Post by StevePulaski on Nov 29, 2016 1:00:21 GMT -5
Mr. Church (2016)
Directed by: Bruce Beresford
Directed by: Bruce Beresford
Eddie Murphy in Mr. Church.
Rating: ★★
In a time where Eddie Murphy films are greatly limited, and nobody I know is getting any younger, it's a crying shame that Mr. Church - the comic actor's first film in four years - is as saccharine and as emotionally manipulative as it is. The film isn't robbed of his conviction as a dramatic performer, but it's robbed of the ability to make any kind of thematic statement or present a conflict that isn't solved with Full House-level sentiment.
This is the kind of film where every negative thing in a character's life can and is usually remedied by a long embrace after a drastically simplified talk over coffee, or in this case, meticulously prepared meals.
Our titular character is a middle-aged black man who is hired as an in-home cook for single mother Marie Brooks (Natascha McElhone) and her daughter Charlie Brooks (Britt Robertson). He was hired by Marie's late lover to take care of her and their daughter for half a year because of her battle with breast cancer, something Charlie doesn't know. Initially, Charlie is apprehensive to Mr. Church, openly insulting him as he cooks her breakfast in addition to immediately rejecting his "library system" of checking out some of his favorite books. Eventually, she warms up to his good-natured sensibilities, and the fact that he's always in the kitchen whipping up something delicious. He doesn't even use measuring devices nor any other cooking accoutrements that aid in "perfecting" the process; he does it all by hand and by craft.
Mr. Church is the one constant in Charlie's life as she watches her mother live far beyond any doctor's idealistic expectation of her lifespan, despite getting sicker and sicker. In addition, Charlie gets pregnant at a young age, on top of juggling delayed enrollment in school and other commonalities involving being a teenager. Again, Mr. Church remains in her home, assisting Charlie's mother from time-to-time, but mostly, existing to make sure their stomachs are filled with quality food and nourishment.
Mr. Church's life is mostly an enigma. He leaves in the evening hours to attend a specific nightclub, and the film drops continuous hints in the regard that Mr. Church might be homosexual. He usually comes home in the wee hours of the morning amidst drunken stammers, lamenting his relationship with his father or incoherently spouting vulgarities, but nothing is ever confirmed nor denied. It's as if when the film came to mattering most for some people, that too was swept under the rug in favor of a cleaner, more desensitized approach to the content at hand.
Once again, Murphy does fine work as Mr. Church, a character who, despite being the title of his own film and based off of a real-life soul, doesn't get to tell his own story. Instead, the perfunctory perspective of Charlie prevails, and we hear all about how she doesn't want to go to prom and has reservations about Mr. Church for most of her life until it dawns on her that he's some kind of miracle worker when it comes to family relations. At this point, the only thing Mr. Church begs for besides tears of joy and sadness is a soap-opera to air during the afternoon hours on basic cable.
The film was directed by Bruce Beresford, who also directed Driving Mrs. Daisy. This is a noteworthy mention because, in many ways, Mr. Church feels decidedly old-fashioned, the kind of film in which Sidney Poitier might have acted. However, the old-fashioned aesthetic transitions itself from presentation into storytelling where even the thought of homosexuality or something in the vein of being "taboo" is repressed to the point of being sheer speculation. The more you think about it, the more insulting it seems to the titular man, who apparently had enough relevance to be the subject of a film but not enough to have his story accurately and adequately told.
The film's pacing is about on-point for something like this, not moving too fast nor too slow to make sure we at least somewhat understand the characters' motivations and actions, and Britt Robertson (Tomorrowland) works well in her role. However, when a film is this mawkish and this hesitant to tell the true, unflinching story of what, quite often, had to be a troubling and grueling existence for the real-life Mr. Church, can you recommend a film based on the fact that its narrative conventions and performances are mostly good? This is the case where a film has the potential to hit a seven-ten split and winds up rolling the ball of quality straight down the middle.
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Britt Robertson, Natascha McElhone, Xavier Samuel, and Lucas Fry. Directed by: Bruce Beresford.