Do You Suffer From "A.C.O.D." ? You Just Might...

A.C.O.D. (2013)
Rated R for language

Starring Adam Scott, Richard Jenkins, Catherine O'Hara, Amy Poehler, Jane Lynch

Directed by Stu Zicherman

The Story:

Carter (Scott) is an Adult Child of Divorce (ACOD) from his parents Hugh (Jenkins) and Melissa (O'Hara).  The two despise each other, and their relationship has forever scarred how Carter thinks of love.  When his younger brother (Clark Duke) is going to get married, Carter wants to make sure both of his parents come, but at least pretend to be civil with one another.  When Carter discovers that this reunion has caused the two of them to engage in an adulterous fling with one another, his world begins to come crashing down around him.

I had high hopes for this film, and felt like it never lived up to the potential.

It has an amazingly talented cast, but much of the scenes just don't sparkle with crisp gags or anything.

The movie waffles between laugh out loud funny and just amusing.

Is Walking In On Your Parents Hilarious or Amusing?

Sometimes it also wants to bring a little drama to the proceedings.

It may be this balance that was most troubling aspect of the film.

The actors are all really good, but much of their dialogue or situations just sort of happen with no rhyme or reason.

The potential for Adam Scott as he realizes that he is actually a test subject in a book about children of divorce is ripe for the picking, but really that entire subplot just fizzles on the vine.  Aside from introducing Jessica Alba to the movie, for no other reason than to have Jessica Alba in the movie apparently.

I think that I had 3 really HA HA moments and otherwise, just an amused smile from time to time.

That's a disservice to what this film would, and should have delivered.

Too much squandered potential.

Especially with the cast of this pedigree.

Dude, He Totally Didn't Love This Movie!

As the credits roll, the crew weighs in with their thoughts on divorce, and it's amazing how many are indeed scarred by their parent's divorce, and most want nothing to do with marriage.

Sad.

Final Grade C-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Nope, the disappointment is still too fresh.

The Night Everything Changes..."Sleepover"

 

The most important rule is don't leave the house...

The Story:

Getting ready to start high school is tough.  Doing it when your best friend (Mika Boorem) is about to move away forever...world-changing.  So Julie (Alexa Vega) has a sleepover at her house.  Her mom (Jane Lynch) is still treating her like a little girl while her dad (Jeff Garlin) remains clueless about everything.  However, when the popular rival (Sara Paxton) challenges Julie's crew to a scavenger hunt... the winner gets to sit at the "popular kids" spot in high school for lunch while the others have to sit near the dumpsters...  Some rules are meant to be broken.

If you have daughters, this is a good film for them to watch.

On second thought, since they disobey the parents, maybe not! : )

Okay, ignoring the bad parenting advice, it's a fun, mostly harmless movie.  The trouble they get into is nothing that bad, and it's a movie with the hi-jinks that won't hopefully bother the parents I you're watching along with your children.

Sam Huntington provides some amusement as the put-upon brother who tries to cover his sister's shenanigans by pretending to be an all-female slumber party by himself.

Thrown also into the mix is Steve Carrell as a rent-a-cop for a few silly moments as well.

This one came out in 2004, right after his breakout performances in Bruce Almighty and Anchorman.  Nothing quite that funny for him in this role, but here you can catch him before he shot to fame the next year as a star.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I wouldn't go out of my way to buy it or stop everything that I'm doing if it came on, but it's a harmless bit of fun that if it was on, I would likely stop flipping channels.

Movie of the Week: "Wreck It Ralph"

Who knew being bad could be so good?           

The Story:

Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the bad guy in a videogame.  He spends his days wrecking a building only to have the hero fix everything and win gold medals and the accolades of the city.  This goes on for 30 years, and Ralph is tired of his lonely life.  He wants to win a medal and be... liked.  So he leaves his game, gets his medal... and then things get...

Complicated.

Just as Toy Story showed years ago, that there is life for your toys when you are not around, Wreck-It Ralph shows what happens to the games in an arcade when the lights go out and the people go home.

These characters interact with one another and then when the lights go back on, they head back to their games, and life as they know it.

For most characters, this is great.  But for the villains...

Well, attending Bad-Anon meetings is a first step in realizing that they do indeed have a purpose in life.  Someone has got to be bad, so they might as well be the best bad-guy they can be.

Complications arise when Ralph gets out and heads to a first person shooter game to win his medal. He escapes with the gold, and an alien bug that will infect any game once it gets free.  When Ralph crashes in Sugar Rush, he meets a driver (Sarah Silverman) with a glitch, and a burning desire to be a racer even though the other racers scoff at her.

The two bond, unaware that the bug is multiplying, the very game is in danger, and that Calhoun (Jane Lynch) from the shooter game and Felix (Jack McBrayer) are hot on their trail to get Ralph out of there and save the day.

Bad guys don't win medals though, and they never, ever save the day.

Can Ralph overcome those two obstacles and prove otherwise, or is the whole game destined to crash?

This story was simply too much fun, and for anyone that's played video games ...ever... you'll see some version of a game that you've played once, twice or a thousand times over the years.

The voicework is great, and the stars do not outshine their characters.  Okay, maybe Jane Lynch, simply because she is almost becoming an over-the-top caricature of herself...

But otherwise, it all works.

And yes, I want to play Sugar Rush.  That game looks like Mario Kart... with even cooler weaponry!
: )


And talking to my little Academy Voters... they all agree on one thing:

Brave stole the Oscar this year.

Tsk tsk.


The one upside, the Oscar winning short Paperman is on this disc.


You know those internet memes "..still a better love story than Twilight" ?

Yeah, that's just the tip of the iceberg of cool things you could say about it, and hopefully it can be found on YouTube again now that the Oscars are over.


Final Grade: A

Would I Own It:  Put this on the list, I'm in!