Info: Opens today at the Regency Trolley Square Cinemas; rated R for sexual content, language and some drug material; 86 minutes.
Much like "Clerks II," this is a raunchy comedy based on a cult favorite - though the source material, a Comedy Central sitcom spoof of after-school specials, is a bit harder for the uninitiated to penetrate. Amy Sedaris stars as Jerri Blank, a "boozer, user and loser" junkie ex-prostitute determined to start her life over. When she learns her daddy (Dan Hedaya) is in a coma, Jerri vows to return to high school and excel in the regional science fair. Sedaris' co-writers, Paul Dinello (who directed) and Stephen Colbert, hilariously reprise their roles as teachers with an unhealthy relationship, and the movie is dotted with celeb cameos (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Ian Holm and Allison Janney) good for some deadpan laughs. The highlight is Sedaris, unflinching as she throws herself into Jerri's clueless optimism.
- Sean P. Means
The Heart of the Game
Info: Opens today at the Broadway Centre Cinemas; rated PG-13 for brief strong language; 97 minutes.
This enthusiastic and uplifting documentary starts with Bill Resler, a University of Washington tax-law professor who took the job coaching the girls' basketball team at Seattle's Roosevelt High School. Resler's unorthodox coaching style raises eyebrows until he takes the team to the state tourney his first year. The story shifts sharply with the arrival of freshman phenom Darnellia Russell, whose personality clashes and an off-court crisis radically affect the team. Director Ward Serrill touches on important issues - such as class divisions and teen sexuality - but what his movie does best is capture the thrill of high-school sports and the offbeat personalities within the game.
- Sean P. Means
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Info: Opens today in theaters everywhere; rated PG-13 for sexual content, crude humor, language and brief nudity; 96 minutes.
Has director Ivan Reitman always been this unfunny, and we didn't notice because he had Bill Murray covering for him in "Meatballs," "Stripes" and "Ghostbusters"? In this excruciatingly laughless comedy, Uma Thurman plays Jenny, aka G-Girl, superhero by night and hyper-needy girlfriend by day. She decides to make life hell for Matt (Luke Wilson) when he breaks up with her in favor of nice-girl Hannah (Anna Faris, again funnier than the movie around her). The miscast leads - Wilson, Hollywood's most bland actor, as a playa? The star of "Kill Bill" as a neurotic whiner? - can't generate any laughs, while such genuinely funny people as Wanda Sykes and Rainn Wilson ("The Office") are given nothing funny with which to work. When in doubt, Reitman desperately throws in a special effect, like having G-Girl toss a shark at Matt and Hannah. Alas, the poor shark is the only thing in "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" with any bite.
- Sean P. Means
Lower City
Info: Opens today at the Tower Theatre; rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language, some violence and drug use; in Portuguese with subtitles; 98 minutes.
Some movies are about sex, some are about relationships. "Lower City" is about both, usually with one expressed through the other. Two small-time cons, best friends Deco and Naldinho (Lázaro Ramos and Wagner Moura), fall in love with the same woman (Alice Braga, from "City of God") when they all end up working the seamy side of the same Brazilian city. Though the men try not to let her come between them, the friendship they thought was stronger than the draw of any woman inevitably frays. The film is raw, with sex and violence erupting all over the place, sometimes simultaneously. The three actors carry the film with remarkable authenticity (many of those involved in making the film, including writer/director Sérgio Machado, grew up in Bahia, the place portrayed here). Though perhaps this is a more intimate and honest portrayal of a love triangle than we usually get, all the exposed nerves and flesh start to feel inconsequential. We become a little like the prostitute in the middle: It's hard to get emotional about all this despite, or maybe because of, so much of it being thrown at us.
- Christy Karras
