Hey everyone - I'm back from the weekend and slogging through this blistering Monday. It's HOT here in LA, and by hot I mean yesterday and today have seen temperatures skyrocket past the 90 degree mark. Yep, it's sweltering here in beautiful downtown Burbank.
Anyways, the crazy heat makes this Monday feel even more sluggish than usual. But I was lucky to have a fun weekend, which included a nice Shabbat dinner on Friday, tons of NBA playoff basketball, and a showing of CRANK 2 on Sunday evening.
With that in mind, I've been pretty bad lately about getting movie reviews up in a timely fashion, so I'm just going to jump right into it. Especially given that the first movie I want to talk about, Observe and Report, is to me already one of the most underrated movies of the year. Reviews have been quite polarizing, and I realize that there are a number of factors going against the film. From a marketing perspective, it was clearly a challenge to convey that this movie was world's away from Paul Blart: Mall Cop. It was also tough, I think, to message that this wasn't just another Seth Rogen movie. Director Jody Hill is slowly but surely establishing his own brand of comedy, but he's not a big enough name yet to really market. In a year or two though, you can bet that Hill's name will carry real marketing value ... right now though, only so many people know of THE FOOT FIST WAY or EASTBOUND & DOWN. In any case, those were some of the challenges the movie faced just in terms of getting people to come see it. In terms of critical and popular reception, the fact is, Observe and Report is a polarizing movie. When I saw it in CT with my brother last weekend, both of us were laughing nonstop throughout the film. I was shocked when I spoke with others who felt lukewarm towards the movie. I guess it may be an acquired taste to some degree, but, as I'll talk about in my review, to me, it's an absolute must-see movie, one of the year's best to date.
OBSERVE AND REPORT Review:
- When I reviewed Jody Hill's debut film last summer - the underground comedy hit THE FOOT FIST WAY - I talked about how, while the movie had its flaws, you could see nearly unlimited potential showing through the cracks. Even if I had mixed feelings about Jody Hill's debut effort, I also couldn't wait to see what he did next. You could tell that with a bit more maturity and refinement, it was inevitable that Hill was one or two movies away from producing something truly great.
Well, that didn't take long.
Because Observe and Report is a genuinely amazing movie. Not only is it gut-bustingly hilarious, but it tackles characters and themes far darker and more complex than the average comedy dares to approach. Going into the film, audiences will no doubt have preconceptions that the movie conforms to a particular style of humor. Please, throw all that out of the window prior to viewing. This isn't a Judd Apatow-style comedy. This isn't a "typical" Seth Rogen movie. Instead, Observe and Report is dark, twisted, and even disturbing at times. It casts Rogen as a mentally unstable mall cop who has fantasies of being a hero. When a pervert plagues Rogen's mall, Rogen sees it as his personal calling to thwart the villain. In doing so, he seeks to win the affections of a trampy makeup-counter clerk (Anna Faris), and also to one-up a local detective (Ray Liotta) who is investigating the case.
Part of what makes this movie so sublime are the hilarious performances by the stellar cast. First and foremost, Seth Rogen turns in what may be a career-best role as Ronnie the mall-cop. Sure, Rogen is funny, but he isn't simply playing a typical Rogen-esque role. Instead, he channels the likes of DeNiro in Taxi Driver and Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love, playing a character whose sanity you really have to question. I know those are lofty comparisons, but Observe and Report does actually cover some similar territory. In fact, Ronnie is a lot like a Travis Bickle or a Holden Caufield, skeptical of phonies and utterly convinced of his own inherent nobility. What differentiates Ronnie from other comedic leading men is that Jody Hill really pushes the character pretty far ... he isn't just the typical man-child with overinflated ego - this guy has serious, serious issues. Give Rogen credit for fully committing to that kind of out-there character - he could have played things much safer, but instead, he really makes Ronnie into a memorable nutball for the ages.
Getting back to the rest of the cast, everyone else seems to follow Rogen's lead in terms of 100% committing to their characters, many of whom, like Ronnie, appear at first to be somewhat stock comedy characters, only to then go down dark and unexpected roads. Anna Faris seems at first to be the typical blonde bimbo character. But Faris plays the character to hilarious effect, and again, you will be shocked and amazed with just how far down the rabbit hole the script takes her. Same goes for Ray Liotta - he kind of plays to type as a hard-nosed, no-BS detective, but half the fun is seeing his rivalry with Ronnie descend into increasingly disturbing territory. One more example of how far this movie is willing to go - Michael Pena as Ronnie's dorky friend Dennis. At first Dennis appears to be the token goofball sidekick, complete with over-the-top accent. Soon enough though, Dennis is revealed as being a much darker character than originally anticipated. The transition is both laugh-out-loud funny but also jarring - yet another reminder that this really is a unique movie for the depths its willing to go to.
There are almost too many other great little moments and cameos to mention. Danny McBride is friggin' hilarious in a cameo as a gang leader. Patton Oswalt does some great stuff as an asshole fast-food manager. Twins John and Matt Yuen, playing John and Matt Yuan, are absolutely classic. They might be to Jody Hill what Jay and Silent Bob are to Kevin Smith. Aziz Ansari is responsible for some of the movie's funniest moments, including an expletive-laced faceoff with Seth Rogen that is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Celia Weston is great as Ronnie's alcoholic Mom. Meanwhile, Colette Wolf almost steals the movie as a put-upon mall-worker who takes a liking to Ronnie - she gives the movie a lot of its heart. And there is heart here. For all of its darkness, I was surprised at how much you end up rooting for these oddball characters - there are a number of scenes that produce real stand-up-and-cheer kinds of moments.
It's hard to describe why exactly this movie succeeds in all the places where The Foot Fist Way faltered. I think the great cast is part of the equation, certainly, but it's also just that Jody Hill seems to have finally struck the perfect balance between comedy and drama. Take out the jokes and you have a pretty compelling movie in its own right. Take out the depth and drama and you have a funny movie in and of itself. But combine both together, and you have something that easily transcends the typical dumbed-down Hollywood comedy. This does indeed feel like a singular cinematic vision, and it's a movie that isn't conforming to any particular conventions or expectations. It's hilarious, thought-provoking, dramatic, and disturbing all at the same time. And it's a shame that this movie wasn't a smash hit, but trust me, it has cult classic written all over it. This is one of the best movies of 2009 so far.
My Grade: A
CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE Review:
- Freaking insane. After seeing the first CRANK flick I suspected that the guys behind the movie might have been under the influence of various mind-altering substances whilst making their film. After seeing CRANK 2, I am not asking whether or not these dudes were on drugs while making the movie, I'm simply asking what kinds and how much. Crank 2 is OFF-THE-CHAIN RIDICULOUS. It's like Grand Theft Auto meets 24 meets Jackie Chan meets David Lynch. Yes, that's right.
I mean, let me put it this way: during one of Crank 2's climactic fight scenes, Jason Statham as Chev Chelios is in the midst of a bare-knuckle brawl with his arch nemesis amidst a rundown power grid. For no discernible reason, a minute or so into the fight, the image shifts, and suddenly Chelios and his opponent are giant-sized dudes fighting in a miniature cityscape, old-school monster-movie-style, wearing latex masks bearing their own likenesses. WTF?!?!
The crazy thing is this: by the point in the movie when this happens, we've seen so much crazy $#%& that you barely bat an eyelash and just go with it. It's almost too much. Whereas Crank 1 was over-the-top but still somewhat beholden to the laws of reality, Crank 2 apparently takes place in an alternate universe which is sort of like ours except everyone's gone bat$#%& insane and the laws of physics don't and never have existed.
Crank 2 is a movie where, while watching, my jaw was literally hanging agape for almost the entire movie. I alternatively was laughing, cringing, or just in shock at some of the things I was witnessing. There are moments of brilliant hilarity coupled with moments that are just plain wrong.
One thing cannot be argued though: Jason Statham is awesome. He bobs and weaves through this movie like an uncaged animal, and he delivers his lines with just the right amount of dripping disdain for all human life. He is one perpetually pissed-off dude, and that makes for moments both badass and hilarious. Statham is totally game for everything this movie throws at him. So is Amy Smart for that matter. I mean, holy lord. Give her a medal of honor for the things she puts herself through in this movie. Everyone else in the movie similarly brings their B-movie best. But give Statham all the credit in the world - he totally gets how to walk the line in these movies, and manages to be both badass and in on the joke.
Again, it's a fine line. Sometimes I was loving the sheer craziness of this movie, and sometimes you have to wonder if a certain line of decency has indeed been crossed.
That said, Crank 2 is an insanely good time, emphasis on *insane*. The movie is nonstop energy, balls to the wall action, and subversive and perverse humor all rolled into one. And like I said, it's friggin' off-it's-rocker, delving into the sublimely surreal on more than one occasion, to the point where you're not sure if you've just been transported into some crazy alternaverse that is powered solely by the laws of videogame logic. In any case, you'd be ready to put in another quarter if necessary. Crank 2 is Crank 1 on acid. Yikes.
My Grade: B+
- Alright, I'll have some TV reviews and more coming up soon. Until then, get cranked, yo'.
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