Underrated: The Game vs. 12 Angry Men

When I think of The Game I usually forget that it was directed by David Fincher. If this movie is underrated, it might have something to do with its being nestled right in between the two most notable Fincher films, Se7en and Fight Club. Maybe it doesn't quite qualify as 'underrated.' Many people like this movie a great deal. However, I take issue with its mere 7.7 rating on imdb. Consider this nuttiness: 12 Angry Men (the actual most boring movie ever made) makes it into the top ten of the 250 list with its score of 8.8. 12 Angry Men was based on a play (usually a bad thing). The action takes place entirely in one room and involves twelve male (go figure) jurors discussing the probability that the defendant is guilty. Not only is there very little action, there is very little moving at all. I suppose at the time it was a good racial commentary and the acting was considered amazing, but mightn't To Kill A Mocking Bird (a respectable #54) be said to fulfill these criteria even more effectively, whilst also entertaining us? I just can't see how anyone watching 12 Angry Men by today's standards can rank this movie higher than the other 241 movies (others of which annoy me too) on the imdb top 250.

I am not trying to contend that The Game deserves the number 9 (as of this writing) slot in 12 Angry Men's place, but I do think it deserves our consideration.

Fincher does the thing he does best: convinces us to trust the narrative and then yanks us up side down by the ankles. Even though we are repeatedly betrayed, we go along and believe we are in control. To a certain extent, I see this movie as a commentary on the power the storyteller holds over the viewer/listener. Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is a controlled, shrewd, business man. He is the master of his own destiny, for we learn, despite some really dark stuff in his childhood, he has made a name for himself and excelled at his profession. His routines begin to topple when, at his troubled brother's (Sean Penn) urging, he enlists in a "game" designed for bored rich people to mess with their lives and shake things up. Soon, he has no idea which parts of his life are "the game" and which are under his control. Some freaky stuff happens, he meets a nice girl, he has a shower in his office (so we know he's doing all right - that part always cracked me up), some other crap happens with his brother, and the lines between reality and fiction are blurred. Until the final moment, it is impossible for Nicholas to bring the situation back under his grasp. He is helplessly along for the ride, even though he tries to stop and get out many times, just as the viewer is at the mercy of the storyteller.

Another thing I really like: even though it is dark and suspenseful, there is a justifiable happy ending. It is tried and true way for a storyteller to leave the audience feeling satisfied after spending an hour and a half messing with their brains, and in this film it is done well. 

Good acting, good story, some tense moments with a nice payoff at the end. If nothing else, it is entertaining, and that's more than 12 Angry Men can brag.

Underrated: The 'burbs

Some of you may have seen The 'burbs on my top ten list. In college, I thought I was giving my friends a major treat when I introduced them to this movie for the first time. They all fell asleep. All of them. One friend complained loudly as he stumbled off to bed that it was the most boring movie he had ever been made to sit through. I was bewildered and crushed. How could I be so wrong about this movie?

My sincere admiration for The 'burbs goes back to the days when families still went to drive-in movies. All the way back to a time when you had to clip the radio receiver onto your half-opened car window. Yes, this was before FM channel coordination.

Occasionally, on a lazy weekend in summer, my family would take in a drive-in movie. On this particular evening, we decided to go see a nice family picture, K-9. If you've seen K-9 you know it isn't appropriate for children whose mothers are my mother. We didn't know what we were getting into, and I'm guessing it's because we saw this trailer. However, it so happened that the marquis at this drive-in had reversed the order of their movies so The Burbs showed first although it was listed second. None of us knew anything about this movie. I guess we missed this trailer (bear in mind I was 9 years old, so I had no awareness of movie trailers and wasn't even allowed to watch MTV for goodness sake). We decided to stay, even when the opening sequence made it seem that the movie might be a little scary for young children (I am the oldest of three). The rest is Lloyd family lore. We laughed hysterically and much later purchased the VHS (a rare honor reserved only for beloved classics such as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Tremors).

This movie is funny because 1) Corey Feldman, the airhead teenager who lives next door, makes weird faces when he is on-screen but not the principle actor in the shot. It's fun to watch for these "reaction" shots. 2) Bruce Dern is the ex-military, takes-himself-way-too-seriously, kinda nutty neighbor who is dying for a reason to use his military gear. 3) The wife is Carrie Fisher; I have loved and adored and wanted to be Princess Leia since my earliest recollection. My love of film was in no small way shaped by her early influence in my life. 4) There is a great scene involving some funny demonic chanting... You'll have to watch it yourself. It just sounds twisted if I quote it. 5) Tom Hanks is downtrodden dad and husband Ray Parker who turns vigilante on his creepy neighbors. This was before he did dramatic roles, so he was still doing the Tom Hanks "spaz" thing all the time, and I think he was at his "spastic" peak in this performance. 6) Quotability. "I've never seen that. I've never seen anyone drive their garbage to the end of the driveway and then bang the hell out of it with a stick. I've never seen that." 7) The soundtrack enhances both the funny moments and the scary ones. 8) There is just the right amount of slapstick - Bruce Dern falling off the roof or falling through the rotting floorboards on the Klopeck's porch while holding a plate of brownies, "There go the goddamn brownies." After picking them up off the porch and putting them back on the plate, he presents them to the new neighbors, saying,  "Here you go, sonny. A little somethin' for the sweet tooth."

Note: I had never seen the above-linked trailer before I began writing this review. I could write an entire piece about this trailer. Love for this movie is swelling in my bosom. I am aware that this may diminish my credibility as a critic, but I am OK with that.

Underrated: movies I like that no one else likes

For a few days now, a list has been growing in my mind (and on little scraps of paper lying on my nightstand and in the notebook in my purse). It consists of movies I like that did not receive critical acclaim, and that is putting it politely. Some are considered trash, others just weren't as beloved as they deserved to be. However, for many and varying reasons, they have found their way into my heart. This exercise in list-making has reminded me to give every film a chance, even if I am sure the trailer has told me all I need to know.

Independence Day comes racing to the front of my mind and so to the top of the list. It is not the best of the bad, but it has its charms. I saw this movie multiple times before I realized that Dr. Okun seemed familiar and somehow likable because he was played by Brent Spiner. I was on a "Star Trek: The Next Generation" kick. It was syndicated at the time, and I would watch it whenever I could with my bff Katie and our buddy Jayson, so it all just clicked one day. His character in Star Trek is quite different from the nerdy, pompous, obnoxiously-invested-in-his-work Dr. Okun. To me, it seems, he must have drawn on his exposure to Star Trek fans to flesh out the finer nuances of a character who clearly does a lot of nerd sparring in his off time. ("Nerd sparring" describes the way in which two very nerdy people "jokingly" trash talk one another about the other's pathetic lack of knowledge regarding things that don't matter, like Star Trek trivia OR things that do matter but which are patently nerdy, like the Periodic Table of Elements. A good example can be found in the movie Trekkies, like any scene. Also, I just Googled the words "nerd sparring" and I'm pretty sure it's never been used before now. Also available were dweeb sparring and geek sparring, but I like the ring of "nerd sparring."

So, back to the movie review. Will Smith is a good actor and is good in this film. There are a lot of big stars in this movie, including one of my all time favorite actors, Jeff Goldblum. I have a thing for Jurassic Park largely because of my love of the Goldblum. His performance in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (especially playing opposite Veronica Cartwright) is what made the movie for me. Harry Connick Jr.'s performance is rather hilarious. I still marvel that he was chosen to play an elite fighter pilot. He's quirky, but in the right way.

The visual effects are totally decent. The story is as campy as any other action movie of the time. The aliens are still scary and believable. There are plenty of comedic moments peppered throughout. I am trying to think of something in this movie that I don't like. Bill Pullman's cheesy speech (and I paraphrase), "if  we win, the whole world will call July 4th Independence Day." Yeah, that part is lame.

I admit it. I have been a little bit closeted about my admiration for this film. There is a back-of-my-mind kind of secret shame going on whenever I hear Independnece Day lumped in with other so-called terrible movies by Roland Emmerich. And I finally know why thinking about Independence Day makes me feel a little guilty. It's because I like this movie, and the only thing I ever hear about it is that it is awful. I have been bullying my appreciation for this movie into a dark corner, but I can't do that if I want to call myself a critic. Whatever I like, I'm gonna like, and whatever I don't like...well, I've never had any problem expressing dislike. It felt good to get that out there. I think I'll have to do this again.

Stay tuned for the next installment in the "Underrated" Series!