Bromance, Dorkmance

This past week was a pretty decent one for my NetFlix Que. Somehow I managed to get two popular comedies from last summer: Due Date and Dinner for Shmucks, in a row. How I managed to pull this off is anybody's guess. When it comes to our Que, the ol' GF generally makes sure the bank errors in her favor and my picks generally only make it to the top of the Que when I pitch a fit and hold my breath until I turned blue. Either she is slipping, or her tastes are changing from Horror to Comedies. Or perhaps everything she wants to watch to is Instant Streaming.

Anyway, Getting the Movie delivered is not enough. Usually when something I like arrives, it has the tendency to sit around for a month or two because somebody is just not in the mood to see a raunchy comedy and would rather watch Gossip Girl reruns. Other times when I am in the mood to watch a raunchy comedy, the girlfriend isn't. However, lat weekend,there must have been something in the air, because, we wound up watching both these films which happen to feature Zach Galifianakis.

About Galifianakis

Believe it or not, I had actually heard of Zach long before The Hangover, when he was just a oddball stand up comedian. It is good to see him finally get a little bit of fame and fortune.

Any, Due Date is most obviously a Galifianakis vehicle with a little bit of Robert Downy Jr. thrown in. To me it was pretty much a update of Trains Planes and Automobiles with a few more dirty jokes thrown in in order to reach the tickle bone of the overly desensitized 21st Century audience.  Robert Downy is pretty good as an uptight architect Peter Highman trying to make it home for the birth of his first kid. Zach plays stoner man child Ethan Tremblay on his way to Hollywood to become the next big Hollywood star. A scuffle on the airplane lands both on the no fly list and the two must team together to make it across country. Hilarity ensues with plenty of masturbating dog and pot smoking jokes to keep things interesting.

Despite its familiar "two men become best friends on a wacky road trip" formula the movie did turn out to be a pretty good bromantic comedy worth a couple of chuckles. Zach and Robert have good chemistry and the French Bulldog is adorable and funny. I really liked the part when they stop off to buy some medicinal weed from Juliet Lewis, but I thought Jamie Foxx was an awkward addition to the middle of the film. I give it 6 out of 10 chuckles if only for grossing out my girlfriend with the masturbating dog scene.

Like Due Date, Dinner for Shmucks can also be called a Bromance. However, I think it is much more than that, It is something of a Dorkmance. In this buddy movie, old Zach is only a quirky side character while the current screwball summer comedy champ Steve Carell and the always affable Paul Rudd take center stage as the quintessential odd couple. Rudd plays Tim, the nice guy analyst who decides it is time to become ruthless in order to climb up the corporate ladder in order to impress his to good for him girlfriend Julie. In order to prove himself, he must find a Schmuck to bring to his bosses dinner where all the sycophants compete to see who can bring in the oddest oddball.

Just when he thinks all is lost, Tim runs over Barry (Carell) a super dork with a hobby so weird that you can only call it art. Barry, spends his spare time away from the IRS office constructing dioramas that feature dead mice that he had stuffed himself. Tim jumps on his good fortune and invites Barry to the party, only to have Barry instantly latch onto him as his new best friend and begins to show up everywhere throwing  Tims personal and professional life in chaos.

In my opinion, this is probably one of Carell's most brilliant roles. He works hard to make Barry more than just a one dimensional character with a weird past time, and succeeds in giving the audience a character that is both annoying yet full of humanity. The stuff mice dioramas in the film are a site to behold, and begs the question: What is art? Speaking of Art, Jermaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords fame almost successfully steals this movie with his role as Keiren the oversexed, self centered artist that Julie represents. Zach Galifiniakis is also pretty funny as the IRS Auditor with psychic powers and Lucy Punch deserves mentioning for playing a great psychotic ex girlfriend. It was also great to see David Walliams from Little Britain make an appearance in a mainstream movie.

All in all, I thought this movie was quirky enough to make it worth watching again sometime. With a good supporting cast and enough heart to keep you rooting for a feel good ending, this movies gets a solid 8.5 out of 10 chuckles from me. Even my girlfriend stuck around to watch the whole thing.

Winter's Bone Reviewed

Okay, I will admit that seeing Jennifer Lawrence in this dress at the Oscars may have had something to do with me putting Winter's Bone on top of the Netflix Que. Can you really blame me? Look how "healthy" she looks. (I just hope she does not starve away her curves ala Kate Bosworth for the upcoming Hunger Games) Unfortunately for me, Jennifer's Winter's Bone garb is a lot less revealing and a lot more white trashy than the stuff she strutted around during the awards ceremony.    

She still looks pretty good in that white trash sort of way. Besides,  like I said before, that red dress was not the only reason I decided to watch this movie...

I am also a big fan of John Hawkes of Deadwood fame.

It is good to see him getting recognized for his fine portrayal of Teardrop, a vengeful crank addicted uncle in this rural mystery set in the Ozarks.

All those award nominations also played a factor in my decision.

Jennifer plays Ree Dolly, a 17 year old high school dropout who is saddled with the responsibility of taking care of her two younger siblings and her sick mother on the family farm. As if she did not have enough trouble keeping her little family fed and together, the sheriff shows up to tell her that her crank dealing dad has disappeared after putting up the family's property as bond. It is now up to Ree to navigate her way through the closely guarded, male centric world of her father's associates in order to discover his whereabouts.

Let's just say that nobody want's her to find out what happens.

Winter's Bone ended up being a pretty solid film that seemed more about the poverty stricken community that the Dolly clan resides in than the actual mystery of Ree's father's disappearance. Director Debra Granik creates a believable world of isolation and poverty and while you continue to watch to find out what happened to Ree's Dad, it is the sheer power of the place that the mystery happens in that makes you remember the film long after the credits stop rolling. With fine performances by Jennifer and the rest of the cast, you are left to ponder about whether or not these people and places still exist out there in back roads of our nation.

It also makes you not want to try crank anytime soon.