Ryan: My countdown begins with 2002's About a Boy (PG-13).
Directed by Chris and Paul Weitz About a Boy is the modern tale of the unlikely bond between a rich unmotivated bachelor and a geeky heartfelt teenager. What sets About a Boy apart from most of its contemporaries is the movie's pitch perfect tone. It's a film with humor but it's not a comedic farce. It is also a film that deals with some heavy ideas (suicide) but it's not a dark dramatic film. About a Boy captures an authentic slice of life and presents a story with comedy and drama (and everything else in between). The movie is sentimental with it's themes of the importance of a family and the needing of meaningful relationships but it's translated in a manner that the audience can relate too. Additionally, while Hugh Grant never materialized into this era's Cary Grant, he does deliver a strong and winning performance in the movie. In some regard the film does play to his strengths but Grant strikes gold for crafting a character that--despite his negative traits--the audience has no problem rooting for. All in all About a Boy has matured into a modern classic.Andy: Number ten for me is Knocked Up from 2007. The 2000s were a pretty good time for comedies, with really strong work coming from a few different directions.
Will Ferrell had a nice run and some of Ben Stiller’s movies from earlier in the decade were very strong as well. But no one was bigger in the decade that super-producer Jud Apatow. Apatow directed just three movies during the decade, but The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up were both elite comedies: the kind that is actually a really well made movie as well. Either of them could have made my list. Both are surprisingly honest looks at the lives of real & believable people, but Knocked Up stands out in my mind for a few reasons. It is a little less gimmicky and feels a little more authentic than most comedies. It’s not afraid to get a little serious, and Katherine Heigle’s fine performance is a testament to the fact that comedy can work very well along side serious acting about serious topics. The writing is simply top-notch, with a father-son scene between Harold Ramis and Seth Rogen being one of the most touching moments in a movie I’ve seen in the last ten years. Ultimately Knocked Up is genuinely funny, very sharply written, and just as importantly, it feels like it covers a topic that had not been done very well in a movie for a long time.Ryan: Number nine on my list is the James Bond reboot, Casino Royale (2006).
What's utterly amazing about Casino Royale is that it shouldn't have worked at all. It bucked the successful formula of the previous (and monetarily successful) Bond flicks and the head scratching decision in casting Daniel Craig seemed like a peculiar decision. But the final product exceeded everyone's expectations. In one iconic swoop Craig became this generation's James Bond. His cool performance laced with coldness and detachment not only captured a part of the Bond mystique that was lacking but it also reflects the roughness and uncertainty of our times. Casino Royale succeeds not just as the best pure action movie of the decade but it enhances the mythology (while also deconstructing it) of the Bond franchise in a completely fathomable manner. Casino Royale didn't reinvent the action flick for this decade but it transcends its peers by being an action movie with a legitimate cinematic bravado.Andy: My number nine goes all the way back to the year 2000, with Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count on Me.
I’ve always been a sucker for a good, straight-forward drama, and no movie this decade has done it better than You Can Count on Me. The film flew somewhat under the radar as the rookie effort by playwright Kenneth Lonergan (disappointingly, he hasn’t made another until Margaret comes out later this year). The film centers around the relationship between a sister (Laura Linney) and brother (Mark Ruffalo) in a small town in New York. The relationship is complicated, and the two leads, both perfectly cast and doing the best work of their careers so far, are consumed by the tension around it. It is at times uncomfortable to watch it feels so much like real people living out their tragedies in ordinary and complicated ways, that it becomes both depressing and uplifting at the same time. Lonergan framed some tragic and beautiful scenes, while allowing the script and the performances take center stage. This film works so well that one can only hope the wait for Lonergan’s next film has been worth it.That’s all for the countdown for now, as we will return with another look at a current movie next week before resuming with numbers eight and seven.
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