10/21/2010 12:00 am
Culture
Liz Smith: Helen Mirren – A Hot Number Finally Packing Heat (You Can Get a Man With a Gun!)
Also from Our Liz, an afternoon at Michael's proves it's still the place to see and be seen.
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"WHAT MORE could you want than Helen Mirren with a firearm?" asks John Malkovich about his famous co-star in the current action movie "Red."
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I’LL SAY! In fact, once you see Helen Mirren, steely-eyed and firing off lethal rounds from this huge weapon, you’ll think, "Oh, of course. And why hasn’t she done this before? How natural!" (I see a big new phase in Helen’s career opening up.)
"Red," released last week and already a hit – taking in at least $30 million by this point – is an absolutely delicious, ridiculous spy/crime thriller with a fine sense of its own absurdity. The entire movie is a big, wicked wink at us.
The plot? Not much, as these things go. A retired CIA agent (still too-sexy-for-his-own-good Bruce Willis) wants to discover why he is suddenly a target – somebody wants him dead. Along the way of his adventures in finding the enemy, other CIA types pop up – Miss Mirren, the always great Morgan Freeman and John Malkovich, who commits grand larceny in his every onscreen moment. (The audience I saw "Red" with whooped and applauded each time he appeared, even before he uttered a word. I say, if Johnny Depp can grab an Oscar nomination for his role as Captain Jack Sparrow, Mr. Malkovich should receive a nod for this bit of comic madness.)
There are also terrific cameos by Richard Dreyfuss and the indestructible veteran Ernest Borgnine, age 93. And to cap it off, performance-wise, the adorable Mary Louise-Parker, known mostly for her drug-trafficking mom on "Weeds." She’s a charmer.
"Red," which means "retired, extremely dangerous," is madcap, nonsensical, witty – a hugely entertaining funhouse ride. Just relax and suspend disbelief.
I’m sure others will disagree – although most critics enjoyed it. But Liz says – if you don’t like this movie, well, you just don’t like movies! This is real entertainment. And as the famous phrase goes, "Boy do we need it now!"
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P.S."Red" is the second action film of 2010 to feature a cast of mature stars, doing what the kids do – only doing it better, with more éclat. The first was Sly Stallone’s "The Expendables," which mopped up at the box office. (Bruce Willis was in that one, too.)
Hmm … if the James Bond franchise doesn’t revive and we don’t see the divine Judi Dench as M again, I suggest Dame Judi and Dame Helen team up, perhaps with Jane Fonda or Vanessa Redgrave for an all-female action-er. A post-menopausal "Charlie’s Angels"!
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I mismarked the date of a lunch in my calendar so there I was this week at Michael’s appearing "stood up" in front of all the world. The place was extra busy with PR expert Peggy Siegal in to oversee a table of talented moviemakers headed by Ed Zwick. Let’s add Jean Doumanian plus some New Yorker writers. Peggy kept coming to sit with me in my aloneness.
I also had a visit with the one and only "Electric Cowboy" Jack Welch, looking hale and hearty, and he was with "Today’s" Matt Lauer. When Peggy Siegal advised the three of us that she frequently e-mails Matt to comment on which pair of jeans he should be wearing on the air, he whispered in my ear: "Peggy has too much time on her hands!"
Then, there were the Rubensteins – Howard and Steven – PR experts for Rupert Murdoch enterprises, and they were lunching with a cute petite blonde who turned out to be the new force behind The New York Post’s Page Six. She is, of course, Emily Smith, and we decided we were related and had our photo taken together by the NewYorkSocialDiary.com’s David Patrick Columbia. (David’s website with all its delightful photos and history is about the last gasp for what counts in what’s left of "social" life in New York. The Times covers some of this but not on a daily basis.)
![2010_1020_dpc_emily_smith_liz_smith.jpg 2010_1020_dpc_emily_smith_liz_smith.jpg](http://library.vu.edu.pk/cgi-bin/nph-proxy.cgi/000100A/http/web.archive.org/web/20101023062041im_/http:/=2fwww.wowowow.com/files/imagecache/336x/kristinfritz/2010_1020_dpc_emily_smith_liz_smith.jpg)
Emily Smith and Liz Smith/Photo courtesy of David Patrick Columbia/NewYorkSocialDiary.com
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10 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
Timeless, beautiful, talented actress, Helen Mirren. As gorgeous now as she was in her first early film.
Liz, keep up the good work. You look greatttttt.