Hyper Funny

By Mr D Stevens

 This is a lovely holiday season movie, starring the lovely Resse Witherspoon (playing a far different character these days than the affectionate and effervescing young lady in Legally Blonde) as Kate and the hyperactive Vince Vaughn (The Wedding Crashers) as Brad, a couple who would rather spend Christmas vacationing in Fiji than with their families, in fact they make it a ritual during the holidays to go on vacation but to lie to their families that they are involved in a worthy cause (usually charity) that can justify their exclusion during any holiday event.

Over the years their lies about inoculating babies in Burma, or doing some other charity work has always helped them avoid their families for Christmas, but on this particular time as they are waiting at the airport, it turns out all flights have been cancelled because of a bad fog, and a TV crew happens to be interviewing passengers on how they feel about their flights being cancelled during the holiday period, they so happen to come upon Brad and Kate, much to their embarrassment as their phones soon afterwards start ringing; with their respected families saying they have seen them on TV.

Brad and Kate now see they have no choice but to visit all four of their families (Brad’s mum and dad played by the stalwart Robert Duvall The GodFather as Howard and Sissy Spacek JFK as Paula, since they are divorced) and Kate’s families (her mum and dad, played by the dependable Jon Voight Midnight Cowboy as Creighton and Mary Steenburgen In The Electric Mist as Marilyn, who are equally divorced) hence the name Four Christmases.

The first visit is to the home of Brad’s father, it turns out his brothers Denver and Dallas played by Jon Favreau (The Break-Up) and Tim McGraw, are UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) type cage fighters (except there are not professional but only upload their fights on youtube), and no sooner are they re-acquainted does Brad finds himself in some bone crunching wrestling moves, it turns out this is the norm, and that Brad’s real name is Orlando, which Kate didn’t know, she takes him to one side to ask why he didn’t feel comfortable with her after three years of a relationship, to reveal this bit about himself, he says he changed his name because he didn’t like it, and didn’t see a problem. It also turns out that there is a $10 limit to the presents that should be bought for the children, however Brad was unaware of this and bought an Xbox for one of his nephews, while the other nephew has to make do with a torch light, much to the father’s embarrassment.

The visit to Kate’s family also reveals some of her fears, that for some time the kids around the neighbourhood avoided her because they thought she had cooties, calling her “Cootie Kate”, and her passive aggressive older sister Courtney played by the endearing Kristin Chenoweth (RV) reveals these embarrassing secrets.

The visits amongst Brad’s and Kate’s respective families shows that the couple are not as close to each other as they thought, especially during a game where the partner has to guess what card the other half is holding, without giving out the name, and this prompts Kate especially to reconsider if they are true and comfortable with each other to spend the rest of their lives together.

It is a warm festive movie, the whole family will enjoy.

Mr D Stevens is a reviewer at Movie reviews

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Movie reviews for 17 Again

By Mr D Stevens

 This is a charming fantasy with friends star Matthew Perry, and Zac Efron of High school musical, interchangeably as Mike O’Donnell in the lead roles.

It is a little similar to Big starring Tom Hanks.

We meet Mike 20 years ago about to be signed up to college basketball, but he finds out some news that meant he had to make a choice between his girlfriend Scarlett or his professional dreams.

We fast forward to the present and Mike is a little disappointed in the way his life has turned, as he and his wife Scarlett played by the lovely Leslie Mann (The 40 year old virgin) are facing a divorce, and all Mike can do is reminiscence on how his life could have turned out, in the meantime he crashes at the home of his best friend an extreme dork/geek Ned Gold played hilariously by Thomas Lennon (Reno 911).

Mike happens to bump into a mysterious old man as a janitor played by Brain Doyle-Murray (Bedazzled, looks a little like M.C. Gainey, Tom in Lost), who asks him what he would like to change in his life, he replies if he could go back to high school and do things differently, the Janitor asks him if he is sure, to which to reinforces his wish. Soon afterwards he sees the Janitor leap off a bridge and in the process of trying to save him, finds himself falling down the bridge into a portal, he wakes up in the home of his best friend but inside the body of himself when he was 17.

This is where the fun begins, as he sees this as a chance to be closer to his kids, because he enrols back in his high school, the same high school his kids now go to, Alex and Maggie played by Sterling Knight and Michelle Trachtenberg respectively, there is a funny sequence where he tries to encourage everyone in the class to abstain from sex apart from marriage, whilst not that far away the local troublemaker is kissing his daughter.

He also has to handle his soon to be ex, who finds he looks remarkbly similar to what Mike looked like in high school, when she first meets him as a 17 year old again, she can’t help pulling his face like a plasticine, much to the embarrassment of her friend, and Mike takes this chance at trying a reconciliation with his wife (on his older self’s behalf of course).

His best friend, Ned who now acts as his father also has fallen for the local school principal, Jane Masterson played by the lovely Melora Hardin (The Office), and he is using all his means to get her to at least agree on a date.

It is a charming fantasy, many will sure to reminiscence about their high school years.

Mr D Stevens is a reviewer at Movie reviews

Movie Reviews Randy and The Mob

By Mr D Stevens

 This is a well made comedy drama, starring Ray McKinnon in two roles as Randy Pearson, a good natured happy go lucky “big shot” who owns a number of businesses, but is currently in a financial mess, and Cecil his twin brother.

Randy happens to borrow money from a loan shark, which unbeknown to him is connected with the Mob. Soon afterwards he starts getting phone calls from a Mob guy, Franco played by Paul Ben-Victor (Tombstone) as to when and how he is going to settle his debt, Randy tries to explain that as hard as he has tried he cannot come up with the money for the debt as well as his increasing debt with the IRS (Internal Revenue Service).

After asking around and finding out that he could be in some serious trouble with the Mafia, Randy contemplates selling one of his businesses to Elmore Culpepper where Burt Reynolds (Boogie Nights) does a short cameo.

Surprisingly Franco has a solution to his financial troubles, and that involves sending Tino Armani played surprisingly well by Walton Goggins (unrecognisable from his character in The Shield), to sort out his financial troubles, even so much as to pay off the IRS. On their first meeting Randy is amazed to find out that Tino has the same country dialect as he does, to which Tino responds he never judges people by the pigment in their skin or their dialect. After a while Randy is even more impressed by how seemingly good natured Tino is, and soon all in the small community are besotted by Tino. He even manages to improve the menu on one of Randy’s restaurant businesses that had so many people queueing to get in when Randy arrived he automatically assumed there was an incident and that the police had been called. At this stage it should be mentioned Randy has an on-going problem with one of the local law enforcement officers Griff Postell, played by Brent Briscoe (Mulholland Drive) who seems to have it in for him at every opportunity, since Griff blames him for a “whooping” he gave him in the third grade, which many witnessed, but Griff subsequently gave Randy a “whooping” in the sixth grade, but unfortunately no one witnessed it.

As well as trying to solve his financial troubles, Randy has to cope with his wife Charlotte, played by the lovely Lisa Blount (The Accountant) newly acquired Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from dancing lessons she has been giving, which has left her a little depressed, and trying to patch the relationship with his gay twin brother and his partner Bill played by Tim DeKay (The Russell Girl). A relationship Randy has never accepted, much to the annoyance of his twin and his partner.

This is a surprisingly genial comedy drama, and it contains some classic scenes, especially where Randy is on the phone to Franco while at a rubbish tip.

Ray McKinnon is effortlessly adept between the two roles, and it is an entertaining movie many will enjoy.

Mr D Stevens is a reviewer at Movie reviews

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