Despicable Me 2

ANIMATED/COMEDY/FAMILY

Gru - When You Need a Hero?

8.0 out of 10 | Movie or DVD

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Rated: PG Rude Humor and mild action
Release Date: July 3, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes

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Director: Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
Writers: Justin Haythe, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio
Cast: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Benjamon Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove, Russell Brand, Ken Jeong, Steve Coogan, Elsie Fisher, Dana Gaier

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SYNOPSIS:  Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villain League to help deal with a powerful new super criminal.

REVIEW: Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud return as directors of the Gru-tastic follow up to Despicable Me. Written by the Despicable Me creative team of Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul (The Lorax), we find that Gru has changed his ways in order to be a good father to Edith, Margo and Agnes. But the good times will not last long!

Gru (Steve Carell, The Way, Way Back) has denounced his wicked and evil ways in favor of taking care of his three adopted daughters Edith (Dana Gaier), Margo (Miranda Cosgrove, School of Rock) , and Agnes (Elsie Fisher). Gru has even given up crime in favor of having his minions and Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand, Rock of Ages) work on a legitimate business venture with jellies and jams. When a top secret research facility in the artic circle is stolen for a even more top secret experimental serum, an agent named Lucy (Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids) from the AVL (Anti-Villain League) recruits Gru to root out the villain behind the heist, believed to be hiding out at the local mall. While undercover, Gru is sure that he has uncovered a supposedly dead super villain named el Macho (Benjamin Bratt, Snitch) but is overruled due to lack of evidence. Can Gru find out the truth before his minions and, more importantly, his precious girls are put into danger?

The return of Gru and his minions is an exciting prospect. What person with emotions did not smile during the original film or the commercials when Edith thrusts her stuffed unicorn into the air and declares 'he's so fluffy!'? A sequel was all but demanded by that simple act of a little girl and the warming of the heart of a ruthless criminal mastermind. This time around, Gru has already shed the trappings of being a criminal, focusing all his efforts on the happiness of his little girls.

Gru still has his snarky edge from his years of being a bad guy, but he has warmed up to the fact that being a father is better. The problem is that Edith wants to have a mother too. Facing a threat even greater then an archenemy, Gru shrinks back from the idea of dating. Agent Lucy Wilde, on the other hand, finds Gru enchanting and fun. It does not take a mad scientist to know that a chemical reaction will take place between Gru and his new junior agent partner.

Steve Carell brings back his Gru character just as you would expect. Kristen Wiig, as Agent Wilde, voices her character with a lighthearted romantic slant. Benjamin Bratt, as el Macho, amps up the villain with as much machismo as he can muster. The minions are funny as always, laughing, speaking of their strange language, and blowing raspberries at each other, for supreme comic effect.

The story is a little different from the original. But the main difference is that Gru already has the love of the girls and will do anything to keep them safe. It was fun to watch him in the original while he was trying to make that realization. There is something lost in the fact that Gru is not trying to peddle off the girls back to the orphanage. The action, though, is on par with the original film with a few additional flares.

The creative team does manage to change things up a little bit by adding more pop culture references. From the music group All for One, a homage to Donald Sutherland and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, to Isaac from The Love Boat, to an aerial shot not unlike the final battle in Star Wars: A Phantom Menace, there is something for everybody to enjoy – not just the kids.

While not as good as the original, Despicable Me 2 does entertain kids and adults alike. It may not do as well as the other animation out this season, namely Monsters University, but it will draw enough minions for it to be a success.

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The Way Way Back

COMEDY/DRAMA

Bring the Heat, Bring the Noise

8.75 out of 10 | Matinee or Rental

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Rated: PG-13  Some sexual content, language, brief drug material and thematic elements
Release Date: July 5, 2013 (limited)
Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes

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Director: Jim Rash, Nat Faxon
Writers: Jim Rash, Nat Faxon
Cast: Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Amanda Peet, Toni Collette, AnnaSophia Robb, Maya Rudolph, Rob Corddry, Allison Janney, Liam James, Jim Rash, Nat Faxon, River Alexander, Ava Deluca-Verley

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SYNOPSIS:  Over the course of his summer break, a teenager comes into his own thanks in part to the friendship he strikes up with one of the park's managers.

REVIEW: Nat Faxon and Jim Rash moved from just comedians and actors with their breakout screenplay for George Clooney, The Descendants. Jim Rash is most recently known for his work as the Dean in NBC's Community, while Nat Faxon appeared in Bad Teacher and The Zookeeper. Now they write, direct and star in a film about a young man's coming of age in spite of external forces he can never hope to control.

14-year-old Duncan (Liam James, 2012) finds himself in the back of the vintage station wagon going to a summer beach house owned by his mother's boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World). Sitting in the far back seat, Duncan is the odd man out with his mother Pam (Toni Collette, Hitchcock) diverting attention to Trent. Once they get to the Ramsey summerhouse - called the Riptide - Duncan is even more an outsider when Trent's friends reconnect from previous summers. Duncan's mom joins in the fun and Duncan finds himself moping around wishing he was anywhere but there. After a few days Duncan bumps into Owen (Sam Rockwell, The Sitter), the manager of the local water park waterways, and finds the kinship to him. Taking a job at the water park Duncan diverts his problems to enjoyment of the summer job at the park, finding new friends and people to make his days worthwhile. Along the way Duncan finds a friend in Trent's neighbors daughter, makes friends at the water park, and find a new confidence that comes with the start of being a man.

The Way, Way Back can mean many things. Does it refer to Duncan's seat assignment at the far back bench of Trent's station wagon? Or is it a more metaphysical in defining how to find one's way back once you gone astray? At the very least The Way, Way Back is a coming-of-age story of a boy dealing with the destruction of his nuclear family and the turmoil that comes with a new one.

From Steve Carell's turn as a not so funny boyfriend, to Toni Collette reprising a familiar role as an uncertain mother to a young son, to Sam Rockwell scene-stealing with his juvenile antics, the cast is phenomenal. Liam James, playing Duncan, provides all the tell tale sign of an awkward boy who has to find it within himself to grow up a bit. With the addition of Amanda Peet, Rob Cordry, Allison Janney, and Mya Rudolph, the entire film works in wonderful concert. Even Mat Faxon and Jim Rash 'do good' with their more than cameo roles.

The Way, Way Back also captures the volatile teenage angst that seems so foreign to adults. But it also captures the uncertainties and poor judgements that adults make that seem so foreign to a teenager. Life is still so black and white for a young adult - the emotions so raw and intense, the decisions so difficult to come by but obvious and 'right' when made.

Life in a summer season town may seem like a two month paradise to those living on the outside, but it is an odyssey of awkwardness and self-discovery for the young, and a period of regret and the pursuit to recapture youth under the guise of too much drinking, smoking, and partying for adults. Decisions are made or made on our behalf at any age, providing a breeding ground for contempt, regret, and lost opportunities. Seize the day, wherever you are!

The Way, Way Back is a sweet, funny and serious look into the perils of new places, new people, and new family dynamics. The perfect tale for summer, this film will give you a reflection of wonders lost and wonders found.

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The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

COMEDY

Sleight of Hand

6.5 out of 10 | Rental

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Rated: PG-13 Sexual content, dangerous stunts, a drug-related incident and language.
Release Date: March 15, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes

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Director: Don Scardino
Writers: Jonathan M. Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Chad Kultgen, Tyler Mitchell
Cast: Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, Jim Carrey, James Gandolfini, Alan Arkin, Jay Mohr

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SYNOPSIS: Magician Burt Wonderstone splits from his longtime stage partner after a guerrilla street magician steals their thunder. By spending some time with his boyhood idol, Burt looks to remember what made him love magic in the first place.

REVIEW: Small screen director Don Scardino, known for Royal Pains and 30 Rock, takes the stage for the silver screen to bring Steve Carell (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World) into the spotlight with another possible comedy hit. Written by the team of Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daley (Horrible Bosses), with Tyler Mitchell (My Own Worst Enemy) and Chad Kultgen (Southern Comfort) supplying the story, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone hopes to be true to its namesake.  

Young Albert is the focus of many bullies during his young life. On a lonely 10th birthday Albert receives the Rance Holloway Magic Kit which changes his young life forever. Dedicating his life to magic, he befriends another young boy who is the target and scorn of other kids in the school. Together, they master the tricks and start coming up with their own inventions of illusion. Fast forward 10 years and the duo, now called the Incredible Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell, Date Night) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi, Hotel Transylvania), are happy to have become one of the major acts in Las Vegas. For years they ruled the Strip with their 'Magical Friendship' show. But when ticket sales slump and the magic tricks become dated, Bert and Anton have to face the fact that their act is no longer relevant. Enter Steve Gray (Jim Carrey, Mr. Popper's Penguins), a Chris Angel-esque street magician, who takes the art of illusion for the next extreme level. Unable to compete with what's the target demographic of 18 to 45 want to see, Burt and Anton suffer a fracture in their own friendship causing Anton to disappear from the business while Burt struggles with obscurity. When Burt, now forced to perform magic at a convalescent home, discovers that his magical idol Rance Holloway (Alan Arkin, Stand Up Guys) is a resident there he starts to realize that what inspired him to become a magician in the first place is really the most important thing.

Steve Carell, finding himself a more quirky character than that of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World or Little Miss Sunshine, faces the challenge of a more sleight of hand role. As a head-lining magician and a Las Vegas casino staple, Carell's Wonderstone is not really a likable character at the start. The fact of Wonderstone being down and out still doesn't do much to sway the audience to his side. It's only when Wonderstone rediscovers what he has been missing, in his act, his friendships, and his personal life, does he become sympathetic and an underdog to root for. Anton, Wonderstone's partner in magic and longtime friends, knows exactly where Wonderstone heart lies. Olivia Wilde (The Words), as the stage manager Jane/magician's assistant Nicole, finds that her love of her own idol Burt Wonderstone is really just an illusion after all. Jim Carrey, as the street magician Steve Gray, adds some hijinks and a little conflict - but really is more silly than anything else. Alan Arkin's Holloway does a good job with this snarky retired magician who discovered that his loss of the love of his craft was secondary to losing himself to a loveless mundane show.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone tries to be silly, succeeding on some levels. It's relative clean fun, from the stage show opening dance moves to the song 'Abracadabra', to Jim Carrey's Gray looking to outdo himself at every turn to comic effect, to a magicians' duel involving a Yorky puppy, to the reveal of the final trick at the end of the film. There are a few laughs in the flick, but not enough to make it up uproarious comedy.

Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi work well together, showing us the illusion of some good chemistry on screen. Olivia Wilde's Jane enters a partnership of these two illusionists with reverence, skepticism, and eventual disappointment, always trying to see Wonderstone as someone who could still be the best if he wanted to. But her chemistry with Carell's Wonderstone seems a little forced, not as important to the flow of the story. The conflict between  Doug Munny (James Gandolfini, Killing Them Softly) and extreme illusionist Gray give the story something to do, but neither carry the story strong enough to get the job done. You have to love Arkin, though, in his snarky senior citizen's ways.

With a cameo from David Copperfield as a real magician, it is interesting to see that the art of illusion goes beyond just parlor tricks, sleight-of-hand, and grand illusion. Evident are bold velvet suits, capes, and as many rhinestones as one could costume can muster. Watching Carell dance poorly on stage before leading up to an actual allusions just goes to show you how much showmanship is needed to keep an audience enthralled between every trick's prestige. Just as the audiences become more jaded about the magic they want to see, Burt and Anton's stage antics lose their comic luster just as quickly. From Rance Holloway's caped master magician, to Burt Wonderstone's feathered hair and sequined velvet, to Steve Gray's grunge street illusionist, we get a timelines of the evolution of theatrical magic.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is a story of magical friendships, the ever-changing art of illusion, and the cost of losing passion for one's profession. Although there's a few laughs and silly sequences throughout the movie, the story lags. Not unlike the stage direction between tricks, Burt Wonderstone leaves us waiting for the comic payoffs.

I am a fan of Steven Carell's work on both the small screen and the big screen, but Burt Wonderstone is, unfortunately, not that incredible. If you want to know the secret behind the tricks of the 'Disappearing Audience', you may want to wait for the rental.

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Hope Springs

Uncomfortable Silence

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Rated: PG-13 Sexuality and mature thematic content.
Release Date: August 8, 2012
Runtime:  1 hour 40 minutes

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Director: David Frankel
Writers: Vanessa Taylor
Cast:  Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Jean Smart, Steve Carell, Ben Rappaport

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SYNOPSIS: After thirty-one years of marriage, a middle-aged housewife pays for and requests her husband to fly from Nebraska to Maine to attend an intense, week-long counseling session to work on their failing relationship.

REVIEW: David Frankel, director of The Big Year, The Devil Wears Prada, and Marley and Me, tackles another story of internal conflict and discovery in the form of Hope Springs. Written by Vanessa Taylor, a television teleplay writer of shows like A Game of Thrones and Alias, this Tommy Lee Jones and Meryl Streep film delves into the downfall of lost communications and the complacent comfort.

In Omaha, Nebraska, Kay (Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady) looks on her husband Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones, Men In Black 3) and her life with worries that the silent comfort and familiarity of thirty-one years of marriage has dulled her spirit and the prospects of their lives together. Struggling to find a way to spice up their routine, Kay reads books and searches the internet to find a way out of their rut. Coming across a book entitled "Having the Marriage You Always Wanted", Kay discovers a therapist named Dr. Feld. She pays for a week-long counseling package in Maine with Dr. Feld (Steve Carell, Seeking A Friend for the End of the World), telling Arnold that she is going on the trip whether Arnold decides to join her or not. Feeling trapped, Arnold does indeed join her, and they set themselves on the same, but separate paths of discovery - both for themselves and for each other.

Hope Springs is a story with a simple premise. Can an adrift relationship be saved? Should it be saved? Just because a couple has a document stating a contract of marriage and have both put decades of their lives and effort into that relationship, does that automatically mean that there is something to salvage? Regardless of the story focusing on a middle-aged couple, I think that most people who have been in a relationship of any length can relate to the jeopardy of falling into comfortable silences.

The film is funny and bittersweet. In spite of - or because of - the subject matter, most of the audience laughed outright at the reactions of Tommy Lee's Arnold and Meryl's Kay in response to the awkward questions from Carell's Dr. Feld. Imagine your own reaction to queries of your sexual fantasies or how you pleasure yourself or your partner, add in a timid, naive shock from Kay or a gruff, shut down angry response from Arnold, and you have a realistic, sweet, and humorous look at life. But as quickly as a teeter of laughs erupt, the mood changes as any of Kay and Arnold's slight gain of confidence or perspective becomes a grueling realization of miscues, miscommunications, and missed opportunities spanning their life together.

Tommy Lee Jones keeps his signature gruff as the detached, routine-driven Arnold, sticking to a schedule of eggs, bacon, and a newspaper in the morning, and falling asleep to instructional golf shows on basic cable at night. Meryl Streep plays the dutiful wife to her loved husband, finally acting on the realization that she wants to have the marriage she remembered from their more passionate youth. Steve Carell tones down his normal comic flares in favor of an understated role as the therapist, only revealing his lighter nature when he spies a possible breakthrough in the eyes of his reluctant patients. Jean Smart steps in as Kay's co-worker and friend for a few moments and a few others drift in and out of scenes, but the root of the story is rooted firmly on the couch of Dr. Feld in a small New England town. Tommy Lee and Meryl are the story, and we delight in their progress, laugh at their awkwardness, sigh at their tender moments, and anguish at their bittersweet realizations.

Through the entirety of the movie, we are never handed the ending. Whether Arnold and Amy stay together or decide to finally call it quits in in their hands and their hearts, a difficult decision that could go either way. Just like life, nothing is for certain. And because Hope Springs is like real life, most of us can relate to what Arnold and Kay are going through to some extent. The moviegoer's ability to relate is what makes Hope Springs a humorous and bittersweet film, taking the audience on the trip with Kay and Arnold. Hope Springs is not as expansive or pondering as Jack Nicholson's About Schmitt, keeping itself instead focused directly on the marriage couple trying to reignite a passion for living and each other that starts with the simple task of holding each other in their arms again.

Hope Springs will make you laugh, and possibly well up a tear or two, a strong film centered around an experience and stellar cast of Jones, Streep, and Carell. The summer blockbusters are quickly winding down, the colorful heroes and their struggles against evil villains making way to everyday people struggling against the passing of time and life.

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WORTH: Matinee or Rental

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

End of World, Start of Humanity

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Rated: R  Language including sexual references, some drug use and brief violence.
Release Date: June 22, 2012
Runtime:  1 hour 41 minutes

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Director: Lorene Scafaria
Writers: Lorene Scafaria
Cast:  Steve Carell, Keira Knightley, Nancy Carell, Adam Brody, Mark Moses, Connie Britton, Rob Corddry, Derek Luke

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SYNOPSIS: As an asteroid travels through space on a collision course with Earth for a extinction event, insurance agent Dodge Petersen faces the end of the world alone but joined by neighbor Penny on a journey to find an old romance.

REVIEW: Screenplay writer of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Lorene Scafaria, return with a new story that she also directs. A lightly comedic look at the drama and angst that accompanies the end of life as we know it, Scafaria enlists the always earnest Steve Carell and the beautiful and brilliant Keira Knightley to tell the tale. 

When the last hope to destroy a asteroid on a collision course with earth fails, all of the news outlets announce that all of the people on the planet have less than a month before the extinction event occurs. When the news breaks, Dodge Petersen (Steve Carrell, The Office, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and his wife Linda (Nancy Carell, Bridesmaids) hear it on the car radio. Suddenly, Linda disappears from the car and Dodge's life, leaving Dodge to face the end alone. Dodge's friends face the end in different ways. His friend Warren (Rob Corddry, Hot Tub Time Machine) and his wife Diane (Connie Britton, A Nightmare on Elm Street - 2010) choose to have a part filled with food, drugs, and sex. Others, like co-worker Jeremy (Rob Huebel, The Descendants), end it all before the end. Dodge retains his normal routine of going to his insurance agent desk job and wallowing in his loneliness. When neighbor Penny (Kiera Knightney, A Dangerous Method) appears on his fire escape crying due to a breakup, Dodge lets her in for the night. When riots make the neighborhood too dangerous, Dodge and Penny leave town in search of their own last futures. Dodge looks to track down the first girl 'that got away' and Penny tries to find a way to get back to her family. Along the way, they meet others facing their own decided fates.

Like the recently limited release Safety Not Guaranteed and the wider released Jeff, Who Lives at Home, Lorene Scafaria utilizes an odd plot device to tell a very humanizing and heartfelt tale. We have seen the extinction event asteroid in Deep Impact and Armageddon, but the Bruce Willis film was a tent pole action extravaganza and the Elijah Wood version released the same year split the screen time between heroes and humanity. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World focuses wholly on the effects of the event at ground level. Revolving around Dodge Petersen, we see the world through his eyes. Even in the face of the end, Dodge's new found solitude and demeanour keep him detached from the rest of the people around him. Neither partaking in the last efforts of carnal or mind-altering acts nor seeking to mend any fences with his spouse or relatives, Dodge doesn't have any plans for the future until he discovers that his wife was cheating on him and his neighbor Penny hands him a bunch of undelivered mail that includes a letter from an often thought about old flame. Then rage and slim hopes spark enough emotion within Dodge to break the patterns and routines of his daily life to find something   that will erase the regrets of his life.

Steve Carell as Dodge is just a regular guy in this film, playing more Dan in Real Life or Crazy, Stupid, Love than Dinner With Schmucks or Date Night. He is the human vessel that needs to be filled with emotion.  Kiera Knightley as Penny is the opposite, brimming with the effects of bad relationships and the suffering from what her therapist said was a incessant need to be with someone. They run the opposite ends of the emotional spectrum, but compliment each other perfectly on screen. In their travels, other characters flesh out the story. At a Friendsy's restaurant, host Darcy (T.J. Miller, Rock of Ages) and waitress Katie (Gillian Jacobs, Community) take the idea of a family themed restaurant to the ecstasy extreme. When Penny's Prius runs out of gas, a kindly trucker (William Petersen, CSI) picks Dodge and Penny up and regals them with the story of his life and that of his father's life. Others that Penny and Dodge meet are just as interesting, including an old boyfriend of Penny's, Speck (Derek Luke, Captain America: The First Avenger) who seems ready to ride out the last day.

Lorene Scafaria does not get lost on her own words, painting a picture of humanity that is both urgent and hopeful. While Dodge and Penny have to face destructive riots out their apartment windows, a news anchorman continues to keep the populace up to date on breaking news, offering a kind and familiar voice to those who turn on their televisions. Even as Dodge's friends cast aside the stereotypes of modern morality with free love and mind expansion, they are doing so to fill their lives with more than they used to have - not less. Scafaria even keeps the streets relatively clean and the the power on, with the hopes that the breakdown of civil services and utilities would wait until the last possible moment. There are some interesting ideas tossed out that coincide with the end of the word, including the hiring an assassin to take your life so you are left unaware of your last moments.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is a film that asks what would you do if you knew how long you had to live. Crossing items out a bucket list, righting past wrongs, forgiving others or asking them for forgiveness, or just finding someone to be with when it all ends, Seeking a Friend... may make you wonder if working to balance your life's ledger may be best started now - before you are given a deadline.

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WORTH: Matinee or DVD

Crazy, Stupid, Love

Crazy, But Not Stupid Romance

Director: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Writers: Dan Fogelman

Cast: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei, Emma Stone, Kevin Bacon, Jonah Bobo, Analeigh Tipton, Beth Littleford, John Carroll Lynch, Josh Groban, Liza Lapira

SYNOPSIS: Cal runs into marital issues when his wife Emily asks for a divorce. Unprepared for the single scene, Cal enlists the help of professional pick-up artist Jacob to help navigate its choppy waters.

REVIEW: I Love You Phillip Morris directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa re-team with a story from popular animated adventure scribe Dan Fogelman (Cars, Tangled, Bolt, Cars 2) to bring you a more adult romantic dramedy with Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Bacon and Emma Stone on board.

Fresh off of his departure from NBCs The Office, Steve Carell returns to the big screen to add to his growing body of work that includes hits like Date Night and Despicable Me and misses like Dinner for Schmucks and Evan Almighty. He stars as Cal, a man with the perfect married life. That is, until wife Emily (Julianne Moore) asks for a divorce. Thinking that their lives have become too predictable and have lost that spark that had gotten them through their marriage so far, Emily admits to having an affair with fellow co-worker David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon). Cal moves out without a fight, leaving Emily and his kids Robbie (Jonah Bobo) and Molly (Joey King), and leaving Cal to sulk, drink and watch professional pick-up artist Jacob (Ryan Gosling) work his skills around the club.

Heartfelt and funny, Crazy, Stupid, Love brings us all too real intertwined romantic connections with a twist of humor. We have Cal who has lost his one true love to another man, Jacob who sees love as a pathetic waste of emotion, opting instead to pick up woman for one-night stands, Emily who cheated on her husband but may be having second thoughts about her decisions to end her marriage, and co-worker Dave who really wants to continue a relationship with Emily. Throw in a 13-year-old son Robbie in love with the family babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton), and Jacob conquest interest Hannah (Emma Stone) who is looking for a marriage proposal from her boyfriend Richard (Josh Groban), and you have a recipe for laughter and tears.

Crazy, Stupid, Love definitely lives up to its name. Steve Carell brings his sad-sack believer in true love to the screen, reminiscent to his character from Date Night. Julianne Moore weighs down the drama with her performance, centering the film in realistic roots. And although Carell and Moore are the pivot points of the film, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling really are the show stealers. Both are easy on the eyes, Emma with her red locks and freckles, and Ryan with his perfect stubble and "PhotoShopped" abs. Their performances apart are love-lorn and hopeful. Their shared scenes are silly, funny, real and down to earth. Young son Robbie played by Jonah Bobo is the perfect innocent foil for a love life that is all in front of him. The performance brought to the screen by Analeigh Tipton for babysitter Jessica is fun to watch, every awkward movement a study in teenage romantic angst.

Tender moments abound between Cal and Emily. The scene between them outside Robbie's teachers classroom for Parent/Teacher conferences and a phone call about restarting a boiler pilot light make you smile a little, but breaks your heart a little, too. Jacob's bravado with Cal and his distain for Cal's wardrobe to date is funny, too, but not as funny as the Hannah/Jacob Dirty Dancing moment in his bachelor pad and the moments that immediately follow. And, of course, the topper to the film is the climatic miniature golf scene where Cal, Jacob, Dave and Jessica's father Bernie (John Carroll Lynch) come to violence.

The film starts off strong, lags in the first act for a while until Jacob arrives onscreen for good, then takes off as a strong romantic dramedy for good. Get over that first hump and the rest is a sweet, tender road of romance - and the things we do for it!

WORTH: Matinee and DVD

Dinner For Schmucks

Let's Go Straight To Dessert

[Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, Zach Galifianakis, Jermaine Clement]

Image from www.usatoday.com

RANT: Woke up later than expected, went to the gym, got breakfast, ate breakfast, showered, and got into the theater just as the trailers were starting. I didn't want to bother the people already sitting "behind the rail" so I regulated myself to the second row above the crossway. I also refrained from buying a bucket of popcorn, but because of all of the calories but because I love movie trailers almost as much as the movies themselves. I mean, they do have an awards ceremony for the people who create the trailers!

SYNOPSIS: Tim, in an attempt to impress his bosses, steps up at a meeting to bring in new business. Recognizing his potential, the executives from the seventh floor invite Jim to their monthly "Dinner for Winners" where each executive finds and invites a guest with a strange or unusual talent so they can be made fun of.

Jay Roach, director of the Austin Powers movies and "Meet the Fockers", brings Paul Rudd and Steve Carrell back to the screen through a script by relative newcomer movie screenwriting duo David Guion and Michael Handelman. Does the film deliver? Read on to find out.

Paul Rudd stars as Jim in typical Rudd fashion, similar to his roles in "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and "Role Models". He is misguided in what it takes to be happy, focusing on moving up the corporate ladder rather than his relationship with his girlfriend Julie (played by Stephanie Szostak). In his attempt to impress his boss, he agrees to bring a guest to a monthly executive dinner so that the rest of the suits can be amused and make fun of them. Just as Tim decides that this dinner is not for him, karma hits him as he hits Steve Carell's Barry in the street with his Porsche as Barry tries to save a dead rodent from being flattened. Channelling Jim Carrey's Lloyd Christmas with oversized teeth and a tight angular haircut, Carell's Barry is both clueless and well-meaning.

There are two lines that epitomized the film." The first is "... everything happens for a reason...". Because this film is formulaic, the first line applies and is adhered to. We know that all of the damages to Tim's career and relationship caused by the over-anxious Barry throughout the film will lead to a third act resolution. But it is both fun and heartbreaking to see Tim's and Barry's lives unfold as their lives also unravel. Lucy Punch as Tim's stalker, Darla, is particularly funny and scary as she shows up both to Tim's apartment and a business brunch date with a perspective European client because of Barry's meddling.

The second is Lennon's "... you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one...". Barry misquotes the Lennon lyric upon "bumping" into Tim's car, leaving out everything after "not" and serving to sum up Barry's life. His wife has left him for his IRS boss, Therman, due to his passion for his rodent modeling hobby and for the fact that Barry couldn't help his wife find something of hers that Barry suspects was in her purse. Therman, played by Zach Galifianakis, is both less and more manic than his "The Hangover" character, Alan Garner. He is more in control as a master of the mind, but more outrageous. As the story nears its inevitable conclusion, Barry realizes that his dreams and passions are important to him and Tim realizes that he too can be a dreamer. A literal interpretation, perhaps, but rather fitting in the scheme of things.

The film is funny in a silly way, finding itself more in company with "The 40 Year Old Virgin" than with "Knocked Up" or "The Hangover". But for every giggle or laugh, there is a certain tone that the movie is saddled with. It may be the fact that we know Barry is going to be made fun of at the dinner, not as a roast to him, but as the subject of ridicule. It's not unless Barry and his lot are in on the joke that they seem more funny. Interestingly enough, the guests that the executives bring to the dinner all have talents that none of them possess. Whether it's a blind swordsman, a ventriloquist, a psychic who speaks to dead animals, or a taxidermist with an eye for mice in apparel, it is a fact of life that it is easier to chastise unusual talents than to applaud them. But as we also see, there are those brave enough to be as unique as those with the odd jobs and strange skills.

Worth: Matinee or Netflix

I am also trying out a new rating system shown below based on reader reaction to my somewhat complex monetary rating scale. I will give both ratings and see what kind of reaction I muster. A movie can receive up to 5 popcorn buckets. Why popcorn buckets? Because I am a slave to the thousand + calorie delight! Enjoy!

Despicable Me

Definitely See

[Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig]

RANT: It finally happened. Remember the great little kid I enjoyed going to kids movies with? He was having a bad day and finally cracked. About two-thirds into the film he wanted to go home and let his mother know it. She shushed him as best she could and tried to refocus him to what was happening on screen. It all ended well, though, because when asked if he liked the movie, he beamed and said yeah!

SYNOPSIS: Super villain Gru gets upstaged by a young hip villain, Vector, and resorts to adopting three orphan girls in order to get access to Vector's shrinking ray gun for the crime of the century.

With the wave of 3D movies and 3D animation, I wonder when the wave will come crashing down with audience fatigue. There is the element of the additional cost and the younger age of some of the viewers unwilling to keep the glasses on the entire film. At any rate, 3D or not, this animated film carries itself... to the moon!

Steve Carell lends his vocal talents as Gru, a hungarian accented super villain bent on perpetrating amazing crimes and achieving world domination. As an middle-aged doer of evil, he has the adoration of his begoggled diminutive yellow minions and the loyalty of his weapons designer, Dr. Nefario. What he doesn't have is a serious credit to his name. Sure, he has stolen the Times Square Jumbo-Tron and the Statue of Liberty (from New York, New York in Las Vegas), but younger scoundrels are stealing his limelight (and ability to secure a loan to fund his latest world dominating scheme).

Enter three orphan girls, Margo, Edith and Agnes, trying to stay on their keeper's, Miss Hattie's, good side by selling as many mail order cookies as possible. Since Gru's nemesis, Vector, is smitten with the cookies, Gru finds it necessary to adopt the orphan girls to gain access into Vector's fortress.

As you would suspect, the hard-hearted Gru and the girls are at odds from the beginning. I do not need to tell you how it ends up for them all. But knowing the destination does not stop the enjoyment of the journey. Gru's minions are unintelligible and hilarious. The orphan girls are funny, independent and can melt your heart with a droopy stare. Even Gru's dog(?) offers up some levity.

The action is both ACME and 007. The rivalry between Vector and Gru, and their gadgets is over the top. But at the end of the day, their deep-seated issues ultimately stem from their desire to win the approval of their parents. And, I believe, "Despicable Me" will also win the approval of parents and kids alike.

Worth: Matinee and a DVD

I am also trying out a new rating system shown below based on reader reaction to my somewhat complex monetary rating scale. I will give both ratings and see what kind of reaction I muster. A movie can receive up to 5 popcorn buckets. Why popcorn buckets? Because I am a slave to the thousand + calorie delight! Enjoy!