DAY OF WRECKONING

Opening virtually this weekend:

Homewrecker--Michelle (Alex Essoe), a lovely young interior designer, is trying to get some work done on her laptop in a trendy coffee bar. All of a sudden she's accosted by Linda (Precious Chong), an aggressively over-friendly, strangely trapped-in-the-'80s woman from her yoga class. Linda invites herself to sit down, then bullies and cajoles Michelle into coming to her home on the pretext of offering her a design job. Once she gets her in the house, she won't let her leave.

The early part of this blackly comedic Canadian-made shocker, directed by Zach Gayne from a script he co-wrote with Essoe and Chong, is so socially excruciating that when the movie finally tips over into gruesome violence, it's almost a relief. Chong's persona is somewhat reminiscent of Leslie Mann's not-so-passively-aggressive shtick, and her energy drives the movie, but Essoe is subtly funny as well; Michelle's death-defying politeness and decency constitute Homewrecker's best joke.

The film is slight to the point that extended tussling and even a lip-synch sequence feel like padding to get it (just barely) to feature length. Even so, it improves steadily as it goes along; there are inventive episodes throughout, as when Michelle and Linda play an old-school '80s-style "video board game" called Party Hunks! It may be the best game between enemies since Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi played chess in The Black Cat.

My Spy--Dave Bautista of Guardians of the Galaxy plays a CIA badass who is assigned, for reasons I don't feel like explaining, to surveillance of a beautiful single mom and her cute nine-year-old daughter in Chicago. The daughter gets wise to the operation, and in return for silence about the blown cover, the badass agrees to be her special friend, to treat her to ice cream, take her skating and teach her to be a spy.

This comedy, aimed at families though surprisingly violent and crude at times, has the feel of something that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson might have taken a pass on. There isn't an original moment; indeed, a great many of the gags derive from acknowledging that they're borrowed from earlier movies. But the kid (Chloe Coleman) is poised and agreeable; vets like Ken Jeong and the excellent Kristen Schaal add some texture; and Bautista, if not as polished as The Rock, nonetheless has an almost childlike quality that's touchingly sweet.

SWINGIN' RIDDICK

At the beginning of Riddick the title character, the interplanetary tough guy played by Vin Diesel—he originated in 2000’s Pitch Black—has been left in a bloody heap by his enemies on a desolate desert planet. No problem. He quickly resets his injured leg with the help of a crevasse—I mentioned he was tough, right?

The hellish world is inhabited by monsters, including some huge scorpion/earwig thingies that remain dormant, like spadefoot toads, until they get wet. He engages in combat with several of the beasties, armed only with whatever comes to hand. He quickly figures out how to survive in the caves and rock formations. He even domesticates one of the planet’s handsome wild-dog-like creatures—you can guess where this strand leads.

Pretty soon Riddick notices a rainstorm approaching, and realizes that he has to go, so he sends out a distress call. Being a wanted man, his call summons two spaceship-loads of scurvy gnarly mercenaries, all of whom want to capture and/or kill him. Riddick plays cat and mouse with them, heavy on the cat, as the rains get nearer.

Here’s a partial inventory of Riddick’s contents: Flying monsters, crawling monsters, slimy eels, automatic weapons, long-range sniper rifles, swords, huge animal traps, explosions, guys with grungy facial hair, Dave Bautista, Bokeem Woodbine, Katee Sackhoff, nudity, Katee Sackhoff nudity, parleys, infighting, snarling invective, repeated pummelings, a man in chains, elaborate vows of vengeance effortlessly delivered upon, flying jet-cycles, and even a long-absent old favorite: causing a woman to reconsider her lesbianism! I think it’s safe to call Riddick a guy movie.

In spite or maybe because of its predictability, occasional ugliness and defiantly imbecilic dialogue, it’s funny for most of its length, partly because writer-director David Twohy maintains an edge of self-parody. At least I hope he didn’t mean this dialogue seriously. It’s also because, like a lot of guy movies, Riddick, for all its violence and supposed nihilism, is deeply sentimental—until about midpoint it could, I suppose, be called a boy and his dog story.

This side of the material is where Vin Diesel’s true appeal comes in. There’s always been an improbable warmth and soulfulness lurking beneath his basso growl and his post-apocalyptic look—and, in this movie, his glowing eyes. It came through when he voiced the title character in that excellent 1999 animated film The Iron Giant, and it comes through in Riddick, too. In spite of his corny badass pose, Diesel’s Riddick comes across like a sweetie, a mensch.