Ed's Review Dot Com

Paramount Pictures, Skydance Productions, Michaels-Goldwyn

Barbra Streisand, Seth Rogen, Adam Scott, Colin Hanks, Kathy Najimy, Nora Dunn, Ari Graynor, Casey Wilson

Andy Brewster (Seth Rogan) is an inventor, and has just come up with a great organic cleanser, but he’s struggling to get it recognized in the marketplace. He’s also saddled with a bit of a Mom (Barbra Streisand) who’s got a habit of going just a little too far most of the time. She loves her son, and is very proud of him, but gets them into some situations that would make Lucy Ricardo blush. You can always expect something inappropriate to pop out of her mouth at any time. Joyce is convinced her son is a genius and highly successful, but he’s struggling. Mom has a great idea for how to demonstrate the product, but Andy won’t listen. He starts off on a road trip, cross country, to try to convince large store chains to carry his product, but with an ulterior motive to have his Mom reunite with a lost love who could be the Dad he’s been looking for for all his life. So with Mom in tow, these two head off on a cross country journey reminiscent of “National Lampoon’s Family Vacation”. It’s one disaster after another for these two until they reach the West Coast to reveal his real reason for the journey.

This is a fairly decent film. I think Paramount missed the boat in the way they pushed it to the public though, and I believe this is the reason that it did not do nearly as well as it should have. That being said, It’s well worth catching this one on DVD for a simple evening at home. The film came off as a rip-roaring, outrageous, comedy with gag after gag, in a non-stop laugh fest. Though it has really funny sequences, the strength of the film is not in the “rolling in the aisle” humor, but much more with the depth and beauty of this Mother-Son relationship. When you’re dealing with the talent and experience of a Barbra Streisand, she does much more than just silly jokes! Fortunately, the writers and directors knew the depth of the family relationship and wrote it very, very well (unlike, for example in Meet the Fockers, where Barbra and Dustin were totally wasted in cartoon roles setting up underhand joke pitches for DeNiro and Ben Stiller), Barbra builds a character that we really like, and get very involved in. Likewise Seth is much better in this movie than in many of the roles I’ve seen him in. He too is a frustrated young man who misses not having a father, knows he developed a great product, but can’t get anyone to listen to him, and is struggling to get along with Mom who believes he is so great, that he can’t live up to it, but yet puts him in one embarrassing moment after another. I would hope that if they would have stressed the character relationship part of this film, rather than trying to pass it off as another Hangover movie, it would have gotten stronger legs. But I’m here to say, that since you missed it in the theater (everyone did), be sure to take the chance to see it on DVD now, and I bet you’ll enjoy both the strong comedy that this pair can perform along with a lot deeper feeling and caring for these characters that just makes the movie better. I feel that this is one that is worth watching.

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Mandalay Vision, Wind Dancer Productions, Detour Filmproduction,

Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey, Brady Coleman, Richard Robichaux, Rick Dial,

Bernie Tiede (Jack Black) is a small Texas town mortician who is a very friendly guy. He makes friends with everyone with his mild and gentle demeanor, but especially the elderly ladies who flock to him. But he strikes up a close friendship with a mean old lonely widow who is the richest lady in town, and one whom everyone either hates or fears. But when she turns up missing, the sheriff (Matthew McConaughey) has his eyes on Bernie, but no one in town would believe anything but the very best of good old Bernie.

This is a very dark comedy, but done is a very light way. This is based on a true story, and just like all the townsfolk who can’t believe anything bad about Bernie, even though we know the truth, we can’t accept it either, and we keep waiting for the surprise ending to come. In the end, I guess it is a surprise at that. But this is done in the mockumentary style of so many other great jokester films, but yet it’s supposedly “mostly” true. The characters in this film are really good, and I think I’ve enjoyed Shirley MacLaine more in this film than I have in any of her films in a long time. She is really mean and funny at the same time. She does a great job and really shows her skills. The movie is really funny in a dark and twisted way, and not so much laugh out loud funny, but it runs at a high level of humor all the way through from start to finish. Even the discussion from the townsfolk as to whether Bernie is gay or not is never resolved and both sides have a good argument. Also good is Marjorie Nugent’s (Shirley MacLaine’s character) stock broker who is hilarious. He’s the most concerned about poor old Marjorie, but everyone simply believes he’s mad because he can’t get his hands on any more of her money now that she only trusts Bernie. That’s probably true. Available as a “Watch Instantly” film on NetFlix, this was a very pleasant surprise for me. I had no clue what to expect, but with the cast, I was willing to take a chance on it. I was really glad I did.

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The Weinstein Company,

Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, Julia Stiles, John Ortiz, Shea Whigham

Pat (Bradley Cooper) has been in a mental hospital for 4 years after finding his wife in a compromising situation. Now he’s home, reluctant to take his meds, hit by a restraining order from his ex-wife, and living with his Dad (Robert De Niro) (who obviously has his own mental issues) and trying to keep it together, but not very well. He meets young cop widow Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) and falls into a tumultuous friendship/relationship with her. She’s really troubled as well, so it’s like the blind leading the blind. Pat is trying to win back his wife in vain, and Tiffany is not ready to face the sudden accidental death of her husband. The two are totally broken and trying to find a silver lining somewhere in the midst of all their problems.

This is a really good film, that really deserved all the awards heaped upon it in 2012. The story is a close look at messed up lives and an inspection of mental illness that is really straight on. The ending is really sweet, but the movie is relatively harsh. I think Bradley Cooper did a good job in portraying the highs and lows of bi-polar disorder, and Jennifer Lawrence is really awesome in this film. She plays the mix of fragile/easily hurt vs. loud obnoxious so well, that she’s really believable. This was an excellent role for her to show what she can really do, and she did an excellent job. De Niro was superb as always. His role is a great mix of drama and comedy, and he’s done such a great job in funny roles lately and is a really good comic, but obviously plays the straight roles really well.

This film has a little bit of nudity near the beginning (when there’s a flashback to Pat finding his wife in the shower) but it’s short and not overly done. There is also some violence in a couple bloody fights, but that is not overly done either, so it’s barely an R rating. Just to let you know it’s not overly bad. But the subject matter is rather harsh for kids to understand, so the R rating is not a big problem anyway as kids probably aren’t going to enjoy this anyway. But for grownups, it’s nice on several levels. One, watching these people will make you feel better about yourself! Secondly, we can surely identify with the issues these people are having, and realizing that if we let ourselves do what we wanted (No filter, as Pat describes it) we could be just a bad off as these folks are. All in all, it’s a pretty touching film, well made, and one I really enjoyed. It’s a great mix of comedy, drama, and romance.

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Gary Sanchez Productions, BCDF Pictures,

Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, Rebel Wilson, James Marsden, Adam Scott

Becky (Rebel Wilson) is getting married. Her high school friends, Regan (Kirsten Dunst), Gena (Lizzy Caplan), and Katie (Isla Fisher) who used to make mock her in high school, decide they have to throw her a real bachelorette party. But the night before the wedding, the girls totally destroy the dress, come to the realization that they must somehow get the dress repaired and to the wedding on time. In the struggle to get the dress to the wedding before anyone finds out, the girls have a chance to look inward at their lives and see what’s really important.

This film really wants to be Bridesmaids. It’s not. But it’s not an awful film, and if you didn’t see Bridesmaids, then this will do. It’s a very similar story. The acting is great. Rebel Wilson is funny, and the “mean girls” led by Kirsten and Isla are good enough. There are a good many laughs, and it’s good fun. But the biggest problem with the film is that it’s just too derivative. If you’re in the mood for this kind of “girl” comedy, then it’s definitely adequate as a rental, but this is not nearly as funny as many others. It also is really mean which tends to make me feel a bit uncomfortable. You just don’t treat people like this. Of course, by the end they learned their lessons and felt bad about it, but if you’re really in the mood for a bridal comedy, certainly Bridesmaids or Bride Wars would be a lot more fun.

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Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Walden Media, Chernin Entertainment,

Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, Marisa Tomei, Tom Everett Scott, Bailee Madison, Joshua Rush, Kyle Harrison Breitkopf, Jennifer Crystal Foley, Gedde Watanabe, Rhoda Griffis, Madison Lintz, Brad James

Phil (Tom Everett Scott) and Alice Simmons (Marisa Tomei) are uptight busy parents with strong ideas on the right way to raise children. They have three kids who are as straight laced as their parents who believe in not eating sweets, using inside voices, and use your words to solve problems, and the like. Phil and Alice have not been away since their youngest was born, and an opportunity to go away for a week for work arises, but there is no one left to watch the kids. No one that is, except for Alice’s Parents, Artie (Billy Crystal) and Diane Decker (Bette Midler) who are very much different and a lot looser than their daughter. Against her better judgement Alice invites them to watch the kids for a week, and they accept, and madness and mayhem ensues in this generation gap comedy. The grandparents really want to do a good job, but they just can’t understand the new age rules on child rearing, and fall back upon their old school ways of watching kids with hilarious results.

This is similar to a lot of other family comedies. It’s exactly what you’d expect from Billy and Bette. It’s old style family comedy where the kids rebel against the parents and the parents rebel against their parents. The comedy is good. Many of the gags and pranks here are different from what I’ve seen before, so that is why I rate it so highly. If they simply borrowed from every other similar film, it wouldn’t be good, but this is not a Meet the Fockers ripoff. Of course it’s very similar to other similar films. Jane Fonda has done a few of these, and even Roseanne Barr. But this was enjoyable enough for me, and I really enjoyed my time watching it. Billy and Bette are really good together, and the grandparents really love each other and their daughter and grandkids, so it’s not all family fights from start to finish, but they are learning new ways and the parents need to learn from the wisdom of the older generation too, so it’s got heart and good family values. No one here is cheating or betraying anybody, they’re just trying to get along. Artie is up to some tricks, but he’s good hearted and a really lovable guy. The daughter is brilliantly played by Bailee Madison (the young Snow White from the Once Upon a Time ABC TV series) and it is really good to see her in a modern role. She’s really good as the stressed out daughter being forced to conform to her mother’s dreams. This is a cute story, not a great film, but very worth a family video evening. It’s a fun little comedy of family conflict and resolution.

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