BEFORE: My thanks to HBO for coordinating their Saturday night premiere with my viewing schedule...
THE PLOT: In New York City, a case of mistaken identity turns a bored married couple's attempt at a glamorous and romantic evening into something more thrilling and dangerous.
AFTER: I guess maybe this one isn't really on theme, at least not connected to "Couples Retreat", except that both feature marriages that may have gotten boring. I wish I'd known that this was less of a relationship film and more of a crime-based comedy - and I wish I'd known that so much of the plot revolved around mistaken identity, since I've got a whole week of films on that subject coming up in March, I could have used this to make the transition.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of far-fetched elements here, the mistaken identity is just the start - throw in the stereotypical "corrupt NYC cops" element, and the fact that the wife's character just HAPPENS to know someone who's a security expert that they can turn to, and it all adds up to a convoluted trip through New York's underworld that becomes very, very hard to believe.
Steve Carell (last seen in "Dan in Real Life") is pretty amusing, and if the bloopers shown during the end credits are to be believed, then a lot of the funnier lines were improvised - he comes off a little better than Tina Fey. Most of the other characters just seemed pretty flat - the story too, I'm left thinking it could have / should have been a lot funnier.
Also starring Mark Wahlberg (last seen in "The Perfect Storm"), Common (last seen in "American Gangster"), William Fichtner (last seen in "Black Hawk Down"), Taraji P. Henson (last seen in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"), Jimmi Simpson (Lyle the intern from the Letterman show) with cameos from Kristen Wiig (last seen in "Extract"), Mark Ruffalo, James Franco (last seen in "Milk"), Mila Kunis (also last seen in "Extract"), Ray Liotta (last seen in "Blow"), Bill Burr, J.B. Smoove, Nick Kroll, and Will.i.Am (last seen in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine")
RATING: 4 out of 10 stripper poles
No comments:
Post a Comment