Thursday, June 26, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Film shorts

Alex & Emma

1 1/2 stars (PG-13, 100 min.) Rob Reiner has already made two excellent romantic comedies (When Harry Met Sally, The Sure Thing). This one, with writer Luke Wilson hiring stenographer Kate Hudson to type a book, fails on all counts. Should have gone straight to video.--JC

Anger Management

1/2 star (PG-13, 101 min.) Adam Sandler meets certifiable therapist Jack Nicholson in Peter Segal's mediocre mess. Cue sophomoric jokes.--JC

Bend It Like Beckham

1 star (PG-13, 112 min.) It's "My big formulaic Sikh soccer romance." Gurinda Chadha's feel-good mix of sports flick and culture-clash satire is the painful epitome of "crowd-pleaser." With Keira Knightley, Parminder Nagra, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers.--AA

Bruce Almighty

3 stars (PG-13, 101 min.) Indulgent deity Morgan Freeman endows TV reporter Jim Carrey with his powers. Jennifer Aniston's comedic talents are wasted, but Tom Shadyac's comedy is sweet and poignant.--TM

Chicago

4 stars (PG-13, 113 min.) Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere might not be stage ready, but they shine in Rob Marshall's film of the Bob Fosse musical. Maybe too slick and tidy, but always entertaining. 6 Oscars incl. picture, supporting actress Zeta-Jones.--MP

Daddy Day Care

2 stars (PG, 93 min.) Steve Carr's formulaic Mr. Mom ripoff wastes the talents of Eddie Murphy, Anjelica Huston and Steve Zahn. Have a snack and a nap instead.--TM

Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd

Not reviewed (PG-13, 82 min.) Eric Olsen and Derek Richardson star in Troy Miller's prequel to the Farrelly brothers' 1994 Jim Carrey comedy. If you're dumb enough to pay for this, you'll probably enjoy it.--AA

Finding Nemo

3 stars (G, 104 min.) Andrew Stanton's digitally animated feature is a visual comic delight about single father Albert Brooks' struggle to let his child (Alexander Gould) take risks. With Willem Dafoe, Ellen DeGeneres, Barry Humphries, Geoffrey Rush. Plus John Lasseter's charming 1989 short Knick Knack.--TM

From Justin to Kelly

1/2 star (PG-13, 81 min.) "American Idol" stars Clarkson and Guarini can sing but they can't act, they can't dance and Robert Iscove's movie is as bad as you can imagine.--GS

Holes

3 1/2 stars (PG, 117 min.) Shia LeBeouf digs holes at a Texas juvenile detention camp run by Sigourney Weaver and Jon Voight. Andrew Davis brings Louis Sachar's teen novel to the screen with its sardonic humor miraculously intact. With Patricia Arquette, Eartha Kitt.--AA

Hollywood Homicide

2 1/2 stars (PG-13, 111 min.) Harrison Ford is funnier and sexier than he's been in ages as an LAPD detective investigating nightclub murders with fumbling partner Josh Hartnett. Despite the formulaic storyline, Ron Shelton's buddy comedy is occasionally hilarious. With Martin Landau, Lena Olin.--TM

The Hulk

3 stars (PG-13, 138 min.) When scientist Bruce Banner (Eric Bana), emotionally repressed because of the "sins" of father Nick Nolte, is exposed to gamma radiation, the rage within becomes the beast without. With imaginative tweaking, Ang Lee harkens back to the roots of the Marvel comic, with characters are artfully presented as compelling mixtures of love, hate, fear, regret, ambition and madness. Co-starring Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott.--TM

The In-Laws

1 1/2 stars (PG-13, 94 min.) Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks star in Andrew Fleming's lame, offensive remake of the Peter Falk/Alan Arkin comedy. Call off this wedding.--TM

The Italian Job

1 1/2 stars (PG-13, 110 min.) Mark Wahlberg, Edward Norton, Donald Sutherland and Charlize Theron star in F. Gary Gray's disappointing remake of the 1969 caper. Sexy as sump oil, with an underwhelming climactic car chase.--AA

L'Auberge espagnole

1 1/2 stars (R, 116 min.) Written and directed by Cédric Klapisch, this study of underachieving grad students sharing an apartment in Barcelona, is disorganized and lifeless. These kids (including Audrey Tautou and Romain Duris), make the cast of Porky's look positively erudite. [French, Danish, Spanish, Catalan and English dialogue, with subtitles]--JC

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

5 stars (PG-13, 179 min.) Peter Jackson's continuation of Tolkien's grand adventure is the best film of 2002. With Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen. 2 Oscars: sound editing, visual effects.--GS

The Matrix Reloaded

2 1/2 stars (R, 138 min.) Andy and Larry Wachowski go for breadth over depth in the sequel to their 1999 hit about a world controlled by computers. With Neo, Trinity and Morpheus (Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss and Laurence Fishburne), adolescent sex, fight scenes stretched beyond boredom, and the sense of a film disappearing in its own fakery.--JC

Rugrats Go Wild

(G, 81 min.) The Rugrats are shipwrecked on a remote island where the "Wild Thornberrys" clan are making a nature documentary. The third spinoff from Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo's Nickelodeon series seems less an inspired reflection of kiddie angst and joy than a marketing ploy. Skip it. With Bruce Willis, Tim Curry.--TM

Spellbound

4 stars (G, 96 min.) Borrowing its title from Hitchcock, Jeffrey Blitz's documentary about eight children participating in the 1999 National Spelling Bee may be the most thrilling film ever made about the maddening pursuit of perfection.--RC

2 Fast 2 Furious

1/2 star (PG-13, 107 min.) Disgraced cop Paul Walker redeems himself, and ex-con Tyrese, by helping the feds nail drug kingpin Cole Hauser. John Singleton's sequel to The Fast and the Furious is pure carnography, rife with ridiculous replays of adolescent fantasies of fast cars and fast women.--TM

Wrong Turn

Not reviewed (R, 85 min.) Cannibalistic West Virginia mountain men attack teens (Emmanuelle Chriqui, Eliza Dushku and Jeremy Sisto) in Rob Schmidt's gorefest.--AA

X2: X-Men United

3 stars (PG-13, 135 min.) Xavier and Magneto (Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen) unite to stop Gen. Brian Cox's genocidal plans, in Bryan Singer's fairly smart sequel to the Marvel Comics spinoff. With Halle Berry, Alan Cumming, Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos.--MP

Reviews by: AA: Anthony Allison; GS: Geoff Schumacher; JC: Jeannette Catsoulis; MP: Mike Prevatt; RC: Robert Chancey; TM: Tammy McMahan