@NYFF53 Day 10:On the Road With 'Microbe and Gasoline' and Loving Every Mile of the Ride; Nothing Really Special About 'Maggie's Plan'

Theo (Theophile Baquet) and Daniel (Ange Dargent) have to avoid trouble on the road in "Microbe & Gasoline. Photos from "Microbe & Gasoline" Facebook page.

WATCHING a coming-of-age-movie is always a tricky proposition. The viewer never knows what s/he is going to get. It can be insultingly shallow, puerile, gross. It can also be intelligent and thoughtful.

Thankfully, Michel Gondry’s “Microbe & Gasoline” (“Microbe et Gasoil”) is the latter. The film has its U.S.
premiere today at the 53rd New York Film Festival.

Microbe/Daniel (Ange Dargent) and Gasoline/Theo (Theophile Baquet) are like a Reese’s peanut butter cup. The whole is greater than its parts. Both are outcasts. Microbe, because he is diminutive compared with his classmates. Gasoline, because he reeks of petrol and is the new kid in school.

In each other they recognize brilliance and a kindred spirit. The boys bond almost instantly.

MG, an Academy Award winner for the screenplay of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” wrote the script. As in that film, in “Microbe & Gasoline” he employs touches of the fantastical.

The boys not only build a car that looks like a small house, they – unbeknownst to their parents – embark on a roadtrip in it. How they avoid an encounter with the police is the stuff of pure fantasy!

Myriad adventures – sad, surreal, funny, potentially dangerous – await.

The best part of the film, however, is the sparkling dialogue between Daniel and Theo when they are building the house-car and when they are riding in it. Here is a buddy film for the intellectual set.

Theo (Theophile Baquet) and Daniel (Ange Dargent) are ready to rock and roll in "Microbe & Gasoline.

MG has said he is drawn to emotions, and they inform much of the conversation between scientific-minded Theo and artistic Daniel who is experiencing existential crises, including puppylove. The young actors take to the dialogue like a duck to water, fiercely owning the words coming out of their mouths. Their exchanges have nuance and depth often lacking in characters their age.

“Microbe & Gasoline” is a coming-of-age film that has wide appeal.

'Maggie's Plan' Doesn't Exactly Grab Me

Ethan Hawke and Greta Gerwig in "Maggie's Plan." Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

IT’S a harmless, offbeat, not particularly interesting romantic comedy set in New York City.

What else to say about “Maggie’s Plan,” the latest from director Rebecca Miller who also wrote the script?

It has its U.S. premiere tonight at the 53rd New York Film Festival.

From an original work by Karen Rinaldi, it stars Greta Gerwig as the title character, winning as a Managing Miss who greets the world with near wide-eyed wonder

Ethan Hawke (John) is credibly clueless as the man volleyed between Maggie and Georgette, a cold, superior, dismissive, self-centered, self-possessed, superstar anthropology professor at Columbia University. She is portrayed by Julianne Moore, speaking in a superfluous, vaguely Eastern European accent.

All three work in academia, actually.

Ethan Hawke and Julianne Moore in "Maggie's Plan."

Maggie’s plan: return John to Georgette. He left the latter – the mother of his first two children – for the former because he was not getting enough love, support and understanding. Maggie’s wants no more of him because after he gives her a child he seems to have no more LSU.

It is this quagmire and GG's performance that are the only interesting aspects of the film, saving it from utter tedium. An honorable mention is that Maggie is not cast in the role of homewrecker; John gets and deserves that dubious honor.

Maggie’s plan initially works, then sputters, backfires and finally rights itself. All and sundry return to co-parenting.

The end, thankfully.

Visit http://www.filmlinc.com to learn more about the 53rd New York Film Festival, including showtimes and venues.

For Love, 'Arthur' Makes Rich Sacrifice

Arthur (Russell Brand) and Hobson (Helen Mirren) both looking rather put-out in "Arthur." Photos from 2011 Warner Bros.

RUSSELL Brand is one of the latest UK imports whose star is rising in the United States.

It could near its zenith or plunge toward the nadir with the remake of the 1981 Dudley Moore vehicle, “Arthur.” It opens nationwide today.

This latest version of “Arthur” hues pretty closely to the original. One major difference is that Arthur does not have a butler named Hobson, rather he has a nanny named Hobson in the person of RB’s “The Tempest” costar“Helen Mirren.” She’s no John Gielgud, but count on Dame Helen to get the job done.

In version 2011, the alcoholic Arthur will lose his multibillion dollar “heirdom” if he does not marry the nouveau riche socialite, Susan, an almost unrecognizable Jennifer Garner. Susan is all a red-blooded British should want, except Arthur doesn’t have anything in common with her, he complains to his overbearing and unsympathetic mother (Geraldine James).

Linda (Greta Gerwig facing away from camera), Arthur (Russell Brand) and Susan (Jennifer Garner) form an unlikely love triangle in "Arthur."

Arthur’s heart is with aspiring children’s book author and actual tour guide, Linda (Greta Gerwig). Believing that love can conquer all, Arthur gives life a whirl as a member of the working class. This conundrum/experiment informs the action in the film.

Critics loved DM’s “Arthur.” So far they have been mostly unkind to RB’s rendition. In addition to acting, the recovering alcoholic has a role in the film as executive producer. Among major film critics, Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times) stands almost alone in anything approaching general praise for the film. Even early fan reviews are mixed, with most of the unfavorable sort. (http://www.warnerbros.com/#/page=home&asset=092102/Arthur__-_In_Theaters_TODAY&type=video/)

Yet, bets are that “Arthur will do decently, if not, well at the box office. While RB is a bad boy of sorts, he is fluent in the publicity game. He reads as lovable despite his various peccadilloes. For evidence of his art, catch his appearances on “The View” or any of those shows with direct lines to Middle America.

Arthur (Russell Brand) having a very romantic dinner with Linda (Greta Gerwig), the woman he truly loves in "Arthur."

With each film – from “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” to last year’s “Get Him to the Greek,” “Despicable Me” and a smallish role in “The Tempest” – RB seems to be easing his way closer to the heart and pysche of the country, and maybe even the movie-going world.

Surely, time will tell. For now there is “Arthur,” for better or worse.

“Arthur” is rated PG-13 for alcohol use throughout, sexual content, language and some drug references.

'No Strings Attached,' That's the Arrangement

Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher, above, are more than friends in "No Strings Attached." Photos from Paramount Pictures.

AT first glance, “No Strings Attached” looks very much like a by-the-numbers romantic comedy. Look again, though, because it has a bit more going for itself than that.

Starring Natalie Portman as Emma and Ashton Kutcher as Adam, “No Strings Attached” – opening nationwide today – explores the new frontier of the male-female friendship that has the added component of a non-exclusive sexual relationship – in other words, no strings attached. This late 20th-century phenomenon is also known as “friends with benefits” and some coarser terms that won’t be disclosed here.

Adam (Ashton Kutcher) presents Emma (Natalie Portman) with a gift after their first time in "No Strings Attached."

Emma and Adam first meet at summer camp when the two oddballs are around 12 or 13. The next time they run into each other is at a “students gone wild” fraternity pajama party at the University of Michigan. Emma has returned from MIT to her hometown of Ann Arbor for her father’s funeral. Adam is studying at Michigan and is a member of the frat throwing the party. Some years later and in the present day, Emma and Adam meet again at a farmer’s market in Los Angeles. Adam has been working there since graduation, and Emma has recently arrived for a medical residency at a local hospital. Adam, with his girlfriend in tow, suggests that he and Emma hang out. She’s game and puts her telephone number into his mobile phone.

Fast forward several weeks when Adam discovers that his actor father, Alvin – Kevin Kline hamming it up, “Great Scott!,” in one of several strong supporting roles – is shagging his ex-girlfriend. The former goes on a bender. In his drunken state, he phones Emma. The next morning he wakes up naked on the sofa in Emma’s apartment.

Ashton Kutcher, Mindy Kaling, Natalie Portman, Greta Gerwig and a "period piece" CD in "No Strings Attached."

Initially, it is not apparent that he is at her place because she does not appear until later. First, he meets Emma’s three roommates who have a little bit of fun at his expense in one of the funniest scenes in “No Strings Attached.” Once Adam discovers where he is and where his clothes are – in Emma’s room – he goes with her to retrieve them. One thing leads to another, and thus is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

After they have had sex after the first time or so, overworked/emotionally detached Emma makes an indecent proposal: “Do you want to do this … Use each other for sex at all hours of the day and night – nothing else?” Adam clearly thinks he is dreaming. The glee he is trying to suppress is palpable. He demures, “Yeah, I can do that.”

Ashton Kutcher and Lake Bell as the klutzy production assistant in love with him in "No Strings Attached."

The men in the audience howl their approval. Throughout the film the audience was clearly divided along gender lines. “No Strings Attached” is not a chick flick or a guy flick. It’s a chick-guy flick and one that will be the source of much debate over the coming weeks.

Out of the indecent accord comes a fair amount of middlebrow comedy. There are a few throwaway moments, too, such as when the now ex-girlfriend, Vanessa (Ophelia Lovibond), of both Adam and Alvin suddenly finds herself in the elevator with a bunch of senior citizens. “Old people scare me,” she’d informed Adam the night she abandons his father in an hour of need.

Among the supporting players, only Ludacris (credited in the film as Chris Ludacris Bridges) as the bar-owner friend of Adam squanders his role. Because he comes across as a ‘hood rat’ it is implausible that he would be the proprietor of a bar in an upscale neighborhood of Los Angeles. Ludacris has been in the business long enough to now tackle roles that take him beyond his rapper persona. In “No Strings Attached,” he could be playing himself. He is uncomfortable to watch. Doing so is akin to fingernails on a blackboard.

Jake Johnson, Chris Ludacris Bridges and Abby Elliott are friends of Ashton Kutcher in "No Strings Attached."

On the whole though, “No Strings Attached” is not only responsible for a lot of laughs without offending the intelligence and sense of decency. It also engages and entertains. On a surprising note, Natalie Portman is an executive producer. Ashton Kutcher seems a more likely candidate for this role since professionally he is known as much for his producing as his acting. He is most popularly associated with the TV series, “Punk’d.” He long ago shed his image as a model and as Demi Moore’s boytoy.

In any case, it is NP who is wearing the producer hat. She has been a serious actor pretty much since her start. One of her best performances is in “The Professional” opposite Jean Reno. Some actors – Ben Kingsley, Kim Elise and Laurence Fishburne, for instance – have such a serious face that one can’t imagine them in a comedy. NP is in this group. With “The Black Swan,” for which she won a best actress Golden Globe fresh in the collective memory, it is doubly difficult to imagine her taking on material so light. She will likely never do slapstick; hers is cerebral comedy along the lines of Steven Wright. Not only is she funny as Emma, she is brilliant, beautiful and tortured. In fact, the latter are responsible for most of the audiences's smirks and laughs

Adam (Ashton Kutcher) feeds soup to an under-the-weather Emma (Natalie Portman) in "No Strings Attached."

No doubt as an executive producer she expressly requested AK, who does have experience in these corners, as recently as with last year’s “Killers” on which he is a producer. Though NP and AK seem an odd match, they have great chemistry in “No Strings Attached.” The two are utterly believable as friends/lovers. AK’s is a surprising good performance for how he handles the serious moments. He has a way of pursing his lips that evokes just the right emotion, whether it be sadness, earnestness, love or genuine hurt – underneath them all is a raw vulnerability.

It would come as no surprise if NP and AK do another film together. Perhaps, their chemistry will spawn a sequel if “No Strings Attached” does well at the box office. And there is reason to believe it will. The casting is a studio chief’s dream, hitting just about every important demographic: age, gender, ethnicity, sexuality – including “out and proud” and “on the DL.”

“No String Attached” is rated R is for sexual content, language and some drug material.