Screenwriters: Josh Klausner (Shrek the Third) and Darren Lemke
Director: Mike Mitchell (Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo)
Actors: Mike Myers (The Cat in the Hat), Cameron Diaz (Charlies' Angels), Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls), Antonio Banderas (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!), Julie Andrews (The Sound of Music) and Justin Timerberlake (Alpha Dog)

Labels: Amy Sedaris, Antonio Banderas, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Eric Idle, film, Julie Andrews, Justin Timberlake, Maya Rudolph, Mike Myers, movie trailer

Classic fairy tales updated with a sardonic post-modern viewpoint and fart jokes. This isn’t without its charm, despite the unnecessary sexual and scatological humor and it does contain some genuinely funny moments. Our culture has dropped a few levels which is why this is so beloved today. In decades past this would have been called out for what it is, classics smudged with bathroom humor.

I advise against the film since it is a deconstruction of useful fairy tales and replaces them with a hollow, modern gag fest. The film has nothing of value to impart except being an amusing waste of time. While kids may enjoy the movie, isn’t it better for them to become acquainted with better films? To come to know the classics which were made to entertain but with a respect for the audience? Why submit your kid to a life of butt-jokes and dick humor? Drop this nonsense and get them in front of Laurel and Hardy, old Walt Disney or Looney Tunes.


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Charlotte's Web (2006)
Monsters, Inc. (2001)


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Labels: animated, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, film, Mike Myers, movie review

Combined with 48 Hours, this film shot Eddie Murphy from television and into the movies. He peaked early. Dan Aykroyd, in one of only a handful of movies he’s made that is even partially watchable, also stars in this comedy about a effete, rich snob who forced to live as a pauper as part of a social experiment by two elderly rich men. The snob, Louis, joins forces with bum/con man Billy Ray Valentine (Murphy) and Ophelia, a hooker with a heart of gold (Jamie Lee Curtis in a role that moved her from horror flicks to comedies). The trio works to get revenge on the manipulative old men. There are some genuine moments of comedy, but it is all a bit too forced. That and the big joke at the end involves bestial rape. As a rule any references to sexual contact with animals automatically means a down vote from me.


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Eddie Murphy movies
Dreamgirls (2006)
Shrek II (2004)


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Labels: comedy, Dan Ackroyd, Eddie Murphy, film, Jamie Lee Curtis, movie review

This loving adaptation of the Broadway musical has many things going for it - pithiness isn’t one of them.

Labels: Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy, film, Jennifer Hudson, movie trailer