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As Good As It Gets

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Won't Back Down (2012): Dir: Daniel Barnz / Cast: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Oscar Isaac, Holly Hunter, Rosie Perez: Boring drama about persistence. The message is inspiring but like crap such as Fireproof it seems content on beating viewers over the head with its message. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays a single mother whose daughter has dyslexia and struggles in school. Viola Davis plays a teacher whose son also suffers learning disabilities. Together they attempt to change the school, which comes into conflict with the unions and labor boards. We applaud the message, but elements of the opposing factors earn points in their arguments as well. The concept has appeal but the story is shallow and feels bland even in its location work. Director Daniel Barnz previously made another low key film called Beastly. This is not much of an improvement. We know where it is headed and it comes off as corny and over the top. Viola Davis is the only casting that works. She has doubts over the situation yet she believes in it. Her home life with her son and her separation with her husband add a believable quality. Gyllenhaal is also a wonderful actress but here she is subdued in a lame predictable romance and media outbursts that are laughable. Oscar Isaac is a waste as a music teacher who is more or less there to romance Gyllenhaal. Holly Hunter has a standard role of union board member. Rosie Perez plays a co-worker who lines one of either side of the mud slingers. The education theme is commendable but the screenplay is about as boring as a third grade book report. Score: 4 ½ / 10

"Won't Back Down" stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis as a pair of women who attempt to transform a failing public school. Though faced with complacent teachers, corrupt principals and intractable unions, the duo succeed in using "parent trigger laws" to form a "charter school". Such schools wrestle administrative control away from the state and toward other concerned parties.A number of recent films have touted the merits of charter schools ("The Lottery", "Waiting for Superman", "The Cartel" etc). Most of these films are funded by millionaires, billionaires and conservative lobbying groups. All present charter schools as being "good alternatives" to "inept government schools" and their "corrupt teachers' unions". In reality, though, charter schools have become yet another means of further monetising society, many run for profit by corporations who have become expert at siphoning public money. Though conceived with good intentions – to provide more power and freedom to teachers – these schools have increasingly become a tool to break up public education, offer lucrative supply contracts to partner companies and rake in profits.Unsurprisingly, most of these films delight in attacking teachers. Teachers, who are faced with increasingly slashed salaries and pensions, and who have repeatedly had their collective bargaining rights weakened (or outright abolished), are presented as villains. Rather than factors like poverty and under-funding, "failing schools" are exclusively "their fault". The cure? More privatisation. This has been standard operating procedure for several decades: make sure things don't work, wait for people to get angry and then hand the reigns over to private capital."Won't Back Down" is engaging, well-shot and features wonderful performances by Davis and Gyllenhaal. Like most films which pretend to be about "social issues" and "the contemporary problems of ordinary Americans", it is also superficial, sanitised, kowtows to the status quo and was funded by those with a clear agenda (conservative billionaires Rupert Murdoch and Philip Anschtuz). Today, the homogeneity of both the classroom and cinema are in many ways a result of similar systems of financing, distribution and exclusivity; capitalism's organisational models breed specific outcomes. The film co-stars Oscar Isaac and Holly Hunter. Both play unionists who learn the errors of their ways. Sneaky.7.5/10 – See "Half Nelson" and "Detachment".

If not for the emotional resiliency of the two lead actresses, this 2012 feel-good drama about the reformation of a failing inner-city Pittsburgh school would come across as no more than a polemic. However, Maggie Gyllenhaal ("The Dark Knight") and Viola Davis ("The Help") bring enough intense fervor to their roles of parent and teacher that this becomes a creditable film if not all that memorable. Director and co-screenwriter Daniel Barnz doesn't help matters much by stacking the deck so predictably in the script (co-written with Brin Hill) while tackling a serious exposition problem with a lot of education jargon that feels like it requires the viewer to take some preparation exam to watch it. Watching Davis Guggenheim's 2010 documentary, "Waiting for 'Superman'", is helpful since it covers similar territory by showing how students strive to become accepted into a charter school.The plot here takes a more contrived route as it focuses on Jamie, a single mom holding down two jobs while becoming increasingly concerned about the lack of attention her eight-year-old, Malia, receives from her teachers in treating her dyslexia and dealing with bullies. Through happenstance, she finds a little-known piece of legislation based on California's "parent trigger" law, which allows parents and teachers, under certain circumstances and after rounds of approvals, to take over schools and run them entirely. This motivates Jamie to partner with Nona, a teacher at Malia's school, who has similar frustrations from an insider's perspective but has been stymied time and again by the system. The movie then takes us on their journey running through all the bureaucratic red tape that you would expect from an inspirationally- minded drama.I give credit to Barnz and Hill for at least presenting a compelling argument against the cause by showing how the teachers' union would suffer major setbacks along the way. As Jamie, Gyllenhaal does her best work since her compelling turn as the struggling drug addict-mother in 2006's "Sherrybaby". She brings loose-limbed passion to her character's relentless drive toward realizing a charter school for her daughter. At first, Davis appears underserved by the script, but this actress has no problem conveying the gravitas and compassion needed to make Nona's evolution feel realistic. As Evelyn, the president of the teachers' union, Holly Hunter ("Broadcast News") - who would have likely played Jamie a couple of decades ago – brings palpable conviction to her character's increasing moral conflict. It's good to see Rosie Perez ("Fearless") again on screen as Nona's sympathetic fellow teacher. Other supporting turns amount to stereotypes as dictated by the script. The subject of the film is quite worthwhile, but the treatment needed far more texture.

I suppose I am being a bit of a cynic in saying that this film makes changing the education system look so simple. Yes they struggle don't get me wrong but the film certainly glorifies idealism and makes everything end up in a neat little package with a bow. The school they create is like an idyllic paradise and that is simply unrealistic. However, now let me digress. There is nothing wrong with a film that makes you feel good, spreads hope and cheer and inspires change and this film does all that. It is sweet and uplifting and even fun at times and entertainment value is very high. It tries to channel something like Erin Brockovich while keeping things clean enough for a family film. Despite its G rating the thematic elements make it at least PG in my mind but still a good movie for the whole family. Performances are good without being really outstanding although I thought the lead performance by Gyllenhaal was just a little bit overdone at times like she was really trying for that outstanding Academy Award performance because this is seemingly the type of film that would get it for her. Unfortunately the film didn't do that well and its too bad because despite the few tiny little mis-steps it really is a great film.As previously mentioned, Maggie Gyllenhaal is the co-star playing distraught mother Jamie whose dyslexic daughter is being lost in the system. She is good in her role but she really does milk it. I feel bad saying that because I feel like I'm trashing a feel good movie and I don't mean to be but sometimes she just takes the distraught mother to extremes. Viola Davis is brilliant. She does emotion and desperation brilliantly. She definitely helps bring Gyllenhaal's performance a little more under control as the two of them together are very good. Oscar Issac is decent as Gyllenhaal's love interest and a concerned teacher. He is very underused and his character is left very underdeveloped but he has some very good scenes nonetheless. Emily Alyn Lind as Gyllenhaal's daughter is very good. She really does a great job in each scene she is given. I think she is a very talented young lady (recognizing her from Revenge as well.) The supporting cast is a whose who of character actors including a decent and yet somehow awkward feeling performance by Holly Hunter, Lance Reddick, Vingh Rhames, Bill Nunn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. A very large and varied and talented cast.Despite a lot of talent in the cast I don't necessarily think it was all used to its very best. I feel like there were several conflicts in the film that they really built up that they leave the audience hanging on. As the movie watcher you really wanted to see that one teacher who was just awful get her just comeupins and yet the entire conflict is left open. She forced the daughter to wet her pants and there was hardly even any confrontation. I felt like that was sloppy writing. At times the direction and script felt rushed and even slapped together. Its unfortunate because the film is so full of heart and hope and inspiration. But it does overcome its shortcomings and will make you smile and feel good and that is what counts. It only bothers me to see wasted potential and I think there was a fair bit of it in this film. Still the perfect movie for family night and you will certainly cheer multiple times for these passionate women. 7/10