Review: 'Wild Mountain Time' is a magically atrocious romantic comedy, a ridiculous pile of forced Irish whimsy

Watching the strained blarney of John Patrick Shanley’s “Wild Mountain Thyme,” I could feel the spirits of my Irish ancestors laughing boisterously — but what they were finding funny wasn’t the stuff that was supposed to be funny.

No, this attempt at setting a romantic comedy in the Irish countryside is ridiculous for all the wrong reasons — starting with the opening voice-over of Christopher Walken, his Irish accent apparently pulled out of a box of Lucky Charms, happily informing us, “I’m dead!” If only.

Walken plays Tony Reilly, a crusty old Irish farmer who has left much of the labor on his land to his son, Anthony (Jamie Dornan). After the funeral for their neighbor, Chris Muldoon, Tony tells Chris’ widow Aoife (Dearbhla Molloy) that “I don’t see a clear path” to leaving the farm to Anthony when Tony’s dead. Instead, Tony intends to bequeath the farm to Anthony’s American cousin, Adam (Jon Hamm), a Wall Street sharpie.

Anthony is frozen in place, stuck brooding over an incident from childhood: While Anthony was trying to declare his love for one girl, Chris’ daughter Rosemary intervened — leading Anthony to push Rosemary to the ground. That moment has become a source of contention between the Reillys and the Muldoons, symbolized by the twin gates Chris Muldoon installed across the road the Reillys must use to get to town.

Beneath the family feud run deeper emotions. The adult Rosemary (Emily Blunt) is besotted by Anthony, and is waiting for Anthony to ask her to marry him. Anthony seems ready to do that — he’s got his late mother’s wedding ring, just for the occasion — but something holds him back. As Adam observes when he visits, “I don’t understand you people. Why do you make everything so hard?”

’Tis a mystery why “Wild Mountain Thyme” goes off the rails so spectacularly. Shanley has earned his laurels — an Oscar for writing “Moonstruck,” a Tony and a Pulitzer for “Doubt.” And his play “Outside Mullingar,” on which this movie is based, got good reviews when it played Broadway (with Debra Messing as Rosemary, and Molloy as Aoife).

The key problem is that Shanley’s attempts to adapt the theatrical rhythms of his stage work to the screen fall flat. For example, the American cousin is mentioned but never seen in the play — and giving Adam flesh, especially in the form of the charismatic Hamm, makes him less interesting than if he was merely a looming idea.

Shanley might have survived such a structural blunder if the other elements worked. But with the sputtering chemistry between Blunt and Dornan, the miscasting of Walken, and the thick layer of forced Irish whimsy, the flaws of “Wild Mountain Thyme” are too numerous to ignore.

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‘Wild Mountain Thyme’

★

Opening Friday, December 11, in theaters where open. Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements and suggestive comments. Running time: 103 minutes.

Review: In 'The Midnight Sky,' director and star George Clooney tells an end-of-the-world story that's stirring and thoughtful

George Clooney contemplates the end of the world in “The Midnight Sky,” a mid-apocalyptic drama that simultaneously touches the brain, heart and adrenal glands.

Clooney both directed and stars scientist Augustine Lofthouse, a scientist who’s the last man left behind at a research station north of the Arctic Circle, in February 2049. Everyone else caught the helicopters heading south, to reunite with their families ahead of an extinction-level cataclysm that’s only described as “the event.” 

Lofthouse has no one in his life — as we learn in flashbacks of a failed romance and a young child he never met — and has a terminal illness, so staying behind seems natural to him. He gets used to solitude, so he’s surprised when he finds a little girl, Iris (Caoilinn Springall), abandoned during the evacuation.

Lofthouse scans the records of NASA (or Space Force, or whatever), and finds one spacecraft, the Aether, still on its mission. The Aether is flying home from K-23, a possibly inhabitable moon of Jupiter, only recently discovered — by Lofthouse in his younger days. Lofthouse knows he must get a signal to The Aether, to warn them that Earth is no longer inhabitable. The research station’s radio is too weak, so he and Iris must trek over the frozen tundra to a relay station with a stronger signal.

Half of the action in the script — written by Mark L. Smith (who co-wrote “The Revenant”), adapting Lily Brooks-Dalton’s novel “Good Morning, Midnight” — involves Lofthouse and Iris’ journey. The other half takes place aboard The Aether, following the daily grind of its five-member crew, and the dangers encountered while flying home. Most of this is seen from the viewpoint of the ship’s science officer, known to everyone as Sully (Felicity Jones, sharp and sympathetic as always).

It’s notable that Sully is pregnant, and the father of her baby is the ship’s commander, Adowale, played by David Oyelowo. Rounding out the crew are Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir and Tiffany Boone.

Clooney once starred in a TV remake of Sidney Lumet’s 1964 nuclear-war thriller “Fail-Safe”; in this movie, he at one point references a classic of the genre, Stanley Kramer’s 1959 nuclear-fallout parable “On the Beach.” So he knows the stakes in an end-of-the-world drama, and in his portrayal of Lofthouse — a scientist who could see what was coming but was powerless to stop it — he carries that considerable weight.

Clooney also has a sure handle on the technical side, creating a plausible scientific atmosphere both in the Arctic station and aboard The Aether. Scenes involving a meteor shower hitting the spacecraft are as nail-biting as the space station disaster in “Gravity” (another film Clooney starred in).

What makes “The Midnight Sky” work is how Clooney balances between the two quite different survival stories — the one on the ice and the one in space — and gradually reveals the threads that unite them. In the end, they’re both part of the human story, the one that tells us how the species will endure because of ingenuity and boundless hope.

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‘The Midnight Sky’

★★★1/2

Opens Friday, December 11, in theaters where open; available for streaming on Netflix starting Wednesday, December 23. Not rated, but probably PG-13 for bloody images, suggestions of violence, and brief strong language. Running time: 118 minutes.

Review: 'Nomadland' is a beautiful look at people constantly on the road, anchored by Frances McDormand's soulful performance

In “Nomadland,” filmmaker Chloe Zhao envelops us in a world that most of us don’t know, with the familiar face of Frances McDormand as our guide.

McDormand plays Fern, a woman who lost her home in Nevada when the gypsum plant shut down in the Great Recession. Now she lives in a rundown van, driving to where the seasonal jobs are. At her first stop, she’s in a pre-Christmas seasonal job at an Amazon warehouse, filling boxes and moving shipments. Other times of the year, she’s a camp host at a national park, or flipping burgers at Wall Drug in South Dakota, or hauling beets for harvest in Nebraska.

At most stops, she parks her van with other people who live their lives on the road. Sometimes it’s an encampment on Bureau of Land Management land; other times its in a trailer park. When she’s alone, she may park at a truck stop or supermarket, running the risk of being rousted by security guards.

Fern finds friendship and life hacks from three mentors, all portrayed here by real-life nomads. Linda May, a woman just a few years older than Fern, shows her the most efficient way to clean a campground men’s room. Bob Wells is a guru of sorts, delivering lectures about life on the road. And Swankie is a gruff old woman who recounts the wonders she has seen in her many travels.

With Jessica Bruder’s 2017 book about nomadic Americans as her compass, Chao follows Fern as she travels in her van, her solitude sometimes broken by brief friendships. One such friend is Dave (David Staithairn), who contemplates leaving the road to live with his estranged son. Fern is offered the chance at domesticity, in a scene where she’s reunited with Dolly (Melissa Smith), her suburbanite sister — who knows that Fern’s wandering spirit, not merely her economic plight, that draws her to the road.

The images of these campsites have historical parallels, from the covered wagons venturing to the West to the caravans of Okies escaping the Dust Bowl. But the problems of their inhabitants are also entirely modern, from a busted carburetor to the limitations of Social Security benefits.

One cannot overstate how multifaceted and how powerful McDormand’s performance is here. She conveys the fierce independence she’s chosen, the tenacity it takes to maintain it, and the crushing loneliness that comes with it — often with imperceptibly small gestures and without saying a word.

Zhao — who directed and edited the film, and wrote the screenplay — follows the pattern of her past films, “Songs My Brothers Taught Me” and “The Rider,” as she and her regular cinematographer, Joshua James Richards, set her quiet, brooding characters in contrast to the wide-open spaces of the American West. As Zhao and McDormand patiently reveal throughout “Nomadland,” Fern may seem dwarfed by the vastness of the plains, but we come to see her heart is as big as the mountains on the horizon.

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‘Nomadland’

★★★★

Available Friday, December 4, for one week on the Film at Lincoln Center virtual cinema (and is sold out); scheduled to open in theaters on Friday, February 19, 2021. Rated R for some full nudity. Running time: 108 minutes.

Review: 'All My Life' is a real-life romance that gets its sparks from stars Jessica Rothe and Harry Shum Jr.

Sometimes all a movie needs for a sweet romance is what “All My Life” delivers: A couple of actors with good chemistry, a few moments that show genuine affection for the characters and the audience’s appreciation of love.

The story here is as earnest and straightforward as a romance gets. Jennifer Carter (Jessica Rothe, from the “Happy Death Day” movies) is having a drink with her girl friends in a sports bar, when a couple of guys walk up trying to chat them up. They’re failing miserably, but Jennifer notices the embarrassment of the guys’ third wheel, Solomon Chau (Harry Shum Jr., formerly of “Glee”), and engages him in conversation. Sparks don’t fly just yet, but there’s something there.

A Saturday afternoon jogging date reveals an easygoing rapport, and when they arrive at the local farmer’s market, we can feel them click. In one moment, Jenn looks up and notices Sol isn’t there. As she later describes, “I missed you, and I barely knew you.” Within minutes, they share their first kiss.

Jenn is a psychology grad student. Sol has a job at a tech firm, but hates it; his real passion is cooking, but he’s afraid to risk a steady paycheck to follow his dream. Sol can save expenses, Jenn tells him, by moving in with her. Soon they are living their fullest lives, and Sol proposes, Jenn accepts, and they start planning their wedding.

Then the bad news: Sol learns he has a tumor in his liver. Jenn is at his bedside after his first surgery, and tending to him at home through his recuperation. Through chemo and other treatments, Sol starts to question whether they can still go through with a wedding — afraid that everyone will see her as “a widow in white.” Jenn argues back: “You don’t get to decide when it’s time for me to tap out.”

Their friends come up with another idea: Speed up the plans, raise $20,000 through crowd-funding, and give Sol and Jenn their dream wedding in weeks rather than months.

By this point, it’s probably not surprising to hear that “All My Life” is based on a true story. The press notes call this “the powerful true love story that inspired an entire nation” — and If you haven’t heard of it, that’s because the nation is Canada. (The movie was filmed in Louisiana, but the script never specifies where the movie takes place.)

Director Mark Meyers (“My Friend Dahmer”) and first-time screenwriter Todd Rosenberg find much beauty in the everyday moments of Sol and Jenn’s romance. There are the loving glances, the boisterous gatherings, the moments of blissful quiet and loving laughter. They also don’t shy away from the moments of tragedy that have made people cry at movies from “Dark Victory” and “Love Story” to the present.

The movie also boasts an offbeat supporting cast, including Ever Carradine, singer Keala Settle (“The Greatest Showman”) and comic Jay Pharoah. But to whatever degree “All My Life” works as a romance is the chemistry between Rothe and Shum. She’s sunny and engaging, he’s cool and collected, and together they deliver in both the light and heavy passages.

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‘All My Life’

★★★

Opens Friday, December 4, in theaters where open. Rated PG-13 for brief language. Running time: 93 minutes.

Review: Documentary 'Dear Santa' doesn't give enough credit to the real-life volunteers who bring Christmas to thousands of kids

Children, the documentary “Dear Santa” shows some of the many helpers across the United States — many of them working for the United States Postal Service — who answer thousands of letters mailed to Santa every year. 

It’s a movie that believes in Santa as much as you do, children, and works to share that holiday joy that only Santa can bring.

Now be good little children and run off to bed, so Santa knows you’ve been behaving. OK, good night, and don’t worry your heads about anything else in this review.

…

…

…

OK, now that the children aren’t reading this, it’s time for some harsh honesty: “Dear Santa” is a disappointing misfire of a movie that takes a juvenile approach to what could have been a fascinating subject.

Director Dana Nachman shows us the workings of Operation Santa, the U.S. Postal Service’s annual effort to help some of the thousands of children, and some adults, who write letters to Santa Claus. 

In some towns, postmasters take on the job, to solicit donations and gather toys and other goods to fulfill the wishes of the young letter writers. In bigger cities, postal employees hand over the letters to charity organizations, whose volunteers take on the herculean effort of making a merry Christmas for kids who otherwise wouldn’t have one.

In Chico, Calif., for example, a postmistress gets emotional talking about trying to help families in her town, some of whom lost their homes in the wildfires that destroyed the town of Paradise. In Chicago, a couple and their friends take on gift-giving for large families. In Lansing, Mich., a couple adopts a rescue dog to give to a 12-year-old girl who asked for a puppy for her little sister. And so on.

Nachman, who followed the training of guide dogs for the blind in “Pick of the Litter,” skims the surface of these stories, creating a series of feel-good features without deeper context. There’s a lot in these stories that speaks to such issues as economic inequity and the limits of charity, but are left unsaid.

Then there’s the decision Nachman makes that undercuts “Dear Santa” and the people she’s profiling: Depicting Santa as a real person, rather than a fanciful story adults tell their kids. The narrative device may allow young audiences to watch — but it demeans the humans who are doing Santa’s job, giving a fictional character credit for their hard work.

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‘Dear Santa’

★★

Opens Friday, December 4, in theaters where open. Not rated, but probably G. Running time; 83 minutes.

Review: 'The Prom' benefits from big stars, but it's the young performers who shine in this high school musical

It’s fitting that Ryan Murphy, the man who gave us “Glee,” would return to high school by directing the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical “The Prom” — and even more fitting that a story about fresh-faced kids winning out over self-absorbed adults should succeed because a first-time lead outshines the big stars.

The story starts in Edgewater, Indiana, where high-school senior Emma Nolan (Jo Ellen Pellman) asks the PTA at James Madison High School for one small thing: Let her go to prom with her girlfriend. The PTA, headed by the imperious Mrs. Greene (Kerry Washington), says no — but since barring Emma would bring legal ramifications, the PTA opts to cancel prom altogether.

Read the full review at sltrib.com.

Review: 'Happiest Season' is a warm and smart Christmas rom-com, with an LGBTQ twist

If things had gone according to plan, before the COVID-19 pandemic destroyed every shred of the Hollywood release schedule, “Happiest Season” would have been a groundbreaking film: The first Christmas rom-com from a major studio whose main couple is gay.

Even without the baggage of movie history, as a gem waiting to be discovered on Hulu, “Happiest Season” is a delightful romantic comedy — and proof that the old formula works, whatever the character’s sexual orientation.

Abby (Kristen Stewart) doesn’t love Christmas — it’s when her parents died 10 years earlier — but she loves Harper (Mackenzie Davis). They’ve been dating about a year, and living together since September (as shown in the Hallmark-esque artwork that depicts the relationship over the opening credits). After a romantic night together in December, Harper impulsively invites Abby to share Christmas with her family upstate, and Abby eagerly accepts.

As Abby explains to her sassy gay best friend, John (Dan Levy, from “Schitt’s Creek”), she plans to propose to Harper on Christmas morning — after asking Harper’s dad for his blessing, because Abby’s old-fashioned like that. The plan runs into an obstacle on the drive over, when Harper informs Abby that she’s never come out to her family. What’s more, Harper asks Abby to keep the secret, and pretend to be straight, until Harper can muster up the courage to come out, after the holidays.

When Abby meets Harper’s family, she gets a fuller picture of the dynamic. Her conservative father, Ted (Victor Garber), is a city councilman contemplating a run for mayor — a move endorsed by his control-freak wife, Tipper (Mary Steenburgen). Abby also meets Harper’s older sister, Sloane (Alison Brie), and discovers the sisters have a long-running competition for their father’s affection. 

Also informing Abby’s view of her girlfriend is the re-emergence of two of Harper’s high-school exes: Connor (Jake McDornan), whom Harper dated publicly, and Riley (Aubrey Plaza), Harper’s first lesbian crush — and perhaps the sharpest observer of Abby’s frustration over Harper’s unwillingness to come out to her family.

Director Clea DuVall has tackled similar thorny family dynamics in her 2016 debut, “The Intervention,” and knows how to gently but firmly prod her characters into awkward and funny situations. DuVall’s secret weapon is her co-writer, Mary Holland, who also steals the show as Harper’s oddball younger sister, Jane.

Stewart isn’t the most natural of comic actors, so DuVall smartly deploys her as the (forgive the term) straight woman, the calm observer of the family craziness going on around her. Stewart also brings the drama when needed, particularly in scenes with Davis, as Abby questions whether she wants to marry somebody who can’t declare her love openly.

There are plenty of laughs, ranging from subtle jabs at manners to full-out slapstick, and a powerhouse comic cast led by Holland, Brie, Levy, Plaza, Garber and particularly Steenburgen, who takes passive-aggressive mothering to a new level.

“Happiest Season” deserves to join the pantheon of Christmas romantic comedies, because it’s fun, witty, and as sweet as gingerbread. And in Stewart and Davis, it has a romantic couple only a Grinch wouldn’t want to see together in the final shot.

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‘Happiest Season’

★★★1/2

Available starting Wednesday, November 25, for streaming on Hulu. Rated PG-13 for some language. Running time: 102 minutes. 

Review: Stone Age animated tale 'The Croods: A New Age' packs too many characters and not enough laughs

Just in time for Thanksgiving comes “The Croods: A New Age,” an overstuffed bird of a movie with too many characters and not enough genuinely funny gags.

You may recall (or, like me, maybe you didn’t) meeting the Croods in their 2013 animated debut. They are a not-so-modern Stone Age family, with protective parents Grug (voiced by Nicolas Cage) and Ugga (voiced by Catherine Keener) guiding their children — teen daughter Eep (voiced by Emma Stone), dimbulb son Thunk (voiced by Clark Duke) and semi-feral youngster Sandy (voiced this time by Kailey Crawford) — and aging Gran (voiced by Cloris Leachman) through a prehistoric land where everything seems ready to kill them. In the first movie, the family met the slightly more evolved Guy (voiced by Ryan Reynolds), who became part of their group and Eep’s instant crush.

The sequel starts with Eep and Guy’s swooning romance, with Guy talking about how his deceased parents urged him to find his future in a place called Tomorrow. Meanwhile, Grug is worried both about Eep will leave the family to go off with Guy — if they aren’t all killed by every predator out in the wild. 

Then the family finds a sanctuary, free of deadly animals and filled with bounteous food — all of it growing in oddly straight rows. Soon they meet the more-evolved people who live here: The Bettermans. (Character names in this franchise are not subtle.) Phil (voiced by Peter Dinklage) and Hope (voiced by Leslie Mann) welcome the Croods as guests. Guy, whose family knew the Bettermans, is welcomed as a long lost friend — and reunited with Guy’s childhood friend, Dawn Betterman (voiced by Kelly Marie Tran), setting up a potential triangle with Eep.

That’s a lot of plot for one animated movie to carry, and we haven’t even gotten to the mysterious threat beyond the Betterman’s compound walls. And 10 characters is more than this much-handled script (with four credited writers, plus franchise creators Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders getting story credit) and director Joel Crawford, a story artist on the “Kung Fu Panda” films and making his directing debut here, can comfortably carry.

What’s worse, “The Croods: A New Age” isn’t funny. There are moments clearly meant to be funny, but the jokes wither on the vine, and through weak conception or labored execution fail to generate more than a chuckle. 

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‘The Croods: A New Age’

★★

Opening Wednesday, November 25, in theaters where open. Rated PG for peril, action and rude humor. Running time: 95 minutes.