Review: Finding Emily

It's a tale as old as time: a young man, convinced that a woman he hardly knows and can't currently contact, is the love of his life. Another young woman aids him in his quest for her own reasons; long before the man realises it, everyone else can see that his real love is standing right beside him.

Finding Emily does a lot with this premise, not all of it successful. A big part of the story is that the quest goes viral, which raises a lot of questions that the film doesn't exactly ignore, but that don't quite fit the breezy vibe the story is going for. You need an angle if your rom-com idea is going to cut through, but sometimes sticking to the basics is your best move.

Those basics being: Owen (Spike Fearn) works at a Manchester university as a sound technician. Don't worry, he's student-aged, and as he's in a non-teaching role he's able to date students... if any of them were interested.

One night at the noisy club where his job is mostly to keep the music under the legal limit, he meets a girl and they hit it off. One problem: when she gives him her number, she leaves a digit out. Owen is sure it's a legitimate mistake and not an attempt to fob him off, and so begins his quest.

With only a name to go on, his first fumbling attempts lead him to Emily (Angourie Rice), a psych student who really, really needs a hook to hang her final project on. Her thesis is that love is basically rubbish; Owen's clearly doomed flailings seem the perfect example - now all she has to do is keep him searching. Fingers crossed he doesn't find out the whole basis for their friendship was built on a lie!

Things rapidly escalate when an attempt to use the university's mailing list to hit up every Emily exposes his scheme to all of them (pro tip; BCC is your friend), turning his quest into an online trending topic. It's a case of two steps forward, one step back as the public struggles to decide whether he's a creep or a nice guy looking for love; turns out being good on the guitar still counts for a lot in today's romance economy.

There's a lot going on here, maybe a little too much. There's a large cast of characters, some of which don't earn their keep; Owen's backstory includes a dead mother and a brother looking to sell the family home out from under him; Emily has a years-long doomed obsession with a guy clearly not that interested in her. His being an online sensation adds a few jokes but doesn't seem essential, though it is tied in to Emily spurring him on.

The real problem with the overly cluttered storyline is that the relationship between Owen and Emily is a good enough reason to keep watching in and of itself - so much so that the other hijinx eventually start to feel like a distraction. Fearn is consistently likable as an aimless drifter seeking salvation in love (while also not wanting to be creepy about it), while Rice is even better as the often-flustered Emily, who is rapidly in over her head in a number of ways.

Finding Emily has other strengths - the jokes are pretty good for starters - but the central relationship is both endearingly earnest and sweetly authentic, and the scenes where they're just spending time together are easily the strongest. The world around them might be chaotic, but what they have between them is real; they're a fun couple and it's hard not to want them to make it work.

Which, when you boil it down, is all you want from a film like this.

- Anthony Morris 

Review: Mortal Kombat II

A rare Hollywood sequel that delivers on what the first film set up, Mortal Kombat II is packed with, well, combat of the mortal variety. It's a film where someone delivers a heart-rending monologue to a fallen adversary while the massive circular saw blade they were power-slammed onto is still spinning through their torso, spraying blood everywhere. So the real question is: why isn't this more awesome?

The first film ran right up to the edge of the promised tournament for the fate of "Earth Realm" then stopped. So we start with a bit of backstory here: after her father failed to defeat the evil Shao Khan (Martyn Ford), dooming her realm to his brutal leadership, Kitana (Adeline Rudolph) has become one of the tyrant's most potent weapons. Together with her bodyguard Jade (Tati Gabrielle), she's at the forefront of his latest battle - conquering Earth.

Meanwhile,  for reasons best known to the gods, Earth's final champion has been chosen: washed up 90s action star Johnny Cage (Karl Urban). Despite the best efforts of Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) and the rest, he refuses the call. But the gods care not for his desires.

Both of these storylines are a solid basis for a film. Unfortunately, they're surrounded by lore, surplus characters, a story that probably has too much going on - Shao Khan is also after an amulet that will make him immortal, and therefore impossible to defeat in combat - and a bunch of other characters coming back from the dead. Though as one of them is Kano (Josh Lawson), easily the comedy highlight of this and the previous film, the loss of dramatic stakes is probably worth it.

Returning director Simon McQuoid does a solid job with the fights, of which there are many, and the often insanely gory finishing moves are much appreciated. Urban does his best to milk the comedy from his blowhard character, though his Cage works best when he's actually trying to do the right thing. Kitana's story is where the real drama lies; a tighter focus on the two leads might have sidelined some of the fan favourite fighters, but would have made for a stronger film.

There's one brief flashback to explain a side character's backstory, but if you don't have strong memories of where the previous film ended you're largely on your own. It's not a big problem, even when towards the end a conflict that seemed pretty much definitively concluded in the first film is dug up because the characters involved are cool and it's cool to have them fight again. Mortal Kombat II: cool fights are cool.

If only they could figure out a way to have the very first second of the film be the cry of "Mortal Kombat!!!" from Techno Syndrome like the first 90s one did. 

- Anthony Morris 

Review: The Devil Wears Prada 2

The first Devil Wears Prada was, amongst other things, aspirational. If you worked hard and put up with a lot of crap, your dreams could come true; the comedy part was that Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) wanted to be a serious journalist but was stuck in the world of fashion - a world she came to realise was in its own way as serious and worthy of respect as any other.

In 2026, who aspires to work in the media? The most considered part of this sequel - which mostly does everything right without ever doing anything interesting - is the way it tackles this problem head-on. We're reunited with Andy as she's about to collect an award for journalism; the real prize comes when she and everyone else at her table get fired by text.

So she needs a job. Meanwhile, her former employer Runway is in trouble, having accidentally run a glowing story about a fashion label that secretly uses sweatshop labor. Now they're being mocked on the internet; worse, the advertisers are using it as an excuse to screw them over. Editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) is less than impressed by the response imposed on her by the magazine's owner: Andy, icon of journalist legitimacy that she is, is now Runway's new features editor.

Nigel (Stanley Tucci) never left, so three-quarters of the old gang are back together, and former rival Emily (Emily Blunt) is now doing marketing at Dior so she's around as well. Andy struggles with the idea of putting together quality stories that also get clicks - Runway is now more of an online brand, with all the slashed budgets and dirty work that entails - but bigger financial problems are on the horizon.

Most of what passes for dramatic tension here comes from the tug-of-war between surviving in a barren media environment and continuing to peddle a very luxe image. It's not really surprising that it comes down to appeasing various members of the ultra-rich to allow them to exist; at least this has the honesty to wonder aloud if even the best possible option will still allow them editorial freedom.

None of this fits well with the glamourous escape promised by the world of high fashion, and the various character arcs are much more about surviving than thriving. Everyone is doing about as well as could be realistically expected, but this is not a film where you come out envious of anything beyond the outfits.

Those outfits are almost worth the price of admission on their own; it's an increasingly rare pleasure to see good-looking people dressed well on the big screen. It's also rare to see a cast list as overstuffed as this one. At a time when even big budget releases veer towards "two people, one room", this is packed with extraneous friends and lovers and assistants who turn up for a handful of scenes and leave no impact. 

Even Andy's new love interest (played by Australian Patrick Brammell) gets the bare minimum to create an arc (meet cute, first date, couch cuddle with ambiguous ending, reunited) in a subplot that might have been aspirational if their only topic of conversation wasn't rennovations.

Fortunately, the four leads are all fully focused, and the film makes sure we get plenty of hang time and snappy dialogue without being distracted by pointless drama. Andy is still an excitable puppy, Nigel is the caring mentor, Emily is quality comedy relief without going too broad, and ice-cold Miranda is as cutting as ever... just so long as you don't notice that the entire plot is driven by moments where her authority is undercut, or worked around, or simply ignored.

She's still got it, obviously; who doesn't love an icon that makes the case that keeping your emotions to yourself is how you succeed in life? But the promotion subplot that gives Miranda reason to care feels more like they're trying to kick her upstairs and out of the way; her vision remains big, it's just the screens that got small.

- Anthony Morris 

Review: The Deb

Much like weddings, debutante (or "deb") balls provide a rock solid structure for a film that wants to build up to a big finish. There's plenty to organise, people are under stress, there's the whole "find a date" angle, and the big night is an explosion of fancy outfits and dodgy dancing. So why not base a musical on the whole thing? Why not indeed.

When a feminist protest at her elite private school goes wrong - well, it doesn't go wrong exactly, it's just unclear how flashing the entire school was meant to achieve anything - the aggressively outspoken culture warrior Maeve Barker (Charlotte MacInnes) is sent out west to hide out with her country cousin Taylah Simpkins (Natalie Abbott) and her father Rick (Shane Jacobson) in the drought-stricken town of Dunburn.

Taylah is at the low end of the town's social ladder, constantly pranked by a trio of mean girls led by Annabelle (Stevie Jean), daughter of the town's beautician, Janette (Rebel Wilson, who also directs). Taylah's dreams of a date to the upcoming Deb ball have been dashed yet again; maybe her cool cousin will be able to help her out?

Maeve finds the whole thing a retrograde disaster with a big slice of sexism on top; the only way she can stand to be around any of the locals is by starting a podcast designed to mock and expose their backwards ways. This, of course, will not come back to bite her on the arse when she eventually warms to her cousin and her plight.

Based on a 2022 stage musical by Hannah Reilly and Meg Washington (Reilly also wrote the screenplay), parts of this are a reminder of just how quickly culture moves these days; the opening musical number 'FML' features bitchy teens with minor complaints about their pampered lives (never goes out of style) with what's best described as weaponised performative wokeness (which now feels very much like a 2022 thing).

The film is on steadier, if somewhat more well-trod, ground once it gets to the country. Reilly seems aware that audiences have seen this kind of thing before, and the story rushes through a number of familiar twists and turns (plus a few new ones) in a way that can feel a little breathless at times. 

Then again, there's a bunch of songs to fit in, and the numerous numbers are consistently catchy. Abbott and MacInnes are charismatic stand-outs both musically and as actors, keeping their characters relatable despite the occasional whiplash change in standing or situation. The tone is camp, except when it's not, and at times it's a little tricky to separate the comedy from the moments we're meant to care about.

Rebel Wilson is also in this, so you know what to expect there. Whatever comedic flair she displayed a decade or so ago has largely faded; even as the main antagonist she's miscast. Her directing (this is her debut behind the movie camera) is competent at best, and that's mostly during the musical numbers where the choreography is doing the hard work.

Dunburn is largely populated by stock stereotypes animated by ham-fisted performances (the local cop is played by Sam Simmons, which should give you an idea of what's being served up), which become even more jarring when things take a turn for the serious towards the end - so much so that a comedy cameo from the late Julian McMahon, while funny in isolation, simply doesn't work. 

High energy is always welcome in a comedy musical, but at times this feels like a film of two parts: the songs, the leads and a sweet subplot involving Rick make this an entertaining romp with heart, while Wilson and much of the supporting cast are going for the kind of broad strokes that often distinguishes Australian big screen comedy.  

Well, maybe "distinguishes" isn't quite the right word. 

- Anthony Morris 

Review: The Drama

Much of the early discussion around The Drama has been focused on spoiler culture. The film's plot involves a revelation around twenty minutes in that critics have been asked not to mention - so don't go looking for it here. 

That said, if critics hadn't been warned ahead of time, it's unlikely anyone would have considered it a spoiler. It's basically just what the movie is about, like trying to hide the fact that Star Wars takes place in a galaxy far, far away. What can be said at this stage is this: couple Charlie (Robert Patterson) and Emma (Zendaya) are hurtling towards their looming wedding when one of them reveals something that turns everything on its head.

It's the nature of what's revealed that's the big secret, which is a bit weird because as far as shocking revelations go it doesn't quite work. It's like writer / director Kristoffer Borgli tried to think of the most inflammatory thing he could (for a US audience at least) that was also politically neutral - it's something nobody on either side of that divided nation can support.

The thing is, the character (okay, its Emma) didn't actually go through with it, and it's fairly easy to imagine anyone hearing about it (it's revealed during a drunken session of "what's the worst thing you've ever done") just thinking that yeah, teens do tend to get a bit excessive, let's move on. 

For the story to properly hang together, this reveal needs to be earth-shattering and basically unforgivable, the kind of thing that would change how you see someone forever. Instead, the revelation is a bit wobbly, something that needs to be sold to us over and over rather than hitting like a hammer. 

Fortunately, much of this burden falls on Patterson, who is basically playing a Hugh Grant character from the 1990s. It's extremely plausible that he would obsess over even a minor revelation, so his gradual but growing commitment to the worst possible decisions - which drives a lot of the comedy here - works well.

He's not the only one obsessed, though Emma is largely focused on dredging up her past. Neither of them are in the right headspace heading into a big fancy wedding, and their constant stumbles over many of the decisions required only add to the growing sense of doom.

There's a long tradition of films where the selling point is the walk back to the car afterwards where couples get to ask "what would you do if that happened to us?". The question is as important as the resolution, and on that level, this succeeds - which again, is probably why critics have been asked not to reveal that side of things.

Aside from that, what's left? The romance is deftly established then slowly demolished, helped along by two likable (for the most part) performances. Weddings always make for great drama, and this takes full advantage. 

As cringe comedies go, this isn't all that cringe-worthy. The big laughs come from comedy juxtapositions and oblivious outsiders; Charlie's slow-motion car-crash approach to messing things up never quite hits the high notes. 

That's possibly because it's all in character for him: the movie begins with him retelling the story of how they met-cute, only it's based on him lying about having read a book then telling that lie into Emma's deaf ear, giving him a chance to get out but instead he doubles down (and later on, doubles down again). 

This is just how he rolls, and Emma loves him anyway. A feel good - or at least, not an aggressively feel-bad - ending is all but guaranteed, no matter how badly things go wrong. How badly, you ask? When it comes to the central dilemma, it's safe to reveal this: it involves a gun.

- Anthony Morris 

 

 

Review: They Will Kill You

The cheap joke currently doing the rounds is that They Will Kill You and Ready or Not 2 (out last week) are pretty much the same movie. And yeah, the basics - young woman is trapped in a deadly location by murderous wealthy Satanists and has to fight her way out while repairing her relationship with her estranged sister - are somewhat similar. Is there enough of a difference in their approaches to set them apart? Let's break it down.

They're both as much horror as action, but the angle of attack here is closer to a cartoony Sam Raimi-esque take than Ready or Not 2's slightly more grounded approach. Occasionally this will take the time to break out a memorable image, comic-book-style; likewise, the fondness for pulling back to show a tunnel crawl or corridor fight from an impossible angle gives this a nice visual flair.

The action (as with Ready or Not 2) does suffer a bit from the current Hollywood trend where the action is a big part of the story while never really being all that different from the action in any other story. It's very well done here, and there is the occasional moment of visual flair, but even when it's trying to be gritty it's really just people running through a set of poses - which can be impressive, but ever since John Wick made this style the mainstream we're all very much used to it.

Where this does step up is in the gore side of things. The twist here is that the rich Satanists have been granted immortality by their dark master, which means whatever you do to them - cut off limbs, blow off heads - it just grows back. Also, the severed parts have the ability to keep on keeping on, which comes in handy (as it were). 

Zazie Beetz (as Asia Reeves) does an excellent job in the lead, so much so that the film feels built around her - her mix of exasperation and annoyance perfectly suits the over-the-top nature of the challenges she faces, while the occasional moment of more realistic emotion comes off well. She also does a good job of selling the fight scenes, which definitely doesn't hurt.

Lilith (Patrica Arquette) leads the forces of darkness with a wandering Irish accent that makes sense for the character but is still a little distracting, while Sharon (Heather Graham) is the standout amongst the expendable rich - she's the only one that seems like a plausible person, the rest are basically little more than unkillable goons.

At just over 90 minutes this isn't messing around, and there's enough variety to the action to keep things exciting even when an individual scene doesn't quite land. There's even a few well-thought-out twists in the big climax to make sure everything ends in a satisfying fashion without having to break the previously-established rules.

There's definitely room enough in cinemas for two movies about stressed-out arse-kickers taking down the Satanic rich - just maybe next time, don't release the two of them only one week apart.

- Anthony Morris 

 

Review: Ready or Not 2: Here I Come

The original Ready Or Not way back in 2019 was a comedy-horror twist on final girl tropes, the latest in an off-on line of movies where rich people hunted the poor because it was fun and they were evil. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come arrives at a time when killing the rich (on screen) is more popular than ever; good thing we know the hunted pretty much always become the hunter.

Kicking off roughly one second after the end of the previous film, we see Grace (Samara Weaving) stagger out of a burning mansion in a blood-soaked wedding dress then promptly collapse, leading to a lot of unanswered questions at the local hospital. Seems like she's in a lot of trouble, even before her estranged sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) shows up for some spiky banter.

But while the police are getting heavy, the real threat is getting ready to strike. Seems surviving her wedding has triggered an upheaval in the world of the Satanic Elite, and now the whole "ruling the world" thing is in play. 

Chester Danforth (David Cronenberg), the previous title holder, is too feeble to defend his title, so it's up to his children, evil twins Titus (Shawn Hatosy) and Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar), to step up. But there's a bunch of other rivals eligible to take the crown (well, ring), and so the stage is set for a much bigger hunt in a much bigger location. But is bigger better when it comes to this kind of thing?

The story zips along and there's enough twists and turns to keep the "they're all trying to kill you" drama at least somewhat fresh. Faith's stand-alone charm doesn't add a whole lot to proceedings - anything that takes screen time away from Grace is a bad thing, as her stressed-out desperation is a large part of the appeal here - and the snarky banter drags a little, but eventually this finds a new gear to grind.

A stronger addition is Elijah Woods as Satan's smirking lawyer, the man with the big book who explains all the rules and loopholes. The kills are often entertaining, the hunters are a varied lot united by pretty much all being clueless dorks (they're often not even that good at murder), and the joke that displeasing Satan will make you explode in a shower of blood never gets old.

There's a bunch of fun scenes and strong performances (largely from Weaving and Wood), but the connecting material often feels flimsy. Still, going from not bad gags to okay banter to decent action to gory deaths and back again isn't the worst way to spend 100-odd minutes. If they do make a third film - hopscotch in a minefield perhaps - here's hoping Satan lifts his game.

- Anthony Morris