Ed's Review Dot Com

ATO Pictures, Werc Werk Works, Spare Room Productions,

Greg Kinnear, Billy Crudup, Alan Arkin, David Harbour, Lea Thompson, Bob Balaban, Michelle Arthur, James Detmar, Michelle Hutchison, Chris Carlson

Mickey Prohaska (Greg Kinnear) is a slippery insurance salesman who will apparently say anything to make a sale. But while at a convention, he runs across a drunk lady in the bar who insists on coming up to his room. Next morning his wallet is gone. He heads home, already in financial trouble only to find out his credit cards have been maxed and he’s about to lose everything. But when he meets a elderly corn farmer named Gorvy Hauer who wants to pay for his insurance in pennies, but has an extremely rare valuable violin that the he isn’t even aware of, he thinks up a plan to sell the violin and taking the money. But one lie leads to another, and pretty soon Mickey is so buried in lies and troubles that he’s in deep, deep trouble.

This film was a good vehicle for Greg Kinnear. This is right in his wheelhouse. This is an interesting story which bears a second viewing. The first time through, it’s a really good crime story, with lots of crosses and betrayals and a lot of false leads, but the second time though, after you’ve seen the crime story, it’s a whole different film. This is a really clever sting movie that is intricately setup and worthy of Hitchcock. The nicest thing about this movie is the great acting found in it, as with talent like Billy Crudup, Alan Arkin, Lea Thompson, Bob Balaban, you can’t go wrong. THe cast had a blast making this film, and could see that it was a lot of fun developing their individual characters. This is similar to some of the other heist movies like Ocean’s Eleven, but the fun part is that you don’t know how any of these folks fit together until the very end. Watching Greg’s character Mickey slowing figure it out is a pleasure, but when he thinks he has it, he doesn’t know the half of it. This is a little movie without a huge budget, but really fun, and well put together. Though this film has been rolling around in my queue for years, I’m glad it finally bubbled up to the top. This was an enjoyable little mystery, and I can recommend it as something out of the ordinary.

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Charlie Guidance Productions, Charlie Guidance, Faliro House Productions,

Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Ehle, Paulina García, Alfred Molina, Theo Taplitz, Michael Barbieri

Jake Jardine (Theo Taplitz) is 13 years old when his grandfather dies suddenly. Jake and his parents Brian (Greg Kinnear) and Kathy (Jennifer Ehle) move into his grandfather’s apartment in the city, which was left to them plus Brian’s sister. There is a lady downstairs who runs a dress shop and rented the store from Jake’s Grandfather for many years. Her son is the same age as Jake, and the two boys hit it off and become very close friends. At the urging of Brian’s sister though, they decide the rent the lady is playing is way too low and they inform her that they are going to raise the rent. As all the adults erupt into a major battle the boys are caught in the crossfire and determine to resist their parents and try to remain friends.

This is a movie that feels a lot like a play. It develops that way, and a lot of the emphasis is on the long pieces of dialog between the characters. The movie revolves around the boys, who being young teens, can’t understand why their parents are having the problems. Both the boys parents have to make them realize why there is a conflict and why it such an important issue. The boys, of course, would like everyone to just get along. But the have to come to realize that being grown up brings a lot of responsibility and a lot of problems. The cast is pretty good here, and it is a decent character study. Basically it’s a coming of age film more than anything else. That being said, the story isn’t really very good at capturing your attention, and it does develop very slowly. There’s not much excitement here, and a lot of people will probably find this film boring. If you’re not into character development and such, you might find this hard to sit through. I would think it’s not for everyone.

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Roth Films, Screen Gems, TriStar Pictures,

Greg Kinnear, Kelly Reilly, Connor Corum, Thomas Haden Church, Jacob Vargas, Nancy Sorel, Lane Styles

Based on the New York Times bestselling book Greg Kinnear play Todd Burpo, a small town pastor in Nebraska, whose 4 year old son becomes very ill. He slips into unconsciousness and nearly dies, sorely testing his faith. But when the boy returns home, he begins telling stories of how he visited heaven and of the things he saw. Many of these stories he could not have possibly known, and certain events that he didn’t even know about he was able to discuss after learning about them during his visit to heaven. This obviously causes a lot of confusion among their friends and especially the congregation as they try to figure out whether it’s really true or if their pastor has gone off the deep end. .

This is obviously a film with strong religious content. Some people will hate that part of it, but it’s not all up in your face. Greg Kinnear presents a minister with a lot of good thoughts, but some serious doubts, and his wife has even more doubts. It appears that the child could be spouting things that he’s heard or things that he would imagine from the religious training that he is exposed to, but some of these things are so amazing, that the writer seems to conclude that it must be real. It is a touching story, and the emotion is pretty high, but at the same time it’s kind of reassuring that there is a purpose for all of this, and that the things we believe may actually be literally true. Pastor Burpo basically just tells the story of what happens an allows you to decide for yourself what to make of it, and as that goes, it’s a very interesting story. When something unusual happens in our lives, does the conclusion we draw depend on what we wish or hope to be true, or are we able to leave our biases aside and make a logical decision. It seems the answer is somewhere in between as sometimes we really try hard to prove the outcome we want to happen, but sometimes the evidence is just so strong that you can’t ignore it. It’s a fascinating story and I enjoyed the movie so I rated it rather highly. I recommend this just for the experience.

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Informant Media, MICA Entertainment,

Logan Lerman, Kristen Bell, Jennifer Connelly, Lily Collins, Rusty Joiner, Greg Kinnear, Liana Liberato, Spencer Breslin, Nat Wolff

The Borgan family is a clan of writers. Father William (Greg Kinnear) is an established writer and has been long divorced by his wife who has remarried. William is waiting for his wife to come back to him. His eldest daughter is very angry with Mom over the divorce, and her younger brother is a budding science fiction writer who is filled with optimism, the opposite of his sister. This is a very dysfunctional family that has to deal with their issues, as each of them has a lot to learn to mend the family.

Greg Kinnear is very good in this film. It’s one of those family dramas with some realistic depictions of a dysfunctional family. There are very complex relationships going on at all levels, and it’s a very good character study. It’s an indie film, but flowed very well for me. I found it an interesting film with enough going on to really develop the characters, but to keep it quite interesting throughout. There are some really funny moments, but I wouldn’t classify this as a comedy by any means. But the humor adds a lot to the story. Basically there are a lot of layers to this story, and it’s interesting to watch them unfold. I really enjoyed this movie, and as a romance/drama independent film, I found it very easy to watch. It was a surprise to me, as I had not heard of this film, but I can recommend this one.

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Artina Films,

Julianne Moore, Michael Angarano, Greg Kinnear, Lily Collins, Nathan Lane, Fiona Shaw, Norbert Leo Butz, Jessica Hecht, Charlie Saxton, Nikki Blonsky, Sophie Curtis

Linda Sinclair is a 40ish English Teacher in a small town High School. Her life is obviously rather empty, and she’s just getting by, though things are going pretty well. A chance meeting with one of her former students reveals that he is a graduate in creative writing and gave his shot as a playwright, but has failed. He lets her read his latest play, and she is really touched, even more when she finds out it’s his story of a missing Mom, a domineering Father who forced him to go to Law School. So she decides to take him in, perform his play in the High School, mostly at her own expense. But this is where things get complicated. Linda is attracted to the guy, but mostly just lonely. She’s very jealous of his other girlfriends, and strikes up a hate relationship with the boy’s father (Greg Kinnear) who she blames for ruining his son’s life. Things turn for the worst in this romantic comedy, with a lot on the comedy side.

This is a chick flick, for sure. But the background of putting on the school play is kinda funny, and having Nathan Lane show up as the producer of the play is a great add. He plays his usual bubbly self and adds a lot of comedy to the film. Julianne Moore does a bang up job as the lonely spinster teacher, and she keeps getting herself in deeper and deeper by making bad decisions. The relationships between the characters are very well developed. We get to look at each one’s personal issues and why they do what they do. This is a decent little comedy, and worth a spot in your queue.

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