Let's Be Cops

Expectations:
New Girl is one of the funniest shows on television. In fact, the second season of the Zooey Deschanel comedy topped my list of the best television from the 2012-2013 season (here is that list). Unfortunately, so many potential male viewers are turned off by the poorly constructed title of the show, because it has the world "girl" in it. Fortunately, the show features four hilarious male characters that are guaranteed to make you laugh, regardless of your gender! Two of those characters (Nick and Coach) are played by the stars of Let's Be Cops, Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. Now, I'd like to be able to say that the trailer for Let's Be Cops was hilarious and engaging, but, to be honest, the only reason I went to watch this film was to see Nick and Coach in movie form. So, needless to say, my expectations were quite low...

Plot:
With comedies of the caliber of Let's Be Cops, you don't expect much from a plot-perspective! As expected, Let's Be Cops was quite shallow and lifeless, with pretty much nothing to accent its jokes. Thankfully, the jokes weren't all that bad. In fact, I laughed at the stupid humor, throughout, but I will say that many of those laughs were brought on by my familiarity with the actors. I think most of you would agree that, if you like a comedic actor or actress, you are likely to enjoy the majority of their work, regardless of its depth or success. That said, Let's Be Cops had very little to offer anyone who doesn't enjoy the humor of Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr.

Characters:
However one-dimensional lead characters Ryan and Justin turned out to be, I still liked them. If only the filmmakers hadn't added the emotional, best-friend moments to this goofy, stupid film, it would have been alright. Why do comedic filmmakers feel the need to add dull emotion to films that are engulfed in fart and sex jokes?!? It's so dang frustrating!

Negatives:
It was quite evident that this film was intended to be THE film that turned Nina Dobrev into an ADULT movie star (like grown-up... not pornography), and she totally bombed. Sure, the character (Josie) was absolutely horrible, but the only part of Nina that did any actual acting in this film were her legs. Additionally, Natasha Leggero's Annie was an awkward addition to Let's Be Cops, with her crack-head mentality. Ryan's attraction to her was quite unreal, leaving me baffled.

Positives:
As I've already said, the humor of Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. just connects with me, particularly that of Johnson. As for Wayans, I actually enjoyed his Let's Be Cops character more than his character on New Girl. Johnson played his typical couch-potato, but Wayans played the nerd, contrasting his character on New Girl, who is an actual "Coach." However, the best performance of the entire film was given by Keegan-Michael Key, who played some sort of Hispanic(?) drug-mover named Pupa. The character was entirely over-the-top, but I laughed in spite of those issues.

Conclusion:
Let's Be Cops was about as bad as expected, but it could have been much worse! Hopefully, for the sake of Johnson and Wayans' careers, the film will be a monetary success, but I'm not counting on that, either. Unless you watch New Girl, like me, I would suggest steering clear of Let's Be Cops. Instead, take those couple of hours to watch a few episodes of New Girl. You will love it! Even if you are a dude! Also, check out Jake Johnson in the Aubrey Plaza-led Safety Not Guaranteed. It was definitely one of my favorite films from 2012, and I think you will enjoy it as well! I give Let's Be Cops 1.55 out of 5 stars.

Casting Re-Call: The To Do List

Last month, I wrote a post where I completely re-cast The Fault in Our Stars to better fit who I thought should have played each character in the film version of John Green's fantastic novel (in a perfect world). You can check out that post, here. Not only did that post get a good number of hits, but I really had a blast writing it. So, although it hasn't been very long since I wrote that Casting Re-Call, I decided to do another during the slow movie-month of July.

Although it flew well under the radar of most moviegoers, The To Do List was one of my favorite comedies of 2013. In fact, the film ended up taking third place in the Best Comedy category of my 2013 Above Average Awards, which is my list of the best in film from each year. If you have yet to see The To Do List, I would definitely encourage you to check it out! However, there is a good amount of perverse humor, so just be aware...

If you want, you can check out my review of The To Do List, here. Now, let's move on.

I'm sure you are asking yourself "Why would he want to re-cast one of his favorite films of 2013?" which is quite a valid question. The answer lies in the fact that not every good film is a perfect film, and, certainly, not every good film is perfectly cast. And, when it came down to it, many critics disliked The To Do List for just one reason... the casting! So, in an effort to appease the naysayers and also improve my own assessment of the film, I went back and watched The To Do List, picking the cast apart and coming up with a new cast that would have made a good movie even better...

First, let's take a look at the decisions that the filmmakers got right:

Character: Cameron
Actor Chosen: Johnny Simmons
Why?: Johnny Simmons was the only actor from The To Do List to make my Above Average list last year, and he was certainly deserving of my praise, even after watching the film a second time. Not only was Simmons hilarious, but he did a great job of hitting the goofy, emotional moments as well. Hopefully, Simmons will stick to comedy, because he could certainly have a promising future!

Character: Judge Klark
Actor Chosen: Clark Gregg
Why?: Today, Clark Gregg is known solely for his role as Agent Coulson from Disney's Marvel Universe, but people should really check out his other work, because this dude can bring on the laughter. This innocent father character was absolutely perfect for Gregg in The To Do List. Watch it! You'll love him!






Now, for the not so positive casting decisions:

Character: Brandy Klark
Actor Chosen: Aubrey Plaza
Ideal Actor: Analeigh Tipton
Why?: Personally, I think Aubrey Plaza is hilarious, and, because I find her funny, I quite enjoyed her performance in The To Do List. However, there is no denying that the casting decision was not perfect. In my opinion, Analeigh Tipton would be able to pull of the awkward, cocky-nerd school-girl a little bit better than Plaza. Tipton's comedic range is much larger than that of Plaza, who is good at dry and rude and not much else. As the focal point of the film, Brandy Klark shifts her attitude and personality a bit throughout the film, which is something that Plaza struggled with a bit. I'd be interested in hearing other candidates, but I think Tipton is quite funny and would be a great option, in my opinion.

Character: Mrs. Klark
Actor Chosen: Connie Britton
Ideal Actor: Michaela Watkins
Why?: Connie Britton is great! Connie Britton is NOT funny! On the other hand, Michaela Watkins might be the funniest person to ever walk the face of this earth. The free-spirit that Mrs. Klark turns out to be would be perfectly represented by Watkins, even if she did have to tone her usual stupidity a bit. If you've never seen Michaela Watkins, check out Wanderlust and, of course, Trophy Wife, which was recently axed by ABC (stupid ABC!).

Character: Rusty Waters
Actor Chosen: Scott Porter
Ideal Actor: Any guy who has taken steroids and isn't supposed to be the paralyzed former quarterback of the Dillon Panthers
Why?: Jason Street is a likable guy, and, although I've not yet finished all of Friday Night Lights, I can't look at Scott Porter without thinking that he is supposed to be QB1. Unfortunately, the character of Rusty Waters is a jock/jerk, which was just a bit awkward for me. Really, anyone with a big, buff body could have played Rusty, and Scott Porter wasn't a poor decision. To me, however, he is supposed to be a good guy, and it just didn't quite fit.

Character: Willy
Actor Chosen: Bill Hader
Ideal Actor: Jake Johnson
Why?: I don't know if there is another person who can make me laugh as easily as Bill Hader. In fact, I cannot remember a time when I watched Bill Hader do something without making me laugh! Unfortunately, the role of Willy (the pool manager) just didn't allow Hader to be his normal, funny self, and I believe that Jake Johnson is better suited to play a laid-back pool manager. The options were plentiful, as I considered Sam Rockwell and Dax Shepard, but I settled on Jake Johnson, because he's just a fun guy!

Character: Van
Actor Chosen: Andy Samberg
Ideal Actor: James Franco
Why?: Andy Samberg is a funny guy... at times. But, his short cameo in The To Do List was not one of those times. Also, if you're going to have someone do a cameo, go all out! In my opinion, James Franco would have fit the role and the opportunity much better. I'm sure they would have had a hard time getting Franco to show up (it's not his group of guys), but one can dream...




There you go, folks! That's my ideal cast of The To Do List. Feel free to chime in with your comments, and, also, I would love suggestions for other movies to re-cast. These posts are a lot of fun!

Happy Summer!

 

Safety Not Guaranteed

Expectations:
Let me start by thanking The Grand Theater in Hattiesburg, MS for bringing a few indie films to us over the summer. I've had the pleasure of watching both Moonrise Kingdom and Safety Not Guaranteed, and I didn't expect to have that pleasure. While many of you have probably heard of Moonrise Kingdom, I doubt that many of you are familiar with Safety Not Guaranteed. If you have not seen a trailer for this film, here is one for you to check out: Click this!!!. As for my expectations of this film, I am not exactly sure what they were. The story, revolving around a time-travelling loon, was semi-intriguing, but I needed more than that to want to go see it. That's where the actors come in. Although I'm not a huge Parks and Rec fan, I do like Aubrey Plaza, and I'm a huge, huge fan of New Girl, so I'm also a huge fan of Jake M. Johnson. On top of these things, the movie just looked like it had a good vibe, so I figured what the heck...

Plot:
While the plot wasn't extremely deep or surprising, it was absolutely fantastic. There are two aspects that this film hit right on the head. 1) Character Development. They really did a good job of making you feel for the characters at hand, and each character had a good amount of depth for an hour and a half long movie. 2) Perfect balance of drama and comedy. I absolutely love movies that can successfully make you laugh and feel. That's exactly why 50/50 was my favorite movie of 2011. Witty humor mixed with emotion isn't an easy thing to create, but Safety Not Guaranteed did a great job of balancing the two, just like 50/50.

Characters:
As I said, the character development in this film was absolutely fantastic. It was obvious that Aubrey Plaza's Darius was going to have a certain amount of depth. The surprising thing was the depth of every other character. Every one of them had some huge revelation. I may not always be a sucker for deep characters (I did LOVE The Avengers), but, when done right, it makes me love a film so, so much more.

Negatives:
There were very few characters in Safety Not Guaranteed, and, honestly, I can't think of one that disappointed.

Positives:
Everybody! Darius (played by Aubrey Plaza) was a terrific leading character with great depth. Next of importance, Mark Duplass gave a great performance as the time-travelling Kenneth. The two really did a good job in their scenes together. On top of these two, there were also two great performances from Jake M. Johnson (as Jeff) and Karan Soni (as Arnau). Johnson was very similar to his character on New Girl, which is terrific, and I will predict that Soni has a very bright future in the world of nerd comedy. Great performances across the board!

Conclusion:
From The Dark Knight Rises to this... A big change! But I must say that the second half of the summer of 2012 may just be saving the summer itself. Safety Not Guaranteed is probably the most surprisingly great film that I have seen all year long. However, the year is still young. Although it has left the theater already, I would certainly encourage everyone to check it out when it comes out on DVD. Also, do not be discouraged by the R-rating. It is nothing that I wouldn't show my mama. Kudos to The Grand Theatre. Kudos to the second half of 2012. And Kudos to Safety Not Guaranteed! I give it 4.12 out of 5 stars.

21 Jump Street

Expectations:
Yes, Jonah Hill is an excellent funnyman, but, in the past, his excellence has been brought out by the actors that surrounded him. I certainly haven't seen all of Channing Tatum's work, but I just couldn't see how he was going to bring out the best in Jonah Hill. The previews did have hilarious moments. However, if you haven't realized it by now, most comedic trailers tend to be funny, regardless of how funny the actual film is. I really thought that 21 Jump Street was going to be one of those comedies that had nothing going for it, beyond the funny moments in the trailer. I mean, come on!, it's not even an original idea! But I had to go check it out...

Plot:
I'm going to be honest with you... I have never watched the old 21 Jump Street. All I actually know about it is that Johnny Depp was one of the main characters, but isn't that all that anyone knows about it? Regardless, I just want you to know that this review in no way critiques how well the original story was retold. So, as an original story (not idea), 21 Jump Street was absolutely fantastic. There wasn't any great genius moment of story-telling, but I can only remember one time where I thought "I haven't laughed in the last minute." As far as being funny goes, it's been a while since I have seen a comedy that made me laugh this much. Considering I watch like a bazillion comedies each year, that's a bold statement.

Best Scene: My favorite moments in 21 Jump Street were the random one-liners that just never ceased.

Characters:
I'm going to go against my expectations here and say that Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum were the perfect pair for this movie. I thought Jonah Hill was going to lose his funny with his weight, but he is still fat enough where they can joke about it, so fret not! Hill's character (Schmidt) was a former high school loser, who was given a second chance to become popular. Tatum's character (Jenko) was a former popular kid, who was stuck with the nerds during his second time around. While the emotional, awkward relationship moments were there between the two friends, it wasn't as awkward or emotional as the usual unfolding comedic friendship. The only negative that I found was a casting issue. While there were few really bad characters, I did feel like a few of the actors chosen were not right for their role (cough cough... Ellie Kemper and Dave Franco).

Best Character: Because this is best "character," I'm going to give the best character honor to Ice Cube's Captain Dickson. However, this is yet another role that I feel was poorly cast. I would have rather seen Samuel L. Jackson in the role. Obviously, I can't get everything that I want, but I should!

Worst Character: This one was not even difficult. While I absolutely love him on New Girl, Jake M. Johnson was awful as Principal Dadier. It was just an awkward role.

Conclusion:
While it is only March, I think 21 Jump Street has certainly grabbed itself a nice hold on being the best comedy of 2012. I certainly hope that a ton of other comedies come along that just blow me away as much as this film did, but I just don't see that happening. With this film, Jonah Hill has established himself as one of the leading comedic actors in Hollywood, but don't forget that he can do serious as well (Moneyball). There is no doubt that this is the most surprisingly good film of 2012, thus far, and, with the money it's made, I can't wait for them to announce a sequel. As I said, the one-liners stole the show. I would quote every single one of them for you, but the language would be a tad too offensive. If you want to laugh hard at some hilarious, dirty, offensive jokes, go watch 21 Jump Street! It will please you in ways that The Lorax and The Hunger Games just can't. I give 21 Jump Street 3.82 out of 5 stars...