What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Summary

A documentary filmmaker, played by Lilly James, makes a film about her childhood friend’s, played by Shazad Latif, arranged marriage.

The romantic set-up in this film is incredibly obvious to the point where it crosses over into cliché, everyone knows going in that James’s character is going to fall for Latif’s that is part of the unspoken agreement of the film. However, what isn’t known is that this film is worlds away from other rom-coms such as Love Actually, Crazy Rich Asians, Boxing Day etc by the fact that it is not a comedy at all.

I would argue that this film is not a rom-com, more so a romantic drama film with a schmaltzy ending that tries to undo a lot of its more depressing aspects but doesn’t really come anywhere near close enough. This film is depressing at times manically so, and that really is its greatest fault. Whether it is Lilly James saying how all the Disney princesses were depressed, her incredibly toxic relationship with her mum, played by Emma Thompson, or the fact that the arranged marriage actually happens although you knowing the genre think it won’t, this film knows how to upset you. There were multiple moments in the film where I found myself wanting to leave as it was so depressing I was no longer having fun at the cinema.

I think the great bane of this film is that despite James and Latif giving reasonably serviceable performances this rom-com lacks any kind of warmth or charm at all and that makes the film off-putting.

Overall, this film does the one thing a rom-com never should do, be depressing.

1/5

Pros.

James and Latif try their best to save this film

Cons.

It is depressing

It is not by any means a fun watch

The ending feels like it is over compensating

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Maybe I Do: The Rom-Com Genre Is As Toxic As Ever

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Yet another toxic rom-com in which a group of once loved actors trade away their remaining industry respect for an easy pay check.

Honestly this film has one of the most toxic plot lines I have ever seen. Emma Robert’s character thinks she can pressure her boyfriend, played by Luke Bracey, into marrying her by saying if he won’t then they will break up. What makes this more troubling is that her character’s mum, played by Diana Keaton, thinks that this is a totally fine thing to do as well. For what it is worth it is not a normal thing to do, you shouldn’t pressure your partner into doing what you want before they are ready and marriage isn’t the be all and end all that this film seems to think it is but hey.

Really you shouldn’t expect very much from a film that has such clunky lines of dialogue as this is my heart and this is my brain, whilst holding the character’s significant other’s hand over these areas. To say it is cringe is both an understatement and well as giving this film too much credit, the writing is just so subpar that it becomes impossibly not to notice bad.

Overall, avoid this at all costs and Michael Jacobs should probably never write anything ever again and hope that one day he lives down the shame of this film.

1/5

Pros.

It is short

Cons.

It has a bad message

It has deeply unlikeable characters

The romance is troublesome

It is tedious and generic

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Your Place Or Mine: If Only This Could Be What Life Was Like, Charmed Doesn’t Begin To Cover It

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Debbie, played by Reese Witherspoon, and Peter, played by Ashton Kutcher, have been friends for multiple decades but are only just now realising that they want to be with each other romantically.

In many senses this is a safe choice, it is a bog standard rom-com, nothing more nothing less. If that is enough for you then great, but don’t go in expecting anything that is going to change the game or be in any way remotely new or fresh.

I thought both Witherspoon and Kutcher brought a level of charm and warmth to their respective roles, but at the same time you would expect that from two such genre pros. In regard to their romantic chemistry on-screen, there were some sparks there and at times I found myself believing it, but it never really came alive and struck me as authentic.

As it is a rom-com we have to ask the age old question of is it sexist? The answer to that is yes, however, it is not the most sexist rom-com I have ever seen. I am of course referring to the fact that Kutcher’s Peter is a fairly well put together chap, if a recovering addict and a bit lonely, whereas Witherspoon’s character is a stereotypical overly involved mum who lives through her kid, Lord knows they can’t break away from genre archetypes and try and give her a more nuanced role. No, no as she is a woman she is stuck in the obsessive mother role, in the end she is seen trying to branch out to new horizons and work in publishing, however, this is with the implication that Kutcher’s Peter helped her calm down and stop worrying so much about her kid. Yikes.

Overall, pretty much exactly what you would expect from a rom-com both for good and for bad.

2.5/5

Pros.

Witherspoon and Kutcher both give good performances and have a little chemistry

It is fairly well paced

It is very watchable

Cons.

It is sexist

It is fairly forgettable and generic

Some of the side characters are barely characters at all

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Little Demon: First Season Overview

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Anti-Christ is a teenage girl, voiced by Lucy DeVito, who meets her dad the Devil, voiced by Danny DeVito for the first time after a life on the run.

I really enjoyed this show, this as the title will explain is a full season review of Little Demon. I thought that not only was it funny, and at times also quite deep and thoughtful but I also really enjoyed how far it took things and pushed both the medium as well as what it can get away with.

In terms of the comedy of the show and the feel of it, there are definitely some Disenchantment and Paradise PD vibes running through this show which personally I enjoyed but I know it won’t be a lot of people’s cup of tea.

I think the real hidden treasure of this show is Aubrey Plaza voicing Laura the Anti-Christ’s Satan hating mum. Plaza does a terrific job here and really makes Laura into a well rounded character that can be funny, rad and also sympathetic all at the same time.

Overall, I had a lot of fun watching this series and think fans of certain types of adult animation will really enjoy it.

4/5

Pros.

It is funny

It is also surprisingly deep

The voice cast is terrific

The story is engaging throughout

Cons.

People who don’t like edgy adult animation will find little to like here

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Shotgun Wedding: Get Those Divorce Papers Ready

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Tom, played by Josh Duhamel, and Darcy, played by Jenifer Lopez, have their wedding taken over by terrorists and must work together to try and overcome them.

This is watchable yet entirely forgettable. Honestly, this kind of action comedy is nothing new and has been done many times before. Sadly, in the long history of newly weds teaming up to take down armed bad guys this film isn’t high up on the list.

The main reason for this is because of how tame it is. In almost every regard this film feels like it is holding back, be it in the gore and the violence, the swearing or even in the relationship drama. No couple I have ever met interacts like these two, the way they talk and generally just are around each other feels off and oddly formal at times. It would be an understatement to say that Lopez and Duhamel have no chemistry if anything I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes out over the next few years that the two of them hated each other whilst making this.

Overall, this is the sort of lazy film that reminds you that Hollywood, in this case Amazon, think they can just serve audiences with any old trash and that we will just happily consume it. Well I for one will spit out this rancid meal and will call out Amazon for this, consumers deserve better.

1/5

Pros.

It is not offensively bad

Cons.

It is tedious

It didn’t need to be made

It has no charm

It is horribly paced

The leads are both awful

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Sweet Home Alabama: Evangelist Propaganda

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A New York based fashion designer, played by Reece Witherspoon, travels back home to yes you guessed it Alabama to try and get divorced from her husband, played by Josh Lucas, so she can marry her new beau, played by Patrick Dempsey.

I put this on as it is February, the month of rom-coms, and after looking up non-toxic rom-coms I was fairly sure this was going to be a wholesome classic. Deary me how wrong I was, this film like many others in the genre is quite hard to watch and teaches some pretty bad lessons. These include but are not limited to, hey kids you should leave your life and dream job so you can move back to your home town and get with your ex, if you have a romantic moment as a child with one of your friends that means they are your soulmate forever, and finally when acting out it is perfectly okay to out your LGBTQ+ friend to everyone in town. That’s a big yikes.

Moreover, as the film progresses not only does Witherspoon’s character become more and more unlikeable, but also you begin to question why she is doing what she is doing. Clearly her and her ex have problems, clearly they are badly suited to each other yet they end up together because the film wants them to as it perpetuates myths. In many senses it is plain to see that Witherspoon’s character would have been better off with Dempsey’s character yet the film doesn’t allow that to happen as it would rather push the cliched destiny angle and suggest that women should stay with their exs because you never know they might change.

Overall, watchable yet fairly troubling.

1.5/5

Pros.

It is watchable

It has a few funny moments

Cons.

It has some really poor messages

Witherspoon’s character is fairly unlikable

The central romance of the film doesn’t work on a number of levels

It has pacing issues

You People: Offensive To Almost Everyone Involved, And Those Of Us Who Sit Through It

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A Jewish man, played by Jonah Hill, and an African-American woman, played by Lauren London, begin dating, yet because it is a tiresome rom-com their families have to get in the way.

This film feels so outdated and out of touch, honestly this whole shtick might have worked when it was done in Meet The Parents all those years ago, but nowadays I don’t know anyone who needs to get their significant others parent’s permission to marry, it seems like something that belongs in another century.

Moreover, the heavy handed social commentary which seems to infest almost every line of this film is again outdated, it has nothing new to say and worse yet in some of its points on race the film comes dangerously close to overly simplifying and using generalisations, truly within this film nuance is dead.

The comedy is mostly misses, a lot of the social commentary based jokes don’t land and are so unbearably cringe that they make you want to turn the film off and put anything else on. To further that point, Julia Louise-Dryfus’ whole character is so one note that it makes you want to skip every scene she is in.

The only reason I haven’t given this film 0 is because Eddie Murphy does bring the laughs and does to a limited degree manage to prop this film up. Also Kenya Barris has a great cameo that really made me laugh.

Overall, this film is cringey and out of touch, but that is what happens when privileged Hollywood starts talking about race.

1.5/5

Pros.

Murphy

Barris

Cons.

The social commentary isn’t good and borders on generalisations at times

The comedy is the wrong kind of cringe

It is outdated and has nothing fresh to say

It has major pacing issues

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Unwelcome: Outdoor Liver At Sundown

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A young couple move to Ireland and run into the strange local legend of the Redcaps.

This film was depressing, clearly it was designed to be a comedy horror but like many that have come before it and many that will come after the film cannot marry its two tones well. For the most part I found this film to be incredibly grim and depressing, it made both London and Ireland look like absolute hellholes populated by thugs and pervs, this was then off set by the comical Redcaps which feel like the evil gremlins, from the film of the same name, turned up to just slightly more sinister.

The Redcaps themselves are what saved this film for me, as otherwise I would have given it even lower. I liked that they seemed to be puppets and were not CGI monstrosities, moreover I enjoyed how they interacted with the characters and the battle scene featuring them had some great moments.

In terms of the human characters other than Hannah John-Kamen’s lead everyone else was unlikeable in the max. Douglas Booth, who played John-Kamen’s boyfriend, is toxic in the extreme and is also pretty pathetic, he flies off the handle into a rage constantly and when he is actually faced with a dangerous situation he abandons his wife and starts to cry rather than defend her. Honestly Booth’s character was incredibly off putting.

Overall, fun little creatures and I am glad they weren’t CGI, but the film as a whole doesn’t get its tone right and is manically depressing and the lead male character is repulsive in many ways so much so that his scenes are hard to watch.

2/5

Pros.

The Redcaps

It is watchable

Cons.

It is manically depressing

Booth’s character is awful

The tone is all over the place

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Papadopoulos And Sons: The Chip Shop At The Beating Heart Of The Family

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A Greek Business titan, played by Stephen Dillane, is brought low and must go back to his roots and in doing so he finds his spark for life all over again.

I thought that this film did what British films do best it brought out both the pains and the triumphs of everyday life and reflected that on screen. There is something very human in British cinema that American cinema often lacks for one reason or another, it dwells more in the overly fantastic than the real for one.

I also thought that Dillane and Georges Corraface were both fantastic and played off each other well. I thought they were very believable as brothers, especially as estranged brothers, and I thought the final scene towards the end of the film hit with a hell of a punch because of this.

The one thing I will say of the film that maybe could be viewed as a criticism is that it struggles to match the comedy with the drama and leans far more into the latter. The final third of the film is quite the gut punch and the laughs here and there aren’t really enough to balance it out, so tonally things start to come unstuck by the end.

Overall, a bittersweet film that hits mostly all the right cords.

4/5

Pros.

The emotion

Dillane

Corraface

The message of the film

Cons.

A little light on laughs and at times fairly depressing

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The Drop: Get Some Better Friends

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A cringe comedy following the events covering and following a woman, played by Anna Konkle, who drops a baby.

I am a fan of Sarah Adina Smith as a director, I think her film Midnight Swim is powerful in the way a lot of films wish they can be, however, I think this film is beneath her talents and feels like a big step back when compared to her other films.

The main issue with this film is that as a cringe comedy it just doesn’t work, though it has some good cringe moments for the most part it isn’t cringe enough and the rest of the comedy doesn’t land. A lot of the characters are unlikeable, but that doesn’t make them funny even in a cringe comedy sense, but it does make a lot of their scenes unbearable.

Moreover, the commentary on women and babies feels several years out of date, what this films presents as strong statements and new suggestions about maternity have almost all been made before. The ending realisation that some women don’t want kids and that is okay isn’t new and it doesn’t feel challenging or praise worthy for the film to say it, you are left saying ‘yes and’, it needs to go further if it wants to commit to the social commentary.

Overall, it’s watchable but a big step back from Smith.

2/5

Pros.

It is watchable

The teenager character has a few funny lines

Cons.

The social commentary doesn’t go far enough

The cringe comedy doesn’t work

It all feels very played out

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