Ben Stiller isn't funny - honest. Ben Stiller is very funny, and smart, and cute, too, in a neurotic, New York kind of way.
Manohla DargisThere isnโt anything good to say about Kick-Ass 2, the even more witless, mirthless follow-up to Kick-Ass.
Manohla DargisIt looked like Ben Stiller was one of the showbiz meteorites who was moving so fast he would soon have no worlds left to conquer.
Manohla DargisAn acquired taste, this dense Jabberwocky-ish word salad is a political allegory about a populace that's been pharmaceutically duped into believing its wretched world is wonderful.
Manohla DargisMr. Lapid, making an electrifying feature directing debut, traces the line between the group and the individual in a story that can be read as a commentary on the world as much as on Israel.
Manohla DargisIn truth, โExtremely Loud & Incredibly Closeโ isn't about Sept. 11. It's about the impulse to drain that day of its specificity and turn it into yet another wellspring of generic emotions: sadness, loneliness, happiness. This is how kitsch works. It exploits familiar images, be they puppies or babies - or, as in the case of this movie, the twin towers - and tries to make us feel good, even virtuous, simply about feeling. And, yes, you may cry, but when tears are milked as they are here, the truer response should be rage.
Manohla Dargis