New Releases for the Week of June 22, 2018

JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM

(Universal) Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Jeff Goldblum, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Ted Levine, BD Wong, Geraldine Chaplin. Directed by J.A. Bayona

As if having dinosaurs eating tourists wasn’t enough to make a public relations nightmare for the world’s most dino-mite theme park, now the island’s previously dormant volcano is rumbling again and ready to blow it’s top. Looks like it’s extinction all over again, unless Star-Lo..er, Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard can save the animals by getting them off the island. But where will they go?

See the trailer, clips, interviews, video featurettes and B-roll video here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard, 3D, 4DX, DBOX, DBOX 3D, Dolby, IMAX, IMAX 3D, RPX, RPX 3D, XD, XD 3D
Genre: Science Fiction
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of science fiction violence and peril)

Hearts Beat Loud

(Gunpowder & Sky) Nick Offerman, Toni Collette, Kiersey Clemmons, Ted Danson. A father and daughter are spending her last summer before she moves across the country to attend medical school. He’s closing up his record store in order to better pay for his little girl’s education. One night when they jam to one of her songs, he realizes that they have something. He posts the song to Spotify and all of a sudden they have a hit – although she refuses to admit they even have a band. When two sets of dreams collide, something’s gotta give. See the Cinema365 review by clicking on the link under “Scheduled for Review.”

See the trailer and Sundance footage here.
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Dramedy
Now Playing: Regal Pointe Orlando, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: PG-13 (for some drug references and brief language)

ALSO OPENING IN ORLANDO/DAYTONA:

American Animals
The Catcher Was a Spy

ALSO OPENING IN MIAMI/FT. LAUDERDALE:

American Animals
The Guardians
Incident in a Ghostland
Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town
Njan Marykutty
Tik Tik Tik

ALSO OPENING IN TAMPA/ST. PETERSBURG:

American Animals
Njan Marykutty

ALSO OPENING IN JACKSONVILLE/ST. AUGUSTINE:

American Animals
My 2 Mommies

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

American Animals
Hearts Beat Loud
Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town
Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom

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Hearts Beat Loud

Isn’t this how Phish got started?

(2018) Dramedy (Gunpowder & Sky) Nick Offerman, Kiersey Clemons, Toni Collette, Ted Danson, Sasha Lane, Blythe Danner, Quincy Dunn-Baker, Alex Reznik, Andrea Morales, Michael Abbott Jr., Harrison Chad, Robert Reed Murphy, Rafael Poueriet, McManus Woodend, Faith Logan. Directed by Brett Haley

 

Sometimes you just need a movie that’s going to make you feel good. More often than not you’ll reach for a favorite from childhood or even young adulthood, something as familiar and as comforting as an old blanket on a rainy day. Other times though you still want to try something new. If this is one of those times, have I got a movie for you.

Frank (Offerman) is the proprietor of Red Hook Records, the kind of store John Cusack would love. He resolutely and stubbornly sells only vinyl in the hipster-infested neighborhood of Red Hook in Brooklyn. When one such hipster scolds him for smoking in his own store, Frank replies acidly that if he’ll buy something, he’ll put out his coffin nail. The hipster counters by whipping out his phone and ordering his record on Amazon. Such brazen acts of douche-ness should be rewarded with a bazooka to the face.

His smart and pretty daughter Sam (Clemons) is heading to med school all the way across the country at UCLA in the fall. Frank is okay with this although the cost for sending his baby to college is staggering; there’s no way he could afford it on what he’s pulling in from the store so after 17 years he’s shuttering the business, despite the attempts by his sympathetic landlady (Collette) and kinda-sorta-maybe love interest to help him out.

One of Frank’s great joys is having a regular jam session with his daughter. Frank, who in his youth recorded an album, recaptures a little bit of his past glory in these sessions. On this night, a tune his daughter had been working on becomes a really good single. Dad wants to start a band with her and tour; she wants to go to med school. He takes the recording of the song and without her knowledge submits it to Spotify. It is added to a curated New Indie playlist. Suddenly things are starting to happen. You can guess where this is leading.

Haley, who directed last year’s excellent The Hero, surrounds these two with a pretty fair cast, including Danner as Frank’s mom who is showing signs of dementia and shoplifts from time to time, Danson as a pothead bartender and Lane as Sam’s girlfriend. There’s not a poor performance in the bunch and Offerman in particular is marvelous – I think this is his best work to date as a matter of fact. While it might seem to be a bit presumptuous for his daughter to tell Frank – often – that he needs to grow up, it’s also true that Frank seems to be spending his time in Just-Out-of-College Land.

There are a few bumps in the road; the relationship between Sam and Rose feels contrived and a bit too ridden with indie clichés to really hold up.. Also some of the roles (in particularly the mom and Rose) that are woefully underwritten and could have used some fleshing out. The soundtrack is really nice – you have to love a movie that gives a shout-out to Jason Molina and Songs: Ohia – and both Offerman and Clemons, who do their own singing and playing in the movie, are actually pretty good.

Some movies try too hard to be charming but this one pulls it off organically. Certainly you’re being manipulated a little bit but in the end if you walk out of the theater feeling good, that’s worth it’s weight in gold in these troubling times. Incidentally while the movie has opened up in major markets like New York and Los Angeles, it is rolling out nationwide and will be making it’s Orlando debut on June 22^nd. You should definitely check it out.

REASONS TO GO: The soundtrack is nifty and the original songs ain’t half-bad. This just might be Nick Offerman’s best work to date.
REASONS TO STAY: The relationship between Sam and Rose is a bit too indie clichéd.
FAMILY VALUES: There is profanity, some drug references and brief sexual content.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Offerman and Danson previously worked together in the second season of Fargo for F/X.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 6/9/18: Rotten Tomatoes: 92% positive reviews: Metacritic: 62/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Band-Aid
FINAL RATING: 7/10
NEXT: The Worker’s Cup

Big Miracle

Drew Barrymore is not so sure about her big kissing scene with her latest co-star.

(2012) Family (Universal) Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Kristen Bell, Dermot Mulroney, Tim Blake Nelson, Ted Danson, Stephen Root, John Pingayak, Ahmaogak Sweeney, Kathy Baker, Vinessa Shaw, Andrew Daly, John Michael Higgins, Gregory Jbara, James LeGros, Rob Riggle, Sarah Palin. Directed by Ken Kwapis

 

Americans sometimes overly admire self-reliance. There’s nothing we love more than a lone wolf taking care of business on his/her own. Situations arise in life however where help is needed. Generally we as a nation despise asking for assistance although there are instances where reaching out is the only way.

Adam Carlson (Krasinski) is a reporter for an Anchorage television station whose current assignment in the winter of 1988 is to go to small towns on the fringes of the 49th State and file reports about life on the last frontier. He has amassed quite a following in the small town of Port Barrow, Alaska where he is finishing up his most recent assignment, particularly from Nathan (Sweeney), a young Inuit lad who is a bit star-struck and looks to be fleeing tiny Barrow for bigger and better things.

Filing one last story, Adam notices something rather peculiar – water spouts coming from a small hole in the ice five miles from the nearest ocean. Upon further investigation, it is discovered that three California Gray Whales are trapped there, cut off from the ocean where their fellows have begun their Southerly migration. In a short time, the hole will freeze over and the whales will drown, having no means of getting air.

The filing of this story causes quite a ripple effect. Greenpeace activist (and Adam’s ex-girlfriend) Rachel Kramer (Barrymore) charges in, guns blazing, in an effort to rescue the whales and alienate the humans who might not necessarily agree with her points of view. One of those is oilman J.W. McGraw (Danson) who has a towable ice hover barge that is only a few miles away; it can break up the ice and carve a path to the ocean for the whales but Rachel and J.W. have had run-ins before over oil drilling rights in Wilderness Preserves.

The national guard has to be mobilized in order to get the helicopters to tow the barge to Barrow, which requires the co-operation of the Governor (Root) who isn’t giving it, until Kelly Meyers (Shaw), one of Reagan’s press coordinators in the White House recognizes an opportunity to improve her boss’s environmental record and give a boost to the Bush campaign (the first George, not the second) and puts pressure on the Governor to co-operate.

Colonel Scott Boyer (Mulroney) is assigned to lead the helicopter team to move the huge barges but it is a dicey proposition at best. Meanwhile, the media is descending on tiny little Barrow to cover what has become an international sensation, including L.A. reporter Jill Jerard (Bell) who like Adam yearns for the big time.

In the meantime, the situation for the whales – dubbed Fred, Wilma and Bam-Bam – is getting more desperate by the hour and it doesn’t appear as if help is going to arrive in time. There is something closer that may well be the only chance for the whales. The trouble is, that it’s a Soviet icebreaker and to allow them to save the day might not be possible in that political climate.

These are based on actual events (Kwapis skillfully intercuts actual footage from the incident) although the plot has been condensed and made Hollywood-friendly. On paper it seems like it could be one of those treacly family movies that just reeks of cliché – dumbed down to kid levels. There is a kid here but unlike most family movies he doesn’t save the day – instead Nathan is taught the beauty of his heritage and learns to value his ethnic background. Otherwise, this is a movie that the whole family can appreciate.

The cast is well-assembled. Krasinski in particular is one of the most likable leads working in Hollywood today and the more movie work he gets, the more likely it is that the small screen is not going to be able to afford him shortly. Personally I think he’s one or two roles from being a huge star.

Barrymore is likewise a reliable lead, albeit further up the wattage ladder than Krasinski. She usually plays ditzy – and there’s a hint of that in Rachel – but she takes the committed environmentalist with tunnel vision cliché (she won’t wear make-up because so much of it is animal tested for example) and rather than make the character a caricature gives her flesh and blood instead. It’s a nice portrayal and illustrates why she’s one of Hollywood’s finest.

Danson, Nelson (as a state wildlife expert) and Baker are all fine actors who never disappoint; Danson is as close to a villain as the movie gets but he’s just so dang likable you wind up kind of wanting him to do the right thing – and not to be much of a spoiler but he does.

In fact, nearly everybody does the right thing here. It’s one of those movies where there are no real villains other than the elements and the conviction and commitment of the people of Barrow and those whom the story touches becomes the real focal point. That’s where the warmth is in the story, despite the chilly setting (which was filmed in British Columbia rather than Alaska).

The whales are portrayed both animatronically (well done) and by CGI (not so well done) and remain more or less on the periphery. Yes, everyone loves them and wants to save them but the people are the focus of the story. It becomes a family film that actually doesn’t pander to the kids at the expense of the adults, but rather treats kids intelligently and expects them to understand what’s happening without drawing in crayon.

I found myself liking this more than I expected to. Originally sentenced to the doldrums of the first release week in January, Universal moved it up into February, perhaps because the movie turned out better than they expected it to. This is good solid family entertainment that doesn’t disappoint the kids or the adults and hopefully, not the studio accountants either. Movies like this are to be encouraged.

REASONS TO GO: An engaging story. Krasinski is rapidly becoming one of the most compelling leads in Hollywood. Doesn’t talk down to its family audience, at least not much.

REASONS TO STAY: CGI whales aren’t always authentic looking.

FAMILY VALUES: There are a few bad words here and there.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Stephen Root’s Governor Haskell is a fictional character; the governor of Alaska t the time this actually took place was Steve Cowper who was fairly supportive of the rescue efforts.

CRITICAL MASS: As of 2/19/12: Rotten Tomatoes: 73% positive reviews. Metacritic: 61/100. The reviews are solidly positive.

COMPARISON SHOPPING: Dolphin Tale

INUIT LOVERS: Offers a rare and intimate look at Inuit culture in modern society, specifically in regard to their view about whales and how they use them for food and as a spiritual touchstone as well.

FINAL RATING: 6.5/10

TOMORROW: Journey 2: Mysterious Island

New Releases for the Week of February 3, 2012

CHRONICLE

(20th Century Fox) Dave DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan, Alex Russell, Michael Kelly, Ashley Hinshaw, Bo Petersen, Anna Wood, Rudi Malcolm, Luke Tyler, Crystal-Donna Roberts. Directed by Joshua Trank

A group of three high school buddies, as modern high school kids will, set out to document every little thing they do on video. This includes the discovery of something phenomenal – something that gives them amazing, incredible powers. At first this is just super-cool. I mean, like, they pwn the world, dude. But like middle-aged movie critics who try to sound young and hip, things go bad. The old saying of absolute power corrupts absolutely apparently isn’t in the curriculum at their high school because slowly it does things to their heads as well.

See the trailer and clips here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Science Fiction

Rating: PG-13 (for intense action and violence, thematic material, some language, sexual content and teen drinking)

Big Miracle

(Universal) Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Kirsten Bell, Ted Danson. Based on a true story, this is about how rival superpowers put aside their differences to free a family of trapped gray whales near the tiny town of Point Barrow, Alaska. The essentials really took place in 1988 in an effort that was nicknamed Operation Breakthrough.

See the trailer, clips, featurettes, an interview and web-only content here.

For more on the movie this is the website

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Family

Rating: PG (for language)

The Woman in Black

(CBS) Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds, Janet McTeer, Roger Allam.  Radcliffe begins his post-Potter career with a spooky period horror film. Here he plays a 19th century lawyer gone to settle a late client’s affairs and must journey to the home of the client to go through his papers. While there, strange occurrences and visions of a woman clothed all in black makes him uneasy, a situation not improved by the tight-lipped locals. Working to discover the truth to the tragic circumstances of the woman, he finds himself caught in a terrifying situation when he discovers what her intentions really are.

See the trailer, promos and featurettes here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Release formats: Standard

Genre: Supernatural Horror

Rating: PG-13 (for thematic material and violence/disturbing images)

The End of the Line

The bounty of the sea isn't endless.

(New Video Group) Ted Danson (voice), Charles Clover. Directed by Rupert Murray

Fish are a staple of the diets of many regions, including ours. Accordingly, the sea has always been a source of bounty, a necessity to many of our cultures. Entire civilizations have grown around our ability to catch fish. We have always considered the ocean to be a near-limitless source of food. That belief was naïve to say the least.

This documentary, based on a book by Charles Clover, looks at the overfishing and the non-regulation of factory fishing that has brought us to the point that if things go unchecked, there will be no seafood of any kind left by the year 2048. That’s right, 38 years from now Red Lobster could be nothing more than a fond memory.

Rather than just give dire warnings, the documentary looks at things that have already happened and are happening currently. One of the first things the film examines is the disappearance of cod from Nova Scotia. In 1992, then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney declared a moratorium on cod fishing which enraged the region’s fishermen, many of whom had relied on the industry for generations. However, it was a case of too little too late; the cod population still hasn’t returned to the Maritimes 18 years later.

The film looks at practices like bottom trawling, in which huge ships drop huge nets that dredge the bottom of the ocean (doing irreparable harm to the seabed in the process) and bring up entire schools of fish. Entire species are being decimated to sate our insatiable appetites for seafood.

The Japanese continue to hunt whales to near-extinction despite near-universal condemnation of the process. They call it a part of their culture, which is absolute crap – human sacrifice was a part of certain tribal cultures, that doesn’t make it right. Wrong is wrong.

The movie has the sad tendency to preach a little bit, and gets repetitive in its message. Still, the message is important; the ocean’s bounty isn’t limitless and like any finite resource, it is our responsibility to steward it logically and reasonably.

Fortunately, as the documentary informs us, the problem isn’t irreversible even now. Sustainable fisheries are not only possible, they are thriving. Responsible fishing practices such as those used in Alaska set reasonable quotas that if adhered to can keep the industry thriving indefinitely. Establishing marine preserves that are no-fishing zones will give the oceans a place to heal and species a place of refuge to build up their numbers again. In several Caribbean countries this practice is already paying big dividends.

Individuals can also contribute by questioning where their fish are coming from, free range sources (bad) or sustainable fisheries (good). Make sure that the tuna you’re eating isn’t bluefin tuna (an endangered species). Refuse to patronize restaurants and grocery stores that aren’t adhering to responsible and reasonable fish purchasing.

There are already encouraging signs; Wal-Mart is pledging to obtain their fish from sustainable sources and McDonalds already obtains 90% of their fish from such sources. Still, there are some disturbing and discouraging stories, such as Mitsubishi (yes, the Japanese car giant who also have their fingers in other pies) stockpiling bluefin tuna and fishing for as much as they can get their fat, greedy hands on in order to make a killing on their frozen tuna once the species disappears forever. If true, that may very well be the most reprehensible story I’ve ever heard.

One of the true tests of a documentary based on a book is whether or not it acts as a supplement to that book, or if it merely reinforces that book. Unfortunately, The End of the Line is the latter, juxtaposing Oceans-like scenes of schools of fish swimming placidly in the ocean and dolphins playing in the waves with piles of dead fish in a Tokyo fish market and pollution floating in the open ocean. The message is an important one and it deserved a better film to deliver it; most audiences would be far better reading the book, although I’ll concede that some of the images are riveting here. Either way, it is part of our responsibility as custodians of our world to sit up and take notice before once again we collectively shoot ourselves in our collective feet.

WHY RENT THIS: An important message that should be heard.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: The movie tends to be on the preachy side and occasionally belabors their points.

FAMILY VALUES: Some of the images might be a bit disturbing for the young.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The book’s author, Charles Clover, is seen in the movie trying to get Nobu, one of the world’s high-end sushi chains, to refrain from using bluefin tuna on their menu.

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: There are six webisodes further exploring the issue, as well as three different versions of the movie of varying lengths.

BOX OFFICE PERFORMANCE: Not available.

FINAL RATING: 5/10

TOMORROW: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Open Road

Jeff Bridges wondering when his flight leaves.

(Anchor Bay) Jeff Bridges, Justin Timberlake, Kate Mara, Mary Steenburgen, Harry Dean Stanton, Lyle Lovett, Ted Danson, Bret Saberhagen. Directed by Michael Meredith

The gulf between fathers and sons can be wider than the Gulf of Mexico and many times deeper. We can reach out to one another but in the end, sometimes there are no bridging gaps when all you have to work with is smoke and mirrors.

Carlton Garrett (Timberlake) is a minor league baseball player for the Corpus Christi Hooks. He’s fairly talented but of late he has been in a tremendous slump and his hopes for a major league career are fading by the minute.

Carlton has a lot more on his shoulders than the average minor league ballplayer though. His father is the great Kyle Garrett (Bridges), Hall of Famer for the Houston Astros, who not so coincidentally own Carlton’s contract. However, Carlton hasn’t spoken to his father in eons. Dad loves to tell stories of the good old days, especially when he’s drinking which is most of the time. While Kyle was hitting homers and getting plastered in anonymous bars all over the National League, Carlton was learning what it was like to grow up without a dad.

Carlton’s mom Katherine (Steenburgen) is also very sick and her condition is getting worse. She desperately needs surgery to fix her heart, but she is hedging a little bit. The surgery is extremely dangerous and she doesn’t want to go under the knife without seeing Carlton’s dad. Carlton is extremely reluctant to do it but he knows his mom might die if he doesn’t. He enlists the support of on-again off-again girlfriend Lucy (Mara) to come with him.

So Carlton tracks down his father at a baseball memorabilia show in Cincinnati and at first jovial dad is all for flying down to Houston, but the flight winds up being canceled and so determined to get his reluctant dad down to Houston as soon as humanly possible, Carlton rents a red SUV and proceeds to drive down there.

Along the way many unresolved grievances will be aired, not just between Carlton and Kyle but also between Carlton and Lucy. However, Carlton’s frustration is going as Kyle does everything he can – in a sort of passive-aggressive manner – to sabotage Carlton’s efforts to get him to Cincinnati. Kyle, you see, has issues of his own.

This is a movie that takes it’s time getting to where it’s going. One wag said after seeing it that he could have driven to Houston from there in the time the movie took to get to Memphis. It’s a bit of an exaggeration but I can understand the sentiment. In that sense, it’s almost a European film only in an all-American framework. The issues, however, are universal – America doesn’t own a monopoly on dysfunctional father-son relationships.

Meredith put together a pretty terrific cast which largely doesn’t have a whole lot to do. Bridges, who filmed this before his Oscar win for Crazy Heart, is terrific as he usually is in the role of the charming but ultimately shallow Kyle. This is the kind of role he could easily do in his sleep but he chooses not to, giving the role his full attention and that just about single-handedly elevates the movie above mediocre.

That’s not to say he doesn’t have any support. Steenburgen is endearing as always and Danson, Stanton and Lovett have too-brief cameos. Timberlake isn’t a bad actor, but he is nowhere near the level of Bridges and it shows. Mara is a gamer in her own right, but once again she is overwhelmed by Bridges’ performance.

This isn’t a rotten movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it takes a good deal of focus to stay with. Once the actual road trip begins things pick up a little bit but ultimately this is a movie about three people in a car for whom awkward silences are a bit of a blessing.

WHY RENT THIS: Bridges is delightful as always. Supporting cast does solid work, although frankly not up to the level of their best performances.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: So low-key that it’s almost sleepwalking.

FAMILY VALUES: There’s a little bit of bad language but probably no worse than you’ll hear in the average high school lunchroom…or even middle school gymnasium.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Director Michael Meredith, the son of former Dallas Cowboys great and Monday Night Football color commentator Dandy Don Meredith, is a frequent collaborator of the German director Wim Wenders.

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: None listed.

FINAL RATING: 6/10

TOMORROW: The U.S. vs. John Lennon

The Amateurs

Jeff Bridges goes on a junk food binge while Patrick Fugit captures it on video for the tabloid shows.

(First Look) Jeff Bridges, Ted Danson, Lauren Graham, Joe Pantoliano, Jeanne Tripplehorn, William Fichtner, Patrick Fugit, Tim Blake Nelson, Glenne Headly, Steven Weber, Brad Garrett, Isaiah Washington, Eileen Brennan. Directed by Michael Traeger

It is a human need to feel like one has accomplished something. Success breeds self-confidence; the lack thereof breeds its opposite.

Andy Sargentee (Bridges) is one of the latter. He has gone through scheme after scheme with a spectacular lack of success. His wife Thelma (Tripplehorn) has divorced him and remarried Howard (Weber), a millionaire. His son is understandably impressed by his new father-in-law but he still loves Andy for who he is. Love is one thing, however; respect is another.

Andy feels like he has to do something to get his son’s respect. But what to do? He ruminates for several days in a local tavern, his friends and neighbors, knowing Andy’s penchant for harebrained schemes, steer well clear as best they can. At last, Andy hits on an idea: porn. Not only that, amateur porn. It generates billions of dollars in revenue on the internet; why can’t the good townsfolk of Butterface Fields grab a slice of that tasty pie?

Of course, talking about it is one thing. Assembling a cast and crew is quite another. Most of Andy’s buddies share a distinct tinge of loser in their make-up, but all are game and are all on board. Some Idiot (Pantoliano) whose name is…well, it’s too much to go into right here but trust me, it’s apt…lobbies for and is made the writer/director of the budding skinflick. Then there’s Otis (Fichtner) who wants to feel a part of the movie but doesn’t want to screw it up is given the executive producer title. And let us not forget Moose (Danson) who is gay and is blissfully unaware that everyone knows, and Barney (Nelson), Andy’s best friend who pines away for Helen (Headly); they are both producers. Their best asset, however, may be Emmett (Fugit), who works at the video store and has taken some filmmaking classes. So deeply has the bug bitten him that he carries a small videocamera wherever he goes, documenting everything.

However, the stumbling block is getting actors – particularly actresses. There is no shortage of willing male participants but there are few women in town who are – ahem – photogenic that are willing to be schtupped on camera in living color for the world to see. Even if they do get enough women to make the epic porno they have in mind, can these lifelong screw-ups pull it together to actually make the film?

First-time director Traeger has assembled an impressive cast, led by the redoubtable Bridges. This is a role that Bridges can play in his sleep and often has; Andy has a great deal in common with characters Bridges has played in The Big Lebowski and The Fisher King. He’s good-hearted and a little bit off the deep end. He is supported with some pretty impressive actors, all of whom ooze charm.

Charm is not what this movie is short on. What it is short on is laughs. I don’t have a problem with a movie relying on quirky characters for its humor but there is a dearth of truly funny moments and jokes, not a good sign for a comedy. Still, there is enough to make it through.

The narration of the movie tends to drag it down. Bridges is a charming enough narrator but the movie relies too heavily on it. I would have preferred less explanation and a little more action, to quote the King.

While the subject matter is certainly titillating, there’s little overt sex. It’s true that most of the film’s actresses, particularly those involved in the porno (Hedley, Melinda Dahl and the veteran Valerie Perrine, too long absent from the big screen) are easy enough on the eyes, there’s no nudity to speak of (except that which is implied).

I have to admit that the film’s charm won me over. I know the small town with the eccentric citizens is a bit of a hoary cliché, but when it is done well – as it is here – it can be a very entertaining conceit. While the movie is far from perfect, I enjoyed my visit to Butterface Fields and wouldn’t mind a return visit.

WHY RENT THIS: Quirky and relentlessly good-natured, the movie handles the sensitive subject matter flawlessly. Bridges is intensely likable in a role he can play in his sleep.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: The movie relies overly much on the narration and some of the humor doesn’t work. Too many characters make for too many subplots.

FAMILY VALUES: The subject matter is a bit much for kids, even if it is handled humorously. The language, however, is a bit foul.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Many of the characters were named after characters from “The Andy Griffith Show.”

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: None listed.

FINAL RATING: 7/10

TOMORROW: Friday the 13th (2009)