{"id":11165,"date":"2021-05-05T16:50:59","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T16:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/?p=11165"},"modified":"2021-05-07T19:50:32","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T19:50:32","slug":"here-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/here-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Here Today"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Comedians Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish have totally different styles, but here they mesh well in a story that is both funny, sad, gut-wrenching, yet heartwarming. It is based on the short story \u201cThe Prize,\u201d by veteran comedy writer, Alan Zweibel (It\u2019s Garry Shandling\u2019s Show<\/i>), who wrote this screenplay with Crystal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Crystal directs himself playing a legendary comedy writer, Charlie Berns, in a film about friendship, family, frustration and the fear of dementia. He has created multi-layered structure, including flashbacks, to let the audience know, little by little, how he is coping alone, on a day-to-day basis, without letting anyone else know. You\u2019re kept in the dark, too, wanting to know more about how he\u2019s feeling.<\/p>\n

The signs are there. Following him walking to work saying his directions out loud, living alone putting names of family and friends on photos on a bulletin board to help him remember, bluffing when he can\u2019t remember co-workers\u2019 names or those of celebrities he\u2019s known for ever. Crystal called in great cameos that include Bob Costas, Sharon Stone, Barry Levinson, Kevin Kline and more.\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”11172″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”11174″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”11173″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]The most perfect display of the comedy puts Crystal and Haddish in awkward situations. Haddish plays NYC street singer, Emma Payge. Her ex boyfriend bid on an auction item to have lunch with Charlie. She\u2019s never heard of him or his SNL-style comedy show. She orders the most expensive seafood on the menu, but she\u2019s so allergic, face contorted, he accompanies her in the ambulance to the hospital.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Haddish is great at physical comedy. Think Girl Trip.<\/i> Of course, she has no health insurance, so he pays the astronomical hospital bills. Days later, she finds him to repay with a bag full of money and sees what he\u2019s dealing with. She begins to understand he has memory issues as they strike up a friendship. He\u2019s trying so hard not to let anyone into his life. But she convinces him to to let her help. She even goes to the doctor with him and finds out more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He has a good relationship with his son, Rex, (Penn Badgely-Gossip Girl, Easy A<\/i>). But he and his daughter, Francine (Laura Benanti – TV\u2019s Gossip Girl, Law and Order, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert<\/i>), are estranged. There is a lot of friction between them, although she lets him maintain a good relationship with her daughter, Charlie\u2019s granddaughter, Lindsay (Audrey Hsieh). What\u2019s up with that? But when Haddish comes on the scene, daughter, Laura, is even more outraged at her father\u2019s behavior. Is it because his wife died, or something more?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Crystal and Haddish really do have a mutual admiration society and you can really see that chemistry on screen. They hit it off at first meeting, and when Haddish found out she had Jewish ancestry, she decided to learn Hebrew and have a\u00a0 <\/span>Bat Mitzvah at age 40. She asked for Crystal\u2019s help and to participate in her religious ceremony for which he says he felt honored.<\/p>\n

That comes full circle with a very funny scene in the movie at Charlie\u2019s granddaughter\u2019s Bat Mitzvah which Haddish turns into a wild affair. It doesn\u2019t hurt that Haddish used to be an entertainer at Bar and Bat Mitzvah\u2019s to make money while trying to break into comedy. She had plenty of material too draw from and she uses it well.\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”11169″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”11171″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”11175″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]Crystal uses his background in writing comedy perfectly when he goes nuts on the pretentious young cast member on live TV\u00a0 <\/span>because he botches names so badly he screws up every sketch. This is Crystal\u2019s Howard Beale \u201cI\u2019m mad as Hell and I\u2019m not going to take it anymore!\u201d moment. Crystal is truly over-the-top outraged playing with the audience hopping around the studio as he gets his mojo back.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By the end of the film, Crystal gradually lets us into the main reason for his being so morose. Looking back at his life, Haddish helps him sort out the good, the bad and the ugly. She helps him come to terms with what he needs and what she and his family can do to help. This film will put you in touch with your own mortality and universal fears, but Haddish and Crystal play it with sensitivity, tenderness, humanity and humor. You\u2019ll be glad it\u2019s here today or when ever you see it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stage 6 Films\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>1 hour 57 minutes\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>PG-13<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

In theaters May 7th, 2021<\/i><\/b>[\/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gNbJBi8aIRI” el_width=”80″ align=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Comedians Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish have totally different styles, but here they mesh well in a story that is both funny, sad, gut-wrenching, yet heartwarming. It is based on the short story \u201cThe Prize,\u201d by veteran comedy writer, Alan Zweibel (It\u2019s Garry Shandling\u2019s Show), who wrote this screenplay with Crystal.\u00a0 Crystal directs himself playing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11167,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11165"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11249,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11165\/revisions\/11249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}