Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)

Tags

Andy Samberg, Animated, Anna Faris, Bill Hader, Bruce Campbell, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Comedy, James Caan, Movie, Mr. T, Romance, Science Fiction

oh psychotic monkey, you're so adorable...

PG

Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, Mr. T

Flint: We were famous for sardines…until the day the Baby Brent Sardine Cannery closed down for good…right after everyone in the world realized that sardines…are super gross.

An inventor, Flint (Hader), living in an island community sick of eating sardines all the time, creates a machine that turns water into food.  Unfortunately, his creation is inadvertently launched up into the sky and remains there, converting clouds into various foods.  At first, this is a blessing to the towns people, but as the food starts to mutate, it becomes a burden.

I found this to be a surprisingly entertaining little movie.  The story isn’t groundbreaking, and the characters are pretty standard, but I thought it was funny and interesting throughout.  There are a lot of quick, clever little jokes and references that really made the movie for me.  The animation may not always be stunning, but it’s definitely a movie where you want to scan the background for funny little moments that you may miss otherwise.

It starts a little slow, and the main character, Flint is a little annoying to begin with, but he grew on me after a while.  The vocal work is good across the board, with Anna Faris maybe being the highlight for once.  Oh, and Mr. T is pretty good too.

I should mention the monkey, Steve, as well.  He’s voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, though he doesn’t really say much.  But there’s a running joke about Steve and gummy bears that has a great payoff in the end.

As I mentioned, the main drawback is probably the standard characters.  Flint’s mom was always supportive when he was a kid, but his dad has never thought much of his inventions.  Of course, the mom died and Flint is left to grow up with his non-approving father.  There’s also the mayor who is, surprise surprise, the closest thing to a villain in the movie.  It’s always the greedy mayor that screws things up, eh?

Sam (Faris) is probably the most interesting character.  She’s the wannabe meteorologist who gets sent out to cover a boring non-event because she looks good on camera.  She learned early on in life that she needs to hide her intelligence and just coast on her good looks if she wants to avoid being made fun of, but Flint prefers her brainy side.

Overall, despite it not being a particularly magical or inspiring story, the script and clever visuals make up for whatever is lacking in the story and characters.  For the most part, at least.

And you get to see a monkey rip the heart out of a gummy bear and eat it…what more do you want from a movie?

Turns out, gluttony can actually be a bad thing…

10 – .7 for some weak characters – .9 for it not being a particularly inspiring/interesting story line – .5 for some of the animation looking a little flat at times = 7.9

Observe and Report (2009)

Tags

Anna Faris, Comedy, Michael Pena, Movie, Observe and Report, Ray Liotta, Seth Rogen

this doesn't bother you, does it?

R

Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Michael Pena, Ray Liotta

Charles: Are we gonna be getting paid extra for this?  Because…it’s like…pretty separate…
Ronnie: Let me ask you something.  How much did they get paid to storm Normandy?  How much did King Arthur get paid to kill Merlin?  How much did they get paid to invent television?  Nothing.  They did it because they knew it was right.

The head of mall security, Ronnie Barnhardt (Rogen), is a bizarre, angry, awkward, occasionally violent guy who thinks he has more power than he really does.  When a man flashes several women in the parking lot and then several stores in the mall are robbed, Ronnie resents the police taking away what he sees as his case.  Ronnie attempts to solve the case, join the police force, and win the love of a makeup counter girl, Brandi (Faris).

This is yet another middling comedy featuring Seth Rogen, a lot of obscenities, copious amounts of male nudity, and broad character stereotypes.  Sure, there are funny moments, but the central character of Ronnie is clearly so disturbed that it’s hard to see most of the movie as even dark comedy.

It’s the usual set up:  a generally good-hearted, but socially awkward buffoon is in a position that affords him less power than he thinks he has, so he goes around intimidating people and overstepping his authority whenever he feels like it.  (How is Will Ferrell not in this movie??)  Our ‘hero’ also pines for the vapid, obnoxious girl who works at the makeup counter, all the while being oblivious to the flirtations of the cute, nice girl who works at one of the restaurants in the food court.  Bet ya can’t guess who he eventually ends up with!

There are some funny exchanges and clever moments, but for the most part, it’s stuff we’ve seen before, many times.  Overriding it all is that creepy feeling that we’re watching a disturbed individual who needs real help.  Ronnie is delusional, has a penchant for violence, is from a broken family (his mother blames him for his father leaving them), and has been diagnosed as bi-polar.  I know all that stuff can, and has been used to comedic effect before, but here it just falls flat.

I think one character summed it up well when he emerges from the closet he was hiding in to overhear Ronnie being rejected by the police force:  “Ya know, I thought this was going to be funny, but…it’s just sad.”

Apparently you can beat up several police officers and only spend a couple days in jail.

10 – 4 for being more disturbing than funny – .4 for standard, predictable plotting – .5 for some annoying characters and performances = 5.1