Andy Gapin

If you follow Judd Apatow on Twitter, you were probably more excited for Bridesmaids to be released so that the retweets would stop rather than actually being excited to see it. That’s not to say that the film wasn’t presented in a way to make one want to see it, it’s just that…well, there were a lot of retweets.

Bridesmaids declares itself as a chick flick (for the record, I don’t mind a good chick flick. I went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic in the theater by myself), but it doesn’t take much to realize, even before you see it, that it breaks the mold a bit in an attempt to be a female-casted version of the Hangover. Sure, it’s a wedding movie, but it’s not really a wedding movie. We barely meet the groom and the wedding-related stuff is barely important, it serves more so as a conduit for a story about maturing childhood friendships, early mid-life crisis, and brides-to-be shitting in the middle of the street while wearing a wedding dress. Bridesmaids is, at times, a raunchy movie that reminds us that girls aren’t always prissy and proper…not that we all need such a reminder. Some of us were already well aware of this fact and don’t doubt the ability of women to be funny.

Kristen Wiig does what she does best with Bridesmaids which is good because she plays the only character that really gets much development. This sort of leaves her to carry most of the movie herself with only little bits of help from the rest of the cast. Luckily, she’s up to the task, for the most part. The biggest problem with the Bridesmaids is that it felt like it was a bit up and down. The film is mostly a series of lulls joined together by brief periods of hilarity. It felt as though Wiig and her writing partner Annie Mumolo had a bunch of ideas that would have been great for a series of SNL sketches, but then just tried to throw filler in between them. The funny parts are really funny, but there is a lot of fat that could have been cut away to produce something that was leaner and more consistently funny. Kristen Wiig is great at sketch comedy so she really makes these sections of the film work, but in between, I just felt myself waiting for the next sketch to hit.

Bridesmaids is worth seeing if you were already convinced that you wanted to see it. It’s worth the two hours of your time, but if you were on the fence before reading this because what you saw in the trailers wasn’t enough to completely sell you, you’re best waiting for a Netflix rental in a few months.

Rating: B

I’m a huge Simon Pegg and Nick Frost fan so a movie that’s finally written by the two of them was something I’ve wanted for a while. Include that with the rest of the list of people involved in making Paul and it’s easy to set your hopes a bit too high. Though, having read some interviews with Pegg and Frost regarding the film, I had a good idea of what to expect.

Paul delivered on those expectations in every way that I could have hoped for and was everything I wanted it to be. There were nerdy jokes and just the right amount of cheese. There was a decent amount of stuff hidden in the movie for nerds, even some stuff that I didn’t pick up on at first. Paul proves that while Pegg and Frost work amazingly well with Edgar Wright, the two of them can survive on their own without him. In fact, the main reason Paul actually happened was because Wright was off working on Scott Pilgram vs the World and Pegg and Frost had some downtime to actually write the script for an idea they collectively had for a while.

Paul kind of reminds me of what I would expect ToeJam and Earl (remember those guys?) to be like if they had become assimilated into American culture and pair with a couple of British dudes. Friendly, a bit rude, and totally hilarious.

Surprisingly, one of the best parts of the film turned out to be an ongoing joke of random profanity that brought back memories of seeing Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back for the first time. Now, random cursing sounds like it could kill the quality of a movie real quickly, but it fits and it’s creativity actually adds to the quality of Paul.

Paul is simultaneously a sci-fi movie, a road trip movie, and a buddy comedy, but it is not at all a parody, instead it kind of tips its hat to these genres and stands squarely on its own two feet.

Paul is highly recommended as a see-it-right-now movie. Don’t wait.

Rating: A-

Despicable Me is one of those movies that gets totally over marketed for so long that by the time it finally comes out, you’re mostly just relieved the marketing will die down. I was sold on this movie about 3 seconds into the first trailer I saw for it, but spending the last few months seeing this previewed before every movie I’ve seen got a bit annoying. Lucky for everyone, Despicable Me delivers in a serious way.

Despicable Me is a fun movie that entertains, but doesn’t stray too far from standard ideas. Coming out two weeks after Toy Story 3 hurts it a little, though pretty much any movie would have trouble following that up. Still, Despicable Me is a great movie that I really loved a lot.

I like that things moved along quickly, but throughout the entire film, I felt like I had already seen it and already knew the characters. I even had a nickname for the littlest girl that Gru adopts before even seeing the movie. I had been referring to her as Boo.0 as she reminded me pretty heavily of Boo from Monsters, Inc. She’s super cute.

The minions are pretty entertaining, but I’m still not quite sure what they are and I’m curious as to what they were saying throughout the movie. During the credits, I used the Best Buy Movie Mode app on my iPhone to translate, but sadly, the app doesn’t work throughout the entire movie. That’s probably a good thing though, no one needs a theater full of people holding up their phones during a movie.

If you want to root for an evil villain and not feel bad about it, Despicable Me is for you.

Rating: A-

You take a look at Date Night and you’re like “alright, Tina Fey and Steve Carell, yeah, this should be decent.” You don’t expect a whole lot more than that and this is good because you don’t get much more than that. What you get is a good movie that is definitely worth the AM Cinema price, maybe the full price, but that’s really it. Date Night entertains without convincing you that you’ll ever want to see it again.

Easily, Tina Fey is the highlight of this movie. As someone that rarely disappoints, she is extremely on, especially in one scene in particular–you’ll know which one I’m talking about. At times she’s almost a bit Liz Lemon-ish, but more like Liz’s socially apt sister. Steve Carell is finally not playing a character that’s painfully awkward. While I have no complaints about his previous work, it’s kind of nice to see that his entire existence as an actor isn’t based solely on being awkward, even if Michael Scott is his best work.

The appareances by James Franco, Mila Kunis, Common, Mark Wahlberg, Mark Ruffalo, and Kristen Wiig feel hit or miss. James Franco and Mila Kunis are kind of awesome, like you’d expect. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, if not for a running gag involving Mark Wahlberg’s character, he could be replaced by anyone. Actually, scratch that, the gag is funny, but anyone else could be just as effective.

For the most part, Date Night moves along pretty predictably, getting more and more outrageous as things progress. If you happen to be in a well established relationship and see Date Night with your significant other, you’ll find yourselves looking at each other more than a few times throughout the movie, commenting about how in a couple of decades that will be the two of you. While it may seem like a boring outlook on the future, you find that you aren’t really that disappointed by this…and this will feel odd to you.

For a movie that keeps you entertained and provides more than enough laughs, Date Night is worth the trip to the theater, but unless it’s playing on TV one day while you’re flipping through channels in a few years, you’ll probably be more than happy to leave it at the theater when the credits start to roll.

Rating: C+

I think everyone liked Whip It more than I did. I mean, I liked it a lot, but everyone that I’ve heard talk about it loved it. The movie was entertaining and I actually didn’t find Jimmy Fallon to be annoying which was unexpected, but there wasn’t really anything about it that grabbed me like I wanted it to. I feel like for a movie about roller derby with Ellen Page and all the other people that are in this, I want a little more.

Ellen Page is awesome and I love her, but I feel like sometimes that innocent little girl, deer in the headlights look she normally pulls off so well doesn’t always fit. In Whip It, it only felt appropriate about half the time. The look felt overused and Bliss (Ellen Page) seemed like she was more confident than her face was showing in a lot of scenes. I don’t think the problem was Ellen Page so much as it was Drew Barrymore’s directing. Okay fine, I just don’t want to fault Ellen Page. Deal with it.

I don’t know, I really don’t have much else to say about this one.

Rating: B

PS: Andrew Wilson should change his name to Beef Surpreme in real life because that’s all I see when I see him.

I don’t think I’ve met anyone that has ever said they don’t like Mike Judge. I know a few people that don’t get or like Idiocracy–I feel sorry for them–but everyone likes Office Space and most people in their mid to late twenties enjoyed Beavis And Butthead growing up. With all that in mind, I don’t think there’s going to be anyone that thinks Extract was bad. It’s not going to blow you away in any way, but it’s far from bad or boring. It’s not a great movie. It’s good movie.

Extract is pretty much exactly what you expect it to be. If you saw the trailer, you already know how the movie plays out. It’s nothing special and nothing you aren’t expecting. But that isn’t to say that it’s not an entertaining movie. Maybe it was because my expectations weren’t super high so I couldn’t be disappointed, but the only reason why I was waiting for it to end was because I had to pee.

To compare it to Judge’s other films, Extract is much more Office Space with a focus on banality, but not a notch or two down. Jason Bateman’s character is a rather likeable and easy to relate to guy, but I couldn’t decide if I really felt bad for him or not. I think I may have been rooting against him slightly. Casting-wise, Judge got it right on…even down to the generally easy-to-hate Ben Affleck who may have given the acting performance of his life in Extract. Okay, maybe that’s a bit overboard, but come on, even though he’s been in some good movies and hasn’t really ruined anything for me, he’s not that great of an actor. But he got the part exactly right for this film.

Overall, I’d say check it out if you’re looking for something to see, but if you’re not already dying to see it or desperate for something to do one night in the upcoming weeks, just wait for the DVD…and Netflix it.

Rating: B-