Review: Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

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21

A novel transformation

By BRETT MICHEL | March 25, 2008

2.0 Stars

In need of $300,000 for grad school at Harvard Med, Southie-bred MIT senior and former nerd Ben Campbell (Across the Universe’s Jim Sturgess) has left his robot-building pals to their virgin ways, finding his inner cardsharp during weekend trips to Vegas with a clandestine group of card-counting students led by smug math professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey, still playing American Beauty’s Lester Burnham, with an emphasis on ham). Director Robert (Legally Blonde) Luketic has transformed Ben Mezrich’s mostly non-fiction (and fairly non-readable) bestseller Bringing Down the House, adding mostly non-facts that include a villain (Spacey), lots of danger, a sexy dame (Kate Bosworth), another villain (Laurence Fishburne), and a new identity (including race) for Campbell (real name Jeff Ma). An Asian leading man is, it seems, too big a gamble for Hollywood’s myopic big players. 123 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Harvard Square + Somerville Theatre + Chestnut Hill + Embassy + suburbs

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Dr. Henry Carter (Kevin Spacey), the psychiatrist-to-the-stars of the title, has written a bestselling book on how to be happy. But — go figure — he isn't happy himself.
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Here’s a subject that really could have used a Stanley Kubrick or a John Frankenheimer or a Robert Altman. But are there any great cinematic satirists left, auteurs with the knack for black comedy and cold-blooded irony?
Review: Moon
Duncan Jones begins his first feature with an infomercial for "Lunar Industries, Ltd" that celebrates Lunar's solution to global warming: strip-mining the surface of the moon for "Helium 3," an isotope that can provide a limitless source of non-polluting fuel.
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Towelhead is the type of tripe that poses as enlightenment in “important” Oscar winners like Crash and American Beauty .
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We expected the vampires, the werewolves, the zombies, and the homicidal maniacs. Same thing with the android doubles, the alien abductors, the sexually abused pregnant teenager, the Apocalypse, and the post-Apocalypse. But kids' movies?
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ARTICLES BY BRETT MICHEL

REVIEW: FOR GREATER GLORY | May 29, 2012
Bring coffee, because director Dean Wright's dramatization of the 3-year-long Cristero War (1926-9) seems to last longer than the Mexican conflict itself.

REVIEW: GIRL IN PROGRESS | May 15, 2012
As rites of passage go, Girl in Progress is a step backward for the genre.

REVIEW: FIRST POSITION | May 10, 2012
While not the most probing look at rising stars, Bess Kargman's documentary focuses on six aspiring contestants preparing for the prestigious Youth America Grand Prix competition (a proven entry point into the world of professional ballet) who demonstrate dazzling talent.

REVIEW: THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL | May 03, 2012
Filled with Indian (and British) clichés, it is nonetheless a pleasant diversion that doesn't involve special effects or 3D glasses.

REVIEW: BLUE LIKE JAZZ | April 12, 2012
A faith-based film directed by Christian recording artist Steve Taylor, adapted by Taylor and Donald Miller from the latter's 2003 memoir, this micro-budgeted indie tries to appeal to everyone by not offending anyone . . . except those who like movies.