Toronto: Day 4 a.k.a. Football Sunday
The score to date: 12 films, three press conferences.
The score I'm hoping for later this afternoon: Eagles 27-Packers 13.
Before I head down the block to Hoops to watch the game, a few thoughts on this year's Toronto Film Festival to date. The sheer volume of films, stars, journalists and hype-generating industry mavens is pretty much overwhelming. The trick is in staying cool even when you are in a hallway for an hour waiting to get into a room to hear George Clooney pontificate (which he does very well by the way) about his new film Michael Clayton. The films with big stars will sell themselves.
Then there is a movie like Juno, director Jason Reitman's follow-up to Thank You For Smoking. It is the first movie that really popped for me. About a smartass and practical 16-year-old who finds out she is pregnant (Ellen Page), the movie features tasty dialogue, a fabulous ensemble of actors (Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, J.K. Simmons, Allison Janney) and a talented director on a roll. This movie will be coming to a cinema near you shortly. Don't miss it
Yesterday (Saturday, Sept. 8) featured a classic Festival mix. There was the Danish flick With Your Permission that has some true moments of hilarity, but its use of spousal abuse as the basis for comedy doesn't hint at satire, which would have made it more palatable. This might be a case of Danish humor that doesn't translate.
The evening featured a chick flick double shot that was better than expected. Helen Hunt, who hasn't been on screen often enough the last few years, makes her directorial debut with Then She Found Me. Hunt smartly realized that if you are going to make a chick flick, put the call out to Bette Midler to play the mother that gave you up for adoption 39 years earlier. A film about having a baby, finding yourself and finding true romance has moments that have too much Hollywood by-the-book. However, it also comes together with a true emotional heart that's sentimental but not cloying. By the way, why is it that Colin Firth is absolutely the perfect nice guy for a rebound romance? I don't know but he is.
The night ended with a movie that is full tilt Hollywood chick flick in all its glorious excess, The Jane Austen Book Club. Adapted from the novel and directed by Robin Swicord, the movie is about some friends who get together to have the book club of the title while their love lives reflect the Jane Austen playbook big time. While it doesn't try to color outside the chick flick box, when you have an ensemble that includes Kathy Baker, Jimmy Smits, Amy Brennerman, Maria Bello, Hugh Dancy and Emily Blunt doing the coloring, who cares?
Signing off now — Are you ready for some football?