Pop stuff: The Muppets Most Wanted, Enemy reviews

What I've been watching, reading, seeing, etc.


Muppets Most Wanted

There was a real sweetness, along with all the expected silliness, in 2011's "The Muppets." After Kermit and crew's long absence from the movie screens, it was nice to have them back. Jason Segal, in the lead, non-muppet part was a stand-in for all fans who grew up loving "Sesame Street" and "The Muppet Show," and -- on behalf of the rest of us -- rounded up the old gang for a new adventure.

"The Muppets Most Wanted" ditches all that nostalgia and sentimentality and goes straight for the laughs. It's an entertaining film, with lots of fun star cameos and absurd scenarios that keep it moving at a good clip. Like the best Muppets ventures, it plays on two levels: Amusing adults with jokes that will slip right past the kids, but keeping the kids engaged with the action and broader, more slapstick humor.

Trailers for the film played in theaters and on TV for months and months before its release, so you know the plot (and, unfortunately, many of its jokes) already: Kermit has an evil look-alike who swaps places with him. It's evil Kermit, who speaks in an evil-sounding accent of indeterminate origin, who garners the most laughs in the film, upstaging his human co-stars, including Ricky Gervais and Tina Fey.

It's interesting to note two different actors voice the lead parts: Steve Whitmire as Kermit and Matt Vogel as Constantine. I'm always amazed at how much emotion and humor the muppeteers can coax from the faces of these characters, particular Kermit, which is basically a very simple puppet with immovable half ping-pong balls for eyes.

As far as the humans go, Ty Burrell is quite funny as a Clouseauian Interpol inspector. I won't spoil the numerous, and funny, star cameos.

The songs, as in the previous Muppets film, are  by Bret McKenzie of Flying Conchords fame, and they're a riot, with lyrical inventiveness and humor that's several notches above the typical kid-focused musical.


Enemy


Another evil double movie! But this one, starring Jake Gyllenhaal in the dual/duel roles is quite different from any you've likely seen before. 

Surreal and perplexing, you'll spend some serious time thinking about it after you leave the theater. There are no easy answers, for Gyllenhall's characters in the film, or for the audience. 

These two men are suddenly faced with the realization that he has an exact duplicate he didn't know about. The revelation troubles them and forces them to think about their own lives and choices.

It's not an action film, or necessarily a good vs. evil conflict. It's more a head trip, open to multiple interpretations. Well worth seeing for its uniqueness, effective direction and performances.

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