Category Archives: Comedy

Long Shot

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Long Shot                            3 stars

It has been a long time since we’ve had a good rom-com at the movies.  This week’s offering of Long Shot attempts to address that drought and goes a long way towards succeeding.  The movie stars the beautiful Charlize Theron as Charlotte Field, the youngest Secretary of State in US history and the wildly comical Seth Rogen as an out of work sharp witted journalist named Fred Flarsky who crosses paths with the Secretary at a big Gala.  Remarkably, the two have a shared past that involves a shockingly amusing episode when the two were only teenagers.  The Secretary then pitches to Fred the idea of hiring him as a speech writer which he then accepts which leads to more awkward situations.  Since this is a Seth Rogen movie there are plenty of sight gags, awkward sexual encounters and some serious drug use.  As this is also a political comedy, there are gags involving world leaders and celebrities that are based on some pretty absurd circumstances, such as, the president wishing to leave after a single term to pursue a movie career.  (But then in these times we live in who am I to claim something is absurd.)  Although it has its funny moments, it doesn’t quite measure up to the comedy I’m used to seeing in an episode of Veep.  One sign of the film’s shortcomings is the use of actors for the roles of TV news anchors instead of casting real anchors to play themselves.  I felt that would have helped it to look a little more authentic, like other political comedies have done.   One surprise in the film is the casting of Andy Serkis as Parker Wembley, a wealthy billionaire and media owner seeking to influence the politicians to favor his personal political views.  He was amusing and completely unrecognizable.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come

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Ready or Not 2: Here I Come                       4 stars

I thought I was due for a horror movie, so I went to see Ready or Not 2: Here I Come directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. (Actually, I have already seen a few this year.) Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are known for co-directing both Scream and Scream VI. This is definitely a comedy horror, my favorite kind, and it happens to be a sequel to 2019’s Ready or Not, which I have not seen. But no matter. It was easy enough to pick up the movie’s premise from the opening scenes. A bloodied woman named Grace (Samara Weaving (of Scream VI and Bill and Ted Face the Music)) is seen walking out of a burning mansion and is taken to a hospital for treatment. Once she is well enough to talk, a police detective is there to question her, so we find out that she was getting married in the previous movie, but it turned out that her husband’s family, the Le Domas family, was part of a devil worshipping cult and Grace was being hunted by them in a deadly game of Hide and Seek. If Grace survived until dawn, then she would be free. She succeeded, but the family all died in the fire. While still in the hospital Grace’s younger sister, Faith (Kathryn Newton (Lisa Frankenstein and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania)), finds her and we find out that the two had a falling out and haven’t seen each other for years. Unfortunately, both Grace and Faith are then kidnapped by the devil worshipping cult and brought to the expansive country estate of the Danforth family, one of the cult’s member families. The Danforth family is now led by twins Ursula (Sarah Michelle Gellar (I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream II)) and Titus (Shawn Hatosy of The Pitt). Both Gellar and Hatosy (especially) give command performances in their evil roles. These families are part of a conspiracy that controls governments across the world. In the Danforth mansion, in the presence of four of the member families, the plan is explained to them by a sort of sinister attorney (Elijah Wood (Frodo in Lord of the Rings)) with a very large book of rules. Since Grace survived the earlier night, she must now be hunted by members of the various families and whoever can kill her will be rewarded by becoming the Chairman of the High Council making them the most powerful person in the world. But if Grace can survive until dawn, she will be freed along with Faith. But the cult has certain rules that must be followed as they are civilized after all. If the head of any family is killed, then the next most senior family member must take their place in the hunt. No person may kill a member of another cult family. (Your own family is acceptable.) If they do, intentionally or not, then that person must immediately spontaneously explode into mass of blood along with the remaining members of that family. So, there is plenty of incentive to follow the rules. In addition, each family is restricted to using weapons that were in use at the time that their family was inducted into the cult. So, they use weapons that vary from broad swords to rocket launchers. Now, such an absurd setup can’t help but make for a hilarious comedy, as the characters inflict extreme violence on one another. At one point Faith takes such a horrendous beating that you would expect she would never walk again, but in true horror movie fashion she is soon back in action, though a bit bloodied. But wait! There may be another way to settle all this chaos. One character identifies a clause in the bylaws that says if the hunted party marries a family member, they can escape, while the spouse may ascend to the chairmanship. This scenario leads to an even more absurd situation by the climax of the film. By the end, Ready or Not 2 reaches Scream levels of violence while inflicting multiple laughs on the audience. The closest thing to it I have seen before was the comedy horror The Hunt back in 2020. Ready or Not 2 was a real hit at the box office. Horror fans should enjoy this one. Now I may have to go back and see the first Ready or Not.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3     3 stars

I continue with my catch up on Marvel movies I missed with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, the third iteration of these heroes who are always there to save the galaxy, courtesy of writer/director James Gunn. This one could be called the one where Rocket finally realizes that he is a racoon. While it has all the action and the wisecracking of the earlier two movies of 2014 and 2017, it does have a more somber tone to it. Both Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and Rocket (Bradley Cooper) are in a funky mood near the beginning, and the end of the movie feels like the gang is breaking up. The heroes are tasked with a mission to save the life of Rocket who has been gravely injured. They must retrieve a computer file from a ship that seems to be made of living tissue that belongs to the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). We are introduced to Rocket’s backstory while he is in a coma and find out that when he was a small racoon cub, he was captured by this villain for the purpose of experimentation to produce a perfect species. (This explains Rocket’s extraordinary powers.) Now the High Evolutionary wants to capture Rocket again to learn his secrets, but in the meantime, he tries to destroy an entire civilization that he created since they are not perfect. (Does that sound like a familiar theme?) So, the stakes are certainly high enough to deserve the Guardian’s attention. The membership of the Guardians has expanded since the first movie with past differences being put aside. They include Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Nebula (Karen Gillan), of course a full-sized Groot (Vin Diesel), Kraglin (Sean Gunn) and Cosmo the Spacedog (Maria Bakalova). The movie is worth seeing based on the emotional way that Rocket’s story is told. However, the overall tone feels off with Peter Quill and others going through internal struggles that take away from the usual upbeat feel of these movies. Of course, the soundtrack features a variety of popular seventies rock music as always. The special effects are quite impressive which explains why Guardians earned a Best Visual Effects Academy Award nomination. The ending feels like this is the end of the franchise, though of course, you can’t be sure.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

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The Miseducation of Cameron Post          4 stars

I recently saw The Miseducation of Cameron Post, a little seen movie from last year by director Desiree Akhavan and recipient of the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize.  The film tackles the subject of gay conversion therapy for wayward teens in 1993, which was a prevalent thing then.  It stars Chloe Grace Moretz as Cameron Post, the teen girl caught making out with her female best friend who then gets sent off to a Christian gay conversion camp by her relatives.  The topic has been tackled before but feels real here as Moretz gives a convincing performance that is aided by two costars playing teens that she connects with at the camp.  The camp directors (John Gallagher Jr. and Jennifer Ehle) use half thought out methods on their subjects that seem to mainly make the kids feel badly about who they are.  (Each has to create an iceberg on paper that lists what they don’t like about themselves.)  One nice thing about it is how the film is not all heavy drama but includes several moments of comedy (making it different from Boy Erased also from last year).  Miseducation does show us the pain that these young people go through as they experience what can only be described as abuse.  One scene near the end involving a troubled teen is especially shocking.  See it if you can find it.  It is just too bad that so few people saw it when it hit the theaters.

Booksmart

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Booksmart          4 ½ stars

In what may be the funniest movie of the summer, Booksmart takes us a wild ride with two young female best friends who decide to have one night of fun (i.e. partying, sex and drugs) before high school graduation after having spent their school years focusing on studies and getting into the college of their choice.  It’s a formula that we’ve seen plenty of times before but with a very feminist bent to it.  The film pulls it off with a series of comedic pieces involving conflicts with other characters, failed attempts at finding the secret location of the ultimate teenage party and a strange encounter with the school principal that includes porn videos.  The story written and directed by women, including director Olivia Wilde feels mostly authentic though some of the characters are stereotypes (like the high school drama kids).  The two lead girls are well suited for the roles of Amy and Molly, (Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein), both of whom I have seen in previous roles despite their young ages.  It feels like they really are best friends, but with some personal issues between them that are eventually revealed late in the movie.  I did like the fact that most of the high school characters don’t hold ill feelings against Molly in spite of her attitude of superiority being the class President.  There is one notable exception being Gigi played by Billie Lourd who mysteriously keeps showing up at the most opportune times and would like to spoil all the fun for them.  Though the movie can be described as a raunchy comedy the friendship and conflict between the two lead characters seems authentic and is a well written aspect of the film.  I recommend that you see Booksmart when you have the chance.

The Drama

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The Drama          3 stars

When I saw the trailer for The Drama, I became curious about the premise behind this movie, directed by Kristoffer Borgli (2023’s Dream Scenario): A young couple meet, hit it off, get engaged, then just before the wedding she reveals the worst thing she ever did, and this changes the whole dynamic of the relationship. In the movie we first find Charlie (Robert Pattinson (Mickey 17, The Batman)) meeting Emma (Zendaya (Dune, Challengers and Spider-Man: No Way Home)) in a café by pretending that he is familiar with the novel that she is reading. After fumbling his way through the encounter, the pair succeed in staying together for two years and get engaged. Then in the pivotal scene before the wedding, Charlie and Emma are having dinner with their married friends in common Mike (Mamoudou Athie (By Design, Kinds of Kindness and Elemental)) and Rachel (Alana Haim of the pop-rock group Haim) where Rachel asks the group to share what’s the worst thing they have ever done. Each tells something from their past that is funny but relatively harmless. That is until it’s Emma’s turn to tell something and when she does the tone of the conversation takes a sudden dark turn. Rachel has the worst reaction, but Charlie tries to be understanding about it at first. Now, I am going to follow the example of the trailer and not tell you what Emma’s deed was so that you can be just as surprised as I was when I heard it. But I can say that Emma is the definite winner of this game. The whole movie takes a dramatic turn at this point from comedy to something much more troubling. The relationship between the two couples changes with Mike and Rachel not believing they can trust Emma anymore. Charlie isn’t sure what to make of the situation and tries to imagine Emma as the person he thought he knew, while harboring doubts at the same time. Emma becomes more withdrawn when seeing how her friends react as she remembers the challenges she was going through in her younger years. Charlie gets increasingly confused about the whole situation, while getting a coworker involved that only escalates the problem. Ultimately, we get to the wedding reception where things blow up with some of the most backhanded wedding speeches ever heard. Things are, shall we say awkward and go from bad to worse in a hurry. Borgli is definitely going for shock value like he did before in Dream Scenario, but falls short of the level of dark comedy in that movie. It’s hard to accept Charlie’s reactions to events, given the weird roles that Pattinson has had before. Charlie is supposed to be a relatively normal person here but doesn’t really seem to be. Zendaya though is an expert at displaying the array of emotions of her character. (Remember her performance in Challengers!) This uneven movie is not so much about drama as it is about how people react to unexpected events. It would be interesting to find out how others react to the film. At least I satisfied my own curiosity. Look for Zendaya in the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Look for both Zendaya and Pattinson in the upcoming The Odyssey and in Dune: Part 3.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

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Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri             5 stars

I finally got around to seeing Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri a full year and a half after it was released and now that I have I can say that it is the movie that should have won Best Picture for 2017.  The movie stars Francis McDormand as Mildred Hayes who has lost patience with the local law enforcement’s failure to find any suspects in her daughter’s murder, to the point that she puts up a message on three billboard near her home to bring attention to the case.  This move is not appreciated by the local sheriff (Woody Harrelson) and his second in command racist deputy (Sam Rockwell).  All three lead performances are superb in this complex story about loss, anger and reconciliation as the characters rage against one another and eventually come to see one another’s points of view.  Not only is the story interesting, but the filmmaker, Martin McDonagh seems to have gotten the perfect blend of drama and humor.  The most impressive aspect of the movie to me was how each of the actors were able to display the pain and anguish that each was going through.  I only wish I would have seen this gem much earlier when it was getting so much attention.

The Dead Don’t Die

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The Dead Don’t Die         3 stars

The Dead Don’t Die by Jim Jarmusch puts a new comedic twist on an old genre, the zombie movie.  This light but bloody comedy brings together a very talented cast that includes Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Danny Glover, Chloe Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, Selena Gomez, Carol Kane and Tom Waits.  With this group of actors you wonder how could this film possibly miss.  The movie has more hits than misses so has some moments that don’t hit the mark.  The premise is that polar fracking being done by corporations has caused the earth to move off of its axis leading to strange events throughout the world.  Of course this includes the dead rising from the graves to seek out human flesh to satisfy their appetite which is completely logical, right?  Much of the comedy is delivered by Murray and Driver who both give their lines in the most deadpan manner imaginable.  (Remember, the way to stop a zombie is to Kill the Head.)  Also making a significant contribution is Buscemi as Farmer Miller, the white racist whose accusations have little basis in reality.  There is an ongoing gag involving a new country song that bears the title from the movie.  Tilda Swinton has a most unusual role as the Irish undertaker, a new comer to the small town of Centerville.  It is a very strange role that only Swinton could deliver on.  It being a Jarmusch film, it wanders into the ridiculous at a couple of times that detracted from the overall feel of the movie.  The Dead Don’t Die is not the funniest Zombie movie I’ve seen, but if you are a zombie movie fan you should not miss this one.

Late Night

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Late Night           4 stars

Late Night, starring Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling, (some of my favorite actresses) is a very amusing comedy about a female British talk show host, Katherine Newberry (Thompson) who when threatened with losing her show hires an unknown woman writer (Kaling) onto her otherwise all male writing staff.  The movie tackles sexism in the workplace issues with some biting comedy and some really engaging wit especially from the intelligent and witty Thompson.  Kaling of The Office and The Mindy Project contributes greatly to the telling of the story as both writer and as co-star.  The Newberry character is forced to deal with her staff in a more human fashion as lower ratings threaten her show and Molly, (Kaling’s character) has to deal with the sexism of the staff as she tries to gain acceptance as a capable writer.  This movie was very well received at Sundance this year and was picked up for distribution with a very high bid I have read.  Fans of The Mindy Project will recognize the actor who played Morgan (Ike Barinholtz) from the show.  Also recognizable is Paul Walter Houser who played the idiot body guard in I, Tonya last year.  I finally got to see Late Night in the theaters, having missed my chance at the film festival.  This film is among the best comedies so far this year.

Toy Story 4

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Toy Story 4          5 stars

The movie that is currently killing at the box office and will be the best animated movie of the year is Toy Story 4, the 4th (obviously) installment of the Toy Story franchise from Pixar that features the adventures of Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and Bo Peep (Annie Potts) and many others.  This time around the gang of toys are in the possession of Bonnie, a little girl who loves her toys only some more than others.  Woody is apparently not among the favorites.  Bonnie creates a new toy out of the trash at Kindergarten, a spork called Forky (Tony Hale) who seems to have a complex about being trash accompanied by a desire to throw himself back in the trash basket.  It then becomes Woody’s mission to get Forky to realize that he is a toy who is loved by little Bonnie.  Of course things get much more complicated than that when the family along with the toys go on a trip to an RV park.  A whole new adventure is to be had at an amusement park and an antique shop that involves a talking girl doll, Gabby (Christina Hendricks) who has designs on Woody’s voicebox to restore her own damaged voice.  Adding plenty of color and amusement to the story are Ducky and Bunny (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) two stuffed amusement park prize animals.  I have not seen all of the Toy Story movies but I venture to say this one must be near the top of the series.  It is well suited for young audiences and adults alike.  Look for it to win Best Animated Movie Oscar next year.