Friday, September 16, 2011

My Week In Movies - When Will I Learn That RomComs Aren't Funny

Something Borrowed (2011) The biggest problem (for me) with this romantic comedy is that it isn't that funny. I realize it's a rom-com, but ya still gotta give a little in the com department! Ginnifer Goodwin and Kate Hudson play best friends, Hudson is engaged, Goodwin sleeps with the groom-to-be, all rom-com hell breaks loose! John Krasinski (Jim from The Office) plays another friend who doesn't really fit into the picture but that's ok, because he's just playing the exact same character as Jim. He even mugs to the camera in one part! Ginnifer Goodwin is a good actress and I think she's down right pretty yet this is the third movie I've seen her in where she is supposed to be the "not hot" one. Does she look not attractive to anyone? Hollywood can be so lame when they still have to cast an attractive person to play a supposedly unattractive person.


Your Highness (2011) The joke of this movie is, "Let's make a big budget sword and sorcery film with lavish sets, costumes and special effects and then just drop the F-bomb every other sentence." And how long can that last, you might ask? By my count it only took 21 minutes before it was obvious that was going to be the only joke in the movie. And it can't really hold 100 minutes of film! Sure, there's also a Yoda-type puppet character who seeks manual gratification and a scene involving a centaur getting his freak on...but how funny can that be? Danny McBride is a great comedic actor and he's pretty good here, but it's not the best thing he's appeared in. James Franco is always fun in my book and he looks like he's having a good time. The biggest question in the casting is why in the world is Academy Award winning actress Natalie Portman doing in this penis joke filled romp. The fact that Portman chose to do this silly movie is just one of the reasons why she's such a great actress. Still, it's a horrible movie.


Not Quite Hollywood (2008) This is a crazy, fast-paced, kinetic documentary about the Australian film industry. The folks Down Under have only been making movies since the 1970's and they've felt they've always lived in the shadow of Hollywood. With different attitudes about sex & violence than the States, Australia has produced some wild & crazy films. This doc is loaded with clips and interviews and focuses on three popular genres of film: sex comedies, horror and action films. This is great fun and a wonderful exposure to some less popular films you might be interested in tracking down. Available on Netflix Streaming.


Cougar Hunting (2011) Having seen so many bad movies lately, I sat down the other night with every intention of watching something with a good story and good word-of-mouth. However, me being me...I ended up watching a recent low-budget sex comedy called Cougar Hunting, ladies and gentlemen! Thank you very much. Even though this was obviously filmed on consumer grade equipment and edited on someones laptop, it's a pretty decent film. Three friends decide to escape their dead-end lives and move to Aspen where they hear easy, available older women are plentiful. Each of the three guys gets into their own adventure. Actual name actress Lara Flynn Boyle has a role as the mother of one of the guy's new girlfriends. Yes, she tries to sleep with him. And Vanessa Angel, who played the Kelly LeBrock role on the Weird Science TV show also pops up in a strange role. It's a fairly well done movie with more heart than raunch.


Dirty Work (1998) One of the greats in the genre of Silly Movies! Norm MacDonald (in his only staring vehicle to date) and Artie Lange are two down-and-out guys who start a revenge for hire business. They go around a pull pranks on people and get paid for it. There's a minimal plot about raising money for a heart transplant and also something to do with an evil land developer (yeah!) But honestly, who needs story when you have a plethora of dead hooker jokes! The cast includes Chevy Chase, Jack Warden, Don Rickles & Christopher McDonald. This was also the feature film directorial debut of Danny Tanner a.k.a. Bob Saget. Awesome movie!

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