A warm family film that could’ve been explored more
By INDRANIL BASU — arts@theaggie.org
“Wonka,” directed by Paul King and written by him and Simon Farnaby, was released in December of last year under Warner Bros. Pictures. The film has been a commercial success and well-received by audiences and critics. It became the 70th-highest-grossing film of 2023 and was nominated for awards including the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film, a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (for Timothée Chalamet).
The musical fantasy comedy film is premised on the origin story of Willy Wonka, the well-known character from Roald Dahl’s famous children’s novel, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” starring Chalamet in the titular role. King uses Dahl’s body of work to visualize his backstory and create a fantastic exploration of the intriguing personality of Wonka.
Set in a vague 1940s European city, Wonka arrives as a young man, inventor, magician and chocolatier after spending seven years as an innovative chef at sea. He is ready to make a fortune, and more so a life for himself, with his chocolatey inventions that he has perfected during his time and travels across the world. The film follows his journey of achieving that dream, one strongly connected with themes of family — both blood and chosen — love and generosity.
“Wonka” is well written, in plot, dialogue and lyrics, as well as brilliantly filmed by Chung-hoon Chung and scored by Joby Talbot. The musical numbers are well worked, performed (mostly) by Chalamet, and well created but don’t stand out too much vocally in the way they are composed or sung.
Chalamet as Wonka fits into the image of the beloved character in the overcoat, hat and cane, with a suitcase full of his inventions and dreams, as iconized in previous films by Johnny Depp in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005) and Gene Wilder in “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971),” definitely drawing more from the latter in its characterizations. He seems out of place in his young boy-next-door looks with ruffled hair and American accent, which matches Wonka’s background if we consider him American and the film as a modern interpretation of him (which it is in many ways).
He is simple, friendly, innocent and giving, unlike Depp’s portrayal and more importantly the novel’s sassy, socially awkward, apathetic and androgynous Wonka who is the embodiment of eccentricity. The filmmakers run with the straighter 1971 version of Wonka who is none of those but innovative — rather an aspirational underdog the audience can relate to, which he perhaps was before making it as a chocolatier and becoming the pop culture phenomenon he is seen as in previous appearances. Although the filmmakers have stated that Chalamet was their top choice for casting, maybe someone else could capture the fantastic seed of eccentricity that must have still been in him as a young adult, one that the film could have explored more.
The ensemble cast delivers wonderful supporting performances in the film: particularly Calah Lane as the orphan girl Noodle, whose character arc is significantly in parallel with Wonka’s’; Keegan-Michael Key as the corrupt Chief-of-Police, Paterson Joseph; Matt Lucas and Mathew Baynton as the “Chocolate Cartel” leaders; Jim Carter as the accountant Abacus Crunch; Olivia Colman as the British-evil Mrs. Scrubitt and Hugh Grant as the single Oompa-Loompa of the film.
The film is definitely a “savage indictment of capitalism,” as the filmmaker has stated himself, especially in Western socio-political structures, with a hugely corrupt (three)-man monopoly (on chocolate). Constantly colluding with the church and the police, the film uses (chocolate as their currency of) bribe, to maintain their hegemony and the large economic gap between them and the consumer.
Daydreaming comes with a fee in this economy. Some of the language, however, such as Chocolate “cartel” for the corrupt oligarchy of the three Galéries Gourmet Chocolatiers, or “monks” for the “chocoholic” clergymen, is fairly questionable. It makes a good critique of capitalism but falls just a bit short on Wonka and leaves it to us to bridge the gap between him at the end of this film and the beginning of Wonka as we know him.
“Wonka” is a good film to watch with family, with its themes of family, love and sharing over greed and dreaming. The movie maintains a visual spectacle with excellent set and costume design that absorbs the audience into an earlier fantastical era in Europe and its musical numbers. You will understand Wonka as someone just like us, and discover the story of his drive for spreading happiness by making chocolate. Be ready to shed a chocolatey tear of joy. “Wonka” is now streaming on HBO Max.
Written by: Indranil Basu — arts@theaggie.org
1 of 5 | Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt star in “The Fall Guy.” Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures
LOS ANGELES, April 30 (UPI) — The chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt powers The Fall Guy, in theaters Friday, despite a shaky script. Whenever they’re not on screen it becomes apparent the film is nothing without them, but they are in it enough to keep it fun.
Colt Seavers (Gosling) is stuntman to Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). When Tom insists on a second take of a stunt, Colt sustains a back injury and quits the stunt business.
18 months later, producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) asks Colt to come back for the directorial debut of Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). Colt hasn’t called Jody since the accident, so their reunion is not smooth.
The ’80s TV series was about a stuntman turned bounty hunter, which makes sense for weekly adventures. The movie is more determined to showcase the profession of stunt coordinators and performers.
Director David Leitch was a stuntman and his production company, 87 North Productions, is the elite in the industry. So it’s okay if the plot of The Fall Guy movie is a little thin to justify having fun with its homage, but then it should get to the fun more quickly.
Gail actually called Colt to find Tom, who has disappeared, without the studio finding out. The more charming story is the tale of a stuntman and director falling back in love.
The scenes between Colt and Jody are the strongest of the film, whether Jody is using a sci-fi movie’s plot to blatantly address their relationship or whether they are fighting in a case of mistaken identity. The film spends too much time on the Tom plot when it should be about Colt and Jody.
Since The Fall Guy is a comedy, the action outside the movie set leads to more jokes than danger. The film plays Colt as a goofball, not a cool action hero, for which Gosling is totally game.
Colt does use his stunt powers while investigating Tom’s disappearance. Since he knows how to get hit by a car and survive, Colt will literally stand in the way of an escaping suspect.
Colt can use a staircase as a ramp to launch a vehicle during a car chase. The film’s climax on the movie set incorporates the stunt and pyrotechnic departments too.
It was a mistake to Intercut a good chase with a scene of Gail and Jody in a bar, thus ruining the energy of the action scene. But other moments, like Colt and Jody discussing the use of split screen while actually performing on split screens, are impressive.
Colt has almost as much chemistry with stunt coordinator Dan Tucker (Winston Duke) as he has with Jody. Dan helps Colt investigate the Tom mystery while they quote action movies to each other.
The fake titles of Tom’s movies sound believable, except they are apparently all originals and not based on pre-existing intellectual property such as The Fall Guy itself. The script rightfully calls out the fact that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences still refuses to add a category for a stunt Oscar.
The Fall Guy shows audiences how productions now scan actors and their stunt people so they can put the actors’ faces on footage of their stuntmen performing dangerous feats. So it’s a little disingenuous when the film purports to show closeups of Gosling in action when it explicitly showed how modern movies can fake that.
A behind-the-scenes montage during the end credits does show Gosling’s double doing some of the major stunts from the film, and a few where it was actually Gosling being pulled on wires.
So, given that the mystery of Tom’s disappearance is slight and, without spoiling, only becomes more convoluted, it really should have been relegated to a background subplot. But, The Fall Guy doesn’t take itself as seriously as other movies with even more convoluted plots, so it amounts to more fun than not.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
The Idea of You, 2024.
Directed by Michael Showalter.
Starring Anne Hathaway, Nicholas Galitzine, Ella Rubin, Annie Mumolo, Reid Scott, Perry Mattfeld, Jordan Aaron Hall, Mathilda Gianopoulos, Meg Millidge, Cheech Manohar, Raymond Cham Jr., Jaiden Anthony, Vik White, Dakota Adan, Roxy Rivera, Graham Norton, Grace Junot, and Jon Levine.
SYNOPSIS:
Solène, a 40-year-old single mom, begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell, the lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet.
There is no denying that The Idea of You, a romantic drama in which the meet-cute involves a 40-year-old divorced mom and artist unknowingly stumbling into a 24-year-old global celebrity pop star’s trailer under the assumption it’s a bathroom while taking her 16-year-old daughter and her friends to Coachella, is ridiculous. However, co-writer/director Michael Showalter’s film is also a reminder that it doesn’t necessarily matter how improbable a romance is so long as the screenplay does something compelling with the dynamic and would-be lovers.
Admittedly, it takes a while to get to that point since the film is based on what feels more like someone’s fantasy than a novel (Michael Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt adapting the work of Robinne Lee), but once the film confronts the reality of how difficult such an unlikely relationship would be, not to mention how judgmental and nasty society and Internet culture can be, the screenplay from Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt leans further into a more human, grounded side of these characters that Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine convey with gripping emotion. This also means that the second half sometimes feels like it’s rushing through its thornier, more adult, and engaging material, but there is just enough tackling every subject a film with this premise probably should, barring an unnecessary, hokey epilogue that reverts to something far-fetched.
Even setting those frustrations aside, it is admirable that Michael Showalter is comfortable embracing a romantic comedy formula, aware and confident that such tropes are less irksome when the endeavor is injected with characterization. Once the story goes in a serious direction, moving on from the will-they/won’t-they part of the attraction, one practically forgets the absurdity of how these characters were brought together. That is a true, telltale sign that something is working here. It all leads to several moments of piercing emotion between two people harboring trust issues, trying to make this relationship work.
Solène (Anne Hathaway) sees all the reasons she should try resisting superstar boy band singer Hayes’s (Nicholas Galitzine) charm; he is much younger, and she has a teenage daughter (Ella Rubin) who listens to their music (although Hayes is not her crush). The world, including the ex-husband (Reid Scott) who cheated on and left her, will judge the nature of the relationship.
Is it awkward when the father drops by to pick up his daughter with a much younger man answering the door shirtless? Sure. It’s also amusing. It’s also harmless, but when the gender roles are reversed, this age gap is generally an acceptable celebrity dating lifestyle. Leonardo DiCaprio seems determined never to be caught dead dating someone older than 25, Chris Evans just married a woman in her 20s, and Billie Eilish previously dated a man in his 30s. Even movies rarely touch on the reverse of this age gap, perhaps for several reasons, but I won’t dive into those hypotheticals.
What it does come down to is that people, especially men on the Internet, will always look for reasons to attack and hurl insults at women, as if that happiness threatens them. There is a moment where Solène takes charge, determined to make the relationship work despite that. We desperately hope they are successful, completely ready to be heartbroken if it doesn’t pan out.
For whatever reason, the film sidelines the teenage daughter at a summer camp, actively avoiding this intriguing trauma in favor of watching Solène accompany Hayes on his European tour (smartly aware that music and concerts are not the main attraction of this story) filled with bonding and sex (unfortunately, the PG-13 style despite an R rating, leaving one wishing the direction went for something more steamy and sensual. This section drags on, although there are noteworthy scenes showcasing how much more mature Solène is than these younger men (obviously), as well as how sincere Hayes is with his commitment.
If it seems this review mostly only discusses the second half of The Idea of You, this is mostly a straightforward, corny rom-com until the ideas take hold. As such, it takes a while to get invested properly, but damn do Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine make a great on-screen pairing, age and social class gap be damned. The movie morphs from fantasy into something believably messy and real right before one’s eyes.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
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