Feb 6th, 2010
More movies than you can shake a stick at
Sometimes a Netflix DVD will sit around here for quite some time before we get around to watching it. But for some reason, I’ve managed to watch four movies in the last few days. This is extraordinary because I usually don’t get around to watching four movies in an entire month.
Baby Mama: I like Tina Fey. I like Amy Pohler. And I really wanted to like this movie. But I didn’t. It has some funny moments (thanks to Pohler, mostly), but was surprisingly formulaic. After about ten minutes I realized that this movie is an extended/modified version of a storyline Fey used on 30 Rock. The ending of this movie just about made me throw up a little in my mouth. The woman who is told at the beginning of the movie that she has a “one in a million chance” of getting pregnant (i.e., she is infertile) has, by the end of the film, apparently met a guy with “one in a million” sperm ’cause, yup, she gets pregnant. Instead of using the ending of the film to say something about how “hey, not everyone needs to be a parent to be happy and fulfilled” or “maybe an unconventional route to parenthood is indeed viable here,” the writers succumb to worn-out cliches. Ugh.
The Wedding Crashers: I think this is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Even the usually awesome Christopher Walken couldn’t save this one. Seventy-five percent fresh, Rotten Tomatoes? Really? What were you critics smoking when you watched this one?
Feast of Love: This is an artsy meditation on love, starring some not-usually-artsy big stars, including Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear. As we watched this, Jan pointed out the similarity between Kinnear and Alan Tudyck as Wash, so maybe part of the reason I don’t give this film a mega-high rating is because it seriously lacks the cowboys in space I kept expecting to see. Actually, I don’t give it a mega-high rating because it’s fairly predictable and has some annoying plot devices. It’s okay, though–not a total waste of time. One thing I liked a lot was seeing a black-white interracial couple on screen completely without comment–they’re just another married couple. Nice.
Run, Fat Boy, Fun: This stars Simon Pegg, and that’s enough reason for me to check out. Hank Azaria is in here, too, and does a nice job. But Pegg gets all the best moments. Another predictable plot, but there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, and I think this worked well as a watch-while-knitting film.
I’ve only seen Baby Mama and I couldn’t agree with you more.
So… not the best batch of Netflix films ever?!
@Chris: Well, there were some redeeming moments. These included nearly every time Simon Pegg was on the screen. And the time when Amy Pohler said, “I’m sorry I farted in your purse.” Heh.
I’m interested in Run Fatboy Run, so I was glad to read something about it. I saw several unique and quirky films over Christmas, including Siam Sunset, The Price of Milk (ironically both of these had the same leading actress) and Elizabethtown. I’d recommend Siam Sunset and Price of Milk, and they are available on Netflix instant watch.
@Frank: Thanks for the recommendations! They both look interesting (and we love instant watch–especially since Christmas brought us an Internet-enabled Blu-Ray DVD player…WOOT!). I’ve added them to my queue!
My favorite from this list is Run, Fat Boy, Run! I loved it and can totally relate to him running that marathon. BTW, I too have been guilty of having some of my Netflix DVD’s sit around, sometimes for months, before I watch them. Sometimes sitting around watching a two hour movie can seem so daunting to me. Don’t know why because I love movies.
@Deborah: I do that, too. I have this thing about only watching movies all at once–I really don’t like to stop in the middle of one. So unless I think I’ll have two hours ahead of me, I have a hard time getting going.