Female Film Critics 24/375
Whether you live with anxiety yourself or care about someone who does, odds are good that Wendy Lobel’s documentary Anxiety Club will strike a resonant chord. As the comedians the movie follows share their stories — and their worries (so very many worries) — they reveal that no matter how funny they are on stage, they’re raw and vulnerable off stage. And that revelation makes them and their experiences all the more relatable.
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This sequel to 2022’s The Bad Guys, the DreamWorks Animation Studios hit about a crackerjack team of criminal animals who opt to change their ways, is a breezy mix of kooky characters and madcap action. While it doesn’t have the thematic depth of other DreamWorks animated films such as this year’s Dog Man and 2022’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, it’s an Ocean’s 11-style caper with fur, fins, and scales that left the youngsters at my screening laughing.
Read moreAt first blush, Wendy Lobel’s Anxiety Club may seem like another straightforward exploration of individual comics battling their demons amid the broader questions about comedy and mental illness. Even Marc Maron, the OG of digging through emotional muck together, is on hand. Yet he is there as a sort of founding father passing on the torch to a new generation who have already internalized the power of vulnerability as critical to both their well-being and their comedy. They are so fluent and self-aware, seamlessly capturing their generation’s earnestness and their own keen ability for expression.
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The title woman in director Michael Morris’ To Leslie has one defining characteristic. Leslie is an alcoholic with all the baggage destructive to any healthy relationship; that is, Leslie will beg, borrow, or steal money to support her illness and the dysfunctional behavior resulting from it. Inspired by actual events, the story begins more upbeat, with Leslie winning a $190,000 lottery.
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Andrea Riseborough adds yet another memorable performance to her impressive filmography in director Michael Morris’ wrenching drama To Leslie. She’s heartbreakingly vulnerable as a West Texas woman who gets one last chance to turn her life around after she squanders a $190,00 lottery win and her drinking spirals out of control. At stake is her self-respect, any hope of happiness, and her relationship with her son.
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Andrea Riseborough gives the kind of knock down, drag out performance we’ve come to expect from this uncompromising and empathetic actor. To Leslie is a gritty, no holds barred portrait of a woman already on a fast slide to the bottom. An alcoholic single mother, she’s still infamous in her small West Texas town for winning and then blowing a $190,000 lottery jackpot. But when we meet Leslie, she’s already lost more than the money. Alcoholic binges, rage and desperate attempts to manipulate people who gave up on her long ago have alienated her 20 year-old son James (Owen Teague) and her once close friend Nancy (Allison Janney) who still seethes with resentment.
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If you take Oceans Eleven and add the sensibilities and style of DreamWorks Animation, you’ll get the new animated feature The Bad Guys. It’s a fun conceit, especially when some of the best comedians and actors in the business are supplying voices for the lead characters. While the amusing concept and the embarrassment of thespian riches does add up to entertaining viewing and a worthy way to spend your movie money, the plot might strike some as one-dimensional, and it does feel like there should be more sparks flying given the impressive cast.
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The plot is tricky and convoluted, and big chunks make no sense. “The Bad Guys” is based on the Scholastic series by Aaron Blabey from a screenplay by Etan Cohen, known for Men in Black 3. The script plays off caper movies, but it does not always play well. Directed by Pierre Perifel, known for Kung Fu Panda 2, it’s too long and loud, including the music, and holds little novelty, but it does offer lessons in distinguishing trust from distrust. But, for all its noise, it has its heart in the right place.
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As a platform to display Andrea Riseborough’s acting chops, To Leslie is a key entry in a filmography that is only going from strength to strength. With Riseborough, this film is capital S “Something” alright, focusing as it does with razor sharp precision on questions of shame, class and redemption.
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Opportunity makes strange — but ultimately well-suited — bedfellows in Lynn Shelton’s quirky dramedy Sword of Trust. Centered on an antique weapon that may (or may not) have played an unexpectedly important role in American history, it digs into the denial and hate that are tied into so much of the divisiveness that’s currently plaguing our country. All with an absurdist tone, naturally.
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