two flicks

Drawn by the star power of Nicole Kidman, the acting excellence of Jennifer Jason Leigh and the versatility of Jack Black, I gave Margot at the Wedding a go and became numbed and bored to tears. I was close to snoozing in every frame and should have given up on this movie in the first half hour but I was buoyed by curiosity. Familial pathos are painful and unpleasant to watch. Sisters, siblings are rivals in a lot more ways than revealed on the surface. More so in this picture -- resentments, jealousies, fractured skeletons are plucked out from a tightly-locked cupboard. The dynamics between the family members are quite nasty. They would be nice to each other in one scene and hurl out toxic lines in the next. More vexatious than captivating.

Not so with Don’t Mess with the Zohan. A lot of factions may find the humor in this film distasteful. However I believe that this action-hairdressing comedy is utterly hilarious. There are a lot of gawkily executed computer generated stunts, gags that might irked some deeply conservative folks but it’s totally entertaining. Adam Sandler with the accent as a counter terrorist operative, John Turturro as his arch-enemy are terrific. These are very talented guys, considering that Mr. Turturro is equally adept in drama (he’s Kidman’s husband in Margot at the Wedding). The middle east conflict may be too serious a matter to be taken lightly by a bunch of stand-up comics and SNL veterans. But all the diplomatic peace efforts have been foiled by the inflamed outrage and ancient abomination on both sides. This is a farcical view of a strife that has gone too long. Imagine this clash of beliefs and religion in a drama genre and it would be thoroughly mundane.