The Langley Ensemble plucks our heartstrings in The Mighty Uke

Ukulele Redux, Love In Flux

Plink, plink, plunk went the strings of my heart

The Mighty Uke ★★★½
Directed by Tony Coleman • 76 minutes
7:15 pm Wednesday, April 21, with a live performance by Canadian ukulele superstar James Hill to follow the screening
Also 7:15 & 9:00 April 22 • Cinecenta

What do Robert Plant, Pete Townsend and Tiny Tim have in common? A love of the ukulele, as it turns out. Which is one of several hundred facts about the four-stringed, much-maligned “novelty” instrument from Hawaii (it’s not actually from there) that you learn by watching The Mighty Uke, a fascinating, funny and heartwarming documentary that was made right here in Canada.

The ukulele is having a renaissance—which may be surprising to the many people who not only haven’t heard about the hundreds and hundreds of ukulele “clubs” that have been springing up in the last few years, but are also unaware that the ukulele first became a worldwide phenomenon after the recently-annexed island of Hawaii was showcased at the 1915 World’s Fair in San Francisco. That craze lasted nearly two decades, and saw the uke not only get adopted by college kids everywhere but also become a democratizingly affordable alternative for the literally millions of people who loved music but couldn’t cough up the big bucks needed for a piano. But fads fade, and those sweet tones and highly syncopated rhythms were supplanted by the jazzier sounds of the saxophone.

For decades relegated to the obscurity of flea markets, the ukulele is strutting back towards the spotlight—and, in the process, overcoming image problems surpassing even those of Gordon Campbell. It is partly due to the many virtuosos who can play the hell out of what most people, in their ignorance, think of as a kitschy toy instrument. Mostly, though, it’s because the uke is something akin to a joy machine: it’s easy to play and it puts practitioners into a near-goofy state of bliss. “People just love to hang out and strum with each other,” notes one of the film’s subjects. As another passionate fan explains: “Ukulele is a verb . . . it’s about doing something.” The corniness, the charm, the versatility, and the surprising musicality of this four-stringed underdog are deftly captured in Mighty, which was produced by Ron Mann (Grass) and is packaged with all the pop culture panache you’d expect under his supervision. Even if you hate Hawaiian shirts, you’ll love this sweetheart of a doc!

(Note: this screening is part of Ukulele Week. Visit larsenmusic.ca for more information on other events.)

Date Night ★★★
Directed by Shawn Levy
Starring Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg & Mark Ruffalo
PG - 88 minutes
Continues at the Odeon, SilverCity, Uni 4 and Caprice

We go from syncopated sizzle to slapstick silliness with Date Night, an entertaining albeit lazy comedy where the glittering talents of Steve Carell and Tina Fey outshine the so-so script. These most gifted of TV comics play Phil and Claire Foster, a self-described “really boring couple from New Jersey” who have trouble feeling the love they still have for each other, mostly because they are mired in demanding jobs and have two young kids to take care of. Even their weekly “date night” has become all routine and no romance, so Phil decides to take his woman all the way into Manhattan to dine at a trendy seafood place named Claw. Due to a ludicrous plot contrivance they are mistaken for a different couple, and end up on the run from a pair of crooked cops who are doing the bidding of a violent Mafioso (an amusing cameo by Ray Liotta). There are various chases, lots of gunfire, a visit to a seedy strip joint, and an over-the-top climax.

In short, this is a Hollywood make-work project, one that seems to be a distant echo of Martin Scorsese’s After Hours but reimagined as a TV movie, complete with flabby direction and predictable plot twists. What makes Date work is the chemistry and comedic fire of its two leads, who allegedly did quite a bit of improvising on-set, and doubtless made substantial improvements to the original dialogue. (Stay for the credit crawl if you want to see some of the movie’s best—and raunchiest—laughs.) There is also a sweet core to the movie, insofar as Carell and Fey make a believable couple who still really love each other despite the dreary demands of their too-busy modern lives. M