For Your Consideration

 For Your Consideration (2006)

Starring Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, Ricky Gervais, Christopher Guest, Rachel Harris, John Michael Higgins, Michael Hitchcock, Don Lake, Eugene Levy, Jane Lynch, Michael McKean, Christopher Moynihan, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Harry Shearer, and Fred Willard 

Directed by Christopher Guest

Written by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D

Best in Show

Best in Show (2000)

Starring Jennifer Coolidge, Christopher Guest, John Michael Higgins, Michael Hitchcock, Eugene Levy, Jane Lynch, Michael McKean, Catherine O'Hara, and Fred Willard

Directed by Christopher Guest

Written by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy 

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Movie Review - Mascots

Mascots (2016)

Starring Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Christopher Guest, Fred Willard, Ed Begley, Jr., Zach Woods, Sarah Baker, Michael Hitchcock, John Michael Higgins, Tom Bennett, Christopher Moynihan, Susan Yeagley, Chris O'Dowd, Bob Balaban, and Jennifer Coolidge

Directed by Christopher Guest

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

Writer-director Christopher Guest's mockumentary Best in Show which took the audience behind the scenes of a low-rent dog show is one of the best comedies of all time.  A ballsy statement, I'm aware, and one that may not be shared by all, but it's a movie that I find myself cracking up with whenever I put it on.  In a similar vein, his latest film Mascots takes its viewers to the annual Mascot Championships where his interviews with a wacky cast of characters unveil the mask behind some unique college and sport team mascots fighting for the top prize at the event.

Told in a fake documentary style -- the genre of all Guest's films -- Mascots has its moments and is certainly watchable, but it doesn't compare to the genius that is Best in Show (then again, the rest of Guest's films don't compare to that genius either).  Guest allows large chunks of his acting ensemble to simply improvise and while that does provide some clever moments, it also fills the film with a lot of nothing in terms of character development.  Despite only being 95 minutes long, the flick feels much longer with too much focus placed on the mascot bits at the final competition rather than creating well-rounded and interestingly quirky characters.

I'm overly critical here because I know Guest and his ensemble (many of whom were in Best in Show) can do better.  I did laugh during Mascots -- quite a bit actually -- but I wanted more from the film.  The humor came a bit too sporadically for me to truly be able to recommend this one.  Best in Show, however -- get yourself a copy today!

The RyMickey Rating:  C

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 - Austenland

Austenland (2013)

Starring Keri Russell, JJ Feild, Bret McKenzie, Jennifer Coolidge, James Callis, Georgia King, Ricky Whittle, and Jane Seymour

Directed by Jerusha Hesh

My Keri Russell fandom isn't unknown to those who know me.  I crushed on her when she first appeared on the 1990s incarnation of the Mickey Mouse Club during my formative early teen years and my fondness for her continues to this day.  Hence, she's the reason I desired to check out Austenland, a comedy in which Russell plays Jane, a dowdy office worker who is obsessed with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  With her apartment decked out from ceiling-to-floor in Austen memorabilia, Jane jumps at the chance to spend a boatload of money to visit Austenland in England -- a immersive Victorian-era experience that places guests squarely in the Jane Austen era.  While there, she finds herself in her own love triangle with a somewhat lowly stable man/maintenance guy named Martin (Bret McKenzie) and the uppity, cantankerous, and more aristocratic Mr. Henry Nobley (JJ Feild).

Unfortunately, it's the love triangle aspect of Austenland that never lands quite right and ruins much of the good will and humor that the rest of the script and the actors bring.  The film squarely sets forth her relationship with Martin and does so in a rather lovely and charming manner, but I kept feeling like the third part of the triangle -- her dalliances with Mr. Nobley -- felt forced and not well thought out.  There was never any sense of connection between the characters of Jane and Mr. Nobley, but rather a sense that the script was just forcing them together for want of tension.

Ms. Russell is charming as usual with that nice, calm, and sweet Felicity vibe being present for this one.  I loved seeing Bret McKenzie onscreen -- I'm not sure I've seen him in anything since Flight of the Conchords (with the exception of his fantastic behind-the-scenes songwriting for the past two Muppets movies).  Jennifer Coolidge is playing her typical brash, larger-than-life, idiotic, ditz persona...but for some reason I've failed to tire of it from her.  She's just so darn good at it that I'm able to overlook the fact that nearly every single one of her characters is interchangeable from one movie to another.  Still, despite these actors' charms, the script does them in on this one and, despite my goodwill going into it, I left a little disappointed.  (However, should you watch, make sure you stick around through the credits for a nice Victorian-era music video set to Nelly's "Hot in Herre" which was hilarious to me for some reason.)

The RyMickey Rating:  C