Stoners vs. Sketch-ers

by Evan Kessler

This weekend at the box office was a true battle of the comedic, uh, wits with the stoners facing off versus the Sketch-ers. While this writer predicted that the former would come out en masse to take Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay to the top of the box office charts it simply wasn't to be.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take into account that most of the film's audience probably had Harold and Kumar Goes To White Castle on DVD and a bong on their coffee table. They could simply sit on their couch and think about the munchies with their finger calmly hovering above the button that would speed dial Dominos, which is imminently more filling than buttered popcorn.

While the Harold and Kumar sequel did manage to lure in $14.6 million worth of it's target audience from their comfortable cushiony surfaces and/or their post Earth Day rallies, it was the SNL set that landed as top dog with the $18.3 million grossing Baby Mama starring Tina Fey in sort of a Liz Lemon role with Amy Poehler as her dysfunctional surrogate mom-roommate. While I don't think the crowd that flocked for the film with SNL based chemistry was necessarily a more intelligent one (yes I do) they were certainly more motivated.

I guess the lesson here is don't rely on stoners to pay for the cow (movie ticket) when they've got the premise and the weed at home.

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Weekend of Intrigue

By Evan Kessler

Scanning through the new releases hitting box offices this weekend one word sprung to mind: Intrigue. Whereas the last few weekends were littered with the odd flick that fans of quality film might be interested in taking in, this weekend seems chock full of options that are, at the very least, intriguing and run the gamut of genres.

Two comedies have positioned themselves for big box office bucks as the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler vehicle Baby Mama will no doubt capitalize on the star duo's SNL chemistry. I'm certainly not averse to catching that one in theaters but the one sticking point for me is that Fey didn't actually pen the script; not that that's a deal breaker, but I always find that when people with such comedic writing and acting talent such as Fey end up in other people's projects it tends to disappoint due to their being at the mercy of other people's comedic whim, sort of like Matt Stone and Trey Parker in Baseketball. (Even though I still kind of like that movie.)

The other sure-fire comic smash this weekend will be Harold and Kumar go to Guantanamo Bay, the sequel to the utterly hilarious Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. Again, while I really like the chemistry between Kal Peen and John Cho, I'm a little worried about this being an exercise in joke repetition as evidenced by the presence of Neal Patrick Harris for the 2nd straight film. That said, I think this wins the weekend box office due to the potential for stoners to turn out en masse.

All laughter aside, the most intriguing scroll of film projected onto movie screens this weekend just may be a documentary. Errol Morris's Standard Operating Procedure takes a first-hand look at the Abu Ghraib prison scandal through the eyes of the people involved. Yes the infamous thumbs-up giver herself, Lynndie England, gives her accounts of the events and the photos in what probably amounts to an entirely new perspective on how things went down. All I can say is if Morris's other works are any indication of I'm just going to pre-state that this film will blow me away.

This weekend has a few other potential cash cows, though not really. The Helen Hunt directed Then She Found Me might get the NYC over 50 set desperate for a sensitive chick flick. Deal might pick up a few extra bucks from people whose friends told them to see 21 and just assumed that they meant this film. (Which is probably what the makers of Deal wanted- Ed.)

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Review: Forgetting Sarah Marshall

(Spoiler Alert!)

From seeing the commercial for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, anyone can pretty much predict the way this film is going to go. You can tell that it's your typical boy loses girl, boy tries to get over girl, boy and girl accidentally bump into each other, boy needs help of another girl to get over the first girl and ends up falling in love with other girl before the first girl realizes she was wrong. (Follow? - Ed.) Not much is left to the imagination, though the commercial does spare viewers the first-hand knowledge filmgoers will get of said boy's genitalia.

However, for all that we know heading into the film there’s still plenty more to delight audiences. Forgetting Sarah Marshall's strength lies in the execution of the plot and comedic prowess, as well as it's likable, believable performances from it's principles: Jason Segal, Kristen Bell, and Mila Kunis. Not to mention the hilarious Russell Brand as Bell's not so new vacuous rock star boyfriend. The film provides a consistent string of laughs thanks to what this reviewer thought was a stellar script written by the film's male lead. While the story focuses on how the male character has been wronged, it also does an excellent job of not being dismissive of Segal's character’s own obvious faults. Segal does a good job of writing and portraying the spurned, sweet, charming yet not completely innocent every man and is aided ably by not only his supporting cast but by usual Apatow bit players like Jonah Hill and the always hilarious Paul Rudd as a bartender/Surf Instructor.

Perhaps the only filler in the movie was the plotline featuring Christian newlyweds played by Jack McBrayer and Maria Thayer (a.k.a. Strangers With Candy's Tammi Littlenut,) which probably meant to serve as a comedic diversion in case audiences thought Segal's character was too depressing, but actually just served as an opportunity insert sex jokes.

While there's certainly been a lot of filler in this review, the best thing I can say about Forgetting Sarah Marshall's redeeming look at the "you don't what you got ‘til it's gone" relationship story is that there was nary a moment in the theater that this reviewer didn't have a smile on his face, and if that doesn't speak volumes, I'm not sure what does. In other words, go see it, you'll laugh.

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Seeing Sarah Marshall

Finally, after what's seemed like an overly lame last couple of weeks of "new releases" at the box office, Hollywood has decided to put out this weekend. Okay, so maybe it's not the best lineup gracing our multiplexes, but there looks to be some quality on the docket. 88 Minutes brings us another dose of past his prime Pacino, where the Oscar winner is given 88 Minutes to live, not by a doctor, but by someone trying to actually kill him. We're not sure if 88 Minutes is enough time though for AP to give one of his trademark meaningless impassioned speeches, but odds are they'll work it in somehow. The Kung Fu version of AARP is also in action this weekend as Jet Li and Jackie Chan give Michael Angarano (who?) the ancient Daniel LaRussa treatment.

While both of those options are well and good and sure to get their fair share of box office buckaroos, we're most excited about the latest Judd Apatow produced comedy "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". While in our estimation Apatow produced fare can be hit (Superbad, 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up) or miss (Drillbit Taylor, Walk Hard) the best comedies bearing his name are the ones that mine the comedy from the lives of people that could be you or me rather than focus on absurd characters like Ron Burgundy and judging by the reviews, Forgetting Sarah Marshall seems to be along the lines of the former. Maybe it'll even make Jason Segel a star in the same way that Steve Carell, Seth Rogen, and Jonah Hill have taken off, but maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves. The first step in declaring someone a star is seeing their movie, which is exactly what we plan to do this weekend.

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In Movie News: Teens Hate Teens and Fence Too High

When reading through today's movie news on Yahoo, I was met with two lead stories in reference to the movie industry. The 2nd story on the list was the news of this weekend's box office champion, Prom Night, taking in 20.8 million dollars. All I really learned from this is that teens aren't really that discerning when it comes to seeing movies and occupying their time on the weekends, when they're not sneaking off to someone's house to get their first illegal taste of alcoholic beverage that is. They have this sadistic need to see other teens being murdered by serial killers on the biggest night of their lives, more than they need to see people playing blackjack or movies starring Keanu Reeves.

None of this is at all surprising.

However, the lead news story is what I had a problem with, as it stated "NY Suburb: Gere Fence Too High". Now I'm not sure what part of this story will affect readers the most...the words "NY Suburb", "Gere", or "Fence Too High" but I'm absolutely positive they'll think twice before going to see Richard Gere's next film based on his fence situation.

The fact of the matter is the press needs to stop picking up on every uninteresting tidbit about celebrities and calling it news. The news about Richard Gere's should be 4-foot fence is nobody's business but that of Mr. Gere's and the Town of Bedford, New York. However, if I would've known that Gere was planning on erecting a five foot fence, maybe I would've heeded some sort of warning and never gone to see Red Corner.

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Horror Night Revisited

Prom Night. It's one of those days that every high school senior either dreads or looks forward to and the economy cherishes. All of those kids spending money on garish outfits, limousines, and corsages, is sure to boost the trading day the NYSE and NASDAQ exchanges.

Hopefully, it doesn't effect this weekend's box office that much though. Yes, Prom Night is the latest in the line of obvious horror flicks where teenagers who played some accidental role in someone's death year's prior get stalked by a vicious killer on what is the best night of their lives, effectively making it the worst.

My question is, can't we stop making a new one of these every year? Why don't studios just continuously re-release 1997's I Know What You Did Last Summer and 1998's I Still Know What You Did Last Summer? It would be easier and cost a lot less. If they don't want promote it as the 10th anniversary re-release they can just change the title each year. I'm sure they'd get more bang for their box office buck from people who are nostalgic to see what teens were wearing and what their hairstyles were like back in 1997 and 1998.

People really only go see these movies to laugh at the horrendously bad plot and poor acting anyway, why not add that third dimension of nostalgia...I mean it's a win win situation for the studios. They don't have to make a new movie...and they can take the money they make to either pad their wallets and pocketbooks or they can spend that money to make something decent that people want to see.

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What's The Big Deal?

\Well, it looks like I was wrong. George Clooney's Leatherheads couldn't get to the top of the charts on charm alone. The Blackjack thriller 21 was the ace-in-the-hole for the 2nd straight week at the box office for some reason and though it looked as the football flick was destined to hit #2 with the original Sunday projections of the box office take, something funny happened on the way to Monday.

When the votes were tallied during the recount it actually turned out that adventurous Abigail Indiana Breslin beat out the gridiron gag show with Nim's Island. I'm not sure what this says about Clooney's bank-ability, but I'm more inclined to say who cares?

Do you know how many kids there are in this country and how many parents would like them to be quiet for at least an hour and a half….about 13 million dollars worth. Furthermore, I'm not really sure why we need box office projections. Can't we just be patient enough to see what a film's actual take is? We're projecting projections before a weekend is over.

What if it a force majeur like an unexpected rainstorm hit a crowded street fair consisting of mostly rabid George Clooney fans directly outside of a multiplex and caused those numbers to be greatly shifted at the last second. I know entertainment is big business, but I see no cause for controversy over box office numbers when we're ultimately playing an unnecessary guessing game. Clooney isn't destined to become any less of a star after his movie opening in 3rd place. Men will still want to be him, women will still want to be with him, and he'll keep making films he believes in.

Bubble feature provided by Kyolo.com.

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What's New For This Friday?

Hey Film Fans, It's Friday and that means it's time to take to the Multiplex to see, what's new in theatres. Um....really not that much. Hollywood has pretty much decided to take this week off to allow George Clooney's latest directorial effort, Leatherheads to dominate the box office. It's a good thing too because that's the only thing we were planning on seeing. Something about Clooney's dreamy eyes hypnotized us into buying tickets in advance and we're sure we won't be disappointed. Even if the movie is awful we get to indulge in our man-crush for as long as the movie lasts...which is frankly a tad bit unnerving, but he's just so charming.

Other films rounding out the new release docket tackle opposite ends of the age spectrum. Scorcese's Shine A Light, is about septegenarians who enjoy singing and playing instruments...occasionally joined by Christina Aguilera. Conversely Nim's Island is an Indiana Jones for kids who want to see kids play Indiana Jones starring academy award nominee Abigail Breslin and Academy Award Winner Jodie Foster in her first children's movie not co-starring Robert DeNiro and Harvey Keitel. There's also a slate of limited release flicks with big names, but according to their press reaction they don't warrant much attention. So basically there's five options for filmgoers this week: An hour and a half of Clooney, Old people rocking out with Christina Aguilera, Kid-iana Jones and Horton Hears a Who...or just stay home. If you read the first paragraph, you know which one we're angling for.

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21 Tops Gross. Superhero Movie, Just Gross.

First off, I was surprised to see "21" on top, taking in nearly $24 million. The trailer didn't so much as motivate me to get out of bed, so it was a bit of a shocker that it got that many people in the theaters. I fully expect to see Blackjack take over as the next televised non-sport, similar to what happened with Texas Hold 'Em after "Rounders," complete with boring semi-celebrity tournaments.

It was nice to see "Horton Hears A Who" still raking in the big bucks as well, with $17 million plus. In addition to it being my favorite Seuss story, I had a bit of a grudge against the past Dr. Seuss vehicles because of their live-action format. There's something really annoying about when someone tries to create live action magic with what is best served up as animation. I also like seeing the success of the new breed of comedic actors over the tired gimmicks of people like wacky accent-specialist Mike Myers and the 1970ish schtick of Will Ferrell (who I still think can be somewhat funny). So here's to the Seth Rogen's, Steve Carell's and Jonah Hill's of the world...or not of the world of the actual people.

Finally, in third place was "Superhero Movie," which, despite a the all things Weinstein boycott from Star Wars fanboys still managed to rake in $9.51 million even though it was probably pretty horrible. I think this proves one thing and one thing only: If you're not a film's target audience and you protest it's release, you probably won't affect the film's box office very much, even if it sucks. After all there are plenty of people out there who like laughing at dumb jokes for an extended period of time. Just ask anyone who watches MAD-TV.

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