We're the Millers (2013)

“This is not a smidge of pot! You got me moving enough weed to kill Willie Nelson, man!”

            I am not big on movies that glorify doing drugs in any kind of way. I am not a prude I just do not like that storyline because usually they are neither funny nor interesting. Well, I had to make an exception when I saw the trailer for We’re The Millers last year. First, it looked hilarious and ridiculously silly and second, Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston are in it. I finally got a chance to see it and it was really funny.

            David Clark (Sudeikis) is a drug dealer who sells pot. That is how he makes his living selling pot and hanging out on his couch. His neighbor Rose (Aniston) is a stripper. Her job sucks and her boss is a jerk. David and Rose come back to their apartment at the same time and check their mail. They really do not like each other it is obvious as soon as they see each other. Rose sees she has a final notice on her rent in her mail. David offers to help her out but Rose immediately shoots him down. Rose goes upstairs and this kid Kenny comes out from the apartment he lives in with his mom. His mom has not been home for a few days so he has been left to do whatever he wants. Kenny is a nice nerdy kid who still watches superhero movies. Outside across the street he sees a girl is being bothered by a group of boys. Kenny tries to be the knight in shining armor and protect the girl. David knows Kenny does not stand a chance and follows him. Things get ugly when Kenny lets slip that David is a drug dealer. The boys who were bothering Casey (Emma Roberts) now go after David for his pot and money.

            Now David is in deep crap with pot provider and former friend Brad Gurdlinger (Ed Helms). Brad tells David he can settle the debt/score if he goes into Mexico and brings back some pot for him. Plus he will pay a decent amount for being the currier. The plan is for David to take a large RV across the border to a Mexican drug lord’s place and pick up “a smidge of pot”. David does not like the idea but he agrees to do it. To make the whole traveling by RV look less suspicious he comes up with the idea to make it look like he has a family and they are going on vacation to Mexico together. David gathers up his “family” by agreeing to pay them. He gets Rose to be his wife, Casey to be his daughter, and Kenny to be his son.

            Things go pretty well in Mexico, well until David sees that “a smidge of pot” is hundreds of pounds of pot. David gets really nervous about crossing the border but miraculously things go pretty well for them. It is after they cross the border that things get really out of hand and outrageously crazy and silly.

            The cast was awesome. Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston were great together they were very funny. I have liked Sudeikis since he started Saturday Night Live. I think his humor is different because he is dry and sarcastic you kind of have to think about it or really pay attention sometimes. Sudeikis needs to be in more movies. Kathryn Hahn is in the movie as this crazy RV traveler the Millers keep running into. I swear this woman needs her own damn movie she is insanely hysterical! Nick Offerman plays Hahn’s character’s husband. He is fabulous with his straight faces. Emma Roberts I think is great because she has this kind of sweet face yet at the same time she looks like she can kick the shit out of you and that is exactly what her character was like. Will Poulter as Kenny was probably one of the funniest things I have seen in a movie in a long time. Kenny was so nerdy and so adorable, Poulter totally nailed the character. I was very happy to see Molly Quinn in something other than Castle. She is adorable and a good actress. She was so cute with Kenny. Ed Helms was good. He gets on my nerves a bit he can get to be too much sometimes.

            We’re the Millers is one of the best comedy movies I have seen in years. Besides all the crude jokes and the drugs it reminded me of an old screwball comedy with the way everything unfoils, how the characters are all out of their minds, and how the story just gets more absurd and ridiculous as it moves along. We’re The Millers is hysterical and if you like comedies is one I highly suggest seeing. There was not one scene I did not like and where I did not laugh.

Silent Sundays: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917)

“These flowers aren’t half as sweet as you.”

            If you are familiar with film history you will know that Mary Pickford was very well known for playing little girls even though she was far passed the age to be playing them. But Pickford had the perfect little girl features and height and she was good at those characters. I have seen some of Pickford’s films where she plays little girls and they were good. For this week’s Silent Sunday I watched Pickford in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. I can now see why audiences adored Pickford and her little girl roles after watching the film.

            The entire film plays out as small series of events in the life of Rebecca Randall (Pickford) set sometime in the mid-late 1800s. Rebecca is sent to live with her two aunts Jane and Miranda because her mother cannot afford to take care of all seven children in the family. The two aunts are very set in their ways and are strict. When Rebecca arrives in Riverbrook where the aunts live, she waits for the women on their front lawn since the two women are not yet home. Right away she is being taunted by one of the local girls. The girl is Minnie Smellie the preacher’s daughter. Rebecca ably holds her own against Minnie by pushing the rude girl away with the tip of her umbrella. Another girl named Emma sees everything and laughs as she watches Minnie and her gang run away. Emma goes over to Rebecca and the two become fast friends. Rebecca climbs into a tree where there is some kind of berry and throws them down to Emma. The aunts come home at this moment. Rebecca greets them by fall out of the tree.

            One day Rebecca and Emma are selling soap to help raise money for the Simpson family who are poor. Having not learned her lesson the first time Minnie comes around and begins to bother the girls. Rebecca gets down off of her wagon and goes right after Minnie chasing the obnoxious girl all over. When Rebecca finally catches her enemy she pulls off all the ribbons from Minnie’s hair and flips up her own dress in victory and walks away leaving Minnie to cry in shame. On her mission Rebecca stops at the home of a young man named Adam Ladd. Adam has just returned to Riverbrook after moving away where he gain a considerable amount of wealth. He likes Rebecca and buys a large quantity of soap making Rebecca pass out. Adam picks her up and tips his hat to her even though she is not yet a lady.

            Rebecca is eventually sent to school. Minnie’s father is giving a lecture that no one is paying attention to. He asks if anyone knows what a hypocrite is. Rebecca raises her hand to answer his question and says something about Minnie. Then she is asked to come up in front of the class and the teachers and even her aunts to recite a poem. Her “poem” goes like this:

            “ Of all the girls that are so mean. There’s none like Minnie Smellie. And when I catch      her out of school I’ll pound her into---- Jelly”

Over school break Rebecca creates a circus with the town children. She has admission set at the price of a soap wrapper. This is all done while her aunts are away for the day. The circus is held in a barn. Adam walks by and looks in the barn. He laughs in delight at what he sees. The aunts eventually come home and they are furious with Rebecca. She becomes upset that she has made her nice aunts so mad at her. She writes a note and runs away during a bad storm. The wild winds blow a piece of broken in her direction and hits her. Fortunately Adam sees her and takes her to his house. The aunts feel bad for making her run away.

            As Rebecca is recovering on the front porch in the sun, Adam comes by to visit her. She sees Mrs. Simpson and feels bad that the ladies in town do not speak to her. The reason they do not speak to is because she is not married to Mr. Simpson and she has a few children with Mr. Simpson but this is not something that Rebecca knows. She tells Adam she thinks the women in town will speak to Mrs. Simpson if she has a piece of jewelry. Adam gives Rebecca a ring to give to Mr. Simpson to give to Mrs. Simpson. Now the Simpsons are married.

            The aunts send Rebecca away to boarding school for three years. At the end of the three years Rebecca graduates with honors for having done so well.

            In the end her family’s farm is paid off and Adam, now that Rebecca is older, asks her to marry him.

            Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was adorable. Mary Pickford was wonderful. She was funny and she was outrageously cute. She had some slapstick moments such as when Rebecca was going upstairs the back way and it was one of those types of doors that opened at the bottom and the top and she had a hard time closing it. With this scene I can picture an audience in 1917 laughing at Pickford’s antics. All the scenes where Rebecca gets back at Minnie were my favorite. Pickford played those scenes perfectly and I especially liked them because Rebecca does not get punished for doing them. Rebecca is the kind of little girl I would love to have been: fearless, funny, adventurous, and sweet.  Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a silent film I highly recommend seeing. This is one silent film I would suggest seeing if you are interested in getting into watching silent films or Mary Pickford.

 

Between Us (2012)

In one of my graduate classes I am currently taking the teacher has us read pages and pages of articles and then has us write a one sentence- yes, one sentence- summary on each of the articles we read. This is no small feat when some of the articles can be over sixty pages long and the material is dry as can be. As I was watching Between Us everything about it felt as if I was reading one of the sixty pages for my class. It was dry it was boring and it was too long even at an hour and a half.

            The plot revolves around two couples that used to be friends. Carlo (Taye Diggs) and Joel used to be college friends. While Joel is loaded and owns his own advertising firm Carlo can barely make ends meet. Carlo says he is happily married to Grace (Julia Stiles) and it is obvious Joel has not been happy with his wife Sharyl (Melissa George) in a very long time. When they meet both times in the story both couples try to disguise how happy they are.

            I was seriously so bored with the whole movie literally right from when it started. There was nothing redeeming about the characters even though I think that is the point. You in no way feel bad for any one of the characters they are all jerks who are completely happy with wherever they are in life.

            I had been hoping the story would be somewhat entertaining since the cast was really good. Melissa George is one of my favorite actresses she always gives a great performance no matter the material and she did give a good performance here like she usually does. Julia Stiles is fantastic she really does not get enough attention. She looks great and her acting just gets better with every movie I see her in. Taye Diggs is always a good actor. It was nice to see him and Stiles together in a movie. The guy who played Joel to me just got pushed aside he was not that good compared to the other three actors. I wish the story had been better for George, Stiles, and Diggs.

            I will give some credit to the direction. There were certain camera angles at the beginning that were really creative and very different.

            Between Us was very boring. I will admit there were moments in the movie that were not too bad but the whole thing just bombed. I am all for a different type of story but watching unhappy couples is not the type of movie I want to watch. It is uncomfortable and miserable to go through relationship problems in real life why would you want to watch a movie about that? Only watch if you are a fan of either Taye Diggs, Melissa George or Julia Stiles and even then seriously think it over before watching it otherwise absolutely Between Us.  

Your Sister's Sister (2011)

I have watched a handful of movies both old and new that I went into not knowing what the plot was about or had a vague idea. Sometimes I am happy I did not know what the plot was and sometimes I wish I had so I could have avoided it. Your Sister’s Sister falls somewhere in between both sides but it was not too bad.  

            A year before the story of the movie takes place Jack lost his brother Tom. He is still reeling and cannot get out of grief. Tom’s friends throw a party to honor his memory and among the guests is Tom’s ex-girlfriend Iris (Emily Blunt). She sees Jack is not happy and practically forces him to go up to her father’s place on a remote piece of land. Jack relents and goes.

            When Jack arrives at the house Iris’s sister Hannah is there. Hannah tells Jack that she has just broken off a seven year relationship with her girlfriend. They sit down at a table and drink shots of tequila into the night. They get the idea to sleep with each other even though Hannah has not been with a guy in years.

            The next day Iris shows up. For a while Hannah and Jack act a little awkward around each other when Iris is around. He does not want to tell Iris because he really likes her and he knows she really likes him.

            The cat flies from the bag when Hannah has enough and tells her sister about sleeping with Jack and that she did so she could have a baby.

            Your Sister’s Sister is not a bad movie it started off great but I wound up not really liking the plot near the end. Well put it this way, I am not thrilled with stories where two people sleep together and they cannot let another person know it is overdone and annoying. The acting was great. I read that most of the dialogue was improvised. It definitely has that feeling but it kept the movie real and entertaining. The actor who played Jack was very good I liked him a lot he was funny and real. Emily Blunt was wonderful. I watched the movie because of her and she has yet to not be good in a movie to me.

            Your Sister’s Sister as I said is not a bad movie. I was happy not knowing most of the plot beforehand because the acting was very good but I kind of wish I did because I got bored with it. The ending just ends and lets you think of what happens which I liked a lot I love ambiguous endings. I would recommend watching Your Sister’s Sister just for the acting and the direction was not too bad either.