I Want Candy (2007)

Well, here we are with a British sex comedy. Let's all take a moment to wipe our minds before we go on. There used to be the solid reputation, often viewed with rose-tinted glasses, of the Carry On films, of course. And things got naughtier with "Adventures Of..." and "Confessions Of..." movies. But, let's face it, British movies have done better over the past few decades when they focus on the romance over sex. On the one hand you have a number of films featuring Hugh Grant, and on the other hand you have, ummmm, films like Fat Slags and Sex Lives Of The Potato Men (neither of which I can envision appearing on blu-ray any time soon).

So where does I Want Candy fit in? It's the tale of two students who want to make their first film. Joe (Tom Riley) and John AKA Baggy (Tom Burke) have a vision, and they have a lot of faith in their own talent. What they don't have is anyone willing to back them. Until they make a deal with Doug Perry (Eddie Marsan). Unfortunately, Doug is in the porn business, and the deal is made on the understanding that Joe and John have the hottest adult entertainment star, Candy Fiveways (Carmen Electra), in their movie. It's then up to the young film-makers to come up with a plan that pleases everyone and allows them to get their film made.

Directed by Stephen Surjik (who has a hell of a lot of TV work in his filmography, with his biggest movie release being Wayne's World 2, back in 1993), I Want Candy isn't the kind of film that has any individual style stamped all over it. It's rude without being explicit, I may have already forgotten some details but I don't believe you ever see any actual nudity, the cast of main characters are ably supported by a decent enough ensemble, the soundtrack contains a cover version of the song with the same name as the movie, and the ending is completely unbelievable, but in line with the feelgood nature of the film.

A lot of people worked on the script, far too many than you would expect for something this lightweight. There was an "original idea" by Piers Thompson and Olivia Glazebrook, that was fleshed out into a script by Peter Hewitt, Phil Hughes, Jamie Minoprio, and Jonathan M. Stern, and then some further dialogue was added by Fred Wolf and Jimmy Carr, apparently (the latter has a fun cameo role that may have allowed him to improv some of his dialogue, or maybe he also helped with some other parts of the movie). And despite all of those people involved, it's never as funny as it could be. I suspect this is partly to do with keeping it a bit too tame, and also partly to do with not having the perfect cast in place.

Riley and Burke are good in their lead roles, they're just not great. Riley just doesn't have the charisma to sell his character as well as someone else might have done, and Burke is hampered by the script wanting to keep him very much in the "sensitive young artist" box. Marsan is a lot of fun in his role, the potential villain of the piece, and Electra just has to turn up and look incredibly desirable, which she does. Easily. Felicity Montagu and Philip Jackson are good value as Joe's mum and dad, Mackenzie Crook has fun in his role as a teacher trying to stay cool with the kids, and Michelle Ryan is the female friend who keeps being very helpful and loyal to a main character who cannot recognise something with the potential to blossom right under his nose (I am on about romance, that is NOT a porn term . . . I hope).

This isn't a terrible film. It's certainly not half as bad as those awful examples I mentioned in the opening paragraph. It's just not any great shakes. Relatively amusing enough while it's on, very easy to forget as soon as it's finished, and bottom of the pile when compared to other films in the same vein (the Risky Business type of film, arguably most successfully reworked as The Girl Next Door).

5/10

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

Home Alone: The Holiday Heist (2012)

AKA Home Alone 5.

For anyone interested, here are my reviews of Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, Home Alone 3 and Home Alone 4. You can buy them all in this handy 4-pack.

Yes, there have now been FIVE Home Alone films. Five. Let that fact sink in, bearing in mind how many fans are still clamouring for one sequel to Dredd.

Christian Martyn plays the young lad who is about to be left home alone, sort of, this time around. He plays Finn Baxter, a boy who quickly becomes convinced that the new home he has moved into is haunted. It's not. What it is, however, is home to a secret stash secreted away many years earlier by a famous bootlegger. That stash includes a painting that some robbers (Malcolm McDowell, Debi Mazar and Eddie Steeples) want to get their hands on. The robbers think that the house will be empty on the night that they plan to raid it, not knowing that the parents have gone off to a party, leaving Finn in the care of his older sister (Jodelle Ferland). And that sister has managed to get herself trapped in the very room that the robbers are most interested in gaining access to. It's up to Finn to deter them, with only household items and his own ingenuity to help.

I'm not sure if I really enjoyed this movie because it was actually a decent movie or simply because it was such a HUGE step up from the dire Home Alone 4, one of the worst viewing experiences I've had in my life (and I try never to exaggerate such things). I'm going to opt for the former option, but people should consider the latter while reading my review.

First off, this film benefits from a decent cast. McDowell, Mazar and Steeples are fairly decent names to get involved with this thing, and they all show a willingness to humiliate themselves for the sake of a few laughs. Everyone has at least one decent comedy moment, but it's Mazar who gets the worst of it, although one hairdo gag seems to make no sense (which doesn't make it any less amusing). Ferland will be recognised by horror fans who already saw her in a variety of movies, including Silent Hill, The Tall Man and The Cabin In The Woods, to name just a few of her impressive list of credits that she's already amassed. She does okay here, although everyone is orbiting around Martyn as he transforms from scared kid into defender of the home. While not overflowing with charm and charisma, and suffering slightly in a montage moment that veers into smug territory, young Martyn isn't too bad in the central role.

The booby traps are good fun, the script by Aaron Ginsburg and Wade McIntyre provides all of the information required to set up the shenanigans, and the direction from Peter Hewitt is perfectly serviceable. The biggest downside of the film is the fact that it seems to take almost an hour before we get to the fun finale. That's similar to every other film in the series, but you feel it more in the later sequels because the rest of the material just never manages to be as fresh or funny as it was the first time around, whereas watching criminals get their cartoon-inspired comeuppance is almost always good fun.

I hope that it's now time to end this franchise, although I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't watch a sixth instalment.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/Home-Alone-Holiday-Malcolm-Mcdowell/dp/B00ECGIL9K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418245060&sr=8-1&keywords=home+alone+5

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)

The boys are back, and this time they're going to Hell. The original title of this film was, in fact, originally going to be "Bill & Ted Go To Hell" but, apparently, many Americans are put off by anything that uses the word Hell so that was changed. Thankfully, most of what made the first film so enjoyable was kept the same.

Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves reprise their main roles as, respectively, Bill S. Preston Esq. and Ted Theodore Logan. This time the future is jeopardised by the wicked De Nomolos (Joss Ackland), a man who has had enough of people being excellent to each other and enjoying rock 'n' roll music. He decides to crash the party in spectacular fashion, by using the time-travelling phonebox to send back evil robot versions of the boys, killing the real pair and then ruining their lives and musical career. It's a cunning plan, and one that looks as if it will work when Bill and Ted are killed off pretty quickly. But death doesn't have to be the end.

It may be a new director at the helm in the shape of Peter Hewitt, but writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon (whose name is reversed for the name of the villain) are back and clearly out to do their best for two characters embraced so readily by audiences the first time around.

Winter and Reeves slip back into their roles as easily as any of their casual clothing. They have some fun playing the bad robots, but always seem more at ease being the optimistic, naive, good guys. Rufus (played by George Carlin) returns, as do the princesses from the first film, although they are now played by Annette Azcuy and Sarah Trigger and they have slightly more screentime. Great support comes from Amy Stock-Poynton, Chelcie Ross, Pam Grier and many others (including Hal Landon Jr. and Roy Brocksmith, two men who at one point have to bravely attempt to act as if their bodies have been inhabited by the spirits of our leading dudes). But the highlight of the movie is William Sadler, hilariously deadpan - no pun intended - in the role of the Grim Reaper. The film moves along nicely before he appears, but as soon as his character starts to interact with Bill and Ted the whole thing is lifted slightly, putting it on a par with the first film.

People expecting more time travel shenanigans may be slightly disappointed, but the main premise IS based on altering timelines and the finale has some fun with the familiar phonebox. There are lots of great characters, all of them in the shadow of the Grim Reaper (suitably enough, I suppose), and a rousing rock song or two on the soundtrack, including the mighty God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You. If you enjoyed the first movie then you'll enjoy this movie.

Station!

8/10

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bill-Teds-Bogus-Journey-DVD/dp/B00005KIVU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370204606&sr=8-1&keywords=bill+and+ted%27s+bogus+journey