Shooting the Moon
Movies
The Talented Mr. Ripley
(Paramount Pictures). Most
critics are seduced by Anthony Minghella's first work since The English
Patient ; a few are left cold. Adapted from Patricia Highsmith's novel, the
film follows Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), a poor loner who usurps the identity of
Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), a rich playboy loafing around Italy in the late
'50s. The "hypnotic, sensually charged adaptation … has the same kind of
complex allure that made The English Patient so mesmerizing. … [It]
offers diabolically smart surprises wherever you care to look" (Janet Maslin,
the New York Times ). The wild measures Ripley takes to maintain the
charade cause some critics to lose interest in the second half of the film:
"When Tom's aberrant qualities become more dangerous, the movie loses its
moorings and drifts into a sort of highly polished, implausible melodrama"
(Desson Howe, the Washington Post ). (Visit the official
site.)
Man on the Moon
(Universal Pictures). Lukewarm
reviews for Milos Forman's biopic about offbeat 1970s comedian Andy Kaufman;
tremendous reviews for Jim Carrey in the lead role. Even critics who can't
stand the film are impressed by Carrey: "His performance is a brilliant, almost
terrifying impersonation" (Kenneth Turan, the Los Angeles Times ). The
critics' main bone of contention is that the film makes no attempt to explain
the source of his eccentricity: "Mr. Forman and his colleagues present the Andy
Kaufman mystery as if they thought it was utterly impenetrable" (Joe
Morgenstern, the Wall Street Journal ), or as Janet Maslin writes in the
New York Times , "what is missing here, though it might have been the
first thing expected from an ostensible film biography, is an answer to the
simplest question: Who was Andy Kaufman, and how did he get that way?" (Read
Slate
's "" to see how the film compares with Kaufman's real
life.)
Any Given Sunday
(Warner Bros.). Oliver Stone directs
a flashy, high-speed football film. Critics are amused but not impressed: It's
an "energetic and diverting sports soap opera" (Kenneth Turan, the Los
Angeles Times ). Al Pacino plays an aging coach whose balance is upset when
his two top quarterbacks get injured and he's forced to put in the untried
Jamie Foxx--in a "standout performance" (Mike Clark, USA Today ). From
here the film "develops into a kind of mega- Rocky " (Stephen Holden, the
New York Times ) complete with crucial last-minute plays. The MTV-style
editing leaves some critics dizzy, others complain that once again Stone is
peddling "conventional wisdom disguised as manically charged, cutting-edge
consciousness" (Desson Howe, the Washington Post ). (Visit the official
site.)
Book
Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House ,
by Cheryl Mendelson (Scribner). This compendium of information on proper
housekeeping gets a tongue-bath from the critics: "It's an extraordinary
achievement that has no peer in this century and may well have none in the
next" (Laura Shapiro, Time ). The author, a former lawyer with a Ph.D. in
philosophy, is no Heloise. Her writing is "crisply entertaining" (Cynthia
Crossen, the Wall Street Journal ), her ideas are "revolutionary … a
manifesto in praise and defense of the home" (Susannah Herbert, the Chicago
Sun-Times ), and the information is indispensable: "Home Comforts is
to the house what Joy of Cooking is to food" (Katy Kelly, USA
Today ). The only negative comment critics can come up with is that on
occasion "a schoolmarmish, admonitory tone creeps in" (Corby Kummer, the New
York Times Book Review ). (Click here to buy the book.)
Opera
The Great
Gatsby
(The Metropolitan Opera). After much buildup, the
Metropolitan Opera's last commissioned work of the century, an opera based on
F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, draws weak reviews overall, with a few raves here
and there. Complaints: 1) Gatsby (sung by tenor Jerry Hadley) lacks "the vocal
flexibility or top notes to capture Gatsby's sentimental underbelly and heroic
decency" (Philip Kennicott, the Washington Post ); 2) it's slow (Gatsby
takes 45 minutes to show up). On the positive side, the cast includes a few
standout performers, and the set and costumes are stunning. The few who find
the production enchanting claim, "It is hard to think of another American opera
composed with a comparable degree of musical sophistication and sheer virtuoso
compositional chops" (Richard Dyer, the Boston Globe ). Even the negative
reviews give grudging respect to the opera, with the New York Times '
Bernard Holland admitting that it "may also be the victim of the inflated
expectations surrounding it." (Find
out more about the production on the Metropolitan Opera's Web page.)
