Recently in Comedy pg.6 Category

Starring: Billy Bob Thornthon, Frances McDormand, James Gandolfini, Tony Shalhoub, Scarlett Johansson. Drama/Comedy Directed by the Coen brothers.Synopsis: A barber in 1949 California suspects his wife might be cheating on him and uses this to blackmail her paramour in an attempt to get some money for a business investment, but things don't go exactly as planned and lead to unforseen consequences.  

Say what you will about Billy Bob Thornton (Chrystal), the man is extremely talented and in terms of pure acting, he is just as good than all but a very few.

In The Man Who Wasn't There, he reivents himself again, this time as a nondescript, slightly dull, "average Joe" barber named Ed Crane. His life is fairly straightforward, told perfectly in the black and white of the film and Thornton's dry narration throughout.

The only thing even remotely interesting about barber Ed Crane's life is the fact that he is pretty sure his wife (Frances McDormand Aeonflux) is having an affair with her boss, (James Gandolfini The Taking Of Pelham 123), Big Dave a gregarious fellow who revels in telling World War II stories and is married to money.

Frankly, Ed seems fairly ambivalent about the possible affair, but when an opportunity presents itself to get involved in a business venture that will corner the market on the new technique of dry cleaning...well, Ed sees an opportunity to get the 10 grand he needs to invest in the business of the future.

So, a little anonymous blackmail to his wife's lover, quick 10 grand to invest, and everything should be hunky dory, right? Well, as you might guess, things don't often go according to plan in a blackmail scheme (particularly in a movie) and, though Ed gets his 10 grand, let's just say things get kind of messy and Big Dave ends up dead and Ed's wife is charged with the murder which, of course, means that a high priced defense lawyer (Tony Shalhoub Primary Colors)  has to be brought in to defend her at significant cost.

Now, right now, this likely doesn't seem to like too much of a comedy but, trust me, the humor is there, it is very, very dry and very, very dark. But, frankly, I think this flick is as comedic as anything else, a kind of sardonic look at life through the eyes of someone with absolutely nothing special about him, and no real feelings of negativity towards anyone else so much as a desire to get something better out of life. But, in such a way as kind of assuming there must be something better, if for no other reason than he probably kind of deserves it.

Personally, I find this kind of 'looking for something better' theme kind of a staple of Coen brothers films, and a very good comedic tool. Billy Bob is just wonderful in this one in his understated role, and all the other main players carry their weight, too. Look for Scarlett Johansson (The Spirit) is the quintessential "Lolita" or 'young siren' role and look for her last scene with Billy Bob to take you somewhere you didn't expect to go in this film. 

Overall, I liked it and I think if you like Billy Bob Thornton, you will like this flick, too.     

Starring: Eddie Griffin, Anna Friel, Kevin McNally, Dudley Sutton, Tom Georgeson, Mo'Nique, Marion O'Dwyer Comedy/Drama. Directted by John Eyres. Synopsis: A small Irish town that is under the control of an English mogul hold a poetry  contest with the winner getting ownerrship of the town pub  in order to raise money to hold off losing total control of the town. The contest is won by an L.A. rapper who is trying to escape his psychotic ex-fiancee and is also a bit of a con man.

You can pretty much guess where this one is going after you see the title and if you know anything about Eddie Griffin (Undercover Brother). 

Yep, you've got to figure that somehow, some way, Eddie Griffin's character is going to find himself in a situation in which he is surrounded by Irish people, and just let the laughs cascade from there.

And, you'd be right. Jimmy McDevitt (Grffin) is an aspiring L.A. rap artist who is down on his luck, behind on his rent, and trying to stay away from his unbalanced ex-fiancee (Mo'Nique), who he is starting to see him his nightmares.

Fortunately, he sees this poetry contest offering up ownership of a pug in a small Irish town. After plagarizing the peom he enters from the CD of another rapper, Jimmy wins the contest and, presto, he's off to Ireland.

The first thing you will need to do, obviously, is to put aside the completely unrealistic and far fetched plot aside to be able to enjoy this enjoyable flick. And it is enjoyable. That's pretty much it. Not great, not memorable, not moving, but enjoyable.

When Jimmy gets to Ireland the cultural differences between the townfolk and the new owner of the only pub in town couldn't be, as you might guess, more stark. Jimmy immediately meets up with town sage Pat Duffy (Dudley Sutton The Football Factory) and his daughter, Maureen (Anna Friel Limitless). As you might guess, the town folk don't know how to take Jimmy at first, because he is basically just doing his stand up routine throughout most of the story, with some slight variations to work it into the plot.

As far as the plot is concerned, we get a little far fetched, which fits in nicely with our far fetched premise. Wealthy and evil land mogul Lord Hailstock (Kevin McNally Valkyrie) seeks to gain control of the pub so that he owns the entire town and can turn into a leprechaun theme park.

Look, this flick is good for some laughs, which is likely all it was intended to do. Griffin himself is funny enough to get giggles from a brick and the rest of the cast works pretty well. Of course, the "could see it coming from a mile away" romance between Jimmy and Maureen is there, not sure I bought it completely, but it wasn't overdone nor done too badly.

If you like Eddie Griffin, this is definitely a flick you will want to see. Otherwise, if you do watch, you just might get some laughs and enjoy yourself for an hour and a half.

Nothing more.        

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis,Rosanna Arquette, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, Christopher Walken, Amanda Plummer,Harvey Keitel. Directed by Quentin Tarantino.Action/Drama/Comedy.

Synopsis: Two philosphical hit men run into a day's worth of unexpected events after starting the morning on a simple assignment from their drug dealer boss.

O.k., I know those of you (everyone?) who have seen flick know that my poor attempt at a synopsis does dot come close to doing this film justice. I know that, I get that. I feel you.

But, how do you describe this ensemble, non-chronological, realistic satire, modern day homage to both film noir and grindhouse schlock?

I'm not sure you do, other than this, it's really, really good. 

Pulp Fiction is quintessential Tarantino, the proverbial "one they will remember him for", no disrespect to some of Mr. Tarantino's  other well regarded films. You have Travolta and Jackson  working together, both at their best and playing off one another beautifully. The dialogue between them is priceless, my guilty pleasure being the 'spiritual debate' between them before the accidental shooting death in the car. It's simply hilarious, which I know sounds really bad...unless you've seen the flick, in which case you'll understand.

Bruce Willis (16 Blocks) is wondeful as Butch, the aging fighter who is looking for one last grab at the brass ring and, like Jules (Jackson) and Vincent (Travolta) is connected to drug king pin Marsellus Wallace. (Ving Rhames The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard   Shooting Gallery )

Arguably the most memorable scene in a movie that is, basically, a collection of memorable scenes, is the overdose scene of Marsellus Wallace's wife, Mia (Uma Thurman My Super Ex-Girlfriend), after she has been out for the night with Vincent (with her husband's blessing). Vincent's friends who help him out of this awkward situation, married couple Eric Roberts (Break A Leg) and Rosanna Arquette are memorable, to say the least.

Christopher Walken's (King Of New York) one scene might be the funniest monologue in movie history. The "fix up the accidental killing" scene with Harvey Keitel (Wrong Turn At Tahoe) is my personal favorite, but no discussion of this flick would be complete without reference to the scene that most people who see this movie will remember vividly until they lay down for their eternal rest: the Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames "one gets saved and one doesn't from homosexual rape" scene. Trust me, any scene that can spawn this line(s) in context "...you hear me, buddy boy? I ain't through with you by a damn sight. I'm about to get medieval on your ass!!!" ...is part of a movie that is one for the ages. 

I loved the non-chronological flow as well as the sense that there wasn't so much of a standard 'plot', per se, but that I was just being introduced to these interesting characters and I very much wanted to see what happened next. 

This is a truly unique film that has a fresh and cynical take not only on our society and culture, but also on our culture of movies and what we like in them.

A timeless classic, in my humble opinion.