Posts tagged Steve Carell
“The Way Way Back” Only Way Way Okay
Jul 21st
“Way Way Okay”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Way Way Back is another movie about the coming of age for a teenage boy, only this time it is set at a beach during summer vacation.
The title refers to the third seat in those big clunky station wagons which faced backwards and in which Duncan sits at the beginning and the end of the movie.
Yes, when the movie opens, Duncan is in the car with his mother Pam, played by Toni Collette, which belongs to Trent, Pam’s boyfriend, played by Steve Carell, as they are all driving to Trent’s beach house with Trent’s teenage daughter Steph, where they are all going to spend the summer.
Pam and Steph are sleeping, and there is an uncomfortable scene with Trent and Duncan in which Trent humiliates Duncan and displays what an unpleasant person Trent is.
In fact, later Trent is described as a car salesman with bad taste.
When they arrive at the beach house, which is labeled The Riptide, Betty, played by Allison Janney, who is the neighbor in the house next door, comes over and says, “Let’s have a fun summer!”
Betty has a teenage daughter, Susanna, and a young boy named Peter, whom Betty is always criticizing for a physical trait he has.
However, the summer starts out as anything but fun for Duncan, and the first half of this movie is as painful for the audience as the summer begins for Duncan.
But then Duncan starts spending time at the local water park, where he becomes friends with the manager, Owen, played by Sam Rockwell.
Not only does Duncan begin to have fun, but Owen also takes him under his wing and hires Duncan as an employee there.
Meanwhile, back at The Riptide, the relationship between Pam and Trent becomes strained, especially when they all have to stay inside on a rainy day and play a board game.
You begin to think that all the adults in this film are divorced, but there is one married couple in the story, Kip and Joan, played by Rob Corddry and Amanda Peet, but their relationship isn’t so hot and in fact it contributes to the strained relationship between Pam and Trent.
Who would want to come of age in this bunch of unhappy adults?
The Way Way Back is only way way way okay.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
The Way, Way Back – Movie Trailer
Jul 13th
THE WAY, WAY BACK is the funny and poignant coming of age story of 14-year-old Duncan’s (Liam James) summer vacation with his mother, Pam (Toni Collette), her overbearing boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell), and his daughter, Steph (Zoe Levin). Having a rough time fitting in, the introverted Duncan finds an unexpected friend in gregarious Owen (Sam Rockwell), manager of the Water Wizz water park. Through his funny, clandestine friendship with Owen, Duncan slowly opens up to and begins to finally find his place in the world – all during a summer he will never forget.
“The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” So Credible, It’s a Cliche
Mar 22nd
“So Credible, It’s a Cliche”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone may appear to be fresh and original, but if you examine it closely, you will realize that you have already seen this movie many times before.
It has the same plot as many other movies before it, and all you have to do is change the profession, the setting, and whether you want to make it a drama or a comedy.
Here is the basic plot: Two lifelong friends are in business together, they have a falling out when an edgy newcomer arrives on their turf and starts taking business away from them, one of them seeks the advice of the person, now retired, who got them started in the business in the first place, there is a reconciliation in time for a final resolution, and the ending credits.
In this case, the profession is magic and magicians, the setting is modern-day Las Vegas, and the genre is a comedy.
Oh, and because the two magician partners are men, there is also a woman in the story, but in this case she doesn’t come between them, and their falling out isn’t because of her, but because of professional differences.
And let the record show that the quote of note in this movie is when the title character says about the newcomer, “He’s not a real magician, he doesn’t even have a costume.”
So, to fill in the remaining blanks, Steve Carell plays The Incredible Burt Wonderstone; Steve Buscemi plays the lifelong friend and partner Anton Marvelton; Jim Carrey plays the edgy newcomer Steve Gray; Olivia Wilde plays the love interest Jane, although there are many laughs caused by her being called Nicole; and Alan Arkin plays Rance Holloway, the retired magician who caused Burt and Anton to become magicians in the first place when they were kids.
Incidentally, Arkin seems to be the go-to guy in comedies these days, and he doesn’t let us down in this one.
Now, we will see all the standard magicians’ tricks during the course of the movie, but there is one at the end that you probably have not seen before, the disappearing audience trick.
Afterwards, we get to see how that trick is done, and it is more funny than amazing.
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, however, is not only credible, but it’s so credible, it’s a cliche.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
