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Capsule reviews of recent releases playing in area theaters. For older movies, see the Movie Directory. A star (*) denotes a movie recommended by our critics.
BABY MAMA
Tina Fey is an overachieving corporate vice president who hires working-class party girl Angie (Amy Poehler) to be a surrogate mother. Angie is a hard-edged, slightly ditzy dame who has decided to rent out her womb at the advice of her loser of a common-law husband, Carl (Dax Shepard). Fey and Poehler could easily have become caricatures. Instead, each actress gives her character her dignity, grounding her as a recognizable human being. For those who crave mannerisms and shtick and like their jokes set up and knocked out with plenty of arrows and quote marks, the film may fall flat. But audiences alive to the modest charms of its take on female friendship will be rewarded with at least a few quiet chuckles. (PG-13, 96 minutes) Contains crude and sexual humor, profanity and a drug reference. Area theaters.
-- Ann Hornaday
* THE BANK JOB
In the early 1970s, Terry (Jason Statham), owner of an unsuccessful car dealership in London, gets a tip from an old friend (Saffron Burrows) about a bank vault whose alarm system is temporarily disabled. But as he recruits a team to steal the valuables, he is unaware of the Machiavellian hands at play. He is soon embroiled in a tragicomedy of errors that includes black militants, MI5 operatives, sexually licentious aristocrats and one sleazy crime lord (David Suchet) hellbent on saving his skin. What makes director Roger Donaldson's movie greater than zany heist fare is that this particular robbery really happened and that this episode illuminated an almost moral clash between the haves and the have-nots of Great Britain. It gives an extra dimension to our entertainment. These robbers aren't just people to root for, they're practically heroic -- or at the very least, they're noble victims. (R, 110 minutes) Contains nudity, sex, profanity and violence. Regal Ballston Common and University Mall Theatres.
-- Desson Thomson
* BE KIND REWIND
The films of Michel Gondry aren't for everyone, but viewers who vibe to his playful, cerebral, wildly imaginative sensibility might get a kick out of this story about a New Jersey slacker (Jack Black) who runs afoul of a power plant and becomes magnetized, unwittingly erases every tape in his neighborhood video store, then records over the tapes with condensed, low-tech reenacted versions of the movies. Such a far-fetched yarn borders on the patronizing. But the movie remakes are hilarious, and Gondry's belief in community-based, handmade, DIY culture is infectious and his cry against big-box homogenization (fewer choices, more copies) a noble one. (PG-13, 101 minutes) Contains sexual references. Arington Cinema 'N' Drafthouse.
