The Invention of Lying
Starring Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Jeffrey Tambor, Fionnula Flanagan, Rob Lowe, and Tina Fey.
What would a world be like if lying did not exist? That is the question answered in The Invention of Lying, starring Rickey Gervais. For example, as Roger Ebert recounts in his review in the Chicago Sun-Times, a retirement home is called "A Sad Place Where Homeless Old People Come to Die." Pepsi ads say: "For when they don't have Coke." He says that while watching the movie, a sudden truth came over him. "I thought -- oh, yeah, that's right: It's October. Good movies are allowed again." But Manohla Dargis, after writing in the New York Times that the film has the "makings of a classic," then adds, "Alas, making is not doing. And while the movie is a conceptual pip filled with quotable laughs and gentle pokes at religious faith at its most literal, it also looks so shoddy that you yearn for the camerawork, lighting and polish of his shows, like the original The Office, because, really, these days TV rarely looks this bad." But Kyle Smith in the New York Post regards the whole affair as an attack on Christianity. "Let's see how long it is before Gervais, *or* any other Hollywood star, delivers a feature-length assault on Islam," he concludes. RATING: PG-13 for language including some sexual material and a drug reference.
Surrogates
Starring Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Boris Kodjoe, James Francis Ginty, James Cromwell, and Ving Rhames
Critics appear to wish that the plot of Surrogates were as intriguing as its premise: it's about a time in which human beings can remain at home, where they can be hooked up to robots -- idealized versions of themselves -- that they not only can manipulate but experience their feelings as well. (When one of the robots is murdered, its human counterpart dies as well.) Bruce Willis plays both human (he's bald and craggy) and robot (he's blonde and smooth-skinned). Dan Kois in the Washington Post writes that the movie takes an interesting idea "and buries it under clumsy exposition, unconvincing action sequences and a by-the-numbers conspiracy plot." Robert Abele in the Los Angeles Times, while calling the movie "a slick sci-fi number," concludes that its "narrative and emotional engine operate as mechanically as the titular, dead-eyed glamazoids." Liam Lacey in the Toronto Globe and Mail asks, "Did a machine write this dialogue? If so, could we please apply for an upgrade?" Manohla Dargis puts it even more succinctly in the New York Times, writing that the movie amounts to "industrial entertainment." RATING: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, sexuality and a drug-related scene.
Couples Retreat
Starring Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, Kristin Davis, Kristen Bell, Faizon Love, Kali Hawk, Jean Reno, and Jean Reno.
The comedy follows four Midwestern couples who embark on a journey to a tropical island resort. While one of the couples is there to work on their marriage, the other three set out to jet ski, spa and enjoy some fun in the sun. They soon discover that participation in the resort’s couples therapy is not optional. Suddenly, their group-rate vacation comes at a price. What follows is, well, probably not quite what the producers hoped for. Elizabeth Weitzman wrote, in the New York Daily News, "You'll have a few laughs, for sure. Just don't expect to enjoy yourself as much as everybody on screen." In the Chicago tribune, Michael Phillips had a shorter description. "The results are boring boring." It goes downhill from there, to, "It is absolutely, inexcusably terrible," as reviewed by Rene Rodriguez in the Miami Herald. RATING: PG-13 on appeal for sexual content and language.
For showtimes, visit Anacortes Cinemas Web site.