Here is what you need to know about Valentine’s Day: It isn’t as vile as you may be expecting (Or at least, as I was expecting), but it isn’t exactly good, either. It is Love Actually sans charm, a wisp of a confection with little depth, and a gaggle of very talented actors portraying characters who are kind of cute and maybe occasionally funny but whom you will, for the most part, not really give a shit about because the film doesn’t take any real risks.
Thus far, I have come across three different posters for 11:14, and every, single one of them paint this film as some sort of drama or thriller. I certainly expected a drama or thriller when I turned it on, but got instead an irreverent, cleverly-executed dark comedy starring a whole host of people I love to watch.
I’ve been meditating on this film all day today, trying to determine the reasons why it didn’t sit quite right with me. I read some bits and pieces of reviews in an effort to suss out why it left me feeling so adrift and vaguely discomfited, but all I found was praise, mostly for Jim Carrey’s return to more serious fare. Carrey does give a solid performance, I can’t deny that, but still there’s a prevailing sense of ickiness I can’t shake about I Love You Phillip Morris.
There isn’t a whole lot to say about Hot Tub Time Machine. It is exactly what you’d expect from the poster and synopsis: A mostly-vapid gross out comedy with a lot of slapstick humor.
I had gotten the impression from the designated genre and quirky, derivative movie poster that Accidents Happen was a comedy. I suppose it is if having some humor in your movie qualifies it for being as much, but in actuality, this film is not the light and eccentric indie fare I expected. It was instead quite dark and rather unsettling in many places.
There are a lot of good things happening, but little to gel them together, leaving a meandering mess of preening hipster theology.
There’s nothing new here, but who honestly goes into a romantic comedy at this point and expects innovation?
There has been a lot of controversy brewing over Kick-Ass, but this is absolutely no surprise. Like so many envelope-pushers before it, the things that make it great are invariably the things that many an average Joe can’t swallow. Whether or not you’ll come out of it glowing or disgusted is going to be a matter of your personal moral code, but I can firmly say this: The film is incredible in a way that transcends good filmmaking and makes it innovative and important.
I really wish I could like Nancy Meyers. There aren’t that many successful female directors in the film industry, and I’d like to at least be able to show a little solidarity on that front. However, I find her films so tremendously lackluster, even if they weren’t quietly subverting the girl power they claim to support, I’d still think they were a waste of my time.
By: Phil Traill (director), Kim Barker (writer) Starring: Sandra Bullock, Thomas Haden Church, Bradley Cooper, Ken Jeong, DJ Qualls Convinced that a CCN cameraman is her true love, an eccentric crossword puzzler trails him as he travels all over the country, hoping to convince him that they belong together. After watching The Hangover, I apparently [...]
