Movie Review - The Secret Life of Pets

The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

Featuring the vocal talents of Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate, Ellie Kemper, Lake Bell, and Albert Brooks 

Directed by Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney

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

There's nothing inherently wrong with the animated The Secret Life of Pets, but this Illumination Entertainment picture (from the company that brought us the mind-bogglingly popular and also mind-numbing Despicable Me franchise) doesn't excite in any way -- visually, vocally, plot-wise.  In the end, it just sort of sits there, creating amusing-enough background noise, but not involving the viewer in any way.

In full disclosure, I'm not a "pet person" so the plot about what happens when owners leave their pets home alone for the day doesn't ingratiate itself to me at all.  Human Katie (Ellie Kemper) and her dog Max (Louis C.K.) have a nice life together in their small apartment in New York City.  Things are going swell for Max, but then Katie decides to adopt another dog -- a big ole mutt named Duke (Eric Stonestreet) -- which sets off a tension-filled fight for dominance between the two canines.  This leads to a romp through the Big Apple with silly story tangents that fail to really create a cohesively engaging story.

Much like other Illumination Animation pictures, the visuals look decent, but never exquisitely intricate or cleverly designed.  The basic nature carries over to the vocal talent which takes a cadre of comedians who give solid performances, but nothing exciting.  The lack of anything truly riveting is a staple of this studio's animated pics and until they up the ante, they'll just be middle-of-the-road like The Secret Life of Pets.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - Sex Tape

Sex Tape (2014)

Starring Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel, Rob Corddry, Ellie Kemper, and Rob Lowe

Directed by Jake Kasdan

From the co-writers of the Best Film of 2011 -- Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller -- comes one of the worst films of 2014.  Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel attempt to salvage what they can from what they're given (and from what Segel himself wrote), but this story of bored married couple Annie and Jay who decide to spice up their love life by making a sex tape only to have it disseminated amongst their friends thanks to the Apple iCloud is just abysmal.  With maybe one laugh, this is a chore to sit through for ninety minutes.

Not only is Sex Tape one of the worst written movies of 2014, but it's also one of the worst directed films of the year, filled with one of my biggest directorial pet peeves -- shots where someone is  talking and from a side view their lips obviously aren't moving.  It doesn't take much to get this right in a big budget Hollywood film, but Sex Tape manages to do this within the film's first five minutes and it doesn't let up.  I realize there's a pettiness attached to this complaint, but it goes to show the lack of care put into a film like this.

Poor Cameron Diaz -- she's had a lousy 2014 (as the upcoming RyMickey Awards will show).  Shockingly, Sex Tape isn't the worst thing she's been in.  So, if you're looking for her best effort, this one wins at least that ignominious battle.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - Laggies

Laggies (2014)

Starring Keira Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sam Rockwell, Mark Webber, Jeff Garlin, Ellie Kemper, Gretchen Mol, and Kaitlin Dever

Directed by Lynn Shelton

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

Laggies started out so promisingly with laughs coming quite rapidly in the film's first few scenes.  However, as the tale of aimless twenty-eight year-old Megan (Keira Knightley) progressed, its humor began to cease which is a real shame because I think Knightley and Chloë Grace Moretz are giving some of their best performances in this flick.

Megan is college educated and could be a therapist should she so choose, but instead she spends her days twirling a sign outside her dad's tax prep business.  She's been with boyfriend Anthony (Mark Webber) since high school, but her general malaise is a bit off-putting to even him.  While attending her best friend's wedding, Megan runs out in a bit of a panic and heads to a local liquor store where she meets Annika (Moretz) who asks Megan to buy liquor for her and her high school friends.  Megan obliges and ends up spending the night hanging out with the teenagers, having a blast in the process as she remembers the "good old days."  When Anthony pleads with her a few days later to attend a conference that will help better herself, Megan instead meets up with Annika for the week and end up spending a lot of time together with trying to better one another's ho hum lives.

Keira Knightley is really coming into her own as of late and Laggies is no exception.  Here she completely embodies the lackadaisical Megan with her acting feeling wholly natural and completely unforced.  Moretz is also quite good, although her character is admittedly a little less developed and haw much less room to grow.  Together, the two have a nice rapport and movie certainly is aided by the two actresses.

Unfortunately, the film itself isn't quite as humorous as it would like you to think it is.  It also doesn't help that the premise itself isn't quite as believable as it would like you to think it could be either.  Would the father (Sam Rockwell) of Annika really be okay with a woman more than ten years her senior hanging out with his daughter?  And while Knightley sells the prospect of a romantic relationship with Rockwell's character, when the film begins to travel down that road it just seems a bit silly.  So, despite some really solid performances, Laggies doesn't quite work.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - They Came Together

They Came Together (2014)

Starring Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Christopher Meloni, Bill Hader, Ellie Kemper, Jason Mantzoukas, Max Greenfield, Cobie Smulders, Melanie Lynskey, and Ed Helms

Directed by David Wain
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

Movie spoofs are always a tricky business proposition with more failures than successes it seems.  The most famous as of late has been the Scary Movie franchise which took on the slapsticky Airplane approach and subsequently withered and died from the get-go for me.  In its skewering of the romantic comedy, They Came Together eschews some of the more blatant physical humor (although it does still successfully go there at times), aiming moreso for verbal barbs (just look at that suggestive title) and observational humor.

Molly (Amy Poehler), owner of a small candy shop, finds her business threatened when the big Corporate Candy Company decides to open up a shop right across the street from her.  When she meets Joel (Paul Rudd), an executive at CCC, Molly can't help but despise him, but as their paths intertwine, love begins to blossom beneath the hatred.  Simplicity abounds in this summary, but the obvious regurgitating of You've Got Mail's story proves to be more humorous than I could've expected.

Poehler and Rudd are always charmingly funny and their performances in They Came Together are no exception.  They have to walk a tricky road in that they're playing overblown caricatures of romantic comedy stereotypes, yet they have to still carry this film as relatable people in order for us in the audience to latch onto the tale successfully.  Director and co-screenwriter David Wain manages to make Molly and Joel well-rounded enough even with their parody-laden characteristics.  Wain throws a lot at the wall and while not all the jokes land, enough of them do making the laughs come quickly enough to warrant a watch.

The RyMickey Rating:  B