Ed's Review Dot Com

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday September 6, 2016

• Jungle Book [Click Here for Ed’s Review]
• Me Before You [Click Here for Ed’s Review]
• The Phenom
• What Happened, Miss Simone?

New Line Cinema, Principato-Young Entertainment,

Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Tiffany Haddish, Method Man, Jason Mitchell, Luis Guzmán, Nia Long, Will Forte, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Jamar Malachi Neighbors, Benedict Cumberbatch

Rell Williams (Jordan Peele) is really sad, and his world is crashing down. His friend Clarence (Keegan-Michael Key) would like to help out, but when a little kitten arrives at his door, Rell finds new purpose in life and bounces back. But a week later the poor little kitten is stolen, and so Rell and Clarence head out to recover the cat. But it isn’t going to be easy as they have to impersonate gangsters and thugs as they deal with the drug lords and crooks that run the city to try to get their kitten back.

I must admit I was waiting a long time for this to come out on video, and I was rather disappointed when it came time to pop it in the DVD. For some reason I expected more out of this. Now, I remember these guys from the MadTV days when I watched it religiously every week. I used to Tivo SNL and watch MadTV first! (Yeah, there is a new MadTV on this season, and it just isn’t funny). I enjoyed their characters, although this movie kind of felt like a very, very long version of their “Jinx” skits where somebody does or says something bad, and the guys have to go through extreme measures to break the jinx. They were very funny, but always went on WAY too long. This is kind of the same thing. I found myself wishing this would just be over and something else funny would come on. They are finding a new audience on their new TV show, and I must admit I have never seen that one, not even once, so there may be something going on there that I just don’t get. I really think these guys are very talented comedians, but they didn’t put it to good use with these characters. They spend the whole movie switching between making extreme funny faces and faking terror or fear, and talking like tough gang members about to “pop a cap in yo’ ass”. Perhaps there is a taste for this, like what I felt for The Three Stooges back in the day, but I found this extremely silly. I realize that comedy often is made by going to the extreme, but this so far that it’s like Borat without the clever bits. I found it just dragged on and on and did not strike me as very funny at all. I am sure there is a market for these guys, and I wish them well in future endeavors, but I think this one missed by a mile. Sometimes sketch comedy doesn’t stretch out to a full feature without getting too thin.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Seraphim Films Inc., Windy Hill Pictures,

Danny Aiello, Tom Berenger, Lauren Cohan, Kevin Connolly, Terry Crews, Cary Elwes, Kelsey Grammer, Omari Hardwick, Elizabeth Henstridge, Thomas Jane, Ryan Kwanten, Nelly, David O’Hara, Kyra Sedgwick, Tom Sizemore, Sylvester Stallone, Danny Trejo

This story is about a mysterious unknown stranger who wrote a self-help book called “REACH ME” that is the hit of town. This little book has helped SO many people overcome obstacles and change their lives. Everyone wants to find out who the author is to follow him like a sort of Dali Lama figure. There are many different stories going on, most of which criss-cross in one way or another as everyone looks for the man. But he’s not up to the challenge, and has troubles of his own in this tale of many stories within a story.

This was a horrible movie. None of the stories made much sense, and the whole thing was a mish-mash of nonsense. I really am not sure how they got all these people involved in a script, and to agree to make this. Perhaps in reading it wasn’t so obvious of all the flaws in the story. There are some big names here. The premise is okay to start with, but things go awry pretty quickly. When we do find out how the book was written, we soon come to realize that it’s not based on anything worthwhile. More than anything, it reminded me of the excellent Bob Newhart skit on SNL a few years ago where he was a psychiatrist with a foolproof method of getting people to end serious bad habits. He would just scream at them “Just STOP IT” every time they would try to explain their problem. This 10 minute skit has more substance than this whole film. There are some actions in this movie that are just insane. There are some actions that are dangerous as well as illegal, but they are treated as simply normal behavior. This was dumb from the opening until the end, and I really have not found many movies I can’t make something decent out of, but this one was just bad. Avoid this one for sure. Don’t waste your time. Netflix categorizes this as a “drama” so I guess that’s what I will check too, but I’m tempted to categorize this movie as “uncategorized”.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

New Artists Alliance, Three Cups, Caliber Media Company,

Robin Thicke, Jaime Pressly, Joey Lauren Adams, Frances Conroy

Abby (Jaime Pressly) is a master chef who has just earned the job of her dreams, when she accidentally cuts her hand in the kitchen and loses the opportunity. Now able to work, she finds she has a lot of free time which she doesn’t like very much. With all the spare time, she comes to realize that her marriage that she thought was very solid is really rather boring. An accidental run in with her ex, Shaun (Robin Thicke) whom she left without even saying goodbye brings home the memories of the excitement life with Shaun used to have, and Shaun sure wants her back. But she’s not really willing to give up the life she has, or is she? She has to evaluate where her values will lead her and the consequences of her choices, in this relationship drama.

I would not put this film in the comedy category, though much of it is fairly light and there are some funny moments. But a small film like this takes the time to develop the characters and pays attention to the plot. It is well written. In a special feature on the DVD there is an interview with the writer-director Jimbo Lee, who admits that this is a lot about what he has experienced in life. With a sweetheart who left him suddenly without any warning that he has never seen again, he was pondering what would happen if she suddenly reappeared in his life and what it would be like. He used that for the core of this story. It’s frank, and it’s honest, and it’s truly painful to watch a lot of the time. Like the type of movie this is, it’s not big or flashy. The background is simple and all the effort is put in the characters. If found it interesting on many levels, but I was not blown away. I found it hard to feel for Jaime Pressly and her attitude throughout just made me feel like she deserved what she got. She plays the role well enough, but I just didn’t build the interest in her character enough to really care what happened. And unfortunately Robin Thicke didn’t pull off the lovesick and hurt ex-lover who was spurned and he just didn’t understand. Instead he comes off as smug and conniving which isn’t the way I think it should have been done. I think these two casting mistakes sunk the film and kept it from being as good as it had potential to be. For this reason, I would have to give this film a half-hearted recommendation. It was an opportunity missed, I’m afraid.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog