This Is The End (2013)

4/5

This Is The End is a raunchy, vulgar, hilarious comedy written and directed by Seth Rogen. It is entirely his show, and he delivers the most over-the-top laughs you can imagine by going way farther than you'd expect. The plot follows two friends (Jay Baruchel and Seth Rogen) at James Franco's housewarming party when the apocalypse suddenly strikes. Our unfortunate protagonists are not taken up to heaven in the Rapture. Instead, they must fight hunger, distrust, and well-endowed demons in order to survive.

What makes it more clever than just an average comedy is that all the actors play quasi-real versions of themselves. They look the same and have the same name, but they don't behave the same way they do in real life. The best example is Michael Cera, in the most widely-divergent role of his entire career, playing himself. Even without that twist, it was still a lot of fun seeing a bunch of familiar faces in small cameos.

The cinematic properties are passable but forgettable. And nobody expects to be impressed by those things when they enter a theater to see a Seth Rogen film. Instead, the film stands on its humor, and Rogen is able to deliver side-splitting laughs. His timing is impeccable, whether we are simply witnessing bickering friends or being horrified by extravagant gross-outs and extreme sight gags. (I honestly cannot wrap my head around any reason for there to be so many demon penises on screen in any movie ever.) There were times when I finished laughing and realized I had not inhaled for the previous 30 seconds. Yes, my respiratory rate was literally 2 breaths per minute. This is an amazing movie that I highly recommend for anyone who is a fan of Seth Rogen.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1245492/

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

4/5

Disney's Wreck-It Ralph was a surprisingly entertaining movie. The story follows Wreck-It Ralph (Reilly), the bad guy in a video game named after its hero, Fix-It Felix (McBrayer). Disgruntled and tired of being the villain, going home to a bed of bricks, he goes on a quest to win a medal in the hopes of being liked. He accidentally finds himself in a candy-coated racing game called Sugar Rush, where he meets a "glitch" named Vanellope (Silverman), who wants nothing more than to race in the big leagues. But she needs his medal to enter the race.

Now that we have all that plot out of the way, let's get to the good stuff. The movie is charming and sweet, but not too saccharine that it hurts. Although the movie is predictable in many ways, it still manages to surprise and delight along the way, thanks to its bevy of side characters and inventive plotting. And all the video game references are just icing on the cake, filling the movie with multiple aha! moments that leave you with a smile on your face. I honestly have nothing really bad to say about this movie. It's a fun way to spend an afternoon reminiscing about all those afternoons you spent playing video games as a kid. Highly recommended.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772341/

The Five-Year Engagement (2012)

3/5

The Five-Year Engagement is a middle-of-the-road modern-day romantic comedy. The movie starts with Tom (Segel) botching his proposal to Violet (Blunt) one year after they first met, then continues on for the next five years as their wedding gets further and further postponed for various reasons. Things crop up in their lives and they start to doubt that they really are perfect for each other. It has its fair share of quirky side characters, some of whom you love (Kaling, Hart, Posehn) and some of whom you love to hate (Pratt, Ifans). It's got the big fight in the middle--although it does it in a way that makes both leads less likeable--and a terrifically sappy ending to jerk some tears out of your nasolacrimal ducts. The humor is occasionally raunchy to give manly men laughs but is usually simple and clean for the more mainstream viewers. It's formula to a T, and it's entertaining enough. It just isn't exciting enough.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1195478/

No Strings Attached (2011)

2/5

No Strings Attached is a "romantic comedy" about two friends attempting to be friends with benefits (or actually friends with only one benefit, namely sexual intercourse). I put romantic comedy in quotes because you would be hard-pressed to find any romance in this film and the comedic elements fall flat about as frequently as they succeed. Natalie Portman plays a weird girl who is uncomfortable with intimacy; throughout the entire film we never get a sense of why she is the way she is. Ashton Kutcher plays the same character he has played for the past 10 years in romantic comedies, and there was nothing new or unique about it the first time we saw it. As for the plot, it progresses predictably into disaster when one party wants more than just sex. Whatever will they do.

Movies like No Strings Attached really frustrate me. It's not the quality of the movie that I find irritating, but the fact that it has so much potential that it chooses to throw away on cheap jokes and superficial meaning. Natalie Portman is incredible in this movie; she gives her character as much depth and warmth as possible, but the character is just written so shallowly that her talent is wasted. Half of the jokes are hilarious, but the other half you could practically hear crickets chirp in the theater. It was painful how bad they were and I actually felt embarrassed for the movie. The relationship between the two main characters is absent until the ending (maybe I'm just being naive, but I thought you had to be friends before you could be friends with benefits). The movie itself is okay, and there are plenty of laughs (more than any Will Ferrell or Ben Stiller comedy that I've seen), but it just feels like a half a movie. I can't recommend it in good conscience.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1411238/

License to Wed (2007)

3/5

As you probably know from the trailers and immediately forgot, License to Wed is about a young couple (John Krasinski and Mandy Moore) who go through a premarital counseling course run by the insane Reverend Frank (Robin Williams). The very insane Reverend Frank. He gives them creepy robot babies to test their parenting skills, he bugs their house to make sure there's no sex before the wedding, and he makes them drive blindfolded to practice communication skills. (Don't worry, I'm not revealing anything that isn't in the trailer.) Yes, it is preposterous and you know how it's going to end, but is that really why you're watching this movie? Naw, you see it for that feel-good moment, and after 90 minutes it comes, as expected. (Although, not as I expected, in a Michael Bay, rapidly-rotating camera shot.)

Nothing about this movie is exceptional or painful. It is solidly, forgettably mediocre. One thing did rub me the wrong way. Robin Williams's character is a bit sexually risqué for me. It just seems odd to have so much of his adult, male humor in this otherwise teenage girlie movie. But there were also little gems I really enjoyed. For example, Reverend Frank has a chubby kid protégé who's pretty hilarious. And it was great seeing Mindy Kaling, Brian Baumgartner, and Angela Kinsey in supporting roles. And of course John Krasinski in the lead. I love it when I see The Office actors pop up in random movies. They're not enough to make a movie good, but they are enough to make this movie more than watchable! Recommended for those who want to see The Office actors in something they haven't already seen (but Robin Williams fans will be disappointed).

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0762114/

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

4/5

The 40-Year-Old Virgin is an atypically smart take on a typically dumb comedy. It succeeds not because it generates more laughs, but because it generates more empathy. While I actually found most of the characters shallow and stereotypical, the titular role is surprisingly fleshed out. Carell's perfectly nuanced performance was amazing. I was blown away by a simple yet necessary line of dialogue he utters near the end that belies the simplicity and stupidity of the plot: "I got this when I was in second grade! Do you know how hard it is for a kid to not open that?" It is by far my favorite line in the movie. A close second comes from Seth Rogen's character: "You wait for it to grow into a plant... and then you fuck the plant."

The movie works well throughout. It is funny and it has heart, but it also has problems. Many scenes were side stories thrown in for comedic effect. And though it didn't usually happen, some jokes fell absolutely flat. The flashback/montages were stylistically jarring. And the story jumped around a lot. Because of this, the runtime was a bit long, which made the obligatory "discovery to argument to hatred to realization of true love" at the end seem tedious instead of tender. But again, being a huge Office fan, I love seeing the actors cameo in minor roles. I saw Knocked Up and enjoyed it; I think I may have enjoyed this movie more though, so I highly recommend it.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0405422/