Netflix And Chill: Strays (2023)

A comedy so memorable that I actually watched it about a year ago and couldn't bring myself, at that time, to write a full review for it, Strays is a fun concept that I'm sure will amuse many. It didn't work for me though, at least not as well as I hoped it would.

Will Ferrell voices Reggie, a cute little dog who finds himself a stray when he's abandoned by his loser of a human owner, Doug (Will Forte). Reggie soon meets Bug (Jamie Foxx), Maggie (Isla Fisher), and Hunter (Randall Park), other strays who help him adapt to life on the streets. It takes him some time to realise just how awful his owner was though, but eventually he gains some clarity. That's when he comes up with a plan to get home and, well, bite Doug's dick off.

If you like some of the cast members here then you're bound to find a few laughs. Will Ferrell plays Reggie with the kind of comedic innocence that he's done before, and it works well. Foxx is tough, but a very good friend, while Fisher and Park grow close to one another in a way that is obvious to everyone but themselves. Other voices come from Rob Riggle, Josh Gad, Sofia Vergara, Jamie Demetriou, Jimmy Tatro, and a few other fun performers. Forte is enjoyably loathsome, making his apparent destiny something that viewers will really look forward to, and there's a random and very amusing cameo from Dennis Quaid just being a version of Dennis Quaid.

Writer Dan Perrault throws in a lot of obvious gags (things revolving around peeing, pooping, or humping whatever looks humpable), and there's an entertaining sequence that has the dogs tripping after eating the wrong kind of mushrooms, but I will give him kudos for committing to a couple of the darker punchlines in ways that were slightly unexpected.

Josh Greenbaum has about three features under his belt by now. This is the least of them. While not inept or absolutely awful, it's disappointingly . . . basic. That might be down to the fact that this was done in live-action, because it would be a much better fit for some kind of animation, but it's also obvious that Greenbaum consistently makes the most obvious and uninspired choices for source material that is middling, at best.

I laughed a few times, and I was grossed out by one sequence that led to an inevitable poop-centric set-piece, but, overall, this feels like a film made about 30-40 years too late. Oh, dogs pee on things to claim them, hahaha, dogs hump lots of things, hehehe, dogs do poop a lot sometimes, hohoho. If you're going to fill your film with old standards then you need to find new or interesting ways to frame them. This doesn't.

4/10

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Netflix And Chill: Kinda Pregnant (2025)

When I saw the trailer for this latest Amy Schumer comedy I must say that I wasn't keen to see it. It didn't look good, but I knew I would inevitably get around to it sooner or later. Well, here we are, much sooner than I expected. And let me start off by just saying that Kinda Pregnant is actually kinda funny.

Schumer plays Lainy Newton, a woman who is thrown for a bit of a loop when her best friend, Kate (Jillian Bell), falls pregnant as Lainy sees her life fall apart. Her boyfriend (Damon Wayans Jr.) turns out to be no good, and Kate ends up sharing a lot of her time with another mum-to-be, Shirley (Lizze Broadway). Trying on a fake maternity bump, Lainy is immediately uplifted by the reactions of strangers around her, which is why she decides to repeat the experience, eventually heading to a yoga class for pregnant women, where she meets Megan (Brianne Howey). The pair fast become firm friends, which means that Lainy has to keep up the charade of being pregnant, even when she starts to develop a relationship with Megan's brother-in-law, Josh (Will Forte). 

Co-written by Schumer and Julie Paiva, Kinda Pregnant is directed by Tyler Spindel, who seems to have generally improved with each subsequent feature that he's helmed (although he's also been the director on a Rob Schneider TV special, but bills have got to be paid, I guess). It clocks in at about 97 minutes, paces the gags well on the way to a predictable third act, and actually has something running underneath all of the comedy that speaks to how women are treated differently, and have different expectations placed on them, when they have, or are about to have, children.

Schumer has fun in the lead role, whether being in appropriate in front of the classroom full of children she is teaching or being forgetful about the pregnant status she is showing to the world, and many laughs are shared with Bell, Howey, and Broadway. There's also a bit of scene-stealing from Urzila Carlson, who is hilariously blunt and ridiculous for a lot of the runtime, and Wayans Jr. is a very amusing jackass. Forte gets to be super-sweet throughout, and he does a great job of that, while Chris Geere, Alex Moffat, and Joel David Moore are all good fun as three very different husbands/expectant fathers.

A lot of the jokes are obvious, and most of them revolve around pratfalls or people saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, but they still made me laugh, and one or two made me laugh hard (a silly little gag about a restaurant band name was my favourite, I won't spoil it here, despite it just being very silly). This is easy enough to throw on and enjoy for the disposable entertainment it is, and it is the best thing that Amy Schumer has been Amy Schumer-y in for years.

6/10

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Scoob! (2020)

An attempt to give the Scooby-Doo brand a shot in the arm, Scoob! may fall a bit short for fans due to two main points. And one of those is the fact that the brand never feels like it needs a shot in the arm (and this is from someone who quite enjoyed the live-action movies).

The story starts with Shaggy (voiced by Will Forte) meeting a little Scooby (voiced by Frank Welker, so that is a plus). The two then meet the rest of "Mystery, Inc" before that was formed - Fred (Zac Efron), Velma (Gina Rodriguez), and Daphne (Amanda Seyfried). Years pass by, a montage shows the gang doing what they do (in a wonderfully-recreated copy of the opening titles of the cartoon I grew up with), and life is good. Which makes it a perfect time for the group to be split up, with Shaggy and Scooby meeting the Blue Falcon (Mark Wahlberg), and possibly helping to foil some nefarious plan by Dick Dastardly (Jason Isaacs).

You might have already surmised the other main problem people may have with Scoob! Yes, as seems to be the norm now for companies wanting to get lots and lots of money coming in . . . this film is also an attempt to create some kind of bizarre Hanna-Barbera movie universe. You get Blue Falcon and company, you get Dick Dastardly and Muttley, and you get a small role for Captain Caveman (and whoever thought Tracy Morgan was the best choice to voice one of my favourite cartoon characters was so far wrong that I hope they spend many sleepless nights thinking about what they have done).

The script, written by a few different scribes, works in the first third, generally, before trying to fit the gang into a wider movie universe. Then it all goes to pot, one or two witty, meta lines aside.

The same may be said of the direction from Tony Cervone, although his hands are tied by the script. But everything becomes a long, slow slide downhill once the main mystery comes into play.

The voice voice cast generally do well. It's a shame that nobody offered Lillard the chance to return to the role he made his own, but Forte doesn't do too bad as an alternative. Efron, Rodriguez, and Seyfried are a good match for their characters, Welker does his usual excellent work (which really goes without saying), and Isaacs has a lot of fun as Dick Dastardly. Unfortunately, the rest don't really fit in, be it Whalberg and his companions (voiced by Ken Jeong and Kiersey Clemons), or that unforgivable mis-casting for the Captain Caveman role. And let's not mention the clanging Simon Cowell cameo.

Scooby-Doo isn't a property that you should be able to mess up so easily, certainly not in animated form. But the creative forces behind this film manage it.

Consider my rating generous, with at least one point just for the sweet glow of nostalgia.

4/10
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Netflix And Chill: Extra Ordinary (2019)

Extra Ordinary is a supernatural comedy that benefits from that very lovely and low-key type of Irish humour that has worked so well in a variety of past gems. It's all about the characters and their fairly nonchalant way of dealing with a situation that keeps getting a bit crazier with every passing minute. A hit at many festivals, and I can see it playing well with a big audience, it sadly didn't quite work for me as well as it did for many others.

Maeve Higgins plays Rose Dooley, a driving instructor who also has a talent for communicating with the dead. This is why she ends up being contacted by Martin Martin (Barry Ward), a man who is being haunted by the spirit of his dead wife. Unbeknownst to Martin, his daughter (Sarah, played by Emma Coleman) may also need help, having been targeted by Christian Winter (Will Forte), a one-hit-wonder pop star who wants to make a deal with the devil to give his career a new lease of life.

Higgins is quite the star here, giving the kind of perfect comedic performance that will surely see her gaining some more roles in the near future (although some have been recognising her talent over the past few years already). She's the reason that this works as well as it does, and her scenes with Ward are all very good. But that makes it harder to understand how Forte doesn't quite work in his role. I've been a big fan of him for many years, the guy has great natural talent, but his turn here just doesn't work. It's somehow either too low-key or too weighed down by the expectations of the stereotype (the faded pop star longing for the return of his golden years). I'd go so far as saying that a number of his scenes see him outshone by his onscreen wife (played by Claudia O'Doherty).

Perhaps Higgins shines as the star because a) well . . . she's the star, and b) she was able to work more into the script, alongside Demian Fox. The main body of the script was co-written by the directors, Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman, so it's hard to consider who should get credit for the better moments, but Higgins has so many great little moments that it would seem obvious that she knows how to shape things slightly to play to her strengths.

As for the rest, it's all competently done. Ahern and Loughman show what needs to be shown, and make great use of their relatively small budget, whether they're showing ghosts onscreen, demons, or just another personality coming through a host body, complete with materialised cigarette. It's just that everything seems to sit in a strange middle area, being quite simple and yet having too many elements in the mix that get in the way of the comedy. You have a main character with a strange talent, and then she meets someone else with a different strange talent. You have a villain who could be an amusing and over the top character, but he ends up being quite banal and mediocre most of the time (which I know is done for comedic effect, it just doesn't feel as fun as it could be). And there's a backstory that plays into things, despite not needing as much time devoted to it as it gets.

I liked Extra Ordinary. I just didn't love it. It made me chuckle occasionally. It tried to be a bit different from many other comedies that have used the horror genre trappings over the past decade or so. And it's worth your time. I just think it may be one you enjoy more in the right company.

6/10

Prime Time: My Life As A Courgette (2016)

Let me start this review with a couple of clarifying statements. One, I am reviewing the version of the movie that I saw with an English-speaking cast. Two, I am reviewing this film by not really reviewing it. I do intend to review it, but I think I will get sidetracked very soon.

My Life As A Courgette is a film that has been on my radar for the past couple of years. I'd heard it was good. I had no idea it would run so closely to some of my own experiences.

It sometimes amazes me that we survive our teenage years. All those changes happening, every emotion being the best and the worst ever (it's a few years of extremes that those who suffer from manic depression/bipolar disorder end up dealing with for their entire lives), and being surrounded by adults who act as if they never went through the same thing. Teenage years are the times when you should make mistakes, be angry and rebellious, and be able to rely on your elders to keep/get you back on the right path.

Sadly, that doesn't always happen. This film is about a young boy (a pre-teen but that's neither here nor there, as we all know what lies ahead for him) who is placed in a foster home after the loss of his alcoholic mother. He has to make friends, get used to the new environment that will be his home, and then, to make things worse, he falls for a young girl who is also brought to the home.

My mother is still alive, but she helped to make my life a living hell for my teen years, all thanks to the alcohol problem that she was never able to overcome. Oh, it was okay when I was hungry and knew that I could take some money from her purse because she couldn't have possibly managed to keep track of her spending the last time she went to the shops to buy the essentials (cider and cigarettes). Or I could stay out a bit later, or have days off school, because the person supposed to look after me had no sense of the time, or even what day it was.  It wasn't okay when I was not allowed to sleep because I was the only company she had, the ear to bend, the person to take out her anger on. It wasn't okay when I went through the usual rebellious teenage phase and was made to feel like a devil for it. Oh, I'm only mildly exaggerating there. I was kicked and punched while on my gran's sofa, while my gran was off to make us a cuppa, and told I WAS a devil. It wasn't okay when I had a glass bottle smashed over my head. And it wasn't okay when I was eventually put in full-time care, at the age of 15.

And that's where this path converges back with the relevance of this movie. Going into care as a kid, no matter what the reason for it is, feels just like going in to some kind of prison. You have no idea what the other residents there have done. You take a while to make your space into YOUR space. And the social stigma makes you feel like you're to blame, somehow. My Life As A Courgette gets that feeling spot on. It's all done in a way that makes it appropriate to the target audience (I will always feel grateful that I didn't go through some of the horrors that I heard about from other kids in the social care system) but the emotional journey of the main character is one that will be immediately recognisable to anyone who has been in that position.

Based on the novel by Gilles Paris, the script by Céline Sciamma, as well as a number of other contributors, balances the fear and uncertainty of the main character with the positivity of those who all have his best interests at heart. Director Claude Barras, edging into feature territory (this runs at JUST over an hour) after a number of shorts, does an excellent job. The animation style suits the subject matter, and the way in which the children view the world and strive to keep their own safe spaces within it, and I cannot think of any major criticisms. Of course, that is tied in with my lack of objectivity, given the subject matter, but I hope others can empathise with many of the moments depicted onscreen, even if they've not been in the same exact situations.

Cast-wise, Erick Abbate and Ness Krell are Courgette and Camille, the girl he takes a shine to, respectively, and you have a lovely supporting turn from Nick Offerman, playing the police officer who takes Courgette to the home and maintains contact with him. Everyone else does work that manages to maintain the same high standard, from Romy Beckman as the kid who tries to act like the top dog in the home, to Will Forte and Ellen Page as a couple of the adult staff members.

This is very good indeed. In fact, if you have been through ANY traumatic time as a child, or even as an adult, then I would say it's essential viewing. And pass it on to anyone else, young or old, you think may benefit from seeing it.

9/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.

Ani-MAY-tion Month: Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 (2013)

I really enjoyed Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. Really REALLY enjoyed it. So I don't know why I assumed the sequel was just some rushed cash-in, without any of the same people in the main voice roles. It's not. In fact, this is a sequel on a par with the first movie. It's consistently cute from start to finish, but manages to undercut that cuteness with sharp humour, amusing puns (okay, I found some of them hilarious), and bright, imaginative sequences throughout.

Leading directly on from the events of the first movie, the residents of Swallow Falls are invited to move elsewhere while their island and town are cleaned up. Inventor Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) is given the chance of a lifetime, when he's offered a job at LIVE Corp, the company ruled over by his hero, Chester V (Will Forte). But Chester V has a secret agenda, and only wants Flint nearby to keep an eye on him. The machine that caused so much trouble in the first movie hasn't shut down. It is, in fact, now helping to create a variety of food-based lifeforms. Flint is asked to go back to the island to help fix the situation, and his friends won't let him go back alone.

Just like the first movie, every aspect of this film just feels right. That's not to say that it's a perfect film, oh no, but it IS a load of fun from start to finish, full of creativity and jokes that should make you laugh out loud (well, they made ME laugh out loud). Hader and Forte are both very good in their roles, but they're helped out by a supporting cast that includes Anna Faris, Andy Samberg, Benjamin Bratt, James Caan, Terry Crews (voicing the character originally voiced by Mr. T in the first film), and Kristen Schaal.

Directors Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn have a lot of fun working from the script by Erica Rivinoja, John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein. They have so much fun, in fact, that it fills up almost every frame, guaranteeing that viewers of all ages will keep smiling throughout.

Anyone who hates some quality punning may be a bit put out, but I distrust anyone who hates some quality punning anyway. Everyone else is pretty much guaranteed a great time. If you liked the first movie as much as I did then you'll also like this. It's smart, it's silly, it's highly rewatchable. Get to it ASAP if you have good taste (taste, see, because of all the food content in the movie - see? See?).*

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/Cloudy-Chance-Meatballs-Disc-Combo/dp/B0090SI39I/ref=sr_1_4?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1399762396&sr=1-4&keywords=cloudy+with+a+chance+of+meatballs+2

*Yeah, sorry about that.

The Watch (2012)

A comedy sci-fi movie, starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Richard Ayoade and Jonah Hill, and directed by Akiva Schaffer, The Watch just falls short in the comedy department. Of course, there will be many people reading this review who immediately switch off once they find out that Stiller and Vaughn are involved, but I'm a fan of those guys and they have some good moments in this movie. Just not enough of them.

The plot is simple enough. There's an alien invasion happening, but nobody is aware of it. The only people who stumble on to the horrible truth are four men (those actors named above) who have recently come together in a newly-formed neighbourhood watch group. Unfortunately, they may not be the best people to deal with the situation, even if they're more up to the task than the main local law enforcement (headed up by Will Forte).

The Watch should have been a lot better than it is. I know that there are people who dislike most of the main stars, but I'm a fan of their work and looked forward to seeing them all having fun together onscreen. Unfortunately, the mix of alien invasion and comedy just doesn't work here. I laughed at a number of scenes, and I enjoyed the last few scenes, but the two main elements of the movie never feel as if they belong beside one another.

Everyone gets to have at least one chance to steal a scene, with Ayoade getting more chances than anyone else, because he's Ayoade (I'm a big fan of his work, in case you couldn't tell). Forte is very funny in his supporting role, Rosemarie DeWitt, Erin Moriarty, Billy Crudup and Jared Stern all cause some stress, in very different ways, for a few of the main characters, and R. Lee Ermey stretches his acting ability by portraying a foul-mouthed old man quick to grab his gun.

The whole movie gets by more on goodwill than anything else, but the script by Jared Stern, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg manages to set up a solid enough foundation for the main performers to have fun on, which allows for the film to be liked or loathed in equal measure, depending on your taste.

Many will view the fact that I liked it as just another example of how bad my taste can be.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watch-Blu-ray-UV-Copy/dp/B006DZY6Z6/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1389128488&sr=1-2&keywords=the+watch

MacGruber (2010)

He's the ultimate tool - that was the tagline on the posters for MacGruber and that sums up this MacGyver spoof, developed from a Saturday Night Live sketch.

Co-written by Will Forte, John Solomon and director Jorma Taccone, MacGruber is the kind of film that you probably already know if you're going to like or not. It's dumb, often crude and certainly not subtle.

Forte stars in the title role, teamed up with Vicki St. Elmo (played by Kristen Wiig) and Lt. Dizon Piper (Ryan Phillippe) as he gets a chance to capture and bring to justice the man responsible for the most tragic day in his life, Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer). MacGruber isn't any good with guns, isn't any good with people and isn't any good at . . . . . . well . . . anything. But give him some paperclips, a pen and a jumble of wires and he somehow manages to come good. Sometimes.

I really thought I was going to like MacGruber and was surprised that I was so disappointed by it. I like all of the people involved and when I first heard of the central premise I thought it would be great fun. Sadly, it's not.

I think the main problem with the movie is that they make MacGruber SO useless. You just can't believe that this is a man who ever managed the achievements he is supposed to have under his belt. If this movie struck the kind of balance that, for example, Get Smart managed then it would have been a hell of a lot more fun.

Yes, I did indeed chuckle at the rather amusing use of celery and certainly laughed hard at MacGruber's reaction to the aftermath of an accident involving a hell of a lot of C4 but I didn't find anything that funny about the rest of the movie. Sex scenes played for laughs fell flat, the constant failings of the lead character quickly became annoying and the finale was just one dull moment after another, though I admit that there were intermittent moments of minor mirth.

Phillippe is great as the team-mate who soon realises the sad truth about the man he once idolised while Wiig does raise some laughs thanks to a couple of ridiculous disguises but Forte is saddled with a character who really is only one joke and one that's not all that funny. Kilmer . . . . . . his presence in the movie is frankly bewildering although he admirably goes along with everything that's thrown on screen.

Ironically, a lot more laughter could and should have been generated here but it limps into the distinctly average category and only just avoids being a complete dud.

5/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MacGruber-Blu-ray-Region-Free-Forte/dp/B003XRE4PY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1378037524&sr=8-2&keywords=macgruber