“‘Superintelligence’ Can’t Figure Out How To Craft A Joke, Even With Melissa McCarthy Leading The Way”

Wouldn’t you know it, there is nothing either super or intelligent about this sucker. Continue reading →

Review: A Faithful Man, 2019, dir. Louis Garrel

There are worse reasons to make a movie than to get two very lovely actresses to kiss all over your face, even when one is terribly age inappropriate and the other is your spouse. Ah, the French. Continue reading →

Review: Under the Eiffel Tower, 2019, dir. Archie Borders

Matt Walsh as a leading man in a rom-com? It’s an idea so crazy it might just work, except that the movie in question only barely gets there with plot and story. Continue reading →

Review: Let the Sunshine In, 2018, dir. Claire Denis

For a movie with such a cheery, upbeat title, Let the Sunshine In is determinedly melancholic. Check the director’s name and that makes sense: Claire Denis doesn’t really make straightforwardly upbeat movies, from Trouble Every Day to White Material, so naturally she’d make a romantic comedy dripping in sadness. But it’s a good kind of sadness founded on a real … Continue reading →

Review: Lolo, 2016, dir. Julie Delpy

You probably have pretty strict expectations laid aside for any romantic comedy you choose to engage with. You probably assume that any film bearing that oft misjudged appellation will be saccharine and utterly fake. You probably also haven’t seen Lolo, mostly because it has only been in theaters for a couple of weeks and will expand … Continue reading →

Review: Hello, My Name is Doris, 2016, dir. Michael Showalter

There are two main reasons to seek out Michael Showalter’s Hello, My Name is Doris: Sally Field and Max Greenfield, who share a warm and genuinely affectionate chemistry with one another as Showalter’s unexpected will they/won’t they romantic leads. The third reason to see the film is Showalter himself, who brings a surprisingly earnest directorial sensibility to what could easily … Continue reading →

Review: Amira & Sam, 2015, dir. Sean Mullin

“Well, here’s a thoroughly unexpected concept for a movie: a romantic comedy cast in the shadow of America’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. On paper, Sean Mullin’s Amira & Sam sounds like a dicey prospect, but in practice, the marriage between its lighthearted mode and the United States’ contentious overseas campaigns works beautifully. Mullin’s film … Continue reading →

Review: Outsourced, 2006, dir. John Jeffcoat

This fall, NBC will introduce another addition to their Thursday line-up with workplace situation comedy series Outsourced. (Which also marks the third entry in said genre on their schedule. Take that as you will.) Outsourced appears to have its roots firmly entrenched in the comedy of programs like Britain’s mockumentary masterpiece The Office, as well … Continue reading →