This month’s movie and TV reviews of Ticket to Paradise, The Good Nurse and The Banshees of Insisherin.
Ticket to Paradise reunites George Clooney and Julia Roberts in a romantic comedy focusing on a divorced couple who join forces to prevent their daughter from marrying a handsome (and terrific) guy she met while in Bali celebrating her graduation from a prestigious law school. If you can’t guess how the film is going to wind up, then you may need to take a refresher in romantic comedy, preferably classic ones (since there are so few on display today). As scripted and directed by Ol Parker (with help on the writing by Daniel Pipski), the film does a good job of keeping you entertained while it proceeds to the inevitable. The setting (with Queensland, Australia standing in for Bali) makes the setup at least partly plausible (notice I do say partly). The plotting does include the requisite culture clashes, personality clashes, romantic complications (Roberts is involved with an attentive pilot who happens to be flying their plane to Bali), unintended hookups via drunken bar games. It also provides a fairly constant number of chuckles, the occasional laugh-out line, some poignant interludes (Clooney and Roberts both get a dramatic moment wherein they accept their share of the blame for their failed marriage), and a few farcical situations (also handled well by the charismatic stars). In the end, the stars’ chemistry is what matters—they enjoy each other even/especially when the plot demands they’re sick of each other. And while Ticket to Paradise is unlikely to be considered in among their major work, it is light and lively with plenty of charm.
The Good Nurse (on Netflix) also has some power hitters like Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne in a grim but compelling fact-based drama. The setting is 2003 New Jersey and Amy (Jessica Chastain) is a competent, compassionate nurse who has no health insurance and is hiding a heart problem from her hospital employer until her probationary period ends and he can get health insurance. Helping her shield this from the hospital is difficult, but she gets a hand from a new employee, nurse Charles Cullen (Eddie Redmayne), who help not only with the more physical aspects of the job but also with taking care of her kids (she is a single mom). However, there have been a few suspicious deaths at the hospital, and an administration that is only looking to stonewall the police and protect the reputation of the hospital. Upon further investigation, the detectives discover a link in these deaths, and a possible connection with other similar deaths in a number of hospitals.
Not that I want to give spoilers, but it should become pretty apparent as to who may be acting in a way not exactly synonymous with “Do no harm.” (As the film is fact-based, you may have read up a little on the background before seeing this). The Good Nurse as directed by Tobias Lindholm and scripted by Krysty-Wilson Cains is effective and disturbing on a number of levels. It is effective as a procedural, with determined detectives (Nnamdi Asomugha and Noah Emmerich) battling both insensitive hospital administrators and reluctant employees. It works as an indictment of a system that disclaims responsibility by allowing its bad apples to pass without accountability (not to mention taking advantage of its new employees with punishing hours and no health safety net). Finally, the central performances of Jessica Chastain as the beleaguered but resilient nurse and Eddie Redmayne as the quiet, capable nurse and companion are understated but compelling. They succeed in drawing the viewer in to what is essentially a bleak but eventually haunting tale.
Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin reunites Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson (who had previously displayed their camaraderie in McDonagh’s In Bruges. Once again their palpable chemistry is intact, but the film begins with the end of a friendship. In this secluded setting (the small island of Inisherin in 1923, during the Irish Civil War), Farrell’s amiable Padraic is more than a little put off when his best friend Colm (Gleeson) tells him he no longer wants to be friends. Padraic’s desire to find out why, and his stubborn refusal to accept Colm’s answer as final, lead to a steadily escalating series of encounters, clashes and an unusual vow by an implacable Colm of some bodily damage if Padraic continues to talk to him. With the actors’ superb portrayals, one’s sympathy is liable to shift: one can understand Colm’s desire to accomplish something and have his life acquire meaning, but one can also see Padraic’s side as a fellow who is left without his best pal—yet can’t help but run into him. (It’s a small island with seemingly only one pub).
As with McDonagh’s other work, there is both the threat of violence—as well as a few violent outbursts. There is plenty of foreboding in the film but also a good deal of unexpected warmth and humor. McDonagh’s direction brings out the nuances of his script but he is also helped by a superb cast. Farrell and Gleeson make for engagingly bullheaded adversaries—sympathetic even when they’re behaving badly. And Kerry Condon is sublime as Farrell’s supportive and loving sister, the character who has the most sense—and who is tired of living on the island and may be ready to make a move…one that may only intensify her brother’s despair. It’s worth a trip to the cinema to see these Banshees. I may see it again.