Fired Up

Nick & Shawn got into football to impress chicks. When their coach announces that their football camp has been moved from the beach to land locked Texas they panic about spending two weeks without girls, and decide to jump ship and join the cheer squad so they can go to cheer camp and be surrounded by hundreds of men deprived women. Although their cheer squad questions Sawn & Nick’s motives they let the boys join because they are in desperate need of something to keep them from ending cheer camp in last place for another year.

Fired Up is a silly movie, but I laughed from beginning to end. The premise of girl starved high school males may have been done in dozens of movies before, but Fired Up manages to make this concept fun again. The majority of this rests on the characters of Nick & Shawn played by Eric Christian Olsen & Nicholas D’Agosto.

Olsen & D’Agosto have a natural chemistry together that makes for amazing comic timing. Watching Nick & Shawn is made fun because of this. They are two halves of one whole but they complement each other so well that you don’t want them to be torn apart. Nick should not be without Shawn’s watchful eye and Shawn can never be too intellectual because of Shawn’s quick quips and sexist observations. I truly hope Olsen & D’Agosto work together again; you can’t force chemistry and these two are the best pairing I have seen in years.

Perhaps what is most surprising about Fired Up is the intelligence behind it. These are well written characters even though they are stereotypes; the football coach is a beautiful exaggeration, a cheerleader is a closet lesbian, the jocks are brick headed – everything is what you expect but so well crafted that the characters flow naturally in their world and don’t do anything that seems expected in a negative way. Screenwriter Freedom Jones even manages to work in a character arch for both Shawn and Nick and keep the film quippy and funny. Perhaps my favorite sequence in the film has to do with when Nick & Shawn are cooking dinner and realizing that Nick knows the names of and cares for the girls on the cheer squad.

Fired Up may be a movie in the vein of American Pie but I somehow the tone coming out of the film is far more joyful than that franchise left me. This is one DVD that is going to be added to my collection as soon as I can.

Director: Will Gluck
Writer: Freedom Jones
Shawn: Nicholas D’Agosto
Nick: Eric Christian Olsen
Carly: Sarah Roemer
Diora: Molly Sims
Dr. Rick: David Walton
Poppy: Juliette Goglia
Coach Byrnes: Philip Baker Hall
Coach Keith: John Michael Higgins

Nick: Bottomless breadsticks only keep you at the Olive Garden for so long, until at some point you look up and say 'Why the hell am I at the Olive Garden with all these fat people?'

The Ugly Truth

uglytruth_1
Originally uploaded by RML Library

Mike Chadway has the most offensive public access show in the Sacramento area, on The Ugly Truth he talks about men, and what men want out of women. Enraged one night local morning show producer Abby calls in and gives Chadway a piece of her mind & his highest ratings ever. Abby’s boss hires Chadway to boost their shows ratings. Angry and relationship challenged Abby agrees to a bet with Chadway, he’ll get her doctor crush to date her or he’ll quit.

The Ugly Truth is a romantic comedy in the tradition of great romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally, which is a refreshing tradition after a string of boring, bland romantic comedies pumped out as cheap date movies. Instead, The Ugly Truth actually manages to build character, plot and chemistry while engaging in the formula of “meet cute” and romantic conflict.

What made The Ugly Truth work for me was the character of Mike Chadway, played by Gerard Butler. Chadway is a womanizing, offensive, egotistical, dog of a man but the writer thought enough about the character to make him human and actually give him empathetic characteristics. There is a reason Chadway is the way he acts now, and even better there is a second side to Chadway that is slowly revealed through the movie.

I think The Ugly Truth will play well to audiences of both sexes. Men & women enjoy the chemistry between Chadway & Abby, and the humor is rooted in the battle of the sexes, something that can always manage to appeal.

Director: Robert Luketic
Writers: Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz & Kristen Smith
Abby Richter: Katherine Heigl
Mike Chadway: Gerard Butler
Georgia: Cheryl Hines
Larry: John Michael Higgins
Joy: Bree Turner
Jonah: Noah Matthews
Elizabeth: Bonnie Somerville
Colin: Eric Winter

Abby: I am not desperate! Why, did you think I sounded desperate?
Mike: Listen to you. Desperately asking me if you sounded desperate?

For Your Consideration

Home for Purim is a little drama filled with a fine cast who have all put their time in and are well seasoned actors. They are dedicated to making the best film they can but think nothing of their little movie – until an internet rumor about Marilyn Hack getting an Oscar nomination starts. From there the buzz really begins, soon two of the other lead actors get Oscar buzz as well and suddenly the little movie explodes into a potentially big movie and everyone in the cast, crew and press gets caught up in the Hollywood rollercoaster.

Christopher Guest has had a very long string of quirky comedies to his name and For Your Consideration is one of the most biting of his films. This is a film about the razor edge of Hollywood, it’s the dark underbelly that is self-obsessed, and self-serving. Guest manages to bring humor and satire into the Hollywood mentality; he shows that while most actors say they act for the art of it a greater part of them than they’d like to admit really wants the fame and the accolades.

The fun and somewhat unexpected part of For Your Consideration is that it shows the full cycle these actors go through from production, to publicity and the reception of their film, when the nominations are released and the after. It covers everyone from the producers, the hair-brained director, the writers, to the entertainment newscasters.

If you’ve never liked any of Guest’s other films then I should say that you really won’t enjoy For Your Consideration. But if like me, you have an appreciation for Guest’s humor and especially if you love movies about movies then you need to see For Your Consideration.

Director: Christopher Guest
Writers: Christopher Guest & Eugene Levy
Marilyn Hack: Catherine O’Hara
Sandy Lane: Ed Begley Jr.
Morley Orfkin: Eugene Levy
Victor Allen Miller: Harry Shearer
Corey Taft: John Michael Higgins
Whitney Taylor Brown: Jenniger Coolidge
Callie Webb: Parker Posy

Corey Taft: In every actor there lives a tiger, a pig, an ass, and a nightingale.

Fred Claus

Fred Claus
Originally uploaded by AsceticMonk

I rented Fred Claus because I wanted to see Vince Vaughn playing with some elves, I really didn’t intend to like it – but I did. I really, really did. Much more than I should like a silly Christmas movie that is all surface and fun. However, it’s in that layer of gloss and frivolity that an entertaining and enjoyable comedy waits, you just have to accept the Christmas roots and mythology that is set up in the film and if you can do that you are good to go.

The precise reason Fred Claus is so enjoyable is because it’s about the mythology behind Christmas, but it is not about Santa Claus, it’s about his older brother Fred and “naughty” children everywhere, because you see by growing up with Nicholas his saintly younger brother Fred became bitter at being overshadowed and thus became naughty himself. Fred is the black sheep, the dirty laundry that the Claus institution cannot afford to air. However, being an actual saint Nicholas has a soft spot for Fred and when Fred calls on Nick for a helping hand Nick offers him a job at the North Pole – this turns out to be the worst timing possible for Nick as Clyde an efficiency expert arrives at the North Pole and threatens to shut Santa down if he can’t meet the impossible goals Clyde sets for him.

I will admit freely that my enjoyment of Fred Claus was partially guaranteed by having Kevin Spacey cast as the villain. My enjoyment of the film was cemented once it was revealed that the final important plot device of the film was a Superman cape and Kevin Spacey declaring that he wore his glasses because Clark Kent wore glasses. David Dobkin and screenwriters thus put two of my favorite things (Spacey & Superman) on screen together and it’s like a disease – part of me is going to love it no matter what (don’t even get me started on my conflicted feeling and constantly changing opinions on Superman Returns).

This film would be nothing though without the believable relationship between Giamatti and Vaughn as Nick and Fred; perhaps I can identify with Fred because I am a middle child who on some level always feels a little upstaged by the siblings on both sides of me, but I felt that Fred and Nick genuinely had a loving, yet conflicting relationship that sums up so perfectly what so many siblings face when they love each other but can’t manage to each exist without somehow injuring the other. Granted this is pumped up in the world of fantasy, but the underpinnings are very real to anyone that has a close sibling.

All in all, Fred Claus is not the holiday classic that Elf is but it is by no means a stupid holiday movie. I quite enjoyed it and I think many other movie goers would as well.

Director: David Dobkin
Writer: Dan Fogleman
Fred Claus: Vince Vaughn
Nick (Santa) Claus: Paul Giamatti
Willie: John Michael Higgins
Annette Claus: Miranda Richardson
Wanda: Rachel Weisz
Mother Claus: Kathy Bates
Charlene: Elizabeth Banks
Clyde Northcut: Kevin Spacey
Slam: Bobb’e J Thompson

Nick 'Santa' Claus: I never realized. You hate me.
Fred Claus: I don't hate you, Nick. I just wish you'd never been born.

Yes Man

Yes Man Poster
Originally uploaded by AsceticMonk

I expected to dislike Yes Man. While I love Jim Carrey I kind of feel like a lot of his recent comedies have all been the same thing. Despite seeming like Yes Man is a retelling of Liar Liar the film is actually quite original and really is a grown up version of Carey’s comedy.

Carey plays Carl Allen, a divorcee who works at a seemingly dead end job and has decided to check out of life. He doesn’t hang out with his friends, he doesn’t talk to his co-workers – unless he’s forced to do otherwise all Carl will do is sit at home, ignore his phone and watch DVD’s. The thing is that Carl messes up big time by accidently blowing off his best friend’s engagement party; his friends anger sets Carl in motion and he makes it to the Yes! motivational seminar where he makes a covenant with the leader to say yes to everything that is presented to him in order to bring about positive change in his life. Carl takes this covenant literally and sees where life takes him and suddenly he begins to enjoy being himself again.

While this movie is by no means perfect it is a really fun movie to watch and a really enjoyable piece to watch Carrey in. there is a drunken bar fight between Carl and a muscle clad man that still has me laughing if I think about it. I also enjoy that unlike most comedies now adays anything shown or mentioned in a joke or otherwise actually comes back up to have a point in the movie. Nothing is just a laugh. Also, the 300 party may have you cringing.

I am also a little in love with Terence Stamp as a motivational speaker. Not only was he just so darn believable as the egotistic leader, but it reminded me of why I have loved Stamp since childhood – Zod. I just kept wanting him to grab the mic and shout “Kneel before Zod!” Yes, I am aware I need some serious therapy.

I would love to see Jim Carrey get the acclaim he deserves for his dramatic roles. I honestly believe that he is an amazing dramatic actor and I don’t think anyone that has seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind can disagree. However, I am glad that he continues to do comedies - I just want them to stay as adult as Yes Man.

Director: Peyton Reed
Writers: Nicholas Stoller, Jarrad Paul & Andrew Mogel
Carl Allen: Jim Carrey
Allison: Zooey Deschanel
Peter: Bradley Cooper
Norman: Rhys Darby
Rooney: Danny Masterson
Tillie: Fionnula Flanagan
Terrence Bundley: Terence Stamp
Lucy: Sasha Alexander
Nick: John Michael Higgins