The summer symphony has swelled to early August and with that another broad comedy to heal the sunburn with a little laughter. Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg make for a perfect pair in “The Other Guys,” an outrageous buddy cop movie that is certain to smother the box office receipts of the similar “Cop Out” from earlier this year. It also means that “Inception” should finally lose its top spot, perhaps even settling for bronze. That is if people will really pay $15+ to see “Step Up 3D“. All signs point to yes, as earlier films made tidy dough, especially on DVD. Expanded limited release will see “Middle Men” and “Twelve” hitting 252 and 212 screens respectively. “Middle Men” appears to be the better picture, but most people can wait to Red Box these some sad and lonely night two months from now. It’s a mixed bag at the arthouse this week, with “The Disappearance of Alice Creed,” “Lebanon,” and “Eccentricities of a Blond Girl” all having intriguing if imperfect qualities.
In Wide Release:
Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, the
Scorsese/DeNiro of the comedy world, re-team for “The Other Guys.” Anticipation has been running high for the latest collaboration from the team that brought us the modern comedy classics “
Anchorman” and “
Step Brothers,” especially considering the casting of Mark Wahlberg potentially throwing a hilarious wrench into the already volatile mix. Ferrell and Walhberg play two incompetent detectives, living in the shadows of the rock star cops (
Samuel L. Jackson and
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) who share their precinct. Walberg spoofs his bad ass off-screen persona mixed with money comedic timing while Ferrell furthers his comic explorations into the psyche of the modern man. It adds up to some welcome relief from all the serious action fare and franchises clogging up the summer (see
our review here). RT:
77% Metacritic:
65.
Do you like dancing? Do you like 3D? Well you’re in the luck. The movie gods have chosen to shine upon you this weekend with “Step Up 3D.” The first two films had enough kinetic dance prowess to make a decent profit and even help launch a few stars (
Channing Tatum) so another sequel was inevitable. Dance flicks have been surprisingly popular in recent years and this is the first time the genre will be arriving in 3D, so the BO should be strong for the very modestly budgeted film.
We decided to take it on and found it completely devoid of character and emotion, but if you come for the dancing you might get your money’s worth. RT:
46% Metacritic:
50.
In Limited Release: The British import “The Disappearance of Alice Creed” hits a few screens this weekend. The crime thriller is the debut feature from writer-director
J Blakeson and stars “
Clash of the Titans” actor
Gemma Arterton as the titular Alice Creed, daughter of a prominent millionaire. She is kidnapped by two masked men (
Eddie Marsan and
Martin Compston) who take her to a soundproofed apartment, but she refuses to play the victim, as they had planned.
We reviewed the film earlier in the week, finding strong performances marred by flimsy and somewhat repellent material. RT:
79% Metacritic:
60.
Joel Schmacher continues to tarnish his reputation with “Twelve,” a film adaption of
Nick McDonell‘s controversial novel. Gossip boy
Chase Crawford stars as White Mike, the overly privileged son of a restaurant mogul who deals drugs to his wealthy peers. The material is token
Bret Easton Ellis nihilism with a dash of
Tommy Wiseau‘s direction. Except we’d much rather see that. We’re all for 50 Cent, but
Curtis Jackson‘s name on the credits of a movie isn’t usually a good sign.
We reviewed the film, finding many more than 12 reasons to avoid it if you can. RT:
9% Metacritic:
34.
Telling the true story of one of its producers, “Middle Men” chronicles the career of businessman Jack Harris who got rich off the 90s internet porn boom. A family man, Harris gets involved with the mafia, drug-addicts and porn stars who need his credit card billing system to make money off their burgeoning e-porn sites.
Luke Wilson plays Harris, with
Giovanni Ribisi and
Gabriel Macht as his entrepreneurial partners in crime. The film is marketing solely to adult websites, but then again, you already know that. The reviews seem average at best, which is frankly no surprise by the looks of the film. RT:
48% Metacritic
57. We are semi-curious about the film if only because Time Out New York’s resident wannabe-Armond White contrarian Keith Uhlich said Wilson’s performance in the film is “
phenomenal.” Uhh, really? We’ll take that bet.
Rob Reiner returns to family territory this week with the romantic comedy “
Flipped.” The film follows two smitten youngsters has they make their way through elementary school and junior high trying to win one another’s hearts. Reiner has directed some great films in the past (“
This is Spinal Tap,” “
The Princess Bride“), but hasn’t exactly been on a hot streak recently with “The Bucket List” and “Rumor Has It” being his last two features and judging from reviews, this one looks DOA. RT:
20% Metacritic:
39.
Also out in limited release, the war drama “Lebanon.” A reconstruction of director
Samuel Maoz‘s own experiences as an Israeli tank gunner during the 1982 war between Israel and Lebanon, takes place entirely within the confines of an Israeli tank moving into enemy territory on the first day of battle. Two of our writers
reviewed the film, with mixed results. One found it to be a powerful work, the other felt it was contrived and manipulative. Critics seem to be in the thumbs up camp. RT:
73% Metacritic:
80.
We also had somewhat mixed feelings about “Eccentricities of a Blond Girl,” from 101 year-old Portuguese maestro Manoel de Oliveira. It’s the story of a distraught man who meets a mysterious blond woman who turns his life around. RT: 100%. One of us hated it, another one loved it and our EIC is the middle tending to lean towards positive. We wrote, “This heavily theatrical effort is pathologically dead-pan, rigid and formalist to the hilt, but man is it also really fucking slyly funny. The price of admission however may be the utterly radiant Catarina Wallenstein who could have been the most gorgeous female we saw on the screen in 2009.” Its ending is also undeniably spectacular. Possibly a fuck-you to audiences, but that’s pretty damn ballsy coming from a centenarian.
