Comedy

Mr. Bean's Holiday

First Hit: I liked the film; it was trite, simple and funny and kept the audience laughing.

There is something about this character that says very few intelligible words and yet communicates so much. Yes, his facial expressions are all over the map, but it is more than just expressions.

His naïve goofiness with a twist of schemer and bull doggedness creates a character that surprises and defies our own views of what we would do and how we would react in any situation.

The film moves along briskly enough and doesn’t stay with one bit too long. Even the longer bits are funny because they give you different looks at each turn. The busking for money and the trying to keep awake while driving scenes are two such scenes.

I was in a full theater with parents and kids and all were laughing, although, on occasion, at different times. Although Mr. Bean does some semi rude/mean things (think raw oysters and where they end up residing) it is done with a, “je ne sais pas” certain Mr. Bean flair so he gets away with it.

Overall: Enjoyable and is just the ticket if you want to see a film, that won’t make you think, but will let you enjoy.

Super Bad

First Hit: There are some very funny moments, and some crudity that didn’t work.

I remember my days of trying to obtain booze while in high school. We had “our guy” whom we called “Wolfman Jack” (Yes, named after the radio personality).

Every Thursday we would put in our orders and Friday evening we would go to the pick up to get our stash for the weekend.

The premise of this film is just that. High school boys trying to get booze, hit on girls, and hopefully have a great senior year send off. This film brought those memories up. Films that bring up past or current memories that evoke our clumsiness and attempts, as humans, to circumvent the law, are fun to see. This one is pretty good in this department.

What turned me off was the level of crudity, especially the blood on the jeans bit. However, this film was funny and really funny in some parts. I was drawn to “McLovin” as my favorite character.

Overall: Funny, a little crude at times but the director and producers knew the premise and it worked.

Death at a Funeral

First Hit: Funny and worth watching from the opening credits.

The cute graphics at the opening of the film set a wonderful tone to this comedy.

When the graphic stops and the sound of a hearse coming to a stop on the gravel drive, the film easily opens and quickly finds its pace.

I loved how this film works and even though much of the comic moments are telegraphed, it works because of excellent acting, direction and overall execution of these elements. In hindsight, the downside of this film is that the previews gave too many of the setups away.

Maybe the producers thought, with a title like “Death at a Funeral”, they need to create comical interest to get people into the theaters. However, having seen the previews, often times I knew where the bit was going and what the punch line was going to be.

Despite this, the film has more to offer, there are some very nice surprises, and some full on laughs.

Overall: An enjoyable, well executed film.

Rocket Science

First Hit: This is both a funny and sad film. The moments of truth can really be felt. The moments of laughter are honest as well. Although not great, I liked this film.

Reece Thompson is excellent as Hal the stuttering young man trying to make his way through high school, the debate team, and love. Each time I saw him get ready to speak I thought, this could be the moment he stops stuttering.

It is this hope that gives this film its legs. The hope that as he begins to live his life that the stuttering will end. His future was left to your imagination and you knew he would make it, somehow.

The film is cast with some great characters and each of them played their role well. From the brother who planned every slice of pie of his life, to his mother’s Korean boyfriend, all characters.

Overall: I liked the honesty and bizarreness of this film. First loves are so hard and can knock the wind out of you and yet they aren’t rocket science.

No Reservations

First Hit: And no reservations will be needed to see this film. Title role miscast and the original German version "Mostly Martha" so much better.

Catherine Zeta-Jones has been much better in other films (Entrapment comes to mind).

In this film I think she is miscast. For some reason I didn’t “get” that she was this great chef with this temperament.

What I got was the temperment. Aaron Eckhart is a funny foil to her part and does save part of the film by making the scenes somewhat human. However, I didn’t buy his being an opera fan and I’m not sure why this didn’t work. I also didn’t really understand the fight they had and if they had simply spoken to each other, like any couple would have it would have easily been resolved.

The fight seemed contrived and simply a way to bring them back together is a bigger way. Abigail Breslin plays the young girl who loses her mother and her hiding under the bed and her solitariness worked for me. I did enjoy the scenes that included her.

Overall: I wouldn’t recommend spending any money or theater time watching this film.

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