Posts tagged funny
“This Means War” Has Four Ridiculous Endings
Feb 27th
“Four Ridiculous Endings”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
This Means War starts off with an excessive beginning like a typical James Bond movie and then quickly turns into a romantic comedy with two men trying to woo the same woman, except that in this case the two men are agents for the CIA.
The woman is Lauren Scott, played by Reese Witherspoon, and when she meets her old boyfriend on the street with his fiancee, she lies to them about her own boyfriend, even though she doesn’t have one.
However, when she tells her friend Trish, played by Chelsea Handler, about her encounter, Lauren says, “I’m going out. I’m dating. I’m meeting friends.”
Meanwhile, the two agents have been grounded by their superior for botching the mission that we saw at the beginning of the movie, and out of boredom, they both sign up for an online dating service.
One is FDR Foster, played by Chris Pine, and the other is Tuck, played by Tom Hardy, and not only are they partners, but they are also best friends.
Well, you can guess it. Trish signs Lauren up for the same dating service without Lauren knowing it, and FDR and Tuck eventually discover that they have both picked Lauren as the woman they would like to get romantically involved with and start dating to see where it leads.
When they find out that they are both dating the same woman, even though they make a gentlemen’s agreement to let the better man win, with all the resources of the CIA at hand, what do you think they will do to interfere with the other one’s chances?
And so we see FDR and Tuck date Lauren and watch the shenanigans that they both pull with supposedly spy equipment and expertise, and we are supposed to believe that the events could actually happen and that they are supposed to be funny.
This is where the movie starts to get really ridiculous.
And, of course, there is still some unfinished business from the botched mission at the beginning of the movie that keeps interfering with the romantic-comedy half of the story.
In other words, there are no surprises in this movie.
There is, however, a ridiculous ending.
No, make that two ridiculous endings.
No, make that three ridiculous endings.
This Means War is a no-surprises movie with four ridiculous endings.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Artist” Sounds Familiar, but It’s Silent
Jan 21st
“Sounds Familiar”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Artist is one of those films that Hollywood loves to make, because it has a simple story that has been retold many times before, it wins many awards both at home and abroad, and it is about Hollywood itself.
So, what is it that makes this version different, you ask?
Well, it is a silent movie with only music on the soundtrack except for one scene that is designed to trick the audience, and it takes place in the 1920s in Hollywood when movies were just beginning to be made with sound and the famous sign still said “Hollywoodland” as it originally did.
And even that isn’t original, because Mel Brooks did the same thing with his 1976 Silent Movie, and the one word of dialogue that we hear in that movie was more original, clever, and funny.
This film is a comedy, as well, and the story begins in 1927 when we see a movie within the movie within this movie, which is called A Russian Affair.
Of course, that film is silent, and we see a scene in which the hero is being tortured, and he says what we see in the subtitles, “I won’t say a word. I won’t speak.”
Then the hero is rescued by a dog, they escape, and the movie is over.
The hero is played by George Valentin, a silent-movie star at the top of his success, and he has been backstage while his movie has been showing, and after the movie is over and the audience is applauding, he comes out from behind the screen and takes a bow, calls the dog out, too, and they ham it up for the audience.
Meanwhile, a young woman named Peppy Miller arrives in town, and naturally she wants to be a movie star.
She accidentally bumps into George on the street while he is playing to the crowd, she hams it up, a photographer takes her picture, and the story makes the front page of a newspaper with the headline of “Who’s That Girl?”
So, Peppy does get into the movies just as “talkies” start to be made, George refuses to do sound movies, and his career fades as Peppy’s starts to rise.
Sound familiar? See any version of A Star Is Born.
The Artist sounds familiar, even though it’s silent.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Descendants” Is Complicated, Confusing, and Funny
Dec 3rd
“Complicated, Confusing, and Funny”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Descendants is the latest movie starring George Clooney, but more importantly it is also the latest movie written and directed by Alexander Payne.
Now, you might not be that familiar with his name, but surely you are familiar with at least some of his other films. Payne also directed the 1996 Citizen Ruth, the 1999 Election, the 2002 About Schmidt, and the 2004 Sideways.
Clooney plays Matt King, a lawyer on Hawaii who hasn’t been on a surfboard in 15 years, and one day he finds himself faced with a number of big problems.
He is the trustee for the ownership of 25,000 acres of the last huge portion of virgin beachfront land in Hawaii that is owned by him and his seven cousins, they are trying to decide whether to sell it for development, and if they don’t sell it, the trust dissolves in seven years.
Matt’s wife, Liz, is in a coma from a boating accident, and the doctors don’t know if she will ever recover.
Matt is ready to be a real husband and a real father to his two daughters, but 17-year-old Alexandra and 10-year-old Scottie are becoming more problems than he is sure he can handle.
And on top of all that, Alexandra tells Matt that she saw Liz out with another man, and Matt discovers that Liz was in love with this man and was going to ask Matt for a divorce.
So, when we hear Matt say, “I know I can make things right,” we are not so sure that he can, and therein lies this excellent and very funny movie.
Matt believes that there is something wrong with his daughters, but he starts to bond with Alexandra in ways that he never could before when they begin a mission together to find out who the man is that Liz was having an affair with. Matt says that he just wants to see him, but we have to believe that Matt might want to do more than just that.
And when Matt discovers who the man is and what he does, he also discovers that there might also be a connection that could affect Matt’s decision about selling that huge portion of land that he and his cousins own.
The Descendants is complicated, confusing, funny, and also very excellent.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”