comedy

Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates

Director: Jake Szymanski (2016) BBFC cert: 15

Head to Hawaii for raunchy raucous fun in this sweet natured and bad taste comedy.

Adam DeVine and Zac Efron are unerringly convincing as idiotic party loving brothers, Mike and Dave Stangler with a reputation for causing chaos at family shindigs.

To ensure their sister’s nuptials in Hawaii are a drama-free affair, their Dad demands they find a pair of ‘nice’ women as dates.

Mike and Dave think they’ve struck gold with hedge fund manager Alice and teacher Tatiana, an intelligent, charming and pretty pair. But they’re really unemployed waitresses out for a free holiday and up for a good time.

Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza are a sleazy, sweet and sexy blast and the film powers wantonly along whenever they’re on screen, stealing the film from the supposed leads.

As their facade dissolves in booze, drugs and sex, the boys must mature to ensure the wedding goes ahead.

The tone and jokes are typical of most of Efron’s recent output and yes, among the sex jokes he appears topless and sings and dances. However this is on a par with the enjoyable Bad Neighbours 2 (2016) rather than the woeful Dirty Grandpa (2016).

The former film traded on the idea feminism has allowed girls to act as badly as boys if they so choose. This follows a similar path with the girls on top as they out-party the boys at every turn.

★★★☆☆

@ChrisHunneysett

Chevalier

Director: Athina Rachel Tsangari (2016) BBFC cert

Described by the filmmakers as a buddy movie without the buddies, this black comedy satirises the competitive machismo of modern men.

It’s acutely observed and men everywhere will squirm uncomfortably at with recognition at the petty behaviour.

Six average middle aged blokes are enjoying a fishing trip on a luxury yacht when one suggests a game. The winner will be declared ‘best in general’ with the prize a chevalier signet ring.

They set each other a series of challenges with each man scoring everyone else in a note book. Recipes, ringtones and sexual relationships are all under scrutiny and inevitably there is some pointed measuring of body parts.

The captains’ voice over the tannoy suggests the spirit of reality TV, but also harks back to army camp announcer Radar from M.A.S.H. (1970). Robert Altman’s anti-war satire offered a far more scathing examination of humanity in a regimented environment.

As holiday activities of skinny dipping, jet skiing, wind surfing become areas of conflict, so collusion, cheating and the pleasure place becomes more a floating prison.

Amid the ridiculous and pointless competitiveness, the film offers sympathy for the men who are prisoners to their natures and submit to vice to cope with the pressures of scrutiny and ambition.

★★★☆☆

@ChrisHunneysett

Ice Age: Collision Course

Director: Mike Thurmeier, Galen T. Chu (2016) BBFC cert U

There seems to be no stopping this prehistoric animated franchise as it cheerily grinds on its way across the savannah of global cinema.

In yet another episode of extinction avoidance, Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary return to voice Manny the woolly mammoth, Sid the sloth and Diego the sabre toothed tiger.

As ever Scrat the squirrel is the main reason to watch and time passes slowly whenever he’s off screen. The acorn obsessed animal ends up in outer space and accidentally causes an asteroid to threaten life on Earth.

Meanwhile down on the planet’s surface our squabbling trio of heroes are engaged in painful subplots to fill out the running time. Sid is allowed a romantic interest and Manny’s irritating daughter plans to get married.

Having begun in 2002 and now on a wearying fifth instalment, it may be better for all concerned if the one of the many threatened catastrophes occurred.

★★☆☆☆

@ChrisHunneysett

Ghostbusters (2016)

Director: Paul Feig (2016) BBFC cert 12A

This supernatural reboot rakes over the bones of the 1984 comedy classic but fails to scare up the fun.

 Being bravely recast with an all female team has resulted in a ferocious online furore. However this gender switching is nothing new to Hollywood, it worked super successfully for Rosalind Russell in screwball comedy His Girl Friday (1940) and you don’t have to go that far back for other examples. Last year Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) gave a turbo charged reboot to that ’80’s franchise by putting the women in the driving seat.

This is very funny and scary. But only for the first five minutes before the new team turn up. From then on it’s sadly an indulgent Melissa McCarthy vehicle loaded up with CGI to paper over the holes in the weak script.

This is very much her movie and on a par with her recent The Boss (2016) and less fun than the similarly spooky Jack Black caper Goosebumps (2016).

Once again New York is awash with ectoplasm and evil spirits as the apocalypse approaches and only the Ghostbusters team of paranormal investigators can prevent it.

McCarthy and Kristen Wiig star as scientists Abby and Erin. They go into business as paranormal investigators after losing their university jobs.

Pushed into the background, poor Kate McKinnon is forced to gurn for attention as Jillian, the inventor of the teams ghoul catching gadgets.

She’s given a dance scene, an action moment and a speech, and all are great. However they feel more like ‘a bit for the trailer’ or a guilty ‘we’d better give her something to do’ than organic character reveals. McKinnon is easily best in show and I wish she’d been put front and centre.

Leslie Jones is subway worker Patty who sees a ghost and inexplicably joins up. She shouts most of her lines, probably in order to get noticed. Enough has been said about the fact there are three white scientists and one black transport worker. This isn’t a result of malicious intent but a foolish and avoidable lack of script oversight.

The dull villain played by Neil Casey is a self proclaimed genius called Rowan. He’s a janitor who wants to bring forth the apocalypse as revenge on an uncaring world.

Despite some familiar locations, New York is curiously underpopulated and never seems like a living metropolis. This neuters a threat which is never set higher than Def Con Scooby Doo.

Given far more to do than his equivalent in the first film, Chris Hemsworth has a great time at our expense as a dimwitted secretary called Kevin. He’s employed on the basis he looks like Chris Hemsworth. This is fine but is one of many underdeveloped ideas.

Other wasted opportunities include the new Ghostmobile being a hearse and having a ghost chasing scene in a death metal concert. These are starting points not jokes in themselves and are left hanging, waiting for a punchline that never arrives.

Andy Garcia’s city mayor is a character in search of a purpose. He’s picked off the nostalgia shelf  in a tick box exercise to keep the fans happy.

This is an origin story of how the gang get together. In order to eke out some sentiment it fleshes out character backstory the first didn’t feel the need to possess.

One character muses why she joined the team. Never mind the supernatural stuff, this is the real mystery that is never explained.

There’s an unfunny running gag about Chinese food which has no purpose except to indulge McCarthy’s showboating and prolong her screen time.

If because of your attachment to the original film you’re pleased this isn’t a glowing review, then you’re an idiot. No material is safe from being resurrected, rebooted or recycled, no matter how precious it is to you personally.

Plus the deficit of female led high profile films in Hollywood needs to be addressed and I would have loved the opportunity to sing the praises of a great piece of work. My fear is this weak effort may stifle the production of other potential projects.

I enjoyed McCarthy and Feig’s Spy (2015) though Bridesmaids (2011) was over praised. If you thought those were hilarious you may enjoy Ghostbusters (2016) more than I did.

Lacking the sly wit of the original but borrowing the familiar logo, costumes, equipment, theme song, dialogue and story, this adds slapstick and feels like a collection of undercooked tribute sketches happy to coast on the personality of the performers.

Original cast members Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts are among the cameos. But by the time Sigourney Weaver turns up, my interest had long since given up the ghost.

★★☆☆☆

@ChrisHunneysett

 

 

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

Director: Mandie Fletcher (2016)

Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley stagger into cinemas in the big screen version of their little lamented TV show.

It’s smug, self regarding, laboured, rushed, cheap and never funny.

The pair star as champagne swilling, cash strapped, celeb haunting idiots Edina and Patsy, an obnoxious PR guru and her bessie mate magazine editor.

The characters started life as a sketch on The French And Saunders Show (1990). A sitcom series was commissioned for the BBC and ran for three series from 1992 to 1995, with intermittent specials through to 2012.

Within the first five minutes the loathsome pair have interrupted a fashion show and fallen drunk out of a taxi. So normal service is resumed.

The cackling, snorting duo cause a mini media storm when Edina accidentally pushes Kate Moss off a wall and into the Thames.

With the model presumed dead, Edina and Patsy head to Cannes to escape the media furore and find a rich husband or two.

Attempts at giving Edina some depth are laughable, but not in a good way.

Series regulars Julia Sawalha, June Whitfield, Jane Horrocks are pressed back into action for little effect, except perhaps for offering moral support to Saunders who also wrote the script.

Neither the writing and performances have aged well. Jokes involve people walking into walls, wearing funny outfits and swearing.

Adding stale references to twitter, tazers and vaping fail to freshen the air of desperation which hangs over this sorry exercise in sycophantic snivelling to the fashion industry.

There’s a legion of cameos such as Stella McCartney, Alexa Chung, Sadie Frost and Suki Waterhouse. The inclusion of people like this should be the punchline of jokes. They shouldn’t be feted for turning up and being themselves.

Fans of the show may possibly find something to enjoy but for everyone else it’s a witless, wretched waste of time and energy. Especially mine.

★☆☆☆☆

@ChrisHunneysett

 

Elvis & Nixon

Director: Liza Johnson (2016)

Elvis Presley enters the building in this rocking good dramatisation of the day he dropped by the White House to visit president Nixon.

They are played with competitive brilliance by Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey.

These global heads of music and politics met on December 21 1970. This is in the wake of the optimism of the luna landing and before the crucifixion of the American psyche caused by fall of Saigon.

Brooding in his Graceland mansion and disgusted by the state of the world, Elvis flies to Washington DC. Guards are bemused when he rocks up to the White House and asks to see the President.

Nixon is persuaded a joint photo will help him capture the youth vote. Elvis wants to become a Federal Agent At Large, in order to infiltrate the underworld and fight crime.

A smart script milks the meeting for humour and a comparison of their homes flags up the similarities between the isolated, paranoid and self made pair.

They bond over a love for their daughters and share fears for America’s future in the face of a youth culture neither understand.

Their defining relationships are with flunkies who sacrifice their own lives to serve. Alex Pettyfer and Colin Hanks provide very effective support as Elvis acolyte Jerry Schilling and White House aide Egil Krogh.

The emotional core of the film lies in the gap between the differing attitudes of these characters to their bosses.

With hunched shoulders and wrists flashing like a snakes tongue, Kevin Spacey captures the voice and mannerisms of Tricky Dicky. A broad performance rather than deep but we enjoy it almost as much as the actor does.

Nixon has been essayed several times on screen. In Frost/Nixon (2008) in a best supporting Oscar winning turn by  Frank Langella. Anthony Hopkins played him in Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995) and Dan Hedaya was a Nixon surrogate in Dick (1999). My personal favourite Nixon is James Le Gros in surf and bank robbing thriller Point Break (1991).

In a film career of increasingly questionable quality Elvis starred in 31 movies. Viva Las Vegas (1964) was his last excellent film and it’s notable it was released the same year as The Beatles A Hard Day’s Night (1964), the band who pushed Elvis aside as they imported a new brand of music to the US.

Kurt Russell was enjoyable in TV movie Elvis (1979) and Val Kilmer was a charismatic gold lame-clad spiritual guide in the Tarantino scripted True Romance (1993).

The brave decision not to feature any Elvis songs in Elvis & Nixon prevents us from being distracted by miming or less than perfect singing.

Shannon looks even less like Elvis than I do, but his astute and captivating performance sidesteps caricature to give us the man and the myth.

Still capable of causing hysteria in secretaries and receptionists wherever he goes, Elvis is thoughtful and proudly polite, employing his charm and celebrity status to open doors.

Deadly serious in his intentions and brilliant at relating to people, he also seems a couple of places removed from our everyday reality.

This is an existential Elvis struggling with the weight of his own legacy, gold medallions and sunglasses. One who recognises the gap between the lonesome rockabilly and the global superstar and is calculating enough to use the latter to achieve the objectives of the former.

The meeting in the Oval Office is all too brief and being a consummate performer, the king keeps us wanting more.

★★★★☆

@ChrisHunneysett

The Boss

Director: Ben Falcone (2016)

Melissa McCarthy has carved out a career of variable quality with a distinctive brand of knockabout comedy.

Since a scene stealing supporting role in Bridesmaids (2011) she successfully teamed up with Sandra Bullock in The Heat (2014) before taking centre stage in comedy smash Spy (2015).

However for every hit there has been a misfire such as the poor Identity Thief (2013) and the terrible Tammy (2014). This is one of her lesser films.

Practically a one woman industry, she acts as producer, writer and star of this corporate romp.

Michelle Darnell is a shiny suited and power haired Sharon Osbourne lookalike with the blustering self belief of Donald Trump.

The bullying self made financial guru loses her fortune when she’s punished for insider trading.

Once released Michelle moves in with her former assistant and begins to plot her way back to the big time.

Kristen Bell and Ella Anderson offer a sweet contrast to their abrasive guest as hard working single mum Claire and young teen daughter Rachel.

While Peter Dinklage is an enjoyably demented samurai obsessed former colleague turned bitter business enemy.

McCarthy relies heavily on her screen presence to bulldozer over the lack of decent jokes in a weak script which substitutes slapstick violence and swearing for wit.

Hardcore fans of McCarthy may enjoy The Boss but it’s not a product that raises the value of her stock.

★★☆☆☆

@ChrisHunneysett

 

Alice Through The Looking Glass

Director: James Bobin (2016)

It’s six long years since the staggeringly successful but forgettable Alice In Wonderland (2010) from director Tim Burton.

And time drags in this muddled sequel which has even less connection to the fantastical novels of Lewis Carroll.

There’s no lyrical sense of wonder just hack handed sentiment, blunt slapstick and plodding special effects.

It jettisons familiar characters into two distinct and parallel plots of its own invention, respectively involving time travel and female empowerment. The resolution of family conflict joins the two strands loosely together.

Never forget Hollywood’s golden rule of scriptwriting; a film is always about family, regardless of how appropriate it is to the material.

Burton butchered Carroll’s whimsical masterpiece, replacing its playful intelligence, charm and wit with flamboyant gothic design and an excruciating mannered performance by Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter.

Against the odds, Burton’s replacement James Bobin has made an even more unwieldy and incoherent film.

Previously Bobin directed The Muppets (2011) and Muppets Most Wanted (2014). He began in TV with The 11 O’Clock Show (1998) where he collaborated with Sacha Baron Cohen. The comic actor features heavily if sadly not hilariously in Looking Glass.

Despite Alice being reinvented as an action heroine, the pale Mia Wasikowska gives a pallid performance as Alice. Perhaps she’s miffed she’s billed a humble third after Depp and Anne Hathaway.

Alice steps through a mirror and falls into Wonderland, immediately signalling to us nothing in this world can hurt her. Which destroys any potential sense of danger in one dull thud.

She is told her friend the Mad Hatter has gone more mad but in a bad way, and is dying.

In white face paint, orange wig and tweeds, Depp’s Hatter resembles Ronald McDonald’s eccentric great uncle after confinement to a suitable attic.

To cure him Alice must do the impossible task of stealing a device called the chronosphere and go back in time to rescue his long lost family.

Removing the time travelling machine risks destroying Wonderland and everyone in it. But this threat is quickly forgotten about as the film is more interested in whizzing Alice about. There’s a surprise incursion to an insane asylum.

Alice is chased by Time who wants his contraption back. The film can’t decide if the black clad and German accented Sacha Baron Cohen is the baddie.

Also vying to be the baddie but failing in villainy are Helena Bonham Carter and Hathaway. They make a squabbling return as respectively the large headed and rude Red Queen and the elegant and duplicitous White Queen.

The presence of Bonham Carter, his now ex-wife, may explain Burton’s exclusion from the director’s chair.

The sepulchral tones of the late Alan Rickman offers a fleeting moment of gravity. While in her brief appearances as Alice’s mother, theatrical Scots stalwart Lindsay Duncan makes more of an impression than Wasikowska achieves.

Lending their voices to the advertising poster in some un-necessarily expensive casting choices are Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, John Sessions, Barbara Windsor, Paul Whitehouse and Toby Jones.

Usually my heart despairs whenever Matt Lucas appears so it says a great deal about the film I found his presence curiously bearable.

Alice won Oscars for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design, as well as being nominated for Best Visual Effects.

No doubt Looking Glass will follow the first film in being in the running for similar awards. It’s rich and detailed production design gives us plenty to look at while everyone busily runs around.

The chronosphere is a golden mechanical marvel Alice sits in to blast back in time, a design nod to George Pal’s teen culture embracing adaption of HG Well’s The Time Machine (1960).

Alice visits vast gothic halls and traverses a tumultuous ocean of time. The world is populated by  mechanical assistants, vegetable guardsmen, giant chess pieces, a fire breathing Jabberwocky, walking frogs, talking dogs and of course the disappearing Cheshire Cat.

Bookending the film is a framing device featuring Alice’s adventures at sea pursued by pirates. Because the world needs another big budget CGI fest involving Johnny Depp and pirates.

The story stresses the importance of not wasting ones time. Which is strange as I wasted two hours of my life watching this joyless merry go round of a movie.

Mind you, it felt much longer.

★★☆☆☆

@ChrisHunneysett

 

 

 

 

The Angry Birds Movie

Director: Clay Kaytis & Fergal Reilly (2016)

After a history of plundering plays, books, games and toys for inspiration, Hollywood has gone the whole hog and made a film based on a smartphone app.

And though The Lego Movie (2014) is a great example of how unpromising material can inspire awesome cinema, this animated effort featuring birds fighting pigs is a bird-brained bore.

It’s bright, colourful, busy and noisy but far less fun than the game ever was.

Scenes eke out their jokes with violent slapstick for the little ones and sneering sarcasm for the teens. Plus there’s snot, wee, a multitude of wriggling bums and a bizarre singing cowboy sequence.

Jason Sudeikis voices the charmless Red, a lonely bird who gets angry when his feathers are ruffled.

He lives in a colony of cute flightless birds on a tropical island.

After a disastrous attempt at delivering a birthday cake, Red is sent to anger management class.

Because kids always find therapy jokes funny.

One day a steampunk pirate ship arrives with a crew of green pigs offering the trotter of friendship.

Red is given the bird by his compatriots when he questions the pigs motives.

He is proved right when the pigs kidnap the islander’s precious unhatched eggs. The swines.

So Red must come up with a plan and save the eggs’ bacon, without making a pigs ear of it and before their goose is cooked.

The soft boiled script relies heavily on crashing action and a scrambled mix of rap, rock and disco to capture the pointless freneticism of playing the game, but the tone is aggressive point scoring rather than giddy silliness.

And it all feels underdeveloped, presumably a consequence of trying to rush the movie into cinemas before everyone moves onto the next must-have gaming app. Oh dear.

Josh Gad and Danny McBride voice Chuck and Bomb. The former has super speed and the latter explodes.

Maya Rudolph irritates as Matilda the hippy psychologist and Sean Penn growls as a menacing over sized bird involved in a weird romantic subplot.

These pigging awful birds can flock off.

★★☆☆☆