High Concept
By Susan Varno A Hollywood legend claims that scriptwriters are allowed a mere 25 words to sell their idea to a director or producer. This is known as “High Concept.” If there’s any truth to the myth, here are some movies summarized in one sentence.
For some “High Concept” movies, the title tells it all. Platonic roommates (Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks) can’t pay the rent. To raise money, ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO (2008), which leads to comic complications, sex and maybe romance. A motivational speaker (Terrence Stamp) inspires a boring man (Jim Carrey) to become the YES MAN (2008), saying “YES!” to everything including TV ads, appeals for help and even love. I don’t have to tell you what THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN (2005) is about, but I will. Friends of a cautious man (Steven Carell) want to help him “get laid,” but he’s afraid of giving up the life he’s used to.
An ordinary mortal (Luke Wilson) breaks up with MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND (2006). Taking the news badly, G-Girl (Uma Thurman) destroys his apartment and gets him fired. He conspires with her archvillian nemesis (Eddie Izzard) to stop her. When an unhappy man (Matthew Perry) suddenly becomes 17 AGAIN (2009) he (Zac Efron) goes back to high school determined to avoid the mistakes he now regrets. Two foster kids (Emma Roberts and Jake T. Austin) hide their stray dog in a derelict building. When more furry pets show up, their new friends help them create a HOTEL FOR DOGS (2009).
On a quest for some midnight sliders HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE (2004), which turns into a Homeric Odyssey, and later HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY (2008) and end up visiting the President at his Texas ranch. At the family’s summer rental, children discover ALIENS IN THE ATTIC (2009). While keeping their parents in the dark, the kids save the planet from the extermination-minded invaders. Other plot synopsis titles include CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC (2009) and SNAKES ON A PLANE (2006).
Some high concept movies have intriguing rather than descriptive titles. Hoping to get real reactions, a director (Steve Coogan) abandons his TROPIC THUNDER (2008) actors (Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black) alone in a Vietnamese jungle surrounded by warring drug lords. Weddings are a popular high concept theme. A NYC editor (Sandra Bullock) avoids deportation by making THE PROPOSAL (2009) of marriage to her USA born assistant (Ryan Reynolds). He consents only if she comes to his family reunion in Alaska. A single woman (Debra Messing) hires an “escort” (Dermot Mulroney) as THE WEDDING DATE (2005) she needs for her sister’s nuptials, and in 27 DRESSES (2008) a feature writer (James Marsden) tries to find out why a woman (Katherine Heighl) is a bridesmaid in so many weddings.
A Look at the Oscar Winners
By Art Slavin
The sixth time was a charm for Kate Winslet as she won the Best Actress Academy Award last year for her performance in THE READER, portraying an older woman who has an affair with a teenaged boy before being convicted of war crimes during World War II. She also won the Golden Globe as Best Supporting actress for that film, as well as winning the Best Actress Golden Globe for REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, in which she played the disillusioned wife of a confused man portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio. The first of her five other Oscar nominations came for SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (Best Supporting Actress, 1995), directed by Ang Lee, and starring Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson (who won the Best Screenplay Oscar that year for the film). Kate gained superstardom with her nomination as Best Actress opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, when she played young Rose in James Cameron’s TITANIC (1997). She was nominated again (Best Supporting Actress, 2001) playing the youthful IRIS in the story of novelist Iris Murdoch and her bout with Alzheimer’s disease. Judi Dench played the older Iris Murdoch and was nominated for Best Actress that year. Jim Broadbent, playing Iris’ long suffering husband, won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Nomination number four was for ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2004) opposite Jim Carrey. They play a couple who undergo a procedure to erase each other from their memories when their relationship turns sour, but it is only through the process of loss that they discover what they had to begin with. She was nominated for Best Actress of 2006 for LITTLE CHILDREN, a stirring tale of forbidden love, opposite Patrick Wilson. The film also earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Jackie Earle Haley. Other fine films starring Kate Winslet include HAMLET (1996), starring Kenneth Branagh; QUILLS (2000), with Geoffrey Rush, Joaquin Phoenix, and Michael Caine; FINDING NEVERLAND (2004) opposite Johnny Depp; ALL THE KING’S MEN (2006) starring Sean Penn and Jude Law; and THE HOLIDAY (2006), again with Jude Law, as well as with Cameron Diaz and Jack Black. Last year’s Best Actor Academy Award went to Sean Penn for his dead-on portrayal of San Francisco’s first gay City Supervisor in MILK, co-starring Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, and James Franco. It was his second Best Actor award, also having won for MYSTIC RIVER (2003), featuring Tim Robbins who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar that year. Penn had been nominated three times previously: for I AM SAM (2001), playing a mentally retarded man fighting for custody of his seven year-old daughter, played by Dakota Fanning; for Woody Allen’s SWEET AND LOWDOWN (1999), as a hard-drinking guitarist opposite Samantha Morton, who was also nominated for her work as a sweet but silent girl; and in 1995 opposite Oscar winner Susan Sarandon who played a nun working with his character sentenced to death in DEAD MAN WALKING. Penn first came to the attention of movie audiences with his role as a military school cadet, along with Tom Cruise and Tim Hutton in TAPS (1981), followed by the comedy FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH (1982), featuring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, and Nicolas Cage in his film debut. Then came tough kid roles BAD BOYS (1983), THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN (1985), WE’RE NO ANGELS (1989), and CARLITO’S WAY (1993). More recently he can be seen in ALL THE KING’S MEN (2006), THE INTERPRETER (2005) with Charlize Theron, THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON (2004), and 21 GRAMS (2003), also starring Naomi Watts and Benicio Del Toro. Best Supporting Actress of 2008 for her performance as the outspoken ex-wife of Javier Bardem in Woody Allen’s VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, Penélope Cruz had made dozens of films in her native Spain before coming to the attention of American audiences with her supporting role in Pedro Almodóvar’s ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER in 1999. Then in the next two years, came larger parts in WOMAN ON TOP (2000) in which she starred as a Brazilian chef becoming famous in San Francisco; ALL THE PRETTY HORSES (2000), opposite Matt Damon; BLOW (2001) starring Johnny Depp; CAPTAIN CORELLI’S MANDOLIN (2001), with Nicolas Cage; and Tom Cruise’s VANILLA SKY (2001). More recently she was nominated as Best Actress of 2006 for her role in VOLVER, a story of murder and mystery. And she was superb as the student and lover of her older professor (Ben Kingsley) in ELEGY (2008). Best Supporting Actor Heath Ledger became the second actor to win an Oscar posthumously (after Peter Finch for NETWORK in 1975), when the Academy recognized his work as the Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT, which starred Christian Bale as Batman, and featured Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Ledger was also one of the six performers, along with Cate Blanchett, Ben Whishaw, Christian Bale, Marcus Carl Franklin, and Richard Gere, who played Bob Dylan’s alter egos in I’M NOT THERE (2007). His 2006 performance opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN earned him a Best Actor Oscar nomination. You can also see him in THE BROTHERS GRIMM (2005), opposite Matt Damon; LORDS OF DOGTOWN (2005), in which he had a cameo in the story of surfing and skateboarding in Venice, California; in the title role in NED KELLY (2003), with Geoffrey Rush, Naomi Watts, and Orlando Bloom in the story of Australia’s most celebrated outlaw; THE FOUR FEATHERS (2002), with Wes Bentley; MONSTER’S BALL (2001), starring Halle Berry, Billy Bob Thornton, and Peter Boyle; A KNIGHT’S TALE (2001), Mel Gibson’s THE PATRIOT (2000), and his American breakout film, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU (1999), with Julia Stiles and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.