Movie Review - Hot Pursuit

Hot Pursuit (2015)

Starring Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara

Directed by Anne Fletcher

Reaching levels very close to the abysmal bar set by last year's wreck The Other Woman, Hot Pursuit is another heinously unfunny comedy featuring two actresses who are forced to try and act their way through one of the most poorly-written scripts I've seen in a long time.  The horridness should've been evident from the get-go when Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara signed on to this one, but for some reason, the two ladies decided to tack on producer credits for themselves which makes them equally responsible for the end result.

Witherspoon is Officer Rose Cooper, a hickish Texas cop who despite having had a well-respected cop father who died in the line of duty finds herself relegated to manning the evidence lockers in the police station.  One afternoon she's called to her superior's office where she is told that she is going to be the police escort to drug cartel informant Felipe Riva and his wife Daniella (Sofia Vergara) who is testifying against his recently arrested boss.  Upon arrival at the Riva residence, Felipe and Daniella are attacked with Felipe being killed and Daniella managing to escape with Cooper.  The remainder of the film follows the two ladies as they move from place to place meeting a variety of men who come into the picture for a five minute dalliance only to have them be dismissed without doing a thing to advance the plot.  Bland, unfunny vignette followed by bland, unfunny vignette leads to very little actual plot development and makes the 87-minute runtime feel exorbitantly long.

Unlike The Other Woman which featured some disappointing performances, the ONLY compelling thing about Hot Pursuit is that I felt a genuine chemistry between Witherspoon and Vergara.  That isn't to say that their roles were well-conceived or even that their acting wasn't anything better than a stereotypical caricature, but the two actresses admittedly played well off one another.  And that's the single thing Hot Pursuit has going for it.  Beyond that, the script is filled with way too many ludicrous plot holes, the humor is nonexistent, and the direction ill-conceived at best.  It's a bit shocking how truly awful this is.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - Chef

Chef (2014)

Starring Jon Favreau, Sofia Vergara, Emjay Anthony, John Leguizamo, Scarlett Johannson, Dustin Hoffman, Oliver Platt, Bobby Canavale, and Robert Downey, Jr. 

Directed by Jon Favreau

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

Chef certainly isn't aiming to be anything deep, but director and screenwriter Jon Favreau creates a lovely glimpse at a father/son relationship, the simplicity of which we don't often see on screens in this day and age.  Chef details the story of chef Carl Casper (Favreau) who has worked in a moderately ritzy restaurant owned by Riva (Dustin Hoffman) for years, but has really been unable to create unique dishes as Riva wants to maintain the status quo because customers are still pouring in.  When a food blogger/critic (Oliver Platt) comes to the establishment one evening, he writes online that Carl's food is tired, old school, and lacking any modern flair.  Upon receiving the bad review, Carl goes a bit berserk online thanks to a visit from his son Percy (Emjay Anthony) who introduces his father to Twitter.  After Carl inadvertently tweets numerous public jabs at the critic that he thinks were sent privately, Carl becomes a bit of a laughing stock across the country at which point he realizes that he's not happy doing what he does anymore and decides to take a little respite to Miami with Percy and his ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara) where he rediscovers his passion for food and his desire to show that to the public.

Chef is a movie broken up into two halves -- the first with Carl at the restaurant and the second with Carl reinventing his food passions by opening up a popular food truck.  While the halves certainly carry a similar tone to them, the film feels almost like two different movies at times.  Fortunately, Carl's relationship with his son is the through line between the two and it's this paternal connection that feels incredibly comforting and realistic.  In fact, what really makes Chef shine is that all of the relationships here -- Carl with his ex-wife, boss, co-workers -- carry a sense of believability and genuineness.  Favreau as a writer seems to have a real grasp of dialog -- his characters' moments with his son are particularly authentic despite the fact that his son seems a bit too tech-savvy for his own good at age ten.

Nonetheless, there's a charm that exudes in Chef thanks to the writing and the cast, all of whom really take Favreau's words and make them come to life.  Sofia Vergara is at her least annoying here, playing a loving mom and ex-wife to Carl -- once again, the ex-wife/husband relationship exudes a credible believability despite being a shockingly pleasant association we don't typically see displayed in films.  John Leguizamo as Carl's friend and co-worker adds some character to the mix and Scarlett Johansson and Dustin Hoffman keep the first half of the film buzzing with some interesting camaraderie with Carl.

In the end, Chef is maybe a bit too simple for its own good -- I compliment the film quite highly above, but I found it a little bland at the start and it took me three sittings to make it past the first hour.  While that sounds a bit damning, I simply don't think I was giving Chef a big enough chance.  Had it dropped an F-bomb or two or a sexual innuendo out of the equation, Chef would've been fit for all ages, exuding a sweetness that I frankly wasn't expecting, but truly enjoyed.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Fading Gigolo

Fading Gigolo (2014)

Starring John Turturro, Woody Allen, Vanessa Paradis, Liev Schrieber, Sharon Stone, and Sofía Vergara

Directed by John Turturro

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

Fading Gigolo works best when Woody Allen and John Turturro play off each other with Allen's typical neuroses and Turturro's serious tone juxtaposing surprisingly amusingly.  Whenever their two characters are separated, however, screenwriter-director Turturro's film lags with a romance that never really blossoms to anything captivating.

Woody Allen is Woody Allen -- oh no, wait...he's Murray (who is really just Woody Allen), an aging guy whose used book store is being forced to shut down.  Desperate for money, Murray -- after visiting his dermatologist Dr. Parker (Sharon Stone) -- spitballs the idea of his single buddy Fioravante (Turturro) sleeping with his skin doctor who mentioned that she and her single friend Selina (Sofía Vergara) were interested in having a threesome.  Fiorvante balks at the notion, but then acquiesces, although Dr. Parker wants to "try him for herself" first.  Fioravante discovers that he doesn't mind sleeping with women for money and Murray enjoys the commission he's receiving for setting Fioravante up with the ladies.

In and of itself, the storyline above is at least amusing.  However, Fading Gigolo tries for heart and attempts to achieve that when Murray takes one of his girlfriend's lice-stricken kids to see Avigal (Vanessa Paradis), the widow of an Hassidic rabbi, for treatment.  Avigal is in pain (both physical and emotional) and Murray convinces her to come and see Fioravante whom Murray says is a massage therapist.  Fioravante almost immediately has a connection with Avigal and the two begin a relationship that doesn't exactly go over well with Avigal's Jewish neighbors.

Unfortunately, the whole Avigal story -- which is really the bulk of the movie -- falls flat.  Avigal as a character is emotionally stilted and quite blasé.  While that's no fault of Vanessa Paradis' portrayal, the lack of vigor in her character brings the film to a halt whenever she's onscreen.  I never really believed the connection between Avigal and Fioravante either which I think is important to latch onto in order to care about the proceedings.  The Murray-Fioravante teaming was amusing, but the rest of Fading Gigolo lacks oomph.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Escape from Planet Earth

Escape from Planet Earth (2013)

Featuring the voice talents of Brendan Fraser, Rob Corddry, Ricky Gervais, Jessica Alba, Sofia Vergara, Sarah Jessica Parker, George Lopez, Steve Zahn, Craig Robinson, Jane Lynch, and William Shatner 

Directed by Cal Bruker

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

Ultimately, the question you're asking yourself upon seeing this post is "Why in the heck did you bother with this one?"  And, ultimately, the only answer I can give is "Because it was short."  Admittedly, I was looking for something light and super irrelevant as it was late at night and I wasn't quite ready to sleep yet and, unfortunately, Escape from Planet Earth seemingly fit that criteria.

Rather than delve into any review, let me just say that Escape from Planet Earth is a film that should consider itself lucky to have received any type of theatrical release because despite a cast that boasts a few second tier celebrity names, there's really nothing this film has going for it.  The animation is standard Nickelodeon fare and the story about a pair of fighting brothers who find peace with each other coming together to escape from Earth (hence the title) after being captured by an Area 51 agent is also sophomoric.

Just why bother?  I made the mistake...now you don't have to do the same.

The RyMickey Rating:  D