Cast: It's telling that the end credits call attention to the Hangover comparison, because the movie really does rely on the same balance of lead character traits. Jason Bateman again, is the straight man, which he does as well as anyone in the business. Jason Sudeikis is the over-confident handsome guy which he also does as well as anyone. Charlie Day is the Charlie Day character, and would you believe he plays that character better than anyone. The new characters (Chris Pine, Christoph Waltz) keep things fresh and the returning characters (Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx) show up long enough to play their greatest hits. The script handles the cast as well as you could hope.
Plot: We move from murder to kidnapping this time around. The gang kidnaps the son of a man who fucks them over. Obviously, things don't go according to plan and hijinks ensue. Well, actually the son is in on it. It's strange how little autonomy the guys have in the movie. Like the first movie, it's another case of things magically working out for them. Then again, it's a comedy so as long as it's funny that's all that matters. And, it is funny.
Elephant in the Room: You like the cast. You like the comedy. What's your problem with it? I've been debating that in my mind for a while. As far as I can tell, it comes down to this. Some comedies exist in the real world and others don't. This movie is the former but tries to play by the rules of the latter. There's no way any part of their plan works at almost any point. The only reason the movie continues is because it's a movie and it must. Some of you out there will complain that it's a comedy and I'm taking it too seriously. Well, all I have to say to that is that lazy writing is lazy no matter what genre.
To Sum Things Up:
This is funny. There's no denying that. Fans of the first movie should be pleased. People who haven't seen the first movie won't be lost if they watch this. I love the three leading men and there's a surprising amount of Oscar and Emmy pedigree in the supporting cast. This is a good sequel to an okay movie. You shouldn't expect much more than that.
Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment