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Drinking games: Fairuza Blk and Adam Sandler in The Waterboy
The Waterboy (12) 90 mins ::=:‘
After the goofy but charming The Wedding Singer, "much was expected of Adam Sandler This attempt at telling the story of the underdog coming good is embarrassingly bad in comparison A smash hit at the US box office, pushing Sandler into 520 million-a- noise territory, it's not only the sport involved lAmerican Football) that will puzzle t'inema goers in the UK, but hov. Sandler could so ourckly fall from grace
Sandler plays Bobby 80ucher, a SOClaHy inept, 31-year-old mummy's boy, who goes from being the waterhoy to the star of the team. All this happens behind the back of his
nutty, but insanely protective mother (Kathy Bates), and with encouragement from the team coach (Henry Winkler) and love interest (Fairuza Balk).
An interesting supporting cast cannot save the movre, however. Watching Sandler impersonate Deputy Dawg for 90 minutes is a painful experience; domg it as part of a movie which is unimaginative and cnngeworthy is nigh-on unbearable Good gags here are scarce — what there is can be easily recognised from The lA/edding Singer -‘ so here's hoping Sandler is savmg them for his next protect, As the Wedding Singer, he might have been a drip, but as the Waterboy, he’s Just a washout (Mark Robertson)
533355 General release from Fri 30 Apr
Canal dreams:
The Honest Courtesan (15) 112 mins
Deslre, :' rnrtrorizise and :3etrayal come togeti-e" it His i7ti‘ ;e"tu:y ‘-.v'enetian 'true 819."; " a." t-"-‘at‘.: {mated woman ahead 0" "er °.'
Tl‘e: ..'.i‘.. 1772 -.‘*' 1: 1 a: ain't it‘e daslwr'i ._ t-T'Tl' (Rufus 'a' '1 on t marry {If'llzn‘st‘ ‘.' '.’ "4‘; 'i-tl‘t" i' nOr stats», -- i e try?" Veronita < :;---:..', 75.. 1'1?) mOIhei 'iu-z- , adVIses her daughter t:, gurtesan so that she can learned ways — Otherwise fo'tnooen '.’l women — and she can edit»; the attentions of any man she fancies Rufus include!) and they can all enpy a good living
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Rufus Sewell and Catherine McCormack
Veronica takes her rna's advice and wows 'em at court with Her rawsrttng looks, her charm a"d, not least, poetic wit Pauper poet Mafia: Owe" Platt, :s [Eafiltuld'i',' iii.:;'essed, ::t;t turns nasty or‘ tier advances and n.s peers Marta, » .::‘1:1e-'='.e::'<‘:t "If‘.’ (dSticll Vldl,’ ‘.'.':°." °."-'
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Doininey, fvlarsha‘ Herszwit.”s ‘aii‘. l:;oks lovely and, though its thinax ts (fully predictable, The Hones: (foairresan makes for pretty and undemtnding entertainment, (John hilr'iCKOlelCl Selected release from Fri 30 Apr
! difference’ The three are caught up in
new releases FILM
Hap mess (18) 1 9 mins we a". Three sisters, two small boys, one psychologist and a phone-harrassment specialist. Out of these unlikely elements Todd Solondz has wrought pure Cinematic gold. Be warned, however. Happiness is no date-night movie, and Will have even the most liberal temperament slack-jawed with nervous disbelief in certain key scenes. The Chekhovian central trio are perky mother-and-homemaker Cynthia Stevenson, impossibly glamorous poetess Lara Flynn Boyle and doomed, kittenish folk singer Jane Adams who quits her Job to ’make a
a sordid dance of warped emotional frailties, involvmg the poetess' sad- sack next-door neighbour (the superb Philip Seymour Hoffman, last seen in Boogie Nights and The Big Lebowski)
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i Suspicious minds: Jared Harris and l
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Jane Adams in Happiness
husband, who one night drugs his whole family so he can rape his son's sleep- over friend.
The most astonishing aspect of Happiness, however, is not simply its controversial material; it's Solondz’s relentless ability to perfectly ,udt e the correct mood for each sequence — veering from belly laughter one moment to stark pathos lli another. So|0ndz has stepped up from the nerd-chit of his last film, Welcome To The Dollhouse. A superb cast proVide uniformly seamless performances, but this a director's movre like few others (Andres. Pulver)
3 Glasgow Film Theatre and Edinburgh Cameo from Fri 7 May See [)fC’Vlt-P‘i'.’
Film soundtracks The film has moved from May in the schedules to later in the summer, but the soundtrack for Playing By Heart (EMI, :2: e --» ) is being released as planned. On screen, it spans generations -- Ryan Phillippe and Angelina Jolie, Dennis Qua:d and fvlatfeleine Stowe, Sean Connery and Gena Rowlands, likewise the album nas trat ks for hip and hip-replacement age grOups ~ Moby and Bran Xi'an 3000, l.lorti‘.et,>ha and Bonnie Raitt, John Barry and Chet Baker
Another disc that metaphorically resembles the mowe is The Faculty (Columbia,
::.- Robert Rodriguez's horror sci-fi schtick copies other films rather tipiilif; ‘or originalty and, sure enough, the soundtrack is bogged down by unnecessary cover '.'ers:.::.".s Soul Asylum do 'School's Out' Without Alice Cooper's vet val signs, Shawn Mullins murders Bovvie's 'Changes', and Pink Floyd's Another Brick in The Wall .Part 2;' Eases its nasty satiric edge in the hands of the Ciass Of ’99 'supergroup' tfeaturing members of Alice In Chains, Rage Against The luilachrne and Jane's Addiction; «Alan Morrison)
At First Si ht (12) 124 minsg-:==:-- Based on a case study reCOunted by Dr Cl'ver Sacks of Aivvakenings fame, At First Sight vs the tale of a blind man regains his s:ght after {*X;,;-f‘f!.'ll(?.".ldl surgery it's an intriguing stniy, but unfortunately director Irwm \.\'inkler and sCreenwnter Steve Levitt (hos-en to dress it up as a glossy 'v::-.".‘a:‘.t.:‘ n‘eit)-t}.'ania
.(Jrner plays the ntowe's protagonist ‘~rirg;l, a blind masseur at a Engar‘t: health spa whose clients ice. '.'.'."f".'l he gives them a batkru't) ' tiie spa comes stressed-out :‘.lanhattan architect Amy lh‘ilfa Server),- Site steos on to the massage
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“xirgi. given a Mira Sorvino in At First Sight turn 0‘; K .ine.’ agrees u"-t.e.:;<. a traffic} breaking
't‘-s'.<,'e the sight he lost as a small child But when the
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Th:s toind have ueen fascinating, but Virgil's case is presented ltere .". a
l’l‘ioddii‘il) and predictable way, full of pat syinmetries arid platitudes ft: Fi/s.’ Sign: may tell an actual story, but it doeSn't ring true tlason Best)
5 3 General release from Fri 30 Apr
29Apr- l3 Mai, l‘llm THE lIST25