Wednesday, August 20, 2008
these funny movies I have seen
Quick notes on some movies I've seen lately.
1.Step Brothers: Maybe a step down from Talladega Nights and Anchorman. Maybe. It's still great, no question, but swear words aren't always inherently funny, and there are a ton more of them in this movie than in those two. Most of the vulgarity was unnecessary, and felt like lazy safety nets during improvisation, or something. Other than that, though, the movie is hilarious, and if you liked those two mentioned above I'm sure you'll like this one. The world would be a better place if Ferrell, Reilly, and Adam McKay had a new movie out every two years.
2. Pineapple Express: I need to see this again, to better evaluate whether it really is the second-best movie I've seen this summer. It's definitely the funniest. It's also maybe David Gordon Green's best movie. Yeah, okay, we're hard-core fans of Seth Rogen and most things related to Freaks and Geeks, but that doesn't mean I'm overrating this one. Like the best of the so-called "Apatow movies", PE has more heart and character than most mainstream comedies. Rogen is funny as usual, but pretty thoroughly eclipsed by James Franco, who does his best acting since that James Dean movie, despite it being the least dramatic role he's taken since then. One reason these movies are better than most similar comedies is because they put more effort into developing the supporting characters. They're usually more fleshed out and humanized than your typical best friend / co-worker roles, are rarely cliches or stereotypes, and that remains true with Pineapple Express's three primary supporting characters, played by Danny McBride, Kevin Corrigan, and Craig Robinson (two notable Apatow-related exception: Romany Malco's sex-crazed black man in 40 Year Old Virgin, and pretty much every supporting character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall). All three are pretty damn great, but especially McBride, as Franco's blissfully idiotic drug-dealer. Anyway, I'm rambling here. The movie's an intentional homage to / parody of '80's-style action-comedies, and they maintain the balance pretty favorably on the comedic side, until a climactic showdown that maybe veers too far into Steven Seagal territory. That's probably my biggest complaint, that by the end the film became a little too faithful with its genre conventions. The final scene, though, makes up for it, and is the most purely enjoyable bit of film I've seen this year. Oh, still won't disavow folks of any notions of misogyny, though.
3. Tropic Thunder: A pretty funny movie undermined by two things: 1. being released so hot on the heels of the two movies above; and 2. having almost all its funniest parts spoiled by the trailers. Between the teaser trailer, the full-length one that's been running for months, tv commecials, and the redband trailer that ran before PE, I'd already seen all the best parts of Tropic Thunder. And the Tom Cruise scenes, which they pointedly haven't shown in advertisements, were still so hyped up by the press that I almost felt kind of disappointed by 'em. Downey's the best thing about the movie, but, surprisingly for a cast with Steve Coogan and Jack Black and Matthew McConaughey, Jay Baruchel gives probably the second most enjoyable performace, as the only level-headed, competent actor in the cast. Danny McBride is also funny, again, but totally might be a one-trick dude. Anyway, it's funny, and worth seeing, but not a great movie.
Quick notes on some movies I've seen lately.
1.Step Brothers: Maybe a step down from Talladega Nights and Anchorman. Maybe. It's still great, no question, but swear words aren't always inherently funny, and there are a ton more of them in this movie than in those two. Most of the vulgarity was unnecessary, and felt like lazy safety nets during improvisation, or something. Other than that, though, the movie is hilarious, and if you liked those two mentioned above I'm sure you'll like this one. The world would be a better place if Ferrell, Reilly, and Adam McKay had a new movie out every two years.
2. Pineapple Express: I need to see this again, to better evaluate whether it really is the second-best movie I've seen this summer. It's definitely the funniest. It's also maybe David Gordon Green's best movie. Yeah, okay, we're hard-core fans of Seth Rogen and most things related to Freaks and Geeks, but that doesn't mean I'm overrating this one. Like the best of the so-called "Apatow movies", PE has more heart and character than most mainstream comedies. Rogen is funny as usual, but pretty thoroughly eclipsed by James Franco, who does his best acting since that James Dean movie, despite it being the least dramatic role he's taken since then. One reason these movies are better than most similar comedies is because they put more effort into developing the supporting characters. They're usually more fleshed out and humanized than your typical best friend / co-worker roles, are rarely cliches or stereotypes, and that remains true with Pineapple Express's three primary supporting characters, played by Danny McBride, Kevin Corrigan, and Craig Robinson (two notable Apatow-related exception: Romany Malco's sex-crazed black man in 40 Year Old Virgin, and pretty much every supporting character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall). All three are pretty damn great, but especially McBride, as Franco's blissfully idiotic drug-dealer. Anyway, I'm rambling here. The movie's an intentional homage to / parody of '80's-style action-comedies, and they maintain the balance pretty favorably on the comedic side, until a climactic showdown that maybe veers too far into Steven Seagal territory. That's probably my biggest complaint, that by the end the film became a little too faithful with its genre conventions. The final scene, though, makes up for it, and is the most purely enjoyable bit of film I've seen this year. Oh, still won't disavow folks of any notions of misogyny, though.
3. Tropic Thunder: A pretty funny movie undermined by two things: 1. being released so hot on the heels of the two movies above; and 2. having almost all its funniest parts spoiled by the trailers. Between the teaser trailer, the full-length one that's been running for months, tv commecials, and the redband trailer that ran before PE, I'd already seen all the best parts of Tropic Thunder. And the Tom Cruise scenes, which they pointedly haven't shown in advertisements, were still so hyped up by the press that I almost felt kind of disappointed by 'em. Downey's the best thing about the movie, but, surprisingly for a cast with Steve Coogan and Jack Black and Matthew McConaughey, Jay Baruchel gives probably the second most enjoyable performace, as the only level-headed, competent actor in the cast. Danny McBride is also funny, again, but totally might be a one-trick dude. Anyway, it's funny, and worth seeing, but not a great movie.
