Movie Reviews: Kabluey, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Meet Dave

HOMO ERECTUS Once a reliable indicator of quality laughs, the National Lampoon brand nowadays is as ubiquitous and meaningless as a positive review quote from Larry King, which makes it strange to see a movie written and directed by Adam Rifkin thrown into the mix. Best known for his cult comedies (Detroit Rock City, The Dark Backward) and dark, critically acclaimed indie dramas (Night at the Golden Eagle, Look), Rifkin’s not the sort of guy you'd expect to see billed under the same banner that brought us Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj. Alas ... the opening credits titteringly read “Adam Rifkin is a Homo” before spelling out the entire title, and that, sadly, is the funniest joke in the whole movie. In an apparent attempt to create a Woody Allen-like persona, Rifkin casts himself front and center as reluctant caveman Ishbo — the lone nerd among his tribe and an aspiring inventor (having created glasses, a chair and a bicycle). Ishbo pines for his beautiful childhood friend Fardart (Ali Larter), while she only has eyes for his dense brother Thudnik (Hayes MacArthur); when an enemy tribe led by a demented sorcerer (Gary Busey) attacks, Ishbo finally has the chance to prove himself. None of this is especially funny, though Rifkin has somehow managed to persuade a whole lot of women to get topless and vaguely hold our attention. That, plus the presence of Ron Jeremy, suggests Rifkin would have been better off just making a porno instead. (Music Hall; Rolling Hills 20) (Luke Y. Thompson)

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH Let’s be clear about one thing: Journey to the Center of the Earth is more a demo reel than a narrative feature. It’s a decent, if overly familiar and yawningly obvious compendium of look-at-me moments intended to show off the latest and greatest in stereo 3-D filmmaking, in which the same thing’s shot twice, more or less merged into a blurry single image and rendered almost-kinda-sorta-not-really lifelike through the polarized shades of the RealD glasses you get to wear (and keep!). Brendan Fraser, who’s played against green screens for so long he’s forgotten how to relate to people, is Trevor Anderson, a disheveled science professor nursing an invisible ache for a brother who died looking for the center of the Earth. Fraser marches from one scene to the next till, whoops, that’s a mighty deep hole. Directed by Eric Brevig, the movie takes its time arriving at the Earth’s core and then rushes to escape from it, almost in embarrassment. There’s good reason not to linger downtown: All the filmmakers summon from their collective imagination is a dingier version of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory; episodes of Land of the Lost were more inspired. The mine-train ride, nicked almost rail for rail from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, provides a bit of a mid-movie kick, but Journey pretty much climaxes before it even penetrates. (Citywide) (Robert Wilonsky)

Death Defying Acts

The Weinstein Company

My Father, My Lord

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More About

• Harry Houdini
• Gillian Armstrong
• Seventy- Elsa
• Scott Foundas
• Passing Poston

GO  KABLUEY From the film appearances of the San Diego Chicken to the penguin-suited thug who gave Jean-Claude Van Damme a flipper-smacking in Sudden Death, I can’t think of a single instance in film history where a giant padded suit hasn’t been funny — and in his plangently comic feature debut, writer-director-star Scott Prendergast extends the streak. Prendergast plays Salman, the ne’er-do-well sibling of a National Guardsman on extended stay in Iraq. With his sister-in-law Leslie (Lisa Kudrow) at wit’s end juggling her household of hellions and an unstable corporate job, Salman takes on child-care duties with his usual aplomb — leaving her sulking kids to crash in a den carpeted with breakfast cereal. In desperation, Leslie sets up Salman with the mother of all crappy temp gigs — and soon he’s passing out flyers in the sweltering costume of her company’s mascot, a foam-rubber stick figure with a bulbous blue head. The movie’s absurdist yuks and Chaplinesque sentiment don’t always mesh with the realistic agony of wage slavery and suburban turmoil. But the ingeniously designed suit (kudos to Geppetto Studios) offers plentiful possibilities for humor both high and low, and Prendergast takes advantage of every unfortunate hand portal, restricted movement and disastrous bathroom break. At the same time — thanks mostly to Kudrow’s stunning performance — the Austin-shot movie catches the nation’s mood of economic anxiety and workplace exploitation more pungently than anything else in theaters. (Sunset 5) (Jim Ridley)

MEET DAVE If you’re an 8-year-old boy who’s never heard of E.T. or Liar Liar, then Meet Dave may be your new favoritest movie of all time. On a mission to save his dying planet of miniature aliens, the captain of a human-shaped spaceship (both played by Eddie Murphy) flies to Earth, befriending perky widow Gina (Elizabeth Banks) and her meek son Josh (Austyn Lind Myers). As directed by the none-too-subtle Brian Robbins (Norbit, The Shaggy Dog), Meet Dave is aimed squarely at prepubescent boys — the mixture of sci-fi, broad physical comedy and absent-father sentiment will prove irresistible, although they may gag at the schmaltzy love story. What keeps the film surprisingly likable is a game cast led by Murphy, who sustains more laughs from the moth-eaten Starman conceit than it deserves. Murphy’s questionable recent career choices notwithstanding, the guy remains a gifted comedian, and his performance as the spaceship “Dave” — his body a foreign vessel awkwardly trying to interact with jaded Manhattanites — possesses the sort of inspired glee he hasn’t demonstrated since Bowfinger. Still, Meet Dave feels a little too cuddly and familiar to be more than a programmatic summer kids’ movie — better than average, but not worth phoning home about. (Citywide) (Tim Grierson)