Category: Comedy

Horrible Bosses 2

“Horrible Bosses 2” is nowhere near as funny or comical as it’s 2011 predecessor.

In this installment, Nick (Bateman), Dale (Day) and Kurt (Sudeikis) attempt to go in business together making a shower head that produces soap along with the water as you shower. They find what they believe is a backer for their business, but these guys have no business savvy. They hire people and get an assembly line going and make 4300 shower heads. When they go to meet their presumed backer he balks. The story unfolds from there…

“Horrible Bosses 2” is only slightly funny and only mildly entertaining. It’s more stupid than funny. Black Friday shopping would provide more entertainment and be more stimulating.

Jamie Foxx makes an appearance and while he is in the scenes everything is hysterical after that nothing.

I would suggest waiting for “Horrible Bosses 2” on DVD or Blue-Ray.

This is a 1 1/2 Star Movie.

The Judge

In “The Judge”, big city attorney Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.) is summoned back to the Indiana town he grew up in when he is informed that his mother has died. Once he returns to his childhood home Hank attempts to reconnect with his estranged Dad, “The Judge” (Robert Duvall) and re-establish a relationship with the family he walked away from.

Judge Palmer (Robert Duvall) ends up getting arrested for attempted murder when his vintage Cadillac strikes and kills a recently released ex-con that he himself once convicted. The story unfolds from there…

“The Judge” is not a bad movie, but it takes way too long to get to the point. Family dysfunction is the order of the day with the Palmer family. This is played out throughout the movie.

There are at least 5 smaller stories playing out in the movie involving a high school romance rekindled, a mentally challenged younger brother, past transgressions of a father, possible incest and an impending divorce. None of these scenarios have anything to do with the story at hand. This all causes the movie to be disjointed.

There is plenty of star power in “The Judge”, too bad it’s not fully utilized.

This is a 2 1/2 Star Movie!

Chef

Chef” is the surprise “sleeper” movie of the early summer!!

“Chef” is about Miami-based Chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) who is the head chef at a quaint upscale California restaurant. Riva (Dustin Hoffman) the owner of the restaurant insists on selecting the menu every day. Celebrated Food Critic Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt) gave the restaurant a very bad review because of the food selection.

Chef Carl tries to negotiate with Riva the owner of the restaurant to allow him as a “creative cook” to select what he believes is a winning menu that will win over the critic. When Riva disagrees and forces Chef Carl to either cook his menu or leave. Chef Carl chooses to leave.
Days later Chef Carl is presented with the opportunity to own his own “Food Truck”. The story unfolds from there…

“Chef” is fun, light-hearted and very entertaining. The movie flows and there is never a dull moment. The cast is great! What a surprise “Sleeper”. This movie has been playing in a limited number of theaters since May 9th. It really should be opened in wide-release. It’s very good. I highly recommend “Chef”.

“Chef” is a 4 1/2 Stars movie.

The Single Moms Club

“The Single Moms Club” is about five women of various financial means who each have something in common. They are all single Moms. Their children all attend the same prestigious academy. The Mom’s are either divorced or the divorce is pending or in one Mom’s case she never married.

The movie takes you through the trials and tribulations that the five Moms deal with from parenting to dating to their individual job/career situations. Their first meeting is at the academy where their children are on the verge of being suspended. After meeting to discuss the situation, they decide to form “The Single Moms Club”. The story unfolds from there…

The movie is light-hearted and at times quite entertaining. The problem though is that some of the acting is very weak. Nia Long is strong, beautiful and her acting is very good, but I cannot say that for some of the other actors in the film. Think of “The Single Moms Club” as a two hour sitcom. You can easily classify this movie as a “Chick Flick”.

Grudge Match

I am not sure why the paid critics were so hard on “Grudge Match”, I found it mildly entertaining.

“Grudge Match” is about two retired Pittsburgh boxers Billy “The Kid” (DeNiro) and Henry “Razor” Sharp (Stallone). They maintained a fierce rivalry that continued from the 1980’s until now. They each beat the other in a prize fight, but on the eve of their third fight Henry announced his retirement and this ended both fighters boxing careers.
Thirty years later boxing promoter Dante Slate Jr. (Hart) comes calling. He makes both Henry and Billy an offer they can’t refuse. The story unfolds from there…

There were a few holes in the story, but the overall movie picks up toward the end especially the boxing match scenes. I found the movie to be mildly funny at times, but did not offer the comic relief expected. I think that DeNiro and Stallone had decent on-screen chemistry, but I found some of the scenes with Kim Basinger and Sylvester Stallone to be awkward.

If you have run out of “After Christmas Shopping”, then by all means see “Grudge Match”.

Last Vegas

“Last Vegas” is like “The Hangover” for the “Geriatric Set”. The comedy was fun but calm, nothing really outrageous!

Billy (Michael Douglas) decides to get married after being single for 58 years. The woman of course is half his age. He calls his childhood pals, Paddy (Robert DeNiro), Archie (Morgan Freeman) and Sam (Kevin Kline) who are located in various parts of the US and invites them to Vegas for a weekend of bachelorhood fun and for the wedding. After everyone arrives in Vegas, there are a number of basic problems that occur, one being the fact that they forgot to book a hotel room.

Archie (Morgan Freeman) tries his luck at the gaming tables with $15,000 dollars. He turns his $15,000 into $100,000 plus. The Casino owner wants a chance to recoup some of their money so they offer the best suite in the casino to the four pals. The story unfolds from there…

“Last Vegas” will be considered boring by the younger set, but if you are over the age of 40, you will be entertained. Great cast, very good chemistry. A nice weekend movie.

Peeples

Wade Walker (Craig Robinson) decides to ask his girlfriend Grace (Kerry Washington) of 1 year to marry him, only the weekend he plans to pop the question she informs him that she is going to visit her parents for a long weekend.

Wade decides to surprise Grace by showing up unannounced at her family’s Sag Harbor “Weekend Home”. Once Wade arrives he finds out that Grace hasn’t told her family anything about him. Her father is Judge Peeples a highly successful Circuit Court Judge. He looks down on Wade in disdain. The story unfolds from there…
I have a tremendous amount of respect for S. Epatha Merkerson and Kerry Washington. S. Epatha Merkerson played Police Lt. Anita Van Buren on my favorite all time TV show the original Law and Order. I love Kerry Washington on the new ABC hit drama “Scandal”. That being said…

“Peeples” has to be the most ridiculous and dumbest movie to open in recent months. This is supposed to be a comedy, but I didn’t laugh. Besides Wade and Grace’s story there were at least 3 other agendas that were playing out. There were some really crude parts. Also the movie ended abruptly. Thank goodness it only lasted 95 minutes. I am not sure I would have wanted to stay longer.
This is a Tyler Perry production. This is definitely not his best work.
The best thing about “Peeples” is that there were 5 previews for movies that I am interested in seeing later this year. Those previews gave me a nice glimpse of what’s to come.

Wait for “Peeples” to come out on DVD or Blue Ray.

Pain & Gain

“Pain & Gain” is based on a true story about three guys who are tired of the poor life and are looking for a fast way to get rich.
Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) is a regular bodybuilder and personal trainer at a Florida Gym called the “Sun Gym” along with his friend Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie). They both concoct a plan to kidnap and extort money from a gym member Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub) who is a rich business man.
Along the way Daniel and Adrian convince a recently paroled convict Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson) to help them. They became “The Sun Gym Gang”. They successfully get Kershaw to sign over all of his holdings and money, but when Kershaw survives their murder attempt on him, he convinces investigator Ed Du Bois (Ed Harris) to try and get his money and property back. The story unfolds from there…
I found it very hard to believe that this story was true. It’s such a hare-brained scheme. Some of the events seemed impossible to pull off.
There is a tremendous amount of crude sexuality, nudity and profane language used in the movie.
There are some really funny parts where you will be laughing out loud at them, but not with them. There are too many plot wrinkles. Too much graphic violence and the saga is just plain dizzy.
If you are familiar with this story then by all means do see “Pain & Gain” otherwise wait for it on DVD, Blue Ray or Cable.

Playing for Keeps

The paid critics were brutal to say the least regarding “Playing for Keeps”, giving it a zero out of 100 on Rotten Tomatoes and basically a 32 out of 100 everywhere else, but I went to see it anyway hoping they were wrong.
Gerard Butler plays an out of work former professional Soccer star. He returns to his home town to try and put his life back together, be a father to his young son and find gainful employment. Problems arise along the way and the feelings he has for his ex (Jessica Biel) that he thought were buried rise to the surface, while she is about to marry someone else. The story unfolds from there…
Severely disjointed and only mildly entertaining, “Playing for Keeps” is nothing more then an over done story that we have seen many many times before. It’s a predictable 95 minutes and definitely not worth the money.
Wait for “Playing for Keeps” to surface on DVD or Blueray.

The Odd Life of Timothy Green

A married couple (Cindy and Jim Green) were at the end of their rope trying to have a baby. They went through all of the normal Fertility tests and procedures, but nothing worked. Giving up in despair they return to their regular lives in Stanleyville (The Home of the Number 2 Pencil) where Jim works in the Pencil Factory and Cindy works at the Pencil Museum.

Trying to console one another Jim (Joel Edgerton) and Cindy (Jennifer Garner) open a bottle of wine and after some persuading on Jim’s part, gets Cindy to write down on little pieces of paper all of the characteristics they would hope their child would have. They then put the pieces of paper in a wooden box and bury it in their vegetable garden. They go to bed. During the night there is a violent thunder storm. Jim is awaken by a loud noise at the back door, after securing the back door, grabbing a drink from the milk bottle and returning to bed, Jim thinks he is snuggling up to Cindy, but she’s in the bathroom. The story unfolds from there…

“The Odd Life of Timothy Green” is a family friendly light-hearted movie. The movie is a bit cheesy and it just so happens that the couple’s last name is “Green”, but there is an entertainment factor here. This is a Disney production and there is a certain amount of “Magic” in the story.

The movie is relaxing. There is no anxiety in seeing this movie. I found parts of it to be funny in a good way. It’s not the best movie that Jennifer Garner has made, but it’s not the worst.

Drawbacks: Mild Mature Thematic Elements

This is a Dramatic Comedy Film, If you like this type of movie ENJOY”!!

The Paid Critics gave this movie 2 stars. I Think it’s worth 2 1/2 stars.