Knight & Day

I don’t live anywhere near Hollywood, but yet I hate the way that the mythical city/concept seems to exist. The mob psychology is unnerving. The success of one Twilight means that emotional vampires are in, Shrek’s success means three more parts on the way and so on. In the same way, the perceived poor performance of Knight & Day means that Tom Cruise is a poor actor and his star has gone out. There’s an irony – once a film allows itself to have a huge budget it must make that budget back (triple) or it’s a failure. I suppose the message there is: don’t have big budgets. But I digress. I was excited to see Knight & Day. Cameron Diaz still amuses me as a more than competent comedic leading lady and I’ve let go of my irrational hatred of Cruise. It’s not his fault that Oprah likes him so much.

Knight & Day is a curious film – it’s a comedy, but it’s also an action film and there’s a definite bit of romance in there. It’s an interesting genre (subgenre?) and one I can’t say I’ve noticed – positively, at least – before. But it works. After viewing the first thing that struck me was that Knight & Day was like a more aggressive (and at times less smart) version of Duplicity. Note: I really liked Duplicity (another "flop"). Knight & Day doesn’t have an impressive script going for it, it doesn’t have the charming Julia Roberts but what it DOES have is a pair of leads willing to entertain us backed by a band of well played supporting players. I cannot overstress how much Knight & Day depends on the Cruise/Diaz dynamic. The script is fine, but uninspired and the two make a brilliantly funny, but realistic pairing. Every moment between the two is golden, and you never get the feeling they’re “sinking down” to the level of the movie. They’re having fun – and sometimes, that’s just refreshing. It’s strange, seeing this I considered whether Cameron Diaz ever considered doing a Shakespearean comedy. I don’t believe I’ve seen any of her contemporaries show that ability to make the strangest of soliloquies sound so remarkably…normal.

Knight & Day has its issues, and they’re obvious. For the first ten minutes the film has trouble finding itself, and the last five minutes are only good (though Diaz in particular sells it) but the middle is a blast. Viola Davis and Paul Dano stand out as two supporting players that bring their A game. Davis just has a natural cadence to her that I realise stealing scenes just may be her habit. Sarsgaard plays Sarsgaard, but I like Sarsgaard so I’m fine with that. Mangold is a far way from Walk the Line, but despite the annoying amount of CGI (enough with the CGI) he knows when to step back and make his actors the centrepiece. I think I’ve been subconsciously waiting for something to calm me this summer at the movies. And though Knight & Day isn’t ostensibly calming it just might be the most fun to be had in 2010 release I’ve seen yet. That’s no mean feat.

B-

Flashback: The Mask

I know that most people would agree that Jim Carrey gave his two best performances in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Truman Show – two films that are unlike his usual comedic fare. I’d agree with them. Still, I can never hate a Jim Carrey comedy of old. Not the recent stuff which does little for me, but his early work in the 90s...his early work like The Mask. You remember The Mask, right? Released in 1994 with a ridiculous plot about a mask that revealed the wearer’s innermost desires. You remember it right? The movie that Cameron Diaz made her debut in? Sure you do.

It’s not difficult to see the appeal of The Mask. It’s for the inner (or outer) schmuck in us all. We all have an annoying boss, or a freeloading friend, or an annoying landlady. Maybe we have all three, like Jim Carrey’s Stanley Ipkiss. Yes, a horrible name to add to his troubles. But with The Mask Ipkiss is transformed into a suave (if hideous) playboy. It’s ridiculous but hilarious fun as we watch The Mask do all the crazy slapstick that shouldn’t be so funny, but still is. I’m uncertain if it’d work as well in a new film, but I can’t watch The Mask without laughing, even if it’s not prestige filmmaking. Still – never underestimate nineties comedies because The Mask boasts two excellent scenes that are on my list of memorable nineties scenes.

The first is Cameron Diaz’s performance at the nightclub. Looking a little more plump than she does today, and in an outrageously shot dress Diaz oozes sex as she performs her number and the ensuing dance with Carrey is hilarious. The entire scene is excellent. Curiously the second memorable scene also involved music. As The Mask gets cornered by policemen he goes into a performance of “Cuban Pete” with all the policemen joining in. It does call for us to suspend belief, but that doesn’t make it any less fun.

The thing about The Mask is that it’s ridiculous and crazy but it never goes for the easiest way out, the jokes get silly but never gross or offensive. Diaz and Carrey really do have believable chemistry and every subplot and minor character rings true. The Mask isn’t cinema for the ages, but it’s pleasant and diverting. It’s a nice and good film and I’ll treasure it for introducing us to Cameron. She was a star since then. I can't believe she's already 37...

     

Can you remember this oldie?