THEN SHE FOUND ME

US, 2007, 100 minutes, Colour.
Helen Hunt, Colin Firth, Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick, John Benjamin Hickey.
Cameos: Edie Falco, Jane Angorophilo, Tim Robbins.
Directed by Helen Hunt.

Helen Hunt has built up a solid reputation from the days when she was a child star. She has mastered television comedy in the series Mad About You. She has proven that she can act, especially ordinary and harassed women, by winning an Oscar and many awards for standing her ground with Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets. While recently looking after her child at home for several years, she worked on the screenplay for this film, adapting a novel by Eleanor Lipscomb, and developing the plot and adding characters. She also decided to direct.

This is the story of a middle-aged teacher, April, who knows that time is running out for her to become pregnant. At times, there is a great deal of humour, a lot of deadpan remarks and asides. At times, there is a great deal of pathos because life does not go the way we want it to go – there are regrets and disappointments. But, all the way through, Helen Hunt has made a humane film that takes on themes of marriage, separation, pregnancy, adoption, fertility treatment, love.

The film also has a pervasive Jewish background, not just because the characters are Jewish but there are prayers, rituals and ceremonies and questions about the existence of God.

Helen Hunt, looking quite gaunt and careworn, plays the teacher for sympathy but allowing the audience to be critical of her, even impatient with her. She marries a genial husband (Matthew Broderick) but he cannot deal with marriage and quickly leaves to go back to live with his mother. She encounters a divorced father who is trying to bring up his children and not let his bitterness overwhelm him (Colin Firth). It is not difficult to see where this is leading but some complications arise, especially with her ex-husband, that a happy ending does not necessarily seem likely.

April also tries fertility assistance (with a doctor played, of all people, by novelist Salman Rushdie). She does not want to adopt because she herself was adopted and felt that she was not as loved as her younger, naturally conceived, brother.

And, then she found me. Who is she? Bette Midler. A successful TV interviewer called Bernice, she bounces into April’s life, claiming to be her mother (and that Steve Mc Queen was her father – but she or the screenplay are not at all accurate about when Mc Queen made Bullitt, so the movie buff knows there is something wrong with the story). Bernice is an inveterate showbiz personality and cannot always be trusted with the truth. However, Midler does the shtick well, is funny in her bumptious way but also has some of the more serious sequences which she also plays very well.

In fact, this is quite a likeable film, genial while warts and all, does not pretend that life was meant to be easy but offers some insight as well as hope.

1.A woman’s drama: mid-life, marriage, pregnancy, adoption, love?

2.Helen Hunt and her contribution to the film: script, direction, performance?

3.New York City locations, homes, workplaces, suburbia, schools, television studios? Real? The musical score?

4.The Jewish background, God? Belief? Prayer, rituals, ceremonies, marriages, meals?

5.April at thirty-nine, a teacher, her way with the children, with staff? At home, her relationship with her brother? Her adoptive parents? Her mother’s attitude? The issue of adoption? Her feelings? Her brother and his being a confidant? Her relationship with Ben, love, marriage?

6.The portrait of the parents, adopting April, their love for Freddie? Her mother’s wry remarks, the wedding? Grandchildren? Her mother’s death? Her brother, his relationships, going to talk to him? His help?

7.Ben, his age, in love with April, the preparations for the marriage, the ceremony? At home, his casually mentioning that he wanted to leave, that he didn’t want to be married? Immature? His disappearance, going to his mother?

8.April and the consequences, at work, her meeting with Frank? Their talk, the children, sharing experiences? The outings, discussions, falling in love, April’s pregnancy? Ben, his making contact again, being with his mother, his declaration, the car sequence, April and her sense of betrayal of Frank?

9.Frank in himself, his children, his wife leaving, his bitterness? At school? The discussions with April, sharing the experiences? His manner, attractive, going out, the sexual encounter? His being upset and moving away?

10.Bernice, her claim, April and her willingness to meet her, at the restaurant, Bernice’s chatter, the television studio, April going to the studio, Allan and the staff, Allan and his following April? Bernice’s story? Her various stories?

11.Bernice in herself, her background, the past, the story about Steve McQueen? April watching his films? Sharing with April, the meals? Eventually giving her advice, the religious issues, Jewish? Her support, telling various versions of the story, on television, the reality and her career? Her success? Wanting her daughter?

12.April, the visits to the doctor, the miscarriage? The discussions about adoption? Her not being willing? The issue of fertility?

13.April as sad, Frank, meeting with him, the tension, the change?

14.The treatment, the interviews with the doctor, discussions with Bernice? Bernice and the discussions about prayer, belief in God, April’s prayer?

15.Adoption, the Chinese baby, the happy scene at the end, Frank and his children? Her being fulfilled?

16.A film of insight, its treatment of what it was to be a man, a woman?

FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA

Poland, 200, 87 minutes, Colour.
Artur Steranko, Kinga Preis.
Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski.

In the 1960s and the early 1970s, Jerzy Skolimowski was a significant Polish director who worked at home and then outside Poland. He was noted for some absurdist humour and some dark and satiric themes. In the early 1980s, he made Moonlighting with its Solidarity Movement background. He has not made a film in 16 years although he has appeared as an actor, most recently in David Cronenburg's Eastern Promises.

His directorial 'comeback' is a grim, low-key drama, set in Poland in the recent past but depicting a dingy setting with decrepit buildings and rather squalid surroundings. It is full of pathos as its central character, Leon, a mentally challenged outsider, brought up by his grandmother, who works with the hospital furnace and odd jobs, leads a pathetic life, in the fullest sense of the word, unfulfilled and in need of some compassion.

The title might sound like an erotic fantasy. And, in a different sense, this is true. Leon is infatuated with a local nurse. He follows her in the streets. Watches her in the supermarket. But, seriously and desperately, he looks from his window into hers in the nurse's quarters and then surreptitiously gets into her room at night after mixing drugs with her medicine. This up close stalking is 'innocent' in its way. He means her no harm and there is no sexual assault. In fact, in the past he witnessed her being raped, reported it to the police but was tried for the crime and sent to prison himself.

This is a sad film, well-made and acted, a grim slice of disappointing life.

1.The work of Jerzy Skolimowski over the decades? Grim films? Madness? Comedy of the absurd? Crime?

2.The Polish settings, grimy and dirty, the poverty, the hospital, the nurses’ quarters, offices, the police precinct, the furnace and the buildings for works? The streets, supermarkets? An atmosphere of realism? The atmospheric score?

3.The structure: Leon and his life, the flashbacks to the rape, the court case, imprisonment? Explaining his behaviour towards Anna?

4.The drab town, Leon and his stalking Anna and her friend, his room, the furnace, the hand from the hospital, buying the axe? The organisation of his work? The doctor? The accusation about stealing the ring? At the supermarket, watching Anna? At work, his finally being fired, his self-defence? The retrenchment, his signing the document? The severance pay?

5.The flashback: fishing, the dead cow in the river, witnessing the rape, Anna’s fear, his running away, phoning the police, being interrogated, the anger of the policemen, the cigarettes on the floor, his picking them up? The court, his being found guilty, circumstantial evidence, the sentence? His life in jail, the physical and sexual assault? The workers criticising him?

6.The title, Anna, on the poster, being watched by Leon? The nurse? The four nights and the irony of his stalking behaviour? Watching Anna, in the street, the supermarket, climbing into her room, keeping vigil, her being asleep, not touching her? The dangers? The effect on him? The night of the party, buying the ring, his anxiety, dropping the ring, hiding under the bed, retrieving the ring? Anna getting up, dressing, going to work? The return? The helicopter, taking the sick man away? Leon being caught? His being mentally impaired, the court and the police and their action? The explanation about his grandmother, bringing him up, illegitimate, her dying, the funeral? His making the window so that he could look out to see Anna?

7.Anna, ordinary, in the photo, in real life, in the street, the supermarket, in court, her leaving, her visiting Leon – and acknowledging that he had not raped her? But that she would not return?

8.Leon, the experience of prison, being released? A future?

9.The pathos of the film, the locations, people’s occupations, mental difficulties, the sexual difficulties, Leon as a truly pathetic man? Needing pity and support?

FERMAT'S ROOM (LA HABITACION DE FERMAT)

(Spain, 2008, Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo Sopena)

Mathematics has been making something of a comeback on the screens. There has been the popular series, Numbers, on television. Alex Iglesias made the thriller, The Oxford Murders, with philosophical and mathematical theory being discussion. Fermat's Room is another mathematical thriller.

After some discussion about prime numbers and various conjectures, we are introduced to four characters who eventually win a competition in solving an enigma and are invited to a special meeting of mathematical minds. Then it turns into an Agatha Christie-like situation, And Then There Were None. They find that they are trapped in a slowly diminishing room, pushed inwards by four pressure engines. They are given puzzles to solve – and, if they fail, the walls push in. Can they solve this puzzle? Who will survive? But... who is masterminding this situation and what are the motives?

AS the walls press in, so do the pressures on conscience. We find that the four have secrets that explain why they are trapped in this puzzle.

The young screenwriters also introduce some twists, especially concerning the identity of Fermat – which means that the audience makes assumptions that lead them away from the solution.

A canny thriller.

BLUE EYELIDS (PARPADOS AZULES)

(Mexico, 2007, d. Ernesto Contreras)

A small film about loneliness with two of Mexico's leading actors, Cecilia Suarez and Enrique Arreloa. It is a first feature from Ernesto Contreras and was written by his brother, Carlos, who took the idea from watching a television advertisement for a competition which had a trip for two as its prize and wondering what would happen to people who went on such a trip.

Marina is a loner who works in a uniform-making factory. She wins the annual prize of a trip for two to a Mexican beach resort but has no friends to ask to go with her. Her married sister wants her to hand over the trip to her (quite a harrowing scene) so that she and her wayward husband can mend the marriage.

In the meantime we meet a man, also a loner, who works in an insurance company, who is intending to buy an apartment. The two meet as the man remembers her from school days. She does not. When they go out, she impulsively invites him to go with her for the holiday.

Matters do not work out as we might have thought. They are attracted, perhaps a mutual dependence. However, they also cause pain to each other before a hopeful but uncertain ending.

Winner of the SIGNIS Award at Alba, 2008.

CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE

(US, 2009, d. Mark Neveldene and Brian Taylor)

This Jason Statham movie will rank high in the list of the cinema of the preposterous.

To be momentarily fair to all concerned, they knew what they were doing. During the final credits an out-take has Statham declaring that he could hardly keep a straight face. (There are plot developments, out-takes and jokes during very long credits.)

In the original film Statham as hired assassin, Chelios, was doing something of a DOA thriller where he had been poisoned and had to chase all over LA to find an antidote. This time he falls down into an LA street, a mile down, from a helicopter. He survives only to be picked up, raced to a hospital for heart surgery (during which he is watching) – for his heart to be stolen by a would be Chinese playboy (who later turns up in the form of a disguised leering and ogling David Carradine) and replaced by an electric box. Hence the need for many scenes of his being re-charged by all kinds of electrical sources around the city. High Voltage. What follows is more than a bit of high revoltage and revolting.

The plot goes over a pretty high top of the absurd, piling one implausibility on to the other as if this were the most natural thing to do. Were they making it up as they went along, getting brain(?)waves about making each episode even more unbelievable than the previous one? Statham recharges, bashes and shoots, confronts tatooed gangs, insane Hispanics (including a severed head on wires who is still alive) and Asian criminals while trying to track down the deranged Chinese villain who seems to have stolen his heart. Amy Smart is back in order to have another public sex scene and dance as a stripper and Bai Ling is there just to show how berserk she can be. Dwight Yoakam is a deregistered heart specialist who keeps in touch with Statham by phone and is ready to replace the heart any time, anywhere!

At one stage, the action stops and a talk show flashback is inserted where the young Chelios is being interviewed by the host about his behaviour (anti-social and visualised) – and his mother is played by Spice Girl, Geri Halliwell!

Apart from enjoying themselves and showing they have a flair for moviemaking as well as popping in any device,angle or split screen when they want to, Neveldene and Taylor may have made a bet that they could outdo both Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez and grind out a 2008 version of the exploitation movie. And exploit they do, bumping up the language, violence, nudity, sexual encounter quota to prove they can do it. Or, did they want Tarantino and Rodriguez to collaborate on their next project and see if they could find an even higher top to go over?

This review must end here because the whole thing is too preposterous for words...

STATE OF PLAY

(US, 2009, d. Kevin Macdonald)

There are any number of fine reasons for seeing State of Play. It is intelligently scripted and directed drama-thriller that is contemporary and relevant.

Adapted from a television series from the UK that was hailed as strong television, the screenplay has been adapted for a United States Congress plot (and other complications). It takes full advantage of DC locations.

The issues are particularly interesting: a congressional hearing on the plans and budgets for a private company to get contracts for all kinds of war needs, from arms to medical care, for Iraq and Afghanistan. The company is made up of former military men who are now virtually mercenaries. Huge money is involved.

A congressman, Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck in a role that suits his rather strong-jaw determined style of acting) is investigating the companies and their links to other contractors as well as their aims to privatise the conduct of war. His researcher is murdered as the film opens. Police investigate as does the Congressman's old room-mate and friend, reporter Cal Mc Caffrey (Russell Crowe almost imperceptibly immersing himself in his role). His publisher is an acid-tongued Helen Mirren. His associate reporter who comes from the paper's blog rather than the print media, but proves her skills, provides a substantial role for Rachel Mc Adams. There are fine supporting performances from Jeff Daniels, also a Congressman, and a particularly effective performance from an actor who has been lately showing versatile skills in Juno and Hancock, Jason Bateman. Robin Wright Penn is Affleck's wronged wife.

The action takes place over only two days which means that it keeps up the pace as step by step more details are revealed: other killings, a military assassin, a hospital shooting, press conferences by the senator, an interrogation of a sleazy PR agent (Bateman), information from an insider to the military company. And there are several plot twists that are not anticipated, at least by this reviewer.

This all means that we are intrigued by the plot and the craft (from former documentary director (One Day in September, Touching the Void) who made a welcome transition to feature films with The Last King of Scotland, Kevin Macdonald. We admire the acting. We are challenged to reflect on the consequences of the war on terror, the invasion of Iraq, the continuing action in Afghanistan – and, particularly, who profits the most from all the contracts? It would be interesting to read former Vice President Cheney's review of the film.

SHIFTY

UK, 2008, 86 minutes, Colour.
Riz Ahmed, Daniel Mays, Jason Flemyng, Nitin Ganatra, Jay Simpson, Danielle Brent, Francesca Annis.
Directed by Eran Creevy.

A day in the life of... Actually, the crucial day in the life of... Shifty.

Shifty (Riz Ahmed) comes from a Pakistani family in London. He was a top student at school but has opted for the seeming easy life of drug dealing for £3000 a week. He is cool and casual about it, able to bully his obstreperous clients and act the smart man with other dealers. Can it last?

The film, which the writer director says is based on one of his school friends and his career, says that it can't. It is a warning film about drugs, addiction and degradation, but it is not too overtly preachy, but relies on its storytelling.

Shifty's friend, Chris (Daniel Mays) comes down from Manchester after a four year absence when his girlfriend died of an overdose. He accompanies Shifty on his rounds. The characters they encounter include Shifty's devout and concerned brother who is urging him to visit his parents, a builder who is hooked on cocaine and has lost his job and will lost his long-suffering wife and children, another dealer (Jason Flemyng) who has a more than sinister side, and a couple of other addicts, including an ageing pensioner (Francesca Annis).

There is a sense of credible realism about the characters, the settings and the behaviour of the main characters which keeps the interest as well as fostering the growing dismay about the too cocksure Shifty who is about to learn that he has not chosen a charmed profession and life.

1.Small-budget feature, from the United Kingdom, slice-of-life, the drug world? In suburbia?

2.The locations and the sense of realism, the streets and houses, ordinary? The musical score?

3.Twenty-four hours in the life of Shifty? Chris’s arrival, the audience arriving with him, meeting Shifty? The puzzle about him and his drugs career, accompanying him during the day, his relationship with his brother, clients, sure of himself, failing, the crisis, his ultimate decision?

4.Chris and the four years in Manchester, the background of his girlfriend and her death, his responsibility, leaving? Change, working in Manchester? His return for the party? The implications of his absence? The accusations by Rez? His friendship with Shifty, his observing him, his memories, dismay at Shifty’s choice of career, their clashes, urging Shifty to change?

5.Shifty’s background: at school, successful student, his decision to deal drugs, three thousand pounds a week? The range of clients, his being cocksure and smart, Chris’s arrival and his surprise, the four years, the explanation? Rez and his being a devout Muslim, praying in the house? The house as sacred? Shifty hiding the drugs from his brother? Their parents, Shifty promising to visit, not going? The meetings with Glen, the deals, the loose talk, Glen betraying him? Trevor coming to the house? His avoiding Trevor? The visit to Valerie? Supplying her with drugs in her old age? Trevor and his friend finding him? Trevor’s attack, the knifepoint, robbing his money, the drugs, his concern? Glen and the discussions, being taped, being heard by the boss? Desperate, the gun, his brother flushing the drugs down the toilet? His throwing the gun away, going with Chris? A new life in Manchester?

6.Trevor, going to the job site, being dismissed? At home, beginning his day, his wife and children, the argument with Bob, going to Shifty’s door, his needs, the phone calls to his wife, the lies? Meeting his friend, becoming desperate, spilling the beer on the drugs? Finding Shifty, his desperation, the knife, the robbery? The friend and the video cameras, giving it to his wife? The plan for the holiday, the credit card exhausted? Her pregnancy? Her discovering the drugs in the bathroom? Preparing to abandon him?

7.Valerie, an old lady, lonely, doing drugs all her life?

8.Glen, his deals, smart, his friend, the girl drugged? His sneering at Shifty as a Pakistani? His comeuppance, the boss, tied up and tortured?

9.The boss, his henchmen, black? With Glen? With Shifty? Hearing the tape? The violence to Glen?

10.A picture of twenty-four hours in London, drugs, realistic, the non-sensationalist style, a film about desperate people? A warning?

OUTLANDER

US, 2008, 115 minutes, Colour.
James Caviezel, Sophia Myles, Jack Huston, John Hurt, Cliff Saunders, Ron Perlman.
Directed by Howard Mc Cain.

'Outlandish' is the word that springs to mind for a cynical review before seeing the film. However, within minutes of the opening of Outlander, 'outlandish' does spring to mind. There aren't too many films which begin with a spacecraft hurtling to earth and crashing and burning while the scene changes to a shepherd and the caption states, 'Norway, 799'.

Fortunately for Viking communities (despite Franciscan looking friars centuries before their founding), their Norse gods beliefs could ready them for myths of heroes being sent out of the skies. For Kainan (an iron-jawed Jim Caviezel whose first word in the film might surprise fans of The Passion of the Christ), it is not so easy. Like many of the aliens in the movies (The Day the Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds), he comes from a planet that needs to send its people elsewhere to survive. This time they take a planet inhabited by monstrous creatures called Moorwens. As Kainan lands, a Moorwen is terrorising the local villages in the snowy north. And, so a set up for Kainan to become the hero who will lead the Vikings to destroy the Moorwen. It does sound outlandish, doesn't it!

Years ago there was a sword and sorcery genre that was very popular. This one is in that vein with lots of swordplay and some special effects for a burning monster that is full of teeth, ooze, goo and scales.

The Vikings do their best and adopt Kainan as a co-leader (in this film, Wolfranc, the potential rival for king and for Freya, becomes an ally and friend, so no nasty competitiveness here). It's a bit of a reminder of Kevin Costner coming among the Indians in Dances with Wolves.

The Vikings are led by John Hurt who brings a great deal of gravitas and clear rhetoric to the action. Jack Huston is the potential king. Sophia Myles is a tough-minded heroine looking like Catherine Mc Cormack in Braveheart.

It is really old Saturday matinee stuff with expensive production values and some gory bits.

1.The combination of space adventure – futuristic with Viking era – past? How well did they mesh? Credibly?

2.The location photography for Norway, the Viking lands, the rivers and lakes, the forests? The re-creation of the forts? The contrast with the spacecraft, hurtling through space and crash-landing? The special effects for the Morwen monster? The battles with the monster? The musical score?

3.The title, the reference to Kainan? The Norse god beliefs? Messengers and heroes sent by the gods? From the outlands? In this case, from space?

4.The opening credits: the spacecraft, in space, the landing, the crash, the burning, the deaths? Kainan’s survival? The sudden caption of 799AD? Norway? The shepherd with his sheep?

5.The character of Kainan, the strong and silent hero? His survival? The contact with other spacecraft? His being taken? Wulfric and the confrontation? His being brought into the fort? The discussions with Rothgar? The encounter with Freya, her looking after him, his burning his ropes, escaping, hitting her – and her later hitting him back? The suspicion of the Vikings about who he was, the raid on Gunnar’s village, the destruction, their fears of retaliation?

6.The Viking village? Rothgar as king, leadership, dignity, articulate? His wisdom? His caution about Wulfric and his impetuosity? The story of his father, Gunnar and the betrayal? Freya as the daughter of the king? The Vikings, the kind of Mediaeval court, the banquet scenes? The Franciscan-type friar? The fort, life in the fort, in the woods? The attack by Gunnar’s people? The siege? Battles? The weapons, the oil, swords?

7.Kainan and his heroism with the confrontation with the bear, saving Rothgar’s life? Given his freedom? The initial rivalry with Wulfric? Their becoming friends, companions, fighting together? Freya and her not wanting to marry Wulfric? The attraction towards Kainan?

8.Gunnar, his village, leading his warriors in the attack? The encounter with the Morwen? Fleeing into the Viking village? The various tribes working together?

9.The visualising of the Morwen, Kainan’s story about the planet, terrorising the aliens? Landing on Earth? The young Morwen? Appearing, burning? Devouring? The threat to the people in the fort? The fight, the injuries, Rothgar and his injuries? His death?

10.Kainan and his leadership, building the trap, Boromea and the others working? Digging, the posts, the oil? The attack by the Morwen, its being captured?

11.The young Morwen, the attack on the group foraging? The capture of Freya? Her being in the cave with the bodies of the dead? Trying to escape?

12.Kainan and Wulfric, the group, the exploration, searching for the Morwen in the cave? Finding the young and destroying it? The large Morwen and the attack on Freya?

13.The build-up to the final confrontation? Wulfric and his being injured, his death? Freya and her joining with Kainan, hanging on the cliff? The fight, the Morwen’s attack, hurtling into the ravine?

14.The rescue of Freya? Kainan and his farewell, going back to the ship, finding the radio contact, ultimately destroying it, deciding to stay?

15.The voice-over by Freya, the Norse legends, the hero from Outland, remaining to be king? His wise rule?

16.The use of familiar stories from the Viking Age, Beowulf and the heroics? The combination with space exploration, aliens trying to find a planet to live, the clash with the monsters?

OBSERVE AND REPORT

US, 2009, 86 minutes, Colour.
Seth Rogan, Ray Liotta, Michael Pena, Anna Faris, John Ewan, Matt Ewan, Celia Weston, Collette Wolf.
Directed by Jodie Hill.

Not sure.

That's the immediate answer I would offer to someone asking me what the film was like. It's also the answer to how I felt about the film.

Seth Rogen has specialised in a number of raunchy and raucous comedies (Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, Zach and Miri). He can bring an intelligent stupidity to his roles as well as some beneath-the-surface sympathy. They're both here in this film – but which is the real character of Ronnie Barnhardt, the mall security guard chief that he plays? Some have commented that he is 'bi-polar' but I don't think that is a point that the writer-director, Jody Hill, wants to make. Speaking of Jody Hill, he has said that he wanted to make Taxi Driver as a comedy. Not sure about that either, but it is a useful, even stimulating suggestion.

The reason for listening to this suggestion is that Ronnie Barnhardt, like de Niro's Travis Bickle, the taxi driver, is a loner, despite living with his unpredictable drinking mother (Celia Weston in an offbeat role) and despite commanding the loyalty of his deputy, Hispanic Denis (Michael Pena cleverly funny) and Asian American twin assistant guards. Actually, like the taxi driver, he is a blindly patriotic American with a penchant for violent laying down of the law. While he does have comic moments, Ronnie seems to be an intended caricature of the American Right with extreme views on law and order, racist prejudices because of the war on terror (he calls one of the shop owners in the mall Saddam because of his looks), a might-is-right approach to life.

What is it with American films this year and malls? Kevin James was pleasantly innocent as Paul Blart, Mall Cop. Observe and Report is similar in plot in many ways but with these sinister overtones. Anna Farris who can do IQ-impaired blondes is really rather nasty here – Colette Wolfe, whose leg is in plaster, mocked by fellow workers, is the sympathetic foil for Ronnie.

What emphasises this dichotomy in Ronnie's good nature and his vigilante tendencies – which he does have a chance to indulge when the police deliberately abandon him in a very tough neighbourhood where he is able to beat up all the drug dealing assailants – is the casting of Ray Liotta as the detective investigating robberies as well as a flasher at the mall. Liotta can do over-the-top ranting better than most and does a bit of indulging here: which makes Ronnie a little bit more sympathetic but then makes us realise that Ronnie has this kind of potential and wants to fulfil it. His speech to the psychologist for his test for admission to the police academy needs listening to.

Despite being unsure, I would come down on the side of this film not being variation on the usual Seth Rogen comedies but see it, rather, as a very black comedy and satire on some of the more fascist tenets of the Right (actually former president Bush might enjoy it while taking it rather literally).

1.The impact of the film as comedy? Black comedy? Satire? Targets?

2.The mall setting and audiences identifying? Shops, parking, security, safety, crime? Police, management? The atmosphere? Personnel?

3.The title, application to Ronnie and his job, security chief, exercising power, his violent streak?

4.The usual Seth Rogan comedies, the cuddly type? Broad comedies with the touch of the raunchy? His screen persona, the touch of the slacker? The opposite of the slacker here? The change in screen presence, hair, beard? Comic and serious? The parody of the single-minded security guard? His mental condition, the comments about his being bipolar? Psychologically impaired? His desire to be an enforcer, his vigilante actions?

5.Ronnie and his life, committing himself to be the security guard, proud of the uniform? Denis as his assistant and yes-man? His dominance of the twins and their collaboration? Charlie as an apprentice, ordering him about? His liking for order, supervision, routines? The importance of the flasher and his pursuit? The robbery in the sports store? The police arrival, interactions with Detective Harrison? The issues of evidence, his preferring theories to evidence? His attacks on Harrison? Right and righteous?

6.Ronnie at home, his mother, his care for her, her love for her son, her drinking, collapsing? Talking things over? Her change to beer from spirits?

7.His infatuation with Brandi? Stalking her, talking, awkward? Her gay assistant? His presence, her embarrassment? Her experience of the flasher, his wanting to protect her, gentle talk? Seeing her with the sexual encounter, his upset, publicly denouncing her?

8.Nell, her leg in plaster, her being mocked by the employer and the staff, giving Ronnie the free copy, earnest, talking with him, their both being mutually needy? Ronnie attacking the boss on her behalf? His being upset, hurting her feelings? Her being healed, her meeting Ronnie, the coffee, a future?

9.Harrison and his work, the police force, his antagonism towards Ronnie and his interference, his theories? The tough cop? Pretending to be helpful? Abandoning Ronnie in the neighbourhood with the druggies and the violent people? Ronnie, rising to the occasion, the arrest of the boy, the attack of the druggies, his martial arts, arresting the boy? Grateful to Harrison? Misreading the situation?

10.Ronnie wanting to join the police, his motivation? The forms? The discussion with the policeman, the interviews, his going through the training, the psychologist and his talk about violent action?

11.The manager of the mall, having to deal with Ronnie, with the police?

12.The flasher, in the parking lot, exhibitionist, in the mall, running, chasing? Appearing naked? Frightening Brandi? Ronnie and his pursuit, the arrest?

13.Denis, Hispanic, assisting Ronnie, backing him up, yes-man, praising him? His confession, the drugs, the robbery of the store, his escape, the message to Ronnie?

14.The twins, Asian-Americans?, the comic foil for supervision? Charlie, apprentice, Ronnie keeping him as the trainee, graduation, working with Ronnie?

15.The parody of might is right attitudes, righteous attitudes? A film made at the end of the Bush era in the United States?

16.The writer-director’s declaration that he wanted to make Taxi Driver as a comedy – effective or not?

GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST

US, 2009, 97 minutes, Colour.
Matthew Mc Connaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabot, Robert Forster, Anne Archer Emerstone.
Directed by Mark Waters.

A variation on the romantic comedy plots – which won't figure near the top of the lists of this kind of film.

Easy enough to review: narcissistic hedonist photographer, Connor Mead (Matthew Mc Connaughey), is a love 'em (no, too dignified for his flippant stands) and leave 'em (as quickly as possible); when he undermines his brother's wedding party, he experiences an Ebenezer Scrooge nightmare which transforms him into Mr Nice Guy. As can be seen, miserliness is not his vice that needs reform.

Who should be his Jacob Marley but Michael Douglas as Connor's self-indulgent playboy Uncle Wayne who turns up to deliver some moral messages with the aid of three ghosts who lead him through his scandalous past (along with the huge bevy of women who either succumb to his charms to take the initiative to seduce him), his disruptive present with the wedding guests and a possible future where the girl that he really loves (Jennifer Garner) marries someone else and his jilted brother, Breckin Meyer, is the only person to turn up for his funeral.

In terms of dramatic credibility, this takes a lot of suspension of disbelief. Rather, it is what most of us would hope would happen (unless you were a recalcitrant Connor Mead type impervious to moral values and persuasion and this would be water off a duck's back). One guesses that a women's audience who experienced this kind of man and his flaunting himself and felt repelled or that they had been deceived would respond positively enough to the basic message – and might be tempted to take him along to see if he could see Connor Mead as something of a mirror.

Obviously, it's not going to convert too many in the cinema. It might do better on video for a women's group or a captive male. And then the next romantic comedy will come along.

1.A variation on romantic comedy themes? Bittersweet? The story of a cad and his change? The superficial life – but did the film move above the superficial?

2.The title, the basis on Dickens’ Christmas Carol, the update?

3.The American background, affluent world, the world of soap operas? Photography, weddings, receptions?

4.The perspective on men, morals, ego, self-centredness, the possibility of change? The challenge to the promiscuous man?

5.The film’s comment on women, availability, easy, seductive, promiscuous? Critique or not?

6.Connor and his style, Matthew Mc Connaughey credible? The model of the uncle, the playboy? Connor as photographer, his style, the video conference rejection of three girlfriends, his behaviour with the bridesmaids, with the models? The story of his care for his brother after the parents’ accident? His friendship with Jenny as a child, the photo, the promise to keep it? His not wanting to go to the wedding? His secretary and her harassing him? His philosophy of love ‘em and leave ‘em, anti-marriage? His destructive behaviour, antagonism of the people, with the bridesmaids? His fondness for Paul, trying to warn him about marriage, his giving the information about Paul’s behaviour, the smashing of the cake? People wanting him away? Paul asking him to leave?

7.Jenny, her past, the photo, the relationship with Connor, his leaving, abandoning her? Ten years passing? Her friendship with Sandra, arranging the reception? Her not succumbing to Connor and his charm, her exasperation with him? His memories of the past, her memories?

8.Paul, a contrast with Connor, pleasant, committed to marry Sandra, her moods, having to control her breathing, her being upset so easily? Her parents? Paul and the episode with the bridesmaid? Sandra’s reaction, the disruption of the wedding, Sandra leaving? Paul wanting Connor to leave?

9.The bridesmaids and their carry-on?

10.Sandra’s father, the military background, becoming a minister, his speech about war heroics? His warnings to Connor and Paul? The performance of the rituals? The mother, the separation, provocative, talking with Connor? The end – would they be together or not?

11.Sandra, spoilt, the magazine-style wedding, the cake, having to breathe to control herself, breaking off the wedding? Paul and Sandra really in love with each other?

12.The uncle as a ghost, the Jacob Marley of this film? His behaviour, appearance, the Gordon Gecko playboy? The reasons for coming, his jokey style, making moral points, opening Connor’s eyes?

13.The ghost of the past, teenage, provocative, joking, reminding Connor of reality, his meeting all the women – and their commenting on the length of their relationships with him?

14.The secretary as the ghost of the present, controlling Connor, telling him off?

15.The ghost of the future, glamorous and silent, an alternate world, Jenny and her marrying Brad – and the scenes with Brad as perfect in business, dancing, charm…? His dying, Paul going to his funeral, the only one?

16.Connor coming to his senses, urging Paul to marry, the chase, catching up with Jenny, the declaration of change? The happy and the moral ending? Convincing?