By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer
March 31, 2021
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Michelle Pfeiffer, left, and Susan Coyne in a scene from French Exit. (Jerome Prebois/Sony Pictures Classics via AP)
Danielle Macdonald in a scene from French Exit. (Lou Scamble/Sony Pictures Classics via AP)
Imogen Poots, left, and Daniel Di Tomasso in French Exit. (Jerome Prebois/Sony Pictures Classics via AP)
Danielle Macdonald, Valerie Mahaffey and Imogen Poots in French Exit. (Jerome Prebois/Sony Pictures Classics via AP)
Is there any living actor better at the disdainful eye roll than Michelle Pfeiffer? Her latest turn in “French Exit ” should end all debate on the matter. The film itself is a bit of an odd duckling. It’s arch, cold and self-consciously contrived, works more often than it doesn’t. Pfeiffer is flawless in her most delicious performance in years as a New York society woman who has, much to her aloof annoyance, run out of money.
Review: Pfeiffer the only reason to watch overly quirky French Exit
Michelle Pfeiffer is at her best in comedy that s never as good as she is
Adam Graham
Michelle Pfeiffer is delicious in French Exit, playing an acerbic, no-nonsense Manhattan socialite. She suffers nary a fool, and has no problem starting a fire in a restaurant if she s been crossed. It s Pfeiffer s best, most juicy role in years, a showcase of her particular talents and, hopefully, a reminder to Hollywood that she should be out in front of more movies.
If only the movie around her was as good as she is. French Exit is a mishmash of quirks masquerading as a fully formed idea, its early left turns signals of even harder lefts to come. By the time the talking cat shows up it involves a séance, it s a long story French Exit has all but careened into a ditch.
Hallmark And Lifetime’s Diverse Christmas Movie Slates Are Here To Stay
02/18/21 AT 11:00 AM
When winter holiday romance movies take over the cable airwaves, viewers can count on a few constants: Man and woman meet, usually in a charming small town that holds a Christmas festival. They then fall in love before hitting a rough patch only to go on to live happily ever after.
But the films that aired this past December didn t stick to the formula.
The storylines were basically the same, but the leads were much different. They weren t just white, but Black, Asian, and Hispanic. Men fell in love with men. One woman used a wheelchair. And, for the past couple of years, a couple of movies have celebrated Hanukkah, a Jewish observance.
Directed by Azazel Jacobs.
Starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Lucas Hedges, Tracy Letts, Valerie Mahaffey, Susan Coyne, Imogen Poots, Danielle Macdonald, Isaach De Bankolé, Daniel DiTomasso, Eddie Holland, Matt Holland, Christine Lan, Robert Higden, and Larry Day.
SYNOPSIS:
An aging Manhattan socialite living on what’s barely left of her inheritance moves to a small apartment in Paris with her son and cat.
It doesn’t take long before the reasons pile up in regards to loathing the characters of
French Exit, but here’s the most telling: audiences are supposed to empathize with the wealthy 12-years widowed Frances (Michelle Pfeiffer, who at least plays the role of privileged and condescending with intermittently amusing bite) has spent years ignoring her financial advisor that the money left behind is going to dry up. There’s going broke for legitimately unfortunate circumstances and then there’s introducing a protagonist who not only went broke because of their own dumbassery
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Christmas Ever After proves cheesy romcoms can effect radical change
Disability representation, done right. 14/12/2020
Cheesy Christmas love stories, whether you love or hate them, have become a tradition over the years. Movies like
Love Actually and
The Holiday have an irresistible draw during the festive season. However, over the years the same kinds of love stories are told again and again, often leaving anyone that isn t a straight, non-disabled, white person feeling unheard and unseen.
Disabled people, in particular, have been forgotten over time, or worse had their stories told inauthentically and in a harmful way.