DVD Review: No Clue (2013)

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An affectionately made feature length Film Noir comedy, No Clue initially starts out like a Canadian cross between Andy Richter’s tragically short-lived Andy Barker, P.I. and HBO’s Bored to Death (minus the pot and kink fueled literary scene).

Yet thanks to both the impressive big screen quality technical specs (that elevate the small screen style work from indie obscurity into something much more cinematic) as well as the likability of Brent Butt’s unlikely “Average Joe” turned faux private dick hero Leo Falloon, Clue grows much stronger as it continues and relies on the strength of its own voice.

A small screen sitcom treasure in his native Canada due to the success of his two hit series, Corner Gas– which is likely getting its own feature adaptation – and Hiccups, Butt who produced and starred in No Clue also wrote its banter and Noir homage filled script.

For those (like this reviewer) unfamiliar with Butt's technique, it took awhile to get used to his flat Bob Newhart-like delivery mixed together with the film’s rapid-fire approach.

And while the speed of the dialogue was most likely inspired by screwball comedies popular during the Noir heyday, the more jokes Butt throws at the dartboard, the more bull’s-eyes the former comedian lands onscreen, despite seemingly a bit lost without the audible laughter of a studio or comedy club audience to make him feel more at ease.

Nonetheless, he’s so darn affable and his knowledge of the material is undeniably genuine that it’s relatively easy to hang in there until the film picks up momentum. And that it does, gathering enough speed to threaten to fly off the rails to the point that (despite a wonderfully funny second act), the editor hurries to wrap up the surprisingly complicated mystery in about half the screen time they should’ve allotted to make sure every clue, quote or plot strand was grasped by the viewer.

Needless to say, rather than Hercule Poirot style drawing room speechmaking, exposition and theatrics, No Clue is aiming to comically send up the terse realism of men like Marlowe, Hammer and Spade.

However, when you contrast the fast fact-filled conclusion with the meandering start, you do wish another pass would’ve been taken either at the script stage or in the editing room to ensure the whole thing flowed with as much innovative humor and imagination as we witnessed in its rather terrific second act that left us with little doubt why Butt is a star.

A specialty advertising salesman who deals in key fob, pen and “token” real estate, Butt's Leo is stunned when Amy Smart’s Kyra – “a smoldering tower of nuclear hottitude” – mistakenly walks into his office instead of the private investigator’s suite across the hall.

Emotionally distraught and worried about the whereabouts of her video game designer brother who’s recently gone missing – Leo is soon seduced into helping her against all logic, even if it is laundry night and he only gets machine access on the one night she enlists his help.

While the audience isn’t fooled for a minute that there’s something rotten in Denmark about the manipulative mystery woman, it takes the lovesick pen salesman a bit longer to catch on as he finds himself stumbling into a much bigger Noir mystery of double identities, misinformation and shadowy figures.

From riffs and name drops like (Maltese) Falcon Street and a company named Glass Key (after a terrific Veronica Lake picture of the popular private eye period), Butt’s solid script proves he’s well-versed in the world he’s using as creative fodder.

Likewise from the opening credit sequence that lovingly celebrates the rich tradition of detective thrillers with a creative cartoon pulp fiction comic book style credit sequence and onward, No Clue plays doubly well with Film Noir enthusiasts looking to play Where’s Waldo while spotting influences as they watch.

While it does what it can to avoid the limits of its modest budget, director Carl Bessai relies on his vast experience to turn what could’ve been a borderline B-picture spoof into one that – much like the guy pretending to be Bogart-like – longs to transcend B-status to join the A-crowd.

An official selection from the L.A. Comedy Festival, while the film may begin with a few hiccups and has an ending that flies by so fast that you might just need to take a second look, it’s not only well-made but backed up by a talented supporting cast whose combined energy help you overlook its flaws.

Moreover No Clue proves that in stark contrast to its title, its creator Brent Butt is not only clued into the genre he’s saluting but also eager to serve as a tour guide to take us down its shadowy streets filled with beguiling blondes and corporate cover-ups… laundry night be damned.
   

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Movie Review: Love N' Dancing (2009)

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When times are hard, there’s no cinematic escape to lift you quite as high as the old standbys of “love” and “dancing,” and such is the case with this old-fashioned, non-challenging, cinematic slice of comfort food—the aptly named Love N' Dancing.



And far more fittingly-- in case moms were feeling left out from the summer box office that puts an emphasis on fare for teenage boys-- this adorable if admittedly predictable charmer opens just in time for Mother’s Day-- for the seven or eight of you who won’t be trying to “beam up” for Star Trek.

Intriguingly, the film’s roots began several years ago when the actor and comedian Tom Malloy became inspired to pen the script while taking in his first professional dance competition. So while the idea to make a dance movie long before they were again in vogue with the advent of So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With the Stars on network television seemed odd half a decade ago, today it feels like it’s exactly the right time for Love N' Dancing to land in theatres.

Following the success of mindless diversions like the wildly popular High School Musical series and last summer’s critically panned but audience revered Mamma Mia!-- escapism seems to be precisely what audiences need as Love N' Dancing choreographer and four-time U.S. Open Swing Dance Champion Robert Royston astutely surmises, “if you look throughout American history, we as a culture have often embraced dancing in times of great economic stress.”



Although as Royston continues, dance movies are very different than musicals--now more than ever we’re seeking out something that as he explains, “makes people feel good, and… gives them something to do that isn’t expensive or complicated,” and Love N' Dancing is guilty on all counts.

An affable trifle you can predict the entire way through before the end of the opening act—its uncomplicated familiarity nonetheless takes a backseat to the feeling it evokes in its celebration of West Coast Swing dancing, romance and the tried and true plot of a woman engaged to the wrong man who finds the right one and her true self when she sets foot in a dance studio.



Luckily the grace and enthusiasm of Amy Smart elevates her standard chick-lit character from its one-dimensionality of the page that downright shines when she’s challenged by the slithering, all business, sans romantic maneuvering of her fiancé Billy Zane (playing the type of self-involved jerk he does best).



And although it’s unfortunately hindered by the otherwise tremendously talented dancer and screenwriter Tom Malloy’s weak acting presence as the romantic lead and third part of the love triangle opposite Smart and Zane, he manages to write his way out of what could’ve been a mess by inserting a clever twist into the old formula by making his professional dancer turned instructor deaf.



Unwilling to compete anymore since he’s convinced that his prior back-to-back championship titles may have been awarded based on sympathy rather than merit, Jake gets by as a public school motivational speaker by day and dance teacher by night. And in doing so, he meets Smart’s buttoned up, bespectacled and cardigan clad middle school instructor Jessica in the daylight and then arranges to instruct she and her fiancé in the art of dance in evening sessions to ready them for their nuptials.

However, when Zane’s BlackBerry, Bluetooth headset, and business wheeling and dealing out-rank his affection for Jessica as he repeatedly ditches her to take classes alone, soon Smart’s Jessica begins to recall the budding dancer she’d been as a young woman as she realizes that both Jake’s encouragement and West Coast Swing becomes her.

Still hung up on his old professional partner (Royston’s real life wife—the actress and dancer Nicola Royston) who tries to lure Jack back to competing with none-too-subtle flirtation--soon he begins imagining what it would be like to return back to the ballroom but this time, with Jessica on his arm.



While it doesn’t take a chemist to figure out exactly where this formula is heading—the movie’s stellar production values (that hide its twenty-eight day shoot and substitution of Albuquerque for Philadelphia) with top-notch cinematography, editing, soundtrack, and direction from She’s All That helmer Robert Iscove ensures it never overstays its welcome thanks largely in part to the plethora of professional dancers who comprise the work.

Utilizing West Coast Swing for the very reasons that “it’s not only visually exciting, but it’s the kind of dancing that works well with almost any type of music,” as Royston continues—the film’s authenticity in the style reigns supreme since in the labor of love work, “there are 18 world and national championship title holders represented." Likewise, it’s always thrilling to know that what you’re watching is the genuine article and not just Flashdance style movie trickery.

While a few of the film’s subplots including an underwritten Caroline Rhea whom appears merely as a foil to converse with Smart (often in the middle school bathroom) and a lesbian dance instructor who fills in as a gender-bender twist on the “gay best friend” character for our leading man feel a bit half-baked, it’s always fun to see Zane work it as the smarmy modern day cousin to the character he played in James Cameron’s Titanic.

Amusing, frothy, and light as air-- Love N' Dancing doesn’t have any pretenses in trying to be a box office CGI smash. However, it does succeed for its built in audience of dance enthusiasts (especially the growing fan base in the dawn of Dancing With the Stars) and those of us who--tired at the end of a long hard day of an even longer and harder week--just want to go watch some Love N' Dancing. Even though in Iscove’s movie it works to the film’s advantage if you’re hoping to see the two qualities in reverse order as the dancing far surpasses the love which in my filmgoer’s eye, works just fine as that's entertainment indeed.

Bigger than the Sky

Director: Al Corley

According to Bigger than the Sky's wildly charming and popular star of Portland Community Theatre, Michael (John Corbett), rule number one for his profession is to “never tell anybody in the theatre anything you don’t want everybody else to know.”

Having been a part of the theatre world both as a student actor and later as an employee, it’s a lesson that kept repeating itself again and again as it seemed like everyone from the costume designers to the ticket sellers knew precisely what was happening in everyone’s private life, thanks largely in part to the countless hours actors spend in the theatre where gossip is tangible and relationships begin casually and end messily in love triangles and even infidelity.

The rule of never telling anyone in theatre anything was discovered by Peter Rooker (Marcus Thomas) much too late after the mild-mannered man whose girlfriend has left him and taken 95% of the furniture in their home with her, finds himself intrigued by the local theatre which is holding auditions for a production of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac. Feeling stuck in his dead-end job with a condescending bully of a boss, Peter embarks on a depressing visit to the self-help section of his local bookstore where he's so drawn to the classic play that he impulsively goes to the open audition. After he begins feeling completely overshadowed by his scene with Michael, Peter is questioned about his life and reasons for auditioning off the bat by the unusual and inquisitive director Edwina (Clare Walters).

Later, shockingly cast as Cyrano thanks to his honesty, Peter finds himself overwhelmed by the theatrical process as he’s taken under the wing of Michael and also Michael’s beautiful on-again/off-again girlfriend Grace (Amy Smart) who, until finding herself the target of Peter’s affections, hadn’t considered taking part in her pact with Michael to have an open relationship.

Quickly and admittedly predictably, the film which was written by Three to Tango screenwriter Rodney Patrick Vaccaro begins to mirror Cyrano de Bergerac with Peter as the unlikely hero who falls for Roxanne (Smart’s Grace) from afar while knowing full well that Christian (Corbett’s Michael) is a far more better suited rival for her heart. With a whimsical and overly theatrical structure that at times makes it seem a bit like a fairy tale, Vaccaro’s script which he inexplicably felt was a straight comedy according to most critical reviews, is at its best when it’s being played as an homage to theatre by providing wonderful supporting roles for Sean Astin as the cocky actor Ken Zorbell, Astin’s mother Patty Duke in two quirky roles, and a lovely turn by Allan Corduner as Kippy, the unofficial godfather of the Portland Community Theatre.

The film gains much needed spirit and warmth from the charismatic turns by one of my favorite and most reliable scene stealers John Corbett and by Amy Smart who is becoming a promising actress to watch. However, despite a genuinely touching ending that reminds viewers just why we love theatre, one of the biggest problems of the film lies in the main character, which should be the opposite goal of any work purported to be a version of Cyrano. Although Peter is supposed to be a bland character, based on Marcus Thomas’ largely ineffective and vapid portrayal one can’t help but question if the fault came from the writing, direction or miscast actor, and this does greatly affect one's reaction to the film.

For two better modern updates of Cyrano, there’s no beating Steve Martin’s script and performance in Roxanne or the inventive reverse gender approach from writer Audrey Wells in The Truth About Cats and Dogs. Perhaps in a subtle attempt by the studio to make up for the dull main character, intriguingly yet sadly, the manipulative DVD box for the film focuses on the star quality of Corbett and Smart and provides renters with a summary that mistakenly leads one to believe that Corbett’s Michael is the lead, with virtually no reference to Thomas’ Peter Rooker.

The Battle of Shaker Heights

Directors:

Efram Potelle

&

Kyle Rankin

Erica Beeney’s screenplay for The Battle of Shaker Heights was chosen as the second winning entry in Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s popular HBO series Project Greenlight. Similar to another Greenlight release Stolen Summer, 2003’s The Battle of Shaker Heights surrounds the friendship of two boys coming of age. Sweet natured and original, the undisputedly predictable yet charming film helped introduce the world to former Holes star Shia La Beouf before he became a new sensation with roles in Hollywood hits such as Transformers.

Set in the Cleveland, Ohio suburb of Shaker Heights, La Beouf plays Kerry Ernswiler but highly intelligent teenager who spends his weekends as a civil war reenactor where he befriends the wealthy, kind Bart Bowland (Elden Henson) who not only gives him access to his father’s collection of legendary battle artifacts but also introduces him to his gorgeous but engaged older sister Tabby (Amy Smart), on whom Kerry develops a hopeless crush. The son of hippies in the from of a recovering addict father who sometimes lets the at risk homeless people he works with sack out on the family sofa and a mother who runs a bizarre sweat shop mass producing portraits of horses with her Asian staff, Kerry spends increasing amounts of time with Bart. Along with his new friend, Kerry tries to devise a strategy to take on the school’s biggest bully who incidentally is the son of Kerry’s exasperated history teacher who gets routinely challenged by the young war buff in class.

Although the ending wraps things up far too easily and abruptly and the film at times feels uneven in its tone which further research revealed may have been indicative of the studio’s battle to turn the film into a teen comedy whereas the filmmakers intended it to be a drama, it’s still an entertaining time-waster and even more enjoyable than the Affleck/Damon production Stolen Summer.