by CHRIS BARRY, SCOTT C, MATTHEW HAYS and MARK SLUTSKY

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

While most of us have settled into the idea of at least one or two run-of-the mill CGI family blockbusters served annually on a silver platter, the amount of detail, comedic timing and sheer energy contained in the new Wallace & Gromit full-length adventure has renewed my admiration for plasticine animation. Wallace, the bumbling inventor, and his silent but quick thinking canine partner Gromit, have a booming business protecting the local folk’s prized vegetable gardens from hungry critters. Peter Sallis returns as the voice of Wallace, along with Helena Bonham Carter as the toothy Lady Tottington, and Ralph Fiennes as the snooty Victor Quartermaine. Utilizing Wallace’s crazy inventions, the “Anti-Pesto” van patrols the neighbourhood humanely removing bucktoothed bunnies from carrot patches, easing people’s minds as the annual Giant Vegetable Competition approaches.

Things get hairy when a giant beast begins ruining the roughage and terrorizing yards, and the dynamic duo are called to intervene. This fast-moving mix of ripe old gags, witty repartee and slapstick to the maximum could give Pixar a run for its money any day. Hats off to this fun take on the old Frankenstein/werewolf genre, and if you like puns, it’s worth noting that there’s a good helping of silly wordplay coming your way. (SC)

Pretty Persuasion

Hey, remember those movies Heathers, Election and Clueless? For the most part they were all pretty good films, eh? Well, Pretty Persuasion is just like all those other movies except for one thing: the part about it being pretty good. And it’s not for lack of trying or the usual pandering to the idiot class that makes this “dark comedy” so stinky. Nope, director Marcos Siega and local screenwriter Skander Halim show an admirable amount of courage while addressing the issues of racism, homophobia and the like. It’s just that everything about this movie falls flat on its face, despite the filmmakers’ most noble intentions. Stuff that’s meant to be funny, and which could have been funny, isn’t funny.

Lead actress Evan Rachel Wood (Thirteen) does a great job with her character, an über-smart, ice teen goddess/sexual predator, but the script doesn’t really allow you to care about her one way or the other. James Woods, who’s usually a pretty safe acting bet, is absolutely ridiculous as her over-the-top racist papa. Oh yeah, assuming you’re still interested, the movie is about a slighted Bel Air high school chick, who concocts a scheme to bust one of her teachers (Ron Livingston) for sexual harassment. (CB)

Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus

Alt-country singer Jim White, a self-described “imitation of a Southerner,” is your host for this lovingly photographed documentary tour of the American South. White tells stories and philosophizes as the movie, directed by Andrew Douglas, ambles through the countryside, stopping at dumps, roadhouses, revivalist churches and prisons. These visits are interspersed with musical interludes by other indie rootsy types, like the Handsome Family and Lee Sexton. These scenes play out like picturesque music videos.

Douglas and White’s South is a dirty, dangerous, soulful and forgotten place, reeking with what you expect the movie considers a glorious authenticity. It’s a romanticized and dubious vision of Americana, a place of wrecked cars, bar fights, disfigurements, religious ecstasy and almost no black people. White’s inane and largely pointless stories, not even colourful enough to call yarns (he goes on and on about how his cat once tried to attack an animal that was really just an image on his TV screen) make him an increasingly dislikeable main character, and the movie’s relentless, transparent exoticization of its subject matter seems disingenuous from the first frame. (MS)

Waiting

In the all-important quest to capture the hearts, minds and wallets of youth everywhere, there’s nothing like a good teen movie to cash in on the broad appeal of a dick joke. In Waiting, starring Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris and Justin Long, we get a peek into life behind the counter at a chain restaurant called Shenanigan’s, where the staff struggles daily with the boredom of work. Reynolds seems to be very comfortable playing Monty, a wisecracking waiter and skirt-chasing asshole who spends the whole movie flirting with the underage maitre d’, while training new waiter Mitch, played by John Francis Daley (Freaks and Geeks). Distracted waiter Dean (Long), is pondering his future plans after being offered a very tempting assistant manager position, while head cook Raddimus, (Luis Guzmán) seems to spend more time with his pants down than he does handling food. Although this teen rush job does allude to the days when your part-time job was the last place you wanted to be, it goes straight for the balls, balancing the entire movie on a running dick joke, and not much else. Without a single zinger in the bunch, this comedy is gasping for laughs, and should be relegated to the $2.99 bin very soon. (SC)

In Her Shoes

Toni Collette’s character from Muriel’s Wedding is relied on heavily here, with the superb actress again being asked to play an ugly duckling. But along for the ride in this sister-rivalry melodrama is Cameron Diaz, playing sis. In Her Shoes is pretty predictable stuff, with family tensions running high, the occasional laff and reconciliation inevitable. Not too surprising, given director Curtis Hanson’s track record.

There are some funny moments, and Diaz has a field day playing a slutty, drunken, bad excuse for a sibling. Collette, meanwhile, is a hyper-achieving attorney. There are some seriously maudlin moments, dredged up by things as manipulative as Diaz learning the value of life through a poem she reads to a blind senior citizen (don’t ask). It’s all a bit much, though Shirley MacLaine manages a not-too-syrupy turn as their long-lost grandmother, the one who helps them patch things up. The shoe symbolism is possibly the film’s worst point: Collette has a closet full of fancy shoes, but she never wears them because—wait for it—she’s too repressed and doesn’t know how to have a good time. As she begins to find herself, she learns to actually wear the cool shoes she has locked away. Does Brown Shoes have shares in this studio, or what? (MH)

Pretty Persuasion, Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Waiting and In Her Shoes open Friday, Oct. 7

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