I have to admit it: Adam Sandler movies are a guilty pleasure of mine. Clearly, I am not alone as his movies generally tend to do well. "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" is the story of "The Zohan" (Sandler), an Israeli Special Forces legend who secretly yearns to be a hairdresser. After faking his death during a battle with his arch-nemesis, "The Phantom" (John Turturro), he takes off to New York to pursue his dream. This sets up lots of fish-out-of-water comedy as his unusual hairstyles and styling methods make him a sensation. Of course, this kind of attention can not be good for a man who does not want to fight any more. Inevitably, his enemies will find him out. Rob Schneider does his usual turn as one of Sandler's quirky supporting characters, playing a Palestinian cab driver who thinks he may have discovered that "The Zohan" is really alive. Schneider does a great job in these over the top roles and is very funny once again. Say what you want about Sandler, but he is funny and his movies tend to be entertaining. This one is very funny and is one of Sandler's funnier movies overall. Yes, it is stupid funny and low-brow humor, but it works. In fact, this almost seemed like Adam Sandler doing a Mike Myers type movie.
Here's the background on this movie: Jody Hill, the director, made this film on a very low budget, a la Kevin Smith and "Clerks". Somehow, a copy of the movie got to Will Ferrell, who loved it so much he bought the rights and got a distribution deal. Fred Simmons (Danny McBride) is a TaeKwon Do instructor who has some trouble applying the eastern philosophies of the martial arts to his own life. He is a crude guy in a bad marriage, who idolizes Hollywood martial artist Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (Ben Best). The movie certainly makes the case that you should never meet your heroes as "The Truck" turns out to be quite the Hollywood mess: women and drugs are what he lives for and he is not exactly the best human being. The movie takes you on a journey with Simmons as his life gets more and more messy until he can figure a way to turn it around. McBride is pretty funny as Simmons and Best as "The Truck" is definitely someone you love to hate, but the movie itself doesn't completely work. Unlike "Clerks", the low budget actually becomes a bit of a distraction as some of the acting doesn't quite cut it and the production value looks sort of like a porn movie. There are a few really funny sequences, in particular the hotel room party with Chuck "The Truck", but it is not funny enough most of the time. Perhaps the appeal to Will Ferrell is that the character of Simmons is just the type of cocky jackass that Ferrell has made a career out of playing, so he must have related to it. Grade: C-
"Forgetting Sarah Marshall" is billed as being "from the guys who brought you "The 40-year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up". You can certainly see a lot of the same elements here with the raunchy humor, but this one sort of misses the mark. Although there is some raunchy humor, much of it seems to be put in just to say this is a "raunchy sex comedy" (OK, I just used the word "raunchy" 3 times..oh, that's 4). Most of these scenes barely have any humor to them at all. Overall, the movie does have some funny scenes and is not a bad comedy, but something is off. The premise is that Peter (Jason Segel) is dating Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell), a TV star who decides she would much rather be with rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) and dumps him. Peter is devastated and goes to Hawaii to escape his sorrow. Unfortunately, Sarah and her new beau are also there and he can not avoid them. Some of the situations set up in Hawaii were just stupid. When Peter finds the hotel with no rooms available, the beautiful desk clerk, Rachel (Mila Kunis), decides she will let him stay in the most exclusive suite in the place, free of charge, of course. We all know a desk clerk has that kind of authority and no one will ask questions! As he is immediately smitten by her, you also have no doubt the two of them will end up together at some point. Most of the funny material comes from the supporting cast. Snow's attitude toward commitment and monogamy make for some funny lines. The maitre'd (Jonah Hill), the surf instructor (Paul Rudd) and some of the other hotel staff are much funnier than the main cast. There is also the break-up scene which starts with Peter in a towel and quickly moves to him totally nude, which is really more male nudity than I needed to see! Be warned, we are talking frontal nudity here. So, this is basically an OK movie with some funny moments but not enough for a recommendation. It is not awful, just not great.
"Iron Man" kicked off the summer movie season with a bang and generated a lot of hype. As the superhero genre goes, this was an excellent movie. One of the best qualities is a top-flight cast. I don't just mean big names, of which there are a few, but the quality of the acting here is extremely good. Robert Downey Jr. takes the reins as billionaire Tony Stark, who will become the Iron Man of the title. Downey hits all of the notes, playing Stark as the care-free millionaire playboy as the movie opens and then getting much deeper into the other sides of him as the movie progresses. The "billionaire who creates his own persona" element is very similar to "Batman", but still different enough. Stark does not have all of the emotional baggage that Bruce Wayne does, so he is a more "fun" character. After being captured by terrorists in Afghanistan, he is told he must make them a missile. While pretending to do so, he actually fashions the first, somewhat primitive Iron Man to use in his escape. His experience being captured changes him and he announces he is changing the direction of his weapons manufacturing company, much to the chagrin of his president, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). This conflict sets up the rest of the movie. As this is the first "Iron Man" film, the origin of the superhero needs to be set up, so considerable time is spent doing just that. This is the disadvantage of an origin movie. If it is done right, the origin is not rushed, but is developed early enough to give you the action and adventure a superhero movie is supposed to provide. "Iron Man" spends just a little too much time developing the suit. They do give you some early action and the rudimentary suit to keep you interested, though. Overall, this is a great film with a great cast and it is definitely recommended. It did fall just short of all the hype that came before it. I'm sure there will be more "Iron Man" movies and this can rival the "Batman" series for the superhero movie crown. The PG-13 is earned, so parents of younger kids should be aware that there is some harsh violence in this movie, which may not be appropriate for that crowd.
This is the second movie in a row I watched that did not do well critically or at the box office. It is also the second movie in a row where I liked it more than I thought I might. That is not to say this is a good one, however. Much of the negativity about the movie is well-deserved. I think only my love of Al Pacino kept me from joining the negative fray. Pacino plays Jack Gramm, a forensic psychiatrist who testified in a high-profile serial killer case. His testimony was considered to be instrumental in getting a conviction. Fast forward years later and the killer, Jon Forster (Neal McDonough), is slated to be executed. Gramm receives a phone call telling him he has 88 minutes to live and the game is afoot. It sounds like an interesting concept, similar to the film "D.O.A" with Dennis Quaid, but the execution falls short. For such a simple synopsis, the script is very convoluted, going all over the place, while still remaining predictable. It is so predictable that when you see the "culprit" for the first time, you immediately know that they are going to turn out to be the villain, despite the next hour and a half of trying to throw you off the trail. There is one sequence where Pacino breaks his cell phone, but then immediately gets another one without the broken cell phone ever being a factor in the plot. Why bother with the whole breaking of the cell phone in the first place? Even with all of that, though, I enjoyed watching Pacino and did not hate the film. With a great concept and a great actor, however, the movie should definitely have been much more riveting and certainly less silly. If you're a Pacino fan, give it a chance, but, otherwise, you will probably think I am nuts for even liking this at all.
Mike Myers movies are not like a box of chocolates: You pretty much know what you are going to get. His movies are purposefully silly with some low-brow, almost childish, humor and over-the-top characters. "The Love Guru" is no departure from the mold. Myers plays Guru Pitka, an American raised in India who has become a renowned guru. When the Toronto Maple Leafs find their star player, Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco), slumping because of marital troubles, they bring in Guru Pitka to get his head back on straight. Another Mike Myers staple is his uncanny ability to get huge stars to take roles you can never imagine them in. In this case, it is Ben Kingsley, playing his mentor, Guru Tugginmypudha, a cross-eyed guru who is basically a cartoon character. Although this movie completely bombed at the box office, it is not nearly as bad as it may seem. Myers, for all his goofiness, knows how to keep it funny and he succeeds most of the time here. While I admit this is probably his weakest film, I think fans of the "Austin Powers" series will not be turned off by this one. Justin Timberlake has a hilarious turn as rival goalie, Jacques "Le Coq" Grande. Myers also brings his favorite foil, Verne Troyer, back as Toronto's head coach, Punch Cherkov, with the requisite height gags. Overall, you have a silly movie that will actually have you laughing at times. It's not a rave review, and some may rightfully hate it, but I found I laughed more than I thought I might.
"The Bank Job" of the title is only half the story. "The Bank Job" follows the true story of a bank heist which uncovers a world of deceit and corruption in the power circles of 1971 London. After Martine Love (Saffron Burrows) is caught transpoting drugs in the airport, Tim Everett (Richard Lintern) offers her a way out. He tips her off to a bank job that he wants her to arrange in order to get the contents of a safe deposit box. She turns to her old flame, Terry Leather (Jason Statham), a small-time criminal, for help and he begins to put a team together. The first half of the film involves the creation of the team and the planning of the heist and is a very straight-forward heist movie. Once the heist is in play, though, the criminals find they have opened a pandora's box that reaches into the very heart of law enforcement, organized crime and even into a "black power" group. The movie opens sort of disjointedly, with characters weaving in and out that have no relatonship to each other. As the heist approaches, the story becomes a litte more linear, focusing mostly on Terry and his gang. Once the heist goes down, the film ties all of the loose ends introduced earlier in a frenzy of double-crossing and violence as these disparate groups try to protect the secrets this gang of thieves may or may not have uncovered. Once this gets going, it becomes a riveting story of sex and corruption that shakes the power circles of London for years to come. While much of the interplay between the characters is probably fictionalized, much of the ramifications are documented. Jason Statham does a great job carrying the bulk of this movie, which is a departure from a lot of the senseless action movies he is accustomed to.
I have to admit it: Adam Sandler movies are a guilty pleasure of mine. Clearly, I am not alone as his movies generally tend to do well. "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" is the story of "The Zohan" (Sandler), an Israeli Special Forces legend who secretly yearns to be a hairdresser. After faking his death during a battle with his arch-nemesis, "The Phantom" (John Turturro), he takes off to New York to pursue his dream. This sets up lots of fish-out-of-water comedy as his unusual hairstyles and styling methods make him a sensation. Of course, this kind of attention can not be good for a man who does not want to fight any more. Inevitably, his enemies will find him out. Rob Schneider does his usual turn as one of Sandler's quirky supporting characters, playing a Palestinian cab driver who thinks he may have discovered that "The Zohan" is really alive. Schneider does a great job in these over the top roles and is very funny once again. Say what you want about Sandler, but he is funny and his movies tend to be entertaining. This one is very funny and is one of Sandler's funnier movies overall. Yes, it is stupid funny and low-brow humor, but it works. In fact, this almost seemed like Adam Sandler doing a Mike Myers type movie. 
