
On her wedding day, Franziska discovered that her fiancé was having an affair with another woman. Now she believes that all men are pigs. Sooner or later, every man cheats on his wife, the 29-year-old is firmly convinced of this. And for good reason: as a fidelity tester, she exposes unfaithful men on behalf of suspicious wives. Her success rate is 100 percent. But then Franziska is assigned to Markus, who seems immune to her charms. Are there really any faithful men left?
Ben Affleck leads The Way Back, a seemingly cathartic film for him after the actor’s recent bouts with alcoholism and rehab. He plays Jack, a man fighting his own battles who happens upon coaching a boys’ basketball team, the same team he once played for back in high school.
These confines won’t really encourage you to read the film as a metaphor for the nerve-inducing experience we’ve all been through over the last year, however — and in the interest of maintaining your dignity, you probably shouldn’t. While the sociopolitical commentary may have worked for the similarly-themed Buried (2010), in which we find Ryan Reynolds on his own buried alive in the Middle East, but this futuristic take on the premise is best left as a piece of distracting entertainment. Nevertheless, the atmosphere is no less suffocating, literally and dramatically.
Spoiler Warning
Hoppers is a fun ride with a deep message underneath. In true Pixar fashion, Hoppers explores the complexity of emotions and learning to be still in a world that demands fast progress. Through the main character Mabel, we are reminded what it is like to let ourselves feel big emotions. But also how not to be controlled by them.
Sam Levinson's latest film can't keep up with the excellence of its performances.