THE WASHINGTON POST • FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2010
32
FamilyFilmgoer by Jane Horwitz AND OLDER 7 CORAZÓN INTERNATIONAL
Moritz Bleibtreu, left, plays the dodgy brother of a too-many- problems-to-count restaurateur (Adam Bousdoukos) in Hamburg.
SOUL KITCHEN
Thing go from bad to wurst at a Hamburg restaurant
by Stephanie Merry
There are worse things to be than frivolous and light. Me- ringues, for example, are a satis- fying though seemingly weight- less treat. But in the case of “Soul Kitchen,” director and co- writer Fatih Akin may have tak- en fluff to an extreme. Watching the German dramedy feels like sinking your teeth into a piece of angel food cake only to find you’ve bitten down on nothing at all. The greasy spoon for which the movie is named is in a sketchy section of Hamburg and run by the perpetually dishev- eled Zinos Kazantsakis (Adam Bousdoukos). He has too many dilemmas to list here, but a quick survey includes whether he should follow his girlfriend to Shanghai, whether he should employ his dodgy brother, how to appease the health inspec- tors, how to pay the tax office, dealing with a real estate agent who’s itching to commandeer his property and coping with a spectacularly painful back in- jury. There’s a lot going on here, and that might be the problem. The film is so fraught with little issues that none of them ends up feeling the least bit consequen- tial. It might also be easier to com-
miserate if Zinos didn’t make such terrible decisions. He sus- tains the back injury while at- tempting to move a dishwasher by himself, he sets a laptop ablaze in his kitchen sink and he befriends the aforementioned real estate agent even though
the smarmy character might as well have “I am a bad man” tat- tooed on his forehead. But worst of all is his sudden faith in Illias, his convicted felon and gam- bling addict of a brother. When Illias (Moritz Bleibtreu) asks for a job so that he can take extend- ed stretches outside prison, Zi- nos seems conflicted. This is val- id. But if Zinos isn’t sure he wants to even hire his brother, why on earth would the restau- rateur ever give Illias full power of attorney over the restaurant? Some much-needed comedy arrives in the form of a volatile vagabond of a chef, who wants to transform Soul Kitchen’s cui- sine, and Zinos’s tenant, an an- cient curmudgeon who fancies himself a seafarer and refuses to pay rent. But much of the other humor falls flat. Zinos does yo- galike back exercises in public, but after the first time they start to lose their funny factor, and a gag involving an aphrodisiac- laced dessert that turns the res- taurant into Studio 54 in its hey- day feels overdone. Speaking of which, the few scenes featuring actual cooking should please the Food Network fan base with close-ups of whipping cream and olive oils, oranges and fresh herbs.
But those colorful moments are less memorable than the pa- rade of quandaries, which might surpass your stockpile of worry.
stephanie.merry@
wpost.com
R. At Landmark’s E Street Cinema. Contains strong language and nudity. In German with subtitles. 100 minutes.
B½
NANNY MCPHEE RETURNS (PG). This genial if at times too special ef- fects-laden sequel to “Nanny McPhee” offers many pleasures, from pigs doing synchronized swimming to a cast of great British actors. Isabel, a harried World War II-era British mom, is trying to keep the family farm afloat, work a day job and care for three unruly offspring. Her husband is at war. Her brother-in-law has gam- bling debts, and he wants Isabel to sell the farm. Then two spoiled Lon- don cousins come to stay, and the five kids declare war on one another. That’s when the magically homely Nanny McPhee appears.
THE BOTTOM LINE:With her facial warts, bad teeth, black garb, thud- ding cane and burping pet crow, Nan- ny McPhee could briefly unsettle kids 6 and younger. The fear of one’s fa- ther being killed at war is a central theme. However, real war is never portrayed. An unexploded bomb lands in the wheat field, but it’s played for comedy. There are many barnyard poo jokes.
THE LAST EXORCISM. Shot in cin- ema verite style, this rather fresh vari- ation-on-a-theme thriller relies more on giving you the creeps than on actu- al blood and guts horror, though there is a bit of that, too. “The Last Ex- orcism” runs primarily on foreboding and fear. A Southern preacher, the Rev. Marcus, allows a documentary crew to follow him to a farm where the widowed father believes his teen- age daughter is possessed. The preacher wants to show the film crew that everything he does when he per- forms exorcisms is just fakery. Then the young woman on whom he’s been asked to do an exorcism starts behaving in ways the Rev. Marcus can’t explain.
13 PG-
THE BOTTOM LINE: Not for the night- mare prone of any age, “The Last Ex- orcism” is better aimed at high- schoolers. The language includes oc- casional profanity and sexual innuen- do. It’s implied that a cat is murdered, as well as other livestock, and we see hints of animal guts and blood. The climax of the film gets briefly very vio- lent, but most of it revolves around foreboding, screams and the teen girl’s body twisting in impossible ways.
LIAM DANIEL/UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Emma Thompson is a nanny who magically appears when a brood of unruly children needs her most in “Nanny McPhee Returns.”
VAMPIRES SUCK. Teens who are into the “Twilight” films and books will likely appreciate the spoofery of “Vampires Suck.” Moody 18-year-old Becca Crane moves back to the Pacif- ic Northwest to live with her sheriff dad. She falls for the oddly pale and sparkly Edward Sullen and his clan, while the furry, werewolfish Jacob falls for her. There are bad vampires eager for Becca’s blood, and it all plays out at the prom.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The PG-13 rating is pushed to the limit with phoney- looking violence, sexual innuendo, near-frontal nudity and full backview nudity. The dialogue has midrange profanity and crude sexual slang. The innuendo and language are far stron- ger than in the films being spoofed, making “Vampires Suck” more for high-schoolers.
THE SWITCH. There is much to rec- ommend this movie — choice comic turns by Jason Bateman, Jeff Gold- blum and a child actor named Thom- as Robinson. However, the central premise is a mature one, dealing with sperm donation and single parent- hood. So the movie, however heart- warming, is not for middle-schoolers. Jennifer Aniston plays Manhattan ca- reer woman Kassie, who tells her best pal, Wally, that she has decided to have a child using sperm donation. Her friend holds a party for the event, featuring the handsome donor, Ro- land. Wally, who has been in love with Kassie for years, gets very drunk at the party and, in the bathroom, tips over Roland’s sperm sample, then re- fills it with his own. Seven years later, Kassie, who moved away, returns to New York with her son. The plot thick- ens when Wally sees how many quirks he and the 6-year-old share.
THE BOTTOM LINE: In addition to the sperm donation and masturbation themes, there are strands in the story about depression and hypochondria, though all treated lightheartedly. Fi- nally, the act of deception that Wally commits, while played for comedy, is
really quite serious, and high-school- ers are more likely to get that. The script features midrange profanity and turkey baster and semen jokes.
LOTTERY TICKET.Bow Wow stars as a likable young Everyman in this rau- cous comedy. Kevin lives with his grandmother in the projects and dreams of starting his own athletic shoe design firm. Then he wins a $370 million lottery jackpot. When his neighbors and the local thugs get wind of this, Kevin is cajoled, se- duced, mugged and harassed by peo- ple who want a piece. The poverty and desperation in “Lottery Ticket” may be played for laughs, but it’s quite a commentary. Ice Cube has a fun cameo as a tough old shut-in.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The action fea- tures lots of nonlethal mayhem and threats of violence. However, the sense of potential danger in Kevin’s neighborhood feels real. The script in- cludes profanity and other raw lan- guage. The one steamy sexual situa- tion never gets explicit, and charac- ters talk about condoms and having babies out of wedlock. This comedy is clearly more for high-schoolers.
EAT PRAY LOVE. It’s tough to imag- ine most teens sticking with this ram- bling, artificial-feeling tale of self-dis- covery about a 40ish travel writer’s round-the-world quest to find herself after a messy divorce. Liz decides she wants a nonconformist life, gets di- vorced, feels guilty about it, has an af- fair with a young actor, goes first to Italy then to India, then Bali. There she meets handsome Felipe, who challenges her fear of love and com- mitment.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The film includes much sexual innuendo and brief backview nudity. Characters drink a lot and use occasional profanity, in- cluding one very strong epithet.
weekend@washpost.com
Horwitz is a freelance reviewer.
Watching with kids in mind
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