Helly's Film Take- Animal Kingdom and Helly's Film Rant

Going in to the cinema, I knew nothing about Animal Kingdom (apart from the fact that everyone was raving about it.) I’m glad that we saw it in a cinema because I have a feeling that if we watched it on dvd, I may have been tempted to turn it off 20 mins in. But this movie turned out to be a subtle, slow burning, sensation (don’t you love alliteration?!)

The acting is flawless across the board and I will definitely be watching out for whatever Ben Mendelson does next. It really is difficult to expand further on this movie without giving anything away, so I will just have to urge you all to watch it. I really hope that this is a sign of things to come for Australian cinema.

Helly’s film rant

At work it recently occurred to me when I was returning the movie how to lose a guy in 10 days that it has become my go-to bad movie. It made me ponder the multiple reasons why this has become my most loathed movie and I thought I would share these reasons with you.

In case you are unfamiliar with the movie here is the basic plot outlined on imdb-

‘Benjamin Barry is an advertising executive competing with two female co-workers for a major campaign for a diamond merchant. He cuts a deal with his competitors that the account is his if he can make a woman of their choice fall in love with him in 10 days. In comes Andie Anderson who, in turn, is writing a story on how to lose a guy in 10 days as a bet with her boss to be allowed to write more substantial stories. With a hidden agenda in each camp, will either party be able to complete their mission?’

First of all the whole ’10 days’ concept is completely ridiculous from the outset. The fact that they are both given ten days to complete their missions is utterly insane. What are the chances of that happening? They’re both either about to win the lottery or be struck by lightning, if that’s the kind of luck they have!

The two main protagonist’s are named Andie Anderson and Ben Barry. Don’t get me wrong I love alliteration as much as the next person (I even used it earlier…) but it really feels like when the screenwriter was writing the characters he/she thought ‘fuck it let’s just go alphabetical!’ They just don’t sound like the names of real people ( and yes I know they aren’t but isn’t the point to suspend your disbelief?)

I also hate the fact that this movie has ruined Carol King’s classic song ‘You’re so vain’ for me. I can’t hear this great song anymore without thinking of this shitty movie. There are also now an entire generation of girls who love this song purely because it was used in this movie and now request it at Karaoke, just to further expand on the cringe factor.

My final bone of contention is- Do Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey actually believe that these crappy movies that they keep making are any good? Especially from Kate Hudson’s stand point. I know that not all actors are in the position to choose roles and just have to rely on what comes their way. But after Almost Famous, Kate Hudson could have done literally whatever she wanted and she chose to go into predictable rom/com land.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed my rant!