Sunday Short Reviews

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Every Sunday, Gill delves into his archive of over 800 movie reviews and randomly selects three for your enjoyment! Here are this week’s…

In the Loop
This rapid-fire, fast-talking political comedy about how a few poor turns of phrase can lead to the impending doom of a nation is both hilarious and, in a way, chilling. It scares me to think that politics operate the way they’re depicted in In the Loop, but something tells me that’s the case! The cast are all on the top of their game here, and while most of the principle actors aren’t very well known (probably the biggest names in this movie are James Gandolfini and Steve Coogan in secondary roles), this only helps to create the illusion that we’re watching something real – an illusion also aided by the handheld, documentary-style camera work. This isn’t a film that I think everyone will enjoy, but fans of political comedies like Wag the Dog will fall head-over-heels in love with In the Loop. Special mention goes to Peter Capaldi as Malcolm Tucker, who embues every venomous, ranting line with cynical glee to the point where you’ll find yourself quoting his potty-mouthed tirades long after the movie ends. Fuckity-bye!
4 out of 5

Our Idiot Brother
In a nutshell: Our Idiot Brother is about a man with three sisters who falls on hard times and has to take turns living with each of them. Because this man is a bit dense, he inadvertantly forces his sisters to acknowledge uncomfortable truths about their lives and they all resent him for it until he tells them to shut the fuck up and gets thrown in jail. They bail him out, everyone makes up. The end. Our Idiot Brother had some potential as a quirky little indie comedy, and Paul Rudd is great in the lead role, but I didn’t find anything overly remarkable about the film. It reminded me of a less interesting Royal Tennenbaums, in a way, as we get to see this dysfunctional family forced to reunite when one of their own gets in trouble, but overall I just didn’t feel any sympathy towards any of the characters. The sisters are all in denial or just plain bitchy, and even Paul Rudd’s character is just too thick for you to care about what happens to him. Perhaps the worst thing about this movie, though, is the fact that we get no resolution to the problems that each of the sisters has to face over the course of the movie. None of those three major plot threads is given a solid ending, and for that, the movie fails.
3 out of 5

Horrible Bosses
It’s Strangers on a Train, but as a raunchy comedy and with a third protagonist! I liked Horrible Bosses a lot more than I expected to, and I think anyone stuck in a thankless office job will be able to relate to the three main characters as they’re beaten down by their awful employers until they decide…to kill them. The jokes and gags in Horrible Bosses are pretty good, and I really liked the chemistry between Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day, but the real reason to watch this movie are the titular horrible bosses themselves, played brilliantly by Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston and especially Colin Farrell. These three actors (and I’m not normally a fan of Jennifer Aniston) really give it their all and turn what could easily have been stereotypically nasty characters into well-realized villains that you love to hate. It’s not perfect, nor is it the best comedy I’ve ever seen, but if you want some good laughs for 90 minutes, this movie is better than most raunchy comedies to come out in recent years.
3.5 out of 5

See you next Sunday for three more thrilling short reviews!

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