Couples Retreat (Valley Scene Magazine, October 2, 2009)

Couples Retreat
By Rei Nishimoto

Finding the humorous side of relationships between people and how they work on it comes in an assortment of ways. Couples therapy is the latest wave of how couples attempt to work on improving their relationships, and the funny can often be found.

Couples Retreat looks at four couples who are all encountering problems. Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell) are one couple who are overly happy except they do a superb job at masking their own problems. As a way to save them from divorce, they choose to take a vacation to a tropical resort in the South Pacific designed to help couples through therapy.

They enlist their other couple friends - the child raising Dave (Vince Vaughn) and Ronnie (Malin Akerman), the loveless yet married Joey (Jon Favreau) and Lucy (Kristin Davis), and the newly divorced Shane (Faison Love) and his new much younger girlfriend Trudi (Kali Hawk) - Jason and Cynthia are short on cash and enlist under a group rate. They give the couples a fancy slideshow about the resort, and they are thinking they are about to go have fun. This is where they quickly learn the other couples are about to have their relationships under a microscope like Jason and Cynthia.

They are met by Schtanley (Peter Serafinowicz), the British resort manager who is overseeing their stay. His blunt yet snobbish personality quickly interacts well with the four couples, where brief conflicts over what they expected from the resort and what was about to happen in the story build up naturally.

Another key person in the film in Marcel (Jean Reno), a Zen style therapist and founder of the resort. His methods of trying to work with the couples clashes with their lifestyles and causes tension to each of the couples. His unorthodox methods, such as having the couples disrobe on the beach to swimming in shark-infested waters, is the beginning of many laughs throughout the film.

Each of the couples never dominate throughout the film and compliment each other very well. Jason and Cynthia want others to think they have the perfect marriage except they try to hide their problems from the world. Dave and Ronnie are the couple who are only looking to spend some time away from their two young boys. They also are viewed by the others to have the good life, except they cannot see that. Joey and Lucy are the couple who are too busy seeking other singles on the resort and are too blinded to realize what they have. Plus Shane is trying to impress Trudi by overdoing things.

Part of their resort stay includes sessions with a couple's therapist (played by Ken Jeong, Amy Hill, John Michael Higgins, and Karen David). Each couple has their relationships examined closely, which creates tension for most of them. Their interactions with the therapists expose each of their vulnerabilities, but also creating problems that did not exist before.

Each of them discover each other's troubles, as Shane briefly loses Trudi over a fight and runs off to the single's resort. The rest of the group attempts to help Shane by going across the waters to the resort. During that moment, Cynthia breaks down and tells them about her secret. Joey's wandering eyes leads him towards younger singles he met when they arrived, and Lucy is impressed by the attractive yet flirtatious yoga instructor Salvatore (Carlos Ponce). But throughout their wild adventure, Shane finds what he was looking for, as well as the other three couples in their own wild ways.

This movie is not quite the comedy of the year, but the story is relatable enough for viewers to enjoy and find a few laughs along the way. There is a humorous side to this entire story without getting too ridiculous and becoming distasteful. Couples Retreat is enjoyable from beginning to end, and rarely has a dull moment.

The Invention of Lying (Valley Scene Magazine, October 4, 2009)

The Invention of Lying
By Rei Nishimoto

Imagine a world where people told the truth, regardless of how blatantly true their statement was. In Ricky Gervais' latest film, The Invention of Lying, he created a story about being in an alternate world like this and what the world would be like if no one would ever lie.

The Invention of Lying is a comedic story that is both hilarious and heartwarming at the same time. While many comedies aim towards cheap jokes, this film builds around a story that is relatable to many viewers.

Gervais portrays the character Mark Bellison, a down-on-his-luck, 40s-ish, single, schlubby, and a pessimistic loser, who works as a writer at the fictional Lecture Films Motion Picture Studios. The film starts with him going on a blind date with Anna McDoogles (played by Jennifer Garner), a beautiful yet bluntly forward woman who Mark had a crush on for years, who happened to be the first cousin of his best friend Greg (played by comedian Louis CK).

The two go on their date, where her forwardness practically leads to her shooting him down for another date. This starts the string of bad luck for Mark, including his worst fear of getting fired by Lecture Films. He is openly known as their worst writer at a company who makes films about historical facts read on camera. He was stuck with the 14th Century and specially the Black Plague era. He is openly heckled by his secretary Shelley (played by Tina Fey) and his boss Anthony (played by Jeffrey Tambor), who attempts to fire him every day but is poor at confrontation.

To add insult to injury, his rival Brad Kessler (played by Rob Lowe), rubs in his firing in person. Brad is viewed as the perfect specimen, both professionally and physically, which Mark never was or would be.

While he was suffering through this, his mother (played by Fionnula Flanagan) was in a senior home and was slowly in declining health.

This leads to Mark discovering he has the ability to tell lies. Gervais' dark humored overtone fits Mark very well and especially when this point in the film arrives. His tone comes in softly and brings a comedic touch that is not so over the top.

Once Mark discovers his ability, he shares his newfound knowledge. His friend Frank, his depressive neighbor who is always on the verge of suicide, is given words of encouragement by him. Later, he takes Greg along on a trip to a casino for some gambling, where they win money in the most unorthodox of ways (i.e. cheating). Gervais and CK both interact well, building a good interaction without having to tell vulgar jokes and instead keeping the comedic flow natural.

Mark uses his new powers to gain his job back and gaining revenge against the people who spited him at the film company. He produces a new film about the Black Plague, and eventually earns more money where he buys a mansion. He manages to attract Anna, where this becomes the first twist of the story.

While Mark begins telling his lies to move up in the world, another turning point comes while he is comforting his mother in her deathbed. His words of comfort mistakenly get out to the public, and are viewed as a prophet and a visionary about the afterlife. Crowds of people await Mark to share his words and what he knows. Gervais' subtle character comes across very well in this part of the film, and he shows why his style of writing and acting has attracted a new audience within the comedy world.

The relationship between Mark and Anna becomes the final plot twist in this film, as the two figures out what they truly want from each other. The two unlikely couple brings a moral piece to the story, especially when in this world everything revolves around the truth.

While it may not be the slapstick film of the year, The Invention of Lying does have lots of laughable moments along with moments that will leave a lasting impression. Gervais is slowly showing why he should be recognized for his work besides The Office. This may be the film where he will get his moment.