The Movie Weekend

The Writers Guild screening program had a couple of movies on Sunday that I went to, Alexander's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day -- and also St. Vincent.  I thought both were wonderful.

All I knew about Alexander... prior to seeing it was that the day before I was told by Nell Minow that it's based on a book by Judith Viorst.  I haven't read a lot by Viorst, but one of her children's books is SO wonderful that I had bought a copy for myself, simply because it's a joy.  (It's a collection of free-form verse called, "If I Were in Charge of the World and other worries.  Poems for children and their parents.")  

The film had the same whimsy, humor, charm and intelligence that adults could enjoy as much as kids.  It was written by Rob Lieber, in his first produced screen credit.  They increased Alexander's age from the book, where he was six, to 12 for the movie, which allowed for more pre-teen angst.  What I particularly appreciated is that when things started to go wrong, it wasn't that uncomfortable kind of squishy movie thing, but it generally tended to play out fairly realistically.  You didn't cringe, but rolled your eyes and laughed.  The acting, starting with Steve Carell, was terrific all around, with a nice performance, too, by Jennifer Garner, and stood out for having very natural, fine performances by all the kinds in the family, and even most of the kids in the movie, directed by Miguel Arteta.  (And a fun cameo by Dick Van Dyke as himself.)

One little point I found noteworthy.  As part of the plot, Alexander's sister is playing the role of 'Peter Pan' in a stage production of the musical her eighth grade class is doing.  (You can see her in green below...)  And the song that gets performed a few times is, "We Can Fly, We Can Fly."  The thing is -- that's not from the stage musical.  It's from the animated movie.  That struck me as odd...and then I realized, the animated movie was, of course, from Disney, and this particular movie is...from Disney.  They probably didn't have to pay any rights for the song.  And I guess it also sort of promotes the movie.  But still, guys, the kids are putting on the stage play, I think Disney could have afforded the rights to one song...

Not to leave the film and Judith Viorst yet.  Here's a sample of two of the poems from the aforementioned, If I Were in Charge of the World and other worries.  The first two, in fact -- the first being the title poem.  It gives a nice idea of her sensibility, and the sensibility of the movie.


"If I Were in Charge of the World"

If I were in charge of the world
I'd cancel oatmeal,
Monday mornings,
Allergy shots, and also
Sara Steinberg.

If I were in charge of the world
There'd be brighter night lights,
Healthier hamsters, and
Basketball baskets forty-eight inches lower.

If I were in charge of the world
You wouldn't have lonely,
You wouldn't have clean.
You wouldn't have bedtimes,
Or "Don't punch your sister."
You wouldn't even have sisters.

If I were in charge of the world
A chocolate sundae with whipped cream and nuts
     would be a vegetable.
All 007 movies would be G.
And a person who sometimes forgot to brush,
And sometimes forgot to flush,
Would still be allowed to be
In charge of the world.


"Bertha's Wish"

I wish that I didn't have freckles on my face.
I wish that my stomach went in instead of out.
I wish that he would stand on top of the tallest
     building and shout,
"I love you, Amanda."

One more wish:  I wish my name was Amanda.


Moving on to the other movie, St. Vincent also has a kid in a major role, though is not remotely a kid's movie.  It's not even a comedy per se, though very funny, but more a funny drama about a totally miserable character thrown into the position of watching a new kid who's moved next door when his mom gets delayed at work (and then charges the mother for babysitting...).  The film works so well because it's written with great intelligence, never pandering or almost never taking the easy cliche in this otherwise fairly familiar storyline, written and directed by Theodore Melfi.

It's also helped immeasurably by Melfi getting absolutely wonderful performances from Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy.  Murray gets to play a very multi-faceted character, having some occasionally-surprising soft sides, never letting them get treacly, but rather very real, and he hits the nuances throughout, complete with Bah-ston accent.  And Melisa McCarthy has what is in essence a pure dramatic role.  She has a few moment that are funny, but overall plays it all dead-on straight and often emotional, as her life swirls through a lot of tough spots.  Both performers show they actually can act, and act well.  And Jaeden Lieberher is wonderful as the little kid, mixing total innocence with a level of maturity.  (And Chris O'Dowd, who I always love, was hilarious as a priest who teaches at the school.  You may not know him by name, but you'll likely recognize him.)  Naomi Watts overplayed her thick-Russian accent too much for my taste, though played her character well enough.

I only had two quibbles.  One concerns something squirrely that Vincent does that impacts another character.  That's fine, but it's never addressed, which I think is a poor way out.  Perhaps the scene was cut, but it's still missing whatever the reason.  And the other occurs at the end.  It has nothing to do with the plot or resolution, just how they develop a joke with one of the characters.  It was whimsical and gets a couple laughs, but went a bit further in a direction that wasn't my favorite.  But those aside, the movie was a pleasure.