Sam_Gray

I like comedies as much as the next guy, but I think that comedy as a genre tends to produce mediocre films more often than any other genre, and even the best of comedies aren't as likely as other genres to produce a film worth more than one viewing. It could be worse for comedy, though, as I think horror and action produce more outright bad movies than other genres.

Anyway, I think the mediocre tendency in comedy has been even more prevalent then normal in the past few years, as most of the major comedies releases have been, well, average efforts in my opinion, and I'm speaking of films such as: There's Something About Mary, both the Austin Powers movies, and Analyze This. You might notice I haven't included any of the "teen" comedies, but that's because I consider "teen" to be a genre onto itself. And, now that I think about it, "teen" is even worse than horror and action because it produces almost nothing other than terrible films, particularly if teen and horror combine without the word "scream" in the title. Comedy's looking better all the time.

But, alas, I digress. The point of the matter is that, with Meet the Parents, I've finally found a comedy that beats this mediocre trend. And, if you're anal about movie knowledge like I am, you're probably noticed that Meet the Parents includes, in its stars and director, people involved in each of the average films I mention above. In fact, that bit of trivia had made me somewhat wary of seeing this film.

Luckily for me, I crumbled. Meet the Parents is not only funnier that any other strict comedy in years, but it is also smarter. Part of my problem with a lot of comedies these days is the overuse of sight gags and toilet humor. Not that I have a problem with either, but I feel like movies insult my intelligence when they use either too often. Meet the Parents has its share of both, but most of the really funny stuff is verbal or situational. There's even an instance or two of choice satire near the film's end.

What surprised my the most about Meet the Parents, however, is how many of the laughs come from De Niro. He's definitely the straight man, but he's got some good lines. He's also well cast, and he has essentially taken a lot of his more prominent roles and toned them down into an overprotective father. At the same time, he's likeable, and that impresses me. His is the best performance in the movie and also his best in years.

True, Meet the Parents is a little over-the-top, but so what? It's also highly entertaining, and the fact that I would willfully watch it again, knowing the jokes, says a lot for it in my book. 9/10

There's something about the horror genre that draws me in and makes me see lots of its movies. What's odd about that, though, is I almost always hate said movies or think them average at best (that are expections of course, such as The Sixth Sense, which is actually my favorite movie). Luckily, What Lies Beneath isn't a bad film, but it's only slightly above that average mark.

The most interesting thing about this film is the fact that Harrison Ford, despite getting top billing, is not the main character, and is very much secondary. What Lies Beneath is Michelle Pfeiffer's show all the way, and she provides it a good performance.

And thanks largely to Pfeiffer, the film is highly watchable. However, although I doubt this was his intention, it feels a bit like Robert Zemeckis is imitating other directors, namely Alfred Hitchcock and M. Night Shyamalan. I'm not the first to note comparisons to Hitchcock's Rear Window in the first half of the movie, and I'm sure I won't be the last. The pacing is much like that of Shyamalan's work. The problem is, when it comes to this kind of movie, Zemeckis is not as good as Hitchcock or Shyamalan.

However, I did enjoy watching What Lies Beneath. Obviously, it's nothing original or noteworthy, and it does have some horror movie cliches. Still, it is a competent film for the most part, and fans of the director, leads, or the genre shouldn't mind risking a rental on this. 7/10

You know, I'm not sure I would have seen this movie if not for the actors in it. Sam Gray is not my real name and, as you might guess, a guy that uses "Gray" as the last name of his alias isn't going to be much interested in cinema fluff. However, Kevin Spacey is a personal favorite actor of mine, and I've seen all of his films since 1994. I've also enjoyed Hunt's work in her better movies, and I was tremendously impressed by Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense. But, this movie, along with Nurse Betty and Spacey's last film, The Big Kahuna, has convinced me that maybe actors alone aren't the thing to pay attention to when selecting a film.

But, there is some good news in Pay It Forward. Osment proves here that he's the real thing, and I'm looking forward to seeing him in Speilberg's hands for the upcoming A.I. I also think Spacey and Hunt give very good (even if occasionally overacted) performances. And the fluff isn't laid too thick, as the film is sometimes fairly depressing.

The problem, though, is that Pay It Forward isn't sure what it wants its audience to feel. Is the movie optimistic or pessimistic? It seems to want to be both, with great extreme in both directions; the ending is a wildly mixed message.

The movie's opening ten or fifteen minutes are pretty shaky, too.

Still, I must admit I found the film to be watchable, and it was more when I started to think about it afterwards that I really started to have problems with it. I credit the three leads for that, and so this film gets a higher rating from me than in probably deserves. 6/10