The 35th Annual Razzies "Winners"

This is 40

Directed by Judd Apatow.

2012. Rated R, 134 minutes.

Cast:

Paul Rudd

Leslie Mann

Megan Fox

Albert Brooks

Jason Segel

John Lithgow

Maude Apatow

Iris Apatow

Charlyne Yi

Melissa McCarthy

Graham Parker

Tatum O’Neal

Whether she admits or not, Debbie (Mann) has just turned 40. Even more disconcerting than her age is that her entire life seems to be falling apart. Nearly every conversation with her husband Pete (Rudd) disintegrates into argument. His fledgling record label is about to go under while her clothing store is treading water, at best. On top of all this, their oldest daughter is in full-blown crazy teen mode, looking for a shouting match with anyone in the house, anytime. By the way, both of this couple’s daughters are played by the directors real life daughters, Maude and Iris Apatow. Much of This is 40 consists of the couple in question dealing with the above problems. They must also contend with a host of periphery issues that do nothing but throw lighter fluid on an already raging fire.

The movie gives us a fairly honest look at the relationship of a long-married couple. Many of their concerns and conversations ring true. It feels like we’re watching a real family, albeit a dysfunctional one on the verge of imploding. Both Mann and Rudd feel natural in their roles and have a nice chemistry with one another. We understand that they care deeply for one another, are entirely too familiar with each other, and are going through a rough patch. We get that they love their kids and would do anything for them, but there are also times when they can’t stand them.

In typical Judd Apatow fashion, there are also plenty of over-the-top moments. A number of these work, giving us some memorable scenes. A few of them involve our two leads. Others feature Albert Brooks as Pete’s forever mooching dad. Later, John Lithgow gets in on the fun as Debbie’s father and even Megan Fox has some unforgettable moments. Granted, hers are due less to her acting than her looks, but you take what you can get. Most indelible is the extended cameo of Melissa McCarthy. She plays the parent of a boy that’s been bothering Pete and Debbie’s older daughter. Her face-to-face with Pete and the ensuing meeting in the principal’s office with both Pete and Debbie present are the high points of the movie.

Also in usual Apatow style, the movie goes on for far too long. It becomes too on the nose in the sense that we begin to feel as if we’re really living every single day with these people, and not in a good way. Things are stretched way too thin as the time between laughs keeps getting bigger while the plot just drones on and on…and on. We’re ready for the conclusion long before we finally get it. I’m no movie director, and have no expertise to speak of when it comes to creating cinema so take the next sentence with a grain of salt. In my viewing experience an hour and forty to forty-five minutes is a good rule of thumb for comedies. Most don’t have enough funny material to sustain more than that. This is 40 is no exception and it runs thirty minutes past that point. Much could be cut, it seems, just from the subplots of supporting players without altering or detracting from the main plot one bit. There are probably fifteen or twenty minutes wasted on superfluous storylines that didn't need to be introduced in the first place. All of this extra time serves to wear us down and makes the final act a chore to sit through. Our hare that bolted out of the starting gates morphs into the tortoise ever so slowly creeping across the finish line.

Jonah Hex

Jennifer's Body

Directed by Karyn Kasama.
2009. Rated R, 109 minutes.
Cast:
Megan Fox
Amanda Seyfried
Johnny Simmons
Adam Brody
Sal Cortez
Ryan Levine
Kyle Gallner
J. K. Simmons

Plot: Head cheerleader/hottest girl in school Jennifer (Fox) goes off with a rock band immediately after the club they were playing in burns to the ground. When she resurfaces later that night she's just a little different. By different, I mean she's now literally homicidal and cannibalistic.

The Good: There is something to be said for a movie not taking itself too seriously. This one doesn't and definitely tries to inject humor whenever possible. Occasionally, it succeeds. The emo-fused funeral scene is a thing of beauty and wraps up this movie's snipes at the Twilight franchise rather nicely (then again, I might be the only one who took it that way). It also establishes it's premise pretty quickly and maintains a nice pace. This is important because that premise is actually good, as horror movies go, offering the potential for a solid high school angst hack flick or even a girl-power gore-fest, which it tries. As our heroine, the aptly named Needy, Amanda Seyfried gives us a strong performance.

The Bad: The movie is written by Diablo Cody, who also penned Juno. In that flick, the dialogue was inventive and witty to most and grating to a few. Here, it is grating to most and only clever to a few. Instead of being cool, it comes off like it was written by an adult trying to invent slang terms on the fly that she thinks is cool. Fox's valley-girl style delivery of every line doesn't help. The story itself, while based on a strong premise, turns out to be a poorly executed metaphor. The movie fails visually, as well. The cgi is unconvincing, at best, and often worse than much of what can be seen on YouTube. There's also the strong hint of a very interesting story that could possibly lead to a showdown between Jenny and her one-handed teacher Mr. Worbloski. One of the great character actors, J. K. Simmons handles the role. However, the movie completely wastes him by setting him up to appear he's going to do something major then ignoring him before he actually does anything at all. And how is it we only meet Jennifer's mom once, and at "that" precise moment.

The Ugly: Why Jennifer had to sit on a bag of frozen peas.

Recommendation: It wants to be a horror movie with a dark sense of humor. From time to time, it manages the humor. However, it doesn't manage it nearly enough to make up for the total lack of horror. You may find it to be so bad, it's awesome, but it wasn't quite good/bad enough for me to grant it such lofty status. You may also be infatuated with Megan Fox. In that case, I say "enter at your own risk."

The Opposite View: Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

What the Internet Says: 5.3/10 on imdb.com (10/10/10), 42% on rottentomatoes.com, 47/100 on metacritic.com


MY SCORE: 3/10

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
2009. Rated PG-13, 150 minutes.
Director: Michael Bay.
Starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, Ramon Rodriguez.

Plot: An ancient Decepticon known as “The Fallen” returns to Earth to destroy blah blah blah to gain ultimate blah blah blah moowahahahaha (evil laugh). Robot fighting, screaming and anatomy jokes ensue.

The Good: Director Michael Bay knows that the majority of people attending a Transformers movie want to see giant robots beating the crap out of each other so he gives us more of it than the original. Since he also knows that most of these people are boys, no matter what age, he throws in pretty girls, off-color jokes and slow motion, lots of slow motion. Most of it features either a robot being ripped apart or Megan Fox running “Baywatch” style. And living up to its name, nearly everything transforms. Like its predecessor, it’s a visual spectacle.

The Bad: Like numerous other sequels, this suffers from “more is less” syndrome. The action and silly jokes increase exponentially from what was in the original, yet the things that might make it engaging are far flimsier and much less coherent. Its simply two and a half hours of flashing lights and noise. Therefore, we never really care if what’s-his-face activates the thingamajig with the whatchamacallit. Even worse, if your main focus is robot fighting then the robots should be easier to tell apart. This isn’t that big a problem for the Autobots who are pretty much color coded. However, almost all the Decepticons of any significance are plain chrome and blend together in combat. Shallow as it seems, I’d like to know which bad guys are actually fighting. And don’t even get me started on the two jive-talkin’ bots.

The Ugly: Two words: robot scrotum.Recommendation: You probably already know if you want to see this or not. If you’re not sure, see the first one first with a surround sound system cranked up pretty good, if possible. After that, imagine it bigger, louder and dumber.

The Opposite View: Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle

What the Internet Says: 6.8/10 on imdb.com (6/28/09), 20% on rottentomatoes.com, 36/100 on metacritic.com

MY SCORE: 4/10