“Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?”
Documentary travelogue. *** PG-13. In Morgan Spurlock’s compelling if self-indulgent travelogue investigation, he of the “Super-Size Me” antics embarks on a gutsy, goofy sojourn to countries linked in some fashion to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda: Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan. The director uses the action film and the video game as conceits for his lone protagonist in search of the world’s most wanted man. Still it’s Spurlock’s engaging time spent talking to folk on the streets, in their homes and in their mosques that suggests a deeply common truth: Deprivation bites. It makes people vulnerable. It humiliates them. It angers. So how do you say “It’s the economy stupid” in Urdu, Arabic, Pashto? PG-13. 1 hour, 25 minutes. Lisa Kennedy
“Son of Rambow”
It’s the delightful premise of “Son of Rambow,” a tenderly comic British film that chronicles one lad’s emotional journey from religiously sheltered whelp to macho screen hero — at least in his preteen imagination. At first, the boys’ high-mindedness is funny as they revisit Stallone’s one-dimensional machismo territory with the goofy earnestness of youth. But the seriousness of purpose of Will and his new friend becomes more affecting when we see how this faux epic offers them relief from a humorless, authoritarian world. PG-13. 1 hour, 30 minutes. Desson Thomson, Washington Post
“What Happens in Vegas”
“Should stay on the storyboard,” might finish the sentiment of this sorry romantic comedy’s title. Affable pup Ashton Kutcher, comically winning Cameron Diaz play Jack and Joy, strangers who wind up (best friends in tow) in Sin City. They feel sorry for themselves, then begin feeling mighty fine and just frisky enough to get hitched. They regret it faster than you can sing “Viva Las Vegas” and plan to get a D-I-V-O-R-C-E. Fate, also known as a one-armed bandit, forces a compromise. Once back in New York, each wants their half of the winnings enough to endure a judge’s sentence of “six months hard marriage.” But sitting through this clumsily paced tale of Mars, Venus and Vegas is more than you should have to endure. PG-13. 1 hour, 38 minutes. Lisa Kennedy
