A Lot Like Love, Madison

1. A Lot Like Love (Director: Nigel Cole) Release date: April 22

Cole's previous credits include the old-women-posing-in-calendars flick Calendar Girls and an old-people-smoke-pot flick Saving Grace.

Here's a movie that, understandably, had a difficult marketing campaign and that's why it was released near the end of spring on not many screens. It's not a wacky Ashton Kutcher vehicle like Guess Who, and Amanda Peet, God love her, just isn't a movie-selling personality, as talented as she is. The movie lumps the two together in a When Harry Met Sally... kind of romance, but with no real pointed observations about relationships or direct focus on comedy or drama, there's plenty of reasons why America took no notice of this before and after its release.

For all of that, this is a pretty decent picture. It begins with Oliver Martin (Kutcher) and Emily Friehl (Peet) getting on a plane, strangers, but noticing each other. Emily has just ended a relationship and decides to recruit Oliver into the mile-high club before a word is spoken between them. Oliver has a difficult time afterwards trying to woo the girl, but they have a nice little rapport, part ways, but then run into each other again, more rapport, phone numbers exchanged, and so on. The movie is divided into passes of time, much like WHMS, and every pass means different stations in life and having gone through other unsuitable relationships. By the time the movie gets to the actual mutual attraction and the complications of it, Oliver is an internet diaper salesman trying to get a big grant with his partner Jeeter (Kal Penn of Harold & Kumar) and Emily is a stylish photographer.

Truly, the movie isn't much more than that. It's a series of run-ins, the two are meant for each other, but life is complicated. It's another one of those films that will be better on premium movie channels, and there's nothing really wrong with it other than it's lack of a message. A time-waster. I thought Peet was excellent, and Kutcher is OK although many, many people instantly think he sucks as soon as he walks onscreen. And I'm not saying he's fantastic or anything, he's just a little better than expected (as I've said before). The other unfortunate thing, I think, is that Kutcher long ago violated acting credibility by starting up "Punk'd" and dating Demi Moore and always being in the media. What also didn't help was sucking large during rehearsals for Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown. That could have been an eye-opener had he been able to proceed, but obviously a man as talented as Crowe didn't think he was right--and if you can't bring your A-game to a Crowe set, then there's certainly a problem.

Anyway, if you're feeling the need to space out and immerse yourself in something completely inessential, here's a movie for you.

2. Madison (Director: William Bindley) Release date: April 22

Bindley has done nothing in which you've probably heard. This film was made way back in 2001 and shown at the Sundance Film Festival, and probably got a distributor after star Jim Caviezel played in The Passion of the Christ.

Here's a nice, breezy family flick without the gooey Because of Winn-Dixie sentiment. It's Days of Thunder meets Hoosiers on boats. It's yet another film that was released last week that has almost no chance in hell of drawing a mass audience, although some special groups came in on its opening weekend. It's based on a true story.

It's 1971 and Caviezel plays Jim McCormick, a former hotshot boat racer who quit due to an injury and the death of his best friend, now just helping out a team from Madison, Indiana try to compete with guys who have corporate sponsers and larger genitalia to whip out when the tape measures are around. It's a tradition in Madison that is threatened by the town's poverty, job loss, and the slow exodus of its residents into larger towns. Their inability to stay in races is making sponsers frown and others in the league want them gone. Only a matter of time, they figure, until Madison lucks out in a drawing to host the Gold Cup and McCormick staves off the pressures and wins the town's heart in getting them to rally for the cause. His wife Bonnie (grrrr....the so-fine Mary McCormack) wants him to quit and become yet another defector of Madison, but his will wins out.

Yeah, so you know where this is going. No need to say much more, other than there's not really much thrill involved. The race itself is like 5 laps or something, and the action is filmed in such a way at times that you're not sure where the boats are in relation to each other. Jake Lloyd makes a post-Phantom Menace appearance, about 200,000 times better in this than in that (I've done the actual calculations). Bruce Dern plays what he plays best--crazy old man! He helps with the boat in the end although he is reluctant at first. And I love Mary McCormack. There should be more of her at my house and talking to me on the phone. Damn you Michael Morris, whoever you are!

Anyway, this is an OK flick. I can honestly say it's the best movie about boat racing I have ever seen.