The Film Review

SURPRISE

Rated R.

Now showing in wide release.

Starring Tammy Olsen, Ricky Olsen, Suzie Olsen, Hans Olsen, Ols "Olsen" Olsen, Monica Olsen, and one half of the Olsen Twins.

Directed by Harold Olsen.

Screenplay by Harold Olsen and Pincus Mandelbaum


by S.S.


At the end of this film, Chloe leaves Phil.
Judson doesn't end up getting picked for the team. Sydney doesn't die (although you are led to believe she will). We care about these people so much that it is gratifying to discover how they all turn out.

Here is a film about groups of people who lead parallel lives. The purpose is to fool the viewer into thinking that the various characters will cross paths. Ultimately, they don't. The characters are always on the verge of running into each other, and this enhances the suspense.

One of the film's big secrets is that Olga is not really Russian. It turns out she was born and raised in the Bronx. But the director wants us to believe she is a spy, and he really has us going with this for most of the movie. The joke's on him, though, because she's totally American, as we discover when she is stuck in a cafe in Brighton Beach unable to communicate with anybody around her because, ironically, she is the only one in the room who doesn't actually speak Russian. This is that "terrifying moment of awkwardness" that other reviewers allude to but refuse to discuss in detail for some reason.

There are several smaller characters, including a bakery owner, a candlestick maker, a tinker, and three men in a tub who, as it turns out, are not an allegory for anything. This part of the film is just a shaggy dog story -- cleverly planted there to confuse us.

And it works. We are absolutely shocked when kindly old Mrs. McGillicuddy next door is revealed to be the murderer, not Sampson, wrongly convicted and moments away from an execution in a capital punishment state that I won't name so as not to spoil the fun. Of course, Mrs. McGillicuddy is the last person you'd suspect, but that's what makes this such a great film.

This movie has everything. Suspense. Twists. Turns. Mud. Puddles. Mud puddles. And more! There's even a trick in the closing credits. The screenwriter's daughter's name -- Narnia -- is spelled out 5 times in 5 different places in the cartoon of the old man holding the scroll. They're in his beard. See if you can spot them.

Drive, don't take a taxi to see this movie.

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen the film, don't read this review.

Automatically Translated from the French!

Latest Dispatches from Le Monde

(As interpreted by an on-line translator)


"GI Joe" immediately seized the head of l'office de le "box" in North America

(AFP)

Le action movie "GI Joe, the awakening of the Cobra" won in the first week in taking first place at l'office de le "box" in North America, according to final figures which shall have been released Monday by the company Exhibitor Relations, who also gave it 2 1/2 Michelin stars.

This science fiction movie, where the agents of an elite team with the latest military technology waging a fierce fight against a terrorist organization of swarthy-looking fellows, has generated revenues of $ 54.7 million (even more in Euros!) for the first weekend after its output.

In the second place, "Julie and Julia" avec Meryl Streep in the role of Julia Child, the great vulgarisatrice de la cuisine française in the United States, reaping $ 20 million. bon appétit, bien sûr!

Guinea pigs genetically modified by Walt Disney (le studio, non pas l'homme) "Mission G" in third place with $ 9.9 million, totaled 86.2 million in three weeks and billions more in five weeks pour certains.

A 4th place, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," -- the over-aged, pimple-faced British adolescent variety of whom we now see far too many in the streets and whorehouses of Paris -- sixth aspect of the saga, a total of $273.9 millions in revenue in four weeks on the screens (where the movie is exhibited, and much less in places where the film is not shown at all), after yet garnered 8.9 million dollars this weekend. Jolly bon!

"Funny People," where comedian Adam Sandler, ill, decides to support a young comic, sans-talent, plummet from first to 5th place (after stubbing his big toe on a truffle -- mon dieu!) and collects $ 8 million, bringing its total to $40.5 million, or well below expectations. Très pathétique. Whom does they think he is? Marcel Marceau? oh, s'il vous plaît! Donnez-moi un break!

In 6th place, "The Abominable truth," a romantic comedy of the Australian Robert Luketic ( "La revanche d'une blonde"), adds $ 6.7 million to its oversized war breasts, totaling $68.8 million after three weeks.

"A perfect Getwaway", a horror film about a hike in Hawaii, won 5.9 million in its first week in cinemas. Ze title, Cherie, c'est ironique - non?

At the 8th place, "The Zintrus," where children try to defend their house against an invasion by extraterrestrials (a/k/a Germans), has amassed $4 million. If only they could take cower behind the Maginot Line!
Parlez de la sécurité!

"500 Days Together," a romantic comedy, is 9th with $3.73 million, and "Orphan," a horror film where a couple adopts a child who is evil, the firm works with $3.67 million ($ 37.8 million in three weeks). And why would anyone wish to adopt a child who is evil? Because, they are stupide, imbécile, bouché, you might say.

-- Fin --