BuzzSugar

Post Grad: A Cute Quarterlife Comedy

BuzzSugar — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:30:57 -0700

The big elephant in the room while watching Post Grad is that the plot seems like it's totally zeitgeist-y, but it's actually not. A young woman (Alexis Bledel) can't seem to get a job despite her qualifications and languishes in unemployment. Unemployment! Super timely, right? But no, there is no mention of the current recession that's keeping a lot of the brilliantly competent out of work, which solidifies that this movie must have been made quite a while ago. Adding to my suspicion is the fact that Bledel's character Ryden does all her job hunting with a red pen and a newspaper. In 2009. In LA.

Once you're past the faux timeliness, however, the movie becomes surprisingly enjoyable. Is it Alexis Bledel channeling a less-successful Rory Gilmore? Not so much, though she is believable and irritatingly adorable. More than anything, the fun of this movie lies in the strength and comedy chops of the supporting cast. To hear what I thought of it all, just read more.

I could have watched a whole movie about Ryden's family alone: her grandmother is played by Carol Burnett, who couldn't not be funny if she tried and her mother is Jane Lynch, who's something of a straight man (I know) to Michael Keaton. Yes, that's right, Michael Keaton is back, and his presence is an unexpected delight. Though his character gets a little too wacky at times, he charms as Ryden's goofball dad.

As the movie goes on, the comedian cameos come fast and furious; Fred Armisen, The Office's Craig Robinson, and Kirk Fox all pop up. J.K. Simmons' role is kind of a disappointment, just because he weirdly disappears after a couple of scenes as the father of Ryden's best friend. Friday Night Lights' Zach Gilford plays said best friend, obviously in unrequited love with Ryden, who inexplicably resists him. Rodrigo Santoro's presence is questionable, but not entirely unwelcome - is it quirky or contrived that his hunky, mysterious neighbor pops up to dispense a tiny bit of sage advice? Well, I don't know, I was too busy being lost in his eyes.

But, oh yeah, there is a main character in this flick, Ryden, whose problem is infuriating at times. She has a vision of her perfect future, which she expects to start with landing her perfect dream job just days after she graduates college, and when this doesn't happen immediately, she's utterly lost. What redeems her is that her entitlement is, sadly, understandable, since the college environment really does make you feel like the brightest future imaginable is at your feet once you get your diploma. A whole trend - the quarterlife crisis - was born years ago to define the disappointment of folks in their 20s not getting what they assumed they deserved. That she buys into it reminds me of my own postgraduation experiences and those of my friends.

Ryden doesn't necessarily learn that the "perfect future" is something that takes hard work and doesn't happen overnight, but she does learn that her life could be more fulfilling if she stopped whining and started dating her sweet best friend (I knew she couldn't resist a singing, songwriting Matt Saracen for long). Is that a good lesson, or even realistic? Maybe not, and in this movie, it's predictable; but you'll still cheer when Ryden does finally stop stressing out and finds some semblance of a future.

Photos courtesy of Fox Searchlight

Movie Preview: Alexis Bledel in Post Grad

BuzzSugar — Mon, 04 May 2009 06:30:39 -0700

Though parts of this trailer for Post Grad are predictable and a little cheesy, overall it's way more endearing and adorable than I had anticipated. Alexis Bledel plays Ryden Malby in this sentimental comedy that explores the scary/exciting challenges of graduating college and not having everything fall right into place. She lives with her parents, hangs out with her longtime guy friend Adam (Zach Gilford), and vies for the same jobs as countless other early 20-something hopefuls - and repeatedly faces rejection, causing her to wonder what her future will actually look like. Michael Keaton plays Ryden's father, Jane Lynch is involved somehow, and Rodrigo Santoro appears as a handsome older guy doling out life advice.

Post Grad (previously known as The Post-Graduate Survival Guide) opens August 21. To watch the trailer, read more.

Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight

Movie Preview: The Merry Gentleman

BuzzSugar — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 13:30:53 -0700

It's not often that a crime drama about a hitman elicits a great big "Awwwwww!" from me, but the trailer for The Merry Gentleman caused just that reaction, placing it in the same (um, fairly limited) category as The Professional. The hitman in The Merry Gentleman is Frank, played by a gruff Michael Keaton (who also makes his directorial debut with this film), who meets a sweet and charming young lady named Kate (Kelly Macdonald) when he helps her out from underneath a fallen Christmas tree. This fact - Frank finding her under the tree, like a gift - is played for cute poignancy in the trailer, but somehow it avoids veering into too-saccharine territory.

Frank is suicidal when he meets Kate, and there's a humor-amid-darkness vibe to the film that reminds me a bit of Little Miss Sunshine. The movie is set to open May 1. It really is one of the cutest trailers I've seen lately, so to check it out, read more.

Source

TV Tonight: "The Company"

BuzzSugar — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 13:30:25 -0700

Here's the bad news: I didn't love the first installment of TNT's "The Company" the way I expected to. The two-hour segment, which airs tonight, seemed a bit jumbled, covering a lot of ground without a good hook to pull me in. The good news is that there was enough compelling content in the first episode that I'm still planning to check out the other two.

Broadly speaking, "The Company" tells the story of the CIA in the Cold War. More specifically, it focuses on two friends (played by Chris O'Donnell and Alessandro Nivola) who are recruited from Yale into the CIA, a third friend (Rory Cochrane) who ends up working for the KGB, and an American intelligence expert's quest to uncover a KGB spy within the CIA.

The book by Robert Littell on which the series is based weighs in at almost 900 pages, so I suppose it's no surprise that the miniseries (which will air in three two-hour segments) also plows through a lot of material. But what did surprise me was how disorganized the whole thing felt, so to hear more about that and see a video of Chris O'Donnell talking about his role, read more

The screener copy of "The Company" that I received came with a poster-sized chart of who's who, breaking down which characters work for the CIA, which work for the KGB or other intelligence agencies, and which are (or at least appear to be) civilians. And thank goodness; part of the idea of "The Company" is that you don't know who's really working for which agency, but I thought the first two hours contained too many characters with too little context.

Beyond that, "The Company" doesn't seem to have a coherent identity thus far. Is it a story of three college friends who end up working on opposing sides of the Cold War intelligence effort? Or is it a story of one man's lifelong quest to track down the KGB's mole within the CIA? I also had to roll my eyes at the "love story" portion of events; those who fall in love seem to do so in about 10 seconds, and of course all of the main characters' relationships are with people who could jeopardize their jobs and their lives. (One of those women, a ballerina who seems to do nothing but dance 24/7, is particularly grating.)

The first hour certainly had its good points, though. I mentioned I'm a sucker for spy stories, and there's some great code-cracking, phone-tapping and allegiance-switching here. Alfred Molina delivers a strong performance as a CIA agent nicknamed "The Sorcerer" who mentors O'Donnell's character and thrives on the danger of his job. And I hope Cochrane gets more screen time in future installments; his character, a conflicted Russian-born, American-bred spy, has more depth than anyone else so far. Overall, "The Company" looks to be a mixed bag - but fellow fans of spy stories still might find it worth a try.

Source

First Look: "The Company"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:33:39 -0700

Sure, on the surface, I'm a pop culture-obsessed, concert-going, movie-watching maven. But behind it all, I'm really just a nerdy, somewhat spy-obsessed gal. So TNT's new miniseries, "The Company," easily earned a spot on my list of reasons to keep the TV on this summer.

The three-night, six-hour exploration of the history of the CIA, which premieres this coming Sunday, Aug. 5, has an excellent pedigree. Based on an acclaimed novel by Robert Littell, the miniseries is directed by Ridley Scott and counts Chris O'Donnell, Michael Keaton and Alfred Molina among its cast. I have high hopes that this miniseries - like "Mad Men" - can be not just a great period drama but a great drama, period. I'll share my thoughts on the first episode later this week, but in the meantime, you can check out
this tense trailer and a sneak peak from the first episode.

Photo courtesy of TNT