That Awkward Moment

Posted on January 30, 2014 at 6:00 pm

A cast of exceptionally appealing performers and some very funny lines are not enough to make this raunchy comedy overcome its essential charmlessness. At its heart, it wants to be a romantic comedy, a chick flick from the perspective of the guys. But even Zac Efron, Miles Teller, and Michael B. Jordan cannot make us wish these guys on anyone, and especially not on Ellie (Imogen Poots) and Chelsea (Mackenzie Davis).

Best bros/ladykillers Jason (Efron), Daniel (Teller), and Mikey (“Fruitvale Station” breakout Michael B. Jordan) make a pledge to avoid entanglements of the romantic kind and devote themselves to a “roster” of willing lovelies, kicking to the curb any woman who has the temerity to start a sentence with “So.” “So,” it seems, never leads to anything good. It is always the precursor to some version of “where do you think this is going?” If it is supposed to be endearing that Jason’s response to a “So” conversation from a woman he has been having sex with for six weeks is an internal “I didn’t know we were dating” while he comforts her with a variation of “It’s not you, it’s me,” it fails to persuade us. “I’m not even close to the guy you need, the guy you deserve,” he comforts her as he escorts her to the door.

Brief interruption for an important message: Guys, if you sleep with someone, it is likely that she thinks you’re in a relationship. Ladies, unless you don’t care whether you’re in a relationship or not, don’t sleep with him until you have a relationship first. And if you are looking for someone who has a bed frame and does not drink coffee from a cereal bowl, then check those things out before you go to bed with him.

Mikey gets dumped by his wife, who tells him she is having mind-blowing sex with her lawyer, who, according to Mikey, looks like Morris Chestnut. A repeated joke that white people do not know who Morris Chestnut is will not make sense to those who are fans of the handsome actor or those who do not know his work.

Jason and Daniel, who work together illustrating book covers, decide that the best way to comfort the devastated Mikey is to make a promise that they will sleep with a lot of women and not get emotionally entangled. As has been true ever since before Shakespeare, this pledge is always immediately followed by meeting an irresistible woman.

Daniel has been relying on his gal pal Chelsea to act as his wingwoman, though her role is limited to some mild banter interspersed with the highly unoriginal tactic of complimenting pretty women’s shoes and then turning her over to Daniel with some outrageous lie intended to capture their interest and sympathy (“he’s a virgin”).

Jason meets a smart, pretty girl named Ellie at a bar, has sex with her, and then concludes, based on the flimsiest of evidence, that she is a hooker (his term), despite the fact that she didn’t make any effort to negotiate payment. So, he dashes out while she is asleep, only to find, in a highly unoriginal “Top Gun”/”Grey’s Anatomy” twist, that she is a client of his firm and he is supposed to impress her.

And Mikey tells the guys he is pursuing a girl he met in the bar, but in reality he is pursuing the wife who asked him for a divorce.

The ups and downs of these relationships are thin at best and most often icky and crass. Another plot development seems lifted from the vastly superior “High Fidelity.” And another asks us to find theft and deception endearing. The female characters are underwritten male fantasies — easily seduced, easily placated, undemanding, and with mad Xbox skillz. Even the big public apology that is the very hallmark of a chick flick is unimpressive. What people seem to miss is that if a raunchy comedy is supposed to be romantic, the worst of the raunch has to be by proxy with the least sympathetic character, as in “American Pie.” This movie is not even close to the one we need, the one we deserve.

Parents should know that this movie is extremely raunchy, with explicit sexual references and situations, some graphic images, and brief pharmaceutical abuse.

Family discussion: What scares Jason about the “so” sentences? Why were the guys afraid to tell each other the truth? Why did Chelsea spend so long acting as wing woman?

If you like this, try: “Going the Distance” with Drew Barrymore and Justin Long

Related Tags:

Comedy Romance

It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World

Posted on January 20, 2014 at 6:00 am

A-

Lowest Recommended Age:	All Ages
MPAA Rating:	G
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended comic slapstick peril and violence
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	1963
Date Released to DVD:	January 20, 2014
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00GBT61YS

What could be better than a 2 1/2 hour movie with every comedian and comic actor in Hollywood in a madcap masterpiece about the race to a hidden fortune? A new Blu-Ray edition with deleted scenes, commentary, and interviews!

Directed by a man not known for comedy, Stanley Kramer, this 1963 film begins with Jimmy Durante literally kicking the bucket after confessing to a group of random strangers on the highway that he has hidden $350,000 in stolen money at “the big W.” At first, the group tries to be cooperative and civilized, but that is quickly abandoned as they decide it will have to be winner take all. Each takes off to see if they can find the big W first, creating chaos in every relationship and by every possible mode of transportation along the way. It is wild, silly fun and highly recommended for the sheer pleasure of seeing a movie that includes top comedy performers from television, vaudeville, movies, and theater, with everyone from Mickey Rooney, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Phil Silvers, Edie Adams, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, to Ethel Merman are among those trying to get to the money before anyone else and Tracy and William Demerest are the cops who have been trying to find the stolen money for 15 years. Even Jerry Lewis and the Three Stooges show up in cameos.

The opening credits by credit-sequence master Saul Bass are featured in my book, 101 Must-See Movie Moments. It is a “visual overture,” in the words of producer Walter Parkes, an introduction to the movie’s tone and themes, an invitation into the world the movie will create.

“It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” presented Bass with quite a challenge: dozens of names. The contracts of movie stars often spell out in great detail the size, placement, and order of their names in the credits. The enormous cast of very successful performers could have led to an opening title sequence that looked like a page in the telephone book. But Bass made it into an advantage, using each list of names to help convey something about the comedy that was coming. It begins with a simple red frame, the score by Ernest Gold sounding like a slightly off circus. A little animated man in black carries out an enormous globe, which topples him over. Then a saw starts poking out of the globe and cuts out a square. A hand reaches out holding a flag with the name of the movie’s biggest star, Spencer Tracy. A hand comes down to nail the globe shut again and the fight is on. The globe is opened like a tuna can and more names tumble out, “in alphabetical order,” but they start scrambling over each other to be on top of the list. The globe bounces like a ball, cracks open like an egg, and gets ridden like a unicycle. We get information but more important we get a sense of the mad mad world that we are about to enter.

This new edition includes some treasures among the extras, including deleted scenes, plus:

New audio commentary featuring It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World aficionados Mark Evanier, Michael Schlesinger, and Paul Scrabo
New documentary on the film’s visual and sound effects, featuring interviews with visual-effects specialist Craig Barron and sound designer Ben Burtt
Excerpt from a 1974 talk show hosted by director Stanley Kramer and featuring Mad World actors Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, and Jonathan Winters
Press interview from 1963 featuring Kramer and cast members
Excerpts about the influence of the film from the 2000 AFI program 100 Years . . . 100 Laughs
Two-part 1963 episode of the TV program Telescope that follows the film’s press junket and premiere
The Last 70mm Film Festival, a 2012 program featuring Mad World cast and crew, hosted by actor Billy Crystal
Selection of humorist and voice-over artist Stan Freberg’s original TV and radio ads for the film, with a new introduction by Freberg
Trailers and radio spots

Parents should know that this movie includes extended cartoon-like comic peril and violence and some silly and greedy bad behavior.

Family discussion: How did the money affect different characters differently? Did you sympathize with anyone? What would you do with $350,000?

If you like this, try: more work by these actors and an uneven but enjoyable update, “Rat Race”

G.B.F.

Posted on January 14, 2014 at 1:50 pm

Writer George Northy and director Darren Stein manage to subvert and salute the traditions of the high school comedy in this smart, fresh, and funny story that shakes up the classic elements of teen movies but recognizes their eternal verities. It is fitting that a story about undermining stereotypes slyly undermines expectations of high schoolers and high school movies. Everything from “Mean Girls” to “Clueless” to “Pretty in Pink” gets shaken and stirred.

High school makes a great setting because it is a universal experience of heightened emotions that lend themselves well to comedy, drama, and identity. It is the last place where everyone is pretty much stuck together. The core elements of high school movies usually feature an outcast and often end up at prom. “G.B.F.,” which stands for “gay best friend” follows that formula. It is the story of two closeted gay seniors in a school that (improbably) does not have a single out gay student. While a few years ago, this might have been a touching story about the courage to come out and confront homophobia, and a few years before that a comedy about a student pretending to be gay but really being straight, this film is set in a school with straight students who are desperately hoping for openly gay classmates to come out so that they can befriend them. It’s hard to have a gay-straight alliance without any gay members. And not one, not two, but three high school divas are desperately seeking a GBF as an accessory, to tell them how fierce they are.

The three divas are drama queen (really, she rules the theater clique) Caprice (Xosha Roquemore), Mormon goodie girl ‘Shley (Andrea Bowen) and capo de tutti capi Fawcett (Sasha Pieterse). When Tanner (Michael J. Willett) is accidentally outed via an app on his phone, he all goes from zero to hero as the three girls compete with each other for his attention and favor. The girls have a few surprises in store as well, as does Shley’s boyfriend.

The tone falters in spots and the acting falters frequently. The appearance of Natasha Lyonne as a teacher just reminds us of how much better she was as a teen actress (especially in another gay-themed film, “But I’m a Cheerleader”) than many of the cast here. But the quick, witty dialogue and the good heart of the film make it fun to watch and the heartening message helps smooth over the rough spots.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Posted on December 24, 2013 at 6:00 pm

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for some crude comments, language and action violence
Profanity:	Some mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking and drunkenness
Violence/ Scariness:	Action-style peril, no one seriously hurt, references to sad parental death
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	December 25, 2013
Date Released to DVD:	April 15, 2014
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00H7KJTCG

We all know what it feels like to be Walter Mitty, imagining ourselves as achievers and darers far beyond our normal lives. The original short story by James Thurber is about a middle-aged, hen-pecked man who daydreams about dashing adventures as he is out running errands with his wife. In this version, directed and starring Ben Stiller, Walter runs the photo library for LIFE Magazine. (For you young people out there–this is not a metaphor. There actually was a photojournalism magazine called LIFE. From 1936-1972 it was kind of like a proto-version of Buzzfeed that came in the mail every week. Before television and the internet, it was our first chance to see what the rest of the world looked like, with gorgeous, indelible, iconic images of movie stars and ordinary people, world leaders, athletes, and military battles.)

Every day, Walter walks to work past enormous, blown-up images of LIFE covers and the magazine’s motto: “To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer,to find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of life.”

Like George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Walter once planned to see the world but family obligations kept him at home. Now, he spends his days as a “negative asset manager” cataloguing images taken by the dashing photojournalist Sean O’Connell (a rugged gem of a small performance from Sean Penn). While one is risking his life, the other takes no risks at all. He can barely bring himself to touch the computer key to “wink” at a woman on a dating website. When asked to fill in the “been there, done that” space on his profile, he realizes he has not been anywhere or done anything.

She isn’t a stranger. Cheryl (Kristin Wiig) has just come to work for LIFE. If he cannot work up the nerve to cyber-wink at her, you can bet he does not know how to begin to talk to her in real life. Walter might have stayed in his quiet, safe, lonely little world forever, living through his daydreams and half-living in reality. But there comes a time when real life intrudes on dreams.

Things are coming apart at LIFE and in life. The magazine has a new boss (nicely smarmy Tony Scott) who uses a lot of smug corporate-speak like “Some of you are non-vital.” Walter’s mother (Shirley MacLaine!) is moving into assisted living. And Sean sends in a roll of film with what he says is his best image ever, with a special note for Walter. But that image is missing. And to find it, Walter will have to discover how close he can get to being the daring, adventurous hero of his dreams.

As a director, Stiller is developing a more assured visual style and there are some bracingly robust images, befitting a story about LIFE photographs, the man who takes them and the man who sorts them, the man who goes places and the man who looks at the pictures of places. The only way to find Sean’s photo is to find Sean. He takes pictures in places so remote and exotic they are not reachable by text messages or Skype. That means a journey, physical and spiritual, through rocky, icy terrain and using every kind of transportation, including helicopter and boat.

The film is filled with lovely and surprising touches. The story unfolds organically. Like a video game hero, the items Walter gathers along the way turn out to be vital in keeping him on his journey. Along the way, Walter keeps checking in by phone with the tech support guy who was supposed to fix his online dating “wink” function, as though he does not realize how his life is transforming around him. I won’t give away the surprise by naming the actor on the other end of the phone; I’ll just say that he is ideal for the part. I liked seeing Walter drew Cheryl into his search very naturally, and how Walter was able to be shy but still very capable around her and around her young son. There are moments of true exhilaration and the end has an unexpected sweetness. If you’ve been daydreaming about a great film for the family to enjoy together over the holidays, take them on a journey to see this one at your local theater.

Parents should know that this film has some sexual humor, mild language, and action-style peril, reference to sad death of parent

Family discussion: Why was it hard for Walter to take risks? Which of his real-life adventures was the scariest?

If you like this, try: “Stranger than Fiction”

Grudge Match

Posted on December 24, 2013 at 6:00 pm

Not that this is going to come as a surprise to anyone, but this movie is not just bad, it is sad. The stars of two of the greatest boxing movies of all time are not just slumming here. They trash their pasts and ours, too, with a bunch of jokes about prostates, jock itch, hookers, the financial rewards of Kardashian sex tapes, and what “BJ” stands for. If you think it is hilarious for a father and grandfather tell a child that “BJ” stands for butterscotch jellybeans — wink wink nudge nudge — then this is the movie you’ve been waiting for. Oh, and a prison rape joke. When the end credits list the roles in the film as “tranny hooker” and “puking boxer,” you get the idea. Plus, there’s an extended scene with a bucket of horse urine.

“Razor” Sharp (Sylvester Stallone from “Rocky’) and Kid (Robert De Niro from “Raging Bull”) play former light heavyweight champions who fought each other twice, one win for each. They bitterly dislike each other for personal and professional reasons. But they agree to throw some punches for a computer game. Footage of them scuffling at a video game studio in green motion capture suits goes viral and the impulsive and ambitious son of their former promoter (Kevin Hart) persuades them to fight each other for real. Cue the training montage and the jokes that ended up on the cutting room floor from “Grumpy Old Men.”

Razor agrees to the fight because he needs the money. He is broke, losing his job, and caring for his old trainer (Alan Arkin). Kid agrees to fight because he wants to win. He’s doing fine financially, with a car dealership and a bar called “Knock Out.” In one of several sad, soggy call-outs to previous greatness, his shtick-y puppet routine in the bar is a reminder of the brilliant end of “Raging Bull,” when an overweight Jake LaMotta tries to perform in his nightclub. It still rankles him that he lost the last bout with Razor and he is sure he can win this time.

Kim Basinger shows up as the real reason for the feud. And there’s a long-lost son who happens to be just the guy to get Kid back in shape, starting with getting the fighter to stop those breakfasts of Scotch and pancakes. The son’s name is BJ and he is played by John Bernthal, the only person in this movie who comes off with any class and dignity, even when the script calls for him to forgive a man whose idea of babysitting is to take a child to a bar while he goes off to have sex with someone he just met in the parking lot. Poor Alan Arkin for the second time in 2013 is stuck with the role of the guy who insults the staff at his assisted living facility and is supposed to be funny just because it’s an old guy being crude.

There are many, many jokes about how old these guys are. They are bad. There are winking references to their better work. They are awful. So is this movie.

Parents should know that this movie includes extremely crude sexual references and very strong and vulgar language for a PG-13, as well as a car crash and boxing violence with some graphic images of injuries.

Family discussion: Why does Kid want to fight? Who were you rooting for and why?

If you like this, try: “Rocky” and “Raging Bull”

Related Tags:

Comedy Family Issues Sports