Deadpool 2 brings the noise, as well as the pathos

Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool 2. Image courtesy 20th Century Fox.

The interesting thing about Deadpool 2 is the darkness behind the jokes. Although it doesn’t quite qualify as a black comedy, the subject matter for the irreverent sequel is bleak for a movie featuring a plethora of crotch shots and lewd behavior from its eponymous figure. Lurking underneath all the fun and sight gags is a strong debate concerning how much control a person has over their faith, along with the existential tragedy of a being who cannot die. No matter how much the movie tries to avoid those topics, it’s the seriousness of the underlying subject matter that holds the movie together.

Deadpool 2 is about what a viewer would expect a sequel to the impressively popular Deadpool would be. Ryan Reynolds comes back as the eponymous hero-ish figure, trying to get in the good graces of the random X-Men he comes across. The film expands its cinematic universe with the addition of a few new characters (Josh Brolin as the time traveling mutant Cable, Zazie Beetz as Domino, Julian Dennison as Russell) and blends them in with a few characters from the original (Morena Baccarin’s Vanessa, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Karan Soni as Dopinder, and T.J. Miller as Weasel). And the mix, for the most part, works. Cable and Domino are great additions to the franchise, with both serving as strong, necessary foils to Deadpool’s shenanigans. The plot is less reliant on the superhero tropes that drove the original, and the action sequences are engaging and shot well enough. 

 

There are holes to be found (Miller being one of them), but Deadpool as a franchise is inherently difficult to criticize, as the plethora of fourth-wall breaks serves as its own meta-criticism. Deadpool 2 is aware of, and actively points to, the clichés it indulges in and the holes that plague many superhero movies. Essentially, it means the decision to have a character comment on a problem the viewer picked up on as well means there is an intent to having that issue in the first place. It's difficult to call something a flaw when it is ultimately turned into a joke. But at the same time, the need to have that joke is something of a problem itself, reflecting minimal creativity from the writers. If the joke is about how the filmmakers are in on the joke, it doesn't make it that good of a joke in the first place. 

 

Even with that somewhat existential problem, the humor in Deadpool 2 is pretty good for viewers who are in on the joke. The movie targets everything, from Logan and star Hugh Jackman, to the continued absence of a majority of the X-Men, to Deadpool's comic creator's inability to draw feet. The humor the movie has going for it is equal parts sharp and silly, hitting very easy targets and some more interesting ones along the way. The humor, both meta and visual, are often brutal and gory, but never truly mean-spirited or cruel. For all the potshots and woodchipper incidents, the film's tone is more often than not goofy.

The overarching silliness masks the movie’s underlying pain and tragedy. Deadpool 2 has an unexpected philosophical bite, with a notable strong debate about fatalism. On the one hand is Cable, who has the ability to travel through time and alter history, making it appear as if he is in control. Yet then there’s Domino, a character whose superpower is good fortune, allowing fate to have full control over her actions. Deadpool is trapped between those two forces, controlled by the time traveler’s actions and Domino’s reliance on fate. There is a logic to an embodiment of chaos lacking control over his fate, and the lack of control often comes at the expense of his happiness. No matter how close he comes to some level of joy, fate pulls him away.

When the sadness hits, it hits really hard, and it ultimately keeps Deadpool 2 from sinking into self reference. The movie knows when to drop the schtick and allow the necessary emotionally heavy scenes to shine. The number of opportunities for the movie to be heartfelt are minimal, but the few that do show up are granted the solemnity they require to at least allow for some growth for the titular mercenary. Even if the motivation for the introspection is a little weak (and, again, something the film makes fun of), the emotional payoff in the third act is worthwhile and deserved. Viewers see just enough of Deadpool's arc without the jokes to respect the moment when it comes to fruition.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: R

Run time: 119 minutes

Genre: Action

Ask Away
 
Target audience: The unending onslaught of superhero fans, especially those who are really in love with Deadpool.

Take the whole family?: Oh lord no.

Theater or Netflix?: It's good enough for a theater trip.

Watch this as well?: The original Deadpool is pretty fun, if somewhat slight in comparison. The X-Men franchise is hit or miss, with X-Men 2 and Days of Future Past the highlights. Also worth watching is last year’s Logan, which fits more in line with the Wolverine spin-offs.

Little vigor in Life of the Party

Melissa McCarthy in Life of the Party. Image courtesy Warner Bros.

It’s incredibly perplexing watching Melissa McCarthy the writer completely fail Melissa McCarthy the actress in Life of the Party. McCarthy as an actress can be a gifted performer, capable of injecting excitement into weak material while delivering some quality pratfalls. McCarthy the writer is the type of person who gives herself terrible material to work from. It’s the great struggle of Life of the Party, watching McCarthy battle McCarthy to win the viewer’s hearts and minds. For the most part, McCarthy the actress rarely wins. To be fair, McCarthy shares screenwriting credit with her husband Ben Falcone, who also directs the film. (At the least, Life of the Party is a family affair.) Together, they have written a bland, often uninteresting comedy with just a glimmer of interesting concepts. 

 

Life of the Party is about as basic as a college movie can get, with McCarthy’s newly divorced mom deciding to enroll at the same college as her daughter (Molly Gordon) to finish her degree. The premise has worked before with Rodney Dangerfield in McCarthy's role, although Dangerfield had the advantage of a random, brilliant cameo by Kurt Vonnegut. McCarthy has Christina Aguilera, which is not an upgrade. That the movie doesn’t really do anything interesting with this idea is not surprising. But the premise isn’t what ultimately fails Life of the Party. Rather, it's an exposition heavy script littered with plot holes and some pretty weak jokes.

Exposition is pretty much the only reason the audience knows what is going on at any given moment. Some exposition is fine and necessary, but Life of the Party overloads on it, using asinine statements to reflect the passage of time and character status. Aside being a sign of some very bad writing, it also reflects an absence of creativity from McCarthy and Falcone, who have an entire college campus and a myriad of methods (signs, events, holidays) to indicate the passage of time. Good movies don’t state that it’s Tuesday, they show it.

Even with all the exposition Life of the Party is still a conundrum. This is one of those “why” movies in which a person throws their hands in the air and asks why something is at it is. The characters don’t make bad decisions as much as they make bizarre and awkward ones, doing things few rationale humans would opt to do. And the exposition the film clutches too even refutes some of the action shown on screen. There's a whole speech in which Gordon rants at her mom for not taking college seriously enough, despite the movie going out of its way to show McCarthy as an excellent student. That rant by Gordon's character is part of a poorly represented character arc between her and McCarthy, one of the many little stories the movie picks up and either drops or tells poorly. Gordon’s story is the most egregious, given how quickly she goes from loathing her mom’s presence on campus to embracing it before hating it again. Nothing is really earned in this movie; it’s just there.

Life of the Party is not a good or even particularly mediocre movie, but it isn't an abject failure either. A couple of jokes land in interesting enough places to earn a chuckle or two. Maya Rudolph and Stephen Root are both treasures, with Rudolph earning the biggest laughs of the movie by just being herself. And running just behind the background of McCarthy's flat shenanigans is a way more interesting movie starring Gillian Jacobs and Heidi Gardner. Their one brief interaction has the weirdest vibe to it, and each character is weird enough to belong to a moderately twisted dark comedy that wrings laughs out of their respective kookiness. It could be either a mark of Jacobs and Gardner taking what they had and running with it, or perhaps a sign that Falcone and McCarthy have a hidden, weird sense of humor just waiting to come out.

Alas, the oddities are left behind a mundane and uninteresting movie about self-discovery, one in which McCarthy has to undergo a makeover to find social validation. Life of the Party fleetingly allows its characters to be unique and fun, only to put on the brakes and go back to some boring, poorly developed point. For all the effort McCarthy clearly puts into her performance, she constantly shoots herself in the foot with poor dialog and jokes that meander to nowhere. McCarthy just doesn’t isn’t a talented enough writer to write for herself.

Review: Two out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 105 minutes

Genre: Comedy

Ask Away
Target audience: Fans of Melissa McCarthy.

Take the whole family?: The content gets a skosh risque for young kids. And, really, this isn't interesting enough for them anyway.

Theater or Netflix?: Just wait for a streaming option if you want to see it.

How is Ben Falcone as a director?: Based on this film not good in the least. Falcone's style lacks individuality or personality, along with any interest in using the camera to tell a joke. Falcone seems to prefer to point the camera and let things happen, which is a terrible way to direct a comedy.

Watch this instead?: Back to School isn’t the greatest film, but Rodney Dangerfield sells the heck out of that material. The best option is to watch the classic Simpsons episode Homer Goes to College.

Tully offers honest, complicated depiction of motherhood

Charlize Theron in Tully. Image courtesy Focus Features.

The harshest idea in the wonderfully acerbic Tully is the perfect mother. As described by weary parent Marlo (a great Charlize Theron), the ideal mother bakes cupcakes for her children's class, keeps a pristine home, is committed mind and body to her children. Her ideal is a woman who gives without ever needing to take, and it contrasts against her dream of returning to the free, carefree existence she once had. It puts Marlo in an unwinnable situation, unable to become what she feels she must be but unable to shed the thoughts of her once very cool life she still harbors. Marlo is somewhere in between, a broken person trying to hold together three young children while maintaining the idea that everything is fine. But Tully isn’t about holding things together, but being brave enough to admit when you’re falling apart.

Writer Diablo Cody, whose script packs an emotional wallop and her signature sense of humor, doesn't hurl the world at Marlo and expect her to handle the borderline impossibilities of motherhood. Cody and director Jason Reitman show just how hard it can be to juggle three children and a husband (Ron Livingston) moderately invested in the situation. Marlo needs help, and she gets it from the eponymous free-spirited night nurse Tully (Mackenzie Davis), whose job is to watch Marlo's newborn daughter, but whose duty is to give Marlo a break from the constant stress pouring down upon her. Tully is both brutal in its depiction of Marlo's life – a short montage outlines how repetitive and frustrating the experience can be – and sympathetic to its character's plight. Being a parent is not an easy job, especially with a newborn. And it’s exacerbated by a middle child often described as “quirky”, a euphemism designed to avoid talking about exactly what’s going on with the child while simultaneously insulting them. Marlo's eruption over the use of the term by a school administrator is wildly satisfying, yet it’s also a little heartbreaking because it reflects just how close to the edge Marlo has gotten. Her anger was righteous, but slightly misplaced. It’s difficult for a movie to show that with the amount of subtly Tully does, a credit to both Cody’s writing and Theron’s performance.

Marlo's outburst, her frequent dips into self-loathing putdowns, her lack of energy in life reveal a person who is very much not in a good place. They're also obvious indicators, clear signs that something isn't right, a point Marlo’s husband and brother (Mark Duplass) comment on. They, like Marlo herself, miss who she used to be. Diagnosing someone who is sad constantly is relatively easy though. Being able to tell when someone is not OK while everything appears to be fine is a far more difficult task. Even as Tully's presence appears to make Marlo's life easier, even as Marlo tries to turn her life around with exercise and satisfying certain needs, the underlying reasons for her initial frustration are still there. Parenthood is filled with obfuscation, largely directed at keeping the child from worrying about the world around them. But parents lie to themselves too, because pretending things are OK is just as easy for the parent as it is for the child. Being a parent is horrifying in its own way, with the additional obligations and the need to hide so much in order to say this is fine. That everything is fine.

Tully doesn't believe in obfuscation, and she pushes Marlo to embrace her needs and her desires, to no longer try to pretend that everything is fine. In Tully, the only way to get around that thinking is to be honest with yourself, to allow for things not to be OK and to ask for help along the way. Nothing is ever really fine, especially when a person tries to do too much by themselves. It's honesty that ultimately serves Marlo best in Tully, both with her situation as a mother and her role as a mother. Marlo isn't the free spirit she used to be, nor is she that perfect mother she aspires to be either. Instead, she’s a better mother because she’s found a way to balance who she was with the person she is now. Everything still isn’t fine, but she’s about as OK as she can be.

Review: Four and a half out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: R

Run time: 96 minutes

Genre: Drama

Ask Away
Target audience: Mothers and fans of Diablo Cody's one-liners.

Take the whole family?: The dialog and topic makes it a bad choice for families. It would work though as a date night option though.

Theater or Netflix?: It’s good enough to head to the theater.

Is Charlize Theron underappreciated?: As an actress it feels like she doesn't get anywhere near the credit she deserves for pulling off such a wide range of characters. It takes a lot of talent to shift from an indelible badass like Furiosa and a brawler like Atomic Blonde's Lorraine to a harangued mother like Marlo and the sharp-tongued Mavis in Young Adult, and I don’t think she has earned the kudos she deserves for succeeding at it.

Watch this as well?: Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman make a pretty good team. Their other two collaborations, Juno and Young Adult, are pretty great watches that line up pretty well with Tully.