Summer Of 69 (2025)

I know this may seem like a strange thing to say, especially coming from someone as far away from their teen years as I am now, but there have been some absolutely fantastic teen comedies released over the past few years. One or two have been noticed, but a couple of them seem to have been sadly overlooked or ignored. Incoming is one that I tried to bring some attention to a few months ago. Summer Of 69 is the one I am recommending today.

As the school year comes to an end, Abby (Sam Morelos) decides that it's time to get what she wants. And what she wants is Max (Matt Cornett). She figures she can get Max by giving him what he wants, which is the sexual pleasure of a 69, apparently. The only problem is that Abby is not experienced in sexual matters, at all. So she hires a stripper/escort (Santa Monica, played by Chloe Fineman) who she believes can teach her all she needs to know. She's going to offer $20,000, which will give Santa Monica the money she needs to stop her workplace being sold to a sleazy new owner (Charlie Day).

The feature directorial debut of Jillian Bell, who has spent most of her career in a variety of comedy roles in films covering an entire range from awful to great, Summer Of 69 has a great cast of characters, a load of references to other teen movies (and, considering the main premise, it has particular fun with Risky Business moments), and, most importantly, plenty of laughs. Bell also co-wrote the screenplay with Jules Byrne and Liz Nico, and the end result is a very clever use of teen movie tropes to create that strangely brilliant blend of the lewd and the sweet that some of the best teen movies have.

The cast all help a lot, particularly Morelos in the lead role. She may not have been in the business long, relatively speaking, but this is the kind of performance that should have her actively pursued by those wanting to make use of her comedic skills. She's great at delivering the dialogue, keeping a straight face in the middle of a load of absurdity (the film has her character often disappearing into daydreams as she considers her plans), and fully committing to the moments that are all about physical comedy as her awkwardness clashes against her attempts to learn how to be sexy. Fineman is very good alongside Morelos, and she's allowed to be a mix of strong exterior and vulnerable interior, allowing her to embody the standard teacher who also has to learn a lesson or two of her own. Cornett is allowed to play his desirable male without being a complete pig, helped by the fact that he spends most of the movie unaware of how Abby feels about him. Day is a lot of fun as a sleazy pig, Paula Pell is very funny as Betty Spaghetti, Natalie Morales is decent as a woman who seems to be everything that Santa Monica isn't, and Fernando Carsa is very amusing and entertaining as someone who can offer advice to everyone at the school while he's hidden underneath a large team mascot outfit.

I smiled all the way through this, even though here were some minor things I could pick at (look, I'm not being a perv, but it's strange to see films that feature strippers, or a strip club, in so many scenes without having any of the strippers actually looking as if they take their tops off . . . but that's what you get when the film isn't all about indulging the male gaze, which is as understandable as it is unbelievable). The 101-minute runtime feels perfect, the soundtrack has some excellent choices (including a track at the end of the film that references another classic teen movie), and it's heartwarming to see the lessons being learned by the two leads, especially when viewers are often one or two steps ahead of them.

I really cannot think of who would dislike this. It has clever gags, it has clever dumb gags, it has an entertaining ebb and flow between sexual honesty and naivety, and Morelos and Fineman work as well together as any other two comedy leads I can think of. Get to it when you want a good laugh. If you end up disappointed then I'll throw out my fluffy animal costume and refrain from offering any more movie advice to those who metaphorically sit down beside me.

9/10

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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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Mubi Monday: Sword Of Trust (2019)

Life is funny. One little extra bit of knowledge can completely reframe and recontextualise everything around you, from childhood incidents to relationships, from societal problems to art. I decided to watch Sword Of Trust because I am quite the big fan of Marc Maron nowadays, and have been a full-time listener to his podcast for a couple of years now. But checking the credits made me almost slap myself in the face for my ignorance. Maron has spent a lot of time on his podcast discussing the pain and grief he went through after the death of a loved one, Lynn Shelton. Despite being aware of her work over the years, I never did think of the Lynn Shelton that I'd seen in various acting and directing roles as THAT Lynn Shelton. Now I know better, and I also know that I am a fan of her work.

Shelton is the director and co-writer (with Michael Patrick O'Brien) here, as well as appearing onscreen in a small role, and what she delivers is a wonderful and gently amusing look at, well, how profitable it can be to cater to those who have chosen to believe in conspiracy theories, and how some people can be sold on conspiracy theories as they are fooled into thinking themselves smarter and more open-minded than others.

Maron plays Mel, a pawn shop owner who ends up heading down quite the rabbit hole when Cynthia (Jillian Bell) and Mary (Michaela Watkins) walk into his store. Cynthia has inherited a sword, and she's looking to sell it for a good price. In fact, she wants to sell it for a very good price, considering the fact that it seemingly proves a very different interpretation of American history. Mel smells a load of crap, of course, but decides he could work with Cynthia and Mary when it becomes clear that there are some sellers who are ready to believe in what the sword seems to represent. The main buyer (Dan Bakkedahl) starts the ball rolling via his middle-man, Hog Jaws (Toby Huss), but everyone will have to trust one another when it comes time to actually complete the negotiation.

You really should watch Sword Of Trust for the same reasons I watched it. Anyone who is aware of, and likes, Maron will enjoy this, particularly in the many moments when his character feels very close to the persona he has presented to the public for a number of decades now. It isn't just the Maron show though, and there's plenty of enjoyment to be had with the work of Bell, Watkins, Bakkedahl, Huss, Jon Bass (playing a shop assistant, Nathaniel, who seems to have been retained for the few times when he can help his boss with tech), and Al Elliott (as Jimmy, a friendly owner of a neighbouring business). Even the much smaller roles are cast well, guaranteeing that viewers are never more than a moment or two away from a chuckle.

Everyone is assisted by a great script, of course, and both Shelton and O'Brien do a fantastic job of taking their slight, and slightly ridiculous, central idea and turning it into something that allows for some great commentary mixed with great character moments. Shelton may have a simple and straightforward directorial style, through personal choice or budgetary necessity, but it works perfectly with the tone and pacing of the whole thing.

Although it was making a very specific point back when first released in 2019, Sword Of Trust manages to feel even more relevant and critical of the conversations and discourse happening all around us right now. That's a shame, in terms of how society has continued to slide further into decline, but it makes the film feel very close to essential viewing.

8/10

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Prime Time: Candy Cane Lane (2023)

You know you're in trouble during the festive season when you start to focus on decorations and competition against what others deem to be the true value of Christmas. Well, maybe you don't know it, but you will soon enough. Especially if you're a character in a Christmas movie.

Eddie Murphy is Chris Carver, a man who decides to put all of his time and energy into winning a neighbourhood Christmas decorating contest in order to win a prize that will make him feel much more secure after recently being laid off from his work. Chris has a loving and supportive wife, Carol (Tracee Ellis Ross), an athletic daughter (Joy, played by Genneya Walton) who wants to keeps butting heads with her folks when it comes to deciding on the next venue for her further education, a musical son (Nick, played by Thaddeus J. Mixson) who isn't doing so well in his maths class, and young Holly (Madison Thomas), a little girl who just seems to want everyone to have the cheer and happiness that she has in her life. The whole family has to work together when Chris inadvertently signs himself up for a Christmas-themed challenge set by a mischievous elf named Pepper (Jillian Bell) that would see him turned into a small Christmas ornament if he loses.

Written by a relative newcomer, Kelly Younger (who, before this, only has a couple of muppet projects in his screenplay portfolio), this is a high-concept film that looks to have a bigger budget than your average Christmas movie, judging by the CGI used throughout. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t work better, with the highlights jostling alongside mediocrity in a narrative that never seems to flow or build any real sense of momentum.

Director Reginald Hudlin may have spent most of the last few decades working on various TV shows, but he’s a very capable pair of hands, and he shows good instincts in the main sequences that show the various members of the Carver family playing to their individual strengths.

Murphy does okay in a lead role that fails to let him shine, he has to be the dad/husband learning important lessons and he does well enough with that. Ross has less to do, but steps up to the mark when it is her turn to give everyone a supportive shake. As for the younger family members, each one is kept in their respective character trait pigeonhole. Thomas has to be sweet, and she is. Walton has to show her character is a fast runner, and determined to start becoming more independent, and she does. And Mixson gets to show off the musical talent that his parents don’t consider a serious endeavour worth focusing on. As for Bell, she is fun in a role that allows her to once again mix slight menace with her kookiness (there may be better words to use here, I don’t have the coffee or time to find them). Nick Offerman does a decent impression of a typically Dickensian character. And you get a cameo from Pentatonix, the a cappella group who seem to have made Christmas a firm fixture at the heart of their output.

While it has a polish and level of care trying to ensure that it supersedes the many films you get at this time of year from the likes of Hallmark and other companies who deliver annual servings of cosy comfort, Candy Cane Lane is actually on a par with a lot of them. It’s very tame stuff, very predictable, and very disposable. There are some other highlights, including a fun turn from Ken Marino, a couple of TV hosts who have very different styles, and an excellent cameo when we finally see a Santa, but they are not enough to make it worth rewatching. Like a lot of films you can find on almost every channel this month, this is an amusing distraction. Nothing more, nothing less.

6/10

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Godmothered (2020)

Crashing through from the fairytale world to the harsher realities of our own world is a seam that has been mined by Disney before, most notably with the very enjoyable Enchanted. And if you liked that movie then you should like this one. It's very similar.

Jillian Bell plays Eleanor, a fairy godmother in her training years. Unfortunately, by the time/if she ever qualifies, it may all be too late. People don't seem to need fairy godmothers any more. Nobody is getting their "happy ever after". Eleanor decides to change things by making things right for a young girl named Mackenzie, after finding her letter in the archives. That letter, however, was written some time ago, and Mackenzie (Isla Fisher) is now a stressed-out single mother, working for a news station that seems determined to gain ratings by focusing on negative stories and fear-mongering. Mackenzie seems to have accepted that she's not going to have a "happy ever after", but she may also be holding back her daughters, Mia (Willa Skye) and Jane (Jillian Shea Spaeder).

Your enjoyment of Godmothered will depend on a number of factors, not least of which is how much you warm to Jillian Bell in her main role. I tend to find Bell very hit and miss, depending on how irritating her character is supposed to be (and she tends to be given irritating characters in many of her films), but she's a lot of fun as the trainee with more enthusiasm than natural talent, doing her best to get results without the full skillset that some others have. You also have to accept the predictability of it all, the weak mix of characters, and the sweetness of the big main lesson. Having said that, you usually have to accept those things with most Disney movies, so it's no major inconvenience if you know the kind of film you're about to watch.

Although the script by Kari Granlund and Melissa Stack doesn't take any chances, director Sharon Maguire keeps everything moving along nicely enough, and staves off boredom with some smaller-scale set-pieces (be it Mackenzie being inconvenienced by a huge ballgown that has magically appeared on her or a race-against-the-clock finale that relies on Eleanor finally perfecting one or two of the traditional spells).

Bell and Fisher have fun together, Spaeder and Skye are just fine, Santiago Cabrera is a prospective "prince", literally named Hugh Prince, and Utkarsh Ambudkar provides some laughs as the boss who thinks bad news = ratings. June Squibb is a delight as Agnes, the fairy godmother who narrates the tale, and Jane Curtin is the strict head of the fairy godmothers who ends up racing to stop Eleanor making what she assumes will be a big mess of things.

Light and enjoyable from start to finish, the biggest thing going against Godmothered is that, while it wanders through some very similar terrain, it isn't Enchanted. That's no reason to criticise this movie too harshly though. One Disney movie being very similar to another Disney movie is hardly anything new. It's often part of the appeal.

6/10

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Prime Time: Brittany Runs A Marathon (2019)

The feature debut from writer-director Paul Downs Colaizzo, I would advise everyone against seeking out Brittany Runs A Marathon if they are seeking the big laughs and hilarity mentioned in some of the quotes used to sell it. It's not that funny. I'm not saying this in a dismissive way. It never really feels as if it's meant to be funny, beyond the obvious amusement to be had as viewers watch Brittany begin her journey with no small amount of anger and frustration.

Jillian Bell is Brittany, a woman living in New York who has settled into a pattern of drinking and having fun with her friends, not looking after herself too well, and becoming slightly overweight. This isn't a problem for Brittany, at least she doesn't think of it as a problem until a doctor tells her that she should aim to lose weight and work on some healthier lifestyle choices. That starts her thinking about just what her main role in life is. And it leads to her eventually joining a running club that she is invited to by her neighbour, Catherine (Michaela Watkins). She also befriends a fellow runner, Seth (Micah Stock), and gets a dog/house-sitting job, where she meets a strange free-spirited man named Jern (Utkarsh Ambudkar). All of those people, plus her brother-in-law (Demetrius, played by Lil Rel Howery), help Brittany to figure out her way forward through life. But the road ahead won't be easy, and won't always necessarily be without setbacks.

Inspired by a real person (Brittany O'Neill) who was a roommate of the writer-director (maybe still is, for all I know), Brittany Runs A Marathon works as well as it does because it feels quite honest when it counts most. I put off watching this for some time because I assumed it was going to be a gender-switched version of Run, Fat Boy, Run. That's simply not the case. Brittany setting her sights on a marathon goal is just one aspect of the way she starts to recalibrate her vision, and her self-image. The marathon is a huge deal, I'm not going to deny that, but it's also insignificant in comparison to what else Brittany starts to work on while getting herself in the kind of condition required to run such an event.

Bell gives a very good performance in the lead role, starting off with a performance similar to many others that she's given us before showing the slipping of the mask and fighting constantly against her guard being let down. Watkins and Stock lend her strong support, paralleling the characters they play in the movie. Ambudkar comes along at just the right time, livening up the film when it needs a small boost, and Howery is a shining beacon of goodness whenever he's onscreen (well . . . his character is, and he plays him well). It's also worth mentioning Alice Lee, who plays Gretchen, the kind of friend you only ever want as a friend when you don't realise that you're worth better friends. Lee is suitably inconsiderate and awful.

Fair play to Colaizzo for not taking the easy option here, as this could have just been a straightforward comedy vehicle for Bell. I'm sure that would have worked just as well for many people, but this way of treating the material allows for some more thought-provoking moments, which are more of a surprise after those opening scenes that help to welcome you into the story with some laughs. Because of that important decision, you may not get quite what you wanted from this, but you may get something even better.

7/10

Rough Night (2017)

2017 ended up being the year in which we had two big cinema releases focusing on women getting together and letting their hair down. But where Girls Trip may have tried to play the premise with a surprising emphasis on some more dramatic moments, Rough Night is content to just go for the laughs, with fleeting emotional moments doled out as and when the character development needs to be prodded to the next point.

Scarlett Johansson plays Jess, a young woman about to get married. She's also hoping to become an elected official, although this is in doubt as too many members of the public don't find her that appealing. She is behind the polls to a man who accidentally sent out a dick pic. He apologised, but only while sending out another dick pic that was obviously intended to go out the first time around. So it's no wonder that Jess is looking forward to some fun with her friends, played by Jillian Bell, Zoe Kravitz, Ilana Glazer, and Kate McKinnon (playing an Australian who is unfamiliar with the rest of the group). Unfortunately, it doesn't take that long for someone to go and accidentally kill the male stripper who was hired as entertainment. Which means the fun plans have to be altered to body disposal plans. And hilarity ensues. Perhaps.

With a plot that seems to mix Bridesmaids and Very Bad Things (without the spiralling chain of deaths), Rough Night isn't going to claim any points for originality. Everyone involved seems to know this, with every main sequence played out almost exactly as you'd expect, but that's not a bad thing when the aim is always to simply amuse and entertain viewers.

Director Lucia Aniello, who co-wrote the screenplay with Paul W. Downs (also starring as Johansson's husband-to-be), makes her feature debut, and shows that she's a safe pair of hands for this kind of material. Keeping the whole thing at just about 100 minutes, Aniello and Downs know just how to pitch the elements that could seem distasteful in clumsier hands (the main death, a plot point that hinges on someone getting themselves involved with a pair of swingers, even the ongoing strand that shows Downs driving across the country, wired on energy drinks and wearing an adult diaper, as he frets that his fiance may no longer love him), and they give

Glazer and Kravitz may be the weakest of the leads, although it's safe to say that they're not given very much to work with at all, but that doesn't matter when you have Bell and McKinnon bickering at one another fine style, and Johansson trying to remain calm and level-headed throughout the escalating madness. Downs is also very good in his scenes, given some fun support from Bo Burnham in a cameo role, and Ty Burrell and Demi Moore have fun in the couple of scenes they're given.

It's not great, it's entirely predictable (seriously, if you can't see how the third act is going to pan out then I assume you have avoided every mainstream cinema release since the mid-1970s), but it still manages to be funny enough to make it a decent prospect to accompany some snacks and the beverage of your choice.

6/10

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Office Christmas Party (2016)

The office Christmas party, eh. It's an annual tradition for many. The one night of the year when everyone drinks too much, some embarrassing truths are voiced, folk photocopy various body parts, the dancing varies from the sublime to the ridiculous, and occasionally someone goes up to the big boss and says or does something so insane that they are never seen in the workplace again.

With all that in mind, it's surprising that we haven't had a big Christmas comedy based around that tradition before now. Am I forgetting any other candidates? If so, I am happy to stand corrected (and can only blame my failing memory). What isn't surprising is that this particular film tries to take the premise and use it as the structure upon which to hang a bawdy comedy along the lines of The Night Before, Horrible Bosses, and We're The Millers. I mention the first because it's Christmassy, obviously, but the other two are perhaps more appropriate, mainly because of how they use Jennifer Aniston and benefit from a selection of great supporting players.

Jason Bateman stars as Josh Parker, a man who is working for a tech firm that might not survive beyond Christmas. The boss (T. J. Miller) has been ordered by his sister (Jennifer Aniston) to avoid throwing any kind of party, and to not give anyone a Christmas bonus. Which means, of course, that he instead decides to try winning over a potential new client by throwing the biggest, wildest Christmas party ever and letting people win their cash bonuses inside a money tornado machine. This is a nightmare for the uptight head of HR (Kate McKinnon), and soon leads to a potential nightmare for everyone else, when they realise that their jobs are on the line and their boss may not have taken the best approach to guaranteeing that the business remains solvent.

Josh Gordon and Will Speck directed this, both also responsible for the highly enjoyable Blades Of Glory, and the script was written by Dan Mazer, Justin Malen, and Laura Solon. Two directors and three writers. But those three writers were developing a script from a story that was created by THREE OTHER WRITERS, apparently. How hard is it to throw together some big laughs for a comedy that is set during an office Christmas party? Very hard, it would seem, because there aren't many big laughs here.

The film isn't actually bad, and I had lots of little chuckles all the way through, but there aren't really any moments that stand out. No one memorable scene that you can talk about with friends as a shared favourite moment. And that's a great shame, considering the people involved. Hell, there's even a fleeting dance off between two characters that should have been a highlight, but is instead too short and safe to prompt anything more than a wry smile.

Bateman does his usual thing here, and has it locked down as usual. Miller is someone I like, but I could absolutely see him as being the grating type, so be warned. Olivia Munn also plays one of the main characters, but she's really not onscreen for anything more than plot progression and to motivate the growth that we expect to see in Bateman's character, who spends a lot of time being told how he always plays things too safe. Aniston is also ill-served by the script, although that comes from her being the nominal villain of the piece and having to play things that way as one-note as possible until the writers change things too late for anyone to really care. McKinnon is very funny, but I am pretty sure she can spin gold out of the most threadbare material at this point, and Courtney B. Vance, Rob Corddry, Vanessa Bayer, Randall Park, and Karan Soni are among the other wasted talents. Jillian Bell is a definite highlight, and the writers do well to bring her character in at just the right times.

It will do if you want a few laughs from something that isn't also drowning in sugary sweetness, but Office Christmas Party is certainly not bound to become a festive tradition. I doubt it will be remembered in a few years time, and that's no bad thing.

6/10

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22 Jump Street (2014)

21 Jump Street was one of the best comedies of the last few years so I was very happy when I heard that all of the main players were returning for a sequel, imaginatively titled 22 Jump Street. Once the trailer landed I was even happier. It looked like it was going to be a lot of fun. Well, having just seen the movie, I can assure fans of the first film that they will have almost as much fun with this brilliant follow-up.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum return to play Schmidt and Jenko, two undercover cops who have managed to get some good results, despite moments of staggering ineptitude. After going undercover at a high school for their first big job they end up now going to college. As Deputy Chief Hardy (Nick Offerman) goes to great lengths to point out that everyone wants them to do exactly what they did the first time around. More money has been ploughed into the project, the setting is slightly different, but the journey taken by our two leads should be a very familiar one. Nobody wants it to be different. Schmidt and Jenko may beg to differ, but they soon end up reprising a number of familiar comedy beats.

The plot isn't all that important to 22 Jump Street. What matters here is the meta brilliance of it all and the sheer exuberance in almost every scene. Sure, there may be some people who dislike seeing scenes that feel like pop video moments interrupting a standard narrative, but it's hard not to be swayed by the fun that Tatum and Hill are obviously having. The other main cast members - Ice Cube, Wyatt Russell, Amber Stevens, Peter Stormare, Jillian Bell, Jimmy Tatro - also get to have a good time, with almost everyone onscreen getting involved with at least one big laugh. Ice Cube and Offerman both steal a few scenes, and there are a good number of laughs packed into the one sequence that allows Rob Riggle and Dave Franco to show up again.

The script, written by Michael Bacall, Oren Uziel, and Rodney Rothman, isn't exactly a gold-plated classic, with a lot of the dialogue sounding completely unfunny out of context, but the execution of the material by directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (who are now 4 for 4), and the chemistry between the two leads, more than makes up for the shortcomings. There's also that meta coating that gives a lot of the lines more than one meaning, often quite audaciously.

As a comedy, it works. As a comedy sequel, it works. As an action comedy, it . . . . . . just manages to get by, but only thanks to one or two set-pieces at the start and end of the film. As a brilliantly sly sequel that gleefully plays with expectations and spends plenty of time ridiculing itself, however, I put it on a par with Gremlins 2: The New Batch. It's a cheeky way to recycle elements from the first movie, but it works.

I don't think you'll find a better film this year that includes such a strong bromance, a pair of twins uncannily in sync with one another (played by The Lucas Brothers), Patton Oswalt, Ice Cube in an office that LOOKS like an ice cube, a nod to Benny Hill, and some slam poetry that may feel very familiar to fans of So I Married An Axe Murderer. But let me know if you do.

8/10

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