Mario movie fun even for a newbie
I knew practically nothing about The Super Mario Bros. Movie and its world when I walked into see it. Yet, despite my abysmal ignorance of all things Mario, it didn’t prevent me from having a good time as I was bombarded by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic’s kaleidoscope of manic action and eye-popping color.
The plot, such as it is, is simplicity itself. Mario and Luigi (voices by Christ Pratt and Charlie Day, respectively) are plumbers who take a wrong turn in the New York sewers one day and are inexplicably sucked into another realm. They have to combat Bowser (Jack Black), a turtle-dinosaur-dragon hybrid who plans to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom, marry its ruler Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and live in despotic glory. However, she has other plans and sets out to the Jungle Kingdom with Mario in tow, intent on wooing Donkey Kong (Seth Rogan) and his army to ward off the impeding attack.
The visuals are the key, Horvath, Jelenic and their army of animators going above and beyond to not simply replicate the video game world, but to give it a degree of depth and a lived-in quality I’m assuming the game doesn’t have. The set pieces – a battle between Mario and Kong in a floating coliseum, a Mad Max: Fury Road car chase on a rainbow road, the final throwdown on the streets of Brooklyn – are not simply visually stimulating but engaging as well. The manic editing style that ruins so many action films is absent, these sequences put together so that we can not only follow the action but appreciate the level of attention and minute details that have gone into them.
Again, I had a good time with Mario. I laughed, was never bored, and was impressed a time or two with its post-modern approach. Will I run out, buy a game system and become familiar with all things Mario? No, of course not. However, when the inevitable sequel comes, I certainly won’t be dreading it, just as long as Rogan returns as the randy Donkey Kong and that bright, bright star is on hand to utter more portends of doom in her diabetes-inducing voice. In theaters.
Safe Sweetwater dulls story’s impact
Though not the household name Jackie Robinson is, the contributions of Chuck Cooper, Earl Lloyd and Nat Clifton are no less significant as they were the first three Black players to be signed to play in the NBA. Martin Guigui’s Sweetwater focuses on Clifton’s rise from the basketball barnstorming circuit to playing for the New York Knicks, a journey depicted with a proper sense of earnestness.
Initially. we see Clifton (Everett Osborne) toiling away for Abe Saperstein (Kevin Pollak) as part of his Harlem Globetrotters, never getting the pay or recognition he deserves. However, New York Knicks coach Joe Lapchick (Jeremy Pevin) is eager to shake things up and knows the future of the league lies in Clifton’s hands as well as those of his peers. Convincing the team owner Ned Irish (Cary Elwes) it’s time to draft a Black player, the two set out to revolutionize the game.
Many of the problems here are the same as those that plagued Brain Helgeland’s 42. In wanting to make Robinson’s story palpable for all and accessible to pre-teens, the filmmakers blunt the trials these athletes had to endure, which robs the story of most of its power. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with Sweetwater other than it plays like a rote exercise, nothing more than an interesting historical sidenote. The sense of catharsis we feel in sharing an athlete’s triumphs in the best sports films is absent here, and it suffers for playing it safe.
The most fascinating scenes in the film take place in the NBA boardroom as the owners argue over the impending changes they are powerless to stop. Their conversations regarding the economics of the game and how the arrival of Black players will impact that are raw and fascinating. Had Guigui focused on that, he might have made a groundbreaking film regarding how players are treated as nothing more than commodities. As it is, Sweetwater proves forgettable and hardly worthy of Clifton and his fellow players. In theaters.
Mamma lacks bite
When I watch movies like Mafia Mamma, I find myself involuntarily sighing throughout. I think about what I need to get done during the week, what I have to do to meet my professional and personal deadlines, and my mind may even turn to the White Sox’s woes now that baseball has started. When I am periodically brought back to the movie I am supposed to be watching, I wonder why so many lackluster films are made.
Now, I’m a sucker for fish-out-of-water stories, so Mafia should be right up my alley. And yes, there was a scene or two when I chuckled, but those moments were certainly the exception and not the rule in this tepid effort.
Toni Collette, who is always wonderful and regrettably served as a producer on this project, is Kristin, a suburban mom lacking purpose. Her only son has gone off to college and she discovers her loser of a husband is cheating on her. So, a call from Italy telling her she needs to come to Sicily to settle her dead grandfather’s affairs couldn’t be more welcome. Problem is, she doesn’t know that her grandpapa was a mob boss who was brutally murdered by a rival family. His Girl Friday, Bianca (Monia Bellucci), has contacted Kristin to take over the family, as it was her boss’s dying wish. However, her presence is hardly appreciated by the hardened criminals who’d much rather shoot their enemies instead of sitting down to hash things out.
Kristin bringing homemade muffins to a sit-down is funny, and I did like that she uses her newfound muscle to do good in the town she finds herself in. However, so many of the jokes fall flat, while the gags run out of inspiration before they get to the punchline. Director Catherine Hardwicke simply can’t find the right balance between the film’s obvious comedy and graphic violence. Bodies dismembered for disposal and eyeballs gouged out by high heels simply don’t mesh with the broad humor on display. Despite Collette and Bellucci’s best efforts, Mafia lacks the tongue-in-cheek approach it desperately needs. In theaters
This article appears in Spring Home & Garden 2023.
