A Complete Review of Jason Reitman's work

Cast : Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, J.K. Simmons, Olivia Wilde

What was it about?
When a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town, they begin to discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind.

My two cents:
First of all, I have to confess that I’m not actually a huge fan of 'Ghostbusters' in general. In fact, I did grow up with these movies, the cartoons, the toys, and I have to admit that I did love those when I was a kid. However, in spite of what the fans might argue, I don’t think that the concept did grow old very well and, when I rewatched the movies as a grown-up, well, to be honest, they didn't really impress me. Anyway, after the female reboot which turned out be a huge flop, at least, after so many years, they finally managed to come up with a worthy sequel. Indeed, the intro was really nice and spooky, the new cast of actors and characters was solid and they managed to find the right mood, even if the story still felt too similar to what they did in the previous movies. Furthermore, they handled so elegantly the fact that Harold Ramis passed away almost 10 years ago and to include Egon Spengler's estranged daughter and his grandchildren was a great move. Eventually, the only aspect that really bogged down the whole thing was the pacing and the running time. As a result, when the kids finally get their hands on the Ghostbusters gear, which took a whopping hour, somehow, they miraculously instantly knew how to use it because, well, there was not much time to discover those. It was the same thing with the ending, it was just too long and too slow. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, it was still a solid sequel though.

My rating: 06/10

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Cast : Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons, Kaitlyn Dever, Alfred Molina, Ari Graynor, Kevin Pollak, Mike Judge, Sara Paxton

What was it about?
In 1987, U.S. Senator Gary Hart's presidential campaign is derailed when he's caught in a scandalous love affair.

My two cents:
Well, even if it was probably Reitman's most interesting project in years, I’m afraid it still turned out to be rather disappointing. First of all, even though it was pretty obvious that Reitman tried to emulate Robert Altman’s directing style with his introduction, I thought it was rather confusing. In fact, at the end, I still didn’t really get who was who exactly. I mean, I can understand that Reitman wanted to go for a realistic approach but it did eventually overcomplicate a story which was rather simple after all. A bigger issue was probably the fact that it was never clear what did they want to achieve with this movie. Indeed, it was never clear if we should feel sorry for Gary Hart, or blame him or blame the medias or the fact that the US presidential campaign has since then become such a huge media circus. Sure, Hart seemed to be quite a brilliant politician but he seemed also to be completely oblivious about the fact that the US president is a major public figure and the fact that the guy kept denying some reasonable expectations regarding his future position made it rather difficult to root for him. It was a similar situation regarding how they handled the media and it was never clear how we should feel about the fact that they covered this story. It’s too bad because I always loved movies about politics but, eventually, I’m not so sure if it was such a great story. The best conclusion I could come up with this tale was that even the most promising politicians actually could turn out to be some oversexed pigs.

My rating: 06/10

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Cast : Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, Ron Livingston, Mark Duplass

What was it about?
A struggling mother of three forms an unexpected bond with the night nanny hired to help with her newborn baby.

My two cents:
Following ‘Young Adult’ which was loved by some but ignored by the rest of the world, Jason Reitman, Diablo Cody and Charlize Theron still decided to make another movie together. Well, to be honest, pretty much like with ‘Young Adult’, I struggled to connect with this flick. I mean, Theron gave here another really strong performance, no doubt about that, but there were just too many things that rubbed me the wrong way. First of all, it was another movie trying to prove that raising 2 or 3 kids has become apparently an impossible task nowadays which is something I find so annoying. Indeed, 80 years ago, many people used to have between 6 and 10 children and that must have been pretty tough but I keep hearing nowadays, especially in movies, people whining as soon as they have one kid which just gets on my nerves. Then, another thing that bothered me was, while Marlo was obviously exhausted and struggling to cope, her husband was playing video-games and focusing solely on his career. Of course, I’m afraid it was fairly realistic but it was just so infuriating for me because I was actually raised by my father while my mother was working and I was seriously committed and involved when my 3rd child was born. Seriously, what prevented him from helping out in the evening, at night and in the week-ends? I know, I might sound like I didn’t like this movie at all but it was still a decent watch though. Indeed, the whole thing felt really genuine, it was one of the very few movies I have seen dealing with post-natal depression and Theron was just really impressive and, only for her performance, it is worth watching this flick.

My rating: 06/10

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Cast : Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner Jennifer Garner, Rosemarie DeWitt, Judy Greer, Dean Norris, Emma Thompson, Timothée Chalamet, Kaitlyn Dever, Ansel Elgort, Dennis Haysbert, J.K. Simmons

What was it about?
A group of high school teenagers and their parents attempt to navigate the many ways the Internet has changed their relationships, their communications, their self-images, and their love lives.

My two cents:
Following the rather disappointing ‘Labor Day’, at least, Reitman didn’t waste much time to come up with a new directing effort but, unfortunately, it didn’t turn out to be much better than his previous movie, I’m afraid. The first issue was that the various scenes involving the Voyager space probe with the lovely voice of Emma Thompson were just so pretentious and didn’t add anything really interesting. Then, showing all these social media screens and windows might have seemed to be clever. However, the whole concept (even though we can virtually connect with anyone on Earth within seconds, we don’t seem to be able to have a normal conversation with the people physically right next to us) has been done before and this movie didn’t do anything really interesting with it. Eventually, the biggest problem was, in my opinion, the fact that there were just too many characters and sub-plots involved. It’s too bad because, in fact, most of these stories were actually not bad at all (I enjoyed above all the romance involving Ansel Elgort and Kaitlyn Dever) but none of them had enough space and time to be properly developed and, as a result, they all turned out to be rather half-baked. At least, it was refreshing to see Adam Sandler in a movie which wasn’t completely lame.

My rating: 06/10

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Cast : Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin, Tobey Maguire, Maika Monroe, James Van Der Beek, J.K. Simmons, Lucas Hedges

What was it about?
Depressed single mom Adele and her son Henry offer a wounded, fearsome man a ride. As police search town for the escaped convict, the mother and son gradually learn his true story as their options become increasingly limited.

My two cents:
Well, to be honest, it wasn't really good, I'm afraid. I guess, the main issue I had was that, even though it looked fine and the actors gave some decent performances, the story never really worked in my opinion. Indeed, somehow, they tried to mix some drama, some romance and a dash of thriller and the end-result was some kind of weak version of 'A Perfect World'. This movie also reminded me somehow of 'The Bridges of Madison County', another classic directed by Clint Eastwood. Anyway, the issue with this movie was probably that I never really believed in this set-up. I mean, they gave us probably the least believable meet cute ever and, fast, much too fast, they fell in love and even this process was messed up. Indeed, they gave us Brolin fixing the house, playing catch and, of course, baking some pie because, obviously, that's why you would fall in love for someone. I mean, coming back to the pie, this one was so amazing that the little boy grew up to look like Tobey Maguire and would eventually open his own pie baking shop. That was apparently some seriously mighty pie then. Anyway, even though it wasn't awful, it was still pretty weak.

My rating: 06/10

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Cast : Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Wilson, J.K. Simmons

What was it about?
Soon after her divorce, a fiction writer returns to her home in small-town Minnesota, looking to rekindle a romance with her ex-boyfriend, who is now happily married and has a newborn daughter.

My two cents:
Starting with 3 critical successes in a row, it seemed that Jason Reitman could do no wrong and was set to become one of the most exciting directors at work nowadays. However, his impressive progression seemed to have slow down with this 4th directing effort which didn’t get much love when it was eventually released. To start with, in his previous movies, the main character was flawed but still likeable whereas, here, even though Charlize Theron gave a fearless performance which was universally heralded, she was basically a selfish obnoxious bitch so the whole thing was harder to sell. But that wasn’t the main issue, in my opinion, the main problem was that it took way too long before she realized how insane her whole plan was. Even though the outcome was pretty obvious (except for Mavis), the way it was handled by her ex and his friends was actually quite subtle and sensitive and it was definitely one of the best moments in the movie. Patton Oswalt was also very good as a rather unlikely ally and he managed to counter-balance Mavis’ awful behavior. Eventually, the girl was a mess in high-school, a popular girl, but still a mess, and after all these years, she is still an egocentric bitch and the ending of the movie shows that she didn’t learn anything from this journey so why should we care at all? Eventually, even though the whole thing had some potential , it didn’t really work out but I still think it is worth a look though.

My rating: 06/10

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Cast : George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Melanie Lynskey, J.K. Simmons, Sam Elliott, Danny McBride, Zach Galifianakis

What was it about?
Ryan Bingham enjoys living out of a suitcase for his job, travelling around the country firing people, but finds that lifestyle threatened by the presence of a potential love interest, and a new hire presenting a new business model.

My two cents:
First of all, I have noticed that all the following directing efforts from Jason Reitman were rather poorly received and this flick was the last one he made which was actually really successful. Well, to be honest, I thought it was not as good as 'Thank you for smoking' which should get much more credit but, in my opinion, it was still much better than 'Juno'. Indeed, even though 'Juno' was a huge critical success, as far as I was concerned, it was actually rather overrated. Anyway, at the time, Jason Reitman was definitely continuing his winning streak, that's for sure. Indeed, I thought it was just a great and compelling story and George Clooney was at the top of his game back in those days. What more do you need ? The greatest thing about this flick is that even though they showed a guy with one of the most worthless jobs ever, I couldn’t help feeling sorry for this man anyway. Contrary to ‘Juno’ which felt rather artificial and even slightly pretentious, this tale was much more convincing and really timely, especially in this time of economic crisis. To be honest, I have to admit that it was not so impressed the 2nd time around but, even so, I still think it is easily one of the best movies delivered by Jason Reitman so far.

My rating: 08/10

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Cast : Elliot Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons, Olivia Thirlby, Rainn Wilson

What was it about?
Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, an offbeat young woman makes a selfless decision regarding the unborn child.

My two cents:
After hearing here and there that this movie was really awesome (according to Roger Ebert, it was even the best movie released in 2007), I had some huge expectations. However, to be honest, this movie turned out to be slightly disappointing after all. Sure, I have to admit that I did like the damned thing but I still think it is kind of overrated. Above all, what bothered me the most was that the whole thing was trying too hard to be smart and clever but eventually it didn't really sound natural or convincing. Eventually, Juno did sound like a very intelligent person but if she was so smart, how on earth could she get pregnant like this?!? However, I’m glad I gave the damned thing a second chance because, even if I was still not completely sold, I was this time around much more able to see its qualities. Indeed, even if Cody’s dialogues were still too elaborate, there was actually something really genuine about these characters and the whole cast gave some really solid performance, especially Elliot Page. Another thing that I enjoyed was the fact that the movie didn’t really follow a linear structure, even if it was still nothing really groundbreaking. Concerning Jason Reitman, I guess this movie is still considered as his magnum opus, even if I personally preferred 'Thank you for smoking', his directorial debut, but more problematic is that even though 'Up in the air' turned out to be another (deserved) critical success, everything else he made afterwards didn’t make so many waves after all so he never became such a great director after all.

My rating: 07/10

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Cast : Aaron Eckhart, J.K. Simmons, Cameron Bright, Maria Bello, William H. Macy, Robert Duvall, Adam Brody, Rob Lowe, Sam Elliott

What was it about?
Satirical comedy follows the machinations of Big Tobacco's chief spokesman, Nick Naylor, who spins on behalf of cigarettes while trying to remain a role model for his 12-year old son.

My two cents:
This is Jason Reitman's first movie and until now, it is his best one in my opinion. I don't know about 'Juno' but back in 2007 , it was a huge success, the biggest indie feature of the year, nominated for several Academy Awards. For Roger Ebert, it was even the best movie of the year. However, even though I did like it, I didn't think it was that mind-blowing. The main thing that bothered me were the dialogs which were in fact too elaborate in my opinion and I prefer Jason Reitman's previous directing effort. Indeed, the story was fascinating, the acting was top-notch and the directing was very competent. Furthermore, there was some impressive black humor but the movie never became shallow whatsoever and there was definitely some food for thought. It is yet another example that Aaron Eckhart was one of the most underrated actors at the time and it is also the example that Katie Holmes, before she met Tom Cruise and became a tabloid phenomenon, had the potential to become a fine actress. Eventually, it is not a movie about the pros and cons of smoking, not at all, it is a movie about lobbyists, people who are basically selling ideas, morals and ethics and they can be pretty ruthless. The juxtaposition between the main character's work as a spokesman and his kid that he is trying to raise was also quite brilliant.

My rating: 08/10

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