Remember Project
X? No, not the Matthew Broderick film with the crazy monkeys. The
hyperactive, Red Bull-fueled party movie from a couple of years ago that looked
like it was shot by the Roadrunner on steroids. That style, as effective as it
was in capturing the world's most out-of-control rager ever, doesn't work for
everything. Someone should have told that to director Nima Nourizadeh,
whose stoner action-comedy American
Ultra could have used a more
assured approach to match the confident portrayals of its stars, Jesse Eisenberg
and Kristen Stewart.
American Ultra is basically The Bourne Identity if Jason Bourne was a total pothead,
but the schizophrenic screenplay by Max Landis (Chronicle) can't decide
if it wants to make you laugh or cringe at the bloodshed. Eisenberg and
Stewart, who found terrific chemistry in Adventureland and have it once again here, play
stoner duo Mike Powell and Phoebe Larson. Like any high-as-a-kite pair their
lives are a hodge podge of snacks, weed, disappointments, more weed, work,
snacks, weed, laziness, weed....well, you get the picture. They've been
together for a while; stuck in the same lousy town by the panic attacks that
strike him anytime he tries to leave. She's clearly the rock of that
relationship while Mike is a well-meaning fool, bumbling through life except
when stopping to draw characters for the comic book he can't get motivated
enough to create.
While the opening moments are pretty
low-key, taking a tone quite similar to Adventureland in some respects, all of that is
thrown out the window when Mike is suddenly "activated" by the CIA
handler (Connie Britton) he didn't know he had. Moments later he's cutting down
armed goons with a spoon, and fighting of swarms of enemies with fighting
skills that would make Jason Statham jealous. Turns out he's actually a sleeper
agent with some serious butt-kicking mojo. Giving this guy a cup of Ramen
noodles is like handing him a Cruise missile. But that's too dangerous of an
asset to be out there in the field, so an odious government suit (Topher Grace)
gathers the troops to terminate Mike once and for all.
Bullets fly, blood is spilled, and there
are surprisingly few laughs to be found as the grisly body count escalates.
This is one of those movies where the violence is excessive for no apparent
reason, but Landis' script expects us to take it seriously despite the utter
lack of consequences. At the same time the film tries hard to convince us that
maybe we should chill out and smoke a bowl or something. Walton Goggins plays a
wildly over-the-top psycho named Laugher because...well, he laughs a lot.
Grace, who is way too good at playing characters we love to hate, can't do much
with his reprehensible government stooge. The character is way too ugly, which
is sadly the same that can be said about the film's idea of humor.
Fortunately, Eisenberg and Stewart
maintain some familiar sweetness in their pairing, and the relationship between
Mike and Phoebe takes some interesting twists. Capturing some of the same
romantic zaniness and zeal of True
Romance, their love feels real, troubled, and totally off-the-wall. The
quiet moments, which are admittedly few, feel raw and lived-in. They too
frequently give way to Nourizadeh's needlessly stylish flourishes that might
have worked during his music video career, but don't hold any weight in this
particular film, perhaps because American
Ultra is unsure of what it
wants to be. Clearly it doesn't want to be 'Bourne', but it's not quite Pineapple Express, either.
Ultimately, American Ultra isn't potent enough to get high
on, but it may leave you with a case of the munchies.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
