140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW
This maudlin tear-jerking rom-com isn’t terrible – it just isn’t any good. Overlong, has impressive roster of actors – every one wasted…
Spoiler-free Movie Review of A Little Bit of Heaven:
Quick note about this site: I don’t have a comment section – it’s just spam bait. I can’t bear it. But I definitely want feedback and requests, so I direct you to the social media channels for this site:
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This review was written after one such request. I really want to encourage people to submit requests, so I’m going to try to take it easy on this movie, which otherwise I might be more snarky about.
Also, big caveat about this review: I have been extremely fortunate to have never lost anyone to cancer. I am so grateful for that. So my view on this movie may vary wildly from someone who has experienced that loss.
A Little Bit of Heaven is exactly what it looks like; a tear-jerker romance with that cute Kate Hudson. It’s funny, but I almost feel guilty picking on Hudson, because whenever the Academy drags her onstage to do something at the Oscars, knowing full well that she won’t ever be on that stage through her talents, they always pan the camera to her parents, Kurt Russell & Goldie Hawn. The two of them are totally adorable, obviously beaming with pride at their little girl being up there. It’s an image I can’t get out of my head and so I can never be too harsh on her, knowing she’s their pride and joy. It’s a good reminder to all of us critics that everyone involved in making motion pictures is a human being who is loved by someone and deserves a little kindness.
So I apologize to Goldie & Kurt, because I can’t say anything nice about Kate Hudson, so I guess I’ll try to say nothing.
She isn’t really the problem with this picture, anyway. It is true that she has a nose for poor projects and is as reliable a coalmine canary as Louis Gossett Jr. for which films to avoid. The streak continues here with as syrupy a movie as you’re likely to come across.
Hudson plays a rather fun character named Marley Corbett, an ad exec who speaks plainly and is surrounded by too many characters. She contracts a movie-attractive version of terminal colon cancer and unaccountably takes 107 minutes to die of it. (Note: I maintain this is not a spoiler – it’s the MO of the film – I’m not spoiling things anymore than suggesting that the actors in a rom-com will kiss at the end.)
Marley falls for her doctor, Gael García Bernal as Julian Goldstein (?), who despite being emotionally distant and stilted, takes about three minutes to decide to abandon any ethics over getting involved with a patient. Bernal and Hudson have absolutely zero chemistry.
There aren’t just too many characters in this movie, there are far too many talented actors for a movie so poor. Kathy Bates, Lucy Punch, Treat Williams, Peter Dinklage, Romany Malco, Rosemary DeWitt, Steven Weber and Alan Dale all have scenes, but the characters are totally one-dimensional (even Dinklage’s gigolo). It also fails the Whoopi Goldberg test (it contains Whoopi Goldberg).
Possibly the only unique thing about so formulaic a film is that it doesn’t take place in New York – although it so easily could. New Orleans must have offered more attractive tax credits. The setting is a nice change of pace, although it did attract one of the Neville Brothers (Ike) to do the music. I wonder if they asked him to or if he just showed up and they couldn’t get rid of him.
I guess I didn’t do a very good job of laying off of this movie. It really wasn’t a bad movie, per se, it just similarly had nothing going for it. This would have been a perfectly serviceable made for tv movie on Hallmark or Lifetime. But as a feature it is cutesy, underachieving treacle.
Poster:
Trailer:
Bechdel Test:
Pass
The Representation Test Score: A (11 pts)
(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)
| Main Cast | Kate Hudson Marley Corbett, Gael García Bernal Julian Goldstein, Kathy Bates Beverly Corbett, Peter Dinklage Vinnie |
| Rating | PG-13 |
| Release Date | Fri 04 May 2012 UTC |
| Director | Nicole Kassell |
| Genres | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Romance |
| Plot | An irreverent young woman who uses her humor to prevent matters from getting serious has a life-changing visit with her doctor. |
| Poster |  |
| Runtime | 106 |
| Tagline | Life starts now. |
| Writers | Gren Wells (written by) |
| Year | 2011 |
