Cheaters Never Prosper

Breathe In brings nothing new to infidelity genre

There have been so many different books, movies and television shows that explore illicit relationships between older men and younger women that the storyline could probably be considered its own genre.

What that means, however, is that anyone who wants go down that well-trodden road again better bring something truly special to the table.

Unfortunately for Breathe In, there’s nothing particularly memorable about it. It centers on the Reynolds family — father Keith (Guy Pearce), mother Megan (Amy Ryan) and daughter Lauren (Mackenzie Davis) — who welcome in a friend’s daughter, Sophie (Felicity Jones), as an exchange student from England.

There are lots of small moments that add up to the ultimate attraction, so by they cross that line, it’s no real surprise.

Keith is a high school music teacher hoping to make it as a full-time orchestra member, and Sophie, who shows much promise on the piano, seems to understand exactly what it takes to be great in that field.

As Sophie shows more and more interest in him and his work, he finds himself inexorably drawn to her.

To his credit, writer/director Drake Doremus takes his time trying to establish a connection between Keith and Sophie. There are lots of small moments that add up to the ultimate attraction, so by the time they decide to cross that line, it’s no real surprise.

But what Doremus forgets to include is any true-to-life emotion. Although the film has some original flourishes, it’s hard to escape the paint-by-numbers feel that comes with this kind of story. And because none of the four main characters stands out in any way, it’s difficult to root for or against any of them.

Doremus and co-writer Ben York Jones never give Keith any big reason to stray from his family, which is perfectly fine except that it doesn’t really make for a compelling film. The movie doesn’t seem to contain any kind of overarching message, at least not one that’s been said a million times before, so Keith just comes off as your average cheater.

None of the story problems are the fault of the actors, however. Pearce, Jones, Ryan and Davis all acquit themselves well even when the situations don’t live up their standards. Jones appears on her way to becoming Doremus’ muse, as she was also at the center of his last film, Like Crazy.

If seeing two people make poor choices that cause a family to fall apart sounds like your cup of tea, by all means put Breathe In at the top of your list. But for all of you who have seen this kind of film many times before, it’s not worth your time.

Felicity Jones in Breathe In.

Felicity Jones in Breathe In

Photo courtesy of Cohen Media Group

Felicity Jones in Breathe In.

Movie Review

Comedy all-stars Jack Black and Paul Rudd can't save Anaconda sequel

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

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Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

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