Before we get started today, I want to complain about a trend in movie releases that HAS to stop. All three films reviewed today suffer from it and it has gotten to be too much. I'm talking about the marketing concept known as the "Unrated Version" which has essentially become little more than an end run around the MPAA and rarely actually adds anything to the film. The true "Director's Cut" is a rarity these days with video releases and most of the time we're just getting a bland enticement to purchase something "special" that was cut for legitimate reasons and has now been reinserted (don't want to stay restored because it's not like we're talking about an instance of studio interference like David Lynch's Dune or Terry Gilliam's Brazil) essentially making good films blah and bad films even longer. I wish the studios would stop and leave well enough alone.
I haven't seen the theatrical versions of any of the films reviewed today, so you're getting my impressions on the "Unrated" DVD releases.
The concept behind The 40 Year Old Virgin is pretty much explained in the title. Andy Stsitzer (Steve Carrell) has had bad luck with women all his life and remains a virgin at age 40. When his work buddies find out about this, they make it their mission to "correct this problem". Of course, Andy finds true love in the process with a divorced mother (Catherine Keener).
Taking in over $100 million at the box office, this film was one of the more successful comedies of the year (perhaps surpassed only by the next film reviewed today). From the creator of the cult TV series Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared, this film is very funny, very sweet and yet somewhat disjointed. The funniest scenes all involve the co-workers, whether it's their attempts at getting Andy laid or advice on things to do that will lead to that or their own personal subplots (and each of the three main ones does have their own) which kind of makes for something of a let down everytime Andy and Trish's story comes on. It almost gets in the way.
The theatrical version ran 116 minutes. The "Unrated" DVD version runs 133 minutes. I'm not sure what exactly was added where, but the movie feels padded and long in spots (enough so that the theatrical version was probably ten minutes too long...the best comedies tend to run no more than 105 minutes...any "pro" will tell you the shorter the better). But it is funny and very sweet (and not the raunchy sex comedy the title might suggest).
The "Unrated" DVD contains a commentary, some deleted scenes and alternate takes (these are what was probably used by the MPAA to threaten an NC-17, but they are not incorporated back into the film here), a gag reel and actor Seth Rogan having dinner with a porn star. All funny stuff, but begs the usual question of "Is this film truly special enough to deserve all these extras?" I'm not sure...but it is worth seeing. The theatrical version has also been released on DVD. There are no extras AND it is "Full Screen" only. Go figure.
Wedding Crashers has a concept that could potentially make the lead characters unlikable. Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson star as two guys who, for fun, crash weddings and mingle with the real guests. At one wedding, John (Wilson) falls for a bridesmaid and Jeremy (Vaughn) hooks up with her sister. It turns out the girls are the daughters of the U.S. Treasury Secretary (Christopher Walken) and they wind up spending the weekend with the family as they get deeper and deeper into the lie they created.
The theatrical version runs 119 minutes and this "Uncorked" DVD runs 128. Unlike the previous film reviewed, I'm pretty sure most of what was added was nudity as there's a lot of it. The film is very funny and the usually annoying Luke Wilson is less so here (don't get me wrong, he is still annoying). Vince Vaughn remains an amazing and engaging actor and runs circles around his costar. The "rude" factor of what these guys do doesn't actually hurt anyone in the film (at least in the beginning when we see them going from a Jewish wedding to a Irish wedding to an Italian one etc.) and the "ick" factor is touched upon nicely later in the film with a cameo by Will Ferrell as a former buddy of Vaughn's who has "graduated" from weddings to funerals.
The DVD of this high grossing comedy (over $200 million) contains two commentaries, some deleted scenes and some behind the scenes footage as well as both the extended and theatrical versions. The theatrical version is also available on its own (with the same extras) for those stores (cough Wal-Mart cough) who like to keep "perverted" material out of children's hands.
Universal Pictures has had amazing success with their American Pie franchise. With three entries each grossing more than $100 million you'd expect more life out of the series. Universal has decided to take a slightly different route for a fourth entry. They've had plenty of success with direct-to-video sequels (Darkman, Tremors, The Land Before Time, The Skulls and Bring It On all come to mind) and most of these haven't been complete wastes of time and money. So now we have American Pie Presents Band Camp and I'm pretty sure this will be the franchise killer.
Stifler's younger brother Matt is trying to follow in his big brother's footsteps. He's a jock jerk who is constantly playing tricks on the band geeks. When one of these backfires, his guidance counselor (Chuck Sherman, played by Chris Owen again) sentences him to Band Camp in order to learn to get along with the geeks. Once there he decides to secretly make videos of the hot band geeks and one up his brother (who is apparently doing girls gone wild videos of his own). Of course, by film's end he falls in love with one of the "geeks" and learns the errors of his ways. Eugene Levy also appears as Jim's dad in a contrived bit of plotting that makes him the camp's guidance counselor.
It's very hard to enjoy a film that is focused on an obnoxious and detestable character. At least in the three previous films Stifler was not the main character, so you could easily laugh at him and not take him seriously. Here, we're stuck...and it's not pretty. On top of this, the writer (Brad Riddell...first job) and director (Steve Rash...Under the Rainbow and Can't Buy Me Love) seem to have emphasized the gross in "gross out humor". None of it is funny and it all reeks of being "realistic" which is bad for humor (they should have watched either Family Guy or Stand By Me to learn how to make vomitting hysterical...and the scene of Stifler jerking off in an out of order bathroom stall is probably the grossest I've ever seen...and I own Passolini's Salo on DVD so that's gotta be saying something).
The "Unrated" DVD (there had to be 2 versions?? the film didn't get a theatrical release??!) runs 95 minutes and the R Rated version runs 87. My guess is that we're treated to many more boob and butt shots (which don't help this crap fest). The "Unrated" version has loads of "special features" it doesn't deserve. The R Rated version is fullscreen only. This may be the first time I'd recommend a "cut version" of a film...because the less we have of this the better. I'm pretty sure Eugene Levy lost a bet or is being blackmailed based on his appearance here.
That's all for today.
Be seeing you.
No comments:
Post a Comment