Movie trailers that falsely advertise a film's content? Tom Hanks as the good guy? Oh, you could've knocked me over with a feather! This is the fourth episode of "Movie Night."
*theme song plays*
Hello, and welcome to "Movie Night", the YouTube show that once again made it socially acceptable to talk to yourself in an empty movie theater.
Hi! My name is Jonathan Paula. Our first film tonight is "Funny People."
Released on July 31st, 2009, from a budget of $75 million, this Judd Apatow drama-dy starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen went on to gross just $61 million, making it one of the bigger flops in Sandler's and Apatow's otherwise very fruitful careers.
"Funny People" was created by these two, dare I say, comedy legends, so how come when Apatow and Sandler team up, the result is kind of sub-par?
The reason is simple, and it's also the main reason I was disappointed by this film. The trailers lied to us!
Growing up watching films as a kid, I always used to joke with my friends, like, "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if, you know, you released a trailer for a movie that had nothing to do with the film?"
That's kinda what they did here with "Funny People." I mean, you've got Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Leslie Mann- this movie should have been hilarious.
And in certain scenes, notably those you've already seen in the trailer, the movie actually is quite funny.
Unfortunately, the laughs are few and far between in this film, which tells the story of an over-the-hill comedian, George Simmons, played by Adam Sandler.
He's diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia and is given an 8% chance to live.
Simmons befriends a local upstart comedian, Ira Wright, played by Rogen, to help him deal with his life, now that he's slowly dying.
Watching Simmons deal with the realization of his death and the character play between him and Wright is the real heart of this film. It's surprising and very emotional and enjoyable... For the first half of the movie.
That's right- the first HALF of the movie! This movie is a two-and-a-half-hour-long film. And spoiler alert: Simmons finds out he's not really going to die about 90 minutes in.
The movie should have ended right there. The remaining hour of the movie is this ridiculous situational and confusing romance plot that rears its head awfully late in the run time.
What was once a celebrity struggle with a life-ending disease has now become a bad episode of "Three's Company." The movie completely lost me here, with many of the characters' motivations coming seemingly out of nowhere.
"Funny People" ended up becoming "Sad and Unfunny People" for me. But let's see what you thought.
Jon: Dylanduarte wrote... (reads Dylanduarte's comment)
Jon: PenCityPunk wrote... (reads PenCityPunk's comment)
Jon: LuluStoreys wrote... (reads LuluStoreys's comment)
Well, that's what you guys said, so now let's take a look at what I thought on the Rate-o-Matic. Now, I'm gonna change up the rules a little bit. In the past, the Rate-o-Matic reflected what all you and I thought about a movie.
On today's episode and probably going forward, the Rate-o-Matic will now only reflect what I think of the film, and we'll get to what you guys thought in just a second.
Yeah... A "3"! I thought this was a bad film. Many parts of this movie worked individually, but as a whole, it really dropped the ball in my opinion. It didn't know if it wanted to be a drama, a comedy, a romance plot...
And at the end of the day, I didn't really care for it. As promised, though, let's take a look at what you guys, as a group, collectively thought of "Funny People."
So, as you can see, the ratings here are pretty much all over the place. Remember, if you'd like to rate next week's films, the links to do so are in the sidebar.
Now, for our next film tonight, we'll be looking at the film adaptation of Dan Brown's novel "Angels and Demons", starring Tom Hanks and Ewan McGregor.
Now, I'm not going to review this film. Sure, I could give it a "6" or a "7" easily. I enjoyed this one. No, we're gonna let this one be handled by one of our "Movie Night" correspondents. He's standing by, live, at St. Peter's Basilica, from the Vatican.
Jory Caron, how are you doing tonight?
I'm doing well, Jon. I'm live from the pews here at St. Peter's Basilica, where I'm about to be ordained as one of the Pope's newest cardinals.
No, I'm not! I thought that was kinda strange. I have sinned an awful lot in my life... Oh, well! Let's just get right down to it and review this 2009 box-office hit.
Jory: "Angels and Demons" is the much-anticipated sequel to the hugely successful "Da Vinci Code." Fun fact here: Although "Angels and Demons" is a sequel to "The Da Vinci Code" in movie form, it is actually the prequel to it in book form.
But I digress! "Angels and Demons" brings back Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor of symbology or symbolism (whichever studies symbols), to solve the case of the missing vial of stolen anti-matter.
Robert Langdon and friends have to follow a whole bunch of hidden clues, to save the world. Now, just when you think, "I've heard THAT plot before," the movie introduces the Catholic Church for its Illuminati twist. Oh, snap!
Riding on the heels of the Pope's death and the uneasy times of the Papel election, the Illuminati kidnaps the four Preferiti. For those not familiar with the Catholic lingo, they're the four preferred contenders for the Pope's seat.
On top of that Preferiti pwnage, the Iluminati decide to take their newly acquired speck of anti-matter and consume Vatican City in light. In laymen's terms, the Illuminati are going to use their weapon of mass destruction to blow up Vatican CIty.
They don't just want to blow up Vatican City, though. They want to create a series of solvable riddles, to ultimately thrwart the attempt of the Church's destruction.
Robert Langdon, who apparently knows everything about the Catholic Church, even more than the Catholic Church itself, discerns that the Illuminati are going to kill in the style of earth, wind, fire, and water.
But I felt as thought they lacked heart, so the Captain Planet Star of Approval can't be awarded to this flick. This movie brought so much to the big screen.
It had history, mystery, mutilation, a detonation, a car chase, and the beautiful face of Ayelet Zurer. Wait a second- wasn't she in "Munich", a movie directed by Steven Spielberg?
Tom Hanks has been in a bunch of movies directed by Steven Spielberg. There must be a clue here!
I'm in the eighth row of pews. "H" is the eighth letter of the alphabet. Tom Hanks's last name begins with an "H"! I'm so close! The clue must be right under my feet!
Jon: Uh, Jory, implausible deduction skiills aside, I don't think defacing Vatican property is such a good idea...
Listen, Jon- I need answers, and even though some of the acting was a little too revealing and obvious, and some of the clever comedic one-liners were a little out of place, it still held my undivided attention.
That's what I thought about it, though. Let's see what some of you guys had to say.
Jory: TubedUp909Part3 said... (reads TubedUp909Part3's comment)
Jory: Blah22322 wrote... (reads Blah22322's comment)
Jory: Deltoragal said... (reads Deltoragal's comment)
That's what you thought, but did I enjoy it?
Yeah! That's why I'm gonna have to give it a "cool." But, Jon, I have to know- what mysteries can I solve by digging up this 400-year-old floor?
I mean, if there's even a remote chance that by doing this I can save Vatican City, then it's something I'm gonna have to do!
Jory: (yelling) Does anyone have a shovel? Back to you, Jon!
Thanks for that exciting movie review, Jory. It's even more impressive that you were able to broadcast without any issues from inside St. Peter's Basilica, so good work!
Jory: (yelling in background) Or a pick axe!
Now on to this week's Tweet Critique. LoganCrews wrote... (reads LoganCrew's Tweet)
Jon: Lesbott Tweeted... (reads Lesbott's Tweet)
Jon: Spencer_Honda Tweeted... (reads Spencer_Honda's Tweet)
If you have a Tweet Critique you'd like to see on an upcoming episode of "Movie Night", all you have to do is review a recently released film and add the #JPMN hashtag to your Tweet.
That's it for this week's episode. Now, let's take a look at next week's movies. 60 00:08:49,73 --> 00:08:00,73 "Battle for the Smithsonian" is new on DVD this week, and "Millennium" is a 20-year-old sci-fi movie about time travel and airplanes. I hope you get a chance to check out both of them, and let me know what you think for next week's episode.
Thanks for watching "Movie Night." Once again, my name is Jonathan Paula. Goodnight.
*end credits play*