Way back in 1967, Hollywood released a “message picture” about the rapidly changing state of America’s race relations, with Sidney Poitier playing a black doctor who causes a stir by attending dinner at his white girlfriend’s parents’ house, in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” In 2005, the somewhat-less-legendary Ashton Kutcher starred with Bernie Mac in a race-reversal comedic version of that premise, when he went to visit his black girlfriend’s family in “Guess Who?”

But times have always kept a-changing, and America’s a bigger melting pot than ever now. Yet tensions remain – often among minority populations struggling to carve out their fair share of the ever-dwindling American Dream. As a result, co-writer/director Rick Famuyiwa’s new dramedy film “Our Family Wedding” should have its finger on the pulse of the tensions between Los Angeles’ black and Latino populations. But despite some lively and touching performances from the immense cast headed by America Ferrera, Forest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia, and several boisterously funny moments, much of “Wedding” often feels muted and by-the-numbers.

The film follows the events that transpire when Lucia Ramirez (Ferrera) reveals to her traditional Roman Catholic parents, tow-truck-business owner Miguel (Mencia) and Sonia (Diana Maria Riva), that she’s marrying her black boyfriend, Marcus Boyd (the immensely likable Lance Gross, from the TBS sitcom “House of Payne”). Marcus, meanwhile, hasn’t told his playboy radio-DJ father Brad Boyd (Whitaker) the same news either. (more…)

It’s a cinch to see why actors like Ray Liotta, Forest Whitaker and Jessica Biel signed up for the gritty drama “Powder Blue,” out this week on DVD. The film lets them wallow in bleak, bleary-eyed scenarios, the sort of heightened reality that acting school monologues are made of.

It’s even easier to see why “Blue” shot straight to DVD.

The film goes the “Crash” route, a trail that, more often than not, gets most screenwriters hopelessly lost. Jessica Biel famously sheds her top to play Rose, a single mother and stripper who goes by the name Scarlett on stage. What, Rose wasn’t strippery enough?

Her son is in a coma and it’s all she can do to make ends meet while keeping her cretinous boss (Patrick Swayze, enlivening a very silly role) at arm’s length. She’s less wary of Jack (Ray Liotta), a new strip club customer who doesn’t seem very interested in watching her doff her clothes. We also meet Charlie (Forest Whitaker) a man whose personal grief has left him suicidal. Charlie meets un-cute with a waitress (Lisa Kudrow), but he’s too numb to respond to her advances. He doesn’t need a Friend. He needs a shrink – or a more fully realized character to play. (more…)

Jessica Biel plays a hard-luck stripper in “Powder Blue”

It ain’t easy being pretty in Hollywood.

New clips went up this weekend from “Powder Blue,” Jessica Biel’s latest film, which premieres May 8. It’s a “Crash”-type ensemble piece about the intertwining lives of unhappy people just trying to get by.

But, as Collider.com notes, it will probably always be known as the “movie Jessica Biel is topless in.” (The site also has clips and an interview with the actress.)

Biel plays a stripper in need of money to support her child, who has medical issues. It’s a well-worn trope and has garnered the indie film a lot of what might be the wrong kind of attention. That’s a shame because “Powder Blue’s” trailer hints the film, which comes out May 8, might actually be good. (more…)