'X-Men: First Class' takes on 'The Hangover Part II'

By Sarah Sluis

The X-Men series is aging, so the latest film, X-Men: First Class (3,641 theatres) turns back the clock. The series goes back to the time when mutants Charles Xavier and Magneto were friends, in the 1960s during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Director Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, Layer Cake) moves to big-budget films and wields a "wickedly smart script with a multilayered theme that never wavers...and makes each emotional motivation interlock, often shockingly playing for keeps with its characters," critic Frank Lovece raves. Lesser-known dramatic stars and up-and-comers populate the cast, including Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence and January Jones. Fox is playing it safe and predicting a $40 million opening weekend, but outsiders think the movie could top $50-60 million.

After last weekend's blockbuster opening, The Hangover Part II is expected to drop by half and settle with $40 million its second weekend. Kung Fu Panda 2 should have a stronger hold on audiences, especially since it's the only family film in the marketplace. After two weekends with Midnight in Paris killing it in per-screen averages, the Woody Allen film will expand to 147 theatres, nearly tripling the amount of locations. The Tree of Life is going a slower route, expanding to 20 locations. Roger Ebert gave the Chicago-bound film four stars, remarking that the Midwestern-set story "reflect[s] a time and place I lived in, and the boys in it are me."

The semi-autobiographical tale Beginners (5 theatres) centers on a depressed man (Ewan McGregor) struggling consecutively with his father's recent coming out and his death. FJI critic David Noh complains that the movie is an "overloaded soap opera...obsessed with sadness," and I can't agree more. The McGregor character needs to ditch the soap opera and watch one of "Oprah"'s gratitude episodes, because he seriously has nothing to complain about.

Also on the specialty list is the considerably less annoying emo movie Submarine (4 theatres). The British coming-of-age picture should appeal to "fans of such quirk-meisters as Wes Anderson," according to critic Erica Abeel. She praises both the "magical debut" of director Richard Ayoade and the performance of Craig Roberts, "a sexy charmer who conveys [main character] Oliver's inner world with an intense deadpan."

On Monday, we'll see if X-Men: First Class drew the "grownup" audiences Lovece predicted, and if audiences fell for Beginners or Submarine.