Tag: Comedy

3SMReviews: Hello I Must Be Going

3SMReviews: Hello I Must Be Going

I’ve long been of the opinion that Melanie Lynskey is tragically wasted* and in Todd Louiso’s Hello I Must Be Going, she gets a chance to shine. Lynskey plays Amy, who can’t quite get it together after her divorce—until she meets the 19-year-old son of her father’s work colleague.** A May December romance follows, and while I would be annoyed if the genders were reversed, I loved how the two found their way to new lives.

Verdict: Good

Cost: Free via the Multnomah County Library’s streaming service Kanopy
Where watched: at home

*”Who?” I hear you asking. She’s kind of the New Zealand version of Judy Greer, but with more gravitas. She was the co-lead with Kate Winslet in Heavenly Creatures, but she mostly shows up in bit parts here and there (Away We Go, Sweet Home Alabama, Ever After) and IMDB tells me she does a lot of TV.
**Christopher Abbot, who played Marnie’s boyfriend Charlie in Girls. I really like him, though he has a flat acting style that some people might characterize as “not good.”

Consider also watching: Home Again, City Island, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Don Jon

3SMReviews: Sleeping with Other People

3SMReviews: Sleeping with Other People

Goddamn, do I love Leslye Headland’s Sleeping with Other People, which is kind of When Harry Met Sally in present day with much more discussion of sex. Alison Brie elevates everything she is in and Jason Sudeikis succeeds with his “Hey, I can really do this acting thing, not just comedy!” It’s a witty and sex-positive and blatant film about coupling and love.*

Verdict: Recommended

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($7.99)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching: When Harry Met Sally, Some Kind of Wonderful, Clueless, 13 Going on 30, Friends with Kids, Love and Basketball, What’s Your Number?, What If (I could apparently go on, as this happens to be one of my favorite sub-genres of romantic comedy.)

*I’m still giving the Dirty DJ scene the side-eye though.

3SMReviews: Isn’t It Romantic

3SMReviews: Isn't It Romantic

Director Todd Strauss-Schulson calls out many of the romantic comedy tropes in Isn’t it Romantic, a film that is fun for lovers of romantic comedies and stands on its own as a peppy comedy. I’m quite glad someone gave Rebel Wilson a starring vehicle, because I’ve been waiting for her to be featured in something since 2012’s Pitch Perfect. For people aware of the romantic comedy arc, this is a predictable film, but that can be easily pushed aside to enjoy amusing performances as well as Wilson’s reactions to the romantic comedy her life has become.

Verdict: Good

Cost: $7.05 (the “bargain” night at Regal has become not so much of a bargain.) (Though free because the boyfriend had gift cards.)
Where watched: Regal City Center Stadium 12 with the boyfriend.

Consider also watching: Ibiza, Nappily Ever After

3SMReviews: The Edge of Seventeen

3SMReviews: The Edge of Seventeen

Kelly Fremon Craig’s excellent The Edge of Seventeen has popped up on Netflix and this review is here to convince you to watch the film. Nadine (played by the incredibly talented Hailee Steinfeld) has a life that isn’t hard at all,* and yet it’s very hard.** This film does three things very well: it captures female adolescent angst like few films do; it contains hilarious and (to me at least) familiar depictions of awkward flirting, and oh, my goodness, it is funny.

Verdict: Recommended

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($7.99)
Where watched: at home. And it was good enough to draw the boyfriend in.

*She lives in a nice house, has a middle-class level of resources, and a best friend.
**She’s the kind of girl who powers through a world that doesn’t operate the way she does, her father died and left her to navigate the world alone, and her best friend just started dating her older brother, whom she cannot stand.

3SMReviews: Support the Girls

3SMReviews: Support the Girls

Andrew Bujalski gives us a great gift in Support the Girls and that gift is Lisa (Regina Hall) as the general manager of a sports bar.* I’m a great fan of slice-of-life stories about people who matter not at all in the global sense, but matter tremendously if you are the person in their orbit and this is that kind of film. All of these women, who could have come off as the worst kind of stereotypes, are complex and interesting and that made for a stellar move experience.

*The kind where the waitresses don’t wear much in the way of clothing.

Verdict: Recommended

Cost: $3.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home

3SMReviews: Smallfoot

3SMReviews: Smallfoot

It’s been slim pickins in the Channing Tatum movie world of late* and so you would think I would have done something besides groan when I first watched the Smallfoot trailer.** I did groan, but no matter, completist that I am, I knew I had to watch it sooner or later, and so I have and I can say that it’s a pretty good kids film. My favorite part was James Corden’s revamp of Queen’s “Under Pressure,” but you can find that on YouTube (and at the bottom of this post) and skip watching the movie.

Verdict: Good (this is one of those “good” ratings where I don’t love the movie, but recognize that it’s fine for its category.)

Cost: $1.75 via Redbox
Where watched: at home waiting for the wintery weather to start.

*Though there’s the delightful gift of that Pink video.
**I have very little tolerance for full-on kids movies and that’s what this movie is.

3SMReviews: Green Book

3SMReviews: Green Book

I’m glad I watched Peter Farrelly’s Green Book in a theater, because it gave me further insight into who is really enjoying this movie.* Both Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen were impressive, fully embodying their characters and taking on a physical persona very different from previous roles. However, every single plot point in this film was incredibly predictable, something that ultimately sunk whatever slim hope there was of me liking this film.

Verdict: skip, unless you are a die-hard Mortensen or Ali fan.

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: Laurelhurst Theater with friend Kelly.

Consider watching instead: Dear White People, Selma

*My theater was filled with white people with white hair, most likely of the early-to-mid baby boomer age. They greatly enjoyed Mortensen’s character. I would love to see this with a younger, less-white audience. I’m guessing the reaction points and noises would be different.

3SMReviews: The Disaster Artist

3SMReviews: The Disaster Artist

In The Disaster Artist, James Franco is creepily, hilariously effective as Tommy Wiseau, the passionate director of a terrible movie; Dave Franco carries the role of Greg, Wiseau’s friend. I was looking to laugh, and there are some very funny parts to this film, but it also delves into the difficult situation of supporting a friend who is doing a very bad job at something. What could have been an exercise in James Franco getting to go deep on a weird character* is instead elevated to an interesting examination of art, incompetence, and friendship.**

Verdict: Recommended

Consider also watching: Ed Wood, Bullets Over Broadway, and Honest Trailers—The Room

Cost: free via Kanopy
Where watched: at home with Matt

*I’m not sure why I am still continually surprised at Franco’s success at things. He is uncannily talented in a variety of ways.
**And you need not actually watch Tommy Wiseau’s movie The Room to enjoy this film. (Win!)

3SMReviews: Mean Girls

3SMReviews: Mean Girls

In 2004, Mark Waters gave millennials their seminal teen film with Mean Girls; I was interested in how it holds up 14 years later. When I watched this in 2004, I remember feeling like the movie’s resolution was a little too tidy, and I found the ending to be the same today. However, this movie gives us a lot of good stuff including its overall message and a ton of really great performances by women.*

Verdict: Good

Cost: $2.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home as homework so I could listen to the Next Picture Show’s Girl World pairing of this movie and the Favourite.

*It was really fun to see women who are on my radar right now, but weren’t in 2004: Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, Amy Poehler. Plus I hadn’t put together that Lizzy Caplan–the go-to “weird girl” character of that time period–was also in Now You See Me 2. And I love Tim Meadows reactions.

3SMReviews: Juliet, Naked

3SMReviews: Juliet, Naked

In Juliet, Naked, Jesse Peretz crafts an extremely awkward romantic comedy and takes advantage of the facility of uncomfortable comic timing of Rose Byrne, Chris O’Dowd and even Ethan Hawke. It’s a great catalog of people in a middle-age place of stagnation and transition with one especially spectacular scene that takes place in a hospital room. I think this movie didn’t quite know what to do with the ending, and that felt a little bumbled, but other than those last five minutes, this was a very fun film.

Verdict: Recommended

Cost: $1.50 from Redbox*
Where watched: at home

*I have been stalking this movie at Redbox since Thanksgiving weekend when I checked five different machines. It was always checked out.