Welcome to Marwen

Welcome to Marwen (2018)

Starring Steve Carell, Leslie Mann, Diane Kruger, Merritt Weaver, Janelle Monáe, Eiza González, and Gwendoline Christie

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Written by Caroline Thompson and Robert Zemeckis

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Beautiful Boy

Beautiful Boy (2018)

Starring Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, Maura Tierney, LisaGay Hamilton, Kaitlyn Dever, and Amy Ryan

Directed by Felix Van Groeningen

Written by Luke Davies and Felix Van Groeningen

Summary (in 500 words or less):  The college-aged son (Timothée Chalamet) of a concerned father (Steve Carell) deals with a debilitating addiction to crystal meth.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: C+

Battle of the Sexes

Battle of the Sexes (2017)

Starring Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman, Alan Cumming, Elisabeth Shue, and Jessica McNamee

Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Written by Simon Beaufoy

Summary (in 500 words or less):  In 1973, former professional tennis player Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) challenged the popular Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) to a tennis match.  This battle of the sexes received much media coverage with the outspoken and braggadocios Riggs certain he'd prove victorious against the quiet, resolute King who was battling her own demons at the same time as she contemplated her sexuality when she begins to fall for a hairdresser (Andrea Riseborough) traveling with the ladies' pro tennis tour.

• Great performances from both Emma Stone and Steve Carell are the highlights of Battle of the Sexes.  Together, they lift this otherwise generic biopic to a greater level.
• The flick works very well during its first half as we get to learn about the private lives of Bobby and Billie Jean, but the actual Battle of the Sexes tennis match which makes up a large chunk of the final third feels a bit anticlimactic as most in the audience will already know the ending.  Tension never really mounts and the film unfortunately suffers because of the (admittedly necessary) emphasis on the titular match.
• Nice production design definitely creates a 70s aesthetic that proves quite charming

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Café Society

Café Society (2016)

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell, Blake Lively, Parker Posey, Corey Stoll, Jeannie Berlin, and Anna Camp

Directed by Woody Allen

***This film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime***

Café Society is a nonstarter when it comes to a Woody Allen movie.  There's nothing about it that really pops, but there's nothing about it that's bad enough to rouse hatred.  In the end, it's just a middle-of-the-road flick from a prolific auteur who has maybe run out of ideas when it comes to comedy despite still having some life in him when it comes to writing and directing dramas.

It's the 1930s and Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) isn't happy working for his jeweler father in New York City so he decides to move to Los Angeles where he gets a job running errands for his uncle Phil (Steve Carell) who is one of the biggest agents in Hollywood.  At his uncle's office, Bobby meets secretary Vonnie (Kristen Stewart) and immediately becomes infatuated with her.  Unfortunately for Bobby, Vonnie happens to be secretly seeing her married boss, Phil, but she's aggravated that he won't leave his wife despite promises that he will.  With Phil leaving her in limbo, Vonnie acquiesces to Bobby's advances, but their relationship eventually causes some tension between Bobby and Phil, leaving the young man to head back home to New York City where a whole second half of the story begins involving a ritzy supper club.

And therein lies the biggest problem with Café Society -- it's two disparate stories that don't really mesh together as well as they should.  The film really is broken into two halves and while neither half is disproportionately worse than the other, it just doesn't really click as a whole.  Fortunately, Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart have nice chemistry (in what I believe is their third film together) which helps Woody Allen's words come to life.  Anna Camp, Parker Posey, and Blake Lively take on cameo-sized roles and inject a lot of character into them as well.  In the end, though, Woody Allen may have been better served if he just chose one half on which to focus.  Still, Café Society isn't the worst of Allen films, but it's certainly not the best.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Big Short

The Big Short (2015)

Starring Steve Carell, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, John Magaro, Finn Wittrock, Hamish Linklater, Rafe Spall, Jeremy Strong, Adepero Oduye, Marisa Tomei, Melissa Leo, and Brad Pitt

Directed by Adam McKay

I know that The Big Short is a well-made, well-written, and well-acted film.  The issue is that the film which delves into 2007-08 the financial meltdown in which the housing market went belly up causing catastrophic damage to regular folks and the crooked big banks simply didn't resonate with me likely because I had no personal attachment to the crisis.  Granted, I don't need to have a personal connection to a film in order to become invested in it, but the overarching theme kept me at a bit of a distance despite being cleverly directed by Adam McKay so that the hefty and complicated subject matter seems a bit more relatable (and understandable) to the average moviegoer.

Quite frankly, there's no reason to delve into the story aspects of The Big Short in any greater detail than has already been mentioned because the film is a bit too complex to really simplistically explain.  Needless to say, the flick focuses on three groups or individuals who attempt to bring attention to the impending meltdown and are greeted with blank stares and laughs by those in charge.  Christian Bale is hedge fund manager Michael Burry who discovers the unsteady housing market and tries to use this to his advantage.  (Burry, admittedly, isn't really trying to "solve" the meltdown problem, he's just the first person who realized he may be able to use it to his advantage.) Steve Carell plays hedge fund manager Mark Baum who is approached by trader Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) to do the same thing Burry is doing, although Baum (whose Wall Street trader brother met an unfortunate demise) tries to uncover how the government is allowing it to happen.  Finally, up-and-coming young investors Charlie Geller and Jamie Shipley (John Magaro and Finn Wittrock) uncover paperwork by Vennett that reveals his thoughts on the crisis and enlist the help of noted financial guru Ben Rickart (Brad Pitt) to make money on the housing collapse only to have a change of heart as they realize the chaos that the collapse will cause.

All of the aforementioned actors do an admirable job of making their sometimes convoluted plots seem understandable and there's not a weak link in the cast.  That said, as I mentioned before, there's a lack of connection for me here that I wasn't quite able to overcome.  While the film doesn't necessarily play like a college finance course, it sometimes doesn't quite succeed in altogether abandoning that mindset.  McKay (who co-wrote the film with Charles Randolph) does some clever cutaways with celebrities to try and make the intricacies of the convoluted housing trade at least comprehensible, but in the end, there's somehow a lack of dramatic tension and human connection here.  The Big Short is still a surprisingly enjoyable watch, but it just never quite hit home with me despite a valiant effort.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

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 - Foxcatcher

Foxcatcher (2014)

Starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave, and Sienna Miller

Directed by Bennett Miller

Although the term "methodical" oftentimes carries a somewhat negative connotation, using that word to describe Foxcatcher conveys no ill will towards director Bennett Miller and screenwriters E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman.  Instead, their methodical (which some may call slow or [egads!] even boring) approach of retelling the true story of the relationship between wrestling aficionado John du Pont (Steve Carell) and wrestler brothers Mark and David Schultz (Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo) gives such depth and insight into the characters being portrayed onscreen that I couldn't help but find myself totally captivated and involved in this tragic story from beginning to end.

Knowing full well that the film ends in tragedy, it's often a difficult task to maintain a sense of discovery.  Miller doesn't necessarily hide from the end result as there's always a foreboding sense of disquiet afoot.  However, in a somewhat risky move, Miller takes his time getting to the finale by slowly peeling away the layers of each of his trio of main characters, revealing their initial psychoses which lead them to befriend one another and how their internalized emotions gradually change as their relationships blossom and disintegrate.  This is a film where the absence of speaking says just as much as a spoken word and Miller capitalizes on this beautifully as he brings us into the minds of both the innocent and guilty parties with equal time allotted to both.

Foxcatcher would not have been remotely successful, however, without the work of three fantastic actors -- two of whom are not the least bit known for being able to carry a film of this weight.  While Little Miss Sunshine may have clued us in to the slightly sullen side of Steve Carell, his taking on of the exceedingly wealthy John du Pont is certainly not de rigeur for the actor.  While he has the money, Carell's du Pont certainly doesn't have the social skills, keeping himself decidedly distant in any conversation he carries on, attempting to stay as disconnected as possible -- seemingly the result of a strained childhood relationship with his mother Jean (Vanessa Redgrave).  When he finally allows Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) into his life, the sense of entitlement that we witness du Pont feeling (and Carell conveying) is frightening.

Mark, on the other hand, views du Pont as a bit of a father figure seeing as how his parents were not a large part of his life.  From the film's start, Mark is a loner who is committed to his sport.  There's a depression embodied by Channing Tatum that's undeniable and his animalistic monotone delivery of monosyllabic words indicates that he can't help feel that he doesn't belong anywhere.  Upon discovering du Pont's interest in his talents, there are tinges of pride that creep into Tatum's performance which inevitably, by film's end, harm the character as Mark begins to see the man du Pont truly is.

While the film tends to focus on the psychological mindsets of John and Mark, part of the reason for their disintegrating relationship is the brotherly bond between Mark and older brother David played by Mark Ruffalo.  Thinking that Mark needs a little space and time to clear his head after his successful Olympic run and having lived in his brother's shadow for years, David accepts Mark's decision to train at du Pont's newly formed Foxcatcher wrestling facility, but David recognizes Mark's near-immediate lack of commitment to the sport he once loved which causes David to question du Pont's training techniques (or lack there of) and motives.  Needless to say this doesn't sit too well with du Pont and David finds himself in the ominous glare of the wealthy man.  The amiable David isn't necessarily a difficult role for Ruffalo to play (and is certainly the least showiest of the three), but he is the crux of both John and Mark's emotional upheavals by film's end and Ruffalo certainly does a nice job.

Foxcatcher is a warped love triangle of sorts -- and I don't mean that in a sexualized way as the real-life Mark Schultz criticized.  There is a dark comic tinge to all of the proceedings thanks to the obvious jealousy on display by all parties involved, particularly du Pont.  The overbearing sense of power, prestige, and perniciousness that du Pont brings to the party ominously hangs over everything we see.  Bennett Miller elevates the film beyond my expectations thanks to his careful developing of every single character.  Motivations are rarely spoken, but are never vague, and that's an enviable feat which makes Foxcatcher one of the best films of 2014.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Movie Review - The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)

Starring Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, Jim Carrey, James Gandolfini, and Alan Arkin

Directed by Don Scardino

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is one of those comedies with characters who have no basis in reality, are sometimes funny in their idiocy, but then become completely unbelievable when the script attempts to make them "more real" and "give them heart" by the film's end.  When you've created a character who bears no resemblance to an actual human being (as is the case in the title character played by Steve Carell), I have a tough time connecting...which is fine if you're going to make the character dumb and keep them dumb (which is a hard task to accomplish and still make them interesting to watch for two hours).   However, on the flip side, making a character over-the-top, unbelievably stupid, and a callous jerk and then expecting me to believe that they can become an incredibly intelligent and caring individual is a bit of a stretch that hardly ever works...as is evident here.

As a kid, Burt Wonderstone was a bit of a loner, but on one of his birthdays his mother bought him a magic kit and his life forever changed.  Burt partnered with his childhood friend Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) and the duo rose to fame as two of the most famous magicians of all time, earning a coveted headlining spot on the Las Vegas Strip playing to sold out crowds night after night.  The world of illusions is changing, however, and when the David Blaine/Chris Angel-esque Steve Gray (Jim Carrey) pops up on the Strip filming his tv show, the stuck-up Burt and the polite and slightly timid Anton are in for a rude awakening.  As Steve performs crazy acts like cutting open his skin and holding in his urine for a week all in the name of magic, Burt and Anton are pushed to the wayside in favor of this newfound form of illusion.

I laughed a few times during The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and despite my aforementioned qualms about stupid characters, Steve Carell does manage to play them quite well.  It's not his fault that during the film's second half, the screenwriters try to do a 180-degree turn for his character and attempt to make him intelligent and kind overnight.  It just doesn't work and neither does attempting to shoehorn in a romance between Carell and his "beautiful assistant" Jane (played by Olivia Wilde) who despised Burt one day and then loved him the next.

As much as I liked Carell, I disliked Jim Carrey.  While Carell can play someone over-the-top and still make them watchable, Carrey plays over-the-top in such an obnoxious way that it gets old very quickly.  That's been his MO for years, however, so it's not like it's anything new.  Rather surprisingly, with comic "greats" like Carell and Carrey in the mix, the actor who actually comes out on top in terms of comedy is Steve Buscemi.  There's a charm he carries when he's doing comedy that makes him relatable and enjoyable to watch.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - The Way Way Back

The Way Way Back (2013)

Starring Liam James, Sam Rockwell, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, AnnaSophia Robb, Allison Janney, Maya Rudolph, Rob Corddry, Amanda Peet, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash

Directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash

Fourteen year-old Duncan (Liam James) isn't too happy to be spending his summer at the New York state beach house of his mom's boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell).  First off, Trent's a bit of a dick who says and does whatever he can to try and motivate the sullen and mopey Duncan to better himself.  Second, Duncan would rather just spend time with his dad than with his mom Pam (Toni Collette).  Nevertheless, his summer plans are set and he's forced to pal around with Trent's buddies Kip and Joan (Rob Corddry and Amanda Peet) and Trent's next door neighbor Betty (Allison Janney), all of whom look to alcohol and pot as a means to relive their youth on a seemingly daily basis.  Betty, however, has a daughter named Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb) who just so happens to be Duncan's age, but the shy Duncan can't seem to fathom why any girl would care to communicate with him.

So, with his summer home life a wreck, Duncan bikes around the beach town and comes across the Water Wizz water park which he sneaks into one day before being caught by the park's owner Owen (Sam Rockwell).  Owen recognizes that Duncan seems to be a bit down on his luck and offers him a job at the water park which ends up being a life-changing, personality-enhancing experience for the teen.

The Way Way Back is a movie that, in retrospect, seems a little unrealistic in terms of its characters.  Everyone's a little too quirky or a little too humorous to be rooted in reality.  However, writer-directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (in their directing debuts) balance the oddness of comedic characters like Owen and Betty with the genuineness of Duncan, Trent, and Pam, creating a film that had me laughing when I was supposed to be laughing and feeling sympathy when I was supposed to be feeling sympathy.  That may seem like it should be a given, but weighing both sides of that coin isn't always an  easy task for directors -- especially first-timers.

Admittedly, the directors get better performances from their actors that fall onto the comedic side of the tale, especially a scene-stealing one from Allison Janney who had me laughing at (I think) every single line she delivered as Betty, the kooky neighbor who rarely is seen without a drink in her hand.  Sam Rockwell is also slick, smooth, and sarcastically dry humored as Owen, a character who ends up bridging both the comedic and dramatic sides of the story quite well.  This isn't to say that Liam James, Steve Carell, and Toni Collette disappoint in any way, but the film's funnier moments worked a bit better than its dramatic ones.

Overall, The Way Way Back isn't revolutionary or particularly inventive, but it's a rather sweet, funny coming-of-age tale that's enjoyable for the whole family to watch together.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)

Starring Steve Carell, Keira Knightley, Adam Brody, Connie Britton, Rob Corddry, Derek Luke, and Martin Sheen

Directed by Lorene Scafaria

Second-time screenwriter Lorene Scafaria's debut directorial effort takes two disparate people -- the forlorn, depressed Dodge (Steve Carell) and the free-spirirted Penny (Keira Knightley) -- and forces them together as they trek from New York to Delaware (shout out to the First State!) to be with their families ahead of an impending 70-mile wide asteroid making impact with Earth bringing an end to civilization.  Although Dodge and Penny lived in the same apartment complex for years, they never knew each other at all.  When Dodge's wife leaves him and Penny's boyfriend (Adam Brody) proves to be not all she pegged him to be, the two find themselves involved in a mutually beneficial "end of the world" relationship.  Penny has a car that can take Dodge to his father's house in Delaware and Dodge says that he knows someone who can fly Penny to be with her family in England before the impending apocalypse.  Along the way, we are given what are essentially vignettes of Dodge and Penny meeting people who are preparing in different ways for the end of the world.

While none of these vignettes prove detrimental individually to the film, when put together, they don't really amount to much.  Despite the somewhat hollow feeling we have watching people act quirky despite their impending death, I still found myself completely interested in what was happening...and then the last thirty minutes of this movie come along and make everything that comes before it seem like it should have taken place in a completely different movie.  There's a tonal shift that the director/screenwriter can't ever quite effectively mesh together.  Both parts work individually, but they disappoint a bit when combined and we look at the movie as a whole.

It's a shame, really, because the final moments of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World were simply fantastic.  The last scene will likely end up very high on my 2012 RyMickey Awards Best Scene category (posting soon in June).  Admittedly, despite the distinct moods of the film, Ms. Scafaria does effectively create a relationship between Dodge and Penny.  Credit for this connection certainly must be doled out to Steve Carell and Keira Knightley who seem like such an odd coupling that I had absolutely no desire to see this film in the first place.  However, Carell in particular does some great work here.  The film overall lands squarely in the "dramedy" category and Carell is able to play both the humor and pathos of Dodge quite admirably. It was also a pleasant surprise for Knightley to tackle the more comedic character of the duo.  I look forward to seeing Carell pursue more dramatic work and Knightley taking on comedy if this film is any indication of their capabilities.

Yes, there are problems with Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, but I almost want you to ignore them because the payoff in the end feels so genuine, real, and organic that it's worth overlooking the flaws.  As long as you go into this one realizing that it isn't perfect, but is deserving of your time, you'll come away pleased and almost invigorated despite the ominous tone that stems from the possibility of the entire human race coming to an end.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - Crazy, Stupid, Love

Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)

Starring Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei, Analeigh Tipton, Jonah Bobo, and Kevin Bacon

Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

I know full well that Crazy, Stupid, Love contains a ton of the typical romantic comedy clichés and I know full well that this fact should annoy me.  Instead, somehow screenwriter Dan Fogelman (who wrote my #2 film last year, Tangled), directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, and a winning cast came together and have crafted a smaller-scale American version of Love, Actually that works just as well as that modern British classic.

The film opens with forty-something Cal (Steve Carell) being told by his wife of over twenty years Emily (Julianne Moore) that she has had an affair and wants a divorce.  Cal's completely devastated and heartbroken and finds himself drowning his sorrows at a trendy bar where he meets the suave and debonair playboy Jacob (Ryan Gosling) who (when he's not going home with a different lady every night) attempts to assist Cal in regaining his manhood after having suppressed it for so many years as a married man.

Cal's not the only one with love troubles...in fact that apple doesn't fall far from the family tree as his thirteen year-old son Robbie (Jonah Bobo) finds himself crushing on his seventeen year-old babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton).  Of course, things can't go smoothly in a romantic comedy and, in this case, Jessica is herself crushing on an older man...Robbie's father, Cal.

Our final tale revolves around Hannah (Emma Stone), a law student who is in a relationship with the rather serious Richard (singer Josh Groban).  Despite prodding from her best friend (a quite funny Liza Lapira who makes the most of what is essentially a throwaway role), Hannah refuses to move on from Richard even when the sexy and charming Jacob (remember him from Storyline #1 above?) hits on her.

Not surprisingly, and in the grand tradition of romantic comedies like this, these storylines will intertwine and yield some interesting results.  Fortunately, Crazy, Stupid, Love is successful in its interweaving and screenwriter Fogelman reveals things and brings things together at just the right times to make this flick flow at a great pace.  Fogelman should also receive credit for crafting a film that is all about sex and the feelings behind the act, but never slips into raunch or debauchery.  This is a comedy about adult situations and emotions and the film refreshingly allows the characters to all act as adults.  Yes, some are a little wackier than others, but the comedy doesn't stem from gross-out humor, instead coming from realistic reactions to unfolding situations.

Helping the directors achieve their humorous success is a fine ensemble of talented actors with nary a dud in the bunch.  Steve Carell is certainly at his finest here, playing Cal as a guy who's genuinely in disbelief that his lifelong love has found solace in the arms of another man.  He's pissed off at his wife, but in his eyes (and in a monologue he states as the film progresses), you can see that he's angry at himself for allowing things to slip to the point where she felt the need to cheat.

Equally appealing is Julianne Moore who brings a believability to her role that rings true to me.  The fact that we don't hate her Emily is a testament to the fact that she somehow manages to make us comprehend why she'd cheat on Cal even if we don't approve of her indiscretion.  

As if those two lead performances weren't enough, Ryan Gosling probably just captured RyMickey's "Best Rising Hollywood Actor" award after his back-to-back completely opposite-spectrum performances in this and last year's Blue Valentine.  Here, Gosling certainly evokes the most laughs as the sometimes over-the-top lothario, but his Jacob has a shocking amount of heart.  Roles like this sometimes grow irksome very quickly, but despite Jacob's take charge attitude when it comes to "making over" the unkempt Cal, we never once get the feeling that he's being condescending to the guy (which would typically be the way every other screenwriter would've crafted the character).

I could go on and on and write paragraphs about the lovely Emma Stone, the sexy Marisa Tomei, the charming Analeigh Tipton, and the lovelorn Jonah Bobo who all manage to make there never be a boring, bland moment in this flick.  But I've already rambled on too long.  Instead, I'll just say that despite a treacly ending (that still somehow manages to work), Crazy, Stupid, Love does enough other good stuff that I'm willing to give it a little bit of a pass on its denouement.  This is a movie that admits love can come with its share of frustrations, but also carries with it passion, sincerity, meaningful connections, and a whole lot of heart.  Yes, it's perhaps overly optimistic about love (very much the antithesis of the aforementioned Blue Valentine), but the fairy tale notion of love that is sometimes depicted here isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Without a doubt in my mind, this is a movie that I can't imagine won't be near the top (or perhaps even claim the top spot) on my year end list.  Yes, it's that good.  Get yourself to this one...you'll laugh, you'll find yourself caring about characters you've never met before, and you'll just plain and simply feel good after watching it.

The RyMickey Rating:  A

Movie Review - Despicable Me

Despicable Me (2010)

Featuring the voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, and Kristen Wiig

Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud

Perhaps I'm just a curmudgeon, but the animated flick Despicable Me just didn't resonate with me in the slightest.  I came away with the equivalent of shrugged shoulders -- it wasn't bad, it wasn't good, it was just "meh."

Ultimately, the fault lies in the story because the animation and voice acting are more than adequate.  While the idea behind the flick is amusing enough -- a down-on-his-luck, aging evil villain plots the ultimate crime by stealing the moon -- Despicable Me becomes bogged down by the addition of three orphaned girls who attempt to provide an emotional counterpoint to the lunacy of the villain.  In its attempt at aiming for the "heart" that Pixar is so adept at providing in its films, Despicable Me doesn't succeed.  I'm honestly not quite sure why the filmmakers attempted to go for the emotion because sometimes simple fun is more than enough.

In the end, my lack of words in this review is because I'm just "meh" on Despicable Me.  I didn't like or dislike it...it was just 85 minutes of "meh."

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Date Night

Date Night (2010)

Starring Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, Taraji P. Henson, James Franco, Mila Kunis, Common, and Ray Liotta

Directed by Shawn Levy

Oh, Tina Fey.  I truly enjoy 30 Rock where you play the quick-witted Liz Lemon.  Your writing on that show is spot-on and makes me laugh out loud.

And Steve Carell.  While I haven't watched The Office on a regular basis, whenever I catch it in syndication, I find the whole thing incredibly amusing.  Your character Michael Scott creates a hilariously uncomfortable atmosphere that has put the series on my Netflix Instant Queue.

And yet, when the two of you comedians combine in the film Date Night, it's amazing how absolutely unfunny you both are.  When given an opportunity, you certainly can elicit laughs.  Just look at the scene where you both pretend to be strippers in a seedy club.  Who knew sexy robot dancing would make me crack up as much as I did?  But beyond the sexy robot, I hardly cracked a smile while watching this flick in which the two of you play a homely married couple from New Jersey who are mistaken for another couple on the run from some corrupt cops, local politicians, and mobsters.  While watching, I couldn't help but think of childhood film favorite with a similar plot -- Adventures in Babysitting -- and wishing I was watching that instead.

Granted, it's not really all your fault, Tina and Steve.  Director Shawn Levy (whose previous claim to fame are the godawful Night at the Museum films) doesn't exactly have a great eye for comedy.  Sometimes (as in the aforementioned strip club scene) he lets the two of you run wild to great effect.  However, at other times, he doesn't reel you in enough.  There seemed to be many moments where he let you run free which caused some scenes to go on for what felt like an eternity -- an eternity devoid of any laughter.

The plot is ridiculously convoluted, too, which I realize might have restrained you both from your full potential.  That being said, Tina and Steve, take my advice and stick to your day jobs.

The RyMickey Rating:  D