Word: causticity
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...worst teenage film acting of this year. Let’s just say that Bobby’s pals - sounding more like Van Halen than Hanson - should stay put playing in the garage (lest their man-boy voices betray their steroid use). Joe Mantegna, having grown tired of the caustic straight talk from his David Mamet days, instead opts for the sappy rubbish of what is effectively Joan of Arcadia Redux...
...knowledge of the original material isn't a prerequisite for enjoying "Gemma." Though it takes a bit of getting used to the mixture of text and comix, it rewards patience with its involving story that offers plenty of unexpected twists. One of the book's particular pleasures is its caustic examination of the English and French culture clash. The wealthy Anglais who buy property in Normandy but never bother to interact with the natives, short of buying bread and cheese, are held up to scorn, as are the snobby nouveau riche native French who hold the English in contempt...
Just as the power of Flaubert's original novel comes from the author's almost clinically objectivist approach, the humor of "Gemma" springs from Simmonds' dead-on observation. Thanks to the use of Gemma's diaries as part of the narrative, "Gemma Bovery" often feels like a caustic and richly deserved counterpoint to the irritating Bridget Jones franchise. Imagine Bridget on amphetamines and you have a fair idea of Gemma Bovery. The characterizations of Gemma as a rudderless yuppie, Charlie as the befuddled schlub, various French and English twits and even Joubert, the largely sympathetic baker/narrator are all razor sharp...
...drawing skills, at first glance, may seem to resemble a 6-year-old's. But her work has unique twists: she often incorporates photos into her comics, lending them another layer of reality. And her tone is refreshingly caustic. Saibara's fictional characters are delinquents and outcasts, and her nonfiction characters, mostly her friends, family and herself, aren't much better. And yet Saibara's intimacy with the characters allows readers to laugh with the unsympathetic lot, not at them. "I grew up watching women get beat up by their drunken husbands, raising kids fathered by different men, never smiling...
...like Guantánamo: 'Honor Bound to Defend Freedom'--another British import, about the treatment of detainees at the U.S. naval base in Cuba--have built compelling drama out of real-life interviews and transcripts, while such anti-Bush works as Sam Shepard's new The God of Hell, a caustic parable about a nefarious government agent terrorizing a Wisconsin farm couple, give off the sparks of real political anger. By comparison, the polite, political-science-class dramatics of Democracy seem as outmoded as the Berlin Wall. --By Richard Zoglin