The Pentaverate

The Pentaverate (2022) 

Starring Mike Myers, Lydia West, Ken Jeong, Keegan Michael-Key, Richard McCabe, Jennifer Saunders, and Debi Mazar

Directed by Tim Kirkby

Created by Mike Myers 

Click here for my Letterbox review

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Scoob!

 Scoob! (2020)

Featuring the vocal talents of Will Forte, Zac Efron, Amanda Seyfried, Gina Rodriguez, Mark Wahlberg, Jason Isaacs, Kiersey Clemons, Ken Jeong, Tracy Morgan, and Frank Welker

Directed by Tony Cervone

Written by Adam Sztykiel, Jack C. Donaldson, Derek Elliott, and Mattt Lieberman

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D-

Crazy Rich Asians

Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

Starring Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Harry Shum Jr., Ken Jeong, Sonoya Mizuno, Chris Pang, Jimmy O. Yang, and Michelle Yeoh

Directed by Jon M. Chu

Written by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C

Movie Review - Turbo

Turbo (2013)

Featuring the voice talents of Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Peña, Samuel L. Jackson, Luis Guzmán, Bill Hader, Snoop Dogg, Richard Jenkins, Michelle Rodriguez, and Ken Jeong

Directed by David Soren

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

About 35 minutes into Turbo, I found myself thinking that I had a nice little surprise on my hands with this fairly little seen film (in terms of mainstream animated flicks).  A NASCAR-obsessed snail named Theo (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) is the problem child of a clan of snails headed by Theo's older brother Chet (Paul Giamatti).  The snails take care of a tomato patch, but Theo seemingly causes chaos with his daydreaming about one day matching the talent of his favorite NASCAR driver Guy Gagne (Bill Hader).  Discouraged by his brother's disappointment in him, Theo wanders away from the tomato patch and, in a freak accident, gets sucked into the engine of a drag racing car wherein, through some crazy DNA fusion, he gets his veins filled with nitrous oxide causing him to be able to move as fast as the cars he's dreamed about.

While I enjoyed the tale's relationship between brothers Theo and Chet, once Theo leaves his home and becomes a souped-up snail, Turbo begins to fall apart.  Theo finds himself at Dos Bros Taco store and, perhaps serendipitously, Tito (Michael Peña), one of the Dos Bro's, races snails for fun.  (Yeah...sure...)  When he discovers Theo's prowess, Tito decides to try and get Theo -- whom he names Turbo -- into the Indianapolis 500.

While Turbo looks decent and its main voice actors -- Ryan Reynolds and Paul Giamatti -- are solid, its story just doesn't work once Theo "becomes" Turbo.  While at Dos Bros, Turbo meets a slew of other snails -- voiced by people like Snoop Dogg, Maya Rudolph, and Samuel L. Jackson -- who have ridiculously stereotypical personalities and don't do anything to advance the story whatsoever.  They all could've (and should've) been eliminated and the plot essentially could have been rolled out in the same manner.  The film's climax feels obvious and rather forced, allowing for very little tension which doesn't help things either.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - All About Steve (2009)

Starring Sandra Bullock, Thomas Haden Church, Bradley Cooper, and Ken Jeong
Directed by Phil Traill

Like Sandra Bullock's last movie, The Proposal, All About Steve is a flick where her central character is annoying, obnoxious, and altogether unappealing, but she surrounds herself with some good actors who are actually given funny things to do. It's unfortunate that her main character couldn't be less ridiculous.

Mary Magdalene Horowitz (Bullock) writes crossword puzzles. She has no life outside of her work. Her parents set her up on a blind date with a tv news cameraman named Steve (Bradley Cooper). After a brief five minute date during which Mary alluringly pounces (or, more like sexually attacks) Steve in his van, Steve tells Mary that he just received a phone call that he needs to head to cover some story in the Midwest. However, his throwaway line to her -- something along the lines of "You should come, too" or "I'll see you there" -- is taken to heart by Mary and she travels across the country because she insanely believes that this guy wants to be with her. Of course, in the end, Mary learns her lesson that she doesn't need a man to be happy (oops...ruined it for you, but you can see that coming a mile away, I promise).

As I said above, whenever the movie focuses on Mary, it's a failure. However, when the flick spends time with Steve and his co-workers -- news reporter Hartman (Thomas Haden Church) and assistant Angus (Ken Jeong) -- it's actually really funny. All three of these guys had different comedic styles, but they all meshed and there were many moments where I laughed quite loudly because of them.

Overall, this isn't a good movie, but there's certainly worse out there. It's got some good lines and some good secondary characters...it's just got a ridiculously awful central character.

The RyMickey Rating: D+