The Big Sick

The Big Sick (2017)

Starring Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Bo Burnham, and Aidy Bryant

Directed by Michael Showalter

Written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani

***This film is currently streaming via Amazon Prime***

Summary (in 500 words or less):  Stand-up Pakastani comedian Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani) meets the white Emily (Zoe Kazan) at one of his shows and the two hit it off right away.  Several months into their relationship -- which had already faced some rocky roads when Emily discovered that Kumail's parents wanted him to date only Pakastani women --  Emily gets very sick and falls into a lengthy coma which tests Kumail's love.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Monster

The Monster (2016)

Starring Zoe Kazan, Ella Ballentine, and Scott Speedman

Directed by Bryan Bertino

An indie horror flick, The Monster has its moments (including one or two genuine jump scares), but there's just not quite enough story for the film to maintain momentum over the course of its ninety minutes.  The tense moments all carry the same type of fear so instead of creating different puzzle piece-like parts to create a unique whole, the repetition wears the scares thin, making the whole film rather one-note.

At the heart of The Monster (and perhaps a metaphorical interpretation of the title character) is Kathy (Zoe Kazan), an alcoholic young mother to ten year-old Lizzy (Ella Ballentine).  No longer with Lizzy's father (Scott Speedman), Kathy loads Lizzy into the car to take the several hours' drive so her daughter can spend time with her dad.  Unfortunately, on a secluded back road, Kathy crashes the car after hitting what appears to be a wolf.  While waiting for a tow truck, however, Kathy and Lizzy discover that they may not be alone on the highway as something horrific begins to stalk them in moonlit night.

Through a series of flashbacks -- which, frankly, are the best parts of the film -- we discover just how horrific of a parent Kathy truly is.  Obviously a young mother, Kathy never wanted to be parent and her actions since Lizzy's birth prove that nurturing is not a characteristic that comes easy for her.  Kazan is a bit scary, yet fully believable as an addicted mother who cares more about her next fix than her daughter's well-being.  These moments which shape Lizzy's discontent with her living situation are the best parts of the film.  Unfortunately, the "horror" aspects which dominate the picture fall flat for the most part and fail to build to anything substantially riveting.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Our Brand Is Crisis

Our Brand Is Crisis (2015)

Starring Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie, Joaquim de Almeida, Ann Dowd, Scoot McNairy, and Zoe Kazan

Directed by David Gordon Green

***This movie is currently available on HBO Now***

Savaged by critics and completely ignored by moviegoers, Our Brand Is Crisis was one of the biggest bombs of Sandra Bullock's career when it was released last October.  Quite frankly, I'm a bit surprised because I found the film to be an amusingly lighthearted political comedy with an engaging cast who create an atmosphere that's a lot more fun than I expected.  Bullock is Jane Bodine, an American campaign manager who is hired by an American consulting who in turn was hired by Bolivian politician Pedro Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida) to run his floundering campaign for the presidency.  The film rather simply covers a several-months period in which Jane and her crew (Anthony Mackie, Ann Dowd, Scoot McNairy, and Zoe Kazan) try to create reasons to sway the public vote to Castillo.

The performances really make Our Brand Is Crisis click with Bullock in particular offering up a strong-willed, sarcastically biting role that lifts the piece higher than I'd imagine.  Unfortunately, the film falls apart a bit towards the end with its political election proving to be highly anticlimactic and its subsequent repercussions off-putting and too dramatically out-of-place with the rest of the feature.  Still this film (a fictionalized account of a documentary of the same name) isn't nearly as bad as its lukewarm reception would have you believe.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - What If

What If (2014)

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Megan Park, Adam Driver, Mackenzie Davis, and Rafe Spall

Directed by Michael Dowse

I've started many a review with something along the lines of "I'm a sucker for romantic comedies," and this statement continues to ring true with the absolutely charming What If, a tiny indie flick that was released in a theaters for a quick and decisively financially unsuccessful run this past summer.

Who knew Harry Potter himself Daniel Radcliffe had the wit in him to portray a dryly humorous, self-effacing, and hopeless romantic like Wallace, a med school dropout who meets Chantry (Zoe Kazan) at a party thrown by his best friend Allan (Adam Driver).  Upon walking her home, Wallace learns that Chantry has a longterm boyfriend in Ben (Rafe Spall) and wants more than anything else to simply be friends with Wallace whom she's hit it off with right away in terms of their likes, dislikes, and personalities.  The two were made for each other -- it's obvious.  Unfortunately, Chantry really loves Ben.  Also unfortunately, Wallace finds himself falling for Chantry more and more with each passing month, yet he also drifts further and further from being able to tell her his true feelings as they shift deeper and deeper into the "friend zone."

The film of course veers down an expected path which, I was surprised to discover, I found a tiny bit annoying.  I was hoping for maybe a "twist" at the film's conclusion, but writer Elan Mastai chickens out just a little bit.  Admittedly, I would've probably written the same ending as that's what's totally expected of a film like this, but as the flick came to a close I was hoping I'd be in for something a little off the beaten path.  Still, Matsai succeeds at creating two characters whose wit and dry humor are a perfect match for each other and also truly amusing to watch.  Radcliffe and Kazan are both fantastic in their roles, displaying a great amount of chemistry.  While Radcliffe was quite the surprise (I wasn't a fan of the Harry Potter series, so I was impressed here), Kazan proves once again that she's someone to watch.  I thought she was great in 2012's Ruby Sparks (a very different romantic comedy), but I was quite pleased to see her onscreen again as she hasn't done much since then.

Much like the "sucker for romantic comedies" line, I also tend to pull out the "but it doesn't reinvent the wheel" clause more often than I probably should.  That said, it's an apt phrase for What If...but that doesn't really matter.  What If will win you over with two sweet performances and a youthful cast that imbues humor into a story we've certainly seen portrayed many times before.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Ruby Sparks

Ruby Sparks (2012)

Starring Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Chris Messina, Annette Bening, Steve Coogan, Elliot Gould, and Antonio Banderas

Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

I wasn't the biggest fan of Little Miss Sunshine and Paul Dano isn't ever a draw for me, so a film by the directors and featuring one of the stars of that former Oscar-nominated flick wasn't ever going to jump out at me as a major draw.  However, I couldn't be more pleased that I gave Ruby Sparks a shot because I found the comedy to be more amusing than I ever could have imagined.  Maybe it was a case of lowered expectations, but that's probably selling the film short because I feel like Ruby Sparks is one of the best films to come out of 2012.

A decade ago, Calvin Weir-Fields (Paul Dano) wrote a quintessential piece of American literature -- a contemporary Catcher in the Rye if you will.  Since then, he's been able to live very well off the money brought in from his novel, but hasn't been able to follow it up with any work as he's been afraid of living up to the expectations from his modern-day masterpiece.  Much like his professional life, his love life has stalled.  After breaking up with a long-time girlfriend a few years ago, Calvin spends time at home alone with his dog much to the chagrin of his brother Harry (Chris Messina).  One evening, Calvin has a dream about a beautiful girl beckoning him to be with her and Calvin's therapist (Elliot Gould) seizes the moment and tells the author to start writing about her to try and get the creative juices flowing.

Calvin finds himself engrossed in writing for the first time in years, falling in love with his creation of the character of Ruby Sparks -- his ideal woman.  Color Calvin surprised when he wakes up one morning only to find Ruby (Zoe Kazan) actually in his apartment, complete with every mannerism and characteristic he has made up for her.  Whatever Calvin writes seemingly comes alive in Ruby right before his very eyes placing Calvin in an interesting conundrum -- does he write Ruby to be the woman he wants her to be or does he try and let her become her own woman with her own will and ambitions.

While there's certainly enchanting fantastical elements in this wonderful debut screenplay by Zoe Kazan, the film's directors don't dwell on the fact that this couldn't actually happen.  Instead, it's played rather straightforward and thanks to all players in front of and behind the scenes, we in the audience buy into the whole thing instantly.  Comedy is front and center at the initial meetings of Calvin and Ruby, but as the film progresses, we delve a bit more into what "love" should mean and that the "faults" of our partners endear them to us all the more.

Kazan has created a nice starring role for herself that allows her to play both the initial bubbly innocence of the fresh-faced Ruby and then shift into the more independent-minded woman that Ruby becomes.  While I'd apparently seen Kazan in a few films (most notably the western Meek's Cutoff), she isn't someone that had registered with me before.  However, after this, she'll definitely be on my radar and I hope that she takes another stab at writing as her screenplay proved to be quite unique.

Much to my surprise, Paul Dano didn't annoy me in the slightest.  It's not so much that Dano ever even annoys me, it's just that he always seems to fade away into the background of whatever movie he's in, never really standing out whether that be because his role is minor or because he's being overshadowed by a bigger, more imposing presence (see There Will Be Blood).  Here, however, the sheer fact that his character longs to be reclusive and away from spotlight fits Dano to a tee.  I think it may be his best work yet -- or, at the very least, his most enjoyable to watch.

With some very nice supporting turns from Chris Messina (a guy who I admire for taking even the smallest of roles and making them memorable) as Calvin's lewd, but incredibly well-meaning brother, along with Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas as Calvin's hippie mother and stepfather, Ruby Sparks proves that romantic comedies don't need to play to the lowest common denominators in terms of either raunchy behavior or bland stereotypes in order to succeed.  How this charming film didn't find more success is beyond me considering that it's the best comedy of 2012.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-