September @ the Trylon microcinema: Mel Brooks: The Orgasm of Insanity

What was the last spoof movie you saw? Epic Movie? Meet the Spartans? Vampires Suck?

What was the last good spoof movie you saw? Um...Hot Fuzz? Does that even count?

Talk about a lost art. Seems there hasn't been a decent spoof to speak of since the trend petered out in the mid-90's. But fortunately for you (if you live in the Twin Cities), Take-Up Productions is bringing the spoof back this September at the Trylon microcinema with Mel Brooks: The Orgasm of Insanity, spanning nearly twenty years of classic comedy from the legendary filmmaker. You'll laugh, you'll laugh, and, well, you'll laugh some more. Try not cracking a nostalgic smile while watching a few of clips below. Pretty hard, right?

Know what's harder? Trying to crack a smile while watching this.

300 Words About: The Yes Men Fix the World

Meet ExxonMobil's most enthusiastic executives...

If Sacha Baron Cohen and Michael Moore teamed up to make a documentary, the result would be The Yes Men Fix the World, the new documentary about Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno's pranks on corporate America. These two guys created the film, of course, so to say it's one-sided would be a massive understatement. It's nothing more than a calling card for them to move on to something bigger and better (say, a TV show), but they are hilarious actors and despite the silliness of their pranks, their commitment to activism does seem pretty genuine.

Here's the set-up: Bichlbaum and Bonanno, leaders of an activist group known as "The Yes Men", worm their way into corporate meetings and conventions and pose as top executives for high-profile American businesses (Dow, Exxon, Halliburton, to name a few) - and sometimes even the American government. That they are able to actually get stage time and do interviews with the press using completely fake identities is not even the most impressive part.

"Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer"

Outside of a few running features here at Getafilm, I don't often post one-off random viral videos du jour. But this one is good - good enough to get play here, there, and everywhere else. As is often the case recently, I saw it first at Switchblade Comb.

The nerdier you are about movies, and particularly movie trailers (recognizing the music, throwaway comments, even the production company lead-ins), the funnier this will be.

Apparently this duo is going to be presenting a short film at SXSW this month. Keep an eye on the name BriTANicK.

300 Words (x2) About: Tropic Thunder

Check your morals at the door for the guiltiest pleasure of the year...

When it comes to comedies, it's usually a good sign when the laughs start before the movie even begins. The fake trailers shown before Tropic Thunder tell you exactly what you're in for: a raunchy, ridiculously romp that makes you cringe as much as it makes you laugh out loud.

That's right. Against all odds, I found Tropic Thunder to be the funniest comedy of the summer - by far.

Realizing this, I searched for an explanation as the end credits rolled (which happen to be the best of any movie this year). "Third time must have been the charm," I said to my group, citing two recent duds. I thought I'd finally succumbed to idiotic comedy. Soon after, however, I realized that there was actually something different about Tropic Thunder, and it wasn't just the absolutely stunning production design.

Three self-absorbed movie stars are cast in "Tropic Thunder", a Vietnam war movie based on the memoirs of a hook-handed veteran (Nick Nolte). Leading man Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller, who co-wrote and also directed the movie) is pampered by his agent (Matthew McConaughey), and his last role was in a film that's widely considered to be the worst of all time. Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr.) is an Academy Award-winning method actor whose preparation for roles would put Daniel Day-Lewis to shame. Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) is a drug-addled comedy star trying to separate himself from "The Fatties", his popular movie franchise about, well, a fat, flatulent family. Add a rookie director, an all-too-enthusiastic explosives expert (Danny McBride), and a nauseating studio head with a God complex (Tom Cruise), and "Tropic Thunder" appears to be doomed from the start. That is, of course, when a decision is made to shoot the film guerrilla style in the middle of the actual jungle and separate the stars from their security blankets. Unfortunately for the cast, there are actual guerrillas in this actual jungle.

If Step Brothers is the immature kid at the playground who steals a megaphone and curses in between making fart noises, Tropic Thunder is the best man giving his speech at a wedding, roasting the groom and telling the jokes that everyone will remember. Calling it a "smart" comedy would seem impossible to defend, but it's a label I'm tempted to use nonetheless. In the mold of Blazing Saddles, the dialogue and characters don't just toe the political correctness line, they stand right on it and stick their tongue out at you, making you feel silly that such a line exists in the first place. Beyond that, it deliciously satirizes Hollywood and skewers the careers of the very people it stars (speaking of which, this might be best work by an ensemble cast all year, and Cruise and Downey, Jr. are especially outstanding).

The potential for being offended is pretty high, but Tropic Thunder mostly covers its bases thanks to the sharp writing of Stiller and his co-writer, the actor Justin Theroux. The characters are, in fact, caricatures; the joke isn't on African-Americans or people with disabilities. It's on the actors. The outcry over the material in Tropic Thunder isn't altogether misguided, but it may be misinformed. People who see two movies a year and know nothing about Hollywood business culture will find it difficult to understand the satire (not to mention the hilarious references to so many other movies).

As much as this is true, however, there are still many scenes and lines that are just plain nasty. People may walk out of Tropic Thunder and head right back to the box office. Some will complain, some will buy tickets to the next screening. I did neither, but I did find myself surprised at how much I was laughing.

REVIEW: You Don't Mess With the Zohan (C)

Background: Maybe it's just me, but for a second there I thought Adam Sandler was done with comedy. He weirded up for Punch-Drunk Love, tried a romantic novela with Spanglish, and swung for the Oscar fences with Reign Over Me. Of course, the truth was that he frequently squeezed comedies in between, but I just avoided almost all of them after Big Daddy. With You Don't Mess With the Zohan, Sandler reteams with his usual director, Dennis Dugan (don't let Happy Gilmore overshadow his directing debut with Problem Child), as well as some 90's SNL cast members, the up-and-coming Nick Swardson (Blades of Glory, "Reno 911!"), and the odd man out, John Turturro (Margot at the Wedding). Zohan was written by Sandler, SNL scribe Robert Smigel, and - you're not going to believe this - Judd Apatow, who also wrote this review. Yep, his name is printed here, so he wrote it.

Synopsis : Zohan (Sandler) is an Israeli counter-terrorism agent on vacation. Which means, of course, that he is usually naked and always gyrating his hips. A nude barbecue is interrupted when he's whisked away on assignment because his rival, The Phantom (Turturro), is causing trouble in Lebanon. Zohan reluctantly sets off in his usual outfit (a Mariah Carey t-shirt and Daisy Dukes) and dispatches of some Arabs on the way to the showdown with The Phantom, where he fakes his own death. Free of his military duties, he's off to New York City with a new identity ("Scrappy Coco") to fulfill his dream of being a hairstylist for Paul Mitchell. Somehow (it's shown, but not explained) he ends up living with a random Jewish guy (Swardson) and his mother, but he's unsuccessful in his job search until he settles for a salon "on the Palestinian side of the street," which happens to be owned by the beautiful Dalia. Zohan soon charms the pants (um, literally) off the salon's regular elderly women, who begin lining up at the door for his "services". Meanwhile, Dalia is fighting off hotel developers while Salim (Schneider), a former Palestinian foe of Zohan, learns his identity and prepares to strike. OK, let's just get this over with. The Phantom comes to New York for a hacky-sack tournament. Rednecks from the South are called up to incite Israeli-Palestinian violence. Mariah Carey shows up. So do a bunch of other people you'd recognize. Uh, let me think, some other stuff happens, yeah, it ends with a big fight and some kind of truce...whatever. Sex and hummus: that's the movie.

I Loved:
+ Kevin Nealon - what a great comeback!
+ Nick Swardson, who's starting to get a lot of attention here in his native Minnesota. And could he have looked any more like the child of Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and/or Noah Emmerich?
+ The disco break at the hacky-sack game.

I Liked:
+ Dave Matthews - who knew he could nail the part of a redneck?
+ Rob Schneider - he wasn't really that funny, but he at least tried to "act" more than anyone else.

I Disliked:
- Zohan's voice - like a combination of Borat, Billy Madison, and Jar-Jar Binks.
- The Israeli accents that sounded French more than anything else.

I Hated:
- The hummus. What was that about?

Grade:
Writing - 6
Acting - 6
Production - 8
Emotional Impact - 7
Music - 5
Significance - 5

Total: 37/50= 74% = C

Last Word: I should really underline the fact that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict frames the entire length of You Don't Mess With the Zohan. For attempting some dialogue on the issue - as ridiculous as it might be - I commend Sandler. For everything else, I shame him, because the movie is, believe it or not, even more immature than Billy Madison. Repetitive sex jokes aren't really gut-busting, and the obsession with hummus (dipping eyeglasses in it to lick it off?) becomes more obnoxious than it could have ever seemed on paper. Worse, half of the humor depends on at least a basic understanding of Arab/Israeli relations, which I for some reason doubt is possessed by the movie's target audience. I won't deny that there are funny moments every now and then, but it could have been a lot funnier and a lot sharper overall, especially with the solid cast. Why waste writing and comedic acting talent on stupid subplots and toilet humor - and then take it a step further and dress it up as some kind of funny cultural satire? Here's some free advice: don't you mess with the Zohan when it arrives on DVD...

Short Cuts: "I Speak Jive"

Airplane! (1980). Written and directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker; starring Robert Hayes, Julie Hagerty, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Leslie Nielsen, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, and Robert Stack.

REVIEW: Son of Rambow (B+)

Background: Though it was an audience favorite at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival well over a year ago, Son of Rambow didn't appear on my radar until Craig Kennedy at Living in Cinema started buzzing about it a few months ago. Apparently the film's use of actual scenes from the first Rambo film, First Blood, caused some legal issues that delayed its release. Son of Rambow is the writing debut of director Garth Jennings (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and stars first-time actors Bill Milner and Will Poulter. Find Craig's report from a roundtable interview with the filmmakers ("Hammer & Tongs" = Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith) here.

Synopsis : It's the early 80's in rural England, and First Blood is the violent new movie all the cool kids are seeing. Young Will Proudfoot (Milner) is not one of the cool kids - in fact he's standing outside the movie theater, reading aloud from the Bible with his religious brethren. Will is the type of kid who calls other kids by their full names, and, under the same roof as his mother, grandmother, and little sister, he lives a sheltered life devoid of television, music and other potentially immoral influences. We know from Will's imaginative drawings, however, that his life is anything but boring. When he suddenly finds himself in the company of Lee Carter (Poulter), the local "Dennis the Menace" who introduces Will to First Blood, Will's fantasies become playfully violent and, in fact, playfully real. Lee is an amateur filmmaker and he's indentured Will as his stuntman, a task Will takes with the utmost sincerity, even to the point of optioning his drawings as the storyboards for the film, now known as "Son of Rambow." The unlikely friends grow close while making the film, but Will struggles with the disapproval of his behavior from his mother and the religious community. The circumstances become even more complicated when the rest of the kids at Will and Lee's school want to become involved with the film, including an uber-hip French foreign exchange student. Tensions rise as the production gets away from Will and especially Lee's original vision, and the two friends have it out with each other more than once. Meanwhile, Will's mother is facing condemnation and potential expulsion from the religious community, much to Will's quiet delight. These numerous plot threads culminate in a terrible accident that temporarily shuts down the production of the film. Just when you think all hope is gone, you remember this is a movie, and movies don't end like that. Our first and only viewing of the boys' "Son of Rambow" is a touching finale.

I Loved:
+ The great pair of Bill Milner and Will Poulter, both of whom seem familiar from other movies. I'm sure we'll get to know them well if they continue acting.
+ When the flying dog resurfaced in the teacher's lounge.

I Liked:
+ That there was no love interest forced into the story. Boys really are boys at that age, and it's natural to assume they would be more interested in guns than girls.
+ Seeing the final cut of the film.

I Disliked:
- Being unable to hear all of the dialogue due to the actors' mumbling and muttering. Their accents didn't help the situation.

I Hated:
- That the songs from the trailer ("Over and Done With" by The Proclaimers and "Rebel, Rebel" by David Bowie) weren't actually in the film. I had a feeling that would be the case and I was disappointed to be proven right.

Grade:
Writing - 7
Acting - 10
Production - 9
Emotional Impact - 8
Music - 5
Significance - 5

Total: 44/50= 88% = B+

Last Word: While it unfortunately doesn't elicit the number of laughs that you might expect from the trailer, Son of Rambow is charming and whimsical enough to make it worth your while. Bill Milner and Will Poulter are phenomenal in their acting debuts, though Garth Jennings' script unfortunately doesn't match up to his direction of the production. The first hour or so showed great potential, but the development of multiple stories (the friendship, the brethren, the film contest, the brother, the other students) proves too much, and in fact makes this film a lot more serious than it should have been. A coming-of-age film about staying true to yourself and staying loyal to your friends doesn't necessarily need such dramatic effect, and the funniest parts of Son of Rambow are unfortunately shrouded in my mind by accidents and arguments. Nevertheless, the film's underlying celebration of childhood and the joy of filmmaking (and film watching) is something we probably don't see enough of these days. Seriously - give me less Rambo, more Son of Rambow.

REVIEW: OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (A-)

Background: Most Americans, including me, are only familiar with one famously numbered secret agent: 007. It may come as surprise then, to learn that French writers Jean and Josette Bruce's secret agent, Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, was the subject of 143 books in their "OSS 117" series, going all the way back to 1949 - 4 years before Ian Fleming wrote "Casino Royale." OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, is both a re-creation and a parody of the original series. Directed by Michel Hazanavicius and starring French comedian Jean Dujardin, the film was nominated for five César Awards in 2007, winning only for its production design. Based on its smashing success at the French box office, keep an eye out for an OSS 117 sequel, and if you speak French, have fun here. If you don't, this will have to do.

Synopsis: When OSS agent Jack Jefferson goes missing in Cairo in 1955, the French government sends his former partner, OSS 117 - Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath (Dujardin), on a mission to not only find Jefferson, but also create peace in a region saturated with spies. OSS 117 is a dashing, misogynistic, ethnocentric Francophile who distributes photos of the French president as gifts and who, like James Bond, always finds his way out of the most improbable circumstances. His guide in Cairo is Jefferson's former assistant, the gorgeous Larmina (Bérénice Bejo), who helped manage the chicken exporting operation that serves as the cover for the OSS agents. Over the course of the next few days in Cairo, OSS 117 gets mixed up with an Islamic fundamentalist group, some Soviet spies, and some optimistic Nazis. Everyone is double-crossing everyone else, and no one is who they seem. The plot and the rushed ending don't really make sense, but, well...that's kind of the point of a spoof.

I Loved:
+ The production design and cinematography - the film just looks beautiful, like a restored classic with extra attention to detail. That it won the César against the likes of Lady Chatterley and Indigènes (Days of Glory) says something about how good it really is.
+ Jean Dujardin - I'd never seen this guy before, but he's a comic genius. I was probably reminded more of Sacha Baron Cohen than anyone else, but I saw Jim Carrey in him as well. Nevertheless, he has his own unique comedic style - and it's on glorious display here.
+ When the spies were reciting cryptic proverbs after the mambo scene.

I Liked:
+ The retro title sequence and fantastic musical score.
+ The scene with the Nazis in the pyramid bunker.
+ That it was filmed in Casablanca, which adequately stands in for Cairo circa-1955.

I Disliked:
- Some plodding moments when the action died down, such as the scene at the French embassy and the overdrawn day spent sitting in the SCEP office.

I Hated:
- That the casting was so obviously inaccurate. Bejo and Atika are Argentinian and Portuguese, respectively, and it was a stretch to see them as Egyptian. A minor quibble.

Grade:
Writing - 8
Acting - 10
Production - 10
Emotional Impact - 8
Music - 5
Significance - 4

Total: 21/30= 90% = A-

Last Word: It's so hard not to compare OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies to Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, but I'll do my best. Its technical aspects are masterful and absorbing, from the Technicolor to the costumes to the music. It may not look as good on DVD, but it was a sight to see in the theater. The laughs start right away, but unfortunately OSS 117 loses its momentum too often, and we're left aching for more campy scenes with Jean Dujardin. Director Hazanavicius does well in not trying to hammer the plot home, but some of scenes are awkwardly placed and the repetitive gags start to lose their flavor. The good news is that Dujardin single-handedly carries this film all the way through the end credits, and several of the scenes (getting lost in the maze of streets, waking to the Mezzuin's call) are truly hilarious. If not for some awkward humor and poor writing in the second act, I would be talking about OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies as a potential new classic.

Underrated MOTM: High School High (1996)

The Underrated Movie of the Month (MOTM) for April is an old favorite of mine, even though it's probably the most idiotic movie I'll ever praise on Getafilm. I won't defend High School High as a classic by any stretch, but I'll try to provide some evidence as to why it deserves better than a 7% on Rotten Tomatoes (even if that's only from eight reviews). And I promise, it's a total coincidence that just a few months ago I championed Lean on Me as an Underrated MOTM on these pages.

Let's start with the vitals. Released in the fall of 2006, High School High was directed by Hart Bochman (PCU) and starred Jon Lovitz (recently in Southland Tales), Tia Carrere (still around) and Mekhi Phifer (now a regular on "ER"), but the key element to the team was writer David Zucker, who had by that time already cracked you up with his writing in Airplane!, Top Secret!, and the Naked Gun trilogy. By the mid-90's, the "good teacher in the hood" movie was ripe for a spoof, and Zucker had rich source material: Lean on Me, The Substitute, Stand and Deliver, and Dangerous Minds, to name a few. High School High threaded bits from each into its formulaic plot: schlub teacher innocently lands in tough school, befriends attractive colleague, wins over students, inspires them to pass state-administered exams, defies evil principal, and so on. Roger Ebert observed that it "makes the crucial error of taking its story seriously and angling for a happy ending," but I either didn't notice or didn't care. There wasn't a real attempt at making it a dramatic movie, but Kenneth Turan of the L.A. Times criticized the same aspect of the direction.

How Hart Bochman became attached to this is a mystery to me, but it's interesting to note that Trey Parker was reportedly offered the chance to direct before him. He turned it down, but ended up starring in BASEketball two years later, which was written and directed by...David Zucker. I also don't know how the casting happened for High School High, but Jon Lovitz turned out to be a great fit. He was just coming out of his glory years (if he really had any?) from "Saturday Night Live" and "The Critic," and he had the perfect, nasally voice for a nerdy teacher. Tia Carrere was the exotic fantasy of Wayne's World fans and had recently been the evil seductress in True Lies (one of the last great action movies). Mekhi Phifer was still a relative unknown with only two film credits to his name, though one of them was his debut in Spike Lee's Clockers. Aside from Louise Fletcher (yep, Nursed Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), the rest of the cast were and still are mostly unknown, though it looks like several are earning a living with television roles.

Yes, the movie is stupid, but it's hard to defend the majority of mainstream comedy as "smart." High School High existed in an odd window in Hollywood - after the classic spoofs in the style of Mel Brooks, but before the cheap referencing and bodily fluid showcasing in spoofs like Scary Movie and its now omnipresent spawn. In its own unique way, High School High delivered sharp satire, dry dialogue, and decent acting (even if that "acting" was just delivering deadpan lines). Said New York Times critic Lawrence Van Gelder: "There's not much sense to the plot. But the film makers' blunderbuss approach to humor, with visual and verbal jokes coming in profusion and scattering high and low, guarantees that just about every funnybone is bound to be hit, some more than once."

How many times your funnybone is hit will depend on your taste and your mood, but chances are good that you'll chuckle a few times. You can't place it on a list with Spaceballs, Blazing Saddles, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery or others that I previously mentioned, but I find the Zucker influence in High School High a lot funnier than most of the classically-defined spoofs that are being churned out these days.

I really can't believe I just attempted a defense of this movie.

REVIEW: Semi-Pro (C)

Background: Having already checked off NASCAR, soccer, and figure skating on his "Sports Movie Every Year" list, Will Ferrell revs up his typical sleazy/arrogant persona in Semi-Pro, written by Scot Armstrong (Road Trip, Old School) and directed by rookie Kent Alterman. Also featured are Outkast's Andre Benjamin (Idlewild, Four Brothers), Woody Harrelson (No Country for Old Men), and a smattering of current and former SNL cast members. One unique thing about Semi-Pro (because on the surface there isn't much) is its R rating. Not nearly a first for Ferrell, but also not what you'd expect. Neither is the fact that there's no nudity.

Synopsis: In the mid-70's, Jackie Moon (Ferrell) is a one-hit wonder and exaggeratedly unbelievable human. The story picks up when his ABA franchise, the Flint (MI) Tropics, are lacking in fans, wins, and funding. Star player Clarence (Benjamin) - he had a few names, I couldn't keep track - has an attitude problem and aspirations for the NBA, which is about to absorb four ABA teams. The Tropics can earn a spot in the NBA if they finish in those top four, so Moon signs former Boston Celtic Monix (Harrelson) to bring some experience onto the team, and so begins the unlikely underdog road to success. The ending isn't quite as predictable as you think, but the plot doesn't really matter here. The focus is on tight shorts, puking, filthy athletes, shirtless hippies, and a grizzly bear.

I Loved:
+ The 70's funk soundtrack, despite the odd inclusion of Robin Thicke's "When I Get You Alone." Great song, just weird timing and the wrong decade.
+ Some flashes of hilarity from Will Ferrell, as inconsistent as they were. Anytime the guy sings it's money.

I Liked:
+ The back-and-forth between commentators Will Arnett and Andrew Daly.
+ Andre Benjamin - if you're a fan of Outkast you won't be surprised that he can act. I'd like to see him take some better roles, though.
+ Tim Meadows creeping into another role again. Was he so scarred by the failure of The Ladies Man that he couldn't show his face for the last few years?

I Disliked:
- The disgusting boyfriend/husband (?) played by Rob Corddry - what was that about?
- Ferrell's over-done freakout at the ABA owners meeting.
- That the originally funny poker scene (and rip-off of The 40 Year-Old Virgin) turned into a predictable and flat Russian roulette gimmick.

I Hated:
- The idiotic puking scene.
- Jackie Earle Haley wasted in a ridiculous role.
- The never-ending bear attacks. Give it up.

Grade:
Writing - 7
Acting - 9
Production - 7
Emotional Impact - 8
Music - 5
Significance - 1

Total: 37/50= 74% = C

Last Word: I'm not really sure what people's expectations are for Will Ferrell movies anymore, but we just can't keep ourselves away from the theater, can we? Semi-Pro is an unfunny misfire for several reasons, but primarily because it doesn't feature enough of Ferrell's ridiculous dialogue ("My mom wrote that song 3 weeks before she died."). Woody Harrelson basically steals the movie while the other characters get more screen time than they know what to do with. The physical comedy is either gross or worn out (except the punch in the back of the knee), and the injection of actual romance in this movie should be enough to tell you that it doesn't know where it's going. Is it making fun of basketball movies? Is it making fun of the 70's? Of Flint, Michigan? Despite the messiness, there are admittedly some funny moments scattered throughout - not enough to justify a trip to the theater, but enough for die-hard Ferrell fans, which appear to be a diminishing crowd.

REVIEW: Be Kind Rewind (C)

Background: French writer/director Michel Gondry followed up his cult favorite Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with 2006's The Science of Sleep. Both films heavily feature surrealism, dreams, and memories - they don't make sense, and you're not sure if they're supposed to. Be Kind Rewind, Gondry's most mainstream fare to date, stars Jack Black (Margot at the Wedding, The Holiday), Brooklyn hip-hop artist Mos Def (16 Blocks), and Danny Glover (Honeydripper), with appearances by Mia Farrow and Melonie Diaz (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Raising Victor Vargas). Filmed on location in Passaic, NJ, Be Kind Rewind was apparently inspired by Dave Chappelle, whose 2005 documentary Dave Chappelle's Block Party was also (oddly) directed by Gondry - a French surrealist who enjoys American hip-hop and urban cultural humor.

Synopsis: Mr. Fletcher (Glover) owns a dilapidated video (only VHS) store called Be Kind Rewind in Passaic, NJ. As you'd guess in the world of movies, the location is being threatened by a planned condo development. Fletcher has told his "adopted" son, Mike (Mos Def), that the store and their upper floor apartment is also the historic birthplace of jazz legend Fats Waller. Local vomiting mechanic and outrageous weirdo Jerry (Black) is Mike's best friend and, to Mr. Fletcher's disgust, the store's most loyal visitor. When Mr. Fletcher leaves on an unnecessary trip, Mike is left in charge of the store, and an unbelievable accident causes all of the tapes to be erased. With no way to procure extra copies of all the movies in the catalog, Mike and Jerry decide to recreate each movie (they call it "Sweding") with their own video camera and the help of local wallflower Alma (Diaz). Their versions of Ghostbusters, Rush Hour 2, and Robocop prove so popular that they can't meet the neighborhood's demand. Mr. Fletcher returns in time to help them transfer the videos to DVD and streamline the Sweding process, which now allows the customers themselves to play a part in their film of choice. As the group is about to save the store by raising enough money to stop the condo development, the feds (Sigourney Weaver) shut down their project due to copyright violation guidelines. By now, the community has banded together around the store, and they predictably decide that creating a biopic about Fats Waller will warm the hearts and minds of the greedy developers once and for all.

I Loved:
+ The realism achieved by filming on location in Passaic, NJ.
+ The creative use of "special effects" in the film recreations.

I Liked:
+ The camouflage fence scene - clever and amusing for a little bit.
+ The montage filming scene, starting with the When We Were Kings bit. The take was unnecessarily showy, but still entertaining.

I Disliked:
- Jack Black's character, Jerry. How I would have enjoyed his character Barry from High Fidelity here instead. Jerry could have been the video know-it-all like Barry was the music know-it-all. Instead, Black is stuck in an exaggerated, obnoxious, and rarely funny role.

I Hated:
- Jack Black's multiple vomiting scenes.
- The first 15-20 minutes. The power station scene was totally useless, the eating-while-wearing-colanders-on-head scene was distracting, and the rest (graffiti, Mr. Fletcher leaving on train) was overdone and boring.
- The dialogue, in general - Gondry still does not have a comfortable handle on this type of American humor. The lines came off as awkward and flat.

Grade:
Writing - 6
Acting - 8
Production - 9
Emotional Impact - 7
Music - 5
Significance - 3

Total: 38/50= 76% = C

Last Word: The meaningless term "Sweding" is symbolic of Be Kind Rewind's consistent weakness - its clever exterior hides a hollow center, and its ambiguity leaves you scratching your head and wondering if you've just been had. I'm most disappointed because I'm a fan of the ingredients (Black, Def, Gondry, Glover, Diaz) in the film and I was left with a bland, sour taste in my mouth. I won't address the idea that the story is meant to poke fun at Hollywood and the YouTube generation other than to say it just doesn't work. Any meaningful interpretation is lost in a jumble of bizarre plot elements, clumsy pacing, and seemingly ad-libbed dialogue. Imagine, if you will, a simpler story about two guys who accidentally (not in this way) lose a store's video collection and have to recreate it in a certain period of time. Throw in some Gondry art - and that's it. Leave it and go. I don't know about Mos Def, but that's a role for Jack Black to do in his own creative way. Get rid of the totally exaggerated characters, get rid of the Fats Waller piece, get rid of the copyright violation and condo ordeals, and just a let a funny situation sort itself out. I'll still make my way to Gondry's next film because I enjoy his visual style, but after this and The Science of Sleep, it's hard to find positive words to say about his muddy storytelling.

REVIEW: Meet the Spartans

Kidding.

REVIEW: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (C+)

Background: Writer/Director/Producer/Hollywood darling Judd Apatow (Anchorman, Talladega Nights) squeezes one last film into 2007 with Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, a spoof of the recent musical biopics Ray and Walk the Line. Directed and co-written by Jake Kasdan (The TV Set, "Freaks and Geeks"), it stars John C. Reilly (Talladega Nights, Chicago), Jenna Fischer (TV's "The Office"), and a crowd of other familiar faces. I'm not sure, but based on what I know of his talents, John C. Reilly probably did all of the actual singing and even guitar playing in the movie.

Synopsis: Young Dewey Cox accidentally cuts his brother in half with a machete. Disowned by his father and newly aware of his ability to play the blues, Dewey (Reilly) sets off on a lifelong musical career. He follows the traditional arc: determination and luck gives him his big break, his marriage suffers to the temptations of the road, he has a tumultuous romance with a new woman (Fischer), he goes in and out of drug rehab, he alienates all of his band members, and he has a reawakening and redemption.

I Loved:
+ Tim Meadows, who was by far the funniest person on screen.

I Liked:
+ The spoofed bits of the biopics, as unoriginal as they may have been.
+ The bizarre cameos by everybody from Jack White to Frankie Muniz to Eddie Vedder. Weird, but memorable.
+ Paul Rudd and Justin Long as John Lennon and George Harrison, respectively.

I Disliked:
- John C. Reilly. I did. Since when is he supposed to be a comedic genius?
- Jack Black and Jason Schwartzman as Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, respectively.

I Hated:
- The stupid machete plotline, including hearing "The wrong kid died!" every 6 minutes.

Grade:
Writing - 7
Acting - 8
Production - 9
Emotional Impact - 8
Music - 5
Significance - 2

Total: 39/50= 78% = C+

Last Word: Comedy kidnapped John C. Reilly! What has happened to this guy? I'm talking about Boogie Nights, Magnolia, The Anniversary Party, The Good Girl, and Gangs of New York, to name just a recent few. Somebody told him should be the next Will Ferrell and he's never looked back, to my great disappointment. In fact, Walk Hard made a dramatically better movie when I simply pretended Will Ferrell was playing Dewey Cox. Sure, maybe that's his typecast role, but he does it a lot better than anyone else. Reilly's awkwardness aside, I didn't really laugh much during this movie. As I've read elsewhere and totally agree with, it was like an SNL skit that just went on way too long. You know how those are, and it didn't help to have so many SNL-style actors riding along (Jenna Fischer, Chris Parnell, Kristen Wiig, Jack Black, Justin Long, Paul Rudd, Jason Schwartzman, Tim Meadows, and Jonah Hill). The writing wasn't very sharp, though the spoofed bits of Walk the Line and Ray were well done. So in conclusion I was pretty disappointed, but instead of blaming just Reilly, I'll chalk this dud up to Judd Apatow trying to copy someone else's story instead of telling his own. He doesn't draw the line clearly enough between whether he's making fun or having fun, but I'm not interested enough to see it again and figure it out - especially if I have the option to see any of his other movies instead, like my personal favorite Anchorman.