Eugene Weekly : Movies : 08.17.06

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This Weeks Movie Reviews:

Who Killed the Electric Car Directed by Chris Paine. Featuring Alec N. Brooks, John R. Dabels, S. David Freeman, Mel Gibson, Peter Horton, Alan C. Lloyd, Alan Lowenthal, Ralph Nader, Dan Neil, Iris and Stanford Ovshinsky, Alexandra Paul, Wally E. Rippel, Paul Roberts, Chelsea Sexton and John R. Wallace. Sony Pictures Classics, 2006. PG. 92 minutes.

A better title for Chris Paine's documentary might be "Who Didn't Kill the Electric Car?" When all the suspects are lined up, only one escapes blame: batteries. Oil companies, government, car companies, hydrogen cells, the California Air Resources Board and consumers are all responsible, in Paine's extensively researched view, for the demise of the promising electric car — in particular the General Motors EV1. Read more...

Strangers With Candy Directed by Paul Dinello. Written by Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello and Amy Sedaris. Music, Marcelo Zarvos. Starring Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, Allison Janney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Justin Theroux, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker and Ian Holm. ThinkFilm, 2006. R. 97 minutes.

Ex-con Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris) is starting over. A self-proclaimed "boozer, user and loser," Blank emerges from prison into a world that's passed her by. As if looking like Alice from the Brady Brunch isn't enough, her mother has died, her father is in a coma and her stepmom wishes Blank didn't exist. Blank decides to change all that (except for the deceased mom part) by going back to high school to win the state science fair. If this sounds like a twisted after-school special, that's precisely what the writers intended. Strangers with Candy is a slapstick/black comedy from Sedaris and Stephen Colbert, which should tell you at least three things: It's smart, crass and completely ridiculous. Read more...