature, but it moves along at such a rapid pace that it doesn't overstay its welcome and ends up being a perfectly acceptable B-movie which is all it ever wanted to be in the first place.

Oscar winner Halle Berry is Jordan Turner, a 911 operator who takes a call one evening from a teenage girl whose home is being invaded.  After a series of unfortunate events, the girl is kidnapped and later turns up dead.  With Jordan's actions playing a part in the devastating event, she recuses herself from taking any further calls and begins a job teaching new recruits at the call center.  One day, however, a call is received from another young girl named Casey (Abigail Breslin) who has also just been kidnapped and stuffed into the trunk of her attacker's car.  Casey, armed with a cell phone, dials 911 and ends up speaking with Jordan.  Desperate to seek redemption for her earlier actions, Jordan finds herself doing all she can to help Casey escape.

Ultimately, the story is simple and could easily have been made into a tv movie on Lifetime.  Perhaps that's where it belongs as well, but considering this is now out of theaters and available to view at home, I can't deny that I had a fun time with it.  Had I shelled out $10 bucks I may have been disappointed, but as a rental, it's better than it really deserves to be thanks in large part to director Brad Anderson's quick pace and nice turns from Berry and Breslin.  Yes, it's moderately trashy, but I don't think there was ever any pretense about this being high class stuff.  It entertained me, kept me interested in the story, and I'm not sure I could've asked for more from something like this.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Identity Thief

Identity Thief (2013)

Starring Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, Jon Favreau, Amanda Peet, Tip "T.I." Arris, Genesis Rodriguez, Morris Chestnut, John Cho, Robert Patrick, and Eric Stonestreet

Directed by Seth Gordon

Maybe it's because I was bracing myself for something horrid based off reviews, but Identity Thief isn't half bad.  I laughed a few times (not nearly enough, however), but this one seemed to have much vitriol headed its way.  Admittedly, I had grown tired of Melissa McCarthy's supposed shtick -- I loved her in Bridesmaids, but thought she was phoning it in for her bit role in This Is 40 -- and the previews for Identity Thief depicted her as being much of the same old-same old.  However, her role as Diana, a Florida gal who steals peoples' identities, actually was a bit more well-rounded than I expected, stepping beyond the brashness we've come to expect from her movie characters.

Don't mistake this praise for something fantastic, though.  Identity Thief is a comedy with not enough laughs and a subplot that's simply horrid involving two sets of criminals chasing after Diana for payback for wrongdoings she's enacted upon them.  If the film was smart, it would have had the nerve to simply make itself focus on Diana and Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman), the schmuck whom Diana took advantage of by stealing nearly everything he had.  When Sandy is faced with losing his job because of Diana's dirty thievery, he leaves Colorado to track her down in Florida and force her to return to Colorado to tell his boss that he isn't involved in the crimes she's committed.  (He's told by police that they essentially can't do anything which conveniently allows for this set-up to happen.)  On their cross country trek, they bond and become emotionally attached all the while avoiding the bad guys who are trying to hunt down Diana.

I'm sure many critics lambasted the mushiness of the film's final act, but I must admit that I found it welcoming and that it shed a decent light on Ms. McCarthy.  There are moments here that prove she's more than just a raucous buffoon and that she may have more to offer the movie industry than what she's given us prior.  Of course, I say this and can't help but think that The Heat is simply a return to what we've seen from her before...but maybe like Identity Thief the trailers were a poor indication of what was to come.

Jason Bateman is fine here and perfectly watchable, and I really do wish the film had the courage to have simply made this a movie about two people and their interactions with one another.  The extraneous plots of both a bounty hunter (Robert Patrick) and a two criminals sold faulty credit cards (Genesis Rodriguez and T.I.) were horribly underwritten and seemingly shoe-horned into things without any rhyme or reason.  Less is more in comedy and, as I always say, we can thank Judd Apatow  (who I don't think was involved in this at all) for the modern notion that comedies must be as lengthy as possible to have "substance."  Still, while I'm well aware lowered expectations helped this one, Identity Thief wasn't nearly as bad as other critics would have you think.

The RyMickey Rating:  C