Opening Everywhere: The Other Woman, Brick Mansions, The Quiet Ones
Opening Somewhere: Locke
FilmDrunk Suggests: Romcom. Remake. Recycled ideas. What better weekend to get out and enjoy some sun than this one? Unless you’re near a theater showing Locke, that is.
The Other Woman
Rotten Tomatoes Scores: 26% critics, 64% audience
Gratuitous Review Quotes:
While “The Other Woman” raises some thoughtful questions about independence, identity and the importance of sisterhood, ultimately it would rather poop on them and then throw them through a window in hopes of the getting the big laugh. – Christy Lemire
So dumb, lazy, clumsily assembled and unoriginal, it could crush any actor forced to execute its leaden slapstick gags and mouth its crude, humorless dialogue. – Stephen Holden, New York Times
Armchair Analysis: I really can’t think of a good way to describe how much I dislike Cameron Diaz. She’s like green vegetables when I was a kid. Anyway, this movie sounds like John Tucker Must Die for grownups. No thanks.
Brick Mansions
Rotten Tomatoes Scores: 31% critics, 66% audience
Gratuitous Review Quotes:
Brick Mansions is a non-starter: It chokes on its déjà vu, the hyperactive Mixmaster editing is exhausting and the characters’ banter is so leaden it might violate federal emission standards. – Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
Director Camille Delamarre does a sloppy job of piecing everything together, and nobody on screen seems invested in what is going on. The feeling from the audience is mutual. – Adam Graham, Detroit News
Armchair Analysis: I think studios walk a fine line when they determine how to market a movie that stars an actor who recently passed away, like Paul Walker in Brick Mansions. I found the commercials in which Walker talks about the film’s main character to be a bit much. To me, that seemed like the marketing team really wanted to lean on the fact that this is Walker’s last completed film, and that’s not necessary. His fans are going to see this regardless, so why spread it on so thick? Also, whoever edited the commercials did a terrible job keeping the twist a secret.
The Quiet Ones
Rotten Tomatoes Scores: 36% critics, 40% audience
Gratuitous Review Quotes:
The story doesn’t make much sense, starting with a professor blithely being awarded custody of a dangerous mental patient, and just going downhill from there. – Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
Pogue jacks up the decibels so often to manufacture frights that you fear a punctured eardrum more than anything else. – Robert Abele, L.A. Times
Armchair Analysis: “Inspired by true events.” Give me a f*cking break already.
Locke
Rotten Tomatoes Scores: 90% critics, 74% audience
Gratuitous Review Quotes:
Writer-director Steven Knight keeps the gimmick going with new complications Locke thinks he can manage with his typical supreme competence. – Kyle Smith, New York Post
Knight has enough faith in his dialogue (and in Hardy’s ability to perform it) to cloister an entire feature film inside one vehicle, and it’s a gamble that pays off brilliantly. – Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
Armchair Analysis: I don’t even like sitting in a car for two hours, let alone watching someone drive one for that much time, but at this point in his career, Tom Hardy has earned the attention.