Weekend Watch: Poker Face, Lockwood & Co., Shotgun Wedding
A murder mystery, some ghostly action and nuptials hijacked by pirates
Image Credit: Peacock
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, a dogged detective, supernatural sleuths and wedding hell. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite
Writer/director Rian Johnson is something of an expert at the mystery genre –– with 2005’s Brick as his directorial debut, he also crushed the genre via 2019’s Knives Out and saw success with its follow-up Glass Onion late last year.
So you can understand why I was looking forward to him combining that with his TV experience (Johnson handled some of the best episodes of Breaking Bad and one of the late, lamented Terriers). And, working alongside star Natasha Lyonne, Poker Face doesn’t disappoint.
With Johnson overseeing the show and the writers’ room run by Lilla Zuckerman and Nora Zuckerman, Poker Face is the story of Charlie Cale (Lyonne), a woman with an unerring ability to detect when people are lying. In the past, she has deployed that skill to win big at gambling, but that has since gotten her into trouble with a casino magnate. As the series starts, she’s living in a trailer park in Nevada and working at the casino as a cocktail waitress, essentially trying to stay out of trouble.
When she’s dragooned in to help the magnate’s shifty son and current casino manager (Adrien Brody) take down a “whale” who has been running his private games on the premises, she discovers some darker sides to the story, connected to the death of her friend and colleague Natalie (Dascha Polanco). She figures out what happened to Natalie, which sends her on the run, chased by casino enforcer Cliff Legrand (Benjamin Bratt).
Moving from town to town, Charlie tries to stay off the radar and avoid getting into trouble, but trouble has a habit of finding her –– and so she’s always solving a new mystery and making both friends and enemies. It could best be described as a blend of Columbo and The Incredible Hulk or The Littlest Hobo.
Lyonne is fantastic as Charlie, the character’s blend of laidback charm and frustration fitting her to a tee. And the episodic nature of the show means a wealth of guest stars, including the likes of Chloë Sevigny, Clea DuVall, Ellen Barkin, Hong Chau, Jameela Jamil, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (of course –– he’s pretty much contractually obligated at this point), Judith Light, Lil Rel Howery, Luis Guzmán, Nick Nolte, Reed Birney, Rhea Perlman and Ron Perlman all showing up.
The mysteries are a lot of fun, even if many of the murders are ridiculous. And it’s fascinating to watch this genre given a fresh spin by some consummate professionals.
Poker Face’s first four episodes are on Peacock now (UK audiences may have to wait to see if it ends up there). The remaining six episodes will arrive weekly on Thursdays. I’ve seen the first six.
Image Credit: Netflix
Talking of shows that are right in their creator’s wheelhouse, Lockwood & Co. feels like a Joe Cornish project through and through.
Cornish, who got his start in comedy with Adam Buxton, has brought his nerdy obsessions to the big screen for films such as Attack The Block and The Kid Who Would Be King (he also co-wrote The Adventures Of Tintin for Steven Spielberg and helped with the script to the first Paddington).
Lockwood & Co., adapted from Jonathan Stroud’s YA novel series carries a similar spirit to Cornish’s own movies, even if the spirit is different. Or in this case, spirits.
Set in a world where ghosts began appearing all over the place in the 1960s (an ongoing event known as “the problem”). Lockwood takes place in an alternate London. The spooky issue means technology has not developed the same way, materials diverted to battling or containing the ghostly “visitors” who can kill with a touch or leave someone “ghost-locked” in a coma.
As it turns out, kids and teenagers are much more sensitive to the spirit world, so they are employed (with adult supervision) to tackle hauntings. Ruby Stokes is Lucy Carlyle, pressed into service with a local agency. A couple of years into her service, tragedy befalls the team on which she serves, and Lucy is framed for the death of several colleagues.
Lucy flees to London, where she’s turned down by every major agency (mostly because she doesn’t have parental approval) and washes up at the door of upstart agency Lockwood & Co., a (to this point) two-man operation comprised of headstrong leader Anthony Lockwood (Cameron Chapman) and grumpy yet genius sidekick George Karim (Ali Hadji-Heshmati). With the addition of Lucy’s ghost-sensing abilities, the duo becomes a trio.
Yet theirs is far from an easy gig –– beyond the obvious dangers of dealing with the dead, they also must face snooty established teams and the disapproval of government agency the Department of Psychical Research and Control (DEPRAC for short).
The worldbuilding on display here is exceptional, taking plenty from Stroud’s books but also putting his own spin on the material, Cornish blends the scrappy essence of Ghostbusters with something that reminded me of well-crafted BBC TV dramas I watched as a kid, which is a big compliment.
Stokes, Chapman and Hadji-Heshmati are engaging leads, and I’m always happy to see the likes of Sherlock’s Louise Brealey and Drop The Dead Donkey’s Jeff Rawle back on screens. I can only hope that Netflix doesn’t treat this like several other recent series and consign it to one or two series and done. With five books’ worth of material to draw from, this is one I’m hoping will continue for a while.
Lockwood & Co.’s first season is on Netflix now. I’ve seen all eight episodes.
Image Credit: Prime Video
Cinematic weddings have been recipes for chaos of late, with George Clooney and Julia Roberts trying to stop one and Allison Janney and Kristen Bell being annoying guests at another.
But Jennifer Lopez (no stranger to marital chaos herself after The Wedding Planner and Marry Me) probably wishes she only had those obstacles to overcome in Shotgun Wedding. The new rom-com –– which might better be described as an action-com, finds her as Darcy Rivera, getting ready to wed fiancé Tom Fowler (Josh Duhamel).
Not only are there the usual pre-wedding jitters (Darcy didn’t even want the lavish destination wedding that Tom planned) and family issues (Darcy’s parents, played by Cheech Marin and Sonia Braga are divorced and don’t love being in the same room, while Tom’s mother, played by Jennifer Coolidge, is a loudmouth free spirit), but the wedding is crashed by pirates, looking to ransom the guests’ freedom for Darcy’s father’s wealth.
The stage is therefore set for some violence –– more than I’d imagined even from the trailer, with a variety of villains dispatched creatively. The comedy is mild and unspectacular (though Lopez is a reliable lead and Coolidge naturally steals a scene or two), but director Jason Moore and writer Mark Hammer have more fun with how the situation is resolved
A lot about this feels like something borrowed, but it’s entertaining enough.
Shotgun Wedding is on Prime Video now.