The limitations of Clint Eastwood's skill as a director -- his bluntness, for instance -- are overcome in "Space Cowboys" by the offhand fun in the exchanges between Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner. That fun never becomes slapstick, it retains some measure of weight -- it's the bullshitting of my father's generation, and the moments requiring a bit of gravity (the diagnosis of an illness, say) are done without sentimentality, but rather a restrained kind of acceptance. The last image in particular, a far-out scene that has the logic of magic realism (unlike the overall plot of the movie, which is mostly preposterous), is neither weighty nor frivolous; it's jazziness in space.
Finding Graceland (1998, David Winkler)
Although it occasionally veers into sentimentality, "Finding Graceland" has some charm to it, and it's a perfectly fine example of a road movie, albeit one tinged with tragedy. (The idea, someone who pretends to be someone else to escape from grief, is certainly good dramatic material. And the bookend structure of bringing closure to broken souls is somewhat touching.) Although Harvey Keitel has the flashier role, it's Johnathon Schaech who gives the movie some off-beat mileage. His angular, distinct beauty seems out of place in the South, and his hairdo sticks on his head like a wig, but he has the cornball innocence of the '50s and that seems right here. He's an enormously appealing actor, and I wish he had a more extensive resume. Keitel, on the other hand, is serviceable in his role, but his hamminess is sometimes grating, as with his overdone accent and his stereotyped squeal-cry of anguish. A performance scene of Elvis' most enjoyable song, "Suspicious Minds," is also undone by Keitel's singing which is most likely lip-synching.
A Night in Heaven (1983, John G. Avildsen)
A sturdy showcase for Christopher Atkins at his hard-bodied, all American boy peak, but the movie is a bit confused in what it's trying to say. When his teacher (Leslie Ann Warren) happens to be in the strip club where Atkins works he gives her an electrifying lap-dance. It might be something that sets the stage for an awakening in her home life, but the movie results in a messagey morality play something like "Eyes Wide Shut" but with a subplot about her husband's career that seems like another movie entirely. For some reason it's decided that Atkins' role must become a character demanding punishment. For what reason? Presumably because, despite the movie featuring a brave image of Atkins' penis during a sex scene, the movie was required to have a pro-marriage stance where no woman having an affair could ever think to leave her partner.
Swimming with Sharks (1994, George Huang)
Too dreary and one-note to be successful in what it tries to do (it comes across as a revenge movie aimed at cruel bosses), it lacks the fun of other boss-from-Hell movies like "The Devil Wears Prada." It attempts some kind of substance by sheepishly suggesting that even an awful boss has his reasons, and its dark and implausible ending suggests that the only way to be successful in Hollywood is to join the other assholes. Some people may find it brave that the movie shows a character who becomes what he loathes, but what little logical support there is for it is flimsy at best, and it comes across more like a movie trying to be truthful by simply being dark.
Son of Rambow (2007, Garth Jennings)
With a premise similar to that of "Be Kind Rewind," "Son of Rambow" has less going on as far as that film's statement on community, but it may be more simply entertaining. There's something pleasurable about watching the film's hero (Bill Milner), a self-styled son of Rambo involved in a do-it-yourself remake/sequel/pirate copy of "First Blood," find himself in situations that require his tiny little body to go flying through the air. It's a more simply heartwarming film than "Be Kind Rewind," something that imbues itself with sentiment so as to be emotionally satisfying to a large audience, but there's nothing that isn't genuine about the young performers in the movie. It's particularly on-target with a French foreign exchange student, styled in the latest New Wave trends, that the British schoolchildren fall in love with (and who is lightly satirized as a fair-weather friend seeking recognition).
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