As June arrives, we should propel our search for fun movies.
A few arrived recently, in theaters or via streaming . I’ll mention them (including “Anyone But You,” shown here) in a moment.
This has always been a time to search for bright spirits. “Each year, the summer season presents itself as a blank slate, full of opportunity,” John Malahy wrote in “Summer Movies” (Running Press, 2021), a book that manages to leap from “Gidget” and “Beach Blanket Bingo” to Spike Lee and Ingmar Bergman.
In his introduction to that book, film critic Leonard Maltin agreed: “Summer meant one thing above all else to me: the freedom to go to the movies any day of the week.” But where can we find fun now? A few suggestions:
“Anyone But You” – originally in theaters, now on Netflix – offers proof that sunny romantic comedies can still work.
Made on a modest budget (around $25 million), it opened weakly, Then word-of-mouth kept building; it made $88 million in the U.S. and Canada, $220 million worldwide.
The script – which director Will Gluck wrote with Ilana Wolport — starts with a meet-cute that is, actually, quite cute. It has a quick break-up that’s arbitrary and then banter that’s fun … especially when delivered by pretty people (Sydney Sweeney and Glenn Powell) in swimwear in sunny settings.
Yes, a few twists get silly. This was, after all, based loosely on a play (“Much Ado About Nothing”) by a writer, William Shakespeare, who wasn’t in his wheelhouse. (Never trust the rom-com instincts of someone who, elsewhere, fools young lovers into killing themselves.) But mostly, this is a delight.
Also on Netflix is “Unfrosted,” Jerry Seinfeld’s version of the birth of Pop-Tarts.
Seinfeld sets this in the cereal empires of Battle Creek, Michigan (a pleasant place, actually), imagining funny twists. He was so amused by the name Thurl Ravenscroft (the real voice of Tony the Tiger), that he depicted him as a frustrated Shakespearean.
In real life, Ravenscroft was a singer and occasional voice actor, ranging from Disneyland rides to the booming, “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Griunch.”
In short, Seinfeld and Ravenscroft share something important: Each is linked to one of the greatest shows in TV history – “Seinfeld” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
It’s been a busy May for Emily Blunt and her husband, John Krasinski. Each did a movie with a cute Canadian Ryan, but they headed in opposite directions.
Krasinski wrote, directed and had a small role in “IF.” He plays the dad of a 12-year-old girl whose neighbor (Ryan Reynolds) guides her through the world of invisible friends who are now lonely and quite visible.
That sounds like fun and occasionally is. The IF’s – voiced by stars, including (briefly) Blunt as a unicorn – are a quirky bunch. But the basic set-up is solemn; the girl’s mom has died and her dad is getting serious surgery. At the best, “IF” settles for bittersweet.
By comparison, “The Fall Guy” is non-stop fun. Ryan Gosling plays a movie stunt man; Blunt is a director who’s his ex-girlfriend. Soon, they’re in a murder mystery that involves lots of real-life stunts.
In many ways, this could be the next “Anyone But You.” Both were filmed in Australia; both, of course, include the Sydney Opera House. Both have sharp banter,
Both started slowly at the box office. “Anyone But You” kept building; “Fall Guy” could do the same, emerging as our next summer hit.
And beyond that? At 8 p.m. June 2, ABC will show “Inside Out,” the 2015 cartoon gem that visited characters’ psyches.
The network will have more Sunday movies (as sports events allow), this summer and fall. And on June 14, “Inside Out 2” reaches theaters. There’s hope for summer fun.