Deb 10
Me 8
Funny movie. It was top of list to go see because it
features Bill Murray. It’s not a Bill Murray movie, but he’s in it and he’s
excitingly listless as usual. There are other actors too. Frances McDormand
seems to gravitate towards off center projects and Harvey Kietel is here in a
family friendly role. Bruce Willis is another big star here who usually plays
either a warrior or a wuss and here he ably plays a simple nice guy. I had no
idea about this movie, didn’t see trailers or read anything about it so I was
surprised to see it’s a movie filled with kids. Two main players are young
folks, early teens I’d guess and they’re fine.
The movie is quirky. It tries to
be quirky and succeeds despite trying too hard at times. There are some nice
background oddities, ala Harold and Maude, but the main thing seems to be
emotional detachment, dry and somber most of the time with a few punctuation
marks thrown in for contrast. There’s an odd little man from Seinfeld who adds
nice touches here and there.
It’s a
comedy with a few holes in the storyline that need to be overlooked and some
formulaic tedium that film-makers seem compelled to include; but I liked it.
