Author: mfordfeeney

#140RVW

Wish Sandler would knock off the crude stuff; he’s funny enough without it & it nearly kills good stories like this one. Real mixed bag…

What’s more:

Adam Sandler movies – you have a pretty good idea what you’re going to get.  Most people have decided by now if these appeal or not. The only surprise in these is whether or not they are successful at what he sets out to do.

I personally have a difficult time with his stuff; he’s unquestionably a very funny and talented comic. But with all comics I have a requirement that the straight funny outweighs the stupid funny. I love stupid funny; it just can’t be all you’ve got.The bigger problem, though, is that he’s just crude. I have such a low threshold for scatalogical comedy. With care it can be a great irreverent lightning bolt. Overdone it’s just stupid and off-putting.

With this movie, he’s demonstrating this problem. By this point in his career, he had shown that he could stretch into meatier stuff. He’s proven his ability to go for emotion, but it seems he feels he needs to include crude humor in order to either satisfy a perceived requirement of his fan base, or perhaps he simply just likes doing this crap. Either way, it’s disappointing, because this could have been quite a good movie.

You know, Jerry Lewis once advised Jim Carrey to keep the comedy clean; be as zany as you want, but be careful not to turn people off. Sandler could have used a mentor…

This was written by Steve Koren & Mark O’Keefe, tv writers who scored big a few years earlier with Bruce Almighty. In that film, they took a zany comic and used a supernatural twist to make him realize what’s really important. Well, if it worked once…

Despite being derivative of that film and having strong Capra-esque overtones, the premise of Click is rock solid. The execution may be clumsy and obvious at times, but it is a good story. In other hands it may have been better handled.

Through it all, I really like this movie, and often have a hard time explaining why. I can’t defend the fat jokes and the fart jokes and the Rob Schneider cameo and all the usual Sandler hallmarks. I can and will stick up for Kate Beckinsale doing great understated stuff, Walken being Walken, and a wonderful appearance by Henry Winkler. Most of the effects are great, the Hoff is in the haus, and there is a magnificent swing style version of The Cranberries “Linger”, sung by Dolores O’Riordan that slays me.

Here’s the main thing, though; this is a story about a good guy named Michael trying to do right by his family and really struggling with the work/life balance. At the time when it came out, it hit a nerve with me – it was a little close to home. So that’s why it gets a lot of leash from me. Feel no obligation to follow my lead…

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Bechdel Test:

FAIL

#140RVW

In 1988, Murphy was so dominant he must have felt he needed to take on multiple roles just to keep life interesting. Wrong, but movie great.

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It’s sort of a vanity piece, as Eddie & Arsenio play all sorts of roles with increasingly ridiculous makeup. That’s their right, of course, but most of the characters are really just distracting and stupid. (Except for Randy “Sexual Chocolate” Watson, of course.)

It’s an 80’s John Landis movie, through and through. Nothing wrong with that. It’s funny as hell.

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Bechdel Test:

FAIL

#140RVW

Segel becomes leading man with his first screenplay & it’s a riot. Yes, raunchy, but also with great heart. Excellent deep ensemble cast…

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Some actors are just charming. You just kinda want to root for them. They generally are character actors; they fill a certain need and for the most part either don’t have a lot of range, or more probably don’t get a chance to show it.

It’s nice, then, when a character actor becomes a lead. The rise of Judd Apatow (which may technically be classified as a movement at this point) has been a boon to some of these great guys who are not typical leading players, but now find their skills in great demand.

Jason Segel earns his shot, starring in a story he wrote based on a real-life breakup. His nice-guy persona and earnestness are entirely why this movie works so well. Yes, it’s funny as hell, but it might come off as mean-spirited with a different lead or writer.

In this he is helped out mightily by a very deep ensemble cast, nearly all of whom could (and many will) anchor their own film. Mila Kunis appeared in a great many tv shows and minor film appearances before this, but becomes an “overnight” star here. Russell Brand may not be everyone’s cup of tea (sure not mine), but he wins you over with a lot of great lines delivered well. Kristen Bell probably has the most thankless job, needing to play it straight so much; she’s talented enough to make an unlikable character understandable.

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Bechdel Test:

FAIL

#140RVW

Sweeping vistas of Canada sit in for Montana in Oscar-winning cinematography. Story is old-timey epic that mostly survives all the drama…

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The producers must have been excited by the prospect of making a new Gone With The Wind. That’s exactly what this feels like: a grand, sweeping epic of love and loss. You can practically see them writing out the copy as the film was being made.

But far be it from me to say that’s a bad goal. I think there’s a place for epic movies, and for the most part this succeeds quite well. It’s over-dramatic often, and smacks of Hollywood a few times, but the story largely stays entertaining and the acting is quite good. The WWI sequences are particularly fine.

One thing I will say: I don’t know how I was expecting this to end, but this ending wasn’t it. I don’t think anything that happens after the two-hour mark in a movie can reasonably be called abrupt, but it does seem like they suddenly realized they didn’t have any more film canisters with them so they better wrap in a hurry.

In the end, it doesn’t hugely matter what you think about any of this; it’s obvious why you’re here: pictures of that hunky Brad Pitt. Well, here’s one more:  

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Bechdel Test:

FAIL