'My Best Friend's
Wedding'

'Temptress Moon'

Rated PG-13

COURTESY OF MIRAMAX FILMS

skipping over any motivational
explanation for Julianna's sudden
change of heart, the movie loses
*rst, Jim Carrey went dark its own heart.
and depressing in The Cable
Although the question is raised,
Guy. Now, Julia Roberts has it's never really established
turned her romantic conge- whether or not Julianna really
niality inside out with My Best loves Michael or just wants him
Friend's Wedding. Is unlika-
because she can't have
bility the new Hollywood
him. Ws an important
MOVIES
trend? This movie certain-
question and one
ly would lead one to think so.
which would have
Julianna (Julia Roberts) is an made all the difference between
on-the-go food critic with no time caring what happens to the char-
for love and certainly no inclina- acters or not.
tion toward romance. The mushy
And that's just the problem: No-

PHOTO RY SI I7ANNF TFNNFR

F.

Gong Li works again with director Chen Kaige in Temptress Moon.

Rated R

Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz in My Best Friend's Wedding.

stuff scares her, and she likes to
keep her relationships to month-
long maximums. No big deal un-
til her best friend and former beau
Michael (Dermot Mulroney) calls
and announces that he's found
true love with perfect young col-
lege student Kim (Cameron Diaz)
and will be married in four days.
Suddenly, for reasons Julian-
na can't even begin to understand
(and which the movie never re-
ally bothers to explain), she real-
izes that she's in love with
Michael. Being the go-getter she
is, Julianna devises one scheme
after another to win the heart of
the man she (maybe) loves.
All of this makes a pretty nice
set-up for what could have been
some clever repartee and true
weepy-eyed romance. Instead, My
Best Friend's Wedding takes a
dark turn and the audience finds
itself hand-in-hand with a truly
reprehensible heroine.
Applause should go to the writ-
ers for trying to do something dif-
ferent with the romantic comedy
formula, but unfortunately, by

Liz Lent is a local freelance

writer.

body in this movie is really that
endearing. Julianna's scheming
is cruel and, even more unforgiv-
able, not very funny. Michael is
self-absorbed and obtuse, accus-
ing his bride-to-be throughout of
trying to control him. And poor lit-
tle Kimmie is so meek and pas-
sive that the audience can't help
but cringe. All of this combines for
a yawn-inducing, romance-free ro-
mantic comedy.
The film's only true comic relief
comes in the form of Rupert
Everett as George, Julianna's gay
friend, editor and half-hearted co-
conspirator. Everett gets all the
best lines, does a smashing
Dionne Warwick impersonation
and generally just seems to be
having a wonderful time. It's great
to see that Everett, that stalwart
of E.M. Forster film adaptations,
flourishes in a comedy.
My Best Friend's Wedding is a
passably entertaining way to
spend two hours, but if you're in
the mood for a top-notch roman-
tic comedy, this, unfortunately, is
not it.
m®.

— Liz Lent

Zhongliang to kiss his sister.
More incestuous acts are allud-
ed to as well, but much also re-
mptress Moon is set in Chi- mains unclear.
na in the 1930s, following
The adult Zhongliang's con-
that country's severe politi- man boss, aware of his connec-
cal shake-up. It is a time of tion to the Pang dynasty, orders
withering feudal colonies, capi- Zhongliang to return to the Pang
talistic experimentation and estate in order to bilk its fortune
widespread opium use.
from its current leader, Ruyi, sis-
Zhongliang lives in Shanghai ter of the former master who
and earns his living as a con now lies comatose from opium
man, a gigolo of sorts who, along use.
with a group of other men,
Zhongliang's return
shakes down married
proves tumultuous for
women after seducing
MOVIES
everyone, sending the
them.
plot jumping from his se-
Through flashbacks to 20 duction of Ruyi, to Ruyi's affair
years earlier, when the central with her cousin, to Zhongliang's
characters are still children, we sister's misery, and so on.
learn that Zhongliang had es-
Temptress Moon was directed
caped a dangerous predicament by Chen Kaige, who was re-
at the feudal Pang estate: Or- sponsible for 1994's well-received
phaned at a young age, _ Farewell My Concubine. Here,
Zhongliang's sister, herself mar- Kaige uses a harried, unsettling
ried to the young master of the visual style of cinematography,
estate, arranges for her little which, combined with so many
brother to act as opium-prepar- plot threads, leaves the film emp-
er to the master. The young ty of anything stable for the au-
Zhongliang is treated roughly by dience to hang on to. Even the
the master, a serious opium ad- acting from the film's two stars
dict; in one flashback, he orders — Gong Li (who appeared in
both critically acclaimed films
Jeffrey Hermann is associate
Farewell My Concubine and
editor at Visible Ink Press,
Raise the Red Lantern) and
publisher of VideoHound's
Leslie Cheung (Farewell My
Golden Movie Retriever.

T

Concubine) — seem uninterest-
ing and strained.
Temptress Moon has been the
focus of much controversy in Chi-
na, including banning, and it's
likely that the film reads much
differently to its native audience.
The film opens with a prologue
that was tacked on by Miramax,
its American distributor, which
tries to explain the circum-
stances and characters behind
this very convoluted and con-
fusing story. Unfortunately, even
with the additional information,
this is still a difficult movie to be
drawn into.

1/2

— Jeffrey Hermann

Bagel Barometer

Outstanding

Very Good

®c

Good

Fair

No Bagels

Awful

