Blu-ray Review - Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)

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From announcing the follow-up film as Ron Burgundy on Conan to co-anchoring the news in North Dakota in character, Will Ferrell and company led a tireless advertising campaign to remind the legions of viewers that had been clamoring for a sequel to the cult favorite for years that they were back.

Undeniably creative yet at times just plain obnoxious, as it turned out the aggressive ad campaign was a sneak preview of the very film they were plugging as Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues proved it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

For despite the infinitely clever idea to make a tongue-in-cheek revisionist satire of the decline in journalism in the era of the 24 hour news cycle, Ferrell and the gang should have stopped after the first Ron.

Thankfully the Blu-ray release of director Adam McKay’s unfocused, bloated misfire boasts a “super-sized R-rated version with 763 new jokes,” (including several that actually work better than the final cut that was distributed to theaters in time for the film’s Christmas release) so at least super fans can pick and choose which version and scenes they want to watch.

Yet that’s an awful lot of work to expect from an average viewer who is most likely to be disappointed by the theatrical presentation.

Ultimately Anchorman 2 amounts to a comedic car wreck that rather ironically (or fittingly, depending on your point-of-view) truly begins to go off the rails during an onscreen car crash that occurs as the result of a gag you see coming a mile away when the recently reunited news team of ego-driven airheads realizes that nobody is driving their RV.

An all-out disappointment that’s a missed opportunity of epic proportions, Anchorman 2 tests your patience right from the start after relegating series MVP Christina Applegate to what amounts to a near walk-on role, McKay proves equally inept at handling new female cast members.

Whether it’s in the tonally awkward performance of Meagan Good as Ron’s new African-American boss and love interest at the CNN-like Global News Network we find them working at in the 1980s to wasting Kristen Wiig as a female version of Steve Carell’s intellectually challenged, nonsense spouting Brick via a series of increasingly unfunny encounters, we wind up just feeling embarrassed Anchorman’s newest additions.

Likewise, despite a potential comedic goldmine given the new environment, screenwriters McKay and Ferrell wind up falling back on their old tried and true formulas we’ve seen throughout their oeuvre – borrowing plot points that worked better in previous pictures such as the character-building turning point that came from a medical trauma in Talladega Nights.

Mixing the old with new takes on favorite moments from the first film like a supernatural tinged news network rumble in New York that runs out of gas by the time it’s done introducing all of its celebrity cameo players, everything in 2 is bigger except for the laughs. Likewise, it has that unmistakable Ocean's 12 and 13 like air about it that makes you think that it was infinitely more fun to make than it was to watch.

By filling it with too many on the nose extreme references and crass jokes, the filmmakers have misgauged precisely what was funny about the first film. And while it’s possible that at least 25 minutes could’ve been trimmed from the movie to help match the pace established by the original, all in all it’s hard to guess how much of the work would actually be salvageable since there’s not enough good material upon which to build.

As such, this multi-disc set might just inspire fans to remix their own cut and given the vastly improved first act on display in the R-rated edition vs. the original, there might be a passable Anchorman sequel buried in there beneath all of the bulk. Unfortunately and despite all of the incredible talent involved (that may have spent too much time improvising than refining an already solid script), the one currently calling itself Anchorman 2 isn’t it.

It’s too bad too given the satirical potential of our infotainment-based media and the messages contained in the film that roast the practices of various 24 hour news stations from Fox’s jingoism and speculative reporting to the rise of sensationalism of celebrity fueled stories and car chases in the fight for ratings.

While the intriguing call-backs of age-old scandals from O.J. to Lorena Bobbitt earn chuckles, in an era where The Daily Show and Colbert Report cover the very same terrain with much more sophistication on a nightly basis, the lack of a sharper edge to the writing makes Ferrell and McKay’s gags seem halfhearted and dated at best.

A true letdown that may have earned audience (and critical) goodwill due to how much we love those involved as well as the original film, while at least this multi-version Blu-ray, DVD and Ultraviolet combo pack offers up a more thorough presentation of what went wrong and what went right, I only wish that Anchorman 2 would’ve been filled with as much ingenuity as some of the stunts pulled to raise awareness of its theatrical release.

In comedy, they say you should always leave your audience wanting more and because Anchorman 2 made me want less, in the end it proves that less is more – from the beautiful simplicity of the original to a shorter running time to the thought that regardless of demand, not every hit movie needs a sequel.

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Blu-ray Review: All Is Bright (2013)

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Alternate Title: Almost Christmas

Similar to the way that ornaments and lights brighten up a Christmas tree, casting likable stars to play Christmas tree salesmen in Junebug helmer Phil Morrison’s melancholic holiday feature lightens up the tone of the otherwise darkly downbeat dramedy All Is Bright.

 

As two Canadian ex-crooks trying to go straight hustling trees for the month of December on a New York street corner, the pair of Pauls – Rudd and Giamatti – do some serious internal heavy-lifting, using their witty delivery and natural charisma to keep you invested in at times admittedly difficult-to-like script from TV’s Americans staff writer Melissa James Gibson.

But because they can’t be expected to make up for every flaw in the tonally uneven film, All Is Bright delivers extra star wattage in the form of scene-stealer Sally Hawkins who not only steals every viewers’ heart but nearly walks away with the entire film as Olga, a no-nonsense Russian who first befriends Giamatti’s Dennis while negotiating a tree purchase and delivery.

Having spent the last four years in jail, upon his release, veteran thief Dennis is crushed to discover that not only has his ex-wife (Amy Landecker) told his beloved daughter Michi that he’s dead but also that his family has moved on with someone else… in the form of his old partner-in-crime, Rene (Rudd).

Determined to get his daughter a present and with no other prospects in a dire economy, Dennis forms an uneasy alliance with Rene on the right side of the law after Rene confesses his plan to spend his half of the money marrying Dennis’s ex.

Facing stiff competition from Vermont tree farmers with gentle manners and a more professional display complete with music and decorations, Rene and Dennis rely on their old skill-sets to intimidate other sellers and fast-talk customers with money to burn.

Relying on his comedy background as a Judd Apatow MVP in films such as Anchorman and This is 40, Rudd shines in his role, improvising complete with a Quebecois accent to schmooze passersby and generate sales. Yet as fun as those moments are, unfortunately, scenes of levity are all too fleeting as his character too gets bogged down with Dennis in the overwhelming depression of the struggling first half.

Unbalanced and uneven at best, growing stronger as it builds on its characters to generate conflict, All Is Bright threatens to bore contemporary audiences completely and nearly does until Hawkins appears on the scene.

While she befriends the two and Dennis in particular, what she gets from him exactly is unknown as he never does make a single, uninvited kind gesture towards her, which is one of the major problems with the script. Namely, we just don't like our leading men all that much.

However, like Amy Adams in Junebug, Phil Morrison shoes that he knows how to let his leading ladies shine with some of Sally Hawkins’s best work since Happy-Go-Lucky.

Intriguingly relying on accents – at least initially to generate humor – from Rudd’s French Canadian cookie-cutter stereotype to Olga’s blunt Russian, the two use accents to comedic advantage as part of their weaponry of charm, winning us over more due to their performances than the film does as a whole.

Moving uneasily and manically in tone from gritty to sentimental -- while anyone familiar with basic plotting will be able to figure out how it will all end for Dennis’s Christmas present wish, ultimately the inspired whimsy of the final act’s Big Deal On Madonna Street twist on the film’s Gift of the Magi origin is just clever enough to make it worthy of a recommendation.

Nicely transferred to Blu-ray by Anchor Bay and boasting an Ultraviolet digital copy of the film you can stream or download on multiple devices, while Giamatti and Rudd’s turns as men on Santa’s naughty list hoping to create their own version of nice is strong indeed, it’s too bad that the film couldn’t meet them halfway without making us wait halfway through it for things to start getting interesting.

A strange blend of old-fashioned and new, although All Is Bright had the potential to be a modern day version of the type of film that was made so effectively well by Ernst Lubitsch or Preston Sturges in the ‘30s or ‘40s in the tale of an ex-con father trying to do right by a daughter who doesn’t even know he’s alive, the final result is a mixed bag at best.    

Text ©2013, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

DVD Review: The Cinema Pride Collection

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The Children’s Hour (1961)

With the censoring Hays Code no longer in effect, director William Wyler remade his own 1936 film These Three, which was based on Lillian Hellman’s critically acclaimed stage play about two schoolteachers whose life, work and status in the community is ruined when a young bullying student outs the women as lesbians by spreading cruel lies comprised of exaggerating snippets of conversations she and other students overheard.

While the ’36 version changed the plot drastically to a heterosexual affair that divides the women’s friendship, in this adaptation by screenwriter John Michael Hayes, Hellman’s original source material (inspired by a real life story about two Scottish teachers) was translated in an extremely faithful and still devastatingly intense work.

And directing the woman he helped introduce to the world – Audrey Hepburn – in a role unlike any she’d previously tackled makes The Children’s Hour quite the conversation starter. However, Hepburn’s co-star Shirley MacLaine admits that the two women never did discuss the real nature of their characters’ relationship and instead played it straight from the page since the topic was still scandalous onscreen for the time. Nonetheless The Children’s Hour, which also features a top notch supporting turn by James Garner in his first role since suing Warner Brothers to be released from his Maverick contract, remains just as haunting as it always did nearly fifty years after its release.

La Cage Aux Folles (1978)

Whereas it took The Children’s Hour decades to be filmed in a way that closely matched the original play, 1978’s La Cage Aux Folles only took five years since its stage debut to become an international box office film sensation.

The Italian and French production maintained the best of both countries in terms of cinema with the brilliant employment of Italian composer Ennio Morricone to complete a memorable film score for the piece to augment its naturally funny set-up as a pitch-perfect French comedic character driven work, co-written by Francis Veber who has since become synonymous with the country’s film industry comedy scene.

In the film, after long-term gay couple Renato (Ugo Tognazzi) and Albin (Michel Serrault) discover that Renato’s beloved twenty-year straight son (Remi Laurent) is getting married to a girl with ultra conservative parents, the two theatrical entertainers undergo the challenge of a lifetime. Forced to play it straight, the couple winds up hosting a family dinner for their prospective in-laws all within a less than forty-eight hour time span.

Having spawned a successful franchise of two sequels, a superior yet extremely faithful American remake in the mid ‘90s and a Broadway musical production as well, it's a fascinating experiment to watch Edouard Molinaro’s terrifically funny foreign classic before you visit one of the other interpretations.

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

Originally made for television, the fifth film from Oscar nominated director Stephen Frears based on a screenplay from respected yet frequently controversial playwright Hanef Kureishi helped launch not only the careers of those behind the camera (as just three years later Frears made a Hollywood splash with Dangerous Liasions) but also solidified the extraordinary burgeoning talent of eventual Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis.

Going for a rather matter-of-fact treatment of homosexuality, the orientation of its main character Omar (Gordon Warnecke) — the Pakistani-British young man torn between loyalties to his relatives and ancestral culture and his dedication to life among his friends in ‘80s Thatcher era Britain — often takes a backseat to the political, sociological and economical issues facing society during that time.

Filled with unexpected comedy, pathos and a richly complex cast of characters including scene-stealer Day-Lewis as an old schoolmate and childhood friend of Omar’s who has become part of a racist band of hoodlums in recent years, My Beautiful Laundrette works well on a number of levels.

Despite a slightly protracted and overly slick ending, its overall authenticity in capturing the time, place, and feeling of economic hardship during the Thatcher years along with the growing prejudice in the streets as immigrants began running local businesses makes My Beautiful Laundrette an emotionally engrossing document of its era.

One of the standouts in this box set, Laundrette is a far cry better than the pretentious Bent or thinly drawn Imagine Me & You. And while you may wind up wishing Kureishi had decided to give the work a far more memorable and serious title, there’s still no denying its importance as an early showcase for audiences to discover just how well Frears manages to pull us into the worlds of his films and – much like his uniformly strong casts – make us feel as though we're part of the onscreen family.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

Although it’s a far cry better than Hollywood’s “three drag queens on the road” vehicle To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, I’m afraid that much like the play and movie inspired by the ABBA song featured in the film – “Mamma Mia” – I just don’t understand why this Australian import has reached camp/cult status.

While admittedly Priscilla has the makings of a camp classic, just based on the fact that Stephan Elliott’s film features British New Wave bad boy Terrence Stamp in a role as a transsexual but the movie is rather manic in its tone – never sure if it wants to just shoot for the moon as a drag queen extravaganza or get serious in the midst some pretty harrowing scenes of violent homophobia.

In addition to Priscilla’s identity crisis, one of the main characters played by Memento star Guy Pearce is so over-the-top and irritating that you find yourself ready to press eject if onscreen queens Stamp and Hugo Weaving don’t eject him from the bus for more than just one night on their journey across the outback. This being said, there’s not a whole lot I can rave about Priscilla aside from its Oscar winning costume design and a multi-layered beautiful turn by Golden Globe nominated Stamp whose supporting role becomes the one we’re touched by the most throughout the film's running time.

The Birdcage (1996)

Mike Nichols’s old comedy partner Elaine May adapted this wildly raucous remake of the ’78 foreign film La Cage Aux Folles that managed to remain both true to the plot and even a majority of the dialogue of the original work but ensure that leads Robin Williams and Nathan Lane would have plenty of room to improvise.

Despite its tremendous box office returns, upon its release reaction to the work was somewhat divided. Namely, half of the audience seemed unable to look past the stereotype embodied particularly by Lane as Albert, the partner of Williams’ Armand who also works as the headliner at their Miami South Beach drag club.

Meanwhile the other half of the audience was extremely impressed by the way the actors transcends the stereotype to truly get straight audiences to look past orientation and empathize with the couple when Armand’s son begs them to play straight for his fiance’s extremely conservative parents (Gene Hackman and Dianne Weist).

While I can see both sides of the argument, I tend to lean towards the latter reaction as Nichols’ film marks the first gay-themed film that I ventured to the theatre to see growing up as a straight, suburban teen.

The fact that I wasn’t alone in the audience as a heterosexual fully involved in the plight of the characters to me makes the film a resounding success in subtly getting the message out about tolerance, acceptance and respecting everyone’s rights to live as equals. Yet by adding in a spoonful of sugar, the filmmakers manage to consistently leave viewers in hysterics – smiling and laughing at something we may not have otherwise experienced while opening our eyes to other points-of-view.

With a far superior third act to the original film that works better on both a comedic level with Lane managing to win over a clueless Hackman as the son’s old-fashioned homemaker "mother" and likewise winning back our respect for their selfish son with some tender declarations, The Birdcage remains one of Williams’ most triumphant comedies in a decade that also scored the actor a hit in another drag related comedy, Mrs. Doubtfire.

Bent (1997)

Although it would take me another year or two to officially “discover” Clive Owen in Mike Hodges’ terrific contemporary film noir Croupier, the actor who’d first received his big break earlier in the ‘90s in Britain’s ITV series Chancer took on a rather daring role in playwright Martin Sherman’s adaptation of his own 1979 stage work Bent.

Relishing in extremely graphic images of the hedonistic lifestyle of sexually adventurous Berlin residents in the WWII era (including a cameo by Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger as a drag performer), director Sean Matthias' Cannes award winning film earned a dreaded NC-17 rating. However, if it were released today (in the post Talk to Her society of films by Pedro Almodovar among others), I doubt that the same rating would still hold up.

While stunning, it’s a shame that so much emphasis was placed on the production design and exhibitionist sequences that kick-start the movie. As the work continues and Clive Owen’s gay character lands in the concentration camp at Dachau – managing to work out a deal and accept the Jewish designated yellow star as opposed to the gay pink triangle – the film could’ve benefited from the same attention to detail utilized in the beginning.

Similar to the far stronger 1985 screen interpretation of Kiss of the Spider Woman, Bent unfortunately remains extremely stagey throughout. Therefore, despite an excellent turn by both Owen and his co-star Lothaire Bluteau who portrays a fellow camp prisoner given the dreaded pink triangle which he describes as the lowest one can get, the film never manages to reach us on an authentic emotional level since it can’t help feeling like something akin to a play that’s simply been captured on celluloid.

The Object of My Affection (1998)

Working from Stephen McCauley’s eponymous novel, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein crafts some truly dazzling speeches for lead actors Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston in British director Nicholas Hytner’s underrated effort. Although there’s a lot about the work that doesn’t ring true from a logistical standpoint as characters all click into place for a cookie cutter, politically correct conclusion, the film has nonetheless been a bit too harshly judged.

When viewed today, it’s easy to understand why it’s been dismissed by critics in retrospect as either an Aniston film shot to capitalize on the popularity of the Friends actress whose hairstyle became a ‘90s craze or just another straight woman/gay best friend clichéd flick that became trendy during the era of Will and Grace, My Best Friend’s Wedding and Madonna and Rupert Everett’s similar venture The Next Best Thing. However, when you try to remain objective and remove the tidal waves of Friends and gay best friend trends, you’re left with much to admire thanks largely to Wasserstein’s compassionate script that centers on misplaced love in all arenas from straight to gay and platonic to romantic as the film’s characters fall in love with the wrong people at the right time or vice versa.

Equally dedicated to their work with the next generation of New York youths, Rudd’s gay first grade teacher George Harrison meets and quickly becomes fast friends and roommates with Aniston’s at-risk teenage counselor Nina Borowski shortly after George discovers from Nina that he’s been dumped by his boyfriend Tim Daly. Happier spending time together than with those they’re dating including Nina’s overbearing, fast-talking boyfriend Vince (John Pankow), the two friends seriously consider becoming their own makeshift family when Nina learns that she’s pregnant and realizes that she’d rather raise the baby with George rather than Vince.

And despite the fact that her step-sister (Allison Janney) warns Nina that she’s harboring more romantic than platonic feelings for her gay knight in shining armor given their already confusing and rather physically affectionate personal boundaries, it takes awhile for our leads to stop rationalizing and move from fantasy to reality in realizing what it is they truly want and need from one another.

Object is bolstered by some superb characterizations from its supporting cast, particularly Nigel Hawthorne as Rodney, a friend the two make late into the picture after George begins to move on with his love life. And although the movie does suffer slightly from its protracted, far too neat wrap-ups for its large ensemble cast, it’s well-worth exploring again the second time around to see what you may have missed in the midst of so much hype during your first viewing when it was nearly impossible to see Aniston in something and not think “that’s Rachel Green!”

Boys Don’t Cry (1999)

Now a contemporary classic, co-writer and director Kimberly Peirce’s feature film debut Boys Don’t Cry starring Hilary Swank in her first Oscar winning role as Best Actress is arguably the most critically acclaimed inclusion in The Cinema Pride Collection. And after watching the film today, it's damn near impossible to imagine what the true story of the short life and tragic death of twenty-one year old Teena Brandon would’ve been like if directed by interested party Diane Keaton with actress Drew Barrymore in the lead.

While obviously the professional, impressive women would no doubt have taken the responsibility of the work seriously, I think a large reason why Boys works so extraordinarily well is that aside from starring in The Next Karate Kid, Hilary Swank was relatively unknown to us at the time of its release. Likewise, Peirce’s passion for the project which manifested during a five year research mission and an award-winning Columbia University precursor short film that helped generate her funding and connections to get the feature produced made the resulting ’99 effort far more personal, heartfelt and intimate.

With so many underdogs involved in the production of Boys overcoming obstacles to live out their dreams similar to the person whose story they gathered to tell that stepped to the beat of her own personal drummer, the movie transcends the limits of both cinema and its delicate subject matter. Ultimately the film impacts viewers personally so that everyone can identify with Brandon’s sole wish just to live life while remaining true to herself. In Brandon’s case this mission meant that the female who was born with the name of Teena Brandon would embrace and overcome her “sexual identity crisis” by living her life pre-sex change operation as a male, flipping her name around to become Brandon Teena.

Careful not to gloss over anything regarding Brandon’s life and transform the character into some sort of symbol or icon, Peirce presents us with the pain, passion, and perseverance of the Nebraska individual through choices Brandon made that were both wise and foolish.

Shortly into the film, Brandon gets kicked out of her gay cousin’s place. Skipping out on authorities and a subpoena for her arrest, she befriends Candace (Alicia Goranson) and John (Peter Sarsgaard) after a bar fight.

Once John intervenes in the scuffle, he takes his new pal Brandon down to their place in Falls City, Nebraska where Brandon – still presenting himself as the boy he’s convinced he is rather than a female lesbian – quickly falls in love with John’s old flame Lana (Oscar nominated Chloe Sevigny).

As their relationship heats up so does suspicion regarding Brandon. Unfortunately nobody could’ve predicted how horrifying the turn of events would be when the truth about Brandon is finally revealed to deadly effect.

Pulling no punches, Boys Don’t Cry's extended attack and rape sequence nearly garnered the title an NC-17 rating and it's downright excruciating to watch given its stark authenticity. Yet even though admittedly, Peirce’s extraordinary docudrama isn’t the type of work I can imagine wanting to view more than once, it’s one that I feel would benefit us all to be shown in high schools in order to open up a dialogue and ensure that teens and young adults feel safe in expressing their own identity without fear of hatred, violence and murder.

Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)

Although described by Helen (Heather Juergensen) as the “Jewish Sandra Dee,” twenty-eight year old copyeditor and secretly aspiring painter Jessica Stein (Jennifer Westfeldt) initially reminds audience members of a “Jewish Annie Hall.” And this is especially apparent near the start of the film as the woman whom her matchmaking mother reminds her hasn’t dated anyone in a year endures a series of bad dates with a wide variety of men from fellow gym enthusiasts to those overly picky about how to break up the dinner bill.

And even though she explains that she could never tell her therapist because it’s way too private, somehow – beat down way too much by horrible dates and mixed signals – Jessica answers a personal ad placed by another seemingly straight woman in the form of Juergensen’s Helen, which grabs her attention thanks to its beautiful quote by Rainer Maria Rilke.

Walking back and forth from Helen repeatedly when they first meet as a freaked out Jessica tries to hail a cab, soon she surprises herself completely. After letting the possibility of sharing a drink with Helen “marinate” for awhile, soon enough those baby steps lead her to begin tentatively dating the heterosexually promiscuous museum curator, despite the fact that physical intimacy is something she still balks at much like the virginal Doris Day in old Rock Hudson sexless sex comedies.

Further complicating matters when her old college boyfriend and newspaper editor boss Josh (Scott Cohen) starts getting far more interested in her personal life to the point that he actually becomes nicer to her at work, Jessica finds herself in one confusing romantic comedy that sparkles with wit, appealing characters, and fresh conversation based upon Westfeldt and Juergensen’s original play Lipschtick.

One of the first movies to digitally remove background images of the World Trade Center, tragically the quintessentially Woody Allenesque New York movie played on the day before and after 9/11/01 during the Toronto International Film Festival in its second festival premiere. However the talented scribes’ inventive work, helmed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld, still remains a remarkably funny, unfailingly likable, and surprisingly unique look at being single in the States.

Imagine Me &You (2006)

Before the minister asked attendees if there were any objections to the marriage of Rachel (Piper Perabo) and Heck (Matthew Goode), perhaps it would’ve been better if he’d checked with the bride. In writer/director Ol Parker’s debut film, pretty and thoughtful Rachel is all set to marry her best friend Heck but finds herself pulled by unexpected stirrings on the way to the altar after she catches sight of Luce (Lena Headey), the beautiful florist her mother had hired to piece together the bouquets and arrangements for Rachel’s big day.

At the reception, the two become fast friends when Luce rescues Rachel’s oversized wedding ring from the party punch bowl. And although Rachel tells husband Heck that she feels a certain near soul-mate like friendship connection with Luce, she and Heck decide to play matchmaker by inviting Luce and Heck’s obnoxious humorous admittedly cad like friend (as is always the case in British comedies) to dinner but before he arrives, Luce admits that she’s just not that into men.

Her confession complicates Rachel’s ability to spend time with her new friend, not out of prejudice but the opposite as she begins to see that her lifestyle may be the one Rachel had belonged in all along, although Luce tries to distance herself from her acquaintance not wanting to mess with a couple’s happiness.

Despite the overly polite and – as several critics pointed out – unbelievably convenient and nearly apologetically chaste proceedings that made Imagine Me and You the second ’06 film including the bright but admittedly far fetched Gray Matters to deal with a marital love triangle and female’s coming out, the charms of not only Headey and Goode but especially the always under-utilized Piper Perabo make it entertaining.

Although as a straight filmgoer, I can see the arguments of my gay friends in their opposition to the trite plot points and feel this may have begun in the film’s initial stages as it was originally written as a heterosexual love story, it’s still another forgettable, escapist British comedy that’s sure to delight.


Text ©2010, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Text Copyright © 2014, Film Intuition. All Rights Reserved. http://reviews.filmintuition.com/

Blu-ray Review: I Love You, Man (2009)

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I. Introduction & Blu-ray Critique

"I'm a heterosexual man through and through but that guy is dreamy," Forgetting Sarah Marshall actor Jason Segel shares in the HD featurette "The Making of I Love You, Man" included in this Blu-ray release.

Continuing his praise for Paul Rudd whom Segel describes as "the coolest guy ever" throughout the many special features included on the disc, we soon discover that the title couldn't be more fitting. And sure enough Parks and Recreation and The Office actress Rashida Jones cofirms the mutual male appreciation love-fest when she admits that although she's known both actors for years, when it came time to work on Man, it was obvious that the men in the "bromantic comedy" were particularly "obsessed with each other."

From clinging to each other a little too closely and far too often in hugs that Rudd jokes "Jason added a thin shade of creepiness" to by cooing audibly into Rudd's ear or fake making out with one another in outtakes-- the kick the two actors got out of each other is not only the constant source of humor of the Special Features section of the Blu-ray but no doubt the ultimate reason the movie worked so well from start to finish.

In a majority of pre-wedding comedies, the chemistry directors and actors are most concerned with getting right is between the bride and groom but this is a true, relatable "bromance" that's ideally cast, genuinely acted, and played with a refreshing level of sweetness and sincerity.

Likewise, admirably the intelligent fare from co-writer and director John Hamburg was so strong that it gave free reign for others (aside from the leads) to get their fair share of laughs as well.

While it's apparent in the film, it's fun to see the rest of the cast relish in more improvisation and extended/deleted scenes that let the supporting cast shine and in Man, it was most notably displayed by the other comedic duos who steal their scenes like J.K. Simmons and Andy Samberg as the tight-knit father and brother of Rudd respectively and Jamie Pressley and Jon Favreau as Rashida Jones' bickering married friends.

In one of the greatest scenes left on the cutting room floor, we find Rudd, Simmons, and Samberg cutting loose at their local gay men's bowling league night. While Simmons engages in a "the roof is on fire" cheer with the bowlers, Samberg knowingly warns Rudd about "friend sluts" like Lance Armstrong who is featured in US Weekly with a revolving door of male friends including Matthew McConaughey and Jake Gyllenhaal in advising him not to invest too much in his man crush on Segel's character.

Likewise, the disc offers endless highlights cut together for various actors, characters, and situations as we can watch Rudd deliver his chracter's uniquely nonsensical "stupid phraseology" as Rudd dubbed it and Pressley and Favreau continuously one up each other in the insult department to hilarious and rather NC-17 rated effect.

Including feature commentary by Hamburg, Rudd and Segel, the red band trailer and more-- the picture quality of the DreamWorks release is on par with the level from the movie theatre although once again unfortunately, Paramount's Achilles Heel comes into play with an uneven sound balance that has you adjusting your remote throughout as I found myself trying to find the right number for both the dialogue and the music, moving from 50-70 on a Sony Bravia television with terrific speakers.

Still, annoying sound flaws aside-- one of the year's funniest films is a highly recommended addition to your collection and proof that we may have found another Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn or Chris Farley and David Spade with the bromantic flirtation of Paul Rudd and Jason Segel.

II. Original Theatrical Review

Published March 20, 2009

It seems to have been a natural transition. In the late '90s and early '00s, we were presented with the "Frat Pack" comedies starring Will Ferrell, Owen and Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, and Vince Vaughn. After that boat sailed, they evolved into the box office blockbuster Apatow comedy machine producing first rate works that blended raunch and sweetness while adding actors like Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, and Seth Rogen into the mix.

Yet, despite these changes-- all in all, they've continuously centered on the same SNL buddy comedy feature film paradigm about men who are kids at heart, trying to understand how to reconcile their adult responsibilities with their natural urge to cut loose.

Whether we're watching Steve Carell attempt to lose his virginity at the age of forty, or Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly fighting over a drum set in Step Brothers, or Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott being forced to mold young minds in Role Models-- audiences by now are so used to the same "bromances" that despite their hilarity, it's about time we were presented with something new and different.

I'd use the phrase "breath of fresh air," but the air in these films is never quite fresh and instead smells of the most startling mixture of bodily humor and foul-mouthed yet decidedly hilarious dialogue that sometimes comes from the most surprising of sources like Ed Begley Jr. in Pineapple Express, Mary Steenburgen in Step Brothers, and Jane Lynch in Role Models.

However, the way that I Love You, Man sets itself apart from the lot is by presenting us with Paul Rudd as a typical run-of-the-mill thirty-something square who doesn't sit around thinking of get rich quick schemes involving nudity or adult entertainment (Rogen in Knocked Up and Zack and Miri...) but instead spends most of his time relishing in his comfortable metrosexual lifestyle with his fiance Zooey (The Office's Rashida Jones).

Unlike the characters in the other films that indeed have a posse of men like Ron Burgundy's "gang" in the newsroom of Anchorman (also featuring Rudd)-- Rudd's I Love You, Man character Peter is so forgettable that Jon Favreau as the husband of Zooey's best friend played by My Name is Earl's Jamie Pressly can't recall meeting him although they've been out as a foursome roughly twenty times.

When Peter and Zooey get engaged at the start of the movie in a yuppie proposal consisting of his plans for real estate development involving condos and small businesses--- it only takes a few minutes before she's calling those closest to her before ultimately realizing that Peter has nobody to inform of the news.

Described as more of a "girlfriend guy," and without any close male friends, Peter is the anti-Frat Pack character who loves to spend evenings in watching Chocolat with Johnny Depp alongside Zooey and taking part in an evening fencing group but when alarm bells sound in the form of Zooey's girlfriends who state that a guy without friends may prove to be extraordinarily clingy, Rudd's Peter sets out to tackle the problem head on.

He does so in a series of "man-dates," which are generated by his gay brother (Hot Rod's Andy Samberg) who refreshingly is far more comfortable around straight men than Rudd's nervous, chatty, girl's guy Peter. While his brother's man-date goes poorly, the predictable happens to still surprising understated effect during a predictable mixed-signals cozy dinner arranged by his mother (Jane Curtin) which takes the "date" part of "man-date" far too literally.

Suddenly, the seemingly effortless, cool, comfortable-in-their-own-skin, man's man characters who talk nonstop about sex in the land of Judd Apatow and Kevin Smith temporarily disappear as the otherwise Average Joe reverts back to the angst of being a teen worried about being picked last for dodgeball (incidentally the title of another Frat Pack comedy).

Just how does someone past college age make friends nowadays anyway? It's rough going to say the least with most relationships being generated through work, school, or community activities but once we pass a certain age-- as Rudd's character accurately states-- there's no rules anymore. While in Patrice Leconte's bittersweet yet funny and similar tale My Best Friend we get an equally awkward yet more subtle approach to the same problem, in co-writer and director John Hamurg's I Love You, Man laughter is the name of the game.

Hamburg, who frequently collaborated with modern comedy's king of the uncomfortable silence, bad first impression, and bombed jokes-- Mr. Ben Stiller himself-- as the lovable outsider in Along Came Polly, Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, and Zoolander turns this same basic comedic principle to witty gold in the script co-written by Larry Levin based on Levin's original idea then titled "Let's Make Friends."

The always underrated Rudd who never fails to charm whether he's playing slyly seductive and brainy in Clueless, charismatic and irresistible in I Can Never Be Your Woman, or heartbreakingly open in The Shape of Things springboards off his great scene stealing supporting work in ensemble pieces like Anchorman. And coming off the heels of the surprisingly intelligent Role Models--which he helped write-- he comes into his own in his best comedic performance yet.

And in the film, Hamburg makes the best possible decision to couple him with Forgetting Sarah Marshall's Jason Segel as the laid-back Frat Pack slacker dude from who takes everything in stride. Just when Peter had resigned himself to a life minus male companionship, he strikes an unlikely bond with his polar opposite as Peter meets Segel's Sidney when he crashes an open house for the chance to score free food and cruise recently divorced women.

In truly juvenile fashion, they hit it off over a shared observation regarding bodily humor but from their first scene in the film together-- that builds off the chemistry established in their previous collaborations-- everything that follows is unexpectedly natural, clumsy, endearing, hilarious, messy and very real.

Soon Sidney lets Peter inside his "man cave" a.k.a. "Temple of Doom" (essentially an adult version of a clubhouse) and gives him the opportunity to verbalize things about his relationship he never has admitted before and Peter's happiness in an adult, supportive relationship begins to inspire the under-achieving, commitment phobic Sidney.

Of course, along the way, due to Peter's instant "man-crush" and incessant time hanging out with Sidney in the type of typical adolescence we get the sense he never fully had experienced before, his relationship with Zooey begins to suffer. And soon he needs to strike a balance between both of his loves in this unlikely rom-com that celebrates both romantic and platonic relationships in an original way.

Much like Peter needs to realize how to make time for everyone and strike the right chord of grown-up time and playtime, the film successfully moves the aforementioned comedies in precisely the right direction by walking a nice line between immature gross-out gags and humor that's more mature and character based such as in the film's most consistently funny scenes as Peter tries to come up with overly casual sounding slang in feeble attempts to seem cool and natural.

A much needed cinematic laugh break in a time when we definitely need it and one that you can actually respect yourself for liking in the morning, I Love You, Man manages to tap into ideas in which everyone can relate (as we all feel an instant kinship with Peter on some small level in an increasingly impersonal and unfriendly world).

Yet, at the same time, director Hamburg presents it as a feel-great, laugh yourself stupid comedy that doesn't lose momentum as the overly long Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Pineapple Express did by ensuring that every scene continually pushes the plot-line forward. And this he does in hilarious and dare I say more sophisticated--yet still not too sophisticated as to lose its main demographic-- effect in the sunniest comedy of the year so far.

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Movie Review: Monsters Vs. Aliens (2009)

You've heard of TV’s Bridezillas, the multiplex’s Bride Wars, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, along with the horror classic Bride of Frankenstein.

But this week we meet an entirely new bride in DreamWorks Animation’s brand-new 3-D feature length film Monsters Vs. Aliens as the petite Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon plays a Modesto, California girl who unwittingly morphs into the kiddie version of "The Attack Of the Nearly 50-Foot Woman" after getting slimed by meteor residue just before she's set to walk down the aisle.

While initially her beaming glow is mistaken for her wedding day excitement, soon Susan (Witherspoon) quickly grows into the 49 to 11 inch tall “Ginormica” before our military intervenes, a tranquilizer dart hits the target and she's whisked away to a secret governmental holding cell for “monsters” currently supervised 24/7 by Uncle Sam.

Befriending other creatures also residing in the prison-like atmosphere (despite a feeble attempt to ease Susan’s nerves with a retro kitty “Hang in There” poster for her cell), soon the young woman becomes acquainted with the rest of the film’s genre fitting group of lovable eccentrics.

Headed up by the Ph.D insect Dr. Cockroach (House’s Hugh Laurie), Arrested Development’s hilarious Will Arnett as a half-fish, half-ape gung-ho monster dubbed The Missing Link, the scene-stealing Seth Rogen (Kung Fu Panda, Pineapple Express) as the adorable but dim-witted blue blob aptly dubbed B.O.B. which DreamWorks notes is “short for benzoate-ostylezene-bicarbonate” and the enormous Insectosaurus—soon the X-Men meets Dirty Dozen gang of unlikely outsider underdogs is called upon when the evil alien mastermind Gallaxhar (The Office’s Rainn Wilson) sends an ominous robot to the planet Earth set on destruction.

In addition to see the filmmakers’ easily identifiable B movie influences from the monster and alien movie heyday of the cold-war era 1950s along with “the style of poster art of the genre,” and “Mad Magazines of the period,” as the DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures press release reveals that savvy Mad Magazine and ‘50s film enthusiasts will “recognize the homage to these sources during the war room playback of archival footage of the pre-capture sprees of Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D., The Missing Link, B.O.B. and Insectosaurus,” cinematic referential jokes fill the entire film with shades of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Dr. Strangelove, The Dirty Dozen, The Blob, and countless other movies running throughout.

This is especially the case in the heavily Dr. Strangelove inspired relationship between the animated films president voiced by Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert and Kiefer Sutherland’s dynamically creative and surprisingly laugh-out-loud funny launch away from 24’s intense and “whispery” heroic Jack Bauer into a “country accent,” as director Rob Letterman muses, “he just started screaming at the top of his lungs… [and] broke out into something brand new and that really nailed the character.”

Similar to the highly successful blending of adult and child friendly humor that's made DreamWorks Animation’s hits such as Shrek, Madagascar, and Kung Fu Panda such a success—it’s the great and lively ensemble that helps add flavor to the film’s story-line that’s ultimately a bit simplistic and straightforward despite the fact that this flaw is hidden extraordinarily well by its stunning 3-D animation and mind boggling action sequences.

Although I think the film may not have been quite as enjoyable without the 3-D which amazes right from the start-- aside from the fact that it has some very positive morals woven throughout as those whose society have named “monsters” end up being the ones to save the day and Susan discovers that her previous ambition to become the picture-perfect and tirelessly supportive wife of her self-involved fiance Derek (Paul Rudd) pales in comparison to her own goals when she begins to believe in herself and what she has to offer as a human being.

The first film served up by the studio in “Tru 3D,” and unlike some of the more gimmicky 3-D films in recent memory, the format perfectly fits this material. This it does in not only reviving that same drive-in B-movie feel for which the filmmakers were aiming but it also brings to mind the idea of once again making filmgoing a true experience.

With increasingly impressive home theater technology including Blu-ray and lifelike video game systems, the box office has taken quite a hit and so it makes perfect sense that just like when television kept viewers in their homes in the 1950s prompting studios to create widescreen, Vistavision, Cinemascope, Cinerama, and 3-D-- once again Hollywood is taking a cue from lessons learned in the past in terms of not just subject matter (as the 50s truly were the era of monsters and aliens) but style as well.

The film will be available in various versions from 2-D to 3-D to 3-D IMAX and it should be interesting as time will tell just how successful the film and indeed this medium is when it reaches viewers at home via DVD and Blu-ray. And admittedly while the level of writing doesn’t match the incredible artistry and craftsmanship of the other departments involved in Monsters that we’ve come to expect from the studio that recently gave us the incredibly witty Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Kung Fu Panda, it’s sure to be one of the first major blockbusters of 2009 and one that definitely needs to be seen on the big screen to be best appreciated.

However, this being said-- as far as "monsters" are concerned, I still hold those wise-cracking and power-absorbing huggable characters from Pixar's Monsters Inc. up as my favorite animated variety offered to families thus far in a wholly satisfying blend of animation and comedy.

Movie Review: I Love You, Man (2009)

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It seems to have been a natural transition. In the late '90s and early '00s, we were presented with the "Frat Pack" comedies starring Will Ferrell, Owen and Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, and Vince Vaughn. After that boat sailed, they evolved into the box office blockbuster Apatow comedy machine producing first rate works that blended raunch and sweetness while adding actors like Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, and Seth Rogen into the mix.

Yet, despite these changes-- all in all, they've continuously centered on the same SNL buddy comedy feature film paradigm about men who are kids at heart, trying to understand how to reconcile their adult responsibilities with their natural urge to cut loose.

Whether we're watching Steve Carell attempt to lose his virginity at the age of forty, or Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly fighting over a drum set in Step Brothers, or Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott being forced to mold young minds in Role Models-- audiences by now are so used to the same "bromances" that despite their hilarity, it's about time we were presented with something new and different.

I'd use the phrase "breath of fresh air," but the air in these films is never quite fresh and instead smells of the most startling mixture of bodily humor and foul-mouthed yet decidedly hilarious dialogue that sometimes comes from the most surprising of sources like Ed Begley Jr. in Pineapple Express, Mary Steenburgen in Step Brothers, and Jane Lynch in Role Models.

However, the way that I Love You, Man sets itself apart from the lot is by presenting us with Paul Rudd as a typical run-of-the-mill thirty-something square who doesn't sit around thinking of get rich quick schemes involving nudity or adult entertainment (Rogen in Knocked Up and Zack and Miri...) but instead spends most of his time relishing in his comfortable metrosexual lifestyle with his fiance Zooey (The Office's Rashida Jones).

Unlike the characters in the other films that indeed have a posse of men like Ron Burgundy's "gang" in the newsroom of Anchorman (also featuring Rudd)-- Rudd's I Love You, Man character Peter is so forgettable that the husband of Zooey's best friend played by My Name is Earl's Jamie Pressly can't recall meeting him although they've been out as a foursome roughly twenty times.

When Peter and Zooey get engaged at the start of the movie in a yuppie proposal consisting of his plans for real estate development involving condos and small businesses--- it only takes a few minutes before she's calling those closest to her before ultimately realizing that Peter has nobody to inform of the news.

Described as more of a "girlfriend guy," and without any close male friends, Peter is the anti-Frat Pack character who loves to spend evenings in watching Chocolat with Johnny Depp alongside Zooey and taking part in an evening fencing group but when alarm bells sound in the form of Zooey's girlfriends who state that a guy without friends may prove to be extraordinarily clingy, Rudd's Peter sets out to tackle the problem head on.

He does so in a series of "man-dates," which are generated by his gay brother (Hot Rod's Andy Samberg) who refreshingly is far more comfortable around straight men than Rudd's nervous, chatty, girl's guy Peter. While his brother's man-date goes poorly, the predictable happens to still surprising understated effect during a predictable mixed-signals cozy dinner arranged by his mother (Jane Curtin) which takes the "date" part of "man-date" far too literally.

Suddenly, the seemingly effortless, cool, comfortable-in-their-own-skin, man's man characters who talk nonstop about sex in the land of Judd Apatow and Kevin Smith temporarily disappear as the otherwise Average Joe reverts back to the angst of being a teen worried about being picked last for dodgeball (incidentally the title of another Frat Pack comedy).

Just how does someone past college age make friends nowadays anyway? It's rough going to say the least with most relationships being generated through work, school, or community activities but once we pass a certain age-- as Rudd's character accurately states-- there's no rules anymore. While in Patrice Leconte's bittersweet yet funny and similar tale My Best Friend we get an equally awkward yet more subtle approach to the same problem, in co-writer and director John Hamurg's I Love You, Man laughter is the name of the game.

Hamburg, who frequently collaborated with modern comedy's king of the uncomfortable silence, bad first impression, and bombed jokes-- Mr. Ben Stiller himself-- as the lovable outsider in Along Came Polly, Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, and Zoolander turns this same basic comedic principle to witty gold in the script co-written by Larry Levin based on Levin's original idea then titled "Let's Make Friends."

The always underrated Rudd who never fails to charm whether he's playing slyly seductive and brainy in Clueless, charismatic and irresistible in I Can Never Be Your Woman, or heartbreakingly open in The Shape of Things springboards off his great scene stealing supporting work in ensemble pieces like Anchorman. And coming off the heels of the surprisingly intelligent Role Models--which he helped write-- he comes into his own in his best comedic performance yet.

And in the film, Hamburg makes the best possible decision to couple him with Forgetting Sarah Marshall's Jason Segel as the laid-back Frat Pack slacker dude from who takes everything in stride. Just when Peter had resigned himself to a life minus male companionship, he strikes an unlikely bond with his polar opposite as Peter meets Segel's Sidney when he crashes an open house for the chance to score free food and cruise recently divorced women.

In truly juvenile fashion, they hit it off over a shared observation regarding bodily humor but from their first scene in the film together-- that builds off the chemistry established in their previous collaborations-- everything that follows is unexpectedly natural, clumsy, endearing, hilarious, messy and very real.

Soon Sidney lets Peter inside his "man cave" a.k.a. "Temple of Doom" (essentially an adult version of a clubhouse) and gives him the opportunity to verbalize things about his relationship he never has admitted before and Peter's happiness in an adult, supportive relationship begins to inspire the under-achieving, commitment phobic Sidney.

Of course, along the way, due to Peter's instant "man-crush" and incessant time hanging out with Sidney in the type of typical adolescence we get the sense he never fully had experienced before, his relationship with Zooey begins to suffer. And soon he needs to strike a balance between both of his loves in this unlikely rom-com that celebrates both romantic and platonic relationships in an original way.

Much like Peter needs to realize how to make time for everyone and strike the right chord of grown-up time and playtime, the film successfully moves the aforementioned comedies in precisely the right direction by walking a nice line between immature gross-out gags and humor that's more mature and character based such as in the film's most consistently funny scenes as Peter tries to come up with overly casual sounding slang in feeble attempts to seem cool and natural.

A much needed cinematic laugh break in a time when we definitely need it and one that you can actually respect yourself for liking in the morning, I Love You, Man manages to tap into ideas in which everyone can relate (as we all feel an instant kinship with Peter on some small level in an increasingly impersonal and unfriendly world).

Yet, at the same time, director Hamburg presents it as a feel-great, laugh yourself stupid comedy that doesn't lose momentum as the overly long Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Pineapple Express did by ensuring that every scene continually pushes the plot-line forward. And this he does in hilarious and dare I say more sophisticated--yet still not too sophisticated as to lose its main demographic-- effect in the sunniest comedy of the year so far.