Columbia Pictures, Original Film
Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Tom Wilkinson, Christoph Waltz, David Harbour, Edward James Olmos, Jamie Harris, Chad Coleman, Edward Furlong
Britt Reid (Seth Reid) is a screw up son of a rich owner of The Daily Sentinel, a privately owned Newspaper, but Britt has no ambition and likes to sleep in and party all the time. Suddenly his father is stung by a bee, and dies. Britt now owns the paper, but is not very well equipped or interested in handling it, but finds the long abused Asian mechanic/coffee maker who is a talented inventor, but was ill treated and under appreciated by Britt’s father. His name is Kato (Jay Chou). The two of them decide to get revenge on Britt’s father but in the process notice a couple being attacked by a gang. The step into the fray and teach the gang members a lesson, but end up on the front page of the paper as unknown crooks. When temp secretary Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz) shows up as Brett’s assistant, the team is complete, and they decide to become “The Green Hornet” and pretend to be outlaws who are really good guys.
This was co-written by Seth Rogan and the writer of Superbad (Evan Goldberg), and really hit the Green Hornet story (from the original radio show and later a TV show with Bruce Lee as Kato) with a super dose of comedy. I rate this movie pretty high, as I found it a hoot to watch, but I understand why it kind of foundered in the theaters. It is a little bit superhero and little bit comedy, but maybe not strong enough in either camp to be a hit with the fans of one genre or the other. But I thought some of it was really funny. There is lots of slapstick humor, but at the same time, the rivalry between Kato and Green Hornet is very cleverly done, with both of them lusting after Cameron Diaz who isn’t interested in either of them. It has some stellar car chases and a bad guy who is extremely funny (Robert DeNiro/Joe Pesci style) although he’s Russian. “You don’t think I’m scary? Why don’t you think I’m scary? That really upsets me that you don’t think I’m scary.” This is Benjamin Chudnofsky (Christopher Waltz). He is funny in how he takes offence to people who aren’t afraid of him, and yet takes the criticism and comments to heart and tries to change to meet people’s expectations.
Kato’s inventions are hilarious, and as I said before the tribulations these two “co-superheroes” give each other reminds you of Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) from the Pink Panther series and his housekeeper who pulls a Kamikaze attack on Clouseau every time he comes home. This is similar, but reminds you of the same. All in all, I really found the humor not over the top (Like Superbad or Hangover) but very clever, but with a taste of action and adventure at the same time. Perhaps not a big hit in the theater, but certainly a very worthwhile rental now that it’s out on DVD.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
