Even with starting off the weekend with Drive My Car‘s three hour saga, I was still able to squeeze in a ton of other movies! And to counter-balance all the rom-coms this weekend provided, there was plenty of murders to go around.
I Want You Back – This rom-com was a pretty solid effort! I thought the laughs were consistent, the pacing was good, and Charlie Day and Jenni Slate both worked well off of each other. Emma and Peter have just gotten dumped. They meet by pure chance in their office stairwell and strike up a grieving friendship. Eventually the pair decide to lure their ex’s away from their new significant others by having Emma seduce Anne’s boyfriend and Peter is to befriend Noah. Obviously, this is rom-com, so none of that plan works out well and you’d have to be stupid not to think they don’t fall for each other. It’s not a straight path to the finish line which is what kept the film engaging until the end. I highly recommend!
Marry Me – On the opposite end of the rom-com spectrum was this torturous Jennifer Lopez/Owen Wilson led film. She’s a superstar who finds out on her concert wedding day that her young fiancé has cheated on her. So in an effort not to seem embarrassed or crazy (??) she marries a total stranger from the audience. That stranger is a totally normal middle school math teacher with a daughter, so of course he’s skeptical, but they both give it the old college try. The stereotypical conflict doesn’t come until way too late and even the resolution drags out longer than it should. Unless this is your bag, skip it, or watch The Wedding Planner instead.
Tall Girl 2 – I never in my life would have assumed this middle of the road teen rom-com would be getting a sequel, but here we are. I enjoyed the original enough, so I figured I’d give it a try. Jodi has overcome her bullies and is embracing her tall girl status. She’s low-key popular and has the most attentive boyfriend ever with her oldest friend, Dunkleman. She’s decided to try out for the school’s spring musical and lands the lead – crazy how that works. Now all she has to do is fight off her inner bully. In her head so much and stressed about the show, she alienates Dunkleman and almost sabotages herself completely. Now, this wouldn’t be a teen rom-com if things didn’t work out in the end, so fear not! A mediocre sequel, but compelling enough.
Drive My Car – Finally I had the guts to sit down and watch this Oscar nominee. Again, all the praise in the world still couldn’t quell my nerves that this was a three hour movie. The fact that it’s foreign wasn’t even the concerning bit! Anyway, enough twists happened that it kept me engrossed, but the last forty minutes is where it lost me a little bit. In the beginning we see this man’s life fall apart, he slowly builds a heartfelt relationship with his driver (not what you think), and is able to come to terms with the obstacles and successes in his life. The last chunk was filled with too many monologues, but overall the story was an original one. I don’t see this taking home the big prize, but it’s surely worthy of its nomination.
Murder on the Orient Express – In preparation for seeing the next Agatha Christie adapted film, my sister and I decided to rent this murder mystery again. I do believe this came out five years ago, so my memory was not as sharp on the details. There’s a winter train ride where a passenger ends up dead in the middle of the night. Private detective Hercule Poirot is on board and one of his great friends enlists his help in solving the case before police get involved and arrest someone on a whim (and racism). It’s found out that the victim is actually a criminal who kidnaped and killed a young girl, causing irreparable damage to the family. It’s revealed that everyone on the train has a connection to the deceased child, thus any one of them could have been the killer. I quite liked the twist at the end of this, but even with all of the action and unbelievable cast, this movie kind of dragged at times. Still solid, though.
Death on the Nile – I had planned on seeing this murder mystery over two years ago, but there were normal Hollywood delays, a pandemic, and then some serious allegations related to some of the cast members, so I can’t say I’m surprised it took this long for the sequel to be released. Issues aside, I really liked this movie! It kept my attention the whole time, and it was clever in not repeating itself. This time, Poirot finds himself on a ship with a honeymooning couple and plenty of friends…or foes. The latter may seem to be the case when the newly married and mega wealthy bride ends up dead. Unfortunately, a few other casualties result before Poirot is able to lay the case to rest, but the tension was great in getting there. Also, all of the Egyptian scenes were stunning. Highly entertaining and I definitely recommend!