Thoughts on Film
Those who know me know that I am not a film buff, but I do watch the occasional movie. The last movie I saw was Not-so-Superman unfortunately returns, a total flop (how that movie received any positive reviews is beyond me. It is the only movie I ever cried in because I wanted to leave so badly). I followed that up with a rental last night, Date Movie, which is almost marketed as a clone of the Scary Movie series.
Unfortunately, unlike Scary Movie 1-4, which are funny, this movie simply is not. You know a comedy is bad when the funniest part involves toilet humour and a cat. Scary Movie parodies recent pop culture phenomena, often with success. Date Movie forgot the parodies. In fact, I'm surprised the producers of this movie aren't charged with plagiarism since, instead of parodying or spoofing other movies, they simply take funny parts from other movies and replay them. And when they do parody other films, it is usually unfunny, incurious and predictable. This is to say nothing of the cliches, which the movie brims with. After about 50 of the movie's 70 minutes, my friend and I pressed the stop button together.
The allusions in the film (it consists of little else) are egregiously bad not only because they simply aren't funny, but they are seriously outdated! The movie was originally released May 2006, and there are (please believe me): Michael Jackson, Meet the Parents (which came out years ago), and J-Lo jokes (didn't those die out around 2001?) . I'm surprised they didn't include O.J Simpson jokes, because they are just as old. Topical satire should be, as its name suggests, topical!
Upon the whole, a terrible movie. Even as a fatuous spoof it fails miserably, and, much like Superman Returns, I couldn't really find anything good about it. The worst movies often have at least one or two redeeming points, but these two don't.
I'm no puritan, and I certainly enjoy the occasional ribald, scurrilous film, but that also must be done well. For a simple, funny movie I recommend 40 Year Old Virgin and Wedding Crashers.
Unfortunately, unlike Scary Movie 1-4, which are funny, this movie simply is not. You know a comedy is bad when the funniest part involves toilet humour and a cat. Scary Movie parodies recent pop culture phenomena, often with success. Date Movie forgot the parodies. In fact, I'm surprised the producers of this movie aren't charged with plagiarism since, instead of parodying or spoofing other movies, they simply take funny parts from other movies and replay them. And when they do parody other films, it is usually unfunny, incurious and predictable. This is to say nothing of the cliches, which the movie brims with. After about 50 of the movie's 70 minutes, my friend and I pressed the stop button together.
The allusions in the film (it consists of little else) are egregiously bad not only because they simply aren't funny, but they are seriously outdated! The movie was originally released May 2006, and there are (please believe me): Michael Jackson, Meet the Parents (which came out years ago), and J-Lo jokes (didn't those die out around 2001?) . I'm surprised they didn't include O.J Simpson jokes, because they are just as old. Topical satire should be, as its name suggests, topical!
Upon the whole, a terrible movie. Even as a fatuous spoof it fails miserably, and, much like Superman Returns, I couldn't really find anything good about it. The worst movies often have at least one or two redeeming points, but these two don't.
I'm no puritan, and I certainly enjoy the occasional ribald, scurrilous film, but that also must be done well. For a simple, funny movie I recommend 40 Year Old Virgin and Wedding Crashers.
posted by Pious Labours | 2:59 p.m.
2 Comments:
I liked Superman Returns for the most part, but you're dead right about Date Movie ... I love Alyson Hannigan, so all is forgiven, but I just wanted to claw my own eyes during this one
Wow, another reader!
With all due respect, I'm really, really curious to find out what you liked about it, because I'm still scratching my head.
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