Bad Boys: Ride or Die is a mildly engaging, intermittently funny, overlong and forgettable action thriller. The screenplay by co-writers Chris Bremner and Will Beall follows Miami PD detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) as they investigate a possible mole in the police department who's responsible for framing their murdered captain, Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano), for being part of the Romanian Mafia. Conrad leaves a few recorded messages to point Mike and Marcus in the right direction.As the fourth installment in the Bad Boys franchise, Bad Boys: Ride or Die maintains the chemistry between the leads without adding anything new or taking any risks. The plot does a poor job when it comes to exposition because the villain gets revealed within the first ten minutes. He's far from a compelling or memorable villain. There are only a handful of scenes that generate laughter despite many desperate, yet failed attempts. One of those scenes has to do with a shirt that Marcus stole and wears while claiming that the shirt belongs to him. There's a joke about black people stealing things that gets unnecessarily repeated twice, though, until it's no longer funny. In a contrived subplot, Marcus suffers a Widowmaker heart attack early on and must remain on a healthy diet while avoiding junk food, but craves it nonetheless. Cue a scene later on where he devours candy in slow motion. Tiffany Hadish as a cameo that's cringe-inducing and a poor attempt to add sexual humor. The rest of the humor ranges from silly to dumb much like the plot itself. At least the action scenes are well-choreographed and the pace moves briskly, so the running time of 115 minutes only overstays its welcome by about 20 minutes. Bad Boys: Ride or Die opens nationwide via Columbia Pictures.

 

       Big Boys is a warm, tender and honest coming-of-age story about Jamie (Isaac Krasner), a 14-year-old boy who goes on a camping trip with his brother, Will (Taj Cross), cousin, Allie (Dora Madison) and her boyfriend, Dan (David Johnson III). He gradually accepts the fact that he's gay and attracted to Dan rather than to Erika (Marion Van Cuyck), a girl he meets at the campsite. Writer/director Corey Sherman keeps the film focused on Jamie's emotional journey toward coming to terms with his sexuality and loving himself. Big Boys manages to be refreshingly understated with dialogue that sounds natural. It doesn't try too hard to please the audience or over-explain anything. Most importantly, Sherman avoids schmaltz and tonal unneveness. There are a few surprisingly moving scenes that not only show Jamie's emotional maturity blossoming, but also reflect Sherman's emotional maturity and his grasp of human nature. Jamie is lucky to have good role models around him, especially Dan who's decency and empathy shines brightly in more than one scene. He understands the concept of boundaries and knows how to talk to a child who's struggling to come out. It's also worth mentioning that Isaac Krasner gives a breakthrough performance. Watching Big Boys is equivalent to watching the genuinely heartwarming scene with Elio and his father at the end of Call Me By Your Name. At 1 hour and 30 minutes, it opens at Cinema Village via Dark Star Pictures.

 

       In I Used to Be Funny, Sam (Rachel Sennott), a stand-up comedian, searches for Brooke (Olga Petsa), a missing young girl who she used to nanny. Meanwhile, she copes with flashbacks of past trauma that still affects her. The screenplay by writer/director Ally Pankiw suffers from a systemic issue that makes it harder for the audience to connect with Sam: it reveals the precise event that traumatizes Sam too late in the film. Until then, there are snippets from her past as the plot follows a non-linear structure. So the audience isn't quite on the same page as Sam and doesn't understand what's going on with her or what she's thinking until the big reveal in the third act. The Perks of Being a Wallflower handles that kind of reveal much more effectively and sensitively. I Used to Be Funny beats around the bush without addressing the elephant in the room, Sam's trauma, head-on. Moreover, Sam's character arc doesn't feel very organic or believable, particularly during the third act that takes a much darker turn before shying away from delving deeper into those darker elements. Rachel Sennott, as always, gives a fine performance and has great comedic timing, especially with Sam's frequent quips. It's great that writer/director Ally Pankiw gives Sam a unique personality that's reminiscent of Danielle's personality in Shiva Baby, a much better film that also stars Rachel Sennott. At 1 hour and 45 minutes, I Used to Be Funny is well-acted, but meandering and unfocused. It opens at Quad Cinema via Utopia. 

 

       In Longing, Richard Gere plays Daniel, a man whose ex-girlfriend, Rachel (Suzanne Clément), informs him he has a son, Allen (Tomaso Sanelli), who died in a car accident. Daniel decides to attend his funeral and to learn more about him by talking to his Allen's girlfriend, Lillian (Jessica Clement), and teacher, Alice (Diane Kruger), whom he had a crush on. After meeting Jacob (Larry Day), a man whose daughter committed suicide, he comes up with an idea to marry Allen with the man's dead daughter. Longing is a schmaltzy and convoluted mess. The screenplay by writer/director Savi Gabizon, based on the award-winning Israeli film, suffers from stilted, on-the-nose dialogue and undeveloped subplots. Very few scenes actually ring true as plot becomes increasingly contrived and even cringe-inducing at times, i.e. during the scenes with the son's teacher. A dreamlike sequence, which can be seen on the film's poster artwork, falls flat. The characters are poorly introduced, and the film doesn't bother to stop to get to know them enough. Most of the supporting characters seem like plot devices. Moreover, the concept of marrying two dead people at a wedding is played for laughs, but it's not actually funny; just bizarre and not fully thought out loud. The "bride" and "groom" weren't even in love with each other when they were alive. It's unsuprising that Rachel laughs at the absurditywhen Daniel tells her his idea. How does the wedding affect Daniel emotionally and change him? It's too bad that Longing isn't interested in exploring its darker themes more profoundly or in getting inside the heart, mind and soul of Daniel. Longing is just as dull and clunky as another American remake, Head Full of Honey. At 1 hour and 51 minutes, it opens in select theaters and on VOD via Lionsgate.

 

       Set in 1990, Someday We'll Tell Each Other Everything centers on a 19-year-old woman, Maria (Marlene Burow), who lives on a farm in the countryside of East Germany with her boyfriend, Johannes (Cedrich Eich), and his parents. Little does Johannes know that Maria is having a sexually charged affair with Henner (Felix Kramer), a 40-year-old farmer. The screenplay by writer/director Emily Atef and co-writer Daniela Krien is dull, tedious, overlong and uninspired. Perhaps the film's issues derive from the source material, Krien's novel. From the get-go, it's clear that Maria has a toxic relationship with Henner because he comes across as a domineering, selfish and emotionally abusive predator. Does she have any shame about cheating on her boyfriend? If she does, then why does she continue to have sex with Henner? What does she see in him? How introspective is she? It's also obvious that Johannes won't be happy if and when he finds out that she's having an affair with Henner. Someday We'll Tell Each Other Everything does a poor job of getting inside Maria's heart, mind and soul to allow the audience to empathize with her. Meanwhile, Johannes, the most interesting character who's easiest to sympathize with, doesn't get enough screen time. His character, like the others, remains underdeveloped. The dialogue lacks wit and nuance. The cinematography is decent with some picturesque scenery, but, in terms of pacing, the film moves sluggishly with very little narrative momentum. Unfortunately, none of the performances manage to breathe life into the characters, each of whom remains at a cold distance from the audience. At 2 hours and 9 minutes, Someday We'll Tell Each Other Everything opens at Roxy Cinema via Strand Releasing.

 

       In Tuesday, Zora (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) lives with her terminally ill daughter, Tuesday (Lola Petticrew). When death arrives in the form of a parrot (voice of Arinzé Kene), Zora tries to get rid of the bird because she's not ready for her daughter to die. The screenplay by writer/director Daina Oniunas-Pusic takes a bold and unconventional premise and turns it into a melancholic and poetic albeit heavy-handed and somewhat maudlin exploration of death and grief. Tuesday is at its best when it focuses on the emotional battles of Zora and Tuesday rather than on the parrot and the sci-fi elements which escalates during the second act after Zora does something that has a "butterfly effect" on the world. There's already enough tension within the narrative of Zora and Tuesday, so that particular part of the film feels unnecessary and clunky. It's as though the filmmaker were trying too hard to surprise the audience and to add scope. The same goes for the image of Earth from outer space that bookend the film. On a positive note, Julia Louis-Dreyfus gives a tender performance while Lola Petticrew is also superb here. The film's poignancy comes more from their performances than from the screenplay. At a running time of 1 hour and 51 minutes, Tuesday opens at Angelika Film Center and AMC Lincoln Square via A24.

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School of Magical Animals 2
Directed by Sven Unterwaldt Jr.

     

Number of times I checked my watch: 4 Released by Blue Fox Entertainment. Opens in select theaters.



 

       In The Watchers, Mina (Dakota Fanning) gets lost in the woods and seeks shelter with a mysterious group of people, Madeline (Olwen Fouéré), Ciara (Georgina Campbell) and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan), who warn her about creatures called The Watchers that come out at night to kill. The screenplay by writer/director Ishana Shyamalan and her co-writer, A.M. Shine, is an uninspired slice of sci-fi horror that lacks palpable scares and imagination. The film's narrative momentum comes to halt too often whenever one of the characters, like Madeline, starts providing exposition. Note to filmmakers: if you don't know how to incorporate exposition organically, don't have characters standing as they explain things; have them do something else like sitting down to eat or cooking instead. Shyamalan and Shine don't trust the audience's imagination, intelligence, emotions or patience. Too much gets revealed too early with clunky exposition and most of it is repetitive while leaving nothing to interpretation. Does everything need to be over-explained? Does the audience really need their hand to be held every step of the way? Moreover, the lack of comic relief or any other form of levity leads to a monotonous and tedious experience. There are twists that won't be spoiled here, but they're not very surprising and can be very easily predicted. Like Gretel & Hansel and The Nun II, the production design, cinematography and use of lighting add plenty of visual style and atmosphere. However, The Watchers holds back on the violence and gore with most of the kills taking place off-screen. So this is a pretty tame horror film like Tarot which also happens to have Olwen Fouéré playing an expositional supporting role. At a running time of 1 hour and 42 minutes, it opens nationwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.