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THE APPRENTICE
Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice is a film that nearly does the impossible. It makes an origin story of Donald Trump, one of the most shallow, corrupt figures in history who everyone already knows about, into something that almost becomes a layered portrait of American greed. With Marvel star Sebastian Stan doing a rather solid job as Trump and Succession’s Jeremy Strong utterly transforming into the menacing attorney Roy Cohn, it’s even got the acting chops to back it up. The disappointment comes in that the first half about the rise of the huckster turned president is more compelling and revealing than the second which ends up falling into cheekily winking at the audience. Stan shifts into empty impersonation and The Apprentice itself mostly tries, yet fails, to mimic more sharp portraits of the perils of capitalism as it has little thematic substance of its own. That the thin-skinned Trump threatened to sue the creators and has since called it a “hatchet job” is unsurprising, though one wishes the film was more than just a reflection of how awful of a man he is as the best parts are the mirror it holds up to the society that let him rise. R. CHASE HUTCHINSON. Studio One Theaters, AMC, Cinemark and Regal locations.
SATURDAY NIGHT
On October 11, 1975, Saturday Night Live made television history with its first broadcast. While SNL is today regarded as a comedy institution and the proving ground for some of entertainment’s biggest names, it’s important to note that the idea of a variety show boasting high-concept sketches, political satire, musical performances and whatever else seemed cool at the time was once a risky gamble. Saturday Night gives audiences a peak behind the curtain of that premiere episode, showing how such an unlikely project took off. Gabriel LaBelle, fresh off playing a young Spielberg in The Fabelmans, stars as creator and producer Lorne Michaels, whose ambitious dreams of bringing counterculture to network television are challenged by unsatisfied writers, unfinished sets and NBC executives looking for an excuse to preempt the broadcast with reruns of Johnny Carson. Director Jason Reitman shoots the proceedings with gripping chaos as Lorne races up and down 30 Rockefeller Plaza putting out fires and keeping up morale. Fortunately, Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan are wise enough to slow down every so often, giving the audience a chance to catch their breath while the Not Ready for Playtime Players share their doubts or deal with personal troubles. There’s a sense of inevitability to the story—that despite hurdles like Chevy Chase’s (Cory Michael Smith) ego, John Belushi’s (Matt Wood) mood swings and Jim Henson’s (Nicholas Braun) earnestness clashing with Michael O’Donoghue’s (Tommy Dewey) snarky edge, these talents are worth nurturing and destined for greatness. R. MORGAN SHAUNETTE. Cinema 21, McMenamins Bagdad Theater, St. Johns Twin Cinemas, Studio One Theaters, AMC, Cinemark and Regal locations.
SMILE 2
Parker Finn’s Smile overcame its derivative and gimmicky premise (a demonic force presenting itself as smiling people) with a complex central character and confident execution. Smile 2 pretty much follows that pattern, only with a bigger budget and more gotcha moments. Naomi Scott takes the lead as Skye Riley, a pop star recovering from a tragic incident in her drug-fueled past. Skye becomes the smile demon’s latest victim just as she is mounting a comeback tour. Smile 2 opens with a bang, with Finn quickly establishing a sense of dread as returning character Joel (horror stalwart Kyle Gallner) faces a tricky situation. It then unfolds a rinse-and-repeat plot as Skye becomes overwrought, then shocked by the spirit over and over. While Finn fails to develop the lore of the demon further in this sequel, he does up his game in delivering clever scares and grisly images. He also gets a fully committed performance out of Scott, who perfectly sells both the celebrity image and personal anxiety Skye carries. Smile 2 feels overlong at 127 minutes, and it ends with a predictable finale, but Finn’s sequel still offers a hair-raising ride. R. DANIEL RESTER. Studio One Theaters, AMC, Cinemark and Regal locations.
WOMAN OF THE HOUR
Few projects are as eye-opening as the actor-turned-director debut, which makes Woman of the Hour all the more frustrating to watch. Anna Kendrick is center-focus as Sheryl Bradshaw, an aspiring actress who, in 1978, went on The Dating Game for exposure. The crew and executives are unaware that contestant Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) is a serial killer, and we’re off to the races. But screenwriter Ian MacDonald (writer-director of the very underrated Some Freaks) isn’t interested in this true story’s major selling point becoming the narrative spotlight as advertised. Instead, there’s an attempt here to show a tapestry of the victims’ stories, intercutting between them and the game show itself to mirror ‘70s pop culture misogyny. It’s all a structure that should feel like too much over 95 minutes, yet it healthily divides up whose development is most important between the killer, the victims and the survivors. Unfortunately, Kendrick is the true disappointment. She seems too comfortable as an actor playing herself in a role that doesn’t have a lot of meat on the bones. As director, there’s not a lot of distinct lighting choices or camera angles from someone who seems so fundamentally curious to engage with the material. This starts to make the overall production feel smaller and less important than it should, which is the last thing anybody wants this story to be. Audiences will probably be quick to read about Woman of the Hour’s backstory after it’s over, just as they’ll probably wish there was a more dynamic hand behind the camera. R. MAX FAINARU-WADA. Netflix.