MGM's 2008 Romance Promotion

Peter's Friends (February 8/08)

Though the film has been suffused with a number of overwrought and downright melodramatic elements, Peter's Friends nevertheless comes off as a surprisingly entertaining little flick that benefits substantially from the almost uniformly stellar performances (co-writer Rita Rudner is competent, certainly, but hardly at the level of her comparatively masterful castmates). The story follows a group of college friends who reunite for a weekend at Peter's (Stephen Fry) palatial estate, where past arguments and forgotten conflicts quickly bubble their way to the surface. Filmmaker Kenneth Branagh has infused Peter's Friends with a fluid visual sensibility that effectively prevents the proceedings from adopting the kind of static and stagy vibe that one sometimes associates with movies of this ilk, yet there's never a point at which Branagh's directorial choices take away from the character-driven, intimate nature of Rudner and Martin Bergmann's screenplay. It consequently goes without saying that some of these subplots are far more interesting than others, with the portrayal of jingle-writers Roger (Hugh Laurie) and Mary's (Imelda Staunton) crumbling marriage clear the most intriguing (and surprisingly heartfelt) aspect of the movie. And while it's impossible to deny the downright pat manner with which Rudner and Bergmann wrap up the various stories - each character seems to arrive at a life-changing revelation during the same 24-hour period - Peter's Friends generally remains an affable piece of work that's surely a must for fans of the assorted performers.

Quirky to the point of distraction, Some Girls follows a smarmy college student (Patrick Dempsey's Michael) as he travels to Quebec to spend the holidays with on-again-off-again girlfriend Gabriella (Jennifer Connelly). Michael quickly finds himself confronted with Gabriella's unreasonably eccentric family, which includes - among others - a pair of slutty sisters (Sheila Kelley's Irenka and Ashley Greenfield's Simone), a father (Andre Gregory) with a penchant for nudity, and a bedridden grandmother (Lila Kedrova) who mistakes Michael for her dead husband. Screenwriter Rupert Walters' refusal to infuse Gabriella's brood with even a hint of authenticity quickly lends the movie a distinctly interminable vibe, as the viewer - faced with the prospect of spending more than a few minutes in the company of these ridiculously broad caricatures - is forced to find other ways to amuse themselves for the duration of the film's overlong running time. Dempsey's self-conscious, downright obnoxious performance certainly doesn't help matters, nor does the egregiously deliberate pace with which director Michael Hoffman has imbued the proceedings. Connelly's expectedly charismatic work notwithstanding, Some Girls primarily comes off as an exercise in irritation that possesses exceedingly little in the way of positive attributes.

Based on the novel by Elmore Leonard, Touch casts Skeet Ulrich as Juvenal - a former monk whose quiet existence is shattered after it becomes clear that he possesses the ability to heal with just a touch. Juvenal's supernatural abilities catch the interest of Christopher Walken's sleazy Bill Hill, who sends in an associate (Bridget Fonda's Lynn) to get close to the presumed miracle worker. Problems ensue after Lynn finds herself falling for Juvenal, and it's not long before the couple find themselves confronted with a whole host of oddball characters (including Tom Arnold's militant fanatic and Gina Gershon's smarmy television personality). Though writer/director Paul Schrader has infused the film with a number of subplots and supporting characters, Touch - saddled with an almost distractingly low-key vibe - never entirely manages to capture (and hold) the viewer's interest for more than a few minutes at a time. Schrader's attempts at satirizing a variety of topics - including religion and daytime talk-shows - generally fall flat, as the filmmaker has infused such moments with a pointed, distinctly heavy-handed sensibility that ultimately negates their effectiveness (ie the lack of subtlety becomes increasingly difficult to overlook). Stripped of its myriad of superfluous elements, however, Touch fares surprisingly well as a charming little romance between two disparate characters - yet even this aspect of the story slowly-but-surely loses its appeal as the film essentially runs out of steam once it hits the one-hour mark. The end result is an effort that starts to vanish from one's memory minutes after it concludes, despite the inclusion of several undeniably positive attributes (ie the strong work from Ulrich and Fonda).

Zapped!'s place as a bona fide cult classic is nothing short of baffling, as the film - which doesn't even fall under the so-bad-it's-good category - suffers from a whole host of deficiencies that ultimately prevent it from holding the viewer's interest for more than a few minutes at a time. The episodic nature of the film's structure ensures that there's virtually nothing propelling the distinctly threadbare story forward, and it's consequently quite difficult to care about the central character's increasingly silly shenanigans. Scott Baio stars as Barney Springboro, a nerdy science student who finds himself able to move objects with his mind following a lab experiment gone wrong; the majority of the movie follows Barney as he uses his newfound abilities to win baseball games, strip beautiful co-eds of their clothes, beat up longtime bullies, etc, etc. It's the kind of premise that would at least seem to possess the potential for a wacky yet amusing time-waster, yet - as becomes clear almost immediately - there's exceedingly little within the movie that actually works. Director (and co-writer) Robert J. Rosenthal effectively sucks all the laughs and levity out of the proceedings.by emphasizing distinctly unfunny subplots and side characters, which - admittedly - wouldn't be quite so problematic had the filmmaker bothered to include a cohesive storyline (ie Zapped! is ultimately less a movie than a series of poorly-conceived skits). The affable work by the three leads - Baio, Willie Aames, and Felice Schachter - simply isn't enough to compensate for the less-than-competent vibe that's been hard-wired into virtually every aspect of the production, and the movie's enduring status as an '80s sex-comedy staple is certainly a head-scratcher (compared to other entries within the genre, Zapped! is actually pretty tame).