Cable Movie Roundup

This roundup is gonna be one big Post of Ambivalence. You'll see what I mean.

Burn After Reading: The Coen Brothers are brilliant...except when they're not. I often think my quality meter is askew when it comes to these guys. I tend to love films that many find disappointing ("The Ladykillers") while not getting into some of the acknowledged classics (I guess I need to watch "Miller's Crossing" again someday). Given the tepid reaction to "Burn," I half-expected to find it a neglected comic masterpiece. Instead, I thought this sort-of-madcap spy caper was reminiscent of "Intolerable Cruelty"--a movie that looked like the performers were having a great time, or working hard to convince itself they were, but just not getting those good feelings across to the audience. The lack of a real payoff wouldn't be as big a deal if the movie were funnier, but it's more often just frantic.

The Express: This is a competent biopic of the first African-American Heisman Trophy winner, Syracuse star running back Ernie Davis, who died of leukemia shortly after his outstanding college career. Goofy personal note: When the commercials for this were airing, my wife and I saw an ad where something got cut off right after the voice-over guy said, "The first African-American," and we entertained ourselves with the notion of someone making a movie about that.

As for the actual movie "The Express," it's a solid football flick that tackles (sorry) racism and makes Davis seems like a swell guy. It hits pretty much all the notes you expect, but there's no real spark, though. I'd recommend it for football fans, but I get the feeling this is a case where if you're really interested, you might be better off just reading a book about Ernie Davis.

The Promotion: This sounds a lot better on paper than it plays on screen: Seann William Scott (OK, maybe it doesn't sound so good on paper after all) and John C. Reilly are in the running for a promotion to manage a supermarket, so they engage in a bit of one-upsmanship to boost their own chances and and discredit each other.

Reilly is awesome, but he's fairly subdued here, and while I respect Scott's own self-tone-down of his standard wise-ass shtick, he can't carry a movie as a regular schlub. You keep hoping "The Promotion" will really take off, but it never offers more than mild amusement. Meanwhile, the movie casts the likable Jenna Fischer as Scott's wife and does almost nothing with her. There is a little bit of tension as Scott takes some financial risks before he actually GETS the promotion, thus endangering his family's future, but there isn't enough of it. This is a likable time-passer if you catch it on TV (and that's not at all difficult if you have HBO and/or Cinemax), not much more.