The Greatest

Jennifer Aniston, Ben Stiller, and Carey Mulligan headline this week's new DVD releases. Should you fire up your Netflix? Read on to find out.

The Bounty Hunter

Handcuffs and double entendres get put to use as Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler take their flirtation on screen. Butler plays the title character; Aniston is his bail-skipping ex-wife who also happens to be a reporter tracking down a murder story. Critics blasted the script for being too formulaic, so perhaps this rental should be reserved for Aniston fans only. DVD extras include three making-of featurettes.

8%

Greenberg

Director Noah Baumbach tells the story of Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller), a 40-something loner with no sense of life direction. But once Roger meets Florence (Greta Gerwig), a personal assistant in her mid-20s who feels similarly lost, he tries to have — or better yet, not have — an actual relationship with disastrous results. Stiller turns in a nicely subdued performance; but his character is so unlikeable that he often makes the film hard to take. Gerwig's Florence, however, is completely charming to compensate for Roger's abrasiveness, making her one to watch. DVD extras include featurettes with Baumbach.

73%

One more rental to check out when you read more

Trying to figure out which new movies are worth a trip to the movie theater? Check out the video reviews of Date Night and The Greatest and hear whether our editors think you should head to the theater or save your money.

Tom Sturridge talks about keeping in touch with Robert Pattinson at the NYC screening of his film with Rachel Bilson. Jersey Shore's The Situation goes shirtless to take a beating in a commercial, and the best clues from the new Sex and the City!

Calling a movie The Greatest is setting it up for high expectations. Making it about a family's mourning makes things even stickier. How do you depict grief without getting bogged down in melodramatics? It's a dilemma that The Greatest doesn't quite seem to overcome.

The movie opens with high school seniors Rose (Carey Mulligan) and Bennett (Aaron Johnson) in bed together. After four years of gazing at each other longingly, they finally got up the courage to speak to one another earlier the same day — and now here they are, losing their virginity. Following their roll in bed, they go for a drive where Bennett parks in the road to tell Rose he loves her. And then his car gets hit.

It's a quick run of events that bring the audience face to face with what this film is ultimately about — dealing with death. As Bennett's parents Allen and Grace (Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon) sit in the funeral car with their younger son Ryan (Johnny Simmons), no one says a word. Allen stares ahead in shock. Grace and Ryan look out the windows. For a solid two minutes we feel a sense of the sadness and tension they're going through in a way that seems honest. However, as their story unfolds, rudimentary problems arise. To see what I mean, read more

Put your mini tissue pack in your purse: opening this week, The Greatest stars Carey Mulligan as a lovelorn pregnant teen whose boyfriend is killed in a car accident. After surviving the crash, she must move in with his grieving family. Clearly, it's a recipe for tears, shaking shoulders, and a runny nose.

Not that there's anything wrong with that — I've been known to pop in a movie for the sole purpose of giving myself a good cry. My go-to is Steel Magnolias, and I never have a dry face when I watch the end of My Girl. So for this week's Movie List Challenge, I want to hear about the films that make you sob. Sad tears, happy tears, whatever: make your list of favorite tearjerkers and submit it to the Movie List group in the community. I'll be checking in with your submissions, so you may see your post right here on the home page!

Carey Mulligan stepped out in LA last night for a screening of her upcoming film The Greatest. Her boyfriend, Shia LaBeouf, didn't go along for the evening in accordance with their rare red carpet appearance policy, but she did have the company of a similarly plaid-wearing Tobey Maguire and her costar Pierce Brosnan. Their movie opens in limited release next Friday, and in-demand Carey continues to line up new roles. She's likely to take a turn playing Eliza Doolittle in a remake of My Fair Lady, according to the project's writer Emma Thompson.

More photos of The Greatest premiere so read more

She may not have won the Oscar, but Carey Mulligan has still been thrust into the collective consciousness because of An Education. With roles in Wall Street 2 and now The Greatest, it's clear the uber-talented newcomer isn't going anywhere. In the trailer for The Greatest, she plays Rose, a teen who falls for her first love — only to lose him almost immediately in a car accident they're both in. The story shifts to her boyfriend's grieving family, headed by Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon, who have no choice but to take Rose in when she finds herself pregnant with their son's baby.

As much as the movie looks like a tearjerker, it also seems to be a very eloquent portrayal of grief, and being able to forgive and love again. The trailer itself is an emotional roller coaster — try to watch it without getting a lump in your throat — but because the acting looks superb, I won't miss it.

To watch the preview, just read more