Movie Reviews: FIGHT OR FLIGHT, SUMMER OF 69, CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD 

• Vertical Entertainment
• Fight or Flight

Fight or Flight
While I'll confess that I'm often kind of an easy touch when it comes to gleefully over-the-top action movies, there's also a welcome goofiness at play in this one that makes its preposterousness a little more fun. The premise finds disgraced and involuntarily exiled ex-Secret Service agent Lucas Reyes (Josh Hartnett) recruited by a hated former colleague (Katee Sackhoff) with the promise of clearing his name if he can locate and apprehend the notorious cyber-criminal Ghost known to be on a plane from Bangkok to San Francisco. Eventually Lucas himself also becomes a target of the many mercenaries also seeking to cash in on the Ghost bounty, and director James Madigan turns the many ensuing fights—involving weaponry as varied as champagne flutes, armrests, chainsaws and mountaineering gear—into wonderfully blood-soaked exercises in "should I giggle or should I cringe." Yet there's also a loopy sense of humor on display, in moments that include a realization of what would happen if you tried to tuck a gun into the waistband of a pair of pajamas, and Hartnett's delightful interpretation of being high on hallucinogenic toad venom. The plotting gets unnecessarily convoluted, and the attempt to craft a sympathetic relationship between Lucas and a flight attendant (Charithra Chandran) feels kinda half-hearted; personally, I'm fine with anarchic violence served up with a bit of a wink. Available May 9 in theaters. (R)

• Disney / Brett Roedel
• Summer of 69

Summer of 69
We are far enough along in the history of female-forward coming-of-age sex farces—like Booksmart and Bottoms—that it's no longer enough to get by on the novelty of the set-up alone. So it's fortunate that co-writer/director Jillian Bell has kind of an unexpectedly sweet idea at the center of hers. During the last week of high-school for nerdy, virginal senior Abby (Sam Morelos), she becomes determined to capitalize on the recent break-up of her long-time crush Max (Matt Cornett)—and to that end hires exotic dancer Santa Monica (Saturday Night Live's Chloe Fineman) to serve as her "sexual fairy godmother." The natural comedic timing Bell has always demonstrated on-camera carries over to her feature directing debut, guiding sharp and funny performances by her two leads and a stacked supporting cast including Paula Pell, Charlie Day and Natalie Morales. But the wisest element in the script by Bell, Jules Byrne and Liz Nico is the recognition that the lonely Abby is as much in need of a friend as she is of a boyfriend, and how that loneliness can lead to misdirected feelings. The subplot involving Santa Monica's insecurity about her career on the verge of her high-school reunion often feels like an awkward fit and a distraction from the central relationship, yet there's still a fair amount of charm in a story that doesn't just assume it's inherently funny that girls can be horny. Available May 9 via Hulu. (R)

• IFC Films / Shudder
• Clown in a Cornfield

Clown in a Cornfield
High-concept premise and social commentary certainly have the ability to work together, but it feels like those two things are pasted awkwardly together in co-writer/director Eli Craig's adaptation of Adam Cesare's 2020 YA horror novel. It's set in a rural Missouri town where 17-year-old Quinn (Katie Douglas) and her widowed dad (Aaron Abrams) relocate after a family tragedy, only to discover that the place has a history with serial killings involving someone dressed as the clown mascot of the corn syrup company that was the town's main industry. There's a lot of preliminary throat-clearing before the carnage commences in earnest, playing on slasher movie tropes in a way that only occasionally gets too self-aware. But even once Craig starts dispatching teens with bloody gusto, the mayhem isn't creative enough or funny enough to sustain feature length, nor are the characters interesting enough for them to register beyond the same kind of death fodder you'd find in a vintage slasher thriller. Mostly, it gets weird once it kicks in that there's a socio-political subtext about conservative communities and generational shifts. As occasionally funny as it is to play with the notion that our protagonists might be doomed by their inability to understand how a rotary phone works, or how to drive a manual transmission, there's still a clunkiness involved in trying to deliver this particular message through chainsaw-wielding clowns. Available May 9 in theaters. (R)