This Is 40 (2012)

3/5

Judd Apatow's This Is 40 is the coyly self-proclaimed "sort-of sequel" to Knocked Up. Except the two main characters of that movie can't seem to find the time to even make a cameo here (despite its 135 minute runtime). Instead we get to see the unhappily-married life of Pete (Rudd) and Debbie (Mann) as they approach middle age.

The movie wasn't bad so much as it was overlong. I know it wasn't as long as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it certainly felt that way. It had a meandering plot that rotated around both funny and unfunny subplots instead of having a real story arc to propel it forward. The humor it contained was surprisingly topical and observational, kind of like an updated version of Seinfeld for married life, but not as timeless and not as hilarious. It was just kind of there. It was clearly a project that Judd Apatow wanted to do more than one audiences wanted to see.

What makes the movie even more frustrating is that the story starts to spin out of control and--instead of tying up loose ends, or even attempting to--it just ends in a musical rainbow of blah. What? Does Apatow think people don't need resolution any more? We're okay with movies just stopping when the writers don't have any good ideas anymore? Honestly, I left the movie about the same as when I came in, except with a lower credit balance and a half-eaten bucket of popcorn. Trust the "mixed" reviews: this movie is mediocre.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1758830/

Rust and Bone (2012)

2/5

Jacques Audiard's Rust and Bone is an overwhelmingly punishing film. The movie is filled with relentless sadness. It's not so much a love story as it is a character study. Two, in fact. We are introduced to Ali (Schoenaerts), an unemployed father who makes money participating in street fights, and Stéphanie (Cotillard), a whale trainer who loses her legs after a freak accident. They begin an uneasy friendship that progresses to an unhealthy relationship. The duo are hit time and time again by pain, hardship, and bad luck. It seems to never end. And love does not conquer all, if there is any to be found in this movie.

Cotillard, as always, plays her role to perfection, eliciting subtleties and complexities that could not have been written in any script. The range she is capable of in her face alone seems limitless. She puts Schoenaerts to shame, making him about as forgettable as his character. Thanks to its tremendous performances, the movie strikes deep. Far too deep. I hated it when I saw people make the wrong decisions, when they acted selfish or hurtful, when they got what was coming to them. It all seemed too human and honest and genuine.

I don't say this lightly, because I am a huge fan of Audiard's other works (The Beat That My Heart Skipped, A Prophet), but Rust and Bone was a disappointing and unwelcome film. Not because it's a bad movie, but because it is too effective. It devastated me. It's hard to articulate how I felt at the end of the 2 hours: exhausted, frustrated, with just a tinge of hope to make sure nobody commits suicide after watching it. It's not a pick-me-up so much as it is a put-me-down. And you will be depressed for some time after watching it. If this does not seem like your type of movie, then avoid it. If this does, then let me know and I can recommend some good psychiatrists to go with it.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2053425/