Tag Archive for comedy

Film, Reviews

Film Review: Bridesmaids (2011)

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Bridesmaids is an entertaining film. It’s funny, it’s heartfelt, and most of the audience I saw it with was interacting with the screen at the end, begging everyone to make the right decision so we got an appropriate happily ever after.

This is not to say Bridesmaids is a perfect film. It’s not. There are serious pacing issues, characters are inconsistently developed, and some issues that are placed as paramount in the film are never resolved.

An insanely natural and likable Kristen Wiig (where did these film star chops come from and why has Hollywood not used them before to this effect?) plays Annie, a 30 something woman on a downward spiral in life. Her bakery closed, her boyfriend left her, and she’s living paycheck to paycheck with two insufferable foreign roommates and a job selling jewelry that forces her to confront her own disappointments on a daily basis. Her childhood best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) asks Annie to be her maid of honor at her upcoming wedding. This puts the spiraling adult in charge of the dress fittings, bachelorette party, and bridal shower. It also draws the ire of Lillian’s new best friend Helen (Rose Byrne), who is practically perfect in every way except for how she constantly sabotages Annie’s plans and takes credit for Annie’s ideas. Can Annie pull her life together to give her best friend the wedding of a lifetime?

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Film, Reviews

Film Review: Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983)

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If you know anything about Monty Python, you know the style of humor that any given project will have before you even sit down to watch it. It’s bizarre wordplay combined with slapstick, silly costumes, and the occasional catchy tune. What you don’t know is whether or not you’ll get a cohesive project.

The Meaning of Life is not a cohesive project from a narrative standpoint. It is a series of sketches thrown together with a framing device of exploring the cycle of life. Except when it’s breaking the fourth wall and commenting on its own creation. Then it’s just plain bizarre. There is a charm to the film that is hard to get down on even if it ultimately falls short of the satirical examination of life.

In its most brilliant moments, The Meaning of Life is funny, smart, and touching.

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Film, Reviews

Film Review: But I’m A Cheerleader (1999)

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Teen sex comedies are nothing new at this point. Regardless of quality, some of these films, like American Pie or Porkies, have attained a memorable position in the pop culture lexicon. It could be because of a particular outrageous scene, memorable line, or just plain fascination with the content.

But sometimes, when a film takes a predictable formula and finds something new to say through it, it goes ignored. But I’m A Cheerleader is one of these films. Megan, a high school cheerleader, faces an intervention from her family and friends: they think she’s a lesbian. She doesn’t agree, but her parents send her off to a sexual redirection school to literally set her straight. The program has the exact opposite effect on Megan, opening her up to the realization that she is a lesbian and leading to her personal, emotional, and sexual awakening.

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Film, Views

Presidents Day Rec: Dick (1999)

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Hey, did you hear the one about New Jersey being trapped under another half foot of snow? How about the one about entire counties in New Jersey running out of sidewalk salt such that if it snowed again this year, everyone who lives in those counties would be screwed? Yeah, well, it’s happening right now, and I have snow to shovel up so that I might actually be able to leave the house today.

However, I cannot neglect my patriotic duty to celebrate Presidents Day (which is apparently officially called Washington’s Birthday in spite of the date being the third Monday in February). One film immediately came to mind for the festivities.

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Film, Reviews

Film Review: Micmacs (2010)

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Micmacs is hard to classify as a film. It’s a comedy about people living in a junkyard waging war against weapons manufacturers, but it’s not a dark comedy. It’s a slapstick comedy, but most of the humor is derived from Rube Goldberg-like machines and schemes. The lead actor gives an expressive performance, but it is done mostly through mime and Charlie Chaplinesque physical comedy. It is, ultimately, a joyous movie experience, if you like mime, physical comedy, cartoon violence, and mild social commentary.

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