Reel-View Ratings: The Bigger The Beard, The Better The Movie

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS: THE MOVIE

Absolutely Fabulous begins with more than a few roadblocks: It’s a movie sequel to a 24-year-old British TV sensation. The time difference, the medium change — it’s all a little too much to overcome. But Patsy (Joanna Lumley) and Edina (Jennifer Saunders) gamely give it their all anyway. The aging ladies are as obsessed with fame and fortune as ever, but the movie’s plot finds them on the run after Edina accidentally kills supermodel Kate Moss after a runway show. The jokes are funny, the celebrity cameos are nothing short of copious, but the jokes seem quaint and a bit out of touch now. Excess is always funny, sure, but whom are we making fun of this time? Even the film isn’t quite sure.

Opens July 22 at Kahala Theatre

HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE

Taika Waititi ventures into new genre ground in his newest flick (his last indie before he goes big with Thor: Ragnarok). Maori foster child Ricky winds up traipsing through the New Zealand wilderness with his reluctant guardian Hec, all while they’re hotly pursued by his overzealous social worker. It should be twee and overdone, and yet Waititi makes the whole escapade charming, funny and poignant. There’s even some action, as well as a dog named Tupac. It should annoy you — and in the hands of a lesser filmmaker, it would — and yet it doesn’t. Much of this is because Ricky is not a caricature of a precocious child, nor is he a bad apple: He’s a teenager trying to find his way. Waititi simply knows how to imbue his characters with humanity.

Opens July 22 at Kahala Theatre

LIGHTS OUT

Director David Sandberg’s debut feature relies on a very simple premise: the ghost that appears only when the lights are out. Oh, there’s a story built around this — a mentally ill woman haunted by her childhood friend, a son terrified of his mother’s erratic behavior, a sister determined to save them all — but it’s unimportant and, frankly, the weak link in a film that relies entirely on its light-fearing ghost for repeated but highly effective scares. Instead, Sandberg ought to be commended for said scares and for his ability to make his poorly plotted characters feel like real people. It doesn’t really matter why they’re being scared … but it does matter what they do in the moment. And he nails it (and about 90 jump scares).

Opens July 22 in wide release