A Tribute to Great Film: Flirting with Disaster (1996)

Long before  director David O. Russell was clamoring for Oscar; he was making some of the smartest,
 and most original films.  Flirting with Disaster (1996) was not O. Russell's first feature film that was Spanking the Monkey (1994).  Both films are hilarious, but Disaster and his other film Three Kings (1999) are his best, ironically neither of these films got any attention from the Academy, and his lesser films The Fighter (2010), and Silver Linings Playbook (2012) won Oscars.

Moving away from the Oscar let's focus on Flirting with Disaster, which is such a great ensemble piece.  The film stars Ben Stiller as Mel Coplin, Mel was adopted and he decides to look for his parents after his son is born.  Mel uses an adoption agent named Tina Kalb played Tea Leoni.  Once Tina locates his birth parent, she Mel and Mel's wife Nancy Coplin played by Patricia Arquette head out on a dysfunctional road trip to meet/find Mel's birth family.

The premise seems pedestrian, and typical, but David O. Russell is a master of quirk in both his scripts, and his direction.  All of O. Russell's early work ranging even up up until 2004's I Heart Huckabees held on to this magnanimous quality.  O. Russell built a great dark humor within this film, and it never tries too hard to play with your emotions.  Flirting with Disaster is just plain hilarious, twisted, and all around one of the most underrated films of the 90s, and all time.  This film is the first glimpse into the genius of David O. Russell, and I hope American Hustle brings back that genius.

Enough swiping at O. Russell's grasps for Oscar; the man knows how to direct a great ensemble.  Ben Stiller is great in one of his first roles, as that hapless guy just trying to do right.  Patricia Arquette is also quite good as his wife who just wants her husband to pay attention to her needs, the jokes about her giving him a blow job, kill me.  While Stiller and Arquette are hilarious, my favorite lead in the film is Tea Leoni, her neurosis and constant mess ups with Mel's parentage are some of the funniest mometns in the film.

This film could also not exist without Mel's adopted parents, played so well and with perfect guilt by Mart Tyler Moore in a more like her Ordinary People character with humor, and George Segal a master of dark humor.  On the journey to finding his birth parents Mel's interactions become funnier by the moment, ranging from this southern woman living in San Diego played by the great character actress Celia Weston to his actual crazy LSD loving parents played by Lily Tomlin and Alan Alda.  On the road to his parents he meets two federal officers, the scene stealers of the film Richard Jenkins and young josh Brolin.  They are both a team at work and in the sheets.  Each of these actors plays their part so brilliantly, forming one of the best ensembles, but favorite joke is when they keep making Richard Jenkins character switch seats/cars or anything because everyone finds him annoying, priceless.

O. Russell knocked this film out of the park, and this is one of my new favorite comedies, the writing the acting are all so sharp, and this is the beginning of the career of a man who would direct great character studies, win our hearts, and make you laugh a lot.  Flirting with Disaster one hilarious film, and a classic.

Men in Black 3 Entertains While Getting Back to the Roots

Men in Black III (3 out of 5 Stars)

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black, RV, Wild Wild West)

Written by Etan Cohen (Tropic Thunder)

Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, and Emma Thompson

The first Men in Black film was a terrific film about a secret agency that monitors extra terrestrial life on Earth.  The film brought together two opposites Agent Jay played by Will Smith and Agent Kay played by Tommy Lee Jones.  Jones nailed the crotchety older male role, while Smith did a great job as the hot shot agent.  The film received great reviews and became a beloved comedy.  The film also made a lot of money, so the studios made a sequel.  The sequel was poorly constructed and Men in Black II was a massive failure.  With the quality of the second film plummeting, who would have thought the third film could rebound, but it rebounded enough to save this series.

The film starts with a monster referred to as Boris the Animal escaping from a moon base jail.  With his arm missing he threatens to right the wrong of his missing arm and the agent who did this in 1969, Agent Kay.   The film then shows Jay and Kay preparing for the agencies leader Zed's funeral.  As Kay gives the eulogy for Zed its cold nature makes Jay assess the fourteen year partnership he has had with Kay.  With Zed dying O  played by the hilariously brilliant Emma Thompson tells Jay there are things that made Kay who he is today.  Boris the Animal launches the duo into a troubling situation where Jay has to travel back in time and work with a young Kay played by a very talented Josh Brolin.

The film is directed by Barry Sonnenfeld; he directed both the original and the second film, and a wide variety of other projects.  Sonnenfeld's best work includes the first film, and the terrific television series Pushing Daisies; he has also directed some real clunkers like Men in Black II, Wild Wild West, and RV.  Looking at his resume has a real yo-yo effect on my mind.  Combined with quality scripts this man appears to be able to construct entertaining fare.  This sounds simple, but in Hollywood nothing is simple. Etan Cohen who wrote Tropic Thunder should take most of the credit.  the script brought the film back the basics, and focused on the great relationship between Jones and Smith.

The dynamic duo of Jones and Smith are the best selling point to this film, they really know how to play well off one another.  This is one of the best on film pairings in film history for me.  They are the stereotypical odd couple, but they make it work so well.  Throw Josh Brolin in the mix as a young Kay, and he adds even more entertainment.  Together all of these things man an entertaining film that brings this franchise back to its roots.