‘The Idea of You’ (2024)
A “Summer of ’42” (1971) or maybe a “May December”-esque romance, in which an older woman involved with a younger man raises eyebrows. Here Solène (Anne Hathaway, “Rachel at the Wedding”) has hooked up with the hunky frontman of a wildly popular boy band – think Harry Styles or Justin Timberlake. Based on Robinne Lee’s hit beach read, “The Idea of You” pairs Hathaway’s divorcée with a square-jawed Nicholas Galitzine as Hayes, one of the five boys in the hit band August Moon, which Solène’s daughter Izzy (Ella Rubin) used to be wild about. Did I mention that Solène’s ex-husband (Reid Scott) left her for a substantially younger women. He bails on taking Izzy to Coachella when Moon is playing and Solène steps up, and it’s a wayward use of a VIP toilet that puts her and Hayes together. As the generation-apart relationship blooms (with some pretty steamy and well-done romantic scenes), double standards fall like confetti at the prom, causing ripples at school for Izzy. As treacly as all that sounds (a Nicholas Sparks storyline if ever there was one) the film clicks along surprisingly, and as a viewer you often find yourself emotionally engaged and even moved. Most of that’s thanks to the cast and nuanced filmmaking (directed by Michael Showalter, “The Big Sick,” “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”), though not enough can be said about Hathaway making her spurned art gallery operator stand up and take change of the bad hand life has dealt her. Galitzine, who had a royal run last year in punchy indie gos “Bottoms” and “Red, White & Royal Blue” expands his resume here. He and Jacob Elordi (“Saltburn,” “Elvis”) should challenge Timothée Chalamet for future roles. The chemistry between the two leads is palpable, and while the arc to it all is clichéd, it feels like Hathaway and Galitzine are reaching, and achieving, something more. (Tom Meek) On Amazon Prime Video.
‘The Fall Guy’ (2024)
You could call this warmed-up TV homage “Barbenheimer Redux,” as it stars Oscar nominee Emily Blunt from last year’s Best Picture winner “Oppenheimer” opposite Ryan Gosling, another nominee for just being Ken in the palpably pink hit “Barbie.” The film borrows loosely from the 1980s TV series starring Lee Majors as stuntman Colt Seavers, who moonlights as a bounty hunter – not your typical gig economy go-to, but it made for good television. That’s forgotten in a razor-thin plot that has Colt, as a longtime stunt double for a Tom Cruise-esque A-lister named Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who worked with director David Leitch on “Bullet Train”), dropped after a stunt gone awry breaks his back. Colt was smitten with cinematographer and aspiring director Jody Moreno (Blunt), but that too evaporates as Colt falls into depression, isolation and a long recovery, living off the grid. Some 10 years later he gets a call (from a scene-stealing Hannah Waddingham) to come to Australia to stunt double for Tom on an alien-and-cowboy mega-pic that feels borrowed from a 2011 Daniel Craig vehicle. It’s being directed by Jody, and a romance that never began is rekindled as bigger matters come into play: Tom’s missing, and Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) crops up as publicist-aide handling a stunt dog who responds to commands only in French and has a knack for locking jaws on its target’s testicles. What you end up with is more rom-com than crime-comedy. Gosling, Blunt and crew are all clearly having a good time, and it rubs off on the viewer even if the material feels a tad microwaved and forced. For those in the know, there are a ton of Easter eggs laid by writer Drew Peace and Leitch (including sound effects from Majors’ “Six Million Dollar Man” series), which is part of the cheeky fun behind the passion project by Leitch, who before he kicked us all in the chin with the fierce and visceral “Atomic Blonde” in 2017 was a career stuntman. (Tom Meek) At Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Binney St., Cambridge; Apple Cinemas Cambridge, 168 Alewife Brook Parkway, Cambridge Highlands near Alewife and Fresh Pond; and AMC Assembly Row 12, 395 Artisan Way, Assembly Square, Somerville.
‘Back to Black’ (2024)
An Amy Winehouse biopic is an ambitious choice for the director of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” and predictably, “Back to Black” is deeply flawed. Sam Taylor-Johnson is actually experienced in music biopics (“Nowhere Boy,” about John Lennon’s early life, was her directorial debut) and druggy narratives (her previous film, “A Million Little Pieces,” is about a drug-addled writer in treatment), but “Back to Black” handles neither Amy’s life nor her struggles with addiction honestly or compassionately. We meet Amy (Marisa Abela) as a young jazz singer in London; she doesn’t have great ambitions of money or fame, but overnight, the film makes it seem, she gets both. “Back to Black” doesn’t even try to pretend to try to chart that growth – she’s singing in tiny jazz clubs, then suddenly performing on a massive festival stage – instead, focusing on her relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O’Connell). This is the first disservice the film does Amy: making the film much more about her boyfriend than about her or her music. The relationship with Blake was, of course, the inspiration for “Back to Black,” the album that put her on the international map, so it deserves presence here, but Taylor-Johnson can’t even do her justice by telling the story accurately. In the film, Blake is weirdly charismatic (and weirdly ripped, given he’s the one who got Amy into drugs, not the other way around) and heroic, positioning Amy as the problem. Also absolved of real-life guilt is Amy’s father Mitch (Eddie Marsan), who’s presented here as well-meaning if slightly idiotic, when in reality he was manipulative and exploitative, profiting off Amy’s fame after being absent for much of her childhood. The best part of the film is easily Abela, who nails Amy’s look and has the epic voice to match, especially the way she plays Amy’s deeply touching relationship with her beloved Nan (Lesley Manville). Sure, it’s moderately entertaining, and the music is great, but if you actually want to learn about Amy Winehouse’s life, you’re far better off watching Asif Kapadia’s 2015 Oscar-winning documentary “Amy.” (Madeleine Aitken) At AMC Assembly Row 12, 395 Artisan Way, Assembly Square, Somerville.
A stronger
Please consider making a financial contribution to maintain, expand and improve Cambridge Day.
We are now a 501(c)3 nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.
Please consider a recurring contribution.