Hangover Part II: I hope the franchise is over

I emailed my brother about Hangover Part II to tell him about it.  This is what I wrote:


You liked hangover part I?
If you want to see the exact same movie except in Bangkok, you will like hangover part II.
99% of the jokes depend on you seeing Hangover part I and saying “Oh that was funny in Hangover Part I”.
If you did not see Hangover Part I you will not get any of the jokes in the movie. This movie cannot stand on its own.
The main joke of this movie delivers is that events of Hangover Part I are happening again.
I’m not saying I didn’t laugh, because even though a lot of the jokes are just Hangover Part I repeats, Hangover Part I was funny.

Zach Galifianakis gets really annoying, they go over the top with his character.

BTW, it is going to make $120M over the Memorial day weekend. That’s insane.


* and 1/2 stars

Revisiting Sports Night

Sports Night was one of favorite shows when I was younger.  It was recently put back onto Netflix's instant watch and I decided to check it out once again to see if it sill holds up after 13 years.  The show was created by Aaron Sorkin who would later create West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and recently won the Oscar for writing the screenplay for The Social Network.

There are early trademark Sorkin touches in the show, fast paced witty dialogue mixed with stories that can be both funny and serious in the same episode.



However, there is something off-putting about the early episodes; the laugh track.  Laugh tracks have bothered me for a while, and they are unnecessary in an Aaron Sorkin production.  Sports Night tells really interesting stories and it doesn't need the laugh track to make you think it is funny.  It also becomes really irksome when you have the laugh track in one scene and then a really serious moment like this the next.  Fortunately as the first season goes on, the laugh track gets toned down and the show really starts delivered great episodes, with powerful moments like this.

The mixture of dialogue and story still holds up today, and I enjoyed watching this show a second time.

Thoughts on Cyrus: An Unusual Comedy with An Unusual Star

I really enjoyed Cyrus.  It a small comedy from last year that is now on DVD.  It stars John C. Reilly as John, lonely divorced man who meets Molly, played by Marisa Tomei.  Jonah Hill plays the titular character Cyrus, the son of Molly, a 21 year old man-child who lives at home with Molly.  As John and Molly begin to develop a romance, Cyrus, due to jealousy issues tries his best to break up the budding couple.  The movie then becomes a battle between Cyrus and Molly for the affections of Molly.

What I liked most about this movie is the performance by John C Reilly.  I haven't seen him as the lead star too many times and it was refreshing to see him take a role and knock it out of the park.  He is really funny as the initially sad sack John and he has fantastic chemistry with Tomei.

Tomei is really good here also as the offbeat and naive Molly.  The relationship between Molly and Cyrus is odd, yet never the riches creepy zone.  The fact that the director/writers Duplass Brothers hold back from making the Molly and Cyrus relationship creepy is another  one of touches I really appreciated about the movie.

Jonah Hill has a tricky role here, his role here is different than how we see him normally.  He really holds back from being the annoying, neurotic person normally seen in movies such as Superbad.

I enjoyed the fact that the movie never goes "Hollywood" with the battle between John and Cyrus.  Things never really get goofy between the two, where they commit silly physical acts throughout the movie in an effort to discredit the other.  It's refreshing to see a comedy that can restrain itself.

I totally recommend seeing this movie.  ***1/2 out of **** stars.