THE AUTOMATIC HATE--Justin Lerner's family dram-com is one nifty little zinger of a movie

My only experience with a movie made by writer/director Justin Lerner is the oddball 2011 film, Girlfriend, so I am happy to declare that his new endeavor, THE AUTOMATIC HATE, is an enormous improvement over that earlier work. Beginning with a look at an unsettled couple, followed by a mysterious unknown woman, a fractured family, a smart and funny college class in Behavioral Development, and a grandfather scene that takes its place in the canon -- all of this beautifully edited (by Jeffrey L. Castellucco) into a crisp and enticing 15-minute mystery having to do with a missing relative -- the movie finds a near-perfect melding of tone and theme via the excellent writing, direction and acting of its very fine ensemble.

That blend of tone and theme, by the way, is something rare in movies these days, and it makes workable a story that could easily go off the tracks. Instead, thanks in good part to Mr. Lerner (shown, left), it manages to stay oddly centered and surprisingly believable throughout. More than anything else, the movie is a mystery about what divided this particular family several decades previous. Clearly, whatever it was must have been pretty fucked-up. What brings it back together, as one character points out, is equally fucked-up. The answer to the mystery, when we finally get it, is a humdinger that makes immediate sense on a couple of levels.

The ensemble of performers gathered to bring this family to life could hardly have been chosen better, beginning with Joseph Cross (above) as the pivotal son and Adelaide Clemens (below) as an equally pivotal daughter.

Their fathers, two brothers who've not spoken nor acknowledged each other for years, are played in fine form by the always fascinating Ricky Jay (below, right) and Richard Schiff  (below, left) both of whose performances add further mystery and luster to the proceedings.

The fifth wheel here, the girlfriend of Mr. Cross' character, is brought to quivering and sympathetic life by Daredevil's Deborah Ann Wohl, below. Supporting roles -- wives and other children -- are handled equally well so that we don't doubt for a moment that these strange people we're viewing are indeed connected by nature and nurture (which is another theme the movie tackles quite well).

How this all plays out -- including one scene of family violence that manages to be both shocking and hilarious -- proves riveting and entertaining, finally serving up a visual and verbal definition of cowardice that seems spot-on.

The Automatic Hate does not easily compare to much else we've seen, with performances, writing and direction all straddling that line between believability and exaggeration, the real and the mythic. With just a little push in one direction the movie might have toppled into camp, or in the other direction into Greek tragedy. Instead, thankfully, it works its wonders by standing strong and tall -- if also quite alone.

From Film Movement and running 98 minutes, the movie opens this Friday, March 11, in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Monica Film Center, in Santa Barbara on March 16 at the Plaza del Oro, and in Chicago at Facets Cinematheque and the Four Star in San Francisco on March 18. To see further screening dates, click here and scroll down. DVD and digital streaming will surely happen soon, as well.

The maturation process, again: Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs' GROWING UP & OTHER LIES

Beautifully acted and often filled with smart and funny dialog, GROWING UP & OTHER LIES, the new ensemble piece from Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs (the pair who co-wrote and co-directed the worthwhile Humboldt County some years back) is a good enough movie to make you wish it were better. This New York tale of four male friends and a couple of their women -- bonding for maybe the last time as one of them heads to Ohio -- is neither specific enough for character study, funny enough for comedy, nor deep enough for drama.

It does, however, provide some succulent dialog and decent scene to be acted by its cast -- which includes the two writer/directors (Grodsky, shown at left, and Jacobs, below, left). The others guys, shown respectively from Jacobs' left, are Adam Brody (as Rocks, who's having some issues with his pregnant girlfriend), Josh Lawson (as Jake, the failed artist who's headed for Ohio), and Wyatt Cenac, a good actor who is utterly wasted here as Gunderson, a characterless character with no past, future or any interests to be found, other than being wittily dyspeptic. What a waste.

The ladies are limned by the always alert Amber Tamblyn (below, as Jake's ex) and Lauren Miller as the gal about to give birth to Rock's son.

The movie should off-and-on delight those who know and love New York City, as the progression the little group takes moves from north (Wash-ington Heights) southward, and includes a sudden detour into Queens.

Each character gets his/her bit of story and screen-time (except for Mr. Cenac, which raises the question of whether this role was cast color-blind or if, once again, blacks simply take a back seat to the concerns of the white characters. Who is this guy? Next time, filmmakers, give him a story, please.

The biggest problem here is that the "events" chosen for depiction neither deepen the characters all that much nor bring us close enough to them to care. As one of the guys suddenly points out toward the ending of the film, "We're not friends anymore." Duh... Exactly.

Growing up is indeed difficult to manage, and it is to be the movie's credit that it doesn't hand us some nitwit feel-good finale. But that alone if not quite enough to make the experience worth sitting through, despite Mr. Brody's ability to show us such a wide range of specific emotional progress, Mr. Lawson's learning a little about his lacks, and Mr. Jacobs' employment and self-image problems.

Growing Up & Other Lies, from Phase 4 Films and running just 90 minutes, opens this Friday, March 20, in New York City at the Quad Cinema and pretty much nationwide via VOD.

John Daschbach's faux friendship movie, BRIEF REUNION, hits theaters (briefly)

Remember way back in the days when Netflix actually cared about serving its customer base? When its rating system offered a middle star (out of five) that indicated the movie was "just so-so,"  a category into which most movies indeed fall? Of course, this meant that most of Netflix movies were rated only just so-so, which meant that members would not necessarily rush to put these films on their list. How much "smarter," then, to change that third star to the category called "liked it," where it remains today. So on Netflix, just as on Rotten Tomatoes, you aren't allowed to have mixed feelings about a film; you either "liked it" or you "didn't like it." Bullshit. But then that's our great big world of (no)truth-in-marketing.

I bring this subject of Netflix and the just so-so rating up from time to time, as both a deserved dig at this trend-setting service, as well as to highlight certain movies that fall directly into the just so-so category, as does the film under consideration today: BRIEF REUNION.

The film's first-time-full-length writer/director John Daschbach (shown at right) has managed to make a movie that, for every good thing we see (and there are plenty of these) there seems to be something equally negative.

Eventually the movie sort of cancels itself out. It isn't a waste, exactly. You'll remember some good about it. Yet, overall, the whole thing doesn't exactly work. Or, when it does -- kind of -- it doesn't work all that well. As you can imagine, this kind of movie experience is a frustrating one. There is one undiluted plus: The scenery (the movie was filmed in Vermont and New Hampshire) is always verdant and lovely.

We know from the beginning -- the opening shot features star Joel de la Fuente, above left, in heavy disarray -- that something is terribly (and a little too heavy-handedly) wrong. Then we're having dinner with Joel, his wife (the just-seen-last-week), Alexie Gilmore, (above and below) and their friends. Enjoy this scene, as it is literally the only pleasant few moments in the rest of the movie. In these, the group chats and laughs and dishes and giggles, and a warning is given about a fellow from their old college days who is suddenly back in the picture but is not to be trusted. Or dealt with. At all. Under any circumstances.

Now what kind of a movie would we have, were a warning like that to be heeded? Exactly. So, when that old friend (Scott Shepherd, below) shows up the next day, our hero, de la Fuente, barges ahead doing everything he shouldn't and sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss. Predictable? My god, yes. But not uninteresting, either. And because the plot line involves social media, suspicious software and the way so many of us live now, the film possesses a certain attraction.

The casting, right down the line, is good, too. While it's nice to see an Asian-American actor performing in the lead role, de la Fuente, who seems to have done most of his work on TV and is serviceable and attractive, doesn't quite fully deliver. On the other hand, his character, as we slowly learn, is a weak, lying, frightened, cheating creep, so of course we can't identify much. (Or can we?)

Ms Gilmore is fine as the confused wife, and Shepherd makes his sleazy character someone whom we really and fully dislike. (The actor, if not the character, gets to redeem himself via a nice surprise toward the finale.) The women characters -- including Raven Pierson as our hero's secretary, Francie Swift as his old girlfriend, and particularly Kristy Hasen (below, left) as the girlfriend of the "old friend" -- are a lot more sympathetic than the two main males on view. This unbalances the movie but, again, also makes it a bit more interesting.

Coincidence rears its head, typical in this kind of film, and as it moves ahead, events pile up so suddenly and swiftly that some credibility is lost. And yet, still, we hang on. Until, finally, a character that we initially imagined we knew and maybe cared about, literally and symbolically disappears on us. Brief Reunion is a frustrating experience. I can't say I'm sorry I saw it; but as good as it sometimes is, it really needs to be better.

The film opens this Friday in both New York City (the Quad Cinema) and Los Angeles area (Laemmle's Noho Seven). If you're not near either big city, never fear: Brief Reunion will be coming soon to iTunes, Amazon, Hulu, and the aforementioned Netflix.

Galt Niederhoffer's THE ROMANTICS opens: a rom-com without much of either

What a shame for THE ROMANTICS -- the Galt Niederhoffer-directed, -written (from her novel) and -coproduced romantic comedy -- that it opens on the same day as Heartbreaker, the new French rom-com that is as sterling an example of the genre as has graced  theaters in some time.  Comparisons may be odious -- and a little unfair -- but there you are.  If Heartbreakers is, for now, the current pinnacle of this much-trod genre, The Romantics is, at least, not its nadir.  The movie isn't very good, but it does boast a game cast (wasted though most of them unfortunately are), together with a few choice moments along the way.

The best of these moments (above) occurs nearly at the finale, making one realize that funerals should not be the only one of life's big events that the movies insist always take place in the rain. Another is the showdown between a very weak protagonist (essayed by Katie Holmes two photos below, at far right, who doubles as one of the film's executive producers) and her antagonist (played by Anna Paquin, two photos below, center left). There is something other than idle chatter in this particular scene, and so our ears prick up.

I expect that the novel by Ms Niederhoffer (pictured at left) offered stronger characterization and more depth.  Reduced to 95 minutes, including credtis, the movie is all surface, as a group of college chums reunites for the wedding of two of them.  From the outset, as one of the members (played by Malin Åkerman in what is becoming her signature slut mode) pushes the Holmes character to spill the necessary exposition (so we'll know what's going on: Åkerman's character would certainly have known this information already), the movie is a tad too obvious.  Its premise, when set against that of the highly original one in Heartbreaker, is unoriginal to say the least-- mismatched lovers: Will they or won't they tie the knot? Actually, all the characters seem mis-matched. Perhaps that is the point: post-college kids falling too easily into inappropriate relationships. What else is new?

The movie also seems to feature a nearly unending soundtrack -- one of those films in which music and songs try to fill in for content. Much of the babble between characters is also not worth hearing. One of my notes scribled during the screening asks, When do we start to care about any of these people?  Bad news: We never do. They're more often seen primping than thinking.  It appears that nearly everything in each of their lives so far has been a mistake. So why not this latest endeavor, as well? Good question.

The Romantics features an ensemble cast in which no one, other than the leads, makes a mark -- except Elijah Wood (above, center), who is simply awful in a one-note "drunk" role. Adam Brody, one of my favorite young actors, has a nothing role that nearly any other actor could have played just as easily. (See Mr. Brody in Death in Love to discover what he's capable of.)  In the male lead, Josh Duhamel (below, left, with Ms Holmes) is cute, but his character is even weaker and more lame than those of his two leading ladies.  And Candice Bergen as "mom" has little to do and even less worthwhile to say.

Still, any movie that replaces the usual music that accompanies the wedding party down the aisle with nothing but the sound of drums is at least not trafficking in non-stop cliché. And what I perceive to be the idea behind the film -- Stop making all these mistakes and own up to what you want -- is certainly worthwhile. It's just the fleshing-out that's pretty crummy.

The film opens this Friday, September 10, in New York City at Regal's Union Square Stadium 14.

Plus: Q&A with the filmmakers and cast at Regal's Union Square, 850 Broadway!
Each Q&A appearance covers the end of a show, with the intro introducing the following show....

Q/A session with Director Galt Niederhoffer, Producer Ron Stein, and
Stars: Jeremy Strong and Rebecca Lawrence.
Friday Sept 10th, 8:40PM - 9:40PM EST (Q+A 7:00 and Intro 9:40)

Q/A session with Director Galt Niederhoffer, Producer Ron Stein and
Stars: Elijah Wood, Jeremy Strong, and Rebecca Lawrence.
Saturday afternoon Sept 11th, 1:15PM - 2:15PM EST (Q+A 11:40 and Intro 2:00)

Q/A session with Director Galt Niederhoffer, Producer Ron Stein and
Star: Katie Holmes.
Saturday night Sept 11th, 8:40PM - 9:40PM EST (Q+A 7:00 and Intro 9:40)