You've Got Mail

      Rented this the other night. It's a very sweet little film. Meg Ryan is as adorable as ever — Tom Hanks gave a very sensitive, nuanced performance. Tough but touching. From time to time, little flickers of expression cross his face that allow you to read the mind of his character. Toward the very end of the film, he says to her, "Couldn't you forgive me for putting you out of business . . . I wish you would." That last phrase is delivered with a very eerie, very pleasing change of tone. I've also seen Dustin Hoffman do that light-and-shadow expression change and tonal shift so very well — maybe better than anybody. Older & wiser they say. (Was I the older person who said that?) (9/00)

Ya-Ya Sisterhood

     Well, it was swell to see all those wonderful mature actresses at work Ellen Burstyn and Maggie Smith especially, to say nothing of the superb Ashley Judd and Sandra Bullock. The Chick was not the greatest fan of that book, but the performances are first-rate, it is extremely beautiful to look at, and how wonderful it was to see our beloved James Garner again, here acting the part of your favorite golden Lab! If you love this sort of thing, It's guaranteed you will love this one. And even if you don't, it's well worth seeing. (Note that there was one-count'em-one guy in the sea of chicks in the theatre when I saw this film. Brave man; he got his own round of applause when he entered.) ( 6/24/02 )

Zoolander

     I have to admit that it was, well, a ZOO! Long legged and skinny Ben Stiller does indeed look like a model-type, and the airy and brainless Owen Wilson is more delicious than Fabio any day. (Fabio, by the way, does one of the numerous star cameos in this film. Haven't seen so many famous faces at one go since The Player !) The pleasantly silly plot revolves around the fact that Stiller's character is too dim to recognize that a nefarious conspiracy aims to murder the saintly prez of — surely it wasn't Indonesia! — and intends to use him as their semi-trained assassin.
     Although the jokes are hoary, much of the humor is aimed well below the IQ level of the model-heroes, and the models' fancy clothes are seriously awful, Stiller actually manages to carry the picture through. Not all the good bits went into the teasers, and to my own amazement, I found myself accepting that such a quasi-brainy, aggressive pretty girl could actually fall for a good-hearted moron with a sufficiently pretty face.
     And I must add that the climactic scene, which I will not spoil, was part Crouching Tiger , part Matrix and really very funny. (10/11)