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"Lars and the Real Girl" (PG-13, 1 hr., 46 min.) (LIMITED RELEASE)
High-schoolers -- or adults, for that matter -- who can't check their cynicism at the door won't get much out of "Lars and the Real Girl" beyond lewd giggles. It is, after all, the story of an emotionally damaged young man who orders a life-sized sex doll, puts her in a wheelchair and introduces her to his family and others as his girlfriend. We never see the doll naked, though another character notes she is anatomically correct. In fact, the film contains no sex scenes at all. What makes it extraordinary is the good feeling it engenders without resorting to sentimentality. The script (by Nancy Oliver), the direction (by Craig Gillespie) and the uniformly fine cast never let the material sugar over. A genuinely touching saga emerges about a wintry Midwestern town whose citizens unite to help someone. For thoughtful high-schoolers, "Lars and the Real Girl" offers artistic, emotional and even spiritual nourishment -- an antidote to the brittle sarcasm of modern life. In addition to sexual innuendo (pointed questions about the doll's "flexibility"), the film includes mild profanity and themes about loss and depression.
Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling) lives in a garage apartment next to the family home he co-owns with his older brother, Gus (Paul Schneider), and sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer). For reasons that become clear later, Lars can't relate to people or bear to be touched. A guy at work clues him in to a Web site for sex dolls and he has one delivered, names her "Bianca" and introduces her to all as his visiting (platonic) girlfriend. The family doctor (Patricia Clarkson) advises Gus and Karin to go along with Lars' delusion and gradually Lars comes out of his shell.
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"Rendition" (R, 2 hrs.)
A naked prisoner is shackled, hit and graphically subjected to electric shock and water torture in "Rendition," a slow-building, earnest film that eventually earns its thrills and justifies its anti-torture agenda with scruples as well as pragmatism. For high-schoolers 16 and older who haven't been following world events, "Rendition" may seem outlandish or even extreme in its viewpoint. So the movie could be quite an eye-opener for kids heading to college or into the real world. The violence, while harrowing, is far less exploitative than in most R-rated thrillers. In addition to the torture, "Rendition" depicts a shattering suicide bombing, strong profanity, a steamy kissing scene and use of liquor, cigarettes and, it's implied, hashish.
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a rookie CIA analyst required to act as a silent observer during the interrogation and torture of a terror suspect (Omar Metwally) sent under "extraordinary rendition" to North Africa where authorities use harsh methods to question him about his cell phone records. The suspect is an Egyptian-born chemical engineer from Chicago, who is arrested at an American airport. His anguished wife (Reese Witherspoon) can get no information. She seeks help from a college friend (Peter Sarsgaard) who works as a senator's (Alan Arkin) staffer. His queries hit a brick wall with the CIA's anti-terrorism chief (Meryl Streep at her steeliest). Parallel, and evermore key to the plot, are the lives of a teenage girl (Zineb Oukach) in North Africa and her radicalized boyfriend (Moa Khouas). The roots of Islamist terror, argue director Gavin Hood and screenwriter Kelley Sane, are complex, and torture won't reveal them.
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BEYOND THE RATINGS GAME
-- OK FOR KIDS 8 AND OLDER:
"The Final Season" PG (Even young baseball fans will doze through this amateurish, long, sloppily plotted fact-based saga. Sean Astin stars colorlessly as an inexperienced coach who leads a legendary high-school baseball team from tiny Norway, Iowa, in their final season, circa 1991, after their longtime coach (Powers Boothe) gets fired for opposing the city fathers' decision to merge Norway High with a bigger school, which will decimate the team. An alienated, citified teen in the story smokes cigarettes, asks about buying marijuana, and "borrows" his granddad's pickup; rare mild profanity; very muted sexual innuendo; adults drinking.)
"The Seeker" PG (Well-acted adaptation of Susan Cooper's 1973 novel "The Dark is Rising" (one of a series; readers will note liberties taken in the film) about Will (Alexander Ludwig), a 14-year-old American living in England; village elders (Ian McShane, Frances Conroy as leaders) tell him he's fated to be a time-traveling Seeker in an ancient war between light and darkness, the latter forces led by the evil Rider (Christopher Eccleston); the film plays like a less inventive "Harry Potter" flick, but isn't bad. Some scary moments approach PG-13 intensity: the Rider's messengers chase Will, morphing into ravens; flood waters and ravens crash through a window; lethal icicles fall; piles of snakes slither; a character menaces Will with a knife; subplot about the disappearance of a baby; adults drink. Christian themes overlay Celtic and Arthurian symbols.)
"The Game Plan" PG (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who's OK in action flicks, grimaces and lumbers through this harmless but clumsy family comedy, as he tries to show emotional growth in his character. Kids 8 and older may be entertained, but adults will note the movie's utter artificiality. Johnson plays a star Boston quarterback whose selfish life goes haywire after the 8-year-old daughter (Madison Pettis) he never knew he had shows up. Scenes that gently imply footballers partying, with no details; mild hints that Joe has a girlfriend who stays overnight; a child's life-threatening food allergy; themes touch on a child's fear of abandonment, grief over a lost parent.)
-- PG-13s OF VARYING INTENSITY:
"Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?" (NEW) (A solid cast and better writing lend weight to this adult-oriented melodrama, based on a play by writer/director/actor Perry. It is just as preachy, but less free and funny than his previous films (all PG-13s and based on his plays). Four African-American couples on a therapeutic retreat led by psychologist Patricia (Janet Jackson) and her husband Gavin (Malik Yoba) unpack emotional baggage that wrecks the gathering. Mean, unfaithful Mike (Richard T. Jones) is cruel to overweight mate Sheila (singer Jill Scott); Terry (Perry) wonders why his lawyer wife Diane (Sharon Leal) avoids him; tipsy entrepreneur Angela (Tasha Smith) and Marcus (Michael Jai White) argue nonstop. References to venereal disease, to having one's tubes tied; marital bedroom cuddles; other sexual innuendo; mild profanity; theme about losing a child; drinking. Not for middle-schoolers; may bore older teens.)
"Lars and the Real Girl" (NEW; LIMITED RELEASE) (Terrific ensemble acting and an unsentimental script make this uplifting parable, about a tiny Midwestern town that unites to help someone through a patch of mental illness, really work. Ryan Gosling plays Lars, an emotionally damaged young man who sends away for a sex doll he introduces to his brother (Paul Schneider), sister-in-law (Emily Mortimer) and townsfolk as his new girlfriend. The family doctor (Patricia Clarkson) advises everyone to go along with his delusion and Lars starts to blossom. We never see the doll naked, though another character sees it is anatomically correct. The film has no sex scenes, but does include sexual innuendo (pointed questions about the doll's "flexibility"), mild profanity and themes about loss and depression. It is too adult for middle-schoolers and older teens will have to check cynicism at the door to enjoy it.)
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Myth, legend, history and fashion vie for screen time in this gorgeous, less explicitly violent or sexual sequel to "Elizabeth" (R, 1998). Director Shekhar Kapur offers another romanticized take on Elizabeth I (stunning Cate Blanchett) in mid-reign. The 1588 defeat of the Spanish Armada is dull, but quieter scenes crackle. Catholic plotters bedevil Protestant Elizabeth while Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) enchants her, then beds her lady-in-waiting (Abbie Cornish). Enemies are tortured, shot, hanged, or, in Mary, Queen of Scots (Samantha Morton) case, beheaded (strongly implied, but not shown). Bloody wounds include a sailor's newly footless leg; Elizabeth muses about "male desire"; nongraphic bedroom scene; backview nudity; unwed pregnancy; rare profanity, but some harsh words; Elizabeth tries to smoke a pipe. For literary and history-loving high-schoolers -- not so much for middle-schoolers.)
"Feel the Noise" (This cliched tale about an inner-city teen trying to get into the music biz stays afloat on energy and atmosphere, as it takes place mostly in Puerto Rico and showcases Reggaeton -- a catchy fusion of rap, reggae, salsa and bomba. Recording artist Omarion Grandberry plays Rob, a New York guy eager to make it as a rapper, though he sometimes resorts to stealing. After thugs shoot at him, his mom sends him to his estranged dad (Giancarlo Esposito) in Puerto Rico. With his stepbrother (Victor Rasuk) and a pretty dancer (Zulay Henao), Rob learns Reggaeton. Brief, nongraphic violence shows a woman beaten up; marijuana; drinking; cigarettes; sexually suggestive dancing; mild bedroom scene; a woman struggles to stave off sexual advances in another scene; rare profanity; racial slur; implied vigilante justice. Not for middle-schoolers.)
-- R's:
"Rendition" (NEW) (The issue of how America treats suspected terrorists gets a tense, intelligent airing in this slow-building thriller, which has a clear anti-torture agenda. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a CIA analyst who observes while police in a North African country "interrogate" an Egyptian-born chemical engineer (Omar Metwally) from Chicago, arrested and sent under "extraordinary rendition" to Africa for questioning about cell phone records. His wife (Reese Witherspoon) seeks help from a friend (Peter Sarsgaard) who works at the U.S. Senate, but the CIA's anti-terror chief (Meryl Streep) won't budge. In North Africa, a teenage girl (Zineb Oukach) and her radicalized boyfriend (Moa Khouas) hint at how complex the roots of terrorism are. A naked prisoner is shackled, hit and graphically subjected to electric shock and water torture; a huge suicide bombing; strong profanity; steamy kisses; implied overnight trysts; liquor, cigarettes and, implied hashish use. For thoughtful older high-schoolers.)
"Things We Lost in the Fire" (NEW) (Benicio Del Toro nearly saves this arty drama from its own pretentiousness as Jerry, a smart man struggling with heroin addiction. Halle Berry plays the disapproving wife of Jerry's lifelong best friend (David Duchovny), but when she is suddenly, shatteringly widowed, she reaches out to Jerry for support. Berry's role is poorly written, her performance contradictory and the camera work dizzying, but Del Toro is great. Graphic depiction of drug abuse, withdrawal; a man beating a woman; a gun murder; smoking; drinking; strong profanity; strong sexual innuendo; a child briefly goes missing; kids witness serious, unfiltered adult problems. OK for 16 and older.)
"The Heartbreak Kid" (Ben Stiller in a painfully crude, emotionally hollow remake of the 1972 classic (rated PG), now slimed into a lewd farce by the Farrelly brothers (of "There's Something About Mary" R, 1998); he's a 40-ish guy who weds a pretty woman (Malin Akerman) too fast, realizing his mistake on the honeymoon; while she nurses a mega-sunburn, he meets the perfect girl (Michelle Monaghan), then lies to them both, trying to squirm out of his fix. Very explicit, comic-athletic sexual situations; graphic (occasionally misogynistic) sexual slang; brief frontal nudity; much seminudity; much drinking; verbal references to rape, drug abuse; graphic homophobic jokes; gags about old people, overweight people; toilet humor; graphic porn photo. Too lewd for under-17s.)
"Michael Clayton" (Writer/director Tony Gilroy's stunning morality tale is a board room drama made epic with sharp dialogue, inspired symbolism, clever time-line manipulation and great acting; George Clooney stars as a law firm's "fixer," struggling with personal issues when asked to clean up a mess made by a senior litigator (Tom Wilkinson) who goes off his meds and decides the firm is on the wrong side of a pollution suit against a client company, whose general counsel (Tilda Swinton) is desperate to settle the case. Strong profanity and sexual language; a quiet, bloodless murder; a car bomb; theme about divorce, alienation from one's kids; drinking; drug references. OK for thoughtful teens 16 and older.)
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (Gritty, gripping, gorgeous tale explores the myth surrounding Jesse James (Brad Pitt) and the worshipful young Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) who joined the outlaw James Gang in its waning days and shot Jesse in 1882, making himself, to his surprise, a pariah; Pitt's James is scary, steely-eyed, given to rages. Thunderous shootouts; bloody injuries -- a bullet in the skull, a pistol-whipping, a suicide; James tortures a boy, cuts the heads off snakes; implied shooting of a horse; lewd, misogynistic sexual slang; racial slurs; steamy, but nonexplicit sexual encounter; smoking. Film buffs and western fans 17 and older.)
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