Movie Review - Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014)

Starring Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner, Ed Oxenbould, Dylan Minnette, Kerris Dorsey, Bella Thorne, Jennifer Coolidge, Donald Glover, and Megan Mullally  

Directed by Miguel Arteta

I'll just come right out and say it despite the prospect of being ridiculed -- Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is a truly enjoyable kid flick that does an excellent job of creating an atmosphere that is amusing to both adults and children alike reminiscent of Disney pics of yore like Freaky Friday and The Parent Trap.  It may not be a popular opinion, but I found myself thoroughly entertained for seventy-five minutes as young Alexander Cooper (Ed Oxenbould) and his family go through one of the worst days possible as havoc wreaks quite a spell on everyone.

Alexander is just about to turn twelve and he's discovered that a more popular kid at school has decided to throw his birthday party on the same night as his.  With the prospect of no one coming and having just had a school day filled with some huge blunders, Alexander wants to cancel his party, but his parents Ben and Kelly (Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner) won't allow it.  With his brother Anthony (Dylan Minette) prepping for his prom and his sister Emily (Kerris Dorsey) landing the lead in the school musical, at 12:01am on the night of his birthday, Alexander blows out the candle on a bowl of ice cream wishing that his family could experience how un-fun is life is for just one day.  In the grand tradition of wishes coming true in movies, when the Cooper family wakes up the next morning, chaos breaks out -- and the humor surprisingly flies all around.

Admittedly, there's a need for a bit of a suspension of disbelief here -- too many things are scheduled on this particular day for even the most reliable family to accomplish -- but if you're willing to make this acceptance, you're in for a treat.  Rather surprisingly -- and perhaps the reason for the film's success -- Alexander focuses not only on its title character, but gives equal opportunity to each member of the Cooper family to be fleshed out in terms of their bad days and all story lines work quite well.  Perhaps because of the notion that the parents are almost the focus here, adults are welcomed into the film in a way that isn't usually expected in movies aimed at a younger demographic.

Carell and Garner do a really nice job with both their slapstick and verbal comedy moments and all of the Cooper siblings also pleasantly create humor in their scenes.  The kudos really belong to screenwriter Rob Lieber in his debut for crafting a film that not only appeals to the kiddos, but also to the kid in all of us by never talking down to the younger audience.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - The Kings of Summer

The Kings of Summer (2013)

Starring Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, and Megan Mullally

Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts

I had high hopes for this coming of age story after I'd heard promising things following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival last year, but despite the majority of critics' positive comments, this reviewer found The Kings of Summer to be one of the worst movies he saw from 2013.  Something about this film rang very false for me with not a single character, situation, or a majority of the dialogue based in any sort of reality or truth.  There's an irreverence here that I never enjoyed.  Perhaps this is one of those indie comedies that you "have to be in the mood to enjoy" (I've talked about this concept before), but both the screenplay by Chris Galletta and direction by Jordan Vogt-Roberts were too eccentric to ever be anything other than obnoxious.

Similar in plot to Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom -- a director/screenwriter whom first-timers Galletta and Vogt-Roberts cull a great deal from in both story and tone -- The Kings of Summer tells a tale of two best friends who run away from home following the completion of their freshman year of high school.  Joe (Nick Robinson) can't stand his father (Nick Offerman) and his insistence on butting into all aspects of his life.  Patrick (Gabriel Basso) also has some obnoxiously overbearing parents (with the mother played by Megan Mullally) who have him rolling his eyes at every single thing they say to him.  Fed up with their respective folks, Joe and Patrick decide to build a house in the woods where they will live forever, away from the rules of society (and the rules of their parents).  This strive for independence shifts into one of those typical coming-of-age stories where all parties learn something that helps them become better people.

The problem with that notion is that none of the characters in this movie ever seem "real" enough to make the audience feel any sympathy towards them or have any rooting interest in seeing them succeed.  The parents of both teens, as an example, are so utterly unrealistic that I think I was literally gritting my teeth in frustration any time they spoke.  Mullally and Marc Evan Jackson (who play Patrick's parents) are embodying dumb, completely irrational characters, and Offerman's part is so mind-numbingly dull while also managing to be irritatingly sarcastic.  While the younger actors fare better even they can't overcome the overly simplistic trials and tribulations that are thrown their way in order to produce tension.  I won't even begin to discuss the third teenage member of the clan -- Biaggio (played by Moises Arias) -- who serves no real purpose in the film other than to act weird at every possible moment.

Ultimately, the comedy in The Kings of Summer is never derived from any basis in reality (despite the fact that there is supposed to be a basis in reality) and that makes all of the purported humorous situations feel fake.  Both the screenwriter and director didn't craft a film that felt genuine and, considering how miserably they failed here, I certainly will not be looking forward to their next venture.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-