*Get the film on Amazon here*
Gary Shandling co-writes, co-produces, and stars in a comedy that plays like a pilot for a pay channel series.
Shandling is Harold, an alien on a planet of men run by Graydon (Ben Kingsley). The men want conquer Earth, and send Harold down to impregnate a woman, and eventually take over the planet with alien seed. Harold's training was not adequate, and his first attempts at getting any woman he meets into bed are hilarious. Harold works at a bank with Perry (Greg Kinnear), who is always on the prowl when he is not in the vault with the office manager. Perry takes Harold to Alcoholics Anonymous to pick up chicks, and Harold notices Susan (Annette Bening), a recovering alcoholic who made some bad decisions in her life and is looking to for a complete change. She appreciates Harold's honesty, eventually marries him, and they start trying to have a baby right away. Roland (John Goodman) is an FAA inspector who is investigating mysterious turbulence and lights on assorted Arizona flights. Each time, one of the passengers has been Harold. Harold is supposed to father a child, but he finds himself falling in love with Susan, given his limited understanding of emotions. Harold becomes overly involved in his assignment on Earth. He tries to bed back-stabbing Perry's wife Helen (a seriously wasted Linda Fiorentino). Perry gets a promotion after passing off Harold's work as his own, Roland is closing in on him quickly, and Susan finally conceives.
Mike Nichols directs a big name cast in a sitcom-level script, with four credited screenwriters. There is enough nudity and language to get this on any pay cable channel, but if you replaced Shandling and Bening with a cast twenty years younger, you quickly realize how pedestrian and lowbrow the humor here is. Bening scores some laughs as the worrying Susan, Shandling is funny here and there, but everyone puts more acting effort into the film than the script demands. The film nosedives into maudlin territory as Harold tries to return to his home planet. The cast's intensity is all wrong. Nichols' direction is fine, the man pretty much reinvented comedy direction with "The Graduate" but the script screams for a director with a lighter touch.
"What Planet Are You From?" has the talent in front of and behind the camera, just not in the screenplay. It scores some laughs but eventually this misses its satirical possibilities.
Stats:
(2000) 105 min. (* * *) out of five stars
-Directed by Mike Nichols
-Screenplay by Gary Shandling & Michael Leeson and Ed Solomon and Peter Tolan, Story by Gary Shandling & Michael Leeson
-Cast: Gary Shandling, Annette Bening, Ben Kingsley, Linda Fiorentino, John Goodman, Greg Kinnear, Judy Greer, Richard Jenkins, Camryn Manheim, Jane Lynch, Nora Dunn, Danny Zorn, Harmony Smith
(R)
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
What the Bleep Do We Know!? (2004)
*Get the film on Amazon here*
Forget what you think you know about yourself and the world around you, this is the most fun you will ever have learning about quantum physics.
The film's writers and directors show their brilliance early. This could have been a slow, dreary slog about how we can change our lives, control our options, and affect the world around us. There are interviews with learned men and women who try to put these heady theories into terms we can understand. In order to illustrate the various points, Marlee Matlin plays Amanda, a photographer who is a lot like us. She is going through a rough patch in her life, and is overwhelmed by her environment. This all comes to a head at an assignment at a wedding in the same church she was married at. Interspersed through Amanda's day are the interviews. The dramatization then shows us how the philosophical ideas are used by Amanda and her brain.
The quantum physicists all come from different backgrounds, but say the same thing- we have created the world we live in, and we can change it if we want to. We are merely carbon based bio suits holding a supercomputer in our heads, and we have been programmed to act the way we act due to external expectations and our own view of how the world should be. Emotions are biological processes, and we have all become addicted to how our world tells us to behave, and what we should want out of life. We can not only change our reality, but our entire life if we learn to look at the world around us differently, expand our knowledge, and controversially, stop waiting for that reward from God in the next life. One interview subject, whose identity I do not want to reveal until you see the film, puts it this way: God is so immense and great, how could your digressions affect him one way or another? Another interviewee says we should not live lives of depravity, but dwelling on the hereafter is interfering with the here-and-now. This is argumentative stuff, but anyone burned by organized religion should take the film seriously. The film makers credit the interviewees only at the end, and the one who was making the most sense is the one most I would have considered the flakiest. Aging is merely a lack of protein getting to the right spots in the body, does nutrition really play a major role in how old we become?
"What the Bleep Do We Know!?" (also known as "What the F**k..." and "What the #$*!...") is complicated stuff. Living this transcendent knowledge through Matlin's (who is great, by the way) character certainly helps bring it to a level we can all understand, without ever dumbing it down or making the viewer feel like an idiot. The film left me thirsting for the very knowledge it is trying to explain. In the end, I realize I don't know too much, and if a film propels me to learn more (about quantum theory and the world in general), then it has succeeded in many ways. You will never look at science the same way again, and I shudder at how many arguments "What the Bleep Do We Know!?" is going to generate. Followed by a sequel.
Stats:
(2004) 109 min. (* * * *) out of five stars
-Directed by William Arntz, Betsy Chasse, Mark Vicente
-Written by William Arntz, Betsy Chasse, Matthew Hoffman, Mark Vicente
-Cast: Marlee Matlin, Elaine Hendrix, John Ross Bowie, Robert Bailey Jr., Barry Newman, Larry Brandenburg, Daniela Serra, James Langston Drake, Michele Mariana, Armin Shimerman, Robert Blanche, Pavel Mikoloski, Mercedes Rose
(Not Rated)
Forget what you think you know about yourself and the world around you, this is the most fun you will ever have learning about quantum physics.
The film's writers and directors show their brilliance early. This could have been a slow, dreary slog about how we can change our lives, control our options, and affect the world around us. There are interviews with learned men and women who try to put these heady theories into terms we can understand. In order to illustrate the various points, Marlee Matlin plays Amanda, a photographer who is a lot like us. She is going through a rough patch in her life, and is overwhelmed by her environment. This all comes to a head at an assignment at a wedding in the same church she was married at. Interspersed through Amanda's day are the interviews. The dramatization then shows us how the philosophical ideas are used by Amanda and her brain.
The quantum physicists all come from different backgrounds, but say the same thing- we have created the world we live in, and we can change it if we want to. We are merely carbon based bio suits holding a supercomputer in our heads, and we have been programmed to act the way we act due to external expectations and our own view of how the world should be. Emotions are biological processes, and we have all become addicted to how our world tells us to behave, and what we should want out of life. We can not only change our reality, but our entire life if we learn to look at the world around us differently, expand our knowledge, and controversially, stop waiting for that reward from God in the next life. One interview subject, whose identity I do not want to reveal until you see the film, puts it this way: God is so immense and great, how could your digressions affect him one way or another? Another interviewee says we should not live lives of depravity, but dwelling on the hereafter is interfering with the here-and-now. This is argumentative stuff, but anyone burned by organized religion should take the film seriously. The film makers credit the interviewees only at the end, and the one who was making the most sense is the one most I would have considered the flakiest. Aging is merely a lack of protein getting to the right spots in the body, does nutrition really play a major role in how old we become?
"What the Bleep Do We Know!?" (also known as "What the F**k..." and "What the #$*!...") is complicated stuff. Living this transcendent knowledge through Matlin's (who is great, by the way) character certainly helps bring it to a level we can all understand, without ever dumbing it down or making the viewer feel like an idiot. The film left me thirsting for the very knowledge it is trying to explain. In the end, I realize I don't know too much, and if a film propels me to learn more (about quantum theory and the world in general), then it has succeeded in many ways. You will never look at science the same way again, and I shudder at how many arguments "What the Bleep Do We Know!?" is going to generate. Followed by a sequel.
Stats:
(2004) 109 min. (* * * *) out of five stars
-Directed by William Arntz, Betsy Chasse, Mark Vicente
-Written by William Arntz, Betsy Chasse, Matthew Hoffman, Mark Vicente
-Cast: Marlee Matlin, Elaine Hendrix, John Ross Bowie, Robert Bailey Jr., Barry Newman, Larry Brandenburg, Daniela Serra, James Langston Drake, Michele Mariana, Armin Shimerman, Robert Blanche, Pavel Mikoloski, Mercedes Rose
(Not Rated)
What Women Want (2000)
*Get the film on Amazon here*
Mel Gibson was a handsome man. During the press junkets for this film, many fluff entertainment reporters would question Mel, "so what DO women want?" The actor would laugh, the reporter would smile, and Hollywood Entertainment Report Tonight This Week Lowdown would lead off with a cute story. It is obvious that the marketing department for the studio thought they knew what women wanted and gave it to them- look at the poster and video box- 'WHAT WOMEN WANT,' and a picture of an adorable Mel grinning from ear to ear.
Mel Gibson plays Nick- the nicest, sweetest, most likable womanizer in film history. I was ready to see Mel treat women like crap, and get his comeuppance when he began to know what they were really thinking, but I was wrong. He stretches credibility by trying on women's products on the orders of his new boss Darcy (Helen Hunt). Hunt plays the exact same role she played on "Mad About You," Darcy comes to the agency with "bitch-on-wheels" rumors swirling about her, but she turns out to be nice. Couldn't we see some kind of Battle of the Sexes between Darcy and Nick, instead of sheepish smiles? Nick electrocutes himself in a bathtub with a hair dryer and can suddenly hear what women are thinking. He uses this to begin to take down Darcy, who got the job he wanted, and beds the pathetic Lola (Marisa Tomei), knowing her every sexual wish. He also begins to read the minds of his daughter Alex (Ashley Johnson), who is blossoming into womanhood and he can't do anything about it, and Erin (Judy Greer), an emotional mess of a coworker at his ad agency.
Nick beds down Lola in one embarrassing scene. He has been asking her out for months, gets her into bed, decides he loves Darcy, and gets rid of Lola by telling her HE IS GAY. I'm still waiting for the outcry from the LGBTQ+ community over this?, but then again, the director was a woman. Here is Nick, using an easy out (so to speak) to dump a character the writers should have trimmed in the first place. There's no logic behind the admission, or that Lola buys it and Tomei is promptly removed from the film. I kept hoping she would pop up later and tell Darcy this little gay fact, but nope.
Ashley Johnson is wonderful as Alex, who has obviously picked the wrong guy she plans to lose her virginity to on prom night. The role required a substantial amount of teen awkwardness, and Johnson is great. The unwatchable Bette Midler has an unnecessary cameo as a psychiatrist- her role seemed to be cast, and then written. If you are a known womanizer who can suddenly read the thoughts of the women you pursue, do you need a psychiatrist to tell you that you can use this power to get more women into bed? Like Tomei, Midler disappears, and I also kept waiting for her to pop up later. If you have an inkling about what Delta Burke and Valerie Perrine's purposes were here, you are smarter than I am.
The finale, after a VERY long running time, is a letdown. When Mel is alone onscreen, he has complete conversations with himself, like the dolt he played in "Conspiracy Theory." I wanted him to just shut up. Nick also cures suicidal depression in a nonsensical scene that is pure cringe.
This really is not a film- it is the result of test audience samplings and opinion polls- easy film making by committee, guaranteed to make money, and not harm anyone's career. "What Women Want" is lighter than a large cotton candy, and about as satisfying. Followed by a gender swapped remake.
Stats:
(2000) 127 min. (*) out of five stars
-Directed by Nancy Meyers
-Screenplay by Josh Goldsmith & Cathy Yuspa, Story by Josh Goldsmith & Cathy Yuspa and Diane Drake
-Cast: Mel Gibson, Helen Hunt, Marisa Tomei, Alan Alda, Ashley Johnson, Mark Feuerstein, Lauren Holly, Delta Burke, Valerie Perrine, Judy Greer, Sarah Paulson, Ana Gasteyer, Lisa Edelstein
(PG-13)
Mel Gibson was a handsome man. During the press junkets for this film, many fluff entertainment reporters would question Mel, "so what DO women want?" The actor would laugh, the reporter would smile, and Hollywood Entertainment Report Tonight This Week Lowdown would lead off with a cute story. It is obvious that the marketing department for the studio thought they knew what women wanted and gave it to them- look at the poster and video box- 'WHAT WOMEN WANT,' and a picture of an adorable Mel grinning from ear to ear.
Mel Gibson plays Nick- the nicest, sweetest, most likable womanizer in film history. I was ready to see Mel treat women like crap, and get his comeuppance when he began to know what they were really thinking, but I was wrong. He stretches credibility by trying on women's products on the orders of his new boss Darcy (Helen Hunt). Hunt plays the exact same role she played on "Mad About You," Darcy comes to the agency with "bitch-on-wheels" rumors swirling about her, but she turns out to be nice. Couldn't we see some kind of Battle of the Sexes between Darcy and Nick, instead of sheepish smiles? Nick electrocutes himself in a bathtub with a hair dryer and can suddenly hear what women are thinking. He uses this to begin to take down Darcy, who got the job he wanted, and beds the pathetic Lola (Marisa Tomei), knowing her every sexual wish. He also begins to read the minds of his daughter Alex (Ashley Johnson), who is blossoming into womanhood and he can't do anything about it, and Erin (Judy Greer), an emotional mess of a coworker at his ad agency.
Nick beds down Lola in one embarrassing scene. He has been asking her out for months, gets her into bed, decides he loves Darcy, and gets rid of Lola by telling her HE IS GAY. I'm still waiting for the outcry from the LGBTQ+ community over this?, but then again, the director was a woman. Here is Nick, using an easy out (so to speak) to dump a character the writers should have trimmed in the first place. There's no logic behind the admission, or that Lola buys it and Tomei is promptly removed from the film. I kept hoping she would pop up later and tell Darcy this little gay fact, but nope.
Ashley Johnson is wonderful as Alex, who has obviously picked the wrong guy she plans to lose her virginity to on prom night. The role required a substantial amount of teen awkwardness, and Johnson is great. The unwatchable Bette Midler has an unnecessary cameo as a psychiatrist- her role seemed to be cast, and then written. If you are a known womanizer who can suddenly read the thoughts of the women you pursue, do you need a psychiatrist to tell you that you can use this power to get more women into bed? Like Tomei, Midler disappears, and I also kept waiting for her to pop up later. If you have an inkling about what Delta Burke and Valerie Perrine's purposes were here, you are smarter than I am.
The finale, after a VERY long running time, is a letdown. When Mel is alone onscreen, he has complete conversations with himself, like the dolt he played in "Conspiracy Theory." I wanted him to just shut up. Nick also cures suicidal depression in a nonsensical scene that is pure cringe.
This really is not a film- it is the result of test audience samplings and opinion polls- easy film making by committee, guaranteed to make money, and not harm anyone's career. "What Women Want" is lighter than a large cotton candy, and about as satisfying. Followed by a gender swapped remake.
Stats:
(2000) 127 min. (*) out of five stars
-Directed by Nancy Meyers
-Screenplay by Josh Goldsmith & Cathy Yuspa, Story by Josh Goldsmith & Cathy Yuspa and Diane Drake
-Cast: Mel Gibson, Helen Hunt, Marisa Tomei, Alan Alda, Ashley Johnson, Mark Feuerstein, Lauren Holly, Delta Burke, Valerie Perrine, Judy Greer, Sarah Paulson, Ana Gasteyer, Lisa Edelstein
(PG-13)
Monday, March 31, 2025
When in Rome (2010)
*Get the film on Amazon here*
If I wanted to watch bad television, I would have skipped this film and turned on any original basic cable daytime programming.
Beth (Kristen Bell) is a driven museum curator suddenly invited to Rome to be in her sister's (Alexis Dziena) wedding. While her younger sister celebrates her whirlwind romance, Beth worries about a huge exhibition overseen by her cold boss Celeste (Anjelica Huston, who wandered in for a paycheck). At the wedding, Beth meets the charming Nick (Josh Duhamel), and the two get along very well until the well-worn sitcom cliche -"sees possible new boyfriend kissed by mystery girl"- rears its ugly head. Beth gets good and drunk- the adorable rom-com drunk, not the puke-on-your-own-hair drunk- and takes some coins from the conveniently placed Fountain of Love, where the lovelorn throw in their Euros and other monies and hope for true love. An odd thing happens. The five coins she took are magically connected to the five men who threw them in, and those five men fall hopelessly in love with Beth, who has jetted back home to New York City. Beth must not only avoid sportswriter Nick, but struggling artist Antonio (Will Arnett), self-obsessed male model Gale (Dax Shepard), street magician Lance (Jon Heder), and sausage king Al (Danny DeVito). Beth must discern whether Nick is feeling real love through a series of badly written set pieces, as the other four men make fools of themselves trying to win her heart, too.
For a ninety-one minute movie, this film has a lot of characters. Both Beth and Nick have the standard network of try-to-be-funnier supporting friends, and Beth's divorced parents (Peggy Lipton, Don Johnson) bicker and give Beth sads. The editing is choppy and the viewer is thrown into the melee quickly, so we don't get to know Beth, a vacuous harpy I didn't sympathize with. Bell is okay in the lead role, but she must act her way through a screenplay that unravels like a series of rejected "Saturday Night Live" skits. The vase that wouldn't break at the wedding? Calling a girl during a men-only poker game? A "blackout" restaurant? The cast goes through the motions, with Duhamel and Shepard getting the most precious laughs as the film makers lurch from one unfunny set-up to another. The cast doesn't get to "play" or improvise (check out Shepard on the blooper reel delivering funnier material than what ended up in the final cut), reined in by a pace meant to hide all the predictability.
It's sad, but "When in Rome" is indicative of the sorry state of romantic comedies. Like a plate of spaghetti, it's been done before, is a bit cheesy, and brings little satisfaction but a lot of heartburn.
Stats:
(2010) 91 min. (1/2 *) out of five stars
-Directed by Mark Steven Johnson
-Written by David Diamond & David Weissman
-Cast: Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Anjelica Huston, Alexis Dziena, Will Arnett, Dax Shepard, Jon Heder, Danny DeVito, Peggy Lipton, Don Johnson, Kate Micucci, Luca Calvani, Keir O'Donnell
(PG-13)
If I wanted to watch bad television, I would have skipped this film and turned on any original basic cable daytime programming.
Beth (Kristen Bell) is a driven museum curator suddenly invited to Rome to be in her sister's (Alexis Dziena) wedding. While her younger sister celebrates her whirlwind romance, Beth worries about a huge exhibition overseen by her cold boss Celeste (Anjelica Huston, who wandered in for a paycheck). At the wedding, Beth meets the charming Nick (Josh Duhamel), and the two get along very well until the well-worn sitcom cliche -"sees possible new boyfriend kissed by mystery girl"- rears its ugly head. Beth gets good and drunk- the adorable rom-com drunk, not the puke-on-your-own-hair drunk- and takes some coins from the conveniently placed Fountain of Love, where the lovelorn throw in their Euros and other monies and hope for true love. An odd thing happens. The five coins she took are magically connected to the five men who threw them in, and those five men fall hopelessly in love with Beth, who has jetted back home to New York City. Beth must not only avoid sportswriter Nick, but struggling artist Antonio (Will Arnett), self-obsessed male model Gale (Dax Shepard), street magician Lance (Jon Heder), and sausage king Al (Danny DeVito). Beth must discern whether Nick is feeling real love through a series of badly written set pieces, as the other four men make fools of themselves trying to win her heart, too.
For a ninety-one minute movie, this film has a lot of characters. Both Beth and Nick have the standard network of try-to-be-funnier supporting friends, and Beth's divorced parents (Peggy Lipton, Don Johnson) bicker and give Beth sads. The editing is choppy and the viewer is thrown into the melee quickly, so we don't get to know Beth, a vacuous harpy I didn't sympathize with. Bell is okay in the lead role, but she must act her way through a screenplay that unravels like a series of rejected "Saturday Night Live" skits. The vase that wouldn't break at the wedding? Calling a girl during a men-only poker game? A "blackout" restaurant? The cast goes through the motions, with Duhamel and Shepard getting the most precious laughs as the film makers lurch from one unfunny set-up to another. The cast doesn't get to "play" or improvise (check out Shepard on the blooper reel delivering funnier material than what ended up in the final cut), reined in by a pace meant to hide all the predictability.
It's sad, but "When in Rome" is indicative of the sorry state of romantic comedies. Like a plate of spaghetti, it's been done before, is a bit cheesy, and brings little satisfaction but a lot of heartburn.
Stats:
(2010) 91 min. (1/2 *) out of five stars
-Directed by Mark Steven Johnson
-Written by David Diamond & David Weissman
-Cast: Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Anjelica Huston, Alexis Dziena, Will Arnett, Dax Shepard, Jon Heder, Danny DeVito, Peggy Lipton, Don Johnson, Kate Micucci, Luca Calvani, Keir O'Donnell
(PG-13)
Which Way to the Front? (1970)
*Get the film on Amazon here*
I'm not sure I have ever laughed so little at something billed as a comedy...no, wait, I've seen some of the "American Pie" franchise films.
World War II is raging and Jerry Lewis plays the richest man in the world. He is rejected as 4-F by the Army, and decides to use his money to raise his own army of about half a dozen men. He impersonates a Nazi commander in Italy, and eventually tries to kill Hitler- and that is the description of the flimsy plot.
This film is as funny as a heart attack, and makes "Hogan's Heroes" look like Shakespeare. I cannot stress how bad this is. Lewis' direction consists of two cameras shooting the action from two angles, and the footage is edited together. This sitcom direction works on television, but this is an obvious attempt to cheat the audience. He ends most of his scenes with a still shot, giving the viewer a chance to double over in stitches before going to the next tired set-up. Lewis- star, director, and producer, sets the film in 1943, but makes no attempt to use period costumes or sets. Everyone wears the latest 1970 style, cavorting in the latest interior design.
The supporting cast is lost as Lewis goes off on comedic tangents, which last as long as major surgery and are just as painful. When Lewis becomes the Nazi commander, he spends the last half of the film screaming at the top of his lungs in a performance so odious as to stink up any goodwill you try to bring in at the beginning. The final embarrassing shot has Lewis and his cronies trying to put one over on the Japanese. They wear buck teeth, squint their eyes, and talk in a "funny" accent. I was slack-jawed at what Lewis did through this anyway, but that put me over the edge. Watch for Kaye Ballard's tasteless scene where she attempts to end it all over and over again. George Takei has two scenes, then wisely drops out of the picture- I wonder what this progressive icon thinks of this today? There is nothing sadder than watching a formerly respected comedian screw up a project so horribly, you actually feel sorry for them; trust me, I sat through "Boom in the Moon" starring Buster Keaton. I've never recognized the "genius" that others (the country of France) see in Jerry Lewis' work, and I would hold this film up as an example.
"Which Way to the Front?" is cheap, unfunny, offensive, and stupid. I feel bad for everyone involved, and anyone who must endure this.
Stats:
(1970) 96 min. (0 *) out of five stars
-Directed by Jerry Lewis
-Screenplay by Gerald Gardner & Dee Caruso, Story by Gerald Gardner & Dee Caruso and Dick Miller
-Cast: Jerry Lewis, Jan Murray, John Wood, Steve Franken, Willie Davis, Dack Rambo, Robert Middleton, Kaye Ballard, Harold J. Stone, Paul Winchell, Sidney Miller, Joe Besser, Gary Crosby, George Takei
(G)
I'm not sure I have ever laughed so little at something billed as a comedy...no, wait, I've seen some of the "American Pie" franchise films.
World War II is raging and Jerry Lewis plays the richest man in the world. He is rejected as 4-F by the Army, and decides to use his money to raise his own army of about half a dozen men. He impersonates a Nazi commander in Italy, and eventually tries to kill Hitler- and that is the description of the flimsy plot.
This film is as funny as a heart attack, and makes "Hogan's Heroes" look like Shakespeare. I cannot stress how bad this is. Lewis' direction consists of two cameras shooting the action from two angles, and the footage is edited together. This sitcom direction works on television, but this is an obvious attempt to cheat the audience. He ends most of his scenes with a still shot, giving the viewer a chance to double over in stitches before going to the next tired set-up. Lewis- star, director, and producer, sets the film in 1943, but makes no attempt to use period costumes or sets. Everyone wears the latest 1970 style, cavorting in the latest interior design.
The supporting cast is lost as Lewis goes off on comedic tangents, which last as long as major surgery and are just as painful. When Lewis becomes the Nazi commander, he spends the last half of the film screaming at the top of his lungs in a performance so odious as to stink up any goodwill you try to bring in at the beginning. The final embarrassing shot has Lewis and his cronies trying to put one over on the Japanese. They wear buck teeth, squint their eyes, and talk in a "funny" accent. I was slack-jawed at what Lewis did through this anyway, but that put me over the edge. Watch for Kaye Ballard's tasteless scene where she attempts to end it all over and over again. George Takei has two scenes, then wisely drops out of the picture- I wonder what this progressive icon thinks of this today? There is nothing sadder than watching a formerly respected comedian screw up a project so horribly, you actually feel sorry for them; trust me, I sat through "Boom in the Moon" starring Buster Keaton. I've never recognized the "genius" that others (the country of France) see in Jerry Lewis' work, and I would hold this film up as an example.
"Which Way to the Front?" is cheap, unfunny, offensive, and stupid. I feel bad for everyone involved, and anyone who must endure this.
Stats:
(1970) 96 min. (0 *) out of five stars
-Directed by Jerry Lewis
-Screenplay by Gerald Gardner & Dee Caruso, Story by Gerald Gardner & Dee Caruso and Dick Miller
-Cast: Jerry Lewis, Jan Murray, John Wood, Steve Franken, Willie Davis, Dack Rambo, Robert Middleton, Kaye Ballard, Harold J. Stone, Paul Winchell, Sidney Miller, Joe Besser, Gary Crosby, George Takei
(G)
Wild Girl Waltz (2012)
*Get a copy of "Make Your Own Damn Movie" on Amazon here*
A virtually plotless film that scores more laughs than some mainstream "stoner" comedies.
Best friends Angie (Christina Shipp) and Tara (Samantha Steinmetz) decide to take a couple of mystery pills to get over a boring day sitting around the house after Angie got a milkshake thrown at her while walking along a road. The pills give them the high they wanted, and they enlist Brian (Jared Stern), who happens to be Tara's boyfriend and Angie's brother, to hang out with them. The trio drive around their small town, still bored.
Yup, that's pretty much it, yet writer/director Mark Lewis lets his cast score some big laughs. I have never been much of a stoner comedy fan, the allure of Cheech and Chong escapes me to this day, but Shipp and Steinmetz are naturally funny before and after they pop the pills. We get to see a few other characters (a guy who owes Brian money, a bartender who Angie flirts with), and we get to experience the small town boredom Angie and Tara are feeling. This isn't deep, navel-gazing comedy, and Lewis does pad the film with a few too many driving scenes. Not all the laughs hit, too, much like when your "funny" friends get drunk or high. The three leads have a chemistry that is pretty astounding. Shipp, Steinmetz, and Stern are natural together, and Lewis lets them do their thing. I don't know how much of this was improvised, but the goofiness of the women's high is almost natural. Lewis keeps things small and intimate, and therefore successful.
"Wild Girl Waltz" isn't as wild as you think it will get, but it is funny enough to recommend.
Stats:
(2012) 82 min. (* * * 1/2) out of five stars
-Written and Directed by Mark Lewis
-Cast: Christina Shipp, Samantha Steinmetz, Jared Stern, Brad Hemesath, Scott Lewis, Kim Barlow, Kim Gordon, Alexander Cook, Julian Lowenthal, Sean McDonald
(Not Rated)
A virtually plotless film that scores more laughs than some mainstream "stoner" comedies.
Best friends Angie (Christina Shipp) and Tara (Samantha Steinmetz) decide to take a couple of mystery pills to get over a boring day sitting around the house after Angie got a milkshake thrown at her while walking along a road. The pills give them the high they wanted, and they enlist Brian (Jared Stern), who happens to be Tara's boyfriend and Angie's brother, to hang out with them. The trio drive around their small town, still bored.
Yup, that's pretty much it, yet writer/director Mark Lewis lets his cast score some big laughs. I have never been much of a stoner comedy fan, the allure of Cheech and Chong escapes me to this day, but Shipp and Steinmetz are naturally funny before and after they pop the pills. We get to see a few other characters (a guy who owes Brian money, a bartender who Angie flirts with), and we get to experience the small town boredom Angie and Tara are feeling. This isn't deep, navel-gazing comedy, and Lewis does pad the film with a few too many driving scenes. Not all the laughs hit, too, much like when your "funny" friends get drunk or high. The three leads have a chemistry that is pretty astounding. Shipp, Steinmetz, and Stern are natural together, and Lewis lets them do their thing. I don't know how much of this was improvised, but the goofiness of the women's high is almost natural. Lewis keeps things small and intimate, and therefore successful.
"Wild Girl Waltz" isn't as wild as you think it will get, but it is funny enough to recommend.
Stats:
(2012) 82 min. (* * * 1/2) out of five stars
-Written and Directed by Mark Lewis
-Cast: Christina Shipp, Samantha Steinmetz, Jared Stern, Brad Hemesath, Scott Lewis, Kim Barlow, Kim Gordon, Alexander Cook, Julian Lowenthal, Sean McDonald
(Not Rated)
Sunday, March 30, 2025
Lucky Bastard (2014)
*Get the film on Amazon here*
This low budget thriller is hampered by its own subgenre, as "found footage" takes another casualty.
Mike (Don McManus) runs the porn website "Lucky Bastard," where he dabbles in fake sexual assault scenes for his subscribers. He decides to do his infamous "regular guy gets to sleep with a porn star on camera" scene with a hesitant Ashley (Betsy Rue). The logistics are in motion, his crew is set, and "nice" David (Jay Paulson) is chosen. David begins messing up right away, offending cast and crew with his naivete and nerves. Mike tries to make it work and salvage his production fee until David snaps.
The germ of an excellent thriller is here. There's a sense of foreboding as the opening footage is of first responders finding bodies at the house the video was to be shot at- a convenient reality show setting with a bunch of cameras spread around the rented home and grounds. The film has Wonderland/Manson murders vibes, and most of the camera angles seem natural. The dialogue seems to be scripted, so there are no awkward improvised dialogue scenes, although the stabs at characterization are sometimes shallow. The editing and sound are fantastic. This isn't a "porno" by definition, but it deserves its (NC-17) rating; this is the kind of film the rating was invented for.
If the film had been a scripted look at a porno set descend into murderous chaos, it might have worked. There is no real suspense, but seeing the victims begging for their lives instead of wandering around alone and experiencing a jump scare or two is almost refreshing. I've seen some of the cast in other projects (Rue was hilarious as a spoiled pop star in an episode of "iCarly" years ago), and they all do well here. Around Ashley's third walk-off of a set, I started checking the running time. I can't stand "confessing villains" in films, but even a little more about David would have helped. The characters must hold back because this is all being shot for online use, an omnipresent camera would have given the viewer more emotion, insight, and empathy. Finally, we have yet another "in-house editing" team of law enforcement officers tackling putting the hours of footage together, which makes no sense at all. If you watch the Wonderland Murders police walk-through video from the 1980s, it's really boring despite the gruesome footage. The LAPD doesn't edit the video together to make it run quicker. Start asking yourself in the found footage cinematic universe, why would any law enforcement entity be doing this in the first place, much less releasing the footage that has nothing to do with the crimes itself?
I had heard about "Lucky Bastard" for a while, and it proved to be the disappointment I was expecting.
Stats:
(2014) 94 min. (*) out of five stars
-Directed by Robert Nathan
-Written by Lukas Kendall and Robert Nathan
-Cast: Don McManus, Jay Paulson, Betsy Rue, Catherine Annette, Lee Kholafai, Lanny Joon, Clint Brink, Deborah Zoe, Angela Shin, Krystall Ellsworth, Mark Heenehan, Marissa Labog, Chase Woolner
(NC-17)-contains physical violence, gun violence, sexual violence, some gore, strong profanity, very strong nudity, very strong sexual content, very strong sexual references, strong adult situations, tobacco use
This low budget thriller is hampered by its own subgenre, as "found footage" takes another casualty.
Mike (Don McManus) runs the porn website "Lucky Bastard," where he dabbles in fake sexual assault scenes for his subscribers. He decides to do his infamous "regular guy gets to sleep with a porn star on camera" scene with a hesitant Ashley (Betsy Rue). The logistics are in motion, his crew is set, and "nice" David (Jay Paulson) is chosen. David begins messing up right away, offending cast and crew with his naivete and nerves. Mike tries to make it work and salvage his production fee until David snaps.
The germ of an excellent thriller is here. There's a sense of foreboding as the opening footage is of first responders finding bodies at the house the video was to be shot at- a convenient reality show setting with a bunch of cameras spread around the rented home and grounds. The film has Wonderland/Manson murders vibes, and most of the camera angles seem natural. The dialogue seems to be scripted, so there are no awkward improvised dialogue scenes, although the stabs at characterization are sometimes shallow. The editing and sound are fantastic. This isn't a "porno" by definition, but it deserves its (NC-17) rating; this is the kind of film the rating was invented for.
If the film had been a scripted look at a porno set descend into murderous chaos, it might have worked. There is no real suspense, but seeing the victims begging for their lives instead of wandering around alone and experiencing a jump scare or two is almost refreshing. I've seen some of the cast in other projects (Rue was hilarious as a spoiled pop star in an episode of "iCarly" years ago), and they all do well here. Around Ashley's third walk-off of a set, I started checking the running time. I can't stand "confessing villains" in films, but even a little more about David would have helped. The characters must hold back because this is all being shot for online use, an omnipresent camera would have given the viewer more emotion, insight, and empathy. Finally, we have yet another "in-house editing" team of law enforcement officers tackling putting the hours of footage together, which makes no sense at all. If you watch the Wonderland Murders police walk-through video from the 1980s, it's really boring despite the gruesome footage. The LAPD doesn't edit the video together to make it run quicker. Start asking yourself in the found footage cinematic universe, why would any law enforcement entity be doing this in the first place, much less releasing the footage that has nothing to do with the crimes itself?
I had heard about "Lucky Bastard" for a while, and it proved to be the disappointment I was expecting.
Stats:
(2014) 94 min. (*) out of five stars
-Directed by Robert Nathan
-Written by Lukas Kendall and Robert Nathan
-Cast: Don McManus, Jay Paulson, Betsy Rue, Catherine Annette, Lee Kholafai, Lanny Joon, Clint Brink, Deborah Zoe, Angela Shin, Krystall Ellsworth, Mark Heenehan, Marissa Labog, Chase Woolner
(NC-17)-contains physical violence, gun violence, sexual violence, some gore, strong profanity, very strong nudity, very strong sexual content, very strong sexual references, strong adult situations, tobacco use
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