ISN'T IT ROMANTIC

Rebel Wilson     Priyanka Chopra      Liam Hemsworth     Adam Devine     Betty Gilpin

     How long has it been since you saw a creative, really romantic rom-com with new ideas?  I daresay not since the 1990’s and maybe early 2000 (e.g., When Harry Met Sally, You’ve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, High Fidelity).   Isn’t It Romantic is predictable based on all these earlier films and it, unfortunately, borrows from Melissa McCarthy’s playbook in having the heroine blunder, stumble, and tumble time and again.  But hey!, these antics are always good for a laugh in the audience somewhere.  

     The set-up here is that Natalie—apparently a very good architect—is filled with cynicism about love and romance, belittling her assistant for watching rom-coms—not because it’s at work, but because she is disdainful of such stories—and being oblivious of every admiring glance, compliment, or invitation that comes her way.  The basic concept is introduced realistically by having Natalie’s mother delivering rather constant skepticism about anything touching on the romantic, especially where Natalie is concerned because she is heavy-set.  (“Give up those dreams, girl; that will never happen to you!”) The story also brings home the resulting lack of self-worth that Natalie has developed, as in “Sure, I’ll take your trash and dispose of it”, “Sure, I’ll call the printer repairman”, etc.

     What transpires in an expected way is that Natalie has experiences that finally bring home to her—that is, she gets—what she has been missing; that despite the feedback from all her friends, not only does she miss the denigrations, she misses the positives coming her way.

     The journey it takes to get to insight for Natalie involves encounters with doctors, a suave charmer (Hemsworth) at the office, and her best-friend office mate (Devine).  

     The film ends up modeling basically good principles that highlight the value of substantive human connections, but it essentially repeats what its predecessors have already portrayed.  So I have to ask about the reason for the film.  Is it meant to titillate viewers with the high life (private planes, yachts, extravagant parties), and then expect to pull them in with heartfelt values?

     Rebel Wilson is a gifted actress who, like McCarthy in her movies, is using slapstick to make light of being heavy, which overshadows their acting ability. How I wish both of them would find/pick  scripts that portray them as normal people with interesting problems that ignore their physical appearance.  It seems to me that the Europeans are much better than Americans at casting actresses based on their ability to portray all kinds of characters irrespective of their physical appearance.  This movie runs the risk of promoting a stereotype when it’s trying to do just the opposite.

     It’s the acting that will save this film—if anything will—not the hackneyed story.

Rom-com about a heavy-set woman having dreams that are fulfilled—just not in the way she expects.

Grade:  D+                        By Donna R. Copeland

ICE AGE: COLLISION COURSE

Voices of:  Ray Romano   Queen Latifah   Keke Palmer   Adam Devine   John Leguizamo  

Denis Leary   Simon Pegg   Jennifer Lopez   Wanda Sykes   Neil DeGrasse Tyson

          This is the seventh in a series of Ice Age films, and is largely empty animation and special effects without much of a story.  My interest was piqued when I saw that Neil DeGrasse Tyson was going to be one of the voices in the film, in hopes that it would have some educational value; but alas, it is a hodge-podge of story lines with tired themes like broken hearts, forgetting an anniversary, and a father reluctant to let his daughter grow up and forge her own path.  There was only one scene that went against stereotype, and that was the father-daughter (it’s usually a son) competition on an ice hockey rink.  Manny (Romano) is certain he can best his daughter Peaches (Palmer) handily—and tries to make out like he actually did, but she is the clear winner.

        A bit of novelty is seen in the efforts to avert a killer meteor coming to destroy the animals’ home, and Tyson as Neil deBuck Weasel (I like the play on his name) explains in scientific terms how to use magnetic forces to throw it off course.  It’s too bad the filmmakers didn’t expand this sequence and make it the heart of the movie instead of silly love stories. 

       As in all the Ice Age films I have seen, the squirrel creature Scrat (Chris Wedge) appears in the beginning and reappears periodically hugging and chasing his acorn, swarming all around space to introduce and supplement the animation and special effects.  Next we hear about the mammoth family [Manny, Ellie (Queen Latifah), and Peaches] and get the update that Peaches is engaged to Julian (Devine), who is eager to join the family and impress the reluctant Manny.  They’re friends with lions Diego (Leary) and Shira (Lopez), who are wanting to be parents. 

      There is a digression to a yoga fitness community, Geotopia, where Shangri Lama (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) is in charge and where Granny (Sykes) is discovered to be enjoying yoga and massages. 

        But Sid (Leguizamo) as the local scientist is giving fair warning that a meteor that will obliterate them is coming.  After Neil deBuck Weasel instructs them about what they need to do, the animals band together to avert the strike.

        Not much of anything is new and fresh in this production, which should be a message to the writers (Michael J. Wilson, Michael Berg, Yoni Brenner), directors Galen T. Chu and Mike Thurmeier, and producer Lori Forte to hang up the franchise.

Uninspired 7^th iteration of the Ice Age franchise.

Grade:  D-                                    By Donna R. Copeland

MIKE AND DAVE NEED WEDDING DATES

Zac Efron     Adam Devine     Aubrey Plaza     Anna Kendrick

          Mike (Devine) and Dave (Efron) need much more than wedding dates in this film.  Their parents and sister and her fiancé sit down for a serious talk before the occasion, which will take place in Hawaii, and they beg them not to ruin still another family get-together.  They’re shown videotapes of their bad behavior in the past, and after being defensive, they listen to their sister’s plea.  The family believes that if the two bring “nice girls” as dates, it will have a taming effect on them.

          I suppose that it’s no accident that this movie is like an extended sitcom—and a bad one that seems never-ending—because the experience of the director (Jake Szymanski) and writers (Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O’Brien) has been primarily in television.  It’s a predictable farce, with the young men getting dates, Tatiana (Plaza) and Alica (Kendrick), who are as bad as they are in real life (e.g., they have just been fired from their waitress jobs for coming to work drunk).  They have schemed to get invited and are just looking for a “vaca.”  So original—not!  So funny—not!

       The writers seemed to have no boundaries in coming up with “pranks” to ruin a wedding; it seems like whatever they thought of that would be terrible to happen at a wedding, they put in the script.  Of course, drugs and alcohol play a large role, along with lying, screaming, and conniving with little thought given to consequences.  This gets very tiresome as scene after scene intended to be funny falls flat, either because it’s expected or because it’s too cruel/awkward/crude.

          Given the roles presented to them, the actors do a credible job in acting their parts.  Efron and Devine do come across as brothers with a mix of competitiveness and love, and Plaza and Kendrick as women at sea not knowing what to do with their lives.  When they get serious, the characters are mildly interesting, but they inevitably end up looking one-dimensional—any change that transpires appears to be magical.  In that vein, the story ends illogically in that all of the incompetent doofuses end up being organized, effective heroes after all the havoc they’ve wrought.

            I see no reason for anybody anywhere at any time to see this movie, and there are a ton of reasons not to see it.  To name a few:  It glorifies alcohol and drugs, it glorifies foolhardy risk-taking and impulsivity, it contains constant yelling and swearing and has a paucity of soul searching, thoughtful contemplation.  Someone might reply to this, “It’s entertainment!  It doesn’t have to have any depth or serious thought.”  My reply?  “It doesn’t?” 

Skip this movie; it will be bad for you.

Grade:  F                                    By Donna R. Copeland