Tag Archives: Jenny Slate

It Ends With Us

It Ends With Us, the new film adapted from Colleen Hoover’s 2016 best selling novel, is a cautionary tale. For some, it may even be instructive.

The “it” in the title is the cycle of spousal abuse which sometimes continues through generations. The movie does have many light moments and some semi-steamy romance but there’s also a dark undercurrent. 

Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) is a thirtysomething Bostonian who returns home to Maine after her father’s death. At his funeral when she is asked to say a few words about him, she has nothing. Why? It is soon revealed that her father was physically abusive to her mom.

Lily meets Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni) a Boston surgeon and a slowly simmering romance ensues. Lily gets signs that Ryle has a temper. In fact the first thing she sees him do is kick a chair in anger. 

Lily opens a flower shop and her first employee Allyssa (Jenny Slate) just happens to be Ryle’s sister who shares insight into her brother’s behavior.

Meanwhile, Lily’s old boyfriend from her hometown Atlas (Brandon Sklenar) reappears in her life when she and Ryle dine in his (Atlas’s) new restaurant. When Lily shows up later at Atlas’s joint with a bit of a shiner, the result of an overreaction by Ryle to a kitchen disaster, Atlas confronts Ryle. When Ryle later discovers that Atlas has given her his phone number in case of trouble, he gets upset again.

Lily has flashbacks to life back in Maine and the tension in her household. She also recalls her early times with Atlas. Young Lily (Isabela Ferrer) and young Atlas (Alex Neustaedter) also experience her dad’s volatile temper.

It Ends With Us maintains a simmering level of tension from start to finish. Lily’s mom tells her daughter that she loved her husband despite his abuse. Lily offers Ryle forgiveness for his transgressions. But how far will that go? What role will Atlas play in her encounters with him now that they are both adults? 

Blake Lively carries the film in a role that has her portrayal of Lily cover a spectrum of character types ranging from a sexy babe to a hustling business owner to an assertive woman who takes control of her life. She’s good!

Coleen Hoover has said that the story is based on the relationship of her mother and father. And that it was hard for her to write. Its success has spawned a sequel book and helped make Hoover a fan favorite.

A best-selling novel that generates a lot conversation should deliver a built-in audience for the film version. But since more people see movies than read books, the word-of-mouth opinions from early movie goers will determine if It Ends With Us has legs. I’m guessing it will. 

Rated R. Directed by the guy who plays Ryle, Justin Baldoni.

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Zootopia

Zootopia looks great and has spectacular voice work, but it lacks the magic that would elevate it to the top rung of Disney animation work. Zootopia’s plot exposition and message causes it to fall short in the pure fun and laughter departments. But don’t let those slight qualms stop you from seeing it.

Judy Hopps (Gennifer Goodwin) is a bunny whose farmer parents (Bonnie Hunt and Don Lake) encourage her to set her personal ambition bar low and settle. Judy, however, wants to move to the city of Zootopia and join the police force.

Zootopia looks like a cross between Shanghai and the Capitol in The Hunger Games. This fauna universe is divided into zones that include a rain forest, a desert and a wintry world, as well as the downtown area. It’s a city where all the animals coexist peacefully because the predators have somehow mellowed out.

After Judy becomes an officer, her boss Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) limits her work to issuing parking citations. She does her best, writing hundreds of tickets each day. On the street, she encounters a nemesis, soon to become an ally, Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), a fox.

Zootopia has two main messages. #1. Don’t get in a hurry when you visit the license office—especially in Zootopia where the DMV is staffed by sloths. (See trailer at top of this post.) #2. You can overcome stereotypes and be who you want to be. Judy, a bunny, is typically too small to be a cop. And Nick, a fox, turns to a life of deception because, well, foxes are scheming hustlers.

The film’s story centers around a group of predators who have reverted to their violent ways and are being caged on the edge of town. What’s causing them to go back to their instinctive states? Judy goes to work to solve the mystery and Nick pitches in.

Since this animal world is a metaphor for our human society, I wonder who the suddenly-wild-and-dangerous-again predators are supposed to represent. I don’t dare speculate here for fear of offending a particular race or ethnic group.

A few more of the talented voice cast members who populate Zootopia are Tommy Chong, J.K. Simmons, Jenny Slate, Alan Tudyk, Octavia Spencer and, as a singing Gazelle called Gazelle, Shakira.

Zootopia, like the best animation efforts of the past few decades, has fun stuff for adults as well as kids. I suggest you view the film as a light amusement and don’t worry about messages or metaphors. Zootopia is not an all-time great, but it’s pretty good!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Obvious Child

 

Obvious Child begins with 20-something comedian Donna Stern (Jenny Slate) talking on stage about stains on her underwear. Her standup routine includes highly personal observations, a la Louis CK, but Donna is not nearly as funny.

Offstage, she generates laughs. When her boyfriend dumps her, she goes to her apartment and humorously consumes a whole bottle of wine. Later, she stands across from the boyfriend’s place for some “light stalking” to see him walk out with his new love.

Along with the breakup, she learns that her day job at an independent bookstore will soon end. Life sucks. She drowns her sorrows by drinking to excess and hooking up for a one-night stand with a stranger, Max (Jake Lacy). When she wakes up she spots her undies with the aforementioned stains.

When Donna realizes she’s pregnant, Obvious Child gets into gear. She decides to get an abortion, scheduled for Valentine’s Day. But will she go through with the plan? What will her mother (Peggy Draper) say? Should she tell Max about the pregnancy and abortion plan and should he have a say in the matter?

It’s wise that Obvious Child does not get into the political and moral issues raised by abortion. It is a polarizing topic but abortion has been legal in the U.S. for several decades. Her decision forces Donna to grow up a bit and take responsibility, rather than continue to drift through her twenties.

Obvious Child might’ve worked better if Donna Stern were a funnier standup comedian. Some of her routines are personally cathartic. They advance the story, but lack consistently funny punch lines.

It may be a risky move to cast SNL alum Jenny Slate in the lead role, but she has real talent and shows potential for a good film future. Slate is funny, cute and likeable.

This small film (85 minutes) is not for everyone. Its dialogue and central story may be off-putting to many. But director and co-writer Gillian Robespierre is to be saluted for making a movie that’s not your cookie-cutter rom-com—not hardly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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