The Beach Bum is a comedy film directed by Harmony Korine. The plot sees Moondog (Matthew McConaughey), live life on his own terms.

That description of the plot might seem brief, hell even sparse, but that is the best I could do because honestly there is no plot. It is just Moondog doing drugs and having sex with various people for an hour and a half. There is nothing more to it. Some say simplistic is a good thing, however here it proves to be mind-numbing.

I really respect McConaughey as an actor and think that most of his recent output has been top notch, but this is beneath him. McConaughey is doing his best Johnny Depp impression and just playing a strange oddball and in that respect he nails the part perfectly. The issue arises from the fact that his character does nothing, has no real motivation beyond learning to find a place in the real world, the writing just isn’t there and that is not McConaughey’s fault.

Moreover, no to come off prudish, but there is sex nearly all the time in this film, I understand its use as showing Moondog as basically an eccentric playboy and it does set up that character trait, but then it carries on and carries on to a point of stagnation. It just feels very needless.

Overall, this is trash, I am surprised it even got made and that they managed to get McConaughey to sign on for it.

Pros.

Matthew McConaughey seems to be having fun

Cons.

It is boring, tedious and incredibly repetitive

The sex feels excessive

The writing is terrible

The plot is non-existent

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Midnight In Paris is a comedy film directed by Woody Allen. The plot sees aspiring writer Gil (Owen Wilson), a man who often remakes he was born in the wrong time period, gain the ability to go back in time to 1920’s Paris and meet some literary greats.

Before we get into this I just want to say, the fact that it was a Woody Allen movie bothered me. It creeped me out and after I knew it was one of his films I couldn’t enjoy it the same way, so in that this review might be a little skewed.

In spite of the infamous director I found myself intrigued by this film, I thought it had a novel premise and I enjoyed seeing literacy figures interacting with one another. However, I don’t think there was enough enjoyment to stretch across an hour and a half. The idea would have worked better as a short.

Owen Wilson seems to be enjoying himself and he gives a good performance for the most part, I can’t fault him, however the same can’t be said for the rest of the cast who are given very little to do. I found that the female characters were the worst served they had nothing to do aside from being love interests for various characters; some of said romances were icky on multiple levels.

Overall, if you can ignore the director and some of the themes then this is a good breezy turn your mind off kind of movie; that should be about twenty minutes shorter.

Pros.

Wilson

The premise

Cons.

The director.

Gil and his troublesome romances

The cast is underused

2/5

Reviewed by Luke   

Baby Mama is a comedy film directed by Michael McCullers. The plot follows Kate (Tina Fey), a successful career woman who has decided she wants to have a baby, she can’t do it herself, so she hires a surrogate Angie (Amy Poehler). The two women argue and disagree sharply about how best to treat the baby and then it is revealed that Angie was never really pregnant in the first place.

This film was one of the most boring and generic films I have seen in a long time. There was nothing new or original about it, I heard of films wanting to play it safe, but this was a whole other level. This film to me felt too clean, by that I mean it felt very fake and overly happy and sentimental, it didn’t really focus on the messy parts of having kids just a larger than life dumb comedic premise.

The humour again feels too safe, the jokes feel almost as though they were written for a kid’s movie. The humour didn’t land once for me and I didn’t connect with the films attempts at heart either.

Overall, to me, this is an incredibly bland film that doesn’t do or say anything interesting. It struggled to keep me engaged after the first ten minutes and I wanted to turn it off many times thereafter. This film screams Hollywood executives to me, it feels as though it was made by a focus group to be as inoffensive and as overly people pleasing as possible. Don’t waste your time with this, it is one of the weakest comedy films I have seen in a long time.

Pros.

Dax Shepard is mildly amusing    

Cons.

It is too safe

It isn’t funny

Neither Fey or Poehler are likeable or entertaining to watch

It is boring

0.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Sisters is a comedy film directed by Jason Moore. The plot sees two sisters come together to sort through their parents’ house before it is sold. Of course the sisters are opposites to one another, Maura (Amy Poehler), is the self-disciplined scared to let lose type and Kata (Tina Fey), is the party girl who peaked in high school, both use this trip home as a means of trying to be different people and grow as individuals.

The plot is cliché and generic, this film will never win any awards for originality, but at the same time it is also very good and incredibly funny. The perhaps soul reason for this is the dynamic between the two leads and the fact that both are very humorous in their own way.

The dynamic between the two leads is definitely what makes this film so good, but it also boosted by a largely fantastic supporting cast, with the likes of Maya Rudolph and Ike Barinholtz proving to be standouts as well.

The humour worked for me and often made me laugh, though as I often say comedy is subjective so that doesn’t mean you will find it funny. As well as this the film has a lot of heart, that mostly comes off the right way. You do buy Fey and Poehler as sisters and when they face strife it is believable.

My one complaint would be that there is no reason this film is on for almost two hours as it just doesn’t need to be. It is self-indulgent and poorly paced as a result.

Pros.

Fey and Poehler

The comedy

The heart

The wider supporting cast

Cons.

It is poorly paced and on for far too long

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke      

Holmes and Watson is a comedy film directed by Ethan Cohen. The plot sees famous detective duo Sherlock Holmes (Will Ferrell) and Doctor Watson (John C. Reilly), have to stop a dastardly plot that threatens the life of Queen Victoria (Pam Ferris), herself.

So very much like with Artemis Fowl this might be the only positive review you will see of this film. Most people hated this film and I went in with terribly low expectations, but I have to say I ended up enjoying the film far more than I ever expected to.

The film made me laugh quite a few times, but as I always say humour is subjective, so I can’t say whether it will make you, the reader, laugh. What’s more the interplay between Ferrell and Reilly was just as strong as it has ever been if not stronger, this might be there finest on-screen performance together since Stepbrothers.

Reilly’s performance vastly upstages Ferrell’s, Reilly manages to make his character appear layered and stick around in your mind after the film. It is clear to see who is the better actor and that fact is reflected by the two men’s filmographies on of them is growing and coming into his own, the other is embarrassing himself.

There are a number of humour cameos in this film that quickly became my favourite part of the film; my personal favourite was Steve Coogan as a one-armed tattooist. However, my one issue with this film was that it did shoehorn in a romance plot line that really has no real merit or need to be in the film at all. The female leads are there to inspire some jokes, but they do little more than that and it makes you beg the question why where they written in to begin with.

Overall, I enjoyed this film far more than I thought I would and had quite the good time with it.

Pros.

The comedy

The cameos

Reilly

The interplay between Ferrell and Reilly

Cons.

A needless romance subplot that felt forced in for cheap jokes

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Like A Boss is a comedy film directed by Miguel Arteta. The plot sees two best friends have their friendship tested after a businesswoman invests in their business. Mel (Rose Byrne) sees the buy out as a good thing and wants to learn from makeup mogul Claire Luna (Selma Hayek), whereas Mia (Tiffany Haddish), doesn’t like the outside control and worries they will become just another corporate cog. The friendship tears, but can they come back together again?

I enjoyed this film more than I thought I would. The humour was hit and miss for me, I found myself laughing when I didn’t expect to. I thought when the comedy went blue it was less funny, at least to me personally, but like I often say comedy is subjective.

I liked how this film just focused on the friendship, there was no romance subplot or anything else; it is really just a film dedicated to celebrating friendship. I think the fact it also highlight and lifts up female friendship is also really nice to see, the relationship between the two actors seems genuine and they’re believable as friends/ business partners.

I thought the plot was very by the numbers, most of the things that happen I have seen a hundred times before, so it wins to prizes for being novel or inventive.

Overall a surprisingly enjoyable, watchable comedy.

Pros.

Showing female friendship

No forced romance subplot

Byrne and Haddish

Cons.

Not all the jokes land

The plot is nothing new

The weak side characters

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke