The Beaver (Summit)
There's a very thin line separating batshit-crazy actor Mel Gibson from Walter Black, the batshit-crazy character he plays in The Beaver, a film that isn't quite sure if it's a comedy, a black comedy, a family drama, or a serious exploration of one man's descent into madness. Whatever it is, director Jodie Foster's messy movie hinges on Gibson's performance as a depressed husband and father who begins communicating with a beaver hand puppet as a form of therapy. Gibson isn't bad here, but after his hostile public breakdowns of the past few years, you have to wonder how much of the crazy is really acting.
Henry's Crime (Twentieth Century Fox)
Keanu Reeves is wrongly accused of robbing a bank. So what's the first thing he does when he gets out of prison? He stages a heist of the very same bank he didn't rob in the first place. Once the unlikely plot and Reeves' usual quirks settle into place, this boring comedy goes nowhere.
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (Sony)
Super Size Me's Morgan Spurlock is at it again, this time taking on the advertising industry in a self-referential documentary in which he tries to sell various product placements in the very movie he's making here. The results are labored, unfunny, and more bloated than a Big Mac diet.
Win Win (Twentieth Century Fox)
Paul Giamatti plays a loser lawyer and a volunteer wrestling coach whose life (and fortune) changes when he takes responsibility for a troubled teen. It's not nearly as dismal as it sounds, and the always-reliable Giamatti and Amy Ryan keep it real. The deleted scenes fill in some pieces.
