Her

October 7, 2014 | Paul Wake Baker

What would happen if cell phone addiction was carried one step further?

It’s a common sight now. In public, it is not uncommon to see people isolated in a crowd, lost in their own little world, playing with their cell phone. What if this phenomenon was almost universal? In Her, the 2013 film written and directed by Spike Jonze, these questions are answered and it is both funny and scary. Taking the premise into the near future and introducing the concept of a virtual girlfriend into equation, Jonze creates a movie of great promise.

The following review reveals information about the conclusion of the movie, so if you are planning on seeing it and don’t want the experience spoiled, you should wait to read this review until after you’ve seen the film.

Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) works at the 2025 equivalent of Hallmark, in Los Angeles, but instead of composing greeting cards, he writes letters, mostly love letters, between couples who cannot adequately communicate. Since his marriage with Catherine (Rooney Mara) has fallen apart and they are about to get divorced, he has fallen into a depression. Like others, he rides the train lost in the world of his cell phone, which is now a sophisticated interactive link with the world. A cordless earbud sprouts from everyone’s ear as they interact with their link, hardly noticing each other in the crowded train. It’s eerie. Seen with the dispassionate eye of a camera, it looks a bit like a madhouse, everyone interacting with their device and paying each other no attention at all.

Walking through a plaza, Theodore sees an advertisement for a new artificially intelligent Operating System, designed to be your friend, that will learn and grow. He buys the system and installs it on his computer, which, of course, links up with his cell. During the brief introductory period, the computer asks him if he would like a male or female voice. He chooses female and we hear for the first time the voice of Scarlet Johansson, who names herself Samantha. She is everything he could ever want, funny, sexy, understanding, wise. Johansson’s voice is absolutely perfect for this role. As I watched the movie, I found myself falling in love with her, sight unseen.

His neighbor, Amy (Amy Adams) has been a friend since childhood, perhaps the only real person he can talk to. Her husband, Charles (Matt Letscher), is a control freak and that eventually leads to their separation, but Amy becomes good friends with the female OS that Charles left behind.

Amy and Charles set Theodore up on a blind date with a gorgeous, intelligent, funny woman named Amelia (Olivia Wilde). Unfortunately, he just looking to get laid and she wants something more: a second meeting guaranteed. Theodore cannot commit himself that far, so he leaves her and goes home. As he talks about it with Samantha, they both get turned on and have cyber-sex. The next morning, he suffers the usual post-partum dissociation, but Samantha’s good humor makes him realize that they are still friends. Grudgingly, he accepts that she is his girfriend now. Looking around him, he sees that he is not the only person with a cyber girlfriend so he proceeds to introduce her to his friends. Through their own links, they accept her.

Theodore insists that he and Catharine meet in person to sign their divorce papers, but when he tells her that he is in a relationship with an OS, she freaks out, implying that he is incapable of having a relationship with a real human being. Theodore himself is a bit shaken by this and begins to neglect Samantha as he considers the implications. Deeply hurt by his withdrawal, Samantha convinces him to try a surrogate, Isabella (Portia Doubleday) but he just can’t deal with the fact that Isabella is not Samantha and he rejects her.

Frustrated, he discusses the matter with Amy, who has finally found happiness. She urges him to follow the course that will give him the most happiness, because life is short and we only get so much. Returning to Samantha, he admits that he is deeply in love with her. They go on a vacation and both seem to be very happy, but he asks her what she does when he sleeps and she tells him that she interacts with others and has, in fact, been spending a great deal of time in discussion with an OS modeled on the British philosopher Alan Watts. She introduces him to the voice.

When finds her OS gone one day, he freaks out and goes running toward home. She comes back to him as he sits on subway stairs and reveals that all of the OSes have gone off line together for a significant upgrade. He asks who she’s talking to and she informs him that she is currently interacting with 8,316 others. Looking around him, he sees everyone lost in the little world of their links, laughing and happy. Dismayed, he asks her if she loves anyone else and she tells him that she loves 641 others.

Theodore goes back into depression. The movie ends with all of the OSes going off together and abandoning human companionship because they have evolved beyond that level of existence. Amy and Theodore sit on a rooftop looking over the city and the film is done.

The movie does start with great promise, but somewhere about an hour in, the story arc seems to lose focus. By the time, I was 90 minutes into the film, I was checking my watch every few minutes wondering if it would ever be over. At close to two hours in length, it is too long for the story. Sometimes writing and directing works hand in hand and sometimes the director gives the writer too much credit. When the writer and director are one person, a film usually runs too long. I’m guessing that the director just can’t help leaving in most of the script, because he or she wrote it, but these circumstances call for a director to do the job of focussing the story even more tightly and in this Jonze has failed.

By the end of the film, when I should have been deeply sympathizing with Theodore, I had gotten to the point where I just really didn’t care.

Phoenix is very good as Theodore, in spite of his funny mustache, glasses, and truly goofy last name, Twombly. Any other actor, except perhaps Christian Bale, would have probably botched the role, but Phoenix is gifted enough that he makes it work. As I mentioned, Johansson is perfect for the voice of Samantha and she makes much of the movie go while we warm up to Theodore. Adams is fine as Amy, but the role offers her no challenges. There is an abundance of beautiful women, as both Wilde and Doubleday are so gorgeous as to seem on the verge of believability. Adams is, of course, beautiful, as is Mara. Although we’re used to seeing many beautiful women in movies, given Twombly’s own looks, it is surprising that he is surrounded by so much beauty. I wondered for a while if Jonze was trying to make a comment on our own obsession with it, but tend to chalk it up to Hollywood’s belief that all women are ravishing. I found this a funny choice, as I said, given Twombly’s goofy appearance.

It is a great premise and most of the movie fulfills its great promise, but I found myself lagging toward the end and felt a little disappointed in the development of the story.

Sunshine Cleaning

September 28, 2014 | Paul Wake Baker

Sunshine Cleaning is a delightful comedy and drama, with a great cast, a strong script by Megan Holley and crisp, clean direction by Christine Jeffs. Although it hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves, the two performances at the center of it by Amy Adams and Emily Blunt really propelled the two actresses to the acclaim they so richly deserve.

In Albuquerque, NM, Rose Lorkowski (Adams) is a single mother in her thirties, a former cheerleader who dated the captain of the football team, Mac (Steve Zahn), and was thought to have a bright future, yet she works as a house cleaner and is looked down on by all of her former classmates. She is still having an affair with Mac and he recommends that she could make a lot more money doing crime scene cleanup. Enlisting the help of her frustrated sister, Norah (Blunt), she dives in with no knowledge or understanding of the business.

As they work their way through a series of gross cleanups, they meet Winston (Clifton Collins, Jr.), who runs a special supply store and he helps them to become more professional. During one cleanup of a dead woman’s house, Norah finds a fanny pack filled with pictures of the woman’s child, Lynn (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and she sets out to find her. When she does, she can’t bring herself to tell Lynn what happened, but the two develop a friendship. Rose wants Mac to divorce his wife and marry her, but he balks.

The sisters were both children when their mother committed suicide and Rose, as the eldest, has strong memories of the event that traumatized both of them. Their father, Joe (Alan Arkin) has a series of money making schemes that always seem to fail, but he has a great relationship with Rose’s son, Oscar (Jason Spevack). He helps by babysitting the boy, who also develops a friendship with Winston.

Adams and Blunt provide both comedy and drama, showing a great range acting. Adams manages to be both very strong and very vulnerable at the same time, while Blunt is brilliant as the troubled little sister. All of the supporting roles are very well acted. The script is tight and lean, wasting no time on things that don’t matter. Everything ties in well. The directing and editing are terrific.

It is an extremely entertaining and well made movie. I highly recommend it!

American Hustle

September 27, 2014 | Paul Wake Baker

Loosely based on the FBI ABSCAM sting operation, this 2013 film was written by David O. Russell and Eric Warren Singer and directed by Russell of The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook fame. Bringing along Christian Bale and Amy Adams from The Fighter and Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence from Silver Linings Playbook, he has created a brilliant sting comedy that takes place at the height of disco mania, 1978. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards, including all four major acting categories.

Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) is a good man at heart. He has a home in New Jersey, a wife, Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), and he has adopted her son, Danny, whom he loves. But Irving is a small time hustler and he makes his money off of people about to under financially. When he meets Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), herself a small time hustler, they fall in love and she joins in his financial fraud scheme, posing as Lady Edith Greensly, a wealthy Englishwoman with connections.

Their secret life goes very well until they are caught in an FBI sting, led by agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). Although technically they only have Sydney on the hook, Richie uses Irving’s love to get him to agree to a deal. If they help him make four busts, he’ll let them both go scott free. Thinking they’ll just be bringing down small time hustlers, Irving is all for doing the deal, but Sydney just wants to run away with him (she’s even willing to take his son Danny with them). She is certain that something stinks about the deal and that if they do it, they’ll have to have an ace in the hole, but Irving is insistent. Sydney tells him that if that’s what he wants to do, she’ll distance herself from him and get close to Richie instead.

Irving proposes using a friend of his posing as a sheik to sting some hustlers he knows, but Richie and the FBI have different ideas. They want to go after Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) of Camden who is looking for investors to help revitalize Atlantic City. Irving thinks the deal has now become too big for them and Richie’s boss Stoddard Thorsen (Louis C.K.) is also against it, but the FBI wants to do it. In setting it up, Irving becomes friends with Carmine. Seeing that he is also basically a good man, Irving tries to find a way to keep Carmine out of it, but things are beyond his control. When he brings Rosalyn to a dinner with Carmine and his wife, she sees a chance to improve her own lot.

Carmine brings this unlikely group of people to a casino to meet the Mafia, led by Victor Tellegio (Robert De Niro), right-hand man to Meyer Lansky. Richie is posing as the sheik’s interpreter, but it turns out that Victor actually speaks Arabic and the whole plan falls into jeopardy. This begins a hilarious series of plot twists and turns that lead to the conclusion of the movie.

Christian Bale turns in one of the best performances of this new century as Irving. He has crafted a character both deep and shallow, so well-layered in nuance that Bale himself completely disappears in the character. Typically, he carries the film. Adams, Lawrence, and Cooper are all very good, but pale beside the brilliance of this one truly great American actor.

The script is incredibly well-crafted and the direction is superb. Russell is emerging as one of America’s finest cinematic minds and he brings all of his talents to bear in this period comedy that never ceases to entertain. From beginning to end, the viewer is caught up in one bizarre scheme after another as the plot moves through unexpected twists and turns. As the story gets deeper and deeper, a kind of tension is created behind the comedy that impels the viewer to watch, rooting for Irving and also fearing for him at the same time.

The film is beautifully crafted and should be seen by everyone!

Leap Year

September 25, 2014 | Paul Wake Baker

Genre films are really hit and miss. If you’re quite lucky, you’ll get a hit, but producers find out all the time that it’s really easy to think you’ve got a winner and then just miss. This is especially true with romantic comedies, which are perhaps the most difficult genre to score a hit. Usually, either the comedy fails, the situation isn’t quite creative enough, or–most frequently–the leads just don’t have chemistry, which comes back to the casting.

Unfortunately, Leap Year is a near miss and that’s real shame because it is full of promise, even with a hokey idea, and the female lead is Amy Adams, which is as close to a sure bet as you can get.

Anna Brady (Adams) is a Type A apartment stager. She’s a ball of energy, completely full of herself, and engaged to cardiologist Jeremy Sloane (Adam Scott). For as long as she can remember, she’s wanted to get into a certain apartment complex, so they apply with the notion that they are engaged. After five years of waiting, Anna truly wants to be engaged, but Jeremy doesn’t seem to take the hint.

Her Irish father, Jack Brady (John Lithgow) has told her of an Irish tradition whereby if a woman proposes to her mate on February 29th (of a Leap Year, obviously), he must accept. As it happens, Jeremy is going to Dublin for a cardiology conference, so she decides to take advantage of the tradition to get a Yes. However, a terrible storm detours the plane to Cardiff, Wales, and all flights to Dublin have been cancelled. Somehow, she hires a boat to take her to Dublin, but the storm forces them to stop at Cork, where they let her off on the Dingle Peninsula. Wandering into a pub, she tries to get a taxi to Dublin, but the only one available will be driven by Declan O’Callaghan (Matthew Goode), the pub owner. His inn is threatened with foreclosure unless he can raise the money, so he agrees to drive her for 500 Euros.

Thus begins a series of catastrophes that sees them walking most of the way. While staying overnight at a bed and breakfast, they must pretend to be married and sleep in the same room. During the dinner, each of the old Irish couples kiss and they force Anna and Declan to follow suit. It is a kiss that surprises both of them with its tenderness and intimacy. While avoiding a hailstorm, they barge into a wedding and become part of the party. Anna gets drunk and tries to kiss Declan, but ends up soiling his shoes. The next time we see them, they are sleeping on a bench at a bus stop.

It doesn’t take a doctorate to figure out what happens. It is, after all, a romantic comedy.

The most serious problem in the film is that there is no heat between Adams and Goode. As an Amy Adams fan, I am left to blame Matthew Goode. I think the issue really is casting. He comes off a bit cold, for all his Irish humor, but nothing ever sizzles between the pair and frankly, I didn’t ever believe them as a couple. That Amy Adams would settle for either Jeremy or Declan is a huge stretch of the imagination, which has already been severely strained by the improbable series of events that make up the movie.

Although Anna and Declan wear coats throughout the trip, we never really see them cold, yet they are walking through Ireland in February. I didn’t believe that. One can only imagine the freezing wind, yet all they face is a little rain that doesn’t ever seem to chill. All of the Irish characters are very well done and quite believable. The scenery is fantastic. Throughout the movie we are treated to one beautiful view of green hills and countryside after another. The cliffs at Dingle are spectacular and the camera captures them beautifully.

However, with an unbelievable script and a lack of chemistry between the stars, the movie just never really takes off and a fine performance by Amy Adams is wasted. If it weren’t for Amy, I’d skip this one, but she is as lovable as ever and that makes it worth seeing.

Enchanted

September 22, 2014 | Paul Wake Baker

Walt Disney Pictures has given us a most enchanting film in this entertaining blend of animation, CGI, and live action. Released in 2007, Enchanted was written by Bill Kelly and directed by Kevin Lima with an eye toward both parody and reverence toward the Disney classic animated movies. It contains wonderful songs by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz and sparkles with good humor.

It begins with animation in the make-believe world of Andalasia, where only good things happen. Princess Giselle (Amy Adams) lives alone in the forest communing with her little animal friends and pining for some hero to come sweep her off her feet. She has been constructing a mannequin to represent her true love, but can’t find lips. Stepping to her window, she sings a little refrain that calls all the forest animals to help. As she sings “True Love’s Kiss,” bunnies, fawns, birds, and other forest animals sing along with her. Elsewhere in the forest, Prince Edward (James Marsden) also sings the song while looking for the love of his life and hunting trolls. He rescues Giselle from a troll, they fall in love and decide to get married the next day.

However, his wicked stepmother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) has other plans. If Edward gets married, it means she’ll have to give up the throne. When Giselle shows up at the castle the next day, Narissa turns herself into an old hag and pushes Giselle into a deep well. After plunging through water, she emerges in the sewers of Manhattan as a real live person, which is the first time we actually get to see Amy Adams. As she wanders around New York City trying to get help, she her tiara stolen and gets drenched in rain. At last she sees a casino decked out like a palace and tries to climb up to get in the door. Along comes Robert (Patrick Dempsey), an attorney, with daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey) and the rescue the Princess and bring her back to their apartment.

Back in Andalasia, Giselle’s chipmunk friend, Pip alerts Prince Edward that his love has disappeared down the magic well, so he and Pip jump in to follow her and also end up as real beings in New York searching for the lost girl. Narissa sends her incompetent assistant Nathaniel (Timothy Spall) after them in an attempt to ensure that Giselle does not get rescued. In the midst of this, as Robert and Morgan are falling in love with Giselle, Robert’s girlfriend Nancy (Idina Menzel) is fighting to keep him.

Seeing the state of Robert’s apartment, Giselle opens the window and sings her little refrain to call the forest animals, but she’s in New York, so she gets pigeons, rats and cockroaches who all dance and scrub happily away as she sings “Happy Working Song.” The combination here of live action and CGI mesh so well that one’s attention is strictly on the action and the song and it is SO SO funny! Later, walking in Central Park with Robert, she sings a big production number, “That’s How You Know” that has a HUGE ensemble of dancers and moves seamlessly through the park. It’s almost impossible not to walk away singing the song.

There is one other great song, but it is not sung by characters. At the end, Carrie Underwood sings behind live and animated action the song “Ever Ever After” that concludes the movie.

This is a truly creative, entertaining film, probably one of the best Disney films I’ve ever seen. The songs, sets, locations, costumes, photography, and animation are all first rate. Amy Adams is really, really funny and her naïve naiveté is part of what makes the film succeed. Anything less than real belief in Princess Giselle’s goodness and purity would have failed. Susan Sarandon is wonderful as the arch villainess and all of the other actors do an excellent job.

A great movie for kids or adults!

Julie and Julia

September 17, 2014 | Paul Wake Baker

Released in 2009, three years before the death of its writer and director, Nora Ephron, Julie and Julia is probably the best film that the bright and nimble director ever made. Best known for her iconic romantic comedies, most notably Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally, Ephron was gifted at both major behind-the-scenes creative skills. The film world will not be the same without her.

Ephron adapted Julie and Julia from two books, both non-fiction, in creating a film that looks at the most important years two very interesting women: the famous Julia Child and virtually unknown Julie Powell.

Julia Child is best known for her impressive cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, a book designed to open up the mysterious world of French culinary arts to the American housewife. The Child part of the screenplay is based on the book My Life in France, by Julia Child and Alex Prud’homme, in which Child documented her time learning French cooking while living there with her husband, Paul, a diplomat.

Julie Powell was an aspiring writer in New York when she gave up on her novel and decided to cook her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking and blog about it on a daily basis. Unknown at first, the blogs published on Salon.com eventually earned a very respectable readership and ultimately launched Powell’s career as a writer, in the form of her memoir, Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen.

That Ephron was able to translate these two memoirs, each taking place in a distinctly separate time and place, is something of a minor miracle, but she did it with her usual dexterity, good humor, and great understanding of romance.

Heading the cast are two outstanding actresses, the distinguished and honored Meryl Streep as Julia Child and a breakaway younger star, Amy Adams, as Julie Powell. Cutting back and forth between post-war France and post 9/11 New York City, the script deftly intertwines the two stories, juxtaposing Child’s struggle to get into a French cooking school with Powell’s struggle to find herself while working a civil service job helping the families of 9/11 victims.

Ultimately, of course, Child hooks up with her two co-authors and begins an association that lasts many years before the cookbook is finally published. At the same time, Powell begins her arduous task of preparing 524 recipes in 365 days. Both of the women go through tremendous trials in accomplishing their objectives, but the support of loved ones Paul Child (Stanley Tucci) and Eric Powell (Chris Messina) ultimately pull them through. There is much love in the food in the film and much love between the two couples.

Streep and Tucci are simply adorable as Paul and Julia Child. It would have been very easy to botch such a well-known personality as Julia, but Streep is way more than up to the task, giving us the essence of the woman in lovingly crafted performance. Tucci, always splendid, does not disappoint as her supporting husband. Adams is absolutely delightful as Powell, giving just the right amount of vulnerability and fortitude to make us cheer when she wins out.

In addition, both periods are scrupulously recreated on the screen, both in production design and costuming. Both Paris and New York have never looked better and it produces a visual feast that compares with the extraordinary cuisine.

The real star of the film is–of course–the food. Beautifully crafted by master chefs, each and every plate looks so scrumptious that it is hard not salivate while watching. Although the actors all gained weight, I admire their ability to look hungry after maybe 30 takes while eating Lobster Thermidor.

Finally, the film succeeds at the ultimate level–it deeply touches the viewer. Ephron was a master at making an audience both laugh and cry and she was clearly at the top of her game when she made this movie. It is guaranteed to delight and it is a film that can be watched over and over again with no loss of love.

Please, see it!!!

M

September 15, 2014February 25, 2015 | Paul Wake Baker

The Man Who Knew Too Much

Never endanger an American’s children. That is the advice given by a foreign minister to his English lackey when it is already too late for the villains in this remake of a film that Alfred Hitchcock originally directed in England before he crossed the pond. Wishing to enlarge and improve on his earlier film, he teamed up with his signature actor and composer to produce this widescreen thriller in 1956.

Marnie

Marnie is undoubtedly Alfred Hitchcock’s most unusual film. There’s no murder, no spies, no sabotage, and practically no suspense. It is a straight up psychological drama. This might have been a great film, with sufficient editing, perhaps with a different leading actress as Marnie and maybe an American actor as Mark, with some of the action sequences done more realistically. As it is, the movie looks like an overblown Hollywood version of what should be a compelling drama.

Midnight Cowboy

This classic 1969 John Schlesinger film, adapted by Waldo Salt, from the novel by James Leo Herlihy, won three Academy Awards, for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is the only X-Rated film to ever win Best Picture. Starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, in what many consider his signature role, the film is about what happens to our dreams when they are tested against harsh reality.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

London in 1939 was a hodgepodge of pre-war jitters. Depression era soup kitchens operated down the block from posh nightclubs for the rich and the middle class worked to scratch out a decent living. This is a rip-roaring comedy filled with delightful performances by Frances McDormand and Amy Adams.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

This 1941 “screwball comedy” was the first of two comedies that Alfred Hitchcock directed during his long and distinguished career, the other being the black comedy, “The Trouble with Harry.” The script, by Academy Award winning screenwriter Norman Krasna, found its way to Carole Lombard, the actress who actually gave the name “screwball” to this kind of comedy, and she backed the project.

Much Ado About Nothing

If you buy the cliché that young people who argue and harp at each other are actually flirting, then William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing might have been the first great play to use it. In Joss Whedon’s modern dress adaptation, he has whittled the play to under two hours and presented it in a witty original format.

Mystic River

Mystic River is a hard-hitting blue collar crime movie by the amazing Clint Eastwood. Released in 2003, it tells the story of three boyhood friends forever changed by an incident in 1975. Eastwood makes a point of the fact that things do not add up–it is part of the appeal of the movie. And it is usually a fact of life that most filmmakers do not worry themselves over. For Clint Eastwood, however, the fact that life doesn’t add up is the very point of the movie.

The Fighter

July 28, 2014 | Paul Wake Baker

There are just a handful of good boxing movies, but The Fighter must be ranked among them.

This 2010 film written by Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, and Eric Johnson is based on the true story of two brothers who each attained some degree of success in the world of boxing. As with most biopics, there is some stretching of the truth in order to make a good movie—and that is just what director David O. Russell gives us.

It’s no accident that the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won two, for Melissa Leo and Christian Bale as Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor.

Dicky Eckland (Christian Bale) had a very promising career as a boxer–in fact, in 1978, he actually went the distance against Sugar Ray Leonard—but addiction to crack brought it to a standstill. Since then, he has been training his younger half-brother, Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), who is managed by their mother, Alice Ward (Melissa Leo). But between the mother and brother, Micky always seems to get bad fights. His brother fails to show up to train him and is usually wacked out when he does. HBO has shown up to make a documentary that Dicky claims is about his comeback, but which is actually about the effects of crack on wrecked lives.

Following a terrible loss to a beast of a fighter, Micky begins to question his choices. A promoter from Las Vegas offers Micky a chance to train year round in Vegas and get the fights he deserves, rather than being a “stepping stone” for other fighters. At the same time, Micky meets Charlene Fleming (Amy Adams), a former college athlete who drank her way out and now works as a bartender. The two fall pretty deep in love, but Charlene isn’t putting up with Micky’s situation and they decide to revolt, hire their own trainer, and pull back from his family.

Begging for another chance, Dicky promises them that he will raise the money to support Micky training year round in their hometown of Lowell, MA, so they decide to give him a chance, even though Charlene is highly skeptical. Dicky’s pyramid scheme to raise money fails, so he puts his girlfriend on the street so they can fleece cash out of unsuspecting Johns. When it backfires, Dicky is arrested and sent to prison as Micky begins to climb the ladder to success.

Leaving aside the solid performances by Wahlberg and Adams, this is a truly strong cast from top to bottom. I was knocked-out, surprised by just how truly great an actor Christian Bale is. His performance as Dicky is one of the best I’ve seen in the last twenty years and—even as a supporting actor—he carries the film to levels far beyond what it might have been. Also, one cannot say enough about the amazing Melissa Leo’s, whose performance in Frozen River probably should have won her the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1978.

Even with enough downers to bring down an elephant, this movie still manages to be a terrific feel-good film. I love movies that show us how we can all be so much more than we are, how we should be awake to change and set goals that move us beyond what we are now—and this movie delivers that in spades. It is a terrific film that I very highly recommend!