Posts tagged Craig Robinson
“The Goods: Live Hard Sell Hard” Rude, Crude, Extremely Lewd and Very, Very Funny
Aug 19th
Rude, Crude, Extremely Lewd and Very, Very Funny
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
THE GOODS: LIVE HARD, SELL HARD is one of those movies that get talked about more than seen, which is a shame, because it is well worth your time, trouble, and money.
It just won’t win any awards for quality or be on anyone’s list of the best films of 2009 or any year.
Of course, this means that it will do bang-up business when it comes out on DVD.
Jeremy Pivens stars as Don “The Goods” Ready, and so the title can refer to him just as easily as it can to the concept of the movie, which is selling used cars.
In fact, the first sale in the movie is a classic, and it takes place before the opening titles.
But as Ready says at the end of an inspiring speech on an airplane to convince the stewardess to let him smoke, “I’m Don Ready, and I’ve got the goods!”
Then you have to see what happens next to believe it.
Don and his team of two men and one woman are freelance used-car sellers, and they are called to Temecula, California, to help save the dealership of Ben Selleck, played by James Brolin.
They will be in charge over the Fourth of July weekend to save the business that has been in the family for 40 years, and one method they use is to hire some dancers from a local strip club to loosen up the customers.
One subplot is that Selleck’s daughter, Ivy, is engaged to the son of Selleck’s rival, played by Alan Thicke, who wants to buy Selleck’s dealership and give it to his son as a place where his son’s band can rehearse.
Another subplot is that one of Selleck’s salesmen might be Don’s son from a one-night stand he had in Temecula 23 years ago.
And a third subplot is a running reference to something bad that happened to Don in Albuquerque, which we don’t learn about until near the end of the movie.
So, Don makes a deal with Selleck’s rival that they will sell every car on the lot by the end of the weekend, and if they don’t–. Well, you have to see the movie to know what the bargain is.
THE GOODS: LIVE HARD, SELL HARD is rude, crude, extremely lewd, and very, very funny.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard – Movie Trailer
Aug 14th
A smooth-talking jack-of-all-trades attempts to save a struggling car dealership from certain bankruptcy in this comedy starring Jeremy Piven, directed by Chappelle’s Show creator Neal Brennan, and produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Productions. Don Ready (Piven) takes sales seriously; he’s always up for a challenge, and he parties as hard as he works. Approached to help an ailing car dealership from falling into the red, Ready recruits a crew of his best men and descends upon the quiet town of Temecula determined to succeed. Before long the dealership is flourishing and Ready’s crew are kings of the roost, but what happens when the man who made his mint by hustling cars meets the one woman who isn’t charmed by his formidable skills as a salesman. Realizing this may be his one shot at true love, Ready starts working overtime to convince the woman of his dreams that he’s the best bargain on the lot. Has the hustler finally found his soul, or is he so locked into his anything-goes lifestyle that there’s no looking back? Ving Rhames, Ed Helms, James Brolin, and David Koechner co-star.
“Zack and Miri Make a Porno” Erotic Reimagining
Nov 13th
Erotic Reimagining
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO is not the worst film of the year, although it is probably down there with the worst, and yet it probably also has the worst title, which gives away half the plot right off the bat.
Written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, if it had just added “and Lived Happily Ever After” to the title, the whole plot would have been given away right there.
Yes, this is a typical “Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back again” story, although they met 20 years ago in first grade and have been friends ever since, they have been living together platonically since high school for the past 10 years, and they decide to make a porno film together in order to pay their bills.
What could go wrong, right? Or, to put it a better way, what could go right?
Well, everything, actually, on both counts.
You see, it is just before Thanksgiving, the utilities in their apartment have been turned off for nonpayment, Zack meets someone at their 10th-year high-school reunion who says he is earning $100,000 a year making and distributing his own porno movies, and so Zack decides they can succeed by making their own porno movie and selling it just to their 800 classmates alone.
When Miri asks why they can’t find a different way to make money like other people do, Zack says, “Because other people have options. And dignity.”
Zack calls on some friends for help and investment, they decide to do an “erotic reimagining” of a STAR WARS movie, and we get the standard movie montage of auditions for roles and wardrobe tests. Ho hum.
Then a major setback causes them to reimagine their reimagining, which is right out of Stale Screenwriting 101.
Everything that happens is telegraphed to the audience and then prolonged for way too long, but don’t go see it expecting to see anything coming close to a real porno movie–assuming that you have ever seen one before, of course.
However, do expect to see some nudity, at least one really offensive sight gag, and lots and lots of profanity. And then some more profanity.
ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO is an erotic reimagining of a lame romantic comedy–and of a porno movie, too.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”