In ‘Penelope,’ Ricci taps her inner quirk once again

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In theaters

PENELOPE, directed by Mark Palansky, written by Leslie Caveny, rated PG, 90 minutes.

Mark Palansky’s “Penelope” is the movie in which Christina Ricci is saddled with the face of a pig. More specifically, the wrinkled snout and little floppy ears of a pig.

But don’t cry for Penelope just yet.

While everything else about her face suggests something of a pig hybrid, Ricci’s Penelope appears just human enough to see how beautiful Penelope would look if her wealthy family hadn’t been cursed by a witch so long ago. The good news? That curse can be lifted, though it’s going to be a struggle.

Written by Leslie Caveny, this uneven yet affable fairy tale does a few key things right, starting with getting Ricci back onto the screen in a starring role.

Audiences will see a lot more of her in the upcoming “Speed Racer” movie, which already has the fan boys buzzing and which might restart her career in a big way. But right now, in this much smaller movie, it’s swell to be reminded of how special Ricci is and how necessary it is to have her working. As any fan of “The Opposite of

Sex,” “The Ice Storm,” “Pecker,” “Anything Else” and “Monster” knows, there are few others who can tap into the quirky absurd like Christina Ricci.

She’s also one of the very few people who could have played this role well, which is more difficult to pull off than it appears. To succeed, Ricci had to put on a snout every morning, face her part-pig face, and play the part straight, even while so many around her were setting the screen afire with camp.

Chief among those culprits is Catherine O’Hara as Penelope’s well-coiffed, well-meaning yet damaging mother, Jessica, who is so personally humiliated by Penelope’s physical appearance that she unwittingly has harmed her daughter’s self-esteem by pushing so hard for her to break the curse. To do so, it’s imperative that Penelope meet a suitor of similar class who is willing to marry her. Trouble is, that’s proving difficult to do, especially since every man who lays eyes on her ends up throwing himself out a window.

Not so for James McAvoy’s Max, a shady gambler who initially is hired by tabloid journalist Lemon (Peter Dinklage) to trick Penelope into having a photo snapped of her face, but who nevertheless comes to feel something for her that is real and meaningful.

Too bad he blows it – and when he does, wounded Penelope decides she has had enough. Wrapping a scarf around her face, she sets out for the first time into the outside world (in this case, London), where she comes upon a whole host of characters, including sketchy Annie, who is played with brassy slyness by one of the film’s producers, Reese Witherspoon.

Not all goes well in “Penelope.” The uneven use of accents is distracting (at the very least, shouldn’t the English-born Penelope and her mother have English accents and not American accents?), McAvoy is a greasy disconnect and the plot is a predictable, straight shot to the end. But plenty does go well here. As you’d expect, O’Hara is a chaos-creating treat, Witherspoon is likable in a small role, and then there’s Ricci, on whom so much of the movie rests. If it didn’t sound condescending, it would be nice to say to her, “That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.” But you get the point.

In this movie, she reminds us why she matters, and why it would be nice to have more of her, please.

Grade: B-

On DVD

LARS AND THE REAL GIRL, directed by Craig Gillespie, written by Nancy Oliver, 106 minutes, rated PG-13.

Craig Gillespie’s “Lars and the Real Girl” is the story of 27-year-old Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling), a shy, God-fearing man who orders a life-size sex doll through the Internet and eventually accepts her not only as a real person, but also as his new girlfriend, Bianca, a half-Brazilian, half-Danish missionary.

Good for him, you say? Not so fast.

The trouble with Lars is that none of this is a joke. He expects everyone in his life to accept Bianca as a living human being, which not only sounds screwy given Bianca’s rubbery mouth, corked gaze and strawlike hooker wig, but also, as far as this movie is concerned, painfully manufactured and a wee bit creepy.

Given the subject matter, it’s easy to begin the movie armed with resistance, particularly since it isn’t initially clear whether the film is intended to be a comedy or a drama. But then the director does something unexpected. He starts to unfold the rest of the plot with such grace and seriousness that he nudges you into acceptance of the absurd. It takes time for that to happen – this is a movie that grows on you – but when you come to believe what Lars believes, what ensues can be disarmingly powerful.

How Lars came to this fractured point in his life is a complication best left for the screen to explore, but what can safely be said is that Lars’ older brother, Gus (Paul Schneider), left the family at its lowest point, thus leaving Lars scarred with abandonment issues.

Now those issues have come to a head in ways that Gus, his wife, Karin (Emily Mortimer), Lars’ co-workers (including the terrific Kelli Garner), a local doctor (Patricia Clarkson, excellent) and the entire town must face. This young man is mentally ill and he needs their help. Are they willing to go along with Lars’ delusion in the hopes that he’ll come through it?

What ensues is touching, not schmaltzy, an intelligent film that proves sometimes it really does take a village to change a life – or at least to make an effort to change it. Marked by its excellent performances, “Lars and the Real Girl” looks at life with a frankness and a patience that’s refreshing.

Grade: B+

WeekinRewind.com is the site for Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s blog, video podcasts, iTunes portal and archive of hundreds of movie reviews. Smith’s reviews appear Mondays, Fridays and weekends in Lifestyle, as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.

New to DVD

Renting a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases. Those in bold print are new to stores this week.

Alien vs. Predator-Requiem: Blu-ray – B-

American Gangster – B

Balls of Fury – D+

Bee Movie – C

Classical Musicals from the Dream Factory, Vol. 3 – B+

Dan in Real Life – B

Eastern Promises – A-

Gone Baby Gone – B+

Hairspray – A-

Into the Wild – A

The Invisible Man, Season One – B

Juno – A-

The Kite Runner – B-

Lars and the Real Girl – B+

Love in the Time of Cholera – C

Matlock: Season One – B+

Michael Clayton – A-

No Country for Old Men – A

Rendition – C+

Sweeney Todd – A

There Will Be Blood – A

28 Weeks Later – B

War – C-

Water Horse: Legend of the Deep – B