Romany Malco, Michael Ealy, Gary Owen and Kevin Hart. Film critic Gene Siskel once put forth the notion that reviewing comedies was a useless exercise. He felt that comedy was a subjective genre and that while he might think something was funny, others might not be amused at all and vice versa. I think there’s […]
comedies
22 Jump Street
Jonah Hill as Schmidt and Channing Tatum as Jenko in 22 Jump Street. PHOTO COURTESY COLUMBIA PICTURES Mismatched partners, police officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) have been handed a ridiculous assignment – they’re to enroll as college students in order to track down the source of a fatal drug that’s sweeping the […]
Millers only half a movie
There’s a good idea rattling around in Rawson Thurber’s We’re the Millers. Unfortunately, it’s a premise that only makes for about half a movie and it’s an ironic state of affairs what with four credited writers. Yeah, there are a few laughs along the way – a couple of them of the “very big” variety […]
To Do a definite don’t
If Maggie Carey’s The To Do List proves anything, it’s that young women can be just as crude and insensitive where sex is concerned as young men. It also shows how difficult it is to make a clever comedy where this subject is concerned. So many of the “jokes” here are simplistic while the script […]
Hangover III brings the wolf pack home
As years go by and I sit through more and more insufferable, unimaginative comedies, Todd Phillips’ The Hangover continues to stand the test of time. It was apparent when it was first released in 2009 that the director had caught lightning in a bottle, providing one surprise after another in delivering a film that defied […]
Wonderstone encourages us to be amazed
My obsession with film began at an early age, and I got my hands on every book I could find on the subject at the local library. It was my father’s fault that I had gotten hooked on cinema, and while he had no objections to my mania, he warned that if I learned how […]
