Reviewed by Steven Frith

My Romantic Comedy Movie Standard – Forgetting Sarah Marshall **New Standard**

Viewed on: 4/19/08

The guys of the Judd Apatow camp strike comedy magic once again as Sarah Marshall is the perfect blend of “toeing the line” comedy and a story about the aftermath of a relationship.

Starring: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Bill Hader, Jonah Hill, and Paul Rudd

Rating/Length: R / 1 Hour 52 Minutes

Directed By: Nicholas Stoller (no major previous direction that I could find)

Written By: Jason Segel (no major previous writing credit that I could find)

Synopsis: Recently dumped musician, Peter Bretter, goes on a Hawaiian vacation (thankfully not on Aloha Airlines) to get away from everything that reminded him of his actress girlfriend, Sarah Marshall. Once in Hawaii, it doesn’t take long for him to run into, none other then, Sarah Marshall…with her new boyfriend. The aftermath of the encounter will shape the future of both of their lives.

Review:

Honest Opinion: All good things come to an end, and because of this, I know it’s only a matter of time before these Judd Apatow movies lose their luster. The seemingly endless list of recent successes that he has touched include Superbad, 40-Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Talladega Nights, and Anchorman. When you put those together with his TV successes, you are assembling one “fairly” impressive resume. Well, after viewing Sarah Marshall, it looks as if we (thankfully) are going to have to wait a bit longer for that “end” to happen.

Director Nicholas Stoller and writer/star, Jason Segel combine to create the perfect romantic comedy that satisfies both the guys and the girls in the audience. The raw comedy may not have been as high as Superbad or the 40-Year Old Virgin, but that doesn’t mean that it was lacking as I laughed from beginning to end. As a writer, Segel made the characters extremely likeable and easy to relate to. The magic in this movie is that you could sympathize with everybody from Peter (our main character), Sarah (the actress/ex-girlfriend), Rachel (hotel front-desk clerk), and even Aldous (the European rock-star new boyfriend of Sarah who may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but still seems like a cool guy) as they suffer from heartbreak, embarrassment, confusion, awkwardness and grief.

I actually had the chance to partake in a focus group for the previews of Forgetting Sarah Marshall a couple months ago, therefore watching the many forms of the trailers several times (at least I got paid to do it). While some of the previews make the movie look like your classic “girl breaks up with boy and boy getting back at girl,” (without getting into too much detail) Segel’s script did a nice job of steering clear of that as life rarely allows us to act in such a way. Instead, that is replaced with criss-crossing relationships and complexities that even the best of us can relate with. And other then being forced to look at Jason’s prosthetically enhanced 11th appendage about five times too many, I was very happy to be involved in these characters lives for the two hours of this movie, and there is a good chance I will see it again soon.

Directing: As I have mentioned before, I feel like directing a comedy is more not messing it up rather than forcing something to happen. That being said, Stoller did just that. While there was really nothing original or groundbreaking, he kept the story moving and got solid performances out of his actors.

Writing: Writing a comedic romantic-comedy can’t be easy. The genre has been done so many times that usually either a) they are all the same jokes or b) everyone tries to be so original that it just comes off as corny and unrealistic. While not a perfect script, Forgetting Sarah Marshall does well at keeping the characters real, not allowing the story to become too predictable, and including well placed one-liners to keep the audience off-balance.

Reviewed by Steven Frith

My Comedy Movie Standard – Old School

Viewed on: 2/25 and again on 2/29

Sticking to the formula of “Will Ferrell as ________,” this comedy about the final season of the ABA, while not a classic, is still a comedy that will make you laugh.

Starring: Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Andre Benjamin (aka Andre 3000 from Outkast), Andy Richter and Maura Tierney

Rating/Length: R / 1 hour 30 minutes

Directed By: Kent Alterman (no major previous direction that I could find)

Written By: Scot Armstrong (Old School, Road Trip, The Heartbreak Kid)

Synopsis: Former one hit wonder musician, Jackie Moon, is the owner, coach, and player of the soon-to-be defunct American Basketball Association’s Flint (Michigan) Tropics. In order to survive as a team and make the move to the NBA, the Tropics find out midseason that they must escape from last place and finish in the top 4 of the league. Madness and antics (as only a Will Ferrell movie can do) ensue.

Review:

Honest Opinion: Semi-Pro was exactly what I expected - Will Ferrell bringing his offbeat, random comedy back to the 70’s as in Anchorman. But unlike Anchorman (as well as Old School), Semi-Pro fails to live up to the comedy expectations that many now expect of Ferrell. However, I do have to say that this was much better then both Blades of Glory and Kicking and Screaming.

The biggest difference between Anchorman or Old School and Semi-Pro may have been the main supporting cast. Woody Harrelson and Andre 3000 are just not the first guys I would think of to have in a comedy. I’m not saying either did a bad job, but they just didn’t bring the laughs as much as you would like for a movie like this. Other Will Ferrell regulars make appearances throughout the movie, but none have what you would consider a significant part. All that being said, I did laugh my ass off during most of the movie and there are plenty of one-liners for you and your drunk friends to recite.

On a side note, making this movie R-rated probably hurt it in the box-office more than anything. They obviously threw some cussing in there because they could, but (even though I know it can) it didn’t really help the movie this time. The movie would have still been just as funny had they made the movie fit in the PG-13 rating. That way, all the 15 year-old-boys (who Ferrell’s comedy seems to appeal to the most) would be able to see it in theatres without parental permission.

Directing: Directing a comedy shouldn’t be that hard, I (without any experience I will admit) would think that in a movie like this, it is a matter of not screwing it up more than doing a good job. By not screwing up, Alterman did a good enough job to let Will Ferrell do his thing and kept what story there was moving.

Writing: I’ve always wondered how much of Will Ferrell movies are written and how much of it is improvised. There were obviously scenes that were written and Armstrong can make you laugh by himself as well. As far as the story goes, there wasn’t much of one, but it at least kept you interested enough to see what would happen next. No major plot turns to speak of, and nothing overly creative (although I did like what Jackie dreamt for in the final game).

Acting: I thought the acting was fine. I feel like some of the characters (such as Woody Harrelson and most of the basketball team) were miscast. While Harrelson was fantastic as a comedic actor in Kingpin, he just didn’t have “it” in this movie. I don’t know if it was because he’s older, just doesn’t fit in this type of comedy, or what – but he just seemed awkward. Andre 3000 was just okay, but I think he actually would have fit better had someone else been there to play Harrelson’s character. I needed more comedy from one of those two characters. Maybe the casting director was just trying to find guys that could actually play basketball as Woody and Andre 3000 are known to be able to do.

Music: I actually really enjoyed the soundtrack. There were a lot of fun 70’s songs if you like the Earth Wind and Fire, War, and Ohio Player hits. I also really liked and actually downloaded Will Ferrell’s (or should I say Jackie Moon’s) song from the movie. It had a surprisingly catchy beat and is pretty funny, check it out on iTunes.

To Quote the Movie: “In the anals of history, people are going to be talking about three things: the discovery of fire, invention of the submarine, and the Flint, Michigan Mega Bowl.” – Jackie Moon

Verdict: DEPENDS – If you like Will Ferrell movies, it is worth the $10 price of admission. If you didn’t really like any of his old ones, this movie isn’t going to convert you, so go ahead and wait for DVD.

Reviewed by Steven Frith

My Movie Standard - Memento

Viewed On: February 22, 2008

Vantage Point was a very unique idea that had tremendous potential, but while entertained, I left wondering what could have been.

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker, Matthew Fox, and Sigourney Weaver

Rating/Length: PG-13 / 1 hour 30 minutes

Directed By: Pete Travis (no major previous direction that I could find)

Written By: Barry Levy (no major previous writing credits that I could find)

Synopsis: The President of the United States is shot upon his arrival in Spain before he has a chance to give a speech. The movie then shows us the act of terrorism through five strangers' "vantage points" (in a reversed Memento type of way) – each revealing a little more of the story until we learn the stunning truth.

Review:

Honest Opinion: Vantage Point was a fun movie to watch, but it was fairly cheesy at times which was especially hard to swallow (no pun intended) considering some of it came from 2007 Best Actor Oscar winner, Forest Whitaker. He was not alone either, as others were guilty of overacting including, not surprisingly, Dennis Quaid. I was honestly trying not to snicker during a couple of his more serious lines toward the end. All that being said, it did have you on the edge of your seat at times, and while some of the story lines were predictable, there were surprises throughout too. It’s a good, fun (even if a little short) popcorn flick to kill an hour and a half.



Directing: Pete Travis did well on his camera direction as the scenes were exciting, but he needs to work on getting more (by getting less) out of his actors.

Writing: It was too much for me. I liked the overall idea of the story and the plotlines that followed, but the character development either should have somehow been done before the attack or not at all. I also didn’t like how some characters randomly became friends and some were overly friendly with each other much quicker than what would happen in real life.

Acting: I’ve already voiced my opinion on this quite a bit. While not bad, there was some over-acting but it could have just been what they were reading more than the actors themselves.

Verdict: MATINEE – You should see it in a theater to get the full experience, but $10 is a little much to see this.

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