The Movie Heaven (and some other things)

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Due Date Review

Maybe I was expecting too much. The film seemed to be perfect on paper. You have two hot stars right now (Robert Downey, Jr. and Zach Galifiankis) in a road trip comedy. It's from the same director of The Hangover, which is the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time. It sounds good on paper, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Let me explain.

Due Date is about a high-strung father-to-be (Robert Downey Jr.) is forced to hitch a ride with a college slacker (Zach Galifiankis) on a road trip in order to make it to his child's birth on time. From there hilarity ensures and becomes a crazy road trip movie.

When I first saw the trailer I immediately thought of Plains, Trains, and Automobiles. This classic 1987 movie starred Steve Martin and John Candy basically in the same predicament. Of course there are some differences like Steve Martin trying to get home for Thanksgiving and that it takes place in the holiday season.

The difference between that movie and Due Date is that Plains, Trains, and Automobiles actually had heart and character development. In Due Date you sacrifice those elements from over-the-top humor. This over-the-top humor works for The Hangover and it only works half the time for this film. The main reason is that The Hangover has a much more clever script. It's juvenile, but written well. It's like the comedic version of Memento. Due Date's script is worse and film goes all over the place, especially in the latter part of the film.

The chemistry between the two actors is decent, but it always feel a little uneasy too. Plus the film always felt a little too mean spirited to me and went on the border of dark comedy. It's weird since I usually love dark comedy. The chemistry between Steve Martin and John Candy always felt more earnest and real. They actually bonded at the end. At the end of Due Date I felt like the two leads were still annoyed of each other.

It seems like I'm dogging this film, but I'm not. It had some very funny moments, but they happened too sporadically. It will entertain the first time, but it won't have as much replay value. I would rent Plains, Trains, and Automobiles instead if you want to see a good road trip movie.

Due Date - 3/5
Plains, Trains, and Automobiles - 4.5/5

Friday, October 29, 2010

I Met a Tall Dark Stranger

Let's face it, Woody Allen hit his peak at least a decade ago. I think he peaked with Hannah and Her Sisters, but I could be wrong since I haven't viewed Allen huge film catalog. He still turns out some good ones once in a while (Match Point, Vicky Cristina Barcelona). For the most part the 2000's will be remembered as the worst decade for Allen's movies.

Fortunately it's a new decade and Allen starts out with You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, and for the most part I liked it. I enjoyed Allen's last film Whatever Works for than I should have and I was excited in seeing this film. I went to my local art house theater and discovered that I was the youngest person in the theater. My mom was the second youngest (at 50 yrs old). The theater was packed with senor citizens in their 70's and even early 80's. Plus my mom and I were the only minorities. I felt out of place, but still felt cool about it.

The film has an ensemble cast and filled with several sub plots. The film follows Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) who leaves his wife, Helena (Gemma Jones) after 40 years because he's feeling to old. He tries to reinvigorate himself and meets a call girl (Lucy Punch). Meanwhile Helena abandons all rationality and seeks the advice of a con artist fortune teller.

Then there's the subplot about Alfie and Helena's daughter, Sally and and her husband, Roy (Josh Brolin). Sally starts to fall in love with her new art gallery boss Greg (Antonio Banderas). In addition, Roy, who is a struggling author, awaits the response of his new novel. In the meantime he watches a mysterious woman (Freida Pito) from his window and develops feelings for her as well.

That's a lot of story lines and some of these plots are vaguely familiar like infidelity, death, depression, and other stuff. That's because there are numerous ideas recycled from other (and better) Woody Allen. There are plots points like "I want to leave my lover for another lover' or 'that I made a mistake and now I want to go back to my previous lover". You know, things like that.

The film is still amusing at some points and it did keep my interest. Although I was mad that some of the plot lines never wrapped up. Technically the average viewer should have been able how they ended up, but that is a minor complaint. I still think the underrated Whatever Works was funnier, but this film had better and well-written characters.

It's a minor entry into Allen's lenghty film career, but not a bad movie. I think Woody Allen fans would appreciate this more than the average viewer though. 7 out of 10.