“Management”. A Review of the Rom-Com Film Now Issued on a September 2009 BLU RAY.

"…You Can Touch My Butt…But Then You Gotta Go…”

The premise isn’t new – dweeb falls for babe – babe finds him repulsive at first, but then grows to love his sincerity and ordinary ways – dweeb and babe ride off into the sunset having both grown into nice people. Yeah right!

It’s a hard sell at the best of times, but “Management” just about pulls it off – and it does so because of excellent writing and the stunning acting capabilities of its two principal leads.

STEVE ZAHN plays the hapless, but sweetly naïve Mike Cranshaw who is living and working with his parents in their small motel “The Kingman Motor Inn” in the town of Kingman in Arizona (off Route 66). Mike’s Mum Trish is effectively running the solid but uninspiring joint (a beautifully understated performance by MARGO MARTINDALE), while her says-little and does-even-less husband Jerry (FRED WARD at his effective best) seems stuck in a rut he doesn’t know how to get out of.

Life at the Motel is routine and boring – especially for the friendless and womanless Mike. But just occasionally - he gets up enough courage to bring a bottle of plonk around to a lady guest in her chalet and try on his ‘complimentary’ wine routine. It never works. But this time – Mike’s heart gets more than it bargained for when it encounters the big-city, tight-suited Jennifer Aniston character Susan Claussen, who’s in town from Baltimore to flog paintings to corporate clients. Planes to appointments, car rentals to accommodation and a laptop on the bedside, she is the very epitome of a young executive woman going places. Mike is the last person in the world Sue would consider dating, let alone spending a lifetime with…the idea is almost laughable to her. But of course she keeps coming back to his sweetness and he pursues her because he’s besotted and simply doesn’t understand 'no' - nor get the meaning of boundaries.

Along the way Mike encounters Zen Buddhists, takes piano lessons, sleeps in a basement in a Chinese restaurant and jumps out of a plane. There’s one great scene where she figures if she lets him touch her perfectly formed posterior, he’ll give up and she can get on with her presentation notes (title above). She leans over and presents the said rear for his delectation. With his hand placed on her right cheek, they talk about weather conditions in Maryland – it’s both visually and lyrically - very, very funny.

But what keeps you watching is the growing tenderness between the two. Mike may not be the smartest tool in the kit, but he is heartfelt and sincere – and in many ways despite her obvious intelligence and affluence, Sue isn’t. She needs to learn that and he needs to grow up. Woody Harrelson also turns up in a great pantomime role as the ex-punk-rocker Jango who is now rich through dog handling. Later Mike’s Mum Trish becomes gravely ill – thereby presenting the two men in her life with changes both may not want but need…and on it goes.

Written and Directed by first-timer STEPHEN BELBER and produced by SIDNEY KEMMEL, the offbeat rom-com “Management” hit the US screens in May 2009 receiving excellent reviews. And on the strength of this September 2009 BLU RAY - it’s easy to see why.

I first spotted Steve Zahn in a wonderful film called “Happy, Texas” where he was paired up with Britain’s Jeremy Northam as two escaped convicts trapped in a hick town which tames their thieving ways and changes both of them for the better. Zahn’s been bubbling under for years, but in “Management” he really shines. A lesser actor might have overdone the inner nerd to go for hammy laughs - and in the real world his character’s ludicrous naivety might even have been insufferable - but Zahn makes you ache for Mike’s attempts at wooing Susan.

Aniston is more capable now as an actress than she’s ever been. Her character’s disbelief and dismissive awkwardness at first is so believable - and as the movie progresses - her barriers very subtly start coming down – to a point where you really do believe she would look at Mike as a ‘nice guy’ – and as ‘good for her’ – and that’s more important than all the material crap inbetween. She is superb in the part.

Although it feels like an Indie production, the BLU RAY image is beautiful throughout - really crisp – you are aware most of the time that is high def and not a soft DVD image.

The extras are great fun; a feature-length commentary by Stephen Belber and Steve Zahn, Gag Reels and Bloopers (very funny outtakes including all the cast mostly of them giggling and fluffing lines), some Deleted Scenes and a Trailer.

“Management” is going to bolster up my gravity-bound man-titties or lessen the amount of hair growing out my nasal passages – but it has enriched my brain. At its core is a truly lovely premise - that love will out – and corny or not - that ‘is’ what many of us believe.

“Management” isn’t a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but you can’t but feel that the world is a nicer place because this sweet little ode to hope is in it.

Nice…

“Transsiberian”. A Review Of The 2008 Movie Now Released On BLU RAY.

"Remember What Your Mother Told You...Don't Talk To Strangers..."

In 1985 I remember being glued to a tremendous chase movie by ace Japanese director Akira Kurosawa called "Runaway Train" which featured escaped convicts Jon Voight and Eric Roberts on a unmanned out-of-control speeding diesel ploughing its brutish way through the Alaskan wilderness. "Transsiberian" goes for the same canvas - only this time the malevolent monster is ploughing its way through the unforgiving wastes of Russia en route to Beijing in China.

On board the crowded behemoth are Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer as the hapless idealistic religious couple who are befriended by a young set of cute backpackers, the devilishly handsome South American Eduardo Noriega and the strangely silent American Kate Mara. Following close behind is Russian policeman Ben Kingsley and his less-than-decent-to-women sidekick Thomas Kretschmann. You can guess the rest...

Although the naivety of the two principal characters is a little difficult to swallow at times - especially in today's clued-up world - the story chugs along nicely - and at times grimly - from one ditzy disaster to another. Emily Mortimer is fantastic as a woman who grits her teeth and battles to save herself and her marriage to a good man - surrounded by snakes, corrupt authorities, locked doors and blocked toilets. "Transsiberian" also works of course because of the quality of its top principal cast - Kingsley and Harrelson are brilliant as always, but in different ways, and Noriega and Mara are believable delicious eye-candy any man or woman would fall for.

But almost more than the actors is the 'other' character in the movie - the terrain itself and its people. The abandoned churches, the cruddy old train stations, the dense pine forests, the drunk locals singing on the crowded carriages showing off their Gulag war wounds - it's a world you rarely see in cinema nowadays - and therefore brings a freshness to the story that makes it all so mightily watchable. And all of this is told with a backdrop of dread lingering over their every move - the feeling that as an American or a European, if you actually were lost in the wilds of the snowy tundra, then who'd find you? And in the corrupt halls of Russia's infrastructure, who'd even care? A clever angle on an old story.

Trundling its way to a very satisfactory conclusion, Paul Anderson's film must have been a cinematic treat at the local fleapit. My DVD version was o.k., but a friend of mine played me the American Blu Ray version which came out in the States last year (it's due Feb 2009 in the UK) and it is gobsmacking to look at - it makes a HUGE difference to your enjoyment of the film. Buy or hire that version - rather than the DVD.

"Transsiberian" is a very entertaining watch - not a five-star masterpiece by any means - but a great ride nonetheless. Highly recommended.