It’s the weekend again, and that means Film Focus. Here’s Mike Laidman with what’s new in local theaters.
The long weekend means that we’re already back and ready to go again.

The weather is picking up, and with some sunshine finally peaking through the clouds, you might find it hard to find a reason to go to the theatre.

I’m here to give you two.

This week we’re going to take a look at a much-needed comedy that slipped through the cracks when it opened, and then take a look at a period piece set in Australia.

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Mike Laidman

Welcome to another edition of Film Focus. I’m Mike Laidman.

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Man Up (2015, Ben Palmer)
A single woman takes the place of a stranger’s blind date.

A romantic comedy with Simon Pegg is something that shouldn’t be missed. And if you’re more into comedy that romance, you can be sure that Pegg will deliver in spades.

Nancy, played by Lake Bell, is done with dating. She's exhausted by all the terrible experiences. So when Jack blindly mistakes her for his date, no one is more surprised than her when she does the unthinkable and just --- goes with it. It's going to take a night of pretending to be someone else for Nancy to finally man up and be her painfully honest, awesomely unconventional self... but will Jack also man up, and be able to get over her duplicity? Best just to let the evening unfold, roll with the consequences, and see if one crazy, unpredictable, complicated night can bring these two messy souls together.

Thanks to great performances by its two leads, Man Up finds the difficult balance between romance and comedy.

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The Dressmaker (2015, Jocelyn Moorhouse)
A glamorous woman returns to her rural hometown in Australia.

Based on a best-selling novel, The Dressmaker is a bittersweet, comedy-drama set in early 1950s Australia. Tilly Dunnage is a beautiful and talented misfit, who returns to her tiny town after many years working as a dressmaker in exclusive Parisian fashion houses. She’s back to right the wrongs of the past, and reconciles with her ailing, eccentric mother and unexpectedly falls in love with the pure-hearted Teddy. Not only that, but armed with her sewing machine and incredible sense of style, she transforms the women of the town and in so doing gets sweet revenge on those who did her wrong.

A drama with ample comedic interludes, this is one that has a little something for everyone. It’s full of imaginative energy and straight-up weirdness, something audiences might not expect. In fact, it’s best to go into this one without any real expectations; better to be surprised by a movie whose quirkiness belies its straightlaced title.