This Is the End (2013)

If this really is the end, I can't think of many better ways than being trapped with a group of your best friends, or a bunch of funnymen.

This'll be a quick one as there's not much to say about the film.  Not that This Is the End is a bad movie, but it's because there really isn't that much to the plot.  Even that's not really a bad thing as sometimes that's not the point.  It's clear that writers, and first time directors, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg just wanted to make a fun film with their friends that exists strictly to make us laugh.  That's This Is the End in a nutshell.

There's so little to the story, that they didn't even bother with creating characters.  All of the actors are playing exaggerated versions of themselves.  In some cases extremely exaggerated versions of themselves - I'm looking at you Michael Cera - to hilarious effect.  I enjoyed the fact that I could take the night off as far as paying attention to character names.

Jay Baruchel arrives in L.A. to visit Seth Rogen.  They've been friends for a long time, but Jay's not a big fan of L.A., so he doesn't visit much.  Seth wants Jay to bond with his group of friends more, so they head to a party at James Franco's new house.  Much like you'd expect in Hollywood, the party is full of celebrities, and while it's funny to watch, you'll spend as much time seeing how many cameos and people you recognize.  Jay and Seth step out for cigarettes, and all hell breaks loose, literally.

They get back to Franco's house, where they haven't noticed what's going on around them yet, but it quickly catches up.  The remaining group - Seth, Jay, James, Jonah Hill and Craig Robinson - board up in Franco's house while they wait for rescue.  Jay believes this is the apocalypse, while the rest think he's overreacting and it's just a bad earthquake.

That's all there is to it.  This Is the End is all about the frenetic pace and rapid-fire jokes.  This is one of those films where the laughs happen so frequently that many times the laughter of the crowd drowns out the next thing said.  Multiple views are likely going to be required.  However, I'm betting this is a release that will have a nice unrated cut.  If not, the deleted/gag reel on the Blu-Ray is going to be insane.

Anothing thing I loved about the film is that most of the best moments of the film are not spoiled by the trailer or commercials.  Rogen stated this in an interview recently, which I was skeptical of, but he was not bullshitting us.  Hallelujah!  It's so refreshing to see a movie that doesn't ruin every gag before you've even seen it.  Part of the reason is that many of the funniest moments are not suitable for trailers or commercials, but at the same time I didn't find the movie that crude.

A majority of This Is the End felt like improv, and you're watching a bunch of friends ripping on each other.  Considering the company that's a good thing.  These guys have done plenty of shitty movies that give them lots of ammo to make fun of.  They probably filmed hours of material and then realized they need to advance the plot, or something, so they started editing the film down to keep the runtime bearable.  About an hour into the film my friend finally leans over to me and goes, "I think that's the first plot related thing they've done."  Despite that there's not much of a story, it never really bugged me.  I was too busy laughing.  I've said recently that this is a weak year for comedy, but this is the funniest film I've seen this year.  I feel like I'm giving a lot of back-handed compliments here.

Rogen and Goldberg have hit home runs before as far as writing, so it's natural they step into directing the same genre.  I'm happy to say they seem to have the same sensibility directing as they've had when writing films like Superbad or Pineapple Express.  They know who their audience is and taylor the movie to that crowd.

I know I'm not giving you much to go on, but This Is the End is the easily the funniest film of the year.  I said last week that The Internship was going to be the most successful comedy of the summer, but this deserves that title.  If you're a fan of films like Superbad and Pineapple Express, then this is going to hit with you.  Full price all the way, and definitely a film that lends itself to an 'altered state' with some friends.

4 (out of 5) Death Stars

The Guilt Trip (2012) - Movie Review

I think the moral of the story is that if you're mean to your mother, you look like a dick.

Andy (Seth Rogen) has invented a new cleaning product that he's having difficulty selling.  He's about to embark on a cross-country trip to pitch his product to several different companies.  He begins by returning home to see his mother, Joyce (Barbara Streisand).  In the short interaction before the trip, you learn that Joyce hasn't dated since Andy's father died when he was 8.  She also reveals that she had a love interest before she married her father.  Andy tracks this mystery man down and figures a way to fit a visit to this guy while on his trip.  He invites his mother along, which already kind of contradicts the title of the film, as I never felt like he invited her out of guilt or that she guilted him into coming along.

The actual 'Guilt Trip' begins and then the movie became tedious to watch.  I was squirming in my seat and was actually considering leaving, which is something I don't think I've ever done.  It wasn't insulting, but there was barely a laugh to be had and there wasn't anything particularly interesting about it.  The first half of the movie kind of hinges on setting up Joyce as a nagging and overbearing mother, and while her character is as cliched as they come, you don't have any reason to dislike her. So then your focus turns to how Andy's behavior towards his mother really doesn't make him all that likable. Andy craps on any suggestion Joyce gives him even though it's clear to everyone she's right.  It's not very entertaining to see him be extremely inflexible and rude when she's just basically being a normal Mom.

To The Guilt Trip's credit, there's a scene about halfway through the movie that changes the course and tone of the film.  From that point on it actually got funnier and I started to enjoy it more, as well as sympathize with everyone a little bit.

As I mentioned, one of the main issues of the film was that there weren't any laugh-out-lout moments.  Even a small chuckle here or there would have been nice.  The sad part is that Rogen and Streisand had good chemistry, but lacked the kind of banter that really would have driven the movie, pardon the pun.  You'll really notice this during the credits when they show you a series of deleted scenes that did show exactly that.  It also didn't help these scenes got the biggest laughs from the audience.  It's a shame and it illustrates what a missed opportunity The Guilt Trip had to really be a good comedy.  The supporting cast is also wasted in that they have several comedic actors (Casey Wilson, Adam Scott, Ari Graynor) in straight roles with barely any dialog.  I'm not sure why you'd go through the trouble of getting funny, recognizable actors and then not use them at all.

I'm surprised they decided to roll this out a week before Christmas, as there's nothing holiday-themed about it at all.  The performances from the leads, while not bad, aren't exactly going to blow you away either.  I actually enjoyed Streisand, and I can't really call myself a fan of hers.  The film does wrap up nicely and has some heartfelt moments towards the end, but the first half of the movie doesn't have a strong enough setup for those scenes to really have much of an emotional impact. You've seen many other movies do a better job with similar family themes.

I'm kind of surprised with how this turned out, because director Anne Fletcher had a fairly modest hit with her last film The Proposal.  Writer Dan Fogelman has written movies like Bolt, Tangled, and Crazy, Stupid, Love., so he's got a pretty good track record as well.  I even hear he based the story off a real-life trip he took with his mother from New Jersey to Vegas.  You'd think drawing from experiences would give the film a more personal feel to it, but it's about as generic as they come.

The Guilt Trip is a harmless, but formulaic and forgettable film.  It wastes a good cast by not having any significant laughs, and doesn't have enough heart to warrant seeing this over the holidays.  You can save this one for rental.

2.5 (out of 5) Death Stars

For a Good Time, Call...(2012) - Movie Review

When we first meet Lauren and Katie, both are going through their own personal crises.  Lauren's boyfriend breaks up with her as he takes a job in Italy, citing that their relationship had become boring.  Katie's in danger of losing her apartment unless she can get a roommate in just a few days.  They are put together by a mutual friend, but there's a big problem:  These two met back in college and don't like each other.  Also, they are polar opposites as far as personality.  Both are desperate though, so they give it a shot.

After a short time, Lauren (Lauren Miller) finds that one of Katie's (Ari Graynor) many odd jobs is talking on a phone sex line.  Lauren disapproves, but notes that Katie can make a lot more money if she sets up her own line.  As Lauren is recently out of work, she agrees to help with the business side of things.  Their friendship grows over time, and eventually, Lauren loosens up enough to talk on the phone sex line herself.

It's interesting I watched this and Bachelorette (should have the review up for that one later) back to back as they are both female-driven raunchy comedies written by women.  The difference with For a Good Time, Call... is that while it's a raunchy comedy, it's done without over-relying on visuals, where Bachelorette's humor felt more blunt and obvious.  I never really felt like For a Good Time, Call... went over the line as far as being vulgar.  The movie is as much about about these two becoming best friends and learning more about themselves, than it is about what they do to make money.  That friendship is what keeps you watching.  It would have been easy for them to rely strictly on sex jokes, and not develop their friendship and personalities, but fortunately we get something that has more substance than that.

Lauren Miller co-wrote this with Katie Anne Naylon, and it's based on their own college experiences.  This fact just makes me wish I had known them back in college.  I'm sure they were a lot of fun.  I also just read that she's the real-life wife of Seth Rogen, who has a small cameo in the film.  Seth is a lucky man.   As far as their script, my only real issue is that it's a little too predictable at times, especially with the conclusion, but the strength is the realistic dialog and characters.  As the conservative and reserved one, Lauren is playing the 'straight man', but I think was vulnerable and sexy in her own way.  Miller said she specifically wrote the role of Katie for Ari Graynor.  Perpetual indie movie best friend up until this point, Graynor finally gets a chance at a leading role and she makes the most of it.  She's plays the role with the perfect combination of sassy, sexy and funny.  I really can't see too many other young actresses pulling the role off as well as Graynor did.  You should expect bigger things for both of these two going forward.

Scene stealer, Justin Long, is great as their gay best friend.  He's not quite as over-the-top as he was in Zack and Miri Make a Porno though.  Ironically, Kevin Smith also has a cameo appearance in this, while Lauren Miller had a small role in Smith's film, so talk about making good use of your friends.  Anyway, Justin Long continues to be a go-to guy for funny supporting roles, and has become one of my favorite, underrated actors.

First time feature director (always seems to be a theme with late summer and indie films) Jamie Travis gets good performances out of his cast and everyone remains likable.  It's always nice when you watch a movie and you can see yourself hanging out with these people.  As the movie takes place over a few months, the friendship felt natural and wasn't rushed.  This was impressive to me, as the movie runs just 86 minutes.  They use their time well.

For a Good Time, Call... is a predictable film, but it's not without it's charms.  It's a funny look at friendship and carried by the strength of the performances.  It's not a perfect film, but it's exactly what the title says, a good time.  That's all I ask with any comedy.  This is a great matinee and something to get a few friends together to watch.

3.5 (out of 5) Death Stars

The Watch (2012) - Movie Review

By now I'm sure you've heard about how the title for The Watch was changed from Neighborhood Watch after the Trevon Martin thing.  However, you'll realize in the opening moments that this has nothing to do with that situation - AT ALL!  Even if you haven't seen the trailers, it will be clear that this is an alien invasion movie.  Also, it's not like they stopped calling it the 'neighborhood watch' during the movie.  Were they going to go back and reshoot every scene where that was said?  Change what their jackets said, too?  I think it was an overreaction.

So, yeah, The Watch is about an alien invasion.  Ben Stiller stars as Evan, the manager of his local, suburban Costco.  Speaking of Costco, I wonder how much money they paid or got paid to be such a large part of the movie.  Half the movie takes place in or around a friggin' Costco.  The Watch has some of the most obvious product placement I've ever seen in a film.

Anyway, after the nightwatchman of Evan's Costco is brutally killed, he decides to form a Neighborhood Watch to protect the neighborhood and find the killer.  His enthusiasm isn't shared by most of the town and the local police, and he's only joined by Bob (Vince Vaughn), Franklin (Jonah Hill) and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade).  The other guys don't take the watch as seriously as Evan though, and are more interested in a group of guys to pal around with.  As they investigate they find a strange device and eventually encounter an alien.  That's pretty much all there is to it.

The whole movie kind of hinges on how much you like the cast.  I thought they all played off each other very well.  I know Ben Stiller isn't everyone's cup of tea these days, but if you're annoyed by the types of roles he usually plays, you might like him here.  He's pretty much the straight man to the rest of the cast.  Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill are pretty much on point and it felt like they got opportunities to improvise.  I really enjoyed Richard Ayoade, but I'm not familiar with The IT Crowd, so he was a newcomer for me.  I understand from fans of the show that they were disappointed he didn't get a chance to show what he can do, but I though he held his own against the rest of the cast and is someone you can expect to see in many more comedies.  Will Forte was funny as well.  Was Danny McBride not available?

Throughout the movie, I got a real 80's vibe from it.  Not that it was set in the 80's, but to me it had a similar feel to other sci-fi comedies from that era.  The humor in the movie for the most part is silly and raunchy.  It might be a little too vulgar for vulgarities sake, but it didn't really bug me.  The Watch was directed by The Lonely Island member and SNL writer Akiva Schaffer, who also directed Hot Rod, which is a favorite of mine.  I think his direction might be why I got the 80's vibe that I did.

Originally written by Jared Stern, but then Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg were brought in to re-write and punch up the script.  The movie's crude humor may remind you of some of their other movies like Superbad or Pineapple Express.  If that kind of humor isn't appealing to you, then this won't be for you either.

Maybe with all the negative reviews I had my expectations lowered heavily, or maybe I was just in a good mood, but I enjoyed The Watch.  To hear some critics talk about this movie, you would think Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn came over to their house, drank all their beer and kicked their dog.  Sure, it's a dumb movie, but I had fun with it.  I laughed a bunch and enjoyed the cast.  I haven't said this in a while, but here's a good example of a movie better enjoyed if you rent it with a few friends and get a few six packs.

3 (out of 5) Death Stars

Take This Waltz (2012) - Movie Review

Is a romantic drama about a happily married woman that won't stop flirting with her creepy neighbor actually romantic?

Margot (Michelle Williams) is supposedly a happily married woman.  Her husband, Lou (Seth Rogen), is a cookbook writer that loves her very much.  However, she finds herself torn when she meets an attractive stranger on a trip, and finds he lives across the street from her.  What a funny coincidence, right?

Spoilers ahead, so skip to the end if you plan on seeing this.

Whey they meet, she informs Daniel (Luke Kirby) that she's married, but he continues to flirt with her and seems to be around every time she leaves the house, as if he was stalking her.  Even though Margot tells him she's happily married and doesn't want to her her husband, she never stops flirting and spends large amounts of time with him.

I've often complained when watching romantic dramas that you have to wonder about who is supposed to identify with the characters, their values or behavior.  Margot starts this affair after a chance encounter that really didn't seem all that remarkable, and they've given you no reason to think she's unhappy or reason to dislike her husband.  You know, reasons she might be looking to cheat.  Lou is going along blissfully unaware that his wife is carrying on this affair with her neighbor, and worse yet, he figures it out before she has the stones to tell him.  Daniel even meets Lou a few times, and Lou goes out of his way to be nice to the guy, yet Daniel still carries on.  So Daniel is a creepy, stalker douche bag, and Margot is an emotionally immature 28-year-old, so now you have a movie centered around two people I cannot like in principle and wouldn't want to know.

Daniel is a walking, indie-movie cliche.  He's a hipster artist that drives a rickshaw to make money, while wearing capri pants.  Yes, he's a rickshaw driver.  I guess cost of living must be very cheap where they are based in Canada, or being a rickshaw driver pays very well, because he never seems to have difficulty affording a nice place to live.  At a certain point in the movie, he moves and settles in an impossibly large loft that seemed way beyond his means.  Overall, his character came off as very slimy to me.  I don't know if that's due to Luke Kirby's performance or how the character was written or directed.

Take This Waltz is languidly paced, and overly long at nearly two hours.  A huge pet-peeve of mine in romantic movies are endless music montages where nothing happens, and you get plenty of that here.  It became very tedious to watch the longer it went on.  When a movie is needlessly long and poorly paced, but then you have all of these sequences that could have been removed and still told the same story, it comes off as self-indulgent to me.

There's a surprising amount of nudity in the movie.  I had actually heard about a scene before watching where several women are showering together after an exercise class.  They are all just talking about their lives and shaving their legs.  It's totally non-sexual, and I guess it's meant to show women in a casual, non-flattering, but realistic way.  However, it simply wasn't necessary, and the same dialog could have been done in any situation, like having coffee.  Later in the movie, you have lots of nudity in yet another music montage of Margot and Daniel having all kinds of sex and engaging in threesomes.  Two guys or two girls, it doesn't matter.  Leaving your husband unleashes your inner freak, I guess.  Also, I'm not sure if this was a choice by the director, or the cinematographer has a fetish, but it seemed like there were lots of shots of feet and legs in the movie.

Written and directed by Sarah Polley, much has been made of her first effort, Away From Her.  I haven't seen that, but this feels like it must be a step back.  Judging by all the positive reviews, I guess I'm in the minority on this one, or maybe it's an example of critics wanting to like a movie because they liked their previous work.  While I think Polley demonstrated skill as a director, I think her writing suffered here, particularly with the characters.  There's some funny, natural dialog, and I felt most of the scenes between Margot and Lou felt very real.  However, some of the dialog ends up being unintentionally funny.  Early in the movie there's this really creepy scene where Margot asks Daniel to tell her what he would do to her, and then describes in excruciating detail exactly how he'd have sex with her.  A little later, Margo has an emotional breakdown when Lou is just trying to cook for his book and she comes off like a crazy person.

It has one of these ambiguous endings that's very frustrating after watching almost two hours of this melodrama.  So is she really happy at the end after everything she did?  Are we to believe that she screwed up?  I guess it's left for us to decide.  It's like they were saying, let's make this movie super-indie and fill it with metaphor and you figure it out.

The movie does feature some good performances.  While I didn't really care for Michelle Williams character, I thought her performance was very emotional.  I also liked Seth Rogen playing a character out of his comfort zone.  He came off as very sympathetic to me and was pretty much the only person in the movie I rooted for.  Lastly, I thought Sarah Silverman was great as Geraldine, Lou's alcoholic sister.  She was my favorite thing about the movie and easily had all the best dialog and scenes.  I wish she would have been in it more, but the movie wasn't about her character.

Take This Waltz is one of those indie films that just comes off as too hipsterish and vague for it's own good.  While there are some very real moments and themes here, it's overlong and centers around two characters that you don't like or root for at all.  Other than some good performances by the cast, I can't recommend this to anyone.

1.5 (out of 5) Death Stars