'Titans' Memorable For Screenwriter
Plus: Reviews Of New Movies And Videos
The title of the inspiring football drama "Remember the Titans" couldn't be more appropriate for Gregory Allen Howard, because it's an experience that the film's screenwriter won't soon forget.
"This has been my baby from the very beginning," Howard told me in a recent interview. "I found the story and got the rights to it from the coaches, went to Hollywood, got rejected with my pitch, wrote a spec script and got rejected again. But then (producer) Jerry Bruckheimer picked it up, and 18 months later we were shooting the movie. It's been quite a roller coaster."
New on video and DVD, the film tells the true-life story of coaches Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) and Bill Yoast (Will Patton), two men at odds over an Alexandria, Va., high school football job in 1971. That's because Yoast, who is white, is being replaced as head coach of his high school football team by Boone, who is black. The move was made as an effort to integrate the team of black and white players -- and, in the process, overcome prejudice and bring together a racially divided community.
While the film deals with some heavy issues, Howard first and foremost wants people to come away from viewing it entertained. It teaches lessons, no doubt, but he doesn't necessarily want people to look at it as an educational experience.
"There's a message in there, but it's a feel-good movie," Howard said. "I don't want people to think it's a history lesson or boring at all. It's funny and has some wonderful moments. My job first of all is to make it entertaining. Bruckheimer repeats all the time a quote from one of the old moguls from Hollywood: 'If you want to send a message, go to Western Union.' Anyone who sets out to make a 'message' movie is courting disaster."
Ironically, Howard has a degree in history, which comes in handy when he writes fact-based stories. "I use the same methodologies when writing my scripts," he said. "It helps with research and understanding the color of the times. My history chops come in and help all the time."
Howard also put his knack for writing with a historical perspective into penning the original script for "Power and Grace," a movie based on the life of Muhammad Ali. He actually completed the script six years ago, since which time the project has gone through the usual gestational changes.
"I'm really excited that it's being filmed right now," said Howard, who will share screenwriting credit with noted filmmakers Michael Mann and Eric Roth. By the way, Howard said, Will Smith has fit nicely into the gloves of "The Greatest."
"He looks just like him," Howard said. "They fixed his hair like Ali, pinned back his hair, and he's put on about 20 pounds of muscle. It is an amazing transformation."
You can hear more of Howard on the commentary tracks of the "Remember the Titans" DVD, although the screenwriter said his favorite part of the disc is listening to the commentary of coaches Boone and Yoast. "They're like Laurel and Hardy or an old married couple," said Howard. "It's hysterical."
'Heartbreakers' (PG-13) Unfortunately, the film gets a little too slapstick and dumb to be completely engaging or original. For example, if I see one more movie this year that features a "funny" bit about breaking the genitalia off a statue, it will be one too many.
Weaver and Hewitt play a mother-daughter con team who find rich men to marry, and then dupe them into a divorce with a hefty settlement. They're the kind of women who sprinkle broken glass into their salads to get out of paying the tab.
When the daughter decides that she wants to go it alone, "Mommie Dearest" dupes her into one last con. They set their sights on a rich man who is about to keel over from his obsession with cigarettes, played by a very wheezy and lecherous Gene Hackman.
Ray Liotta plays his patented numbskull wise guy who really does fall for Weaver and puts a crimp in her plans to hit the mother lode. Jason Lee, a local bar owner, puts another fly in the ointment when Hewitt falls hard for him (in more ways than one).
There is lots of beautiful scenery, including the tight-fitting outfits that Weaver and Hewitt wear to show off their "assets." I also loved the music and thought that it set the perfect mood for this caper.
Weaver's and Hewitt's characters, despite their clever ploys, seem much too dumb to be able to pull off stings this complicated. Lee, however, is delightfully low-key, and Hackman's character is just plain creepy.
"Heartbreakers" tries to go for the jugular in laughs, but in the end it's just an amusing farce that keeps beating long enough to keep you entertained for a couple of hours. --Debra Scott
'Say It Isn't So' (R)
The Farrelly brothers are the masters of politically incorrect movies that are also flat-out funny. The key to their success is that they are equal-opportunity offenders. In the latest, directed by J.B. Rogers, Heather Graham ("Boogie Nights") and Chris Klein ("American Pie") are two clueless young people who fall in love, despite the fact that she is such a bad hairdresser that she chops off part of his ear.
But Gilly is looking for his birth mother, and an inept private investigator tells him that his girlfriend's mother is actually his mother too. Jo runs off to Oregon to marry a rich businessman whom she doesn't love. When Gilly finds out that Jo is not actually his sister, he races against time to get her back.
All around, the performances are hysterical, especially Sally Field as a white-trash mother and Richard Jenkins as her stroke-paralyzed husband who spouts a stream of obscenities through his voice amplifier.
Orlando Jones (of the 7 Up commercials) has a scene-stealing performance as a double-amputee veteran pilot who befriends the boy in his quest.
The main problem with the movie is that the best bits were already given away in the trailers. There are plenty of funny scenes, but the impact is diluted when you already know what is coming.
But don't let that stop you from seeing "Say It Isn't So," a flick that lets you laugh at human foibles without feeling guilty about it. --Debra Scott
Also New (Preview)
'The Brothers' (R)
'Remember The Titans' (PG)
Of course, there's a lot of tension at the school -- whites calling blacks "monkeys," and blacks calling whites "crackers" -- but the most important part of this movie isn't all the hate that unfolds on the big screen. It's how Boone (Washington) brings his players, both black and white, together as a team. It's truly moving. Off the field, it shows how young people like Yoast's daughter (Hayden Panettiere) can be infected with poisonous prejudicial opinions of others just by listening to adults. It also shows how when parents change, kids change, which further solidifies the theory that hate is learned.
The acting by the entire cast is in-your-face realistic, and you will believe that the characters truly despise each other. To that end, keep an eye out for the relationship that develops between the white leader and the black leader on the team.
I walked away from the movie thinking how glad I am that I was born in 1971 and didn't have to experience life as an African-American during those times. But more than that, I walked away feeling like there's hope for America. We just need more Coach Boones in the world today. --Darlene Dunn
'Dancer In The Dark' (R)
Selma copes with her steadily degenerating condition by daydreaming herself into colorful song-and-dance scenes, inspired by her love of American musicals.
From the outset of the film, it's obvious that her supremely good-natured, innocent and trusting character is being set up for heartbreak. The mousy, disheveled Selma is rehearsing for a community theater production of "The Sound Of Music," in which she plays the unlikely role of Maria. She tries her best, but can hardly make her way around the stage because of her failing vision.
Bjork plays the role to perfection; you can't help but feel for the sweet and simple Selma. When the audience at a recent screening saw what was to happen to her, because of course she couldn't, there was an audible gasp of disbelief.
Elements of the story are far-fetched, but the film is itself a musical, and you have to be prepared for the characters to break into song at the gravest of moments.
There's also the issue of Von Trier's "Dogma 95"-style of hand-held camerawork, which is very jarring to look at until your eyes adjust. The digital video lends a glib, washed-out color to the film, which many criticized. I didn't mind it, because Von Trier juxtaposed the almost black-and-white of Selma's grim reality against a Technicolor musical dream world, which made us sympathize with her need to escape into her imagination.
Bjork also composed the film's music, and it fits the tone perfectly. I highly recommend the soundtrack for its soaring soundscapes and use of rhythm. Bjork's voice is, as always, full of wonder -- timid at times, then powerful and confident, much like Selma. --Suzanne Ellis
Catch up with Tim Lammers on these recent @ The Movies interviews:
New In Theaters
Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt are going to break a few hearts in the slapstick movie "Heartbreakers."
"Say It Isn't So" is the latest comedy from the Farrelly brothers, who brought the movie world "There's Something About Mary" and "Dumb And Dumber."
Four friends (Bill Bellamy, Morris Chesnut, Shemar Moore and D.L. Hughley) start to question women and their relationships when one announces his engagement in "The Brothers," which is being described as a male version of "Waiting to Exhale."
New On Video
Oscar winner Denzel Washington gives a moving performance in "Remember the Titans," a movie based on the true story of Herman Boone, a black coach brought in 1971 to Alexandria, Va., to coach an integrated football team. But because a white coach, Bill Yoast (Will Patton), was fired in order to give Boone the position, the school board warns that it will fire him as soon as he loses one game.
Bjork is the bright shining light at the center of Lars Von Trier's "Dancer in the Dark."
The Icelandic singer makes a phenomenal acting debut in the role of single mother Selma Jezkova, a Czech immigrant working at a factory in Washington state. Selma suffers from a hereditary disorder that's causing her to go blind. She saves every hard-earned penny so that her son Gene can undergo an eye operation and avoid the same fate.
