maxmik

The original 1939 movie is a classic for all the right reasons - great acting, dialogue, etc. Mary Boland as the Countess is so funny & one of my favorite scenes is a cat fight at the dude ranch. The cat fight & the Countess are both missing in this movie. Or is Bette Midler smoking a joint supposed to be the Countess? The bathtub scene with Joan Crawford is kept - but Eva Mendez isn't quite the same. Cukor was a great director - Diane English is not. This is a Meg Ryan movie & I am afraid (like Jennifer Aniston) she is upstaged by her hair. Annette Benning is along for the ride & she doesn't look good in closeup. The original is so funny & this movie is so NOT funny. What happened. Everyone seems to be trying too hard especially Debra Messing.

James Franco actually puts in a full comedic performance in a movie short on acting. I'm not sure what Seth Rogen does but it's not acting - more like interior monologues. The third dope fiend called Red can't & doesn't act at all. I wanted to like this movie - I liked Superbad & Knocked Up but this was too cartoonish - the action sequences were too unrealistic. Red gets shot several times & he is still alive at the end of the movie. I loved seeing Rosie Perez & Gary Cole as the bad guys but they didn't have much to do. As I said the only socially redeeming quality of this movie is James Franco's acting. This might be one of those movies where the DVD with all it's extra features might be better than the movie itself.

Like other dweeby action stars before him (Toby McQuire, Ed Norton & now surprisingly Robert Downey Jr.) James McAvoy continues his ascendancy in the Hollywood firmament by becoming an action hero of all things. Supported by A list actors like Morgan Freeman & Angelina Jolie - he is in good company. But make no doubt about it - this is his movie & he carries it off even though the movies seems like one long car, train, bus chase. OK there is a plot of sorts about a Fraternity & some father/son issues but basically this is a cartoon comic book that is there to fill up our summer hours. I would have liked a little more sex & a little less violence but all in all it was a pleasant enough movie going experience. But please skip the sequel - spare us.