'Rachel Getting Married' is an engaging event

*** out of ****

Anyone who has been to a wedding knows the endless preparation it takes before the bride and groom say their, “I do’s.” While wedding films are hardly original anymore, Rachel Getting Married is a refreshing, and most importantly – an intimate, look at the emotions before, during and after the nuptials. Walking down the aisle with grace, Rachel gets a bit disjointed along its rocky path.

As the title implies, Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt) is getting married, but that is hardly the big event. Kym (Anne Hathaway), Rachel’s sister, is back from rehab to attend the wedding and can’t help but put the spotlight on herself.

Ready to see her family, halfheartedly making amends as a part of her 12-step program, Kym seems oblivious to the toll she has made on her relatives after multiple trips to rehab facilities. Temperamental, pessimistic, narcissistic and just plain unpleasant, Kym is not easy to like. Rachel who is sensible and forgiving to Kym is reluctant about her being the Maid-of-Honor and even more nervous what could happen if she isn’t.

Carrying a burden of a dark family secret, Kym, Rachel and their divorced mother Abby (Debra Winger) and father Paul (Bill Irwin) are about to face the harsh reality of their dysfunctional lives together. Arguing, bonding and accepting, Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) directs a gripping and binding film.

Jonathan Demme provides more intimacy to the event by filming with a handheld camera. Those scared off by this queasy camera technique should find comfort in the fact that Demme has a sturdy hand throughout the process.

The editing is done nicely, but Demme goes overboard with the toasts and wedding band montages. By the fifth toast and second dance you wonder when will they cut the cake.

Rachel Getting Married is Jenny Lumet’s (daughter of Sidney which is also the name of the groom subtlety played by Tunde Adebimpe) first screenplay. Jenny writes powerful conversation scenes that are excellently played out by the cast.

Rachel is one of those films where the performances outpace the movie itself, with outstanding acting by Anne Hathaway (Get Smart, The Devil Wears Prada), Rosemarie DeWitt (Mad Men) and Debra Winger (Terms of Endearment, An Officer and a Gentleman.)

Hathaway gives the best performance of her career as Kym. Between being steely and emotional, Anne makes Kym endearing, even though you wouldn’t want to be in the same room as her, much less a wedding.

Overshadowed by Hathaway, but nonetheless brilliant are DeWitt and Winger. Trying to be accommodating, DeWitt is not afraid to be contentious, not willing to sacrifice her big day for Kym. Debra Winger makes a welcome trip back to the big screen as the bickering girls’ passive but loving mother. Winger does have a shinning moment during a confrontation with Kym that could possibly earn both actresses Oscar gold.

Rachel Getting Married’s greatest achievement is breaking the banal dysfunctional family-wedding genre. This marriage will have a long reception with its audience.

Josh Brolin takes office in 'W.'

**1/2 out of ****

President George W. Bush is the controversial subject for Oliver Stone's pretentious, gutsy and middling biopic "W."

This film with a simple title sets out to cover Bush's college years through his first term as president. Filmmaker Stone is no stranger to politics after driving his films "JFK" and "Nixon" all the way to the Oscars.

With "W." Stone makes an energetic and entertaining film, but drops the ball when it comes to giving a full view of the man the nation elected -- twice. Rather, he and screenwriter Stanley Weiser (who previously wrote Stone's Oscar-winner "Wall Street") pick an assortment of vignettes that chronicle the president's highs (the first time he meets his wife Laura) and lows, which in this film are plenty.

Stone spices up the conventional story telling, injecting interesting imaginary sequences that Bush uses as analogies, such as playing baseball to a cheering crowd as one-time owner of the Texas Rangers.

The main draw of "W." isn't the plot or the direction, but the film's first-rate actors and their impersonations of recent historical figures. Much like the excitement of Tina Fey portraying Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live," the whole film feels rather SNL-ish with more moments of laughter than one would expect in a historical drama.

Josh Brolin ("No Country for Old Men") goes beyond the call of duty as commander in chief, having everything from Bush's walk to his talk mastered.

Jeffrey Wright ("Casino Royale") does an amiable job as Secretary of Defense Colin Powell, but grows affected during his long monologues. Elizabeth Banks ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin") is a standout as Laura Bush in select scenes. Richard Dreyfuss nicely plays a subdued Richard Cheney, unlike the funny-yet-over-the-top Toby Jones ("The Mist") as Bush's right-hand man Carl Rove. James Cromwell ("24") gives a zesty performance as Bush's always expecting Poppy and Ellen Burstyn ("The Wicker Man") is convincing in a hammed-up portrayal of Barbara Bush.

With the cast's fine performances, it is easy to tell that the normally elegant Thandie Newton ("Norbit") gets the lowest approval rating. Newton falls flat on her face in an over-the-top caricature of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice that leaves you cringing at her voice and facial impersonations.

It is not hard to read between the lines to figure out director Oliver Stone's less-than-favorable opinion of our 43rd president. "W." is still a moderately fair portrait of the man.

Helen Hunt reappears with new film

*** out of ****

Academy Award-winning actress Helen Hunt seemingly has fallen off the movie map since 2000's "Cast Away" and "What Women Want." Hunt makes her comeback not only as an actress, but as a first-time feature film producer, writer and director with "Then She Found Me"

The film stars Hunt as April Epner, a New York schoolteacher who goes into a mid-life crisis after multiple hits of fate.

The first is her inability to conceive a child naturally with her biological clock ticking. The second hit catches April off guard when her husband, Ben (Matthew Broderick), who works at the same school, unexpectedly leaves her. The third hit is her adoptive mother, Trudy (Lynn Cohen), passes away and, if that isn't enough, April's birth mother, Bernice (Bette Midler), decides to re-enter April's life. Then, a gentlemanly Brit named, Frank (Colin Firth), a father of one of April's students, unexpectedly enters her life.

Well directed, the movie has both April and the audience feeling overwhelmed with all of this happening and on board for a charming ride.

April has a hard time believing the bouncy Bernice, a semi-famous morning talk show host, is her mother, a woman who never is entirely honest about the story of April's adoption and her birth father.

When April finally settles in with the idea of Bernice being her mother and her newfound romance with Frank, a new problem arises: April finds out she is finally pregnant, but with Ben's baby. Ben, trying to come back into the picture as the father, brings complications to her romance with Frank.

Sorting through life with the help of each of these characters and her non-adopted brother Freddy (Ben Shenkman), "Then She Found Me" is a realistic look into making the best of what life gives you, even if it appears to be the worst.

"Then She Found Me" boasts a fabulous cast of actors who rarely are seen in films anymore, including Bette Midler, whose last appearance was in the underwhelming 2004 remake "The Stepford Wives."

Colin Firth ("Bridget Jones's Diary") is fine as the single father Frank, but the role isn't much of a stretch from his previous work. Matthew Broderick gives a rare dramatic performance as April's husband, who is finally ready to accept responsibility. Two-time Oscar nominee Midler fits her role like a glove as the over-the-top Bernice, who generates the film's biggest laughs.

Hunt marvels as April in a difficult role that reconfirms her status as an Oscar-winning actress. As a director and writer she pulls it off. Starting as a comedy, the film is a little rocky, but the fairly smooth transition into drama is where it excels.

The brave screenplay doesn't feel like a studio product, like most films of its genre today. The movie provides a content down-to-earth ending that caps off a satisfying journey. One of the better movies of its class in a long time, "Then She Found Me" truly is a find.

'21' falls short of winning hand

** out of ****

"21's" winning slogan, "winner, winner, chicken dinner," is quoted quite often, but the movie is more of a turkey. The newest card playing movie since last year's Drew Barrymore-Eric Bana flop "Lucky You," "21" is definitely more entertaining, but still goes bust.

From across the pond, "Across the Universe" and "The Other Boleyn Girl" star Jim Sturgess puts on his best American accent as the film's lead, Ben Campbell. Ben is an Massachusetts Institute of Technology student who can do math faster than a calculator. He's in desperate need of a scholarship or $300,000 to achieve his dream of attending Harvard Medical School. Opportunity knocks on his door when his math professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) offers him a place on the school's secret card counting team, the "MIT Blackjack Club."

Ben reluctantly takes Rosa up on his offer, realizing his financial woes and the persuasion from seductive Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth), his campus crush. The condition that he imposes upon himself is playing only until he can win enough money for Harvard -- "a means to an end."

Jetting back and forth from chilly Boston to glossy Las Vegas on the weekends, the team counts their cards and then their chips, raking in the dough.

As they change their names and wear disguises to masquerade their identities, their days become numbered with increasing security technology. The day arrives sooner than expected as the casinos see that their profits are slipping and vigilant security pro Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) starts to unearth Micky's elaborate system.

For blackjack novices, don't fear, the movie gives a brief tutorial on how the game works, as well as the intriguing team's hand gestures, body movements and word signals to indicate if a table is "hot," "cold" and other player codes.

"21" has exciting blackjack table scenes, though away from Las Vegas' glitter the film is stale. "21" does manage to be rousing enough to follow through, even at its most tedious points. Screenwriters Peter Steinfeld ("Be Cool," "Analyze That") and Allan Loeb ("Things We Lost in the Fire") capture the excitement of the game, but provide a failing hand with the rest of the story.

The ending is a slight disappointment. As the film progresses, the story becomes too unrealistic, which is funny, since the movie is loosely based on the true story of the real MIT Blackjack Team and adapted from the book "Bringing Down the House," written by Ben Mezrich.

Director Robert Luketic ("Legally Blonde," "Monster-in-Law") certainly has some style with fascinating aerial shots of Vegas and the fast-editing on the casino floors, but it's Something we've seen already in the superior "Ocean's 11."

Jim Sturgess does a fair job as Ben, but seems somewhat miscast. Kevin Spacey tries his best with the role, but gives up along the way becoming over-the-top without much depth. The same goes for Fishburne. The average Bosworth surprisingly works well in the role of Ben's love interest. Aaron Yoo ("Disturbia") and Liza Lapira ("Cloverfield") are affable as fellow teammates Choi and Kianna.

With a great concept, "21" folds on quality story telling. Not worth the gamble to see in the theaters, "21's" good enough to ante up $3 for a rental.

Boy Meets Girl?

**** out of ****

Amidst an overflow of serious films in the multiplexes, you can find relief in the light-hearted comedy, "Lars and the Real Girl," one of the gems of 2007.

Ryan Gosling stars as the title character Lars Lindstrom, a lovable loser, who is socially inapt. Lars' rare trips out are either to go to church or to his job, where his new co-worker, Margo (Kelli Garner), is attracted to him. He lives in a sparsely furnished garage off of his brother Gus' house. Gus (Paul Schneider) and his wife, Karin (Emily Mortimer), are expecting their first child.

Gus insists to Karin that Lars likes to live alone. Karin, however, is persistent in her attempts to socialize with Lars.

The events change quickly when Lars actually knocks on Gus and Karin's door to have dinner with them saying he has a girlfriend, Bianca. Gus and Karin want to meet her, but are shocked when they find out that Bianca is a custom made life-size doll.

Lars treats Bianca as if she were real. He even gives her a life story -- that she is a Brazilian missionary with nurse training whose parents died at birth, among other various things.

Gus thinks Lars is crazy and Karin also has her doubts. But family doctor/psychiatrist, Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson), says he is fine but delusional, slowly letting out his bottled up feelings. The doctor recommends that they should treat Bianca as if she were real and Lars will eventually stop using her when he has come to terms with his issues. Easier said than done.

The movie progresses as Lars and Bianca step out and the snowy, small town accepts Bianca. She and Lars actually become minor celebrities.

Taking the place of last year's "Little Miss Sunshine," "Lars" is a subtle comedy with laugh-out-loud moments. At times it is a sad film about loneliness and the kindness of others, which is inspiring at the end.

After "The Notebook" and coming off his first Academy Award nomination for "Half Nelson," Ryan Gosling is a smart guy when it comes to films, and this only adds to his near perfect resume. Gosling is phenomenal as Lars. In a role with spare lines, he pours his emotions out on screen.

Indie-film star Emily Mortimer shines on screen. Playing a natural do-gooder, Mortimer is memorable in one of the few tear-jerker scenes towards the end where she confronts Lars.
Patricia Clarkson also stands out. Her character connects with Lars with their mutual loneliness in heart-touching conversations.

This is director Craig Gillespie's first film (his second "Mr. Woodcock" was released in September), and is a marvelous attempt. The same goes for screenwriter Nancy Oliver -- this is her first feature film screenplay.