Role Models

Role Models

Recently, I wrote a review for I Love You, Man, a movie that should have been better than it was because of a great comedic cast and a very clever concept. But it was definitely not that great - definitely a missed opportunity. And here we have Role Models, a movie that doesn't seem so clever in concept. In fact, I kind of thought it would be your-run-of-the-mill "jerks learn to be better people through the magic of mentoring kids" type of movie. Throw in a few dirty jokes, a few cute kids, and a "lesson," and the formula is complete.

Role Models is anything but that. Yes, the plot is roughly what I described above, but nothing about this movie is cute. On the contrary, Role Models revels in the fact that it refuses to go cute - it maintains its dirty and absurd tone to the very last frame - even if the ending is super happy and all the main characters inevitably learn life lessons and become better people (yes, through the magic of mentoring kids).

The cast is superb - Seann William Scott (Stiffler in American Pie) is Wheeler, a womanizer who is mentoring the young and crude Bobbi J. Thompson (Tracy Jordan's son on 30 Rock) and Paul Rudd is at his sardonic, cynical, misanthropic and ab-libbing best as Danny, a man who pretty much hates everything and is now forced to mentor Augie (Superbad's Christopher Mintz-Plasse) a lonely kid who is waaayyyyy too into his fantasy role-playing games. All four do great work - Plasse moves a step away from his McLovin' character, and Scott all but erases his typecasting as Stifler. Thompson is surely the crowd pleaser because...well, it's funny to watch 10-year old kids curse and hit grown-ups.

The less said the better. I don't want to ruin anything. Is Role Models an innovative piece of filmmaking? No. It's a formula and there are no surprises. But by refusing to bow to the sentimental parts of the genre, Role Models scores some major points with this cynical reviewer. Check it out. You won't be disappointed...unless you don't like watching 10-year old kids cursing and hitting grown-ups, of course!

TRIVIA: Because of the 2007 Writers' Strike, the writing team was not able to revise and perfect the script. Instead of waiting for the strike to end, they decided, "Screw it. If it ain't working, we'll just ab-lib it!" That spirit is obvious - and much to the movie's benefit. Don't tell me that Wheeler's story about the bald eagles isn't ab-libbed. It has to be!

MVP: Hard call. As I mentioned, little Bobbi J. Thompson would probably be the crowd pleasing favorite. And Seann William Scott has totally erased Stifler from my mind. Now when I think of him, I think of his optimistic horndog jumping up and down in his minotaur suit. But in the end, I think I am going to have to go with Paul Rudd. Paul Rudd as a straight man (like in I Love You, Man) is okay, but I much prefer him here. No one does world-weary, depressed cynicism better. The movie rests on his "life sucks" shoulders and he carries it all the way to the bank. Great performance.

BEST LINE: Gayle:

"I know why you're here. Ok? Your "presence" here, court-ordered.

Danny: Why did you put "presence" in quotes? Are you implying we're not here?"

Okay, that's not the best line. But it is the best line that is printable. My mom reads this blog!

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland
You would think that Tim Burton and Alice in Wonderland would be a perfect match, a dynamic duo of perfection like Batman and Robin, Abbot and Costello or Cheese and Burgers. In so many ways, this movie could have been a classic, but instead Burton's inane film is just a series of one classic blunder after another. Alice in Wonderland completely and utterly fails to live up to its potential. This is easily Burton's worst film since his Planet of the Apes remake.

The problem is deep-rooted and lies in the very concept of the film. Instead of a remake or an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's stories, this is more of a sequel. A teenage Alice (Mia Wasikowska) returns to Wonderland - though she doesn't remember anything of her earlier adventure. The story that follows contains all of our familiar iconic characters, but instead of a romp through Wonderland, we have a bunch of gibberish about fate, magic swords, and The Chosen One. Burton has basically taken all of the characters from Wonderland and shoehorned them into a Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings movie. And they just don't fit. When the very concept is unsound, it is hard for any movie to recover.

Is the movie all bad? If nothing else, Burton has assembled a wonderful cast. Even if the movie is bombing, it was nice to hear Alan Rickman's Caterpillar and Stephen Fry's superb Cheshire Cat. Matt Lucas also does good work as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and Helena Bodham Carter is a great Red Queen (more on her later). The cast and voice cast also includes Johnny Depp, Anne Hatheway, Christopher Lee, Crispen Glover, Michael Gough, Timothy Spall, and Michael Sheen - some do better than others, but you can't deny the talent up there on the screen.

Which leads me to Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. This character is perfect for Depp and should have been a great opportunity. Instead, his Mad Hatter is just too mad. He is all over the place - schizophrenically changing accents and personalities with no rhyme or reason. As my friend said, "I don't know what he wants us to do with this performance."

Now you may say, "James, A) he is supposed to be crazy! or B) the performance is just great indicator of his madness!" To which I reply that Mad Hatter's performance only A) gave me a headache, and B) made me angry because Johnny Depp should know better than this. I don't care if he is supposed to be crazy. He's really just annoying.

What else can I say? Even the special effects are unremarkable and Wonderland looks...dare I say, it looks boring. It's all been done before. And that hurts to say when the visually inventive Burton is involved. Everything in this movie has been done before and done better. Alice in Wonderland could have and should have been so much more. What a waste.

TRIVIA: Here's something interesting - Burton didn't want to direct Alice in Wonderland at first because he felt there was no story. It was just a sequence of unconnected moments and that didn't interest him. Only when he found a central narrative to link everything together did he excitedly jump onboard. And this is the story that interested him?!? Did he just watch The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and think "oh, there's my Alice in Wonderland story!"???  Stupid. SPOILER ALERT HERE: So at the end of the film, Alice has one of these flashback moments where she remembers everything from her first adventure, and we are treated to a quick montage of the famous Alice events - the tea party, painting the white roses with red paint, chasing the White Rabbit - and I thought to myself that "hey, that looks great. Why am I not watching that movie!?"

MVP: I have to go back to Helena Bodham Carter because she is terrific. Unlike Depp and Burton, who drop the ball with what should have been a home run, Carter completely embodies the Red Queen. This is a perfect synthesis of character and actor. She is wonderfully funny, vain, cruel, and clueless. She is an absolute treat to watch in this film. What a greater treat if she had been in a real Alice movie!

BEST LINE: "I need a pig here!"

OSCARS: Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design
OSCAR NOMINATIONS: Best Visual Effects

I Love You, Man

I Love You, Man

Sometimes you see a movie and when it ends you just think, "what a pity." Not because it is a bad film, but because it could have been so much better. I Love You, Man is one of those movies. The film had a great concept and a superb comic cast. It should have been a winner. Instead when the movie ended, you just shrug your shoulders and...well, that's it. You may never think of this movie ever again.

Paul Rudd plays Peter - real estate agent, hopeless romantic, and perfect boyfriend. And now that he is getting married to Zooey (Rashida Jones), he realizes he has a bit of a problem. He has always had female friends and girlfriends, but never any guy friends. In search of groomsmen for his wedding, Peter sets about trying to find a guy friend and ends up meeting free spirit Sydney (Jason Segal). The movie is structured exactly like the cliche romantic comedy, with all the same beats and story points (flirting, first dates, happy montage, big fight, sad montage, reunion). I am not mentioning the cliches as a criticism. On the contrary, using this well worn structure for a budding friendship instead of a love story is remarkably clever. Like I said, the movie has a great concept.

The film certainly has its funny moments. But they are way too few. There are just stretches of the movie where you are waiting for something interesting to happen. You'll get something about every 15 minutes. That said, when you do get a funny moment, it is terrific - such as Peter's trip to the gym with his gay brother (Andy Samburg), a poker game with the perpetually angry Barry (Jon Favreau), the bro-dates with architect Doug (Thomas Lennon) and 87-year old Mel (Murray Gershenz), the climactic wedding scene, and of course almost every scene with Lou Ferrigno. But there are many more moments that are forced and just don't work - such as Sydney teaching Peter how to scream (because that's what men do?) and the running gag of Peter trying to come up with hip lingo and slang. It is never funny, and simply awkward. I also think the marvelous J.K. Simmons, the terrific character actor playing Peter's dad, is just wasted.

Segal and Rudd are both reliable, as always. I appreciate that Segal is playing a character far removed from the over-sensitive men he normally plays. He's too talented that it would suck if he becomes typecast. I just wish these guys were in a better movie. I Love You, Man should have been that movie. It's a pity that it's not.

TRIVIA: The movie's original title was Bro-mance which I actually like a lot more. Definitely more appropriate!

MVP: Actually, I'm going to go with Jon Favreau as Barry, the husband of one of Zooey's friends. He is a total tool. He's always angry, complaining, and just a complete ass. But he has a sure sense of his character, and he makes the most of his scenes. We are never just waiting for something to happen, because he's enough of a jerk that he forces things to happen in his scenes. He is never boring and most of his line-readings will leave you smiling. That's an MVP in my book.

BEST LINE: Peter: He farted in my open house!

Stepbrothers

Stepbrothers

What a pleasant surprise. I really had no interest in Stepbrothers when it came out last summer. Will Ferrell's perpetual man-child character was bound to get old at some point and this movie looked like it was bringing out all the elements I did not like in that persona. And I just could not picture John C. Reilly in a movie like this - no matter how good a comedian he is. But one night I found myself wanting to watch a comedy and a friend of mine brought this movie over, and I was surprised at how funny it is.

Stepbrothers is the story of Brennan (Ferrell), a forty-year old who lives with his single mother and acts like he's 12. One day, his mother meets a single father who also has a stay-at-home son who refuses to grow up - Dale (Reilly). Single mom and dad get married and now Brennan and Dale are forced to deal with each other. Hijinks, much profanity, and a balls all out attack on a drum set ensue over the next 90 minutes.

Have no doubts about it - this movie is raunchy and mean. And most of the jokes you can see from a mile away. But the delivery is so spot-on and the chemistry between Ferrell and Reilly is so seamless that you can't help but laugh throughout their intense battles for superiority. The movie gets even better when they actually become friends and start considering ways to grow up (generally without much success). This is when the movie grows from being mean-spirited to just plain absurd - with playground battles, bunk beds, a rap video, possibly the most awkward hug in movie history and even a centaur all playing prominently. Bizarre stuff, but pretty damn funny.

Not all the jokes fly. There are two sleepwalking gags that are pretty lame and a lot of the dialogue that is supposed to be funny is just crude, like the writers were thinking, "maybe I will write the word "shit" in this line. Audiences will love it!!" These lines generally don't work. I also didn't much like the scenes with Mary Steenburgen or Richard Jenkins as the parents. Both immensely talented actors, they just aren't given much material to play with, and when they are finally given a joke it just feels like it is being forced into the movie to give them something to do. Overall, Stepbrothers is definitely not as spot-on as Ferrell's best films, such as Anchorman.

But for every joke that tanks, there is another one that works, and that is a pretty good ratio for comedies these days. If you are in the mood for a comedy, stay away from a lot of the junk out there and seek out some Stepbrothers.

MVP: The Centaur. I will say no more.

BEST LINE: "Dad! Dad! Please help! The bunkbeds were a horrible idea! Why did you let us do that?!"