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Hancock

Comedy or existential drama?
By BRETT MICHEL  |  July 1, 2008
1.5 1.5 Stars
hancockINSIDE.jpg

Peter Berg is suffering from an identity crisis. Is he an actor? (See: The Kingdom.) A director? (See: well . . . The Kingdom.) Maybe not the best person with whom to entrust a Will Smith blockbuster. Berg’s latest, which suffers from a major identity crisis midway through, could be the biggest test of Smith’s ability to open a summer “tent-pole” picture since 1999’s equally addled The Wild Wild West. Is it a comedy? An existential drama? Smith plays John Hancock, superbeing and amnesiac. Known less for the crimes he prevents than for the property damage he causes, this drunken, surly “hero” ignores a warrant for his arrest until he saves the life of a naive publicist (Jason Bateman) who despite the better judgment of his wife (Charlize Theron) takes him on as a reclamation project. Will jail time reshape Hancock’s public image? What will restore Smith’s? 92 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Circle + Suburbs
Related: The Pursuit of Happyness, Crossword: ''Why the face?'', Legend of the last, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Celebrity News, Entertainment, Movie Stars,  More more >
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ARTICLES BY BRETT MICHEL
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  •   REVIEW: THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL  |  December 02, 2009
    Have you walked near a college campus lately? You might notice that the ’80s are creeping into fashion, the way the ’70s did a few years back, and with the same lack of irony. It’s happening in cinemas, too — something that’s not entirely unwelcome when it comes to the horror genre.
  •   REVIEW: RED CLIFF  |  November 25, 2009
    Hong Kong auteur John Woo hit commercial and artistic pay dirt in the US with Face/Off , his loopy Nicolas Cage/John Travolta neo-noir, but once he’d directed Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible II , was there anywhere left to go?
  •   INTERVIEW: GABOUREY SIDIBE  |  November 18, 2009
    "While reading the book, I realized that I knew this girl in so many different people. Not just girls but boys, and not just black people but white and Asian and Indian."
  •   REVIEW: MICHAEL JACKSON'S THIS IS IT  |  November 12, 2009
    The Star Wars –style titles that begin Kenny Ortega’s hastily assembled Michael Jackson tribute documentary explain that the film has been whittled down from 100 hours of behind-the-scenes video shot between last April and June during rehearsals for the King of Pop’s planned 50-date “This Is It” London concert series.
  •   INTERVIEW: LONE SCHERFIG  |  November 16, 2009
    Born in Denmark in 1959, Lone Scherfig first gained international attention in 2000 with Italian for Beginners, a charming little film that won her the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. A couple of years later, she followed up with Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, her first English-language effort, filmed in Scotland and starring Adrian Rawlins and Shirley Henderson.

 See all articles by: BRETT MICHEL

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