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Year One: Primitive Humor

BuzzSugar — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:30:45 -0700

The trailer for the new movie from director Harold Ramis, Year One, kind of confused me. How were two cavemen types (Michael Cera and Jack Black) bumping into Romans? What? Well, it turns out nothing regarding an accurate historic timeline in this movie makes sense, but that's OK. It's the least of its problems.

If I had to describe this comedy in one sentence I would say it's as if a Mel Brooks comedy and a so-so Saturday Night Live sketch had a baby. It's a gross-out buddy comedy set in the Old Testament that generates a few good laughs. As a comedy duo, Black and Cera are surprisingly good together - although each relies heavily on his respective well-worn shtick. I'm also genuinely surprised at how much mileage the script is able to get out of riffing on what is essentially one big joke about ancient humans and the Bible.

So that's the good news. There is some bad news, though, which you can learn about if you read more.

Black and Cera play two men from a tribe that is apparently separated from the rest of civilization. They are both really bad at the things humans in their tribe need to master (hunting and gathering) and they get themselves banished. Before long they're rubbing elbows with Biblical celebrities like Cain (David Cross) and Abel (Paul Rudd) and they find themselves in and out of slavery. In the end, they're mostly concerned with boobs and hitting on ladies.

This movie is packed full of gross-out humor, and I use the word "humor" lightly. There are fart, poop, pee, sex, and armpit hair jokes galore. And they are rarely funny. OK, fine. The scene where Cera pees on his own face is a little funny but the rest of it is just really . . . tiresome, not to mention disgusting. It just never ends. There's another scene with Cera in which his character is forced to sleep in a bed with a country boy who farts a lot. It's about five full minutes of screen time devoted to farting. I laughed a little at the beginning but there comes a point when one just wants the farting to end.

The saving grace here is the supporting cast. Cera's mumbly shtick only goes so far, as does Black's exuberance. It's a blessing when someone like Hank Azaria shows up on screen to give the audience a little break from those two. Azaria plays Abraham, a man obsessed with circumcision. There is a decent amount of brain power and wit behind Azaria's performance that elevates what is basically a silly fourth grader joke about male genitalia to a slightly higher level. This movie could have used more of that.

Mostly, though, there isn't anything particularly new or inventive about the gags in this movie. The broad humor feels borrowed from other, funnier movies like History of the World, Part I. It's not that Year One is terrible; it's just that you've seen it all before and you've probably seen it done better. And you know, I bet in year one, early humans gathered around to watch someone fart and then they laughed hysterically. Maybe that even counted as an entire standup routine. But this is 2009. A little wit with that fart would be nice.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

Jack Black's Working in The Office

BuzzSugar — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:30:00 -0800

The post-Super Bowl episode of The Office has just landed itself one very special guest star: According to Entertainment Weekly, Jack Black is checking in for the big episode.

The only detail EW's Michael Ausiello was able to uncover was that "the funny man won't be playing himself," so you know what that means: speculation time!

Let's look at what we know: The episode revolves around a roast of Michael Scott, which Michael apparently requests himself. A few weeks back, a source told TV Week that any guest stars "would be woven into the plotline in such a way as to not interfere with the carefully constructed world of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin."

Could Jack Black be playing a Schrute? A replacement for Ryan? Someone new in corporate (just saying "Jack Black" and "corporate" makes me chuckle)? Or - this might be my favorite - Jan's baby daddy?

Update: NBC has released a description of the episode, which is called "Stress Relief." According to the official summary, "In one plot of the special post Super Bowl episode of The Office, some of the office workers try to secretly watch a bootlegged Hollywood movie during the workday. The movie stars Jack Black and other notable Hollywood actors."

Hmm, is that all? I mean, it seems like he's not really "guest starring" if he's just in some bootlegged Tropic Thunder footage or something . . . right?

How do you picture Black fitting into The Office's world? Sound off below!

Photos courtesy of NBC and Source

Jack Black Set For Lead Role in Gulliver's Travels

BuzzSugar — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:30:28 -0800

Jack Black has signed on to play the title role in a "contemporary reimagining of the classic Jonathan Swift tale," Gulliver's Travels. Apparently director Rob Letterman has been attached to the project for a while, but Twentieth Century Fox quickly greenlit the project once Black signed on. Variety reminds us of the details:

Story centers on Lemuel Gulliver, a free-spirited travel writer who, on an assignment to the Bermuda Triangle, suddenly finds himself a giant among men when he washes ashore on the hidden island of Lilliput, home to a population of industrious, yet tiny, people.

Though I liked School of Rock and I really liked Kung Fu Panda, I usually prefer my Jack Black in smaller side character doses, like Barry in High Fidelity or his supporting role in Tropic Thunder. I'll be curious to find out what he does with Gulliver.

What do you think of a "contemporary reimagining" of this story, toplined by Jack Black?

Source and source

Tropic Thunder: Clever and Explosive

BuzzSugar — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:30:10 -0700

I never really thought I'd say a Ben Stiller comedy was genuinely smart and funny, but here I am, saying just that. It's partly the talented cast and partly Stiller's collaborator on the film, Justin Theroux, but whatever the cause, Tropic Thunder is a hilarious movie that doesn't completely rely on gross-out humor or cheap shots for laughs. The entire thing exists to comment on the hypocrisy, egotism, delusional sense of self-importance and backward moral codes of the people who keep the Hollywood machine churning. And it's all set against the backdrop of one of the most serious film genres: the war movie.

Stiller plays Tugg Speedman, a has-been action star who hopes that the filming of the war movie Tropic Thunder will restart his fading career. Soon, however, the film's director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) decides to drop the film's stars into the middle of the jungle to get some "grittier" footage. The group of actors includes the Australian Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), an Academy darling who has surgically changed his skin color to play a black character, an actual black actor named Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), newbie actor Kevin Sandusky (the beloved Apatownian Jay Baruchel) and goofball comedian Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black). The men find themselves in a real combat situation, and it takes them a while to realize that they're not actually on a controlled movie set. The whole thing is a series of jokes, explosions and gunfire, resulting in a kind of giant comedic spectacle. Those are just the basics, though, so read more.

One of the most talked-about things with this movie, Robert Downey Jr.'s brownface and portrayal of a black man is remarkably well-done. The insane offensiveness is placed squarely on the actor Kirk Lazarus's ignorance and ambition to nab yet another Academy Award. Every time this is played for laughs, it's done so at Kirk's expense. What's even better, he butts heads with the actual black man of the group, Alpa Chino, who voices reasonable arguments against Kirk's outrageous actions and is met with hilariously misguided justifications from Kirk. And Alpa Chino is never actually OK with the whole thing, hinting that though the filmmakers use this brownface device for laughs, they never take it so lightly as to imply that it's a genuinely OK thing to do.

By contrast, the jokes revolving around Stiller's character playing a mentally challenged person are less carefully done. Sure, we're supposed to be laughing at the Tugg's self-centered idea that doing this kind of role will earn him an Oscar, but in the scenes with "Simple Jack" we're not laughing at the actor's misguidedness, we're laughing at his impression of a mentally challenged person. I guess it comes down to how comfortable you are with that sort of thing. I do believe the intention was to comment on Stiller's character, and I'm not saying the film is mean-spirited, because I don't think it is. It just doesn't make me feel good to laugh at Stiller's impression of a retarded person.

There are many happy surprises in the movie, not the least of which is Tom Cruise as abusive studio mogul Les Grossman. He's incredibly good at playing an over-the-top abhorrent human being. Similarly, Matthew McConaughey's performance as Tugg's well-meaning but shallow agent is completely hysterical (there's something satisfying about such a pretty man embracing such a goofy, ridiculous role). There are also funny movie-within-movie moments that are actually quite meta, like when Stiller's character thinks an actual severed head is a prop and plays with it: his character thinks it's a prop, and in real-life we know it's a prop, but in the world of the movie it's an actual head that his character thinks is a prop. . . which it is, but it's not supposed to be. . . See? It's actually weirdly smart.

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Are You Ready to (School of) Rock (Again)?

BuzzSugar — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:30:21 -0700

Well, Jack Black is.
Paramount is announcing today that they will move forward on a sequel to School of Rock, the 2003 comedy in which Jack Black played a substitute teacher who teaches a bunch of fifth graders how to properly rock 'n' roll.

OK, actually, it kinda sounds. . . really cute.
I'm not often excited about sequels, but this one might turn out to be pretty adorable. Variety describes the plot:

[T]itled School of Rock 2: America Rocks, [the movie] picks up with Finn leading a group of summer school students on a cross-country field trip that delves into the history of rock 'n' roll and explores the roots of blues, rap, country and other genres.

I'd really like to take that trip myself, actually.
It's definitely a cute enough premise, and screenwriter Mike White is back on board, which is good. I generally like his projects (The Good Girl, Year of the Dog, Orange County). And in all honesty, I think the students' little U.S. music tour might actually teach us some stuff.

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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:30:32 -0700

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to the titles below, you can also pick up Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson's romcom Fool's Gold and the complete Jericho series on DVD.

Be Kind Rewind
Director Michel Gondry is known for a bizarre brand of humor (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and Be Kind Rewind delivers just that. It stars Jack Black and Mos Def as friends who have to recreate old movies because Black's character accidentally erases all the videos in Def's video rental store. They tackle classics like Ghostbusters and Driving Miss Daisy using hilarious dumpy props and less-than-special effects. Surprisingly, their remakes are a big hit with customers. I called it a must-see for fans of Gondry, and everyone else might enjoy how endearingly funny Jack Black and Mos Def are as they play off each other.

Extras on the disc include the trailer for the film and a featurette titled "Passaic Mosaic."

A movie and a TV show up next so read more.

Under the Same Moon
I haven't seen this indie flick yet but am adding it to my queue because I've read really good things about it. Centered around a boy's journey across the U.S./Mexico border in search of his mother, Under the Same Moon sounds like a real tearjerker. America Ferrera has a small part in the film, but all the performances are supposedly quite touching. The movie earned a standing ovation at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

Special features include a featurette on the making of the film and information about the murals featured in the movie.

Californication: Season 1
This Showtime original series starring X-Files hottie David Duchovny is not suitable viewing for kids or even alongside Mom and Dad. It's daring and often crass, but it's also smart and funny and I'm addicted! I've said before I wish more of my friends watched the show so that we could discuss the next day, and now there is no excuse not to catch up with the release of the debut season on DVD.

Duchovny plays a novelist in L.A. who's had one bestseller but is having a hard time following it up with another success. The love of his life wants nothing to do with him as he tries to balance his own self-destructive behavior with raising his daughter. Evan Handler (Sex and the City) stars as Duchovny's buddy and agent. Time to get started watching now before season two starts up!

Box Office: Kung Fu Panda Chops the Competition

BuzzSugar — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:30:06 -0700

Po the panda and friends kicked some box office butt this weekend, winning the No. 1 spot handily with an estimated $60 million over the weekend. Kung Fu Panda is the second-best opening DreamWorks Animation has ever had behind Shrek the Third. In second place came the Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow comedy You Don't Mess with the Zohan, earning a healthy $40 million.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was bumped to the third spot and has grossed an estimated $253 million. The good news for the Sex and the City movie is that it has almost passed the $100 million mark domestically. The bad news is it experienced a steep decline that put it at No. 4. The super scary flick The Strangers dropped to No. 5.

According to Variety, box office watchers had expected way closer results between Kung Fu Panda and Zohan so a big congrats is in order to Jack Black and crew!

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Kung Fu Panda: Defies Expectations

BuzzSugar — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:30:20 -0700

Before seeing Kung Fu Panda, I guessed the plot went something like this: A big dopey Jack Black-voiced panda bear dreams of becoming a kung fu fighter but has to reach deep within himself to find the courage to do so. In the process, the naysayers that surround said panda will learn a little something about judging a book by its cover. And it turns out, this is basically the case. However, going into it I wasn't worried that I knew the storyline, I was worried that it would be dull. If this tired premise isn't done well, it's just boring and a waste of time.

But the truth is, I was surprised and delighted by the filmmakers' decision to just stick to making this movie what it should be: light, visually interesting, and funny. It's as if they were telling us (grown-ups): "Look, we know a movie about a panda doing kung fu is just fun and we're not going to bore you with animated animal soul-searching. Instead, we're going to give you a cute, totally conventional story, without pausing to explore what makes the praying mantis tick."

To which I would like to respond with: thank you DreamWorks! To see why I thoroughly enjoyed myself at this flick and why I think it's the perfect summertime family film, read more.

The word that keeps springing to mind when I think about this movie is "surprising." Jack Black is surprisingly restrained and while there is no mistaking that voice, this is a warmer and fuzzier Jack Black: charming, sweet, a little bumbling, but the nicest guy in the world. And all of those words also describe Po, the chubby, out of shape panda at the center of the story. Po works in his father's noodle shop but dreams of one day becoming a kung fu master like his idols, the Furious Five: Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Monkey (Jackie Chan), who have all been taught by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman).

According to a prophesy, it turns out Po is destined to save his village from a scary villain. Po's destiny makes the Furious Five resent him, and it means that the cranky Shifu has to teach the big clumsy panda kung fu. This is where I thought we'd be in for some predictable wax-on-wax-off moments, but again I was surprised by how lovely and irreverent the scenes were between Po and Shifu. Once it's time to get down to business and the kung fu really gets going, it is surprisingly good. It's no Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but it's genuinely exciting and well-executed.

Another example of smart decision-making has to do with Po's dad - who is a bird. The movie flirts with explaining how this is possible, but hilariously never goes for that father-son moment where he admits Po isn't really his. Instead, we just giggle along with the absurdity of it. In the end, it's a briskly paced movie that is aware of how many times the audience has seen this same thing (be it an animated feature or a martial arts film) and figures a way around all that monotony by piling on the charm and honing in on the sweet nature of the story. You'll probably leave wearing a surprised little smile.

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Movie Preview: Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder

BuzzSugar — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:30:35 -0700

With Tropic Thunder, director Ben Stiller and his cast of comedic actors attempt to poke holes in the movie industry, spoofing everything from iconic action heroes to the embarrassing obnoxiousness of professional comedians to racial stereotypes facing non-white actors. It has a lot of potential for humor. But is it funny? Eh. Kinda.

Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. - that's Downey in the middle up there, wearing makeup to look like a black man - play vain, clueless actors shooting a big-budget war movie who inadvertently find themselves in an actual war zone and have to become real soldiers. Parts of the trailer make me chuckle, though a lot of it's just OK. Also, I'm a little torn on the use of black face in spoofing Hollywood. Then again, if anyone's going to do something like that, Robert Downey Jr. is probably our best bet.

Tropic Thunder opens August 15. To check out the trailer, read more.

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Caption It: Which Caption Should Win?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:30:00 -0800

Nice job, everyone who offered up ideas for this week's Caption It contest! The challenge was to provide a caption to go with this goofy image from Michel Gondry's latest release Be Kind Rewind:

And now to choose a winning caption. Here are my finalists:

Beer. Turning perfectly good kitchen items into bike helmets since 1955.
"When I told these fools to use protection this isn't what I meant!"
While Danny Glover is yet to be converted, several A-list Hollywood stars such as Mos Def and Jack Black are opting for the cheaper Scientology Lite.
Mos Def: "Between Mr. Glover and I we've got several Emmy, Golden Globe and NAACP Image Awards, as well as great reviews for our work on Broadway."
Jack Black: "But have you heard 'F*** Her Gently?'"
Scoffing at the local crop circles, Danny Glover looks on with disgust as his friends prepare for total alien domination.

Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema