list.co.uk/film
Film REVIEWS
COMEDY JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME (15) 83mins ●●●●●
No one would have believed in the last years of the 20th century that of all the stars to emerge from Judd Apatow’s extraordinary talent nursery Freaks and Geeks, the household name would end up being Jason Segel. He’s not as gorgeous as James Franco or Linda Cardellini, after all, nor as full-on funny as Seth Rogen or Martin Starr. Yet his blend of lunkishness and likeability, of straight man and comic turn, and of leading man and lovable underdog has won him some serious ubiquity of late. So much so that his role in Jeff, Who Lives at Home feels a little too perfectly tooled to his image – he may need to watch for a Jack Black-style burnout.
The eponymous Jeff is, yes, you guessed it, a sweet-natured thirtyish loser with faltering ambition and a close relationship with his bong. Motivation unexpectedly strikes him when his over-achieving brother (The Hangover’s Ed
Helms) seeks his assistance in catching his wife out in an affair. The ensuing sitcom-style antics are diverting enough, but the whole thing feels depressingly neutered; it’s like watching an extended pitch by the directors, once gods of the mumblecore underworld, for more studio gigs. (‘Dark? Unconventional? Not us, Mr Executive! We’re nice! We can do happy endings, convenient moral lessons and hugs all round! Please tell Jennifer Aniston we called...!’) It’s too apparent from the very start that we’re
going to be asked to cheer Jeff’s charming hopelessness over the tedious values of all those awful productive people with their jobs and families and houses. And even if that was a sound message – rather than a somewhat disingenuous and pandering one – it would hardly constitute a plot. The result is a film that shares the main qualities of its hero: it’s hard to dislike, but it doesn’t get much done. (Hannah McGill) ■ General release from Fri 11 May. Read an interview with Jason Segel on page 23.
DRAMA GOODBYE FIRST LOVE (15) 110mins ●●●●● It’s supposed to be unbearably boring hearing about other people’s dreams. But often that’s not nearly as bad as hearing about other people’s formative love affairs. Watching vain, drippy, lugubrious teenager Camille (Lola Créton) fall in and out of love with dumb puppy Sullivan (Sebastian Urzendowsky) is a bit like watching someone cut their toenails: intimate, sure, but not in any enlightening way. The fact that this is a prettily put-together film, with a lot of nice shots of breasts and landscapes and such, doesn’t alter the fact that it is about absolutely nothing, barring the journey of the protagonist from slavish absorption in a man to slavish absorption in herself. All else is unlikable people exchanging faux- profundities. It’s hard to see what the filmmakers think they are revealing – whether we’re supposed to laugh at these people’s awfulness, or sympathise with them. This might just work as aversion therapy for people who think that they miss being young. (But even they would have to suffer through the intolerable retro-folk soundtrack). (Hannah McGill) ■ Selected release from Fri 4 May.
APOCALYPSE Archives
Indie filmmaker WHIT STILLMAN, back after a 13-year hiatus, picks five films he’d save in an impending apocalypse.
1 That Sinking Feeling (Bill Forsyth, 1980) ‘I wanted to include something Scottish. Aside from how enjoyable Bill Forsyth’s film about kids in rainy Glasgow is, I want to include it for its economy of means. To see how much was done with so little was very inspiring. It was a big influence on me when I started to make films. I wish Bill Forsyth were still making films.’ 2 The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934) ‘This is the RKO Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film. I love things that are done at the beginning of a trend. I like it better when films are rough and odd, before the wrinkles have been smoothed out. I think Top Hat is more famous, but it’s been to the dry cleaners. Gay Divorcee has strangeness and idiosyncrasy of humour. And one of the greatest long dance sequences, which is the Continental. And it has the song ‘Night and Day’.’
3 The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey, 1937) ‘It’s the finest form of a certain kind of comedy, that in which a married couple split up but won’t let another go. It also seemed to create the Cary Grant identity. Essentially, Cary Grant wasn’t Cary Grant until that film and then he was Cary Grant after that film. It’s also the film that converted my eldest daughter to liking black and white films.’
4 The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940) ‘This is a film gem. And it’s a film with enormous humanity. And it has James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan as a couple who fall for each other without knowing or admitting it. Margaret Sullavan is one of my favourite actresses. She’s inexpressibly lovely and romantic. I adore her.’
5 The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (Preston Sturges, 1944) ‘I have to include a Preston Sturges film. The Lady Eve might be a better film, formally, but sometimes your affection is for flawed films. This is fine cuisine based on lunchmeat ingredients. A lot of the elements of the film are not interesting in themselves, but Sturges concocts them into the most delicious soufflé. It would definitely help your spirits after the apocalypse.’ (Miles Fielder) ■ Whit Stillman’s Damsels in Distress is on selected release from Fri 27 April.
26 Apr–24 May 2012 THE LIST 65