Ed's Review Dot Com

3311 Productions, 21 Laps Entertainment, Story Ink,

Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson, June Squibb, Lisa Kudrow, Stephen Merchant, Tony Revolori, Wyatt Russell, Maria Thayer, Thomas Cocquerel

Four friends are planning a wedding. Eloise (Anna Kendrick) is set to be Maid of Honor for her Boyfriend’s brother who is the Groom, and her good friend who is the Bride. But just weeks before the wedding, her boyfriend breaks up with her via text. Heartbroken, she is staring at the invitation and trying to decide whether to go or not. Finally she decides to show up, but she finds she’s been relegated to “Table 19”, the worst table in the house kept for those who don’t matter. When the wedding day arrives, Eloise gets a chance to meet the other “losers” who were sent to Table 19. Most of them don’t realize their lack of status, but as time passes, they find each reveal their story and each one is quite interesting. Meanwhile, things get rather sticky for Eloise as her ex is there along with her former friends, but no one is interested in her. As the chips fall where they may, this group of six set forth to make as much mayhem as possible.

Anna Kendrick, as usual, does a really good job in this film. Some of the other guest at Table 19 are also very good. Lisa Kudrow, Craig Robinson, Margo Martindale, and more, bring a lot of back stories as to why they’re at the loser table as well. Plus there’s a little romance or two in the air that helps to move the movie along. It’s a little bit funny, there’s some clever comedy here, but it’s not the funniest movie I’ve seen. It could have been better, but at least it was interesting enough to keep me focused on the whole movie. It’s not a hysterical laugh fest, but it is kind of cute and is worth watching. I enjoyed it, so if you’re looking for a little romantic comedy, this reminded me of some classic sit-coms on TV and so it’s harmless fun.

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New Line Cinema, Village Roadshow Pictures, 21 Laps Entertainment,

Ice Cube, Charlie Day, Tracy Morgan, Jillian Bell, Christina Hendricks, Dennis Haysbert, Dean Norris, JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Kym Whitley, Young Jeezy

Andy Campbell (Charlie Day) is a school teacher on the brink of losing his job due to cutbacks. He’s having a really bad day with a pregnant wife and daughter, plus it’s the last day of school and “senior prank day”. But when he accidentally gets on the wrong side of Strickland (Ice Cube) who is the toughest teacher in the school by costing him his job, Strickland challenges Andy to a “Fist Fight” in the school parking lot at 3PM. Strickland could probably kill him, so he sets about to somehow get out of the fight with the help of some other teachers, but things get really convoluted as things seem to go wrong all day long as he ends up making things worse all around in this comedy also with Tracy Morgan, Jillian Bell, Christina Hendricks and more.

This is a comedy movie that has it’s faults. About half way through it my wife made me take it off the TV and move it to my computer when I could watch it with earphones because the loud yelling through-out the movie was driving her nuts. It was really funny in some places, but Charlie Day basically screamed every line, and it did get really annoying after a while. Ice Cube was brilliant as he usually is, but the script wasn’t really that great, and you can only do what you can with what you’re given. There are too many overacted scenes that strike me as hollow, and it’s a bit too silly. They have tried this type of film a number of times, but it’s on par with stuff like Mall Cop or Here Comes the Boom which I also rated pretty good. If you like those Kevin James type movies, then this one might tickle your fancy too. I thought it was funny, but be forewarned that it’s a little slap stick, and a lot malarkey. If you like Three Stooges-like humor, with people chasing other around with an axe, then this is a funny movie, but if over acting, over comfortable volume, and shallow plots drive you nuts, then stay away from this one. I liked it, but I find it hard to recommend this for the masses, know what I mean?

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DC Entertainment, LEGO System A/S, Lin Pictures,

Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Mariah Carey

Batman (Will Arnett) is a loner, but we find he’s just really afraid of being a part of a family again after the terrible thing that happened to his family, but the Joker (Zach Galifianakis) is up to his usual tricks and is planning to break the entire city apart (literally) by joining up with all the other bad guys. Batman finds he can’t do it on his own, no matter how stubborn he is, and may have to accept a little help from a gaggle of friends willing to help out.

This darn movie really surprised me a lot. I really didn’t think it could be anything but cheesy, but dang, I think this is perfect fodder for the grown up little boy in me. Granted, my grandkids who love both Batman and LEGOs really loved it too, but I found the PG-13 in it gave us really funny over their heads zingers that made it really entertaining (and did I say funny) to me as well. This was really well done. With some really fine voice actors including The ‘Puter voice played by Siri herself. I mean there must be a dozen top stars and great talents in this movie along with a lot of other interesting characters that I couldn’t identify. It was a laugh fest from start to finish, and very well animated. I never had the patience for putting LEGO projects together, but I sure had a lot of fun watching the quirks and characteristics these plastic people gave me along with their plastic world. They play it so straight with tongue firmly in the cheek and I found myself laughing out loud many times. I’m sorry I missed seeing this with the grandkids in the theater, but it was sure enough fun watching the DVD at home. This is one of the nicest animated films I’ve seen in a while. Great job guys!

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Fox Searchlight Pictures, Likely Story,

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener, Toni Collette, Ben Falcone, Tavi Gevinson, Tracey Fairaway, Eve Hewson, Anjelah Johnson

Eva (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is a divorced single Mom whose Daughter’s best friend is much closer to her than her own daughter. Eva is a masseuse and at a party with one of her clients, Marianne (Catherine Keener) she meets a friendly divorced man, Albert (James Gandofini) who also has a daughter soon heading to college, and they hit it off. But when she finds out that Albert is none other than Marianne’s hated ex-husband, things get complicated as she can’t seem to confess to either one and as you would expect, trouble is on the way.

This romantic comedy from 2013 has been in my queue for ages and ages. This is one of the usual rom/coms that feature mismatched couples trying to make the best of a terrible situation. It’s quite predictable, yet it’s really entertaining with a great group of familiar actors. Besides Dreyfus, Gandolfini, and Keener, we also have Toni Collette, Ben Falcone, and more, and so it’s filled with talent. Although about 4 years old already, it’s very current and a lot of fun. This is a simple comedy with lots of light moments, mixed with some very touching and moving moments as the problems pile up. It’s a complex relationship film, and very well done, and worth giving it a shot.

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Treehouse Pictures, Aversano Films, What If It Barks Films,

Zac Efron, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Imogen Poots, Jessica Lucas, Alysia Reiner, Josh Pais, Emily Meade, Mackenzie Davis, Tina Benko

Jason (Zac Efron) has three close friends, Daniel (Miles Teller) and Mikey (Micahel B. Jordan). Jason is a bit of a player, but when he is dumped he and his buddies make a pact that they will not get involved with anyone, but simply play the field. But it becomes difficult to keep their promise as all three meet their own perfect girl while trying to pretend it didn’t happen.

This romantic comedy is really more of a bromance film as really most of the story is about the three guys. This is a very predictable story and certainly will feel familiar. It’s an ok film, and I didn’t hate it at all, but just felt it is not really worth the effort. Unless you’re a big fan of the actors here, I bet Zac has a lot of fans out there, it’s probably a waste of time seeking this one out. On the other hand, though, it is available on cable, and you might catch it on TV for free like I did. In that case, it’s not all that bad a way to burn 90minutes or so.

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