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TV
WICKED CITY
There is a mystery at the heart of
“Wicked City,” but it’s not captured
by anything that happens on
screen. The question is, why did
anyone think this dour, superficial
serial-killer drama would be a good
fit for ABC’s aspirational brand?
“Wicked City” is, at its core, a police
procedural, one in which a cynical
cop, Jack Roth (Jeremy Sisto), tracks
a murderer who is a charismatic
lady-killer operating on the Sunset
Strip of the ’80s. Both sides of the
cop/criminal equation are lacking
in this tepid drama, however, and
the drama’s actors, who include Ed
Westwick, Erika Christensen, Jeremy
Sisto and Taissa Farmiga, are mostly
miscast or misused.
— Maureen Ryan
EXEC PRODUCERS: Steven Baigelman,
Amy B. Harris, Jon Cassar, Todd
Lieberman, David Hoberman, Laurie Zaks
CAST: Ed Westwick, Erika Christensen,
Jeremy Sisto, Taissa Farmiga, Gabriel Luna,
Karolina Wydra, Evan Ross, Anne Winters,
Jaime Ray Newman, W. Earl Brown, Kirk
Baltz, Sara Mornell, Doug Simpson
TV
THE LEISURE CLASS
For all the high-minded talk from
its high-profile producers around
“Project Greenlight,” the TV show
has never been about the movies
being made at its center; nor has
it produced a successful one. That
streak continues with “The Leisure
Class,” although this latest film
has been spared any commercial
pressures by premiering on HBO,
which needn’t worry about anyone
specifically paying to see it. As the
series chronicled, contest-winning
director Jason Mann fought to make
this script, and there’s obviously
some talent on display here. That
said, it’s put to use in the service of
such a small, unexceptional story as
to make Mann’s conspicuous handwringing
over the details seem
irrelevant in hindsight.
— Brian Lowry
EXEC PRODUCERS: Matt Damon, Ben
Affleck, Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly,
Jennifer Todd, TJ Barrack, Perrin Chiles,
Marshall Lewy
CAST: Ed Weeks, Tom Bell, Bridget Regan,
Scottie Thompson, Melanie Zanetti,
Christine Lakin, Rory Knox Johnston,
Brenda Strong, Bruce Davison
REVIEWS IN BRIEF
LEGIT / BROADWAY
DAMES AT SEA
How cruel, to make comparisons
with a legendary star! How
unkind! How unfair! Well, tough
luck, because here it comes: The
new leading lady of “Dames at
Sea,” an affectionate and smartly
constructed sendup of Hollywood’s
fantasies about how Broadway
stage shows were built, is no
Bernadette Peters. There’s nothing
wrong with this revival that Peters,
who played the role of Ruby in the
original 1968 production, couldn’t
fix. But musical theater stars of her
caliber don’t grow on trees, and
although newcomer Eloise Kropp
is a power tapper par excellence,
she hasn’t the saucy charm of a
Broadway Baby like Ruby — or the
magnetic appeal of a star like Peters.
— Marilyn Stasio
DIRECTOR: Randy Skinner
CAST: John Bolton, Mara Davi, Danny
Gardner, Eloise Kropp, Lesli Margherita,
Cary Tedder
LEGIT / OFF BROADWAY
RIPCORD
The Manhattan Theater Club
presumably commissioned
“Ripcord” from playwright David
Lindsay-Abaire to give their
faithful subscription audience a
subject dear to their own hearts.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer
(for “Rabbit Hole”) has come
up with an amiable if simplistic
crowdpleaser, in the form of a
duel of wits between “odd couple”
roommates in an assisted living
facility. Although smartly directed
by David Hyde Pierce, the slender
sitcom hangs for dear life on
the appeal of its engaging stars,
Marylouise Burke and Holland
Taylor. And unfortunately, the major
miscalculation rests in the onedimensional
depiction of the two
major characters, who are clearly
intended to charm the audience,
not alienate a huge swath of it.
— Marilyn Stasio
PLAYWRIGHT: David Lindsay-Abaire
CAST: Marylouise Burke, Rachel Dratch,
Glenn Fitzgerald, Daoud Heidami, Nate
Miller, Holland Taylor
Full reviews available
on Variety.com
FILM REVIEW
GEOFF BERKSHIRE
Jem
and the
Holograms
DIRECTOR: Jon M. Chu
STARRING: Aubrey Peeples, Juliette Lewis,
Ryan Guzman
Acampy cartoon
encapsulating ’80s excess
transforms into an earnest
live-action ode to the
navel-gazing YouTube
generation in “Jem and the Holograms.”
Considerably less fun than any paper-thin
“A Star Is Born” ripoff has any right to be,
this low-budget collaboration between
“Step Up” sequel director Jon M. Chu,
horror producer Jason Blum and Justin
Bieber manager Scooter Braun exists only
because of nostalgia for the animated
source material. And yet the film seems
inexplicably embarrassed by its roots,
instead serving up half-baked and selfconsciously
contemporary drama that no
one in the sure-to-be minimal theatrical
audience will remember quite so fondly
some 30 years on.
Similarities between the live-action
and animated “Jem” pretty much begin
and end with character names, but both
revolve around talented young singer
Jerrica Benton (played here by Aubrey
Peeples), who becomes a pop superstar
under the stage name Jem. In the film,
YouTube is her ticket to success when
social media-savvy younger sister Kimber
(Stefanie Scott) secretly uploads an
acoustic performance Jerrica/Jem filmed
in her bedroom, and the clip immediately
goes viral.
Jem’s debut performance attracts the
attention of powerful music mogul Erica
Raymond (Juliette Lewis), who whisks
Jerrica away from her hard-working Aunt
Bailey (Molly Ringwald) and promises her
the world. Jerrica insists on bringing along
Kimber and their interchangeable foster
sisters, Shana (Aurora Perrineau) and Aja
(Hayley Kiyoko), as her backing band, and
Erica places them all under the watchful
eye of her son, Rio (Ryan Guzman).
As Erica schemes to extract Jerrica
from her sisters so Jem can become a
proper solo star, Jerrica falls for Rio and
tries to ensure that Aunt Bailey won’t
lose her house or her business. She also
slowly pieces together a puzzle left behind
by her late father, in the form of a pintsized
robot called Synergy. That’s about
all the film offers in terms of plot, even
as the running time pushes toward an
excruciating two hours.
Perhaps a few killer musical numbers
would’ve helped move things along, but
even Jem’s performances are limited to
just a handful of scenes. And whether
due to budgetary limitations or simple
failure of imagination, they’re remarkably
low-energy affairs staged in front of what
seems like dozens of extras (standing in
for Jem’s supposed thousands of fans).
Against all odds, “Nashville” series
regular Peeples keeps the film watchable,
delivering a capable star turn with
enough flashes of soul to belie the script’s
artifice and credible pop vocals to boot.
CREDITS: A Universal release,
presented with AllSpark
Pictures, of a Blumhouse/
Chu Studios production, in
association with SB Projects.
PRODUCED BY Jason Blum,
Jon M• Chu, Scooter Braun,
Brian Goldner, Stephen
Davis, Bennett Schneir.
DIRECTED BY Jon M• Chu.
SCREENPLAY, Ryan Landels,
SPARKLE-FREE Aubrey Peeples stars in the live-action “Jem and the Holograms.”
based on Hasbro’s “Jem and
the Holograms.” . REVIEWED
AT Arclight Cinemas,
Hollywood, Oct. 21, 2015.
MPAA RATING: PG. RUNNING
TIME: 118 MIN.
CAST: Aubrey Peeples,
Juliette Lewis, Ryan Guzman,
Stefanie Scott, Aurora
Perrineau, Hayley Kiyoko,
Molly Ringwald, Kesha
DAMES AT SEA: JEREMY DANIEL; RIPCORD: JOAN MARCUS
110 Final Cut