Besties

 

BANANA SPLIT (B+) - Hannah Marks is a gem. She co-wrote the slyly effective relationship film "After Everything," and she follows it up with a star vehicle for herself, a smart comedy about two teenagers falling into friendship despite the fact that they have dated the same guy in succession. 

Marks (as April) and Liana Liberato (as Clara) meet at a party after April is curious about her ex-boyfriend Nick's new girlfriend who just moved to town. Call me naive, but despite the apparent contrivance of a movie script, the pair give a moving and convincing effort at showing the depth of the female bonding process, despite the circumstances of keeping things from Nick (Dylan Sprouse). During their summer before starting college, they still are steeped in adolescent angst and attraction.

In the middle of all this is Nick's nerdy best friend, Ben, a comedic breath of fresh air from Luke Spencer Roberts, who plays exasperation well. The four main actors dig deep to lift this above classic teen drivel.

Marks collaborates again with co-writer Joey Power, though this time they hand off the directing duties to veteran cinematographer Benjamin Kasulke, who keeps things moving at a peppy clip. Marks makes good use of her time inventing a truly moving character, creating a real person behind her puppy-dog eyes and beyond her glib disaffection. She and her movie are clever, charming and funny.

THE TRIP TO GREECE (B) - The boys -- Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon -- are back with Michael Winterbottom for a fourth installment in their series of gastronomic adventures across Europe, starting with the original in England in 2010 and moving on to Italy and Spain. For the first time, all parties involved show a little weariness that can't simply be assigned to middle age.

Maybe having gotten the message from critics, the men cut way back on their competitive celebrity impressions and settle for some good ol' banter. That's a mixed blessing. The Michael Caine-offs of the past films grew overly familiar, but they were funny. An incidental Werner Herzog riff doesn't quite have the same zing. 

Once again, Brydon plays the character of the chaste family man, while Coogan gets his obligatory fling with a beautiful woman. (His open flirting with a cute young waitress (actress Soraya Mahalia Hatner) introduces a creep factor in the Me-Too era that arrived after the last installment.) Coogan also gets the gloomy dramatic role (he does, after all, boast seven BAFTAs, which we're reminded of constantly), this time dealing long-distance with an ailing father, which requires Coogan to interact a lot by phone with his "son," Joe (Tim Leach). 

If the witticisms have worn a bit, Winterbottom is like a kid with his camera. He laps up the scenery of a truly beautiful country, offering up quite a few stunning visuals. That helps quite a bit. Coogan and Brydon are still engaging company, but those of us new to middle age can get awfully grumpy. A picturesque setting can really lift a guy's mood.