Ed's Review Dot Com

Indian Paintbrush, Jeff Brothers Productions, Mr. Mudd,

Jason Segal, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon, Judy Greer, Rae Dawn Chong

Once there were two brothers. Pat (Ed Helms) is the “good” son who is ambitious, hard working, and doing quite well in the business world. Jeff (Jason Segal) on the other hand, is a major screwup. Living in his mother’s basin, he spends all time living in his mother’s basement, and believes that everything happens due to some cosmic cause and effect. His mom is having a birthday and wants only one thing. For her son Jeff to get out of the basement and run a simple errand for her. This is much harder than it ought to be, as wrong number sends Jeff on a wild goose chase looking for the person who was supposed to answer the phone besides him. Meanwhile Pat is sick of his brother’s antics and it seems to be irritating him to no end. His world seems to be coming apart as he seems to have caught his wife in a compromising situation, but when the brothers and Mom and the “girls” are all present at a catastrophic event, perhaps Jeff’s weird beliefs aren’t so weird after all. Is this his destiny after all?

This is one of those weird, off the wall films. Kind of reminiscent of Dumb and Dumber, this film shows that TV actors can turn out a pretty decent comedy film too. Ed Helms (The Office), Jason Segal (How I Met Your Mother) and Judy Greer (Mad Love, Two and a Half Men) are all in active TV roles, but all do an outstanding job in this very quirky comedy. It’s a very strange story, but is decently funny. It’s not an award winning script, but it’s still well done with what they have here. Nothing ends up like you’d expect, and the smart one isn’t a smart as everyone thinks he is, and the dumb one isn’t near as stupid as everyone thinks. It’s a little bit a romance with a moderate amount of comedy mixed with a bit of heartwarming stuff, and what we end up with is a decent little B film that was off everyone’s radar. This is not a great movie, but one that you probably missed and a very decent rental! Well worth checking out.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Illumination Entertainment,  Universal Studios

Steve Carell, Jason segal, Russel Brand, Julie Andrews, Wil Arnett, Kristin Wiig

Ok, so sue me.  I’m a sucker for cartoons, and this one hit on all cylinders.  It’s funny, sad, heartwarming, and did I say funny?   All the misadventures of a Spy vs. Spy episode, some great laughs for the adults in the audience, but plenty for the kids.

I saw this in 3D and it really worked for this movie (especially the fun in the closing credits). I saw it in a full theater with a mix of little kids and their parents.  It’s funny to hear the adults laugh by themselves and then to hear the kids laugh all by themselved, but the best is when everybody laughs at  the same time.

The voice actors were pretty good, although the weakest thing is the fake accent Steve Carell tries to pull off which doesn’t quite cut it.  I couldn’t help thinking of Michael Scott of the Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company trying to act a fool, instead of believing it was Gru, but if you can get over this.  But you are definitely going to enjoy yourself.  I was glad I paid the extra for the 3D glasses.  It was well worth it.

The movie reminds me a lot of Up! but of course it’s not quite in that league, but it has similarities.   (sweet kids, crotchety old man) .   All in all Depicable Me made for a fine HOT Saturday Afternoon in the air conditioning of the theater.  Great movie!