A Very Jonas Christmas Movie (2025)

I am unfamiliar with The Jonas Brothers, but I am more aware of them nowadays than I was 5-10 years ago. I remember hearing a song on the radio that I quite enjoyed and then being surprised to hear that it was one of their hits. I have also been an unwilling reader of showbiz news/gossip about the divorce of Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner. That covers the extent of my Jonas Brothers knowledge. So I had no reason to want to check this out, aside from the fact that it was available to me.

The plot is very simple. The Jonas Brothers want to head home for the holidays. They can't wait to get away from one another, which is a major difference from how they used to feel. But one scheming Santa figures out exactly what they need. They don't want to get home right away. They want to get home while rediscovering that close brotherly bond they once had. Nick Jonas also just wants some peace and quiet, Kevin Jonas wants a chance to sing on a track, and Joe has a reputation that holds him back when he randomly encounters an old friend, Lucy (Chloe Bennet), he has a bit of a crush on.

Written by the talented duo of Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger (who have done a whole lot of TV work in the past few years, as well as the very enjoyable I Want You Back), the most important thing to consider about this potentially cheesy special is that it's actually quite funny. The Jonas Brothers seem to be very much aware of how they are perceived, both individually and as a band, and they deliver a number of lines that make themselves the butt of the gag, even if it all stays safely within the realms of gentle ribbing, as opposed to anything painfully cutting.

Director Jessica Yu, who previously helmed the enjoyable Quiz Lady (a different kind of road trip/family bond movie), is well aware of the assignment. Things move along briskly enough, there are well-staged musical numbers interspersed throughout the narrative, and viewers feel safe in the knowledge that any and all setbacks are just temporary on the way to an expected happy ending.

As for the brothers, I have to say that I expected them to be a bit more irritating onscreen. They do well with what they're asked to do, helped by the fact that they obviously interact more naturally with one another than they do with everyone else. Bennet is very good in her role, and there are scenes that make good use of Randall Park, Billie Lourd, and KJ Apa, as well as Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Santa), Kenny G (being Kenny G), and Will Ferrell (as a big fan who values the brothers ahead of his own family, who are portrayed onscreen here by his actual family).

Slick, not without the occasional hint of smugness, and with a satisfying message of seasonal goodwill, this is a very enjoyable Christmas special. It might not convert any haters of the band, but you never know. I'm certainly more open to their work than I was before this. 

7/10

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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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Prime Time: You're Cordially Invited (2025)

I'm not a big fan of writer-director Nicholas Stoller, but I always tend to forget this when I prepare to watch another movie from him. I'm not sure that I even noticed his name here while I was being distracted by the fact that it was a comedy pairing up Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon in the lead roles. The fact that the supporting cast included Geraldine Viswanathan, Meredith Hagner, Jimmy Tatro, and Jack McBrayer also seemed to bode well.

It's a simple premise, ripe with comedy potential. Ferrell plays Jim, a doting dad who is hoping to oversee a dream wedding day for his daughter, Jenni (Viswanathan), and her partner, Oliver (Stony Blyden). Witherspoon is a successful TV producer who wants to oversee a dream wedding for her sister, Neve (Hagner), and her partner, Dixon (Tatro). Their worlds collide when the island resort they have hired for the wedding celebrations has accidentally booked them both in for the same weekend . . . when they only have the ability to host one wedding at a time. And so begins a disappointingly unfunny series of spats, with both of our leads trying to shoulder one another out of the way as they make the most of the big wedding weekend.

I don't want to spend too much time going over how much this gets wrong, especially when I am already depressed by the memory of the movie and the memory of how I fooled myself into thinking that it wasn't TOO bad. It's bad, very bad, and it's a waste of the talent of pretty much everyone involved.

Stoller directs as if he's just sleepwalking through the whole thing, but maybe his own script had already knocked him unconscious. The plot beats feel tired and unsurprising, the running gags (including use of a very famous song) don't land well, and there's also an annoying lack of bite. Both of our leads swither between rolling up their sleeves to fight one another and then just using each other as a shoulder to cry on. And as for the very last scenes . . . I won't spoil anything, but I cannot think of a Ferrell comedy that has been so wildly misjudged in trying to make everything and everyone wrapped up in a neat bow.

There were times when I laughed at this, and those laughs were all caused by Ferrell blurting out some inappropriate insults. He's at his funniest in those moments, and you want Ferrell to be funny in a comedy movie that gives him one of the lead roles, but they are very few and far between. Witherspoon does the kind of uptight thing she has been doing for decades, although she is allowed to soften slightly here in a way that allows you to eventually warm to her character a bit more. Viswanathan and Blyde are fun, as are Hagner and Tatro, and there are moments that try to make the most of McBrayer, Leanne Morgan, Rory Scovel, Keyla Monterroso Mejia, and Celia Weston, as well as a few others. Everyone is far too hampered by the weak material though, sadly, and even a potential set-piece involving our leads in the same room as an alligator fails to prompt even a mild chuckle.

It's really hard to argue against people who see streaming movies as inferior alternatives to cinema releases when Amazon put their money into something like this. This has the stars, it has familiar songs on the soundtrack, and it at least has a runtime of under two hours (clocking in at about 109 minutes). It doesn't have any soul or artistry to it though. More importantly, it doesn't have many laughs.

3/10

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Barbie (2023)

Prime Time will be here on the blog tomorrow. This felt like it should be scheduled immediately after my Oppenheimer review.

"If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you." That was the tagline being used in some of the advanced marketing for Barbie, a pink-drenched film based around a crisis for the titular doll. The people who came up with that slogan seem to have underestimated the extreme emotions that the film would create in film snobs who seem to be viewing this as a harbinger of the death of cinema. It was always going to be hilariously upsetting to viewers with fragile male egos, but I didn't expect to see such "righteous anger" from people who seem to think that Barbie is the blockbuster to take to task for marrying product placement to a central narrative. It's almost as if these people missed, well . . . *gestures to every other mainstream release from the past four decades*. Look, films sell other products. Arguably more than any other art form, they focus on the business in show business. And, yes, something like Barbie is more inextricably intertwined with a product that represents disposability and capitalism than most, but it's also very smart, very funny, and very much made for audiences who have already helped to turn it into such a special event (with a very positive knock-on effect for Oppenheimer that shouldn't be under-estimated).

Margot Robbie plays Barbie, living a very happy life in Barbie-land alongside a multitude of other Barbies, as well as a multitude of Kens (with the main Ken played by Ryan Gosling), and one Allan (Michael Cera). Oh, and Midge (remember Midge? she's played here by Emerald Fennell). Every day is wonderful, with the Barbies all happy to have done their part in helping to please and inspire women in the real world, doing their bit to dismantle the patriarchy and ensure equality for all. Yeah, you might have noticed something there that doesn't quite add up. We all know the reality of the world we live in, and it's far removed from how Barbie imagines our world. As things start to go awry for Barbie (her feet go flat, she starts to get cellulite), she is told that the only way to get everything back to the way it was is to visit the real world and help her "owner" to rediscover some positivity. Barbie, with Ken tagging along, commits to this journey, and she eventually meets Gloria (America Ferrera) and her daughter, Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt). She also meets sexism, capitalism, and a patriarchy that she thought she'd helped to end. It's not good for the women. Ken sees the upside of it all though.

Directed by Greta Gerwig, who also co-wrote the screenplay with her partner, Noah Baumbach, Barbie is an absolute delight from start to finish. It's the first film I have seen in the cinema in many years that ended with people giving it a round of applause. Not everyone will respond that way, of course, but even those who notice a few mis-steps should be able to view it as a resounding success. What could have been an easygoing and lightweight confection is instead a smart blend of celebration and condemnation of the figure at the heart of it. It's also just as much about Ken as it is about Barbie, and Ryan Gosling unexpectedly emerges as the real star of the show (his big musical number is one of the most enjoyable sequences I have watched in modern cinema, period). Gerwig sets up the characters and the rules quickly enough, helping herself with some witty and knowing narration from Helen Mirren, and the escalation of the surreal silliness feels very natural once you have accepted everything presented in the opening act.

It also helps that the cast are all fantastic, all feeling like a great fit for their roles, and all very much game to go with the camp and kitsch of the crowd-pleasing set-pieces. I could spend hours writing about Robbie and Gosling, but I would much prefer you to see the film and enjoy every little character detail that they include in their performances. Simu Liu is a lot of fun, playing a Ken who always seems to be ready to have beef with our lead Ken, and Cera gets to effortlessly steal a couple of scenes, even while he's just watching the main action from the sidelines. Kate McKinnon is another highlight, playing "weird" Barbie, and there are fun turns from Issa Rae, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, and others (including some fun cameos). As for the actual human characters, both Ferrera and Greenblatt are easy to root for, with the former allowed to deliver a barnstorming motivational speech that proves pivotal to the third act, Will Ferrell is a despairing Mattel CEO, and Rhea Perlman delights as Ruth (you should know who she is, but the film clues you in quickly enough).

With Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt taking care of the music, crafting a soundscape full of appropriately upbeat score and great pop songs, as well as those unforgettable Gosling moments, and everyone behind the camera doing flawless work when it comes to set decoration, makeup, costume design, and other artistic choices, there isn't much to be critical of. The only weaknesses are couched in the script, with an unnecessary chase sequence feeling a bit out of place and scenes featuring Mattel executives not quite landing the jokes as well as expected, but the good far outweighs the bad, and it's much easier to celebrate everything that Gerwig managed to slip into a mainstream blockbuster than it is to pick at the minor blemishes.

"If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you." If you cannot get a chip off your shoulder, or feel that your masculinity is threatened by such a deluge of pink . . . well, maybe this movie isn't for you. But feel free to let the rest of us enjoy it without having to sneer and dismiss it, especially if you haven't actually seen the thing.

9/10

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Spirited (2022)

It’s not the worst thing to have a new version of A Christmas Carol made available to audiences every few years, even if no newer version can ever hope to do a better job than The Muppets. Spirited is a musical comedy that places Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, and Octavia Spencer in the lead roles, playing characters very familiar to anyone with even a passing acquaintance of the classic Dickens Christmas tale. Which is pretty much everyone.

Reynolds is Clint Briggs, a man who has built a career on playing the public like a violin. He manufactures outrage, knows how to manipulate everyone around him, and doesn’t have time for anything in his life outwith his work and ego. Ferrell is the Ghost Of Christmas Present, tasked alongside the Ghost Of Christmas Past (Sunita Mani) and the Ghost Of Christmas Yet To Come (Tracy Morgan) to change the ways of Briggs. That could be tough though. He is labelled an “irredeemable”. But there was one other famous character transformed by ghosts who was once considered “irredeemable”, and he might be the person in the eBay position to help Briggs change his ways.

Directed by Sean Anders, who also co-wrote the film with frequent collaborator John Morris, Spirited is enjoyable enough for those who like the leads (including Octavia Spencer, playing Kimberly, the main assistant to Briggs, and currently having her own journey towards what she views as damnation or redemption). Sadly, there’s little else here to make it worth recommending.

What you get is a musical without decent musical numbers (with the exception of a fun number called “Good Afternoon”), a comedy without enough great laughs, and a riff on a classic tale that insists on breaking the fourth wall as characters remind you that they are all as aware of the plot and characters as viewers are. Give me a Deadpool riff on A Christmas Carol and I would be very happy, but this half-arsed attempt to be all things to everyone ends up just disappointing all but the most undemanding viewers. It’s a hard film to absolutely hate, but even those who enjoy it would probably admit that it could have been tweaked and improved in a number of different ways.

The cast are trying to do good work, and end up impressing most when they have moments they can play with what feels like genuine earnestness. Ferrell and Spencer have some lovely scenes together, and Reynolds almost gets a chance to show some of his actual acting chops during times when his character is being genuinely moved while revisiting the worst moment of his life. The laughs actually come more readily from the supporting cast, with both Mani and Morgan working well with what they’re given, and the likes of Patrick Page, Joe Tippett, Marlow Barkley, and Andrea Anders do decent work in the less comedic/super-serious roles.

I am not sure what would have helped make this a better film. A less smug script, I suppose. Pushing both Ferrell and Reynolds further out of their comfort zones. And better song and dance routines. Definitely better song and dance routines. Despite the budget and special effects, there’s also a constant feeling of this being staged very much like a theatre show. That is something I would enjoy, if I was watching it IN a theatre. Cinematically, it feels a lot less satisfying.

You cannot really go wrong with any version of A Christmas Carol. It’s a tale that ensures for good reason. It’s the main reason that Spirited works at all. It’s just a shame that so many other elements drag it down, like the heavy chains carried around in death by Jacob Marley.

5/10

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Netflix And Chill: Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga (2020)

When I first heard that they were making a comedy about the Eurovision Song Contest, and that it was starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams, I was immediately keen to see it. If done right, it could be a mix of wonderful camp and many laughs. Well, the comedy here may be a bit gentler than I expected, but it's essentially done right.

Ferrell and McAdams play Lars and Sigrit, a musical duo who are given an unbelievable opportunity to represent their home country of Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest. The only thing working against them is the fact that they're not very good. They have been put in this position thanks to an unbelievable tragedy, and Iceland prepares to look on in embarrassment as they most likely come in behind every other participating country. That doesn't necessarily dissuade Lars and Sigrit though, although they certainly have some idea of the odds stacked against them.

Much like a previous Ferrell vehicle, Blades Of Glory, this is a comedy that takes something very camp, and enjoyed by many, and creates the humour around that, and around the perception of it. While we have a number of fun characters (Dan Stevens almost walks away with the entire movie) and some mishaps for our leads (the biggest one taking place about two thirds of the way in, and I cannot promise that a little bit of wee didn't escape as I laughed so hard), the actual idea of Eurovision is not itself mocked. Indeed, it's all the main characters have been dreaming of for their whole lives, but perhaps not with the fraction of talent required to achieve that dream. Perhaps.

The leads are both absolutely perfect. Ferrell once again works in his favoured arena, someone with a hilarious lack of self-awareness and a readiness to storm off in a big huff, and McAdams is completely earnest from start to finish, and the one who will see everything through even as she loses faith in their ability to pull off some kind of miracle. To be fair, both characters benefit from being played with that earnestness, but it's Ferrell who is more likely to quit when the going gets tough, despite being the one who maintained such strong willpower to get to this stage. I just mentioned Stevens above, and after seeing his turn here as Russian singer Alexander Lemtov I want to see him try some more comedy work. The guy is just superb here, with the film making great use of his uber-handsomeness and playing up every moment that he can make seem sexy (which is pretty much every moment he breathes, dammit). Pierce Brosnan is Ferrell's father, and acts disappointed in his son for most of the movie, Melissanthi Mahut is another Eurovision star, Natasia Demetriou isn't onscreen for long enough, and Graham Norton, so synonymous with the Eurovision Song Contest nowadays, does a great job of playing Graham Norton.

Ferrell has also taken on the writing duties here, with Andrew Steele. Considering the latter also worked on The Spoils Of Babylon, among other projects, the two seem a perfect pair to get the tone just right here, embracing the silliness of things while keeping a surprisingly sweet heart beating beneath it all. Director David Dobkin doesn't deliver any surprises, and it's admirable that nobody tries to cram in more gags as the characters are given time and space to simply progress through their main journey. It's also admirable that, overall, this isn't aiming to make the kind of puerile gags that have featured in other Ferrell movies. Not that I always dislike that humour, but it's an excellent choice to play things out here in a sweeter, softer, way.

You're unlikely to enjoy this if you already dislike Ferrell. He does what he does, for better or worse. But if you're on the fence about it, or if you're a big fan of Eurovision and missing your fix, then I say give it a go. You might enjoy it as much as I did.

7/10

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Holmes & Watson (2018)

How bad is Holmes & Watson? Considering how much is was roundly battered by critics, and anyone brave enough to go and see it at the cinema, could it really be THAT bad? Yes, yes it could. And I can say this with a degree of confidence, having been one of the few people to have now seen it twice.

The first time doesn't really count though. When I first watched this movie I was laughing aloud at a number of moments. I'd also taken an excessive amount of valium before a short flight (I'm just a nervous flyer, and it turns out I wasn't listening to my wife when she reminded me of the recommended dosage of something I wasn't used to). But you can certainly take that as a different view of the film. It will make you laugh if your brain has been suitably altered by some substance that keeps you in a very good mood, be that alcohol, medication, or your favourite Doritos.

So, for the purpose of this review, I am going to focus on my second, most recent, viewing. My brain was not altered in any way (beyond the usual warping), although I definitely wish it had been.

Will Ferrell plays Sherlock Holmes, John C. Reilly is Doctor John Watson, his constant sidekick, and their latest adventure involves the dastardly Moriarty (Ralph Fiennes) and a plot to kill the Queen of England (Pam Ferris). That's about all you need to know, other than the fact that Kelly Macdonald is Mrs. Hudson, and Rebecca Hall and Lauren Lapkus play two women who turn the heads of our detecting duo.

It has been a decade since Guy Ritchie entertained audiences with a Sherlock Holmes that mixed the traditional elements with some fun cinematic updates (the "Holmes-vision"). We have had Sherlock since then, and also Elementary, both shows that have smartly updated the famous detective for modern viewers, while retaining a lot of the little details that make Sherlock so quintessentially Sherlock. So Holmes & Watson feels like too little too late as soon as it begins. That would be fine though, as long as writer-director Etan Cohen had some good enough gags to make it worthwhile. Sadly, that is not the case.

Cohen seems to rely on the chemistry between Ferrell and Reilly (used so effectively in their previous comedy work), but that's not enough on this occasion. Not when the script is full of unfunny jokes transposing modern habits (selfies, drunk text messages) into the period setting, numerous gross-out gags that fall flat, and sequences that make use of that aforementioned "Holmes-vision". The one time I smiled was due to a fun cameo towards the very end. Nothing else really works, one or two very minor chuckles aside.

Ferrell and Reilly are quite irritating in the lead roles, Macdonald is the highlight of the film, and Fiennes at least manages to get paid for a relatively short amount of screentime. Ferris is very game in her royal role, Hall almost comes out of the whole thing with her dignity intact, but Lapkus is undone by the fact that she has to match Ferrell at his juvenile antics. There are also small roles for Rob Brydon (who is actually a good fit for Inspector Lestrade), Steve Coogan, Hugh Laurie, and that great cameo star.

I am going to give this a fairly generous rating, considering how well it amused and distracted me while I was on valium and trying not to think about anything that could send me plunging to my death. But don't let that fool you into giving this a try. Even Sherlock Gnomes was better than this.

3/10

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Daddy's Home 2 (2017)

Let me start this review by saying that I enjoyed Daddy's Home. Yes, I know the comedy banter between Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg isn't something that many people admit to enjoying (aside from their best work in The Other Guys) but they made me laugh many times in the tale of a sensitive stepfather (Brad, played by Ferrell) being infuriated by the alpha male biological father (Dusty, played by Wahlberg) swanning back into the lives of his children and disrupting their lives.

This sequel finds the extended family living a fairly harmonious life, even if there are still some resentments that hide below the surface. Brad and Dusty take turns with activities, Linda Cardellini (playing Sara, mother to the children, and Brad's partner) seems happy with the situation, and everyone seems settled. Except for the fact that they're not, something that becomes evident when young Megan (Scarlett Estevez) decides to tell people that she hates moving back and forth for Christmas festivities. This leads to one big Christmas being planned, a day with everyone in the same place and the kids not having to move from one family to another. And it's going to be even more special, because Dusty's father (Kurt, played by Mel Gibson) is going to join them. As is Brad's father (Don, played by John Lithgow).

Most of the main players return here, with director Sean Anders also co-writing the script once again (also with John Morris, but no Brian Burns this time around), and it's clear from the early scenes that this is an easy, comfortable, comedy sequel for all involved. You won't find any real depth here, and you won't find anything plausible, but you will get a cast having fun, and a number of amusing moments.

Gibson is there to be an even more toxic male than Wahlberg was in the first film, while Lithgow seems to be, for the most part, even more sensitive than Ferrell's character. This adds plenty of friction, which creates more comedic situations, and then leads to a third act that features both John Cena and plenty of horrible, unearned, attempts at emotional manipulation. All of the male leads get to have lots of fun. Cardellini, on the other hand, is simply left to witness an unfolding sequence of catastrophic events while doing nothing but feel insecure when positioned close to Alessandra Ambrosio (playing Karen, the woman now with Wahlberg's character).

Daddy's Home 2 is a rather weak film, in terms of the art of cinema. It's clumsy, painfully obvious, and suffers even more during the times when it tries to turn Brad into Clark Griswold. It kind of works as a sequel, it fails as a Christmas film (mainly because a lot of the better moments feel as if they have been cribbed from better movies), and it's the worst one yet to pair up Ferrell and Wahlberg.

Oh, I still laughed though. There were quite a few times when I laughed aloud. Hard. For all of its failings, and there are oh so many, it still manages to get the comedy right on many occasions. And that's a good thing for a comedy film. Which is why I still rate this as above average. Fans of Ferrell will find enough to enjoy here. Everyone else should avoid this like a spiked bowl of eggnog.

6/10

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Bonus Review: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)

Most people will already know whether or not they're going to like Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. It reteams writer-director Adam McKay with writer-star Will Ferrell, it brings back all of the main cast member, and it fills the screen with many gags riffing on material from the first movie.

Ferrell is Ron Burgundy, of course, and this movie sees him at another crossroads in his life. He's having relationship problems with Veronica (Christina Applegate) and he's not the success he once was, but Freddie Shapp (Dylan Baker) comes along at just the right time to make him an interesting offer. 24 hour news. The idea seems ridiculous, but when Ron is allowed to get his old team back together he sees no reason not to at least give it a go. Which allows viewers to spend more time with Ron, Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), and Champ Kind (David Koechner).

I was hoping to love this sequel, and perhaps one day I will. But not today. It has some decent gags here and there, but too many moments feel either overdone and stretched out, with the film coming in at just under two hours, or far too reliant on replaying jokes from the first movie, with minor variations.

I must say, however, that when I first saw the first Anchorman movie I wasn't impressed. I didn't see what all the fuss was about. And then I ended up watching it almost every day for a fortnight, eventually coming to the conclusion that it was the funniest movie of the year. I'm not sure if the same thing will happen here, but I will allow for the fact that this may well grow on me.

As well as Dylan Baker, Meagan Good is a new addition to the sprawling ensemble, adding some more discomfort for Burgundy by being both a woman and black. Yes, you can imagine some of the awkwardness that ensues, but Good matches everyone in the cast with her fun, fiery turn. James Marsden gives yet another great performance in an increasingly long line of great performances (seriously, the guy is turning into quite the scene-stealer) as Burgundy's main rival in the studio, Greg Kinnear gets a few good moments as Burgundy's main rival elsewhere, and Kirsten Wiig bumps up the laugh quota as a female counterpart to Brick Tamland. Fans will also be happy to hear that there's another cameo-filled fight scene to liven up the third act.

McKay and Ferrell seems to bring out both the worst and the best in one another. They have some great ideas, and great running gags, but the self-indulgence on display sometimes outweighs the thin material, and an excessive runtime really doesn't help.

Of course, those who enjoy the whole thing more than I did will welcome every extra minute.

Those who want to stay classy for much longer will do well to pick up Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues on Bluray, which also contains the alternate version of the movie (complete with 763 new jokes, according to the advertising) and more extras than you can shake a glass of scotchy scotch scotch at.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/Anchorman-Legend-Continues-Blu-ray-Digital/dp/B0083XXWRE/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1400860610&sr=1-2&keywords=anchorman

The Campaign (2012)

A political comedy starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as two very different men running against one each other to see who will become the congressman for their hometown.  Ferrell is Cam Brady, the more experienced and ruthless of the two. He's been unopposed for a long time, able to get away with pretty much anything he likes (including some obvious infidelity and lewd behaviour). Galifianakis is Marty Huggins, a simple man who doesn't realised that he has only been picked because a couple of immoral businessmen (played by John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd) think that he will do whatever they ask of him once he's in a position of power. When Marty first steps forward it seems like some kind of joke, but thanks to some help from Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott) and the courage of his convictions, Marty soon turns things around to make Brady and his advisors more and more concerned.

While it may lack the big laughs of Tin Men or Used Cars, this is a film very much in that ilk. It may favour dumb fun over smarter gags, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. In fact, Ferrell and Galiafanakis both get a chance to play characters close to many that they have played before, with the former being an ass, with arrogance only matched by his stupidity, and the latter being mistakenly written off as nothing more than a dim-witted schlub. They're helped by a great supporting cast, including Brian Cox, Jason Sudeikis, Sarah Baker and Katherine LaNasa, as well as those already mentioned. Baker and McDermott are the standouts, in two very different performances, but everyone does a great job, and it was especially good to see Aykroyd in a role not a million miles away from that of the two conniving businessmen in Trading Places.

The script, by Chris Henchy and Shawn Harwell, laces all of the easy laughs with some salient points and observations, both in general terms when it comes to the world of politics and in relation to specifics that show up what uneasy bedfellows big businessmen and politicians make. It's no surprised to see that Adam McKay helped to come up with the story, considering what he and Henchy were able to come up with for The Other Guys.

Director Jay Roach has been helming comedies for a long time now. Even if he doesn't quite elevate this to comedy gold, it's clear that he knows what he's doing, and the end result is a film deserving of more fans. If you like either of the leads, or if you like comedies that remind viewers of just how childish things can get in the political arena, then this is definitely worth your time.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Campaign-Blu-ray-Copy-Region-Free/dp/B0083SEZV6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1388242910&sr=8-2&keywords=the+campaign

Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

Will Ferrell may not be the kind of comic actor you can imagine moving smoothly into more dramatic roles, but he does a very good job playing Harold Crick in this movie, a gentle comedy that mixes in some wonderful ideas and a few nice twists and turns.

Harold Crick works for the IRS and lives his life in numbers. He always brushes his teeth a set number of times, he can always answer any mathematical problems thrown at him by colleagues and he stays on quite a predictable, some might say boring, schedule. This all changes completely when Harold starts to hear a voice narrating his every move. Harold seeks help from Professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), who endeavours to help him find out what kind of story he is being made a part of and how it might end. Meanwhile, Harold also falls for a young woman (Maggie Gyllenhaal) that he's been tasked with auditing and starts to really enjoy his life for the first time ever. This doesn't register with writer Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson), who is busy trying to get over her writer's block with the help of an optimistic assistant, Penny Escher (Queen Latifah). Karen doesn't need optimism. She often gets inspiration from sickness, from pain. From death.

Director Marc Forster uses a number of great little tricks to make the most of Zach Helm's smart and gently amusing script. Measurements and numbers appear all over the place in the first section of the movie, allowing viewers to get caught up in the details that govern the life of Harold Crick, the narration provides comedy and also tension and there are many enjoyable callbacks to little details throughout the film.

As already mentioned, Ferrell does well in the lead role, but he has the benefit of a superb supporting cast around him. That's not to sell him short though. His everyman turn here may be the best that he's ever done, in my view, and he makes for a likeable and sympathetic lead. Gyllenhaal is a lot of fun in her role, a woman who wants to choose just where her tax dollars go, and Hoffman is even more enjoyable as he gets to grips with Harold's problem and tries to tick off a variety of literary possibilities. Thompson and Latifah are, for the most part, separate from the central story strand, but they're important characters, of course, and both do very well in their roles.

Overall, Stranger Than Fiction manages to please a lot of different people; those looking for something a bit different from the norm, those looking for something clever, those looking for something with warm humour to it, those looking for something with a bit of romance and those looking for a film that will remind them, funnily enough, of the power of a good book.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stranger-Than-Fiction-Blu-ray-Region/dp/B000NDETHE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1359497646&sr=8-3