items tagged with Comedies

CEDAR RAPIDS

Prior my Saturday screening of Cedar Rapids, I’d seen 18 2011 releases, and my favorite of the mostly-slash-wildly underwhelming bunch – by a considerable margin – was Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. It’s tempting, then, to want to overpraise director Miguel Arteta’s raunchy yet genial comedy simply for being, you know, good.

I AM NUMBER FOUR

A handsome, troubled, rebellious transfer student dealing with alienation and the wrath of bullies at his new high school. The kid’s ineffectual father, shrugging off his child’s loneliness and conflicts with the authorities. The kid’s one new friend, a withdrawn, frequently picked-on nerd with his own parental hang-ups. The kid’s potential love interest, a pretty, popular girl who feels like an outsider herself, and appears to be the property of the kid’s chief tormentor. If you’ve seen a certain iconic drama starring Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, and a red-jacket-wearing James Dean, the aforementioned character descriptions might sound a teensy bit familiar.

THE DILEMMA

Leaving a screening of The Dilemma, a friend sitting several rows away caught up with me, and asked if the film we just saw would likely make my list of the year’s worst movies. I can’t tell you how much I’m hoping it will, because if not, 2011 is going to be positively excruciating.

THE KING’S SPEECH

A tony odd-couple comedy in the guise of a historical prestige pic, The King’s Speech boasts a pair of exceptional performances by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, and is a terrific amount of fun. But am I alone in thinking that its central storyline is the least interesting thing about it?

MORNING GLORY

The vibrant, frequently ebullient Diane Keaton and the gruff, frequently grouchy Harrison Ford have been above-the-title Hollywood stars for more than 30 years now. Why, in heaven’s name, has it taken more than three decades to get these two cute kids together?

MEGAMIND

Since Universal Pictures’ fizzy, funny animated hit Despicable Me was released a mere four months ago, it’s hardly possible that DreamWorks’ new Megamind could be considered an intentional ripoff, despite a plot that also finds an über-villain gradually morphing into an über-hero. And despite the film’s haughty, antagonistic protagonist performing his evil deeds alongside a goofy, tag-along minion. And despite this blobby little homunculus being named Minion. (Seriously, are there no fresh ideas in Hollywood?)

JACKASS 3D

Well, it finally happened. Having frequently wept with laughter during MTV’s Jackass series, 2002’s Jackass: The Movie, and 2006’s Jackass Number Two, Johnny Knoxville and his incorrigible extreme-stunt companions, in director Jeff Tremaine’s Jackass 3D, got me crying for an altogether different reason.

LIFE AS WE KNOW IT

For whatever else it is, the romantic comedy Life as We Know It is certainly the year’s most inaptly titled movie, since it doesn’t present a version of life as anyone would know it.
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EASY A

With the release of The Town, Ben Affleck’s directorial career, in my opinion, now boasts a two-for-two success ratio. So does Will Gluck’s, who follows last year’s hilarious (and sadly under-praised) male-cheerleader parody Fired Up! with the current, also hilarious ’80s-teen-flick parody Easy A. It’s no doubt too soon – and maybe even too ridiculous – to ask this, but is it possible that Gluck is our long-awaited heir apparent to Christopher Guest?