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Again, I apologize for the lack of frequency, but I assure you, I'm still aiming to do a weekly post, plus with the summer movie season kicking into full gear, you MAY get reviews on suck flicks as Thor, Bridesmaids, and 30 Minutes or Less. That's right, with my school semester coming to a close, I will be able to keep you more up to speed on things.
Who knows, maybe album reviews will come into the mix? TV shows? DVD reviews (least likely)?
Or maybe my opinion pieces will return. Maybe a few lists to introduce me to your viewing pleasure so you know who I am and what I like.
For this week's I Guess..., I decided to not look at the obvious juggernaut that is Thor. I guarantee that it will be big, gross over $400 million worldwide, spawn some sequels, and set us up for the Joss Whedon epic the Avengers. I may go as far as to say it will be the better of the superhero releases in 2011 (though I hold hope that Captain America is campy goodness).
No, I am deciding to focus on a smaller film that has caused plenty of controversy. I am of course talking about the Beaver. It's basically about Mel Gibson becoming delusional and using a Beaver puppet to communicate. It also features a stellar cast of Anton Yelchin (Charlie Bartlett), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone), and directed by Jodie Foster.
To start us off, let me make it clear that I am not an advocate for ventriloquism. I despise Jeff Dunham. However, to make him the ultimatum of ventriloquism overall is a bloody shame. It's been a national past time to have ventriloquist, the best so far have been Soap's Chuck and Bob (Jay Johnson), which in a sense was the result of a few too many mental breakdowns.
However, I'll try to pull my love of Chuck and Bob out of the analysis for this movie (and you keep Jeff Dunham out, too).
The one aspect that this movie has going against it has nothing to really do with the movie: Mel Gibson. If you are remotely familiar with trash gossip like TMZ, you will know that he has had some anti-semetic remarks and a few harassment charges to his name. None of this accounts for his bizarre choice of film projects prior to this fall from grace, including Apocalypto and the most profitable R-Rated movie of all time: the Passion of the Christ.
So, to immediately criticize his work because he said a few anti-semetic remarks is unjust. Has it shown in his work?
I cannot account to if Gibson is a hard working actor or not. I just remember watching Chicken Run and What Women Want and thinking he was a decent actor. Even the Patriot was pretty good. He is not my favorite, but truth be told that personality should not clash with work.
Who cares if he's a dick in real life? At least he's making a decent comeback. I feel that with the Beaver, most will see it as an ironic self-portrait of a mid life crisis of THE Mad Max.
For me, I don't care what you see it as. See it as a movie.
This isn't the first time that an actor parallels reality and it won't be the last. If anything, I hope that this is the movie that puts our faith back into Gibson's career. True, most wouldn't put Edge of Darkness past themselves, but a comeback should be gradual, or the fall will be greater.
If Robert Downey Jr. shot back up immediately after the heroin addiction, he probably wouldn't be the bankable star he is now. He reworked through Kiss Kiss Bang Bang to Iron Man to get his glory back. Mel Gibson may not be the master and still holds a bitter taste, but the fact he's making movies again is an achievement.
With that said, I personally believe that the Beaver will not be the sleeper hit his career needs. It will be in the vein of the safe comedy likes of Smart People where no buttons are pushed, but you get a cute movie out of the deal. I would love for the psychosis of the man's despair to be explored, but I wouldn't put it past them to just make it a brief statement instead of a character arc.
His performance will reflect his recent struggles, making it sort of meta, but overall, I'll probably be left wanting more. It also features the awesome Yelchin and Lawrence, who have the potential to make strong side character kids. However, I feel that they'll have their moment to shine, but in small portions as the story will be centralized around Gibson and the Beaver.
I'm sure the Beaver is only a gimmick to get people in and the realism is already debunked because there's no way a guy can be that successful using a hand puppet. However, the trailer is selling this to me as the emotional indie drama version of the Hudsucker Proxy and if it's halfway as entertaining, it stands a chance on being the Lifetime Movie of the Week in a few years.
This movie will not earn more than $5 million and may be considered a failure on purpose alone that it's Gibson and majority of people are sick of his antics and have yet to remember why we liked him in the first place. Others will just find the story stupid and self reliant on slapstick. Again, I will blame the advertisers.
I am not guaranteeing that this will win any awards. As it's going to fly under majority of radars anyways, there's no chance this will get an Oscar recognition. However, those who do see it will notice that there is still hope for Gibson the actor, if he can behave as Gibson the man.
Probably after five more projects, it will be determined whether Gibson is back for good. Predictions from me are that he'll never be the box office draw he once was, but he'll be a respectable actor again.
As for Jodie Foster? I'm sure she'll keep making movies. Some will be mediocre, others boring. I don't know her directing style enough to say that this will be her breakout into mainstream respect.
In the long run, I don't think people will remember this in the same way people don't remember Being There. They'll know the tale of delusion, but they won't be able to recite dialog or plot points. It'll be more of a buzz word than anything. Even any plans to sell Beaver hand puppets will be poor.
Of course, opening in a season with Thor, this is obvious to expect. It will probably get the wider views on DVD, as limited release is hurting most movies right now. It will not break out on DVD, either, but a few viewers will realize that a comeback may be in order, even if this ends up being an unambitious indie drama.
Oh, and don't worry about Lawrence or Yelchin... they're doing X-Men: First Class and Star Trek 2... they'll be fine.
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