School's Out For Summer..."Fist Fight"

Fist Fight (2017)

Rated R

Starring Charlie Day, Ice Cube, Tracy Morgan, Jillian Bell, Dean Norris, Christina Hendricks,

Directed by Richie Keen

The Story:

On the last day of school, English teacher Andy (Day) inadvertently gets History teacher Strickland (Cube) fired from his job. Strickland decides to retaliate and says at 3:00 when school is out, they're going to fight. Andy then spends the rest of the day trying to make amends or do whatever he can to get out of the fight. Naturally, it doesn't go so well.

Here's where I'm up on my soap box with the language issue. The movie is littered with a mine field of f-bombs to navigate through.

But as I've always said, if you can take the language out, and the jokes would still work, then it's actually funny.

And, I laughed way more often than I was expecting/hoping during this film.

I would say that 90% of that comes squarely because of Charlie Day.

He has perfected the exasperated everyman character to a "t" in his previous film outings where he often plays the buddy of the main character.

Well, here he graduates to the star of the show and carries the entire film on his shoulders. Everything that happens is based on his actions and the spiraling descent into madness as he feverishly works to avoid a confrontation at the end of the day.

So, if you don't like Charlie Day, you'll likely not care for the film.

Ice Cube has less screen time, but his presence is always felt as the hour ticks closer to the 3:00 showdown.

They are also surrounded by some of the worst teachers ever to grace the screen, especially Holly (Bell) the school guidance counselor who is a train-wreck of emotional baggage. :)

So yes, it's crude, but I laughed a lot and the movie kept me interested.  I can live with that.

Final Grade: B-

Tis The Season... "The Night Before"

The Night Before (2015)

Rated R

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie, Michael Shannon, Tracy Morgan, Jillian Bell, Lizzy Caplan, Miley Cyrus,

Directed by Jonathan Levine

The Story:

Ethan (Gordon-Levitt) lost his parents in a tragic accident at Christmas. 2 friends, Isaac (Rogen) and Chris (Mackie) supported him and spent those Christmas Eves with him trying to make him happy and move past the pain. As the boys grew older, their nightly excursions got wilder as they attempted to find the greatest Christmas party, ever! Always close, but never finding it, the guys are getting ready to call it quits because they're older now and need to move on. So it's one last night on the town, and things are about to get really crazy.

To explain this movie in any greater detail takes away some of the charm, or weirdness, that it has going for it.

There will be sex, drugs and rock and roll.

There's magic drugs.

Angels.

Tracy Morgan as Santa Claus.

Seth Rogen and James Franco sexting one another.

Miley Cyrus even shows up to attempt to save the day!

Yes, this film pretty much has it all, and then some.

They literally throw everything at the wall to see what sticks.

And there are enough genuinely funny moments to make this one worth a viewing.

Especially Rogen's drug-induced visit to a Catholic Midnight Mass where he realizes that the guy in the big Jewish sweater is to blame for the crucifixion. His freak out is worth the rental.

:)

Also, there's just enough heart under all the crudeness as Ethan realizes it's time to grow up, and that sometimes the best families aren't the families you're born into, but the family that you choose to build because you want them in your life and they want to be there with you.

Final Grade: C+

Even Affordable Health Care Cannot Fix "Accidental Love"

Accidental Love (2015)

Rated PG-13

Starring Jessica Biel, James Marsden, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tracy Morgan, Kurt Fuller,

Directed by David O. Russell

The Story:

Alice (Biel) is about to be proposed to by her boyfriend Scott (Marsden). That's when tragedy strikes and she winds up with a nail in her head. Naturally, Scott isn't so sure he wants to risk a wedding to someone who could suffer mood swings or die because of the nail, and healthcare is too expensive to pull the nail out. So Alice heads to Washington D.C. to get freshman Congressman Birdwell (Gyllenhaal) to propose a healthcare bill that would allow for the removal of nails to the skull.

This was an odd one.

Reading up on it, apparently it was David O. Russell's attempt at a comedy/political satire that was plagued with numerous problems so he walked away and disowned it.

Ouch.

It's not that bad, and the cast he assembles gives it their all, especially a manic Marsden and a game for just about anything Gyllenhaal who brings a lot of life to a spineless politician who wants to do good things, but can't quite figure out how to do it correctly.

Much of it will seem really dated by the time you get around to watching it because it started filming in 2008, so all the zingers about affordable healthcare have the wind taken out of their sales at this point as it was finally released in a world that has healthcare mandates.

Affordable healthcare, that's a whole different ball game however.

It takes a bit for the movie to get going, but it seems everyone involved is game, and that was like the film's saving grace.

Final Grade: C

A Funny Thing Happened...But Not In "Why Stop Now"

Why even start?

The Story:

Eli (Jesse Eisenberg) is taking his mom (Melissa Leo) to rehab so she can get clean.  Unfortunately she sobered up preparing for rehab, and unless she comes back testing positive for something, she can't get in.  Eli's got a very important piano recital to attend that afternoon, but he realizes if he can't get rid of his mom, his whole shot at going to a prestigious college is out the window.  So he takes her to get some drugs from her local dealer, Sprinkles (Tracy Morgan).  It all goes downhill from there.

I should have known when they left the question mark off the title of the movie, that it was doomed from the start.  Punctuation is important!

This is one of those movies that you keep watching, wondering at any moment when the switch will flip and it takes off to be the riotous comedy that you're expecting.  Then 90 minutes later you realize that the only switch that flips is the one turning off the DVD player.

Nope, it never lives up to the potential.

Eisenberg is quickly becoming another actor that simply plays himself.  However, unlike say, Jonah Hill, Eisenberg is not funny.  He's quirky and odd, but he's coasting off the success of Zombieland and The Social Network, and that's been over 3 years.  The neurotic nebbish is getting old.  He better come up with something solid or different, otherwise, we're looking at the next Jon Heder.

Really, the storyline almost seemed like a collection of "hey, wouldn't this be a cool idea..." and they really didn't have any coherent point to the story.  Let's have a story about a piano player. How about a story about a mom that needs rehab.  Ooo, and a girl that has a sock puppet.  And a drug dealer... and...

Now I'm beginning to realize why they titled the movie Why Stop Now.

It was a writer's brainstorming session that they turned into a screenplay.

Not worth your time or effort.

Final Grade: D

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: No chance.