THE RETRIEVER WEEKLY FEATURES Navember 28, 2000 PAG-E 13 Carrey Steals Joily Holiday Grinch Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole giving the kind of insanely hyper perform Mount C~pit. Eventually, after a lot Christmas(*** out of four)? Wrong. Uh ance capable of carrying an otherwise mid of amusing added material - bizarrely uh. Nope. Forget it. This is Jim Carrey's dling movie to memorable lengths. Which funny flashbacks to the Grinch's How the Grinch Stole Christmas all the is, for better or worse, precisely what hap school days and some hilarious fan way. pens with this Grinch. fare surrounding the crowning of Sure, the basic plot is pure-and-simple Since a totally faithful live-action take Whoville's holiday Cheermeister Seuss, and the moral, about valuing the real on Seuss' tale would probably run no the movie gets down to titular busi Movie Review meaning of Dec. 25 in longer than the cartoon's 25 minutes, this ness. the omnipresent face film version has been padded with potty True, Grinch can grow achingly by Jamie Peck of commercialism and humor, extended slapstick sequences for silly, its ornate scenery looks a tad material concerns, is as intact as ever. But Carrey to commandeer, backstory that psy phony - the Flintstones sets hidden the film belongs to its infamously rubber choanalyzes the Grinch, and an unfortu with fake snow - and Anthony faced star - which is sort of ironic, given nately meatier role for little Cindy Lou Hopkins' stately narration does clash that said mug is covered in a ton of just-as Who. On the page, she was a wee tot, but with the dominating wackiness. But expressive holly-colored latex that pays in Grinch, as played by the calculatedly none of this matters when Carrey is on such remarkable heed to the illustrations in cute Taylor Momsen, she's eight or nine, screen. He's non-stop entertainment, Theodore Geisel's 1957 classic children's speaks with a Dawson's Creek vocabulary, whether grumbling in his Sean book (and its just-as-beloved 1966 animat and hopes to inject a heaping helping of Connery-esque brogue, mimicking ed adaptation) that the Academy should holiday warmth into the two-sizes-too director Ron Howard (nice touch) or just go ahead and fork over the Best Make small heart of Oscar the Grouch's distant dangling mistletoe in front of his rear Up Oscar now. cousin. Oh, and she warbles through a and inviting all of Whoville to pucker Rick Baker is the man behind the look "touching" musical number that may cause up. of Carrey's Grinch, but Carrey is the man you to wretch in your popcorn bucket. Remember the mad comedic behind ensuring audiences will extract Cindy Lou hails from Whoville, of heights Robin Williams attained mere their money's worth from this pricey big course, where the friendly denizens always ly by loaning his manic personality to screen toy store. As the cantankerous, seem to be in preparation for Christmas Aladdin's genie? Ditto here with crafty title character - a furious, fuming (gotta love those 99 percent-off sales!). Carrey, only his feat ranks higher lump of green fur with a bulging belly, a Their merry hustle and bustle severely irks because of his tireless physicality. Universal Pictures perpetual scowl and an unquestionable the Grinch, who elects to pass the time Grinch may be a fizzy, unstable con Mean One: Jim Carrey brings to life one of resentment of everything jolly - Carrey griping and grousing to his loyal pooch coction, but with him at the wheel, it kiddie lit's classic characters in Dr. Seuss' not only steals the show, he is the show, Max in his garbage dump of a home atop goes down as smooth as egg nog. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Despite Stars, Bounce No Fine Romance Whoever thought that there one speck of originality in their are no more original concepts characters, but because Buddy in contemporary romance and Abby are so vapid, no true films might want to steer clear acting skill is needed to play of Bounce (*), a dry and them, and their performances insipid film filled with almost become washed-out and Movie Review e v e r Y unemotional. Also, Abby and cliche a Buddy are so bland that one by Susan Karris 1 o v e would wonder how anyone story could have. There is not could fall in love with them. one interesting detail that Director/writer Don could help this stale disaster Roos, meanwhile, certainly bounce out of being better off moves away from the dark as a daytime soap opera than a comedy style of his 1998 indie feature length motion picture. hit The Opposite of Sex here. Actually, Bounce can be That film offers extremely summed up quite simply in interesting characters, a familiar terms~ Boy meets provocative plot and outstand girl, boy has guilty secret that ing performances. It's confus will affect how girl will think ing how Roos could move of him, boy can't bring him from a film about a 16-year self to tell girl, girl finds out old nymphomaniac who runs and leaves him, boy does away to live with her gay something extremely great, brother and tries to steal his girl comes back and they live lover to a tedious romance happily ever. after. Bounce is such as Bounce. Unfortunately definitely no exception to this - and strangely - Roos is standard. not able to carry these creative The movie stars Ben qualities to his bigger-budget Affleck as Buddy Amaral, an release. Perhaps if there was extremely successful urban ad some interesting cinematogra executive who loves fast-talk phy or musical score the filrri ing and one night stands. could have been a bit more While he is waiting in an air -enjoyable, but Bounce lacks Miramax Films port bar, he meets Greg He's Got a Secret: Ben Affleck woos a widowed Gwyneth Pal both as well. Janelle (Tony Goldwyn of trow in the romantic drama Bounce, despite the fact that he feels Bounce should be cate Ghost), a weary playwright responsible for her husband's death. gorized more as a disaster film waiting on a delayed flight so than a romance. If Roos were he can return home to his wife and chil people he has hurt, meets Greg's wife Abby able to scrap the cliches and spice the film dren, and Mimi (Natasha Henstridge of (Gwyneth Paltrow). Of course, Buddy up with his darkly comedic talent, then the The Whole Nine Yards), a sexy traveler never tells Abby the real reason why they wreck might have been salvaged. But that who catches Buddy's eye. Buddy decides met because he falls in love with her, and would have called for an entire rewrite. A to trade flights with Greg so he can spend thus begins a sappy romance in which the fum cannot be held on the shoulders of two the night with Mimi. However, the flight only interruptions are of his attempts to tell decent performances of boring characters, crashes, leaving Buddy with intense guilt her the truth about his encounter with her or on predictable plots. Bounce is so weak which spirals into alcoholism. late husband. You can figure out the rest. and bland that it will more likely crash and Buddy decides to go into AA, and dur Affleck and Paltrow could have been bum at the box office than jump into view ing his seventh step of forgiving all the enough to save this film if only there was ers' hearts.
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