Displaying items by tag: Andi McDowell

READY OR NOT

US, 2019, 95 minutes, Colour.

Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Mark O' Brien, Henry Czerny, Andi Mc Dowell, Nicky Guadagni, John Ralston.

Directed by Mark Bettinelli- Olpin, Tyler Gillette.

The title obviously has us ready for games, for hide and seek. And, just in case we didn’t pick up on it, the pre-credit sequence offers us a rather grimly comic version, set in a mansion, very well-dressed characters pursuing the hider with a range of weapons, a young boy offering a hiding place in a closet, only for him to tell everybody else that this is where their victim was. And, he is a victim.

Move on 30 years.

This is a contemporary horror story, more than a touch of the gory, but a tale very much tongue-in-cheek, the blend of horror and comedy – and more than a dash of Satanism. Which means, of course, that we might be laughing one moment, thinking that the characters and their behaviour is absurd at another moment, reacting to some grizzly deaths, and then

smiling again.

One drawback for audiences who might be able to enter into the macabre fun is that much of the dialogue exhibits the syndrome of lazy writing, ultra-lazy writing, with expletives and four-letter exclamations substituting for real dialogue. In fact, a lot of this kind of script becomes very tiresome – and, to quote a very serious reviewer with whom many of us would not always agree, actually made a strong comment about the leading lady being “notably foul-mouthed” as are most of the rest of the characters.

With that off the chest, we can say that Ready or Not has a lot going for it if you want a satire on the ultra-rich in the US, referred to as “the one percent”, if you want huge plot exaggerations, if you want sinister humour.

The setting is a wedding at an enormous mansion, the home of the groom (Mark O’ Brien) and his older brother (Adam Brody) who happens to be the little boy that did the betraying in the pre-credit sequence. Millionaire father is Henry Czerny. Wife is Andie Mc Dowell. And, the heroine is played by Samara Weaving (with everybody noting that she could pass for Margot Robbie’s sister). Her name is Grace and we learn that she was an orphan, fostered, in love with her fiance who has rejected the greedy family who are very wary about introducing such a young woman into their exalted household. It can be noted that there is a harridan aunt, daughter, some wives and husbands and a supercilious butler and several maids. Not exactly a spoiler, but it can be said that there are very few survivors of the film!

The family has built on wealth achieved by an unlikely coincidence and is proud of its family tradition. However, at midnight on the wedding day, a game has to be played. Unfortunately, for Grace, it is Hide and Seek, with her death as the culmination – and, performed in a ritual satanic ceremony!

Back in the 1920s and with several later films on the same theme, there was an archetypal story, The Most Dangerous Game, the pursuit of all the characters and their elimination. (Agatha Christie did it in And Then there were None). So, it is quite dangerous ride, an increasing number of gory deaths, leaving Grace a persevering survivor, some betrayals, and quite a number of puffs of blood!

GOODRICH

US, 2024, 110 minutes, Colour.

Michael Keaton, Mila Kunis, Carmen Ejogo, Michael Urie, Kevin Pollak, Vivien Lyra Blair, Danny Deferrari, Laura Benanti, Andie McDowell.

Directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer.

The title is the surname of the central character with its interesting and evocative implications of both good and rich. In fact, the film could be seen something of an allegory about the rich, gaining the whole world, the danger of losing one’s good, one’s soul.

As we watch Goodrich, we are reminded that many politicians on retirement, sometimes surprisingly early, claim that they need time for being with their families. This film is a strong reassurance that this should be so.

In the opening minutes, Andy Goodrich, another fine performance by Michael Keaton, wakes to find his wife phoning him that she has gone into rehab because of prescription pills addiction. He is shocked. He does not believe it. He has never noticed. Which means that the film is the unmasking of Andy Goodrich, his discovering the self-centredness, self-focus of his life, his career, always busy, taking his family for granted.

And he has nine-year-old twin children coming to realise how much he has been absent from their lives, especially as they question him about their mother, about his own attitudes towards them, the little girl being precociously questioning and observant. He has to find more time to be with them at home. From his first marriage, he has a daughter in her mid-30s, married to a doctor, now pregnant, Grace (Mila Kunis).

Part of the unmasking is his growing realisation of the difficulties in relationship with his daughter, her devotion to him, his downplaying her doctor husband as a nerd, her complete exasperation while he calls on her help and time, finally revealed in a scene of an extraordinary outburst, emotional truth-telling towards her father, saying afterwards that she regretted, not what she said, but saying it out loud.

Then there is the Goodrich Gallery, a boutique gallery in Los Angeles, fostered by Andy for decades, but falling on hard times, money loans, art not selling, then, at one joyful moment, the possibility for all his problems to be solved by getting a contract on the estate of an artist who has died, almost there, but…

There is a great deal of feeling in this film, written and directed by Hallie Meyers Shyer, daughter of two prominent directors, Nancy Myers and Charles Shyer, who made films with some of these family themes.

A reviewer described the film as “endearing”. Andy Goodrich is not always endearing but our invitation to share his self-discovery and emotional honesty with him is endearing. The final image of him is as grandfather holding his newborn granddaughter. There is hope.

1. The title, the focus on good and rich? Ultimately which prevailed?
2. A piece of contemporary Americana, families, careers, addictions, pregnancies, education?
3. Los Angeles setting, the comfortable home and interiors, the art gallery, the rehabilitation centre, the meditation centre, hospital? The musical score?
4. The prologue, Andy waking up, the phone call, his wife, the message, his incomprehension, denial, not noticing real situations? Self-preoccupied? His work? Going to the centre, the smiling refusals of admission? Phone calls, letters returned? His wife ringing the children and his answering, her silence?
5. The portrait of Andy, his age, his first marriage, his wife leaving, a successful management of a Gallery, Grace as his daughter, her living with her mother, marrying Pete, Andy considering him a nerd, his being a nose and throat doctor, Grace and her pregnancy?
6. Andy, his second marriage, the twins, age 9, precocious, the daughter and her observations, her probing questions, the son and his bonding with his father? Andy having to rise to the situation, meals, accompaniment to school, being tardy and being told off, the criticisms of his children, early leaving, late at home, nights away, their reliance on their mother, devotion to her? His reticence about telling the truth, their finding out? Staying home and watching Casablanca?
7. The friendship with Terry, his son, the three children playing, Terry as an actor, highly strung, his partner leaving him, thinking that Andy was available, the kiss, the repercussions? Terry and his sons collapse, Andy taking him to the hospital? The Halloween shopping and the collection of the sweets?
8. The focus on Grace, her marriage, pregnancy, visits to the doctor, interactions with her father, his calling her Billy, helping him out, minding the children, fending off his comments about Pete, the plan for the hiking, meeting Lola Thomson, going to the breathing session? Andy forgetting to take her to the doctor, her outbursts and truth-telling about his whole life and attitude, later apologising, not for what she said but for saying it out loud?
9. Naomi, her sudden return, meaning as a friend with Andy? Love for the children?
10. The meeting with his first wife, her friendship, the walk, their daughter in common?
11. The Gallery, the financial meetings, the loans, the painting’s not selling, the young artist, Andy and his good relationship with his staff, the young director and the job in Portland, and the longtime friendship and depending on Cy? Andy and his optimism? The prospect of the Theresa Thompson estate, going to the feminist show, approaching Lola, attending the breathing session, the seeming contract, the posters, Lola and her signing with the international company?
12. The closing of the Gallery, the party, his farewell speech?
13. The possibility of a new life, with sequence, Peter arriving, Andy and his words to Grace, the happy birth, his holding the baby, the symbol of his future, good rather than rich?