The must-see film hitting theaters this weekend is An Education, featuring a star-making performance by young actress Carey Mulligan that Rolling Stone movie critic Peter Travers predicts will win this year's Best Actress Oscar. A coming-of-age tale based in 1960s London, the film stars Mulligan as a 16-year-old who falls for an older man, played by Peter Sarsgaard. Get your mind out of the Roman Polanski gutter; it's not like that at all. Instead, we're taken on an odyssey through adolescence with Mulligan's Jenny as written by High Fidelity writer and the screenwriter here, Nick Hornby. "An Education earns its place at the head of the class," Travers says.
Don't be fooled by all those funny little commercials with Vince Vaughn that you've been seeing the past few weeks; Couples Retreat is heading straight to the Scum Bucket.
Even with talents like Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Jon Favreau and Malin Ackerman in the cast, Travers says that "This is a movie that the Scum Bucket was built for. It goes wrong in so many ways with so many good people." Let's face facts here: The ensemble only signed up for this film to go to Bora Bora, and who can blame them? If you're going to blame anyone, blame yourself for spending $10 on this film this weekend.
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This Week's Reviews:
• An Education
• Couples Retreat
• Bronson
>>>Watch every episode of our weekly Peter Travers video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Friday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don't have iTunes, download it here.]
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Andrea says... | October 14, 2009 2:57 PM
Okay since An Education was not playing in my city. I took my husband to see Couples Retreat. That's two hours of my life I will never get back. They gave all the good stuff away in the previews. There's only so much of that fast talking smart aleck-y talk that Vaughn can do before it gets old. Loved it in wedding crashers but now it's played out. The tropical back ground was the best part. Also, the annoying girl friend who calls one of the characters daddy all thruogh the movie made me want to kill myself.
Erin | October 13, 2009 12:16 AM
What? Couples retreat had a great cast and delivered in making me laugh all the way through loved it, will buy it on DVD, and it was #1 at the box office. Wont be taking your advice on movies now will I...
Mileyfan | October 12, 2009 12:00 AM
An education is not playing in Portland, Oregon or Seattle. Is it only playing in New York? I would like to see a young love story with no sex in it.
The Mastermind Geppetto | October 9, 2009 11:05 PM
The age of consent is sixteen the UK, so An Education is not as creepy as you think
Liz | October 9, 2009 2:32 PM
I have to say as much as I love Vaughn, Favereau and Bateman - as soon as I saw the trailer to see this film, I knew it was a dud. Too bad - this film is full of talented people.