The Painted Veil”
** 1/2 “Contempt in the Time of Cholera” could be another title for director John Curran’s adaptation of M. Somerset Maugham’s 1925 novel. When wife Kitty cheats on him, bacteriologist Walter Fane (Edward Norton) takes her from Shanghai to the Chinese outback as an epidemic rages. Suggestive of vintage adventure romances and literature that wasn’t particularly savvy about the lives of ethnic others, “The Painted Veil” has the appeal of a hothouse orchid. It’s lovely to look at. With Naomi Watts and Norton as the simmering couple, it’s well-acted. It is also somewhat precious. A student of Chinese history, Norton hoped to bring that nation into the foreground. But shooting on location and weaving in historical facts hasn’t diluted the material’s colonial odor or pulled the Chinese from the background. It has just embroidered that background with finer details. |PG-13|125 minutes|Released today|Lisa Kennedy
“Because I Said So”
* We are so over Diane Keaton. If you’re not yet, you may squeeze a few drops of enjoyment out of the mostly awful “Because I Said So.” Keaton plays her usual screechy, ditzy, weepy aging woman, here acting as matchmaker for third daughter Milly (Mandy Moore). The film is full of romantic-comedy clichés, and has enough high-
decibel arguing to make you think your eardrums have just stomped on broken glass. Are women really like this? I’m still hoping not. |PG-13|94 minutes|Released today|Michael Booth
“Catch & Release”
* 1/2 It’s a romantic comedy with almost no comedy, and so many long, slow pauses between dramatic developments that neither description seems adequate. Jennifer Garner stars as a woman whose fiancé dies just before their wedding. As she slowly learns more about his past that changes her view of her “perfect” man, she falls for the dead guy’s best friend Fritz (Timothy Olyphant, of “Deadwood.”) The slight comic relief is provided by Kevin Smith and Sam Jaeger as Garner’s best friends. There’s just not much to like here from writer-director Susannah Grant, who helped pen worthy scripts for “Erin Brockovich” and “In Her Shoes.” Too little plot and too few laughs. |PG-13|105 minutes|Released today|Michael Booth
“Dreamgirls”
*** Is it as fabulous as it could have been? Not quite. Still, writer-director Bill Condon’s adaptation of the beloved Broadway hit about the rise and rivalries of an R&B girl group is candy. As Deena Jones, Beyoncé Knowles never finds what roils beneath her character’s crossover facade. (Too bad, given the woman who replaces the original lead of the Dreamettes is based on Diana Ross.) The double-edged complexity of Jamie Foxx’s car-salesman-turned-music-impresario also goes underexposed. But Jennifer Hudson’s breakout performance as Effie White sends “Dreamgirls” soaring. And Eddie Murphy has fun and gives it, playing a wild soul man.|PG-13| 125 minutes|Released May 1|Lisa Kennedy
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TV ON DVD|
“The Best of the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” One of television’s most-wholesome classics returns with a four-disc compilation from the sitcom starring the real-life Nelson family – Ozzie and Harriet and their sons David and Ricky, who became a teen idol as a pop singer. The set has 24 episodes from the show’s 14-year run, with extras including commentaries from David Nelson and Sam Nelson, son of the late Rick Nelson.| $34.98|Released April 24|David Germain, The Associated Press
