National Lampoon Vacation: Stereotypes, Racial Cliches And Female Objectification Aren’t Funny

1/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A family decides to travel cross country for a holiday.

Big disclaimer here, I don’t view the argument of ‘oh things were different in the Eighties, so all of the jokes are somewhat defendable’ as in anyway right. Racism, ableism, sexism and homophobia have never been okay. Yes, if you haven’t guess by now this is going to be a negative review.

I actively found this film to be off putting, not only did I find the jokes cheap and unfunny but also needlessly offensive. It seemed to boil down to a game of how many cliches and stereotypes can I fit into this film on the part of the writer John Hughes- don’t get me started on Hughes. We have African Americans being shown as rough criminals, we have the child who was born without a tongue being a source of amusement and of course every woman is sexualised. It really shows how icky, troublesome and down right callous Hollywood was/ maybe still is.

Chevy Chase is bearable though not in large doses; his character has no likeable traits, and he seems to be written as a dick- which of course becomes grating quickly. The rest of the family are devoid of any kind of personality and you forget about them as soon as the film is over.

Overall, honestly this film is a pain to get through.

Pros.

It is short

Cons.

It is offensive

Chase

It is poorly written

It is not funny

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Here Comes The Boom: I Never Knew It Was So Easy To Be A UFC Fighter, Why Isn’t Everyone Doing It?

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Biology teacher Scott Voss, played by Kevin James, decided to get into cage fighting in order to save the schools musical department.

Honestly, I just put this on because I wanted something easy to zone out to and unwind- in that respect it didn’t disappoint.

Moreover, in terms of Happy Madison fare this isn’t the worst by any means, as though it is dumb and lazy as you would expect it to be, there is also a really strong heart and soul to this film that makes it feelgood even if you don’t particularly like the main character. To that Henry Winkler really shines here, Winkler is the heart and soul of this film and plays the character with such an innocents and sweetness that you can’t help but root for him-sadly he is only a side character.

Kevin James is fine, his character isn’t particularly likeable and is more often than not creepy or nasty to those around him, however he does have his moments. James is clearly playing the character as an everyman sort and that carries, even if the concept doesn’t. A man with no fighting experience couldn’t suddenly become a cage fighter, though why am I looking for logic here?

I was surprised to not see a cameo from any of the Sand Pack, my name for Adam Sandler and his friends, I thought for sure that someone would pop up but no, or maybe I missed it? They didn’t even force in Rob Schneider.

Overall, a watchable if not very funny comedy.

Pros.

Winkler

The heart

It is watchable

Cons.

Kevin James

The leering at Selma Hayek by the camera

The plot holes

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Holy Water/ Hard Times: A Limp Comedy Film

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A group of disaffected Irish men decide to rob a shipment of Viagra and sell it in Amsterdam with the hopes of making enough money to escape their small town existence.

This film was painfully unfunny. I understand that comedy is subjective but not a single joke in this worked for me, most of them felt cheap and desperate- such as a man getting his arse out for the sake of a bit. At times it almost felt like it was trying too hard.

It was nice to see Linda Hamilton appear in this, as she doesn’t appear in anywhere near enough films anymore. Sadly, the quality of the writing she is presented with not only gives the character nothing to work with but ends up reducing her to a cliché. The whole big tough Americans coming to investigate plot point seemed ridiculous, does Ireland not have a wider investigating organisation that would take jurisdiction? Surely they do.

Honestly I think the biggest issue with this film is that it is just plain generic and boring, which is a shame as you can see the actors are trying but ultimately it is all in vain.

Overall, this is not a terrible film, but it is boring.

Pros.

Linda Hamilton

The actors are trying

Cons.

It isn’t funny

It is boring

It is a waste of good talent

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A Thousand Words: The End Of The Unfunny Eddie Murphy Era

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A fast talking agent, Eddie Murphy, learns the value of words after he discovers that he has bonded with a tree. For each word he says the tree will lose a leaf and when all leaves are gone both will die.

This was one of the finale films of the Murphy era of bad comedy films which was swiftly followed by a short absence from our screens. Personally, I don’t think the film is awful, but nor do I think it is funny. Murphy talking quickly, as he does for the first quarter of the film, is not only unamusing but it is also hard to follow, multiple times I had to go back a few seconds as I didn’t quite catch what was being said. Furthermore, once the big switch up happens and Murphy’s character can no longer talk the film struggles to find its emotional core and can’t nail its message.

That said I found Murphy himself to be one of the saving graces of the film. He didn’t make me laugh but I did find his presence on screen oddly soothing, and I thought he brought a lot of charm to the role and I did care about what happened to his character- small victory for the film there.

Overall, Murphy is trying but it just isn’t enough.

Pros.

Murphy is charming and you do end up caring about his character

It is watchable

Cons.

It isn’t funny

The message is muddled and overly familiar

The emotions don’t quite land

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The Package: Not For The Fainthearted

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A group of friends go on a camping trip together to celebrate spring break, however once the revelling starts Jeremy, Eduardo Franco, slices off his member- what follows is a desperate struggle to reattach it before he loses it forever.

Though in many ways this film might be base and crude, I found it to be enjoyable and funny and maybe even sweet at times. Not every joke lands, but enough do that you are laughing more often than not, and when you aren’t you’re smiling.

I truly do believe that much like with Blockers Geraldine Viswanathan is the standout of the cast. Viswanathan is quickly proving herself to be one to watch, here she gets a lot of funny lines but also she has quite a nice emotional arc over the course of the film wherein she realises what she deserves out of a relationship and moves onto someone less toxic.

I enjoyed this film as it was a feel good turn the brain off sort of film and in times like these we need as many of them as we can get providing they are good.

Overall, though not every joke lands there is enough here to make this film enjoyable.

Pros.

Viswanathan

A few strong jokes

A feel good ending

The message around toxic relationships

Cons.

A few pacing issues

Not every joke lands

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Old School: Turns Out Todd Phillips Wasn’t Funny Even Before Woke Culture Made Him Quit Comedy

1.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Three middle aged men decide to relive their youth and go back to their partying days before they had kids- shockingly original I know.

Much like with my Wedding Crashers review where I pointed out how the film liked to make fun and trivialise male rape, I know this one is also going to be controversial. As you can see from my score I did not enjoy this film very much at all, it was charmless and worse still not even slightly funny.

Now before I get into it I just want to say comedy is subjective so what makes me laugh might not be the same for you.

Within the first ten minutes of this film you had a random character busting out the F slur because it was the early noughties so why not right? It is disgusting and clearly just used to be edgy. This film is made by the same man who said you can’t do comedy anymore because everyone is too PC and it shows in nearly every scene. Not only does this film have a particularly strong homophobic undertone, but it also views all of its female characters as either nagging wives or sexual objects and nothing more.

I like Vince Vaughn so I gave the film an extra half a point, but even he can’t save this film. None of the characters are particularly likeable and each ‘comedian’ is doing the worst version of their usual shtick, Ferrell is screaming rather than talking, Wilson is melancholy and broody, and Vaughn is a sleezy party boy- which of those sound likeable? I’ll answer for you, none.

We also get a supporting performance from alleged sexual predator Jeremy Piven, which almost made me turn the film off.

Overall, maybe the reason Todd Phillips stopped doing comedy is because no one finds his sexist, creepy, homophobic jokes funny anymore.

Pros.

Vaughn is trying

Snoop Dogg

Cons.

The jokes

The homophobic comments

It is wildly sexist

None of the characters are likeable

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Vacation Friends: Crashing A Boat Isn’t A Big Deal

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Whilst on holiday in Mexico Marcus, Lil Rel Howery, and Emily, Yvonne Ori, meet a strange eccentric couple, played by John Cena and Meredith Hagner who end up changing their whole outlook on life.

I want to preface this review by saying that though personally I dislike John Cena for saying Taiwan isn’t a country and grovelling to the despotic Chinese government, he is actually funny here. I struggled with it a lot whilst watching, but I managed to put my feelings about Cena to one side and enjoy his performance in the film without reflecting on him as a person. Cena does do comedy really well, and here is no exception he gets a lot of funny lines.

I was pleasantly surprised by this film as I thought it was going to be a silly crude comedy, but in actuality there is a lot of heart, warmth and genuine human emotion to be found here. I found myself becoming sentimental at several scenes, said scenes do not feel forced in but rather organic and well used. I particularly like Cena in this aspect.

I think my issue with this film is that it does not give Ori’ Emily much to do at all and she is just the caricature of the girlfriend/wife stereotype. This is not true for all the female characters in the film as Hagner’s Kyla gets to have a lot of fun and break from traditional gender roles.

Overall, a sweet comedy film boosted by John Cena.

Pros.

Cena

Lil Rel Howery

It is sweet

It is funny

Cons.

Ori’s Emily is given nothing to do

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Snatch: Brad Pitt’s Best Performance?

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A couple of young gangland thugs, Jason Statham and Stephen Graham, must recruit a traveller boxer, Brad Pitt, to fight for them after he puts their other fight in the hospital over a caravan dispute.

I think this film really shows the best of Guy Ritchie. It is snappy, brutal and comedic in a snarky dark sense. Moreover, it highlights some of the best British acting talent at the time, Graham, Lennie James and Jason Flemyng; not even I will make a case for Statham being an ‘acting’ talent.

However, the clear standout of this film is easily Brad Pitt. Pitt sinks into the role so well you begin to question whether he might actually have been an Irish traveller all along. He entirely leaves behind any Hollywood airs and graces and truly becomes the character, this may be one of his best performances for sure.

The best thing about this film is how well it flows; the pacing simply is top notch. All of the separate stories are woven together in such a way where they all end up at the same point and nicely compliment each other along the way. Furthermore, the film never inflicts a slow moment upon us it is go, go, go keeping us entertained and giving us a few good laughs along the way as well for good measure.

The only thing I could criticise it for is that the ending is too neat, and I would have preferred a little bit more ambiguity or perhaps even a few unanswered questions, though that is just my personal taste.

Overall, an incredibly strong British crime film and maybe the best film of Brad Pitt’s career.

Pros.

Brad Pitt

The best of British’s talent

A few good jokes

Incredibly well structured and paced

Cons.

The ending was a little neat for my taste

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iCarly: iReturn To Webicon

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Carly, Miranda Cosgrove, and co go to an awards ceremony only to end up trapped in a forest with Carly’s ex.

Yikes…. Bar the incredibly sexist episode, oh wait there have been a few of those, anyway those aside this is probably the worst episode of the revival series so far.

Why? Well because the premise breaks down to a few out of date jokes about Fyre Fest, and a pointless love triangle that maybe has Carly get back with someone who treated her like dirt, because that is a healthy message to send out to your young fans.

Moreover, the B plot about Freddie, Nathan Kress, and his app is just boring. It really feels like the latter half of the series did not know what to do with Freddie and instead got hung up on the app storyline for some reason. This is a shame as the earlier parts of the series really gave Freddie a lot of great character work.

The only positive thing I have to say about this episode is that I like the romantic pairing of Harper, Laci Mosley, and Double Dutch, Poppy Liu. I think the two have great chemistry and it will be a benefit for the series going forward to watch the two play off each other. Also I am always a sucker for a good romance arc.

Overall, a good episode for Harper, but pretty bad for everyone else.

Pros.

Harper and Double Dutch

A few funny moments

Cons.

The Freddie’s app side plot is dull

The Carly love triangle sends a bad message

Fyre Fest was several years ago, move on

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The Bronze: Does Anyone Really Care About Third Place?

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Hope Ann Gregory, Melissa Rauch, is a former Olympic bronze medallist who now spends her days in an American small town with her adoring public. However, after her life reaches a breaking point she ends up coaching the next generation of Olympic talent, much to her annoyance.

Usually I enjoy films under the Duplass Brothers Productions banner, but this was a rare misfire for me.

My problems with this film begin and end with the central character. There is nothing likeable about Hope, though in the beginning that is kind of the point even by the end of the film when the character journey is supposedly complete she is still a trash person and that makes her very hard to root for as a character. She does have a few funny lines, but it really doesn’t make up for how nasty the character is considering we are supposed to like her.

Moreover, the comedy of the film didn’t really work for me either. As I said Rauch has a few funny lines that work, but widely most of the jokes aren’t good and end up falling flat. A few are particularly bad eye rollers.

The ending also didn’t work for me. This is mainly due to the fact that it did not feel earned, the character does not feel like she has gotten to a place where she would do what she does in the end, frankly I find it unbelievable and that proves poor writing.

Overall, a weak comedy film.

Pros.

It is watchable

Rauch has a few funny lines

Cons.

Most of the jokes don’t land

Hope is a deeply unlikeable lead

The ending

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