Support the Girls

Support the Girls (2018)

Starring Regina Hall, Haley Lu Richardson, James Le Gros, Shayna McHayle, Dylan Gelula, AJ Michalka, Brooklyn Decker, Jana Kramer, John Elvis, and Lea DeLaria

Directed by Andrew Bujalski

Written by Andrew Bujalski
***This film is currently streaming on Hulu***

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Results

Results (2015)

Starring Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders, Kevin Corrigan, Giovanni Ribisi, Anthony Michael Hall, Brooklyn Decker, and Constance Zimmer

Directed by Andrew Bujalski

***Ts film is currently streaming on Netflix***

Despite nice performances from Guy Pearce and Cobie Smulders as fitness instructors Trevor and Kat, Results feels like a film searching for its core plot.  Is it a film about the current business and potential personal relationships between gym owner Trevor and employee instructor Kat?  Or is it a film about Danny (Kevin Corrigan), an overweight divorced guy who, following his mother's recent death, has received a windfall of money and decides to use some of it to try and lose weight (and emotionally grow) by hiring a personal fitness instructor from Trevor's gym?  Or is Results about Danny wanting to use his money to help Trevor expand his gym empire from a small single storefront to a chain of all-encompassing wellness center?

Writer-diretor Andrew Bujalski's film seems completely unsure of what it exactly wants to be.  While it succeeds at creating an appropriate balance between comedy and light drama, its various plotlines prove to be underdeveloped and scattered.  Initially, I thought the film was going to be all about Danny, but then that character seems to disappear in the film's final half after we've already invested a good amount of time with his storyline.  The switch is jarring and ultimately proves to be disappointing in a film that I was somewhat buying into initially.  As mentioned, Pearce and Smulders are quite good, proving to have a chemistry with one another and other characters that keep the film interesting, but it's simply not enough to make the flick recommendable.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

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 - Battleship

Battleship (2012)

Starring Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgård, Brooklyn Decker, Rihanna, and Liam Neeson 

Directed by Peter Berg

Movies like Battleship make me wonder why I like the cinematic medium as much as I do.  When such dreck can be produced, mass-marketed, and proven successful (at least in the overseas territories), I have to question the taste level of our world as a whole.  There's nothing to like about this movie.  Nothing at all.  It's not like it's the worst thing ever created, but it's simply a waste of two hours that simply shouldn't exist.

It's as if the film was created solely using focus groups trying to determine what the mass populous likes in the broadest sense possible.

1. Tropical Settings -- Hawaii should work, so let's set this thing there.  Plus, it's surrounded by water and since our movie's name is Battleship that means we have to spend time on boats.
2. Military Men in Uniform -- Ladies love that, plus it implies "war" and that appeals to the men.
3. Sports Illustrated Models -- Brooklyn Decker fits the bill, trying her hardest to make you look anywhere other than her breasts. (FYI -- she doesn't succeed at that task.)
4. Aliens -- They've proven successful in terms of entertainment value in the past, so let's have some aliens come to earth...and they won't be friendly...but they won't be real nasty either...
5. War -- As mentioned in Point #2, let's have the military men go to war against the alien beings.  Men can relate to the machismo, while women can swoon over a guy like Taylor Kitsch who can save the day.  [Poor Mr. Kitsch -- after this and John Carter he's not a guy you can bet on for quality, that's for sure.]
6. Top 40 Music -- Can we just throw some urban singer in the movie since our cast is mostly caucasian?  We need to appeal across the boards here.  L.L. Cool J isn't available? Okay, Rihanna fits the bill.  Doesn't matter that she hasn't acted before and doesn't exude any charisma.  She's popular.  That's all that we need to worry about.
7. Sassy Side Characters -- See Point #6
8. Action, Action, Action! -- People like explosions.  People like gunfire.  People apparently like to watch a movie where the action sequences make no sense and are pieced together in the most ridiculous ways creating a sense of incoherence.
9. "Pearl Harbor" Romance -- Remember in Pearl Harbor how people loved that the first hour was filled with nothing but Kate Beckinsale flip-flopping between whether she liked Ben Affleck or Josh Hartnett?  People loved the fact that we held off seeing the action, right?  Let's not copy that exactly, but let's take forty minutes before anything happens.  Ms. Decker and Mr. Kitsch should be more than adequate to hold an audience's interest.
10. Gaming Culture -- We're a culture of gamers and while I know that tends to mean video gaming, why not go retro and create a movie around a game like Battleship?  Isn't that what focus groups were asking for when they said they liked gaming?

The problem with Battleship is simply that it takes too many basic concepts, throws them into the pot, and lets them simmer without allowing any cohesiveness to form.  Director Peter Berg has crafted his worst film yet by a mile.  Not only does he fail at creating decent action sequences, but his quiet character moments are laughable and painful to sit through.  Quite simply, there's no reason Battleship needed to be made and it's certainly a waste of time.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - Just Go With It

Just Go With It (2011)

Starring Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Brooklyn Decker, Nick Swardson, Bailee Madison, Griffin Gluck, Dave Matthews, and Nicole Kidman 

Directed by Dennis Dugan

Perhaps it's a sign of the apocalypse, but I just finished watching an Adam Sandler movie that I legitimately liked it and found myself laughing out loud on multiple occasions.  Granted, Sandler isn't doing anything vastly different from his usual schtick in Just Go With It, but for some strange reason that probably had more to do with the people surrounding him than Sandler himself, I couldn't help but have a smile on my face while watching this one.

Sandler is Danny Maccabee, a successful plastic surgeon who seems like a genuinely nice guy.  Over twenty years ago, he found out some disturbing news about his fiancée on his wedding day and called the wedding off.  However, he discovered that pretending like he was still in the midst of an unhappy marriage was an ideal way to pick up women.  One night, he meets the lovely (and much younger) Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) and they hit it off right away.  However, unbeknown to Danny, he had taken his ring off prior to meeting her so when Palmer discovers it the morning after their first tryst, she is immediately upset.  Danny tells her that his marriage is through, but Palmer, not wanting to break up a marriage, insists on meeting his soon-to-be ex-wife to hear it from her.

This throws Danny into a tizzy and his thoughts immediately shift to having his office supervisor Katherine (Jennifer Aniston) play the role of his ex-wife.  Katherine reluctantly agrees, but soon their lies begin to take on a life of their own, and Danny, Katherine, Katherine's two kids (Bailee Madison and Griffin Gluck), and Palmer end up heading to Hawaii to celebrate some family time together.

I honestly can't believe that this whole thing works, but it does.  Adam Sandler actually has some pretty solid chemistry with both Brooklyn Decker and Jennifer Aniston (oops, did I spoil something by suggesting that there's chemistry there between Sandler and Aniston?), and Sandler definitely tones back his usual immature humor here.  Decker (a newcomer to me) is certainly beautiful and, while not given a whole lot to work with, manages to come off as a bit more than just a pretty face.

It's a pleasure to report that Ms. Aniston is pretty good here.  Granted, I can't help but think she couldn't have pulled off this role in her sleep (it's Rachel from Friends with more grown-up kids), but she plays the romantic comedy lead pretty darn well...and I certainly have no qualms with watching her onscreen.

With some surprisingly funny turns from Bailee Madison and Griffin Gluck as Katherine's kids and a nice cameo from Nicole Kidman as an old college enemy of Katherine, the cast certainly helps raise this up several notches even when the humor runs a tad thin at times.

I've got to say that I found myself laughing much more than I thought I would.  Sure, it's not high-brow and there are more than enough jokes that fall completely flat (pretty much anything involving Danny's "Austrian sheep selling" cousin played by Nick Swardson), but Just Go With It is absolutely a solid romantic comedy.

The RyMickey Rating:  B