Georgia Rule, Once, The Boss Of It All

Georgia Rule *1/2
Directed by Garry Marshall
113 Minutes
Rated R for Language and Sexual Content

"Georgia Rule" might have been a good movie while it was in development stages over at Universal. At its core it seems like something that would be more suitable for Focus Features or Fox Searchlight as this is really a dark family drama that somehow was made into a light and fluffy little comedy/drama. In one two hour period I was subjected to somebody suggesting oral sex, incest, binge drinking, and references to strong drug use in the past, all involving a teenager. And yet somehow this slipped by as something that three generations of women could go and see together. I guess that is Hollywood. Lindsey Lohan should get an award for just playing a variation herself (sarcasm) as Rachael Wilcox, a young woman who is somewhat of a rebel. Being forced to live with her grandfather (Jane Fonda) in a small town in Iowa, Rachael becomes a bad influence towards Harlan, a young Mormon boy in the area. After befriending and working for a local vet, Rachael gets mad at him and ends up confessing to being molested by her stepfather when she was twelve. She then tells him she was joking, but that's after he ends up calling up her mother and grandfather about it. Now the question is if she is serious or not, or is this rebel child just acting out and trying to get some attention?

I don't care how this looks or who is in it, the themes in "Georgia Rule" are completely screwed up, and the problem is that no character really seems to act very greatly about it. When a mother finds out that her husband has been molesting her young daughter, the reaction is not to calmly start to drink a lot-I would find that it would be much more drastic. But somehow this films diverts any of the serious side effects of what goes on, and ends up having some kind of togetherness mother/daughter moment at the end, as if nothing went wrong. I just could not understand how misleading and unrealistic this was. Even for a Hollywood movie it pushes the limits on what could be used to teach a moral and what cannot. Maybe if this ended up being what it should be-a serious family drama-"Georgia Rule" could have been more effective. But with such twisted themes being turned into something sweet and romantic (from the director of "Pretty Women!" and "The Princess Diaries!"), I feel like everyone will be cheated, and that it is not the proper way to go about this story. This is not the type of film for Lohan or even for a mother/daughter.

Once ***
Directed by John Carney
88 Minutes
Rated R for Language

There were moments all throughout "Once" that I have personally lived through-not the ones involving romance between the two main characters-but the scenes involving recording studios. And there were times where I felt that I could have omitted the movie as a whole and just went off to my dad's friend's house to watch him do the same exact things that occurred in the film. Perhaps not all aspects of this extremely musical film were made for me, and this is why "Once" was not hailed, by me, as a masterpiece like it is for everyone else. The part that did intrigue me a bit were the romance scenes, as like I have said in the past, I am a sucker for a good romance film. And "Once" is one of those "two people dialogue heavy" film, which means that I am allowed to avoid those plot contrivances and actually get into the heart of the relationship. And having recently experienced a similar experience, the romance aspect of "Once" was actually easy to get at my heart strings.

"Once" followed two musicians-one a street musician and one a single mother-who end up meeting one afternoon. Not labeling them with any names-writer/director John Carney follows this Guy and Girl over the next couple of days as they meet, sing together, and finally decide to record an album at a local recording studio. The Guy is planning on moving back to London shortly to win back the heart of the woman he loves, and the Girl is hopefully being reunited with her husband who has disappeared. All of this is intercutted with scenes of them singing, either with each other or alone, and this is where "Once" sometimes lost me. The music is fine, but after the eighth or ninth musical segment that does not advance the story and seems more like filler, I began to check my watch a bit more often than desired. Still the performances are fine, and after learning that the music was their own I was even more impressed, and the writing is perfect (although the accents did sometimes lose me.) "Once" is a special type of film because it is clearly a labor of love, and it has a lot of heart and compassion for its characters. This is a rare treat because even if one aspect does not appeal there is another that does.

The Boss Of It All ***1/2
Directed by Lars von Trier
99 Minutes
Not Rated-Language, Brief Comic Sexuality

Lars von Trier is notorious for showing films of strong controversial nature-his "America" trilogy alone (which only have two films thus far) created quite a stir with their themes of racism and possible anti-American ideas. And now he's back with something more simpler, and something a bit more funner: an office comedy. Being a huge fan of the American version of "The Office," this is certainly up my ally, and it does have a complex plot of identity, as well as an awkward and brilliant third act that makes you leave the room with a smile on your face. This is the story of a company president named Ravn, who hires Kristoffer to act like the boss when the boss disappears. Ravn needs Kristoffer to pose as the boss to close a deal with an Icelandic businessman, but when he gets angry the meeting ends in the hallway where Kristoffer introduces himself as the company president to a group of employees. And now Ravn is in a pickle. Nobody knows that he is the real company president, and he has always posed as an employee because he does not have the gut to be the boss to the group of Six Seniors that he loves very dearly. And so Kristoffer, whose name becomes Svend E., poses as the head honcho-the Boss Of It All. He soon learns that Ravn has been sending emails to the Six, all as the boss of it all telling them different things-and Svend has to improvise and act accordingly. And then he finds out that Ravn is also using Svend to royally screw his employees in a deal to sell the company, but Kristoffer finds this out and turns the tables a bit.

At the start, von Trier offers a narration where he claims that this is a film that is just meant to be a good time and not have any reflection for the viewer after. But its hard to stop thinking about "The Boss Of It All" because it is so damn entertaining and fun to watch. von Trier uses a special camera where he does not have to worry about the framing of a shot because a computer picks a random camera shot to use. There is not camera motion except for new shots, except for brief interludes where von Trier speaks to the viewer. This eases the worry for the director (even though I may not agree with this choice), much like the character of Ravn is trying to ease the worry of being a boss. This parallel is pretty intelligent even if I do not agree or approve of the method used. He also uses a method similar to the Dogma films of the past-no lighting, no music, actual sound stage. Lastly I'll mention the third act which is a conference meeting, one that is as awkward as it is revealing as it is hilarious. It was similar to a scene on "The Office" and I felt just at home. There isn't much to not like in 'The Boss Of It All"-it is extremely enjoyable and a welcome relief from von Trier's normal heavy, pretentious, and only mildly enjoyable films. Trier is on my list of film makers that I do not like as people-along with Gus van Sant. But unlike van Sant, I could admit that Trier does have talent, and "The Boss Of It All" proves that it is talent over a wide variety of genres.