Hell Baby (2013)

I'm a big fan of the guys from The State and most of their subsequent projects, like Reno 911 and Stella, so I was eagerly looking forward to Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant's Hell Baby.  It also didn't hurt to hear Riki Lindhome talk about her nude scene on various podcasts like Doug Loves Movies.

Maybe I had set my expectations too high, but I can't tell you how disappointed I was after watching Hell Baby.  I just don't get it when a movie involving so many talented and funny people at every level can make a movie that I found devoid of anything funny.  I'm not kidding either; in the entire 98 minutes I had a slight chuckle once.  It's an example of trying so hard to parody everything about a haunted house film that it ends up failing miserably.

Vanessa (Leslie Bibb) and Jack (Rob Corddry) move into a run down home in New Orleans while they await the birth of twins.  They quickly learn from their neighbor, F'Resnel (Keegan Michael Key), that the house has a host of nicknames involving death, as well as several murders that occurred there.  I guess the disclosure laws are pretty lax in Louisiana, but whatever.  Seemingly within moments after moving in, Vanessa already begins to exhibit unusual behavior, and the typical trope of boxes stacking themselves happens. Vanessa begins to smoke and drink heavily, 'cause fetal alcohol syndrome is funny.  The story doesn't have much of a setup, let alone any mythology or end goal like a normal horror film.  I can forgive that if I'm laughing so hard that I forget to care.

A pair of priests (Lennon and Garant) and dispatched to help, even though Vanessa and Jack haven't asked for it yet.  When told about the case, they are informed they are already 'playing catch up'.  This would only make sense if this scene happens later on in the film, but this is within the first ten minutes.  Was this a massive mistake in editing?  After arriving in New Orleans, the priests seems to be more interested in eating, checking out the French Quarter and looking at boobs than getting on the case.  They also smoke, work out a lot and dress like the Men in Black meet The Blues Brothers.  I hate to get nitpicky about plot details, but this is all I have at this point.

Much of the humor in Hell Baby consists of repeated gags and silly scenes that drag on and on.  There's one gag where Jack gets shocked by an old lamp he's working on, but I'm trying to figure out why he's continues to work on a lamp that's plugged in.  There are multiple scenes of people orgasmically eating po'boys, complete with burps and farts; I'm not sure what was supposed to be funny about that.  There's an old, naked lady (which was really just someone wearing an awful looking naked suit) that shows up throughout the film.  A pair of boneheaded cops (Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer) question Jack on multiple occasions and call him names like 'Einstein' or 'Mozart' for no reason.  F'Resnel lets himself in through a window on a whim and always accidentally scares Jack.  Then, there's a chain vomiting part that goes on forever.  This all culminates with a scene where a room full of adults freak out and play hot potato with a devil baby.  I kept waiting for any of these scenes to go somewhere or have some kind of payoff.

Even Lindhome's nude scene goes on for way too long, and has no point other than to have more nudity.  Apparently her character isn't ashamed of her body, but Jack is uncomfortable around her naked sister-in-law.  Go figure.  I never thought I'd see the day where I'd complain about a pretty girl getting nude, but I don't know why Lindhome agreed to do this.  She has a great body though.

I get it, comedy is hard.  Not everything is going to work, and I'll admit that maybe I'm not the right audience for this or wasn't in the right mood to watch it.  I don't mind silly or lowbrow humor, but this didn't work for me at all.  Hell Baby feels like something that was shot over the course of a few days without much of a script.  They weren't sure what direction they wanted to take it, so they just let all the actors wing it.  This is one of the reasons why I'm so hard on recent Adam Sandler films.  With this much comedic talent, you'd think they could knock it out of the park with ease.  At least everyone felt committed to the material.  I'm sure they were laughing their heads off while filming.

It occurred to me afterwards that Hell Baby is something I would've really loved when I was 15 or 16.  Back then, this would have killed me, and the nudity would have excited me more.  I like these guys, so I don't want to beat them up too bad.  It's not like they've lost a fan.  I'm hoping their next work will slay me.

Hell Baby is a disappointing, uninspired film from comedy pros that I was expecting a lot more from.  Meant to be a parody of haunted house/possession films, it's a silly farce with repeated gags that run on and on and on.  I'm not even sure if large amounts of alcohol or drugs could help it.  I really wish I could recommend it, but I can't.  This is one to take a pass on.

0.5 out of 5 Death Stars

The Way, Way Back (2013)

It's no secret that I loved The Descendents, and called it one of my favorites of 2011.  The adapted screenplay from Jim Rash and Nat Faxon won an Oscar, as well as gave us a good laugh at AngiesRightLeg's expense.  I was eagerly looking forward to their next collaboration, as this time they were taking on directing duties, too.  The duo seems to have a knack for sweet stories filled with humor and nice human moments without resorting to too much quirk.  Plus, I love Rash on Community and really liked Faxon on Ben and Kate until Fox shortsightedly cancelled another good show.  You can say I'm a little biased on this one.

Duncan (Liam James) is on the road to summer vacation with his mother and her new boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell).  While Pam (Toni Collette) is asleep in the car, Trent asks Duncan to rate himself on a scale from one to ten.  Duncan reluctantly answers with six.  Trent disagrees and calls him a three.  Trent's kind of a dick, but he has a point.  Duncan is a terminally shy, awkward 14-year-old that really needs to get out there and develop some social skills or any kind of social life.  He's uncomfortable around everyone, especially the cute girl next door Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb).  Trent wants him to get that score up.  His heart is in the right place, but that's not the most constructive way to tell a kid you don't know that well that he needs to get out there.  Also, telling a kid he's socially awkward doesn't help him not be awkward or help him grow socially.  Give him some tools or notes to improve.  It's like saying I know you suck, you need to suck less.  How does that help?  He's a little too hard on the kid overall.  Plus, it's one thing to be hard on your own son, but when you're hard on the son of your girlfriend, I tend to think that's crossing a line.  It's interesting to note that Trent hides this behavior towards Duncan, as well as other things, by doing it when Pam is not around.

Trent has a older daughter (Zoe Levin) that doesn't want to be seen with Duncan either.  Pam and Trent spend a lot of time with the drunk next door neighbor (a fun Allison Janney), as well as a couple of Trent's friends, played by a somewhat muted Rob Corddry and Amanda Peet, who needs to be in more movies.  Betty (Janney) encourages Duncan to hang out with her younger son (River Alexander), but he's a bit of an oddball.

Duncan eventually gets tired of all the drunken, adult shenanigans and starts exploring the town on his own.  While hanging out at a local water park, the park's manager Owen (Sam Rockwell) takes Duncan under his wing and hires him to do odd jobs.  It's never really clear what Owen's role or job is, especially since he seems to answer to Caitlin (Maya Rudolph), who laments her station and that she works harder than just about everyone there.  Anyway, Duncan becomes more and more comfortable around everyone and makes many friends at the water park.  Owen is that mentor, older brother, or even father that Duncan lacks.

The Way, Way Back is yet another coming-of-age story.  Is 2013 the year of coming-of-age films?  I'm happy to say though that his continues the trend of good ones.  When I look back at earlier films like Mud or The Kings of Summer, they all have a distinct tone and style to them, so I've yet to feel like I'm in a cycle of watching the same movie and over and over.

Later in the film when Trent's true colors are on display, Duncan's finally able to stand up for himself and confront him and his mother.  It's that moment in the film where you see that he's becoming a man.  I think one of the reasons why I enjoyed the movie so much is that I saw a lot of myself in Duncan.  I was a goofy looking kid when I was that age.  Braces, bad hair, unsure of myself, and really, really shy.  What I would have killed for an Owen back then.  Liam James plays that socially awkward kid well.  I can forsee a few more roles like this for him in the near future.

Much of the supporting cast isn't in the film as much as I would have liked, but they're not the focus.  I appreciate seeing Steve Carell playing against type again.  I like it when he branches off his typical comedic track.  AnnaSophia Robb has been a favorite young actress of mine since Bridge to Terabithia and she finally seems to be getting larger exposure in recent films.  I still predict big things for her.

Where the film really takes off is when we're at the water park.  There's lots of playful interaction between Sam Rockwell and Maya Rudolph, as well as most of the other employees played by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon.  The relationship that develops between Duncan and Owen is sweet without being cheesy or forced.  When we finally reach the end of the film, you don't want to see these two say their goodbyes, but it's done in a way that's satisfying.

As much as I liked The Way, Way Back I have to wonder if I would have liked it as much if Sam Rockwell hadn't been in it.  Would I have been as invested not knowing he's showing up later?  Sam Rockwell is easily the best thing about the film.  Every scene he's in is great.  He's so good that if another actor had played Owen, I'm not sure that movie would have worked at all.  A water park might not need an anchor, but sometimes a movie needs an anchor like Rockwell.

One thing struck me as odd is that when you see the family driving in an old station wagon, I wasn't quite sure if this was a film set in the past.  This is confused further when it's mentioned that Trent is car salesman and brags that he's fixed the car up as a classic.  I'm pretty sure I saw some of the younger folks using cell phones (but not Duncan), and there's references to iPods.  Then in other scenes, you see people playing Pac-Man and Duncan is familiar with the game to the point where he points out that the game has a pattern.  There's also lots of 80's music.  It really doesn't matter all that much as this is another movie that's timeless.

Much like I said about The Kings of Summer, The Way, Way Back is a film that I didn't want to end.  While it's a simple, coming-of-age story in a year full of them, it still manages to stand apart with its own style and voice.  It's extremely funny, sweet and is worth seeing just for the great performance by Sam Rockwell.  I wouldn't be surprised to see a best supporting nod for Rockwell this year.  I look forward to seeing the film again.  Still playing at select theaters, I highly recommend checking it out soon.

4.5 (out of 5)

Pain & Gain (2013)

Let me get my pump on before I start writing this review...

...okay, I'm back.

Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) believes in fitness.  A bodybuilder and personal trainer in Florida, Daniel's grown tired of struggling and wants some of the good life.  After attending a seminar (from a very tongue-in-cheek Ken Jeong) that encourages him to be a 'doer', a plan is hatched to rob wealthy business man Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub).  Daniel enlists two fellow bodybuilders Adrian (Anthony Mackie) and Paul (Dwayne Johnson) to help with 'the plan'.

Normally for a plan to work it has to be well thought out, and then executed by smart enough people that can improvise if things don't go as expected.  Neither is true here.  This is a crazy, stupid scheme carried out by meatheads even dumber than the plan.  The crazier part is that it actually works...for a while.  It also doesn't hurt their success that their mark was so unlikeable, and his story so unbelievable that not even the police are willing to help him.  Kershaw has to enlist a retired private detective (Ed Harris) to investigate, and even he doesn't take the job at first.

Pain & Gain is an example of one of those 'based on a true story' movies that falls under that 'it's so crazy it must be true' category.  However, this does take place in Florida, where it seems like every month we hear about some bizarre crime story taking place.  Throughout the film I oscillated between shaking my head at how unbelievable this all was, and then laughing out loud at it, whether it was intentional humor or not.

Usually when you see Michael Bay's name of film, you expect to see a lot boorish behavior, bad stereotypes and general shallowness.  That's certainly true here, but those were many of the things that actually worked.  Pain & Gain is probably Michael Bay's most self-aware work, and the story and setting were tailor made for his style.  They spend most of their time at the gym or by the pool, so you can expect to see a lot of skin and very attractive people, but it's not forced for a change.

It far from a great film though, and there are some flaws.  The main one being that it's a little too long.  I couldn't help checking my watch a little towards the end.  It wasn't out of any kind of boredom, but more that there are points where you think the film is wrapping up, but then continues on.  It could have been tightened up, especially where it focused too long on some of the supporting characters.

I was also a little annoyed by the camera work.  There's lots of typical Michael Bay slow motion and other jumpy camera stuff, but as the movie went on, it bothered me less.  I think all the frenetic movement helped sell the craziness of the story, and it wouldn't have been as entertaining if it was static.

There's also a ton of narration, and from every character.  This was very distracting at first, to the point where I was ready to start yelling at the characters to shut up, but this was also something that the movie grows into.  Much of this was done early on to provide depth and back story to the characters, but it was just a little clumsy in its execution.

Pain & Gain doesn't have quite as much action as you might think based on the cast.  This is made up for by the amount of humor in the film.  Again, some of this is unintentional humor where you just can't help but laugh at how stupid these guys are, but there's actually a lot of very funny dialog.  I'm sure the screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely in some ways kind of wrote itself.  How could you not get humor out these people and situations?  The dialog did have some additional punch to it though, and I found myself laughing way more than I expected.

I thought the trio of Wahlberg, Johnson, and Mackie were all great.  You never really have a reason to like any of these guys, and they'll all pretty despicable for the most part, yet their performances keep you interested.  I've often been hard on Mark Wahlberg for being too serious, but this recent focus on more humorous roles is really working, and thought he was great.  The real stand out, once again, was Dwayne Johnson.  His character is a ex-con, turned Jesus freak, but then reverts back to his cokehead ways as the film goes on.  It's a hilarious transition and most of the funniest moments and best lines are his.

What can I say?  Sometimes stupid works.  Pain & Gain is everything you'd expect out of a Michael Bay film, but this time he's in on the joke.  It's an unbelievable, but somehow true story, with great performances and just the right amount of humor to make it fun to watch.  This is a great one to catch with friends, and maybe have a few cold ones beforehand.  I give it a strong matinee recommendation.

3.5 (out of 5) Death Stars

Warm Bodies (2013) - Movie Review

Teresa Palmer could bring me back from the dead, too.  I'm telling you, blonde chicks from Australia are my weakness.

If you've seen the trailer for Warm Bodies, I already know what some of you are thinking, "Oh that's just great!  They Twilight-ified zombies now, too!  What's next? ManBearPig?  The Loch Ness Monster?"  I'll be honest, I also had this concern, and I went in thinking there was a good chance I wasn't going to like this at all.  While Warm Bodies does skew toward that audience, I have to give director Jonathan Levine (50/50) credit.  He managed to balance the humor and young romance elements really well.  Warm Bodies could have been a cheesy, pandering film for tweens, but its humor actually makes it something that works for most audiences.

My concerns went away in the opening moments, when we hear the inner monologue of a zombie (Nicholas Hoult), who has more going on his head than his appearance would indicate.  He's been a zombie so long he remembers nothing of his old life or even how he became a zombie.  He doesn't even remember his name, other than it started with an "R".  This monologue gave the film a Zombieland feel to it, and I was surprised at the humor.  I laughed out loud a few times.

R is conflicted about being a zombie and wished he could communicate or have some kind of connection with someone. When zombies become too far gone and completely give up, they become 'bonies', which are little more than skeletons that will kill anything with a heartbeat.  He does have a best friend "M" (Rob Corddry), but their interaction consists of looks and grunts, but sometimes one of them can manage to say something like "hungry".  While out on a hunt for brains, R sees Julie (Teresa Palmer) and something sparks in him.  Not wanting her to be killed by his fellow zombies, he takes her to safety.  The more time they spend together, the more R regains his humanity.  Eventually, other zombies notice this connection and something triggers in them, as well.

Warm Bodies evolves into what is a surprisingly sweet romantic story.  Yes, the Twilight comparisons are inevitable, but the big difference between the two is that the lack of meaningful dialog is intentional as zombies can't speak all that much.  Plus, there still managed to be way more chemistry between R and Julie despite that lack of dialog.  Nicholas Hoult did a good job of physical acting and saying a lot with his eyes and facial expressions.  It also helps that Teresa Palmer has a lot more charisma about her than Kristen Stewart.  I've always liked Teresa Palmer though, and I don't understand why she hasn't broken out more.  She's been the best thing about several movies I've seen her in like Bedtime Stories, The Sorcerer's Apprentice and I Am Number Four, but for some reason it hasn't translated to bigger films.  I think this might be the one that finally gets her more exposure.

I was surprised to see John Malkovich in this as Julie's father, and he walks that line between wondering if he's evil, or just a protective father in desperate times.  Rob Corddry was great as M, and managed to steal just about every scene he's in despite that you can count the number of words he says on all your fingers and toes.  I think without Corddry for comedy relief the movie wouldn't have been as strong.

I think I might need to cut back on the late night showings for some of these movies, as I was in a bit of a zombie-like mental state to not even realize the Romeo and Juliet angle of Warm Bodies until someone else pointed it out to me.  I was so oblivious to it, that I didn't even notice that the main characters were R and Julie.  I won't go into the parallels too much, since I didn't even make the connection on my own, but there are definitely some familiar elements here.

Warm Bodies isn't perfect.  It definitely has flaws, but they were forgivable.  After a strong opening, it does falter a bit with the tone and pacing.  I'd like to say that Levine's script (based off a book by Isaac Marion), could have used some punch-up, but considering the circumstances, there's not much he could have done without making the zombies start talking a lot, and that wouldn't have worked.  There's some obvious product placement from Corona and BMW, but someone had to help pay for the film.  I enjoyed the soundtrack, but I think it tried too hard to be cute with its choice of music, and some of the songs I think would have worked better had they been used in different parts of the movie.

Another thing you see is that when a zombie eats a brain, they absorb the memories from them.  I actually thought that was a cool aspect, but when you're watching R recount the memories of one of his victims, they were in the third person.  Wouldn't any memory you've absorbed, still be in first person perspective?  When I remember events in my life, I don't actually see myself in them.  At least it gave Dave Franco more screen time.  I know some may get upset with how they treat zombie mythology, but I was never bothered by it, and if you start talking about the 'science of zombies', then I'm gonna have to remind you that zombies aren't real.

I also found it kind of funny that even though R is a zombie, with all the scars and grime, he's still looks like a frigging model.  I can see why this movie could be an ultimate fantasy for women.  You've got a model-looking boyfriend that doesn't speak much, hangs on your every word, protects and does all of these sweet things for you.  Pretty good deal, right ladies?

These are all mainly nitpicks, but  I still can't help but think the film missed a few opportunities to really be great.  It didn't ruin my overall enjoyment of the film.

Warm Bodies isn't perfect, but it's a sweet romantic story with a likable cast.  It doesn't quite cash in on its premise, but there are enough clever and funny moments to still make this stand out in the zombie genre and I found it very entertaining.  I recommend checking it out.

3.5 (out of 5) Death Stars

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012) - Movie Review

What would you do when you realize that the World is going to end in three weeks?  How would you go out?  Would you give in to basic urges, seek out an old flame or try to find love?  These are some of themes of Seeking a Friend of the End of the World.

Speaking of love, the screening I attended opened with a homemade trailer, which ended up being a marriage proposal for a couple in the audience.  She said 'yes', and that put everyone in a good mood leading into this film.

Seeking a Friend... opens with the announcement that a 70 mile wide asteroid is on a collision course with Earth. Our last attempt to stop the asteroid failed, so this is it. We have three weeks until impact. Dodge (Steve Carell) is thrown into a depressed state when his wife takes off immediately after getting the news, and is unsure what to do with his remaining time.  He meets Penny (Keira Knightley), a neighbor that recently went through a breakup, and just wants to get back home to her family.  However, she's stuck due to the airlines shutting down.  Dodge decides to try and track down 'the one that got away', and Penny agrees to come along when Dodge promises he knows someone with a plane.

How do you prevent a movie about "the end" starting on too much of a down note?  You unleash Rob Corddry and sprinkle in a little Patton Oswalt to lighten the mood.  Corddry and his wife (Connie Britton) host an end-of-the-world party and he absolutely steals the opening of the movie.  If the world was going to end soon, this is the party where you'd find me.  This also serves a good counter to Carell's somber mood.

The movie is at its best when letting its characters give in to temptation.  Later, they happen upon a TGI Friday's-type place called 'Friendsy's' where comedian T.J. Miller and Britta from Community (Gillian Jacobs) are employees that are clearly rolling on E and everyone working there might just be a little too friendly.  It's a hilarious scene that I wish would have gone on a bit longer.  Also, around this time is when they are arrested in a scene that had me scratching my head when I saw it in the trailer, and I feared it might be a bad sign about the movie.  I had a hard time believing that a cop would bother pulling someone over for a routine traffic violation given the circumstances.  What would be the point?  Fortunately, the full sequence made more sense and it ended up not being something that bothered me the in context of the entire film.

The movie is a little all over the place tonally.  While the opening is very funny, there are points even early on where they are in immediate danger. Midway through, there's an almost sinister moment when they visit one of Penny's exes.  This scene doesn't last very long, but it does mark the point where it finally makes a turn for the serious and emotional. They really lay it on you at the end, but it still works because of the chemistry, and how much you like Dodge and Penny.

Steve Carell and Keira Knightley are both great.  It's an unusual pairing of the deadpan Dodge and Pixie Dream Girl Penny, but it never felt forced to me.  They are two good people just looking to connect with someone before it's too late.  The rest of the cast is great and you'll recognize many other comedic actors and comedians sprinkled throughout the film.  There's no weak link in the cast.

The weakest point of the movie is the ending.  While sentimental, it wraps up a little too neatly and felt like a little too much of a typical rom-com ending.  Don't get me wrong, I was satisfied with it, but I think they tried too hard to give the movie closure, when it's going to be impossible to have a truly happy ending.  There was actually a moment a few minutes before the eventual ending where I think it would have been a better place to wrap it up.  Either way, I'm sure you'll see many people reaching for tissue.

This was a really strong directorial debut for Lorene Scafaria, who also wrote the screenplay and previously had written Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.  I think the main weakness here is that she couldn't quite decide on the type of movie she wanted to make.  Was this a comedy?  A drama?  She has a knack for quirky though and I'm interested to see what she does next.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is ultimately a mixed bag.  It's a flawed film, but the good outweighs the bad.  It has some genuine, tender moments and was much funnier that I expected.  Fans of Steve Carell or Keira Knightley will enjoy them and their relationship.  It's actually a pretty good date movie for a matinee.

3.5 (out of 5) Death Stars