Bad Grandmas

I've never seen seasoned actors in a movie where they seem like they've never acted much before, including Florence Henderson, Judd Herschel, and Pam Grier.

This movie is so goofy that it's almost worth watching just to chuckle for the ridiculous value of it.

The plot is interesting enough though there is really no suspense involved or action to speak of. A pack of grannies figure life in prison is not that long at all and embark on setting things right for a friend. In doing so they set off a chain of events that put them in constant peril.

If's a comedy so there are plenty of goofs and gaffes and obviously the world is never so easily put in neat boxes. The point is to laugh at the absurdity of the situation and life in general. Unlike many dark comedies made lately, you actually root for the good guys in this movie.

There are parts that will give you are really big belly laugh, unfortunately too much time is spent on side plots and wastes of time or this could have been one of those gems that accidentally fall out of Hollywood from time to time. It's funny but too much is just biz as usual in movie making to be epically funny.

Well worth wasting an hour and a half if you have nothing pressing to do or better to watch. You will laugh and be entertained. That's the best most movies can ever say.

When I sat down to watch the 2017 comedy "Bad Grandmas", I must admit that I had hoped for a bit more comedy than what the movie turned out to be. But this movie was a dried up well in terms of comedy.

The storyline was adequate enough, albeit it wasn't a storyline that had much of any particular appeal to me. And as such, I found myself sitting with my phone in hand and checking up on Facebook, as my interest in the movie, the storyline and the characters was fast ebbing away and dwindling into nothingness.

Initially seeing Pam Grier and Judge Reinhold on the cast list sparked a hope of this actually could turning out to be interesting. But that was just not something that found a hold, and the movie ended up being a boring and mundane piece of comedy entertainment.

Very little of any interest took place throughout the course of the movie, and some of the scenes were actually performed with such performances that made me cringe, as it was so uncomfortable to watch that it made it to the final cut. And the majority of the characters were essentially flat as cardboard cut outs and had little to no personality or traits to offer to the movie, which meant that you didn't really invest any interest in the characters.

If you like comedies with laughs and to make you feel good, then you might want to give "Bad Grandmas" a wide berth.

I am rating "Bad Grandmas" a score of three out of ten stars.

There's something strange about this little comedy...

It's not a great story, though there are a couple of twists. When Bobbi (Wall) finds out that she is about to lose her house to her ex-son-in-law, after the death of her daughter, she turns to her friends for help... Unfortunately for him, this quadruple of octogenarians don't mind getting their hands dirty. When Mimi (Henderson) goes to visit him, things get out of control when she pulls a gun... From here on in, events start to spiral out of control. You have a loan shark wanting his money back and is willing to kill for it. A detective who is smarter than he looks and is hot on the heels of the missing ex-son-in-law and the mystery surrounding the disappearance.

The acting isn't too great. Even Henderson and Grier have problems with getting a grip on their characters and at times seem out of odds with the story and the film. It's Wall, Reinhold, and Parrish's characters that shine the most and they are brilliant in their portrayals. It's Parrish's portrayal of the flirtatious Ava that added the most light to this film. As for Eaton who played Virginia, I have to wonder what the point of her character was... it just feels like she was there to make up the numbers. Oh and then there's Batinkoff as Detective Mclemore. I really feel for him as he appears to be a decent actor, but at times his comedic movements are way over the top and unfunny in this type of situation and this style of comedy.

The direction isn't great and even draws on other films for its scenes... take the "Pass The Spliff" scene where we get comedic close-ups of the actresses and actor all partaking in a tote or two. This has been done so many times before that I cannot actually name where I saw it first. There were plenty of times that both tension and suspense could have been added to the film but were totally overlooked. The scene where the Detective knows in his gut that something is fishy with the old galls so decides to check out the house. Instead of adding atmosphere the director decides to play it for laughs... and as I said Batinkoff's comedy walks are not up to the Monty Python excellence. This gives the whole movie a steady pace, which, at times, makes it feel boring. It needed a kick up the arse.

All that said... I found it to be a very enjoyable movie. It's genuinely more enjoyable than the sum of its parts actually appear. On paper, you shouldn't like this film... but it is a nice Sunday Morning easy flick... with murder and dark humour. I laughed out loud and that is the job of this movie... I even felt good at the end... and I may even watch it again...

So I would recommend this to the lovers of gallows humour and good "Bad B-Movies". For some weird reason this worked for me, it may work for you too. Though I will warn you the worst part of this film is the opening titles - they are truly horrendous...and not in a good way.

If you're looking for a serious or high-brow movie with a deep plot, keep looking. But if you just want silly, campy entertainment - this movie is for you!

There is even a little bit of mystery throughout the movie. Just relax and enjoy the silliness and how they get out of this messy mess. ;-)