For the love of everything holy, do not see this movie. It was offensively unfunny. It’s one of those movies that makes you embarrassed for everyone involved. I’ve never seen a so-called comedy more devoid of humor in my life. If anyone wants a condensed version of the movie, here it is:
A monkey pisses on Ben Stiller.
That’s basically it. Instead of showing us the film, the producers should have walked inside the theater, pulled down their pants, and pissed on the audience. The best part is it was based on a book. Hollywood is so bankrupt they couldn’t even think of this braindead piece of crap on their own.
Screw you critics for only giving this a mere 50% tomato rating.
Screw you dumb mother that brought your crying baby and didn’t have the decency to walk out.
Can someone tell me what went wrong with Robin Williams? I mean at one point he was a funny man who brought life into any project he was involved in even if the rest wasn’t that good. These days he’s apparently the go to guy when a film is incredibly awful and they want someone “wacky”. Is it that he’ll do anything? Weakness in current Hollywood comedies that he can’t help them at all? Was he too good at cultivating his screen persona and is now typecast forever?
It was the least of all the movies we saw this weekend but it had its moments. The line “who’s evolved? who’s evolved?” in context was just about worth the price of admission. It’s a movie for kids, and if they get a bit of history with their pratfalls and peeing monkeys, that can’t be all bad. We didn’t go specifically to see it, but it turned out, timing-wise, it was our only choice at that particular moment. We would’ve had to wait an hour for something else. It was fun seeing who the “bad guys” were.
The other movies we saw over the weekend: The Good Shepherd and The Good German, both of which are, IMO, among the best films of the year (they’re among my favorites, in any case); We Are Marshall, which was good (we hate sports but usually love sports movies); Curse of the Golden Flower (gorgeous-looking), and The Pursuit of Happyness (decent). We were on our way to the theater today to see Children of Men and Dreamgirls when my husband lost his cell phone and we had to get it turned off and all, so we just came home. They’re re-scheduled for tomorrow.
It’s not exactly typical, but we do, I think, see more movies than most average people. Of the 20 movies playing at our favorite 'plex, we’ve seen 14 (16, after tomorrow). This time of year there are lots of good movies to see, and we make an effort to see all the good ones. The movies we haven’t seen (not including the ones we’ll see tomorrow), Charlotte’s Web, Rocky Balboa, Deja Vu and Eragon are on our list, but aren’t a priority. The last two might even be gone before we get around to them. There are plenty of movies we have seen that we want to see again too.
We aren’t really Christmas people (atheist and agnostic here), all our relatives live out of state (including grown kids), and no one wanted to travel this year, so we had all the time in the world this past weekend to see movies. Luckily we both love movies and have eclectic taste. We also both feel that it’s a waste to leave the house and go to the theater and only see one movie. When we go we’ll almost always see 2, frequently 3, and sometimes, once in a great while, 4 in a day. I’ve done 5 and 6 during film festivals.
I dunno, for me it was the string of films in which he exhibited his apparent fetish for playing a doctor; specifically a courageous yet unconventional doctor with a big giant weepy fat head filling the screen with teary jowls in yet another heartwarming close-up.
[QUOTE=Carnick]
For the love of everything holy, do not see this movie. It was offensively unfunny. It’s one of those movies that makes you embarrassed for everyone involved. I’ve never seen a so-called comedy more devoid of humor in my life. If anyone wants a condensed version of the movie, here it is:
<snip>
My family picked it as the Christmas movie. We’re heathens, but it’s a time to get together and we’ve been going to the movies at Christmas since back when only Jewish people were doing it! Baby!
We as a group gave it a B-/C+. Dumb–yes. Robin Williams, bless him, was not allowed to go off into some riff as Teddy Roosevelt as a drag queen–thus reminding us that RW isn’t half bad as an actor is someone yanks. the. chain.
Logical flaws that we all just went…“well, I do like that Ben Stiller guy”
It wasn’t the best movie, but everyone stayed awake and no one cried. That’s a first. (We’re still working on the mix.)
Later, we watched Little Miss Sunshine on DVD. A solid A++++++++++ (in the words of Ralphie’s teacher)++++++
Look, as its been said before - and perhaps better, but its LIKE THIS:
Its Christmas and I’m home and we wanted to go see a movie we could take me Mom - who hates blood, (especially the fake kind) me GrandDad, (who isn’t partial to swearing) and me 8 year old nephew…
Perfect.
PG - funny - entertaining - nothing that might offend (thought the NASCAR line came close)… KIDDING!
This is not a movie that will change the world. But it IS a very entertaining flic when you want to see a movie with your whole family. In that important sense, its VERY well done.
Well, I guess if you’re a parent and you’re used to lobotomized movies you’ll find it perfect family entertainment. I went with my family of adults and we all hated it. I didn’t want to see it, but my mom won’t see anything “evil” (anything with blood). It doesn’t offend anyone because there’s nothing there.
Stiller gets chased by Huns.
Stiller gets chased by a T-Rex skeleton.
Stiller gets chased by tiny Miyans.
Stiller gets chased by tiny cowboys.
Stiller gets chased by tiny Romans.
Stiller gets chased by Egyptian statues.
Stiller gets chased by an assortmant of animals.
Stiller slides all over the place.
Stiller is teased by a monkey for 10 minutes too long.
Look he’s slapping the monkey. Robbin Williams says “Why are you slapping that monkey around.”
Don’t forget a gay cowboy joke.
Why the hell would Stiller bring his kid to a such a life threatening place? He was nearly decapitated a half dozen times the previous night. That bugged the hell out of me.
This movie is for kids, and nobody else. Good family movies will intersperse their slapstick with humor adults can enjoy. Museum had nothing remotely intelligent, it was an hour and a half of bad slapstick. Yeah it had a few laughs, but so does the worst SNL sketch.
Thanks for the heads up…although the previews of this film looked dreadful and if those snippets in the previews were supposed to be examples of “funny”, well…I guess my funny bone needs some Viagra, cause that trailer sure didn’t tickle it.
Regarding Robin Williams - I think he has forgotten how to say “no” to any script put before him. You would think he has 59 kids all going to Harvard, all needing heart and lung transplants and he has to pay cash for all of them. He has done a few good films, but what is he trying to do now - get into the Guinness Book Of Records as being in the most films in history. Robin! Every once in awhile, listen to Nancy Reagan and “just say no!”
What all else was playing? You could’ve seen The Pursuit of Happyness or We Are Marshall or The Holiday or even Happy Feet. There are much better movies than any of them, but those are more adult family-friendly than, say, Apocalypto (which I loved, but your mom might find a tad too bloody).
Yeah, but there was no reason to say no to this one. His part isn’t all that big, as others have said he’s toned down quite a bit, and, really, it’s an interesting part. He doesn’t play “Teddy Roosevelt,” he plays a wax sculpture of Teddy Roosevelt, and he knows he’s a wax sculpture (I believe he even names the factory where he was made). He (the sculpture) has a blast pretending to be Teddy Roosevelt, but he knows he’s not really Teddy. He’s meek and too shy even to act on his infatuation with another wax sculpture until circumstances throw them together.
I don’t want to do a lot of defending of this movie, there are so many other, better, films out there, but sheesh, it’s not all that bad. There are worse. Much worse.
And anyway, why shouldn’t Williams work if he gets offered a part? It’s his job. It’s his career. It’s what he does. I’ve heard the same thing in other years about Nicole Kidman, or Jude Law, or Clive Owen, or Michael Caine. They’re working too much, they’re in too many movies, they need to stop taking so many roles…but… It’s Their Job. It’s what they do: act. Why should an actor turn down a job any more than anyone else in any other profession in the public eye? Becoming famous and/or having money in the bank account doesn’t/shouldn’t mean you don’t still want to work.