Defending Your Life

An unfunny comedy whose reason for being appears to be a celebration of the extravagant self-pity of its central character

In the Realm of the Senses is a Japanese film made twenty years ago by Nagisa Oshima. At the time it was considered shocking even by the relaxed standards of the day and it was seized by U.S. Customs Agents. What innocent times they seem! Nowadays we aren’t so much more depraved than people were…

How Stella Got Her Groove Back, directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan from a screenplay by Terry McMillan and Ron Bass from Miss McMillan’s novel, is a middle-aged woman’s wish-fulfilment fantasy and, unfortunately, little else. I thought at least it might be amusingly bad, but it doesn’t even reach as high as that. Angela Bassett stars…

A charmless, tedious and unfunny movie that cultivates an image of — of all things — intelligence

A brilliant and heart-breaking Iranian film that is also a superbly plotted detective story

Almost everyone can enjoy a really dumb movie once in a while, but it would seem to be a minimum requirement that it at least be funny.