Review: 30 Minutes or Less

30 Minutes or Less

8/23/11

Carmike Cinema 10

2 Small Mr. Pibbs

Plenty of A/C

So, here’s the setup:  a movie starring Jesse Eisenberg, one of the hottest young actors working today; Aziz Ansari , one of the funniest comedians working today and one of the stars of the funniest show on TV, Parks and Recreation;  Danny McBride, hilarious and foul as the star of Eastbound and Down, and made by the team that brought you Zombieland, one of the best surprise hits of the last decade.  If I told you all that would you believe me if I also told you it sucked?

I’m not going to take the time to completely kill the thing.  There were some really funny parts.  It just wasn’t put together right.  It almost felt rushed and poorly written.  Danny McBride was funny as usual but there just weren’t enough funny parts to overcome the sort of dark comedy theme. 

Eisenberg plays a stoner pizza delivery guy who gets a bomb strapped to his chest and told he has 9 hours to rob a bank.  McBride needs $100,000 to pay a hitman to knock of his lottery winning Dad so he can inherit the money and run off with a stripper.  With me so far?  That’s pretty much it.

Rent it on poker night when you have the guys over and don’t really have to watch it that close. 

My review: 

2/4, C-, Rent it from RedBox for $1

Review: The Help

The Help

8/16/11

Carmike Cinema 10

Large Mr. Pibb

Plenty of A/C

Every now and then a movie comes along that you end up telling everyone to go see.  Super 8  was one, Forrest Gump back in the day, The Shawshank Redemption.  The Help is on that list.  Don’t confuse that for me saying it’s Top 10 or anything like that, but it shocked the hell out of me. 

I’ll admit it, I was dreading going to see it.  This looked like a classic chick flick.  Right up there with The Notebook, The Last Song and pretty much any other movie starting with “The” that features a trailer with all women, lot’s of crying, potentially kissing in the rain and some sort of conflict.  Also I’m pretty much out on anything featured in any sort of book club or anything mentioned at any time by Oprah.  Even at the theater I was worried since I was literally the only guy in there and brought the average age down to about 67.

By the end I had cried 3 times, wanted to see it again and proceeded to sing it’s praises to this very day.  Every man, woman and child over the age of 10 needs to see this movie.  People have asked what I would compare it to and the closest comparison is Forrest Gump…that’s tall company.  But I felt the same way after seeing this that I did after I saw that. 

Skeeter is a recent college graduate living in Jackson, MS in the early 60’s with her family and no hopes for employment in her chosen field of journalism.  She lands a job at the local paper writing an advice column that had been abandoned for some time.  She also has a spot in her heart for the African-American women of the day in the South who not only help raise the white children they serve but come to love the families they spend their days with.  Aibileen is played brilliantly by Viola Davis and is the maid for one of Skeeter’s childhood friends.  Tired of the racist and demeaning attitudes her friends have toward their maids, she decides to write a book of their stories as told by The Help.  The controversial book becomes the talk of the town and causes denials to fly. 

The movie is touching, well made and extremely well acted by all involved.  I expect Oscar nominations for Davis, her best friend played by Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone for her portrayal of Skeeter and for Bryce Dallas Howard playing a snotty racist. 

Guys, this is a chance for you to score some points by taking your wives, you won’t be sorry.  Just bring tissue.

My review: 

3.5/4, A, See it in the theater

Review: The Change Up

The Change Up

8/9/11

Carmike Cinema 10

Large Mr. Pibb

Plenty of A/C

I’ve been thinking a lot about the movie that really started this trend of raunchy, limits-pushing one-upsmanship that we are currently caught in the middle of at the megaplex these days.  Was it Wedding Crashers?  There’s Something About Mary?  Do we need to go all the way back to Porky’s?  All of those were funny, classless, edgy and oh so wrong. 

The problem is that at some point that just becomes stale and repetitive.  Alas:  The Change Up.   Basic plot:  Dave has a routine job as an attorney, wife, 3 kids, pretty boring.  Mitch is his best buddy and has no job as he struggles to become an actor but spends most of his time hooking up with women and spending money he doesn’t have.  They pee in a magic fountain and switch places.  Mayhem ensues until the can find a way to switch back.

Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds are two of the best actors working today.  Leslie Mann is hilarious and always does a good job of playing the put-upon wife.  The movie had some things working in its favor.  Not working in its favor:  the tiredness of the switcharoo comedy, the horribleness of The Hangover Part 2, the gross-out physical humor of Bridesmaids and the shock value of Horrible Bosses.  In a year where none of that had happened this movie may have worked, in a summer where it did happen, it just hits flat. 

If you aren’t a fan of horrible language, stay away.  Frequent use of the “f-bomb” (100+ utterings), even in front of children is prevalent and one of the characters is a soft-core porn actor so it’s hard to avoid discussions and images of his occupation.  It’s definitely not for the prude amongst us. 

I’m not saying it was crap, there were some really funny parts and those two guys can take even a mediocre script and make it funny.  The problem is that by the time they get around to trying to make it a lesson in morality and human nature, they’ve already lost you. 

In summary, imagine if the makers of Freaky Friday had smoked a bunch of pot and watched some dirty movies before they wrote the script and BOOM!:  The Change Up.  In fact, grown-up Freak Friday actress Lindsay Lohan probably LOVED this version.  I’ll recommend it for the guys during Poker Night but otherwise I’d probably skip it. 

My review: 

2/4, C, Wait for DVD