Last week saw no great waves made in movie theaters, with few notable releases. As we looked to the future, we hoped for something to get us through the long winter nights. "A comedy," we cried! "A tragedy," we lamented! This weekend audiences will be disappointed again - but in quantity only. The Movie Gods of Hollywood have answered our calls for horror and humor in the most concise way possible.
This weekend sees the arrival of the much-anticipated sequel to Silence of the Lambs as well as its polar opposite, the comedy Saving Silverman. Before all the snow melts and you start spending time outside in the (hopefully) milder weather, take advantage of an excuse to hide in a dark, warm theater for an evening. You'll be glad you did.
Hannibal
Directed by Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise)Starring Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore
Not exactly what you'd call a light movie, unless your idea of "light" involves cannibalism and a nice Chianti. Since the release of Silence Of The Lambs in 1991, fans of Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lechter have been eagerly anticipating author Thomas Harris' next novel. I won't compare the high hopes for this sequel to those that surrounded The Phantom Menace, but it did cross my mind. Hannibal finds Lechter up to his old antics - this time in Italy. FBI Agent Clarisse Starling re-appears and once again exploits her "connection" with Lechter in the hunt for a serial killer who they've identified as one of Dr. Lechter's former patients-turned-pedophile.Hannibal promises to be less cerebral than Silence, bearing Ridley Scott's directorial signature rather than Jonathan Demme's. Though Hopkins has few on-screen appearances in Silence, he's the star of the show the second time around. The role of fledgling FBI agent Clarisse Starling, played originally by a budding Jodi Foster, is now taken by Julianne Moore. The change of actress reflects not only Foster's rejection of the role, but also a change in the Starling character - the agent in Hannibal is more mature and has more sex appeal. There's a rumor that in the novel, Starling herself turns into a cannibal, but fear not! Even director Ridley Scott and noted screenwriter David Mamet (State And Main) wouldn't cross that line on the silver screen. It's shocking, I know, for a screenplay to diverge from the novel it's based on.
Still, Hannibal is far from tame, with issues such as disemboweling and Hannibal's cannibalism, so perhaps you'd like to pass on the popcorn for this one.
Head Over Heels
Directed by Mark S. Waters (The House of Yes)Starring Freddy Prinze Jr, Monica Potter
We fell in love with Freddy Prinze Jr. in She's All That, and we fell in love with Monica Potter in Patch Adams. How fitting it is that the two should fall in love in Head Over Heels. Don't you just hate it when all the beautiful people end up together? And don't you just hate it even more when the beautiful people are cast as the normal people? Potter plays Amanda Pierce, an average girl with four supermodel roommates. Amanda needs a man to hold, but she's down on her luck. As a restorer of Renaissance paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Amanda finds scant opportunities for love, until she meets Jim (Prinze), a fashion manager living across the street from her and her beauteous roommates. The supermodels arrange a meeting; the two hit it off, and Amanda goes home only to see what she believes is Jim's silhouette murdering another woman. Can this be? Can her one chance for love be a murderer? She and Fox Force Four set out to solve the crime. Remember, kids, this is a funny movie and not a detective story. Don't expect to be drawn into the film by the murderous sub-plot - the main idea is romantic comedy. Chances are it'll be a great date movie, if you go in for that whole Valentine's Day hooey.Saving Silverman
Directed by Dennis Dugan (Big Daddy)Starring Jason Biggs, Steve Zahn, Jack Black, Amanda Peet
We've all got friends like Darren, played by Jason Biggs, but most of us don't react as adversely to situations as do Darren's friends. His girlfriend, Judith (Amanda Peet), has him whipped to the umpteenth degree. Once they get together, Darren forgets all about his friends and fellow band members, Wayne (Steve Zahn) and DJ (Jack Black). The band? "Diamonds In The Rough," a group that covers Neil Diamond's greatest hits.This is clearly a Lowest Common Denominator comedy - joining the perfectly respectable genre of very successful endeavors a la Billy Madison and Tom Green - and so its characters are not only typecast but also stereotyped.
It's not enough that Judith's behavior shows her whip-dom over Darren, she has to make it obvious with phrases like, "Darren is my puppet, and I'm the puppet master." Darren's friends won't let him go down without a fight. When he announces his engagement to Judith, they pull out all the stops and every possible one-liner to prevent the joyous occasion, going so far as to kidnap Judith and pretend she's dead. They then try to get Darren back together with his high school flame, who is on her way to becoming a nun. Brilliant plan, boys. You'll laugh, and you'll enjoy Neil Diamond's cameo... but save your money and see Saving Silverman on video.
