REVERSAL OF FORTUNE

Jeremy Irons and Christine Baranski

REVERSAL OF FORTUNE (1990). Director: Barbet Schroeder.

Claus von Bulow (Jeremy Irons) has already been convicted of twice attempting to murder his wife, Sunny (Glenn Close). Free and at large despite the convictions -- apparently money talks -- Claus hires attorney Alan Dershowitz (Ron Silver) to mount an appeal and even prove that von Bulow did not try to murder his wife. As Alan and his team investigate, Claus keeps company with his mistress, Andrea Reynolds (Christine Baranski), who often allied herself to wealthy and powerful men. If there's any problem with Reversal of Fortune is that it's based on Dershowitz' book about the case, which has a limited and limiting perspective. Frankly, a much more dynamic and suspenseful film could have been made about the von Bulow story. That leaves us with the acting. Jeremy Irons [Swann in Love] is excellent as von Bulow, and won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance. Silver [Wiseguy] is okay, with Close and especially Baranski [Bowfinger] being more on the mark. The screenplay fails to explore many of the people and ramifications in depth, and the actors have to do their best with one-dimensional characterizations. Interestingly enough, von Bulow pretty much discarded Reynolds after he had no more use for her and she died a pitiful, lonely, poverty-stricken death many years later. Reversal of Fortune indeed! The real truth of the case may never be known.

Verdict: Certainly entertaining, but somehow you suspect you're only getting part of the real story. **1/2.

INTO THE WOODS

INTO THE WOODS (2014). Director: Rob Marshall.

This adaptation of the Broadway musical by James Lapine, Stephen Sondheim and Jonathan Tunick takes several fairy tale characters -- Jack (and the Beanstalk); Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) and the Prince (Chris Pine); Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy); and Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford); etc -- and has them interacting in the same story. The thrust of the first half is the appearance of a witch (Meryl Streep), who tells a childless couple, the Baker and his wife (James Corden and Emily Blunt), that the wife will be able to conceive if she and her husband can get the witch certain items by midnight. All seems to end "happily ever after" until the second half, when little Jack (Daniel Huddlestone) and everyone else are threatened by the monstrous appearance of a lady giant (Frances de la Tour), who wants vengeance because Jack caused the death of her husband. As with the play, the first half may seem a little off-putting to viewers what with its various storylines eventually converging, but the second half is more effective. Sondheim's score has a little too much of his repetitive patter-type songs, but there are such fine numbers as "Agony" (beautifully "staged" and well-acted by Pine of Star Trek and Billy Magnussen); the title tune; "No One is Alone:" etc. although I confess I wish they hadn't cut that dirge to Jack's cow, "Farewell Old Friend." All of the performances are excellent, with Streep really delivering on her "Last Midnight" number, and young Huddlestone certainly scoring as Jack. Some supporting roles are filled quite nicely by Tracey Ullman as Jack's mother, and Christine Baranski [Bowfinger] as the wicked stepmother. Johnny Depp isn't bad as the wolf as he sings and dances to "Hello, Little Girl" (but you have to wonder if perhaps the movie eroticses children). Visually arresting throughout. The quasi-religious overtones are a bit sappy at times. Rob Marshall also directed the musical adaptation of Nine.

Verdict: Not for all tastes for sure, but effective, well-acted, and intriguing. ***

BOWFINGER

Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy

BOWFINGER (1999). Director: Frank Oz. Screenplay by Steve Martin.

Robert Bowfinger (Steve Martin of The Pink Panther) is a bottom-of-the-barrel film producer who keeps his actors on a string by promising them that the lead in his next production will be mega-star action hero Kit Ramsay (Eddie Murphy) -- they're sure to get financing. Unfortunately Ramsay has no interest in appearing in his movie, a terrible concoction called "Chubby Rain," so Bowfinger comes up with a scheme of filming him secretly while telling his cast members that Ramsay prefers to work without meeting his fellow actors. Said actors consist of Carol (Christine Baranski), who gets more "grand" with every scene; handsome Slater (Kohl Sudduth), who is cute and clueless; Daisy (Heather Graham), who is ruthlessly ambitious and sleeps with virtually every member of the cast and crew, and winds up with a power lesbian [a la Anne Heche, whom Martin dated and who is said to be the model for Daisy]; Afrim (Adam Alexi-Molle), who also wrote the "Chubby Rain" screenplay; and Jiff (Eddie Murphy), a nerdy lookalike of Ramsay's who turns out to be his brother. Jaime Kennedy plays the jack-of-all-trades who helps in a wide variety of ways. There are some hilarious scenes in this movie, and it's so basically good-natured, loopy and amiable that you want to love it, but Martin has to overdo everything and the movie eventually becomes too silly, stupid and unfunny -- there's simply not enough plot to make a full-length picture. The cast is quite good, with an outstanding Murphy positively stealing the picture as likable Jiff, who in one very funny scene has to run across a highway full of speeding vehicles that he's been told are driven by "stunt men." Perhaps the funniest line is actually in one of the out-takes, when someone mentions Robert De Niro and Carol mutters "such a diva!"

Verdict: Very cute, often very funny, but an hour of this would have been enough. **1/2.