14-year-old Duncan's summer vacation with his mother, her overbearing boyfriend, and his daughter. Having a rough time fitting in, Duncan finds an unexpected friend in Owen, manager of the Water Wizz water park. From: IMDb.com
Directed by:Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
Starring: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney and others
Over the course of his summer break, a teenager comes into his own thanks in part to the friendship he strikes up with one of the park's managers. From: IMDb.com
Over the course of his summer break, a teenager comes into his own thanks in part to the friendship he strikes up with one of the park's managers. From: IMDb.com
There are plenty of things wrong with this movie, next to its obvious problems.
It isn't just its main concept that's a bad and totally wrong one for a comedy but also the way it got handled. I actually would have been OK with this movie and its concept, if only it would have been able to actually amuse me and make me laugh, every once in a while. After all, it's not like having an offensive main plot line with some despicable characters in it is anything new for a comedy to feature but in this particular movie it just doesn't work out too well.
I also don't get what these type of movies are trying to do and tell with its story. What are the things that we are supposed to take out of it? That no matter how much you misbehave, lie and steal, you always still should get some sympathy? Because that surely was the approach the movie is taking with its story in its second half, which also was the point that I completely started to loose interest and all respect for this movie.
The Melissa McCarthy does some absolute horrible- and at times just plain rude things to the movie its main character, played by Jason Bateman. And it's all really uncalled for really. All things considering, the Bateman character is extremely polite and patient with the Melissa McCarthy character, even though she is pretty much busy messing with- and destroying his life. Yet somehow, the movie really expects you to still like her and sympathize for her character. But how is that possible, if the movie doesn't show any redeeming qualities about her character?
The movie seems to think it's able to get away with everything, just in the name of comedy. It doesn't always work out that easily though. You may be able to get away with it once you first establish a solid foundation for the movie, with an amusing and engaging comedy concept and some good, likable, characters to care for. All things this movie forget or just simply failed at.
Thing I specifically didn't really liked about the movie its comedy is that it's all some very rude stuff. Some things are absolutely uncalled for and pretty needless for its main plot as well. It wasn't ever really that funny and it came across like some very random stuff that absolutely wasn't ever needed to help to move its main plot forward. I really didn't liked how basically ever character they came across on their trip, seemed to dislike the Jason Bateman character, for no real good reason and absolutely disrespected him and treated him like dirt, while he actually is being the nicest guy out of this entire movie.
strangely enough I still liked the acting. Yes, I even liked Melissa McCarthy's performance. Despite the fact that I couldn't stand her character and even hated her at points, I still couldn't dislike McCarthy's performance. I believe it really shows that none of the actor's were at fault but it truly was the movie its script and directing approach by Seth Gordon that turned this movie into an absolute horrible one.
There were actually also still some side-plots that seemed like interesting ones but by the end of the movie, they were nothing but some wasted potential. For instance, the plot lines involving the Robert Patrick, Genesis Rodriguez and T.I. (who?) character all could had been potentially good and fun ones but the way they were handled in this movie only made them seem like some absolute pointless and needlessly distracting ones.
A just never really funny movie, with a poor concept and handling of it.
Over the course of his summer break, a teenager comes into his own thanks in part to the friendship he strikes up with one of the park's managers. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
Starring: Steve Carell, AnnaSophia Robb, Sam Rockwell and others
When a mild-mannered businessman learns his identity has been stolen, he hits the road in an attempt to foil the thief -- a trip that puts him in the path of a deceptively harmless-looking woman. From: IMDb.com
Directed by: Seth Gordon
Starring: Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, John Cho and others
(Review originally written at 3 November 2006) If you're looking for creative originality than don't pick up this movie. It's one of those movies of which 12 similar ones are being made of per year. The movie offers some amusing entertainment and a couple of fun moments but that's about it. The movie certainly ain't bad but it ain't exactly an interesting-original-must-see-genre-movie either. The movie is lacking in true originality for that. The movie also doesn't offer any real surprises and most of the story is typical genre-like-predictable-stuff from start till finish. Nevertheless the movie serves its purpose, so that also means that the genre fans will most definitely be pleased with this movie. The main actors did a good job in this one. It's true that Amanda Peet and Ashton Kutcher don't have the greatest imaginable chemistry together but they're good actors that fit- and handle the genre well, together with a couple of other good actors in (often too small) smaller roles, such as Jeremy Sisto and Kal Penn. The love-story isn't exactly always credible. I mean the boy loves the girl, the girl loves the boy and they know it, than what is exactly the problem? Yet they keep running away from each other and bump in to each other multiple times again years later and they clearly still feel the same way about each other. Why do they keep denying their love and keep running away. They make things unnecessary tough for themselves in the movie. It just seems so ridicules and makes this movie far from a credible one. But than again what genre movie really is these days? It's all about the simple and romantic atmosphere of the movie, that people love and often in one way or another can identify themselves with. That is what makes this movie such a pleasant easy and also fun one to watch. Nothing too dramatic going on here, just some good clean fun to kill some time with. All in all this is not the best genre movie but a perfect movie to watch for on a rainy afternoon. 6/10 Watch trailer
No doubt that "Syriana" is a difficult movie to watch. You have to keep paying attention at every moment in the movie if you don't want to lose track of things. But those who have the patience and will to keep watching this movie will be rewarded with a thought provoking and effective movie that will leave you thinking afterward.
Best thing about this movie is that it basically follows four different plot lines and characters but it really doesn't feel like four separate and different stories at all. The movie feels as a complete whole and is consistent during its entire running time. All the stories have one thing in common, they are more or less about one and the same subject; oil. This might be the reason why the movie feels like one. The movie is called "Traffic"-'light' for a good reason. It's made in the same style and terms of realistic storytelling- and character treatment. No wonder, the movie is directed by Stephen Gaghan who wrote "Traffic" and one of the executive producers on this movie is Steven Soderbergh, who directed "Traffic". It sort of sounds strange to call this movie a 'light' version of "Traffic", since this movie in my opinion is far more complex (even though it focuses on far less character and plot lines) and focuses on a even more difficult and delicate subject.
"Traffic" taught us that the war on drugs can't be won, "Syriana" shows us that the lust for oil can never be stopped and the movie shows the direct consequences of it. The movie is about the Western and mostly American corruption and naivety. The movie shows how this affects the Middle-East and its population and how that more or less directly hits back at the Western world. It's a sort of vicious circle. We want more and more oil for lower prices but we eventually pay a far higher price than just money for it.
Kudos to Stephen Gaghan and the rest of the cast & crew to have to guts to make such a politically sensitive but relevant movie.
The movie gets carried by its excellently playing cast. This probably the best role of George Clooney I have ever seen him in. He deserved his Oscar for this movie, even though his role was far smaller than I expected. Matt Damon might be a bit out of place in this movie. I don't regard him as 'mature' enough yet to play such heavy and serious roles. I would had preferred an older or a totally unknown actor for his role. Among the supporting cast are Christopher Plummer, Amanda Peet, the always great Chris Cooper, William Hurt and Tim Blake Nelson. Not all of their roles seem relevant enough but nevertheless their presence still adds to the class of this movie.
A sort of an essential movie to watch, at least if you're open for a complex but confronting and direct movie, about a sensitive and not much lighted subject.
