2014 Movie Preview: #23 - 22 Jump Street

Release date: June 13

Plot summary: After making their way through high school (twice), big changes are in store for officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) when they go deep undercover at a local college. But when Jenko meets a kindred spirit on the football team, and Schmidt infiltrates the bohemian art major scene, they begin to question their partnership. Now they don't have to just crack the case - they have to figure out if they can have a mature relationship. If these two overgrown adolescents can grow from freshmen into real men, college might be the best thing that ever happened to them.

My take: As I mentioned when I posted the trailer for this sequel recently, I was not overly enamored with the first film. However, it was not without its merits. There are too many funny people that are in the cast not to produce at least some decent laughs. Plus I much prefer the college setting over the high school setting and think it creates a larger range of potential jokes.

RBR: We're the Millers

This comedy about a small time drug dealer who pretends to have a family so he can smuggle a large quantity of marijuana across the border turned out to be a surprise hit earlier this year. Now having seen it on DVD, its success is that much more surprising to me. For one, movies that come in August typically are not poised to be blockbusters. But the bigger reason is that the film's humor and subject matter do not seem like they would lend themselves to a mainstream hit. Credit the likeable cast for driving this creaky premise into a film that does enough to get by. SNL's Jason Sudekis plays the drug dealer who rounds up Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, and Will Poulter to play his family members. The film also features appearances from comedians including Ed Helms, Nick Offerman, and Kathryn Hahn. The humor here is very hit and miss. I found too many of the gags had decent setups with weak payoffs. The bigger issue though was poor character development. Almost everyone here is inconsistent and behaves in a manner that suits the joke and the role they play in it. Unfortunately, I found there to be very few surprises offered here. Given that this is a film that is relying on half of its jokes to work based on shock value, that's a problem. I also found the film to be a bit too cynical at times regarding the American dream and suburban family life. It feels like they want the characters to take a jaded attitude toward that lifestyle, but the actors seem to be good representatives of it. I did not find myself actively hating this film like other pathetic comedies I have seen this year, but I also was left confused as to what was offered here that struck a nerve with so many viewers to cause it to earn as much as it did at the box office. To me this is the epitome of an average film that gets by with its pleasant actors engaging in some occasionally humorous antics. Rating: ** 1/2

Getting a Jump start on the new year

More trailers keep rolling in previewing the 2014 slate. This time it's the sequel to surprise reboot of 21 Jump Street, this time named 22 Jump Street. I'll let the awesome Nick Offerman explain why.

Millers Crossing

Pot comedies typically do nothing for me, but We're the Millers not only has an appealing cast (Jason Sudekis, Jennifer Aniston, Ed Helms, Nick Offerman), but also is more of a road trip movie than it is about drugs, so this has drawn my interest. This may work well during those dog days of summer. I've posted the first trailer here below.

Hip to be Square

GQ made the wise choice of honoring the cast of Parks and Recreation in their Man of the Year issue and to commemorate the honor, the gang from Pawnee made this awesome video playing a game of Hollywood Squares. Enjoy it below!

Beat this

Actor, meat eater, and the manliest-man on this planet, Nick Offerman, aka Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation shares with us some beat poetry about one of his most favorite things - bacon. Enjoy!

RBR: Casa de mi Padre

Try to follow me on this one...Casa de mi Padre is a Spanish langauge film (with subtitles) about a pair of brothers trying to take over their father's estate while dealing with a murderous drug dealer that stars Will Ferrell. The film uses a standard Mexican melodrama plot while parodying the genre. OK, now if you're still with me, then it's likely that you'll want to check out this movie. This is one of those high-concept, lowbrow films that will only speak to a very small portion of the population. I can appreciate what they were going for here and give Ferrell a lot of credit for choosing such an anti-mainstream picture. With that said, the film pulls its punches. Yes it mocks the cheesy visual effects typically seen in these films and contains endless songs that may or may not be connected to the story, but ultimately it's too respectful of the genre to truly be considered a parody while being too irreverent to actually pay homage. A film like this certainly works better on the small screen as it feels like an extended SNL skit. The film has it's share of laughs but in the end you feel somewhat ambivalent and confused as to what you actually saw. If you're willing to put up with reading for 85 minutes, then you may want to give this a rental but the film is so inconsequential that you won't be missing anything if you opt to skip it. Rating: ***

Twit Nick

Curious about what's going on in the lives of today's young female celebrities but don't want to join Twitter? That's no problem no thanks to Nick Offerman, who will gladly share with us what they're tweeting while he does some woodworking. Courtesy of Conan

RBR: 21 Jump Street

The last thing we needed was yet another movie made based off of a TV show, but at least 21 Jump Street has the courtesy of acknowledging this fact and having some fun with it. There is plenty to like here as Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum have fun playing cops who go undercover as high school students in order to bust a drug ring. A lot of that comes from them going against their original roles in high school (Tatum hangs with the nerds, while Hill buddies up with the cool kids). Even though the film yields some decent laughs, I also grew frustrated with the fact that the film felt that it was more clever than it really was. Several jokes are included that try to mock cop movie cliches, but most of them have either been done before or just didn't work in their execution. There's a running gag about expected explosions that never really pays off. I did appreciate the fact that they rounded out the cast with several funny people who helped give the film a bit more credibility. Nick Offerman, Rob Riggle, Ice Cube and Ellie Kemper all briefly show up and do their best to milk the most out of their screentime. I'm sure those in high school particularly found this film funny, but as I get further away from that period of my life, I find it more difficult to relate to what they appreciate. This is far from a perfect film, but I do give them an A for effort. Given the poor execution though, it's actual rating is much lower. Rating: *** 1/2

Loco Coco

Thanks to The Big Bang Theory reruns as its lead-in, Conan has seen improved ratings on TBS the past few months. Whether buoyed by those numbers or just finally finding its creative groove, I've felt the show has consistently improved recently and has provided some great comedy moments. Here are just a pair from the past week that I particularly enjoyed.