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Photo By Steve Ramos
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In Utah, no one can hear you park.
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WEATHER: Same old snow. Same cynical attitude.
THE GOOD: Startup.com
Documentary filmmakers Chris Hegedus and Jehane Noujaim
capture the roller-coaster chaos of the Internet start-up
world with a riveting drama. In the wake of all the new media
bankruptcies, Startup.com arrives with perfect timing.
Long-time friends Tom Herman and Kaleil Isaza Tuzman team
up to create GovWork.com, a new-media company helping people
transact with government agencies through the Internet.
Business world details like proposals to venture capitalist
groups and the dream of an IPO help drive Startup.com's
story at a quick pace. But the key to the film's riveting
drama is its emphasis on GovWork.com's two founders and their
straining friendship. Hegedus and Noujaim push Startup.com
to a new level by capturing the human side of its Internet
story. Startup.com confirms that real people and their
daily dramas will outshine Hollywood make-believe every time.
THE BAD: Wet Hot American Summer.
Funny lady Janeane Garofalo leads a comic ensemble (Frasier's
David Hyde Pierce and Saturday Night Live's Molly Shannon)
in a stumbling homage to past summer camp comedies like Meatballs
and Little Darlings. Director David Wain's slapstick
comedy Wet Hot American Summer boasts plenty of sloppy,
wet kisses and young girls in bikinis. It's what one expects
from a summer camp comedy. Still, a couple of more laughs
would have been nice. Wet Hot American Summer isn't
a bad film because it's so goofy. A slapstick story about
a falling piece of Skylab heading towards a Maine summer camp
on its final day requires goofiness. Wet Hot American Summer
is bad because it doesn't play goofy well.
Deadpan performances from Garofalo and Pierce can't overcome
the comic mediocrity (Wain co-wrote the script with Michael
Showalter). But the best scenes belong to a can of mixed vegetables
that talks with the camp's Vietnam vet cook. Paired with Wilson
the soccer ball from Cast Away, I see the beginning
of an awful new trend.
Director David Wain holds tight to the film's 1981 setting.
It's the one thing that the film does well. Against its retro
Rock soundtrack, Wet Hot American Summer is a sex-obsessed
parade of glossy make-up, tube tops and butt-hugging gym shorts.
At first glance, Wet Hot American Summer appears
to be a cinematic companion to the 1970s porn drama Boogie
Nights, well, except that Wet Hot American Summer
is awful.
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Photo By Steve Ramos
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Caveman's Valentine actresses (L-R) Aunjanue
Ellis and Tamara Tunie
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THE HAPPENING: Whatever Mick Wants. A CNN announcement
of Rolling Stoner Mick Jagger's appearance guaranteed crowds
to the Jan. 22 screening of the World War II drama Enigma.
As one of Enigma's producers, Jagger wants to support
the film. A 30-minute delay over Jagger's arrival only heightened
the frenzy further. Too bad Jagger couldn't help the film itself,
a morose tale about a team of London code breakers trying to
unravel the Nazi Enigma code.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "We were at this party and they
were giving away these gooey, gobbledy-gook kind of toys as
party favors. I think you throw them on the wall and they
stick. I don't know what film they were meant to promote."
-- Actress Tamara Tunie of Caveman's Valentine, explaining
the allure of festival schwag..
Look for the next update of Steve's Sundance Diary Thursday
