Couples Retreat

Hud and I watched this last night while wrapping presents (clarification: while *I* was wrapping presents) and it actually wasn't too bad. It was kind of funny and not too stupid. The characters were a little stereotypical, but heck, stereotypes are funny.

It also made me roll my eyes to see that, out of the four couples, all of the women were smokin' hot and all of the men were fat slobs. But I laughed (if not constantly or uproariously--though this is not to say there were not corny moments) and so did Hud, and the movie stayed light and fun and sweet. (I will never forgive White Men Can't Jump for veering off into depressing drama territory, but this one didn't do that.)

Did anyone else wonder if maybe they used the set from Gilligan's Island during the search for Eden East?

You Again

Two scoops of crazy and a side order of cuckoo cachoo.

I really didn't care anything about seeing this movie, but I don't pass up a chance at Girls' Night Out, as infrequently as it comes around when you have three kids and work every weekend. Especially when it begins with that margarita I earned and ends with a glass of wine and chocolate cake. Mmmmm. Allow me to reflect on the bliss a moment.

OK, back to the movie. It was actually pretty cute. I'd kind of thought I might end up falling asleep (these things happen when I sit still in the dark), but I managed to stay awake the entire time with no trouble. It made me laugh quite a bit too, but I have a theory about that. Movies are much more funny when you are surrounded by other people who are also laughing. I'm not sure how well it would hold up to my usual late-night movie-watching at home.

I'm not sure this movie is a must-see-in-the-theater movie, but it's worth watching just to see Betty White say, "Don't get up in my grill, sister." Especially if you can manage to get a few of the amenities my GNO experience came with.

Youth in Revolt

Hm. Quirky.

OSS 117: Lost in Rio

This movie made me laugh. It's possible that the wine helped, but I think I would have laughed anyway. On the other hand, I'm sure it's not for everyone. Whenever I got to giggling, Hud would give me the "are you crazy?" look and ask what was so funny. The first few times I tried explaining it to him and his response was always something like, "I know. What's so funny about that?" Sigh.

It's pretty much a cross between a James Bond movie and Get Smart, except in French. The main character is a French super-spy who is, of course, quite  handsome and debonair (can you imagine any other kind of French super-spy?) but is also incredibly chauvinistic. He's the kind of person I might want to slap in real life (and he does get slapped), but I had no trouble laughing at him in a movie. Even so, the ladies love him (and, apparently, some of the men do too).

One thing that amazed me about this movie was how everything looked absolutely vintage--of course the clothes, cars, furniture and actors (no anachronistic Mark Ruffalos here), but even down to the colors and camera angles. When I ordered this from netflix I was sure it was a newer movie, but while watching I had to look it up to make sure it wasn't filmed in the 60s. (It wasn't. It's from 2009.)

This is actually a sequel to a 2006 movie called OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies. That one's on my list too.

Date Night

I kind of expected constant funnies from this movie. I mean, come on, it's Steve Carell and Tina Fey! But while it definitely had some good laughs about it ("I'm going to go home and fart in a shoebox"), there was too much Other Stuff that got in the way. There were times when this movie almost fell into the trap of taking itself too seriously. Like when it tried to be all sweet and heartwarming, or during action sequences with barely any dialog. Funny people need dialog!

OK, well maybe the action sequences weren't all bad. This movie may have the best car chase scene since The Blues Brothers. And Carell and Fey weren't the only funny ones. I was a fan of the cab driver, and of James Franco as sleeveless tattooed white trash who doesn't want to sell stolen wheelchairs for the rest of his life.

So maybe I didn't hee-haw constantly but I still had fun.

Get Smart

Does it make a movie funnier if you have someone to watch it with? I laughed harder (and more often!) at Get Smart than any comedy I've seen in a long time. Even though it was really corny. (That's what Hud said about it, anyway). Maybe I'm just happy from all the tryptophan I ingested for Thanksgiving. No, wait, tryptophan makes you sleepy, not happy. I knew it was one of the dwarves, anyway.

I really think it's Steve Carrell's fault that I found this movie so hilarious. See, if I try to imagine Jim Carrey in the role as Max Smart I just get all annoyed. But Carrell, with his unexpected deadpan humor, is right up my alley. Although I must say I can't understand why they bothered to have Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in this movie when he never even once takes his shirt off.

Be Kind Rewind

This was a really stupid movie.

I had originally intended for that to be the extent of my entry, but I find I feel compelled to say more about it.

In his movies, Jack Black is always partly a loser, so that's nothing new. He usually makes up for it by being hilarious, and by having at least a few endearing qualities. However, in this movie he is a complete loser, and also perhaps somewhat insane... and I must have missed the endearing qualities.

Best part of the movie: When Jerry (Jack Black) stood up between the signs that said "Keep" and "Out", mimicking the message Mr. Fletcher had been trying to pass on to Mike (which was, of course, "Keep Jerry out.") You're probably asking yourself, "and she thinks that is the BEsT part of the movie?" Yup, that's what I said. The entire movie was disappointingly un-funny, and was slapped together like one of Mike and Jerry's Sweded videos. There were points during the movie where, judging by the soundtrack, they were trying to convey poignancy or tension, but... it wasn't working. I'm not sure if they were trying and failing, or if they were mocking movies that try to convey poignancy and tension. Either way, it didn't work for me.

I had been hoping that this movie would be hysterical, perhaps even funny enough to usurp the ruling position of "There's Something About Mary" on my Best Comedies Ever list (not the least because that movie is raunchy enough that I'm embarrassed to call it a favorite) but it wasn't even close.

We Are Not Amused.