More than Bridesmaids

Movie Title: Bridesmaides
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Released: May 13, 2011


Hoot Rating: I give this movie the rating A Heck of a Hoot. The movie follows Annie (played by the talented Kristen Wiig), a failed baker whose bakery business went under, as she tries to be a supportive Maid of Honor for her best friend, Lillian. All the while, Annie's own life is falling apart. At first, she is overjoyed by her best friend since childhood's good news and is ready to be there for Lillian, even though she is stuck in a sex-only relationship with her jerk of an ex-boyfriend. All seems to be going well with the wedding until Annie meets Whitney, who turns out to be a new best friend of Lillian. An immature I'm-a-better-friend-than-you competition ensues with each trying to outdo the other and prove that they know Lillian best. Annie takes the blows a little harder than Whitney because her life keeps getting worse and worse due to her financial situation--a struggle Whitney doesn't have in her perfect, rich life. As the plot develops, slowly a gap emerges between Annie and Lillian's friendship. Her relationship with Lillian is not the only one to suffer. She snuffs a potentially successful relationship with a police officer, Rhodes, that she meets when he pulls her over because her break lights being out. He brings some happiness to her life until he tries to encourage her to start baking again--a sensitive subject for her. She pushes him away, hurting him as a result. Annie's problems seem to be numerous and unfair, but just maybe she has the power to make her life better--something she starts to believe that after a pep talk from a dynamic character in the film and fellow bride's maid.

The Critical Eye: I have to say, I was delightfully surprised by this movie. When I first saw the previews for this movie, I was torn. I love Kristen Wiig on SNL, but it looked like just another romantic comedy about a wedding and the humor looked like it would just be gross. I finally decided to see it when I looked up some information on it and found that Kristen Wiig co-wrote the screenplay. I feel this movie further shows just how talented Kristen Wiig is. Whoever said that women cannot write comedy has obviously not read or seen anything by the women that come out of SNL. This movie is proof that women can write comedy and write good comedy. I do feel like the movie starts out a little unsettling. It shows Annie having sex with her jerky ex-boyfriend. Yeah, it successfully shows that the couple are not a match, and there is actually not a lot of nudity in this scene but I think it was a bit of a crutch. It seems like something a writer writes into a script when they want to break people's preconceptions of it. With this it seems that she knew people would assume that a woman would do something more tame, but I think the movie could have stood on it's own without opening that way and it still could have broken those preconceptions. But, that is just me being picky. The rest of the film is wonderful. It has the right balance of humor and character development. I found myself relating to Annie. The situation is something that I am sure many people have struggled with. I know sometimes I have felt like I was losing my friends to other friends. It also carries a good message in the end that we cannot blame our lousy lives on others. We have control over our choices and can fight for what we want. This movie is also different from other wedding romantic comedies because it focuses mostly on Annie and her struggles. The wedding is just one small, humorous part of it.

The Bottom Line: If you do not like romantic comedies, do not see this, because no matter how much I think this movie is worth seeing, it is a romantic comedy. If you do not like movies with bathroom humor, I would say you probably will not like this movie, but you could just look away during that scene (it is in the preview). Overall, this was full of laughs and really develops the relationships. I think it is very worth seeing.

(Not Little) Red Riding Hood

Movie Title: Red Riding Hood
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Released: March 11, 2011


Hoot Rating: I give this film One Hoot. It is classified as a horror film, but I never really felt like it was one either time I saw it. The film was mostly a fantasy-romance flick. It was enjoyable and it did keep me guessing as to who the wolf was till the very end which kept me intrigued. Some of the acting was a little laughable on the supporting end as well as some of the plot. Some of it was just a bit of a stretch. I do think it is worth seeing, but don't expect it to be the best movie you've seen in a long time or to be very traditional when it comes to the story.

The Critical Eye: "Red Riding Hood' is not the fairytale you were read as a kid. It takes the usual cautionary story and turns it into a romance. Amanda Seyfried stars as Valerie, who lives in a small village that lives in fear of the wolf. This fear is so strong the villagers sacrifice their best animals to it in order to stay safe from its wrath. This however, does not seem to worry Valerie, who is more focused on her love affair with Peter (Shilo Fernandez), who she is in love with but cannot be with because she is to marry Henry (Max Irons). As Valerie is frolicking in the woods with Peter, the Wolf defies the village's agreement and kills someone close to Valerie. This causes the village priest to seek the help of Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), who is an expert at hunting werewolves. Before he arrives, the villagers go do some wolf hunting of their own and are lead to believe they were victorious when they have only killed a normal wolf. Father Solomon arrives and tells them they have made a mistake, but they ignore his warnings and celebrate anyway. When they learn they are still in danger, they turn all power over to Father Solomon, who conducts a Salem Witch Trial-esque hunt. He informs the village that the wolf could be anyone, even those you are closest to. This makes Valerie suspicious of everyone and even places Valerie in danger herself.

"Red Riding Hood" is, overall, an entertaining movie. Although it focuses on the forbidden romance between Valerie and Peter, it does provide suspense about who the wolf is. We get the sense that Valerie knows it is someone close to her and therefor she is conflicted throughout the movie as to who to trust and love. It is directed by the same woman who directed "Twilight," so that says something about the movie. The camerawork is better in this than in "Twilight," though. I had a similar feel as "Twilight" which could be attributed to the soundtrack. The special effects are good (minus one obvious puppet wolf head) and there is little gore, which is good for some people and disappointing for others. There are some humorous parts, whether they were intentional or not is hard to say. The plot is pretty simple and straightforward, until the ending, which I find problematic in terms of Valerie's emotions, but I won't get into it because I would have to spoil the ending. I would say, though, that the end leaves room for sequels, if they choose to go the saga route.

The Bottom Line: The movie is entertaining, but if you want 'can't sleep for weeks' horror and 'pee your pants' thrills, that is not what you are going to get. It is more so a movie about relationships and trust with a CGI wolf thrown in. It is worth seeing once, but you might want to wait to rent it. Don't see it twice. The second time is quite boring. If you want to take kids to see this, I would say it is okay if you are worried about gore, but be careful because there are a few parts (maybe two parts) that are quite sexual, especially during the village celebration, which is a bit like Mardi Gras.

Just Go With It?

Movie Title: Just Go With It

Starring: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Released: February 11, 2011

Hoot Rating: I give this film One Hoot. There were slight moments of laugh-out-loud fun. Some of the humor was crude, but there were other genuinely funny moments which prevent this film from being entirely Hoot-less. Other than these brief funny moments, there is not much there to be desired.

The Critical Eye: Just Go With It is a romantic comedy where Adam Sandler plays Danny, a plastic surgeon who, because of a past heartbreak, uses a wedding band and lies of a bad wife to get dumb, but willing women to have sex with him. He has many successful years of one-night stands who swoon for a guy stuck in a bad marriage, until he meets and falls for Palmer, a girl who is not so cool with the idea of being a home-wrecker. After their roll in the sand, she finds his symbol of everlasting love (the fake ring) in his pants pocket. Rather than telling the truth and risking sounding like a douche, Danny does what comes so naturally to him and lies. The lie, of course, is not enough for the girl who wants to meet the ex, so Danny enlists the help of his assistant, Katherine, divorced mother of two and the one woman that knows all his truths, played by Jennifer Aniston. She poses as his not-so-nice, soon-to-be ex-wife. Things go smoothly during their little meeting, until she slips up and reveals she has kids, which means that she and Danny have kids. This makes Palmer like Danny even more and she wants to bond with the children. A sick and twisted extended family vacation to Hawaii ensues as well as a tangled mess of plot complications and Adam Sanldler humor.

"Just go with it" seems to be what the writers of this screenplay said to producers any time they examined the plot too closely. The focus seemed to be more on individual moments of comedy rather than on comical situations that build to a plausible climax and ending, the way a good comedy should. This is not to say that there were not some rather unique displays of comedic genius, as the crowd in the theater with me were not stingy on their laughs during certain points throughout the film. For the most part though, the physical comedies, jokes and perverted wit are an attempt to distract the audience away from all of the flows in the plot.

The writing is not the only thing to blame, however. I find it hard to believe that, given the large number of cast and crew that go into making any movie, there was not one person who campaigned hard enough to get the hideous false nose out of the movie. Yes, you read right...hideous false nose. It was a lame attempt to give Danny (Sandler) motivation to ditch vulnerability of being in love and become a liar and plastic surgeon. I must insist there had to have been a better way. I suppose it is supposed to be humorous, but it is just disturbing and a big turn-off so early in the movie. The nose goes away though, so things get a little better...at least, as much as the acting will allow it to get. This movie is what it is: A cross between a Jennifer Aniston movie and an Adam Sandler movie with the best of each cut out. Jennifer Aniston is sweet and likable while Adam Sandler is perverted and comical. Basically, they are both every character they have ever played. I suppose there is not much wrong with this except for the fact that this time they are in the same movie. I suspect I was not the only one who was a bit surprised to see them in a movie together, but I thought I'd give it a chance. Unfortunately, I was not wrong about thinking them to be a bad combination. There is no chemistry between them. Moments where I should have found myself sighing "how sweet," with my heart fluttering, I felt a bit disturbed.

The acting done by the kids was surprisingly touching and comical. Bailee Madison and Griffin Gluck played Maggie and Michael, Katherine's (Aniston) kids in this movie, and they did the comedic moments and touching moments well. However, this is a bit overshadowed by the way they are treated and talked to by Danny (Sandler). He is hardly a loving father figure and I never really believe that he cares about them the way Katherine (Aniston) seems to think he does. This is just one of the issues with the plot. The kids are treated this way because it was thought to be comical and the attempt to make the movie comical led to the neglect of creating a likable lead character. He is only a good guy in the eyes of Katherine (Aniston). Danny is a character prepared to be invested in a relationship based on lies and is willing to pull anyone in with him to make it all happen. It is okay for the main character to be comical, but he must also be likable with redeeming qualities.

Hopefully you do not think I am being too critical. I do think it is worth One Hoot because there are some very funny moments including one involving a coconut that was very funny and disturbing at the same time. You will also come away with a new term for going to the bathroom (specifically number two). It is a good escape from reality and enjoyable, just don't analyze the plot too much.

The Bottom Line: Basically, If you plan to see this movie because you love Adam Sandler's movies like Waterboy, Billy Madison, and Happy Gilmore, don't see it. If you plan to see this movie because you want to see Jennifer Aniston fall in love and have touching relationship revelations, don't see this movie. If you care at all about having a realistic plot, don't see this movie. If you care at all about having a well put together romantic comedy plot, don't see this movie. If you want to see a stupid movie that will make you laugh a lot and that has perverted moments, go see this movie. If you were planning on seeing this with your significant other for Valentine's day, don't go see this movie. Basically, I thought it was alright and worth it for the laughs.