Short Review: Remember back in the old days when comedies were funny because they contained things like jokes and gags instead of just awkward sexual references and crude language masquerading as humor? Man, those were good times.

This is pitched as a risque sex comedy. Two confirmed bachelors crash weddings to bed the bridesmaids and other female attendees. The obvious point here is the deliver a bawdy comedy. With the exception of three scenes, this film doesn’t deliver on this central selling point. Let’s be clear, while it may appear that I’m complaining this film wasn’t filthy enough, I am not…well, I am - but I’m not. I would prefer that none of the film was dirty. Truth be told, I'd prefer the movie wasn't made at all. The last thing this fledgling culture needs is another dim-eyed sex comedy. That said, this is indeed a sex comedy and the point of the production is ribald humor and it simply doesn't deliver on that front.

The central issue with this comedy is that it is just not funny. The humor is not nurtured throughout the film. The jokes are transitory. Stupid one-liners and inorganic situations abound and the heart of comedy - character is ignored. This is a shame since the premise of the film and the basic plot could have produced a crass but solid comedy.

We are offered quick sketches of the characters at their introduction and then expect to fill in the rest ourselves. None of the characters manage any real change or development and this is the fatal flaw to the whole movie. Wilson’s character isn’t as mean as he should be, Christopher Walkin’s character isn’t as threatening as he could be, the insane sister isn’t crazy enough. Each of the characters is given traits but no personality. The crazy sister Gloria (Isla Fisher) is denounced by the film as being crazy, but acts more spoiled than anything else. She performs some antisocial sexual acts but her insanity is only present when it suits the plot. This is a good example of my main complaint with the film. The characters are not allowed to the time and space to flourish and so we are left with unfulfilled areas where a good deal of humor could be mined.

This lack of internal movement in the characters is what makes scenes with John (Owen Wilson) and his love interest Claire (Rachel McAdams) come across as staged and wanting. The two are supposedly falling in love but the script offer no reason why they would. Other than a cruel fiancee, played by Bradley Cooper, there is literally no explanation why Claire would overturn her life for a man she literally just met. Instead of carefully constructed character work, we are treated to seemingly endless montage sequences showing John and Claire falling in love and later missing one another. These sequences are there because it gives the illusion of content. It’s the cinematic equlivant of someone telling a story and stuttering out “Well, anyway, they fall in love. As I was saying…”

Like a majority of the movies made by Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Jack Black and the other comedic actors of this generation, this is a strong concept ruined by spotty execution. It seems that we have lost the ability to enjoy well-written and well executed comedies. We have gone from Blazing Saddles, The Jerk, the Monty Python films and Airplane! to yawning, common denominator crud such as this. When you go from Mel Brooks and Steve Martin to Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn, your culture is in trouble. The bottom line is that American comedy is stagnant.


Related reviews:
Owen Wilson movies
Cars (2006)
Shanghai Noon (2000)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Film Critics United
eFilmCritic



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You Are What You See:
Watching Movies Through a Christian Lens

Labels: Christopher Walkin, comedy, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn

Merry Christmas - enjoy the birth of Christ by watching a couple of malcontents suffering through humorless strings of slapstick.






Screenwriter: Caleb Wilson and Matt Allen
Director: Seth Gordon (The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters)
Actors: Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line), Vince Vaughn (Be Cool), Robert Duvall (Secondhand Lions) and Jon Favreau (The Replacements)

Labels: film, Jon Favreau, movie trailer, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Vince Vaughn

Short Review: Go find the trailer of the film and play it over and over for two hours. Essentially, this is what the director has done.


The movie is almost exactly one-half good, one-half bad. The meat (or should I say beefcake) of the movie is Pothead Brad Pitt and Angelina “No, I’m not crazy, trust me, I’m sane now, honest!” Jolie as an unhappily married couple who are actually fantastic international spies who end up having to kill one another…or something like that, Jolie kept distracting me and I lost a couple of the plot points. Once the two join forces and they blow up their home the film is actually over. Unfortunately, moderately talented director Doug Liman (the man responsible for having the world pretend the puggish Matt Damon is a tough guy in the sleepy Bourne movies) is too limited to understand this wholly obvious point. The film drags on for another hour after this point.

Here’s a clue for Hollywood directors and writers, have a bad guy. Have a breathing, talking, visible bad guy. In this film, Pothead Brad and Human Lipgloss Ad Angelina are the good and bad guys and their respective agencies are their backdrops. Once the two come together the central conflict and the reason for watching the film evaporates. They are left battling faceless minions of an unknown evil for the remainder of the film. This is why the film goes from a mindless but enjoyable Hollywood flick to brainless and horrid shoot-em up.

The first half of the film is very tongue-in-cheek and well written for having the depth of a Bally’s Ad. This part of the movie is pure fluff but relatively harmless in its own little post-modern way. Pothead Brad Pitt is a charismatic actor and Angelina’s surgeons and make-up artists should be proud. Brad offers some endearing quirky moments and Angelina provides her “turn my head to the left and look out of the corner of eyes at the camera while offering a come hither look” look. Perpetual second-banana Vince Vaughn injects his unique brand of buddy character acting that makes me wonder which beer commercial he’s escaped from. Overall, this is just a plain ol’ stupid Hollywood movie, but a passable one.

The second half is a cartoon based on the first half of the film. Pothead and Lipgloss spend their time being chased by their former compatriots in tedious battles. In the final big battle the two models shoot roughly 6,893,886 ½ bad guys while not messing up their hair. This portion is so mindless and slapped together, Pothead is stabbed in the leg by Lipgloss and he doesn’t even yelp. He pulls the offending knife from his thigh and continues to slaughter bad guys. To make things worse for those of us who can’t help but pay attention, Pothead keeps forgetting to limp for the rest of the film.

Here is my advice, watch until their house gets blown up. That is the movie. The rest is just filler.


Related Reviews:
Films with Pothead or Lipgloss
Meet Joe Black (1996)
Troy (2004)
Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow (2004)


Other Critic's Reviews:
FilmCritic.com
Movie Gazette

Labels: Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, film, movie review, spy, Vince Vaughn