Curing Tabloid Love With Brosnan, Burns, Li, and Barrymore

With Brittany on the 12 steps, Paris behind bars – at least until Tuesday – and Lindsay in rehab, it might be time to cure your tabloid love with some real entertainment. There is a wide selection of recent and older DVDs available to choose from that have high entertainment value, featuring great actors and acting and strong plots in an assortment of genres. There is not the titillation – no pun intended – of Brittany’s bared breast, but what about Pierce Brosnan, long legged and proud, clad in black briefs and black shoes and socks strutting it through a crowded hotel lobby? The Matador (2005), starring Brosnan, Greg Kinnear and Hope Davis is the story of an aging hit man, Julian Noble, Brosnan’s character, who is experiencing mid life dysfunction and crisis when he meets Kinnear’s character, Danny Wright, in Mexico. Noble’s isolated life as a hit man has left him with no one, except his assignment man, to hear his troubles, and the assignment man does not want to hear about it. Noble reaches out to Danny Wright, a good natured entrepreneur with a set of problems that in some ways parallel Noble’s. The story moves along at a good pace, and there are some funny moments in the film, and some emotional moments that stop short of tear jerking. The result is an entertaining film and one that portrays Brosnan in a way that audiences have never before seen him. It was a bold acting move on Brosnan’s part, but it works. Recommended for a rainy day movie at home.

The movie Confidence (2003), with an all star cast including Edward Burns as Jake Vig, Rachel Weisz as Lily, the schill , Andy Garcia as Agent Gunther Butan, Dustin Hoffman as Winston King, Paul Giamatti as Gordo and a supporting cast of talent, including Frankie G in the memorable character of Lupus in a film that is fun, sexy and has a good plot. Dustin Hoffman in the role of the gangster King refreshes our memory as to why he is a great actor. Hoffman delivers a memorable performance as "the King", an OCD thug. Hoffman does not hold back, giving the role his best acting effort, and it is the audience's reward for watching this film. Hoffman is fun and works as hard in this role as he did in Tootsie (1982) to give audiences the best character entertainment possible. Edward Burns, as the tall, dark, and handsome scam man Jake Vig is the ideal actor for the role. Never losing his cool, planning the scams down to the smallest detail, Jake is an equal adversary for the gangster King. Rachel Weisz as Jake’s decoy, Lily, is beautiful, sexy, and confident and carries the role with a strong performance. The movie is not predictable, and will surprise and delight viewers with a twist in a well scripted plot written by Chris Marker. This one is a good night of entertainment.

If you are looking for something with a lot of action, a lot of martial arts, special effects and aesthetics, you might rent Hero (2002), starring Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, Chen Dao Ming and Donnie Yen. This all star cast of martial arts experts and actors delivers a riveting and fast moving film that allows Jet Li and the rest of the cast to do battle and execute martial art moves that are exhilarating and fun to watch. The are martial arts experts whose incredible skill and expertise in the art are supported with special effects that serve only to exemplify the combination of natural and studied skill and talent of the actors. The film was nominated for an Oscar, and is but one of a large collection of Asian films now available in the US that bring the spectacle of martial arts to American audiences.

Or, for a girlie night, break out the nail polish, a good bottle of wine, and a box of Kleenex and take a road trip with Drew Barrymore, Whoopie Goldberg, and Mary-Louise Parker in Boys on the Side (1995). These girls are a good time, and won’t take you over a cliff. They don’t offer Brad Pitt, but a young, good looking Matthew McConaughey as Barrymore’s character, Holly Pulchick’s love interest works too. The film is older, but the story is timeless, and the acting is too good to be ignored. Parker, as the prim and proper New York City realtor, Robin, who looked for love in all the wrong places only became infected with AIDS, hooks up with Goldberg’s character, Jane Deluca, a vocalist with a band who is looking for a better time. Jane has the bug for the western experience that seems to bite all northerners at one time or another, and Jane is convinced she can improve her life and career by going out west. She hooks up with Robin in a quid pro quo arrangement to get out west. A stop along the way to have lunch with Barrymore’s character, Holly, results in the unintentional death - murder - of Holly’s abusive boyfriend, and it leaves Holly with no choice but to go along for the ride. The girls make it as far as Tucson, Arizona, before they have to stop because Robin is experiencing a desperate setback with her health. That is when Jane finds out that Robin has AIDS, and friendships that have been somewhat tenuous up to that point, are sealed with love, loyalty, and the hope for Robin’s survival. This film has great moments of laughter, incredible music, and some very aesthetic moments, like McConaughey’s famous abs. The director, Herbert Ross, directs this delightful cast in a drama about the special relationship between women.

So, while these films may not be as exciting as jail, rehab, or Britt’s naked boob, they are probably more entertaining and no one will get run over watching them. Any one of these films is a strong prescription for curing tabloid love.