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    Movie Review

    Female-centric Gunpowder Milkshake fizzles with story and action

    Alex Bentley
    Jul 14, 2021 | 10:39 am
    Female-centric Gunpowder Milkshake fizzles with story and action
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    If the past 20 years of movies have proven anything, it’s that plenty of women have shown the ability to carry an action film just as well as men can. They include Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence, Uma Thurman, Charlize Theron, Michelle Rodriguez, and Marvel stars like Zoe Saldana, Scarlett Johansson, and Karen Gillan, all of whom owe a debt of gratitude toward Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton for paving the way.

    So it’s no surprise that another female-centric action movie, Gunpowder Milkshake, is being released, with one of those Marvel stars – Gillan – as the star. Gillan plays Sam, a contract killer who works for a shadowy group known simply as The Firm, which is led by Nathan (Paul Giamatti). It’s the same group her mom, Scarlet (Lena Headey), worked for before mysteriously disappearing 15 years earlier, leaving Sam to fend for herself as a teenager.

    Like all good contract killers, Sam doesn’t question her orders until one day she kills a man whom she discovers was simply trying to pay a ransom to get his daughter back. Soon, Sam finds herself trying to rescue that girl herself and retreating back to a safe house known as The Library to avoid repercussions. There, three “librarians” who are old friends of her mom – Madeleine (Carla Gugino), Anna May (Angela Bassett), and Florence (Michelle Yeoh) – are able to provide her with any gun she requires.

    Written and directed by Navot Papushado and co-written by Ehud Lavski, the film is like John Wick combined with Atomic Blonde and Hotel Artemis. It’s clear the filmmakers are going for a high degree of stylization, from the odd, nonsensical title to funky locales like a diner being used as a gang meeting place to the unconventional costume choices for many of the main characters. What they don’t seem to understand is that substance is equally as important as style.

    When you’re essentially a copycat of previous action movies, you need to show creativity with your fight scenes and shootouts. While there is some inventiveness to be had in the film, there is nothing that makes you stand up and go wow. In fact, the sequences are so uninspiring that it often feels like the actors are fighting on stage instead of for a movie.

    What makes the lackluster action worse is that Sam is given a generic collection of bad guys to go up against. Almost to a man, the actors playing villains engage in goofy, over-the-top acting, leaving no doubt as to the result of the fights and dulling the impact of the film overall. What might come off as fun in a better-made movie is instead inert, with everybody going through the paces so they can move along to the next uninteresting scene.

    Gillan, as she’s shown in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Jumanji movies, has a great presence to her that should work well in a role like this. But she, and every other well-known actor in the film, is undone by a story that doesn’t make any sense and action that is mostly lifeless.

    Women are not given a chance to lead action movies as often as they should, so when one like Gunpowder Milkshake underwhelms, it’s extra disappointing. The inexperienced filmmakers are unable to make good use of their actors’ talent, and instead of exploding, the action just fizzles away.

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    Gunpowder Milkshake is now playing on Netflix. It is also showing in select theaters.

    Karen Gillan and Chloe Coleman in Gunpowder Milkshake.

    Karen Gillan and Chloe Coleman in Gunpowder Milkshake
      
    Photo by Reiner Bajo/Netflix
    Karen Gillan and Chloe Coleman in Gunpowder Milkshake.
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    Movie Review

    Dark comedy Friendship covers male bonding with copious cringing

    Alex Bentley
    May 16, 2025 | 4:16 pm
    Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd in Friendship
    Photo courtesy of A24
    Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd in Friendship.

    Comedian Tim Robinson has gained a cult following thanks to series like Detroiters and I Think You Should Leave, in which his brand of cringe comedy is on full display. The former Saturday Night Live writer/performer has had a few small movie roles over the years, but he’s now getting his first starring role in the off-kilter Friendship.

    Robinson plays Craig, a mild-mannered suburbanite with a wife, Tami (Kate Mara) and son, Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer). Craig has a boring life that involves little more than going to his middle manager job while wearing the same clothes day after day, anticipating the next Marvel movie, and helping Tami out with her at-home floral business.

    He gets a jolt of energy when Austin (Paul Rudd) moves into the neighborhood. The two men seem to hit it off, with Austin - a weatherman at a local TV channel - even taking Craig on a couple of impromptu adventures. But when Craig commits a couple of faux pas at a group gathering at Austin’s house, their bond starts to fracture.

    Even though the film is written and directed by Andrew DeYoung, it’s clear that Robinson had a big influence on the style of comedy it features. There are no big set pieces with a slew of jokes coming one after another. Instead, the film forces the audience to try to vibe with the very particular type of wavelength it’s giving off, one that could almost be called anti-comedy for the way the laughs come out of left field.

    The 100-minute film is full of random comedic moments, like Steven kissing Tami on the lips, Craig being obsessed with his plain brown clothes, a group sing-along, and more. More often than not, it’s the way Craig reacts to both normal and abnormal situations that gets the laughs. The character is needy and oblivious, two traits that combine to make many of his actions cringeworthy.

    Perhaps most importantly for this type of movie, there are many things in the story that go unexplained or don’t make sense. Seemingly crucial elements are brought up only to fade away just as quickly, while other parts that appeared to be throwaway sections get callbacks later in the film. DeYoung and Robinson are determined to keep the audience on their toes the entire time, never knowing what to expect next.

    Robinson has the perfect face for a story like this, one that’s bland enough to blend into the background but memorable enough to sell the jokes. His demeanor is also excellent, never becoming too expressive, even when he gets angry. With long hair, a mustache, and a certain swagger, Rudd is a great complement to Robinson. Only in a film like this would an everyman like Rudd be considered the suave and cool one.

    There will be some that will see Friendship and come away wondering what the hell they just watched. But anyone who goes in knowing that they’re about to witness a comedy that challenges their sensibilities will likely have a great time.

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    Friendship is now playing in select theaters.

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