Armed only with his mysterious mental connection to the feral minds of studio executives, the Movie Guru reveals just how good or bad this week's new releases will be:

Down with Love (PG-13)
An attempt to bring back the Rock Hudson-Doris Day zany romantic farce, with Ewan Mcgregor in the Rock role and Renée Zellweger in the Doris role.
Prediction: You can't reheat a soufflé, and you shouldn't expect modern actors to revive the simpler charm of a bygone era, but if director Peyton Reed can balance some sharp dialogue and witty double entendres with a sweet underlying sentiment, this could be fun.

Laurel Canyon (R)
Uptight Harvard Medical Graduate Sam (Christian Bale) brings his wealthy fiancee Alex (Kate Beckinsale) to his mom's supposedly vacant upscale Laurel Canyon estate, only to find his free-wheeling L.A. record producer mom (Frances McDormand) and her rock star boyfriend (Alessandro Nivola) still trying to finish recording an album. Sam doesn't like his mom's high-flying lifestyle, but Alex takes a shine to her rock and roll surroundings. As frictions mount, eyes begin to rove.
Prediction: Another study of the wealthy elite whom filmmakers think are more interesting than they actually are.

The Matrix: Reloaded (R)
The wholesome adventures of a lovable bunch of little blue people called Smurfs. Just kidding, just checking to see if you're paying attention. Really, Neo (Keanu Reeves) and cohorts Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) must destroy 250,000 probes in 72 hours, or else Zion and its inhabitants will be destroyed.
Prediction: What do you care? You're going to go see this film no matter what we tell you.

Lives Less Extraordinary

Socrates' famous assertion that "the unexamined life is not worth living" may have had the unintended consequence of driving some of those with unworthy lives to inflict them on audiences, nonetheless.

Consider The Anniversary Party (2001, R), an apparent labor of love by the loving couple of Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh, who wrote, directed, and produced it. The story takes place during the sixth anniversary party of fading actress Sally (Leigh) and novelist and neophyte movie director Joe (Cumming), a Hollywood couple who've only recently reunited after a period of separation.

A motley crew of guests arrive: the uptight next-door neighbors (Parker Posey and John Benjamin Hickey); Skye Davidson (Gwenyth Paltrow), an ingenue who has a choice role in the movie Joe's making—a role inspired by Sally, which Sally, understandably, feels she should be playing; Cal and Sophia Gold (real-life couple Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates), a leading-man actor type and his retired actress wife, plus their precocious children (played by the couple's real-life children). And so on. And that's it.

There is no plot, merely personal revelations, as drink and drug loosen lips and libidos. The obvious conceit here is: How much are these people like the fictional characters they portray? But that's about all. Oh, there's some good acting; but none of these characters are particularly intriguing—or even overly likable. Which probably wasn't the filmmakers' intent.

A more successful character-study movie (though no more pleasant) is Lovely & Amazing (2002, R). Jane Marks (Brenda Blethyn) is the mother of three daughters, two adult biological offspring, Michelle and Elizabeth (Catherine Keener, Emily Mortimer), and Annie (Raven Goodwin), an eight-year-old adoptee. Through conversations among the family, their significant others, and their associates, the audience gradually learns the lack of self-esteem and insecurity shared (and communicated) among these women. Depressingly, though each character makes statements and takes steps against her personal demons, their lives seem wholly shaped by their fears. There are many uncomfortable and uncompromising moments throughout this small film. However, true to life, there is no redemption at the end.

—Scott McNutt

May 15, 2003 * Vol. 13, No. 20
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