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WHAT IT'S ABOUT The new movie "The Fallout" tells the story of the aftermath of a high school shooting, focusing on the experiences of four survivors. 
The protagonist is Vada Cavell (Jenna Ortega), who hides in a bathroom stall during the shooting with classmates Mia Reed (Maddie Ziegler) and Quinton Hasland (Niles Fitch). 
While they were not more than acquaintances, at best, before this awful moment, Vada and Mia find themselves drawn together in its wake. They share a sense of loss so overpowering they've become numbed to the rest of the world. 
Quinton must learn how to adapt to a new normal without his brother, a victim of the shooting. The fourth major character, Vada's best friend Nick Feinstein (Will Ropp), becomes motivated by the experience to fight for stricter gun control laws. 
Written and directed by Megan Park in her directorial debut, the movie also features Park's "Secret Life of the American Teenager" co-star Shailene Woodley as a therapist, as well as the excellent actors John Ortiz and Julie Bowen as Vada's parents. 
It's streaming now on HBO Max. 
MY SAY "The Fallout" tells its story in the moments that pass in between the notes — in the close-ups, the silence, the dread. 
It conveys the magnitude of the tragedy at its center through images like a montage of funeral programs piling high in a wooden box, showing us the reverberations of what's happened through a personalized lens. 
It takes a confident filmmaking touch to pull this off in a way that's based in what's tangible and real, foregoing sensationalism to get at something approaching truth. 
The writer-director achieves it first by placing trust in her stars and their ability to keep things engaging, even when they're doing little more than spending time together and trying, if only for a moment, to forget what they've been through. 
Ortega ("You") and Ziegler ("Music") layer Vada and Mia with complications without sacrificing the naturalism that's central to drawing the audience into the story. 
Isolated in their homes — Vada, surrounded by parents and a sister who can't possibly understand what she's been through; Mia left perpetually alone, with parents who are always out of town — they become close. Their relationship develops as a mechanism for processing what's happened, and because they grow to love one another, even beyond the parameters of their shared trauma. 
Similarly, "The Fallout" works as well as it does because Park is attuned to larger ideas — sharply evoking the way in which the stages of grief materialize simultaneously and, often, unexpectedly — without neglecting the importance of conveying those ideas through characters worth caring about. 
The filmmaker takes on a wrenching subject and shapes it into a movie that never looks away, even as it remains painstakingly focused on communicating the impact of those horrors in moments that might otherwise seem ordinary. 
BOTTOM LINE This is an auspicious feature filmmaking debut for Megan Park, a movie that surveys difficult emotional terrain without stepping wrong.

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'The Fallout': Wrenching subject, sensitively told

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WHAT IT'S ABOUT Born in Philadelphia in 1897 — her father John sold coal at Reading Terminal and her mother Annie had been a teacher — Marian Anderson was to become one of the world's leading singers. As this film by Rita Coburn (2017's "Maya Angelou: And I Still Rise") makes so clear, the path forward was complicated. Confronting racism in the U.S., Anderson went to Europe in the early '30s where she achieved worldwide fame, largely as an interpreter of German lieder. The impresario Sol Hurok got her to return to the U.S. and following a 1935 concert at New York's Town Hall, she became a superstar, albeit one who couldn't travel freely in either the south or north. When the Nassau Inn in Princeton refused her accommodation, Albert Einstein invited her to his home instead (she was to return year after year). Anderson was to become a Civil Rights icon but also spent nearly fifty years — quietly — on her farm outside Danbury, Connecticut, with husband architect Orpheus H. "King" Fisher. She died in 1993. 
MY SAY "American Masters'' launched in 1986, to which you might reasonably wonder — what took so long to get around to Marian Anderson? She was the most famous American contralto of the 20th century, while her lists of firsts, from the Lincoln Memorial concert (1939) to the Metropolitan Opera (1955), were to become important landmarks in the Civil Rights movement. Celebrated by presidents and European nobility, she also opened doors for Black operatic stars and helped to keep them open. (She was the first Black artist to sing at the Met). Arturo Toscanini — who ought to know — said after an Anderson concert that "one has an experience like this once in a hundred years." 
Why then so long to experience this portrait? Maybe Anderson herself had something to do with it. During her lifetime, this non-diva neither sought "portraits" nor for that matter renown. With greatness achieved, she also had some measure of greatness thrust upon her. She didn't actively seek a role in the Civil Rights struggle, but her stature as an artist ensured a role nonetheless. After the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let her sing at Washington's Constitution Hall in 1939, Eleanor Roosevelt angrily quit her membership in protest. By quiet contrast, Anderson simply took up an offer to perform at the Lincoln Memorial instead. One of the most celebrated concerts in American history followed and her only apparent concession to the snub heard around the world was to change a single word in "My Country 'Tis of Thee." ("Of thee I sing" became "Of thee WE sing.") 
As this warm, intelligent portrait makes so clear, Anderson's Civil Rights achievements rarely came by way of word or deed, but by example. She never drew attention to herself, but attention came anyway. The triumphant European tours of the '30s were followed by ones in the U.S. which were diminished by the countless humiliations every other Black artist was also forced to absorb. "You'll never please everybody," her mother Annie told her plainly. "Just do the best possible." 
For Anderson, the best possible would be good enough. The mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves explains here that Anderson's "voice carries everything. It has blood in it, memory in it … with that voice, she didn't have to say, 'no this is not right.' Her voice said that." 
 This dignified titan of 20th century music might be pleased by that observation. 
BOTTOM LINE Luminous portrait of a gentle giant.

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'American Masters: Marian Anderson' review: Luminous portrait of a music pioneer

Marian Anderson doc offers a luminous portrait of music pioneer

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An unstable moon, the Earth in peril, a washed-up astronaut looking for redemption — if you’ve never seen a movie in your life, "Moonfall" may strike you as a work of dazzling originality. Or maybe you just haven’t seen a movie in the past two years of the pandemic — in which case, "Moonfall" may be exactly the Hollywood junk food you’ve been craving. 
It’s a big-screen disaster flick directed by a modern master of the genre, Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day," "The Day After Tomorrow," "2012"). His movies tend to combine survival-adventure stories with sudsy subplots — which is to say, they aren’t too far evolved from their 1970s ancestors, like "Airport" or "Earthquake." The formula still works, although in this case "formula" is a generous word. Written by Emmerich with frequent collaborator Harald Kloser (who also helped compose the score) and Spenser Cohen, "Moonfall" is basically a two-hour, greatest-hits compilation of other blockbusters. 
It begins with astronauts Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) and Jo Fowler (Halle Berry) bickering affectionately while fixing a satellite, which is destroyed in a surprise attack. Scapegoated by NASA, Harper loses his job and his wife while Fowler goes on to rise through the ranks. Years later, K.C. Houseman (John Bradley), a lovable conspiracy theorist — remember when we loved those? — goes public with data proving that the moon is drifting dangerously out of orbit. Cue nationwide panic. Cue also Harper’s return to NASA as the only pilot skilled enough to fly a vintage space shuttle carrying a bomb to the moon. 
There are few surprises or new ideas here, but "Moonfall" has an almost refreshing lack of embarrassment about itself. Nearly every scene is a climactic moment, albeit with virtually no connective tissue to explain why things are happening or even how the characters got from one location to another. "Moonfall" doesn’t care about such details, and it knows you don’t either — we’re all just here for the rousing speech, the implausible car chase, the "Take my hand!" cliffhanger. 
How are the special effects? Passable. How’s the acting? Not bad, considering the dialogue. "Moonfall" is such a canny simulation of a Hollywood movie that it could have been generated by an AI. "It’s some kind of gyroscopic system," says one character. "It’s some kind of self-aware, self-generating singularity," says another. And yet another: "We’ve downloaded your consciousness." 
Depending on your mood and level of generosity, "Moonfall" is either an egregious rip-off or a howling good time. This movie will download your consciousness — and feed it right back to you.

Movies

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'Moonfall' review: Astronaut drama is a guilty pleasure at best

'Moonfall': Astronaut drama is a guilty pleasure at best

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WHAT IT’S ABOUT "Home Team" features Kevin James as pro football coach Sean Payton, who,after being hired in 2006, transformed the New Orleans Saints from a losing team into the Super Bowl XLIV champions. That underdog story would have made a great sports drama — that is, if Payton hadn’t later been implicated in "Bountygate," a headline-grabbing scandal in which the NFL accused Saints players of injuring opponents to earn personal bounties ($400 for a "whack," $1,000 for a "cart-off"). 
Following an investigation, Payton was suspended for the 2012 season — the league’s first-ever suspension of a head coach — and returned the next year. (In January, he announced he was stepping down.) 
"Home Team" begins post-scandal, as the disgraced coach packs his bags for Argyle, Tx., where his ex-wife, Beth (Jackie Sandler), lives with their sixth grader, Connor (Tait Blum). Payton is hoping to reconnect with the kid, who just happens to play for his school’s chronically losing football team, the Liberty Christian Warriors. Payton can’t resist giving head coach Troy Lambert (Taylor Lautner) a few pointers — and before long, Payton is once again wearing a whistle and hoping to lead a team to victory. 
MY SAY The last few years have seen a mini-trend of what you might call sympathy-for-the-devil movies. The first was 2017’s "I, Tonya," a high-spirited take on the disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie). In 2018, "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" cast Melissa McCarthy as Lee Israel, a forger who fooled the literary world. This year’s "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" saluted the televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker (Jessica Chastain) for daring to embrace the gay community. 
As redemption stories go, "Home Team" doesn’t quite make the cut. It’s not that Payton is unforgivable; in fact, Long Island native James uses his salt-of-the-earth appeal to quickly get us on the coach’s side. The problem is that "Home Team" is a family film, meant to be watched by kids roughly Connor’s age, and those kids deserve some straight talk from Payton about his mistakes. Instead, "Home Team" skirts the issue and lets its hero off lightly. 
That’s too bad, because the movie has its moments. The young Warriors are a motley crew straight out of "The Bad News Bears," and the scandal-tarred Payton sometimes resembles a wholesome version of Burt Reynolds’ Paul Crewe in "The Longest Yard." Rob Schneider gets in a few laughs as Beth’s new husband, Jamie, an emasculated New Ager, while football fans will enjoy the cameos from sportscaster Dan Patrick, former Steelers coach Bill Cowher and others. It’s all breezily directed by Charles and Daniel Kinnane from a script by Chris Titone and Keith Blum. 
"Home Team" has a couple of major blind sides. For one, as woebegone as the Warriors are, it’s hard not to feel sorry for opposing teams who aren’t coached by a 30-year professional with a Super Bowl championship ring. (The coach for the Porcupines, played by a memorable Isaiah Mustafa, goes almost insane with glee after winning against Payton). Then there’s the moment when Connor courageously asks his father about the bounties. We’re expecting the heartfelt truth, but Payton’s answer -- "It’s complicated" — barely rises to the level of cop-out. 
Maybe it’s foolish to expect more from a Netflix comedy produced by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison company. (Yes, that’s the producer’s wife as Beth; his nephew, Jared Sandler, plays a spacey hotel clerk.) Still, why not tackle notions of wrongdoing and forgiveness head-on? In the end, "Home Team" is a movie with no take-home message. 
BOTTOM LINE A true story that shies away from the truth.<a data-onecms-id="contentid/storywidget.1.50496002" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="#/content/contentid/storywidget.1.50496002">Story Widget Link</a>

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'Home Team' review: Kevin James football comedy fumbles

'Home Team':  Kevin James football comedy fumbles

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WHAT IT'S ABOUT In February, 1995, after a hurry-up courtship — very hurry-up — actor Pamela Anderson (Lily James) and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) were married. The happy newlyweds then proceeded to make a home tape — an infamous one. Lee later stored this "sex tape" in a safe back in the garage of his palatial Malibu estate, then forgot about it. This eight-parter — produced by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Robert Siegel — explores what happened next: Lee hired, then fired, a carpenter and one-time porn actor, Rand Gauthier (Rogen) who sought revenge and compensation by robbing Lee's home. Instead of ready cash, Gauthier found that safe and that tape, which he then took to a porn producer, one "Uncle Miltie '' (Nick Offerman.) How to sell a stolen tape? That's at the heart of "Pam &amp; Tommy," which then explores how the sex tape was ultimately sold to Seattle-based pornographer and internet entrepreneur Seth Warshavsky (Fred Hechinger, "The White Lotus") who made millions off it. 
MY SAY There were probably few ways anyone associated with the Tommy Lee/Pam Anderson sex tape came out looking good back in the '90s, and not all that many ways they do here either. The optics in this series can be pretty bleak, notably one scene in the second episode meant to be funny but is shocking and revolting instead. 
 In fact, comedy usually is the intention here until it's not. "Pam &amp; Tommy" wants to be (and occasionally is) slapstick in the early episodes, then morphs into "Boogie Nights" and finally FX's "American Crime Story" by the middle and late ones. Porn gives way to story lines about evolving fair use laws, and how a new technology (the internet) was to shape the public consumption of private lives. The pornography industry itself was about to be revolutionized by Pam and Tommy and their tape. There's a lot of that here too. 
But what this eight-parter really wants to do — and almost does — is re-humanize a dehumanized Anderson, by turning her into a proto-feminist who goes to battle over her dignity and personal privacy. By the outset, she's already been commodified by a world of leering "Baywatch" fans and a hypersexualized TV industry. She's fallen and is about to fall some more. 
That's the setup and to an extent the series, too. So what then is the problem? One is that "Pam &amp; Tommy '' can't get out of its own way, or out of the way of those optics. It begins with a pair of caricatures (Pam and Tommy) so vivid that by the third episode it becomes nearly impossible to see them as anything else — the tabloid Pam and Tommy who nearly broke the baby internet. Stan's Tommy Lee is an obnoxious boor with a short fuse. James, who's good in this, does give Anderson an extra dimension, but rarely agency. She's the victim of her own fame and her own decisions — poor ones, for the most part — but never quite understands why she is. Self-reflection is not one of Pam Anderson's strong suits in this portrayal. 
Then, there's everyone else — losers and hardcores, low-rent crooks and hustlers, like Rogen's Gauthier and his pal, Uncle Miltie. (Andrew Dice Clay also has a cameo in this, as a mobster who buys the tape.) No one comes out well here, and nothing comes of nothing. It's a miserable payoff, the journey not much better. Worse, you'll need a long shower after watching. 
 BOTTOM LINE James is good in this; otherwise dumb … and dumber.

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'Pam & Tommy' review: You'll need a long shower after watching this 8-parter

'Pam & Tommy': You'll need a long shower after watching

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WHAT IT'S ABOUT "A Hero," the new movie from the renowned Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, tells the story of a man named Rahim (Amir Jadidi), serving a prison term for failing to repay a debt. During a two-day leave in the city of Shiraz, he becomes swept up in a drama that becomes a media sensation. 
His girlfriend Farkhondeh (Sahar Goldoost) has found a handbag filled with gold coins, which Rahim decides to return to its rightful owner, instead of keeping to pay off his debt. When the TV cameras are made aware of this and feature the story, doubts about the veracity of the tale begin to spread. 
Any new movie by Farhadi, a two-time Academy Award winner for his films "A Separation" and "The Salesman," stands as a major event for fans of international cinema. "A Hero" is streaming on Prime Video. 
MY SAY Over the course of a career that has spanned nine feature directorial efforts, Farhadi has established a particularly keen sense of how to make movies that are both deeply personal and highly political. 
That's not to suggest his work trades in obvious statements or empty platitudes. Farhadi is too smart for that. His preferred method tends to be naturalistic understatement. 
That allows for work that belies easy processing. Stories of families stressed by familiar challenges become entwined with larger questions about societal values. 
"A Hero" revolves around a media frenzy and the way it impacts the protagonist and the people closest to him. But whereas an American movie on the subject might be swept up in the noise, Farhadi opts for quiet. 
He maintains his focus on Rahim and his family as they experience this sudden swirl of attention and the questions that come with it. 
Jadidi's performance forgoes theatrics for small but meaningful gestures: a proud smile as he's hailed for his honesty by neighbors, relatives and especially his son; a dead stare that's latent with the weight of the past when his conduct is questioned. 
And there's a pervasive mystery: we don't actually know much about Rahim, what he has done to land himself in this position, or how sincere he's being about any of it. 
There's a rich sense of this man, even in a performance captured largely through reactions to others, amid a screenplay that's purposefully elliptical in the ways it presents the protagonist. That's enhanced by his epic struggle to prove his trustworthiness in a society that has placed many roadblocks in his path. 
With a feeling of deep loneliness looming above it all, Farhadi utilizes these ambiguities to pursue a story that questions whether Rahim's conduct is really that of a hero, or, as a character says, simply a person "not doing wrong." There are no answers, but there's a lot to recognize in this allegorical tale, and even more worth thinking about. 
BOTTOM LINE "A Hero" is not the most essential Farhadi movie, but its best qualities exemplify what makes him such an important filmmaker.

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'A Hero' review: Powerful tale from Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi

'A Hero': Iranian filmmaker's powerful tale

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If you've ever tried to start your vehicle on a cold morning only to hear the dreaded clicking noise, you know the importance of getting a quick jump. This once meant relying on the kindness of strangers or calling a tow truck, but fortunately now there's also another option available: the portable jump starter. These three chargers are some of the most dependable you'll encounter. 
WHAT Antigravity Batteries XP-10 HD Micro-Start 
THE COST $199.99 
AVAILABLE FROM <a href="https://antigravitybatteries.com/products/micro-starts/xp-10/">antigravitybatteries.com</a> 
The best portable jump starter battery also has a bit more kick 
This is the latest iteration of Antigravity's top-rated XP-10 car jump starter. It has all the same features as its smaller brethren, including the multimode LED flashlight with a strobe and multiple charging options for electronic devices, but the heavy duty car battery jump starter can deliver an extra 50 amps of peak starting jolt. It also comes with all-copper, heavy-duty commercial grade battery jumper cable clamps. 

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WHAT DeWalt Digital Portable Power Station DXEJ14 
THE COST $179.99 
AVAILABLE FROM <a href="https://www.dewalt.com/products/accessories/batteries-and-chargers/chargers/1400-peak-amp-professional-jump-starter/dxaej14">dewalt.com</a> 
The DeWalt DXEJ14 has an expansive 21-amp-hour battery, an onboard compressor and a patented feature that can tell you if your vehicle's alternator is operating on all cylinders. 
There are also a light and USB ports, but the DeWalt's biggest draw is the power in its initial jump-start jolt. At 700 cranking amps, it's rated among the most powerful portables on the market. 

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WHAT Schumacher Ultracapacitor Hybrid Jump Starter 
THE COST $251.398 
AVAILABLE FROM <a href="https://www.homedepot.com/p/Schumacher-Electric-900-Cranking-Amp-Ultra-Cap-Lithium-Hybrid-Jump-Starter-DSR132/316106578?=&amp;irgwc=1&amp;cm_mmc=afl-ir-159047-456723-cnet&amp;clickid=y05QwLy%3A7xyIUoQ0wPQKZWq2UkGyFbWh1yssVQ0">homedepot.com</a> 
This one violates the spirit of this list because it's only a jump starter — no LED flashlight, USB charge port or anything else. It made it because it's really cool, as it applies the next wave in electrical storage technology: ultracapacitors. 
Once referred to as condensers, capacitors store energy electrostatically in an electric field. Compared to chemical-based batteries, they store relatively little energy, but the advantages are significant. Modern ultracapacitors can absorb energy quickly and dump it in big jolts, as opposed to something more like a trickle with a battery. And they can operate effectively in a broader temperature range than most batteries. That makes them perfect for jumping a weak car battery. 
The Schumacher delivers 900 amps of cranking power, which should fire just about anything up to a semi-truck. It has a small, replaceable lithium ion battery to prime the ultracapacitors, but if the onboard battery is drained it will still prep the ultracapacitors in roughly two minutes on a 12-volt charge from a vehicle.

Business

Technology

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Portable jump starters that will get your motor running

Portable jump starters to get your motor running

Wallace Shawn plays Mort Rifkin, a former film professor and aspiring novelist, who attends the San Sebastian International Film Festival in Woody Allen’s 49th feature, "Rifkin’s Festival." Mort is the latest in a long line of Allenesque heroes, a self-absorbed nebbish full of existential dread and nagging suspicions about his wife. She’s a beautiful publicist, Sue (Gina Gershon), who is assigned to babysit Philippe (Louis Garrel), a handsome French director with an outsized opinion of his importance. Philippe believes, for instance, that his latest drama could bring peace between Israel and Palestine. 
Mort’s reaction: "I’m glad he’s turning to science fiction." 
That may be the funniest line in "Rifkin’s Festival," which tells you how tepid and tuned-out this movie is. It was filmed in the summer of 2019 during Allen’s dizzying fall from grace — accused by his daughter of sexual molestation, denounced by Hollywood’s A-list, dropped from a multi-film deal with Amazon — but you’ll find no clues or references to any of that here. Instead, Allen retreats into his most familiar tropes: the fear of death, the meaning of life, the allure of women, the comfort of old movies. If anything, Allen — via Mort — seems to be plugging his ears to the outside world. Contemporary politics is just trivial noise, Mort tells his wife, compared to "the big questions — what’s it all about?" 
Those who grew up on Allen's movies may feel a twinge of sympathy for Mort, a lover of cinema still clinging to its storied past. "Film festivals are no longer what they were," he tells his therapist. Wandering around San Sebastian, and between rendezvous with an attractive doctor, Joanna (Elena Anaya), Mort loses himself in black-and-white reveries modeled on the great works, including Orson Welles’ "Citizen Kane," Luis Buñuel’s "The Exterminating Angel" (look for Massapequa's Steve Guttenberg as Mort’s glib brother, Jake) and Ingmar Bergman’s "The Seventh Seal," which features an amusing Christoph Waltz as Death. These segments, however, only prove Mort’s/Allen’s point: They’re based on movies that are surely losing their relevance to current audiences. What’s more, Allen has done this homage routine before, in "Stardust Memories," "Love and Death" and other, more inspired films. 
It’s tempting to view "Rifkin’s Festival" as a final referendum on a once universally admired filmmaker. In reality, it’s merely another halfhearted effort, the kind we’ve seen from Allen many times before. The question, at this strange juncture in his career, is what comes next.

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'Rifkin's Festival' review: Woody Allen's 49th film is tepid and tuned-out

'Rifkin's Festival': Woody Allen's 49th film is tepid and tuned-out

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"A Previous Life," Edmund White’s 30th book and 13th novel, is a deceptive puzzle. Underneath the sumptuous scenes, rarefied cultural circles and vivid erotic encounters, there is a deep and complex meditation on mortality, memory and loneliness. In White’s universe, the superficial and the profound are both found in the aesthetic. 
Like Philip Roth or Charlie Kaufman, White takes a meta-approach, creating a character named Edmund White who has written a book titled "A Previous Life." It's a device that allows for unforgiving, hilarious introspection and self-abasement. Though the novel dwells in fictional places, the verisimilitude is unflinching. 
There is a sense of dangerous memoir and personal revelation, an author on the verge of telling too much about too many as the voices and names and faces and lives of secondary and tertiary characters emerge from the shadows of Italian villas, French chalets, New York brownstones, and Fire Island bungalows. 
The story, which is mainly set in 2050, centers on Ruggero, a Sicilian aristocrat; his younger American wife, Constance; and Edmund White, with whom Ruggero once had an affair. Though Ruggero and Constance’s previous marriages had been ruined by a surplus of honesty, the couple agree to write about their past sexual and romantic episodes, thus the revelation of Ruggero’s hot fling with White. 
Ruggero and Constance’s accounts get into their childhoods, families, glories and humiliations. Their recollections parry — respond to each, spite one another. A wounded competitiveness takes shape, but there is also growing compassion and concern. 
"No wonder Constance is so insecure around me," writes Ruggero. "She may be young, but she’s already lived through so much exploitation and abandonment. She’s been raped by an abusive ‘uncle,’ she’s been robbed by her first husband and humiliated by the second." 
The life in "A Previous Life" is so vibrant that everything from Greco-Roman lore to the Renaissance and on through all movements in art, philosophy, and society leading to the 19th century are present in White’s 21st century. Not just present, but rich, vital, and necessary. And since the novel is set nearly 30 years into the future, contemporary news like the coronavirus pandemic is old history that is reflected on. 
Amid the rigorous discussion of antiques, classical music, ancient civilizations, Mediterranean mythologies, and high contemporary culture, there are considerable sexual exploits that are titillating but never vulgar. One of White’s innumerable gifts is that he can write frankly and graphically about sex and still find nuance, sanctity, and elevation. 
Though his prose moves the compelling plot along swiftly, White surreptitiously whittles away toward a psychodynamic core. It’s easy to forget how fulfilling and inventive his ideas and characters are as his language and storytelling have never been simultaneously more satisfying, precise, and alert. There are lines that you will reread multiple times for the pure joy of their music. 
In White’s novel, Fire Island takes on mythic dimensions. The Pines is heaven and hell on the beach, in the woods. "Everything was seductive. The clandestine lovers, tentative and delicate like deer. The passing boom of big New York gay male voices joking and laughing. [An] exciting and depressing" [place] "where everyone was as masculine or muscular as a gigolo on the Riviera but here they were lawyers and doctors or real estate scions. To bring all these interchangeable Princes Charming together, each of whom had thought he was unique before and each of whom longed to be the chosen one, the Cinderella, and to show them they were all alike or even interchangeable members of the chorus." [Fire Island] is "a race that nobody wins, no matter how much facial surgery you have, no matter how much weight you lift or lose, no matter how great a fortune you earn, you’ll always be one year older than you were last year." 
The fixation on physical beauty in all its forms, human and inanimate, is rooted in an anxiety centering on deterioration and death. "I suppose death is the mother of beauty because only evanescent things move us, they alone tell us in confidence that they are sublime." 
White’s 2020 "A Saint From Texas," about twin sisters, may arguably be his best work of fiction, but "A Previous Life" might be his true masterpiece.

Books

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'A Previous Life' review: Exploits from France to Fire Island

'A Previous Life': Fire Island and more hot spots

In "The King’s Daughter," Kaya Scodelario plays Marie-Josèphe D’Alember, a young woman raised in a convent. Headstrong and rebellious, but musically gifted, she is one day whisked away to Versailles to compose a new piece for King Louis XIV (Pierce Brosnan). There’s little mystery about their relationship — see the film’s title — but there is a twist to this story in the form of a captive mermaid who must be rescued from a terrible fate. 
It’s all awfully familiar: The vaguest outlines of "The Princess Diaries," a little something from "The Sound of Music" (in fact, our narrator is Julie Andrews) and a magical creature for good measure. You might chalk up all the borrowed material to a lack of originality, but I suspect it’s intentional. "The King’s Daughter" feels like the kind of movie we’re going to see a lot more of: basically, a checklist of search terms, designed to pop up in your "recommendations" after you’ve exhausted all of your old favorites. 
Very young viewers may not mind. Scodelario, a veteran of YA movies ("The Maze Runner" franchise), makes for a serviceable princess-in-commoner’s clothing, even if her love interest, the sailor Yves De La Croix (Benjamin Walker, her real-life spouse), is little more than a longhaired cutie in a leather vest. (The stylized costumes are generally unconvincing, less Ancien Régime than Early MTV.) As for that mermaid, played by Fan Bingbing, she has been altered by CGI into a stiff, dead-eyed creature — ironic, since she supposedly holds the key to eternal life. 
Here and there, though, "The King’s Daughter" will suddenly strive for period authenticity and a sense of complexity. (The screenplay is by Barry Berman, of "Benny &amp; Joon," and James Schamus, of "Brokeback Mountain," from a novel by Vonda N. McIntyre.) There are nods to actual events, such as France’s nearing bankruptcy, and several smart scenes between Brosnan as the rather louche Sun King and a wry William Hurt as his confessor, Père La Chaise (surely inspired by the Jesuit priest whose name graces the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris). What’s more, director Sean McNamara ("Soul Surfer") filmed on location in Versailles, which means those lavish gardens, vast courtyards and dizzying ballrooms are the real deal. 
If this movie had given into its better instincts and higher aspirations, it might have risen above its station. Instead, "The King’s Daughter" seems perfectly willing to satisfy the least demanding viewers.

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'The King's Daughter' review: Generic combination of royal-themed fairy tale, magical fantasy

'The King's Daughter': Where's the originality?

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WHAT IT'S ABOUT Agnes Van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) and her sister Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon) look on in dismay as a huge mansion goes up across from their more modest one on 61st Street. In 1882, new money is flowing into Manhattan along with the newly rich, including railroad baron George Russell (Morgan Spector) and his ambitious wife Bertha (Carrie Coon), who are building this monument to their glory. Agnes — especially displeased with these interlopers — gets another unwelcome surprise: Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson, youngest daughter of Meryl Streep), the penniless daughter of her feckless brother, now deceased, is moving in with them, along with a friend, Peggy Scott (Denée Benton). She's a young Black woman and aspiring writer who helped pay Marian's way to New York from Pennsylvania. 
Much of this nine-parter — written and created by "Downton Abbey's" Julian Fellowes — was shot at a set at Old Bethpage Village Restoration and a soundstage at the Gold Coast Studios in Bethpage. 
MY SAY "The Gilded Age" is a whole new world for Fellowes and in obvious ways, the same-old same-old too. That clash of past and future, change and stasis, tradition and modernity also played out over six seasons on "Downton," which wrapped in 2016. Here the pace is quickened, albeit by degrees. A building boom has swallowed upper Manhattan and the robber barons have breached the city gates. The new money (Bertha) is ruthless while the old money (Agnes) resolute. "Downton" fans will recall a sideshow variation of this — Maggie Smith's Lady Violet vs. Shirley MacLaine's Martha Levinson — but in "The Gilded Age" this rivalry is the show. 
Also like "Downton" (and Fellowes' "Gosford Park" long before), there's an "upstairs" setting (for the blue bloods) and a "downstairs" one (for the servants), where the lines of class and position are strictly observed, but the winds of envy, malice and spite blow with equal force. Meanwhile, up or down, the plot is driven by the slow accretion of details that pile up, grain by grain, until the force of gravity topples them over by the final act. 
What? And you were expecting a "Gangs of New York" remake here maybe? 
In fact, it's helpful to remember what makes a Fellowes production so appealing and which holds especially true here: The view. Legendary production designer Bob Shaw ("The Irishman," "The Sopranos") was handed a large check and spent every dime of it on some jaw-dropping sets. Every fashion detail — right down to the tucks, frills, and lace trimmings on the evening wear — is flawless, too, while everyone looks like they just stepped out of a John Singer Sargent portrait. 
 "The Gilded Age" is indeed gorgeous but that view also distracts from the flaws. Characters tend to be types rather than real people (a "Downton" defect, too.) Fellowes loves his characters far too much to mistreat them, so each is endowed with a fundamental decency, the resident robber baron included. A sentimental glow enfolds "The Gilded Age." 
Moreover, that plotline about race (Benton's Peggy Scott) feels obligatory over the early episodes instead of organic. Reconstruction was brutally put down just a few years before the events of "The Gilded Age" so it's safe to assume Peggy's story is more complex than anyone else's here. Even nine hours couldn't begin to explore by just how much. 
But come for that view, and this cast, and Fellowes' peerless talent for world-building — or at least a to-the-manor-born world. Don't come for any fresh insights into the American character. This is mostly fantasy, not a history lesson. 
BOTTOM LINE Beautiful production with a long windup.

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'The Gilded Age' review: Drama from 'Downton Abbey' creator is  fantasy, not history lesson

'The Gilded Age': Fantasy, not a history lesson

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WHAT IT'S ABOUT Three twentysomethings who are on the spectrum — Jack (Rick Glassman), Violet (Sue Ann Pien) and Harrison (Albert Rutecki) — live together in an LA apartment, under the watchful eye of caregiver Mandy (Sosie Bacon). Each is unique in his or her own way. Jack, for example, is a brilliant programmer and someone whose social skills are (to put it delicately) not conducive to a workplace environment. Same with Violet, who works behind the counter at a local fast-food place, and overshares with customers. Harrison, meanwhile, has phobias — even to the point of walking alone outside. Mandy helps where she can, but has an eye on her own future (she wants to get into medical school). The three depend on her, and others too: Violet is reliant on her older brother Van (Chris Pang), while Jack is particularly close to his father (Joe Mantegna). 
 This comes from Jason Katims, who found TV superstardom with "Friday Night Lights," later "Parenthood." 
MY SAY "As We See It" is as you might expect, or at least expect from a Jason Katims show — specifically those classic series adaptations of the movies "Friday Night Lights" and "Parenthood" which were so vastly more resonant than their source material. (While Katims wrote "FNL," Peter Berg was creator.) What resonated most was that blend of pathos with comedy, and especially that sense — in the stray emotional moment — that here lay Truth. People (mistakenly) go about their lives believing they know what's going on in their own heads so imagine their confusion, turmoil and occasional sheer elation in trying to figure out what's going on in someone else's too, as Katims' characters so often did? 
His shows found their stories (and drama) in the most obvious of places, but "As We See It" mixes up the formula, or reverses the order, by taking us to a place that may not be familiar at all, while the dramatic outcome is far from certain. Inside the heads of Jack, Violet and Harrison, we see the world as they see it, in all its manifest glory and absurdity. That's the turmoil and (occasionally) sheer elation here, often the comedy, too. 
This eight-parter opens with Mandy and Harrison's shoulders — so to speak — to the door, ready to push their way into the outside world where chaos is king. There are monsters out there, or at least traffic noises, rushing cars, and a passing dog. Each is an obstacle, but taken together, they are insurmountable for Harrison who makes his way forward as if he's negotiating a minefield. 
By contrast, Jack and Violet are flummoxed by a world that refuses to conform to the terms they have set for it. Because Violet has learned everything she knows about love (and sex) from Instagram, her expectations are brutally, inevitably dashed. And like Sheldon of "The Big Bang Theory," Jack is smarter than everyone and aggrieved with those who can't see what he so easily can, notably that boss who doesn't like to be called an idiot during staff meetings. 
Jack, Violet and Harrison are "on the spectrum," but in wildly different places on that spectrum. Like everyone else, they have dreams and busted dreams. They can be funny, often unintentionally, but are never tragic. They forge ahead, with the help of those who esteem them, like Mandy (Bacon, the daughter of Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, is excellent here) and Jack's father (Mantegna too, needless to say). They're real people with real problems in an all-too-real world. "As We See It," in other words, is the perfect Katims show. 
BOTTOM LINE Best TV newcomer of the new year so far.

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'As We See It' review: The best new series so far of 2022

'As We See It': The best new series so far of 2022

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WHAT IT'S ABOUT Sophie (Hilary Duff) is a New York based-photographer just getting her career on track while her love life veers badly off. She's just met a nice guy via Tinder, Ian (Daniel Augustin, "David Makes Man") but there's a complication (he's about to move to Australia). Her roommate, Valentina (Francia Raisa, "Grown-ish"), is just back from London Fashion Week with new boyfriend, Charlie (Tom Ainsley). Then, after meeting Jesse (Christopher Lowell, "GLOW") and his friend Sid (Suraj Sharma,"God Friended Me") — who is trying to get a new bar off the ground — during an Uber ride, Sophie's prospects either improve or lead to another dead end. Viewers won't know which until the series' end because like "How I Met Your Mother,'' this is all about Sophie telling her son in the year 2050 (Kim Cattrall plays the future Sophie, reclining on a couch, sipping chardonnay) how she indeed met his father. 
MY SAY The shaggiest shaggy dog story in prime-time history ran for eight seasons beginning in the mid-aughts and proceeded on the dubious assumption that "the kids'' really did want dad (Josh Radnor) to tell them how he met their mom — over 208 episodes no less. This shaggy dog nonetheless became both a hit and a cultural force, and seemed to square the zeitgeist circa 2005-14 with the ageless challenge of finding one's soul mate. "HIMYM" also had a compelling narrative hook, or something called "causation," which meant that the most innocuous act could (and did) lead to the most consequential ones (meeting mom, for example). 
The shaggy dog is back, with some key differences. Foremost, Hulu's "HIMYF" almost petulantly refuses to be called a "reboot," but instead says on screen that it was "inspired by" the old CBS hit. While the distinction might seem semantic, the cast here is in fact diverse ("HIMYM" wasn't remotely) and the story is framed in the right-here-right-now, with smartphones, serial dating, swipe right (or left) and the overwhelming challenge of finding true love in the age of Tinder. There's no character remotely like Neil Patrick Harris' (now) deeply problematic Barney Stinson, "HIMYM's" serial womanizer and #MeToo sexual harassment lawsuit waiting-to-happen. In "How I Met Your Father," everyone is clueless and looking for love in the all the wrong places — the cellphone, mostly — and coming up short. 
In fact, no one has the dating game figured out because dating has become as momentous as taking an Uber or swiping a DM. Microdating is the norm, with its own lingua franca — submarining, ghosting, breadcrumbing, benching — and acronym salad. How did Sophie meet the kids' father? You may be certain she managed after navigating a DTR (Define the Relationship), the occasional FWB (Friends with Benefits), and finally agreeing to an IRL (meeting someone offline). 
If this sounds depressing — and let's face it, this pretty much is — then "How I Met Your Father" has an obvious workaround, or a couple of them. It's a familiar sitcom with familiar beats, and stars a particularly familiar lead who brings a nostalgic vibe to an essentially wistful enterprise. "How I Met Your Father" is for anyone who grew up on Duff's "Lizzie McGuire" or "Drake and Josh" (Josh Peck joins in a later episode) and may be wondering right now why romance is so tragically out of reach circa 2022. All evidence to the contrary, at least this "inspired by" reboot offers a glint of optimism. 
 BOTTOM LINE The shaggy dog is back with some updated touches, a good cast, and familiar sitcom energy. Otherwise, swipe left.

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'How I Met Your Father' review: The shaggy-dog story returns

'How I Met Your Father': The shaggy-dog story returns

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WHAT IT'S ABOUT "Hotel Transylvania: Transformania," the fourth movie in the megapopular animated series that began in 2012, finds Dracula (Brian Hull, replacing Adam Sandler) at a personal crossroads. 
The count plans to retire from his role as the proprietor of his hotel for monsters, handing over the keys to daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and his mortal son-in-law Johnny (Andy Samberg). 
There's just one problem, as anyone familiar with the franchise surely knows: Dracula can't trust the annoyingly earnest Johnny to maintain the hotel as he'd like it. 
Desperate to impress his father-in-law once and for all, Johnny figures that becoming more like him might just be the way to do it. Conveniently enough, Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan), living in the hotel's basement, has a device that turns humans into monsters and vice versa. 
Johnny becomes a monster, Dracula accidentally turns back into a human and the device promptly breaks. So we join Johnny and Dracula on a "Jungle Cruise"-like journey in South America on a quest to reverse things. 
MY SAY First, an admission: There won't be any deep-rooted analysis of where "Hotel Transylvania: Transformania" stands within the franchise canon in this review, because this critic had been totally unfamiliar with the series until now. 
But, let's be honest: we're not exactly talking about the Marvel Cinematic Universe here. One need not be well acquainted with every twist and turn in this nearly decadelong "Transylvania" journey to recognize exactly what's going on with this fourth movie. 
The basic formula: Funny and charming gags, such as monsters bogeying down to the "Cha Cha Slide," mix well with in-jokes about these mythical figures, voiced by an all-star ensemble (not just Samberg and Gomez, but Kathryn Hahn, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, Keegan-Michael Key, David Spade and others). 
The conceit works well enough to mostly distract from the tired adventure movie plot. Journeys in search of MacGuffins in the South American rainforest have been such a cinematic standard for so long that any return to the setting almost by default signifies a lack of creativity. 
It's also rather strange listening to Hull (a noted impressionist) step in for Sandler and offer his best attempt at mimicking the Sandman's distinctive goofy vocal patterns. It's not an exact parallel, but the film evokes some memories of the "Aladdin" sequel "The Return of Jafar," where Dan Castellaneta replaced Robin Williams. Some people are irreplaceable. 
It's unclear why Sandler and, for that matter, the Stony Brook-raised Kevin James (who played Frank, aka Frankenstein's Monster, in the first three movies), aren't back for this sequel when the rest of the A-list cast has returned. 
But, who are we kidding, the target audience for "Hotel Transylvania: Transformania," won't notice any of this. For them, the movie delivers the goods. 
BOTTOM LINE Parents eagerly anticipating this picture along with their young children won't be disappointed — it has enough freshness and spontaneity to justify its existence.

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'Hotel Transylvania: Transformania' review:  Parents and kids won't be disappointed

'Hotel Transylvania: Transformania': Parents and kids won't be disappointed

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Before we get into the details of "Scream," the fifth installment in the dormant horror franchise, let’s talk nomenclature. Is this a sequel or a reboot? The former is what we typically call any movie with a numeral after its title; the latter is Hollywood marketing-speak for remake. "Scream" takes its title from the original 1996 film but puts itself into a whole different category. As one media-savvy character suggests, it's a requel. 
To hear the term explained fully, you’ll have to see the movie. Disregard the dismal January release date, the too-long gap since the previous entry (2011’s "Scream 4") and the fact that this is the first in the franchise not directed by the late Wes Craven ("A Nightmare on Elm Street"). This new "Scream" is a refreshingly smart, funny, fast-paced splatter flick. Like its predecessors, it plays with the conventions of its genre and pays homage to the very classics it’s mocking ("Halloween," "Friday the 13th," even "Psycho"), but it also touches on new cultural forces that didn’t exist in the original film — namely, social media, toxic fandom and the dubious concept of "elevated horror." 
We pick up with yet another copycat killer wearing the now-famous "Ghostface" mask and terrorizing the California town of Woodsboro. After young Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) barely survives a stabbing, her estranged older sister, Sam (Melissa Barrera, "In the Heights"), returns home to help. Sam is keeping a dark secret that — mild spoiler — will resonate strongest with longtime fans of the series. 
Tara’s Woodsboro friends, who already know the Ghostface M.O. (don’t forget, their town inspired a movie franchise within this franchise, "Stab"), quickly realize that one of them is the killer. Could it be Amber (Mikey Madison), who has a crush on Tara? What about Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown), a horror-film expert who’s always one step ahead? Or Wes (Dylan Minnette), the oh-so-innocent son of Sheriff Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton, reprising her role)? 
The young actors are uniformly appealing, but the best moments come from the original series’ core cast of Neve Campbell as hardened survivor Sidney Prescott, Courteney Cox as the ambitious journalist Gale Weathers and a show-stealing David Arquette as her onetime husband, Sheriff Dewey Riley. These now-seasoned actors seem to share a bond, particularly real-life former spouses Arquette and Cox, who strike a surprisingly emotional chord in this otherwise breezy-and-bloody entertainment. 
Briskly directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett from a fun-loving script by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, "Scream" manages to jump-start an old story, pay tribute to its past and maybe even pass the torch. Is there anything else a requel is supposed to do?

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'Scream' review: Franchise's fifth film is smart, funny, fast-paced

'Scream':  Fifth installment is smart, funny, fast-paced

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On the hunt for headphones with great sound? If you want to go easy on your wallet, we've got a list of the best cheap true wireless earbuds However, if you want to find the absolute best-sounding wireless earbuds, the hard truth is you'll need to spend more -- a lot more, in some cases. 
Below are three of CNET's picks for best-sounding wireless earbuds, with a breakdown of features, including performance, noise cancellation, battery life, audio quality and how comfortable they are. 
WHAT Sony WF-1000XM4 
THE COST $279.99 
AVAILABLE FROM <a href="https://www.sony.com/lr/electronics/truly-wireless/wf-1000xm4">sony.com</a> 
No earbuds are perfect, of course, and not everybody will love the fit of the Sony WF-1000XM4 buds or be able to afford their high price. But if you're looking for great-sounding earbuds with brilliant noise canceling, solid voice-calling capabilities and good battery life, these buds check all the boxes. 
While Bowers &amp; Wilkins PI7, which was also tested, may just be the best-sounding true-wireless earbuds out there right now, the Sony WF-1000XM4's noise canceling and headset performance is superior. They also cost $120 less. 

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 <img alt="" src="/image-service/alias/contentid/image.1.50474158/1.50474158.jpg?f=default"> 
 <figcaption></figcaption> 
</figure>
 
WHAT Beats Fit Pro 
THE COST $199.99 
AVAILABLE FROM <a href="https://www.beatsbydre.com/earbuds/beats-fit-pro">beatsbydre.com</a> 
Hot on the heels of the third-generation AirPods, Apple has another new set of earbuds, this time from its subsidiary audio company, Beats. Technically, the new Beats Fit Pro aren't AirPods, but they're built on the same tech platform as the AirPods Pro. 
Unlike Beats' earlier, less expensive Studio Buds, the Beats Fit Pro include Apple's H1 chip and have most of the AirPods Pro's features, including active noise canceling, spatial audio and Adaptive EQ. 

<figure class="image2 image" data-attr-f="default" data-attr-img-credits="" data-attr-img-height="" data-attr-img-width="" data-attr-show-caption="true" data-href="#/content/contentid/image.1.50474159" data-onecms-id="contentid/image.1.50474159" data-onecms-type="image">
 <img alt="" src="/image-service/alias/contentid/image.1.50474159/1.50474159.jpg?f=default"> 
 <figcaption></figcaption> 
</figure>
 
WHAT Bowers &amp; Wilkins PI7 
THE COST $399 
AVAILABLE FROM <a href="https://www.bowerswilkins.com/headphones/pi7">bowerswilkins.com</a> 
Bowers &amp; Wilkins, the venerable British audio company acquired last year by Sound United, has released its first true wireless earbuds. The new flagship noise-canceling PI7 earbuds sound terrific — they're arguably the best sounding true-wireless earbuds out there. 
Aside from stellar sound and great noise canceling, the PI7 buds have a few bonus features that may help you rationalize paying the steep price. For starters, they appear to be the first earbuds with a wireless charging case that converts into a transceiver. That means you can plug the case into the headphone port on an airplane's in-flight entertainment system and wirelessly stream audio from the case to the earbuds. 
Additionally, Bowers &amp; Wilkins says the PI7 supports Qualcomm aptX Adaptive wireless transmission (which includes the aptX HD codec) from compatible mobile devices, allowing for "high-resolution music transmission from suitable streaming services, such as Qobuz."

tetech220118

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Hear ye, hear ye: These wireless earbuds are tops

WHAT IT'S ABOUT Interrogating the question of whether anyone can have a single soul mate, the Italian romantic comedy "Four to Dinner" unfolds over two alternate timelines where the four single friends of a couple pair up with each other. 
One timeline finds Matteo (Matteo Martari) and Giulia (Matilde Gioli) falling in love after Giulia becomes pregnant with their baby. In this same universe, Dario (Giuseppe Maggio) and Chiara (Ilenia Pastorelli) become friends who mutually harbor even stronger feelings and begin an extended will-they-or-won't-they flirtation. 
These plotlines are interwoven with a second potential series of romantic outcomes, where Matteo woos Chiara and Dario and Giulia begin a relationship. 
The movie from director Alessio Maria Federici and screenwriter Martino Coli is now streaming on Netflix. 
MY SAY This movie makes sense from a conceptual standpoint — sure, why not intersect these plotlines together, have beautiful people fall in and out of love, throw in some platitudes about destiny and pack on the cliches. 
There's an audience for that, especially since the romantic comedy genre has fallen on hard times lately as a large segment of the movie business focuses exclusively on superheroes. 
But some ideas are best left unrealized, and no matter how fine "Four to Dinner" might have sounded on paper, the reality of having to endure this for about 100 minutes is much different. 
In its most basic sense, this genre depends on the audience becoming invested in the characters on-screen to the point where it's possible to feel some of the same catharsis they do when the inevitable finally arrives, and they end up together. 
It's impossible to get there in "Four to Dinner," because these are some of the least interesting movie characters imaginable. They barely even have personalities. The actors do what they can, but there's just nothing to these ordinary people living ordinary lives in picturesque settings. 
Their romantic entanglements almost seem purposefully boring — it's impossible to care whether one character joins another in Lisbon or not, or to be particularly invested in the question of how supportive Matteo will be as a father. The filmmaker fails to conceive of a surprising character detail or plot twist. 
Throwing out the gimmick might have helped on some level. The constant jumping between timelines, in service of some vague point about fate, only further dilutes the impact of any single plot thread. 
But it's all just so painstakingly bland. 
The actors are given reams of dialogue in what seems to be an effort to compensate for this, but which end up detracting from attempts to tell the story using the visual tools of cinema. Throwing in a reference to Plato's "Symposium" doesn't actually make you smart. Sometimes, a little bit of quiet goes a long way. 
BOTTOM LINE A new romantic comedy is always welcome, but you'd be better off re-watching "When Harry Met Sally..." than bothering with "Four to Dinner."

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'Four to Dinner' review: Painstakingly bland romantic comedy

'Four to Dinner': Painstakingly bland romantic comedy

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