Comedy Movie Review : The Campaign, Ted, The Watch, Stolen

comedy, comedy, comedy! laughter IS the best medicine! been watching ‘the campaign’ – a humorous look on politics, elections and campaigns gone down and dirty! an obnoxious cute-looking teddy bear that comes to life in ‘ted’, four regular urban guys formed a neighbourhood watch to solve a murder in ‘the watch’ and the action flick ‘stolen’ – NOT a comedy, but it’s SO bad that I had to laugh.

now don’t go anywhere. go on read my review.

 

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with the US presidential election looming, ‘the campaign’ offers a very hilarious look on politicians, elections and campaign. politicians’ wives putting a fake front, grooming new candidates by creating a new persona for them, sneaky campaign manager, rigged elections and kissing babies to get good press. comedy or not, this is all happening in real-life politics.

will ferrel is best at playing fantastically obnoxious roles, and he’s so versatile in them, like the chauvinistic newscaster in ‘anchorman’, the has-been ice-skating champion in ‘blades of glory’, and an evil zany fashion designer in ‘zoolander’; and now this – he’s just so funny.

I only know zach galifianakis from ‘the hangover’ – he was so funny there, and he’s equally funny here. his soft-spoken, feminine mannerism and southern twang is so believable. he has great comedic chemistry with will ferrel and when both are on screen, they’re just killing it!

it’s a feel-good movie towards the end – reminding all politicians about WHAT the fight is all about – about the position, or the people? what is it all about? what are you giving up, and what are you getting in return? it’s also sad to think that even when your intention is good, a ‘good’ politician can’t survive in this cut-throat, rat-race, dog-eat-dog in today’s politics…

highly recommended movie, especially since malaysians are also waiting on pins and needles for the next big election. this might be a fun watch for us too…

 

 

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‘ted’ is a teddy bear. he is cute, cuddly and belongs to a lonely boy john who wished he could become alive so that he can be his friend. ted did come alive, and became john’s best buddy.

the problem is, when they’re still stinky ol pals even when john hits 30. also, ‘ted’ the teddy bear is not a sweet, cute cuddly bear that he was. he’s an obnoxious, loud-mouthed womanizing bear who shouts profanities most of the time, and even smoked weed.

he’s not improving john’s life either. he makes him late for work, abandon his girlfriend’s important party, and basically weighing john down to live his life. john needs to ‘grow up’ and cut ted off his life – can he?

the funny thing about this movie is that ‘ted’ is not made to be this magic bear who had came alive ONLY when around the boy, like calvin and hobbes. oh no no – ‘ted’ goes on talkshows, appear on TV, fans stop him on the way to take pictures, and ted even drives a car, works at the checkout counter at the hypermarket and people don’t even mind!

he’s like a real person, a person most people would find annoying. only he’s not. he’s a teddy bear.

it’s fun to see mark wahlberg in a goofy role where he can be silly and funny despite his rock-hard pecs and sexy looks. milla kunis is simply gorgeous and they make a cute couple.

a silly fun movie to enjoy if you’re into crude jokes in a movie about friendship.

 

 

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oh, there’s so many wrong things about nicolas cage’s new movie ‘stolen’.

• this is like the B-grade version of ‘gone in 60 seconds’ – in ‘gone in 60 seconds’ his character needs to steal a bunch of luxury cars in one night to save his brother. it’s a freakin cool movie, nicolas cage looks so suave in it, and the cars made it more classy. HOWEVER, in ‘stolen’, he needs to steal a few million dollars to save his daughter. boring.
• plus rip-off from ‘taken’ – duuh, SO obvious – ‘taken’ is about a father who tracks down his daughter’s kidnapper in the most awesomely coolest way possible. HOWEVER in ‘stolen’, nicolas cage tracks down his ol buddy who drives a taxi, and has kidnapped his daughter, whom he doesn’t even have chemistry with. boring.
• and a brief reminiscent of ‘ghost rider’. in ghost rider’, nicolas cage rides a big-ass superbike on fire. in ‘stolen’ he drives a car a few meters to put off fire on the car. boring.
• unoriginal plot. I mean why name the movie STOLEN? that is such a clear-cut suggestion that it’s similar to TAKEN. hellow? stolen – taken? kidnapped daughter? dad on the prowl? ding!
• nicolas cage looks too old and tired to do any heist movie. sean connery did it in ‘entrapment’ and robert deniro did it in ‘the score’ they were fine coz they are actors who aged gracefully. but not nicolas cage. nope. no more action movies for you, buddy.
• viewers WANT to feel sorry for nicolas cage as the dad with the missing daughter. but we just don’t care. we see nicolas cage having no chemistry with the daughter, and to make it worse, she can’t act.
• there’s just no thrill to this movie. meaningless fast-paced movie that leaves no adrenaline rush – will he be able to save his daughter on time? can he steal the money? we don’t care.

 

nicolas cage is a great actor, and I absolutely love him in ‘the rock’, but he’s risking falling from hollywood A-list! he needs to choose his movies carefully next, or else he’d be a kevin costner or some actor we don’t even care to remember anymore…

watch this for a good laugh, and then go watch ‘taken 2’. or watch the first ‘taken’ movie again.

 

 

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I had wanted to watch this movie for the longest time. reasons : ben stiller, and aliens.

also, I just love movies that put normal people in extraordinary circumstances. like in this movie ‘the watch’, four normal urban guys – a control-freak active-in-neighbourhood-club dude, a controlling dad, one reject from the police force, and a british dude. they formed the neighbourhood watch to solve a recent murder in their beloved neighbourhood – and ended up fighting aliens and stopping them from destroying earth.

I love the plot, and ben stiller is in his usual comedic prowess here, but I would say that I’m a little bit disappointed with the movie. though it IS undeniably funny with a lot of hilarious one-liners but I can’t help feeling that there should be more laugh-out-loud moments, since there is ben stiller, and it’s written by another comedy actor seth rogen.

also the nigerian-brit dude with the spunky afro do is NOT funny. I don’t know who richard ayoade is, I’m surprised to find out that he has done a lot of stand-up comic, which I’m sure he’s good at – but it doesn’t work out in this movie. he doesn’t have that perfect comedic timing, he says his line very slowly but it doesn’t add anything to a funny scene.

I would recommend this movie for a fun weekend night – order a pizza or ramlee burger, pop open a packet of nacho cheese, bancuh milo ais satu jag, have a good laugh with your friends and loved ones.

 

 

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ok gimme more comedies please! I need cheering up!