RBR: Women behaving badly

I've been having some computer problems lately so I haven't been able to update this as frequently as I would like, so you get a two-fer here. Thankfully the two films have some commonality. Bridesmaids: Despite all the heaping praise and success that this film earned earlier this year, I was skeptical of its quality. A part of it was that the trailers did not win me over as much as other recent comedies I've enjoyed. But the bigger issue was with the film's star, Kristin Wiig, who in a matter of time has gone from brilliant commedienne to grating personality on Saturday Night Live. While initially fresh, Wiig has become overused and one-dimensional on the sketch show and I was worried that would transition over into this film. Still I tried to keep an open mind and while I was not completely won over by the film, I'll say that it turned out better than I expected. There are several genuine laughs in the film, however, I felt that in an attempt to yield more laughs they dumped on Wiig's character too much almost to the point of making her unsympathetic. The film, given its story, is also way too long and needed some better editing. The one nice surprise for me was Melissa McCarthy's performance. The surprise doesn't come from the character being that funny, but rather that they were able to keep the character in check and make her human. While the trailers made it appear as if she was just some crass, scatological cartoon character, we see that despite her appearance she's more human than half the characters in the film. I'll give it a mild recommendation, just don't believe the hype that this is somehow on par with films like The Hangover or Anchorman. Rating: *** 1/2

Bad Teacher: If I thought Wiig's character came off unsympathetic in Bridesmaids, it goes double for Cameron Diaz's character in this comedy. She's about the least interesting thing about this film. Similar to the problem I have with Community, I found myself immediately more interested in the supporting cast that make up the rest of the staff at the school. The film does a great job of bringing in funny people like Jason Segel, John Michael Higgins, Phyllis Smith, Dave 'Gruber' Allen as fellow teachers. And there's a whole host of other comedians who pop in and out yielding a quick laugh before the film turns back to Diaz to suck the life right back out of the film. She even manages to make the generally entertaining Justin Timberlake come off as boring here. I wanted to like the film more, but it just never found anything to do with its central premise focusing on this crude, apathetic instructor. The kids in the film end up being nothing more than props. Their attempt at trying to humanize Diaz's character by pitting her against Lucy Punch, a perky, overachieving instructor doesn't work and only ends up putting both of them in the wrong. This is not a terrible film just one that fails to live up to any of its potential. Rating: ** 1/2