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Christine A. (965 KP) rated The Game in Books
Aug 4, 2020
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. The opinions are entirely my own, and any quotes are taken from the ARC and may be different in the final published copy.
The game is known by many names - Assassin, Tag, Human vs. Zombies. The ways to "kill" vary greatly - water gun, dart gun, steal a spoon, steal a rag, etc. The one constant is the concept of the game - people join a game in which someone is ordered to "kill" either a specific target or a different team. The winner is the one left standing.
The Game by Linsey Miller is a YA version of a 1982 movie, Tag: The Assininasion Game. In both, the game becomes deadly, when one of the players decides to "kill" the players in real life.
Miller moves the age group to High School seniors playing the yearly game before graduation. Lia has been following in her brother's shadow and knows Assassin is her opportunity to outshine her brother's record in the game. She has been planning this for years by following and gathering information about her classmates' schedules, hobbies, paths to school, etc. She makes the perfect fall guy for a killer who uses Lia's detailed notes to track down their targets.
Readers in middle school would enjoy the story. While enjoyable, the story felt short and would need "more" to attract older YA readers.
This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 8/3/20.
The game is known by many names - Assassin, Tag, Human vs. Zombies. The ways to "kill" vary greatly - water gun, dart gun, steal a spoon, steal a rag, etc. The one constant is the concept of the game - people join a game in which someone is ordered to "kill" either a specific target or a different team. The winner is the one left standing.
The Game by Linsey Miller is a YA version of a 1982 movie, Tag: The Assininasion Game. In both, the game becomes deadly, when one of the players decides to "kill" the players in real life.
Miller moves the age group to High School seniors playing the yearly game before graduation. Lia has been following in her brother's shadow and knows Assassin is her opportunity to outshine her brother's record in the game. She has been planning this for years by following and gathering information about her classmates' schedules, hobbies, paths to school, etc. She makes the perfect fall guy for a killer who uses Lia's detailed notes to track down their targets.
Readers in middle school would enjoy the story. While enjoyable, the story felt short and would need "more" to attract older YA readers.
This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 8/3/20.
JT (287 KP) rated Frost/Nixon (2008) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
"Hello, Good Evening and Welcome”, David Frost’s suave and debonair talk show host, up against Richard Nixon a President draped in controversy while all the while standing firm in his beliefs.
It’s a political boxing match, and quite literally a no holds barred, gloves off interview that pushed the images and personalities of both men to breaking point.
Michael Sheen is fast becoming the go to guy for character transformations, having already stepped into the shoes of such iconic characters like Brian Clough, Tony Blair and Kenneth Williams. Here though it’s his David Frost that he nails without so much as a shake of his perfectly styled hair.
Not to be out done, Frank Langella portrays Nixon to almost perfection. Nixon was a man seemingly on his knees after the Watergate scandal all but ended his reign as President of the United States. He quickly resigned and was pardoned by new President Gerald Ford.
A lucky escape one might say, but Nixon felt he’d still done nothing wrong and was prepared to go on national TV to prove it, although he never expected anyone quite like David Frost.
Director Ron Howard acts like an off screen promoter as he builds the characters up from the beginning, looking at each sides battle plan as they tried to second guess questions and topics that might arise during four separate interviews to be blended into one.
The supporting cast are brilliant also, with Kevin Bacon, Matthew Macfadyen, Sam Rockwell and Oliver Platt all giving assured performances.
It’s a very well scripted and expertly directed film that will be easy for all to follow.
It’s a political boxing match, and quite literally a no holds barred, gloves off interview that pushed the images and personalities of both men to breaking point.
Michael Sheen is fast becoming the go to guy for character transformations, having already stepped into the shoes of such iconic characters like Brian Clough, Tony Blair and Kenneth Williams. Here though it’s his David Frost that he nails without so much as a shake of his perfectly styled hair.
Not to be out done, Frank Langella portrays Nixon to almost perfection. Nixon was a man seemingly on his knees after the Watergate scandal all but ended his reign as President of the United States. He quickly resigned and was pardoned by new President Gerald Ford.
A lucky escape one might say, but Nixon felt he’d still done nothing wrong and was prepared to go on national TV to prove it, although he never expected anyone quite like David Frost.
Director Ron Howard acts like an off screen promoter as he builds the characters up from the beginning, looking at each sides battle plan as they tried to second guess questions and topics that might arise during four separate interviews to be blended into one.
The supporting cast are brilliant also, with Kevin Bacon, Matthew Macfadyen, Sam Rockwell and Oliver Platt all giving assured performances.
It’s a very well scripted and expertly directed film that will be easy for all to follow.
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Upgrade (2018) in Movies
Sep 25, 2019
I'd go classifying Upgrade as sci-fi action... for some reason it also has a genre of horror on IMDb. Sure it's a bit gory, but with everything that happens in it I wouldn't have lumped it in there as well. It briefly gave me pause to ponder where the lines of classification are... but that way madness lies!
This one isn't for the faint hearted. There's quite a lot of violence in it. There was only one bit that I thought "that was a bit much", but even then it was more that I reacted to it with an intake of breath and a slight wince before laughing... because it was a tad ridiculous. The guy in the row behind me did the same, but his girlfriend wasn't overly impressed.
I actually found Grey's reactions to his body doing violent things to be very well done, and a nice touch because you do forget that it's not actually him. Acting so that your face is doing something completely different to how your body is performing must be very challenging, but Marshall-Green did it really well. He had humour, and really brought out the conflict between his head and his body... wow, well there are just some things that you don't expect to say when reviewing films.
The main reason it's missing that last half star is purely personal preference. I like sci-fi, and I like mindless violence. What I don't like are the motion and camera quirks. But like I say, it's personal preference. Those tracking shots that put Grey centre of the frame and follow him round like it's a third person shooter game (third person?) did nothing for me, and made everything seem kind of jumpy. This was so you could get the contrast between him being in control and STEM being in control, and I understand that but it's a shame they couldn't find another way to do it. My only other bug was that when Grey is laying on the floor and STEM gets him up to standing he goes from horizontal to vertical like he's on a hinge. How is that even possible? STEM is still constrained by what the human body can do, right? And last time I checked I can't pivot from laying down to standing just on my heels.
What should you do?
Great lead, interesting story line... if you don't mind mindless violence then you should definitely go and see this.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
I'd quite like to take home STEM and have my body be that coordinated all the time... but that does have the whole killer robot issue. So perhaps I'll just go with the self driving car this time.
This one isn't for the faint hearted. There's quite a lot of violence in it. There was only one bit that I thought "that was a bit much", but even then it was more that I reacted to it with an intake of breath and a slight wince before laughing... because it was a tad ridiculous. The guy in the row behind me did the same, but his girlfriend wasn't overly impressed.
I actually found Grey's reactions to his body doing violent things to be very well done, and a nice touch because you do forget that it's not actually him. Acting so that your face is doing something completely different to how your body is performing must be very challenging, but Marshall-Green did it really well. He had humour, and really brought out the conflict between his head and his body... wow, well there are just some things that you don't expect to say when reviewing films.
The main reason it's missing that last half star is purely personal preference. I like sci-fi, and I like mindless violence. What I don't like are the motion and camera quirks. But like I say, it's personal preference. Those tracking shots that put Grey centre of the frame and follow him round like it's a third person shooter game (third person?) did nothing for me, and made everything seem kind of jumpy. This was so you could get the contrast between him being in control and STEM being in control, and I understand that but it's a shame they couldn't find another way to do it. My only other bug was that when Grey is laying on the floor and STEM gets him up to standing he goes from horizontal to vertical like he's on a hinge. How is that even possible? STEM is still constrained by what the human body can do, right? And last time I checked I can't pivot from laying down to standing just on my heels.
What should you do?
Great lead, interesting story line... if you don't mind mindless violence then you should definitely go and see this.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
I'd quite like to take home STEM and have my body be that coordinated all the time... but that does have the whole killer robot issue. So perhaps I'll just go with the self driving car this time.
Armie Hammer recommended Apocalypse Now (1979) in Movies (curated)
Mick Hucknall recommended Fun House by The Stooges in Music (curated)
Nikki Allegretti (6 KP) rated A Court of Wings and Ruin in Books
Oct 13, 2017
When is Paraphrasing Bad....Always.
Contains spoilers, click to show
There are a couple reasons why I rated ACOWAR 6 stars. In all honesty, it's the weakest of the three books in the trilogy. In order of strongest to weakest it's: ACOMAF, ACOTAR, ACOWAR.
The first reason: it was rushed. This story would have been 100 times better if she had taken her time and split it into two books. I absolutely adore SJM's writing and her initials are inked on my body forever, so it's not like I'm bashing her writing. I love her. It was just rushed. There were things that would have been better to have been spread out.
The second reason: unnecessary deaths and unnecessary revivals. I won't go into details on that because I don't want to spoil anything specific.
The third reason: this one hurts me the most. I've seen the movie Troy about 432451542 times. (Yes exaggerations.) There were lines from Troy that were paraphrased in this book and that bothers me. It is one thing to get inspired by a movie, it's another to paraphrase it. I will show my work.
-in the meeting with the high lords, Tamlin says something along the lines of ..leave in the middle of the night...blah blah...but Feyre says "The sun was shining when I left you."
--in the movie, Troy, Helen's husband says something along the lines of I see no prince I see someone who would take a man's wife in the middle of the night. Paris responds with "the sun was shining when your wife left you."
My other example:
-Mor and Feyre are standing on a hill watching a battle and Mor is pacing and says "get the men back into lines"
--in Troy, Achilles is on a hill watching a battle and he says "get them back into lines" while Odysseus yells "Get the men back into lines."
It's all small things that would go unnoticed if you didn't watch the movie 53751432 times. So it just bothered me, a lot. I'll still read her work. I'll still love her, but those two scenes bothered me to no end
The first reason: it was rushed. This story would have been 100 times better if she had taken her time and split it into two books. I absolutely adore SJM's writing and her initials are inked on my body forever, so it's not like I'm bashing her writing. I love her. It was just rushed. There were things that would have been better to have been spread out.
The second reason: unnecessary deaths and unnecessary revivals. I won't go into details on that because I don't want to spoil anything specific.
The third reason: this one hurts me the most. I've seen the movie Troy about 432451542 times. (Yes exaggerations.) There were lines from Troy that were paraphrased in this book and that bothers me. It is one thing to get inspired by a movie, it's another to paraphrase it. I will show my work.
-in the meeting with the high lords, Tamlin says something along the lines of ..leave in the middle of the night...blah blah...but Feyre says "The sun was shining when I left you."
--in the movie, Troy, Helen's husband says something along the lines of I see no prince I see someone who would take a man's wife in the middle of the night. Paris responds with "the sun was shining when your wife left you."
My other example:
-Mor and Feyre are standing on a hill watching a battle and Mor is pacing and says "get the men back into lines"
--in Troy, Achilles is on a hill watching a battle and he says "get them back into lines" while Odysseus yells "Get the men back into lines."
It's all small things that would go unnoticed if you didn't watch the movie 53751432 times. So it just bothered me, a lot. I'll still read her work. I'll still love her, but those two scenes bothered me to no end
Debbiereadsbook (1087 KP) rated Ramen Assassin (Ramen Assassin #1) in Books
Jun 28, 2019
Fabulous new series from Ford!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.
When Trey witnesses a dead body being dragged into a van, and then he gets shot at, he never thought the guy who has invaded his dreams would be the one to save him. He makes noodles all day, how can the man possibly pack more fire power than the bad guys, huh? Kuro thought he had left all that behind in the blaze of bullets that followed him to the embassy. But no, here he is, standing over the cute guy who comes in most days, shooting at the bad guys trying to shoot Trey. And then someone shoots at him. And Kuro sees red. Someone has to stand up for Trey, cos his own sister won't!
You never EVER know, from reading a Ford blurb, which way a book will go. You all do it, you read a blurb and your brain goes, Yup, thats what is gonna happen and then you start reading and whatever you had in mind goes right up in smoke!
so, Devastating? check. Emotional? check. Deadly? Murderous? check. Sexy? check, check and check!
I loved Kuro and Trey, both together and seperately. The way their stories mesh together is brilliant. I loved that they had both been eyeing each other up, but neither one wanted to make a move. The fact that Kuro let Trey sit at the back table every time he came in, had not gone unnoticed by his staff. The eyes Trey made at Kuro had not gone unnoticed either.
Trey's history could be any child star in today's world. A rise to fame, from a very young age, and a meteoric fall from grace that left him in everyone's bad books, his family especially. I hated his sister! She was so mean to Trey right when Trey needed her, and when Kuro takes up his case, Kuro gives Trey's sister such a piece of his mind, it's a wonder the woman wasn't reduced a pile of goo!
The whodunnit is a long winded (and long planned out!) and complicated plot, and I loved how it all went down!
This is billed as book one in the Ramen Assassin series. I have no idea whether Kuro and Trey will be the centre of each book, or some of Kuro's associates will be, I don't really care, to be honest! I just wanna read them!
And oh! The food! The food Kuro cooks sounds so yummy! Even when he does what I would call a "cupboard dinner" basically, whatever was in Trey's cupboards and fridge, it was yum! I was drooling, for God's sake! I can only hope Ms Ford does some sort of recipe thing with the book tour, I will have to switch the ramen for rice noodles, but Lord, PULEEEEZE let there be recipes!
I love Rhys Ford, you know I do, and I have so MISSED the way she spins her tales! One sitting read, 200 odd pages, 2.5 hours, and boom! More, I need more!
5 full and shiny stars
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
When Trey witnesses a dead body being dragged into a van, and then he gets shot at, he never thought the guy who has invaded his dreams would be the one to save him. He makes noodles all day, how can the man possibly pack more fire power than the bad guys, huh? Kuro thought he had left all that behind in the blaze of bullets that followed him to the embassy. But no, here he is, standing over the cute guy who comes in most days, shooting at the bad guys trying to shoot Trey. And then someone shoots at him. And Kuro sees red. Someone has to stand up for Trey, cos his own sister won't!
You never EVER know, from reading a Ford blurb, which way a book will go. You all do it, you read a blurb and your brain goes, Yup, thats what is gonna happen and then you start reading and whatever you had in mind goes right up in smoke!
so, Devastating? check. Emotional? check. Deadly? Murderous? check. Sexy? check, check and check!
I loved Kuro and Trey, both together and seperately. The way their stories mesh together is brilliant. I loved that they had both been eyeing each other up, but neither one wanted to make a move. The fact that Kuro let Trey sit at the back table every time he came in, had not gone unnoticed by his staff. The eyes Trey made at Kuro had not gone unnoticed either.
Trey's history could be any child star in today's world. A rise to fame, from a very young age, and a meteoric fall from grace that left him in everyone's bad books, his family especially. I hated his sister! She was so mean to Trey right when Trey needed her, and when Kuro takes up his case, Kuro gives Trey's sister such a piece of his mind, it's a wonder the woman wasn't reduced a pile of goo!
The whodunnit is a long winded (and long planned out!) and complicated plot, and I loved how it all went down!
This is billed as book one in the Ramen Assassin series. I have no idea whether Kuro and Trey will be the centre of each book, or some of Kuro's associates will be, I don't really care, to be honest! I just wanna read them!
And oh! The food! The food Kuro cooks sounds so yummy! Even when he does what I would call a "cupboard dinner" basically, whatever was in Trey's cupboards and fridge, it was yum! I was drooling, for God's sake! I can only hope Ms Ford does some sort of recipe thing with the book tour, I will have to switch the ramen for rice noodles, but Lord, PULEEEEZE let there be recipes!
I love Rhys Ford, you know I do, and I have so MISSED the way she spins her tales! One sitting read, 200 odd pages, 2.5 hours, and boom! More, I need more!
5 full and shiny stars
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
Darren (1599 KP) rated 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown (2015) in Movies
Jun 20, 2019
Contains spoilers, click to show
Story: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown starts as Burke (Cross) and his fellow officers learning of an incriminating set of photos of his men’s corruption. We move on to meet Burke’s former partner John Shaw (Ambrose) who is returning to work after being shot in the line of duty. It isn’t too long before we see the clash between Burke and Shaw which leads to Shaw investigating the bust.
When Shaw uncovers the truth he finds himself being hunted in the precinct by Burke and his men Gideon (Cudmore), Darrow (Munro) Harris (Olsson), Meeks (Levins) and Saul (Morrow). Shaw finds himself locked in the station with only the rookie Jenny Taylor (Smyth) not hunting him down like Burke’s men.
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown is an action film that does everything you need it to without making anything over complicated. We have the one man taking on the villains in a building with no escape to expose the truth. What more do you need in an action film. Saying that we have one final twist that comes off very cheap and forced. This is something that is easy to watch which will work for casual viewing.
Actor Review
Dean Ambrose: John Shaw is the honest cop that has just returned to work after being injured in the line of duty. He uncovers that his former partner has been Burke and his men have become corrupt. He has to survive a lockdown being hunted down by all of the men and being framed for everything to get the truth out. Dean is very good in this role with a potentially new action star.
Roger Cross: Tyler Burke is the former partner of Shaw but they have gone their separate ways with Burke entering into the world of corruption but when he is about to get busted he will kill anyone that gets in his way including Shaw who is the only man stopping his team from being exposed. Roger makes for a good leading villain role.
Daniel Cudmore: Gideon is one of the men working with Burke, he is the psychical presence that Shaw must overcome in the traditional big guy little guy fight in an action movie. Daniel is good for what he needs to be in this film without standing out any more than the rest of the bad guys.
Lochlyn Munro: Darrow is the tech guy on Burke’s team he does everything to make sure that Shaw can’t communicate or escape with the outside world. Lochlyn does well in this role which again is just like the rest of the bad guys.
Support Cast: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown has a very simple used of supporting cast with most of them being the people trying to kill Shaw with the rest outside working out what to do.
Director Review: Stephen Reynolds – Stephen gives us an action film that is an easy watch as well as being non-stop.
Action: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown has plenty of action going on from start to finish with the nothing being too over the top but never seems to stop.
Crime: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown has all the criminals being police which is a nice take on the crime side of the story.
Thriller: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown doesn’t stop which is always a good thing in an action film.
Settings: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown keeps nearly all of the film inside the police station which helps keep the action in a small space.
Special Effects: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown uses the special effects well without having to use them too often.
Suggestion: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown is one for the action fans out there to enjoy, it is an easy watch. (Action Fans Watch)
Best Part: Ambrose is great with no previous experience.
Worst Part: Final Twist.
Believability: No
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: Maybe
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Trivia: Due to being in WWE where they perform in front of a live audience on live television, Dean Ambrose was used to reading his lines in one try and got aggravated when other actors forgot their lines.
Overall: Enjoyable action film that is easy to watch.
https://moviesreview101.com/2016/04/04/12-rounds-3-lockdown-2015/
When Shaw uncovers the truth he finds himself being hunted in the precinct by Burke and his men Gideon (Cudmore), Darrow (Munro) Harris (Olsson), Meeks (Levins) and Saul (Morrow). Shaw finds himself locked in the station with only the rookie Jenny Taylor (Smyth) not hunting him down like Burke’s men.
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown is an action film that does everything you need it to without making anything over complicated. We have the one man taking on the villains in a building with no escape to expose the truth. What more do you need in an action film. Saying that we have one final twist that comes off very cheap and forced. This is something that is easy to watch which will work for casual viewing.
Actor Review
Dean Ambrose: John Shaw is the honest cop that has just returned to work after being injured in the line of duty. He uncovers that his former partner has been Burke and his men have become corrupt. He has to survive a lockdown being hunted down by all of the men and being framed for everything to get the truth out. Dean is very good in this role with a potentially new action star.
Roger Cross: Tyler Burke is the former partner of Shaw but they have gone their separate ways with Burke entering into the world of corruption but when he is about to get busted he will kill anyone that gets in his way including Shaw who is the only man stopping his team from being exposed. Roger makes for a good leading villain role.
Daniel Cudmore: Gideon is one of the men working with Burke, he is the psychical presence that Shaw must overcome in the traditional big guy little guy fight in an action movie. Daniel is good for what he needs to be in this film without standing out any more than the rest of the bad guys.
Lochlyn Munro: Darrow is the tech guy on Burke’s team he does everything to make sure that Shaw can’t communicate or escape with the outside world. Lochlyn does well in this role which again is just like the rest of the bad guys.
Support Cast: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown has a very simple used of supporting cast with most of them being the people trying to kill Shaw with the rest outside working out what to do.
Director Review: Stephen Reynolds – Stephen gives us an action film that is an easy watch as well as being non-stop.
Action: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown has plenty of action going on from start to finish with the nothing being too over the top but never seems to stop.
Crime: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown has all the criminals being police which is a nice take on the crime side of the story.
Thriller: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown doesn’t stop which is always a good thing in an action film.
Settings: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown keeps nearly all of the film inside the police station which helps keep the action in a small space.
Special Effects: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown uses the special effects well without having to use them too often.
Suggestion: 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown is one for the action fans out there to enjoy, it is an easy watch. (Action Fans Watch)
Best Part: Ambrose is great with no previous experience.
Worst Part: Final Twist.
Believability: No
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: Maybe
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Trivia: Due to being in WWE where they perform in front of a live audience on live television, Dean Ambrose was used to reading his lines in one try and got aggravated when other actors forgot their lines.
Overall: Enjoyable action film that is easy to watch.
https://moviesreview101.com/2016/04/04/12-rounds-3-lockdown-2015/
Lee (2222 KP) rated The House (2017) in Movies
Jul 14, 2017
Worst movie I've seen in a very, very long time
Usually when I review comedies I start off by complaining about how disappointing they tend to be these days. Sometimes they manage to prove me wrong (Bad Moms), sometimes they’re not quite as bad as I was expecting (Baywatch). The last time I was seriously annoyed about how bad a comedy was it was Office Christmas Party, but even then that managed to raise a laugh or two. The House though, well that goes way beyond that, taking it to a whole other level by having absolutely no laughs in it at all!
Will Ferrell is Scott, Amy Poehler is his wife Kate. When their daughter Alex gets into the university she wanted, they’re over the moon. Especially as the town runs some kind of scholarship program, paying for one lucky students education each year. This years lucky recipient is due to be Alex but when sleazy city councilman Bob decides to cancel the program in favour of building a huge pool for the town, Scott and Kate need to come up with another way of raising the money. Recently divorced neighbour Frank has a big empty house and between them they hit upon the idea of building a casino in his home, somewhere for the locals to come and spend all their money. Things go well for a while, then things get way out of hand. Cue the opportunity for some riotous, hilarious humour…
Only there’s none of that. It’s riotous, but this is just such a lazily written movie that the humour is non-existent. Featuring a date rape ‘gag’ within the first five minutes(?!) it just gets progressively worse from there. Pointless, nonsensical playground style bickering, name calling and random violence feature heavily throughout in a scatter-gun attempt at trying to raise a laugh. All of this ends up coming across as either poorly written, badly improvised, or both. Even the editing is a total disaster – in one scene Amy Poehler has a guy standing right behind her, cut to another camera and he’s gone, cut back and he’s there again, cut back and he’s gone!
The biggest disappointment about this is the complete waste of talent. Admittedly, Will Ferrell is on a downward spiral anyway since his Anchorman days and the brilliant Step Brothers, but you’d still expect more from him than this. One of my favourite TV shows, Parks and Recreation, stars Amy Poehler as the hilarious Leslie Knope, so I’d expect way more from her too. Even her movie roles haven’t been too bad so far. I guess it just proves that if you’ve got a seriously dud script on your hands, there isn’t really much that anyone can do to fix it. This isn’t just a bad comedy, it’s a bad, bad movie.
Will Ferrell is Scott, Amy Poehler is his wife Kate. When their daughter Alex gets into the university she wanted, they’re over the moon. Especially as the town runs some kind of scholarship program, paying for one lucky students education each year. This years lucky recipient is due to be Alex but when sleazy city councilman Bob decides to cancel the program in favour of building a huge pool for the town, Scott and Kate need to come up with another way of raising the money. Recently divorced neighbour Frank has a big empty house and between them they hit upon the idea of building a casino in his home, somewhere for the locals to come and spend all their money. Things go well for a while, then things get way out of hand. Cue the opportunity for some riotous, hilarious humour…
Only there’s none of that. It’s riotous, but this is just such a lazily written movie that the humour is non-existent. Featuring a date rape ‘gag’ within the first five minutes(?!) it just gets progressively worse from there. Pointless, nonsensical playground style bickering, name calling and random violence feature heavily throughout in a scatter-gun attempt at trying to raise a laugh. All of this ends up coming across as either poorly written, badly improvised, or both. Even the editing is a total disaster – in one scene Amy Poehler has a guy standing right behind her, cut to another camera and he’s gone, cut back and he’s there again, cut back and he’s gone!
The biggest disappointment about this is the complete waste of talent. Admittedly, Will Ferrell is on a downward spiral anyway since his Anchorman days and the brilliant Step Brothers, but you’d still expect more from him than this. One of my favourite TV shows, Parks and Recreation, stars Amy Poehler as the hilarious Leslie Knope, so I’d expect way more from her too. Even her movie roles haven’t been too bad so far. I guess it just proves that if you’ve got a seriously dud script on your hands, there isn’t really much that anyone can do to fix it. This isn’t just a bad comedy, it’s a bad, bad movie.