AG Studios, Denver and Delilah Productions, Good Universe,

Charlize Theron, Seth Rogen, June Diane Raphael, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Ravi Patel, Bob Odenkirk, Andy Serkis, Randall Park

Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) is a journalist with strong moral values. He believes in the causes he writes about and refuses to compromise his principles and as a result is kind of on the sidelines. When he attends an event with a friend, he spots Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) an old classmate and crush, his former babysitter, who is now one of the most powerful women in the United States. She is planning a run for the Presidency, and hires Fred to write speeches for her, and they are really attracted to each other, but her quest for power means putting aside some of the values, and Fred’s desire to be true to his principles soon cause trouble, not to mention that her political rivals would love to expose this unequal paring with a commoner to bring shame and to cause her to lose he chance in the election. What follows is a raucous romp through this very funny film.

This is a good pairing. Each of them are well suited to the role, and it is a really funny film at times. I enjoyed Seth Rogen’s attempts to fit in to the political drama without giving up his principles. Charlize is also very good in her role as the wannabe politician who at heart is still the small town girl who wants to do the right thing. She is very well suited for the role as well. The two of them do have some really funny moments and some of the gags are really good. This wasn’t an outstanding film, just a quiet little one that was enjoyable to relax and watch just for the fun of it. With all the big blockbuster films coming out, superhero after superhero, ad nauseum, it was nice to see this little movie for a change. I did enjoy it, but it might be a nice one to catch on DVD as the cost of movie tickets these days is pretty hard on the budget. But it was a pleasant distraction, and I enjoyed watching it, and do recommend it for a nice change of pace.

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Columbia Pictures, LStar Capital, Point Grey Pictures,

James Franco, Seth Rogen, Lizzy Caplan, Randall Park, Diana Bang, Timothy Simons, Reese Alexander, James Yi

Dave Skylark (James Franco) is a tabloid news show host, with Aaron Rapaport (Seth Rogen) as his producer. When the find out North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is a fan of the show, they score the interview of a lifetime when they are invited to North Korea to shoot the interview. But the CIA tracks them down with an operation to assassinate the dictator during the interview. Naturally, with these two, everything goes wrong and they’re lucky to get out at all.

This is the film that garnered all the attention, mostly of the wrong kind, due to the announcement of the hacking scandal at Sony and the subsequent threats from the North Koreans and the cancellation, the a limited release on Christmas Day. None of that really matters much, but it has to be considered in the story of the movie, if not the movie itself. This is a James Franco/Seth Rogan comedy, so it’s pretty silly with potty jokes and sexy sight gags throughout. It’s like it’s put together by fourteen year olds, or perhaps Howard Stern? It’s a lot like his humor. But knowing it’s that genre going in makes it easier to watch. You have to go into this expecting juvenile bathroom humor to start with. As far as the huge scandal, I’m not paranoid enough to say it was all thought up to promote the film, although I feel pretty sure this wouldn’t have been a very big film had it come out without all the media attention, so that was a blessing of sorts for them. But that doesn’t make up for the price Sony had to pay in the data theft. Still, I’ve never believed for a minute that North Korea actually hacked Sony because of this film. I still think it’s a disgruntled employee or ex-employee who was responsible, and I doubt The Interview had anything at all to do with it. It wasn’t the original focus when the hack came to light, but quickly became the scape goat when it became easy to blame this on a far away dictatorship that we don’t like in the first place. The film is not Shakespeare, that’s for sure, and it’s more like a Leslie Nielsen or Charlie Sheen type slapstick comedy. For the style, and the type of movie, however, it’s not that bad. Some of it is really funny, and it’s fun to jump on the bandwagon and be American and watch a free movie courtesy of Sony. I missed the Christmas day freebie on You Tube, but it’s out on NetFlix streaming now, so if you are interested in what the hubbub is all about, this is a free (if you’re a member of NetFlix anyway, and who isn’t) way to watch it and get up to date. I had to watch this as it’s part of American folk lore now, and I have to see it. I was surprised that it was not that bad, and it was a pleasure watching it. Not nearly as funny as it could have been, but it’s light-hearted tom foolery for 90 minutes or so and why wouldn’t you watch it.

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Good Universe, Point Grey Pictures,

Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Lisa Kudrow, Craig Roberts, Ike Barinholtz, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress, Carla Gallo, Halston Sage

Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly Radner (Rose Byrne) are a newlywed couple with a daughter. They live in a simple suburban home. The house next door is up for sale, and they take a lot of interest to see who the new neighbors will be, but when the guys from the fraternity move in and turn it into a frat house led by fraternity president Teddy Sanders (Zac Efron), things go from bad to worse to worst. They party all night, with loud music that keep everyone awake. At first Mac and Kelly try to be friendly with the boys and try to party with them to make friends and get their cooperation, but when that fails, they start escalating a war with the frat that spirals WAY out of control.

This is a hilarious comedy reminiscent of the old great comedies of long ago. It’s modern and fresh, and unique twist, but the gags run from slapstick to up to date technology gags that are right out of the pages of today’s college kids. To make it even more enjoyable, I have a bit of a story to tell.

We went up for Mother’s Day to UC Santa Barbara. My daughter had to work for a while, so my wife and I went to the theater closest to the school to watch a movie. The timing was wrong for everything else, but Neighbors was coming on at 8:15, so we chose it. We figured a Seth Rogen film would be a few laughs. The theater ended up packed, every seat full, all 20ish college kids. We were the only old people in the theater. Since I work in the IT field, I am up to date on new technology and so I got the jokes. But the frat jokes in particular, especially with the way things are today with the latest web sites and communication devices was especially funny to the young people because they obviously got all the jokes. I imagined watching this back at home in a theater full of adults with many of the jokes just going over their heads. Not this crowd. It was really interesting to see which gags cracked them up and compare to what it would be like seeing this without the theater filled with students. Anyway, needless to say, unlike the teens we often see at home, with the theater packed, the crowd was very respectful, quiet with no one texting or making phone calls and laughing at the right places. Though we were crowded, it was a really enjoyable experience.

Now back to the film. This is the kind of role that fits Seth Rogen perfectly. He plays the kid who’s grown up now and realizing that he needs to take some responsibility, but dropping back into his youth to party with the frat and play childish pranks trying to outdo each other. New parents have the problem of their close friends from the past living a wild and free single lifestyle when they have a child and a job and too much to do. The frat house next door, though a curse, also is a chance to step back into their younger days. The comedy is really good, the jokes are non-stop, and it’s a randy adult comedy that doesn’t let up. I really enjoyed this film and recommend it for comedy fans everywhere.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Columbia Pictures, Point Grey Pictures, Mandate Pictures,

James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, Michael Cera, Emma Watson, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, David Krumholtz

Jay Baruchel is coming to Los Angeles to hang out with Seth Rogen and party, party, party. They decide to go to a big party at James Franco’s house, but unexpectedly the apocalypse happens, and the rapture has begun. None of these guys at the party (a slew of Hollywood stars) were taken to heaven, so they have to figure out a way to survive. But they soon come to realize that they are all too stupid to figure out what to do. Bickering and fighting all the way, till they finally figure out the secret to surviving the destruction.

This is done like a mockumentary. I say that because all of the actors play themselves. But this is a disappointing very silly and useless film. I was kind of looking forward to this film from the previews, but it turned out to be a mess. I just did not get the whole point of this movie. I didn’t think it was very funny, and the running around and overacting, over-reacting, and just plain yelling at each other reminded me of a high-school drama class improvisation activity. Very childish, not that funny, and just plain a disaster all around. This reminds me of the Barbara Ann recording where it was done at a party, in one take, with all the mistakes, missed lyrics, giggles and goofing around left in it. This is a party movie too, just a bunch of stars getting together and hacking out a “comedy” without any goal in sight or any purpose at all. I would definitely recommend avoiding this film at all costs. This is the worst film I’ve seen in a long time.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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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.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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