Cats

Cats (2019)

Starring Francesca Hayward, Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Laurie Davidson, Robbie Fairchild, Rebel Wilson, James Cordon, Jason Derulo, Steven McRae, Danny Collins, Naoimh Morgan, Ray Winstone, and Taylor Swift

Directed by Tom Hooper

Written by Lee Hall and Tom Hooper

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D

Jojo Rabbit

Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Starring Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Taika Waititi, Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant, Alfie Allen, Sam Rockwell, and Scarlett Johansson

Directed by Taika Waititi

Written by Taika Waititi

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  A-

Movie Review - How to Be Single

How to Be Single (2016)

Starring Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Leslie Mann, Alison Brie, Anders Holm, Damon Wayans, Jr., Nicholas Braun, Jake Lacy, and Jason Mantzoukos

Directed by Christian Ditter

***This film is currently streaming via HBO Now/Go***

I came so very close to stopping How to Be Single at about the halfway point.  In retrospect, I should have followed through with that because it really was a tremendous waste of time, but for some odd reason, Dakota Johnson and Leslie Mann had me oddly engaged in what ended up being a bit of a trainwreck of a movie.  Considering that Leslie Mann landed in the top spot of the Worst Performances of 2014 for The Other Woman, color me surprised that she's one of the reasons I kept this one going, but in this ensemble piece, she shined brighter than many others -- including Rebel Wilson who landed in the top spot of the Worst Performances of 2015.  Unlike Mann, she doesn't redeem herself here.

Enough about year-old awards, though.  How to Be Single takes a look at a quartet of women and their struggles with living life without men.  Dakota Johnson is Alice, a recent college grad who decides to break up with her longterm boyfriend (Nicholas Braun) to explore her options, not because she doesn't love him but because he is the only person she's ever seriously dated.  A new job as a paralegal at a fancy New York law firm has Alice meeting Robin (Rebel Wilson), a rambunctious, carefree, balls-to-the-wall, rowdy single lady who takes the newly unchained, mousy, and subdued Alice out on the town to try and teach her the rules of how to be a single woman.  At night, Alice goes home to her sister Meg (Leslie Mann), an obstetrician who has reached a point in her life when having children seems important with her single status proving to initially be an obstacle.  And then there's Lucy (Alison Brie), a completely superfluous character who spends her days hanging out in a bar looking at dating websites trying to find her true love while womanizer bartender Tom (Anders Holm) begins to pine over her.

While there are moments that work comedically -- however sporadic those moments may be -- How to Be Single also attempts to be serious, particularly in its second half and this doesn't work at all in its favor.  Attempts at mining drama out of unimportant or under-explored issues in the film's second half prove laughable and weigh down the lackluster flick which already suffers from repetitive and uninspired comedic scenes in its first half.  Sure, Dakota Johnson is oddly engaging as the timid Alice who is trying to find herself in the hectic dating landscape of New York City.  Her moments with Leslie Mann as her sister are charming and Mann herself makes the most out of a somewhat underdeveloped/stereotypical character.  However, the two are not enough to save the film from coming close to being a disaster.

I've already mentioned that Alison Brie's character could've been excised from the film with no harm done.  That's no fault of Brie, but her Lucy is completely unnecessary.  And then there's Rebel Wilson who continues to play the same character here that she plays in every other movie.  There's no branching out for her and her shtick has already worn threadbare.  While she's certainly not the sole reason How to Be Single doesn't work, she plays a part in its failure.  Sure, it's not as bad as some recent chick comedy flicks -- the aforementioned The Other Woman or Bad Moms -- but it's not a whole lot better.

The RyMickey Rating: D+

Movie Review - Pitch Perfect 2

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

Starring Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld, Brittany Snow, Skylar Astin, Adam DeVine, Elizabeth Banks, John Michael Higgins, and Katey Sagal

Directed by Elizabeth Banks

I wasn't a huge fan of the original Pitch Perfect and expectations were not high for its sequel...and that's a good thing because Pitch Perfect 2 simply rehashes all the same jokes, character traits, and plot points as its predecessor.  The biggest problem with Pitch Perfect 2 is that not a single one of the a cappella numbers in the film seems as if it has any basis in reality.  Where exactly did the Barden Bellas headed by Beca, Chloe, and (Fat) Amy (Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, and Rebel Wilson) get the money for fire effects for a show set up in a hotel ballroom?  And let's not even delve into the opening scene that places the Bellas at a concert celebrating President Obama's birthday.

It's that concert for the president that sets the ball rolling as Fat Amy inadvertently exposes her nether regions to the public when her pants rip while hanging from a Cirque du Soleil-ish device.  Amy's commando ways bring shame to the Bellas and the a cappella community and higher-ups John and Gail (the rather hilarious John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks) ban the girl group from participating in any events or competing anywhere except for the World Finals in Copenhagen.  With the Bellas in chaos, they must regroup and regain their illustrious status once again.

Unfortunately, the film feels like a complete retread of the original with the same jokes, set-ups, and types of songs being made a cappella.  Like the original, there are a few laugh-out-loud moments here and there, but the directorial debut of Elizabeth Banks just doesn't ring true in any single moment of its screen time.  Perhaps on the plus side, the best aspect of the film is a rather subdued performance by Hailee Steinfeld as a freshman at Barden College who joins the Bellas -- Steinfeld will presumably carry the torch for subsequent sequels seeing as how this film concludes with the majority of the Bellas facing graduation.  Steinfeld is pleasant enough and perhaps the most grounded character, but my hopes aren't high that future films will maintain this realistic approach for character's wide-eyed innocence.

Pitch Perfect 2 is watchable, but not much works.  Anna Kendrick looks like she doesn't want to be there, Brittany Snow's Chloe is too ditzy to be believable, and Rebel Wilson doesn't improve her acting skills at all from her first attempt at Fat Amy.  Wilson, in particular, is just an embarrassment and while I imagine some tweens may find her shtick funny, I find it nearly unwatchable.

The RyMickey Rating:  D+

Movie Review - Bachelorette

Bachelorette (2012)

Starring Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, Rebel Wilson, James Marsden, Kyle Bornheimer, and Adam Scott

Directed by Leslye Headland

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

The comparisons to 2010's hilarious Bridesmaids have to be expected when it comes to a movie like Bachelorette if only because the movie industry doesn't have too many female-centric comedies in the marketplace, and by having both films focus on a wedding further connects the two.  However, Bachelorette skews much darker in its comedy which creates quite a different tint on the whole affair, allowing writer-director Leslye Headland's play-turned-film to not play like a retread of the Oscar-nominated (and RyMickey Award Best Picture Top Ten finisher) Kristen Wiig film.

Whereas the characters in Bridesmaids were in their mid-thirties and genuinely excited about their best friend's wedding, the late twentysomethings in Bachelorette who were friends in high school look at the upcoming nuptials of Becky (Rebel Wilson) with disdain.    Becky was always the fourth wheel in the group known as "The B Faces," and it doesn't sit well that "the fat one" in the quartet is the first one to get married.  Regan (Kirsten Dunst), like Becky, lives in New York City and has kept in touch with the soon-to-be-bride more than the rest of the group, so she gets the role of Maid of Honor.  Outwardly showing enthusiasm, Regan's ice queen, bitchy demeanor comes out right away as she calls her fellow "B Faces" Gena (Lizzy Caplan) and Katie (Isla Fisher) to tell them the news.  As the group convenes for the wedding weekend, they begin to realize that they haven't changed all that much since high school...and maybe that's not such a good thing.  Katie's still a crazy bed-hopping party girl, Gena's cocaine snorting is still a commonplace occurrence, and Regan's bulimic tendencies still rear their ugly head at times.  None of these girls are the epitome of perfection and there are moments where they're all incredibly nasty to one another, but they're still friends despite their sometimes warped view of what being "friends" actually means.  They have a shared history that continues to bring them close together and, as time has passed, they begin to wonder whether it's maybe time that they all begin to grow up a little bit.

This isn't to say that Bachelorette ends on a sensitive up-with-people note.  These characters aren't "changed" in miraculous ways by seeing their child-like mannerisms.  Instead, the movie concludes with them simply glimpsing the fact that it's likely time they try to turn into adults as they head into their third decade and maybe Becky's wedding is the impetus to getting that ball rolling.  Kirsten Dunst and Lizzy Caplan succeed the best at coming to this realization for their characters.  Both Dunst and Caplan are given nice arcs and they surprised me by making me give a damn about their rather loathsome characters by the end of the film.  I don't watch Girls on HBO, but I imagine that the reason it's buzzed about (I refuse to say successful because less than two million people watch it per episode and yet it's praised like it's a huge hit) is that it showcases twentysomething women in a light that typically isn't shone on them.  That's definitely the case here and Dunst and Caplan are able to imbue their characters with enough depth to make the film overall a success.

That isn't to say that Ms. Headland's script gives adequate dimensionality to all characters.  Isla Fisher's Katie is decidedly one-note in her party hard attitude and Rebel Wilson's Becky is simply like every other character Wilson has played before meaning she'll make fun of her weight and then act "funny-cute" followed by being "funny-tough."  (Seriously, I just do not get the fawning over her, although I will say Wilson comes off surprisingly good here, it's just that she isn't adding anything new to her repertoire.)  Each lady also has a guy that she hooks up with the night before the wedding and only Adam Scott's Clyde as Gena's high school boyfriend is given anything to work with, but the story isn't really about the men, so I feel like this isn't as much of a letdown.

Qualms aside, however, Bachelorette is a really good film.  It's surprisingly funny, mining laughs from not only pop culture references that are perfect for my age bracket (ie. the age bracket depicted in the film), but also very naturally from the characters themselves.  Thanks to some nice performances from Kirsten Dunst and Lizzy Caplan and a solid (though not perfect) script, this one is absolutely one of the better comedies to come out of 2012...and it's streaming on Netflix...so watch it.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Pitch Perfect

Pitch Perfect (2012)

Starring Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Skylar Astin, Anna Camp, Rebel Wilson, John Michael Higgins, and Elizabeth Banks

Directed by Jason Moore

I walked into Pitch Perfect hoping that it would do for a capella singing what Bring It On did for high school cheerleading -- a romp that pokes fun, but ultimately respects the extracurricular activity.  Unfortunately, while the collegiate-set musical comedy has some laughs (and is respectful of the music-based singing phenomenon), they're too few and far between and despite a nice performance from Anna Kendrick, there's a disappointing and bland story that never provides anything other than a "been there-done that" vibe.

We've got all the typical cliches we've come to know when it comes to a movie like this.  New girl in school -- in this case Kendrick's freshman Beca -- arrives on the scene and is "different" from others her age (we know this because she wears black nail polish and thinks everyone is too cookie cutter).  She meets the various stereotypes and then ends up joining an a capella group mainly because her father is worried that she's not fitting in.  Group competes in several competitions across the country leading up to "The Big One" in NYC in which Beca's group goes up against another a capella group from her same college which just so happens to feature the guy (Skylar Astin) who has been trying to get her to date him throughout the movie.

There's nothing new and exciting in the story and despite some laugh out loud moments, the story fails this movie in the end.  Granted, I realize I'm not the target audience for this -- some of the songs that I probably should have known were I a sixteen-year old girl whizzed in one ear and then right out the other without any recognition -- but the movie should've done something a little bit different in order to make it stand out from the typical teen flicks.

As mentioned above, Anna Kendrick is pretty darn good...definitely as good as you can get for a film like this and she's certainly a lovely singer.  [And it helps that she's easy on the eyes, but that's neither here nor there.]  In fact, the acting (and the singing), for the most part, is not too shabby.  However, this is only the second movie in which I've seen Rebel Wilson and her comedic schtick is already on my last nerve.  She provided some laughs, but her fifteen minutes of fame have reached their limit at this point unless she can change it up.

The RyMickey Rating:  C