Monthly Archives: July 2014

Tammy

 

Melissa McCarthy is funny. She was hilarious in 2011’s Bridesmaids and in last year’s The Heat. And she brings some laughs in Tammy.

But this movie doesn’t fly. It falls short in the hilarity department. It lacks memorable scenes. And, sadly, McCarthy’s act becomes tiring.

Also, this is another comedy that reveals some of its best stuff in the trailer. (Nonetheless, the trailer is posted above.)

Essentially a road trip movie with Tammy and her grandma Pearl (Susan Sarandon), Tammy is blessed with a talented cast. Tammy’s mom Deb (Allison Janney), her dad Don (Dan Aykroyd), Pearl’s cousin Lenore (Kathy Bates), Lenore’s partner Susanne (Sandra Oh), Pearl’s hookup Earl (Gary Cole) comprise a strong crew. Toni Collette plays a mostly silent woman who shacks up with Tammy’s husband (Nat Faxon).

When Tammy catches her husband cheating (after her car hits a deer and she gets fired from her job), she escapes with Pearl on their adventure. After they end up in jail, Pearl uses her remaining cash to bail out Tammy. Tammy then robs a fast food joint to then bail out Pearl.

The robbery is slightly funny. It tries to be one of those “spontaneous” bits with some ad-libs—like the one McCarthy had in 2012’s This Is 40—but it doesn’t quite score a knockout.

McCarthy co-wrote the script with her husband Ben Falcone, who directed. Falcone (who played the air marshall in Bridesmaids) also plays the boss who fires her early in the movie.

Tammy is the kind of movie to watch on cable or Netflix sometime next year. You’ll be somewhat amused but not overwhelmed.

 

 

 

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Begin Again

 

This light rom-com with (mostly) great music and (mostly) good-looking people has a couple of surprises. (These are not significant spoilers, so read on.) First, Keira Knightley is a decent singer. And, second, the relationship between her character and Mark Ruffalo’s does not go the way one might expect.

Greta James (Knightley) is the tag-along girlfriend of singer Dave Kohl (Adam Levine). She accompanies him to NYC to kick off a new record deal. Dan (Ruffalo) is a record company exec who has lost his mojo—he can longer launch a hit artist. He hears Greta sing and wants to record her music.

Dan is estranged from his wife Miriam (Catherine Keener). When Dan meets Greta, she has just left Dave after watching his reaction to a newly recorded song he plays for her. (She intuits that he has cheated on her while recording in LA.) So the scene is set for them to hook up, no? No. Both are focused on the music. (Although some of their time together is a bit flirtatious.)

Dan comes up with the idea to record Greta’s songs all around New York. Get a couple of good mikes and a laptop and go. Outside. On sidewalks. In alleys. In subway stations. Sidemen include Greta’s friend Steve (James Corden) and Mark and Miriam’s daughter Violet (Hailee Steinfeld).

Dan is old school. An early scene in the film shows him listening to CD’s by new artists while driving through Manhattan. Most are generic rhythmic pop. Dan is so disgusted by what he hears, he tosses most of them out the car window.

Adam Levine of Maroon 5 (and “The Voice” TV show) is a passable actor and is the movie’s best singer. Another Voice star Cee Lo Green has a small part in the film.

Begin Again is an R-rated movie that could easily have been rated PG-13, except for some bad language. There’s no sex, nudity or drug use. Why would writer/director John Carney (creator of the beloved 2006 film Once) feel the need to keep his movie off-limits to romance-minded teens?

Knightley and Ruffalo are fun to watch together. Begin Again is not a typical musical, but music is central to the film. There’s much to enjoy here.

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Earth To Echo

 

Earth To Echo is the most derivative film I’ve seen in years. It has elements from The Goonies, E.T., Short Circuit, Stand By Me, Poltergeist, Blair Witch Project, The Matrix and District 9, among others. Those elements are crafted together in a film that can only be considered original if you’re a 10-year-old kid who hasn’t seen those aforementioned films.

This PG-rated family feature is perfect for the preteen and early teen crowd. Three boys are due to move from their homes in a Nevada subdivision to make way for a highway. On their last night together, they each tell their parents that they’ll be playing video games at another kid’s house and spending the night. Instead, the trio rides their bikes into the desert to see what’s up with these weird disturbances on their cell phones.

The three boys are Munch (Reese Hartwig), the cautious kid; Tuck (Brian “Astro” Bradley, resembling a full size Gary Coleman), who archives everything on video; and Alex (Teo Halm), the good-looking foster child. Halfway through their adventure, they are joined by Emma (Ella Wahlestedt) to get some girl power in the film.

Along the way they encounter the alien they name Echo who, like E.T., wants to go home. They take Echo under their wing and dash through an overnight adventure that eventually solves the mystery.

While E2E draws from other films, it has a contemporary look with much hand-held POV footage and the constant presence of smartphones. Directing a feature for the first time, Dave Green maintains a good tempo. The script by Henry Gayden manages to squeeze a good deal of plot—and character—into a 90-minute film.

Earth To Echo is a decent amusement for young kids. And for parents, it might be fun to see if you can come up with more movies—other than those listed up top—that the filmmakers have “borrowed” from to make E2E.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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