Hitch (2005): 5/10
Poster (c) Columbia Pictures
People automatically think that if a movie is a romantic comedy, then it has an excuse not to be funny, as it's "romantic". That's Hitch's excuse, a generally lame movie which would be made lamer had it not been for Kevin James, star of that lame TV series The King of Queens. Will Smith is a "date doctor" whose latest case is James, looking to woo a millionaire woman. The movie had few laughs, which were all, I repeat, all shown in the trailers, leaving me laugh-less in the theater. The movie's not really romantic, either. It's fluff, and keeps you generally entertained for its overlong two hour runtime. But it's James who keeps the movie afloat. He's willing to make a fool of himself for the sake of the movie, and he gained my respect (obviously something he's been yearning for) from this movie. However, any respect I had for Will Smith (which was very little) or Eva Mendes (which was nonexistant) disappeared. At least it wasn't painful.
William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (2004): 8/10
Poster (c) Sony Pictures Classics
The most controversial of William Shakespeare's plays, The Merchant of Venice is also one of his most complex and one of his most satisfying to watch on screen. Al Pacino does a great (although a little hammy) job as Shylock the Jew. Pacino plays the character in neither way the character can be interpreted: he's not an evil devil like he was when it was originally performed, nor is he a sympathetic person to be pitied, like many modern renditions. He just goes with the flow with the lines, and ends up doing a very good job. Merchant is a very good rendition of a very good play. Although it's overlong by about 20 minutes (the movie focuses on Shylock, while the play was mainly about Bassanio), it's entertaining and beautiful to look at. And it's good to know that Pacino's not taking the De Niro way out by doing just comedy.
Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005): 6/10
Poster (c) LGF
Being one of about four white people was itself an experience, but the movie was, also. It's a genre-bending female empowerment Gospel movie, which also features a larger-than-life grandmother played by a man. It also has movie references to such classic movies as Mommie Dearest and so many subplots you'd think this was an episode of Seinfeld. With its multiple genres, it made me laugh a few times (always with Madea, the aforementioned grandmother, played by writer/director Tyler Perry), but the two leads really lacked in chemistry, and much of the acting seemed forced, almost like it was being performed onstage (what a surprise-it was originally a play). Its messages were sickeningly clear, but it appealed to its target audience, and the story was interesting enough to keep attentions from wandering too much for its runtime. An admirable attempt that partially succeeds, it shows that independent movies can still do very well at the box office (and that word-of-mouth helps).
Be Cool (2005): 5/10
Poster (c) MGM
I haven't seen Get Shorty, but sequels should be basically able to stand on their own. Be Cool does, but it's not very good. Chili Palmer is back, and he (John Travolta) does quite possibly the uncoolest thing ever-he tries to recreate the "You Never Can Tell" dance scene from Pulp Fiction with Uma Thurman. The plot, however, is not bad, and it's basically a sendup of the music industry. But it's not funny, something it thinks it is (well, the f-word discussion in the beginning was). The second worst part of the movie was Vince Vaughn, a man I usually like. He plays someone who thinks he's black and says "black" things like "bling bling". Something very fresh and original, you can see. Travolta didn't seem to be trying. Nor did Thurman, actually. The plot's almost incomprehensible, but for some reason The Rock was very good as the world's unlikeliest homosexual. It's not as terrible as I may have made it out to be, but it's certainly not cool.