Will Ferrell Movies

Molly Shannon, the latest Saturday Night Live comic to have a movie built around her, isn’t exactly funny–in fact, she’s a little unsettling. Her creation, the neurotic Catholic schoolgirl Mary Katherine Gallagher, invites laughter because she’s a little too close to the bone for anyone who grew up feeling ugly and unloved, which is a lot of people. Mary lives with her grandmother (Glynis Johns), who insists that Mary study business. Mary herself yearns to be famous and admired, though for what isn’t exactly clear; she envisions some vague combination of singing, dancing, and acting that will make her a superstar. A talent show promises to be her ticket to stardom (the winning prize is a role in “a movie with positive moral values”), and she won’t let her loser status or any hostile cheerleaders stand in her way. Meanwhile, Mary acts out dating fantasies with trees and signposts, envisions the school lunch room bursting into a Fame-like dance number, and longs for the biggest jock in school. What makes Superstar more than just a collection of bad high school memories is that, though the formulaic plot redeems Mary, the movie as a whole isn’t so sure. Mary completely loses herself in her obsessive fantasies–many inspired by cheesy made-for-TV movies–but there’s always someone watching, aghast, as Mary acts out her inner thoughts. Is she misunderstood or freakish? Superstar never commits to one side or the other, which makes it both comic and uncomfortable. –Bret Fetzer

So who exactly was Deep Throat, that all-important source who helped Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein bust open the Watergate scandal? Well, according to this thoroughly funny, keenly smart comedy from director Andrew Fleming (The Craft), it was two sweetly daft teenage girls named Betsy and Arlene. Taking the history and figures from Watergate and running gleefully and sacrilegiously amok, Dick offers up a hilarious what-if scenario that takes the Nixon administration’s downfall from grave tragedy to hilarious farce. When Betsy (Kirsten Dunst) and Arlene (Michelle Williams) run into a shady figure in the stairwell of Arlene’s Watergate apartment building, little do they know they’ve stumbled upon G. Gordon Liddy (Harry Shearer) on the night of the Democratic National Headquarters break-in. Later, on a White House field trip, they wind up meeting with Nixon himself (Dan Hedaya), who, to ensure their silence, decides to make them official White House dog walkers and “secret youth advisors.” Of course, Betsy and Arlene soon find out their idol has feet of clay, and ultimately decide to aid “radical muckraking journalists” (and queasy rivals) Woodward (Will Ferrell) and Bernstein (Bruce McCullough) in their investigation. Fleming and cowriter Sheryl Longin’s enfolding of the Watergate scandal is extremely clever and inspired, from Arlene’s 18-and-a-half-minute declaration of love on Nixon’s tape recorder to the Hello Dolly cookies (laced with a certain herbal stimulant) that help bring about the U.S.-Soviet accord. And after all the angsty-serious portraits of Watergate, it’s bliss to see the prime players sent up mercilessly; in addition to Shearer, the cast boasts Dave Foley (Erlichman), Jim Breuer (John Dean), Saul Rubinek (Kissinger), and Ana Gasteyer (Rosemary Woods), all in fine form. Hedaya’s Nixon, dead-on but never parodic, is an Oscar-worthy comic turn, and Dunst and Williams invest their characters with affection and humor; the success of the film lies in the way these talented actresses make us laugh with Betsy and Arlene, never at them. Don’t be put off by the teen sheen on this comedy–it’s also for all of us who still remember Watergate even after 25 years, and still love dancing on the scandal’s grave. –Mark Englehart