Enchanted: Disney should not have tried to satirize Disney unless it was prepared to do so with complete freedom and viciousness. I'm sure they thought they were being very brave, but this isn't any more insightful about its target than Sex in the City is about dumb sluts.
Leatherheads: A perfectly adequate comedy that seems to have gotten dumped on a little too heavily because of the backlash against Renee Zellweger.
Semi-Pro: Some good material here, but the "stick-in-the-mud love interest" problem endemic to sports comedies is unusually acute here. Talladega Nights provides an interesting contrast by having far fewer belly laughs, but (a) wisely making the love interest a flat-out villain and (b) including a weird, borderline-brilliant performance by Sasha Baron Cohen. That scene where Baron Cohen has Ferrell armbarred in the pool hall is pretty much its own movie.
Rescue Dawn: First-rate stuff, but did anyone else think there was a weird "Resourceful, brave German tries unsuccessfully to save assorted feeble Americans and Asians from themselves" thing going on?
Valkyrie: Well, the son of a bitch did it. He found a way to make you cheer for Hitler.
Baby Mama: An odd, likeable buddy movie for chicks with an effective Act II twist. Unusually for buddy movies, one of the buddies actually had to create and portray a character. Amy Poehler, you are universally beloved and you might still be underrated.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: Kind of fun; essential for Downey Jr. fans; and features one of the occasional Kilmer parts where he checks in and reminds us that he's our Brando (not coincidentally, he's looking more like him every year). But it tries to get around the "self-conscious narrator" thing by having the self-conscious narrator be self-conscious about his self-consciousness, and the whole thing's still just goddamn annoying. And God bless him and all, but when Downey is annoying, he's really annoying. Has anybody since Eszterhas built a bigger career out of less actual accomplishment than Shane Black?
The Foot Fist Way: Not quite the must-see that the cult would have you believe, but still pretty funny.
The House Bunny: I just kept thinking that on a real campus, the bubble-headed Playmate house mother would have WAY bigger problems than the snobby rich girls across the road who embrace the same anti-/postfeminist values but just aren't quite as much fun. Let's do a sequel and see how Anna Faris in hot pants handles a LGBT sexual-health seminar or a Take Back the Night march.
If you can only see one: Rescue Dawn
If you can only avoid one: Valkyrie, obviously
Best actor: Kilmer
Best actress: Poehler
Best supporting actor: Steve Zahn in Rescue Dawn
Best supporting actress: Sigourney Weaver in Baby Mama
Comments (19)
I consider writing Monster Squad, and being on Arnold's special forces Predator team, huge accomplishments.
Posted by Alex B. | June 1, 2009 10:26 AM
Posted on June 1, 2009 10:26
Amy Poehler does absolutely nothing for me. That bit she did on SNL a few years back, where she played a flatulent amputee - as awesome as the premises was, the execution was lacking. It's ruined her for me.
Posted by Tyler | June 1, 2009 12:48 PM
Posted on June 1, 2009 12:48
It probably helps if you were a fan of the Upright Citizens Brigade TV show. SNL never really got the most out of her, even though she was obviously a huge audience favourite (the punters went pretty ballistic when she popped back in for the season finale to co-anchor Update with Meyers).
Posted by Colby Cosh | June 1, 2009 12:54 PM
Posted on June 1, 2009 12:54
"He found a way to make you cheer for Hitler."
Haven't we all been cheering for Hitler since he got pissed at Jessica Simpson?
Posted by FACLC | June 1, 2009 5:44 PM
Posted on June 1, 2009 17:44
Good fun, this should be a regular feature.
Posted by Crid [cridcridatgmail] | June 2, 2009 9:48 AM
Posted on June 2, 2009 09:48
Hey, with Canwest's fortunes going the way they are, maybe Mr. Cosh will have to start moonlighting as the Post's art critic.
Posted by Lord Bob | June 2, 2009 11:41 PM
Posted on June 2, 2009 23:41
What triggered the backlash against Renee Zellweger? I guess I need to renew my subscription to "People".
Posted by Kevin K | June 3, 2009 6:27 AM
Posted on June 3, 2009 06:27
Hollywood has an implied covenant with men that requires them to cast hot women in chick flicks (which most of us are obligated to sit through at some point) to provide the interest we don't have in the plot. And, indeed, many female viewers expect this as well. When Hollywood tries to oversell a borderline 7/tough grader's 6 as a 9, people get upset.
Posted by Colby Cosh | June 3, 2009 7:40 AM
Posted on June 3, 2009 07:40
"First-rate stuff, but did anyone else think there was a weird "Resourceful, brave German tries unsuccessfully to save assorted feeble Americans and Asians from themselves" thing going on?"
Reverse "German" and "American", and you have just about every Hollywood movie.
Posted by AtlanticTy | June 3, 2009 8:22 AM
Posted on June 3, 2009 08:22
"When Hollywood tries to oversell a borderline 7/tough grader's 6 as a 9, people get upset."
Wow, that must be one hell of a curve you're grading her against.
Haven't seen many of these yet, but I did really enjoy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, mainly for the Kilmer/Downey interplay. (I also thought Michelle Monaghan was really cute, but apparently I'm a poor judge of these things.)
Posted by Sean E | June 3, 2009 8:23 AM
Posted on June 3, 2009 08:23
Very interesting. I've always thought that A-list actresses tend to be odd-looking 7s or 8s. Julia Roberts being the best example I can think of.
Posted by Kevin K | June 3, 2009 9:33 AM
Posted on June 3, 2009 09:33
Hollywood actresses are, like anyone else, graded on the curve that is appropriate to them. As a rule any woman higher on the media ladder than "weekend-only weatherperson in Helena, MT" is guaranteed to be pretty much a real-life 10 (though there can be paradoxical "Huh, I didn't know Jennifer Aniston was so tiny" effects).
Posted by Colby Cosh | June 3, 2009 10:05 AM
Posted on June 3, 2009 10:05
"There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion." —Bacon
Hollywood think that means RZ's happening for you. Squinty, stunning... Wuddever.
Posted by Anonymous | June 3, 2009 5:10 PM
Posted on June 3, 2009 17:10
"There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion." —Bacon
Hollywood think that means RZ's happening for you. Squinty, stunning... Wuddever.
Posted by Crid [cridcridatgmail] | June 3, 2009 5:10 PM
Posted on June 3, 2009 17:10
Did you look up the NBC weather girl in Montana in advance or are you freakishly clairvoyant?
http://www.beartoothnbc.com/ktvh/html/weather.php
Posted by tomtuttle | June 4, 2009 3:38 PM
Posted on June 4, 2009 15:38
No, I was just riffing, I didn't consult any reference material.
Posted by Colby Cosh | June 4, 2009 3:53 PM
Posted on June 4, 2009 15:53
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Some+charges+stayed+Paul+Band+ecstasy+deaths/1682848/story.html
EDMONTON - A 16-year-old boy accused of selling two young girls the ecstasy that killed them had four counts against him stayed on Wednesday.
Charges related to criminal negligence causing death and bodily harm have been stayed, Alberta Justice spokeswoman Kim Misik said, because there was not enough evidence, diminishing the likelihood of a conviction.
Posted by Anonymous | June 10, 2009 8:03 PM
Posted on June 10, 2009 20:03
I disagree that Enchanted was meant to be a satire of Disney movies. Afterall, it's the romantic comedy characters who end up adopting the viewpoint of the cartoon characters, not the other way round. And while Giselle ends up very happy to stay in New York, there's no hint that she wouldn't have been equally happy to stay as a cartoon had she never met Robert.
The total effect is a critique of modern careful, responsible dating mores, not of the "fairy tale love" ideal at all.
Posted by Anne | June 11, 2009 10:21 PM
Posted on June 11, 2009 22:21
In response to your tweet, you're not the weirdo. Chinese Eyes is almost perfect, especially near the end.
Posted by AtlanticTy | June 14, 2009 11:41 AM
Posted on June 14, 2009 11:41