Recently in Comedy pg.3 Category

Directed by Matt Waters. Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Emma Stone, Breckin Meyer, Robert Forster, Anne Archer. Romantic Comedy. Synopsis: A successful and womazing fashion photographer returns home for his younger brother's wedding and meets up with an old flame. Upon making his disdain for the institution of marriage very clear at the rehearsal dinner, he is visited by the ghost of his playboy uncle and, thereafter, the ghosts of previous girlfriends. 

There is a reason good stories get told over and over. Its because they are good. Seems obvious, huh? Well, of course it is. We're talking movies, here, not rocket science. Most of us born or living in any part of the second half of the 20th cenury into this century have seen countless takeoffs or adaptations of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol (a novel that is close to two hundred years old, by the way) and the reason we have is because the story is good, compelling, and real on so many levels it became timeless.

So, why not an adaptation that takes the lessons of a Holiday out of it, replaces it with romance, and keeping the rest of the basic structure? O.k., by me, I'm always up for something new. So, you basically know the premise of the story before you even watch one second of it, plus the fact that it stars McConaughey. (No, I'm not accusing him of always playing the same type of character, if not role, since Amistad. I'm not...really. I'm just sayin')

Now that we've established that we all know how this one is going to play out before we even pick it up, the next question we need to grapple with is the age old mystery: Will I enjoy it?

I believe you will.

Why, you might ask?

Because I did, and I'm generally unsympathetic to romantic comedies as a genre. (Talk about formulaic and seeing nothing new) For reasons I can't adequately explain, even to myself, I really like McConaughey and generally enjoy his movies. For reasons that should be obvious to all when I state that I am red blooded male, I also like Jennifer Garner.

The story plays out like you know it would, beginning with a glimpse into the sexy, successful, and ultimately empty life of one Connor Mead (McConaughey Two For The Money) who juggles aspiring super model girlfriends with his aspiring super model flings and one night stands. And, to be honest, he seems to be having the time of his life. The first few minutes of the film, alone, give us enough laughs to justify the "comedy" in romantic comedy. 

Soon, Connor is off to the wedding of his little bro, Paul (Breckin Meyer) who is the polar opposite of Connor in that he wants to settle down with one woman. But, not all are awaiting Connor's arrival with bated breath. Those would include a number of the bridesmaids and Paul's slightly neurotic intended (Lacey Chabert), not to mention Jenny (Jennifer Garner), whom has known Connor since childhood, has experienced his "love 'em and leave 'em" ways up close and personal and is (HUGE SURPRISE!!!) the true love of his life.

Well, you put all those ingredients in the bowl, throw in some pre-wedding frivolity, add a little champagne, and you're going to get an interesting soup. As if our main characters are not interesting enough, the divorced parents of the bride, the sultry Anne Archer (Narrow Margin End Game) -herself a recipient of Connor's advances-and the father (Robert Forster Jackie Brown) add some serious spice and laughs to the flick. Especially Forster's character, the epitome of the stereotypical combat vet who is very reluctant to accept that the war is over.

But, my favorite character, and I bet your's too, is Uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas The Sentinel ) playing the Jacob Marley role as Connor's deceased uncle, who did raise Connor and Paul but also taught Connor his playing-the-field ways. Douglas, whom I've always thought brings a tinge of comedy to his dramatic roles, is simply hilarious and, to use a cliche, steals the show. 

We all know that romantic flicks don't work ultimately unless there is believable chemistry and empathy between the two lovebirds and Garner and McConaughey have that here. So, it woks well, largely because its hard for this story not to work if its acted well. And, it was. 

So, my verdict is predictable. You'll like it if you like the Dicken's story, romantic comedies in general, or Jennifer Garner. If you're a McConaughey or Douglas fan, I'd say its must see. 

Directed by Ivan Reitman. Starring: Uma Thurman, Luke Wilson, Anna Faris, Eddie Izzard. Synopsis: A young bachelor who loves his single life finds he has to deal with the fact that he has strong feelings for a woman at work who is already taken and that the girl is currently seeing is a little unstable....and she is a superhero. Comedy/Action/Fantasy.

I didn't know exactly what to expect when I picked up this one. I hadn't heard too much about it and I didn't do a whole lot of due diligence in reading the back cover. I don't know what I was thinking, maybe a comedic take off of Uma's action hero talents that she showed in Kill Bill. Well, it wasn't like that at all and Uma's character (Jenny Johnson/G Girl) is not what I expected.

Now, don't go jumping to conclusions thinking that I was disappointed in this one, I wasn't. In fact, its pretty good and it is funny, just in a different way than I thought. The protagonist (Luke Wilson Idiocracy) is just a regular, successful young businessman who is confortable playing the field. As such, there is nothing out of the ordinary about his date with Jenny, until the incredible lovemaking session. It seems that Jenny has almost superhuman energy and stamina. Don't worry, if you have a mind to, that the superhero angle is played for some cheap thrills in the love scenes. Its not, pure comedy only.

There is one other thing about Jenny. She is kind of, as they say, "high maintenance", and this only intensifies when she reveals to Luke that she is, in fact, G Girl, the well known superhero. Wow, now things are going to get complicated. Especially when it comes time to dump G Girl, as Luke now has his eye on a girl from work (Anna Faris Scary Movie) who is already taken but the energy between them is there, if you know what I mean.

Well, you take a guy with a jealous-if not neurotic-girlfriend  who happens to have super powers; add into the equation that he has eyes for a taken woman, and the recipe for laughs is there. There is a very good "making out in the clouds" scene with Thurman and Wilson that is particularly funny.

And, there is more. Every suoerhero needs an anti hero to make it a true superhero stroy, and we've got one here in Bedlam, whose alter ego, Barry, happens to be an old friend of Jenny/G Girl. And he knows about her new boyfriend.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend is not a masterpiece, but it doesn't try to be and I always like that in a film. It wanted to make me laugh and it did. Wilson and Faris (Scary Movie) in particular do a good job keeping us giggling.

Not a bad flick.

In fact, pretty good.  

Directed by Hunter Richards. Starring Chris Evans, Jessica Biel, Joy Bryant, Jason Statham, Kelli Garner. Comedy/Romance.  Synopsis: A young man with a drug addiction and volatile personality deals with the news that his former girlfriend is moving across the country without telling him by crashing her going away party.

Now, for those of you who watch movies often and sometimes find yourself decrying the lack of imagination from Hollywood, this will warm your heart as it is a very different type of film, told in a unique and brusque way that, for some will be funny, but for others maybe not.

We meet Syd (Chris Evans) in the opening frames as he receives a phone call at his modest apartment. We don't hear the substance of the call, but its obvious from Syd's reaction-pretty much destroying his home-that he is not pleased with what he has just heard.  It soon turns out that the scoop Syd just received is that his former girlfriend, London (Jessica Biel) is moving away and having a going away party thrown at the spacious apartment of one her rich friends. Only problem is that Syd wasn't invited.

Well, old Syd drops the first of what will be countless F-bombs, verifies this information with a mutual friend of his and London's (Joy Bryant) and proceeds to start snorting prodigious amounts of cocaine as he resolves to crash the party. He meets up with a professional looking coke dealer named Bateman (David Statham) and the two of them snort some coke together, with Syd convincing his new friend to crash the shindig with him.

What follows is, primarily, the two of them in this spacious bathroom, doing line after line of cocaine, sharing some with the occasional visitor to the bathroom, and talking about deep topics such as religion and pain. Frankly, a lot of what they have to say is hilarious, though taken against the backdrop of their drug use, its is definitely what might be called "dark humor".

Much of the story is told in flashback, as we see a slightly more clean-cut Syd in some of his situations with London. Their relationship can only be described as "stormy" as the hotheaded Syd and the chameleon like London seemed to always have some major cross to bear, whether its Syd's incessant jealousy or volatile temper, or London's questionable practice of fibbing now and then to him.

The whole key to the story is believing that these two people have a strong attraction and love for each other, and think that they do as presented in the film. Whether they should, based on their shallow natures, is another question.

The acting in this one is very good, all of the main characters are good actors, though the majority of the story is built around Statham and Evans. Statham is especially good in his self deprecating yet self centered role. Evans is playing such a different character from the one that most probably know him from (Cellular) , that I had to look again to make sure it was the same guy, which is the mark of a good actor when its not dependent on makeup.

The ending is a little bit different, not surprising at all, but done in such a way as to leave us hanging as to what will happen next, or how we feel about the very different direction the story took in the last 15 minutes of the film. I didn't care for the ending all that much, but its the kind that 10 different people will feel 10 different ways about. 

Warning: if you pick up this film, you will see a lot of drug use, and a kind of glorification of the hedonistic lifestyle of the young and wealthy. If that bothers you, you may want to reconsider, although I think the point is to parody that life style and/or show its emptiness without love.

Some will really like London, some will really dislike it.

Aside from the "left me hanging ending", I liked it.

Directed by Ryan Murphy. Starring Joseph Cross, Annette Bening, Brian Cox, Alec Baldwin, Evan Rachel Wood, Jill Clayburgh, Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes. Comedy/Drama/Historical.  Synopsis: The story of real life writer Austen Burroughs chaotic childhood with his supremely dysfunctional parents and his ultimate adoption by the psychologist treating his mother, who is clearly descending into his own unique madness.

Running with Scissors is a very unique kind of dark comedy mixed with drama, it was not until the end of the flick and the special features on DVD that I realized that it was supposed to be based on true life events of Augusten Burroughs, author of a book by the same name in the form of a personal memoir.

There is a line in the voice over narration towards the end of the film that indicates that the Burroughs character (Joseph Cross) doesn't believe that anyone else would believe what he says about his childhood. Well, he is right about that. Not that I am accusing the filmmakers of producing a fictional piece and calling it "true", but you have to think there is some embellishment and/or dramatic license going on, though it is clear that real people are depicted in the film.

Augusten Burroughs is the  child of a paranoid mother (Annette Bening The American President) who has visions of her own impending poetic greatness and a detached father (Alec Baldwin The Departed) who gets away from the growing madness in his own home via the bottle. Their marriage is laughably horrible, with their verbal fights and put downs that you laugh at, even though you know you shouldn't, being played out right in front of the teen age Augusten.

They make an attempt to salvage what is left of their "family" by going to the obviously unstable Dr. Finch (Brian Cox Last Shot at Glory). To say that Cox steals the show would be an understatement, and is in no way a slap at the other members of this fine cast. Dr. Finch who, with the blessing of Augustus' mom, adopts the teen ager into his own dysfunctional family, is stark raving mad in a quiet, learned kind of way. You have to see it to complete understand how brilliant Cox is in this hilarious and poignant role (poignant when you realize that this is a real person or if you have known someone with mental illness; hilarious because you can't help but laugh at some of his antics and you realize that he is a doctor), my words won't do it justice.

The Finch family is interesting, too. Mrs. Finch (Jill Clayburgh) might be the only completely sane and stable member. The youngest daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) is sane, but not stable, and she immediately buddies up with Augustus, both teens sharing in the dysfunction and madness of their favorite parent. The older sister (Gwyneth Paltrow Seven), Dr. Finch's self professed favorite daughter, is simply insane in her quiet beauty.

All of these good actors carry their own weight and more, in the case of Baldwin and Paltrow, you have a couple of heavyweight actors lending themselves to relatively minor, but important, roles. That's good because it helps make this flick a little better than good. Joseph Cross needs some "props", as the young kids say, for holding his own onscreen with major players like Bening, Clayburgh, and Cox.

I'm not sure what you will take from Running with Scissors, but I'm sure that you will take something from it, which is more than you can say for most films you've ever seen, right?    

Directed by Gary Sinyor.Starring Chris O'Donnell, Renee Zellweger, Artie Lange, Hal Holbrook, Ed Asner, Jennifer Esposito, Brooke Shields. Romance/Comedy Synopsis: A young business heir who loves his girlfriend and bachelorhood has a monumental decision when his quirky grandfather leaves a will demanding he be married by his 30th birthday to inherit his millions at about the same time his true love has dumped him after a clumsily botched proposal. He doesn't have much time.