The Duke: British Drama/Comedy.

Movie Review: The Duke (2022) on Apple TV and Prime Video 👌

The Duke (2022), is a quirky yet charming British film with an interesting cast headed by veteran actors Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren. They make this film. (See trailer below.)

    Mirren is Dorothy, the forbearing wife always at odds with Broadbent. Broadbent is Kempton, the never-produced script writer who fills his time barking at street corners for personal rights, when he stumbles into possession of a government work of art. Suddenly he's focused on how to make something of his possession without getting into trouble, with Dorothy (who doesn't know he has it) and the bumbling government (who thinks professional art thieves have it).

    And when things get too hot around the house, where he's hidden it just under Dorothy's nose, Kempton decides it's best to simply return the work to the government. And that's where things actually turn interesting. He gets his opportunity to bark for personal rights in court, and he gets to charm the pants off the jury with his humor and common sense, when sage and wisdom will do his self most good. Broadbent shines here.

    The Duke is based on a true story. It would have been interesting to see it play out in real life.

    Trailer from YouTube:

The Good Liar: A Different Kind of Whodunnit

Movie Review: The Good Liar (2019)
Version: Library borrow

The Good Liar surprised me. I thought it was a story about a grifter trying to con a lovely elderly lady who would grow to love her and find romance in old age. It turned out to be quite a different kind of story -- a whodunnit with a twist -- and a good one at that.

Oh, Roy Courtnay (Ian McKellen) is a grifter, indeed. He starts right out from the beginning showing us how he interests his targets into the con, then brilliantly cheats them out of it. Vincent (Jim Carter) is his accomplice. But Betty McLeish (Helen Mirren) is something altogether different. She seems innocent enough in her unremarkable beige retirement flat, eagerly sharing her home with the occasionally gimpy Roy and falling in love, letting slip details of her savings of around 500,000 pounds, and defending him from the suspicions of her protective grandson Stephen (Russel Tovey), who is skeptical of Roy's admiration and intentions. But the story takes a strange turn when Roy invites his financial adviser Vincent who augustly suggests they share an investment account. At first Betty is reluctant to go in together, but Roy shows his trust in her and invests all his 7 million-plus pounds of funds into the account and so she equally throws in her 3 million-plus pounds in and it seems like a shared account made in heaven. Until it isn't.

It is here that the story takes on twists and turns and a dark side you won't see coming. Some of the plot is a bit hard to swallow. But if you will suspend your disbelief for just a short while longer, and trust the writer and director and actors a tiny bit more, you will enjoy the outcome, I assure you.

As a British film, The Good Liar will take its sweet time getting to the end. As with most British films it is slight on the flash and heavy on the characters. McKellen and Mirren have been charming audiences in major roles for decades. They are in their finest in these roles as two masterful foes one against the other and, finally, in a charade against the expectations of the audience here. This is a whodunit where no one gets killed and the big question is, who eventually will be had? You won't see it coming till the end. But it's worth the wait.

I wouldn't say this is a must-see film, but I would say The Good Liar is a worth-see. Good family entertainment for older teens and up who like mysteries with a bit of cheeky fun.

Collateral Beauty: Mostly Window Dressing to Get You to the Surprise Ending

Movie Review: Collateral Beauty (2016)
Version: Library borrow

In Collateral Beauty, Howard and Whit partner to create a successful advertising agency, along with the sweat and dedication of Claire and Simon. But when Howard suffers the death of his very young daughter, he retreats from reality and life, putting in peril all that he, Whit, Claire, and Simon have built. Nothing anyone tries to do to help him resolves Howard's deep sorrow. Howard's destructive behaviors begin to affect business to the point that the agency is about to collapse, and Whit decides to sell it rather than have it fail. To do so, Whit has to be able to prove that Howard is mentally incompetent to make the decision on the sale. With the uneasy assistance of Claire and Simon, and the help of three stage actors and a private detective, Whit sets out on an intervention to either bring Howard to his senses or provide the proof he needs.

This film takes a lot on its shoulders to make a point, a point attempted to be made in its title. But the execution comes in the telling, and that's where it comes up short. You have to think long and hard to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, and as obscure as the title is and as strange as the pieces of the puzzle are, it's easy to fumble with the point of the story. The themes are Love, Time, and Death, portrayed by the three actors that Whit employs for the intervention. But it is never really clear how those themes fit into the death of the daughter and how Howard deals with it. Moreover, the title, "collateral beauty" doesn't begin to explain either the desired outcome or the achieved outcome of the story, even though it is referenced at the beginning and end of the film. This is, unfortunately, a scripting problem. The story line is too complex, the writing too evasive.

What is good about Collateral Beauty is the acting. Will Smith puts on an emotional tour de force as Howard, the grieving father. Naomi Harris is riveting as Madeline, the grief counselor but who turns out to have a surprising connection to Howard. Helen Mirren is delicious as the actor portraying Death, Jacob Latimore puts on a strong performance as the actor portraying Time, and Keira Nightley is winsome as the actor portraying Love. Edward Norton as Whit, Kate Winslet as Claire, and Michael Peña as Simon are good as well. Their performances bring a depth to the story that makes up for what the writing fails to provide.

I've read a few explanations for the meaning behind the title in an attempt to understand it. The surprise ending probably best sheds light on everything, but if you have to wait till the last minute for the "Aha!" moment, then the film has failed. All the rest is window dressing simply to get you to the end. In this sense, I believe you will likely find yourself scratching your head looking for its meaning right up to the end and wondering why you sat through everything else.