American Violet
American Violet is a powerful film. There's no disputing that. It tells the true story(although names were changed) of Dee Roberts(, a poor African-American single mother living in a small, racist town in Texas. One day, during a drug raid on her housing project, Dee and a host of others are scooped up and sent away to prison. They are offered a choice no person could ever lightly make: either plead guilty and get out that day but be branded a criminal, or fight the charges and risk losing everything. The problem is, Dee has no drug record whatsoever. Nor was she found with drugs on her. Nor was she even at the project when it was raided. She was at work. And what's more, Dee's situation is made even more dire because if she pleads guilty she loses her house(it's government funded housing afterall) and possibly her kids to her less than attentive husband.
Dee's story is a familiar one. Set against the backdrop of the 2000 presidential election controversy, American Violet highlights a well known but under publicized time in recent American history, where blatant acts of racism can still be considered local government policy. The District Attorny has made a career sweeping up the poor, mostly African-Americans, and forcing them to plead guilty as a way of jinning up public support for himself and his town. But with the help of the ACLU, Dee decides it's time to fight back against a system that seems to have it out against her personally.
It's hard not to love Nicole Behari's performance as Dee. She is both instantly likeable and recognizable, but she is no saint, and that is what makes her so relatable. Dee is a mother of four kids, with three different husbands, but at no time has she let her difficulties drag her down. Also, Alfree Woodard puts on her usual strong work as Dee's mother. The always reliable Will Patton is worth a look as a former officer who has to decide between his loyalty to his old buddies or to justice. But as good as the main performances are, Violet struggles to get beyond the look and feel of a TV movie of the week. This feels like something I could see for free on CBS on Saturday nights. That doesn't make the film bad, mind you. It just felt very by the numbers and maybe a little underproduced. Still, Dee's story is an important one, and one that people shouldn't miss when it hits DVD.
6/10
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
What's the old saying? Even a broken clock is right twice a day? I guess even Matthew McConaughey can make a film that I like. This makes a solid two films so far(2 out of 20). Ofcourse I'm probably liking this film for all the wrong reasons, as it really started to grate on me after a certain....epiphany is reached. The Shirtless Wonder plays Connor Mead, a famous photographer and womanizer. Not exactly new territory for M.M., but for some reason I dug his schtick this time around. Connor finds himself at the last place he wants to be, at his younger brother's wedding. There, he runs into his former flame, Jenny Perotti(Jennifer Garner). Jenny's the one who got away for Connor, the one he was always meant to be with. That was before his life baggin' some serious tail took hold. In fact, Connor's such a douche to the ladies that he breaks up with 'em through conference call. Wait, how does that make him a douche? Sounds like a neat time-saving plan to me, and a way to avoid any flying projectiles.
Old emotions beging to bubble to the surface between Connor and Jenny, but before he can truly change his ways, Connor must first be confronted by the ghosts of girlfriends past, present, and future. The most entertaining aspect of these various trips through memory lane is Emma Stone's performance as Connor's first "girlfriend" Allison. Allison is delightfully 1980's, sporting a stone washed jean jacket, huge curls, and a mouth full of braces. Not exactly the starting point you'd expect for ol' Connor. We also get Michael Douglas as Connor's Hugh Hefner-esque dead uncle Wayne, who happily reappears to try and prevent Connor from following down the same path he laid out.
McConaughey doesn't have the chops to rip much sympathy from the audience, and to be fair the movie doesn't attempt to for most of it. Connor is blissfully happy being a jackass, and that's what I found most appealing about him. I have no interest in stories about reclamation projects. I was perfectly fine with Connor baggin' the bridesmaids(a wedding tradition that makes me wish I had more friends getting married) and nailin' the subjects of his photo shoots. For the majority of the film this is exactly what we get, and it's a lot of fun. Where the film loses me is the way it trys to cram home this epiphany for Connor in the final few minutes, and I didn't buy it for a second. They would've been better off having this be a film about a guy completely irredeemable. Jennifer Garner never really seems comfortable in these romantic comedies. To be fair, she doesn't really fit the typical rom-com mold. Her character is supposed to be a cut above the trashy starlets and one night stands Connor usually bags, but I never really saw a reason why they are supposedly meant to be together.
I can't outright say that Ghosts is a good film. It's okay at best. It's mostly harmless, and would be fine as a date movie. But on the McConaughey scale, it's friggin' chart topper. Worth a looksie, if you can't convince your girl to go see Star Trek this weekend.
5.5/10
