This Is Where I Leave You (2014)

4/5

This Is Where I Leave You is a tender, funny film about a dysfunctional family reuniting after their patriarch's death. The title comes from one son (Bateman), who leaves his wife (Spencer) after he finds her cheating on him. His sister (Fey) knows about their separation but must hide it from the rest of their siblings (Stoll, Driver) until he is ready to tell them. But their mother (Fonda) forces them all to sit shiva for a week after his funeral and all their neuroses comes out.

The brilliant script is full of meaningful writing, espousing big ideas on a small scale. Watching it makes me wish I had grown up with Tina Fey as my sister. It also makes me want to watch Girls just to see more of Adam Driver. Because this movie is hilarious. That being said, This Is Where I Leave You contains pretty ho-hum cinematic technique other than the writing/acting. Still, I highly recommend it.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371150/

Muppets Most Wanted (2014)

2/5

Muppets Most Wanted is another sequel that seems to serve as little more than the next episode in a TV show instead of a standalone movie. Granted, I haven't seen the first one and I'm not a particular fan of the Muppets, but I thought I'd give this movie a chance. The plot is silly and simple in a kid-friendly way, but there's not a lot of thinking or humor for adults to enjoy. The songs are fine, but the overall writing and acting both felt bland and uninspired. The best thing about this movie was the random cameos (and, of course, seeing Ty Burrell and Tina Fey). I still don't understand the appeal of the Muppets, and this movie doesn't change that. I would only watch this movie if you know you already want to watch this movie.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2281587/

Admission (2013)

3/5

Admission is essentially a Tina Fey vehicle, which automatically makes it immensely entertaining. The perpetually-fantastic Tina Fey plays a Princeton admissions officer named Portia, who finds love in an alternative school's guidance counselor named John (played by the always-lovable Paul Rudd). John tells Portia some revelatory news: one of his students may be Portia's son, whom she gave up for adoption years earlier. On her new-found journey as a parent, she learns life lessons about relationships (both romantic and maternal) in hilarious fashion before the film finally ends in a sad but hopeful spirit.

The movie is fairly simple and mindless. The throwaway story does a fair job at serving up jokes, but any attempts to be meaningful and melodramatic fall flat. Luckily, they are easy to ignore. The characters are bland and forgettable, but the actors still manage to charm with their wry wit and precise comedic timing. This movie isn't great by any stretch of the imagination, but it's appealing enough to satisfy on a lazy weekend afternoon.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1814621/

Megamind (2010)

4/5

Megamind is a surprisingly clever and innovative animated superhero movie. It draws from a number of the classics, but synthesizes all that material together into something all its own (much like Hot Fuzz). It felt new, exciting, and hilarious. The comedy was fantastic. I normally hate Ben Stiller movies and Will Ferrell movies, but I was pleasantly surprised by the humor displayed in this film. Maybe it's the fact that I'm not staring at Will Ferrell's ugly face or protuberant belly (which he seems so proud of that he cannot wait to expose himself in any and every one of his movies), but I actually thought he did a terrific job here. And I especially loved the mispronounced words (even though I hated all those same mispronounced words in Zoolander).

One very strange thing about this movie is the voice acting. It was great, don't get me wrong, but I always found myself hearing the actor instead of the character. I was never able to separate the person on screen from the person behind the mic. It was always Will Ferrell is doing this, Tina Fey is doing that. I think part of that is the large amount of voice-over narration, where it's easy to recognize their voice because you don't see the animated character disguising it. All in all, however, that's a relatively minor fault and I would definitely recommend this movie. It was such a wonderfully unexpected joy to watch.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1001526/

Date Night (2010)

4/5

Date Night is an incredibly fun movie that delivered non-stop laughs with an action twist. The plot follows Phil and Claire Foster (Carell, Fey) as two parents whose marriage is slowly becoming routine and whose children occupy the little free time they have after work. When their friends decide to get a divorce, Phil realizes that he has something special with Claire that he doesn't want to lose and decides to take her out to a special night in Manhattan at an upscale seafood restaurant. After arriving without a reservation, they take another couple's table and are believed to be the couple that stole a flash drive from gangster Joey Miletto (Liotta). They are chased around the city for about an hour and a half and finally end up happy together with their marriage secure. (Whoops, I just ruined the ending.)

The writing in this movie is perfect and the two NBC Thursday night stars pull it off with aplomb. Carell and Fey together are a dream come true; they are my ideal comedy duo and they do not disappoint. They should do everything together. The dialogue is 30 Rock gone mainstream and it flies. The humor was quick and the editing kept pace. There are too many funny scenes to even recount and there is absolutely no dead space in the 90 minute movie. It is literally laugh after laugh after laugh. The movie also has a little bit of heart thrown in there for good measure and, while it's not quite the tearjerker it intended to be, it's certainly got a little sap to separate it from the straight-up comedies we see all the time. I probably would've given this movie a higher rating had some unnecessary scenes been deleted and had the emotional aspect hit home harder. All in all, this is a terrific movie for anyone who loves Steve Carell or Tina Fey. Go watch it as soon as you can.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1279935/

The Invention of Lying (2009)

3/5

Ricky Gervais's The Invention of Lying is a fairly entertaining movie that took its clever premise in a direction I had no idea was coming. The plot started off in a contrived world where not only does everyone tell the truth, but they say what's on their mind regardless of other people's company. It made for some good moments in the beginning (for example, what's on the mind of two people on a semi-blind date, what the waitstaff is thinking when they serve you your food, etc.) but it quickly grew old and tired. And just in time, Ricky Gervais's character somehow inexplicably discovers how to lie and takes advantage of it. One day his mother is on her deathbed and he comes up with the idea of heaven to cheer her up. From there on out it becomes a completely different movie that I can't really say I was ready for.

The best part of the movie was its special guest appearances, from Philip Seymour Hoffman to Jason Bateman. They were always completely unexpected and entirely hilarious. The second best part was that the concession stand people accepted my expired coupon for a large popcorn and drink, which was most likely the cause of the single worst part about the moviegoing experience. My bladder filled up to an amount I cannot remember it ever filling up to in my 23 year existence about 30 minutes into the 90 minute movie. I tried holding out for that last hour, squirming in my seat, but after 45 minutes I simply couldn't take it any longer and skipped about 2-3 minutes of the movie to pee. It was glorious. But that middle 45 minutes were the worst. Anyway, the movie's style of humor is pretty close to what it appears in the trailer, but its view on religion may either intrigue or offend you. If you like Ricky Gervais and you're not particularly religious or you're not easily offended, then you may enjoy this movie immensely.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1058017/

Ponyo (2008)

4/5

Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo is a wonderfully inventive, creative foray into another universe. The story follows a young boy named Sosuke (Jonas) and a magical goldfish creature (Cyrus) that he saves and names Ponyo. Sosuke lives with his mother (Fey) in a seaside village, alone on a cliff, while his father (Damon) is out at sea. Ponyo's father (Neeson) wants to get his daughter back because the future of the world depends on it. And so begins their magical story together.

The best part about Miyazaki's directing is by far the fantastic world he creates, the characters that inhabit it, and the rules they live by. It is fully-realized and awe-inspiring, and it is something I have never seen before. Much like Tim Burton's works, the movie has the potential to frighten and terrify, but instead benevolently lets us enjoy the triumphs over the catastrophes. However, the directing and the movie as a whole suffer from a few problems as well. There is no real conflict to consider except perhaps that nobody really knows what's going on, so they might "make a mistake" and cause the world to be destroyed. In fact, the audience doesn't know what's going on at all either because the background story isn't fleshed-out enough for anybody's to comprehend it. Side stories seem to be picked up and ignored almost haphazardly. And Fey's voice acting was sometimes good, sometimes downright bad--I'm sorry to report--but mostly just distracting. Overall, however, these flaws aren't that bad. If you're a Miyazaki fan, this will definitely not disappoint.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0876563/

Baby Mama (2008)

3/5

Baby Mama is a fairly lightweight comedy that is at turns formulaic and predictable and also surprising and unexpected. It follows a successful 37-year-old barren businesswoman (Fey) and her attempts to have a child through an agency that provides her with what turns out to be an "ignorant, white-trash" surrogate (Poehler). It's fast-paced and easy to enjoy--far from a masterpiece but also far from a dud--with relatively few dead jokes and a number of laugh-out-loud moments to balance them out. I saw it because I love Tina Fey and 30 Rock, and while it's not quite at that level of perfection, it's a pleasant enough way to spend 90 minutes on a Sunday afternoon.

On the technical front, everything was average. Literally everything: writing, directing, music, acting, cinematography, editing, and anything else I'm forgetting. My favorite part of the movie was the colorful assortment of side characters, particularly Steve Martin and Sigourney Weaver as Fey's hippie dippie boss and fertile 60-year-old surrogate agent respectively. Oh, and there's also the birthing teacher with a Barbara Walters lisp. Brilliant. Feel free to go out and watch this movie if you like Tina Fey, SNL, or 30 Rock, but pass on it if you find none of those appealing.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0871426/