The Movie Mind

Movie Mind Says: Buy It

If You Like This You Should Watch: Old School, Swingers, Wedding Crashers
Better Than: Starsky & Hutch, Knocked Up
Worse Than: It’s on par with the funniest films of the decade

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis

I just watched one of the top 10 comedies of the past decade. No, that is not an exaggeration. When you know, you just know. And The Movie Mind figured out early that this was not just another nonsense comedy. I had high hopes from the moment I saw the previews, and all I can say is that this movie blew away my expectations. This was like the best episodes of Entourage bundled into a highlight reel of Old School and Wedding Crashers. I have been down on some recent supposed “can’t miss” comedies, but not this time. There is raunchiness, stupidity, classic cameos, hyperbole, and a healthy dose of dudity (dude nudity), and it couldn’t have come together any better. I will not only recommend running out to the theater to see this, but I would go so far as saying that if you miss out on this film, you have done yourself, your family, and your country a grave injustice. You want to be respectful of your fore-fathers, don’t you?

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It’s a good time of year, with the off-peak return of some of my top television shows. As much as that gives me delight, there is a ringing in my head I can’t get rid of; one that threatens my ability to enjoy this quality entertainment viewing. It comes in the name of Jimmy Fallon.

Jimmy has been able to submarine the concept of entertaining television, be it late-night or any other time of the day for that matter. Somehow this toolshed made a career out of destroying Saturday Night Live, then becoming the most notriously aweful host of an awards show ever, only to then go on and make a few crappy movies about the Red Sox. If it isn’t bad enough, the Red Sox actually decided to WIN the World Series that year, throwing a a monkey wrench into his plotline. What does he do then? He completely changes the ending of the film without touching any of the rest of the plot! Brilliant filmmaking, I know.

As much as I love ripping on Fallon, he deserves every bit of it. I never thought I would long for the comedic talent not seen since the days of The Magic Johnson Hour. Fallon’s shortcomings are a-plenty, but let’s just say I’ve seen better comedic timing from a monkey. After watching his show the other night, I realized I haven’t been that uncomfortable watching TV since Jim Grey interviewed Pete Rose at the All-Star game. Fallon’s interview skills rank right up there with Joaquin Phoenix’s rap skills. I mean seriously, Gary Busey can carry on a better dialogue with guests than Jimmy Fallon can.

Enough of that nonsense. I thought watching Turd Ferguson late-night was bad enough, now he looks like Johnny Carson compared to this guy. No worries though, he’ll be gone as soon as his old hacks from SNL decide to stop showing up; the same way that fruitcake ex-Seinfeld writer was on and off the air as quick as his old cast stopped dropping by. Here’s a peak at what has been going on inside the TV world of The Movie Mind:

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Movie Mind Says:  Wait for Cable

If You Like This You Should Watch:  Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Almost Famous
Better Than:  Hmmmm…
Worse Than:  School of Rock, The Rock Star

Starring: Rainn Wilson, Christina Applegate, Josh Gad

Oh Rainn Rainn Rainn. What have you done? If someone believed that it might seem like a funny idea to make a 30-minute episode of The Office, which you all know I love, about Dwight trying to reignite his rock-star drummer past, I might have thought it was an entertaining episode. For someone to try and parlay that into a 90-minute running joke, well, they just need to have their head examined. This was one of the most dull, boring, predictable, lame, unoriginal, poor-excuse-for-a-comedy flicks I’ve seen in a long time. And with the amount of movies I watch, that really is saying something. 

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