Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017)

Featuring the vocal talents of Kevin Hart, Ed Helms, Nick Kroll, Thomas Middleditch, Jordan Peele, and Kristen Schaal

Directed by David Soren

Written by Nicholas Stoller

***This film is currently streaming via Netflix***

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Chappaquiddick

Chappaquiddick (2018)

Starring Jason Clarke, Kate Mara, Ed Helms, Jim Gaffigan, Clancy Brown, Bruce Dern, and Olivia Thirlby

Directed by John Curran

Written by Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan

Summary (in 500 words or less): On Friday evening, July 18, 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy (Jason Clarke) was driving a car with Kennedy secretary Mary Jo Kopechne (Kate Mara) as his passenger.  The car ran off a small bridge on the island of Chappaquiddick and overturned, slowly sinking into the water.  Kennedy escaped, but Kopechne did not, perishing in the car.  Kennedy's actions after the accident along with those close to him prove that politics is an ugly game -- it seemingly always has been and always will be.

• Solid, adult-centric drama detailing a scandal that shockingly didn't affect the political aspirations of Senator Ted Kennedy who managed to become a long-standing representative for his state.
• While the public will never know the inner workings of the Kennedy clan on that fateful weekend in July 1969 following Kopechne's death, Chappaquiddick details the likelihood of what went down.  We know that multiple stories were coming out of the Kennedy camp attempting to paint Ted in a better light -- many of them contradicting one another -- and the rapid-paced actions of a clan of lawyers set into motion the events that helped turn the public back into Ted's good graces.  
• At its heart, Chappaquiddick displays just how horrid, underhanded, and truly seedy the game of politics is and we can certainly draw comparisons to both candidates from our last Presidential election to see that nothing has really changed in nearly a half century.
• Jason Clarke delivers a captivating performance as Ted Kennedy, balancing the emotions of a man who knows he did something horribly wrong with a man who desperately wants to please his family and keep the Kennedy name shining in a positive manner.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Vacation

Vacation (2015)

Starring Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Skyler Gisondo, Steele Stebbins, Leslie Mann, Chris Hemsworth, Beverly D'Angelo, Ron Livingston,  and Chevy Chase

Directed by Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daley

***This film is currently available on HBO Now***

Although I can't remember for sure, my first foray into cinematic "almost nudity" may very well have been the original 1983 version of National Lampoon's Vacation.  I probably saw it for the first time several years after its release as an eight, nine, or ten year-old and that image of Christie Brinkley cruising down the highway -- and then later in the hotel pool -- never quite left my cinematic memory.  (Somehow, the possibility of potentially glimpsing Brinkley's breasts was inherently more invigorating to the young me than actually seeing those of Beverly D'Angelo in the film.)  Granted, I haven't seen the original Chevy Chase-starring film in probably close to a decade, but it held up alright upon my last viewing.  So when the 2015 "reboot"/sequel starts up with Lindsey Buckingham singing the iconic-to-me "Holiday Road," nostalgia immediately set in, and while Vacation can't really hold a candle to the original, there are plenty of laughs that make this one a better flick than I was expecting.

Teenage Rusty Griswold is now all grown up (and played by Ed Helms) living with a family of his own in the Midwest.  Rather than head to their typical cabin in Michigan for a summer vacation, Rusty decides to shake things up by taking his wife Debbie (Christina Applegate) and two kids James and Kevin (Skyler Gisondo and Steele Stebbins) to the California amusement park staple Wally World -- the very destination coveted by Rusty's father Clark (Chevy Chase) in the 1983 original.  Along the way, chaos ensues -- multiple times -- as seems fitting for the Griswold clan.

I understand that many of the comedy sequences in Vacation overstay their welcome, but a lot of the jokes within those extended moments land successfully.  The success is due in part to the Griswold family quartet at the center of the action.  Helms, Applegate, Gisondo, and Stebbins all succeed at capturing the Griswold humor and heart that made the original so successful.  They hit the jokes they need to hit with gusto and provide a nice center for the action going on around them.

While writer-director duo Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daley don't quite capture the same heart that Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo (who also make cameo appearances here) achieve in the first film, they at least provide Helms and Applegate a solid base.  I realize that my enjoyment of this isn't shared by the majority of critics, but even through its faults, Vacation proves to be decent, funny, and well acted.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Stretch

Stretch (2014)

Starring Patrick Wilson, Chris Pine, Ed Helms, James Badge Dale, Brooklyn Decker, and Jessica Alba  

Directed by Joe Carnahan

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

Several years ago, I surprised myself by placing Crank: High Voltage on my list of the Best Films of 2009 and while Stretch doesn't reach that level, the similar balls-to-the-wall aesthetic is appreciated as director Joe Carnahan doesn't hold things back in crafting a weirdly enjoyable little action-comedy film that was tossed aside by a film studio that understandably wasn't quite sure how to market it.

Patrick Wilson is Stretch, a stretch limo driver down on his luck who has been told one morning he has until midnight to pay back his bookie for a gambling debt.  With his boss on his case, Stretch agrees to take a rich, eccentric client around town in hopes that a big tip will be coming his way.  Little does he realize that he's in for a wild night filled with oddities and danger.

Never taking itself seriously, Stretch is fun.  It lacks any purpose and sometimes wears a little thin, but thanks to a solid performance from Wilson (who's always good in pretty much whatever he's in) and a ridiculously over-the-top turn from Chris Pine as the billionaire playboy Stretch picks up, the film retains an enjoyable feeling throughout.  Attempts at creating a romance for Stretch are silly (particularly considering that the bulk of the film takes place over the course of twelve hours) and I'm still unsure whether I liked or disliked Ed Helms as the ghost conscience of Stretch who pops out of nowhere in many a scene, but Stretch is a weirdly pleasant diversion.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

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

Movie Review - We're the Millers

We're the Millers (2013)

Starring Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, Will Poulter, Ed Helms, Nick Offerman, and Kathryn Hahn 

Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber

Jennifer.  Aniston.  Striptease.

I could simply leave this review at that, but I guess I'll continue by saying in addition to that sultry dance performed by one of my celebrity crushes, We're the Millers provides enough laughs that even if a nearly naked, seductively gyrating Jennifer Aniston doesn't float your boat, you'll still probably have a good time.  Thanks to a game cast who milk the comedy bits for all they're worth, We're the Millers successfully brings the raunch while also giving us characters and a story that hold our attention.

Jason Sudeikis is David Clark, a pot dealer who ends up losing his stash of weed and a significant amount of dough when an attempt to save a homeless girl being attacked by a bunch of street thugs goes awry.  This doesn't sit well with David's boss (Ed Helms) who forces David to head to Mexico and smuggle into the states a significant amount of marijuana without getting caught at the border.  With seemingly no feasible way to smuggle in the pot on his own, David concocts a plan to rent an RV and make up a fake family, acting as if they're taking a trip to Mexico for recreational purposes hoping that the border agents won't possibly think anything is out of the ordinary when they try and get back into the States.  To achieve this task, he enlists his down-on-her-luck stripper neighbor Rose (Jennifer Aniston) to play his wife, the aforementioned homeless girl Casey (Emma Roberts) to play his daughter, and his virginal downstairs neighbor Kenny (Will Poulter) to be his son.  Along the way, this fake family (known as the Millers) runs into drug kingpins and crazy RV enthusiasts (the latter played by Nick Offerman and Kathryn Hahn) in their attempt to bring an humongous stash of pot over the US border.

While certainly raunchy, We're the Millers does have a bit of heart although it never goes too far over that sentimental edge which works in its favor.  As mentioned above, the entire cast works quite well together with nary a bad apple in the bunch which was a welcome surprise.  Watching a film like this in the comfort of your own home alone can oftentimes ruin its ability to succeed because you don't have the rapturous laughter of an audience around you, but We're the Millers made me laugh out loud enough to deem it a success.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Dr. Seuss' The Lorax

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (2012)

Featuring the voice talent of Danny Devito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, and Betty White

Directed by Chris Renaud

Welcome to Thneedville, a town that's plastic, fake, and devoid of a single living tree...and its residents like it that way!  In fact, they gleefully sing about swimming in water that causes them to radioactively glow and buying fresh air that has to be pumped through battery-controlled machines.  And right away within The Lorax's opening minutes, I was lost.  I've never read the book and while I can assume it's very similar to the movie, this ironically jolly song was such an utter turn-off that I was kind of disgusted right off the bat.

The anti-commercialism/pro-environmental theme runs rampant through The Lorax as I know it does through Dr. Seuss' book, but it's so nastily and blatantly hitting you over the head here that it simply reeks of obnoxiousness.  All that could have been forgiven (or at least glossed over a little bit) if the story was solid and the animation looked good, but that's unfortunately not the case.

From the team that brought us the incredibly overrated Despicable Me, The Lorax animation-wise is kind of a bust.  The lack of straight lines is very Seussian, but despite being very colorful, there was no depth to any of the scenes and all of the character animation was disappointingly one-note.  The voice acting is lukewarm at best, and I found some of the dialog to be oddly synched up with the mouth movements which is something I don't notice often in animation.

And the story is just weak.  Teenage Ted (Zac Efron) is enamored with his next door neighbor Audrey (Taylor Swift) whose one true wish is to see a real tree.  After speaking with his grandmother (the ubiquitous Betty White), Ted hears of an old man known as The Once-ler (Ed Helms) who lives outside the walls of Thneedville and who just may know where Ted can find a real tree.  Upon arriving at The Once-ler's dank and dreary residence, Ted is treated to essentially a whole movie's worth of flashbacks in which The Once-ler tells of how he single-handedly destroyed all the trees surrounding Thneedville much to the Lorax's chagrin.  The Lorax (Danny Devito) was the guardian of the forest and although he befriended The Once-ler, he could do little to compete with The Once-ler's corporate greed in taking down the trees.

Fun stuff for kids, huh?  Well, the animators fill the screen with Minion-esque humming fish and cute, cuddly bears to try and counteract the heaviness, but to adults, those additions are superfluous fluff that do nothing to enhance the story.  And the songs were so awful that I couldn't believe they made it past the preliminary drawing board stages of the movie.

It's entirely possible Theodore Geisel would have been thoroughly impressed with this eco-friendly tale, but to me it was just horribly executed and a dismal attempt at recreating a Seussian landcape.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Cedar Rapids

Cedar Rapids (2011)

Starring Ed Helms, Anne Heche, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Sigourney Weaver, and John C. Reilly

Directed by Miguel Arteta

Cedar Rapids kind of feels like The Office transplanted to the Mid-West and paired with a bit more raunch and a little less humor (despite its best attempts).  There's a droll, dry sensibility on display that works some of the time.  However, there are simply too many moments in the film's short 86 minutes that fall flat, relying on that indie comedy staple that humor can be derived from poking fun at the small town local yokels who live inside some cocoon and go a little cuckoo once the bubble pops enabling them to escape into the more metropolitan world.

Ed Helms is Tim Lippe, an insurance salesman from the small town of Brown Valley, Wisconsin.  Having never really set foot outside of the confines of the town, when Tim's boss asks him to attend an insurance conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he finds himself a bit on the edge.  With the encouragement of his lover and former elementary school teacher Macy (Sigourney Weaver), Tim gets the courage to head to the "big city," getting on his first plane and sleeping at his first hotel.  With the goal to win his company the coveted Two Diamond Award, Tim finds himself spending time with three conventioneers who have been to the affair before -- the serious and solemn Ronald (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.), the crazy and lewd Dean Ziegler (John C. Reilly), and the sexy and wry Joan (Anne Heche).  Needless to say, Tim's eyes will be opened to a brand new world unlike his small-town eyes have ever seen before.

The problems with Cedar Rapids certainly don't stem from the actors.  Everyone here is actually quite charming and surprisingly believable.  Based off of his introduction, I figured I'd have been rolling my eyes every time John C. Reilly's oafish Ziegler came on the screen, but he won me over somehow.  Isiah Whitlock (apparently of The Wire) probably struck the best note with me thanks to his dry delivery.  And Anne Heche is goshdarn charming and cute here.  Ed Helms simply seems to be playing his character from The Office and he's the weak link of the quartet, but that's more the fault of "Tim Lippe" than "Ed Helms."

All in all, with the pleasant group of actors, it's a disappointment that the humor just isn't there.  The film veers off into an odd and rather uncomfortable finale which is supposed to serve as some kind of awakening for Helms' Lippe, but it ends up veering into my Movie Pet Peeve which I've mentioned numerous times before -- Old People Doing Drugs for the Purposes of Laughter.  And while that's not the only sticking point -- see my initial paragraph about a common indie comedy staple that applies here as well -- it made the film end on more of a down note than I would have preferred.  Cedar Rapids is pleasant enough thanks to the actors, but it's a shame they weren't given a bit better material.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009)

Starring Jeremy Piven, Ving Rhames, Kathryn Hahn, James Brolin, Ed Helms, David Koechner, Jordana Spiro, Ken Jeong, and Alan Thicke(!)

Directed by Neil Brennen

I laughed surprisingly more than I thought I was going to during The Goods. Sure, Jeremy Piven is a prick (I don't think he was playing a character other than himself), but he was pretty damn funny as was his team of car salesmen (and woman -- the humorous Kathryn Hahn, who was so good in the serious Revolutionary Road) who travel to a small town in order to help James Brolin save his faltering car dealership.

There's really not much else here to discuss as there's no story other than what I wrote above. Similarly to this summer's The Hangover (which I didn't really care for either), this movie had me laughing for the first forty minutes or so, and then it kind of fell flat. That being said, I do think that I laughed more in this than during The Hangover and I liked the actors in this quite a bit more. I know everyone loved that raunchy Vegas movie back in June, but I'm gonna give this one a rating that's a half point higher.

The RyMickey Rating: C-