Will Ferrell (Semi-Pro) and John C. Reilly (Walk Hard) are comedy gold together. If you’ve seen Talladega Nights:The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, then you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, then you should probably quit reading them, go see it, then continue reading this review for their newest movie Step-Brothers. This movie was much funnier than I expected, and I really enjoyed it.
Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (Reilly) are two 40 year old men still living with their parents. When their parents meet at a conference the two fall in love and decide to get married, making their sons step-brothers. Although they have similar lifestyle and are forced to share a room, the boys hate each other. When they begin working together against Brennan’s younger, more successful brother they finally realize they have much in common and quickly become best friends. As their friendship progresses, their parents marriage grows apart leading to the ultimate decision of divorce. But what will happen to Brennan and Dale? Well, they must go out into the big world on their own and see if they can finally grow up and become men.
Whether these two are best friends or enemies they are hilarious to watch. Some people may think Ferrell is just up to his old schtick, which I can see what they mean, but I love it. He was in his element with this movie, and it was much better than some of his other roles as of late. It’s hard to not watch Reilly in a movie and not think afterwards that he has another great performance in his pocket – even if the movie surrounding him is terrible, luckily that’s not the case in this instance.
Not only are Ferrell and Reilly reteamed for Step-Brothers, but so are Ferrell and director/writer Adam McKay (Anchorman). They’re reteamed before (on FunnyorDie.com – you may have heard of the Pearl skits, if not go watch them now!) but not on the big screen. McKay has a great way of shooting comedic scenes and shows them with wonderful timing.
Step-Brothers is a great way to pass the night. It’s a little more graphic for a comedy and is rated R for a reason, but that didn’t bother me. I’d give the movie a B+ and can’t wait to buy it on DVD.
Horton (Jim Carey) is an elephant with a enormous imagination who normally spends his days teaching the young animals of the jungle. However, one day he overhears a voice coming from a speck of dust floating through the air. He realizes that there must be people living on the speck and discovers the voice is the Mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell). Unfortunately nobody else in the jungle can hear the voice as they don’t have Horton’s huge ears and he soon finds he has to do everything he can to stop Whoville from being destroyed.
Horton Hears a Who! is a children’s story by Dr Suess which I have to admit to having never read. These books completely past me by as a child and I suspect I was subjected to less imaginative fodder instead. Which is a shame as I’m as much of a fan of rhyming verse as the next person. Still, I did recently get dragged along to do some shopping for a baby shower and had a chance to flick through the pages of Horton hears a Who!. It certainly seemed to me that the film stays pretty faithful to the story.
I think what I found most refreshing about this movie is that it took me a while to figure out which characters Jim Carey and Steve Carell were playing. It seriously could have been the other way around and I really like that. It felt like they were actually making an effort to play the characters as opposed to just being a famous voice in an animated cartoon. I find with some of the other animated stories, with a whole host of famous voices, it tends to distract a little bit from the actual story. Here I think the story was first and foremost in the minds of everyone involved.
I suppose it’s easy to be extremely casual about the animation because we’ve seen this kind of quality before but I’m always blown away by the amount of effort it must take. As you’d expect it’s all flawlessly done and is a visually stunning piece of animation. Certainly the feel of the characters seemed to fit perfectly with how they were portrayed in the book. That could have been a big pitfall for any die hard Dr Suess fans out there but I’d be surprised if they didn’t like this movie.
I liked the story. I think it was genuinely funny as well imaginative. Perfect for kids and there’s probably enough there to keep adults entertained as well. It also didn’t try to be a super cool movie with popular references thrown in. The original Dr Suess story was the focus and it served the film superbly well.
There’s definitely a lot to enjoy. A simple story that’s perfect for a family movie session. I can’t think of a more imaginative way to introduce the idea of parallel universes into the mind’s of kids!
I went back and forth on whether watching this movie would be worth my time. The trailers looked appealing, but my film professor had told me it sucked. So I was planning on holding off until I was unexpectedly given the opportunity to see a screening of it, free of charge. I figured, as long as I wasn’t loosing anything, it was worth a shot. And I must admit I’m glad I gave it a chance.
Burn After Reading is a comedic movie about a few average American citizens who stumble upon secret information belonging to a CIA agent. They make plans to use it as blackmail, but a series of misunderstandings and straight-up craziness quickly unravel what originally was to be a easy, get-cash-quick plan.
This movie is the latest by brothers Ethan and Joel Coen and definitely follows a similar vein of plot to their previous blockbuster, No Country For Old Men. Many people I’ve talked to have criticized Burn After Reading because of this, but I don’t think the similarities are close enough to completely ruin this movie. I feel like Burn After Reading would actually be more appealing too an audience because, unlike No Country For Old Men, this movie contains soundtracks and comedy – two elements the average American surely enjoys when in the theater. So people who probably didn’t consider No Country For Old Men their cup of tea shouldn’t blow off Burn After Reading. Similarly though, people who enjoyed No Country For Old Men unfortunately wouldn’t be as impressed with this film, for reasons that I won’t spoil for anyone.
Even if you consider yourself to fall in the latter category though, this film may be worth watching solely for the acting ability. I mean, it’s no surprise that the acting would be so captivity with household names like George Clooney, Brad Pitt (both of Ocean’s fame as well as many, many other films), Tilda Swinton (The Chronicles of Narnia, Constantine), and John Malkovich (Eragon, Being John Malkovich). Normally I’m not a huge fan of Clooney or Pitt, but I found myself laughing quite a bit during their scenes. Brad Pitt especially brought his character to life. Many people I’ve talked to who were unimpressed with the movie still admitted to enjoying Pitt’s character. Frances McDormand was probably the least well known of the main cast, but it did not show. She was just as entertaining to watch as the rest of the characters.
Some people can argue that this movie is a typical, predictable Coen film, but I feel the casting prevented this movie from being totally worthless. It had genuinely funny and surprising moments, and characters that were brought to life very thoroughly. It’s definitely not an award-winning film or a must-see, but if you’re looking for some amusing entertainment with your friends, watching this movie is a pretty good option.
Horton (Jim Carey) is an elephant with a enormous imagination who normally spends his days teaching the young animals of the jungle. However, one day he overhears a voice coming from a speck of dust floating through the air. He realizes that there must be people living on the speck and discovers the voice is the Mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell). Unfortunately nobody else in the jungle can hear the voice as they don’t have Horton’s huge ears and he soon finds he has to do everything he can to stop Whoville from being destroyed.
Recent Comments