!WARNING! THIS IS NOT A FUN HOLIDAY COMEDY !WARNING!

We got free tickets to see Everybody’s Fine the other day. I tend not to do a lot of research about the film when it comes to free tickets. I knew the cast and had seen a trailer and simply assumed that it was one of those fun Christmas comedies they make every year. Well, it is not. In fact, it is utterly depressing!

It starts out light with Frank Goode (Robert DeNiro) going shopping to make a feast for his visiting children. He buys giant steaks, the best wine and even a new BBQ grill. When he gets home, one after another, his children call and say that they can’t make it. So he decides to go and visit all of them in the different cities that they now live in. His doctor tells him that he is not fit to travel and should stay at home and warns him that flying is out of the question. Frank goes on his trip anyway but decides it safer to go by train and Greyhound bus.

His first child David is not at his New York City apartment. Frank waits a day or so until he moves on to go visit his sun Robert (Sam Rockwell), the music conductor, in Chicago. By now the Franks children (they are all in their thirties) have passed on the message that Frank is coming to see the all and that they have to keep it a secret that their brother David is in a prison or hospital (nobody knows for sure) in Mexico. None of the kids want to lie to Frank about it, so they tell him that they don’t have time right now and that he can’t stay. So basically he is risking his health for nothing.

The movie gets more and more depressing with the news that all the children are keeping secrets or actually lying to Frank about their lives, and it just goes downhill from there. Don’t get me wrong, this is a really well made film but it is simply not what I expected or what the trailer promises. The Star Cast (Robert DeNiro, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell) have done a fine job creating a real family. Especiall DeNiro is very good at capturing this character.

Go and watch the movie (I am not surprised that it has a rating of 8.3 on IMDb) but be warned that it is not your typical Christmas-everybody-is-happy-and-in-love kind of movie but an emotional film about a family growing apart in grief and then slowly mending again (with some comedic aspects in it). I haven’t seen the original Stanno tutti bene (1990) but it sounds like the story is the same, it has just been just Americanized for the new version. Has anyone seen the Italian version? Is it worth watching?

Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut is an action loaded girl-power comedy. Bliss is an unhappy teenager who is forced to go to attend beauty pageants by her mother. When she discovers Roller Derby she falls in love with it immediately and joins a team without telling her parents.

The story could be fun but it is just so predictable. I like the idea of making a film about Roller Derby because I don’t know anything about it but it is definitely lacking in finesse. The characters are one demential and none of them are especially original. I guess the problem is that people like Drew Barrymore get to make their first steps with big budget feature films while other directors make lots of short films where they can make mistakes and then go on to direct feature length movies.

The conclusion is that even though there is a lot of talent involved (Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore, Marcia Gay Harden and many more) and the idea is cute it just didn’t turn out to be a good movie. Lets hope Drew’s next film will be better…

I stumbled across a blog post by Miranda on Cinematic Passions where she wrote about Entertainment Weekly’s article on the 25 funniest actresses in Hollywood. When I looked at the article there I realized that I only new about 2 out of the 25. So, now I am making my own list of the 10 funniest actresses of today (classic actresses are a whole other post).

I have to admit that when I think about comedies, I think about men (Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria and the likes).

Ellen Page - Even though I have only seen her in one comedy (Juno), she impressed me enough to make it onto the list.

Renée Zellweger – I can laugh about her as Bridget Jones every single time I watch it (it’s been a few). She is also funny in Down with Love, Chicago, Me, Myself and Irene and Nurse Betty.

Reese Witherspoon – I probably shouldn’t admit it, but I love her in Legally Blonde!

Emma Thomson – more known for her dramas, she can be very funny (Much Ado About Nothing, Harry Potter). I am sure this woman can play any role you throw at her anyway…

Jennifer Aniston – She really makes me laugh (apart from Friends, she is funny in Along Came Polly, Bruce Almighty).

Shirley Henderson – She might not be a big Hollywood star but she is incredibly funny! (Bridget Jones’s Diary, Harry Potter)

Julia Roberts – (Pretty Woman, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Hook, America’s Sweethearts, Ocean’s Twelve…)

Zooey Deschanel - I love her in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Almost Famous

Cameron Diaz – even though I am not a big Cameron-fan, I have to admit that she is very funny in Shrek (voice), My Best Friend’s Wedding and There’s Something about Mary.

Drew Barrymore – she appears in a lot of comedies but she is normally the “cute” one, rather than the “funny” one.

Other funny actresses:

I thought about adding Meryl Streep - but even when she is in comedies, she brings drama into them (i.e. The Devil Wears Prada, Mamma Mia!)

Jamie Lee Curtis, Maggie Smith, Blythe Danner

I miss Whoopy Goldberg and Bette Midler, make me laugh again

The Conclusion: I am sorry to say that there are no real comediennes in Hollywood. At least not in films I watch (If you like American Pie and similar films you might disagree with this statement). The actresses I listed are all funny or appear in comedies but they are, mostly, not the main character and their funniness comes more from the amusing story. Legally Blonde is the wonderful exception here. It seems strange that there is such a big gap between male and female comedians. What are your thoughts?

Not as girly as expected after hearing the title, I found that the film is actually a drama/comedy with some insight in the life of modern women.

It is a fairly obvious interconnecting story between five women and their boyfriends/ wanna-be-boyfriends/ husbands/ lovers. There is nothing new about it and it offers no surprises. Nevertheless it is still fun to watch. At least the cast is quite impressive: Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Jennifer Aniston and Scarlett Johansson. But the one I liked most is Ginnifer Goodwin. I had never noticed her before (although I must have seen her in Mona Lisa’s Smile and Walk the Line) but in this film she is incredibly cute, in a clueless sort of way.

My suggestion: Wait for the DVD to come out, rent it and watch it with your girlfriends.