Film: Jessica Kellgren-Hayes

Mr predictable

We recently reviewed the Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg starring American Ultra on MovieLine and – for once! – Joseph and I were in complete agreement. Whilst the lead actors were perfect for their roles and had great chemistry together, the script sorely let them down.
The premise of the film saw Eisenberg’s stoner, who was actually a yet-to-be-activated government sleeper agent, be deemed a liability and targeted for extermination. Stewart played his stoner girlfriend, who didn’t actually get much to do other than play off Eisenberg with some great one-liners and… get kidnapped. Because clearly, that is a completely novel concept for the ‘girlfriend’ role!
We didn’t rate the film highly on MovieLine and almost all other film critics agreed, seeing the film do poorly at the box office.
Max Landis, American Ultra’s screenwriter, previously best known for Chronicle (2012) – a found footage film about teenagers with superpowers – did not take the low audience numbers well. “Is trying to make original movies in a big way just not a valid career path anymore?”, Landis raged on Twitter. “Are original ideas over?” The film, as you have probably already worked out, is a cross between Zombieland and The Manchurian Candidate, but not half as good as either.

Landis’ latest film, Mr Right, screened at last month’s Toronto Film Festival looks to also be proving that yes, original ideas really are over. Another hitman action/comedy: this time with a breakdancing killer (Sam Rockwell) romancing a ‘kooky’ Manic Pixie Dream Girl (Anna Kendrick). Just like American Ultra, he is a stoner who only kills the people who employ him, but this time his love interest is weird and peppy. Which is not to say that Anna Kendrick is anything other than wonderful, of course! But this film is quite clearly Grosse Point Blank crossed with Dexter.
The film must have been intended as a screwball comedy but whilst both actors give it their best shot it is more than just the 16-year age gap that grates. There is a cute meet, in a corner shop where Mr Right’s lightning quick reflexes manage to save a rack of condoms from hitting the floor, and the dialogue is cheesy, mixed with ‘vulgar-so-it-must-be-funny’ failed punchlines.
Throw in a homoerotic relationship between the baddies’ henchmen, a hitman using Tai Chi to beat everyone and flashy yet deadened editing and… it’s a film you’ve seen a thousand times before. Not even setting the film in New Orleans could possibly give it any colour. Blockbuster cinema certainly is in need of new ideas.

You can probably guess how the film ends already and now you don’t need to sit through it! We watch all the new releases at MovieLine so we can tell you what to miss and what to rush to the cinema to see. Tune in this Wednesday at 6.30pm on Latest TV for this week’s reviews.
For more reviews, subscribe to my YouTube channel, MissJessicaKH and watch Latest TV’s film review show MovieLine, every Wednesday at 6.30pm and repeated through the week. Check listings in this magazine for more!