‘Fox and the Hound’ – Disney’s Dark, Underrated Gem

Disney’s “The Fox and the Hound” (1981) arrived with an infamous production history, as well as muted enthusiasm from longtime Mouse House fans.

Made when the Walt Disney Company, a decade after their founder’s death, was trying to figure out its identity in the late 20th century, the film was completed during emotionally charged company confrontations, followed by a delayed release, revealing that the film’s making as a difficult and uncertain one.

Just looking at the credits reveals this, as no less than three directors and eight credited writers worked on this.

An orphaned fox named Tod (initially voiced by Keith Mitchell, later Mickey Rooney) is raised by the Widow Tweed, a kindly farmer who takes him in as though he were kin. Tod befriends Cooper (initially voiced by Corey Feldman and later Kurt Russell), a hound who becomes his best friend.

The tight kinship between Cooper and Tod is challenged when Tod is suddenly taken from his home and forced to live in the wild. When Tod returns to his original home, fully grown, he discovers his relationship with Cooper and the rest of the animals has changed.

“The Fox and the Hound” begins with a long, stunning opening shot that shows a fox (Tod’s mother) fleeing hunters, dropping her baby fox at a nearby fence, then running over a hill and – BANG! She’s dead.

Memories of “Bambi” (1942) spring to mind, as do the countless other Disney films that depict the protagonist having to overcome the tragedy that marked the start of their lives (everything from their 1999 “Tarzan” to the 2016 “Pete’s Dragon”).

It’s a compelling and bold way to open any movie.

The cute moments are contrasted with heartbreaking ones, particularly a second-act turn of events that is almost identical to the most wrenching scene in Steven Spielberg’s “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” (2001), both sequences involving a mother abandoning their child in the wilderness.

Despite sporting eight writers and three directors, “The Fox & The Hound” is better than most remember. Some scenes sport contrasting backgrounds and similar character designs to “The Rescuers” (1977), but this is a much better film (though nowhere near the masterpiece-level of the 1990 sequel).

While imperfect, the best aspects here aren’t just admirable but tough, bringing to mind not only “Bambi” but that other terrific Disney film that nobody likes, “The Good Dinosaur” (2016).

Russell, a veteran Disney actor at this point (and a movie away from going full tilt as a John Carpenter regular) embodies the complex shades of his role, but Pat Buttram (who also voiced the Sheriff of Nottingham in Disney’s 1973 “Robin Hood” and a talking bullet in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”) steals the film as Chief, an old hunting dog.

“The Fox & The Hound” was made during the era of the infamous Don Bluth walkout, where Bluth and a handful of fellow animators ditched the Mouse House and started their own animation production company. Their output includes the 1982 masterpiece “The Secret of the NIMH”, the 1986 “An American Tail,” the 1988 “The Land Before Time” and the 1997 “Anastasia.”

Bluth began his animation career with the dream of working at Disney, only to become a major competitor the decade after he left.

Director Tim Burton was also briefly employed at Disney during this time – this was when the company allowed him to make the short film “Frankenweenie” (1984), then shelved it indefinitely when it merited a PG rating. Burton, flush with post-“Batman” (1989) success, would return to Disney decades later and become a major hitmaker for them.

Another sign of how topsy-turvy the company was during the production of “The Fox and the Hound”: the same year as the film’s hit release, the company also unveiled the fantastic but too-gory-for-the-PG-rating “Dragonslayer,” as well as “Condorman,” their embarrassing first stab at comic book movies.

A second attempt at a big win from the studio the same year: “The Devil and Max Devlin,” a high-concept adult comedy in which Elliot Gould makes a deal with Satan, played by Bill Cosby (!). To say the least, it was an unsteady time for the Mouse House.

The moment was a few years away from the Michael Eisner/Jeffrey Katzenberg era, where the animation unit was given greater priority (“The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin” and “The Lion King” all opened within six years) and Touchstone Pictures gave the grown-up movies a proper place and handling.

Disney historians often place “The Fox and the Hound” alongside misfires such as the infamous “The Black Cauldron,” the 1985 bomb so disastrous, that it nearly bankrupted the studio. At the time, the only thing keeping Disney alive was park admission revenue!

The truth is “The Fox and the Hound” is a much better, harsher and more potent work than most remember. The big finale, involving a bear attack, is a stunner. Following the magnificent climax, there’s the ending, which is nowhere near as triumphant as it seems and, upon reflection, is much more bittersweet and sad than the music assures us.

The tragic element to “The Fox and the Hound” is there from the first scene and gives the film its lasting power.

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‘Midway Point’ (Barely) Overcomes Familiar Teen Romance Tropes

Writer/director Lucca Vieira’s “The Midway Point” begins with a title card announcing “Around 75 million people have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). That is 19 percent of the world’s population, according to the CDC.”

We meet Jake (Sean Ryan Fox), a teen who struggles to connect with anyone at high school and only expresses his frustrations with his mother (Thora Birch). Every day at school is an endurance test for Jake, who tries but can’t make meaningful connections with his classmates.

To his surprise, Jake comes out of his shell when Alice (Catherine Daddario), the girl he crushes over from afar, finally shows an interest in him. The two form a strange bond (of all things, they share a love of bad movies, like “Manos: The Hands of Fate”).

When it turns into a romance, Jake tries to keep it a secret from his mother and everyone else.

Fox and Daddario are very good in the leads; they have a nice chemistry and bring unexpected layers to their roles. Julie Benz plays a school counselor, and the role is far too small for an actress this good.

Birch is excellent as always and Wes Studi is solid as Jake’s sympathetic teacher.

“The Midway Point” has lots of heart, but it’s awfully familiar and the third act runs into a wall of melodrama.
I would have been more impressed with the film had I not already seen “The Spectacular Now” (2013), “The Fault in Our Stars” (2014), Like Crazy” (2011), the films of John Hughes, all of those Nicholas Sparks movies and the ABC After School Specials I grew up on.

This is far from the first tortured teen romance we’ve seen before. The cast clearly cares about their characters but very little that happens here is a surprise.

Vieira, making his feature film debut, pads the running time by flashing back to scenes we just saw a minute ago. Also, the big moment of a first kiss is drowned out by an overly eager soundtrack.

Nevertheless, the film is well crafted, even as the director can’t inject the material with enough innovation to make it seem fresh.

The end credits include a special thanks to Jeff Fahey and other notable artists, leading me to think this was a labor of love for those involved. As an actor’s piece, particularly for Fox and Daddario, this should provide a showcase for them that leads to subsequent projects.

The ending, which I won’t describe, isn’t defeatist but surprisingly gives us an optimistic conclusion, a most refreshing touch. After all the seen-it-before teen drama, the last half is the least expected section and the most successful.

Too much of “The Midway Point” gave me Teen Movie Drama déjà vu but the final stretch, where the characters and the story go literally and figuratively into the unknown, was when it finally won me over.

Two and a half stars (out of four)

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‘Saccharine’ Serves Up Ultimate Dieting Supplement

Natalie Erika James’ “Saccharine” stars Midori Francis as Hana, a medical student who signs up for a fitness class.

At first, Hana is clearly there because she has a crush on her instructor Alanya (Madeleine Madden).

All the grueling physical workouts take a toll on her, but Hana finds a real advantage, as someone in the gym gives her pills that will help her lose weight and add to her workouts. When Hana puts the pills under a microscope, she discovers that what she’s consuming in pill form are human ashes.

“Saccharine” is the new horror film from James, the filmmaker behind “Relic,” one of the best films of 2020 and a fantastic work that audiences mostly overlooked during the pandemic.

After “Relic,” James made “Apartment 7A” (2024), the high profile “Rosemary’s Baby” prequel that had a splashy premiere on Paramount+. If “Relic” is her masterpiece and “Apartment 7A” is her middle of the road mainstream hit, then “Saccharine” falls somewhere in the middle, though its grosser and far more daring than “Apartment 7A.”

“Saccharine” has a different feel from “Relic” and the subject matter provides obvious reminders of “The Substance” (2024), albeit with less fish-eyed lens shots.

Francis is great in the lead and the scenes where Hana discovers that she can view an unseen presence in the reflection of kitchen items is scary. Whereas “Relic” left me too-scared-to-turn-off-the-lights terrified, “Saccharine” isn’t on the same level.

Although it gets especially wild in the third act, James’ film is overlong and hasn’t haunted me like “Relic.”

James is exploring the topics of body autonomy and taking control of one’s diet and eating habits. Long before the end credits (a montage of food that resembles alien textures), there are lots of gag-inducing close-ups to make audiences immediately cease munching their popcorn.

The grand finale, in which a surreal environment provides the mythic showdown between protagonist and antagonist, is visually striking. It helps that the film is fiendishly funny at times and, even though the grossouts are many, the hook of the story never ceases.

Despite a reasonable run time of just under two hours, it still feels overextended, though the craziness of the third act makes up for this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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No one who sees “Relic” can forget how heartbreaking and strangely beautiful that last shot is; the audacity of the last image in “Saccharine” suggests that James is aware of the power her imagery carries. As much as I was stunned by the conclusion and thrilled by the buildup, the emotional journey is muted.

The lingering impact here isn’t Hana’s story but the potency of the scares and the revolting imagery. Forget pills made of ashes – anyone looking to lose some weight should just watch “Saccharine” before mealtime and see how little an appetite you’ll have afterward.

Three Stars (out of four)

What’s your favorite body horror film?

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‘I Love Boosters’ – Weird, Wonderful and Fearlessly Original

Boots Riley’s “I Love Boosters” is a work of pure creative freedom, mainstream cinema at its most unhinged.

This is what happens when a filmmaker allows their imagination to go wherever it wants at the screenplay level, then makes a film that doesn’t hold back but actually propels the imagination to fire off into the stratosphere.

What I’m trying to say is that a cult following is guaranteed down the road. For now, this will put off audiences wanting something easier to define. For the rest of us, particularly those who loved “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022), here is a worthy counterpart.

We meet a trio of “boosters,” led by Corvette (an excellent Keke Palmer), Mariah (a livewire Taylour Paige) and Sade (the wonderful Naomi Ackie), who identify as someone who “steals from a store and sells it as an affordable price.”

Another early reference to boosters pops up in a store they’re robbing, which touts a “Boosters Get Busted” sign. Most of the locations getting robbed are Metro Designer, an expensive and popular brand from mega mogul Christy Smith (Demi Moore, in a witty turn).

There’s also a guru named Dr. Jack (an unrecognizable Don Cheadle), and a handsome supporting character (LaKeith Stanfield) who seems like he’s positioned to be the love interest. Nothing goes as expected, not for the characters, nor the audience witnessing this bonkers and consistently funny treat.

From the very beginning, there is an unceasing joy in the filmmaking and vibrancy in the colors visible on screen. The key is to embrace how nutty this is from the start and stick with it when it gets unapologetically wacky.

Palmer has never been better, while Paige (a scene stealer in every movie she appears) and Ackie (another solid performer who takes on consistently interesting roles) have some great moments and a way with Riley’s one-liners.

Moore isn’t playing a caricature and brings surprising depth to a designer with a guru-like pull and Will Poulter is hilarious as the insufferable manager of a posh Metro Designer outlet, who blasts techno music over the store speakers.

Stanfield, who was the lead of Riley’s endearingly odd “Sorry to Bother You” (2018), has a supporting role here that plays like a parody of a handsome leading man. In case you’re wondering, this is a far crazier, riskier juggling act than “Sorry to Bother You.”

Some bits either don’t work or are better upon reflection, when one can consider the cleverness of a gag that went by too quickly to land as hard as it should have.

There’s also a graphic sex scene that takes a bizarre, horror movie-worthy turn, then is brushed off entirely with a funny punchline. A character is visibly reading Salmon Rushdie’s 1981 novel “Midnight’s Children,” noted for its magical realism, a quality that Riley also generously applies here.

By the second act, a sci-fi plot twist fuels the story and Riley, rather than making it a non sequitur, runs with it until the very end. The jarring tonal change that commands the latter half of the film is even battier than the one in “Sorry to Bother You” and is an out-there but welcome touch.

Something I loved about Riley’s film, as well as David Lowery’s recent “Mother Mary”: for a reasonable budget, these filmmakers have given us wildly entertaining and personal films that are neither timid nor predictable.

As a spoof of consumerism, particularly a landscape where those who would even want to buy Smith’s hideous products can’t afford it, Riley gets some digs in, but this isn’t as malicious as “Zoolander” (2001) or “Ready to Wear” (1994).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nevertheless, this is the antidote to “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” which aims solely to celebrate and worship both the materialism and self-absorbed figures of this world.

Riley is celebrating artistic freedom, not those who seek to control it and aim to make it inaccessible. It seems that Riley’s goal is mostly to allow his storytelling instincts and joy of filmmaking to take him where he wants to go. Smith declares early that “reality is unchangeable, but we can change how we see reality,” a line of dialogue that also sounds like Riley’s approach to his narrative.

There’s never a dull moment, as the two-hour running time flies by. Sometimes it’s too much but I have a weakness for something this original and presented with the eye of an artist.

Riley has created a film with so visually and tonally in synch with his imagination, it deserves comparison to the works of Wes Anderson. Some will take that as a final warning, while others know that means they should see this immediately, on the big screen and in a packed theater.

Three Stars (out of four)

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‘Mandalorian and Grogu’ Sinks ‘Star Wars’ to Kiddie-Level Lows

If you can’t say something nice, say nothing at all.

In that spirit, the puppet dubbed “Baby Yoda” is still adorable in “The Mandalorian and Grogu.”

The rest of the film? Mum’s the word. Except this if a film review, so proceed we must, hmmm?

The first new “Star Wars” film in seven years is messy, an adjective several characters say in this bloated blockbuster. Messy covers a lot of sins, and this TV show extension commits more than a few.

“The Last Jedi” broke plenty of franchise fans with its woke detours and canon-crushing twists. “The Acolyte” insulted more with its feminist blather.

“The Mandalorian and Grogu” might tell any remaining fans to find another franchise. This one is creatively spent.

The setup here is simple, allowing for plenty of interesting detours that never arrive.

Our hero Din Djarin, or Mando, (Pedro Pascal) is tasked with finding rogue Imperial Warlords hoping to resurrect the Empire. He’s a bounty hunter, but as we’ve seen in three “Mandalorian” seasons, his heart is more or less in the right place.

That means he’s team New Republic, AKA the good guys. Just don’t expect any complexity or nuance to his character. This film has all the shadings of a Benjamin Moore color sample.

So off he goes, along with his trusty sidekick Grogu (still an analog puppet) to track down a mysterious figure known as Janu (Jonny Coyne). Mando’s only clue? He’s given a blank card from a deck of missing Imperial Warlords.

Really.

Mando must make a deal with members of the Hutt family to find Janu, which brings Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White) into the picture. Hey, that’s Jabba’s son, and the resemblance is striking.

Rotta has been kidnapped, and his family members want him back at any price. Except it’s a little more complicated than that.

The rest is a blur of nonstop action, tin-eared dialogue that moves the story forward in jerky fashion and no sense that adults were considered as the film’s audience.

This is kiddie entertainment from start to finish, a parade of new creatures, mediocre CGI and cuddly characters who would make the Minions blush.

The fact that Jon Favreau (“Swingers!” “Elf!” “Iron Man!”) co-wrote and directed this slop is tragic. He gets little out of his cast. Pascal, who previously made his presence felt while behind a mask, has zero arc or character to play.

He’s Protagonist 101. That’s it.

Sigourney Weaver walks through her role as a New Republic commander. She’d be Razzie worthy if she had more screen time.

The new villains barely have a pulse, from Coyne to a crimelord (Hemky Madera) who couldn’t threaten a toddler with his theatrics.

“The Mandalorian and Grogu” overdoses on action, barely taking a moment to breathe. The sequences are competently shot but never memorable, and the lack of stakes is startling. On more than a few occasions, Mando rushes into battle essentially alone, squaring off against literal armies without fearing he could get killed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Plot inconsistencies abound. Newer creatures appear and leave no mark, including Mando’s quasi-partner Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios (Steve Blum). Cutesy cameos prove distracting, nothing more, including a vocal turn from Martin Scorsese.

There’s no talk of The Force, Skywalkers or other “Star Wars” essentials. The story overlaps with other, more recent “Star Wars” content to little satisfaction.

The movie literally stalls midway through, and you expect a Netflix-style button on the bottom right of the screen to say, “Next Episode.”

Ludwig Göransson’s score, like everything else, is trying too hard to make us think this is epic storytelling. And whenever there’s a lull in the action, which is rare, we get a new CGI creature thrust into our face.

That Mando-Grogu bond endures, and it’s as endearing as it was in the past. So what? There’s no growth here, no sense of a story evolving in any meaningful way.

Why was this made again? What’s the point beyond more content for Disney+ in a few months?

“The Mandalorian and Grogu” exists as a placeholder, a way to say the franchise still belongs on the big screen.

You sure about that? You sure ’bout that?

HiT or Miss: Children will enjoy the breezy new “Star Wars” adventure, “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” Die-hard fans will wonder how far the franchise can possibly sink after this.

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‘Wizard of the Kremlin’ – Year’s Biggest Disappointment So Far?

Olivier Assayas’ “The Wizard of the Kremlin” is a disappointment on its own but even more so when you compare it to the filmmaker’s earlier works.

Despite the talent involved and the lure of the subject matter, this won’t be a project anyone involved cites as a career highlight.

Assayas’ film portrays how Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano) went from a young Russian artist to a political mover and shaker during the late 20th century. Baranov has his brushes with history making, particularly when he meets the ambitious Vladimir Putin (Jude Law).

A theater visionary who changed politics, the story of Baranov seems like it can’t miss at the start, but the result is a film with too many scenes of actors on lush couches having conversations about moments in Russian history that we should be seeing.

The opening scenes are stiff and mannered, immediately making me wonder if Assayas was the right filmmaker for this story. Things get wild once the flashback structure kicks in, as we see Baranov emerge in both 1980s excess and USSR espionage.

Based on the 2022 book by Giuliano da Empoli, it shapes an imagined encounter between Baranov and Jeffrey Wright’s fictitious author, whose opening narration I prefer to Dano’s. Baranov is based on the real Vladislav Surkov, whose life should at least merit a compelling non-fiction film.

Baranov proclaims early, “My pain only augmented her boredom.” I know how she felt, as Dano spits out every line in the same whispery British accent. If there’s a way to make this bureaucrat interesting, Dano hasn’t found it.

There’s a mannered, one-note quality to his work here, a major letdown, considering how great he is elsewhere.

To address the obvious – I don’t agree with Quentin Tarantino’s public and unfortunately dismissive assessment of Dano’s acting abilities (nor what he declared regarding Owen Wilson). Dano’s performances in “The Batman” (2022), “Prisoners” (2013) and especially “Love & Mercy” (2015) are Oscar-worthy.

Also, in addition to his canny direction and quotable, unpredictable screenplays, Tarantino has a steady knack for taking underrated actors and casting them in offbeat parts, which showcase their willingness to take on offbeat material.

Dano is wrong for Baranov, but he’s a better actor than Tarantino has stated and can shine in the right role, and the director should know that.

The Batman star Paul Dano opens up about the harsh criticism he received from filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and the stars who came to his defense. https://t.co/Yfc2k7nOP5

— CBR (@CBR) February 25, 2026

“The Wizard of the Kremlin” often cuts to real-life clips and news footage so compelling that this clearly should have been made as a documentary.

The whole thing is too on-again, off-again for 136 minutes and the accents are all over the place. It would have been better with a cast of Russians speaking in subtitles to the what-is-that dialects that are used inconsistently or not at all.

Each narrative section comes with chapter headings, which don’t help. The Law-less sections are dull, which is a major problem, as his performance is, at best, an extended cameo role and he’s barely in the movie.

There are moments to savor, such as the sight of Yeltsin literally being propped up to give a speech. Likewise, I loved hearing Baranov having to explain to Putin who Daft Punk is.

Law has an uncanny resemblance to Putin, but this is undermined by his lack of a Russian accent. With his normal voice and the Putin cut, Law looks a lot more like Martin Freeman. Law is a terrific actor, but his real voice doesn’t match the appearance.

At one point, Law’s Putin declares, “we’re fighting to keep Russia from disintegrating,” suggesting a far more exciting film. Likewise, when Baranov announces in narration, “That day, Putin became a czar.” If only this would take up the focus and not be a passing moment, akin to Forrest Gump meeting JFK. We needed more of the Pygmalion angle on the making of Putin, a subject worth exploring.

Alicia Vikander steals all of her scenes as Ksenia and, like Law, isn’t in the movie nearly enough. There’s a weird cameo appearance from Matthew Baunsgard, unconvincing as Larry King.

Most cinephiles cite Assayas’ “Irma Vep” (1996) and the controversial “Demonlover” (2002) as high points but I think his best was ahead- the 2008 “Summer Hours” (2008), “Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) and the 2018 “Non-Fiction” (which has made me re-think the contemporary definition of a writer).

“Personal Shopper” (2016) remains my favorite Assayas film, a slice of life drama and supernatural thriller that stars Kristen Stewart, a sharp and original film I revisit often.

Assayas’ films aren’t like most others, as they lean into moments and character choices more than cleanly laid out narrative possibilities. The dialogue in his films is a pleasure to listen to. His latest isn’t lacking in ambition but, at best, this is cable TV movie worthy.

The boldest is the very last shot – it’s memorable but comes too late.

Two Stars

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Anne Hathaway’s Pop Star Pose Powers Polarizing ‘Mother Mary’

David Lowery’s “Mother Mary” is exactly the kind film I love to see in the theater, as it’s made for the big screen and an experience that is guaranteed to polarize just about everyone.

I get it, as Lowery’s latest is bizarre, challenging and, on a scene-to-scene basis, risks falling on its face.

All I knew of the film going in is that it’s “the Anne Hathaway movie where she embodies Lady Gaga.” Not an unreasonable synopsis, but there’s much, much more.

Hathaway stars as Mother Mary, a pop singer super star whose awesome stage performances suggest the elaborate production values of Lady Gaga, Madonna, that time Britney Spears danced with a snake and anything from Cirque De Solei. Mary’s music and persona are on fire with the public, while her private life is a different matter.

Mary takes a trip to a secluded countryside and reconnects with Sam, an acclaimed fashion designer (Michaela Coel) who was never given enough credit for the iconic designs she provided Mary on her tour. Sam expresses animosity and distance towards Mary, until the two come to a strange common ground: lately, they’re both haunted by the same ghost, which appears as a massive floating red silk cloth with a glowing red ball.

Long scenes of dialogue exchanges between Hathaway and Coel are broken up by Hathaway’s stage performances, which are knockout set pieces. From the widescreen cinematography, which captures the musical numbers in the most you-are-there, immersive manner possible, to the songs themselves, which are good and performed well by Hathaway, these scenes are the biggest mainstream draw the film has.

The rest of the film is take-it-or-leave-it weird and even plays that way before the supernatural elements surface. Lowery seems to be making a comment on how Mary’s stage and personal life are all, in one way or another, a performance, which explains why even the quiet scenes with only two characters are presented in a theatrical manner.

Some scene transitions are even conveyed with large doors opening into another setting, as though this were all a filmed theater piece.

To answer an obvious question – yes, “Mother Mary” could work well as a play and presumably would be an event on Broadway. As a film, even for those who love theater, heady art movies, pop music and Hathaway, will be a challenge to absorb, especially on the first viewing.

Some moments are silly and are just asking for mockery, such as when a character declares they’re about to sing “the greatest song ever written,” which we never hear (maybe Lowery knew this was too big a feat to pull off, unless Hathaway started singing “Baby Got Back.” I’m kidding).

Lowery previously wrote and directed the 2021 masterpiece, “The Green Knight,” the best blend of magical realism and grandiose storytelling from him yet. The 2016 remake of “Pete’s Dragon” is also from Lowery and easily one of the best, most refreshingly different of the live action Disney remakes, which retells the tale without simply xeroxing the original scene-for-scene (like most of the other live action Mouse House remakes).

The closest film Lowery has made to “Mother Mary” is his “A Ghost Story” (2017), which matches this film for its audacity, character-driven narratives and staging that straddles the possibilities of theater and cinema.
If Lowery keeps making movies like this, he’ll likely end up recognized as an artist making distinctive and personal works.

For now, he’s a visionary with a cult following that should be larger.

Hathaway is electric in this, on stage and in her dramatic scenes, but she’s matched by a towering performance by Coel.

The songs were written by Charli XCX, Jack Antonoff and FKA Twigs, and they’re all good enough to start popping up on an FM station. If Hathaway decides to perform on tour as Mother Mary, it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Many will understandably hate it, a few (including me) will defend it and the rest will likely call it a future camp classic…and they’d be right.

If anything, I’m excited that something this wild is playing in mainstream theaters, though most of Hathaway’s fanbase is clearly more willing to turn up for the middle-of-the-road “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”

I applaud A24 for continuing to distribute risk-taking art movies, especially when they’re as untamed as this one.

Three Stars (out of four)

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