Special Correspondents: Lazy Laughs

If you have no Memorial Day plans and are listlessly scrolling through Netflix for entertainment, you might come across Special Correspondents, the latest offering from Ricky Gervais. There's a reason it's a Netflix original movie - it's not something one would venture to a movie theatre for - but it offers some distraction as you go about your household chores.

Eric Bana plays Frank Bonneville (Eric Bana), a news radio journalist for a local New York station. He is skilled at getting the scoop and delivering it with some flash; but he is also sick of being a small-time celebrity and is itching to report on something juicy. When unrest starts brewing in Ecuador, he jumps at the chance to go down there. Unfortunately, intrepid macho journalists can't deliver news reports by themselves. They need a sound technician, and in this case he is to be accompanied by his mousy English colleague, Ian Finch (Ricky Gervais). Due to your standard comedy mishap, Finch loses their travel documents, and the Ecuadorian government issues a travel ban shortly after, so there's no way to enter the country. At which point they realize they work in radio, so as long as they can fake the audio, no one needs to be the wiser about their location. Which leads to them reporting on Ecuador from the Spanish restaurant across the road from the radio station.

It's a funny premise that has a great deal of initial promise. However, things quickly fall apart. The central problem with Special Correspondents is laziness. While the main characters are too lazy and incompetent to actually go to Ecuador, that is reflective of Gervais's own disdain for making too much of an effort in filmmaking. This has worked well for him in television, where his characters are boxed in one location and you have to rely on their inner motivations and desires to breathe life into the story. But in this movie, he is fine with taking two barely realized characters (and even more sketchy supporting characters), tossing them in an improbable plot, and letting the thing boil over without much attempt to make it look good. At no point do you truly root for anyone, and as the movie progresses, you start looking at your watch to see how much more of this story is left to tell.

One of the biggest mistakes Gervais made is casting himself - the rest of the cast features brilliant actors like Bana, Vera Farmiga, and Kelly MacDonald, and they might have managed to make something work out of this thin script. But with Gervais lazily thrown in the mix, making hardly any effort to act (he retains his English accent while Bana and MacDonald are gamely trotting out their best New York impressions), there's no chance this movie will amount to anything.

Special Correspondents might have worked better as a TV show or miniseries. Given the constraints of episodic television, perhaps Gervais would have paid more attention to character development and plot. Then again, it seems like he decided getting rid of the characters and plot via a quick movie was the best solution. It's a lazy movie that can provide some laughs for a lazy weekend, but that's as tepid a recommendation as I can muster.

Captain America: Civil War: An Embarrassment of Riches

By now you're already aware that Captain America: Civil War is a critically acclaimed, audience-approved movie. So the point of this blog post is merely to elucidate what makes this movie so great, and convince any stragglers that it is definitely worth the price of admission.

First off, do not let the title fool you. This is not a Captain America movie, this is an Avengers movie that couldn't be named as such due to delicate contract negotiations. This movie treats us to a plethora of superheroes that we have been accumulating over the course of several years as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). If it wasn't enough to include familiar figures like Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Iron Man, Falcon, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Vision, Ant-Man, and War Machine, Marvel has the gall to toss in two brand new characters, Spider-Man and Black Panther, who are soon due for their own standalone movies in the MCU. And yet somehow, this profusion of characters doesn't remotely bog down the proceedings. Instead, the script magically whips through the introductions, seamlessly integrating all these heroes and heroines into a truly fascinating showdown over the need for government oversight. Trust me, it's a lot more fascinating than it sounds.

None of the actors disappoint and they all seem to relish lobbing one-liners and punches off each other to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts. This is a funny movie, it is an exciting movie, and it is also a thought-provoking movie. The screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely is a masterclass in how to weave together multiple storylines and create a tapestry instead of a tangle. Much credit is also due to the Russo brothers, who have clearly cracked the code on how to direct a pitch-perfect Marvel movie and ensure that weighty topics are counterbalanced with levity and death-defying action sequences.

Given the timing, it is inevitable to compare this film to Batman v Superman and wonder at how the Marvel and DC universes continue to do things so incredibly differently. The key point appears to be their treatment of superheroes and consequences. Marvel understands that the idea of men and women dressing up to fight bad guys is inherently ridiculous and never shies away from poking fun at the characters and their foibles. But it takes the consequences of their actions extremely seriously, and every movie has been increasingly preoccupied with death tolls and collateral damage, leading to this film's fundamental conflict amongst the Avengers about whether they should be beholden to governmental bodies instead of taking matters into their own hands. On the other hand, the DC movies glorify their heroes, treating them like paragons of superhuman prowess who must not be mocked; but the shocking devastation that they wreak in the course of their adventures doesn't make anyone bat an eyelash.

Captain America: Civil War is a multi-faceted marvel of a Marvel movie. It showcases everything that we have come to expect from a superhero movie - spectacular action, wit and verve, seriousness of purpose that goes hand-in-hand with self-deprecating humor, and overall, a unique cinematic experience. I keep waiting for the day when I will be bored by a Marvel movie, but somehow they find ways to innovate and reinvigorate the franchise every year. Yes, these are superhero movies, but it seems lazy to say they are "just" superhero movies. Underneath the costumes and gadgets, they are exploring deeply human stories and conflicts. The MCU has infinite possibilities and thirteen films in, it feels like they're only getting started.

The Night Manager: Spectacular Spy Games

Hugh Laurie, Tom Hiddleston, and Olivia Colman. With a cast like that, how could anyone doubt the final product would be anything less than glorious? Directed by Susanne Bier, The Night Manager, a six-part miniseries based on the novel by the always-thrilling John Le Carre, is a decadent televisual feast. Featuring a talented cast, a whip-smart script, and beguiling locations, this is a seductive and scorching thriller, filled with cliffhangers that keep you on the edge of your seat till the final scene.

Hiddleston stars as Jonathan Pine, a former British soldier who served in Iraq but is now the eponymous night manager of a Cairo hotel during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. He stumbles across the details of a secret arms deal and sends word to UK Intelligence. That act results in a personal tragedy, so five years later, when intelligence officer, Angela Burr (Colman), asks Pine to go undercover in the inner circle of Richard "Dickie" Roper (Laurie), a wealthy industrialist who is responsible for these arms deals that are destabilizing the world, Pine sees this as his opportunity to serve his country and wreak his personal vengeance.

What follows is a tense and escalating game of cat and mouse where Pine is forced to gain Roper's trust by sacrificing many of his principles, and going in so deep that he may never find his way out again. In the meantime, Burr faces a series of political machinations with the UK and American Intelligence services and rapidly realizes that Roper has friends in high places who have been shielding him from the law all along. Everyone is in danger, no one knows who to trust, and a sense of kill or be killed permeates the proceedings, resulting in many deaths before the six episodes are done.

Hiddleston is unsurprisingly perfect as the noble Pine who has to be both suave and violent to win Roper's trust. Reminiscent of her powerhouse performance in Broadchurch, Colman is righteous and awe-inspiring as Angela Burr, a woman who is confidently conducting a high-stakes intelligence operation and toting a gun whilst sporting a very pregnant belly. And Hugh Laurie is a chilling revelation as the utterly evil Dickie Roper, a man with money, power, and no morals. In addition to the main trio of actors, Tom Hollander is magnificent as Roper's right-hand man, Lance "Corky" Corkoran, who harbors suspicions of Pine but doesn't have enough proof to prevent the man from worming his way into Roper's good graces. I could spend all day watching him deliver delicious lines like, "Chief, is it OK to baptize the princeling in the ways of the grape?" which is exactly the kind of dialogue one expects from the BBC. And Elizabeth Debicki is incredible as Jed Marshall, Roper's American girlfriend who tries to play dumb because she desperately needs his money, but starts to realize the stakes might not be worth it.

The Night Manager is sumptuously shot in beautiful locales, but it tackles ugly subject matter that packs a punch. It is a spy thriller that covers all the angles, from bureaucracy and duplicity at the highest levels to the brute violence and subtle tradecraft that are needed to keep an undercover agent alive in the field. It is scintillating stuff that exposes what happens when you allow corruption to take over the highest echelons of government and let money override morality. 

She Loves Me: Prepare to Be Swept off Your Feet

Charming and delightful. These are the two words that best describe everything about the Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway revival of She Loves Me, from the actors, to the music, story, and set design. Watching this show is like eating a delicious truffle - it looks tempting and manages to both satisfy you and leave you wanting more.

She Loves Me is an adaptation of Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo's play, Parfumerie. But the more relevant description (to me, at least) is that it is the musical version of The Shop Around the Corner, one of my all-time favorite movies starring Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan (which was subsequently re-adapted as the similarly beloved You've Got Mail, with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan). So obviously, the story is beyond reproach. Here's a quick summary of the plot: Amalia and Georg both work as a sales clerks in a parfumerie in 1930's Budapest. They quarrel all the time and are not fond of each other, but unbeknownst to them, they have been exchanging anonymous letters for months after answering a lonely hearts newspaper ad. So while they fight in person, they are falling in love via mail, and you can see where this is all headed.

Deftly directed by Scott Ellis, the revival stars Laura Benanti and Zachary Levi and they are simply magnificent. Benanti is an established Broadway star with a fantastic voice and incredible comic timing - her reactions and interpretations of every song are a wonder to behold. Levi was always affable and wonderful in Chuck, but now I know the man is also divine on stage and makes a worthy partner for Benanti. If it wasn't enough to have two dazzling leads, the supporting cast has the fantastic Jane Krakowski as Ilona Ritter, a role that showcases her astonishing singing, dancing, and comic chops. Gavin Creel is a worthy foil to her as the sexy but duplicitous Steven Kodaly, while Byron Jennings, Michael McGrath, and Nicholas Barasch round out the cast as the other colleagues who bring the bustling parfumerie to life. Peter Bartlett also has a memorable interlude as the much put-upon Headwaiter in a restaurant that specializes in a "romantic atmosphere" but can't quite pull it off.

We spend a great deal of time with these supporting actors, as this is a story about all of the joys and mishaps that take place in this little parfumerie over the course of a year. While Georg and Amalia are ostensibly the leads, you find yourself caring about every member of this store and hoping that as Christmas approaches, they all receive a happily ever after ending (except Kodaly, of course). David Rockwell's set design is whimsical and twinkly, with the storefront opening up like a Polly Pocket toy (as aptly described by my friend Katie) and revealing a store filled with charming people and possibilities where various subplots can percolate and unravel to keep you entertained for the best two and half hours of your life. Jeff Mahshie's costumes are sumptuous and evocative, transporting you to the 1930s and making you loath to return to the present. And lest I forget, this is a musical, stuffed to the gills with hilarious, romantic, and catchy songs that are guaranteed to put a smile on your face and a swing in your step. I dare you to watch this clip of Laura Benanti singing "Vanilla Ice Cream" and not buy a ticket to see this show immediately (or at least buy a pint of Ben & Jerry's).

She Loves Me is the perfect romantic Broadway musical. It has brilliant actors, an engaging plot, a sublime score, and overall, a whirling sense of wonder and whimsy that makes the world feel like a brighter place. It is soul-satisfyingly good, a reminder that people can never have enough of silly love songs.