Saturday, October 04, 2008
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
*** Forgetting Sarah Marshall
. Romantic comedy.Directed by: Nicholas Stoller.
Starring: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand
We saw this at the Embassy theater during our month in San Antonio this summer. It was the first movie we saw. We'd actually decided not to see it at AAFES before leaving, because the previews didn't sound that good, but Dagny wanted to see it, and it was still on a couple of shows a day, so we went.
It wasn't as bad as I'd expected. In fact, it wasn't really bad at all.
Sarah Marshall is an actress. Peter writes mood music for movies and TV. Sarah's moving up; Peter is stuck in a rut. What he really wants is to write rock operas.
As you've no doubt seen on the previews, Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) breaks up with Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) while he's naked. And hey, kudos to Segel for showing a less-than-Hollywood-perfect body onscreen. We need more of that. If only they'd extend it to women as well.
Peter doesn't take it well. He's taken by surprise, and can't get over it. He's turning into a stalker; his work is suffering; and every date he tries to go on ends in disaster.
Finally, he takes the advice to just get away for a while, and goes to Hawaii--something he and Sarah had talked about doing but never did. When he gets there, Sarah's there too--at the same resort. With her new boyfriend Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), rock star and in-your-face sex god.
So he spends more time obsessing, but he gradually gets distracted by the various resort personnel, and by falling in love with reception clerk Rachel (Mila Kunis). Being Hawaii, their advice is all "don't worry, be happy," and "live one day at a time."
Possibly my favorite part of the movie was Rachel taking pity on Peter when he's humiliated by Sarah and Aldous, and helping him out. For some reason, that just made me grin.
There were quite a lot of funny moments, a lot of which you've seen in the previews.
But there were also a lot of unbelievable parts or one-joke threads that just got old. The premise itself was pretty unbelievable--that Sarah and Peter just happened to end up at the same resort--but you have to accept that, or there's no movie. Aldous Snow's in-your-face sexuality got old pretty quickly, as did the surf instructor's (Paul Rudd) drugged-out persona. The virgin newlyweds (Maria Thayer and Jack McBrayer) were pretty funny at first, but they got old, too.
And I had trouble with the falling-in-love-with-Rachel part, at least as a happily-ever-after. They wanted completely different things out of life, and all I could see between them was lust on his part and sympathy on hers.
Maybe I'm just low on patience, because this movie has great reviews, and I found it pretty average and predictable. Not horrible, certainly, but definitely not great.
Categories: Movies, 3stars, RomanticComedy
Labels: 3 stars, Movies, RomanticComedy
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Over Her Dead Body
***½ Over Her Dead Body. Romantic comedy.
Directed by: Jeff Lowell.
Starring: Eva Longoria Parker, Paul Rudd, Lake Bell, Jason Biggs, Lindsay Sloane
We saw this at the Hercules.
Kate (Eva Longoria Parker) is killed by an ice sculpture on her wedding day. Henry (Paul Rudd), her groom-to-be, is pining away and not moving on with his life. So his sister Chloe (Lindsay Sloane) takes him to see psychic Ashley (Lake Bell) in the hopes that she'll tell him that Kate wants him to go on living.
The problem with this is that Ashley can actually see Kate, and Kate doesn't want him to get on with his life. Particularly not with Ashley.
There's additional conflict when Chloe gives Ashley inside info to make the spiel more convincing, so Chloe doesn't believe that Ashley's truly interested in Henry.
And there's additional comic relief in the form of Ashley's assistant Dan (Jason Biggs) who's been in love with her for years, and has pretended to be gay to stay near her.
There were some laughs, and the main conflict was a good one. Kate was horribly unlikeable, but that was okay--she was bitchy and possessive, things that didn't make me question why nice guy Henry had been marrying her. And her afterlife experiences fit so well with her character. What I didn't buy was her turnaround at the end of the movie. It didn't make sense. It's like they couldn't figure out how to end it, or they decided they'd made her too bitchy, so they did a sort of "we were just kidding--she's really a nice person at heart" at the end.
And then the assistant's character pretending to be gay for years. It just didn't work. I admit, I did laugh a couple of times about his situation, and I can see how one thing can lead to another, but ultimately, the balance came down more on the side of pathetic than funny or sympathetic.
All in all, not a horrible movie, but not one I'd recommend going out of your way to see.
Categories: Movies, 3.5stars, RomanticComedy
Labels: 3.5 stars, Movies, RomanticComedy
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
27 Dresses
**** 27 Dresses. Romantic Comedy
Directed by: Anne Fletcher.
Starring: Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Malin Akerman, Edward Burns
Carl and I saw this at the Hercules.
Jane (Katherine Heigl) is Nice. As in "nice guys finish last"--that kind of nice. She's... well, she's a doormat. But she doesn't think she is, and she doesn't resent it, so it's all good. Makes me cringe a bit, though. If you've seen the previews or even heard about the movie, or heck, even read the title, you'll know that Jane's been a bridesmaid 27 times, which means she has 27 bridesmaid dresses taking up valuable closet space in her small apartment.
She runs across Kevin (James Marsden) while being in two weddings on the same night, a hilarious sequence that involves her taking a cab cross-town over and over again, changing in the cab, and arriving just in time for the toast, or the cake, or dancing, or whatever.
Kevin is a journalist, stuck writing the "commitments" column, but he's pitching an idea for a meatier article on the commercialism of weddings.
In keeping with Jane's doormat tendencies, she's long been secretly in love with her boss (Edward Burns), then her sister shows up in town, Jane introduces them, and the next thing you know, she's been put in charge of planning their wedding.
It's a cute, pretty predictable movie, but it's really well done. I appreciated how Jane learned to stand up for herself, and though the scene where she admits her feelings to her boss was painfully awkward, it was also realistic and necessary. And I did like how her optimism was rewarded in the end.
What made this stand out was the things that didn't follow the expected route... though they're spoilers, and near the end of the movie, so I'm not going to spell them out. Suffice it to say that the things that upset me all turned out good in the end.
Categories: Movies, 4stars, RomanticComedy
Labels: 4 stars, Movies, RomanticComedy
Monday, May 26, 2008
Love in the Afternoon
***½ Love in the Afternoon. Romantic comedy.
Directed by: Billy Wilder.
Starring: Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier
We got this from Netflix, part of my quest to watch classics I'd never seen before.
Ariane (Audrey Hepburn) is the daughter of a private detective (Maurice Chevalier) in Paris. The detective has just provided evidence of a woman's infidelity with notorious womanizer Frank Flannagan (Gary Cooper). The man declares his intention to murder Flannagan; Ariane overhears and rushes off to Flannagan's hotel to warn him.
Like a lot of young women, Ariane is enthralled by Frank Flannagan's notoriety, and sets about to snare him for herself. She's cleverer than average, though, and plays it exactly right by setting herself up as simultaneously desirable and emotionally unobtainable, innocent and worldly. She makes up a long list of her supposed lovers, and feigns indifference to Flannagan's many peccadilloes, finally arranging with him to get together, no strings attached, whenever he's in Paris.
Flannagan's toast. He falls for the plot hook, line, and sinker. He didn't stand a chance.
Which is lucky for Ariane, because she's not nearly as indifferent as she tries to appear.
The comedy part is top-notch. I loved watching Ariane twist Flannagan around her little finger. (and can I possibly use any more cliches in one review? I think I've set a record) Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier, and Gary Cooper were all fabulous. Ariane's knowledge of Flannagan's unchanging technique and his reaction to her knowledge was priceless; I particularly enjoyed when Ariane's father confronted Flannagan; and I loved the idea of the innocent but clever young girl outwitting the worldly older man and getting what she wanted.
However.
You knew there had to be a "however"--otherwise I'd have give this much more than 3.5 stars.
I had trouble liking the story and believing the ending. Unlike a lot of reviewers, I definitely believe a young woman would find a much-older womanizer attractive: the lure of taming him would be irresistible to a certain kind of woman, and Ariane is one, even if a 30-year age difference creeps me out.
But it's so much like older romance novels, where dishonesty and trickery snare someone a mate, and it's all okay because it's for their own good, in the name of love. I just can't buy that. A relationship based on falsehoods... how solid can that be? Not very. If the only way he'll be with her is if he believes her to be someone she's not, how much can he really love her? There's always the theory that the trickery opened his eyes to real love, but I don't believe that, either.
And then there's the fact that his attitude toward women is the more the better, and that women are interchangeable to him. It seems so plausible in the movie that she convinces him to give up his libertine ways, but I give them six months before the novelty wears off and he's back to his old habits.
As a fairy tale, though, it's a lovely movie.
Categories: Movies, 3.5stars, RomanticComedy
Labels: 3.5 stars, Movies, RomanticComedy
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Fool's Gold
**** Fool's Gold. Romantic comedy, action/adventure
Directed by: Andy Tennant.
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Donald Sutherland, Alexis Dziena, Kevin Hart
We saw this at the Hercules with the boys.
Ben (Matthey McConaughey) and Tess (Kate Hudson) Finnegan are getting divorced. They used to go diving for treasure together, but now Tess is working as a steward on the wealthy Nigel Honeycutt's (Donald Sutherland) yacht and Ben is in debt to rapper/villain Bigg Bunny (Kevin Hart).
Ben thinks he's finally discovered the location of the legendary Queen's Dowry treasure, but he needs money--and Tess's help--to find it. So he convinces Honeycutt and his "celebutante" (think Paris Hilton) daughter Gemma (Alexis Dziena) to join--and finance--the quest.
Yes, this is goofy, over-the-top, unbelievable, and McConaughey still gets on my nerves, but none of that matters, because it's fun. Reminiscent of Romancing the Stone (action/adventure and romantic comedy), or Twister (action/adventure and a rekindled romance), or even The Abyss (action/adventure, diving, and a rekindled romance), all of which I also enjoyed.
McConaughey does fit the irritatingly happy-go-lucky treasure hunter character pretty well, I must admit. And Kate Hudson likewise fits his more serious spouse. A lot of the reviews preferred the two in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, but while How to... was a cute movie, McConaughey was like nails on the chalkboard for me. I could accept him better in this role. I don't know why he gets on my nerves so badly, but I find him difficult to watch.
Regardless, we all enjoyed the movie, even the boys.
Categories: Movies, 4stars, ActionAdventure, RomanticComedy
Labels: 4 stars, action, Movies, RomanticComedy
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Say Anything
***** Say Anything. Romantic comedy.
Directed by: Cameron Crowe.
Starring: John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Ione Skye, John Mahoney
Despite being a big John Cusack fan, I haven't seen all his earlier movies. I've been rectifying this through my Netflix queue. I should have know better, though, and just bought it.
John Cusack is Lloyd Dobler, a misfit high school senior living with his sister and nephew, who decides to ask out Diane Court (Ione Skye), the class valedictorian and only child of a doting single father.
They start to fall in love, but the relationship is complicated by the fact that Diane is leaving for a scholarship in England in the fall, and further when her father starts being investigated by the IRS.
There are so many incredible scenes and great lines in this movie, I can't list them all. More than that, it all fits together perfectly. The movie doesn't make one misstep, so far as I can see.
What made it even cooler for us is the relationship and situation between Lloyd and his sister Constance (Joan Cusack). Other than the nephew, this could be Curran and Dagny next year. Lloyd is living with his sister because their dad is in the military and stationed overseas.
The character of Lloyd Dobler was just fabulous, and John Cusack suited him perfectly. A wonderful blend of confidence, insecurity, bravery, shyness, charm, stubbornness--maturity and immaturity--that felt absolutely real, and impossible not to fall in love with. Diane was likewise very real, though completely different: smart but socially insecure (boy, did I relate to that), and caught between first love, her future plans, and her father's problems.
As is often fun with older movies (1989), we also enjoyed seeing actors who've since become famous (or more famous): John Mahoney, Jeremy Piven, Bebe Neuwirth, Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson), and of course John and Joan Cusack.
Categories: Movies, 5stars, RomanticComedy
Labels: 5 stars, Movies, RomanticComedy
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Knocked Up
***½ Knocked Up. Romantic comedy.
Directed by: Judd Apatow.
Starring: Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl
We saw this as part of a double-feature at the Auto-Kino (drive-in).
Allison Scott (Katherine Heigl) just got a promotion, so she and her sister go out to celebrate. She has a few too many to drink, meets Ben Stone (Seth Rogen), and has a one-night stand with him.
A few weeks later, she discovers she's pregnant. After some soul-searching and a lot of cringing, she decides she'd better tell Ben. He vows to stick with her and help raise the baby.
Ben lives with his buddies, smokes pot, and they have desultory plans to create a celebrity website, but they don't work on it much. At first, he keeps on with his life the way it is, but little by little, he starts growing up and taking responsibility.
There's a secondary plot with Allison's sister and her husband having a crisis in their marriage that serves to both encourage and warn Allison and Ben about their future.
It was a cute movie, as far as it went. I'm not sure I understand the rave reviews: 7.8 stars on the IMDB for a comedy is amazing. That's the same as The Blues Brothers and Blazing Saddles and Stranger than Fiction got, and this is nowhere in the same league as those. Different tastes, maybe, but those had more going on than just humorous situations. Maybe this one did, too, and I just didn't see it.
I do know that I missed a lot of the one-liners that a lot of people appreciated. They don't tend to translate all that well into German. And the dubbing, while it's done very well here, still makes the dialogue incredibly fast, as German takes half again as many syllables as English to say anything. So I missed the verbal nuances, if there were any.
My favorite part of the movie was Ben's growth, and, to a lesser extent, Allison's. It was presented with humor and sympathy. The problems between Allison's sister and brother-in-law were realistic, but I couldn't sympathize with either of them, which made it less effective for me.
The premise, however, just didn't sit well with me. Because of a one-night stand, this couple is deciding on a permanent commitment to each other. It just made me squirm, and nearly turned the movie into a pro-life propaganda piece. Allison does initially turn down Ben's marriage proposal, but neither of them ever question whether they should be together permanently or not--just whether they should have the little piece of paper.
Much of that has, I admit, more to do with me than with the movie. I've been married 23+ years, and I know how much work marriage is, even when you love each other, and especially when you start off the marriage with a child (our first was born 11 months after we got married, but we didn't live together until after I was already pregnant). Then, too, I have a 22-year-old daughter who's far too prone to trying to make relationships work even when she'd be better off letting go, and I couldn't help seeing her in the same situation.
Ah, well. Maybe a lot of it was lost in translation. It was an entertaining movie to watch for a date night, but I don't think I'll be watching it again in English to see what I missed.
...more
Categories: Movies, 3.5stars, RomanticComedy
Labels: 3.5 stars, Movies, RomanticComedy
Friday, September 07, 2007
Music and Lyrics
****½ Music and Lyrics. Romantic comedy.
Directed by: Marc Lawrence.
Starring: Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore
We bought the DVD for Dagny's birthday, and watched it with her while she was here. Then I asked for a copy of my own for my birthday.
It's funny... or rather, it isn't--that romantic comedies are often considered trite, mindless entertainment, but yet it's apparently really hard to make a good one. I see a lot more good action movies than romantic comedies, or comedies in general.
Anyway. Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant) is an 80s pop star has-been. He's reduced to doing shows at theme parks and state fairs for an increasingly older, primarily female audience. But now he's got a chance to make a comeback. Current pop diva Cora Corman (Haley Bennett) wants him to write a duet for the two of them, but only if he can have it ready in a week. Unfortunately for Alex, his usual lyricist is unavailable, Alex cannot write lyrics at all, and the substitute his manager sends is depressing.
Enter Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore). She's the "plant girl"--that is, she comes by to water his plants--and her comments lead Alex to offering her the job of helping him write the song. Just that much would be a cute movie, but it doesn't stop there.
Sophie can't take it seriously because, while she loves putting words together, an ex-lover who's a professor and a literary writer, told her that her writing sucked.
And that's what made it a truly good movie. Under the witty banter, catchy tunes, and funny situations is the story of two people recovering their confidence and sense of self-worth and falling in love as they do it.
In fact, I think that's where the mediocre romantic comedies fail--they try to make things funny by keeping them light, glossing over problems. But Music and Lyrics was romantic and funny precisely because Sophie couldn't tell her ex off, and Alex couldn't stand up for his song. It's basically the cinema equivalent of a Jennifer Crusie novel.
I tend to enjoy Hugh Grant movies--sue me--so I'm a little biased, but I think he fit this role really well. There was precisely the right balance between earnestness and, well, cheese. It would have been an easy role to overplay, to go over the top with silliness, but he doesn't. The same with Drew Barrymore--though her character's more understated, she's completely believable.
And it didn't hurt that around the same time that I saw this movie, I read Waiting for Nick, or that we we'd been watching the DVDs of Third Rock From the Sun. (Kristen Johnston plays Sophie's sister.)
And oh, yeah, the music. Very catchy. "Pop! Goes My Heart" kept running through my head for days afterward.... oh, dammit. Now it's back.
...more
Categories: Movies, 4.5stars, RomanticComedy
Labels: 4.5 stars, Movies, RomanticComedy
Saturday, February 03, 2007
The Holiday
**** The Holiday. Romantic comedy.
Directed by: Nancy Myers
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black.
We went to see this at the Hercules theater at Ramstein on Thursday. Carl's idea. He's obviously feeling guilty about being gone on Valentine's Day. Again. (Carl's leaving tomorrow for 10 days in San Antonio. We've been giving him a lot of shit about it, which is probably not nice of us, but damnit, he'll get to have nice weather and eat at Taco Cabana--he'll get over it.)
Amanda in L.A. (Cameron Diaz) and Iris in Surrey (Kate Winslet) are both having man problems: Amanda's just broken up with her cheating boyfriend, and Iris's sort-of ex has just gotten engaged. They both decide a vacation is in order, and with the help of a house-swapping website, trade houses for two weeks.
The "comedy" part of "romantic comedy" comes in when the two women have to adjust to different lifestyles. I've never been to either England or California, but it rang pretty true to me, and didn't seem too exaggerated. The jet lag was definitely a realistic factor.
Amanda's first night at Iris's cottage, there's a knock at the door and she opens it to a very drunk, very good-looking man who turns out to be Iris's brother Graham (Jude Law). She decides a one-night stand with a perfect stranger would be a great way to get over her ex. Graham's drunk, but he's not an idiot, so he obliges. They're both a little more affected than they expected, and they reluctantly start a romance they know has no future.
Iris, meanwhile, answers the door to a couple: Miles (Jack Black), who's a friend of Amanda's ex, and his girlfriend. Iris and Miles get a romance, too, but it moves much more slowly, and is much more complicated. Iris's ex, Jasper, doesn't want to let her go despite the fact that he's marrying another woman--he calls and sends his manuscript for her to proofread, and tells her he can't do without her. The distance is helping, but keeping busy is better, and Iris manages that when she befriends one of Amanda's neighbors, an elderly screenwriter.
Unfortunately, more time was spent on Hollywood's idea of the prettier couple--Diaz and Law--despite the fact that their story was less complex. On the plus side, the movie was over two hours long (138 minutes), so neither story felt too rushed.
Discussing the movie afterward, we both felt that Iris and Miles's romance was more believable. They were both dealing with similar break-up issues, and because of the slower pace of their relationship, it was easier to see them becoming drawn to each other and appreciating each other's strengths. Iris's issues were extremely familiar to us in real life, so that likely had something to do with why we were more drawn to her story.
Amanda and Graham's romance seemed to be more simple chemistry, and while both characters were likeable and were dealing with issues that were solved by the relationship (Amanda keeps relationships on the surface, and Graham's got some emotional trauma and responsibility), it wasn't really clear that each was the specific person the other needed in their life.
I do have to say I appreciated the ending. Without spoiling it, I'll say that it was satisfying and hopeful without being too unbelievable.
If I tried, no doubt I could come up with a dozen or more quibbles, but it was such a cheerful movie that I'd rather not.
...more
Categories: Movies, 4stars, RomanticComedy
Labels: 4 stars, Movies, RomanticComedy
Sunday, December 10, 2006
****½ Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Romantic comedy.
Directed by: Frank Capra
Starring: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur
After seeing the remake, we turned to Netflix for the original. And as usual, the original was head-and-shoulders above the remake, and made the remake seem pretty pointless.
The plot is the same--Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) unexpectedly inherits a fortune from an uncle he'd never met, then goes to the city to take care of the legalities.
Babe Bennett (Jean Arthur) is a tough newspaper reporter who poses as sweet, innocent Mary Dawson to get the scoop on him.
But instead of a crooked board of directors, there's a greedy cousin, and there are no over-the-top silly jokes. It's still funny, but it doesn't resort to idiocy to accomplish that. Really made me wonder why Hollywood seems to think that only slapstick is funny lately.
It did take me a while to warm up to Gary Cooper in the role. I'd only ever seen him in macho roles, so this mild-mannered character seemed rather odd to me--I'd expected something more like Jimmy Stewart from It's a Wonderful Life. Not that he didn't play the role convincingly--it was just my expectations that were off.
...more
Categories: Movies, 4.5stars, RomanticComedy
Labels: 4.5 stars, Movies, RomanticComedy
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
*** 40 Days and 40 Nights. Romantic comedy.
Directed by: Michael Lehmann
Starring: Josh Harnett
I avoided this one when it was in the theaters--and this was when we went to the movies on average at least once a week. Ah... gotta love living in a city. And theaters with military discounts. But somebody recently recommended this (I can't remember who, and it's probably a good thing), so I put it in my Netflix queue.
Unless you were living under a rock 4 years ago, you know that the plot involves the main character foregoing sex of any sort, including masturbation, for Lent.
And actually, the set-up was pretty good. Matt (Josh Hartnett) is having trouble getting over a break-up, and a string of one-night stands isn't helping, so expanding on advice from his seminarian brother, he decides to give up sex for the 40 days and 40 nights of Lent.
And then he makes the mistake of telling his friend. Which leads to an internet pool on whether he can make it the entire 40 days, all the expected jokes, and a variety of temptations thrown at him with increasing desperation. At least they put the betting in there to give his friends and co-workers a reason to be so concerned about his sex life, or lack of one.
He meets a girl at a laundromat, and there's the beginning of a nice, quirky romance. Then she finds out about the vow. And the movie crashed and burned. They've known each other for maybe two weeks at most, and she's violently angry that he's abstaining from sex. Good lord, woman, get a vibrator. It's only a couple more weeks, anyway, but apparently if she can't have sex with him, she wants nothing to do with him.
As for her assertion that he should have told her about it--they've just started dating. I'm sure she hadn't spilled her guts about everything in her life, either.
Then there's the back and forth (she loves him, she loves him not, and it's always the same argument--she can't wait until the 40 days are up for sex), and the ex-girlfriend shows up and wants that forbidden fruit.
And the ending! O. M. G. **** spoiler **** He has his friend tie him to his bed so he can make it the last couple hours. He falls asleep, the ex-girlfriend comes in, rapes him, the new girlfriend shows up, accuses him of cheating on her. Eventually, the new girlfriend forgives him for being raped, and they live HEA. **** If it had been a book, I'd've thrown it against the wall. If it had been my own movie, I'd have thrown it against the wall.
So basically, it was a good concept, poorly executed.
...more
Categories: Movies, 3stars, RomanticComedy
Labels: 3 stars, Movies, RomanticComedy
