Category: Comedy

Bachelorette

Bill I’s Review – 2.5 out of 5

Pleasant film, plenty to smile about but nothing histerical, certainly not better than The Hangover, which some critic claimed. Kirsten Dunst plays the Type A leader of the 4 “B’s” ten years after their high school high point; now they are mostly disappointed, wandering aimlessly except for the character played by Rebel Wilson, a pudgy one they used to pick on (called her pig face), now engaged to Mr. Wonderful, leaving the rest speachless and jealous and half heartedly celebrating with a bachelorette party that goes wrong. Shenanigans result, leading up to the main even the next day. Will she, won’t she, is the suspense, and while the predictable conclusion arrives, it’s enjoyable to see some of the plot lines, most notably for me the unique Lizzy Caplan character, and of course, the wonderful Isla Fisher, who can make any role memorable, even though in this case it’s a dumb blonde type. Kirsten is actually interersting to watch as she plays against type cast, a very unpleasant, unhappy beeatch. The guys are mostly fill-in, foils for the gals.

Hit and Run

Bill I’s Review – 3 out of 5

I saw this back-to-back (Katie style for those who know my daughter) with Premium Rush and it doesn’t quite measure up to that film, both of which are based on bad guys chasing “good” guys. The reason behind the pursuit in this film is somewhat contrived (former partner in crime, played with glee by Bradley Cooper – or is it Paul Rudd?

Bradley Cooper Hit and Run

– who wants revenge and money owed), and the urgency is forced (Dax Shepherd must deliver his girlfriend, Kristen Bell, to LA for a job interview by a certain time). The surprising highpoint is any scene that Tom Arnold is in. I never realized what a good comic actor he is. Overall, a fun movie if you have nothing better to do, but see Premium Rush first.

 

Sleepwalk With Me

Bill C’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

‘Sleepwalk With Me’ stars Mike Birbiglia in this semi-autobiographical movie based on his stage play of the same name.  Birbiglia is a stand up comedian and the movie focuses on his relationship with his girlfriend as he struggles to find his voice voice/success as a standup while trying to ignore his very real sleepwalking problem.

I liked this movie a lot. It is consistently funny. Unlike Celeste and Jess Forever. I cared more about what happened to the couple as Mike became consumed with starting his comedic career by going on the road and let the pressures of his relationship and burgeoning comedic career exacerbate his sleepwaling.

I like the performances. Birbiglia is likeable and I liked Lauren Ambrose as his love interest.  Carol Kane was good as his mother and the cast also included numerous cameos by comedians..

Admittedly I was also pre-disposed to like this movie as I am an avid listener of WTF podcasts with Marc Maron  which focuses on comedians (he has a cameo).  Birbiglia has been his guest and many episodes deal with comedians and their early career struggles.  Check out the podcasts and check out the movie.

Bill I’s Review – 3 out of 5

I found it funny, pleasant, but not exceptional. It was akin to a good TV episode, in fact, this would probably be a good weekly show, following the aspiring comedian hitting the road while trying to maintain some kind of personal relationship. Kind of the anti-Sienfeld, but  hopefully very funny as well. There’s not much to laugh out loud in this film, other than a couple of Biriglia’s on stage jokes.

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Celeste and Jesse Forever

Bill C’s Review – 2.5 out of 5

Celeste and Jesse Forever is the story of a couple going through a divorce, trying to maintain their friendship while moving on with their lives. They clearly still love each other and at times would like to reconcile but seemingly never at the same time.

The movie stars Rashida Jones  (Parks and Recreation) and Andy Samberg (SNL), with Rashida getting more of the screen time showing a good range of her character’s ups and downs. Jones also co-wrote and produced the film.

The movie was moderately funny, which is probably a pretty good achievement for a movie about a couple going through divorce. I was expecting to care more about whether they ultimately got back together or not, but while I hoped that things worked out for them, it ended up not mattering to me whether or not ‘working out’ meant getting back together or just moving on with their lives. Overall this movie was OK, but I found it a little disappointing based on the good things I had heard about it..

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The Campaign

Bill C’s Review – 2.5 out of 5

I had high expectations for this Will Ferrell/Zach Galifianakis satire.  It’s a timely film taking on our sad acrimonious political environment where politicians don’t honestly talk about the issues and say whatever is necessary to get elected with two very funny actors.    While this had some good laughs I didn’t think the satire was biting enough and thought the filmmakers often went for the cheap laugh.

This film also lost a quarter of a point for breaking Bill I’s cardinal rule of film advertising by using the funniest moment of the film in the coming attractions/TV ads.

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Killer Joe

Bill C’s Review 3.5 out of 5

Matthew McConaughey gives a very good performance as Killer Joe, a policeman by day and a hit man by night.  He is hired by a family that needs the insurance money from knocking off the mother/ex-wife.

Killer Joe is rated NC-17 due to violence and the rating is well earned.  This is a dark comedy with much of the comedy coming in the final third with McConaughey’s very polite but ruthless character. There are also good performances by Thomas Haden Church, Gina Gershon and Juno Temple.  The excellent  screenplay was written by Tracey Letts based on his play (he also wrote August Osage County) and is well directed by William Friedkin (The French Connection and The Exorcist)

It’s a good story with some good twists and surprises thrown in and if you don’t mind the violence you should check this out.

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Klown

Bill C’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

Klown is a tasteless, raunchy, sometimes touching and very funny Danish comedy.  This is basically a road trip movie with a river substituting for the road and a canoe being the mode of transportation. Casper and Frank’s plans for a canoe trip ostensibly for Casper to party are thrown into disarray when Frank decides to kidnap his girlfriend’s 12 year old nephew and take him on the trip to prove to her that  he is good parenting material.

Similar to Hangover the three meet numerous characters and get into comedic/raunchy situations along the way.  This even has a Hangover type ending (and the one place even I thought they crossed the line of bad taste for a movie).

This movie stars Frank Hvam and Casper Christensen and is based on the characters they created in their very popular Danish TV shows.

This movie is being distributed by the Alamo Drafthouse new distribution company so is playing in several Drafthouse theaters (and even ‘rolling road show’ as part of a canoe trip)  with a very entertaining pre-show.  It might be hard to find in cities outside of Austin however but look for DVD or streaming options.

Bottom line – if you don’t like tasteless (or subtitles) skip this. Otherwise it’s an entertaining comedy.

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To Rome With Love

Bill C’s Review – 2 out of 5

I have been a long-time Woody Allen fan, going back to his early, early days where he just went for laughs with such movies as Bananas, Take the Money and Run and Play It Again Sam and with more seriously themed classics such as Annie Hall (one of my all time favorites) and Manhattan. But the last 20 years or so have been hit-or-miss (with a lot more misses). Unfortunately, following last year’s hit, Midnight in Paris, his latest movie is one of the misses.

To Rome With Love follows four unrelated stories all set in Rome. The movie keeps switching between the four vignettes and, while I hoped at some point they would be tied together, they never were. The stories were also not related in time. One took place in just a single day, but the others were longer, which made the back-and-forth editing seem strange.

The movie had some some funny moments (my favorites involved the opera singer) but the laughs were not sustained. Like most of Woody’s recent movies, this had a strong cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Alec Baldwin, Greta Gerwig, Allison Pill, Judy Davis, Penelope Cruz, Woody Allen, Ellen Page (miscast I believe) and numerous Italian actors/actresses including Roberto Benigni. I enjoyed the performances by Penelope Cruz and Roberto Benigni but no one else really stood out. This was Woody Allen’s first performance on screen in several years and, while I’ve enjoyed his past performances, I think he should think twice before casting himself again. He played the father of Allison Pill’s character but would probably more appropriately have played her grandfather.

This is one Woody Allen movie that I would skip.

Bill I’s Review – 2 out of 5

7 cent fudgsicles, Raquel Welch, my ability to leap high on the basketball court, and Woody Allen movies. What do these all have in common? Right, they were all much better back in the day…way back in the day, just like Bill says above. I thought this movie was rediculous in terms of plot and believability. It worked for me in only a couple of aspects: as a paen to Rome (just like the book Eat, Pray, Love did for me, makes me want to go there walk around and eat the great food) and as an excuse to take in the beautiful Penelope Cruz doing what she does best. Other than that Woody has clearly exhausted his obsession with infidelity; only three of the four plot lines have infidelity as a plot device. Hey we know, Woody…”the heart wants what the heart wants”…its played out in every one of your movies now. Try something different. OK, he has a middle-aged Italian mortician who attains fame singing opera in the shower. That’s a funny idea, but how many minutes do we need to see him scrubbing away while he hits the high notes?

There are excellent actors here, all doing their best with this foolishness. But when is the last time you felt embarrased for Alec Baldwin? I did here, watching him play an all-knowing adult advising the young Jesse Eisenberg not to fall in love with his girlfriend’s best friend. Alex points out the obvious, time and time again, and most of it he’s supposed to be invisible to everyone but Jesse. Funny? I don’t think so and neither will you. Woody, maybe you should make like some of your favorite old-time Knicks and just retire.

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Your Sister’s Sister

Bill C’s Review – 3 out of 5

Marc Duplass plays Jack, still reeling from his brother’s death a year earlier. Emily Blunt plays Iris, Jack’s best friend and Jack’s brothers ex-girlfriend. She offers Jack the use of her father’s vacation house to help him reflect and recover. Upon arriving, Jack finds that Iris’ sister is unexpectedly there. Iris also unexpectedly comes the next day and the three spend the next few days working through various issues. Your Sister’s Sister has a good mix of humor, drama, and romance. This is an honest movie about people with real issues/imperfections that you can root for.

The three main cast members were all great – Emily Blunt (as usual), Marc Duplass (also as usual)  and Rosemarie DeWitt.

If you’re looking for something other than a superhero (Spiderman), teddy bear (Ted) or male strippers (Magic Mike) this week, this film is an excellent choice. If I get the time, I’ll see those also :).

Bill I’s Review – 3.5 out of 5

This is a very good movie, one reason being because of its naturalness (much of the dialogue is improvised), another being its offbeat sense of humor, and thirdly its unpredictability. Holding my rapt attention was the fantastic three main actors (the budget must have been minimal given that almost everyone else is an extra with almost no speaking parts, and the limited sets…this could easily be turned into a play), who are very believable and charismatic. Jason Segal can take lessons from Mark Duplass. This makes Five Year Engagement (also with Emily Blunt in a very similar role) look like a student film. It’s also very funny as well as touching. I can’t remember another film where the relationship between two sisters was as genuine and interesting as it is here. Finally, it’s a chick film in disguise, so guys will like it just as well.

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Ted

Bill I’s Review – 3 out of 5

Very funny as well as fun, although not as many hilarious moments as I had hoped for. The memorable fight scene between Ted (aka the teddy bear) and his childhood buddy Mark Wahlberg is uniquely done, kept me laughing and incredulous. Kind of made me wonder towards the end of the film when Ted is unable to defend himself against a couple of minor goons, where did his fighting instincts go. Mila Kunis is wonderful as always, although in a thankless role of not even straight man/woman, but the exasperated girlfriend who’s too often the odd man/person out in this buddy film. It’s a romantic comedy at heart, however, which follows the hollywood script of boy meets girl, etc. To make this a great movie, they should have employed some of Sasha Baron Cohen’s go for broke sensibility, or at least borrowed his best writers.

Bill C’s Review – 2.5 out of 5

I can think of a lot of words to describe this movie: rude, crude, funny, politically incorrect, and nostalgic. Ted has a lot of very funny moments but, as Bill says, not as many hilarious moments as I expected. And of course it’s stupid. Not just because it’s a movie for adults (this is not for kids) about a living teddy bear, but because of things like Bill points out with Ted’s ability to protect himself. They also couldn’t keep the weather straight. In one scene Ted is getting soaked in a rain storm. In the next scene just fifteen minutes later, they’re at an outdoor concert and the weather is beautiful. In a later scene there’s a thunder storm and another fifteen minutes later, Mila Kunis is gazing in a Boston sky that has not seen so many stars since the invention of the light bulb!

I was surprised by all the cameos in this movie: Norah Jones (she must really have wanted publicity for her new album), Tom Skerritt, Ryan Reynolds,  Johnny Carson (in a very funny Forrest Gump-like appearance) and Sam J Jones of Flash Gordon fame. There are a lot of funny references to old movies, TV shows and commercials and I loved the pictures of Ted and John in movie scenes in the opening credits.

As far as performances go, I thought Ted was awesome. He can sing, dance, fight (sometimes), showed great range and did his own stunts!  Mila was wasted.  I learned that Mark Wahlberg can talk very fast and that Sam Jones still can’t act.

This movie would be best seen at a theater like the Alamo Drafthouse, with a bucket of beer to let you focus on the funny moments and forget the stupid ones. Unfortunately I saw this at a regular theater. Otherwise I might have rated this a little higher.

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Ted