So, after desperately avoiding the movie theatre during the Watchmen debut and following weeks (merely from my own fear of how they will change the movie and all the reviews I have read and heard that are so conflicting I could put them all on jury duty together), Rachel and I finally made it back to good ole Regal to see what we thought would be another masterpiece of the new dramady masters Jason Segal, Paul Rudd, etc. And man ... do I have an opinion on this flick.
Currently, I have found myself in a crisis similar to the plight of the main character, Peter Klavin (Paul Rudd), which has been adequately called "bromance." So watching a comedy about it I thought would help alleviate my own feelings. The only problem was, I didn't get to see a comedy. Peter asks his girlfriend to marry him, which of course she agrees to, as it is too early for conflict. Then Peter realizes he has no male friends. I could easily continue to recap the movie, but I really just do not feel like reliving it.
The movie was long, slow, and worst of all, couldn't connect. All the characters came across cold and unrelatable, and very much not funny. Great actors I love, like Jason Segal, Jamie Lee Presley, Paul Rudd, Jon Favreau, Andy Sandberg, and many more funny people just could not make me laugh more than an awkward semi-smile and chuckle. I loved the Rush sequence, but that is about it.
When it comes down to it, the movie suffered from a few major flaws, first of which being bad writing. Great actors cannot turn crap into gold, no matter how much ad-libbing is allowed. And all the fumbling Paul Rudd does to find fun "guy phrases" to say are hollow and pointless. The "break up" scene was pointless, and the drama that caused it ended up being entirely renigged without a climax. While I'm talking about Paul Rudd, I want to make it clear. He is one of the funniest guys I have seen, playing Fontana in Anchorman, the hilarious Chuck in Forgetting Sarah Marhsall, and poor and lonely David from 40 Year Old Virgin. But he is not ready to hold the lead role in a film. Look back to Role Models, another Paul Rudd first time ride in the front man's seat. Another cold, and not quite that funny delivery. I do not know what people are thinking, but he isn't ready. Let him get back to character comedy, and leave the dramady to Seth Rogan and Jason Segal.
Jason Segal was good as Sydney, funny even, though unbelieveable. We never find out his line of work - Rachel argues with him here, saying that he is an "investor", but there isn't any actual proof he does that as a living or if he just plays the market - and all he does is spout guy philosophy throughout the flick. His big plot-screw-up-moment that lead to the break up scene was actually the best thing that could have happened to Peter. And not in the good way that movies spin things on their head. Hell, Sydney didn't have a flaw in the climax at all, as he was right, and when Peter and Zooey (Rashida Jones - another cold portrayal of what should have been a very funny straight "man" to Paul Rudd) realize their collective mistake and try to get Sydney back, he is ALREADY FUCKING heading back to the wedding to be the Best Man! That scene undercut any actual growth of the characters for the audience, as inevitably, Sydney, the best fucking friend Peter, or anyone, could have had, was still coming to support the friend who told him to stay away and not come to the wedding.
The real problem with this movie was that everyone had too much fun. All the actors knew each other, they are all friends, and they all just kinda phoned it in. I bet it was a great experience for them to create the flick, one of the best in their careers, I'm sure. But the flick itself suffered. It is like handing a camera crew to a bunch of college buddies who decide to film themselves being "funny." They certainly enjoyed it, but it is nowhere near the quality of something that should shown nationwide in our movie theatres.
I'd like to say the good moments counted out for the bad, like the nice switch up of the masculine gay character (Andy Samberg, funniest role in the film, and he wasn't that good this time around) to foil the effeminate lead of Rudd, but they don't. They are barely memorable.
In the long run, if you want to see it, wait a year and a half for it to play on Comedy Central. And then do your taxes/homework/Sudoku while it plays in the background. It'll be funnier that way.
Grade: C
No comments:
Post a Comment