Serious Sandler: Funny People (Mostly) Succeeds.

The Good: Good performances, Interesting characters, Moments of empathy/themes
The Bad: Mood is often oppressive, Pacing issues
The Basics: Adam Sandler effectively delves into his dramatic side with Funny People, a Judd Apatow flick that reasserts the writer/director’s ability to plumb the depths of drama . . . with mixed results.


Regardless of how both films might have underwhelmed at the box office, Judd Apatow’s Funny People owes quite a debt to P.T. Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love (reviewed here!). Punch-Drunk Love was the first major film to truly use Saturday Night Live alum Adam Sandler in a dramatic role with any real success. Funny People also explores Sandler’s ability to play a deeply serious role and had Punch-Drunk Love not softened American audiences up for such a twist from the comedian, it might have been even more off-putting than the film already was.

Unfortunately, Judd Apatow’s endeavor into getting a serious performance out of Adam Sandler feels more clogged and problematic than Anderson’s more compact, focused role for Sandler. Sandler’s ability to play rage in Punch-Drunk Love plays somewhat better than his character’s apathy in Funny People and the somewhat sprawling nature of this film. Even so, George Simmons is one of Sandler’s better performances and more memorable roles following his career in dippy comedy blockbusters. Sandler makes Simmons substantive and compelling to watch, even if he is not always interesting.

George Simmons is a highly successful comedian who came up from the stand-up circuit before he started making million-dollar blockbusters and became one of the highest grossing actors in America. Depressed and somewhat lethargic, Simmons encounters aspiring comedian Ira Wright and his roommate, Leo Koenig. Wright hates his job serving sandwiches and he leaps at the opportunity to write jokes for Simmons for a MySpace event – if for no other reason than to show up his hack roommate Mark. After the big event, Ira begins working for George and George admits to his new assistant that he is dying of leukemia. As George has Ira start selling off his stockpiles of swag, he starts pining for the woman who got away, Laura.

Ira finds working for Simmons to be a largely losing proposition. Working for George keeps him distracted, which gives Mark time to move in on his love interest, Daisy. It does, however, get him some exposure on the stand-up circuit, but he finds that hanging out with Simmons doesn’t get him laid and he gets mired in Simmons’ depression. But as Simmons wrestles with his own mortality, Ira helps him find Laura and George disrupts her unhappy marriage. The result makes Ira a witness to a life he has always dreamed of having and forces him to decide if it is the way he wants to live going forward.

Funny People departs from Judd Apatow’s other films by, despite the title, being anything but a comedy. The film reminds viewers of the more character-based, dramatic moments that made Apatow’s Freaks & Geeks (reviewed here!) a cult-smash. Unfortunately, while Seth Rogen has no trouble embodying a serious Apatow-written character (Rogen plays Ira), the role has him meandering around the much more cinematically-powerful Sandler. Even when Sandler’s Simmons is acting bored and depressed, Rogen is unable to steal the spotlight from him. The more significant character journey in Funny People is, arguably, Wright’s arc, but Rogen does not make the film feel like it is truly his.

To his credit, writer-director Judd Apatow manages to create a film where almost every significant (male, at least) stand-up comedian alive shows up. For sure, many – like Paul Reiser, Norm MacDonald, and Dave Attell – have roles that are little more than cameos, but the fact that they show up at all makes the world of Funny People feel very real and the drama within it compelling.

That said, Funny People takes far too long to get going. Apatow thoroughly develops the relationship between Simmons and Wright and by the time the viewer is bored with the two of them, the film makes the shift into the relationship between Simmons and Laura. When that transition is made, Wright becomes something of a hapless sidekick and his role as witness robs him of a character arc where he actually keeps real control over his life. Instead, he reacts to how Simmons throws a bombshell into Laura’s family and the result hardly makes Wright compelling. Apatow alum Leslie Mann plays a less-bitchy version of her prior characters and Apatow makes viewers wait for Eric Bana long past the point that he is able to carry any enthusiasm from seeing his name in the opening credits.

Bana and Mann have pretty poor on-screen chemistry, but their characters are supposed to be estranged, so it is hard to complain too much about that. Unfortunately, Sandler and Mann have no real on-screen charm together and the result is that it is hard for viewers to be convinced that they have more of a chance than the married couple that seems set in every way, but the passion department. The problem with Funny People is that none of the characters have innate chemistry with the others: Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman lack real chemistry with Seth Rogen in Funny People, so it is off-putting at the beginning even to make the viewers believe that they are all actually roommates!

Despite the chemistry problems and the fact that Mann plays a very familiar type of character, Funny People is well-acted. Seth Rogen plays the up and coming, very awkward comedian well and Jason Schwartzman plays the jackass roommate with complete plausibility. Jonah hill is fine as Leo, though his character does not get nearly angry enough when Ira’s big secret is finally revealed to him.

But that is the way of Funny People: the film takes a long time setting up, developing, redirecting and expositing until, like life, if just goes nowhere. That makes it a film with so many winning elements, but an ultimately underwhelming resolution and execution.

For other works with Eric Bana, please visit my reviews of:
Hanna
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Star Trek
Hulk

6.5/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Summer Sequel Showdown: Rio 2 Marks The Season’s First Big Weekend Fight!

The Good: Animation is fine, Keeps the tone and characters of the original
The Bad: Unmemorable songs, Formulaic plot, Dull subplots, Lack of compelling new/interesting characters, No wonderful lines.
The Basics: Rio 2 is an unimpressive, though not unpleasant, sequel that continues the story begun in Rio in a thoroughly mediocre and unmemorable way.


Every year, it seems, Summer Blockbuster Season comes earlier and earlier. Summer Blockbuster Season is a series of big studio-released films that are calculated to blow out the box-office for a weekend (or two, for truly ambitious movies) before the next special effects-laden film takes its place in the public’s limited imagination and attention span. Summer Blockbuster Season is characterized by big studio releases, often sequels, that are not necessarily quality films, but are pretty much guaranteed to put cash in the pockets of studios. It’s also a time that is divided up and charted out by the big studios in a calculated effort to win the weekend boxoffice. This cinematic season usually comes after the studios have divided the weekends out without any real sense of competition and with the potential for a sleeper hit. This year, the peaceful film-release season has ended early with an “anybody’s guess” weekend that pits last week’s big sequel, Captain America: The Winter Soldier (reviewed here!) against newcomer sequel Rio 2.

If Rio 2 was a Dreamworks Animation work, instead of 20th Century Fox, the weekend would not be in dispute (the fact that a Madagascar sequel creamed Prometheus, reviewed here, for its opening weekend in the U.S. pretty much cemented the idea that Dreamworks Animation releases will always bring the cash crowds). As it stands, Rio 2 is a mediocre sequel continuing a fairly unmemorable original film. As I recall, I only watched Rio (reviewed here!) because it had Anne Hathaway’s voice talents and after my wife and I had already fallen in love with Angry Birds: Rio. Rio 2 seemed to be released on the hope that younger audiences would be brought out to see the film before too many critics panned the film to death. As it stands, I could easily have lived without seeing the sequel, even with my love of the works of Anne Hathaway and an appreciation of Jesse Eisenberg’s acting talents.

Opening with New Year’s in Rio De Janero, Blue Macaws Jewel and Blu are forced to quit partying when their babysitters keep revealing that they have pawned off their kids to others and left the ineffectual Tiny in charge of monitoring their kids. Meanwhile, their human scientist companions, Tulio and Linda, are two thousand miles away in the Amazon where they discover a blue macaw feather. Surviving rapids, the pair is interviewed on the news where Tulio postulates there could be an entire flock of blue macaws out there that were heretofore unknown. Seeing the television program, Blu, Jewel, the kids and Rafael, head to the Amazon (despite their fear of snakes that can swallow them in one bite!). On their trip, they fly over a carnival, where Nigel has been imprisoned, forced to work as a fortune teller, giving out prizes. Seeing the blue macaw family, Nigel breaks out of the carnival and vows revenge upon Blu and Jewel for the accident that prevents him from flying.

Accompanied by his lovesick salamander, Gabi, and a sloth, Nigel hunts down the blue macaw family on a boat, but is unable to catch them. The Big Boss in the Amazon tasks one of his henchmen to find Tulio and Linda and get them out of the area he is deforesting. Jewel and Blu meet up with a flock of Blue Macaws, which include Jewel’s long-lost father, who is thrilled to see her and to be a grandfather. While Jewel is excited to rediscover her extended family, including an ex-boyfriend, Roberto, Blu finds himself out-of-place in the wild. Hunted by Nigel as humans encroach into the last safe haven of the Blue Macaws, Blu and his family are threatened on all sides.

Rio 2 is not the worst animated sequel of all time, though it certainly is one that is lacking entirely in spark. The film is devoid of clever lines or memorable moments (the audience I was with only laughed out loud in the first five minutes when one of the kids got smacked against a wall with a blueberry pancake). The movie is very easy to watch even for those who have not seen the original. Having only seen Rio once, I only recalled the movie in the most general terms (as the beginning of a relationship between Jewel and Blu, who were tethered together for an Odd Couple-style relationship). So, things like a flashback to reveal Nigel’s motivations for the sequel were actually helpful and make the movie more accessible.

Unfortunately, it does not matter how easy-to-watch Rio 2 is on its own; the film is entirely uninspired. Gone is the adversarial banter that characterized the Blu/Jewel relationship in Rio, which makes sense. But it is replaced by a single catch phrase (“A happy wife is a happy life”) and a predictable conflict that is only resolved through the most generic expression of love as presented in modern cinema. The appearance of Roberto seems to have little consequence within the movie and is only a cheap excuse for Bruno Mars to show off his singing talents. Sadly, for all of Bruno Mars’ talents, there is no song he (or anyone else in the movie) sings that rivals any of the three (now) instantly-recognizable songs from Frozen (reviewed here!). Rio 2 utilizes a more dance-based and hip-hop soundtrack and the original songs are unmemorable and the covers just seem ridiculous in the brightly-colored movie.

Just as the appearance of Robert is an obvious romantic predator to the Jewel/Blu relationship, Rio 2 has a painfully predictable arc for Blu and his father-in-law, Eduardo. Eduardo is the archetype of the father-in-law; stern, loves the grandkids, hates the daughter’s husband, and likes the ex-boyfriend more than the current husband. Eduardo’s arc could have been written by a computer that made an amalgamation of animated family film plots. The fundamental problem on the character front with Rio 2 is that the characters never develop beyond their original premise or archetypes into anything new. Eduardo and Robert’s arcs can be called accurately the moment they first appear on screen.

As for the plot, Rio 2 is packed with plotlines, but none is compelling enough to capture the imagination of the audience. Outside the main plotline of the complications that come from Jewel and Blu visiting the Amazon, there is an entire subplot for Tulio and Linda, Nigel’s revenge subplot, and a series of auditions for the carnival back in Rio that the non-Blue Macaw’s devote time to (which allows a sequence of ridiculous animal performing pop music songs). Blu unwittingly starting a war with neighboring birds over a Brazil nut just muddies an already packed movie.

On the acting front, Rio 2 is unimpressive as well. Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, and Jemaine Clement all proved they could do voice acting well in Rio. Like George Lopez, Andy Garcia, Leslie Mann, and Bruno Mars, the primary performers illustrate no new emoting talents with their performances in Rio 2 to make the viewer believe that they are seeing actors doing something other than looking for an easy paycheck. Rio 2 is notably lacking in big emotional moments that might actually stretch the acting talents of those involved. Anne Hathaway, for example, is barely more than a supporting performer in Rio 2 with no memorable moments for her character, Jewel (though the animators did a good job with making Jewel look truly emotional upon being reunited with her father).

In the end, the box office fight for the weekend is almost inconsequential; whether or not Rio 2 can win the weekend race, it is a film virtually impossible to believe that word-of-mouth would be strong or positive enough to give it a second weekend at the top. A dubious sequel to begin with, Rio 2 is a strong-enough argument against making a Rio 3 that anyone needs; if you love Rio, just keep watching the first one. That is a better use of your time than Rio 2.

For works featuring Anne Hathaway, please check out my reviews of:
Anne Hathaway For Wonder Woman!
Rio 2
Les Miserables
The Dark Knight Rises
One Day
Rio
Love And Other Drugs
Family Guy Presents: It's A Trap!
Alice In Wonderland
Valentine's Day
Twelfth Night Soundtrack
Bride Wars
Rachel Getting Married
Passengers
Get Smart
Becoming Jane
The Devil Wears Prada
Havoc
Hoodwinked!
Brokeback Mountain
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Ella Enchanted
Nicholas Nickleby
The Other Side Of Heaven
The Princess Diaries

3/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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With This Is 40, Judd Apatow Returns To Smart Dramedy!

The Good: Funny, Decent character conflicts, Entertaining story
The Bad: Somewhat formulaic in its resolution, No performances that truly “wowed” me
The Basics: Smartly capturing the angst of adult life, This Is 40 is a rare instance where the sequel is vastly superior to the original work!


For a few days now, my wife has been on me to watch This Is 40 with her. I had, admittedly, no real interest in seeing what was buzzed as the “sort of sequel” to Knocked Up (reviewed here!). I was not exactly motivated to watch This Is 40 because Knocked Up did not thrill me (though, admittedly, it grew on me some by the time I had my third viewing of it), so I went into This Is 40 last night with ridiculously low expectations.

And I was very pleasantly surprised.

Gone were the juvenile jokes that have plagued so many of Judd Apatow’s recent works and in its place was the Judd Apatow who originally got my attention with the magnificent Freaks And Geeks (reviewed here!). Despite its simple story and no real acting triumphs, This Is 40 is solidly entertaining and it explores well life in middle age when relationships take work and people get to the point where honesty trumps comfort and a couple has to find a way to live with the truths they expose to one another. This Is 40 has some wonderful lines – “J.J. Abrams is ruining our child!” – and a very modern understanding of the world and how it is to raise a child today.

As Pete and Debbie’s 40th birthdays approach, with Debbie insisting she is only turning 38 and going so far as to lie to her medical practitioners (and their billing departments), the couple experiences above average torsion associated with aging and the specific problems of their family. Pete has a record label that signs classic rock artists for new recordings and has been tragically unsuccessful. This comes at a time when Pete has loaned his father a lot of money and his current artist, Graham Parker, is dropping an album that all of Pete’s backers are convinced will not sell. With their money stretched for their joint 40th birthday party, financial problems overwhelming them and trying to help their children with bullies at school and their dependence upon technological devices, Pete and Debbie struggle to stay together and recall why they wanted to be together in the first place.

This Is 40 has a number of moments that any healthy couple who has had a dynamic relationship will recognize, from the moment where Debbie and Pete lovingly tell one another that they desperately never want to fight again to the moment they return from a retreat together to the first problem their children have and realize life never offers a full-time vacation. Judd Apatow, who wrote and directed This Is 40, is smart enough to include a multi-generational sense of conflict and comparison in this film. Debbie’s father is almost entirely absent and when he pops up for the birthday party, he mis-identifies Debbie’s employee, Desi, as one of his grandchildren. Conversely, Pete’s father is around more often than Debbie would like and his financial woes – the result of having three children very late in life – make his presence much more draining than enjoyable.

The presence of the parents to Pete and Debbie and their assorted issues – along with the comedy of adults now having siblings younger than their own children (Pete and Debbie’s children are older than the half-brothers and sisters both Pete and Debbie now have from their respective parents!) – puts the strained couple at a serious crossroad. In fact, one of the unfortunately dangling plotlines in This Is 40 is Debbie’s pregnancy. Debbie spends more time trying to track down who stole $12,000 from the boutique she runs than actually addressing what she and Pete will do about her unplanned pregnancy. Glossing over that is unfortunate given how straightforward This Is 40 is in tackling the other real world issues the movie takes on.

As for the acting, Judd Apatow uses his considerable cache to bring together some truly amazing talents for This Is 40. Despite oblique references to Ben and Kate (how the film gets around Kate missing her sister’s 40th birthday party is entirely dodged, though the presence of weed in the film is explained by the movie’s lone reference to the central protagonist from Knocked Up), the film employs remarkably few performers from Knocked Up. Apatow regulars Jason Segel and Charlyne Yi have supporting roles which are little more than cameos to service Debbie’s character (otherwise, Leslie Mann’s presence in the film would be entirely to react to relationship issues her character has with Pete). Graham Parker makes the most of his limited time on screen, though is oscillates between seeming like an advertisement for his new projects and making him seem like a bit of a dick (Pete is losing everything investing in the guy and he blithely notes, “I’ll be fine . . . they’re doing one of my songs on Glee.”). Sure, Apatow goes for some obvious eye candy – Megan Fox appears as Desi and is sure to show off most of her breasts – but he also goes with substance and quirky comedic deliveries with heavyweights like John Lithgow and Albert Brooks, respectively.

Much of the film hinges on Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann (Pete and Debbie) and they do a great job of taking two background characters who were closer to non-entities (Pete) and annoying (Debbie) in the prior outing to make them entirely interesting and viable characters worth spending two hours watching. Rudd is wonderful at playing a man with a quiet dream who is slowly watching it fail and slip away and his body language and deliveries – where almost everything comes out in quietly exasperated tones with only a hint of hope (which often borders on desperation) sneaking in at the end – are spot on. Mann makes Debbie sympathetic and not at all annoying, which is a nice step up from her portrayal of Debbie in Knocked Up. She is a fighter, fighting for her family and the “guard dog” mentality she presents is much less abrasive than in the first film.

In the end, This Is 40 does well what so many films try to do, but fail; it straddles the borders of comedy and drama to create a movie that explores serious, real-world issues and the consequences of relationships, while managing to be entirely entertaining (and not emotionally oppressive in any way). That makes This Is 40 one of the late-release gems of 2012 and a must-watch now that it has dropped on DVD and Blu-Ray.

For other works Judd Apatow has been involved with, please visit my reviews of:
Girls - Season 1
The Five-Year Engagement
Wanderlust
Bridesmaids
Year One
Pineapple Express
Step Brothers
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby
The 40 Year-Old Virgin
Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy
The Critic

7.5/10

For other film reviews, please check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Technically Intriguing, ParaNorman Still Falls Down On The Merits.

The Good: Most of the effects, Moments of character, Most of the voice acting
The Bad: Does not know who its audience is, Boring plot progression, Most of the characters archetypes instead of individuals.
The Basics: Quite a letdown for those looking for fun or original, ParaNorman stalls.


It’s a rare thing that my wife and I agree on the state of a movie originally geared toward children. So, when – halfway through our screening of ParaNorman on DVD – she turned to me and said, “I’m done. This movie is not as good as the previews made it look,” I completely understood. I realized I had not actually seen any of the previews for ParaNorman, though I heard many times how reminiscent the film was of Coraline (reviewed here!), and I did not so much “miss it” when it was in theaters as I prioritized other films at the time.

ParaNorman looks like Coraline, but feels like a horror film that ought to be well beyond a PG rating. In fact, the way most of the characters are archetypes – jock, ditzy blonde, bully, fat sidekick - as opposed to strong individuals, makes ParaNorman seem like the average slasher film. In many ways, ParaNorman is The Ring (reviewed here!) or one of the other modern “somebody died horribly and there’s a curse that must be broken by love and understanding” type stories . . . dressed up with a Claymation-style covering.

In Blithe Hollow, a New England town reminiscent of Salem, where seven prominent community members put a girl to death for being a witch in colonial times, there now lives Norman. Norman is a middle school student who is bullied by everyone, save the other bullying victim, Neil. Norman and Neil bond over the fact that Norman can see and speak to the dead and in that capacity, he brings Neil some comfort by bringing him to spend time with his dead dog’s ghost. Norman is a pariah and an embarrassment to his family, most notably, his older sister.

But when Norman’s Uncle Prenderghast dies, his ghost informs Norman that he must take a book from his corpse, go to the witch’s grave and read it before sundown, lest the dead start walking. Prevented by the bullying actions of Alvin, Norman fails and seven zombies rise to torment the citizens of Blithe Hollow. But, when the undead judge realizes Norman can communicate with them, he tries to guide Norman to the way to save the town . . . and the true culprit behind the paranormal issues in Blithe Hollow!

ParaNorman looks like it might be fun, whatwith the animation style, bright colors and initially humorous opening to the film which starts with a parody of classic b-rate zombie movies, but it quickly descends into something astonishingly dark and violent for children and equally boring for adults. I went into watching ParaNorman excited, but as the film plodded toward the dead eventually rising and then the protracted fleeing and mayhem that followed the resurrection of the seven cursed people, I actually found myself dozing off. ParaNorman seems like it was a remarkably limited idea based on a few clever notions and lines writer and co-director Chris Butler had that then get stretched into a full film.

On the character front, Norman’s ability is one that has been seen in numerous films and television series’, but ParaNorman does nothing new or special with the idea of being able to communicate with the dead. Instead, Norman stumbles around unremarkably until those around him tell him all he needs to know. Unfortunately, the film is filled up with far less memorable characters, like Norman’s sister Courtney, who spends the time running from the same perils as Norman and hitting constantly on Neil’s older brother. The jock, Mitch, is pretty much a one-note joke until the last line when there comes a reversal that is utterly unremarkable for the character. Stacking the film to seem like a children’s movie, Norman is hounded by his parents and adults around town while he and his kid friends manage to work together to eventually save the day.

Unfortunately, many of the images, themes, and even lines are presented in a way that seems much more geared to adults. My wife, who understands children much more than I do, kept saying, “How would this not scare the heck out of kids?!” and “I can’t believe they can say that in a ‘PG’ movie!” I tend to agree. Much of the direction of ParaNorman is geared toward being scary in a way that does make the film inappropriate for young children. And also in the camp of this is intended as an adult film, I swear the musical cues near the climax of the film came from The Fountain (reviewed here!).

The voice acting in ParaNorman is adequate, though unextraordinary. John Goodman’s time in the film it way too short and Anna Kendrick sounds like Krysten Ritter in ParaNorman. On DVD, ParaNorman includes a commentary track, featurettes on the making of the film and animatics, which is pretty much what one would expect from an animated film’s features.

For other animated films, please visit my reviews of:
Rock-A-Doodle
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Wonder Woman

4/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Oh Judd Apatow, You (Sort Of) Make Me Laugh! Knocked Up.

The Good: Moments of humor, Interesting enough characters, Good casting
The Bad: Nothing extraordinary on the DVD bonus features, Very predictable
The Basics: In a just-funny-enough-to-recommend movie, Judd Apatow uses Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl to tell the story of a stoner and a successful woman who have sex, then work to fall in love.


Culturally, it does seem like the United States is at a place where pop-culture is rather preoccupied with the whole concept of movies that start with sex and let the love come later. This was a pretty weak concept in Juno (reviewed here!), but it makes for a very simple and direct premise for Knocked Up. Knocked Up is another young stoner comedy film from writer and director Judd Apatow. I became familiar with Apatow's work when he was half of the creative genius behind the one-season-wonder Freaks & Geeks (reviewed here!). Since then, Apatow had been a writer and director who seems to have gone for some of the most obvious comedies and there has been a slight sense of disappointment from those of us who began our appreciation of his works with what appears to have been the high point in his career.

Knocked Up does not change that; while far funnier than many of Apatow's other cinematic attempts, it is still far too obvious and less well-developed than it could be. This makes for good, casual viewing for a night when one needs a laugh from something they do not have to think too much about, but it's a tough sell to argue in favor of buying the DVD. This movie has pretty limited appeal outside the target demographic of young college students who might well get drunk at a club, have fairly anonymous sex and end up pregnant. One hopes that is an ever-shrinking demographic, but I'm not holding my breath.

Ben Stone is a slacker who is living with his four friends and living off money from a lawsuit, money which is rapidly drying up. Ben and his housemates spend much of their time getting stoned and watching movies to find what celebrities get naked and at what point in a movie they are shown naked to make a website with that information. One night, after being promoted at work to on-air talent at E!, Alison Scott goes out to a club with her sister, Debbie. After a few too many drinks, Alison takes Ben back to her home - the pool house at Debbie's - and the two have sex.

Eight weeks later, Alison realizes that she is pregnant and decides to keep the baby. She informs Ben of the pregnancy and - despite his limited means and his initial freaked out reaction - Ben decides he wants to be there for Alison and his child. As a result, Ben and Alison begin dating in earnest to try to prepare for parenthood and in the process, they try to fall in love.

Knocked Up is a remarkably formulaic romantic comedy. Two people who have no real connection and few shared values begin to see the value in one another's lifestyles. There are the usual predictable events including attraction, repulsion, acceptance, misunderstanding and then resolution. This could pretty much be one of the defining films for following a formula for romantic comedy. Like many romantic comedies, Ben and Alison's relationship is set opposite a more obvious and loving relationship, that of Pete and Debbie. Pete and Debbie have their own fallings out which contrasts with Ben and Alison's and allows Ben to make a more normal and likable companion than his four stoner buddies.

The friendship between Ben and Pete allows Apatow to actually say something useful with Knocked Up, though, even if it is only one line in the entire movie. Pete's issue with Debbie has him sneaking around with his friends at odd times just to have some "me time," which is - of course - uncovered in the course of the movie. In trying to resolve this pseudo conflict, Pete realizes that the biggest problem in his marriage is that he has a wife who wants to spend more time with him. This is a concept too infrequently realized in any type film and it is refreshing to see it be realized in Knocked Up.

This also contrasts with the relationships of Ben's friends. Rarely has a more pathetic collection of miscreants been collected on film and while the sheer pointlessness of their attempted business venture eventually becomes revealed, far too much of their screentime is dumb jokes performed by post-teens who ought to know better. The peak of this is the character of Jodi who enters the household as Ben departs. She speaks in a giggly incomprehensible dialect that utterly wastes the viewer's time. Bad enough to be subjected to several minutes of stoners being idiots; even worse to have to watch the idiotic attempt to portray one of their wasted girlfriends.

Knocked Up manages to work - when it does - because even though it follows a remarkably predictable formula for romantic comedies, the concept is presented in a way that makes it feel just new enough to be amusing. Watching Ben and Alison learn about one another and discover the simple charms each possesses almost makes up for the fact that the viewer can see what is coming about a mile off.

Fans of Freaks & Geeks will enjoy seeing Knocked Up in that it stars Judd Apatow regular Seth Rogen, as well as Freaks & Geeks alums Jason Segel, Martin Starr (who looks nothing like he did in his television role) and a cameo by James Franco. Fans of Grey's Anatomy will no doubt enjoy seeing Katherine Heigl in a role outside her star-making role on that. Knocked Up works in part because when they sit opposite one another, Rogen and Heigl are able to portray a realistic amount of romantic chemistry.

Rogen has an unassuming quality to him and a look that is anything but Hollywood typical. As a result, Apatow frequently uses him in roles where he appears as a slouching slacker. In Knocked Up, Rogen is allowed just enough moments where his character assumes the mantle of respectability and comes into his own in a way that implies he might have the chops for serious drama. Despite things like the on-air prank that makes up the "topless" scene on the unrated DVD, Rogen has moments where he plays Ben quiet and contemplative in a way that genuinely works for him.

It is not a real surprise, for most viewers, that Katherine Heigl holds her own with Rogen. She has all of the qualities for a classic Hollywood star from the figure to her delivery of serious lines. She plays the straightman throughout the movie, while Rogen plays wacky. Heigl is a good choice, though (Anne Hathaway turned down the role) and she lends a seriousness that helps to exaggerate Rogen's absurdities. At the right moments, though, Heigl illustrates she has her own decent sense of comic timing, playing out a few physical gags in the movie.

Largely, though, Knocked Up is an unsurprising romantic comedy that unfolds in exactly the way a seasoned cinephile might expect it to. On DVD, there are a bevy of deleted scenes, a commentary track and a few alternate scenes, including a gag topless scene (It's not Heigl). The film looks good on DVD, but it's one I recommend solely for the rental as opposed to the buy. At least it is not unfunny and it's a fair way to kill an afternoon.

For other works with Seth Rogen, check out my reviews of:
50/50
Paul
The Green Hornet
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Observe And Report
Zack And Miri Make A Porno
Pineapple Express
Step Brothers
The 40 Year Old Virgin
Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy
Donnie Darko

6/10

For other film reviews, be sure to visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Despite The Obvious Attention To Wholesome, 17 Again Is Worth Watching!

The Good: Funny, Fun, Moments of acting
The Bad: Predictable, Obvious character arcs, Overbearing moralizing, Editing
The Basics: Funny, but poorly edited and assembled for adults who watch such things carefully, 17 Again is still entertaining for a wide audience.


[Note: This was originally written based on a screening of the film in advance of its cinematic release. Hence the verb tenses . . . Enjoy!]

The true joy of free movies has to be that they allow reviewers to take risks they might not otherwise take, namely watching films that are not necessarily their cup of tea. I, for example, have been seeing a lot more "family fare" so far this year largely because I have been getting into screenings. The latest film that I would not have been predisposed to seeing if not for my status as reviewer was 17 Again. Unlike some other risk films I've seen of late, I actually enjoyed the movie quite a bit, despite its formulaic nature and the overbearing "family values" b.s. that I usually despise.

17 Again is the latest vehicle for Zac Efron, whose soul may or may not be owned by Disney and appears as a nonthreatening good guy in this non-Disney (but might as well be) movie. As my partner observed, 17 Again is a great example of a test for the generation divide; our screening was packed by people who were there to see Friends alum Matthew Perry along with a gaggle of tweens who were clearly mooning over Efron. Despite figuring that Perry would not last in the film more than ten minutes early in the movie (he gets about fifteen minutes early on) and about two at the end, my partner and I went enthused to see Perry working again and we were delighted to find there was much more to the movie to enjoy beyond that.

In 1989, Mike O'Donnell is a basketball champion at Hayden High School who is being watched by talent scouts, his entire school and his girlfriend, Scarlett. But when Scarlett gets pregnant, Mike gives up his dreams of playing basketball to go be a responsible father. Twenty years later, Mike is living in his best friend's house when Scarlett throws him out pending their divorce. As Mike mourns his wife wanting to terminate the marriage, he and his geeky best friend try to make the best of things. After visiting his children at their high school, Mike encounters a mystical janitor who he later sees while driving back to Ned's. Trying to follow the janitor, Mike falls into a mystical energy vortex and is suddenly de-aged to seventeen.

Mike enrolls in Hayden High School as Ned's child in order to restart his basketball career and be closer to his children. The seventeen year-old Mike soon realizes his son Alex is being bullied and his daughter, Maggie, is on the fast track to losing her virginity to the school bully. Mike quickly realizes that his purpose in being de-aged is not to take the road not taken - i.e. revitalize his basketball career - but rather to get closer to his children and become a better husband to Scarlett. In the process, Ned begins to court the school principal and Mike relearns all that he might have forgotten about love and relationships.

17 Again is a fun, but sloppy movie that is predicated on the idea that viewers are young and not watching the movie or thinking too closely about it. First, the plot is ridiculously simple and fairly obvious in that the "made young for the purpose of learning a valuable lesson" plot has been done before and the moralizing is pretty obvious. The purpose and character arcs are largely unsurprising and they promote a family-friendly agenda that advocates abstinence, strong family bonds, the value of working at a marriage (no divorce!), and strong, traditional gender roles. Bullies get put in their place, there is a double standard for boys and girls. Despite references to safe sex and pressure for teen sexuality, abstinence is pushed fairly heavily and all teen drinking occurs off-screen and is referenced as such a bad thing that the only characters even accused of it are treated as ridiculous.

The thing is, 17 Again has a few issues within its own narrative that are more ridiculous than the contradictions between reality in teen behavior and the "reality" of the film. So, for example, Mike is 17 in 1989 and today (specifically mentioned as 2009 later in the film), Mike has a daughter who is a Senior in high school and a son who appears to be a Junior at the same high school. Mike's daughter, though, would be 19! Mike references working for the company he works for in the opening scenes for about twenty years, but the idea that his daughter would not be age-appropriate for the storyline is simply glossed over. Also unaddressed is the relationship between the de-aged Mike and Alex; one need not work in high schools to recall that underclassmen and upperclassmen seldom fraternize the way Mike and Alex do, especially at the larger high schools like Hayden High School.

Despite the contradictions and the simplicity - as well as the obvious way Zac Efron is highlighted by appearing on screen for the first five to ten minutes so the tween audience does not have to wait for him any longer than they might want to - 17 Again is a fun and funny movie. It takes a lot to get me to laugh these days, but this film made me laugh out loud fifteen times and smile an additional twenty-two times, which puts it well above most other recent films.

What surprised me most, though, was the quality of the acting. Zac Efron reappears on-screen as the de-aged adult Mike O'Donnell and he plays the role as Matthew Perry for a few minutes as he adjusts from the adult to the teen role once again. Efron almost effortlessly takes on the mannerisms of Matthew Perry which he has in his early scenes. Fans of Perry can see Perry in Efron's performance and that illustrates well the ability the young actor actually has.

The cast is rounded out well by Leslie Mann as Scarlett, Thomas Lennon as Ned and Sterling Night and Michelle Trachtenberg as Mike's son and daughter, Alex and Maggie. Lennon has a decent role as Ned, though much of his performance is upstaged by props and wardrobe used to define his character. Mann, however, utilizes her second billing role to shine and she clearly outperforms the expectations one might have of her from such things as Knocked Up. Problematic, though, is that director Burr Steers cast Mann as Scarlett and Melora Hardin as Principal Masterson, Ned's love interest. Mann and Hardin look far too much alike and are put into virtually identical roles that there are several scenes that the only way the viewer knows which woman is appearing on screen is by who is with her.

Overall, 17 Again is amusing and seems to be lightly PG-13 (I was surprised that it was not PG) and is likely to entertain children, young adults and the middle agers as well. The film is funny and a decent fun date movie, but it is not extraordinary entertainment or thematically clever or super-engaging in a way that older audiences will be blown away by it.

For other works featuring Matthew Perry, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
The Whole Ten Yards
The West Wing - Season Five
The West Wing - Season Four
The Whole Nine Yards
Friends

6/10

For other film reviews, be sure to check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Judd Apatow, What Were You Thinking?!

The Good: Amusing concept, Acting
The Bad: Terrible execution of concept, not funny, most of the characters
The Basics: Not terribly funny or even entertaining, The 40 Year Old Virgin gives some decent actors work, though it's not worth it for them or us.


Judd Apatow, creator of Freaks And Geeks (a worthy show, reviewed here!) was the key selling point for me to sit and watch The 40 Year Old Virgin. Apatow created a funny, endearing and clever show that I loved. That got him a lot of points in my book. He pretty much used all of them up with The 40 Year Old Virgin. Under the heading that "life is too short for softcore," I viewed the Unrated version of the DVD for my review and while I can see how the regular release might have been "R," there's nothing here in the unrated edition that seemed like an 18 year old could not handle.

Andy Stitzer is an introverted 40 year-old who has never had sex and works at a Circuit City-type store with his three much more experienced friends. One day, he meets Trish a woman who works across the street and instantly shows interest in him. Andy's friends David, Jay and Cal begin to prepare Andy for a relationship under the notion that if he wants the relationship to truly work, he has to go through some women as practice so his first sexual experience isn't terrible.

The 40 Year Old Virgin suffers not so much in concept, but in execution. I can see how the idea of a 40 year-old virgin could be funny. A guy who has never had sex and wants to start faces any number of difficulties that could be funny. The problem is that The 40 Year Old Virgin isn't terribly funny and the moments that are are almost completely mortgaged by the beastly parts that aren't funny.

So, for example, there are large portions of dialogue that have nothing to do with the rest of the movie that are more mortifying than related to the story. The peak of these is a confrontation between Jay, Andy's token black friend, and a black customer in the store. The two fight and the point of the episode is too opaque to describe in context.

Similarly, the characters are mostly idiotic and stereotypically male. Jay exhibits the prejudicial misogyny and promiscuity associated with black men and David and Cal are equally emotionally shallow for the bulk of the movie (especially Cal). The men are opportunistic, predatory and treat sex as a means to an end for their own personal release. It means nothing to them beyond their own satisfaction.

And the women in The 40 Year Old Virgin are only slightly less stereotypical, though often no better portrayed. Trish is angry and only happy with Andy when she is trying to change him, the rest of the women are drunk idiots who are ready to put out with any man who shows them any attention. Jay's girlfriend is ignorant of his extra-relationship activities and oblivious to his misogyny.

All around, The 40 Year Old Virgin is populated with characters who are entirely unintelligent and emotionally disconnected, unlike characters in Apatow's other works. The movie was co-written by Judd Apatow and lead actor Steve Carell, though I would think both would want to distance themselves from this work. For two people used to being funny, it's amazing they created something so unredeemably stupid.

The best character in this movie is Trish's teenage daughter, who is looking to become sexually active herself. While she plays the stereotype of the indifferent teenager with a heart of gold, the character is a welcome change from the imperceptive morons embodied by the other characters.

The only thing that makes The 40 Year Old Virgin even bearable beyond the trailer is the acting. Outside the witless dance number at the climax of the movie, the actors remain in character and do a good job of convincing the viewer of their character's narrow views of the world. It's always nice to see Seth Rogen getting work and his portrayal of Cal is amusing throughout. Rogen is able to play the straightman and deadpan well.

Catherine Keener does well as Trish. Keener plays a believable small business owner and mother who is struggling to meet decent guys. Keener has a quiet sadness to her that she allows to come through in some of the movie's softer scenes.

It is Steve Carell that the movie ought to rest on, but the script and airtime of the other characters drags even his performance down. Carell plays Andy with humor that never breaks from the character. Carell plays the nervous geek quite well and as Andy he creates something of an archetype. The problem comes in the hair removal scene. As he has a waxing, he begins to swear up a storm and Carell delivers his lines extraordinarily well and with a fury that is formidable. The problem is where Andy delivers his anger. Carell plays the anger perfectly, but because the anger is directed at the worker and not his friends, the character is revealed to be as base as his comrades.

What ultimately knocked this further for me was the constant, juvenile exhortation of "gay" as a pejorative. Cal and David have a whole scene - extended on the Unrated version - of why the other is gay and it's just a collection of stupid, lame and/or hateful statements that only reinforces the meanest concepts in the minds of the people this movie is most likely to appeal to.

For other works with Kat Dennings, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Two Broke Girls - Season 1
Thor
Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist
Charlie Bartlett

3/10

For other movie reviews, be sure to check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the films I have reviewed!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Rio Is Fun, But Not Overly Substantial.

The Good: Decent voice acting, Great animation, Cute, DVD bonus features
The Bad: Utterly predictable plot and character arcs.
The Basics: Rio is a fun animated film that is diverting, but not superlative in any way but the animation.


My wife frequently accuses me of having an unhealthy attachment to actress Anne Hathaway. Actually, she smiles wickedly and says "You loooooove her!" in an obnoxious voice. My argument was weakened when she found Rio on my library interlibrary loan list. The reason this was an anomaly was that I seldom watch animated movies and even less frequently watch movies that are rated G. I tried to pass off my interest in Rio as a result of the Angry Birds game we first played together - Angry Birds Rio - and my appreciation of Jesse Eisenberg's talents, but if the movie had not had Anne Hathaway providing the lead character's voice, I probably would have just waited until chance put Rio in front of me, as opposed to requesting it from the library.

Rio is superlative in no ways, but is a fun film. It looks good and makes a strong argument against bothering to invest in 3-D, but Rio is utterly predictable in its plot progression and character development. Usually with animated films, there are catch phrases that resonate or moments that pleasantly surprise me. Rio had nothing that was distinctive, though it was not unenjoyable. Instead, Rio was simply fun.

Blu is a blue macaw who is separated from his captors en route to being sold. He grows up domesticated with Linda, who grows up herself to own a bookstore that she runs with Blu. Blu does not fly, but he is very happy with Linda. One day, Tulio arrives and begs Linda to bring Blu to Rio de Janero to mate him with the last female blue macaw in captivity. Against their better judgment, Blu and Linda go down to Rio. There, Blu meets Jewel, who is not as interested in him as she is in escaping from her habitat.

Unfortunately, Blu and Jewel are captured by poachers. Chained together at the ankles, Jewel must put up with Blu's inability to fly and Blu does his best to teach her how to run. Advised by Rafael, the pair works to get to Luiz to try to get their chains cut. Blu works to get back to Linda while Linda and Tulio get closer as well while searching for the birds. Pursued by smugglers and the vicious bird Nigel, Blu and Jewel overcome obstacles and grow closer.

On DVD, Rio looks incredible. More than any other film in recent memory, Rio is animated in such a way as to make a 3-D version of it almost pointless. The film looks three-dimensional already and it looks good. Like a hyperactive game of Angry Birds, Rio is filled with lush colors, fluid movement and a raucous sense of depth. Rio's character design is fun and cool, at the very least.

Unfortunately, outside the style, Rio has very little going for it. The songs are infrequent, so they come up surprisingly abruptly and stand out more than present a fluid storytelling experience. Nigel's song is amusing when he is tormenting Blu and Jewel, but outside that one song, the music is unmemorable.

Sadly, Rio is so formulaic only the youngest children will be surprised by it. The chase narrative has been done ad nauseam and Rio offers no real variations on the theme. Blu and Jewel are thrown together, overcome obstacles and grow closer as a result. But the way the movie does it is almost insulting in its simplicity, especially in regard to Blu, whose big initial character element comes from the fact that he never learned to fly as a baby. Because that is repeated so very much, viewers come to expect that to be defied before the end.

As for the voice acting, Rio is fine, but also not superlative. Anne Hathaway is fine, but Jesse Eisenberg as Blu and Jemaine Clement as Nigel steal the show. They are funny and emote exceptionally well.

On DVD, Rio comes loaded with bonus features. There are several Angry Birds featurettes, which are cute and sell the game very well. There is a single animatic scene that did not make it into the movie. There are a couple of featurettes that are interesting. But ultimately, Rio looks good but is otherwise strikingly average.

For works featuring Anne Hathaway, please check out my reviews of:
Anne Hathaway For Wonder Woman!
One Day
Love And Other Drugs
Family Guy Presents: It's A Trap!
Alice In Wonderland
Valentine's Day
Twelfth Night Soundtrack
Bride Wars
Rachel Getting Married
Passengers
Get Smart
The Devil Wears Prada
Hoodwinked!
Brokeback Mountain
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Ella Enchanted
Nicholas Nickleby
The Princess Diaries

5.5/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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A Conman Can't Catch A Break: I Love You Phillip Morris Is Good, Not Great!

The Good: Funny, Interesting characters, Good acting.
The Bad: Repetitive plot, Not as funny or endearing as I had hoped.
The Basics: At various points funny, I Love You Phillip Morris is edgy and interesting, but hardly timeless.


Back when I reviewed Brokeback Mountain (reviewed here!), I took a lot of flack for not liking the film because I am tired of super depressing movies about gay characters. Yes, I have been looking for a movie with gay characters where they are happy and do not get beaten to death. Call me crazy, I get tired of "gay film" being "violence against gay" film. In the process of that, I was advised to see I Love You Phillip Morris. So, tonight, I decided to do that.

I Love You Phillip Morris is edgy and it took some trust in the movie to not assume it was going the depressing route of so many other movies with gay, lesbian or transgendered characters. And while the movie lives up to that, it is not as incredible as I had been led to believe. It is essentially Fun With Dick And Jane with gay characters and I applaud the moment, early on, where Steven's sexuality is established as a simple matter of fact. While he loves Phillip, Steven's story is arguably much more about being a conman than it is about being a gay man and I like that about I Love You Phillip Morris.

Steven Russell is a cop who lives with his life happily, albeit hiding that he is gay from her, while looking for his birth mother. When he gets into a car accident, he comes out to Debbie and leaves her. He moves out with Jimmy to Florida and racks up some serious debts before he is caught for fraud and sent to prison. There, he meets Phillip Morris, who is trying to get another inmate medical attention. Phillip is in for theft of service for failing to return a rental car, but he is transferred the day they meet and the two fall in love. They write to one another and grow more and more attached, despite being separated by a yard.

But when Steven is transferred to a different facility, Phillip is heartbroken. So, when Steven is released, he springs Phillip and gets a job at a company where he is able to embezzle millions of dollars. His life with Phillip is turned upside down when he is again imprisoned and he makes every effort to break out and return to his love.

I Love You Phillip Morris is a remarkably repetitive movie and it does not take long before one feels like Steven is just not going to catch a break. He is repeatedly found out or betrayed and it soon becomes tiring to invest in him because he is the embodiment of the old adage that a leopard cannot change its spots. He is a conman and he cons and gets caught, escapes using his wits, and gets caught over and over and over again. The repetitive quality makes it worth watching the film once, but difficult to imagine that it would be worth watching more than that.

What is worth noting is the acting. Jim Carrey gives a distinctive performance by not simply acting like Jim Carrey. He is funny, but not manic and that gives his portrayal of Steven a chance for emotional depth that his characters do not usually have. On the flip side, Ewan McGregor as Phillip is almost entirely humorless, relegated to a supporting role. The position is a quiet one and McGregor wears it well, focusing on making the chemistry with Carrey believable. He works at it with a range of faint smiles and emoting with his eyes more than anything else.

Also delivering a good supporting performance is Leslie Mann, who plays Steven's ex-wife Debbie. Her scenes are verbally funny and she plays them deadpanned well enough to make the viewer believe that through all of the phases of Steven's life, she would still take his calls.

In short, because I am finding surprisingly little to write about the film, I Love You Phillip Morris is an entertaining film to watch, but hard to recommend for the buy. It is not quite clever or funny enough to add to one's permanent collection. But yes, it fits the bill for a movie with gay characters who are not particularly harassed, hated or harmed for their homosexuality.

For other films with strong gay or lesbian characters, be sure to visit my reviews of:
The Kids Are All Right
Bound
Strawberry And Chocolate

6/10

For other film reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Despite A Rocky Start, The Change-Up Is Fun And Funny!

The Good: Moments of acting, Moments of character
The Bad: Some very base humor that does not fit the rest of the film, Very predictable plot.
The Basics: When Mitch and Dave switch bodies, the bachelor gets a chance at married life and the married man has the opportunity to recapture the irresponsible time he never actually lived.


Before I got married, I knew many things about my (now) wife. One aspect of her personality that I got to know very early on was that she has an obsession with ridiculous comedies. She loves them and given the choice to go out to the movies, she will choose a silly comedy over the blockbuster special effects film almost any day of the week. So, today when we made the choice to go out to the movies, it did not surprise me that she opted for The Change-Up, a vehicle for her favorite, Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman, whose work she almost always seems to enjoy. Despite having read a review from Roger Ebert, whom I usually agree with, that panned the film, I eagerly went with my wife to The Change-Up.

For once, I think Roger Ebert got it wrong. Sure, there is one of the worst poop jokes in the history of film in the first five minutes of the movie and that is more unsettling than at all funny, but The Change-Up is both funny and solidly entertaining. Writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, who have written some schmaltzy movies like Four Christmases (reviewed here!) and The Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past, come closer to their hit (The Hangover) with The Change-Up. In fact, The Change-Up has the potential to give Friends With Benefits a real run for their money at the box office for two reasons: 1. Friends With Benefits gave away so many screenings as to almost sate the need of the moviegoing audience and 2. The Change-Up goes a long way to appealing to women with a message about married life that is surprisingly poignant.

Dave wakes up in the middle of the night and, in his sleep, takes care of his two twin babies. Dave is on the eve of making partner at the law firm he works at and an important merger looks like it will seal the deal for him. But Dave's marriage to Jamie is fading as they both are constantly busy. Mitch, Dave and Jamie's friend from high school, dropped out to become an actor and has been living the single life since. Dave sacrifices a planned hour talk with Jamie by going out for a night of drinking and watching a baseball game with Mitch. At the end of the night, they urinate in a fountain and head their separate ways.

Mitch wakes up in Dave's bed, telling the kids to shut up. He is freaked out to realize that he has Dave's body and he heads to his apartment to try to determine what has happened. He is unsurprised that Dave is occupying his body and the two figure they switched bodies when they peed in the fountain. Unfortunately, the fountain is being cleaned before it is moved to a new location and will not reappear in the Atlanta area for a few weeks. So, Mitch heads to Dave's work to try to complete the merger, in the process botching the contracts and forcing the two companies into mediation. Dave, on the other hand, heads to Mitch's job, which is currently a light porn shoot. After being repulsed by their first day in each other's bodies, they try to tell Jamie and she laughs at them. Spurred on by a chance meeting where Mitch's father accidentally tells him (thinking he is talking to Dave) that he thinks Mitch is a screw-up, Mitch decides to try to try to see through the mediation and take care of Dave's kids. Dave, meanwhile, uses the opportunity to go on a date with Sabrina, from his work and play the field like he was never able to before.

The Change-Up has a ridiculously simple plot and it is somewhat passe. In fact, there is nothing truly unpredictable in the film, which is likely to disappoint seasoned cinephiles. The ultimate resolution to the film is very much what one would expect for a summer comedy, so anyone looking for a real shocking movie will be disappointed. Even with a predictable plot, though, the writers and director manage not to use all of the cliches. I was pleasantly surprised, for example, when Dave gets an important call late in the movie he does not try to keep the information from Mitch.

That said, The Change-Up works because it is funny. Lucas and Moore are very funny and outside the jokes about pooping, the humor works exceedingly well. Easily better than their sequel to The Hangover, The Change-Up has the chance to endure longer because it has more of a statement than the sequel did. The Change-Up has a message, which is that there must be a balance between responsibility and freedom. Dave has been devoted to work, Mitch has never seen anything through; by assuming one another's lives, they learn the importance of the other's way of life and alter their life accordingly.

But more than that, The Change-Up has characters who are largely likable. Mitch is foul-mouthed and often lazy. When his father arrives, he is getting stoned at nine a.m.! But Dave's life illustrates how equally unfulfilling the archetype of the successful male may be. He has reached almost all of his goals, sacrificed constantly, but neither he nor his wife are truly happy. Mitch's lifestyle leads him to impart some sense of balance in Dave's daughter's life and Dave's lifestyle teaches Mitch how to follow through and actually care about other people. While Dave takes some time off, he grows to appreciate Jamie more and recall what he truly saw in her.

Director David Dobkin creates a film where the viewer actually cares about the characters. Despite how predictable the overall plot is, I found myself actually caring about how the merger Mitch is working on as Dave will turn out. Sure, it is utterly unbelievable that Mitch could survive in the office environment for the weeks needed to make the deal happen, but as the merger is going down, I actually found myself thrilled, which is something I seldom feel at the movies anymore.

What The Change-Up has going for it in addition to likable characters is wonderful acting. Alan Arkin, Olivia Wilde and Leslie Mann all give decent supporting performances to Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds is back with his amazing comedic timing and there are moments he delivers his lines where he gets the cadence right to believably be a character played by Jason Bateman. Bateman, on the other hand, has a much harder acting task in some ways. Reynolds plays so many very different characters, whereas Bateman has a much more distinctive, deadpan, style. Bateman's acting triumph here is in completely divorcing himself from his distinctive style.

All in all, The Change-Up is a surprisingly good date movie and one that is likely to be appreciated by the women who get through the first ten minutes of the movie.

For other works with Jason Bateman, please check out my reviews of:
Horrible Bosses
The Switch
Couples Retreat
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Arrested Development

6/10

For other film reviews, please be sure to visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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