Posts tagged Ed Helms
“The Hangover Part III” Third in a Successful, Redundant Series
Jun 1st
“Successful, Redundant Series”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Hangover Part III is not as good as the first movie in the trilogy, but much better than the second one, which was just a remake of the first one but with the setting changed from Las Vegas to Thailand.
This one mixes up the basic plot of a lost weekend in connection with a wedding for the hapless men known as The Wolfpack, and it moves the setting back to Las Vegas, as well as adding two new characters to the mix.
Oh, and it also has a wedding, but you might be surprised at who gets married.
Once again the self-named Wolfpack consists of Phil, played by Bradley Cooper; Stu, played by Ed Helms; and Alan, played by Zach Galifianakis.
Doug is back, as well, but just as in the first two movies, he is missing from most of the story. That guy just can’t catch a break, can he?
After a brief prelude in Thailand, which features Mr. Chow, again played by Ken Jeong, the story begins with Alan driving down the freeway towing a live giraffe behind him and yelling, “Oh, my life is great!”
Alan is 42 years old and still living at home, and his life is anything but great and just keeps getting worse, mostly because he says he will never change, and this time he has an excuse.
Meanwhile, a gangster named Marshall, played by John Goodman, interrupts everybody’s plans and forces them to find Mr. Chow in order for Marshall to get back $21 million in gold that Chow stole from him.
No problem, right? Well, yes, lots of problems, but eventually they find Chow in Las Vegas and the madcap antics start all over again, some funny and some not so funny.
So, how many more of these movies can we take, and how many more can be made?
Well, the possibilities are endless and frightening, which means as long as they make money, which they seem to do.
After all, there is still one member of the Wolfpack who is not married, and then there is the possibility of divorce parties for all of them, but now I am just beginning to make everybody sick.
The Hangover Part III might not be the end of these movies, but just another one of a successful, redundant series.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Jeff, Who Lives at Home” Is Good, but Unoriginal
Mar 25th
“Good, but Unoriginal”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Jeff, Who Lives at Home may strike you as being familiar as you reach the end, which once again proves what I have been saying for years: Hollywood has run out of ideas.
If you have seen the 1998 Simon Birch, when you get to the climax in this movie, everything that leads up to it will suddenly become clear and you will quickly realize that you might have been watching a remake, only with the title character of this movie grown up from the title character of the previous movie.
However, the biggest clue comes at the beginning of the movie when Jeff says in a voice-over, “I can’t help but wonder about my fate.”
Jeff is played by Jason Segal, he is 30 years old, he lives in the basement of his mother’s house, and he believes that everything happens for a reason.
So, when he answers the phone and the caller is looking for someone named Kevin, that starts a series of events that guides Jeff through the rest of the movie, and they are mostly comic events.
Jeff’s mother, Sharon, played by Susan Sarandon, also calls Jeff from her workplace, and she sends Jeff on an errand that contributes to this day in the life of Jeff, who lives at home, also.
Then there is Pat, Jeff’s older brother who is played by Ed Helms. Pat is married, although there are problems in the marriage, and Pat doesn’t help their problems any when he surprises his wife by buying a new Porsche that they can’t afford.
The story takes place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and thus it is possible that Jeff and Pat could run into each other while Jeff is out fulfilling his errand, it is possible that while Pat is showing off his new Porsche to Jeff that they happen to see Pat’s wife and believe that she is having an affair with the man she is meeting, and it is also possible that the subplot involving their mother with a co-worker could bring everyone and everything together for the climax at the end.
And, yes, it is possible that the filmmakers of this movie didn’t realize they were copying the plot of that previous movie, only with grownups instead of kids.
Jeff, Who Lives at Home is good, but not original.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”