Bedtime Stories
Adam Sandler replaces his usual toilet humour with Disney schmaltz in his latest kid-friendly adventure — and the result is a decidedly banal piece of fluff. While looking after his niece and nephew, a man discovers that the self-centred stories he concocts for them magically begin to come true.
It’s a premise that could have given way to a light fantasy romp, but it ultimately fizzles because of a severe lack of genuinely funny (or even sincere) moments. The few laughs the movie does contain belong almost exclusively to Russell Brand, who plays Sandler’s dopey (and possibly doped up) best friend. Expect the Disney formula: CGI-assisted animals, a moral about self-belief and a diabetes-inducing ending. — Shain Germaner
The Duchess
The grand houses. The glorious interiors. The awe-inspiring lobbies and entrances with marble flooring washed with natural light. The candlelit ballrooms densely populated by simpering ladies and gossiping 18th-century politicians. The wigs. The Whigs. The elegant country houses with drawing rooms from which ambitious mothers can thoughtfully watch their beautiful, innocent daughters romping ingenuously on the wonderful lawns.
Director Saul Dibb smoothly orchestrates these elements in his stately, measured pageant-drama, starring Keira Knightley as Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. What is frustrating is that the movie does not give Knightley much of a chance to show the progression of her character. The movie looks good, but there is something exasperatingly bland and slow-moving at all times. — Peter Bradshaw