Vantage Point, Charlie Bartlett, and Definitely, Maybe

I don't exactly feel like writing full reviews for any of these three films, but I did manage to sneak in a couple of entries in Hollywood film history-nothing special, but nothing exactly terrible either. A short little writeup follows.

Vantage Point **1/2

A decent little action thriller, which does a good job at telling a rather exciting story but never really getting involved with any of the characters to the point where you care about anything thats happening on the screen. When the president ends up getting shot during a big convention in Spain, we see the incident in regards to a certain number of people around at the time. And with every perspective we get another little piece of the puzzle. This is a rather interesting plot device, but after the third or fourth story it begins to get tiresome a bit, and only some of the perspectives end up being very interesting. We don't learn much about the side characters, with the exception of Dennis Quaid as a Secret Service Agent who took a bullet for the president a year ago, and Forest Whitaker who is divorced from his wife and two children, which makes it hard to really want to relate to any of them, and tense moments involving a little girl and her mother end up being just completely pointless and don't add to the story at all. However, "Vantage Point" remains oddly entertaining and holds mild amusement for its ninety minute running time, but thankfully its nothing more than that. 

Charlie Bartlett **1/2

"Charlie Bartlett" actually played at last years Tribeca Film Festival, but to sold out shows so I could not get a ticket. Finally in a minimal release, the film stars Anton Yelchen, a rather talented young actor who is carted from poor script to poor script-but this is a step above the blase 'House of D" and "Fierce People." He plays our title character, a rich young boy who has advantages, but also a knack for doing things that get him in trouble. After getting kicked out of another private school, Charlie goes to public school, where- in a desperate quest to be universally liked, begins to gives the other kids advice in the men's bathroom, and give out medication that he gets from the family shrink. Things grow worse for Charlie when he begins to date the rather mellow Susan, the daughter of the principle-played by Robert Downy Jr. "Charlie Bartlett" has some fine acting-especially by Downy Jr. who steals every scene he's in as usual-and it does have some funny moments, but too much happens in this story and we shift from episode to episode that it stopped feeling like a narrative and more like a mini-sitcom. It's script is just uneven, and at times the film becomes simply tiresome to the viewer. But the ending achieves a rather poignant level where you leave satisfied, and it was pleasant to see a film dealing with the constant quest for popularity that we all try to achieve in high school, and even perhaps-as this film suggests-later on in life.

Definitely, Maybe ***

All in all, "Definitely, Maybe" is quite a sweet little movie-a romantic comedy that ends up being both likeable and entertaining, and I really did fall under the spell that this movie casts on the viewer. Ryan Reynolds-the rather annoying and grinning mug from films like "Van Wilder" and "Waiting. . ." does a rare heartfelt lead role as William Hayes, who at the beginning of the film suffers a divorce from his wife of a few years. He does get his daughter for half of the time, and she begs him to tell her the story of how he met her mother. Changing the names and some of the events, William tells a story of three of his loves-his college sweetheart Emily (Elizabeth Banks), a copy girl named April (Isla Fisher), and an intellectual who had an affair with Emily years ago, Summer (Rachael Weisz) all while charting his rise in his career, as a worker for the Bill Clinton campaign in 1992. Following conventional romantic comedy formulas, but doing it right and in an entertaining and fresh way, "Definitely, Maybe" becomes a very good watch-a light and enjoyable little movie that holds your attention consistently. And I applaud all three of the female leads, all three of them doing a fine job, and young Abagail Breslin who is a mild step down from her wonderful work in "Little Miss Sunshine,' and whose cuteness sometime feels overbearing. And there's even a fun cameo by Kevin Kline! Of all the standard Hollywood fare at this point in the year, this is certainly the winner.