Capsule reviews of ‘Knight and Day,’ ‘Grown Ups’ and other films this week

more images

more images

Capsule reviews: ‘Knight and Day’ and others

Capsule reviews of films opening this week:

“Grown Ups” — Shockingly inept even by the standards we’ve come to expect from a Happy Madison production, this feels as if it were made without considering whether an audience would ever actually see it. It assaults us with an awkward mix of humor (which is rarely funny) and heart (which is never touching), but even more amateurishly, it features copious cutaways to characters laughing at each others’ jokes. For long stretches of time, Adam Sandler and Co. sit around a New England lake house goofing on each other, telling stories and reminiscing about old times. Given that these other characters are played by Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider, you would hope that some of the lines would work (from James and Rock, at least). One gets the distinct impression that these guys, four out of five of whom are “Saturday Night Live” alumni, improvised most of their insults and one-liners, and there just happened to be a camera or two rolling. The plot, which is essentially “The Big Chill” with jokes about flatulence and bunions, finds these five childhood friends reuniting for the funeral of the basketball coach who led them to a championship in 1978. PG-13 for crude material including suggestive references, language and some male rear nudity. 98 min. One star out of four.

— Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

“I Am Love” — Words like “lush” and “gorgeous” don’t even begin to scratch the surface in describing Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s retro-styled melodrama. It’s more like the most sumptuous design porn, lingering over every detail in the palatial home of a Milanese industrialist and his family, allowing plenty of time for us to ooh and ahh over the impeccably tasteful clothes, the rich furnishings, the exquisite meals. (Don’t see this movie hungry.) From the sweeping, old-fashioned opening titles, “I Am Love” signals that we’re in for a long, luxurious ride. This is a visual medium, after all, and in the tradition of Visconti and Sirk, Guadagnino expertly throws in everything he’s got. But despite these aesthetic trappings, an even more compelling factor is the most fundamental: the tour-de-force performance from its star, Tilda Swinton, speaking fluent Italian and even a little Russian in a couple of scenes. Swinton’s transformation from perfect, moneyed wife and mother to … well, we don’t want to give too much away, but we’ll just say her character becomes a purer form of herself when she finds true love. She becomes free. The camera has always loved her striking, porcelain features: those formidable cheekbones and wide-set blue eyes. She’s ravishing as Emma Recchi, flawlessly turned out for all occasions. But it’s the subtle changes within her that drive the film, and allow the staggeringly versatile Swinton to prove there’s more to her than we ever could have imagined. R for sexuality and nudity. 120 min. Three and a half stars out of four.

— Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

“Knight and Day” — Introducing an exciting new talent: Tom Cruise. Sure, we know Tom Cruise after his three decades in the business. We know way too much about Tom Cruise, actually, thanks to his well-documented off-screen antics the past few years. “Knight and Day” is a refreshing reminder, though, of why he is a superstar: He has that undeniable charisma about him and he really can act, something for which he doesn’t always get the credit he deserves. Here, he plays a Vintage Tom Cruise Role: He gets to be charming but also toy with the idea that he might be a little nuts. As secret agent Roy Miller, he has that twinkle in his eye and that sexy little smile but he’s also strangely calm in the middle of elaborate car chases and shootouts — relaxed, articulate and abidingly courteous when most mortals would be freaking out. That’s part of the fun of the character and the movie as a whole, that contradiction. Cruise’s presence also helps keep James Mangold’s film light, breezy and watchable when the action — and the story itself — spin ridiculously out of control. Cruise and Cameron Diaz make an oddly appealing pair as a (possibly) rogue spy and the innocent woman he must now protect. But the romance between them feels forced and is one of the movie’s chief weaknesses. PG-13 for sequences of action violence throughout, and brief strong language. 109 min. Two and a half stars out of four.

— Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

“Restrepo” — The great war-on-terror films mostly have been documentaries. Directors Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger continue that track record with this intimate portrait of a platoon’s tour of duty that’s disturbing, rattling and heartbreaking in its immediacy. Hetherington and Junger dug in with a U.S. Army platoon during much of its 15-month deployment in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, which the filmmakers describe as one of the most dangerous military postings. Their film unfolds with an objective yet impassioned voice, the soldiers’ actions, words, loyalty, even their horseplay combining for an unforgettable chronicle of fraternity under fire. In conversations during the deployment and interviews after returning to their base in Italy, platoon members plaintively recall fallen comrades and ponder if any good came out of their sacrifice. None of them has any answers, but their recollections reveal one certainty: Whatever nations might fight for, these men are fighting for one another. R for language throughout including some descriptions of violence. 94 min. Three and a half stars out of four.

— David Germain, AP Movie Writer