Reel Short Reviews, Take 5

Another batch of movies I've recently seen or re-seen (four stars the maximum ranking, which means zero stars are — you guessed it — is the lowest possible).

American Pie (1999)
What can you say? As directed by the talented Paul Weitz, American Pie is several notches above the typical teen sex comedy, but it's a teen sex comedy, nonetheless, which means it's subject to all the well-worn cliches, gross-out humor and facile characters that you'd expect. Four high school guys make a pact to get laid before graduation, a Holy Grail of a quest that leads to several truly funny bits, particularly the baked good of the title and an Internet-friendly tryst between the hapless Jim (Jason Biggs) and a sexy Czech foreign exchange student (Shannon Elizabeth). Considering how Weitz's successive comedies, particularly About a Boy and In Good Company, focused on surrogate father-son relationships, it's interesting to see the genesis of that theme in the genuinely affecting interaction between Jim and his well-meaning, but awkward, dad (portrayed by the inimitable Eugene Levy).
***

The Battle of Algiers (1965)
Events of current-day Middle East make this film as relevant as it was upon initial release. Shot in a pseudo-documentary style in stunning black and white, the film tells the story of the revolution that resulted in Algeria's independence from France. Although Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo squarely sides with the FLN, the Algerian terrorists (or freedom fighters, take your pick) behind that insurgency, the movie's unflinching depiction of civilian bombings and random murder feels decidedly ambivalent nowadays. Some 40 years after its initial release stirred up controversy and was subsequently embraced by such revolutionaries as the Black Panthers, Battle of Algiers doesn't come off as flagrantly biased as it must have seemed to the French government, which banned it (chew on that irony for a while).
***1/2

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
A remake of a little-known 1963 comedy called Bedtime Story, this Michael Caine-Steve Martin farce follows the crosses and doublecrosses of two con men who specialize in duping rich women along the French Riviera. Director Frank Oz has made his share of subpar comedies, but Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a cut above most. It lags a bit in the second act, but most of it is fun and provides room for Caine and Martin to indulge the shticks they do best.
***

Article Author: Chase McInerney

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