Grilled

When I heard that Ray Romano, Kevin James and Sofía Vergara are in a movie I was expecting laugh-out-loud entertainment. Sadly, 'Grilled' is not that. This is by no means the fault of the actors. The fault mainly lies in the script. The plot is very weak and the relationship between between the main characters and the supporting ones are underdeveloped. Romano and James's characters are quite well-written. They work very well off one another (even though sometimes they're given terrible lines). Sophia Vergara oozes heat and she's funny at the same time even though her character is halfbaked. Juliette Lewis is a little over the top at times but otherwise she's hilarious. While the characters are funny and the story lacks focused, 'Grilled' may have worked as a silly comedy if only it was funnier. It tries to be wacky but mostly falls flat. The actors are the ones who bring humour to their characters and because of that 'Grilled' is average at best.

first and third acts were pretty good. Uneven middle with some sequences that didn't add up. Especially something they tried to make you believe about Sofía Vergara's character. No one would buy it for one second.

But leads (Ray and Kevin) were very funny in spots, especially if you like dark comedy. These roles are a bit more serious than most people will be used to for these actors. But their characters seemed genuine, and provided laughs throughout. Smaller parts were made for laughs, but fell flat in places. One exception was Kim Coates, who was an over the top arms dealer in a brief but funny role. In total, I think it was worth seeing.

This is one of those movies that you watch waiting and hoping for it to get better. And the good news is Grilled gets better. The movie was s-l-o-w for first 35 minutes; and after that Grilled is fast, suspenseful, clever, and funny. Don't skip the slow part though or you'll be lost in the last half of the film. The actors excellent performances compensate for the bland story line.

This movie is like a bag of potato chips. Its junk food, not gourmet, but some times we all like a little junk food.

The movie's irregular pace explains why Grilled was released straight to DVD. Its a B movie worth a rent, but not worthy of any home shelf space.

When I first heard that Kevin James and Ray Romano were doing a movie together, I thought it was a great idea. Shortly after that, I learned that the movie was being re-tooled and would be headed straight to DVD. Obviously this curbed some of my enthusiasm.

However, after seeing the movie, I think it was good enough to be released in theaters. I have seen many theatrical releases that were worse than this.

Certainly there are problems, mostly with the plot (meat salesmen following leads?) and story lines left undeveloped (the relationship between Kevin James' character and his daughter). But the one redeeming quality that makes the movie worth watching is the characters. James and Romano both play their parts well. However, I will say that James is better suited for his loud mouth, slapstick-style humor that can be seen in King of Queens or the sweaty, nervous guy that he played in Hitch and his character in this movie could have used a little more of either. The supporting/cameo roles turned in by Burt Reynolds, Juliette Lewis, and Michael Rapaport along with a few other familiar faces are quite good.

All in all, this is an average movie. I'm a little surprised it went straight to DVD since I think it would have done alright in the theaters given its star power. I'm not saying it would have won any Oscars, but I'm sure people would have gone to see James, Romano, and Reynolds with the right kind of promotion. I'd recommend the DVD for fans of James and Romano, although it won't measure up to their respective sitcoms.

You would think that a movie starring both Ray Romano and Kevin James (each extremely funny on their sitcoms) couldn't possibly fail. This movie doesn't necessarily fail, but with the talents of these two great comedians, it definitely falls short. Romano and James show that they're both good actors, and can play characters different from the ones on their sitcoms. Hopefully, next time they'll be working with a better script. Other than the novelty of the main characters being door-to-door meat salesman, the movie doesn't contain much originality. I chuckled quite a few times throughout the course of the film, but there are no big laughs. I can see why "Grilled" went straight-to-video, despite the popularity of the two actors. If it played in theaters, it would probably have a worse box office performance than "Welcome to Mooseport." To be fair, the plot does thicken in the second half, and I found myself pretty intrigued. However, being a big fan of both "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "The King of Queens," I couldn't help but feel disappointed. And I'm sure other fans will be disappointed as well.