Fun Size

Pretty small audience when my husband and I saw this.

If you giggle hysterically over a teen girl deciding that maybe her Justice Ruth Ginsberg costume needs to be updated to a "sexy Justice Ginsberg", this movie is for you. We loved the nerdy humor.

If that joke, or the running one with an 8 year old deciding to be a one-armed Spidey (complete with bloody plastic severed arm) doesn't fill you with mirth, skip this film. We loved it.

Of course, we also loved Hudson Hawke, Howard the Duck, and The Stupids.

Happy Halloween!

This stars the latest Disney princess. It's Halloween and Wren (Victoria Justice) just wants to party with her best friend (Jane Levy). Instead her mother (Chelsea Handler) insists that she takes her little brother out for trick or treat. While out, she loses her brother and a mad cap search for him begins.

Josh Schwartz who wrote and produced TV shows Gossip Girl, Chuck, and The O.C. directs this teen movie. The movie does have potential. The leads are likable. A night of crazy adventure is usually fun and compelling. Keeping the kid silent was a mistake, and a better rewrite was needed. The search is completely illogical. The kid lacks charisma and not talking doesn't help any. Although Victoria Justice has the charisma to lead this movie which is the most important aspect.

Fun Size- *1/2 (out of four): There are more laughs and more fun in an episode of "Victorious" than in this farce of a film, which would have fared better had it been released straight to DVD. It is crudely written, the teenage qualms seem entirely artificial and clichéd. There are some funny and even sweet moments in it, but the bad outweighs the good here. It tries to pay homage to older (and better) teen flicks of the '80s, but it falls far short, emerging as little more than a comedy full of gags and stereotypical characters. It might be enjoyable for a small minority of people, but I'm sure most will be quite bored by it. Definitely one to skip.

First of all, I'm not sure who this movie is marketed to. Kids? Nickelodeon's logo scrolls at the beginning of the movie giving that impression, yet there are crass jokes such as "tadpoles in your dad's sac". There's also breast touching, sexual tension during said breast touching, and a boy commenting on his mother's small boobs. This would be fine and dandy, if the rest of the content wasn't so juvenile. I personally don't mind crass jokes, but I felt as if they were out of place. I just felt as though type of people who'd appreciate tadpoles in ball sacs aren't going to enjoy watching a one-armed Spider-Man fool adults out of candy while trick-or-treating. (You may think I'm being a "prude" with this review, but I appreciate the humor and gratuitous nudity in films such as "Harold & Kumar". It's juts that "Harold & Kumar" knows what it is and what sort of audience is watching it.)

Alfred is supposed to be the charming yet devious little boy character, but he was just so unlikeable. You're introduced to him on the toilet, hearing the sound effects of poop plopping into the water. As if once weren't enough, the last shot you see is, likewise, Alfred pooping on the toilet - sound effects and all. It's not funny, it's pretty gross, actually. Make sure you aren't snacking on popcorn while you watch.

A lot of the antics the teenagers get into while driving around feel very forced, with little resolution. Peng shooting chicken at a bully that he never encounters again? A kid totals his car, and his mothers not only don't care, but give him keys to a second car? I don't know. I just don't believe anything presented to me, and yet it doesn't have that surreality of something like "Tide Land". Though, it wasn't a complete waste of time. Thomas Middleditch & Thomas Mann play charming characters, Victoria Justice and Jane Levy are likewise talented actors who tried their best to bring lukewarm material to life. If you're looking for a slightly inappropriate and awkward Halloween movie to watch with the family, well, why not? Just don't expect too much out of it.

A teenage girl and her best friend want to attend the Halloween party with the cool kids, but are stuck trick-or-treating with her little brother. He becomes lost, and they spend the evening searching for him. What ensues is supposed to be a funny adventure of oddball characters getting themselves into amusing situations, but there just is not much to laugh at here. In the end the girl is destined to come to some sort of realization about what she really deems important, which is predictable and does not add much to the movie. Victoria Justice, who plays the girl, is pretty and likable enough, but that is not enough to make this movie fun to watch.