Thursday, June 22, 2006

Click

Adam Sandler's movies are usually predictable and quite funny. You pretty much know you'll laugh a fair bit and be taught a lesson on life, kind of like the average sitcom, except his jokes tend to be funnier and the humour a tad more crude.

I was expecting to see the best comedy of the summer going into this, and I wasn't disappointed. The first two thirds of the movie are very funny and the pace is excellent. Beckinsale is great as his wife, as is Morty, the Bed, Bath and Beyond employee who gives him the universal remote control. Plenty of people are already talking about Hasselhoff's role as Sandler's boss, but the supporting role I found even better was played by Sean Astin, as the swim coach of Michael's son. There are plenty of great one-liners at his expense and he provides some good comic relief later on in the film. Another great supporting part is Monaghan as the snotty, spoiled kid next door. He torments Sandler constantly and Sandler fires right back, providing for some very funny scenes.

I was wondering how they planned on keeping it funny for two hours, and this was the only thing that didn't happen. The first half of the movie is very funny, but then it gets into the life lesson part of the movie as the remote control starts fast forwarding on its own, and Sandler is left with gaps in his life. Each time it fast forwards, another part of his life is gone, and he is sadder for it.

9 out of 10

Monday, June 5, 2006

The Break Up

This movie is all about what happens after the usual ‘guy meets girl, guy falls in love with girl’ bit.

Jennifer Aniston (Brooke) plays a shrill, nagging girlfriend who is constantly trying to change her boyfriend’s ways. Vince Vaughn (Gary) plays a slob of a man who totally takes his girlfriend for granted. After a family dinner gone wrong, Brooke breaks up with Gary and both refuse to move from their prime location condo in Chicago. Even though Brooke says she wants Gary back, she will only do so if he changes. Gary seems to not realize what he’s lost in Brooke and goes out of his way to be obnoxious.

Ala War of the Roses, they both try a variety of tactics to drive the other crazy, from playing video games and music at all hours of the night to dating hot guys to throwing a strip poker game. While some of the tactics are funny, they don’t help you like either character. Instead, both of them come across as selfish and childish, not funny or endearing. The only really interesting character is Jon Favreau, Gary’s best friend who has the best lines and steals scenes from the two bigger stars.

By the end of the movie, no viewer gets what they want. The guys will go away pissed off because the director blurred Aniston’s butt out of one the best revenge bits in the movie and the girls are denied the usual syrupy, happy ending. If you want to watch a movie like this, I recommend War of the Roses with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. That one was far darker and funnier…

5 out of 10