My Scientology Movie
I don't know if this has even been released in America, or how well known Louis Theroux is over there, but I have to vent this somewhere....
I wonder if I'm the only one who's a little puzzled by Louis Theroux's success. I recall the first time I saw one of his documentaries, around 15, 20 years ago - I thought it was some kind of Spinal Tap spoof, or that he was an actor, punking the subject of his films by playing some kind of Alan Partridge-style savant documentarian.
There's a moment in this where he asks ex-Scientologist Marty Rathbun if Rathbun thinks Theroux's questions are "inane"... and I wanted to be there, in the car with them, to say "I DO! I FREQUENTLY THINK YOUR QUESTIONS ARE INANE, LOUIS!!! NOT JUST TODAY, BUT GOING BACK NEARLY 20 YEARS!!!!! WHEN I FIRST SAW YOU ON TV I HONESTLY THOUGHT IT WAS A BIG JOKE!"
There are at least two moments in this where he spends what feels like an eternity simply staring silently at his subjects and then, when the silence is finally broken, he says something utterly pointless, and I just think "You're asking that? Now?"
I've heard him try to justify his style as letting the film do the talking, so that he doesnt become to subject or the focus, but God-damn it the two can at least meet halfway somewhere... and, for me, he becomes the focus by being such an odd presence in all of his films. Ned Flanders said of Woody Allen "I like his movies, but I can't stand that nervous, little fella who's always in them." Well... I like some of Theroux's documentaries, but I can't stand that awkward, gangly fella who's always in them... and you can sense Marty Rathbun become increasingly frustrated with Theroux as the documentary continues. You can certainly sense the moment Rathbun calls Theroux a "f*cking asshole".
The funny thing is that he seems to give great interviews, he just doesn't seem to know how to conduct them. I've listened to him a couple of times on various podcasts and he's always more interesting being interviewed than he is in any of his films.
Anyway, as you can probably tell, I found this an underwhelming, incredibly frustrating 100 minutes. Nothing I didn't already 'know'... cheap shots taken at an easy target.
The Brothers Grimsby
Not good. Sasha Baron Cohen does a lot of his writing with Peter Baynem, whose career in the UK began with Chris Morris, Steve Coogan, Patrick Marber and Armando Iannucci on a Radio 4 show called 'On the Hour', which became 'The Day Today' and which produced Alan Partridge, and which went on to become 'Brass Eye'. I remember watching 'The Day Today' as a 13 year old and laughing until I cried, but I always thought Baynems stuff was the weakest, or that he was the least funny presence.
That feeling is justified by this. Increasingly diminishing returns. 'Borat' was funny, 'Bruno' a bit less so, 'The Dictator' less still, and now this. I can understand Mark Strongs involvement - I can imagine there'd be at least some fun to be had for an actor in making a film like this, but I genuinely feel embarrassed for Penelope Cruz. Whatever possessed her to do this?
Not good.