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Boston Globe
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Golf comedy ‘Stick' can't get out of the rough
Owen Wilson brings his shaggy brand of charm to the role of Pryce 'Stick' Cahill, a former pro golf stud who flamed out years back, beset by grief (spoiler advisories prevent me from saying why), drinking, and disappointment. His ex-wife, Amber-Linn (Judy Greer, always a welcome presence) is tolerant but weary. His RV-driving former caddy and current barroom hustle partner, Mitts (Boston University alum Then, one day at the driving range, he hears a magical sound. It's the ball flying off the club of Santi (Peter Dager), a teen prodigy with a bit of an attitude. Pryce sees Santi as his way back to golf nirvana. But the kid was coached by his hard-ass dad, who then up and left him and his mother, Elena (promising Mexican actress Mariana Treviño, who shows sharp timing here and opposite Tom Hanks in 2022's 'A Man Called Otto'). He wants no part of competitive golf. Undeterred, Pryce cuts a check for Elena, convinces Santi that together they can make the big time, and embarks on a wild, wacky, life-affirming tour of major amateur events, with Elena, Mitts, and his RV along for the ride. Advertisement Peter Dager, Mariana Treviño, Kirstin Eggers, Marc Maron and Owen Wilson in "Stick." Apple TV+ Golf is rife with metaphors applicable to the game of life, particularly where it comes to deciding between playing it safe or letting it all hang out. A past big-screen golf comedy, which we'll get to in a moment, worked these ideas to smooth and even raunchy effect. 'Stick,' on the other hand, likes to whack you over the head with a 9-iron. The comedy feels forced, more in the vein of a middling network sitcom than a premium streaming series. The drama can be downright maudlin, especially when it tries to visualize Pryce's ruminations on his past and his might-have-beens. As Pryce tries to get his pupil to slow down and let the game come to him, it's hard not to wish 'Stick' had followed similar advice. 'Stick' also shanks its attempts at edgy nowness. Along the way the crew picks up a wild card, a young woman named Zero (Lili Kay). She describes herself as a 'genderqueer, anti-capitalist, postcolonial feminist.' Kids. They're really something, am I right? She becomes Santi's girlfriend and touchstone, which would be fine if the two actors had better chemistry and better material to work with. The series also tries to have some fun at the expense of a hyper-competitive pickleball couple, because pickleball is, you know, hot. You can sense someone standing behind the scenes of 'Stick,' constantly trying to gauge its Q Score. Advertisement There are some highlights. The brightest is Clark is actually a lot like David Simms, Kevin Costner's slick, slimy adversary, who was played by Don Johnson in the 1996 romantic golf comedy 'Tin Cup.' Come to think of it, 'Stick' has an awful lot in common with 'Tin Cup,' another story of a washed-up, impetuous golfer looking for a shot at redemption. The biggest difference is that 'Tin Cup' never sweated on the course as it mixed homespun wisdom with sex appeal. 'Stick' can't keep its cool the same way. You feel it straining to be meaningful and charming, and to fill out ten episodes. Playing golf can be frustrating. Watching a comedy about it shouldn't be. Advertisement STICK Starring Owen Wilson, Peter Dager, Lili Kay, Marc Maron, Mariana Treviño, Timothy Olyphant, and Judy Greer. On Apple TV+. Chris Vognar, a freelance culture writer, was the 2009 Nieman Arts and Culture Fellow at Harvard University.
Express Tribune
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Aimee Lou Wood joins Angelina Jolie in film adaptation of Fredrik Backman's novel 'Anxious People'
Aimee Lou Wood has joined the cast of Anxious People, a new feature directed by Marc Forster, where she will star opposite Angelina Jolie. The film, adapted from the novel by Fredrik Backman, is currently being presented to buyers at the Cannes Market by Black Bear for international rights and WME Independent for domestic distribution. Wood, known for her performances in Sex Education and The White Lotus season three, will play Grace, a would-be bank robber who inadvertently holds a group of strangers hostage during an open house the day before Christmas Eve. Jolie stars as Zara, an investment banker reluctantly present at the scene. The plot unfolds through unexpected revelations and a blend of comedy and drama as the group confronts hidden truths. The screenplay has been written by David Magee, whose credits include A Man Called Otto, Life of Pi, and Finding Neverland. The film reunites several creatives from A Man Called Otto, including producers Fredrik Wikström Nicastro and Renée Wolfe, who are working with Forster under their banner 2DUX2 alongside Hope Studios. Black Bear's broader lineup at Cannes includes Shutout from David O. Russell, starring Robert De Niro and Jenna Ortega.
Hindustan Times
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Mysskin leaks story and climax of his upcoming film Train with Vijay Sethupathi; confuses fans
Director Mysskin recently delivered an hour-long speech in Chennai about how aspirants can find their footing in the film industry. But, during the speech, he leaked the story of his upcoming film, Train, which stars Vijay Sethupathi in the lead role. Fans were confused as to why the director revealed the film's climax too early. (Also Read: Anurag Kashyap says he 'couldn't afford' daughter Aaliyah's wedding until Vijay Sethupathi helped him bag Maharaja role) At the event, Mysskin spoke about how, as a filmmaker, you need to respect the time and money of the audience who paid ₹150 or more to watch the film. He then spoke about how he was inspired to make Train and said in Tamil, as translated by TOI, 'I have travelled by train at least 300-600 times at least. Think about it, and it feels like a monstrous worm carrying children in its belly, stumbling along and taking them to wherever they need. That's how I felt when I was a child. This metaphor inspired me to make the film where thousands of people board a train, most reach safely, but some lose their lives.' He then revealed Vijay's role in the film and said, 'The protagonist wants to die, he's travelling towards death in disgust. He no longer has a reason to live. He wants to visit his wife's grave one last time to plant a sapling there before he dies. But a lot of things happen inside the stomach of this monster to make him forget his woes. The experience of his journey teaches him the value of life. How he thinks, had I not come on this journey, met these people, had this experience, he wouldn't have learnt the value of life…that's my climax.' One fan joked, 'Wake up babe, new mysskin yap dropped.' One X user thought the story seemed a little too similar to A Man Called Otto, 'In Otto the lead character lives in a gated community but, here he changed that to Train but the base storyline is same.' An X user posted a meme of Balakrishna with 'smiling with pain' written on it and said, 'Meanwhile producer Dhanu will be like.' Train is directed by Mysskin and produced by Kalaipuli S Thanu under V Creations. It stars Vijay Sethupathi, Shruti Haasan, Nassar, Sampath Raj, KS Ravikumar, and others.
New Indian Express
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Angelina Jolie to headline Anxious People
Academy Award nominee David Magee, Forster's A Man Called Otto scribe, has adapted the novel into a screenplay. Jolie won a Tony award in 2024 for her work in The Outsiders. She recently appeared in the Maria Callas biopic from filmmaker Pablo Larraín, besides directing First They Killed My Father. Besides World War Z and A Man Called Otto, some of Forster's other film credits are Monster's Ball, The Kite Runner, Quantum of Solace, and Finding Neverland. As per Forster, the story is "filled with humor, heart, chaos, and unexpected hope." On the other hand, producer Wikström Nicastro stated, "Fredrik's novels speak to our shared humanity in a way that really moves audiences, and we're proud to be able to deliver another heartwarming and hilarious adaptation of his work."
USA Today
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Bestseller Fredrik Backman says 'My Friends' could be his last book in candid interview
Bestseller Fredrik Backman says 'My Friends' could be his last book in candid interview When I call Fredrik Backman from halfway across the world – he in his Stockholm apartment, me in my New York one – he says something I don't expect. The 'Anxious People' author is soft-spoken, even giving me a preemptive apology in case he needs to argue in Swedish with his barking dog, whose real name is kept secret but whom fans know as "The Donkey.' Backman is notoriously private, especially about his family, averse to the fame that comes with having several international bestsellers, including one that was made into a Tom Hanks movie ("A Man Called Otto"). Interviews and public appearances make him anxious. He expressed as much in a viral video from Simon & Schuster's Centennial last year. 'Maybe this is the last thing I'll ever publish,' he tells me when I ask about his inspiration for his latest novel, 'My Friends,' out now from Simon & Schuster. If that ends up being the case, he says, he wants to say something that leaves a mark and inspires young people. I think about objecting, placating, trying to convince him that the world needs more Backman books, now more than ever. But I stop, because Backman isn't saying this in search of any sort of praise or compliment. He's saying it because it's real – human – which is exactly how his books read anyway. Fredrik Backman struggles with 'the machine of the industry' When he showed the first draft of 'My Friends' to his close circle, the reaction was lukewarm. The story was dark, too dark, his wife told him. It reflected two years of confidence and writing troubles. 'I had a really long period where I thought 'I'm going to retire from writing,'' Backman says. 'But I'm not going to retire from writing. I'm going to retire from publishing books, because I just felt that this is taking a little bit too much out of me. I'm not handling the pressure of it.' I ask him if he still feels that way, now that 'My Friends' has turned into something deeper (and more hopeful) than he originally wrote. He says he grapples with it every day, struggles with being caught in 'the machine of the industry.' Backman isn't the only author who feels this way. After the worldwide success of 'Fourth Wing,' romantasy author Rebecca Yarros told Elle Magazine she was taking a break because writing, publishing and marketing the series 'drove (her) body to a place that was untenable.' Colleen Hoover, the author behind the BookTok bestseller 'It Ends With Us,' had to cancel her book tour because of stress-related health issues. In 2021, Backman inked a four-book deal with Simon & Schuster UK for his English-language books: his Beartown series closer 'The Winners' and three standalone novels, one of which presumably is 'My Friends.' 'I've always struggled with this part of it, the being interviewed, going on tour, being somewhat – in the smallest form of the word – a celebrity,' he says. 'I've always struggled with being a public figure and people having expectations of you and having preconceived notions of you. I've always struggled with that. I am not good with crowds; I'm not good with strangers. I don't give a good first impression to people. I'm comfortable with maybe seven people.' Backman knows he's privileged to write fulltime, telling me about 'proper jobs' he's had operating forklifts for 10-12 hours a day, waking up so sore he couldn't extend his fingers. He's telling me this, he says, not to garner sympathy but because he wants the industry to be careful with how they treat young writers. Writers are highly sensitive by nature. 'You're not supposed to be a balanced, high-functioning individual because that's not what makes you a great writer,' Backman says. 'People expect you to be able to shut that off and say 'Yeah, but now we need you to think about marketing, meeting about marketing, thinking about your brand.' 'It's fine when you put that pressure on someone like me, who is 44 years old and I have kids, and I have a life and I have a good support system around me and I've been doing this for 15 years. But when that pressure starts mounting up on someone in their 20s, I think that's a lot to ask of someone who makes their living off of talking to imaginary friends.' To some degree, intense marketing is a necessary evil under capitalism. Books need to sell to keep publishers and authors afloat, and a good campaign can be the difference between putting food on the table or not. The landscape is also shifting. As social media, namely BookTok, continues to drive sales, there's an increasing push for authors themselves to be a brand, rather than their work alone. We have access to authors' personal lives in a way we never have before. Some authors thrive through marketing, touring, speaking and signing. But not all. 'These people that you're dealing with are very sensitive creatures, and you can break them if you push them too hard,' Backman says. Fredrik Backman wrote 'My Friends' for the young dreamers If 'My Friends' was his last book, Backman tells me, what would he want to say? The story is told in two alternating timelines. The past perspective is about four childhood friends and one transformative summer. Their bond inspires a painting that eventually becomes, decades later, the most famous painting in the world. In the present, a teenager clings tightly to a postcard of the painting. It's her most cherished possession in the world. Then she finds herself in unexpected ownership of the original. Her cross-country journey to learn how the artwork came to be connects surprising roads in her own life and the painting's subjects. If our discussion about publishing is a critique of the capitalistic churn of people as commodities, 'My Friends' says the same thing about art. Backman, whose wife is an art buff, frequents museums with his family. He loathes that art is hidden away and sold as capital. He wants to teach young people that it belongs to them. Young people are a driving force in Backman's work. In 'A Man Called Ove,' a grieving, depressed elderly man finds reason to live after he encounters a young family next door. The heart of 'My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry' is a lovable 7-year-old. Even the books with adult characters show that we're all just big kids on the inside, figuring it out as we go. I ask him if hope is something he wants to share with his readers. That's how I always feel when I close a Backman book. He looks for a different feeling instead. 'At the end of the night (when) you're just exhausted and someone in your life who loves you and cares about you just turns around and looks at you and says, 'You did good. You did good. I can see that you struggled, and I can see that you did your best,'' Backman says. 'That's what I'm looking for in my books, and maybe that's interpreted by some people as hope, and maybe it's redemption and maybe it's something else. But I'm looking for that. I'm looking for you to close the book at the final page and feel like it's OK.' Need a new book?: 15 new releases you can read right now Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at cmulroy@
