So...I've been trying to catch up on some movie watching and get a bit current...its gonna take an awfully long time, but little by little I'm getting there...
So...today we've got reviews of three "comedies" (I use quotes because that term can be somewhat subjective).
Tash & I had a chance to drop Malcolm off with his grandparents for an afternoon and take in a new movie in the theaters. We chose to see Knocked Up because we like to be entertained more than anything these days and this film has gotten great reviews. I think the reviews are a bit off. The film is very funny, but more sweet than funny at times. Its also a bit long (over two hours), which for a comedy can be a bit deadly. But luckily, this film is very entertaining and charming...as escapist entertainment, I guess parts hit a bit too close to home since we do have a kid (I swear the conversation between the two leads during sex while pregnant came from a bug in our bedroom).
If you don't know, the film is about a young professional woman who hooks up with a stoner/slacker at a bar. One things leads to another and she winds up pregnant. The rest of the film deals with these two very different people trying to come to terms with what it means to bring a child into the world. The film is worth seeing, but I'm not sure if you need to rush to theaters to see it. It'll be perfectly acceptable on DVD.
Trying to catch up on the DVDs from Netflix we've been sitting on for way too long put us in front of Man Of The Year. This bizarre political satire stars Robin Williams as a John Stewart clone (fake news man) who winds up running for president. That plot could have been an interesting film along the lines of Dave, but the creators of this piece have added a bizarre subplot about rigged electronic voting machines that doesn't make sense and throws the film into other directions. The film also makes a feeble attempt at straddling the political lines. Its not a bad film, but its not a great film. While we probably need someone in our real elections like Robin Williams' character to shake things up in 2008, it ain't gonna happen. So all this film really did was tease.
Lastly, for today's reviews...I watched Epic Movie. Now I use the term "watched" very loosely. I started watching it and left it playing while I was checking on a pork shoulder that I'm smoking on our new grill (more about that some other time). And then I checked e-mail, cleaned the kitchen and did a few other things while this film continued playing in the background. Why I even bothered I don't know. I'm sure this type of film (the bastard step-child of the Airplane school of comedy which needs to be drowned) appeals to someone...but that someone is probably someone who doesn't know what comedy really is, is around twelve and has the attention span of a hummingbird on crack. Last year, I decreed Date Movie (from the same creators) was not only the worst movie of 2006, but probably the worst movie ever made. This film has it beat by a long shot. The worst part is there's some actual talent on screen. I'm gonna give Fred Willard, Darryl Hammond, Jennifer Coolidge and Kai Penn a pass on this one. They probably needed rent money. Crispin Glover has just proved his career died years ago and he's just scraping whatever he can get. Miss this at all costs.
I hope to be back later this week with that wrap-up of the network upfronts. I was holding off until I finished up a few shows for the season. Just about done with that.
Be seeing you.
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