Atlantic City Weekly

Share this Story:

Try to imagine Clint Eastwood’s somber western Unforgiven with a side order of his “Man with No Name,” the “Fistful of Datas” episode of Star Trek: Next Generation and several aliens from the current TV series Fallen Skies converging in a highway pile-up. That might begin to describe Jon Favreau’s oddly endearing but eventually supremely silly Cowboys & Aliens.


The movie begins without a hint of typical graphic novel ambience as written by Roberto Orci (Fringe, Star Trek), Alex Kurtzman (Iron Man), Damon Lindelof (Lost, Star Trek) and five other credited authors. We are in classic western mode with the specific icons of the genre: a mysterious stranger who wanders into town (Daniel Craig); the spoiled son (Paul Dano) of the iron fist rancher who controls the town (Harrison Ford); the rancher’s loyal Indian ranch hand/tracker (Adam Beach); a likable but overmatched sheriff (Keith Carradine); a strong-willed woman with her own secrets (Olivia Wilde); a wide-eyed boy (Noah Ringer) who wants to grow up too soon and a mangy dog.


The movie moseys along for a fair piece without diving into the alien portion of the story and when it does, with the flying ships and the people being snatched from the sky by alien lassos, it still feels like a western that just happens to have aliens as the bad guys instead of scalp-hungry Indians or a greedy land baron burning out the farmers to make way for his cattle.


The story embraces a “Chariot of the Gods,” element, the notion that aliens have been visiting earth for centuries.


Craig’s character, Jake, has no memory of what happened to him before he wandered into town and why he has a strange metal bracelet on his wrist that he can’t remove. Turns out he is a wanted outlaw who stole money from the rancher, Dolarhyde.

However when the aliens invade and start kidnapping the town folk, all the humans will be working together to stop the hideous creatures that look like a hybrid of the Predator aliens and the “skitters” from Fallen Skies. The classic Schwarzenegger line, “You’re one ugly motherfu@#er,” provides an apt description.


As the alien element accelerates during the final showdown, the western element loses its hold and the alien story just isn’t as good. An interesting movie rides into silly-town and pretty much stays there, despite the fact that the dream team of Craig and Ford maintain their stoic postures and heroic actions. Wilde’s frontier woman is burdened with some of the plot details that send the movie on the trail to goofy, but Ringer, who was so bad in The Last Airbender, redeems himself as the kid who has to grow up quickly. Beach also remains rock solid no matter how pixilated the plot becomes.


Cowboys & Aliens provides a terrific first impression, but when the overwrought alien element arrives full bore, it turns a compelling western into a cheesy, laughable “alien attacks!” B-movie.


Still, the film was good enough, long enough, for a marginal thumbs-up.


Clever ‘Crazy Love’


Crazy, Stupid, Love is a comedy that skillfully blends the pain of divorce, parenthood, and slapstick into an invigorating mix that works with the clichés in a way that makes them fresh and painfully real. It is both hilarious and emotionally satisfying.


I’ve never been a fan of Steve Carell, but he won me over big time in CSL as nice guy Cal who is truly shocked and hurt when his high-school-sweetheart wife (Julianne Moore), tells him she is having an affair and wants a divorce. His reaction, to take the advice of a lothario, Jacob (Ryan Gosling), and become a barhopping troll himself, is understandable even as we realize his heart isn’t in it. Emma Stone is also in the mix as the woman who makes Jacob think about the risks and rewards of true love, and excellent contributions come from Jonah Bobo as Cal’s lovestruck son, Robbie, and Alaleigh Tipton as the babysitter with her own love issues.

Directed by the team of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Bad Santa) and a rare one-author screenplay by Dan Fogelman (Cars, Bolt), Crazy, Stupid, Love is a good story that is beautifully acted and directed for both optimal laughs and an effective emotional pay off.

Cowboys & Aliens ** ½


Directed by Jon Favreau; rated PG-13



Crazy, Stupid Love 
***

Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa; rated PG-13

To read more about movies and other 
topics covered by movie critic Lori Hoffman visit the ‘Atlantic City Central’ blog at 
http://blog.acweekly.com/