A pair of new trailers have arrived for two films with female leads that couldn’t be more different. One is a Sundance indie drama with Kristen Bell and the other is a DJANGO UNCHAINED inspired pulp western featuring MAD MEN’s January Jones. Which will be the better movie? You be the judge.
First up is THE LIFEGUARD with Kristen Bell. The movie tells the story of a 29-year-old woman who has yet to find herself so she takes a job as a lifeguard in her hometown. A romance with a teenager and a lot of other angsty life crises follow. I doubt there would be much interest in the film if it wasn’t for star Kristen Bell as the movie looks and feels like a rip-off of GARDEN STATE.
Leigh (Kristen Bell) is almost 30, and living a seemingly perfect life in New York. But when her career and love life both come crashing down, she flees to her suburban hometown and regresses right back into teenage life and behavior. She moves into her old room with her parents, hangs around with friends who never left town, and reclaims her high school job as a condo-complex lifeguard. But as Leigh enjoys shirking adult life and responsibilities and enters into an illicit affair, she begins a chain reaction that affects those closest to her.
Bell is likeable but this movie just looks like a downer. It was not well received at Sundance, but that doesn’t mean much. Maybe it can muster up enough buzz thanks to the VERONICA MARS Kickstarter campaign.
THE LIFEGUARD starring Kristen Bell, Mamie Gummer, Martin Starr, and Amy Madigan opens July 30th on VOD and theatrically on August 30th.
Next we have the international trailer for SWEETWATER (aka SWEET VENGEANCE) starring January Jones. Topless photos of Jones in the film hit the internet recently which increased my interest a little, but after seeing this trailer, I am not so sure I want to see it anymore.
While the movie does have an awesome looking Ed Harris and Jason Isaacs doing their best cowboy and villain overacting, Jones looks to be as wooden as she is on MAD MEN in the role of a prostitute turned widow turned vengeance seeking gunslinger. The trailer presents itself as a pulpy spaghetti western yet Jones barely cracks a smile or changes the tone of her voice throughout. It may not be a surprise that this film has yet to find US distribution.
Set against the backdrop of 1886 New Mexico Territory, a young widow (Jones) risks all to avenge her husband’s murder at the hands of a brutal sheep rancher. Harris plays the town sheriff who helps Jones avenge her husband’s death.
This indie westerns do have a tendency to be better than their cheaply made trailers, so this one could be decent. But, until it gets a domestic release, we will have to rely on reviews from those who get to see it overseas.