Film.com Movie Reviews
The latest movie reviews from Film.com.
Review: Dinner for Schmucks Fails at The Funny
"The inevitably unsurprising ending isn't enough of a reward for the price of a ticket."
With such proven comedic talent as
Paul Rudd and
Steve Carell, you'd think a film like this would be a layup, but Dinner for Schmucks proves that there's more to comedy than throwing good talent into a room and turning on a camera. Aside from a few scenes, Dinner for Schmucks is deeply unfunny. This film features none of the charm of the original French film upon which it is based, and…
Review: Cats & Dogs Living Together Produces Only Mild Hysteria
"Succeeds as a modestly funny midsummer diversion."
I don't know why it took them nine years to make a sequel to
Cats & Dogs, an amusing but largely forgettable family flick that had domestic canines and felines running a secret war against each other. I don't know why they made a sequel at all, other than that the first one was profitable. But
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, while hit-or-miss in the joke department, is a reasonably clever spoof of spy movies, with…
Review: Charlie St. Cloud Represents Progress
"Addresses mature ideas intelligently and doesn't pander too shamelessly to its core audience."
Zac Efron is too pretty and has starred in too many films with the words High School Musical in the title to be taken very seriously as an actor, but he's getting there. He acquits himself fairly well as the title character in the sentimental, teen-focused melodrama Charlie St. Cloud, tackling a lot of grown-up-actor tricks like Crying and Mourning and Being Sad. If some unknown…
Review: The Kids Are All Right Is All Right
"Sophisticated and funny."
The relationship at the center of The Kids Are All Right is unorthodox -- spoiler alert, they're lesbians -- but it's depicted more realistically than most movie relationships are. It turns out you can be loving and committed and still have disagreements. There isn't always one partner who's immature and selfish while the other is saintly; sometimes both parties are flawed. Astonishing but true!
I do wish the conflicts in The Kids Are All Right were…
Review: Ramona and Beezus Pleases
"The story is a jumble, and there are too many side characters, but golly if it isn't pretty darned infectious."
As you probably know if you were born anytime after 1950, Ramona Quimby is an imaginative, spunky little girl who's always getting into trouble without meaning to. She was a central figure in eight novels written by Beverly Cleary between 1955 and 1999, yet somehow she has never been the subject of a movie until now. It's a little disgraceful that Marmaduke got a…
Review: Salt Has a Fault
"Jolie does as well as she can with the twigs they've given her to make a plot house out of."
The line between hero and antihero is a clear one. Superman is a hero. The Punisher is an antihero. Flipper and Lassie are heroes. The newly minted Gru of Despicable Me is an antihero. This clarity comes with a benefit: the motivations of each character type are clear to the audience, allowing us to connect. We cheer for the hero because they do good. We cheer for the antihero because…
Review: Inception Is Exceptional
"An incredible exploration into the power of imagination."
You are what you love,
and not what loves you back. --
Jenny LewisInception is about many things, but most of all it deals with the two basic questions that we humans face each and every day:
1. What do we know?
2. What do we believe?
You can fit just about everything going on in your life into one of these boxes. You believe in your marriage, or an afterlife, or that all politicians are crooks. You know that you'll get…
Review: The Sorcerer's Apprentice Needs More Magic
"Mostly enjoyable, but not exactly magical."
What do science nerds and sorcerers have in common? Disney's latest summer blockbuster, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, has the answer. It's a geek-gets-girl action-fantasy-comedy that's helmed by
National Treasure director Jon Turteltaub.
Long ago, in 740 AD, wizard Merlin shared his secrets with three apprentices: Balthazar (
Nicolas Cage), Veronica (
Monica Bellucci), and Morgana La Fey (former
Borg queen Alice Krige). If you're familiar…
Review: Despicable Me Brings the Funny
"The funniest animation of the summer."
I'm not prone to hyperbole in criticism, but Despicable Me is the funniest animation of the summer. Partly wacky, partly madcap, fairly light on story -- it's just a good old fashioned one-liner kind of film. To it's credit, Despicable Me is an innovative piece of movie-making that should appeal to children and adults alike. Hmmm, that may have been more hyperbole. I'll do better after this paragraph, promise.
The sad truth about our…
