Due Date

Peter (Robert Downey Jr.) is an architect on a business trip in Atlanta who needs to get home fast for the imminent birth of his child.  But bumping into a slovenly stranger named Ethan (Zach Galifianakis) at the airport leads to a series of mishaps and misunderstandings that land him on the "no-fly" list.  Now, Peter is stranded with no money or ID, and with a very pregnant wife waiting for him in L.A. - so he is forced to hitch a ride with Ethan against his better judgement.  Will this odd couple be able to survive a cross-country road trip together and make it there in one piece?  Director Todd Phillips ("The Hangover") once again casts Galifianakis in the role of the overgrown man-child.  Paired with Downey Jr.'s cool abrasiveness, the two actors have an undeniable, if unexpected, chemistry together.  Of course, Ethan's character is now rote (when did every modern movie out there start calling for this moronic man-baby sterotype?), but luckily Galifianakis is so great at it.  He plays Ethan with an annoyingly endearing innocence that grows on you despite your unwillingness to like him.  However, this buddy film is not without its share of problems.  For one, it tries hard to be an enjoyable, feel-good comedy, and it does have several great laughs.  But some of the situations that Ethan and Peter are thrown in are so extreme that it makes for moments that are more uncomfortable than funny.  For example, the scene in which Ethan reveals to Peter the real reason of how they ended up on their road trip together is supposed to induce laughter, but instead turns into a dark, slightly scary moment.of Peter finally losing it in a blaze of anger.  Also, the subplot of Peter suspecting his wife of infidelity is derivative at best, and is pretty superfluous to the main story.  The one that really shines here is Galifianakis, because even though you feel like you've seen him play the Ethan character before, he surprisingly delivers a few key emotional scenes involving the recent death of his father that make you realize this actor is more multi-dimensional than he lets on.  "Due Date" may not be the most original entry in the frat-boy flick comedy genre, but the Galifianakis/Downey Jr. combo is an inspired and memorable one.

3 out of 5 stars

The Switch

In this romantic comedy, Jason Bateman plays Wally, a single, neurotic New Yorker who is secretly in love with his best friend, Kassie (Jennifer Aniston).  One day, Kassie announces to Wally that she's sick of waiting for Mr. Right and has decided to take matters into her own hands - by getting artificially inseminated and having a kid on her own.  Even after Wally's pleads to the contrary, Kassie goes ahead with her plan and becomes pregnant.  Except for one small snafu: Wally switches the donor sperm with his own unbeknownst to Kassie.  Now it's seven years later, and Kassie is returning to NYC after a long hiatus back home living with her parents.  Will Wally be able to tell Kassie the truth about their son and finally admit his true feelings for her?  In true Hollywood fashion, the premise of this movie is silly at best, and there's never a question in the audience's mind of whether these two will end up together - it's really just a matter of when and what obstacles are going to be thrown in their way that they will have to overcome before they can be together.  That being said, the characters are just redeeming enough to make the story enjoyable.  Bateman plays Wally as a sweet curmudgeon, and the moments when he bonds with his son as they get to know each other are tender and heartfelt.  Likewise, Aniston is solid as Kassie, and gives her just a hint of vulnerability that contrasts with her breezy confidence.  The plot may be contrived, but the sentiment is genuine, and you find yourself cheering on this unorthodox family that, in the end, they get their cheesy Hollywood ending.

3 out of 5 stars

Jackass 3D

The boys are back and more immature and disgusting than ever.  In this third installment of the ultra-popular Jackass series, Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Bam Margera, and the rest of the posse return for more pain and mayhem.  By now, if you've seen the first two movies you know what to expect.  These grown men come up with new and ingenious ways to put their lives at risk, all in the name of good fun and good comedy.  The film doesn't cover much new ground, except for a couple of things: first, it's shot in 3D, and second, the cinematography went up a HUGE notch.  All jokes and retarded stunts aside, some of the shots - many of which were shot in beautiful HD slow-motion camera - were jaw-droppingly amazing, and (dare I say it) breathtaking.  It really was almost TOO good of a quality to be used on such trashiness, but I say almost because it just makes the death-defying hijinks that much more impressive.  To be completely honest, these guys still crack me up to no end and I find the sheer stupidity of it all insanely entertaining and hilarious.  Except for a few gag-inducing segments that I could've done without - there was one that was so utterly repulsive that most of the cast and crew were reduced to vomiting and I had to block my eyes until it was over - I was giggling like a schoolgirl the entire time.  I start to wonder how much longer these guys can keep this up, as many are now either in their 40s or quickly approaching it.  But for now, I like to think of these dudes as eternally young and moronic, and willing to do anything for the sake of giving their fans a good laugh.

3 out of 5 stars

Nowhere Boy

As the film opens with the first loud and jangly chord of "A Hard Day's Night" and we see a young man running carelessly through city streets, you get the sense right away that you're in for something special.  Set during John Lennon's teenage years, "Nowhere Boy" is an emotionally raw and tender look at the life of a boy on the precipice of manhood and greatness.  Lennon (played by the exquisite Aaron Johnson), is living with his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George and causing mischief in 1950s Liverpool.  He seems to have a pretty happy childhood; that is, until his uncle suddenly passes away, and John starts questioning where his real parents are.  Shockingly, he discovers his mother lives nearby with a family of her own, and at first the reunion is a welcome one.  But as they spend more and more time together, it starts to put a strain on John's relationship with his aunt, and John gets caught in a nasty triangle of buried secrets and resentment.  The film covers a very short period in Lennon's youth in an effort to show an insightful glimpse into the formative years of a rock legend - and it's refreshing to see the focus on such a tumultuous period in Lennon's life rather than trying to cram a lifetime's worth of information into a 100-minute feature.  We see John's mother, Julia, instill her love of music into her son, and it's a beautiful journey to see where that love originates.  The tone of the film is never schmaltzy or overly dramatized.  Instead, it unfolds in true biopic fashion, with an earnest voice and without the dryness of a History Channel special.  The acting is flawless.  Kristin Scott Thomas portrays Mimi with an outer hardness that belies the hurt and vulnerability roiling just beneath the surface.  And Johnson - though he may not necessarily physically resemble Lennon - completely embodies the spirit of young John, from the heady cockiness, the uncontrollable rebellion, the angst, and the charm.  "Nowhere Boy" is a must for any Lennon fan, but is also a poetic portrayal of an angry and talented young man trying to find his place in the world.


4 out of 5 stars

Piranha

From director Alexandre Aja ("High Tension") comes this remake of the 70s B-horror flick.  Elisabeth Shue stars as the sheriff of a desert party town - a popular spring break destination with a fictional lake based on the real Lake Havasu.  When an earthquake unleashes prehistoric piranha that have been living in an underground lake, all hell breaks loose as hot college coeds start getting devoured faster than you can say "Wet T-Shirt Contest".  With a premise that is laughable at best, and a screenplay that reads more like a "Girls Gone Wild" video than a horror film, this movie takes the cake for the biggest piece of schlock released in 2010.  And yet, it somehow manages to be insanely entertaining, campy fun.  Everything about this movie is gratuitous: the blood, guts, and nudity, but the film doesn't pretend to be anything it's not.  It embraces its vulgar trashiness with gusto and pride, and goes for broke on the gross-out factor.  Forget detached limbs or gouged-out eyeballs... there is a scene where a severed penis is regurgitated by one of the carnivorous fish, and another scene where all that's left of a blond, bikini-clad bimbo is a silicone implant.  Yes, it's disgusting, immature, and over-the-top, but at the basest level it works, and - if you can stomach it - will bring out the giddy, 12-year old boy in you.  Besides having the honor of most fake blood used on a movie set, "Piranha" won't be getting many accolades.  But it falls neatly into the "so bad, it's good" category, and that's not such a bad place to be.

3 out of 5 stars

The Romantics

A group of college friends reunites for the wedding of their best friends, Lila (Anna Paquin) and Tom (Josh Duhamel).  It should be a great time for all, except for one small problem: The maid-of-honor, Laura (Katie Holmes), is the groom's ex and still has feelings for him.  Soon, an unspoken rivalry between Lila and Laura comes to the surface as Tom tries to figure out if he's marrying the right woman.  This quiet, introspective story has all the makings of a likable indie film: the happy reunion of a group of old friends, a complicated romance, and an impressive pedigree of talented young actors.  However, these characters are some of the most gratingly unlikable people I have ever seen on film.  Content with interchanging their partners and wallowing in how little they each made of their lives, these adults in their early 30s come off as spoiled brats who are much too old to be acting out in such an unattractive manner.  This movie comes off as an overindulgent piece of navel-gazing that may have made a decent short thesis for film school, but fails as a full-length feature - not to mention an abrupt finale that seems to be left open-ended more out of sheer laziness than a desire to let the audience decide for themselves how the story ends.  If you like watching beautiful, privileged people who are emotionally immature and like to whine about how confused they are about life, then you'll probably enjoy "The Romantics".  Personally, I found nothing even remotely romantic or redeeming about this movie.


1 out of 5 stars