As you may be aware, I shut down my “Shhh! The Movie’s
Starting” blog a week ago. What it’s done is given me an opportunity to watch
movies once again for just the pure enjoyment of it, instead of pausing
occasionally to take notes and jot down some wonderful prose that sneaked into
my mind.
When the hobby became work, it was time to retire the avocation.
It gave me a chance to watch recent movies with no ulterior
motive in mind … just to enjoy. Instead of looking for something good to write about, I can now take a broader
view and peer more deeply into their shortcomings.
Last week, I watched two comedies that I thought would
entertain me and have me falling off the chair in laughter. Well, that didn’t
work, they weren’t as pleasant and funny as I thought they would be. To wit:
Tammy (2014): With a cast that
features Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Allison Janney, Dan Aykroyd, Toni
Collette and Sandra Oh, one would think the film has a lot going for it. The
problem is the lead – Melissa McCarthy – plays her usual foul-mouthed, “I gotta
compensate for being grossly overweight,” character. She’s not lovable in the
least. And everybody is dropping f-bombs all over the place. No, not fart
bombs, the other f-bomb (although farts would have been funnier than McCarthy’s
rantings).
I love Susan Sarandon, but playing an alcoholic,
foul-mouthed, anti-societal, gray-haired grandmother is a far cry from her classics – Thelma and Louise, and Bull
Durham. The other star-names are mere supporting cast members propping up
the foul-mouthed leads.
We’re the Millers (2013): Jason
Sudekis is not a bad actor. Neither is Jennifer Aniston (at least she’s gotten
out of the romantic comedy rut). Their supporting cast is okay – Will Pouter is
sufficiently weird, Emma Roberts is cute. The rest of the characters are just
kind of squeezed in where the producers thought they should be. Pretty lame.
The plot is pretty simple and stupid. But the worst part?
The f-bombs. Lots and lots of them.
I can just imagine a younger audience laughing at these
two movies. I can just imagine an older audience laughing AT these two movies.
I do want to watch more recent movies, so I won’t let my
HBO subscription lapse. But as you may have noticed in my movie blog, I seem to
like the older movies on Turner Classic Movies.
Am I a crusty old curmudgeon, or what?
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