The TV Addict 

By: Kelvin King

Based on Wendy Orr’s children’s book and set on a picturesque desert island, NIM’S ISLAND tells the story of a father and daughter who live in seclusion, far away from the intrusiveness of the world. Nim (Abigail Breslin) spends her days accompanying her dad Jack (Gerard Butler), a marine biologist, on his research trips and interacting with her best friends - a walrus, an iguana and a pelican. The rest of Nim’s days exist within the fictional hardcover world of Alex Rover, an Indiana-Jones type character who has a penchant for getting himself into tight and hairy situations. Interestingly enough, the imaginary Alex Rover bears a striking resemblance to her dad, Jack.

When Jack goes missing at sea after being caught in a tempest-like storm, Nim seeks the help of her hero and idol Alex Rover by e-mail. Unknown to Nim, Alex Rover is actually Alexandra Rover (Jodie Foster), an agoraphobic novelist who is nothing like her alter ego. A neat-freak recluse who cannot even muster the courage to open her front door and pick up her mail, Alexandra is a bundle of nerves whose one standout attribute is her incessant use of Purell hand sanitizer. Nim’s earnest pleas for help coupled with the imaginary Alex Rover’s powers of persuasion finally force Alexandra to confront her fears and embark on an arduous journey to Nim’s island.

Most of the film’s humor is derived from the misadventures of Alexandra as she journeys to get to Nim. It is refreshing to see dramatic actress Jodie Foster making a fool of herself and wildly flailing around as she copes with her various inadequacies. Her character Alexandra, though painful to watch most of the time, is quirkily likeable and charming in a clumsy sort of way. The warm father-daughter scenes with Abigail Breslin and Gerard Bulter would also resonate with a family audience. Like ENCHANTED, the film emphasizes the father-daughter story, and the search for a mother figure to once again complete the broken family unit.

When Nim finally meets her hero, the film quickly and efficiently resolves the lost at sea angle and reunites Nim and her dad. Cue in the montages of the whole-again family playing on the beach. As a generic family film geared towards younger audiences, Nim’s Island does not disappoint but given the range of its principal actors, the film could have focused on better developing the characters’ back-stories instead of just moving them from one scenario to another. In trying to achieve a tidy plot resolution with the obligatory happy ending, Nim’s Island sacrifices deeper character development to its own detriment. The end product is an overly slick, rushed narrative that is ultimately disappointing at its conclusion.

Overall rating: B-

By: Alexander B. Huls

The fundamental obstacle every romantic comedy must overcome is the inherent predictability of its genre, while simultaneously being entirely dependent upon it. People go see a rom-com because they want to watch boy and girl meet, fall in love, fall out and back in love, and live happily ever after. What they don’t want to see, however, is a film just going through the motions, adhering to the formula without a somewhat original concept, approach, or tone. Even rom-coms that have those latter things don’t always succeed because it takes some talent to pull it off. This is partly why I find that many modern romantic comedies fail, and why I can’t name you very many that I (a genuine lover of the genre) think have been really good.

DEFINITELY, MAYBE, thankfully, is one of the good ones, largely because writer-director Adam Brooks and the actors of the film succeed in capitalizing on the clever idea of turning a romantic comedy simultaneously into a mystery and a coming of age story.

Shortly before Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) divorce is to be finalized, he relents to his daughter Maya’s (Abigail Breslin) insistent inquiries as to how he met her mother. Instead of telling her directly though, he turns it into a bed-time mystery, telling her about the three major loves of his life (changing their names), and then letting Maya try and guess which one is her mother. From there he recounts the tale of Emily (Elizabeth Banks), his small-town Mid-Western college sweetheart who fears she will lose her boyfriend to the seduction of New York City; April, the charming, quirky, fun super-left Daily Show/Colbert Report type, who (in Maya’s words) is “the best friend who wants to be the girlfriend”; and Summer Hartley, the sophisticated, uninhibited, aspiring journalist.

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