The Discovery

The Discovery (2017)

Starring Jason Segel, Rooney Mara, Jesse Plemons, Riley Keogh, Mary Steenburgen, and Robert Redford

Directed by Charlie McDowell

Written by Justin Lader and Charlie McDowell

***This film is currently streaming via Netflix***

Summary (in 500 words or less): Scientist Thomas Harbor (Robert Redford) has proven the existence of an afterlife and in the years since his discovery, the suicide rate around the world has risen astronomically.  Following a television interview that goes horribly wrong, Harbor goes into hiding.  Several years later, upon visiting his secluded father, Will (Jason Segel) discovers the almost cult-like atmosphere taking place at his father's homestead where Thomas has hired people whose suicides have gone awry to help him.  Thomas's latest experiment involves videotaping one's afterlife experience, but Will rightfully worries that this new experimentation may result in even more folks wanting to end their lives.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

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 - This Is the End

This Is the End (2013)

Starring Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Emma Watson, and Danny McBride 

Directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen

Those who have read this blog in the past may be aware that I don't exactly hold humor derived from drug-induced stupor in the highest regard.  So, considering This Is the End begins with Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel getting high, I wasn't quite sure I was in for something I'd find enjoyable.  Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how humorous I found the flick.  With actors Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, and Danny McBride essentially playing exaggerated versions of their real-life personas, the film isn't afraid to take jabs at the inanity of celebrity culture and that's the biggest reason This Is the End works.

The plot is fairly simple.  The aforementioned actors have gathered for a party at James Franco's posh abode (along with several other big-name cameos playing themselves as well) when all of the sudden, the apocalypse arrives.  The "good" people are whisked up to heaven in Star Trek-esque beams of light, whereas those less than worthy humans are left on earth desperately trying to hide from the devilish creatures that are sent to hunt them down.  Played for laughs rather than for scares or drama, the apocalyptic story gets a different spin than we've seen before.

Co-directors and co-screenwriters Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen were aware that without their cast gamely poking fun of themselves, this film wouldn't have worked, so they definitely stack the movie with humor related to their cast's "real" lives.  It's these moments where the film certainly shines.  The flick does veer off track a little bit when it actually tries to tell its basic story -- a rather unique criticism perhaps.  I found myself not caring so much about the apocalypse itself and wanted to spend more time learning about Danny McBride's masturbation techniques -- something I never thought I'd say and perhaps will wish I never said.  (Nonetheless, it was a scene that had me cracking up hysterically.)

I've been sitting on this review for over two months now.  I'm not quite sure why, but I think it stems from the fact that while I enjoyed This Is the End, I'm well aware that as a story, it's weak.  Fortunately, the balance of the real-life humor elevates the film to something worth watching.

The RyMickey Rating: B

Movie Review - This Is 40

This Is 40 (2012)

Starring Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Maude Apatow, Iris Apatow, Megan Fox, Jason Segel, Chris O'Dowd, Lena Dunham, Albert Brooks, John Lithgow, and Melissa McCarthy

Directed by Judd Apatow

While he sometimes succeeds as a producer (see Bridesmaids, Step Brothers, and The Five-Year Engagement), Judd Apatow has never been a favorite of mine when he gets behind the camera or puts pen to paper.  He can't seem to edit himself and he's the single biggest contributor to the notion that began in the 2000s that comedies must be longer than two hours in order to "feel important."  This Is 40 is typical Apatow in that these same problems exist -- seriously, can't this guy afford an editor at this point -- but I found the film overall quite humorous and, ultimately, worth a watch despite the fact that there is hardly any story to sustain itself over its 135-minute running time.

This Is 40 is apparently the quasi-sequel to Knocked Up in that Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann are reprising their roles of married couple Pete and Debbie, but there's nary a mention of that former movie and you certainly do not need to be even remotely familiar with it in order to understand the goings-on here.  As the film opens, Debbie is celebrating her fortieth birthday -- a milestone she refuses to accept which is why the birthday cake her two daughters Sadie and Charlotte (Maude and Iris Apatow) present her with has a giant "38" on it.  Pete is also celebrating his fourth decade on Earth in a few weeks and the couple finds themselves in a bit of a rut after having been together so long.  With a teenage daughter who always fights with her younger sister, a nagging Jewish father (Albert Brooks) who is constantly guilting Pete into giving him money, and a failing business leading to less income, life is difficult for the couple which leads to bickering around every corner.

The issue with This Is 40 lies in the fact that it doesn't bring anything new to the table and it feels like a dinner guest that just refuses to leave when he should.  There's simply not enough story presented to warrant its length and despite attempts at creating tangents -- Debbie is worried that a worker (Megan Fox) at her clothing shop is stealing, Debbie's estranged father (John Lithgow) tries to return into her life, an angry mom (Melissa McCarthy) accuses Pete and Debbie of harassing her son at school -- they're simply tangents that don't add anything to the overall story.  Granted, they're funny and they often caused me to laugh out loud, but in the end, it amounts to a whole lot of nothing.  And let's not even get started on the Judd Apatow reliance on something dramatically "important" happening that turns out not to be all that critical to the plot by the film's end.  There's several of those moments here, but I'm preferring to forget about them.

Still, despite these qualms, I wasn't ever bored by This Is 40 and the biggest credit for that probably should go to Rudd and Mann who work well together and are each more than capable of carrying out their own moments of required humor.  There's some nice cameos by folks like Jason Segel and Chris O'Dowd as well, but I can honestly say that I'm over the Melissa McCarthy craze.  This lady needs to stretch a bit as she's chosen the same exact role in every film she's undertaken.  For someone who burst onto the scene in an overwhelmingly strong way in Bridesmaids just two years ago, she's worn out her welcome very quickly.

I've never been a fan of Judd Apatow so I will admit that I came into this biased from the get-go and This Is 40 contains all of the typical Apatow-isms that I despise, but this one still manages to end on a good note for me.  There's probably something to be said in the fact that this is Apatow's lowest-rated film on RottenTomatoes and my favorite film of his, but I laughed enough to recommend it.

The RyMickey Rating: C+

Movie Review - The Five-Year Engagement

The Five-Year Engagement (2012)

Starring Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Rhys Ifans, Mindy Kaling, Mimi Kennedy, David Paymer, Jacki Weaver, and Kevin Hart

Directed by Nicholas Stoller

I don't understand why comedies in this new century can't seem to find the money to pay for an editor.  I think Judd Apatow single-handedly harmed the genre in the last eight years or so with his inability to make the necessary trims to create a properly paced laugher.  It should come as no surprise that Mr. Apatow produced The Five-Year Engagement, yet another one of his films to clock in unnecessarily at over two hours.  It's a bummer, too, because the film is pretty goshdarn charming.  Yes, it's an R-rated flick and has its moments of raunch, but there's some serious heart here and the comedy stems naturally from those realistic and sometimes touching moments (which, I'll admit, is the one thing Apatow does really well).  And yet the producers and co-writer/director Nicholas Stoller make me have to knock this down a few notches because it just doesn't know how to move things along.

Co-writer and Muppet lover Jason Segel is Tom who meets the lovely Violet (Emily Blunt) at a New Years' Eve costume party.  After dating a year, Tom pops the question to Violet who immediately accepts and the two begin the process of planning their wedding.  A few unforeseen circumstances present a few roadblocks, the biggest of which is Violet's acceptance into the University of Michigan's graduate program for psychology.  Tom, who has a great job as a chef in their current home city San Francisco, agrees to move with Violet for the two years it will take for her to complete the program.  Two years, however, turns into a bit more and Tom finds himself wallowing in disappointment unable to find ways to better himself and his career in the small 'burbs of Michigan.  While they don't call off the wedding, their planning for the event shifts to the wayside as Violet's schooling takes precedence.

Part of the film's problem, however, is that the time spent in Michigan could have been condensed by at least thirty minutes, if not a little more.  While I enjoyed the many (many) side characters that the writers introduced, they were completely unnecessary and literally did nothing to advance the plot.  At a certain point, the scissors need to come out and the trimming needs to be made, but this is the whole Apatow attitude and mindset and it's why I've really never found myself loving many of the films he's had his hands in (Step Brothers and Bridesmaids being two notable exceptions).

Segel and Blunt (whom I admittedly find incredibly charming and attractive) work very well together which for some reason surprised me.  Perhaps it was wrong of me to think the two actors wouldn't connect at all, but they proved to have nice chemistry.  Alison Brie and Chris Pratt are also given sizable supporting roles as Violet's sister and Tom's friend, respectively, who meet at Tom and Violet's engagement party and end up marrying each other soon after.  Both known best for their work on NBC sitcoms, Brie and Pratt were certainly nice additions to the cast.  And the rest of the supporting cast is also fairly top notch, but unfortunately most of them, as mentioned above, just didn't need to be in the movie.

I really wanted to give this movie a better rating.  There were moments while watching it where I thought this was quite possibly the best movie I had seen so far in 2012 (it's been a really weak year thus far).  And then the second hour hits and the film bogs itself down with extra characters and a more dramatic tone and it loses me.  Granted, it didn't lose me completely -- there's still much about this film to enjoy -- but it makes me wonder whether I should head out to Hollywood for an editing job.  There must be positions open since films like this don't seem to utilize that role to its fullest potential.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Muppets

The Muppets (2011)

Starring Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones, Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Animal, and all your favorite Muppets of yore

Directed by James Bobin

If they're searching for methods to help drug addicts get over their cravings, search no further than The Muppets -- a movie that put me on a euphoric high quite like (I'd imagine) any type of illegal substance.  A smile will never leave your face during its running time -- unless you find yourself tearing up at the sentimental musings of a frog made of felt like I did at times.

I was worried about this one.  I had such high expectations.  I tried to avoid everything other than those parody trailers that, while certainly humorous, admittedly made me cautious for fear of trying to "hip up" the Muppets in some way (and after some recent failed attempts since 1992's Muppet Christmas Carol, I was even more on edge).  My worries were unfounded, however, as Muppet-lover Jason Segal has co-wrote a glorious ode to some favorite characters of my youth.  The nostalgia factor is certainly working overtime here, but that's not the only thing carrying this to greatness -- it's a genuinely well-made and charming flick as well.

Echoing their "true life" story, the Muppets in The Muppets have faded from the public's favor after a very successful run from the mid-seventies through the 1980s.  This loss of popularity caused the Muppets to split up, all heading their various ways and leading to the near abandonment of the once great Muppet Studios in Los Angeles.  This doesn't sit too well with Walter, a Muppet himself, who has always found himself out of place in the small town of Small Town, forever living in a world inhabited by humans including his brother Gary (Segel) -- and, no, the movie offers no explanation as to how Walter and Gary could possibly be related despite the fact that one is made out of fabric and the other is made out of DNA -- just go with it.  When taking a trip to the deserted and dilapidated Muppet Studios in LA with Gary and Gary's gal Mary (an absolutely adorable Amy Adams), Walter unwittingly stumbles onto a plan by oil tycoon Tex Richman (the slimy Chris Cooper) to raze the studios and drill for oil underneath unless the Muppets can raise ten million dollars within two weeks.  This sets into effect the whole point of the movie -- a Muppet reunion to have a telethon that will hopefully save the Studios and reinvigorate the public's love for this adorable creatures.

The story is simple and perhaps runs a tiny bit thin during the hunt to track down Kermit's Muppet pals, but none of that really matters in the end because the film is so goshdarn amusing and pleasant that you can overlook a tiny flaw here or there (and they really are tiny because the flick overall is pretty spectacular).  Right from the beginning, Jason Segel, his co-writer Nicholas Stoller, music supervisor Bret McKenzie, and director James Bobin (the latter two worked on HBO's short-lived Flight of the Conchords of which this flick sometimes has a similar vibe) set up a charmingly corny self-aware breaking-the-fourth-wall kind of vibe where the routine task of brushing one's teeth can elicit wonderfully funny and beguilingly whimsical music numbers to take flight.  Segel and his human co-star Amy Adams are game for this happy-go-lucky vibe with their "aw shucks" demeanors playing splendidly next to the old school showmanship of the Muppets who rightfully take center stage throughout much of the film.  Similarly, Chris Cooper deliciously hams up the scenery as the nefarious oil tycoon villain providing the perfect counterpoint to the squeaky clean demeanor of everyone surrounding him.

And the Muppets themselves...they've provided so many great memories for this reviewer and their eponymous movie is just one more winner to add to the list.  Sure, their voices may have changed a little bit (Fozzie's stuck out the most to me as not quite getting the vocal tones right), but they're still the same characters we all grew to love when we were kids.  Gonzo's still goofy, the Swedish Chef is still incomprehensible, Fozzie's still producing the worst jokes imaginable, Miss Piggy's still bossy, and Kermit's still the (perhaps) reluctant, but ever lovable, ringleader of the gang.  Their storyline and the ensuing reunion of sorts was surprisingly touching and absolutely believable.  [There's a moment towards the beginning of the film where a sullen Kermit remembers his heyday that was nearly gutwrenching in its genuine sadness.]  It never feels like we're watching puppets -- even when we're following new and unknown Muppet felt creation Walter whose wide-eyed exuberance and optimism fits right in with older characters we've known and loved for decades.

One can only hope that The Muppets is a successful revival of the Muppets themselves.  Jason Segel has proven that he truly is a fan of these crazy creatures and his love is blatantly evident onscreen here with genuine care to honor Jim Henson's creations.  As soon as I saw Walter and Gary watching the original Muppet Show at the beginning of the film, I knew Segel was building upon the past rather than taking the Muppets in a completely different direction.  And when the shot of Jim Henson sitting next to Kermit popped up in a scene, this sense of tradition became even more obvious.  Kudos all around to all involved in The Muppets for crafting quite simply the most enjoyable time you will spend in a movie theater in 2011.

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 - I Love You, Man (2009)

Starring Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones, Jaime Pressley, Andy Samberg, Jon Favreau, and J.K. Simmons
Directed by John Hamburg

Personal Confession: I'm much like Paul Rudd in this film. Not only in the lack of serious guy friends, but in the awkward mannerisms, odd speech patterns, and "uptightness." There's a scene where he leaves a rambling message on a phone that seriously could've been me (I'm certainly known for my rambling messages and was just called out on it within the past week). Much like Rudd's Peter by the film's end, I guess I've changed in the past year (I've actually had multiple people tell me that...for better or worse, I guess) -- "found" a guy friend, perhaps am becoming a little less uptight, but I certainly still am maintaining the awkward mannerisms and speech patterns...so I'll just leave it at that...

Before I get critiqued for being too personal, let's jump into the movie. Rudd is Peter Klaven, a real estate agent who just got engaged to Zooey (Rashida Jones). Peter doesn't really have any guy friends...he's got acquaintances, but nobody that he can call upon to be his best man at his wedding. Realizing that, he starts to seek out a male counterpart and he stumbles upon Sydney Fife (Jason Segal) who has crashed one of his open houses simply for the free food and to pick up aging divorcées. Despite their significantly different personalities, Peter and Sydney inexplicably hit it off and become close friends (once again, oddly familiar to me here). Some conflict arises simply to further the plot, but, in the end, this is an incredibly simple story.

I was actually pretty impressed with how "uncrude" the film was as a whole. Sure, there are some "adult" scenes -- the "masturbation zone" bit made me laugh -- but it's not an incredibly dirty film despite the fact that the ads when it first came out kind of wanted you to think that it was.

Paul Rudd and Jason Segal are both really great here. It's nice to see Rudd in a lead role and he came off as a completely believable guy to me (obviously, I guess...hence the whole first paragraph of this review). Segal (who is great on How I Met Your Mother) was also fun to watch -- sure, he was the "crude" one here, but nothing really seemed over-the-top. His role came off as genuine to me. Rashida Jones isn't given a whole lot to do here, but she was adequate. Quite impressive, actually, was Jamie Pressley -- she makes the most out of a small role as Zooey's friend.

The film wasn't stellar...there weren't quite enough laughs to give it a really high rating, but the acting certainly raised the bar here. I say give Paul Rudd more leading roles and make Jason Segal a star...

The RyMickey Rating: B-