Movie Reviews: An American Carol, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Flash of Genius

GO  BOOGIE MAN: THE LEE ATWATER STORY Just about everyone interviewed for Stefan Forbes’ fascinating documentary about Lee Atwater — whether Democrat or Republican pols, African-American bluesmen or hardened reporters — ends anecdotes about the Republican strategist’s dirty tricks with a titter that’s either nervous or ambivalently appreciative. Politically speaking, it may be enough to know that Atwater, who shamelessly drove race into the 1988 presidential campaign to destroy Michael Dukakis and win the election for George Bush Sr., was a disciple of Strom Thurmond, got along like a house on fire with Bush Jr., and taught Karl Rove most of what he knows about exploiting media. But Forbes adroitly fills out his picture of this “marsupial” little man with “the eyes of a killer” through the testimony of those who admired and/or loathed Atwater. Less persuasive is Forbes’ perfunctory, psychologically thin rummage through Atwater’s childhood for a traumatic event that would explain his utter ruthlessness. He finds one, but it’s much less interesting than the question of whether the blues-playing Southerner was a racist or merely a cynic, or the film’s revelations about the ambiguities of Atwater’s highly publicized remorse, with hand on Bible, as he lay dying (and largely ignored by the dynasty he had served so assiduously) of brain cancer. (Sunset 5) (Ella Taylor)

Blindness

Jia Zhangke’s Still Life: simply one of the best of the year — or any year that’s likely to come.

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FIREPROOF When Capt. Caleb Holt (Kirk Cameron) decides to divorce his Sarah Palin–type wife, his bros at the firehouse come to his rescue with words of wisdom swiped from the annals of Hallmark: “You never leave your partner, especially during a fire.” With advice like this, it’s no wonder Caleb turns to Jesus. Naturally, director Alex Kendrick’s style suggests a pharmaceutical commercial — especially during scenes of Caleb and his father plodding through the woods toward a creepily and strategically placed cross — because what is Fireproof selling if not a drug? But before it even mentions God, the film works sweetly as a chronicle of a man trying to extend the courage he shows on the job to his marriage by following a 40-day experiment called “The Love Dare,” which necessitates being kind to Catherine (Erin Bethea) and, ultimately, unkind to himself — by giving up his dream of owning a boat and beating the shit out of his computer for teasing him with a pornographic pop-up ad. Then the film gets all religulous, suggesting that Caleb’s devotion to healing means nothing without Jesus, and so Fireproof stops becoming relatable to us all and only to the already, or easily, indoctrinated. (Selected theaters) (Ed Gonzalez)

 
FLASH OF GENIUS The big-screen version of inventor Robert Kearns’ legal battles with Ford and Chrysler — both of whom nicked his intermittent windshield wiper without giving him credit, much less paying a cent — is about as exciting as Kearns’ Wikipedia entry. Greg Kinnear, usually kinetic, is unusually (and unbearably) dull in producer turned director Marc Abraham’s telling of Kearns’ years-long fight to regain his good name, even as Ford finally offers millions to get him to scram. Is Kearns mad or just angry? Hard to say, as the filmmaker and actor can’t get a handle on a man obsessed with windshield wipers and the attendant credit that’s rightfully his. The movie’s so even-keeled that the cast — including Lauren Graham as the tolerant wife who suddenly snaps and then just vanishes altogether — seems to be getting sleepy, sleepy, sleepy as it winds its way toward a courtroom showdown that’s more slowdown. You know how it’ll all end — Hollywood doesn’t make movies in which Goliath trounces David, especially when he’s Greg Kinnear — so all you’re left with are windshield wipers, going back and forth ... and back and forth ... and back and forth. (Citywide) (Robert Wilonsky)

 
THE HOUSE OF ADAM Suspecting that he’s being robbed, the owner of a small-town diner asks his married son, Anthony (John Shaw), to return from college to spy on his only employee, Adam (Jared Cadwell). Within three minutes of screen time, Anthony cuts himself in the kitchen, Adam grinningly sticks the bloody finger in his mouth, the two walk along babbling creeks together, and Adam reveals — as he has to nobody else — that he’s gay. Soon after, Anthony cops to both the embezzlement and bi-curiosity, his dying father entrusts his cabin to Adam, and — one year and a divorce later — Anthony is Adam’s lover and a police detective. Then Adam is beaten to death with a Bible by beefcake religious fanatics, enabling Anthony to move into the house — now owned by another couple — and find his beloved’s remains. Jorge Ameer’s laughably unskilled drama (acting that’s the opposite of natural, confused music cues, colors that don’t match between each hideously framed shot, production values rivaling late-night Cinemax softcore cheapies, mildly supernatural events) is so poorly written and directed that it could be a fake movie within a John Waters camp classic. How else to explain such a waste of time escaping the LBGT-festival circuit? (Sunset 5) (Aaron Hillis)