Mirror, Mirror

Here’s another example of Hollywood seeing double. Right now you can catch Tarsem’s Mirror, Mirror and if you wait until summer - if you haven’t had enough of fairy tales by then - you’ll be able to see Charlize Theron as the wicked queen in Snow White and the Huntsman. The two films have entirely different tones, though they come from the same story, and it’s really no wonder that they do. Fairy tales play an integral role in one’s childhood. Most of us grow up with a favorite story, and moreover, a favorite version of that story. I wonder if anyone understands this better than Tarsem, after his epic ode to storytelling The Fall. That said, Mirror, Mirror is its own film and Tarsem is still the same director that brought us The Cell. Translation: the visuals are outstanding, but as one’s reflection is no substitution for the real thing, the film does have a distinct feeling of something lacking.

A lot of eyebrows went up when casting announced Julia Roberts as the queen. While she’s never been a favorite of mine, I was willing to give Tarsem’s interpretation a chance. His vision had the queen as someone likeable, someone difficult to abhor right off the bat. Unfortunately, the notion is completely misguided. There’s a reason Julia Roberts doesn’t do costume dramas; she looks incredibly out of place. Lily Collins, who was stand-out in The Blind Side, fails to stand out here. She has her moments, but it’s hard to perceive her as a threat to Roberts. Plus, it takes entirely too long to empathize with her. It’s a Tarsem trademark - he engages the scenery and not the characters. If the actor doesn’t inspire sympathy immediately, the story is unlikely to develop any depth or meaning. Those who do succeed in this film are the seven men playing the dwarves. Each has a fully developed, original character (not Disney-based) full of life and nuance. My suspicion is that as an ensemble, they have each other for support and direction and needed very little from Tarsem as a director. I was much more interested in the dwarves than anyone else in the film, though Armie Hammer is a handsome prince. He reminds me of a younger Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean, NBC’s Smash), with a rich, honey-smooth voice. If Lee Pace (The Fall), Henry Cavill (Immortals), and Armie Hammer are Tarsem’s examples of a leading man, I wonder if he would be willing to set me up on a blind date.

Collins was once quoted as saying that working on set felt like going to work in a snow globe - which is lovely, and an apt description of the hollowness of the environment. I mean no one takes chances like Tarsem when it comes to scenic and costume elements, and if there was ever an appropriate occasion to experiment with historical costume, it’s in a fairy tale. And yet, there’s a reason enormous gowns haven’t made a comeback - they’re distracting, they bog down the wearer and the viewer. I love good design and luscious fabrics, and the late designer Eiko Ishioka certainly provides them in abundance, but do they serve the story? Hardly.

There are good things to be said about the film. Writers Melissa Wallack and Jason Keller have done a fine job steering clear of contrivance. They’ve axed the huntsman all together, thereby avoiding too much comparison to the film due out this summer. Interestingly enough, the poison apple also takes a backseat to Snow’s evolution. It may not be for traditionalists, but Mirror, Mirror has its merits. Veteran Disney composer Alan Menken provides the score, though one might hope he’s not responsible for the Bollywood number at the end. If he is, it just goes to prove that there’s no style in which the man can’t write. Perhaps in a different context, the number might even have worked.

Sigh! After The Fall I looked forward to the next Tarsem’s film, but Mirror, Mirror fails to measure up to his passion project. On its own, the film is an afternoon diversion, but not quite the zany adventure marketing would have us believe. Who’s to blame? Did studio execs force Tarsem to rein in his artistic vision? Did the concept fail to develop out of the gate? Hard to say. It’s unlikely that Snow White and the Huntsman will do much to revitalize the genre, either. For a complex reevaluation of the classic fairy tales, check out Once Upon a Time on ABC. Odds are, if you look in this Mirror, you know exactly what you’ll find there.

* Update: Nominated for Academy Award: Best Costume Design

Friends With Benefits

Sometimes when movies hit theaters, it’s in pairs. Friends With Benefits was released right about the same time as No Strings Attached. Granted, Friends With Benefits had the benefit of not counting Ashton Kutcher as one of its cast members, and everyone who saw Mila Kunis in Black Swan wanted to know where she’d been hiding. Best of all, the only thing the movie asks of its stars is to be young, attractive, and a little silly. The romantic comedy is a formula that works, which is why we look to it as often as we do. What Friends With Benefits does well is to be self-aware; it manages to be both romantic and to skewer the romantic comedy for the fantasy it is.

Justin Timberlake has earned a fair amount of respect, between his appearances on Saturday Night Live and his performance in The Social Network. Who else could hold his own opposite Mila Kunis? While a far cry from Black Swan, Kunis is still a force to be reckoned with, fiery and self-assured. She’s tougher than most romantic leads, which is refreshing. And while there’s plenty that doesn’t make sense in this movie, at least the friendly chemistry between the leads is believable. The supporting cast is adequate - Woody Harrelson stoops to an uncomfortable role as a gay sports writer working for Timberlake, but why doesn’t Jenna Elfman appear in more films? She’s so good, and wasted in unworthy television projects.

All the same, Friends With Benefits fills the same role as the relationship in the title. It’s a little more complicated than it sounds, but what’s familiar makes us feel good. And there’s something to be said for that. It’s not often that it works, but sometimes, Friends With Benefits does.