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GREAT WORLD OF SOUND It's appropriate that Great World of Sound was both filmed and set in Charlotte, since that ties it back to one of the landmark documentaries: 1968's Salesman, which focused on door-to-door Bible peddlers whose main office was right here in the Queen City. Great World of Sound is a fictional piece, but writer-director Craig Zobel (scripting with George Smith) is clearly working with a budget so small, that this thematically similar film has the look and feel of fly-on-the-wall cinema. Focusing on two men (Pat Healy and Kene Holliday) trying to eke out a living by working for a sleazy record company named Great World of Sound, the film follows the pair as they meet with – and try to fleece – folks who answer the company's ads seeking new musical talent. The movie displays all the trademarks of a true indie effort, especially in its refusal to sentimentalize either the characters or their situations. And the finger-wagging isn't directed at the musicians looking for that big break, nor is it really directed at the salesmen, who are only doing their best to survive in a cruel world. If anything, it's aimed at the sleazeball heads of G.W.S., career con men who don't think twice about bilking hardworking lower-class people. Yet because these unctuous bosses don't have that much screen time, he overriding mood isn't one of righteous anger but of resigned disappointment, a sadness that the notion of hard, honest work isn't enough in today's marketplace. In that respect, the film taps into that most crushing of accepted truths: The bastardization of the American Dream is far easier to achieve than the Dream itself. ***
THE HEARTBREAK KID The Farrelly Brothers have a reputation for pushing the envelope when it comes to risky business, but in the case of The Heartbreak Kid, they seem only marginally more daring than Robert Wise helming The Sound of Music. That's because the 1972 original is one mean-spirited movie, a prickly comedy about an unlikable nebbish (Charles Grodin) who abandons his plain-Jane wife (Jeannie Berlin) on their Miami honeymoon once he spots a beautiful blonde WASP (Cybill Shepherd). The movie stings because the bride hardly deserves the cruel treatment she receives, while the protagonist is selfish, insensitive, and due for a comeuppance that he never really gets. The picture was well-received and earned Oscar nods for Berlin and Eddie Albert (terrific as Shepherd's dad), but in today's climate, only the least commercially minded filmmakers would attempt such a poison-laced satire. And the Farrellys, who've mellowed over the years, wouldn't be those filmmakers. So here, the groom (Ben Stiller) is a nice guy, his bride (Malin Akerman) is an outright nightmare, and the beach bunny is no longer a callow, self-centered brat but a sweet, down-to-earth gal (Michelle Monaghan). That's not to say the siblings have completely backed away from their raunchy roots: There's plenty of salty language, some acrobatic sex scenes (though why is it that in American movies, a healthy sexual appetite is always depicted as a vice or a disease to be shunned?), and one startling crotch shot. Much of it is funny, some of it merely infantile, but Akerman proves to be a real trouper as she degrades herself in the name of modern movie comedy. **1/2
INTO THE WILD Sean Penn's performances – even the fine ones – can best be described as overwrought, but place the actor behind the camera, and the opposite holds true: As a director, his preference has been for subtlety rather than showboating. Into the Wild finds him turning in his best directorial effort to date; adapting Jon Krakauer's based-on-fact novel, he has fashioned a somber, reflective film about a young man whose actions are so open to interpretation that where some will see an idealist, others will see an obnoxious brat; where some will see a martyr, others will merely see a moron. Emile Hirsch delivers a strong performance as Chris McCandless, a well-to-do college graduate who donates all his savings to charity and head for the wilderness. Determined to leave society and all its hypocrisies behind, he treks all over North America's untamed terrain, meeting a wide range of interesting individuals along the way. Into the Wild is especially memorable in the manner in which it offers no absolutes. Functioning as a bookend piece to Werner Herzog's excellent documentary Grizzly Man, it demonstrates that nature is as beastly as it is beautiful, and even noble aspirations run the risk of getting trampled under its imposing weight. All of the characters have their say, yet even when people's opinions run counter to each other's, everyone is making sense and no one is being disingenuous. Penn obviously feels enormous sympathy for his protagonist, yet he doesn't present him as a saint, only a charismatic if troubled kid whose defining feature is that he managed to live a life less ordinary. ***