On the Rocks - Review

 

There’s something to be said for a light, bubbly film filled with nothing but amusing and well performed characters delivering amusing dialogue. That doesn’t mean these films should be disregarded or that they can’t make statements, but they’re more often than not just a light and fluffy affair.

Sofia Coppola’s (“Lost in Translation,” “The Beguiled”) latest film and her latest collaboration with Bill Murray (“Ghostbusters,” “Lost in Translation”), “On the Rocks” is an interesting blend of both light and dark elements. It would be extremely easy to watch the film as an amusing 90 minutes and think nothing more of it, but those who choose to look under the surface of these characters more, as well as those who know about Coppola’s father, will likely find far more to chew over.

Murray plays Felix, an aging playboy and art dealer who spends his days traveling across the globe on a whim and trying to spend time with his daughter, Laura, played by Rashida Jones (“Parks and Recreation,” “The Social Network”), who dreams of becoming a writer. Laura feels like her husband Dean, a successful social media entrepreneur played by Marlon Wayans (“Scary Movie,” “Requiem for a Dream”), and Felix finds his way back into her life by grabbing hold of those anxieties that Dean is cheating on Laura and offering to help her find out the truth.

A summary like that might make the film sound like a dark globetrotting adventure, but like most of Coppola’s other films, its mainly focused on one city, New York. The streets and skylines make for a perfect backdrop to this mad-dash caper, and Philippe Le Sourd (“The Grandmaster,” “The Beguiled”), who previously worked with Coppola on “The Beguiled” takes full advantage of the neon lights and dark skies of the Big Apple at night.

Murray is at the top of his game here, unquestionably. After his career skyrocketed with the likes of “Ghostbusters” and “Stripes”, he was reborn in the early 2000’s as a darling of the indie film scene with movies like “Broken Flowers,” “Limits of Control,” “Get Low,” Coppola’s previous work “Lost in Translation,” and virtually anything by Wes Anderson. This is important to note because here more than ever before Murray seems to pull from both his playbooks. There’s the chauvinistic, charismatic, sometimes even crude chops from his 80’s-90’s comedy catalog, as well as a somber undercurrent that’s much more in line with his recent projects. It is a truly interesting performance to watch, as he staggers between being an eye-rolling delight and absolutely infuriating.

Jones delivers a performance that, while more straight forward, is nonetheless as excellent as Murray’s. The pair have chemistry that is hard to fake, really selling not only the father and daughter dynamic, but the history between the two of them. There are events that we the audience are not made privy to that have clearly influenced the way they act with each other, and that kind of recognizable history, without it ever being spelled out, gives their relationship layers. It also helps to deepen Jones’s performance as we see her mull over and deal with the events of the film, something we don’t see Murray do.

Coppola’s direction is subdued in just the right way. It isn’t flashy or showy, and the film overall avoids some of the more experiential moments of her earlier works. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is up for debate, but it delivers a more straight forward film.

This is a double-edged sword. While its nice to have a more commercially viable and lighthearted product, “On the Rocks” lacks the introspective nature or bite of Coppola’s other works. It’s not as wise or ethereal as “Lost in Translation”, not as anarchistic as “The Bling Ring” or “Marie Antoinette.” It’s not as eerie as “The Beguiled” or as empty as “Somewhere.” While there are layers, even those aren’t as detailed as one might expect from Coppola. It results in a film that, while her fingerprints as unmistakably present, could have been directed by anyone else and likely achieved similar results.

While that might sound like a damning critique, rest assured that its merely a long drawn out way of explaining a mere quibble. This is one of the funniest films of the year because of those winning performances and the way it interweaves the humor with its own dire straits. Humor is virtually weaponized here, as Coppola has Murray’s character delivering the same kinds of lines throughout, going from funny to tragic based on his own actions and the arcs he and Laura each have.

“On the Rocks” is a bizarrely complex film despite lacking any major bombshell revelations. Its superbly acted with Coppola’s deft hand for dialogue and charm. Murray delivers a career best performance, as does Jones, resulting in a warm and light film that goes down smooth and fills your head with bubbles. 4/5

Over the Moon - Review

 

With an animation career spanning over 40 decades of work and having worked on some of the greatest animated films of the last half a century, Disney Legend Glen Keane (The Little Mermaid, Dear Basketball) is an obvious choice to direct his own animated features. Mixing his experience with that of screenwriter Audrey Wells (Guinevere, The Hate U Give), Alice Wu (Saving Face, The Half of It), and Jennifer Yee McDevitt (Pittsburgh Passion) to create an animated musical based on the Chinese legend of Chang'e seems like an immediate and surefire success.

There are definitely elements here to praise. The cast does a fabulous job with their material, newcomer Cathy Ang does a great job capturing the science loving teenage angst of Fei Fei, and her reluctant brother Chin is also voiced well by newcomer Robert G. Chiu. The standouts amongst a fairly stacked cast though is Broadway star Phillipa Soo (Hamilton, The One and Only Ivan) who perfectly pulls off the complicated diva persona of Chang’e. From there, the rest of the cast is either used for 15 minutes, like supporting members John Cho (Searching, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle), Margaret Cho (Bright, Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple In All The World), Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy, Killing Eve), and Kimiko Glenn (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Orange is the New Black), or worse.

In a genuinely confusing decision, Ken Jeong (Community, Crazy Rich Asians) plays Gobi, a pangolin and former servant of Chang’e. While his performance isn’t bad, it’s the character itself that becomes extremely grating. Gobi is simply the worst of all modern-day Hollywood animation rolled into one. He’s hyperactive, annoying, and then turns on a dime to deliver heartbreaking exposition, as if audience members are being punished for finding him annoying.

Visually, “Moon” explodes with color and visual flair at almost every moment. The team at Sony Pictures Imageworks has absolutely outdone themselves, and while clearly working with a smaller budget than a typical Pixar or DreamWorks film, there’s still a distinct visual style here. Each character seems sculpted out of clay, as if they exist as statues. Lunaria, the Moon city, is an absolute showstopper. With Day-Glo environments that pop and shine like gummies exploding onto the screen, it’s a colorful and memorable world for these characters to explore.

The musical elements aren’t executed as flawlessly as the visuals, but for the most part they’re admirable. Songwriters Christopher Curtis (Chaplin: The Musical, The Man Upon the Wall), Majorite Duffield, and Helen Park (KPOP: The Musical) craft some lovely melodies, and most of the songs are good. Ultraluminary, Chang’e’s introductory song infuses popstar and diva sensibilities into an introductory tune. Mooncakes is also a highlight, seeming as if its was plucked right out of the Disney renaissance.

From there, the songs aren’t bad, just unmemorable. Hey Boy is a rap battle set to a ping pong game that fails to make a lasting impression, and Wonderful is an out of nowhere tear jerker ballad. Again, these songs aren’t bad, they just fail to stick in viewers brains for longer than they’re onscreen.

That isn’t the only thing that fails to make an impression though, as the overall plot of Moon could’ve used some serious work. What exists here is an interesting tale of loss and emotion, with a STEM focused through line and a great sense of sci-fi imagination. However, the way its been presented in the film itself is in quite possibly the most generic and safe way possible.

There’s the “I want” song, the emotional 3^rd act song, the climactic chase with the fake out death, the 1^st act Chekhov’s gun, and the separation of siblings only to be reunited with a greater respect for each other. There are even subplots that are introduced and then forgotten about virtually instantly, like Chin being trapped and a bunny love story. It’s not a flawed story at its core, its just being presented in the most generic way possible, and as these events take place over top of gorgeous environments that look like you could eat them, its easy to think of a more creative and engaging way of telling this story.

Over the Moon is not the worst animated film of the year, not by a long shot. It’s animation and vocal performances are wonderful, most of its songs are great, and its always good to see a more diverse tale being told from such a big studio. However, it might just be the most disappointing animated film of the year, as its easy to see how much better it could’ve been. It’s a film that’s less than the sum of its parts but can still be a colorful and amusing distraction for a weekend stream. At least it isn’t overtly annoying. 3/5