An Open Challenge

I’d like to issue a challenge to screenwriters who pen teen comedies. Push yourself. Try to do more than dick and fart jokes. I know it’s difficult, give it a shot.

I watched a trailer for another cookie cutter teen comedy, I Love You Beth Cooper. I had a couple ‘heh’s, but that’s about it. The whole shock humor genre is on its way out, and some recent teen flops (Sex Drive, College) are the flare. I think American Pie really led the charge, which was released 10 years ago! Although to give it credit, the story/characters were much more interesting and genuine then the million imitations we’ve come to see since it’s release.

You can tell the comedy tide is shifting, when Judd Apatow’s latest film is not like anything he’s done. He’s already been there, done that with 40 Year Old Virgin/Knocked Up/Superbad. It’s time to no longer only appeal to the lowest common denominator. Judd has been somewhat of a trend leader with the resurgence of R-rated comedies, so it’s interesting to see him lead off in a different way.

Just my two cents on it all; I’m sick of seeing movies greenlit who’s plot is as paper thin as its characters with jokes that were written by 8-year-olds, for 8-year-olds.

Adventureland: The Review

I’ll say this right up front: Miramax had no freaking clue how to market this film. While it’s from Greg Mottola, director of Superbad, it doesn’t have the vulgar insults and laughs that film had. It’s instead a more sincere coming of age story, but what you’ll think watching the trailer — especially the Redband one — is that its just like his former movie, and there lies the disappointment.

Another minor complaint I had was with the lead actor, Jesse Eisenberg. It felt like he was trying to perform in a role that Michael Cera practically invented — and had the charisma of a wet mop for the first half of the film. He let people kick him in the balls, no retaliation, and seemed like he was on prozac the whole time… just floating along.

That’s with the entire film does — just floats along. It’s not a bad film and I don’t regret watching it, but there are no big twists and it sticks pretty close to the predictable formula. When you see the ads on TV for this ‘comedy’, just remember, they’re using the Greek definition: a story with a happy or cheerful ending.

Inside An Unfamiliar World

Last week I went and saw I Love You, Man for a second time. Since I had only seen it a month prior, I knew all the punches, turns, etc, so as I watched it I looked at different things. How they set up shots, the structure of the film, and the character arcs.

One thing I was reminded of by the film is how many successful movies give the audience a glimpse into a foreign world. In the film, Paul Rudd is a real estate agent, as well as a huge ‘Rush’ fan, which is a passion he shares with Jason Segel. These details aren’t thrown in for the sake of it, but instead played upon and paid off later while also making the characters stand out.

Whether it’s a foreign ‘world’ to us, or we just learn new and interesting things, it’s always nice to have some details in a movie to give it a unique flare.