Friday night is pizza and movie night for our family. This past Friday we went with some friends to our favorite pizza place, Patxi’s in the Marina — that was the easy part. When it came time to choose a movie, things got complicated. Two new releases were in contention — Matthew McConaughey’s The Lincoln Lawyer, and Bradley Cooper’s Limitless were both playing five minutes away on Chestnut Street. Both movies have plenty of action and both got a 7.4 rating on IMDB. Which to choose? Listening to people talk about the two movies over the weekend, it seemed the choice was more about the man than the movie. So, I sent out emails and text messages asking: Who would you choose — Bradley Cooper or Matthew McConaughey?
I saw both movies!
The Lincoln Lawyer was fun and entertaining — perfect for a Friday night when you just don’t want to think too hard. Matthew McConaughey was his swaggering and charming self and yes, of course, they found a reason for him to be on camera without his shirt or at least down to his “wife-beater” t-shirt. His critics will tell you that he plays the same character in every movie; his admirers will tell you that he does it really well. They are both right. Mr. McConaughey owns this character, Mick Haller, an attorney that does business from the back of a Lincoln Town Car. Earl (played by Laurence Mason) chauffeurs Mick from meetings (sometimes held on the side of the road with the Hell’s Angels) to the courthouse – Mick has a bit of a drinking problem and lost his license. The script was interesting with some twists and turns, but not complicated. Marisa Tomei is very good as his ex-wife and William H. Macy brings a lot of life to a small role as a friend and detective for Mr. McConaughey’s Mick. A fun character with a good plot = QQQQ
In Limitless, Bradley Cooper goes from the sophomoric/jerk character he usually plays (The Hangover, Wedding Crashers) to loser Eddie, a sloven with writer’s block who discovers a pill that takes him to near 100% brain power. Eddie goes from struggling writer to brilliant novelist to wealthy Wall Street player within a few weeks of discovering the “magic” pill. Sounds like something you would kill for, right? Yep, that’s what happens and that’s what I didn’t like about the movie. What could have been a very interesting look at success via hard work and skill (real success) vs. success not earned, but bought and paid for (synthetic success), was reduced to a crime drama replete with Russian thugs. Bradley Cooper is good, and Robert De Niro delivers a great speech that should be galvanizing but ultimately is not. A great theme not explored in an otherwise good movie = QQQq
NOTE: Tune in to Qmuze this Tuesday for more on Limitless, and how it sadly, reflects our culture.
And now for what you’ve really been waiting for — the results of McConaughey vs. Cooper. And the winner is: George Clooney. Mr. Clooney won as a write-in with Mr. Cooper slightly edging out Mr. McConaughey for second place. Limitless beat out The Lincoln Lawyer at the box office proving my “man-over-movie” theory. The bottom line: suave sophistication and clever humor (GC) trumps southern swagger with great abdominals (MM), AND boyish charm with piercing blue eyes (BC)!
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