Slanted provides a level-eyed look at race
Hobbled by a modest budget, Amy Wang still manages to effectively deliver a pointed social satire with Slanted, a hybrid of The Substance and Mean Girls that examines the pitfalls of cultural assimilation. Through the eyes of its sympathetic protagonist, the film manages to address not only the pressures facing modern young women, but also the Catch-22 social dynamics immigrants who come to America must contend with. Though the script would have benefitted from a sharper edge and some of its themes could have been developed further, Wang deserves credit for bringing these issues to the table at a time when cultural identity and what it means to be an “American” are at the forefront of our national conversation.
That Chinese-American Joan Huang (Shirley Chen) is confused about who she is and ought to be is understandable. Having come to the U.S. with her parents at the age of 6, she’s been inundated with images of female Caucasian perfection. Pictures from magazines of white models in their made-up glory are plastered on her bedroom wall and she’s no stranger to using an image-filtering app from the Ethnos company that makes her appear more “white” in the pictures she posts.
She’s such a frequent user that the company reaches out with a “special offer.” They provide a service in which all physical attributes of your cultural heritage are wiped away until you appear to be “white.” Having suffered bullying at the hands of the mean girls clique led by the icy Olivia (Amelie Zilber) and desperate to be prom queen, she undergoes the procedure and emerges as Jo Hunt (McKenna Grace). That the kids at Clarksville High School are immediately taken with her is an understatement. That Joan’s parents (Vivian Wu and Eric Lang) are shocked at the seeming stranger that walks through their door, even more so.
The mean girls’ antics Joan is subjected to are old hat by now but the cultural issues Wang puts under the microscope benefit from their timeliness. Though a bit obvious, a music video set to the song “It’s Good to Be White,” replete with images of upper middle-class happiness, is effective, as are testimonies Joan/Jo hears from those who’ve undergone the transition. Apparently attending a Michael Buble concert is a key step in achieving bliss as a white person. All of this is done with tongue planted firmly in cheek, the dark irony of this conceit effectively conveyed.
The most refreshing aspect of Wang’s script is the portrayal of Joan’s parents. After getting over their initial shock of their daughter’s transformation, they admit to her their own feelings of confusion upon first arriving in the states. Her father looks back at his “cowboy” phase with shamed regret, while her mother comes to realize that dealing with these issues as an adult is quite different than trying to sort through the cultural shift as a little girl. These moments give the film a sense of validity that’s invaluable.
Of course, actions such as those Joan takes come with a cost, so it’s no surprise when things go south at the prom for Jo. Yet, Wang has another card up her sleeve, delivering a nice twist, providing our troubled heroine with an unexpected savior, who sheds even more light on her situation.
Ultimately, the irony of all she’s done dawns on Joan. Having stated that “I don’t want to be a stereotype” as one of her reasons for undergoing the procedure, she realizes too late that this is exactly what she’s done. Ultimately, having become a vacuous, blonde like Olivia and her peers doesn’t bring her the happiness or acceptance she sought. Her father’s observation that “Being Chinese is what made you special,” hits home only after she’s walked in the others’ shoes.
In the end, Slanted points out that the only way to find peace is to become “your own American,” one that embraces elements of both your original and new countries. That some would think this notion, upon which our country was based on, is a radical idea is not only ironic, but awfully “white.” In Theaters.
Contradictory Hoppers delivers wrong message
In addition to being manic, overlong and much too loud, Justin Chong’s Hoppers contains the kind of confused message only a human could justify. While in the end, it espouses a pro-environmentalist message, the narrative avenue the director and co-writer Jesse Andrews use to get there is confused and contradictory. Of course, it’s muddled theme will fly over the heads of young viewers who’ll be engaged by the antics of its animal menagerie on display. As for adults, they may not wish to sort through it all after being assailed by a series of seizure-inducing action sequences that, rather than entertain, bludgeon the viewer.
Mabel (voice by Piper Curda) is the kind of activist you wish would just shut up already. Introduced to the calming, sacred qualities of nature at an early age, the 19-year-old is hopping mad. Seems the mayor of Beaverton, Jerry Generazzo, is intent on building a freeway through a glade that’s precious to her. Seems the area has been abandoned by animals, so the politician has no reason not to develop it. However, Mabel’s college professor, Dr. Sam (Kathy Najimy) points out that if beavers were reintroduced to the glade, they’d build a dam, leading to wildlife repopulation that would stop the mayor in his tracks.
Rather than simply trap a beaver and dump him in the glade’s lake, Mabel has another plan. She commandeers Dr. Sam’s radical invention, that of a robot beaver designed to temporarily house a human being’s consciousness. A bit of technological hocus pocus occurs and Mabel finds herself in the robot beaver, going out into the wilds to convince an actual version of the animal to relocate in the targeted locale.
While I wouldn’t call the premise inspired, it manages to get the job done where getting the animals’ point of view is concerned. Mabel is surprised by what she finds when she meets King George (Bobby Moynihan), a portly beaver who rules over the mammals in the forest. He drives home the lesson that nature is a delicate system that cannot be tampered with and that while aspects of it may be unpleasant (Read: The Food Chain!), they are necessary to maintain a healthy, ecological balance.
All well and good, but he goes the extra mile to point out that the ecosystem includes humans and that, “We’re all in this together.” I’d have no problem with this message if we were still muddling along without modern technology, hunting for our food and living off the land. But to legitimize efforts to rend the environment for convenience’s sake- the freeway will cut commuter travel time by seven minutes! – then this argument doesn’t fly. Things become so twisted that the animals tear down a dam of their own making to save Beaverton from a runaway wildfire.
Not to put too fine a point on this and it’s likely silly to do so, but I don’t think animals would be working hand in hand with us as we take away their habitat and force them to live in a smaller area. Such a place is the Super Lodge, which sounds an awful lot like an old-school reservation of Native Americans. All the displaced animals have taken up residence there and live in a rather shaky détente.
The movie is most effective when Mabel is expressing her frustration in not being able to effectively exact change. Her lament that “Everything is broken! I can’t make a difference!” will likely hit home with older viewers, the character giving voice to feelings that become more valid with each passing day. Unfortunately, this lament is brief, Chong devoting far too much time on kinetic chases, of which there are three, that needlessly prolong the misery and add nothing to the story, sequences of this nature having regrettably become a part of the modern animation landscape.
While “Hoppers” ultimately proclaims we need to be more aware of the environmental consequences of our actions, it’s a hollow message. Delivered with a lack of sincerity, I wouldn’t be surprised if the film was ultimately endorsed by real estate developers across the country. Had Chong wanted to deliver a valuable message, it should have been that adults sometimes don’t mean what they say, but I guess that’s not necessary. They find out soon enough. In Theaters.
Ritchson serves notice in War Machine
An entertaining mash-up of the original Predator and War of the Worlds, Patrick Hughes’ War Machine is a serviceable actioner that thrills occasionally but ultimately overstays its welcome. Be that as it may, when it’s hitting on all cylinders, it displays moments of genre brilliance, its elaborate set pieces, well executed. If nothing else, it serves as a calling card for Alan Ritchson, the actor having cut his teeth on Amazon Prime’s “Reacher,” serving notice that he’s long overdue for big screen stardom.
Having been told to forget their names and assigned a number, the candidates for RASP (Ranger Assessment Selection Program) would be standouts in any group they’re a part of. But in this collection of highly-trained warriors, 81 (Ritchson) is the odd man out. Older than the other candidates, he outworks his much younger rivals and refuses to fraternize with them, preferring his own terse company. And when he refuses to accept any positions of leadership, this raises the ire of the heads of this division, Sheridan and Torres (Dennis Quaid and Esai Morales).
Still, he makes the final cut, and to prove they truly have what it takes, 81 and the rest of the final candidates are sent out on an extraction exercise. A relatively simple mission, they’re to traverse an inhospitable environment, find a downed aircraft and rescue the one survivor (read: a crash test dummy). Problem is, there’s something else awaiting them, an alien war machine with malevolent intent, intending to lay waste and conquer Earth.
Television reports playing throughout the first act charting the progress of an asteroid set to whiz close by our planet set us up for this development. Rising up out of the muck from which it landed, the rectangular outer space threat walks around on two clunky feet and, among its array of weapons, its go-to is a heat ray that vaporizes anything in its path. Obviously inspired by the tripodal martians in H.G. Wells War of the Worlds, Tom Allisey and his visual effects crew have created a sleek, lethal update that proves formidable. It also happens to have a glaringly simplistic weakness as do those in the seminal sci-fi novel.
Hughes knows action set pieces are the bread-and-butter of movies such as this, and he and his special effects crew answer the call during two impressive sequences. Having to cross a raging river with an injured comrade on a litter via a cable stretched across it, the director effectively uses very small cameras attached to his actors to put us in the middle of the disaster that ensues. Also of note is an extended chase scene in which the dwindling number of recruits are trying to outrun the alien weapon in an armored vehicle that won’t go over 40 mph. Rapid cutting and Hughes fluid camera which bounces from inside the battered SUV to outside it on multiple occasions make this a showstopping moment.
Ritchson’s stoic, imposing presence is a focal point when lasers aren’t lasing and guns aren’t shooting. But he brings more to the table, giving an effectively modulated, emotional performance as flashbacks provide the reasoning behind 81’s tenacity. That he’s able to introduce a sense of general poignancy amidst the tumult is impressive.
While War Machine pales in comparison to the Russo Brothers’ Extraction series (also on Netflix) it still manages to get the job done. Ritchson’s work here justifies the on-line chatter that he’s destined to be James Gunn’s Batman. Though far bigger than any previous Caped Crusader, the actor proves here he’s more than capable of stepping into his boots. Streaming on Netflix.
This article appears in March 5-11, 2026.
