It’s the week before Thanksgiving, and the powers in Hollywood have decided to hold on to the good stuff until the main event. So bad news: this week is meh, with a holiday movie (Yes, already!) and a football movie (Incomplete pass).
Love the Coopers
With an all-star ensemble cast starring Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Amanda Seyfried, Olivia Wilde, Ed Helms, and Marisa Tomei, Love the Coopers is about a wacky, crazy family coming together for the holidays. What could possibly go wrong? Well, everything.
Perfect For: You liked The Family Stone? You like watching other family’s dysfunction on the big screen?
What the Critics Say: Let’s peruse a sampling of headlines: “Love the Coopers: You Won’t.” “Love the Coopers: a So-So Holiday Comedy.” “Love the Coopers Gets Just About Everything Wrong.” Yikes. Variety calls it: “An overstuffed turkey about shedding lies and embracing who you are and how you feel.” The others aren’t any kinder.
Our Take: Probably no.
My All American
This saccharine-sweet, based-on-a-true-story tale stars dreamy Finn Wittrock as Freddie Steinmark, a high school-turned-college football player who, despite being too small for the big leagues, gets a scholarship at UT Austin. While there, he gets a potentially devastating injury but comes back just in time for the championship to save the day. Do we need to mention that there is also a girl and a sweet romance?
Perfect For: Perhaps fans of Friday Night Lights who are in mourning and need another football flick to get them through the winter.
What the Critics Say: Too predictable by half. Writes the Los Angeles Times: “Strict adherence to the playbook may work in sports, but ‘My All American’ shows the pitfalls of that approach with movies.” Writes the San Francisco Chronicle: “The relentless lack of human flaw on screen effects (sic) the plausibility of the whole production. ‘My All-American’ is escapist to a fault.”
Our Take: Pass.
By The Sea
Angelina Jolie and Brat Pitt star in Jolie’s passion project –which she wrote, in addition to directing and starring in. They star as a married couple living seaside in France during the ‘70s and encounter young honeymooners who shed light on their broken relationship.
Perfect For: People who like French movies without the French.
What the Critics Say: Pretty looking but empty. Writes The Washington Post: "By the Sea" is dazzlingly gorgeous, as are its stars. But peeling back layer upon layer of exquisite ennui reveals nothing but emptiness, sprinkled with stilted sentiments.” And says Entertainment Weekly: “Misery doesn't just love good-looking company; it needs an emotional center and a satisfying narrative arc, too.”
Our Take: Pretty, depressed people aren’t more interesting than regular, depressed people.
