Movie Review - I Give It a Year

I Give It a Year (2013)

Starring Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Anna Faris, Stephen Merchant, Minnie Driver, Simon Baker, and Olivia Colman

Directed by Dan Mazer

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

I Give It a Year started out so promisingly.  Through a quickly paced montage, we see how Nat and Josh (Rose Byrne and Rafe Spall) meet and fall in love, leading up to their wedding.  Their reception is filled with hilarity thanks to Josh's best bud Danny (Stephen Merchant), but then the film skips ahead about eight months and Nat and Josh find themselves sitting in a marriage counselor's office talking about how they jumped into things too quickly and may not have been as compatible as they thought.  Through flashbacks we see that Josh has never really gotten over his girlfriend prior to Nat, an American named Chloe (Anna Faris) and the fact that they're trying to remain friends puts a strain on his current relationship.  Nat, on the other hand, is finding herself falling for an American herself -- a businessman (Simon Baker) whose suave and debonair demeanor is a bit more of a perfect match for her than Josh's lovable carefreeness.

Unfortunately, as I look back upon the film, I realize that even the humor that I enjoyed wasn't natural to the film itself.  In those opening minutes, I laughed more times than I can count thanks to Stephen Merchant's inappropriate speeches at the wedding and the reception.  However, Merchant's character seems out of place and affected as opposed to being intrinsic to the plot.  Similarly, the aforementioned marriage counselor (played by Olivia Colman) is a caricature rather than a real person.  The same could be said for Minnie Driver's best friend character whose purpose other than to provide a snarky comment here or there is beyond me.

The film doesn't help its leading actors either.  Rose Byrne and Rafe Spall -- both of whom are perfectly pleasant to watch and are fine in the acting department -- are bland and aren't given anything to do except stand around and get pissed off or glare at their partner so that doesn't help matters either.  Simon Baker is nothing except "The Perfect Guy," so his character is a bit yawn-inducing.  And poor Anna Faris is given a purportedly hilarious scene involving her character's experimentation in a threesome that is so incredibly out of place, I found myself cringing at writer-director Dan Mazur's taste levels.

I Give It a Year wasn't offensively bad, but I can't say it's worth your time either.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Take Me Home Tonight

Take Me Home Tonight (2011)

Starring Topher Grace, Anna Faris, Dan Folger, Teresa Palmer, and Chris Pratt

Directed by Michael Dowse

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

Since I saw The Sorcerer's Apprentice last year, I've admittedly harbored a slight crush on the Australian actress Teresa Palmer.  Despite that, my opinion of Take Me Home Tonight, a 1980s-set film that sat on the shelf for a few years, was not swayed by the presence of Ms. Palmer.  Although both she and Topher Grace are actually quite good, this supposed comedy which takes place over one long summer night failed to produce a laugh once and that's simply unacceptable.

Ms. Palmer is Tori, the beautiful gal whom Matt (Grace) has crushed on since high school.  Years have gone by and both have graduated from prestigious universities, but Tori has gone on to be a successful investment banker while Matt isn't exactly using his engineering degree to its fullest potential by working at the Suncoast Video at the mall.  The two meet up at a party held by Kyle (Chris Pratt), Matt's twin sister Wendy's boyfriend.  Wendy (Anna Faris) finds herself in her own predicament -- head off to grad school or stay with Kyle.  While she debates what to do with her life, Matt is focused solely on the night at hand, trying to impress Tori by concocting lies to make himself sound more impressive.  Of course, it should be no surprise that this scheming will backfire.

As I mentioned, there's actually quite a bit of chemistry between Topher Grace and Teresa Palmer and they're certainly pleasant to watch.  However, they're certainly not "funny" characters, so the film feels the need to surround them with quirkiness, including Matt's best friend Barry (Dan Folger) who, having just been fired from his job that morning goes on a raucous rampage complete with hefty drug use, alcohol consumption, and wild sex.  Unfortunately, the character of Barry, like many of the other roles thrown in simply to garner a laugh or two, don't produce chuckles.  Instead, they often conjure up eye rolls more than anything else while also padding the running time.  And the aforementioned character of Wendy -- completely and utterly pointless.  The attempt to give her a storyline that matters is completely unnecessary as us viewers don't care about her in the slightest despite a valiant attempt by Anna Faris.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 3D (2009)

Featuring the voice talent of Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, and Mr. T
Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller

Finally! An animated movie this year that deserves to be a part of the Best Animated Feature category at the Oscars this year.

Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader) longs to be an inventor. Although ridiculed by those in town and seemingly looked down upon by his father (James Caan), he invents a machine that will allow water to be transformed into any food. When the machine accidentally gets shot up into the sky, he fears that his hard work was for naught. However, when it starts raining food (hence the title), he soon is being hailed as a genius. Unfortunately, the machine begins to go on the fritz and the food falling from the sky gradually becomes bigger and bigger, wreaking havoc on Flint's hometown of Swallow Falls.

This flick was shockingly adult in its humor -- I only counted one "poop" joke (and that was about a monkey throwing its feces...it was kind of funny). Instead of the cheap kiddie humor, this movie relies on witty dialogue and wonderfully animated mannerisms in order to invoke laughter. The voice acting here is top notch, too. From Bill Hader and James Caan's father/son relationship to Anna Faris as the love interest to Bruce Campbell as the ever-increasing-in-size town mayor to Mr. T as the tremendously funny cop, everyone does a really amazing job.

Animation-wise, the film looks pretty darn good, too. Sony Pictures Animation brought us the pretty good Surf's Up and the fantastic Monster House in years past (we can forget about Open Season). They're quickly becoming an animation studio to watch. As an animation fan, it's interesting to have another newish company that can maybe rival Pixar (this year, Sony won the battle for sure over Pixar's overrated Up ). The only issue in terms of the animation is that the 3D is nonexistent. Once again, another film where you just have to wonder why the heck is this in 3D if there's nothing popping out at me?

The RyMickey Rating: B+