Girls Trip: Pissing In The Street

Girls Trip is a comedy film directed by Malcom D. Lee. The plot sees four friends reunite for a trip to New Orleans, whilst there sparks fly, and friendships are tested.

The core group of actors have a strong on-screen chemistry, Regina Hall, Tiffany Haddish, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith all have great banter between them. If I had to pick a personal favourite character it would probably be Smith’s Lisa, I enjoyed her timid begining which quickly gave way into a wild party animal; I also thought she had all the best jokes. Sadly, Tiffany Haddish stood out as a weak link and didn’t quite sell the emotion and the drama as the other characters did, her character Dina seemed fairly one note.

The plot was fairly predictable and standard, you will have seen plenty of other films just like this; it is nothing new. That said, I thought it was quite wholesome to watch and I enjoyed its friendship focus, it reminded me of Like A Boss in a few of the ways it treated grown up friendship; though I think that film did it better.

The comedy was hit or miss for me, I only found myself actually laughing a few times, more often it was the odd smile here and there. Jokes like when Lisa broke her young lovers dick worked for me and made me laugh, but often I found the humour to be too safe and studio feeling, or too gross out; yes I am talking about the wee scene.

Overall, a nice watch that I didn’t find hugely funny or engaging, but for a one-off watch it was okay.

Pros.

The leads all have strong chemistry

Some of the jokes are funny

Cons.

Some of the jokes fall flat

Tiffany Haddish stands out for the wrong reasons

Very standard fare

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Game Over, Man: Getting Your Dick Out For A Cheap Laugh

Game Over, Man! Is a comedy film directed by Kyle Newacheck. The plot follows three hotel house keepers who get caught up in a hostage situation, they must find a way to save the day and get an investor for their videogame.

So this stars the Workaholic guys, Adam Devine, Anders Holm and Blake Anderson, and this film is basically like a feature length episode of that show; though they are in no official way related. The sad truth, however, would be if this was an episode of that show it would be one of the weaker ones.

The humour is nothing new and feels played out right from the start. You have jokes about one character being in the closet and not releasing that his friends know he is gay, which feel about 10 years out of date and other jokes where one of the characters just gets his dick out for some reason; this feels especially desperate.

The characters themselves and those around them are also paper thin and have nothing to make them feel like actually people and not just poorly written clichés.

Overall, this dumb, lazy and unfunny. Despite not being related it tarnishes the reputation of the Workaholic boys and leaves a bitter taste in the mouth for a while after.

Pros.

It is only on for an hour and a half

It is watchable

Cons.

It is lazy, the characters aren’t more than clichés

The jokes feel outdated and worse desperate

It is painfully unfunny

It feels like an hour and a half of your life that you are not getting back

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Magicians: Peep Show, But With Magic

Magicians is a comedy film directed by Andrew O’ Connor. The plot sees a pair of former magicians who used to be partners face off against each other in a magic competition in a chance to return to the big time.

So, I bought this because it claimed to have some involvement of one of the Peep Show writers and because Peep Show is such a terrific series, one of the best ever made, I picked it up. Was I disappointed? Yes and no, it is by no means as good or as funny as Peep Show, but at the same time the Mitchell, Webb dynamic is as strong as ever and it is very watchable.

To follow up, the reason why this film is elevated beyond mediocrity for me is the back and forth begrudging friendship between Harry (David Mitchell) and Karl (Robert Webb). Mitchell and Web are one of the best comedy double acts in the history of comedy and that is proven clearly here, though they receive some ample support from some other funny people.

The humour for me was on the weaker side, some jokes worked some didn’t. Comedy is subjective of course, but I found myself smiling more than laughing with this film which doesn’t mean its bad, but it also doesn’t mean it’s good. Disappointing.

Pros.

Mitchell and Webb

The supporting cast

It is very watchable

Cons.

Disappointing for long-time fans

The humour is hit and miss

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Last Boy Scout: Back When Bruce Willis Cared

The Last Boy Scout is an action movie directed by Tony Scott. The plot follows disgraced secret serviceman Joe (Bruce Willis), as he uncovers a conspiracy that covers everything from professional football to the Government.

This film reminded me what a Bruce Willis action movie could be, he has such a great presence and can play the hardboiled hero character better than anyone else. The amount of chemistry he has with Damon Wayne’s cant be stressed enough either, they’re a great duo. The sad thing is though that this film reminded me just how far Willis has fallen.

Outside of the acting this film is a mixed bag for me, there are plenty of great action moments that are super cool and instantly epic, but there are also a lot of moments that just come across as needless, vulgar and frankly off-putting. I won’t harp on about it for too long as I know the 90’s was a different time, but there is some quite unpleasant stuff in this.

Overall, if dumb action is what you want then look no further, it is a spectacle of explosions, loud noises and witty one liners, I was entertained for the most part and I am sure you will be too. However, if you’re looking for something deeper this film won’t be for you, I only watched it a few nights ago and the plot is so weak I have almost entirely forgotten it, also the language used is quite tasteless at times so if you’re easy offended then again look away.

Pros.

Great action

The Willis Wayne dynamic

The one liners

Cons.

Very outdated

The plot is non-existent

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Chips: A 21st Century Frankenstien

Chips is an action comedy film directed by Dax Shepard; it serves as a revival of the classic TV series of the same name. The plot sees two troubled officers of the law become entangled in a web of betrayal, lies and a surprisingly large amount of sex. The two mismatched detectives must find out who the bag guy is and stop them, but first they must learn to trust each other.

This film is somewhat of a head scratcher, not because it is deep or clever, no, the reason it is confusing is because the usually bad Dax Shepard is actually somewhat okay and enjoyable, and the always loveable Michael Pena is strangely hateable. A strange turn of events and one that may or may not have been deliberate.

I don’t think anyone was asking for this film, the brand was forgotten, but clearly the people behind the scenes thought this could be the next 21 Jump Street; sadly they were wrong, very wrong. Unlike the aforementioned cop comedy, there is no charm here, the jokes feel dated and juvenile; I think I might have laughed once in the whole runtime of the film.

All of the characters barring Shepard’s are deeply unlikable, you don’t care about them at all and when they’re endanger the outcome doesn’t really affect you one way or the other. The one positive thing this film does is it makes you like Dax Shepard. He was heavily involved in making it, so this is almost certainly intentional, but his is the only character in the entire film that we as the audience warm to.

Overall, this feels very needless, it has the sensibilities of a teenager, but isn’t shocking enough to capture their attention. This film really makes you question what goes through the heads of Hollywood executives.

Pros.

Dax Shepard.

One or two laughs.

Cons.

All the other characters.

The humour feels icky and a little over the top at times.

I just didn’t care in the end.

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Coffee & Kareem: Give This Film The Chair

Coffee and Kareem is an action comedy directed by Michael Dowse. The plot sees disgraced, demoted police officer James Coffee (Ed Helms), become targeted by a recently escaped gangster as well as a corrupt police force. He goes on the run with his girlfriend’s teenage son Kareem (Terrence Little Gardenhigh): together they must stay alive and bring the guilty to justice.

This is a mess of a film, the tone of the film is family friendly, there is a large empathises placed on the relationship between Coffee and Kareem, however the humour of the film is r rated. The two don’t go together well if anything they clash horribly; it feels weirdly at war with itself.

The humour, or lack thereof, is proof of everything wrong with this film. The humour is not funny in anyway, it is painfully unfunny at best and cringey and awkward at worst. The worst offender here is Taraji P. Henson, she plays Kareem’s mother and Coffee’s girlfriend, her character is a stereotype and every time she is on screen, you’re begging her to just go away, as each line she delivers is worst than the last. The same can be said for Betty Gilpin who plays one of Coffee’s fellow police officers, she is so much more capable than this and deserves better than this.

This film tries at every turn to prove how relevant it is by constantly spouting current world events or politics. The film seems to think that this is funny, but it really isn’t, whenever the film excretes one of these lines it takes you out of the film and makes you cringe; this film will feel incredibly dated in just a few months.

More than anything else this film makes me lose any respect I ever had for Ed Helms. It is clear at this point that he is not even trying anymore, he is just taking lazy role after lazy role just for the money. He has long since stopped being funny and really should stop appearing in comedy films, as his presences indicates a bad film.

Overall, this film is the worst of the worst, it proves everything wrong with the Netflix greenlight process, and personally I think this is a career low for Ed Helms.

Pros.

It isn’t offensive.

Cons.

It is boring.

It tries too hard to be relevant.

It is not funny.

Ed Helms is terrible.

Why was this made?

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Stuber: The Adventures Of Whiny And Dave Bautista

Stuber is a buddy cop action film directed by Michael Dowse. The plot follows timid Uber driver Stu (Kumail Nanjaini), a man who is obsessed with achieving two goals in life, convincing his friend Becca (Betty Gilpin), to go out with him as well as getting a 5-star rating on Uber. All of this is turned upside down and thrown out of the window however, as veteran detective Vic (Dave Bautista), get into Stu’s car on morning and then fate takes both men on a journey to bring down vicious drug lord Oka Tedjo (Iko Uwais), whether they like it or not.

When I first saw this film, I didn’t really like it. Then I watched it for a second time, and it was a little better, the jokes between Nanjaini and Bautista are by far the best thing about the film. This film feels to me, very much like it is trying to recapture the spirit of films like Rush Hour, and I don’t think it does it. Bautista is as hilarious as always, his turn as a comic actor is great and he has been funny in near every film he has been in. However, the weak link in the buddy cop chain is Nanjaini, he is far less funny than Batista, there is only so many times you can watch someone freak out before it becomes repetitive. What’s more a lot of Nanjaini’s jokes in this film feel as though he is reading out new paper headlines and talking points, as the films says to itself aren’t I so trendy and current; even when you watch it a few months later it appears dated.

What’s more the decision to have the storyline between Stu and Becca is baffling. We can see from a variety of other things in his life that Stu is a passive person who needs to become more assertive, so we don’t really need a storyline about him liking a girl who only wants to have sex with him because her current boyfriend annoyed her. The film devotes a weird amount of time to this sub-plot that takes away from the main story, moreover, this sub-plot doesn’t add much to Stu as a character and when he finally decides to cut her out of his life, it just leaves you thinking ‘finally’.

Overall, despite Bautista being funny and the banter being okay, Stuber feels like a poor imitation of buddy cop films of old, as it is too concerned with being trendy and bombarding you with sub-plots that take you out of the film. Another bomb Fox left on Disney’s doorstep.

Pros.

Dave Bautista.

The pair have some good moments.

Cons.

The sub-plot with Becca and Becca herself.

The references to current affairs.

Nanjaini is just a little bit too whiny.

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Men In Black, International: Erase Your Mind If You Have Seen This Film.

Men In Black: International is a science fiction action film directed by F. Gary Gray, it serves as the 4^th instalment in the franchise, also being the worst, it is notable for being the first Men In Black film to not feature Will Smith, or Tommy Lee Jones. The plot follows new duo Henry (Chris Hemsworth), and Molly (Tessa Thompson), as they try and stop an alien invasion.

This film came out with a thud, it was dead on arrival. The Men In Black franchise has been continually on the decline since the second film, the first two films were good, mainly because Jones and Smith had great on-screen chemistry together and were likable. The third film was fine, it wasn’t bad, it just left very little impression, the only notable good thing about it was that it featured Jeamaine Clement. However, Men In Black International dives even further still and is aggressively bad. There is not one reason why this film is bad, sure it is bland as hell, the plot feels like a rehash of other better science fiction films, the jokes like ‘oh Men In Black isn’t very inclusive we should change the name to Humans In Black’ are cringey and take you out of the film, but it is hard to point to any one thing.

I think the reason why this film is so bad is because there is no chemistry between Hemsworth and Thompson, unlike in Thor Ragnarök where the two had great on-screen chemistry, thanks in no small part to Taika Waititi, here it is cold and flat. Hemsworth just plays a caricature of the character he normally plays, the good-looking dummy who gets all the girls and saves the day and I don’t know about you, but I am starting to get bored of it. He has had no luck as a leading man outside the MCU and I think that is proven here. Thompson on the other hand is the more likable of the two, her character actually made me laugh, but even she wasn’t on top form, she seemed uninterested and as though she was just doing it for the paycheck.

The only good thing I will say about this film is that the side characters are great. Rebecca Ferguson as arms dealer and Henry’s ex Riza is a cool character and has an interesting fight scene later on in the film. Kumail Nanjiani is terrific as Pawnee and I could easily watch a whole film focusing on him, but these two characters are barely used.

I’m not even going to get into the ridiculously obvious twist about Liam Neeson’s character, which would be harder to miss if it was running down the street, towards you, wrapped in meat eating a can of dog food.

Overall, this film proves that the series has no where else to go and that it can’t work without Jones and Smith, so they should stop trying. It is aggressively bad and boring, and the thought that Sony was stupid enough to think this stinker could restart the franchise is in and of itself hilarious.

Pros.

The side characters are cool, too bad they are barely used.

Cons.

The “jokes” are cringe.

Thompson doesn’t really care, and Hemsworth is playing himself, but with a weird inconsistent accent.

The plot is utter garbage.

The CGI use is bordering on obscene.

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Bad Boys For Life: Is It Time To Retire?

Bad Boys For Life is an action comedy film directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. The plot returns us once again to the lives of Miami cops Mike (Will Smith), and Marcus ( Martin Lawrence), who are now on the cusp of retirement, with the two men disagreeing about whether they should or not. However, when a figure from Mike’s past comes back to haunt and hunt him, the Boys have to be Bad one last time.

This film knows what it is, it isn’t trying to be clever it is just dumb popcorn fun, think Fast and The Furious but with less of a focus on cars. The life blood of this film is the chemistry and banter between Smith and Lawrence and I am pleased to report that this chemistry is just as strong as ever, you buy them as two cops who have been partners for years and are more like brothers than friends at this point.

Moreover, the boy’s interactions with Ammo, the new policing group that does things differently to the Boys, is fantastic and had me laughing multiple times in the cinema. I think Alexander Ludwig of Vikings fame is the standout of this younger cast and the joke of him being a big burly guy who prefers to stay in the van never stops being funny. Also, some of the meta jokes in this film are also brilliant, an example of one of these is having Michael Bay announcing things at Marcus’s daughter’s wedding, which made me laugh as he was the director of the other two films.

The action in this film is pretty good the choreography is done well, however, when I was watching I often thought I don’t think Will Smith should do these type of roles anymore as I just don’t believe him as an action star anymore, he is past it and it shows in this film.

I thought the storyline of it being Mike’s son that was trying to kill him, was incredibly obvious from the beginning and is a little too similar to Smith’s other recent film Gemini Man.

Overall, I think that for a belated sequel this is probably as good as you could hope for, there are some laughs, it treats the characters with respect, it is an enjoyable turn your brain off sort of film, however it is still far from perfect and the issues that plague the film are fundamental, so aren’t easily changed. See it if you have nothing better to do!

Pros.

Smith and Lawrence’s chemistry.

The Boy’s interactions with Ammo.

Alexander Ludwig.

The meta jokes.

Cons.

The Boys are pasted their prime and it shows.

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Jay And Silent Bob Reboot: Who Said All Reboots Are Bad

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is a buddy comedy film directed by Kevin Smith. This film sees the titular duo head back to Hollywood to try and stop a remake of The Blunt Man and Chronic movie, facing various foes along the way, and also dealing with Jay finding out he has a daughter he never knew about.

I was not expecting to like this film as much as I did, it was terrific and easily one of the best films of last year at least to me. This film has made its way onto not only my favourite comedy films of all-time list, but also my favourite films of all-time list, it is simply that good.

As someone who has become a lapse Kevin Smith fan in recent years it is nice to see him back in top form. Characters from previous Kevin Smith films such as Matt Damon’s character from Dogma show up here, it is nice to see all the familiar faces and inside jokes. What’s more this film is fantastically meta, it knows it is a film and milks it for all it is worth.

The comedy in this film is great, all of the characters are hilarious; especially Jason Lee who is only in the film for a short amount of time, but he makes the most of every second, that Alvin and The Chipmunks joke made me laugh out loud. This film had me laughing constantly, there was very few to no jokes that didn’t land, as a comedy film this is perfect.

The relationship between Jay (Jason Mewes), and his daughter Millennium (Harley Quinn Smith), is incredibly endearing. We see Jay come to terms with being a parent and having to overcome his own father issues so that he can be a good dad to his new daughter. Harley Quinn Smith does a great job as well, she is loveable and hard not to root for, her dream of having a dad that loves her is as sweet as it is heart-breaking. The final scene of the film acts as sort of a passing of the torch moment between Jay and his daughter and it is beautifully done, ending the film on an extreme high note.

Overall, a bundle of laughs, joy and heart from start to finish. Hilarious and heart-warming, a must see!

Pros.

It’s hilarious.

It has a great heart.

All the cameos from Smith collaborators.

The relationship between Jay and his daughter.

A beautiful ending.

Cons.

None

5/5

Reviewed by Luke