Kevin Pollack directs his first -- and pretty funny -- narrative film, THE LATE BLOOMER

An actor TrustMovies has enjoyed quite regularly down the decades, Kevin Pollack (a fellow with 126 IMDB acting credits to his name), has now directed his first narrative movie -- not surprisingly a comedy, given this guy's background -- and it is one that, while sometimes crass, is always pretty funny, too. Titled THE LATE BLOOMER, it details the story, said to be "almost" true, of a young man who, due to an un-diagnosed medical problem, has never experienced puberty and therefore no sex nor even sexual desire.

Based on the memoir by Ken Baker, originally published back in 2001, and screen-written by some five different scribes, Mr. Pollack's movie (the director is shown at right) has such an unusual, grab-you-by-the-throat story to tell that it very nearly works via its odd tale alone. It's that bizarre-but-believable. Well, it ought to be, as the medical condition explained here actually happened to Mr. Baker, as it has to others. It may be rare, but it is also there. And it must be dealt with.

While I have not read Baker's memoir, from what I've heard about it, the book is quite moving as it brings the reader into the feelings of this man-boy so utterly inexperienced in much that we consider vital in life.

The movie, not exactly unexpectedly, plays all of this for laughs. To its credit, it gets quite a lot of them, too. Star Johnny Simmons, above, with his sweet face and goofy-but-sexy quality, seems a very good choice for the lead role. He's believable and funny as a grown guy only just discovering what most of us found years ago. If he doesn't wrench your heartstrings, too, that simply does not seem to be required here.

Supporting Simmons are a bevy of good performers who fill their roles just fine but are, with a couple of exceptions, not required to do much more. These include Maria Bello and J.K. Simmons (shown above, left and right), as our boy's parents, and Brittany Snow (below) as the pretty (and very literal) girl-next-door.

Jane Lynch (below) portrays Simmon's mentor, while Kumail Nanjiani and Beck Bennett (two photos below, shown respectively at right and left) play his two best, though not very bright, friends,

with Paul Wesley (shown at left in photo at bottom) as the other, and not very nice, man in his would-be girlfriend's life.

While the movie concentrates most of its humor and events on things sexual, which are generally funny if sometimes a little too crassly perceived, when it takes off into other area of adolescent trauma -- everything from acne to vocal changes to tantrums towards one's parents (the latter is maybe the film's funniest scene, in which Mr. Simmons excels) -- it proves even more on-the-mark.

At times, and at its most enjoyable, The Late Bloomer almost seems like a more "real" version of one of those popular body-jumping fantasy movies like Freaky Friday, Big  or 13 Going on 30 -- in which our hero or heroine suddenly inhabits the body of someone of a very different age.

If the film skirts over feelings to land more laughs, well, that's what movies tend to do, right? And at least this one manages to garner an awful lot of those laughs. From Momentum Pictures and running around 90 minutes, The Late Bloomer opens tomorrow, Friday, October 7, in "select" theaters (for instance, twice daily at NYC's Cinema Village and at Laemmle's Music Hall 3 in L.A.) while simultaneously making its debut on VOD and digital HD.

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American independent cinema, Ken Baker, Kevin Pollack, late adolescence, late-coming-of-age movies, quirky rom-coms, THE LATE BLOOMER,

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DVDebut: Jason Bateman scores again, as actor in and director of THE FAMILY FANG

Jason Bateman has long been one of TrustMovies favorite actors, particularly among those who seem under-rated yet have consistently helped ground a lot of films in which they are not the supposed "star" (remember Hancock?) As a director, Bateman has now made two fine films, the dirty-delight, spelling-bee movie, Bad Words, and now THE FAMILY FANG, which makes its DVDebut this week and proves yet another auspicious outing in which Bateman both directs and co-stars.

Just as he was by Andrew Dodge's fine screenplay for Bad Words, Mr. Bateman, shown above, is helped along by an excellent screenplay for "Fang" by David Lindsay-Abaire, adapted from a novel by Kevin Wilson.

Lindsay-Abaire (shown at left), of the play and movie, Rabbit Hole, is in a much more fanciful mood here, as he weaves themes of family, parenting, art and life together into an alternately witty and moving, often surprising tale of a family of four led by mom-and-dad performance artists who use their two children as part of their continuing "act." The movie opens with one of these early performance art pieces that takes place in a bank (below),

 

in which the kids, mom and dad (all shown above) conspire to give their unsuspecting audience a very big "thrill." When we cut to present day, we learn that the kids have now grown into Nicole Kidman and Mr. Bateman, who play a troubled sister and brother still coming to terms with how their past continues to rumple their present.

Bateman is a blocked writer, while Kidman (above, center) plays an actress who seems to be losing her grip on her career. Their parents (present-day) are played by stage and film vets Christopher Walken (above, left) and Maryann Plunkett (above, right),

and in younger days by Jason Butler Harner (center right, above) and Kathryn Hahn (center, left, above). As the movie evolves, it becomes a tale of art -- maybe good, maybe not so: the movie offers a juicy little argument between two critics about the Fangs' performance pieces -- and parenting, which I think most of us will rate as the not-so-hot sort.

The difficulty of being true to oneself as an artist and true to one's kids as a parent is placed front and center but, as presented by Bateman and Lindsay-Abaire, the theme is never baldly stated. It's simply there. But I suspect the movie will register quite strongly for those of us who've had (or tried to have) a career in the arts, while doubling as parents. The difficulty of doing both well is shown smartly and effectively and the film, for all it seriousness, is also great fun. (Those performance art pieces grow ever more surprising and original.)

As with Bad Words, Bateman draws fine work from everyone on screen, and his movie's resolution, while somewhat positive, is nothing close to feel-good. It suggests that growth is possible, all right, and so is "growing up" -- even with a pair of parents as self-involved as the ones we see here. The Family Fang is a fine addition to Bateman's continuing oeuvre. We await his next installment with anticipation.

From Anchor Bay Entertainment and running 106 minutes, the movie hits DVD this Tuesday, July 5, for purchase or rental. (That's Marin Ireland, above, left, as one of the Bateman character's fans -- and maybe something more.)

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"family" films, American independent cinema, Jason Bateman, late-coming-of-age movies, odd parenting, performance art, THE FAMILY FANG,

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New on VOD--Matt Creed and Amy Grantham's LILY covers recovery from cancer treatment

Cancer at any age can be devastating, but for a young woman who looks to be in her early twenties, it's hard to imagine the shock to the system that dealing with something like this might entail. We pick up on our heroine, Lily, the main character of the eponymously titled LILY just at the close of her treatment for what looks like maybe breast cancer, when she is just finishing her radiation sessions and still has the underarm burns to show for this. The movie opens with an extraordinarily beautiful shot of our girl (Amy Grantham, below, who both co-wrote and stars in the movie) going through one of her final radiation sessions. Though you concentrate on her beautiful face, you're also aware that you can see the pulse actually beating in her delicate neck.

The film's director, Matt Creed (shown below), wisely concentrates on Lily (Ms Grantham) for just about the entire movie, since the actress has a splendid face for the camera, as beautiful in repose as in action. If only the rest of the project were up to this level.

Lily's problem -- the character's and the movie's -- is that her life is currently shit. But the more we see and learn of it, and her, it's clear that her life was exactly that before the cancer hit. Yet she doesn't seem to know or care. She just moves, often rather trance-like, from bad event to bad event, with the camera following so that we see, as in the photo at bottom, that hugely expressive feature known as "the back of the head." Yes, it's that kind of movie. It is also, I must say, quite smart about its use of exposition, of which there is little. Very quickly, we're asking, Whose kids are those? And who's this older guy (below, left) -- their daddy? Or is he her father? Or Grandpa? (He's old enough.) Omigod -- they're getting into bed....

Eventually we learn the answers. We even get a smidgen of conversation about that incredible Cuban art school we first learned of in the fine documentary Unfinished Spaces. We meet Lily's mom, and eventually her dad, and note that one's a bigger asshole than the next. As is her husband/boyfriend. Her friends (some of them, anyway) seem a little less annoying. (Though the standard scene in which they all insist to her that she looks fabulous without her wig, as below, is something we knew the second she removed it several scenes back.)

I am told that the movie is loosely based upon the real-life experiences of its star, Ms Grantham. So it is difficult not to feel something for this young woman and her truly horrible life, at least as it appears here. But this is nowhere near enough to make a worthwhile movie. (The only positive thing here seems to be that, even without a job or any prospects of one, money is not a problem for Lily.)

We tag along as Lily visits a thrift shop, buys a pair of tap shoes and then practices at home until her neighbor complains, after which she does this outside (below), attracting, as you might guess, some attention. And then we watch as metaphor rears its head and our girl views a street vendor creating a very large bubble (above) that finally bursts.

At film's close, Lily visits an art dealer whose help she needs. Her actions appear to be every bit as clueless and unprofessional as ever, all of which makes what I suspect was supposed to be a feel-good finale for Lily (and Lily) seem a few levels less than promising.

After several film-festival appearances, the movie will make its VOD debut this coming Tuesday, December 9.

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Amy Grantham, breast cancer, cancer, late-coming-of-age movies, LILY, Matt Creed, NYC-based movies,

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