This film isn’t just bad. It’s violently bad as if the filmmakers want to abuse viewers who aren’t brain-damaged by making the dumbest, dullest, most hackneyed movie ever. They succeeded. Watching "21 and Over" is the cinematic equivalent of being waterboarded. If the Geneva Convention folks saw this abomination, they would condemn it as cruel and unusual punishment.
The movie marks the directorial debuts of Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, who also wrote the script. Or should I say Xeroxed it? They also wrote "The Hangover," which "21 and Over" so blatantly rips off it almost could be considered plagiarism. Can you plagiarize yourself?
In "The Hangover," friends get drunk, lose one of their buddies and spend the rest of the movie trying to find him. In "21 and Over," friends get drunk, lose track of the address of one of their buddies and spend the rest of the film trying to find it. The originality astounds. There are differences. "The Hangover" involved a bachelor party. "21 and Over" involves a 21st birthday party. More importantly, "The Hangover" was a funny movie. "21 and Over" is decidedly not. It’s one thing to carbon copy a plot but when you carbon copy the jokes, you’re just being lazy. But, hey, a lot of people savor regurgitated humor.
"The Hangover" also featured likable characters and a talented cast, including Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Heather Graham and Zach Galifianakis. "21 and Over," conversely, features unlikable characters and a cast allergic to talent. Let’s just say that Miles Teller, who plays the "wild and crazy guy" in "21 and Over," will not be confused with Galifianakis anytime soon.
While both films revel in rude and crude humor, "The Hangover" employs it with a wealth of warped imagination. The film isn’t just being gross for grossness' sake. "21 and Over" is.
Here are some of the film’s knee-slappers: two characters walk naked through a college campus wearing only tube socks on their naughty bits, another character gets a dart in his cheek and another character urinates in a bar, vomits in a bar, eats a tampon, gets thorns in his behind and runs around town wearing only a pink bra and a teddy bear glued to his naughty bits. For more hi-jinks, a buffalo goes rampaging through a pep rally and characters get spanked with paddles.
The dialogue is cringe-inducing as characters banter about having sex with each other’s sister, among other riotous topics. Racist and misogynist jokes are part of the mix, too.
The film reunites three high school friends, Miller (Teller), Casey (Skylar Astin) and Jeff Chang (Justin Chon), who congregate at Northern Pacific University to help Jeff Chang, who is a student there, celebrate his 21st birthday. One of the film’s many hysterical gags is that the birthday boy is always called Jeff Chang.
Complicating the party plans is that Jeff Chang has a very important interview in the morning, which his very strict father (Francois Chau) has arranged. But the trio goes partying anyway, spurred on by Miller. When Jeff Chang gets so inebriated, he can’t tell his pals where he lives, he gets dragged from place to place until his home is located. Those places include a pep rally, a Latina sorority and a party where Miller and Casey partake in multiple drinking games. More hilarity ensues.
The film adds a lame romantic subplot to placate the women dragged to this crud. Casey meets Nicole (Sarah Wright) at a bar and is smitten, but she has a cheerleader boyfriend named Randy (Jonathan Keltz), who happens to be a jerk. Think Casey and Nicole will get together at the end? Casey and Miller also have a falling out. Think they’ll get back together at the end? I’ll never tell. It’s almost like this film is pathetically predictable.
About the only funny characters here are Randy’s two sycophantic cheerleading pals.
Lucas and Moore try to give the main characters some dimension, but these attempts appear tacked on and contribute little to the story. As for the duo’s directorial style, they do keep the film in focus and the actors in the frame. It’s point-and-shoot mise-en-scene.
Tragically, this film should do well at the box office thanks to the Neanderthal demographic and those moviegoers suckered in by the "Hangover" connection. It’s early in the year, but "21 and Over" right now has my vote for worst film of 2013. If a movie more moronic appears on the screen, I’m going to flee to my neighborhood waterboardist.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Admission
Films like this comedy have a guaranteed opening weekend audience just because a big TV star has the lead role and is all over the poster. That would be “30 Rock’s” Tina Fey. Those folks probably won’t be disappointed in this lightweight film, even though Fey plays it kinda bland, as is called for her character.
But fans on the novel it’s based on are going to have some problems, in that so many of the story’s elements have been changed beyond recognition.
The basic plot is about Princeton admissions officer Portia Nathan (Fey) having some difficulties concerning Jeremiah (Nat Wolff), a bright outsider sort of high schooler who’s applying there. There’s also John Pressman (Paul Rudd), who runs the developmental high school that Jeremiah goes to. And for any feminists out there, don’t worry, Portia’s mom, Susannah (Lily Tomlin), has some screen time. Book and film are similar on those points.
But changes in structure and plot development and message and eventual outcome are likely going to outrage certain readers.
Of course there’s the argument that the book is the book, and the movie is the movie, and I am one book- and movie-lover that accepts that. But sorry, even though this still remains a study of parent-child relationships, the tampering committed in adapting it goes far beyond anything that’s called for.
Too bad that’s not the only problem. The film stands on its own, but it doesn’t stand very tall.
Both Fey and Rudd – thank goodness they’re not portraying opposites who attract – really underplay their roles. Rudd is usually good at this kind of thing, letting a mischievous glance reveal what he’s planning to do, or putting on a blank expression that lets you feel his character’s exasperation. But this time he comes across as a shy dullard, a guy who wants to do the right thing – help get this kid into college – but doesn’t know where to begin. Fey appears to be the victim of a director who’s told her to hold back, until it’s time to unleash her inner self, which she gets to do a couple of times in what amounts to nothing more than an emotional catfight with a coworker. You want to feel for these two nice, caring people, but it’s difficult when they’re so uninteresting.
On the positive side, there’s Lily Tomlin, who absolutely lights up the screen as the feisty Susannah, a single mom and an independent spirit who was, no doubt, up in the front lines when the women’s movement got its start, and has never backed off. One of the film’s best – and most meaningful – sight gags is the tattoo of Bella Abzug on her shoulder. (Those of you too young to get it should Google her.)
Director Paul Weitz is a little too loose with the film’s moods, as they change, from way up to way down, too quickly. But neither he nor scriptwriter Karen Croner can be blamed for the hard-to-take, not-very-believable ending. That problem rests solidly with novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz, and is the way she ended the book. Why couldn’t the filmmakers have changed that?
But fans on the novel it’s based on are going to have some problems, in that so many of the story’s elements have been changed beyond recognition.
The basic plot is about Princeton admissions officer Portia Nathan (Fey) having some difficulties concerning Jeremiah (Nat Wolff), a bright outsider sort of high schooler who’s applying there. There’s also John Pressman (Paul Rudd), who runs the developmental high school that Jeremiah goes to. And for any feminists out there, don’t worry, Portia’s mom, Susannah (Lily Tomlin), has some screen time. Book and film are similar on those points.
But changes in structure and plot development and message and eventual outcome are likely going to outrage certain readers.
Of course there’s the argument that the book is the book, and the movie is the movie, and I am one book- and movie-lover that accepts that. But sorry, even though this still remains a study of parent-child relationships, the tampering committed in adapting it goes far beyond anything that’s called for.
Too bad that’s not the only problem. The film stands on its own, but it doesn’t stand very tall.
Both Fey and Rudd – thank goodness they’re not portraying opposites who attract – really underplay their roles. Rudd is usually good at this kind of thing, letting a mischievous glance reveal what he’s planning to do, or putting on a blank expression that lets you feel his character’s exasperation. But this time he comes across as a shy dullard, a guy who wants to do the right thing – help get this kid into college – but doesn’t know where to begin. Fey appears to be the victim of a director who’s told her to hold back, until it’s time to unleash her inner self, which she gets to do a couple of times in what amounts to nothing more than an emotional catfight with a coworker. You want to feel for these two nice, caring people, but it’s difficult when they’re so uninteresting.
On the positive side, there’s Lily Tomlin, who absolutely lights up the screen as the feisty Susannah, a single mom and an independent spirit who was, no doubt, up in the front lines when the women’s movement got its start, and has never backed off. One of the film’s best – and most meaningful – sight gags is the tattoo of Bella Abzug on her shoulder. (Those of you too young to get it should Google her.)
Director Paul Weitz is a little too loose with the film’s moods, as they change, from way up to way down, too quickly. But neither he nor scriptwriter Karen Croner can be blamed for the hard-to-take, not-very-believable ending. That problem rests solidly with novelist Jean Hanff Korelitz, and is the way she ended the book. Why couldn’t the filmmakers have changed that?
The Croods
The humor's classic or prehistoric, depending on your tolerance for slapstick. The 3D animation is state of the art. And the life lessons are all too wearily contemporary in "The Croods," an energetic DreamWorks digital cartoon feature about some cave dwellers who are so Stone Age they make the Flintstones look like the Jetsons.
Grug (voiced by Nicolas Cage) is the Neanderthalesque father, more comfortable with a club than with a thought. Ugga (Catherine Keener) is his patient wife. Thunk (Clark Duke) is his dim young son. Gran (Cloris Leachman) is the mother-in-law so old she wears a lizard skin instead of fur. And Eep (Emma Stone) is the story's heroine and the audience's focus for identification, a brave -- as in "Brave" -- young rebel dissatisfied with a Neolithic status quo that tells her curiosity kills, "ideas are for weaklings," and "routine and darkness and terror" -- i.e., life in a cave, foraging for food by day and hiding from predators by night -- is the best a young cavegirl can expect.
"Basically, anything fun is bad," Eep says, summarizing her loving but overprotective dad's cautious survival strategy.
To the credit of directors/writers Chris Sanders (the superior "How to Train Your Dragon") and Kirk De Micco (moving up the evolutionary ladder from his previous film, "Space Chimps"), Eep is not your standard cartoon beauty with attitude. She has an hourglass waist, true, and an eager if toothy smile, but she's squat and somewhat anthropoidal in both appearance and athleticism. She's primitive but also vivacious next to the mysterious, modern-looking young man who shows up one night in the cave family's rocky valley, a clever guy named Guy (Ryan Reynolds) who introduces Eep and her cavekin to the concepts of fire, shoes, pets (Guy travels with a lovable scene-stealing sloth) and extinction: He insists everybody head for safer ground before the earthquakes and volcanoes catch up with them.
Like the recent sequel, "Ice Age: Continental Drift," "The Croods" follows the characters' migration through an impressively realized prehistoric wilderness of imaginative "Avatar"-esque creatures and other menaces and surprises. (The visual highlight is an all-devouring flock of what might be called piranha birds.) While various critters stalk the Croods, the film pursues less challenging quarry: It chases standard sitcom themes about watchful dads and restless daughters itching to leave the cave and "go for the light."
In other words, "The Croods" reproduces the dynamic of the recent "Hotel Transylvania," the last digitally animated feature about a seemingly weird yet in fact traditional family with a suspicious, jealous dad and an impatient daughter attracted to an audaciious newcomer. The familiarity likely won't bother kids, or most of their parents. The audience at the preview I attended applauded at the end of the film, and the little girl behind me declared: "I love this movie!"
Why wouldn't she? Some conservative pundits like to say movies represent a threat to traditional family values but, seriously, is any entity as aggressive at affirming the primacy of family togetherness as Hollywood? The typical modern animated feature spends so much time and energy reminding parents and kids that they love each other that it creates the impression that families today are especially fragile and needy -- or certainly much more so than in the decades that produced "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "The Jungle Book."
Perhaps this is so. Maybe attending these movies together provides a ritual security for parents and children. In any case, "The Croods" bludgeons you with family-friendly life lessons with all the subtlety of a club-wielding Alley Oop selecting a mate. Guy discovers fire, sure, but it's Grug who invents the hug.
Judging from the crawl at the end of "The Croods," kids and dads aren't the only ones who need boosts to their self-esteem. Like some other recent films, "The Croods" doesn't acknowledge only those who created the movie but seemingly the entire DreamWorks staff, including those in "business and legal affairs," "financial accounting," "human resources, recreation and outreach, " and "marketing and home entertainment products." Why punish those few aficionados who sit through the end credits? By the end of this endurance test of a roll call, I was half-expecting to learn the name of Jeffrey Katzenberg's paperboy.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Olympus Has Fallen
This is typical action fodder for the post 9/11 era, which means things have been toned down, but Gerard Butler pulls it off with style. Gerard Butler is no Bruce Willis, but that doesn’t stop him from outdoing the John McClane role that Bruce Willis has been trying to do these days. For those who like the TV series 24 and wish Jack Bauer could do more, here’s your chance, though without Kiefer Sutherland. Olympus Has Fallen delivers an action thriller on such a massive scale that it would fit right in with the Summer blockbusters.
Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is a desk jockey assigned to protect the President (Aaron Eckhart), and he’s still shuffling papers when the terrorists attack. He finds himself the last man standing in a destroyed White House, as the President is being held hostage. Hence, Olympus has fallen. The Speaker of the House (Morgan Freeman) and the director of the Secret Service (Angela Bassett) give Banning a mission. He must escort the President’s son to safety, kill all of the North Korean terrorists, and rescue the President himself. The terrorist leader (Rick Yune) delivers yet another standout performance. Not bad for a guy whose first notable role was in The Fast and The Furious.
Olympus Has Fallen has all the style of a big-budget film. Antoine Fuqua turns the whole invasion scene into an extended, wrenching sequence. This film is bloody and pulls no punches.
Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is a desk jockey assigned to protect the President (Aaron Eckhart), and he’s still shuffling papers when the terrorists attack. He finds himself the last man standing in a destroyed White House, as the President is being held hostage. Hence, Olympus has fallen. The Speaker of the House (Morgan Freeman) and the director of the Secret Service (Angela Bassett) give Banning a mission. He must escort the President’s son to safety, kill all of the North Korean terrorists, and rescue the President himself. The terrorist leader (Rick Yune) delivers yet another standout performance. Not bad for a guy whose first notable role was in The Fast and The Furious.
Olympus Has Fallen has all the style of a big-budget film. Antoine Fuqua turns the whole invasion scene into an extended, wrenching sequence. This film is bloody and pulls no punches.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Heat VS Kings
If this truly was the final visit of Sacramento’s purple and white to Miami, then thank you, Kings. What a game to remember the good times of that organization before likely getting shipped off to Seattle by what appears to be greed and folly.
It took two overtimes, but the Heat defeated the NBA’s lame-duck team 141-129 on Tuesday at AmericanAirlines Arena for its season-high 12th win in a row. Most likely, the Kings will be in Seattle next season as the second coming of the SuperSonics. If so, their last trip to Miami was a memorable one.
Led by 11 points from LeBron James in the second overtime, the Heat outscored Sacramento 17-5 in the final five-minute session. James corralled the Kings’ final shot of game with about four seconds to play and passed the ball across the court to Wade. Theatrically, Wade set the ball on the court and rested his foot atop the sphere. Finally, it was over.
“I couldn’t wait to get to the locker room and get some ice on me,” Wade said.
James finished with 40 points, eight rebounds and 16 assists, and Wade had 39 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in what turned out to be one of the most exciting games in Miami this season. It was the Heat’s first double-overtime game at home and second overall. Miami is 5-1 in overtime games this season.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra called James’ final statistics “video-game numbers.” He had 15 points, four rebounds and five assists in the two overtime periods.
The Heat’s win streak is its longest of the season and only two shy of the team record. For Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, the exciting finish didn’t gloss over an obvious reality of the game. For the first time since a road loss to the Pacers at the beginning of February, the Heat didn’t play well.
“It’s wasn’t until the last four minutes of regulation and overtime before it became a serious ballgame and we were able to respond,” Spoelstra said.
A from-behind block by Dwyane Wade of Marcus Thornton on a breakaway swung momentum in the Heat’s favor in the final overtime period. Moments later, James drained a three-pointer in transition to give the Heat a 131-127 lead. James drilled a 20-footer on the Heat’s next possession, and a dunk by Chris Bosh off a pick-and-roll with James gave Miami a 10-point lead with 1:29 left.
“We’ll take it any way we can get it, but for the most part we know we are able to play a lot better,” Bosh said. “Our standards are a lot different than other teams.”
Bosh had 15 points, including six in the first overtime, to go with eight rebounds. He had a chance to win it with 0.4 seconds left in the first overtime but air-balled a wide-open, midrange shot at the buzzer.
It wasn’t the first opportunity for the Heat to put away the Kings in the first overtime. Just before Bosh’s miss, James air-balled a point-blank layup with 2.1 seconds left. James complained loudly about not getting a call on the play and seemed to ride that frustration into the second overtime, turning it into motivation.
It appeared James was fouled by Kings center DeMarcus Cousins on the play.
“There was a little frustration,” James said. “I felt like I got fouled. I got fouled at the end of the first overtime. The second overtime was when I was able to pick it up and lead us offensively and just kind of take over the game.”
Reserve Marcus Thornton led the Kings with 36 points, going 11 of 18 from the field and 8 of 12 from three-point range. Thornton made his final three-pointer with 3:51 left in the second overtime before Miami pulled away.
The Heat led 112-104 with 1:39 left in regulation but was outscored 8-0 from there to send it into overtime. With his team ahead 112-110 with 19.8 seconds left in regulation, Wade missed a pair of free throws that could have given Miami a two-possession lead. Instead, a layup by Cousins sent to the game into overtime.
Cousins finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Tyreke Evans had 26 points, going 11 of 19 from the field.
It was an entertaining game after the Heat’s first-half malaise lifted. Miami shot 55.4 percent from the field overall compared with 51.6 percent for the Kings.
Led by Thornton, the Kings were 14 of 27 from three-point range. Miami countered by going 10 of 23 from long distance. Ray Allen had 21 points and five three-pointers.
It took two overtimes, but the Heat defeated the NBA’s lame-duck team 141-129 on Tuesday at AmericanAirlines Arena for its season-high 12th win in a row. Most likely, the Kings will be in Seattle next season as the second coming of the SuperSonics. If so, their last trip to Miami was a memorable one.
Led by 11 points from LeBron James in the second overtime, the Heat outscored Sacramento 17-5 in the final five-minute session. James corralled the Kings’ final shot of game with about four seconds to play and passed the ball across the court to Wade. Theatrically, Wade set the ball on the court and rested his foot atop the sphere. Finally, it was over.
“I couldn’t wait to get to the locker room and get some ice on me,” Wade said.
James finished with 40 points, eight rebounds and 16 assists, and Wade had 39 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in what turned out to be one of the most exciting games in Miami this season. It was the Heat’s first double-overtime game at home and second overall. Miami is 5-1 in overtime games this season.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra called James’ final statistics “video-game numbers.” He had 15 points, four rebounds and five assists in the two overtime periods.
The Heat’s win streak is its longest of the season and only two shy of the team record. For Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, the exciting finish didn’t gloss over an obvious reality of the game. For the first time since a road loss to the Pacers at the beginning of February, the Heat didn’t play well.
“It’s wasn’t until the last four minutes of regulation and overtime before it became a serious ballgame and we were able to respond,” Spoelstra said.
A from-behind block by Dwyane Wade of Marcus Thornton on a breakaway swung momentum in the Heat’s favor in the final overtime period. Moments later, James drained a three-pointer in transition to give the Heat a 131-127 lead. James drilled a 20-footer on the Heat’s next possession, and a dunk by Chris Bosh off a pick-and-roll with James gave Miami a 10-point lead with 1:29 left.
“We’ll take it any way we can get it, but for the most part we know we are able to play a lot better,” Bosh said. “Our standards are a lot different than other teams.”
Bosh had 15 points, including six in the first overtime, to go with eight rebounds. He had a chance to win it with 0.4 seconds left in the first overtime but air-balled a wide-open, midrange shot at the buzzer.
It wasn’t the first opportunity for the Heat to put away the Kings in the first overtime. Just before Bosh’s miss, James air-balled a point-blank layup with 2.1 seconds left. James complained loudly about not getting a call on the play and seemed to ride that frustration into the second overtime, turning it into motivation.
It appeared James was fouled by Kings center DeMarcus Cousins on the play.
“There was a little frustration,” James said. “I felt like I got fouled. I got fouled at the end of the first overtime. The second overtime was when I was able to pick it up and lead us offensively and just kind of take over the game.”
Reserve Marcus Thornton led the Kings with 36 points, going 11 of 18 from the field and 8 of 12 from three-point range. Thornton made his final three-pointer with 3:51 left in the second overtime before Miami pulled away.
The Heat led 112-104 with 1:39 left in regulation but was outscored 8-0 from there to send it into overtime. With his team ahead 112-110 with 19.8 seconds left in regulation, Wade missed a pair of free throws that could have given Miami a two-possession lead. Instead, a layup by Cousins sent to the game into overtime.
Cousins finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Tyreke Evans had 26 points, going 11 of 19 from the field.
It was an entertaining game after the Heat’s first-half malaise lifted. Miami shot 55.4 percent from the field overall compared with 51.6 percent for the Kings.
Led by Thornton, the Kings were 14 of 27 from three-point range. Miami countered by going 10 of 23 from long distance. Ray Allen had 21 points and five three-pointers.
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