The Weekend Warrior September 30, 2022
SMILE, BROS, GOD’S CREATURES, THE GREATEST BEER RUN EVER, SIRENS,VESPER
I honestly am not sure what I’m going to do with this blog and column after this week. It’s becoming fairly obvious I just don’t have the time to watch, let alone review as many movies as I’d like, and my box office work over at Gold Derby and very soon, another outlet, are going to be taking up most of my time. As things are, this week’s column is already going to be slimmed down, although I’ve already written a “curtain raiser” (as they say) for this year’s 60th NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL (which is what’s been taking up much of my time this week.)
You can read some analysis on the two wide releases over at Gold Derby and maybe there’ll be more to come right here. We’ll see. I have a lot of balls in the air right now, and unfortunately, none of them allow me any more time during the course of the day.
SMILE (Paramount)
In the fourth week of September we get our fourth horror film, although unlike last week’s Don’t Worry Darling, this really is a straight-up horror film. It’s written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Parker Finn based on his earlier short film “Laura Hasn’t Slept,” which starred Caitlin Stasey as Laura, who reprises that character for this feature. The high concept premise of this one involves some sort of curse or being that is killing people off by… um…. Smiling at them.
Okay, yeah, it sounds pretty stupid on paper, but if you’ve seen the teaser or trailer for this movie over the last couple months, it’s hard to forget it since it involves characters with huge grins on their faces before they die. Actually, they kill themselves, and the person who witnesses them doing so then end up killing themselves (also with a big smile on their face) seven days later.
Maybe at this point you’re thinking, “Haven’t I seen this movie before?” and you probably have as this sort of thing has become fairly common, but still, high concept horror like this is much easier to sell in a trailer, which is why so many have done well. The cast is made up of Sosie Bacon – yes, she is the daughter of Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick – Kyle Gallner, Jessie T. Usher, Kal Penn, Rob Morgan, and more, all pretty decent – you can read about them more in my review.
Although there’s been a lot of horror in September and some of them have done better than others, Smile is the next and final movie of the month that stands a chance at crossing $20 million its opening weekend or at least come close, because it’s so much easier to sell a scary movie when there are actual scares in the trailer. It should end up somewhere between $15 and 20 million.
Mini-Review: When it comes to high-concept horror, you really can’t beat the Japanese versions of movies like Ringu and Ju-on: The Grudge, even though American studios have been trying hard over the past 20 years to recreate how those movies have scared audiences. In more recent years, the studios have turned to short film filmmakers, which has led to Mama and Light Out, and Parker Finn’s Smile comes from that same camp.
Sosie Bacon plays Dr. Rose Cotter, an emergency therapist who encounters a horrified patient named Laura (Caitlin Stasey) who ends up killing herself in front of Rose. As disturbing as that is to watch, Rose gets even more bizarre visions and dreams that start making her think she is insane, before she learns the truth about the curse and how it involves a suicide.
Certainly, there are better versions of this like the American remake of The Ring – the Naomi Watts one directed by Gore Verbinski, which was quite great – and It Follows, but Finn and his cast do a fairly decent job selling the idea of this curse that forces people to kill themselves or others. Bacon gives a particularly strong performance in that sense.
Finn does manage to build on the simple premise, allowing it to grow into a few moments that are absolutely nightmare-inducing, but for every clever fake-out there’s just as many cheap scares, and that’s probably what will separate the wheat from the chaff in terms of true horror fans.
Finn has some great below-the-line collaborators on this because the cinematography and sound design and effects work is so impressive at times, that it seems like they should be in a much more prestigious film.
Some might find it distasteful to base a horror movie around deeply sensitive mental health issues, but those who just want to be scared or freaked out probably won’t care. Smile isn’t necessarily my favorite type of horror film, mainly because there have been better iterations of it, but for a couple hours of being freaked and creeped out, you can’t go wrong.
Rating: 7/10
BROS (Universal)
I don’t have as much to say about this rom-com from the minds of comedian Billy Eichner and filmmaker Nicholas Stoller (who I have an interview with over at Below the Line.) It’s definitely a very daring experiment by Universal to see if the world is ready for a gay rom-com featuring a mostly LGBTQ+ cast to get a nationwide release. This one is opening in over 3,200 theaters, and it’s pretty obvious that it will probably do better in big cities where there’s a large LGBTQ+ populace than more rural or suburban areas. Even though Smile will likely do better this weekend, this is a great movie to test the market for something like this, especially having the likes of Stoller and producer Judd Apatow involved, since they’ve both had great success with hetero-normative rom-coms opening in theaters. And if nothing else, Universal hasn’t allowed this to be dumped onto Peacock day-and-date and giving it a chance to find an audience in theaters. At one point, I thought this could win the weekend, but now, I think it will be settling for second place with $12 to 14 million.
Mini-Review: I have to admit that I’ve come to enjoy Billy Eichner’s “Billy on the Streets” segments, and I was curious about “Bros” as much for seeing what he can do as a screenwriter and leading man, as I was excited about seeing him team with Nicholas Stoller, since I’m such a fan of his movies like “Neighbors” and “Five Year Engagement” and others.
Fortunately, their collaboration on “Bros” turned out great, although it suffers from some of the same problems as other rom-coms Judd Apatow (the film’s producer) has been involved with, in that it feels very long, and it hits some of the same formulaic beats.
Eichner plays Bobby Leiber, a misanthropic LGBTQ+ activist and podcaster, who has no interest in having a relationship until he meets Luke Macfarlane’s handsome and rugged Aaron, who seems also to not be looking for anything series, though Bobby soon wants more out of their relationship. At the same time, Bobby is trying to launch the first ever LGBTQ+ museum, and, too, is having issues since no one can agree on the final exhibit.
By now, you probably have seen the trailers for Bros, and it’s basically as funny as it looks, even though as I mentioned above, it has some of the same beats as other Apatow-Stoller movies. There’s many great moments in terms of the cameos and such but mostly, it’s Eichner and Macfarlane front and center in the spotlight, and you’re constantly rooting for things to work out.
Honestly, I’m not sure if I have a lot more to say about the movie here, except that it’s a wonderful movie to see with an audience since some of the jokes are so hilarious that they’ll land better seeing it with a group. Eichner is impressive as a leading man – he even sings and sounds great! – and he and Stoller have done a great job showing us what something this might look like and how well it works.
Rating: 8/10
THE CHART:
1. Smile (Paramount) - $18.8 million N/A
2. Bros (Universal) - $12.5 million N/A
3. Don’t Worry Darling (Warner Bros.) - $8.4 million -57%
4. The Woman King (Sony) - $7.7 million -30%
5. Avatar (20th Century/Disney) - $5.5 million -48%
6. Barbarian (20th Century) - $3.1 million -35%
7. DC League of Super-Pets (Warner Bros.) - $1.3 million -25%
8. See How They Run (Searchlight) - $1.2 million -35%
9. Bullet Train (Sony) - $1.2 million -33%
10. Pearl (A24) $1 million -45%
Unfortunately, I really do not have time to write much this week, but here are some of the highlights…
GOD’S CREATURES (A24)
This Irish drama directed by Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer stars Emily Watson as Aileen O’Hara, who lives and works in a small Irish fishing community, whole adult son Brian (Paul Mescal) returns home from a trip to Australia. Not soon after his return, he is accused of assault by a local girl with whom he was seen leaving the local pub. Aileen gets caught in the middle of the town’s division based around the accusations, and has to decide whether she has to believe her son. (I have a video interview with the directors over at CinemaDailyUS.)
SIRENS (Oscilloscope)
I saw Rita Baghdadi’s doc back in June as part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s annual BAMFest, as it looks at the first all-female metal band in the Middle East, Slave to Sirens, as they go through a number of inter-personal ordeals while trying to make it, including an appearance at a UK music festival.
THE GOOD HOUSE (Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions)
Didn’t get around to seeing this new adaptation of Ann Leary’s novel by Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky (Infinitely Polar Bear), but it stars Sigourney Weaver as New England realtor Hildy Good, who hooks up with an old New York flame, as played by Kevin Kline. This probably could be opening in a few hundred theaters but I don’t have a theater count at this point.
VESPER (IFC Films)
Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper’s sci-fi coming-of-age movie stars Raffiella Chapman as the title character, a 13-year-old girl who is trying to survive the collapse of Earth’s ecosystem with her paralyzed father (Eddie Marsan), and when they meet a woman holding secrets, Vesper needs to use her wits and skills to hope on having a future.
Two Bollywood releases both in the Tamil language are in previews today (Thursday) and officially released tomorrow, but I know very little about either…
VIKRAM VEDHA (Reliance Entertainment) - Written and directed by Pushkar–Gayathri, this action thriller will be in 558 locations and could very well sneak into the bottom of the top 10.
PONNIYIN SELVAN: PART 1 (IMAX) - This historical epic based on the historical fiction novel by Kalki Krishnamurthy is directed by Mani Ratnam.
Streaming…(and more stuff I haven’t had time to watch!)
MY BEST FRIEND’S EXORCISM (Prime Video)
I’m very excited that my pal Grady Hendrix’s book has been adapted into this teen horror-comedy, although I haven’t had a chance to watch this yet, and reviews are embargoed until Friday, so not sure I’ll have time to review it, which may be for the better. I am curious though cause it stars Elsie Fisher from Eighth Grade and…um… The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It will be on Prime Video tomorrow so I’m sure I’ll check it out.
THE GREATEST BEER RUN EVER (Apple TV+)
Green Book director Peter Farrelly returns with this real-life dramedy adaptation of Joanna Molloy and John "Chickie" Donohue’s novel, starring Zac Efron, Russell Crowe, Bill Murray, and Viggor Mortensen. It premiered at TIFF (where I missed it), but it doesn’t seem like it’s getting any sort of awards push as the follow-up to Green Book. Reviews haven’t been great so maybe that Oscar Best Picture winner was a fluke. Not having seen it yet, I couldn’t really say.
HOCUS POCUS 2 (Disney+)
It looks like fans of the original 1993 family comedy Hocus Pocus are finally getting the sequel they’ve been demanding. Like so many other ‘90s movies, I’ve never seen the original, so not sure I’ll see this one either.
BLONDE (Netflix)
I actually went out to see Blonde a few weekends back when it was playing at the Paris Theater, but only had time to watch the first two hours or so, but it will be streaming on Netflix this Friday. I liked what I saw but can’t review without seeing the rest.
Repertory stuff…. (no time to write up what’s playing where but lots of easy links to click on them and check out some of the rep options this weekend)
ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE (Downtown Brooklyn, Downtown Manhattan, Staten Island)
ETC…
DEAD FOR A DOLLAR (Quiver Distribution)
NEVER FORGOTTEN (The Film Arcade)
MONA LISA AND THE BLOOD MOON (Saban Films/Paramount)
TEN TRICK (Cinedigm)
Next week… two movies are opening in wide release, Sony’s family film Lyle, Lyle Crocodile and David O. Russell’s star-studded period comedy, Amsterdam.
Box office data provided by The-Numbers.com.