Spice Up Your Valentine's Day..."Sleeping With Other People"

Sleeping With Other People (2015)

Rated R

Starring Jason Sudeikis, Alison Brie, Adam Scott, Amanda Peet,

Written and Directed by Leslye Headland

The Story:

Jake (Sudeikis) meets Lainey (Brie) in college. She has come to the dorms to lose her virginity to Matthew (Scott). Except he's not home, and Jake tells her that Matt is quite the tool. The two bond and then the two virgins become none. Fast forward a dozen-ish years, and the two bump into one another. It's been one bad relationship after another for each of them, but they hit it off and become best of friends. But as we all know, men and women can't just be friends and the clock starts ticking...

I really wanted to like this one more than I did.

Think of it like When Harry Met Sally, except Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan talk about sex for 90 minutes and barrage you with language that makes a sailor stop and say "hey now, hold on a second!".

And yes, I'm a vile hypocrite because I don't mind it as much in some movies as I do in others. If you can take the language out and the jokes are still funny, you're on to something.

If you remove the language and there is no joke, then you've got a problem.

And therein lies my main problem with the film.

I've reviewed one of Ms. Headland's films before: Bachelorette . And I said many of the same things there.

She loves to talk about sex and get great actors to spew forth her dialogue.

This one is more amusing than that film, but that owes way more to Sudeikis' ability to deliver lines like this so well, he's phoning it in at this point. That said, the chemistry and likeability of both Sudeikis and Brie help elevate the overall proceedings. Replace either with another actor, and this review might have gone a whole different direction.

Kudos also to Adam Scott who comes back for more in this film as the slimey Matt who is ruining Lainey's life. He is one of Headland's favorites, and he usually also makes the most of whatever he is given.

I'm seeing improvements in Headland's body of work, but I think it's time for her to leave the bedroom behind and see if there is more to life than a good @#$%.

Or if not, at least be funnier about it.

Final Grade: C+

"Bachelorette": Nothing Worse Than A Humorless Comedy.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should...

The Story:

Becky (Rebel Wilson) is getting married.  Much to the dismay of her best friend Regan (Kirsten Dunst) who thought she would be going down the aisle first.  Regan becomes the Maid of Honor and spends the next six months organizing the wedding.  The movie mostly takes place at the night before the wedding when all of the bridesmaids are in town, including the girls other two friends, Gena and Katie (Lizzy Caplan and Isla Fisher).  The three insult Becky by mistake, destroy her dress, and then spend a wild night of drugs, alcohol and stupidity trying to fix everything in time for the wedding the next morning.

Man, with friends like that...

First, the school of thought was, if the guys can have a raunchy rated R comedy, why can't girls? 
Thus, we were blessed to receive Bridesmaids, which was amusing, but not hilariously funny.
Though when put in comparison to this film, it was downright hysterical.

Nope, apparently Leslye Headland who wrote it, directed it, and based it off a play, thought her stuff was funny with a capital F.

Having ladies spew obscenities, walk around getting wasted and having sex with anyone they please isn't funny. 

And to be fair, it's not funny when guys do it either.

Unless...

The dialogue is off-the-wall insanely hilarious.

Which it isn't.

Much to the waste of these great actresses, Rebel Wilson who I found hilarious in Pitch Perfect, Kirsten Dunst who was wrong as Mary Jane Watson, but otherwise acquits herself nicely in most anything, and Isla Fisher who was great in Confessions of a Shopaholic.

Here, all that talent was wasted spewing obscenities, snorting coke, or just behaving awful.

Even the always terrific Adam Scott can't rise above the material, though he is about the only bright spot in the movie (other than Rebel Wilson).  Go figure that the two characters that have the most heart and sincerity in the entire film are the bride who is barely used and the ex-boyfriend of one of the female leads.

James Marsden is also wasted in his role as the best man.

So much talent... so wrongly executed.

Now available to steam (typo, but I'm leaving it!) instantly on Netflix.

Final Grade: D+
Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Never in a million years...