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‘Under the Bridge’ Examines a True Crime From Every Viewpoint — Except the One That Matters

By Alan Sepinwall

Alan Sepinwall

In the new Hulu limited series Under the Bridge , Riley Keough plays Rebecca Godfrey, a novelist who begins writing a non-fiction book about the murder of Reena Virk, a 14-year-old girl who lived in the same Canadian suburb where Rebecca grew up. In one episode, Rebecca’s father reads the first draft of the manuscript and wonders why she has chosen to focus so much on one of the accused killers, fellow teen Warren Glowatski, rather than Warren’s alleged victim.

Rebecca, who has had difficulty understanding her own actions and intentions ever since she came home to British Columbia, thinks on this for a moment. Then she suggests, “Because I’m challenging the reader to see that the worst thing he did isn’t who he is. People can do horrible things, and that doesn’t make them inherently evil. And I don’t know what the alternative is, other than me writing a sad story about a girl I didn’t know.”

The eight-episode TV version, adapted by Quinn Shephard, attempts to cover the entire story. It frequently shifts its points of view, jumping from Reena, to cruel foster child Josephine Bell (Chloe Guidry) and her well-to-do best friend Kelly (Izzy G.), Warren; Reena’s mother Suman (Archie Panjabi) and father Manjit (Ezra Farouke); local cop Cam Bentland ( Lily Gladstone ); and, finally, Rebecca herself. But in attempting to show the story through everyone’s eyes, Shephard and her collaborators ultimately struggle to find the same depth for which the actual Rebecca Godfrey was so celebrated.

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On the one hand, of course a TV show might want to elevate the roles played by two actors coming off of acclaimed roles — Keough’s Emmy-nominated work in Daisy Jones & The Six , Gladstone’s Oscar-nominated turn in Killers of the Flower Moon — over those played by less famous or celebrated young performers. (Though Javon Walton was a memorable part of the Euphoria ensemble as underage drug dealer Ashtray.) And when Keough and Gladstone are on screen, alone or together, you get it. The two of them, and Gladstone in particular, are so charismatic that they seem like the obvious place to center the story, even if there is no Cam Bentland, and even if the real Godfrey wasn’t particularly interested in making sure she was part of the narrative. 

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The same unfortunately happens here. Despite having eight episodes to work with, Quinn Shephard and company only sometimes are able to get more than surface deep with Josephine, Kelly, Warren, and the other teens. Some of them know exactly why they attacked Reena, and some barely understand at all. But the show can’t quite elevate the former group above pure sociopathy, and never fully untangles the knot that the latter group has tangled itself up in. Reena (who appears often in flashbacks, even after the murder) fares a bit better, as do the members of her family — including Anoop Desai as her uncle, the only relative who kept trying to understand her as she began hanging out with Josephine’s crew of mean girls and listening to Biggie CDs(*). But none of them feel as three-dimensional as they should, under the circumstances.

(*) Some of the more focused material deals with how these white suburban kids modeled themselves on Black and brown rappers and criminals — Josephine nicknames her clique CMC, for “Crip Mafia Cartel” — even as they treated Reena and her Black friend Dusty (Aiyana Goodfellow) as second-class citizens. 

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Charlie Berns, played by director and co-writer Billy Crystal , is a writer who is so well known for being funny that when his behavior is a little off, everyone thinks he is doing a bit. On stage with Barry Levinson , Sharon Stone , and Kevin Kline , all playing themselves as stars of a fictitious Berns-scripted movie classic celebrating an anniversary, Berns gets disoriented and forgets the names of the other people on the panel. The audience laughs appreciatively; what a cut-up! Stone good-naturedly reminds him: "I'm Meryl Streep ." Another laugh. That Charlie!

Charlie's daughter Francine (Broadway star Laura Benanti ) is not amused. She thinks he must be drunk or that he does not care enough about her to respond to the invitation to her daughter's bat mitzvah. And his colleagues at a "Saturday Night Live"-style late night sketch comedy show just think it's a quirky eccentricity that he insists on a typewriter instead of a computer. 

But Charlie is in the early stages of dementia. He is lonely and he is scared. He holds onto what he can: his routine, as he walks to his job reciting, "Turn left at the stop sign," and the one thing that he has always been able to count on—Charlie is funny. He may not come up with sketch ideas, but he can spot the weaknesses in other people's ideas and make them better, and he also can spot the talent in a shy new writer who just needs a little bit of support. There is nothing funny about losing the core of himself, his memories, his ability to come up with fast, witty comebacks. And so, the only one who knows what is going on is his doctor ( Anna Deavere Smith , every bit the warm, dedicated health care professional we all wish for).

Lunch with Charlie was raffled off at a charity fundraiser, and Charlie is looking forward to spending time with someone who was interested enough to bid on him. But the person who shows up is Emma ( Tiffany Haddish ), who has no idea who he is. She's only there to spite her ex, who was the one who bid just $22 to meet Charlie. And to order a gigantic seafood platter, which immediately triggers an allergic reaction requiring an emergency trip to the hospital. Charlie pays for everything and Emma promises to pay him back. But as they keep seeing each other, they find an easy connection. Having no preconception of who Charlie was allows Emma to see his struggle. And being with someone who knows the truth helps Charlie begin to accept it, and to resolve some issues with his family (how his son got the name "Rex" is a lot of fun) while he still can. 

Crystal largely avoids the pitfalls of a movie about friends of different races. Emma is not a  Magical Negro  and Charlie is not a  White Savior . They are not there to teach each other important life lessons or help each other overcome obstacles. They are just good people who get along well. The easy chemistry between the characters reflects the real-life friendship of the two stars and it is clear to see that like Emma and Charlie, Haddish and Crystal get a kick out of each other. Indeed, they get so much of a kick out of each other that Crystal the director was too reluctant to cut their scenes, which impairs the pacing. It would work better with a shorter running time, with some scenes as DVD extras. This is a particular problem in the parts of the movie where we are supposed to see how funny Charlie is. The material for the sketch comedy show in the film is not as funny as the movie needs them to be. 

Crystal wrote the script with former "Saturday Night Live" writer Alan Zweibel , who also co-wrote " North ," the film based on Zweibel's book that led to Roger Ebert's legendary review: "I hated hated hated hated hated this movie." No one would say that about this film. I liked liked liked it, but that I wish they'd had someone like Charlie to sharpen the script.

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Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

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Best Movies of 2024: Best New Movies to Watch Now

Welcome to our guide of the Best Movies of 2024, featuring every Certified Fresh movie as they come in week by week!

In April : Civil War , Monkey Man , The Beast , and The First Omen .

In March : Love Lies Bleeding and Problemista , both from A24 . One Life , starring Anthony Hopkins. Ordinary Angels , starring Hilary Swank. In horror, we got You’ll Never Find Me and  Late Night with the Devil , the latter which also tops our best horror of 2024 list . Dialogue-free animation Robot Dreams and Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World jockeying for the top spot here.

And what about February ? Dune pretty good, thanks for asking. Part Two went Certified Fresh within an hour after the reviews embargo lifted on February 21st. With it outclassing the first Dune , we took a look at 20 sequels that got better Tomatometer scores than their originals . Otherwise, things got freaky with horror film Stopmotion and the comic zaniness of Hundreds of Beavers taking the crown for the best-reviewed of the year.

We didn’t have a blockbuster January like we did in 2023 ‘s, when genre surprises M3GAN and Plane went Certified Fresh. But Daisy Ridley got her post-Skywalker win with Sometimes I Think About Dying . Mads Mikkelsen re-teamed with his A Royal Affair director Nikolaj Arcel to find The Promised Land. With The Crime Is Mine , Francois Ozon is getting career-best reviews, and his 10th Certified Fresh film over the past decade-and-change. And Netflix scored with The Kitchen , Orion and the Dark , and Good Grief .

Robot Dreams (2023) 98%

Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (2023) 98%

The Crime Is Mine (2023) 98%

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (2023) 98%

Molli and Max in the Future (2023) 98%

Late Night with the Devil (2023) 97%

Io Capitano (2023) 97%

Tótem (2023) 97%

The Promised Land (2023) 96%

Hundreds of Beavers (2022) 95%

Fitting In (2023) 95%

Love Lies Bleeding (2024) 94%

Limbo (2023) 94%

Driving Madeleine (2022) 94%

Dune: Part Two (2024) 93%

Femme (2023) 94%

The Settlers (2023) 93%

About Dry Grasses (2023) 93%

La Chimera (2023) 91%

Cabrini (2024) 91%

Orion and the Dark (2024) 91%

One Life (2023) 90%

Stopmotion (2023) 90%

The Kitchen (2023) 89%

Monkey Man (2024) 88%

Problemista (2023) 88%

Disco Boy (2023) 88%

The Beast (2023) 84%

Monolith (2023) 85%

Ordinary Angels (2024) 84%

Civil War (2024) 82%

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The First Omen (2024) 81%

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You'll Never Find Me (2023) 79%

Suncoast (2024) 76%

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‘The Greatest Hits’ Review: Yes, She Could Turn Back Time.

A high-concept movie about music and grief lacks follow through.

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By Alissa Wilkinson

“The Greatest Hits” literalizes the familiar heartache: You’re driving down the road, radio blaring at full tilt. Suddenly that song comes on, the one that reminds you of your ex, or of a time that was joyous but now is a sadness-tinged memory. Plunged back into that head space, you feel as though you’ve traveled through time. And the longing it prompts can be unbearable.

This is where Harriet (Lucy Boynton) finds herself, except instead of feeling as if she’s moving through time, she is truly hurtling through the fourth dimension. Since having lost her boyfriend, Max (David Corenswet), in a tragic accident, any song Harriet hears attached to memories of him catapults her, quite literally, back to the moment in their relationship when that song was playing. When she leaves the house, she wears noise-canceling headphones to protect against unexpected time travel provoked by radios and errant Spotify shuffles.

At home, though, she spends her nights trying to slip backward. Harriet has become obsessed with trying to return to a moment where she can set the world straight and ensure that Max won’t die, which means, even two years after his death, that she is still “hiding out in her grief,” as another character puts it. In the midst of this, at her grief support group, Harriet meets a nice guy named David (Justin H. Min), who’s dealing with loss of his own.

Ned Benson, who wrote and directed “The Greatest Hits,” has explored this territory before. His previous work, “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” was a trilogy, made up of two films that explored a couple’s grief-stricken, tumultuous relationship from each of their individual perspectives, and a third that combined them. (As the title suggests, music was part of the story, too.) That film felt personal, and so does this one. It earnestly evokes the way grief mires us in memory, making us feel as if our personal timelines are slip-sliding and looping, eternally arrested in the past. Moving forward seems impossible.

But “The Greatest Hits” lacks the imagination of “Eleanor Rigby” and, at times, seems like it might be in the wrong genre. It’s easy to imagine a rom-com version of this movie, since the elements are all there — the hip location (mostly the Silver Lake and Los Feliz neighborhoods of Los Angeles), the meet-cute, the queer best friend (a mainstay of the genre , for better or worse), the crates of vinyl records, the pining, the hot guys, even the chemistry. But this movie lacks the lightness and humor of a rom-com, which might balance out all the dreary moments and make it feel more watchable. The version that exists feels more suited for lovelorn teens just off their first breakup than adults moving through profound loss and sorrow, more acquainted with the ways life can’t just stop when tragedy strikes.

“The Greatest Hits” proceeds slowly and repetitively, which doesn’t have to be a problem: The gentleness of the pace and storytelling gives the cast space to breathe and react to each other, to build relationships that feel reasonably authentic. Similarly, the music choices (which are all over the map both in genre and era) are fun and fresh, lacking the on-the-nose quality that a film with more bang-on choices might have provoked. But as it goes on, the movie begins to feel mired in its own high-concept conceit without space to develop it further. Is there a reason the only music that triggers time travel for Harriet is connected to Max? Are there tunes that throw her back to times she prefers not to remember? Why is it important to recall that she used to be a music producer?

There’s an interesting film dancing around the edges of “The Greatest Hits,” but there’s both too much sentimentality and not enough thought, and that’s too bad. For audiences in search of a good cry, it may still do the job. But for those of us for whom the music-driven time travel experience is still metaphorical, it’s cold comfort, a fantasy with no hope of fulfillment.

The Greatest Hits Rated PG-13 for some language and innuendo, plus conversations about death and grief. Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes. Watch on Hulu.

Alissa Wilkinson is a Times movie critic. She’s been writing about movies since 2005. More about Alissa Wilkinson

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Even before his new film “Civil War” was released, the writer-director Alex Garland faced controversy over his vision of a divided America  with Texas and California as allies.

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'Civil War' review: Kirsten Dunst leads visceral look at consequences of a divided America

We see “Civil War” trending on social media all too commonly in our divided country, for one reason or another, and usually nodding to extreme cultural or ideological differences. With his riveting new action thriller of the same name, writer/director Alex Garland delivers a riveting cautionary tale that forces viewers to confront its terrifying real-life consequences.

“Civil War” (★★★½ out of four; rated R; in theaters Friday) imagines a near-future America that’s dystopian in vision but still realistic enough to be eerily unnerving. It's a grounded, well-acted ode to the power of journalism and a thought-provoking, visceral fireball of an anti-war movie.

Played exceptionally by Kirsten Dunst , Lee is an acclaimed war photographer covering a fractured America: The Western Forces led by California and Texas have seceded from the USA and are days away from a final siege on the federal government. Lee and her reporting partner Joel (Wagner Moura) have been tasked with traveling from New York City to Washington to interview the president (Nick Offerman) before the White House falls.

After visually capturing humanity's worst moments, Lee is as world-weary and jaded as one can be. But after saving aspiring photographer Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) during a Brooklyn suicide bombing, Lee becomes a reluctant mentor as the young woman worms her way into their crew. Also in the press van: senior journalist Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), hitching a ride to the Western Forces military base in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Most of “Civil War” is an episodic odyssey where Lee and company view the mighty toll taken by this conflict: the graveyard of cars on what’s left of I-95, for example, or how an innocent-looking holiday stop turns deadly courtesy of an unseen shooter. Primarily, however, it’s a disturbing internal examination of what happens when we turn on each other, when weekend warriors take up arms against trained soldiers, or armed neighbors are given a way to do bad things to people they just don’t like.

'No dark dialogue!': Kirsten Dunst says 5-year-old son helped her run lines for 'Civil War'

Given its polarizing nature, “Civil War" is actually not that "political." Garland doesn’t explain what led to the secession or much of the historical backstory, and even Offerman’s president isn’t onscreen enough to dig into any real-life inspirations, outside of some faux bluster in the face of certain defeat. (He’s apparently in his third term and dismantled the FBI, so probably not a big Constitutionalist.)

Rather than two hours of pointing fingers, Garland is more interested in depicting the effect of a civil war rather than the cause. As one sniper points out in a moment when Lee and Joel are trying not to die, when someone’s shooting a gun at you, it doesn’t matter what side you’re on or who’s good and who's bad.

The director’s intellectual filmography has explored everything from ecological issues ( “Annihilation” ) to AI advancement ( “Ex Machina” ), and there are all sorts of heady themes at play in “Civil War.” “What kind of American are you?” asks a racist soldier played with a steady, ruthless cruelty by Jesse Plemons (Dunst's husband) in a disturbing scene that nods to an even deeper conflict in society than the one torching this fictionalized version. There's also an underlying sense of apathy that the characters face, with hints that much of the country is just willfully ignoring the conflict because they'd rather not think about it. But this hellish road trip also maintains a sense of hopefulness − via the growing relationship between Lee and Jessie – and is pretty exciting even with its multitude of horrors.

'You get paid a lot of money': Kirsten Dunst says she's open for another superhero movie

“Civil War” is a thoughtful movie with blockbuster ambitions, and while it does embrace more of a straightforward action flick vibe toward its climactic end, Garland still lands a lasting gut punch. He immerses audiences in the unpredictable nature of war, with gunfire and explosions leaving even the calmest sort on edge, and paints a sprawling canvas of an America forever changed. Thankfully, it’s just a warning and not a promise, using the movie theater as a public service announcement rather than an escape from the real world.

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‘Silence 2’ Review: Climax, dialogues make Manoj Bajpayee film a missed opportunity

Silence 2 review: manoj bajpayee and prachi desai-starrer 'silence 2: the night owl bar shootout' released on april 16. the film fails to impress as a crime thriller despite its potential, says our review..

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• Manoj Bajpayee returns as ACP Avinash Verma with 'Silence 2'
• Aban Bharucha Deohans is the writer and director
• The film suffers from an unsteady pace and a disappointing climax

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Manoj Bajpayee

Release Date: 16 Apr, 2024

Manoj Bajpayee and Prachi Desai-starrer ‘Silence 2: The Night Owl Bar Shootout’ isn’t a film with just a long title. With close to 2 hours and 40 minute run-time, the film also veers towards being a dud show with very melodramatic treatment. At the centre of it is ACP Avinash Verma (played by Bajpayee), who reiterates how Amitabh Bachchan says ‘No means no’ in Pink before beating up goons and can play out murder scenes with his vivid imagination.

He is a poet at heart who simply delivers philosophical lines in the middle of an investigation, ponders often and quotes Ghalib. This man, along with his team, is out to catch a killer, who has murdered 10 people in a bar. However, thanks to the hunch that ACP Verma has, he finds out that there is a deeper racket involved.

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

The racket that we are speaking about is a human trafficking racket. With a slow start, the story slowly progresses towards finding the culprit, not just behind the shootout but also the one operating the racket.

At the centre of it is a mad artist, Arjun Chauhan. He is shown as an elusive character who only a few have met. The mystery unfolds, little by little, over the next 160 minutes. While the film picks up pace, it is very sporadic. The pace keeps being unsteady, and the melodramatic treatment does not help the case.

(SPOILERS END)

What is worse is the climax and the revelation of the criminal. What follows is the motive provided. Thanks to the final sequence, it looks like the audience has very successfully wasted their time.

Aban Bharucha Deohans has written and directed ‘Silence 2: The Night Owl Bar Shootout’. The writing could have been much crisper, especially at times when very craftily-made crime thrillers are aplenty. Even as a director, he loses his reign over the film quite a few times. The execution does not help.

Manoj Bajpayee’s ACP Verma feels like Srikanth Tiwari with less quirk. The actor tries to incorporate the swag that he has in the Raj and DK show, but keeps stuck in philosophy. The lines given just make the character farcical at times. He tries to play ACP Verma with sincerity, but the script does not do justice.

Prachi Desai is a wasted opportunity here. The actor, who has spark and talent, doesn’t have much to showcase in the film. It also makes us wonder why makers are not doing justice to her.

There seems to be a poor parody running throughout with dialogues like ‘ kuch toh gadbad hai ’ (something is wrong), reminiscent of ACP Pradyuman from CID or ‘ iss khel ka nirdeshak Arjun Chauhan hai par iss drame ka antim scene hum likhenge ’ (Arjun Chauhan might be the director of the game, but I will write the last scene). There’s also, ‘her life was interrupted by death’ at a very serious point. So, you get the drift of how the film gets unintentionally funny.

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'Civil War' envisions a too-near future

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Kirsten Dunst as Lee in Civil War. A24 hide caption

Kirsten Dunst as Lee in Civil War.

The new film Civil War depicts a contemporary America torn apart by a military conflict between the federal government and an alliance of secessionist states. Directed by Alex Garland ( Ex Machina ), the film follows a small band of journalists led by Kirsten Dunst's jaded war photographer. They embark on a harrowing journey to the heart of the conflict, encountering brutality and bloodshed along the way.

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