Ted 2

Posted on June 25, 2015 at 5:22 pm

“Subtle” is not a word that naturally comes to mind for a movie that features a bong in the shape of male genitalia (which is more powerful — the longing for weed or the ew-factor of a straight guy who does not want to appear to be sucking on a dong-shaped bong)? Or for a movie that shows us a fertility clinic accident drenching a character with an output of said body part, followed by a joke insulting African-American men and those with a genetic ailment. A trifecta!

The raunch-fest “Ted 2” does indeed rely on gross-out, juvenile, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, marijuana-philic, oh-no-they-didn’t humor, though much of it is more humor-ish, fake-funny, outrageousness pretending to be comedy. It spends most of its running time, too long at almost two hours, on jokes about bodily parts and functions, drugs, the joys of slackerdom, and pratfalls, which I admit pretty much sums up my least favorite kind of comedy. So if the two examples above strike you as hilarious, kick my rating up a couple of notches and go enjoy yourself.

The parts I did enjoy were the low-key, random, off-beat moments, especially in the performances of Mark Wahlberg and, briefly Liam Neeson. The gimmick may be the talking teddy bear, but the star of the film in every way is Wahlberg, who in the midst of a slob comedy gives a performance that is so precise and witty it is close to adorable.

“Ted” was an amiably crude film about a boy named Johnny who wished that his teddy bear would come alive, like Pinocchio, or the Nutcracker. Ted does come to life and decades later, John (Wahlberg) and Ted (voiced by writer/director Seth MacFarlane), are happily still best friends, enjoying the pleasures of adulthood (sex, porn, weed, beer) while happily holding on to childhood when it comes to thunderstorms and responsibility. The happy ending of course has to be unraveled for a sequel, so we begin with John now divorced from the long-time girlfriend who gently suggested he might want to grow up, and Ted getting married to his girlfriend, Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth). After a great musical production number right out of a Busby Berkeley film, we skip ahead a year, and find Ted and Tami-Lynn bickering to the point of not speaking to one another. So, of course they decide to have a baby. This requires the assistance of a fertile male human. Ted’s first choice is, of course, Tom Brady, so he and John come up with a plan to obtain a sample without Brady’s finding out.

It does not end well, so John volunteers to provide the sample himself, leading to the scene described above. That does not work out well, either, so they try adoption, which brings Ted’s situation to the attention of the authorities. Apparently, one has to be human to adopt a child. Ted is classified as property, and is thus ineligible to adopt, work, or even be married. This being America, they find a lawyer (Sam L. Jackson — get it? played by a very game Amanda Seyfried) to go to court and have Ted declared human. This leads to a thoughtful exploration of existential ontology.

Kidding! It’s just a series of dumb situations and dumb jokes made by dumb characters in various locations, including the aforesaid fertility clinic, courtroom, and very lovely home of Tom Brady, plus a pot farm and New York Comic-Con. Giovanni Ribisi returns as the demented Donny, who conspires with the head of Hasbro (did they really consent to product placement in this film) to kidnap Ted because, oh, who cares. Certainly not MacFarlane, who makes no attempt at any kind of storyline or character. He just throws in a gross joke, pop culture shout-out, or surprise cameo (the cast of SNL! Some “Star Trek” actors! Liam Neeson, who clearly did not learn anything from his appearance in “A Million Ways to Die in the West!” Patrick Warburton in a Tick costume!) instead. Neeson is wonderful. Wahlberg is terrific. But not enough to overcome the movie’s limp, puerile, vapidity.

NOTE: Stay all the way to the end of the credits for an extra scene.

Parents should know that this film has constant very strong language with crude and explicit sexual references, sexual situations, drinking, extensive drug use, comic peril, and violence. Some of the humor is intentionally offensive. Some is is just offensive. See the thoughtful discussion of the racist themes and jokes by Wesley Morris in Grantland.

Family discussion: Is Ted human? Who should decide?

If you like this, try: “Ted” and “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle”

Interview: Patrick Brice on the Very R-Rated Comedy “The Overnight”

Posted on June 25, 2015 at 3:01 pm

Writer/director Patrick Brice talked to me about his funny and provocative new film, “The Overnight,” about a couple new to Los Angeles (Adam Scott and Taylor Schilling) who are invited to dinner at the lavish home of an impossibly hip and creative couple (Jason Schwartzman and Judith Godrèche). Once the children go to sleep, the evening gets pretty wild.

I like the way this movie takes on the difficulty and complications and challenge of forming friendships when you have to factor in the interests and chemistry of four different people.

I think it takes twice as much effort and that’s kind of what the film hopes to explore. That difficulty is one of the driving factors that keeps the couple from leaving from leaving the house no matter how weird things are getting. You know, there is still this idea that “Well, maybe things will be okay,” and “Well maybe this is our chance to make friends and we need to make this work for us.” A lot of the film came out of me observing and understanding what a lot of young friends of mine are going through right now, having to reconcile a social life with being a parent at the same time.

Where did you find that amazing house?

That house came after a long long search. We had looked at probably 15 houses before that. And finally we ended on that one. It is a Spanish styled house up in the Hollywood Hills. It’s actually right above Lake Hollywood. Originally, the film was going to be kind of more pointed satire of my neighborhood, Silver Lake. But it’s not a real Silver Lake type house. It is much more of a traditional Los Angeles house. And so I’m happy with where it ended up because it feels kind of surreal. It feels a little more gaudy and not really of any particular time. It feels like they kind of go to Mars.

When the gate opened up, it was like going into the Emerald City.

I definitely wanted things to feel more surreal as the night went on. Having a location like that gives you a lot to play with. And you know, keeping all the spaces within it dynamic was definitely a big goal for me and for Theresa Guleserian, the production designer.

You’ve worked with the Duplass brothers, who were producers on this film. What did you learn from them?

One of their biggest considerations is trying to make the most out of a smaller budget. And that can be something you think of during production, but one thing I learnt right on this movie was that it is okay if this is something you can think of during the writing process. And it doesn’t have to be something that hinders your creativity, or keeps you from telling a story just as big as you want it to be. It can actually be kind of an interesting challenge and at the end of the day a refinement. So not being afraid of not having enough money to make the movie is a huge thing. There’s a trickledown effect with those guys in terms of their kindness and generosity and creativity and doing it for the love of movies. And I’m just so lucky to have been able to work with those guys. I think one of the biggest things we tracked on besides the strength to build this is, the sense of humor. We think the same stuff is funny and we like the same blend of sadness and pathos and humor. We don’t think all those things are mutually exclusive from each other.

One of the stars, Adam Scott, and his wife were also producers. How did that happen?

Once Mark and I were happy with where I was with the script, we started taking it out to actors. Judith Godrèche was the first person we showed it to. She jumped on board and quite quickly and then the Scotts were the next folks that we took it to. I had met Naomi once she had come and helped us. She gave a critique on my previous film “Creep.” We had a talk back session on the screening and she was there. I knew she was wanting to produce a feature at some point. Most of her background has been in television production. And then Adam, I have just always been a big fan of stuff. Mark and I were having discussions and thinking about Adam as a possibility for the character of Alex and then, remembering that Naomi was interested in being a hands-on day to day producer, we thought, “Why not bring it to the two of them at the same time?” And I feel so lucky that they both said yes. They both read the script separately apparently and working with them was just a dream.

Adam is just someone who in the pocket and in the zone so often that you almost forget that he is acting. Or you forget that there is a chance that he could get a scene wrong emotionally, because he never does. He’s always been able to carry his own weight and he able really help out the other performers. I think he is a really good improviser, and I think a big part of that is knowing how to kind of save a scene emotionally or just keep things moving and he has a real knack for that.

Your style reminds me a bit of the very intimate, improvisational style pioneered by John Cassavetes. Are you a fan?

Thank you so much. Yes, I was thinking a lot about Cassavetes when I wrote it. I love the tension that can come from a kind of forced intimacy living with characters in real time. That was something that he was able to do so well. He was able to make a dance out of that with his actors. So I approached, with what as essentially on the page a broad comedy but I wanted to approach it with both the actors in terms of moment to moment, emotional growth in terms of how we shot it. Having something handheld and using only available lighting kept us nimble in terms of making it. I feel very validated by good response to this film so far and am excited to continue playing with this tone.

Related Tags:

Directors Interview Writers

Exclusive Clip: Rosamund Pike in “What We Did on Our Holiday”

Posted on June 25, 2015 at 7:00 am

Rosamund Pike (“Gone Girl”), David Tennant (“Dr. Who”), and Billy Connolly (“Brave”) star in a family comedy about a vacation with relatives, where a couple discovers that it is very hard to keep a secret when there are children around.

Here’s the trailer.

Look for it in theaters and on iTunes on July 10, 2015

Related Tags:

Trailers, Previews, and Clips

Interview: Boaz Yakin and Josh Wiggins of “Max”

Posted on June 24, 2015 at 3:11 pm

Boz Yakin wrote and directed “Max,” the story of a weapons-sniffing military dog whose human partner is killed. So traumatized he can no longer work, he goes to live with the grieving family and is cared for by their younger son, played by Josh Wiggins. I spoke to Yakin and Wiggins about the film and got to see Jagger, one of the five dogs who play the title character, too.

“I felt like it had been a while since someone made a movie about the human/animal dog human bond in particular,” sais Yakin. “A story that was was exciting and adventurous and harkened back to some of the things that excited me when I was younger. I wanted to make a family movie but not just for kids. I approached my friend Sheldon (co-writer Sheldon Lettich), who was a Marine and a Vietnam vet. He brought the idea of making it about a MWD, a military working dog. Once that came in the family that Josh is apart of and all that just kind of started to create themselves and it all started rolling from there.”

Josh Wiggins is also experienced with dogs and has three dogs himself, a Rottweiler, a Lab and a little Chihuahua Wiener dog mix, “every level, small, medium, and large.” His father is a K-9 dog handler, who trains dogs to locate bombs. “Before I left to go shoot for the video I ran the dogs and it helped a lot. You learn how to hold the dog and how to compose yourself and stuff like that.” Then he spent some time with the dogs in the movie so they would be comfortable with each other. “Before we started shooting I went to this facility where they were training. We would run around on bikes and get into cages with them, run around trees back and forth. I love dogs, so I was very comfortable bonding with them. It’s just like with a person. When you spend months and months with someone you get pretty close to them.”

Yakin said the dog trainers were as much a part of the making of the movie as the cinematographer and stunt coordinator. “They train a lot of the animals you might see in a lot of movies. And they’re just so specific and so well organized and it really makes your life easy. The dogs respond to that kind of environment so well. It really was remarkable for both of us to see what they were able to make them do.” The two main dogs were named Jagger and Carlos, but each of the five dogs used to play the role of Max had special skills. They had to use a female dog to play Max in the fight scenes because males are not permitted to fight each other. Carlos was unpredictable but uncannily was the best “actor.” In one scene, he had to convey a new sense of respect for one of the characters and he added tip of the head that was all his own. And “there was a moment at the beginning of the movie where in order to show that he’s found the weapons, he is supposed to just sit where they are. So Carlos comes and sits and does this with his head and I was almost tempted not to yell. Like people are going to think it’s like cute dog added right you know. But in fact Carlos was just his jittery self got on the thing and went here ok and sat down on it and I went man this dog is unbelievable. He kept doing stuff like that throughout the film. So a lot of what gives Max his personality is Carlos’ personality.”

Wiggins is terrific as Justin, an unhappy kid who resents his father (Thomas Haden Church) because he is demanding and undemonstrative. And because Justin blames his father for sending his older brother, Kyle, to war. “He’s definitely overshadowed by his brother but I think there is definitely some jealousy, whether he would accept it or not, because his brother is kind of his dad’s perfect image of what a son should have been and Justin is not like that. So I think there is definitely some jealousy. I think Kyle fits in much better with his family than he does. But that doesn’t mean there is resentment towards him. It’s jealousy you know, not resentment. He has to find himself.” There are a lot of stunts in the film, as Justin and Max get involved with illegal weapons dealers. There were stunt doubles, but Wiggins said, “I did a good amount of the bike riding. All the jumps and stuff were my stunt double, Keith Schmidt, Jr., and did an awesome job with it. Of course I’m a teenager, I’ve ridden a bike before but nothing to that extent , with rocks and tree branches and all that. It was really cool to be able to go outside of my comfort zone a little bit which is the cool thing about acting. You do a lot of stuff you really wouldn’t do otherwise.”

Television veterans Church and Lauren Graham (“Gilmore Girls”) play Justin’s parents. Yakin talked about working with them. “Thomas is so close to this character. He comes from Texas and his father who is a “Great Santini”-like a military man. So in some ways the challenge for Thomas was to make something imaginative for himself in that space. For Lauren coming from where she does feeling like a part of this family was a little bit more challenging. She felt a little bit more like an outsider. It was a little bit less clear to her how to get into it. I think she marvelously managed to work her way into this situation.” But, “the whole movie hinges upon Josh,” he added. “With a movie like this it’s easy for it to slip into sentimentality in the wrong situation. You know you want it to be emotional but not sentimental and when we saw Josh’s work one of the things that really stuck me about it was that it’s perfectly appropriate for the scene, it’s honest and it has emotion in it but it never tries to hand it to an audience and it’s never sentimental. Once we know that we had that core we can cast the other kids around him.”

The movie raises some important issues about families and about the military. Yakin wanted the movie to be more than just a boy and his dog. “For me the exciting part and the challenging part is making a family movie that provokes and challenges kids to think about and feel things that they aren’t necessarily asked to think about and feel and that allows adults to enjoy it even though it’s a movie that a young person can see. It allows adults to enjoy it for what it is without just feeling like they have to be there for their kids. So we’re trying to make a movie that can provoke and challenge while entertaining because it’s an adventure movie. And this country has been at war for how many years since 1991, and it’s a pressure that’s laying over everything that we do and feel about all the time. It’s always there and while trying to make a movie that’s entertaining and fun to a degree you know this war and the pressure of what it means to be a man, an American man in an environment where your manhood and masculinity are defined by how you react by this particular stress is always on you. That to me was interesting. Making the movie, it’s a family movie and I’m not trying to lay it on too thick but being an American man in the age of constant war. What the choices are in within the Justin character. That’s what the movie is about.”

Trailer: He Named Me Malala

Posted on June 24, 2015 at 8:00 am

Malala Yousafzai, who was targeted by the Taliban and severely wounded by a gunshot when returning home on her school bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The then 15-year-old (she turns 18 this July) was singled out, along with her father, for advocating for girls’ education, and the attack on her sparked an outcry from supporters around the world. She miraculously survived and is now a leading campaigner for girls’ education globally as co-founder of the Malala Fund.