A Very Murray Christmas

 A Very Murray Christmas (2015)

Starring Bill Murray, Paul Shaffer, Michael Cera, George Clooney, Miley Cyrus, Dimitri Dimitrov, David Johansen, Rashida Jones, Jenny Lewis, Amy Poehler, Chris Rock, Maya Rudolph, Jason Schwartzman, and Julie White

Directed by Sofia Coppola

Written by Bill Murray, Sofia Coppola, and Mitch Glazer

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B-

Movie Review - Sisters

Sisters (2015)

Starring Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Ike Barinholz, Maya Rudolph, John Leguizamo, Bobby Moynihan, James Brolin, and Dianne Wiest

Directed by Jason Moore

Every review of Sisters that I read seemed to indicate that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler deserved a better film than what was placed in front of them when it came to this flick, but, if I'm being quite honest, I'm not sure they do.  I say that not nastily, but simply to indicate that Fey and Poehler are known and acclaimed (quite deservedly) for the their work on the small screen.  Not every tv star (and certainly not every Saturday Night Live alum) is worthy of a big screen career.  And there's nothing wrong with that.  Perhaps in time I'll be proven wrong when it comes to Fey and Poehler's cinematic ventures, but Sisters is not doing the very funny duo any favors.

Drawn out for an interminably long duration, Sisters gives us Maura and Kate Ellis (Poehler and Fey) -- two sisters who return to their childhood home in Orlando after they've discovered that their aging parents (James Brolin and Dianne Wiest) have just sold it so they can move into a retirement community condo.  Angry that their parents would do such a thing without consulting them, Maura and Kate decide to live it up one last time in the house and throw a party for all their high school friends like they did in the old days.  This leads to fellow SNL and variety show actors and actresses hooting and hollering it up in sketch-like scenes that do little to forward the actual plot of the film.  (Not that the film had much of a plot to start...)

There are laughs to be had in Sisters -- and, in fact, there are moments that sustained extended laughter for me which is never easy to do particularly when you watch a movie alone in your home -- but the bigger comedic bits aren't the least bit intrinsic to the plot.  Rather than add to the story, they make you feel as if you're watching an SNL-type show where only a few of bits are actually humorous and then you get angry at yourself for wasting so much time watching it.  [Therein is the reason I refuse to watch SNL anymore.]  The script by Paula Pell (an SNL writer herself) is a sketch in search of a full-length plot and it never gets there.

As far as Fey and Poehler go, the latter fares a tiny bit better than the former, but both aren't given much with which to work.  Perhaps one of these days, the two actresses will be given a movie part really worthy for their obvious comedic talent, but Sisters does not deliver in that department.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Inside Out

Inside Out (2015)

Featuring the vocal talents of Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, Kaitlyn Dias, Diane Lane, and Kyle MacLachlan

Directed by Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen

When young Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias) and her parents (Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan) have to move cross country to San Francisco, the middle schooler finds her life turned a bit upside down (or perhaps inside out is a more appropriate phrase).  Being a pre-teen, her emotions are always on edge and constantly changing and, as this latest entry into the Pixar pantheon informs us, this leads to a rather tricky job for the folks inside Riley's brain who have to control the tween's mood swings.  It certainly doesn't help that the effervescent Joy (Amy Poehler) is finding herself having to match wits with her counterparts Anger, Disgust, and Fear (Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, and Bill Hader) while at the same time dealing with the fact that Sadness (Phyllis Smith) is taking a much more prominent place in Riley's life thanks to the move to the West Coast.

Inside Out is at its best when it aims for the funny bone.  There is much humor to be had inside the mind of a tween and the script is at its best when it mines for the comedy aspects.  Unfortunately -- and this is the film's one fault -- the flick falls a bit flat when it comes to the more dramatic side of things.  There were two obvious heart-tugging key moments in the film and neither felt as fleshed out as they needed to be in order to really make an impact.  It's certainly a bit disappointing and it keeps the film from garnering the effusive praise I'd like to laud upon it since nearly every single other element is close to perfection.

Perhaps most stunning about Inside Out is the collaboration between voice actors and animators to create two of the most well-thought-out characters I've seen in an animated movie in a long time in Joy and Sadness.  Amy Poehler is captivating as Joy, exuding a charm and ebullience that comes through in her voice from the moment we first hear her speak.  Coupled with the star-like quality of the way Joy looks -- she has no "fine lines" outlining her, but rather this sensation of "fuzzy light" creating a yellowish aura around her -- and you've got a tremendously memorable character.  Not only is Joy incredibly successful, but Sadness is just as marvelous.  Shaped almost like a teardrop, Phyllis Smith is vocally spot-on as the depressed, down-on-her-luck emotion.  And the repartee between these two characters is hilarious and elevates the film far beyond what I thought possible.

Pixar films never disappoint in the visuals department and that's the case here as well.  I've already discussed the lovely character design for Joy and Sadness, but rest assured that the same care and detail went into the development of the rest of the film's cast as well which while all caricatures of what we think emotions may look like or how they may act still succeeds tremendously.  Story-wise the film doesn't quite hit all the notes is aspires to (and that's due in part to a bit too lengthy middle act that never wears thin, but comes awfully close to overstaying its welcome), but overall Inside Out is a winner and one that I look forward to watching again in the near future.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - They Came Together

They Came Together (2014)

Starring Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Christopher Meloni, Bill Hader, Ellie Kemper, Jason Mantzoukas, Max Greenfield, Cobie Smulders, Melanie Lynskey, and Ed Helms

Directed by David Wain
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

Movie spoofs are always a tricky business proposition with more failures than successes it seems.  The most famous as of late has been the Scary Movie franchise which took on the slapsticky Airplane approach and subsequently withered and died from the get-go for me.  In its skewering of the romantic comedy, They Came Together eschews some of the more blatant physical humor (although it does still successfully go there at times), aiming moreso for verbal barbs (just look at that suggestive title) and observational humor.

Molly (Amy Poehler), owner of a small candy shop, finds her business threatened when the big Corporate Candy Company decides to open up a shop right across the street from her.  When she meets Joel (Paul Rudd), an executive at CCC, Molly can't help but despise him, but as their paths intertwine, love begins to blossom beneath the hatred.  Simplicity abounds in this summary, but the obvious regurgitating of You've Got Mail's story proves to be more humorous than I could've expected.

Poehler and Rudd are always charmingly funny and their performances in They Came Together are no exception.  They have to walk a tricky road in that they're playing overblown caricatures of romantic comedy stereotypes, yet they have to still carry this film as relatable people in order for us in the audience to latch onto the tale successfully.  Director and co-screenwriter David Wain manages to make Molly and Joel well-rounded enough even with their parody-laden characteristics.  Wain throws a lot at the wall and while not all the jokes land, enough of them do making the laughs come quickly enough to warrant a watch.

The RyMickey Rating:  B