When going into this movie a lot of the factors seem to point to a great film. on the acting front you had Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton, Dylan Moran and Hank Azaria, all have shown they can deliver the laughs. Then to top that you had David Schwimmer seating at the directors chair. He and Simon pegg have begun to form a union in film, having previously starred in "Big Nothing" which was a solid dark comedy. So i thought this film couldn't set a step wrong....
Boy, was i wrong. The first point i would like to bring up is that this is not a "Simon Pegg Production" written by American Michael Ian Black, this is not in the same mindset or frame that Simon Pegg / Edgar Wright films are. I knew this was the case before i saw the film but i still expected it to be fairly daring and entertaining, it wasn't. You can clearly tell this is an American story with American / hollywood studio ideologies attached to it. It's brutally predictable and clichéd to the point that you feel you're watching a step by step playbook on how to make a romantic comedy. It at times felt over sentimental and some of the side characters were way to one-dimensional and struggle to get a laugh. It was weird seeing these talented people try to get something funny out of this stale film. It ends how you would expect it to end and has all the narrative hooks you would expect from a film of this type without trying to be different
Right, i guess i better even this out a little. Lets talk good, though i may not talk for that long. It seemed to me that the funniest scenes stuck out. By that i mean, when it was actually trying to be funny and get genuine laughs, it felt it was refreshing from the lovey dovey slush the rest of the film was. The fight between Dennis (Pegg) and Gordon (Moran) was pretty well comedically executed. The several Cameos including David Walliams and Stephen Merchant work well. Though one of the main plus points is the soundtrack. It has a great soundtrack with a mix of current songs (Baby Fratelli - The Fratellis, Monkey Man - Amy Winehouse) or old clasics (Queen Bitch - David Bowie) and add life to a pretty stale comedy.
All in all, I felt this film didn't live up to its director or cast and overall gave in to hollywood conventions and fell short, quite short.
Boy, was i wrong. The first point i would like to bring up is that this is not a "Simon Pegg Production" written by American Michael Ian Black, this is not in the same mindset or frame that Simon Pegg / Edgar Wright films are. I knew this was the case before i saw the film but i still expected it to be fairly daring and entertaining, it wasn't. You can clearly tell this is an American story with American / hollywood studio ideologies attached to it. It's brutally predictable and clichéd to the point that you feel you're watching a step by step playbook on how to make a romantic comedy. It at times felt over sentimental and some of the side characters were way to one-dimensional and struggle to get a laugh. It was weird seeing these talented people try to get something funny out of this stale film. It ends how you would expect it to end and has all the narrative hooks you would expect from a film of this type without trying to be different
Right, i guess i better even this out a little. Lets talk good, though i may not talk for that long. It seemed to me that the funniest scenes stuck out. By that i mean, when it was actually trying to be funny and get genuine laughs, it felt it was refreshing from the lovey dovey slush the rest of the film was. The fight between Dennis (Pegg) and Gordon (Moran) was pretty well comedically executed. The several Cameos including David Walliams and Stephen Merchant work well. Though one of the main plus points is the soundtrack. It has a great soundtrack with a mix of current songs (Baby Fratelli - The Fratellis, Monkey Man - Amy Winehouse) or old clasics (Queen Bitch - David Bowie) and add life to a pretty stale comedy.
All in all, I felt this film didn't live up to its director or cast and overall gave in to hollywood conventions and fell short, quite short.
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