Ed's Review Dot Com

Feigco Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox,

Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, Jude Law, Miranda Hart, Bobby Cannavale, Allison Janney, 50 Cent

Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) is a CIA agent, but she works in a basement following super spy Bradley Fine (Jude Law) following him and advising him on his situation in the field. But when Bradley is killed and all the agents are made, and the sale of a portable nuclear bomb is about to go down Susan offers to go out into the field as an undercover spy on a search and report mission. But she gets so involved she gets pulled into the whole secret agent thing in this side splitting comedy.

This was a wonderful experience. We stopped by at one of our favorite Regal theaters on this day when the theater is packed wall to wall with Jurassic World and Inside Out, and we went to see Spy. The theater has been completely remodeled with huge soft leather reclining seats that have foot rests. Kicked off my shoes and enjoyed the air conditioning and a really funny movie. I know Melissa McCarthy isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but in my opinion she’s getting better and better each and every film. She was wonderfully cast in this film and she carried the movie as well as anyone I could think of. Rarely do I laugh out loud in a theater. I try to chuckle to myself, but I was caught off guard by some very, very funny lines, and I must admit that I don’t know if the writers of this film or if they thought these throw away lines up while they were filming, but the way they were delivered made snort Diet Coke a couple times. This was a damn funny movie. They lampooned James Bond and every other Secret Agent film of the last 50 years, but with the unbelievably incompetent large lady trying to be a bad ass, it was quite different. Not since Mr. Bean have I seen such a bumbler, but she pulls it off and has the stuff to take care of herself and everyone else at the same time. Even Mr. Cent was really funny. We got to travel all over the world, ala Bond, and the scenery was really good, but when you go to see a comedy, you want to really laugh, and this film did the trick for me. This was the best comedic performance I’ve seen in a long time. This is R rated for some violence and some bad language, but it was truly funny and I highly recommend this one as a change of pace from all the Action and Adventure stories out there. There’s plenty of action, but the comedy is the best. See it.

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Art Cine Productions,

Christian Camargo, Katie Holmes, William Hurt, Allison Janney, Cherry Jones, Russell Means, Michael Nyqvist, Jean Reno, Juliet Rylance, Mark Rylance, Ben Whishaw

The family gets together to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend at the summer house alongside a lake in rural New England. The period is in the mid 80’s. The family tries to get along, but there are many issues and many problems, and the weekend is a bit of an eye opener and game changer for the family as the fight and bicker their way through the long, long weekend.

This is a Russian story inspired by Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull”, moved to the U.S. It was terribly difficult for me to sit through. Generally I love “people” films and “relationship” films much more than most guys. But I simply despise films that have no purpose and no point. Just setup a camera, film a day or two in a family’s life where nothing much happens (to be fair their is a tragedy in the last few minutes of the story, but by that time nobody really cares). It just goes on and on and on with unlikable characters, no plot or purpose, no direction, it just happens. When I saw it produced by a company called “Art Cine” I knew what I would get. This film is trying so very, very hard to appeal to stuck up artsy folks, and as a result, leaves the rest of us far behind. I really tried hard to give this movie a chance. It has a really good cast, but with nothing for them to do. I’m not sure what made these folks accept this film, but I’ll bet there is a story behind it. I just can’t think anyone read it and said, “This will be a fascinating story”. I was NOT in a bad mood when I watched, neither was I tired or distracted. I went into hoping for the best and a bored nearly to tears throughout. In the end, there wasn’t anything worth recommending. I am not sure with the original story, but people rave about it. Maybe the transfer to America during the Reagan days, just did not work. Avoid it, unless you really like art house movies for some reason.

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Unified Pictures, Amberdale Productions, Bron Studios,

Clark Gregg, Amanda Peet, Sam Rockwell, Felicity Huffman, Molly Shannon, Paul Sparks, Niecy Nash, William H. Macy, Saxon Sharbino, Allison Janney

Howard Holloway (Clark Gregg) is a former child star, now a manager of acting children who is having a hard time. His arch-rival, Aldo Shocklee (Sam Rockwell) would do anything to steal his talent, and a casting director who despises him. When he accidentally runs across talented Lydia (Saxon Sharbino) and tries to land her as the next “big thing” not only does he have to fight everyone else, but now he’s got a demanding and over protecting Father trying to ruin it all. Just as everything begins to fall into place, Howard learns a big secret that could cause him to throw it all away himself.

Living in California and having a child who was a child actress for a short time, I can assure you, the business is as ruthless as it comes. This film is about a really nice guy, played by Clark Gregg, who wants to be ruthless to survive, and plays his cards close to the vest, but who can’t bury his heart of gold. Saxon Sharbino was excellent as the “too big for her britches” wanna-be child star who is really good in this film. Her role may leave you despising her, but there’s no question that she did a great job playing the role. With other excellent performers like Felicity Huffman, Molly Shannon, Niecy Nash, Amanda Peet, and William H Macy, there’s a lot of talent, and it can’t help but shine through. No, this is not a great story, but it’s very passable, and quite interesting. Some of it is really funny as well. There are twists and turns, and crosses and double crosses galore, and so there’s a lot of mystery here as well. But most of all it’s a story with a lot of heart, some good old fashioned values, and some lessons to be learned. I thought it was a rather interesting film, and very well made, and think it’s well worth watching.

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Likely Story, Olympus Pictures,

Hugh Laurie, Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Allison Janney, Alia Shawkat, Adam Brody, Leighton Meester

Life in The Oranges in New Jersey is good. Two families are neighbors and have been best friends for years. The daughters Nina (Leighton Meester) and Vanessa (Alia Shawkat) have been friends forever. Nina is coming home after a breakup to celebrate Thanksgiving, and the families decide to match her up with the neighbor’s son Toby (Adam Brody), but Nina decides Toby’s Dad, David (Hugh Laurie) is very attractive and they start into a top secret affair. As usual, they can’t keep the secret forever, and chaos ensues in a hurry. Both families about to be blown apart in this suburban family comedy also featuring Oliver Platt as Nena’s father.

This film reminds me a lot of the 1984 Michael Caine film, “Blame it on Rio”. Somewhere around here I have a VHS copy of that film as I rented it from Blockbuster (remember them?) way back in the day and misplaced it and forgot to return it. By the time I took it back, it seems I owned it. It was a funny film, and very similar to this in the plot. Basically this is a story about two families who are torn apart because their own broken relationships brought to the open by infidelity. But it’s done in a really funny way. The subject matter is dark and serious, but the humor is there throughout the way. The acting is superb. All of the leads are very, very good, and the daughters are two of the best actresses around, and also do a great job. All in all this is a really well done comedy/breakup movie that is interesting from start to finish. I enjoyed watching this movie, and though it was a small film that did not attract a lot of attention, it’s now available on video and well worth tracking down.

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DreamWorks SKG, Saturn Films, Varsity Pictures

Eddie Murphy, Kerry Washington, Cliff Curtis, Clark Duke, Ruby Dee, Allison Janney, Ariel Winter, Justina Machado, John Witherspoon, Jack McBrayer, Jordan-Claire Green

Jack McCall (Eddie Murphy) is a fast talker. He’s a literary agent, and wants to sign the new book of the latest Indian Guru at any cost. He strikes up a deal, makes some huge promises and promptly finds it all falling apart. When he arrives home, he finds a strange tree in his yard. The tree loses a single leaf for every single word he utters. Jack needs to learn the consequences of the things he says.

I went into this film not expecting much. Poor Eddie’s had a rough time lately, and I was afraid this would be horrible. It appears a lot of people agreed, because it came and went without any attention whatsoever. So when it arrived on DVD, I figured it was worth taking a chance on it. It’s a very small and understated film. I expected crazy, over the top humor. It wasn’t. It was very low key, with good jokes and humor that fit the story, but with a touching story that really gets to the point. It reminded me of Liar Liar in a way, but was still unique in the way Eddie played it. I expected that it was a curse set upon him by the guru, but it appears it was simply Karma teaching him a lesson. It was a hard lesson for poor Jack to learn, but in the end, he found out what is really valuable and what is trash. This is not the kind of movie you run out to spend $13.00 to see in the cinema, but it’s well worth watching on DVD. I recommend you take a quiet even and pop this one on and see what you missed. One of those hidden gems that we miss in the theater and DVD gives us a chance to enjoy. This is not Beverly Hills Cop or The Nutty Professor, but it’s definitely worth watching and enjoying.

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