Box Office Outlook: Oscars? What Oscars?

By Katey Rich

We're almost home free. It's the last weekend of that deadly zone between New Year's Day and the Oscar ceremony, which means that before too long, the studios won't be afraid to release decent movies anymore. Oddly enough, this weekend provides room for the least complaint; the totally enjoyable if not great Vantage Point will be clobbering the competition, while Michel Gondry's delightful latest Be Kind Rewind will hopefully draw in the audience it deserves. Even the much-delayed comedy Charlie Bartlett is getting reasonable critical response. Sure, Larry the Cable Guy is part of this weekend too, but come on, beggars can't be choosers. If you're really out for highbrow this weekend, just turn on the TV and catch the endless clips of Daniel Day-Lewis shouting "I drink your milkshake!" and Javier Bardem calling everyone "Friendo." Hey, only a few more days and we'll be done seeing those clips too! I'm starting to like this end-of-February business a lot.

VANTAGE POINT. Opening in 3,000 theatres. The American President is shot during a speech in Spain, but no one who was there knows the whole truth. Vantage Point rewinds its story over and over to view the pivotal event through the eyes of several key characters: Rex (Sigourney Weaver), a TV news producer; Thomas and Kent (Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox), two secret service agents; American family man Howard (Forest Whitaker), who may have captured the killer on film, and the President himself (William Hurt). There's also a Spanish cop (Eduardo Noriega) who suspects that his girlfriend (Ayelet Zurer) may be responsible for the disaster that occurs after the President is shot. As you can imagine, there are car chases, explosions and gun battles aplenty.

While I swear to you Vantage Point is a genuinely enjoyable movie, not too many critics seem to agree with me. Our Kevin Lally calls it a "tricky but ultimately trivial thriller that wastes the talents of several Oscar winners and nominees." Way to work in a topical reference! The Chicago Tribune's review is a little more mixed, but ultimately concludes, "The information sorting and gathering required by Barry L. Levy's screenplay feels like night school as opposed to a great night out at the movies." Newsday was so irritated with the movie's silliness that it came up with a pretty good zinger: "[The filmmakers] populate their ground zero with cartoon figures mouthing the sort of simplistic dialogue that tends to gravitate toward the corners of comic-strip frames, trapped in balloons." In MetroMix's negative review they point out what becomes all-too-clear while watching the film: "It offers less entertainment than just awareness of how nearly every American male role seems like it was intended for Harrison Ford." And finally, The Washington Post relates a story that could be from the screening I attended: "During the third or fourth reprise of the assassination attempt and bombing, a member of my audience let out an involuntary 'Oh, God . . .' and the rest of the house erupted in sympathetic laughter."

CHARLIE BARTLETT. Opening in 1,122 theatres. Fun fact: Film Journal featured Charlie Bartlett on the cover of last August's issue. What's taken this indie so long to come out? Who knows? Anton Yelchin plays the titular Bartlett, a very rich kid who gets kicked out of his private high school and sent to--gasp!--public school. Once there he decides to make himself popular by scamming various psychiatrists and scoring all the necessary pharmaceuticals to start his own cottage industry. But, because he's a good guy, he also plays Teen Therapist to his classmates, and brings them the drugs that will help them with their issues. Hope Davis, Robert Downey Jr. and Kat Dennings also star.

Our Shirley Sealy finds the whole thing a little disturbing-- "Is it really okay, even in fun, to tell our kids that in today's world everybody is screwed up, so go ahead and do whatever it takes to get through the day?" But most critics went along with the comedy. "The makers maintain a comic touch, preferring keen observation and even irony to cynicism and despair," writes The Hollywood Reporter. And Rex Reed at The New York Observer compares the whole thing to that other witty teen comedy, Juno: "Laugh-out-loud funny and served by a perfect gang of appealing, mischievous collaborators." But Lisa Schwarzbaum at Entertainment Weekly calls it an "antic yet bland comedy," and The Washington Post complains, "The movie feels forced, cliched and derivative.

BE KIND REWIND. Opening in 808 theatres. Michel Gondry's latest exercise in whimsy takes place in a rundown video store in rundown Passaic, New Jersey. Mike (Mos Def) is just trying to make a living at the store, while his friend Jerry (Jack Black) has a vendetta against the local electricity company, which results in his brain being magnetized. Jerry accidentally erases all the tapes in the store, so he and Mike come up with a plan-- they'll remake all the movies on their own. Melonie Diaz, Mia Farrow and Danny Glover also star.

I feel a little excessive in my love for this shaggy-dog movie, but at least I'm, for the most part, not alone. Our Kevin Lally loved it, crediting the film's "childlike, DIY approach to moviemaking that beguiles as it astonishes." A.O. Scott wrote an elegant review that I love almost as much as I loved the film itself; "It treats movies as found objects, as material to be messed around with, explored and reimagined," he writes. "It's inviting, undemanding and altogether wonderful." The Village Voice overthinks the whole thing a little bit, comparing it to 1960s Cuban cinema, but also pauses to credit Black's performance: "He's a fully developed comic presence�quick-witted yet stupid, charmingly obnoxious, expansively sarcastic." But a number of other critics weren't feeling so kind. "Every minute of Gondry's film is irrefutable proof that charm is not enough," scowl's The New Yorker's Anthony Lane, who concludes, "Be kind. Erase." Peter Travers at Rolling Stone is a little happier with the results, but notes, "Gondry, as writer and director, can't stop the creative helium from leaking out of his cinematic balloon."

WITLESS PROTECTION. Opening in 1,333 theatres. This movie, starring Larry the Cable Guy, was not screened for critics. Shocker.