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 Ever see the British comedy, Absolutely Fabulous? Funny stuff. A square, uptight daughter tries to deal with her wild and wacky druggy mother who's a publicist in the fashion industry in England. Big hit on Comedy Central. Everyone loved the reversed mother-daughter roles.Now, fast-forward to LAUREL CANYON and you've got an almost blatant American copy - unfortunately without the humor, excesses or sexiness that made Absolutely Fabulous absolutely fabulous. Inexplicably, two Brits, Christian Bale and Kate Beckinsale play two Americans - both have lockjaw accents. Bale is a square uptight MD student who is extremely embarrassed of his rock star producer mom, Frances McDormand. Though it sounds like a great premise for a comedy or a sexy movie, we get neither. Cliched humor from a by-the-numbers Beckinsale, a pinched constipated performance from Bale (is he the next Andrew McCarthy?), and an unresolved ending. Most disappointing is the lack of sex and nudity in this movie. Rock star producer mom? The trailer hinted of Sodom and Gomorrah but we get a movie that's tamer than an episode of Seventh Heaven. The grossest thing about LAUREL CANYON is that the much vaunted 'menage a trois' ends up being completely incomprehensible - why would a woman want to make it with her boyfriend's mom? Yuck! There's nothing funny in Laurel Canyon.
The film has a rather simplistic dualistic topography that contrasts two worlds: 1.) Laurel Canyon is "freewheeling," "loose," hedonistic and populated by dumb rock stars and a hippie rock guru (Frances McDormand) whose creed is to "live life." Strangely enough, although McDormand is allegedly the spirit of liberation and freedom in the film, she seems bitter, worn-out, and unhappy; indeed, she is the very embodiment of hardship, and this is one of the film's most annoyingly hypocritical contradictions. 2.) The Valley is "repressive"/surbuban, bla bla bla... A younger couple, a first-year medical resident (Christian Bale) and his girlfriend, a doctoral candidate (Kate Beckinsale) are sterotypically "repressed" and "intellectualist"; they act "morally superior"... We know this because Beckinsale wears glasses. When they enter into the "paradise" of Laurel Canyon they learn "to open up," "to hang loose," to "live life..." Dear God... Yes, this is what the film is really saying, and it says it over and over again... If you find this premise compelling, well, then you'll find the film compelling too. Personally, I find this premise stupid and simplistic. Kate Beckinsale throws her dissertation into the swimming pool! Well, not literally, but it wouldn't surprise me if that were in the director's cut. Kate Beckinsale had a "no-nudity" clause for this film. The film ends abruptly and dissatisfyingly. It ends before it really ends! You might rub your eyes when the credits start to roll. I said to myself: "That's it?!!!" But I'm not complaining. At least LAUREL CANYON has a brief running time. Will the Christian Bale character choose his current girlfriend or the second-year resident (Natascha McElhone, who mangles what she thinks is an Israeli accent and sounds like a Romanian)? My answer: WHO CARES?!!! |
I saw it for all the talented folks involved and because I pretty much don't miss any Frances McDormand films. I ingored the lukewarm reviews. I shouldn't have. It's pretty awful.
I watched this movie Friday night, and got the same feeling that I did when I watched 'Pushing Tin', only it ran deeper. I say it was just like 'Pushing Tin' in the sense that it had the theme of just letting go of everything. We, as human beings, need to screw up. We live our lives being told what not to do, and sure, we accept it. But what if we actually make the mistake? It means so much more to us than the 10,000 times we've been told not to make that mistake. This movie charachterizes the misguided millions in college today. Successful, but they've never experienced failure. Thus, they aren't truly successful. And yes, the movie does leave you hanging at the end, boo hoo. Yet, I find that thought-provoking: it leaves room for imagination. Isn't that what a good movie is supposed to do, besides entertain? It gets 5 stars from me.
