What to stream this week: Mark Ruffalo's sad dad, plus five more to add to your list
Hal and Harper ★★★★ (Stan*)
The gap between the casual and a crisis is worryingly small and always unclear in this quicksilver US dramedy. 'I feel like a fragile sculpture,' says Harper (Lili Reinhart), one of the show's titular twenty-something siblings. She's drily referring to her new haircut, an experiment with a fringe that speaks to mishandling unease, but a different, altogether more painful, definition is close at hand: crack, crumble, collapse. Hal and Harper is a show that is deeply attuned to emotional upheaval overwhelming the everyday.
It's an intriguing, idiosyncratic vision from creator Cooper Raiff, the independent filmmaker (Cha Cha Real Smooth) who transitions to television by writing and directing all eight episodes. Cooper, who also plays younger brother Hal, wants to dig into the unspoken. His Californian characters are poised on the precipice of change they can no longer avoid. Hal is about to finish university, but is still emotionally dependent on Harper, who has a dead-end first job and a relationship, with Jesse (Alyah Chanelle Scott), that's imploding.
The two are, in so many ways, the children of Michael (Mark Ruffalo), the novelist and single father who raised them with a pronounced lack of emotional support; Harper has been mothering Hal since she was nine and he was seven. When Michael announces that his girlfriend, Kate (Betty Gilpin), is pregnant, the celebratory news lights a fuse to individual reckonings. He's terrified of failing another child, and his adult children can't avoid facing their childhood trauma. It seems our performative ease with therapy-speak doesn't actually fix anything.
Raiff crafts these little earthquakes with droll exchanges, lived-in eccentricities and roiling montages that feel like they're lifting the characters out of the plot's safe space. His innovations skirt the absurd to find deeper truths, most notably in lengthy primary school flashbacks where Reinhart and Raiff play the younger Harper and Hal. She's an old soul, he's nervy and enthusiastic, and there's something solemn and bittersweet about seeing the adults these two children will become, learning about life.
The little jokes and quick reassurances the grown siblings swap with each other and those close to them are a coping mechanism that can't endure. 'She broke my heart,' adult Hal laments of a fellow student, Abby (Havana Rose Liu), before Harper stumps him by asking, 'What's her last name?' The performances have a low-key desperation and deeply held churn. Solving these issues isn't the crux of Hal and Harper, it's actually just being able to acknowledge them. That's both sad and a joke, which is exactly where this first-rate show wants to be.
My Mom Jayne ★★★½ (Max)
Separating the public from the private is a near impossible task in this documentary from Law and Order: Special Victims Unit star Mariska Hargitay. The actress was just three years old when her mother, Hollywood bombshell Jayne Mansfield, died in a car accident in 1967. Hargitay, who was asleep in the vehicle's back seat, has spent her life struggling to understand a famous parent she has no memories of. This feature-length documentary is her attempt at reconciliation.
With an outlook on fame that feels contemporary, the platinum blonde Mansfield was the most photographed woman in the world in the 1950s. 'She was always on display,' recalls her former publicist, the now 99-year-old 'Rusty' Strait. The film untangles the divide between Mansfield as sex kitten and loving mother, and charts her increasingly perilous career and marriages, including her second with Mickey Hargitay, a former Mr Universe.
Mariska Hargitay directs the film, and is often on camera, including interviews with her siblings. There's no outside scrutiny to this story, but the trade-off is a deeply genuine sense of loss and longing; an outsider couldn't deliver the raw exchanges these family members share. Hargitay folds in her youthful rebellion and belated yearning and, in a nod to the entertainment industry she's spent her whole life adjacent to, there's an almighty twist in the third act that completes this heartfelt journey.
Echo Valley ★★★ (Apple TV+)
Written by Brad Ingelsby (Mare of Easttown) and set in rural Pennsylvania, this familial thriller from British director Michael Pearce (Beast) has a familiar shape and the overqualified cast to paper over the cracks. Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney play estranged mother and daughter, reunited when the latter's latest misdeed brings her home to the former. Helping your child is just another form of debt that must be collected, but the film keeps the leads apart while fraying the plot with twists and double-crosses. The story lacks a visceral edge.
Countdown ★★½ (Amazon Prime Video)
Amazon's yen for 'Dad action' in shows such as Reacher and The Terminal List – all hard-nosed action sequences, stoic leading men, and a sardonic commentary while doing good – goes a step too far with this crime drama about a US task force whose murder investigation uncovers a vast conspiracy. Countdown is efficient but generic, too often echoing the procedural roots of creator Derek Haas (Chicago Fire). Supernatural star Jensen Ackles knows how to embody the protagonist, LAPD detective Mark Meachum, but he's not given a great deal to work with.
Predator: Killer of Killers ★★★ (Disney+)
Of the many ageing intellectual property franchises being tended and exploited by Hollywood studios, Predator may well be having the most interesting second act. The 1987 original remains an action classic, but recently there's been some smart additions to the science-fiction series about the alien warrior race that periodically hunts humans. After directing the underrated 2022 live action feature Prey, director Dan Trachtenberg returns with this animated anthology about Predator encounters with different historic eras. It's all bloody ultra-violence and comic book excess which is a good change of pace.
Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem ★★½ (Netflix)
Trainwreck is Netflix's modern scandal documentary franchise: occasionally tragic, mostly tawdry, with a focus on jaw-dropping testimony over historic analysis. Alongside the newly released holiday nightmare Poop Cruise, the Mayor of Mayhem is indicative of the Trainwreck process. It recounts the fireball career of Toronto mayor Rob Ford, a populist who assumed the position in 2010 and within three years was the headline subject of a video that showed him smoking crack cocaine. Was Ford an addict? Yes. Does that hold as much weight here as his propensity for saying bonkers stuff in public? No.
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The Advertiser
6 days ago
- The Advertiser
Pay attention, there's plenty going on in this twisty swap plot
Freakier Friday (PG, 111 minutes) 2 stars Body-swap movies are nothing new. It's a surefire premise when done well, with well cast actors who can handle the challenge of playing "each other". We've seen lots of people - often a parent and child - spend time in each other's shoes. They're often comedies - Vice Versa, The Change-Up, to name two - but can also be horror movies, like The Skeleton Key and Freaky. Freakier Friday bears no relationship to that last film. It's a sequel to the comedy Freaky Friday (2003). That's one of four screen adaptations - movie and TV - from Disney of Mary Rodgers' 1972 novel, one of which was based on a stage musical version (the company certainly knows how to exploit its properties, though the musicalisation was no match for Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King). Although there were name and story changes, the premise remained the same in the various incarnations. This film's predecessor told the story of a mother, Tess Coleman (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) and her teenage daughter, Anna (Lindsay Lohan) who swap bodies Now it's happened again - with a new wrinkle. This time, four people are involved in the exchange of bodies. It makes things a little trickier to follow and there are a lot of returning and new characters. At times it feels like notes are needed to keep up (this review might help). More than 20 years after the first film, things are a little different. Anna (Lohan), a single mother, retired from performing to work as a music manager so she can spend time raising her now-teenage daughter, Harper (Julia Butters, who was so good opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Hollywood). Tess (Curtis) helps out when she's not working as a successful therapist, author, and podcaster. Everyone seems pretty happy. But, of course, things aren't perfect. Harper's enemy at school is Lily (Sophia Hammons), a snooty English girl who's worked in fashion and who's in the US for a year with her widowed father, Eric (Manny Jacinto), a celebrity chef. After a massive food fight at school started by the two girls at a cake sale (it's quite a spectacle), their parents are summoned for a meeting with the principal (X Mayo) and, before you can say "meet cute", are instantly smitten with each other. Six months later, Ann and Eric are about to be married and the prospect of being stepsisters does not please Harper or Lily. And where will the blended family live? This time, the changeover comes courtesy of a psychic (Vanessa Bayer) and involves four rather than two people. Anna trades bodies with Harper and, less expectedly, Lily and Tess swap. Now the girls have a reason beyond simply disliking each other to see that the wedding doesn't happen. But, as before, there's something that has to occur before everyone can return to their own bodies. And the switching doesn't make things easier. There's a lot of fan service here. Among the several reappearances from the first film: Chad Michael Murray is shoehorned in as Anna's ex, Jake, with the tease that she might return to him; Mark Harmon is pleasant as Tess's husband Ryan (but has little to do); and skilled character actor Stephen Tobolowsky once again plays goofy teacher Elton Bates. It's quite impressive that so many actors were reassembled all these years later but the film does feel overstuffed as a result. And it also feels underwritten. The screenplay - by seasoned scribe Jordan Weiss (Dollface), from a story devised by her and Eyse Hollander - has its moments but feels like it could have been better. As mentioned, there's a lot going on, much of which doesn't really lead anywhere. A lot of comic possibilities are either overlooked or not exploited to really good effect - there's so much story to get through and so many characters to juggle. The emotional side is also shortchanged. Lohan (who's had her share of ups and downs but is, we can only hope, in a happier state now), Butters and Jacinto are appealing but Hammons and especially Curtis have the best parts and do well with what they're given. Curtis, evidently thick-skinned, seems to be having fun as the vain Lily frequently bemoans the effects of age on her new body and Hammons is able to channel the cool, smart grandmother (it's a pity more wasn't done with this). Director Nisha Ganatra (Late Night) keeps things moving and the film is pleasant but not memorable. Fans of the original might think it was worth the wait more than I did. Freakier Friday (PG, 111 minutes) 2 stars Body-swap movies are nothing new. It's a surefire premise when done well, with well cast actors who can handle the challenge of playing "each other". We've seen lots of people - often a parent and child - spend time in each other's shoes. They're often comedies - Vice Versa, The Change-Up, to name two - but can also be horror movies, like The Skeleton Key and Freaky. Freakier Friday bears no relationship to that last film. It's a sequel to the comedy Freaky Friday (2003). That's one of four screen adaptations - movie and TV - from Disney of Mary Rodgers' 1972 novel, one of which was based on a stage musical version (the company certainly knows how to exploit its properties, though the musicalisation was no match for Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King). Although there were name and story changes, the premise remained the same in the various incarnations. This film's predecessor told the story of a mother, Tess Coleman (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) and her teenage daughter, Anna (Lindsay Lohan) who swap bodies Now it's happened again - with a new wrinkle. This time, four people are involved in the exchange of bodies. It makes things a little trickier to follow and there are a lot of returning and new characters. At times it feels like notes are needed to keep up (this review might help). More than 20 years after the first film, things are a little different. Anna (Lohan), a single mother, retired from performing to work as a music manager so she can spend time raising her now-teenage daughter, Harper (Julia Butters, who was so good opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Hollywood). Tess (Curtis) helps out when she's not working as a successful therapist, author, and podcaster. Everyone seems pretty happy. But, of course, things aren't perfect. Harper's enemy at school is Lily (Sophia Hammons), a snooty English girl who's worked in fashion and who's in the US for a year with her widowed father, Eric (Manny Jacinto), a celebrity chef. After a massive food fight at school started by the two girls at a cake sale (it's quite a spectacle), their parents are summoned for a meeting with the principal (X Mayo) and, before you can say "meet cute", are instantly smitten with each other. Six months later, Ann and Eric are about to be married and the prospect of being stepsisters does not please Harper or Lily. And where will the blended family live? This time, the changeover comes courtesy of a psychic (Vanessa Bayer) and involves four rather than two people. Anna trades bodies with Harper and, less expectedly, Lily and Tess swap. Now the girls have a reason beyond simply disliking each other to see that the wedding doesn't happen. But, as before, there's something that has to occur before everyone can return to their own bodies. And the switching doesn't make things easier. There's a lot of fan service here. Among the several reappearances from the first film: Chad Michael Murray is shoehorned in as Anna's ex, Jake, with the tease that she might return to him; Mark Harmon is pleasant as Tess's husband Ryan (but has little to do); and skilled character actor Stephen Tobolowsky once again plays goofy teacher Elton Bates. It's quite impressive that so many actors were reassembled all these years later but the film does feel overstuffed as a result. And it also feels underwritten. The screenplay - by seasoned scribe Jordan Weiss (Dollface), from a story devised by her and Eyse Hollander - has its moments but feels like it could have been better. As mentioned, there's a lot going on, much of which doesn't really lead anywhere. A lot of comic possibilities are either overlooked or not exploited to really good effect - there's so much story to get through and so many characters to juggle. The emotional side is also shortchanged. Lohan (who's had her share of ups and downs but is, we can only hope, in a happier state now), Butters and Jacinto are appealing but Hammons and especially Curtis have the best parts and do well with what they're given. Curtis, evidently thick-skinned, seems to be having fun as the vain Lily frequently bemoans the effects of age on her new body and Hammons is able to channel the cool, smart grandmother (it's a pity more wasn't done with this). Director Nisha Ganatra (Late Night) keeps things moving and the film is pleasant but not memorable. Fans of the original might think it was worth the wait more than I did. Freakier Friday (PG, 111 minutes) 2 stars Body-swap movies are nothing new. It's a surefire premise when done well, with well cast actors who can handle the challenge of playing "each other". We've seen lots of people - often a parent and child - spend time in each other's shoes. They're often comedies - Vice Versa, The Change-Up, to name two - but can also be horror movies, like The Skeleton Key and Freaky. Freakier Friday bears no relationship to that last film. It's a sequel to the comedy Freaky Friday (2003). That's one of four screen adaptations - movie and TV - from Disney of Mary Rodgers' 1972 novel, one of which was based on a stage musical version (the company certainly knows how to exploit its properties, though the musicalisation was no match for Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King). Although there were name and story changes, the premise remained the same in the various incarnations. This film's predecessor told the story of a mother, Tess Coleman (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) and her teenage daughter, Anna (Lindsay Lohan) who swap bodies Now it's happened again - with a new wrinkle. This time, four people are involved in the exchange of bodies. It makes things a little trickier to follow and there are a lot of returning and new characters. At times it feels like notes are needed to keep up (this review might help). More than 20 years after the first film, things are a little different. Anna (Lohan), a single mother, retired from performing to work as a music manager so she can spend time raising her now-teenage daughter, Harper (Julia Butters, who was so good opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Hollywood). Tess (Curtis) helps out when she's not working as a successful therapist, author, and podcaster. Everyone seems pretty happy. But, of course, things aren't perfect. Harper's enemy at school is Lily (Sophia Hammons), a snooty English girl who's worked in fashion and who's in the US for a year with her widowed father, Eric (Manny Jacinto), a celebrity chef. After a massive food fight at school started by the two girls at a cake sale (it's quite a spectacle), their parents are summoned for a meeting with the principal (X Mayo) and, before you can say "meet cute", are instantly smitten with each other. Six months later, Ann and Eric are about to be married and the prospect of being stepsisters does not please Harper or Lily. And where will the blended family live? This time, the changeover comes courtesy of a psychic (Vanessa Bayer) and involves four rather than two people. Anna trades bodies with Harper and, less expectedly, Lily and Tess swap. Now the girls have a reason beyond simply disliking each other to see that the wedding doesn't happen. But, as before, there's something that has to occur before everyone can return to their own bodies. And the switching doesn't make things easier. There's a lot of fan service here. Among the several reappearances from the first film: Chad Michael Murray is shoehorned in as Anna's ex, Jake, with the tease that she might return to him; Mark Harmon is pleasant as Tess's husband Ryan (but has little to do); and skilled character actor Stephen Tobolowsky once again plays goofy teacher Elton Bates. It's quite impressive that so many actors were reassembled all these years later but the film does feel overstuffed as a result. And it also feels underwritten. The screenplay - by seasoned scribe Jordan Weiss (Dollface), from a story devised by her and Eyse Hollander - has its moments but feels like it could have been better. As mentioned, there's a lot going on, much of which doesn't really lead anywhere. A lot of comic possibilities are either overlooked or not exploited to really good effect - there's so much story to get through and so many characters to juggle. The emotional side is also shortchanged. Lohan (who's had her share of ups and downs but is, we can only hope, in a happier state now), Butters and Jacinto are appealing but Hammons and especially Curtis have the best parts and do well with what they're given. Curtis, evidently thick-skinned, seems to be having fun as the vain Lily frequently bemoans the effects of age on her new body and Hammons is able to channel the cool, smart grandmother (it's a pity more wasn't done with this). Director Nisha Ganatra (Late Night) keeps things moving and the film is pleasant but not memorable. Fans of the original might think it was worth the wait more than I did. Freakier Friday (PG, 111 minutes) 2 stars Body-swap movies are nothing new. It's a surefire premise when done well, with well cast actors who can handle the challenge of playing "each other". We've seen lots of people - often a parent and child - spend time in each other's shoes. They're often comedies - Vice Versa, The Change-Up, to name two - but can also be horror movies, like The Skeleton Key and Freaky. Freakier Friday bears no relationship to that last film. It's a sequel to the comedy Freaky Friday (2003). That's one of four screen adaptations - movie and TV - from Disney of Mary Rodgers' 1972 novel, one of which was based on a stage musical version (the company certainly knows how to exploit its properties, though the musicalisation was no match for Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King). Although there were name and story changes, the premise remained the same in the various incarnations. This film's predecessor told the story of a mother, Tess Coleman (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) and her teenage daughter, Anna (Lindsay Lohan) who swap bodies Now it's happened again - with a new wrinkle. This time, four people are involved in the exchange of bodies. It makes things a little trickier to follow and there are a lot of returning and new characters. At times it feels like notes are needed to keep up (this review might help). More than 20 years after the first film, things are a little different. Anna (Lohan), a single mother, retired from performing to work as a music manager so she can spend time raising her now-teenage daughter, Harper (Julia Butters, who was so good opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Hollywood). Tess (Curtis) helps out when she's not working as a successful therapist, author, and podcaster. Everyone seems pretty happy. But, of course, things aren't perfect. Harper's enemy at school is Lily (Sophia Hammons), a snooty English girl who's worked in fashion and who's in the US for a year with her widowed father, Eric (Manny Jacinto), a celebrity chef. After a massive food fight at school started by the two girls at a cake sale (it's quite a spectacle), their parents are summoned for a meeting with the principal (X Mayo) and, before you can say "meet cute", are instantly smitten with each other. Six months later, Ann and Eric are about to be married and the prospect of being stepsisters does not please Harper or Lily. And where will the blended family live? This time, the changeover comes courtesy of a psychic (Vanessa Bayer) and involves four rather than two people. Anna trades bodies with Harper and, less expectedly, Lily and Tess swap. Now the girls have a reason beyond simply disliking each other to see that the wedding doesn't happen. But, as before, there's something that has to occur before everyone can return to their own bodies. And the switching doesn't make things easier. There's a lot of fan service here. Among the several reappearances from the first film: Chad Michael Murray is shoehorned in as Anna's ex, Jake, with the tease that she might return to him; Mark Harmon is pleasant as Tess's husband Ryan (but has little to do); and skilled character actor Stephen Tobolowsky once again plays goofy teacher Elton Bates. It's quite impressive that so many actors were reassembled all these years later but the film does feel overstuffed as a result. And it also feels underwritten. The screenplay - by seasoned scribe Jordan Weiss (Dollface), from a story devised by her and Eyse Hollander - has its moments but feels like it could have been better. As mentioned, there's a lot going on, much of which doesn't really lead anywhere. A lot of comic possibilities are either overlooked or not exploited to really good effect - there's so much story to get through and so many characters to juggle. The emotional side is also shortchanged. Lohan (who's had her share of ups and downs but is, we can only hope, in a happier state now), Butters and Jacinto are appealing but Hammons and especially Curtis have the best parts and do well with what they're given. Curtis, evidently thick-skinned, seems to be having fun as the vain Lily frequently bemoans the effects of age on her new body and Hammons is able to channel the cool, smart grandmother (it's a pity more wasn't done with this). Director Nisha Ganatra (Late Night) keeps things moving and the film is pleasant but not memorable. Fans of the original might think it was worth the wait more than I did.
Sydney Morning Herald
06-08-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Lindsay Lohan is back! But even she can't save this Millennial nostalgia trip
FREAKIER FRIDAY ★★½ (PG) 111 minutes The body swap concept never gets old, but pulling it off is harder than it looks. To begin with, you need a pair of uncommonly gifted comic performers, one preferably in their mid-teens. At least two of the best examples are called Freaky Friday: the first in 1976 with Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster; the second in 2003 with Jamie-Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. Both were based on Mary Rodgers' young adult novel, published in 1970 when the generation gap between teenagers and their parents yawned wider than it has since. Nisha Ganatra's 'legacy sequel' Freakier Friday doesn't live up to either of its predecessors. Still, it's a likeable movie, even if it strains a little to demonstrate its good nature – and it marks a welcome comeback for Lohan, who retains the knack for comic vulnerability she had as a young adult. The set-up is complicated, with three generations of women now sharing the same home in sunny LA. Curtis' character Tess Coleman is largely retired as a psychiatrist, but has found new success as an author and the host of the podcast Rebelling With Respect. Tess' daughter Anna, played by Lohan, was an aspiring rock-and-roller in high school, but in her 30s has settled for being the manager and confidante of Ella (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), a young pop star with emotional troubles of her own. She's also now the mother of teenage Harper (Julia Butters). Tess can't resist interfering with Anna's parenting, while Harper's main interests are surfing and looking surly. Still, as a family unit they're reasonably stable, until Anna announces she and Harper will be moving to London to form a new blended family with Eric (Manny Jacinto) and Eric's snooty daughter Lily (Sophia Hammons), who's around Harper's age.
