Kurt Loder Reviews Darling Companion and The Moth Diaries

Darling Companion, writes Kurt Loder, is a movie that Woody Allen might have made if he had (a) no gift for narrative charm, (b) no knack for tangy banter, and (c) no sense of humor. The cast features a couple of actors who are closely identified with Allen's films, and the characters, like so many in the Woodman's oeuvre, are career white people of the well-to-do variety. But would Allen have assembled these folks at a vacation home in the sun-blighted, fresh-air-infested Rocky Mountains? Unlikely.

Mary Harron's The Moth Diaries, on the other hand, is like the Twilight films but without the glitter, and without the silly brooding vampire boys. The story is set in a girls' boarding school, and there's a heavy air of Sapphic attraction—which, alas, might have been more fun if fun were what Harron had in mind. Since she has resisted providing any of the cheap horror thrills that might have invigorated this tale, the movie finally does end up resembling the Twilight series in one crucial aspect—it's not in any way scary.