I enjoyed Russel Brand’s performance in Paradise* and decided to close out my evening of movies with a re-watch of this film. I love this film for depicting a guy who suffers a breakup and is, well, sad.** It’s also quite funny in the early 2010s way that involves a lot of raunchy humor.
Cost: Netflix monthly fee $7.99
Where watched: at home
Also consider: Superbad, I Love You, Man
*What has become of Mr. Brand?*** He was everywhere for a while. Perhaps his classic debauched rock star-equse persona is not needed in movies right now? He also wrote a moving piece after Amy Winehouse’s death that is worth reading. An excerpt:
Now Amy Winehouse is dead, like many others whose unnecessary deaths have been retrospectively romanticised, at 27 years old. Whether this tragedy was preventable or not is now irrelevant. It is not preventable today. We have lost a beautiful and talented woman to this disease. Not all addicts have Amy’s incredible talent. Or Kurt’s or Jimi’s or Janis’s. Some people just get the affliction. All we can do is adapt the way we view this condition, not as a crime or a romantic affectation but as a disease that will kill.
**This seems rather obvious, but seeing a man react with sadness to the loss of a relationship isn’t a mainstay of cinema–even when used as a comedy device. Mostly they aren’t being broken up with, or they react in anger, or with violence.
***Apparently of late he’s been living his best life in Ireland.