Quick Takes: "Tomboy", "Rango", "Bridesmaids"

"Tomboy"

Directed by Celine Sciamma

This wasn't too high up on my list of films to catch up on before the year was out, but it landed in my general vicinity, so I figured it couldn't hurt. I didn't expect how much "Tomboy" actually did hurt, in ways both predictable and still shattering. The story is your typical new-kid-in-a-new-place sort of story, with the major exception being that Mikael is not a boy, but a girl named Laure. And the thing is that there's nothing truly dishonest about the way she represents herself. She has no ulterior motive other than to settle in with this group without the prejudices asserted by gender basis, and the honest nature of her deceit is what makes this such a wonderful little tale.

The film elicits this tragic gut-feeling, not just through these sweet moments between Laure and the girl she starts a relationship with, Lisa, but through the inevitability of its collapse. This isn't a brilliant ruse that Laure. It's so easy for it to fall apart, and it doesn't do this in a contained moment with the group of friends. The film draws out Laure's humiliation so as to never speak ill of her or her friends. Director Celine Sciamma passes no judgment, and in fact shows only deep affection for her characters, and it's infectious, like the sporadic pop tune that plays during one of the film's sweeter moments. But it's the innocent performances from the cast, especially the pitch-perfect Zoe Heran working years ahead of her age, that cement this film so strongly in my heart. Show this one to your kids. It's that sweet.

Film Review: "Bridesmaids" (***1/2)

Overexposure can sometimes be a toxic thing, with such works as Paul being barely one-hit-wonders and others like Battle: Los Angeles and Red Riding Hood making everything so painfully obvious that it hurts. However, on occasion I just want to sit back and let a film assault me in a favorable manner. Bridesmaids happens to be on the higher end of that spectrum, and I feel like I've set this film up for a negative critique. While there is plenty to gripe with this film, as there is with nearly every Hollywood comedic venture, I enjoyed it a great deal more than any other wedding comedy I've had the misfortune of running into.

Being the third wedding related film releasing this month, after Jumping the Broom and Something Borrowed, I was a tad worried that nobody would care. Fortunately that wasn't the case, and I was surprised by how diverse a crowd was in the theater. While obviously skewing towards the female demographic, Bridesmaids was able to take a subject that men normally roll their eyes at and make it surprisingly entertaining. This isn't the "Omigod, he's so hot, and I'm marrying him," tale of true love and all that BS. The groom in the film doesn't even speak a line of dialogue beyond "I do." Writers Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig made sure that this wasn't a boring retread of something you'd already seen before.

Annie Walker, the protagonist of the film played by Kristen Wiig, isn't that kind of girl who is searching desperately for a guy to take care of her for the rest of her life. That's made clear by the opening scene of her and Jon Hamm humping each other in pretty much every position. Hamm's character, Ted, is not in any way her soul mate. He's a douchebag who honestly couldn't care less about Annie outside of use as a sex tool. She's the sort of girl who's been run into the ground, and is routinely used by others as an exercise tool, designed to make them better, or make them seem better. The closest person she really has is her best friends Lillian, who is now suddenly getting married.