New Year's Eve

 New Year's Eve (2011)

Starring Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Abigail Breslin, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Hector Elizondo, Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Seth Meyers, Lea Michele, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sarah Paulson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Til Schweiger, Hilary Swank, and Sofia Vergara

Along with James Belushi, Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Matthew Broderick, Cary Elwes, Carla Gugino, Cherry Jones, John Lithgow, Ryan Seacrest, and Nat Wolff

Directed by Garry Marshall

Written by Katherine Fugate

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: F

Scoob!

 Scoob! (2020)

Featuring the vocal talents of Will Forte, Zac Efron, Amanda Seyfried, Gina Rodriguez, Mark Wahlberg, Jason Isaacs, Kiersey Clemons, Ken Jeong, Tracy Morgan, and Frank Welker

Directed by Tony Cervone

Written by Adam Sztykiel, Jack C. Donaldson, Derek Elliott, and Mattt Lieberman

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D-

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)

Starring Zac Efron, Lily Collins, Kaya Scodelario, Jeffrey Donovan, Angela Sarafyan, Dylan Baker, Brian Geraghty, Haley Joel Osment, Jim Parsons, and John Malkovich

Directed by Joe Berlinger

Written by Michael Werewie

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: B

Baywatch

Baywatch (2017)

Starring Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Priyanka Chopra, Alexandra Daddario, Jon Bass, Hannibal Buress, Kelly Rohrbach, Ilfenesh Hadera, Pamela Anderson, and David Hasselhoff

Directed by Seth Gordon

Written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift

***This film is currently streaming via Amazon Prime and Hulu***

Summary (in 500 words or less): A reimagining of the popular tv series, this "comedy" has a group of lifeguards trying to uncover a ruthless drug ring that's overtaking their beach.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D

The Greatest Showman

The Greatest Showman (2017)

Starring Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Zendaya, Paul Strong, and Rebecca Ferguson

Directed by Michael Gracey

Written by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon

Summary (in 500 words or less):  P.T. Barnum's life story from how he went from rags to riches thanks to his unique concept of a circus.

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating: D+

Movie Review - Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)

Starring Zac Efron, Adam Devine, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Stephen Root, Stephanie Faracy, Sugar Lyn Beard, and Sam Richardson

Directed by Jake Szymanski

***This film is currently available via HBO Now/GO***

I've been on a stupid comedy run as of late perhaps hoping that something will click and prove enjoyable.  Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates isn't that film.  Based partially on a true story, Zac Efron and Adam Devine are the title character brothers whose man-child boys-will-be-boys bachelor behavior at previous family functions has caused their parents (Stephen Root and Stephanie Faracy) to insist on them finding proper dates for the wedding of their only sister Jeanie (Sugar Lyn Beard) with the hopes that a lady will tamper their erratic behavior.  The brothers become a viral sensation when they post for dates online, but the women applying for the "job" all seem a bit crazy until the seemingly normal Alice and Tatiana show up.  Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) is a teacher, Alice (Anna Kendrick) is a hedge fund manager, and both seem to be the perfect "sane" match to please Mike and Dave's parents.  The problem:  Alice and Tatiana are crazed party girls who are putting on a show to get a free trip to Hawaii where Jeanie's wedding is taking place.  Needless to say, upon the quartet's arrival in Hawaii, the true Alice and Tatiana begin to reveal themselves and it leads to some chaos.

Zac Efron and Anna Kedrick are both fine here, but the film certainly isn't asking them to do anything special.  Adam Devine and Aubrey Plaza, on the other hand, are playing the same comedic schtick we're used to seeing from them.  While neither have reached the levels of Rebel Wilson annoyance yet, they're walking that fine line of becoming nearly unwatchable with their repetitive attempts at laughs.  Plaza, in particular, with her deadpan, sarcastic, nonemotional delivery of every joke is starting to wear thin with this reviewer.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates has its moments, but they're too few and far between.  In the end, it's just not funny enough to recommend.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - We Are Your Friends

We Are Your Friends (2015)

Starring Zac Efron, Wes Bentley, Emily Ratajkowski, Jonny Weston, Shiloh Fernandez, Alex Shaffer, and Jon Bernthal

Directed by Max Joseph

***This film is currently streaming on HBO Now***

I'm typically not a fan of movies that glorify a drug-filled slacker lifestyle, but color me surprised that something clicked with We Are Your Friends, a film that unjustifiably garnered one of the lowest opening weekend (and grand total) box office grosses ever for a wide release film.  We Are Your Friends is by no means a film without flaws (the film's climactic ending, as an example, comes off more laughable than dramatically effective) but the drubbing it received from the public is a bit surprising seeing how this coming of age film seems like it would've hit home with the college age "finding yourself" crowd.

We follow young twenty-something Cole (Zac Efron), a San Fernando Valley DJ, who spends his free time perfecting his craft by hovering over his computer and hanging out with his trio of slacker friends (Jonny Weston, Shiloh Fernandez, and Alex Shaffer) who all do what they can (including selling drugs) in order to make ends meet.  One evening at a club event where he is DJ'ing, Cole meets James (Wes Bentley), an older, more experienced spinner who invites Cole out for a night on the town, after which they become friends.  The mentor/mentee relationship begins well, but starts to falter when Cole finds himself falling for James's girlfriend Sophie (Emily Ratajkowski) and an infamous cinematic love triangle begins to form.

The film makes much use of music, detailing how DJs gradually amp up their rhythms to get the crowd in a never-ending groove.  First-time feature film director Max Joseph utilizes a rampant pulsing beat throughout many of the film's scenes that while creating a music video atmosphere also perfectly depicts the places inhabited by the characters in the film.  The frenetic club sequences are nicely balanced by some quieter, more dramatic and character-developing moments and the two distinct filmmaking styles and tones mesh quite seamlessly with one another.

Perhaps one of the reasons for the film's disappointing box office returns (and, quite frankly, one of the reasons I misjudged the flick) is that it stars Zac Efron.  While I'm certainly not saying his performance here should've garnered any modicum of awards fervor, I think the time has come to realize that he's grown into a completely capable and compelling star.  Looking back on my reviews of the young man, he's more than proven he's got what it takes to hold his own onscreen. The days of High School Musical are behind him and perhaps he needs to be taken a bit more seriously.  The rest of the cast is also quite good -- and, with full knowledge of the sexist nature of this upcoming remark -- Emily Ratajkowski is stunningly gorgeous (and holds her own with her slightly underdeveloped love interest role).

It may seem like I'm overpraising We Are Your Friends given the grade it'll be receiving below, but it's not without a few large faults.  By the time the film comes to its conclusion, I never got the sense the character of Cole had gone through a huge growth arc and I think that's supposed to be the emotional core.  The flick's final scene is supposed to be a pivotal moment for the character and the way director/co-screenwriter Joseph has filmed and wrote it, I couldn't help but chuckle a little.  Still, this is his first film and overall I think that there are huge amounts of promise in the director.  Sure, We Are Your Friends oftentimes mimics a music video, but that aspect of it never overstays its welcome.  This one was a bit of a sleeper for me that I almost bypassed -- I'm happy I didn't.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - That Awkward Moment

That Awkward Moment (2014)

Starring Zac Efron, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Imogen Poots, Mackenzie Davis, and Jessica Lucas

Directed by Tom Gormican

At least Miles Teller has given the cinematic world his performance in Whiplash because his character of Daniel in the purported comedy That Awkward Moment rehashes the same fast-talking frat boy we've seen from him so many, many times before.  Mr. Teller isn't alone, however, as Zac Efron takes on Jason, the pretty boy sleaze bag ladies' man -- a character that he tackles in any comedy in which he partakes.  But Mr. Teller and Mr. Efron being carbon copies of former acting roles are just the beginning of the problems in That Awkward Moment -- a flick that has no idea whether it wants to be a raunchy comedy, a relationship drama, or a coming-of-age tale and this melange of ideas fails to allow any one of them to work.

I understand that movies need to relay the broad spectrum of personalities that are evident in the world, but when you choose to place conniving, manipulative man-whores as your main characters, I have a tendency to check out right away.  Maybe it's because I'll never understand how women fall for a-holes like these, but I can't get behind caring for characters whose only goal in life is to get a woman into bed as soon as possible.  I know these types of guys exist in real life (and I know for some otherworldly reason some women are drawn to them), but they're not the type of friends I'd like to hang out with, so when I see them onscreen, I get a little disgusted.  That Awkward Moment attempts to appease my concerns with the character of Mikey (Michael B. Jordan), a smart married doctor who discovers his wife is cheating on him.  Mikey is the polar opposite of Daniel and Jason -- longing for meaning in a relationship and not searching for a one night stand.  This, in turn, however, makes me ponder why in the heck Mikey would be friends with guys like Daniel and Jason which therein defeats the purpose of even having him in the film.  Not only am I disturbed by Daniel and Jason's womanizing, but I'm ticked off that Mikey simply shrugs it all off and coddles their infantile shenanigans.

As far as a plot goes in That Awkward Moment -- there isn't much of one.  "Hey guys.  Let's make a pact to not have any meaningful relationships.  Just sex and that's it," says one of the guys at some point at the beginning of the film.  "Okay," say the other two guys.  Does it come to any surprise that all three of these guys will find themselves falling in love and then trying to hide it from their buddies?  Does it come as any surprise that these guys will end up being pricks to their women in order to hide their burgeoning relationships from their bros?  Does it come as any surprise that these women will accept their guys back after they do horrible things to them?

Predictable, obnoxious, unfunny (I didn't laugh once), and a bit repulsive are the words I'd use to describe That Awkward Moment -- care to watch it?

The RyMickey Rating:  D-

Movie Review - Neighbors

Neighbors (2014)

Starring Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Lisa Kudrow

Directed by Nicholas Stoller

Despite proving to be funny at times, Neighbors is a one-joke movie that wears old fast.  About 25 minutes in, I found myself looking at the clock as I was having a difficult time determining how there could be any more plot to milk from this simple story of married couple Mac and Kelly (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) who have their world turned upside down when a fraternity headed by Teddy and Pete (Zac Efron and Dave Franco) move in next door in their quiet suburban neighborhood.

I was willing to forego the notion that not a single other neighbor is disturbed by the raucous parties that take place at the newly formed frathouse.  (Yes, the film attempts to explain this off, but it's an utterly ridiculous explanation.)  The problem is that the premise of this flick is so simplistic that even at a ninety-minue runtime, it can't flesh out the plot because there's nothing to flesh out.  Frat guys do crazy things and married couple -- who were hoping to be hip enough to be buddies with the frat -- get angry when they realize they're not as young as they used to be.  There's not much more than that.  While some of the frat's raucous pranks and the married couple's reactions are funny, they're just comedic bits that don't really add up to much of a plot.  As an ongoing skit on SNL, this may have worked, but forming an overall movie from this is a bit weak.

That isn't to say that Neighbors didn't make me laugh -- it did so multiple times thanks to the good performances from Seth Rogen (who is essentially playing Seth Rogen), Rose Byrne (who has a nice comedic deadpan style to her), and Dave Franco (proving as of late that he's less smarmy oncreen -- and that's a good thing -- than his more famous brother James).  Color me surprised, however, that the star of the show is Zac Efron whose frat president Pete is suave, debonair, yet also sneaky and underhanded.  Presumably Efron's been trying to break away from his High School Musical image over the past several years and he's surprisingly good as he makes fun of his toned body and spotless image.

Director Nicholas Stoller does have some inspired moments -- a rave party showcased some nice directorial flourishes -- but Neighbors unfortunately doesn't amount to much despite the good stuff it has going for it.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - At Any Price

At Any Price (2013)

Starring Dennis Quaid, Zac Efron, Kim Dickens, Heather Graham, Maika Monroe, and Clancy Brown
Directed by Ramin Bahrani

Despite decent performances from Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron, At Any Price is a heartland-set drama that plays more like a soap opera than a legitimate movie.  Quaid is Henry Whipple, a Midwestern farmer who sells seed to his fellow agriculturists.  Henry's son Dean (Efron) lived in the shadow of his older brother who, after he went off to college, left Dean to feel the brunt of Henry's desire to pass his farm down to one of his sons.  Dean, however, just wants to race cars leading to tension between father and son.

Beyond this little familial tiff, there are several other "issues" that come to the forefront as the movie progresses that elevate the drama.  Some of these elements work...some are laughable.  Quaid tackles these hurdles by making his character irritatingly chipper which works at moments and doesn't at others.  Efron comes off a bit better, proving that there may be potential for something from the young actor, but once again, he's not given much to stretch his acting chops here.  (Parkland and The Paperboy also allowed him to give decent performances, but also didn't give him a chance to really shine.)

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Parkland

Parkland (2013)

Starring James Badge Dale, Zac Efron, Colin Hanks, David Harbour, Marcia Gay Harden, Ron Livingston, Jeremy Strong, Billy Bob Thornton, Jacki Weaver, and Paul Giamatti

Directed by Peter Landesman

Parkland looks at the immediate aftermath of the John F. Kennedy assassination not through the eyes of the Kennedys or the conspiracy theorists, but through the lens of "normal" folks on the ground in Dallas, Texas, that fateful day in November 1963.  While an interesting concept, the film lacks an emotional undercurrent throughout, forcing the audience to feel distanced from everything despite first-time director-screenwriter Peter Landesman's attempts to pull us in visually with his camerawork.

Landesman's film certainly is a good debut for the director, but considering the heft of the subject matter, the piece lacks that emotional connection you long to feel.  Part of the reasoning behind this is likely due to the fact that Parkland is truly an ensemble piece.  We see the doctors and nurses at the Parkland Hospital (played by Zac Efron, Colin Hanks, and Marcia Gay Harden) trying to save Kennedy at the beginning, but then we're whisked away to meet with Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti) to see how he dealt with doling out his famous film to the media and the government.  We also get glimpses into the world of the various FBI and Secret Service agents (David Harbour, Ron Livingston, and Billy Bob Thornton) and their reactions to that day before we're welcomed into the world of Lee Harvey Oswald's brother Robert (James Badge Dale) and crazed mother (Jacki Weaver) and their varied reactions to the horrific events that his brother/son (Jeremy Strong) caused.

Quite honestly, all of these four story threads are quite intriguing and they're all buoyed by strong performances by the cast.  Unfortunately, with the ensemble nature of the piece, we're never with any one of them for any long period of time.  Just when we're starting to feel compassion for the medical workers and their unenviable task that November day, we shift to another storyline.  While I appreciate the different angles Landesman brings to the table, it does keep the audience at an emotional distance from the goings-on.  Nevertheless, Parkland is an intriguing piece that certainly gives a different perspective of the Kennedy assassination and if you're a history buff it's well worth watching.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - The Paperboy

The Paperboy (2012)

Starring Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey, David Oyelowo, John Cusack, and Nicole Kidman

Directed by Lee Daniels

I think it's extremely important that you know what you're getting into should you decide to watch The Paperboy, the latest film from Precious director Lee Daniels.  This flick is pure trash...and it knows it.  Reveling in the grainy look and feel of a 1970s low-budget Roger Corman flick, Daniels seems to be intending to make pure pulp and while he succeeds, the problem is that nobody really likes those types of movies for anything longer than about sixty minutes.  At that point, the cheesy music and the over-the-top (or just plain awful) acting wear thin and you find yourself wondering when the hell this piece of crap is going to be over.  That's kind of the case here, too.  I dug the retro vibe (complete with cuts made to replicate missing frames of film), but the story peters out.

The year is 1969 and we find ourselves in the steamy city of Lately, Florida, where a man named Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack) is on Death Row for killing a local sheriff.  Newspaper reporter Ward Jansen (Matthew McConaughey) grew up in Lately and finds himself returning to his hometown to investigate what could have been a wrongful conviction for Van Wetter.  While at home, Ward and his younger brother Jack (Zac Efron) meet up with the beautiful, though incredibly trashy, Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman) who has been communicating with Van Wetter via mail for several months and now finds herself engaged to the man without ever having seen him in person.  Charlotte is sex (or sleaze) personified, but the young Jack instantly falls for her "womanly" charms, finding it difficult to go through days without seeing her despite the fact that the feeling is never reciprocated in his direction from Charlotte.

I will admit that I give Nicole Kidman some credit here for slumming it and she really comes across as the most believable and even honest character of anyone.  She embraces the slutty sleaziness and creates a character that is quite memorable.  As for the others in the cast, they don't fare nearly as well.  Efron's actually fine, but I thought maybe we'd see some dramatic stretching for him in this role and his character is unfortunately a bit one-note.  McConaughey really isn't doing anything we haven't seen from him before and the journey his character undergoes is ludicrously ridiculous.  And the less said about John Cusack the better.  He's definitely in the running for Worst Performance of the Year.

At its heart, The Paperboy is a young man's coming of age story...because once you get peed on by a chick, you're simply not a kid anymore.  You're officially a grown up.  Yep, in perhaps the film's most talked about moment, Kidman's Charlotte pees on Efron's Jack after the young guy gets ravaged by a swarm of jellyfish.  And that, folks, is the kind of movie you're getting with The Paperboy.  It's weird, off-the-wall, and at times enjoyable.  But then things go over-the-edge (as in the aforementioned scene) and you just shake your head in disbelief at what's unfolding.  Sleaze and trashiness are fine but in mild doses, and this one lingers a bit too long (with a final act that just doesn't really work).

The RyMickey Rating:  C-

Movie Review - Dr. Seuss' The Lorax

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (2012)

Featuring the voice talent of Danny Devito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, and Betty White

Directed by Chris Renaud

Welcome to Thneedville, a town that's plastic, fake, and devoid of a single living tree...and its residents like it that way!  In fact, they gleefully sing about swimming in water that causes them to radioactively glow and buying fresh air that has to be pumped through battery-controlled machines.  And right away within The Lorax's opening minutes, I was lost.  I've never read the book and while I can assume it's very similar to the movie, this ironically jolly song was such an utter turn-off that I was kind of disgusted right off the bat.

The anti-commercialism/pro-environmental theme runs rampant through The Lorax as I know it does through Dr. Seuss' book, but it's so nastily and blatantly hitting you over the head here that it simply reeks of obnoxiousness.  All that could have been forgiven (or at least glossed over a little bit) if the story was solid and the animation looked good, but that's unfortunately not the case.

From the team that brought us the incredibly overrated Despicable Me, The Lorax animation-wise is kind of a bust.  The lack of straight lines is very Seussian, but despite being very colorful, there was no depth to any of the scenes and all of the character animation was disappointingly one-note.  The voice acting is lukewarm at best, and I found some of the dialog to be oddly synched up with the mouth movements which is something I don't notice often in animation.

And the story is just weak.  Teenage Ted (Zac Efron) is enamored with his next door neighbor Audrey (Taylor Swift) whose one true wish is to see a real tree.  After speaking with his grandmother (the ubiquitous Betty White), Ted hears of an old man known as The Once-ler (Ed Helms) who lives outside the walls of Thneedville and who just may know where Ted can find a real tree.  Upon arriving at The Once-ler's dank and dreary residence, Ted is treated to essentially a whole movie's worth of flashbacks in which The Once-ler tells of how he single-handedly destroyed all the trees surrounding Thneedville much to the Lorax's chagrin.  The Lorax (Danny Devito) was the guardian of the forest and although he befriended The Once-ler, he could do little to compete with The Once-ler's corporate greed in taking down the trees.

Fun stuff for kids, huh?  Well, the animators fill the screen with Minion-esque humming fish and cute, cuddly bears to try and counteract the heaviness, but to adults, those additions are superfluous fluff that do nothing to enhance the story.  And the songs were so awful that I couldn't believe they made it past the preliminary drawing board stages of the movie.

It's entirely possible Theodore Geisel would have been thoroughly impressed with this eco-friendly tale, but to me it was just horribly executed and a dismal attempt at recreating a Seussian landcape.

The RyMickey Rating:  D