FREEZE FRAME: “American Honey,””The Accountant,” “Kevin Hart: What Now?”

 

“American Honey” is the Shia LaBeouf drama that that was shot largely in the Kansas City area and won this year’s jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s an unusual coming of age drama about a hard-partying group of misfit teens selling magazines door to door. Newcomer Sasha Lane plays a young girl who falls in with these modern day gypsies. British filmmaker Andrea Arnold offers up some interesting ideas in this drama that has won praise from many critics, but this viewer found it to be overlong, meandering and self-indulgent. May I say, “The emperor has no clothes?”

In the high concept action flick “The Accountant,” Ben Affleck plays an autistic CPA who cooks the books for mobsters and drug kings. Luckily, this math genius is also an assassin with Jason Bourne-like skills. The strong supporting cast includes J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Anna Kendrick and Cynthia Addai-Robinson. While the concept is ludicrous and the plot is riddled with eye-rolling twists, “The Accountant” is more entertaining than it has any business being.

“Kevin Hart: What Now?” is a standup comedy performance piece shot in front of over 50,000 people at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. Hart’s high-energy routine is a profane and edgy hit-and-miss affair. But his personal appeal and the funny 007 spoof that bookends the concert give “Kevin Hart: What Now” a big boost.

Also opening this week, “A Man Called Ove” is a sentimental Swedish drama about neighbors who help an old man turn his life around. “Passage to Mars” is documentary about a NASA astronaut training mission in the Arctic that became a treacherous fight for life. “Harry and Snowman” is a documentary about a man who turned a rescued plow horse into a jumping champion.


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