Category: Comedy

TAG

Rated: MTag

Directed by: Jeff Tomsic

Screenplay Written by: Rob McKittrick and Mark Steilen

Screen Story by: Mark Steilen

Based on the Wall Street Journal article entitled “It Takes Planning, Caution to Avoid Being It,” by Russell Adams

Produced by: Todd Garner and Mark Steilen

Executive Producers: Hans Ritter, Richard Brener, Walter Hamada and Dave Neustadter

Starring: Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Annabelle Wallis, Rashida Jones, Isla Fisher, Leslie Bibb, Hannibal Buress, with Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner.

Remember this track from Crash Test Dummies (1993)?

Once there was this kid who
Got into an accident and couldn’t come to school
But when he finally came back
His hair had turned from black into bright white
He said that it was from when
The cars had smashed him so hard

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

Watch Tag then try and get that song out of your head!

Instead of a kid who had an accident, we have:  Benjamin Franklin who once (apparently) said, ‘we don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.’

Taking this philosophy to heart, a group of first graders began a game of tag… that lasted for 23 years…

Tag is inspired by the true story published in the Wall Street Journal, “It Takes Planning, Caution to Avoid Being It,” by Russell Adams where every year for the entire month of May, Hoagie (Ed Helms), Sable (Hannibal Buress), Chilli (Jake Johnson) and Callahan (Jon Hamm), stalk each other – with the help of their wives – (such as Hoagie’s wife Anna (Isla Fisher), who takes the game far too seriously), until the end of the month where whomever was tagged last would have to remain the loser of the group, he-who-is-tagged, as apposed to those-who-are-not (there are no winners here), until the following year.

Although, he-who-has-never-been-tagged could be called the champion: Jerry Pierce (Jeremy Renner), the ultimate player, the elusive, never-been-caught, until self-proclaimed heart of the gang, Hoagie comes up with the diabolical plan to tag Pierce on his wedding day.

Gathering the guys from across the country – Callahan mid-interview with Rebecca Crosby (Annabelle Wallis) from the Wall Street Journal – they head back to their home-town in Washington, journalist Rebecca tagging (ha, ha) along, intrigued when she realises the grown men will go to any lengths to not be the last tagged, and really, to keep that child spirit alive; to keep in touch (literally) with old friends.

Mmmm, mmm, mmm, hmmm… mmm, mmmm, mmm, hmm, mmmmmm…

A funny story, but enough to stretch into a full-length movie?   With a little bit of heart-warming drama thrown in the mix – just!

TAG

Director, Jeff Tomsic (Comedy Central’s “Broad City”) makes full use of the stellar cast where it wasn’t the obvious that I found funny, like those slapstick moments including comedic win-at-all-costs flying leaps.  Although, the granny outfit on Hoagie was delightfully ticklish.  For me it was more those subtle changes in facial expressions that hit the mark, wonderfully built upon with the black and white heads of the cast miming, you guessed it, Mmmm, mmm, mmm, hmmm… mmm, mmmm, mmm, hmm, mmmmmm.

The use of the soundtrack was a real highlight – the film filled with 90s gold from the likes of the Beastie Boys lifting those action-packed chases to toe-tapping montages of good fun.

And that’s what Tag is all about, having fun.

Tag isn’t ground breaking, but it’s not complete crap either.

If you go in not expecting much I reckon you’ll have enough fun to warm a winter’s day and leave with a grin with a few remembered gems to giggle over, because sometimes it’s good to never stop playing.

Ocean’s 8

Rated: M

Directed by: Gary RossOcean's 8

Story by: Gary Ross

Screenplay by: Olivia Milch, Gary Ross

Produced by: Steven Soderbergh and Susan Ekins

Executive Producers: Michael Tadross, Diana Alvarez, Jesse Ehrman and Bruce Berman

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Rihanna and Helena Bonham Carte with James Corden and Richard Armitage.

 

Girls chewing gum and six pounds of diamonds doesn’t always create sparkle.

Described as on offshoot to the Ocean’s series: 11, 12, 13 (directed by Steven Soderbergh), director and screenplay co-writer Gary Ross has created Ocean’s 8: the female version with connection through Danny Ocean’s (George Clooney) sister, Debbie (Sandra Bullock), who’s coming to the end of her jail sentence.

Time well-spent as she’s planned a homecoming of stolen bling and revenge.

I missed the whole Ocean’s franchise, so in preparation, I watched the three with low expectation.  Thinking the films an excuse for all-star self-congratulation.

The first, Ocean’s 11 (2001) was good, funny. And aside for the flip phones the film has dated well; the humour a surprise. The second, Ocean’s 12 (2004) was clever and the third, Ocean’s 13 (2007) was smart and yeah, funny.  I even woke up in a good mood expecting more of the same with Ocean’s 8.

But with all the previous expectation, I was left feeling flat, the humour contrived, the characters, bland.  Which is surprising with such an outstanding cast.

Sandra Bullock as Debbie the sister was cool, but a little too cool, wilting beside the sparkle of Cate Blanchett as ex-partner in crime, now night club owner, Lou.

And there were holes like a lack of motivation for the other six characters to get involved in the heist – I felt lonely so I did it?!

And who’s the Fence again?  Tammy (Sarah Paulson)?  Who does Tammy fence to?

How does Nine Ball (Rihanna) hack into The Met’s system?

Amita (Mindy Kaling): Because you don’t have your mother watching?

The Irish clothing designer, Rose (Helena Bonham Carter) in debt to the IRA?  Well, OK, that makes sense.

And don’t forget skateboarder, Constance (Awkwafina)…

Ocean's 8

Instead of clever, we get Nine Ball painting her toe-nails mid-heist.

Anne Hathaway as Daphne Kluger AKA the damsel, smarter-than-she-looks, celebrity showed some personality; but really, the clever was shallow because there wasn’t enough to make the heist difficult.

Which is crazy to say because the whole movie’s about stealing $150 million in diamonds in the form of the Toussaint necklace created by Cartier.  A masterpiece kept in a vault underground.

To steal the piece, the necklace needs to be taken from the vault, the opportunity created by convincing Cartier to loan the Toussaint to Kluger to wear to the extravagant Costume Institute Benefit at The Met.

Debbie has spent five years, eight months and 12 days planning this heist, but like Lou watering down the vodka in her night club, the story felt weak.

I’m not saying Ocean’s 8 is a bad movie; there were some fun moments and times of clarity like Lou asking Debbie, ‘He told you the truth?

‘The only way to con a con.’

But a film that relies heavily on dialogue needs a little more depth.

Why do people do anything?  Revenge, yes, and money – but what I felt was boredom; like the motivation of most of the characters.  Maybe I should go steal something.

Gringo

Rated: MA15+GRINGO

Directed by: Nash Edgerton

Written by: Anthony Tambakis

Produced by: Rebecca Yeldham

Director of Photography: Edu Grau

Starring: David Oyelowo, Charlize Theron, Joel Edgerton, Thandie Newton, Yul Vazquez, Sharlto Copley, Amanda Seyfried.  

 Filmed on location in Mexico City, Veracruz, Tulum, Chicago and Los Angeles.

The Edgerton Brothers have reunited to make a film about the majesty that is people’s comeuppance.

Harold (David Oyelowo) works for his mate from university, Richard (Joel Edgerton), at a company that uses a formula to create marijuana in tablet form, Cannabax: manufactured in Mexico (while waiting on those not-quite-legal laws to turn in favour); the American firm residing in Chicago.

Harold’s a nice guy; he has that ‘underdog thing’ going for him. 

His mate Richard and partner in business (and sometimes pleasure), Elaine (Charlize Theron) – not so much.

So, when Harold’s sent to Mexico, this time joined by the two dubious partners, they don’t think twice about leaving Sanchez (Hernán Mendoza) the manager of the Mexican lab, to deal with the train of destruction when they decide they don’t need to sell product to The Black Panther cartel anymore.  And when Harold gets knocked off his rails in their wake, instead of paying a 5 million ransom for his release, Richard sends his mercenary-turned-humanitarian brother Mitch (Sharlto Copleyit) to extract him from a situation involving kidnapping, torture and the dreaded question of which is the Beatles best album.

Classic Edgerton, characters are thrown into life or death situations, some their own doing, others thrown under the bus because everyone’s expendable, particularly the nice one’s who, ‘never grew a pair’.

It’s hard not to have high expectations after the previous collaboration of the Edgerton Brothers to create award winning, The Square (2008).  

Nash Edgerton also edited and produced a recommendation of mine, The Magician (2005) – a edgy and dark humoured mockumentary about an ex-army contract killer filmed in Melbourne, see, Nat’s ‘If you haven’t watched you’re in for a treat’ list.

Here, the usual Edgerton authenticity is given way to create a classier film, although, I wouldn’t call Charlize Theron’s character, Elaine classy with details like her red lipstick always left on the rim of a glass; her cut-throat business acumen where anything can be done to get the right decision doesn’t equal classy, but she sure is smooth.

And seeing Joel Edgerton as an equally smooth talking genuine A. hole was a point of difference to his previous roles: usually the muscle, sometimes with heart but always down-to-earth.

It’s the adorable Nigerian, Harold, lost in Mexico that keeps the movie pulling along (with some added funny moments), and it does feel like pulling to get all the characters in place, like the rock guitarist drug mule Miles (Harry Treadaway) and his aptly named girlfriend, Sunny (Amanda Seyfried); and Harold’s wife, Bonnie (Thandie Newton) chewing through money while cheating… 

Gringo does get there, eventually.

To get the satisfaction of seeing the end result, time is needed to dig through the layers of character giving a different feel to the usual action thriller. 

But like Harold, the story rises making Gringo a worthwhile journey.

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Life of the Party

Rated: MLife of the Party

Director: Ben Falcone

Writers: Ben Falcone, Melissa McCarthy

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Molly Gordon, Gillian Jacobs, Luke Benward, Debby Ryan

When I agreed to review Life of the Party, I experienced a moment of panic. What if there is nothing good to say about it, could I really pan my first movie?

A quick look at the other reviews on the net and the responses were decidedly mixed. A longer look at the trailer and I didn’t think I would be able to keep my inner snark under control either, but by the end of the movie I was left scratching my head. This movie should not have worked.

When she is callously dumped by her husband, Deanna (Melissa McCarthy) returns to university to complete the final year of her degree at the same college her daughter (Molly Gordon) is attending. For most of us, Maddie’s situation would be unthinkably excruciating but, in this instance, Maddie’s mother is adopted by her daughter’s inner circle and given full entrée into the party scene.

With only the briefest hesitation, Deanna, now known as Dee Dee or Dee Rock, embarks upon a wildly inappropriate and utterly delicious romance with one of the most gorgeous guys in school.

As a fish out of water tale, the storyline is far from unusual as a basis for comedy. Luckily the writers have twisted the dial on this premise, subtly but significantly playing with and delicately subverting all the usual clichés.

Contrary to my earlier fears, this movie was not designed as a morality tale. It is not about the struggle to be accepted and, despite the big close-ups trained on Deanna, the comedy does not revolve around the lead character’s journey of self-discovery as a mature age student. Rather, the humour turns on the well-meaning attempts by the supporting characters to help Deanna adjust to her new reality. Help meaning unfettered mischief and lashings of bad behaviour. With this help, Deanna not only achieves her independence, but her motley bunch of helpers also finds their own mojo.

As usual, the cool girls are the villains, but only minor ones. Nonetheless, there are some sweet moments of shadenfreude when Jennifer (Debby Ryan) is spurned in favour of her frumpy rival. The major villain of the piece is the grownup counterpart of the cool girls, the image-obsessed, home-wrecking, husband stealing realtor, and the payback for this particular villain is deviously delicious.

With a thoughtful screenplay, some of the most piquant humour is in the smaller details: Deanna landing a punch square in the centre of her wedding photo, Helen (Gillian Jacobs) snipping a hank of Jennifer’s hair during a lecture as payback for her bitchiness, and the bride holding forth on the groom’s ‘kerbside appeal’ in the middle of their wedding ceremony.

Life of the Party is a movie that shouldn’t be funny but somehow it is. If the rest of the audience were not laughing right along with me, I might have believed that I had suddenly lost all of my critical faculties. As it is, this fluffy haired comedy succeeds in what it sets out to do: turning ‘lemonade into the full lemon’.

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Sherlock Gnomes

Rated: GSherlock Gnomes

Directed by: John Stevenson

Screenplay by: Ben Zazove

Produced by: David Furnish, Steve Hamilton Shaw, Carolyn Soper

Executive Producer: Elton John

Voices provided by: Emily Blunt (Juliet), Johnny Depp (Sherlock Gnomes), James McAvoy (Gnomeo), Michael Caine (Lord Redbrick), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dr Watson), Maggie Smith (Lady Blueberry).

 

With a vocal cast of A-grade actors most other films can only dream about, those entertaining garden gnomes are back in a sequel to the 2011 animated comedy Gnomeo and Juliet, which borrowed freely from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

 

Sherlock Gnomes, the 3D computer-animated comedy sequel, you guessed it, uses a lot of the ideas and characters from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic crime sleuth Sherlock Holmes, along with his partner Dr Watson and nemesis Professor Moriarty, to investigate the mysterious disappearance of garden gnomes.

 

Since the first film the gnomes have been forced to relocate to a new garden in London, where Juliet is so focused on getting everything sorted out or tidied that she has little time for Gnomeo, who tries to keep the romance alive in their relationship.

 

This situation helps to emphasise the importance of not taking what you have for granted, with Gnomeo and Juliet’s relationship subtly mirroring that of Sherlock and Watson, although the latter relationship is not romantic but more a partnership based on friendship and intellect. It takes a major threat to make Sherlock appreciate Watson’s equal contribution to their crime-solving escapades.

 

Adults accompanying their children don’t miss out entirely on being entertained, as there are plenty of references throughout the film to classic Sherlock Holmes stories and characters, not that the mostly young audience will be aware of this!

 

While this film has a fairly straight forward plot, what distinguishes it from other animated fare is the way it doesn’t dumb down the clues, which are quite complicated for Sherlock Holmes to figure out, ensuring audiences are kept engaged and guessing throughout its entirety.

 

Children will be entertained by the colourful and varied inanimate objects that come to life, and how they interact with each other. The backgrounds are beautifully realised and the animation of the characters is suitably cartoonish as one would expect. The film is quite fast-paced and seems to cram a lot of action, plot and subsidiary characters into its running time, so at least it doesn’t drag.

 

The catchy soundtrack music is provided by Sir Elton John, the executive producer, who also sings some of the songs, along with other artists who do cover versions from some of his extensive catalogue.

 

I haven’t seen the first film, but I gathered from my young companion’s comments that unlike Gnomeo and Juliet, which was apparently light and fun with some nice puns and an entertaining supporting cast, Sherlock Gnomes is darker, with less use of the supporting cast from the previous film and more focus on solving the crime, fixing mistakes and renewing relationships that are endangered. Younger viewers may find some of the scenes slightly scary, such as those involving the gargoyles (which look large and menacing but whose personalities balance out their appearance) or Moriarty’s penchant for destroying garden ornaments (although this is never done on screen).

 

While this film is obviously aimed at a young audience, the presence of such skilled vocal talent, along with lots of sly references to Sherlock Holmes, will hopefully ensure that adults will be entertained as well and not feel punished by having to sit through this animated offering.

 

The Party

Rated: MA15+The Party

Written and Directed by: Sally Potter

Produced by: Christopher Sheppard, Kurban Kassam

Cinematographer: Alexey Rodionov

Starring: Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz, Cherry Jones, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy, Kristin Scott Thomas and Timothy Spall.

The Party is a film filled with cynical wit as newly appointed Shadow Minister of Health, Janet (Kristin Scott Thomas) celebrates her new post by hosting a party.

Bill (Timothy Spall), husband and long-time supporter sits in a daze with a glass in hand as each guest arrives: best friend April (Patricia Clarkson) and her New Age partner, Gottfried (Bruno Ganz), lesbian couple Martha (Cherry Jones) and Jinny (Emily Mortimer), newly pregnant, and the handsome financier, Tom (Cillian Murphy) – all sitting on their own agenda as a constant barrage of political and social standpoints are thrown around the room building to their very own announcements.

A film of contrasts, and not just because the entirety is shot in black and white, but because of the contrast of ideals and personalities.  Even the music played on the turntable by Bill is a bizarre backdrop and soundtrack to the emotive tension in the lounge room; tragedy and trauma played out to the rumba and reggae creating the ridiculous and send-up to all the seriousness discussed from life expectancy related to economics and class rather than diet and exercise – a statistic Janet and husband Bill have always agreed upon – to the question of life after death.

The setting of the film is the house of Janet and Bill – there’s no hiding as each character is forced to face the crisis looming in each relationship: the dying academic, the cheating wife; each person intellectualising their emotion into a rational argument all to the sound of Bill’s insistence of playing record after record, his need for music a compulsion to express.

This is a film driven by dialogue, and the set was created and shot on stage like a play where each character slowly unravels as each reveals the next revelation – the story’s interest in the layers of rationale used as self-protection being pealed away to show the raw human hiding underneath; argument and ideals and political stances made as an adult only to show the child still hiding underneath.  Except for April.  Now a cynic.  Janet asks her best friend, ‘Have I been emotionally unavailable?’

Of which April replies, ‘It’s not a productive line of thought’.

There are so many subtle moments that got me giggling.  Small details like Bill sitting confused, a glass of red in one hand and the celebratory glass of champagne in the other.

It’s sad, it’s tragic.  And the understanding of what we cling to, to keep our ego’s intact, is examined and oh so very funny.

Writer and director Sally Potter (Orlando (1992)), states she wrote the script with an awareness of the absurdity of human suffering; the highlight for me April as she cuts through any emotion with her scathing, but not to be taken personally, remarks aimed at revealing the true and rational perspective with her unblinking eye, ‘You’re a first-rate lesbian and a second-rate thinker.’

To which Martha, Professor of Women’s Studies replies ‘April, Really.  I am a professor. Specializing in domestic labour gender differentiation in American utopianism.’

‘Exactly,’ says April.

Left with nothing unnecessary for the story to come full-circle in 71 minutes, The Party is a clever film that takes you into the claustrophobic world of relationships in crisis viewed through the lens of a political satire; the most selfless of the group the coke snorting soulless financier, Tom – now that’s cynical.

 

Abracadabra

Rated: 18+Abracadabra

Director/Writer: Pablo Berger

Produced by: Pablo Berger, Ignasi Estapé, Mercedes Gamero, Mikel Lejarza

Music by: Alfonso de Vilallonga

Cinematography by: Kiko de la Rica

Starring: Maribel Verdú, Priscilla Delgado, Antonio de la Torre, José Mota, Quim Gutiérrez, Joep Maria Pou, Javier Anton and Rocίo Calvo.

Language: Spanish with English subtitles.

If it was a choice between an egotistical, abusive and dismissive husband or a loving, appreciative but crazy murderer, who would you choose?

Abracadabra is kind of a love story, if you can call the choice between a chauvinist and a murderer romantic, mixed with weird humour and eye-brow raising moments of blood and drama and fantasy.

After Carmen (Maribel Verdú) with daughter, Toñi (Priscilla Delgado) finally drag husband and father, Carlos from watching the football to a wedding, they wonder why they bothered when he continues to listen to the football match with headphones shouting, Yes !!! right as the priest asks if anyone contends this most romantic and completely loved-up couple from marrying (their current feeling expressed in precious promises the complete opposite to Carmen and Carlos).

The wedding reception show-cases Pepe (José Mota), the mighty hypnotist, (and obsessed with the sequined, gorgeous but somewhat gaudy Carmen) daring an audience member to volunteer.  Carlos doesn’t like the way Pepe looks at his wife, so volunteers confident in his domination over the powers of the eye-lined hypnotist, Pepe.

While mocking the powers of Pepe an opportunistic ghost possesses Carlos changing him from macho-nasty to doe-eyed lovely, breakfast-in-bed included.

When Carmen and daughter Toñi realise it’s too good to be true, the last straw his greeting of Pepe with a kiss and hug, they consult the mighty Dr. Fumetti (Joep Maria Pou) to find the truth of who inhabits the body of Carlos.

And on the story goes, reaching into the bizarre with a flavour of comedy that held the film from falling into a complete mess of over-dramatisation.

It was those subtle details that were funny: the vibrant white of Dr. Fumetti’s teeth while posing as a dentist; the frothing and spitting of the real estate agent to re-enact blood spurting as a mother’s head was sawn off by the hand of her schizophrenic son… I love a bit of dark humour and there were many moments well executed (ha, ha!) by the cast.

If you don’t like funny-strange humour, then stay away.  The film was also melodramatic with emotion shown with that, hand to mouth, Oh! face, often.  But as the film plays out there was a bit of lead in the story.

An interesting movie experience into the unexpected and absurd, with the drama of weddings and unrequited love and madness that was surprising and silly, pushing the suspension of belief as the script skipped across disaster by keeping the underlying humour present in those unexpected and bizarre details.

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Pop Aye

Rated: MPop Aye

Written & Directed by: Kirsten Tan

Produced by: Lai Weijie, Deng Li, Zhang Jianbin, Huang Wenhong

Onset Photographer: Lek Kiatsirikajor

Composer: Matthew James Kelly

Starring: Bong (as Popeye), Thaneth Warakulnukroh, Penpak Sirikul, Chaiwat Khumdee, Yukontorn Sukkijja, Narong Pongpab.

Foreign Language: Thai with English subtitles.

Winner Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award
Winner Rotterdam VPRO Big Screen Award
Winner Best International Feature Film Zurich Film Festival

Popeye is the name of an elephant, a street elephant, lost now found by Thana (Thaneth Warakulnukroh), an architect reaching middle-age and realising that everything he’s worked for is now broken – like his first building about to be destroyed to make way for a new design, a new building aptly named: Eternity.

Finding Popeye (named after the cartoon ‘sailor man’) on the streets of Bangkok, it feels like a chance, a new beginning; the broken Popeye the only Being in the world to understand what it is to be taken for granted.

Leaving his wife, Bo (Penpak Sirikul), job and city, Thana sets out on a journey, taking Popeye with him on the roads of Thailand to return the elephant to his childhood home, their home.

It’s the circle of life, suddenly finding the world different – changing, always moving forward and brutal in leaving the old and weak behind: like nature.  But in nature it’s a slow process.  In the city it’s not about watching the day pass, it’s about money – and it passes fast.

The film is a classic tale of a man having a midlife crisis but shown in the unique setting of Thailand with colourful trucks, ladyboys and the relationship a man can have with an elephant.

Writer and director (debut feature) Kirsten Tan is able to show the animals with real personality – the antics of Popeye as he makes a break for it to continue his own journey from a shopping carpark, shopping trolley being dragged behind; to confused dogs barking at a giant immovable adversary; to long-eared cows lost without their cowbell to announce their coming and going.

There’s a bitter-sweet tone to this film, watching Thana project his life-crisis onto his lost childhood pet, because life is bitter and sometimes sweet.

As Tan states: “Tonally, I believe that life is—and has always been—simultaneously tragic and comic. It only depends on the perspective and distance with which one is watching events unfold. In my films, this inadvertent mixing of tragedy and comedy is important, because that is the truth of life.”

Money is an important part of life, but so is that wondering about what happened to past loves, the yearning to return home – the acceptance of others.

Pop Aye is a quiet film to show the cruel and the kind and those on their own path and how each can connect or break apart shown in a timeline that shifts back and forth but always back to Thana and his struggles – the simple things have meaning like the offer of sandals to ease tired feet, the response to hesitation, ‘They’re old not dirty’.

The meeting of the fortune teller able stop time, to ‘feel a bit like a tree.’  And Thana wants to stop the world turning.  ‘But even trees have to die.’

Pop Aye’s a film to absorb and ponder – a journey to lift the soul; not a fast-paced entertainment.

And I can relate to reaching a crossroads and the wanting to wander ‘til it all makes sense; to be able to slow down time, just for a little bit.

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Blockers

Rated: MA15+Blockers

Director: Kay Cannon

Writers: Brian Kehoe & Jim Kehoe, Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg, Eben Russell

Produced by: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, Chris Fenton

Executive Producers: Nathan Kahane, Joseph Drake, Josh Fagen, Chris Cowles, Dave Stassen, Jonathan McCoy

Stars: Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz, John Cena, Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Indira Viswanathan, Gideon Adlan.

The latest in a long and never-ending line of American teen comedies, this film follows three parents, played by Mann, Cena and Barinholtz, who discover their teenaged daughters have made a pact to lose their virginity on prom night, and try to stop this from occurring. The film was originally titled “The Pact” but was later changed to Blockers with a silhouette of a rooster preceding it, thus inferring “Cock Blockers”.

One reviewer thought this film was “empowering” because it “shows girls flourishing on their own terms, surrounded by supportive friends and nice boys and well-meaning parents.” While this may be true, it isn’t the message one will take away from viewing this film. What lingers is the enthusiastic way teens seize on any opportunity to get totally drunk, and how easily they mislead their well-meaning yet clueless parents.

I expected this film to be composed of wall-to-wall crass humour (based on the trailer) and yes, there was a lot of vulgarity, but there were also some sweet moments between the parents and their children that helped to establish close bonds between them from their first day at school right through to their prom, which explained the parents’ over-protectiveness. In many ways the children seemed more savvy and worldly-wise than their parents, whose similarly rebellious acts during their youth appeared tame in comparison.

A theme running through the film concerned the undeclared sexual preference of one daughter, which I wasn’t expecting to see in this type of film. Her father’s desire to prevent her from bowing to peer pressure was actually quite thought-provoking and mature in a film mainly devoted to depicting drunkenness and vomiting. It was also amusing yet touching how the object of this daughter’s desire was usually photographed in heroic slow-motion, recalling a super hero.

The three male dates for the prom were not depicted as stereotypical brainless hunks with only sex on their minds, with one of them having an enterprising side line in recreational chemicals. While the boys did behave like teenagers, they were also shown to be capable of courtesy and consideration, and were so good humoured about the train wreck unfolding around them that they seemed too good to be true.

The parents were less endearing, with former pro wrestler John Cena probably the weakest link as he overacted like He-Man and his delivery of dialogue was often hampered by poor sound quality or possibly just his enunciation. Lesley Mann reprised her scatter-brained, slightly dippy depiction of a mother who was scared of change. Ike Barinholtz as the outcast father had some touching moments trying to set the record straight while mostly being ignored.

The funniest moment for me was when the three parents snuck into the house of another couple who were into role playing, with amusing results as the three intruders got caught up unintentionally in the other couple’s shenanigans.

So while it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, with some funny moments, it was just another one of those juvenile American movies with lots of swearing instead of witty dialogue, numerous drunken escapades by teenagers and adults alike, and all that rites of passage stuff (getting drunk, trying to lose one’s virginity on prom night, etc.).

If you enjoyed the Bad Moms movies you’ll probably like this one as well. But if you prefer your humour to be more sophisticated and subtle, then this isn’t the movie for you, being just another unoriginal comedy, with predicable situations and largely two dimensional characters.

The Death Of Stalin

Rated: MA 15+The Death Of Stalin

Directed by: Armando Iannucci

Produced by: Yann Zenou, Laurent Zeitoun, Nicolas Duval Adassovski, Kevin Loader

Based on the comic books: THE DEATH OF STALIN by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin

Original screenplay by: Fabien Nury

Written by: Armando Iannucci, David Schneider and Ian Martin

Additional material by: Peter Fellows

Starring: Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Paddy Considine, Rupert Friend, Jason Isaacs, Olga Kurylenko, Michael Palin, Andrea Riseborough, Paul Chahidi, Dermot Crowley, Adrian Mcloughlin, Paul Whitehouse and Jeffrey Tambor.

The poster for, The Death Of Stalin warns: ‘A Comedy of Terrors’ –  I should have realised a film based on the days in the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death had senseless murder and mayhem.

I’m not saying there’s gratuitous blood and guts, but the ridiculous behaviour of those in power – Stalin’s Politburo including the security forces of the NKVD and The People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs – who rape and murder while patting each other on the back astounds and at times, tickles:

‘When I piss I always try to make eye contact with an officer,’ says Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor) to Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi) while peeing against a tree. ‘It ruins their day’.

The majority-rules-group-mentality spearheaded by the iron fist of Stalin unravels when he dies.  The fear felt by his people shown by the hesitation in speech, the inability to come to his aid when he strokes-out on the floor in his own ‘indignity’ because the soldiers are too scared to check what that thud on the floor actually means: What if nothing’s wrong?

So the soldiers wait until morning, safeguarding Stalin’s dying brain, waiting for the housekeeper to arrive with his morning tea.  All based on fact.

Writer-director, Armando Iannucci has created a dark satire that turns the facts into something so terrifying and ridiculous it’s funny.

Once Iannucci was on-board, the cast came together starring the likes of, Steve Buscemi, Michael Palin and Maria Yudina as the concert pianist, Olga Kurylenko: a solid cast working a dynamic script, much like the beloved communist dictum of a working machine focussing on the whole rather than its parts.

Although the decision was made to allow each actor their own native accent (rather than speak with a Russian inflection), it’s difficult to highlight any individual as they were all different yet essential in the ridiculousness of their nature: from the sad clown Malenkov who knows he’s way over his head as Stalin’s Number 2 (girdle included), to the sociopathic tub of evil genious, Beria (Simon Russell Beale), to Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi) who could make Stalin laugh; notes taken every night by his faithful wife, drunken quotes read in the morning to remember topics that worked to those that didn’t to CAAAAA: the sound of a throat being cut.

In other words, he’s on, The List.

The Death of Stalin is gallows humour with the back and forth of words spoken with a blank face changing the meaning so it was more about the way the words were spoken and how best not to get caught saying them.

I expected a laugh-out-loud comedy but the truth of evil doesn’t allow for that; it’s hard to let go of the terror.  Instead, there’s a quick brilliancy; a film of dialogue that could be played out on stage including gems like, ‘Can you ever trust a weak man?’

The film tickled with subtle comment by walking the fine line between the seriousness of committing mass murder against the humour terror brings when people are behaving at their evil worst.

With so many layers it’s a film I’d watch again.

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