Ed's Review Dot Com

G4 Productions, Nutmeg Film Productions, Wonderland Sound and Vision,

Alan Cox, Mark Kassen, Elijah Moreland, Emma Fitzpatrick, Alice Eve, Daniel Spink, John Cullum, Chris Evans, Scott Evans

Nick Vaughan (Chris Evans) is a musician, hanging out in the station in Manhattan debating on whether to go to a party where his ex-girlfriend will be there, but with some other guy. Brooke Dalton (Alice Eve) shows up running to catch the last train to Boston but she’s seconds late and misses the train. Her purse has been stolen and so she has no money, just a train ticket to Boston, and their are no trains until tomorrow. Nick tries to help, but Brooke is unwilling to pay any attention to him until it appears that she’s not in a safe part of the city, she has no money, and nowhere to go until morning. So the two form a pair, trying to get Brooke on her way home, but neither is sure whether or not to trust the other.

This is an interesting Romantic-Comedy set in the heart of Manhattan at night. The chemistry between these two is pretty good, and they get in several pretty difficult scrapes. Bit by bit, piece by piece we get to see what’s really going on in the lives of this unusual pair, and why both are hiding from what they really want. As they work it out, we get a dose of voyeurism watching them work through their issues. In the end when the sun comes up, they both head out to face their demons but with a much greater understanding of what they really want. The setting is very interesting. The story itself is well crafted. The performances are pretty good. All in all, it’s not a bad little film, and is certainly out of the usual mold for rom-coms. I enjoyed the film, even though I wasn’t blown away by it, nor was I extremely excited about the experience. But it was an interesting distraction for a while, and well worth watching.

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Voltage Pictures, Wonderland Sound and Vision,

Chris Evans, Michelle Monaghan, Topher Grace, Ioan Gruffudd, Aubrey Plaza, Martin Starr, Philip Baker Hall, Luke Wilson, Anthony Mackie

Our narrator (Chris Evans) begins to tell his story of how he tried to write a romantic comedy screenplay. He’s an action writer and love stories with fast chases and big explosions, but his employer tells him he MUST finish this ROM/COM before he can move on to the next action film. His problem is that he is a one night stand kinda guy, who does not believe in the concept of falling in love, so he’s completely out of touch with where to even begin. But when he meets a lovely girl (Michelle Monaghan) he finds himself really attracted to her, but both of them are not looking for romance. As he starts writing his feelings to try to craft a story, things get rather complicated in this new romantic comedy about a guy writing a romantic comedy.

I was not blown away by this story, but it did have some interesting points. First of all we have a guy named “Me” telling us the story. He doesn’t identify either of the two people until the very end, so she is just known as “Her”. The interaction between the two is really rather interesting. Both of them do a decent job with their roles, so the interest level is rather good. There are some fresh approaches to this classic ROM/COM. The problem is that the story goes exactly along the formula and there aren’t any surprises. I think that’s kind of inevitable in this kind of film, however, so I don’t hold that against it. I was just not much invested in the story all in all. I watched it, and I made it through it. I didn’t dislike it, and I am not recommending this as a great work of cinema. But it is a harmless romantic comedy, so if you’re a fan of those or of the actors in the film, by all means give it a shot. It’s up to you.

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CBS Films, Vast Entertainment, Wonderland Sound and Vision,

Mae Whitman, Robbie Amell, Nick Eversman, Bella Thorne, Skyler Samuels, Bianca A. Santos, Ken Jeong

Bianca Piper (Mae Whitman) is in High School and friends with two girls who are quite popular. Things are going along fine until her next door neighbor and close friend Wesley (Robbie Amell) lets it slip that Bianca is their DUFF. Not knowing the term, she digs until she finds out that it stands for Designated Ugly Fat Friend, and it’s a term for the one person in a group who is easily approachable and who can make the rest of the group look better in contrast. She starts looking out closely at all the DUFF’s in the world and realizes Wes is right and she is a DUFF. She makes a deal with him to help him on a very important cause if he will help un-DUFF her. Then the fun begins as he tries to make Bianca the cool one.

This is a rather cute movie, though it is definitely aimed at teens, there’s no doubt about it. That is the audience that the movie was designed for, and certainly they will have the most fun with it, and enjoy it the most. It wasn’t a bad movie though, and as a senior citizen, I enjoyed the humor and the laughs and the tough spots Bianca and Wesley put themselves in while trying to help each other. I wasn’t bored at all with this movie, and I thought Mae Whitman did a really good job in the lead. She has a “Juno” quality about her and she’s just a nice normal girl trying to fit in. She is a good actor and nailed the part. The “pretty girls” are sterotypical mean spirited rich spoiled girls, so they don’t have much to work with, but they do it as well as any I’ve seen, so they don’t detract from the movie. There are a couple other roles that are very well done. Allison Janney plays Bianca’s Mom who has a really funny role that stands out, and Ken Jeong has a nice role as the teacher/sponsor of the school paper who thinks the world of Bianca and tries to help her find her inner voice. It’s a small role, but nice and touching, and though there are some really funny lines, he’s in a small, but nice part with some meat in it. He keeps his pants on in this film (He tends to get naked a lot) and adds a lot to the story. All in all I enjoyed watching The DUFF and found it a pleasant and light movie with loads of teen angst. Definitely aimed at younger teens, but enjoyable by all.

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