Comedy

[4] Ethan Hawke stars in this action comedy about a shy high school boy whose older brother sets him up on a date with the girl next door. While Mystery Date starts out like a John Hughes movie, it quickly transforms into a proto-Tarantino flick when Hawke’s character gets mistaken for his brother, whose been living a shady lifestyle behind the family’s back. Cue the …

[5] While digging a pool, two high school losers (Sean Astin and Pauly Shore) discover a caveman frozen in ice in their own back yard. They introduce him to the twentieth century and take him to school, hoping he’ll improve their cool factor. And after that, I’m not really sure what Encino Man was about. It was probably trying to be about the caveman teaching …

[4] Cam Gigandet (Easy A, Twilight) stars as a playboy whose penis detaches and manifests as its own person (Nick Thune). I’m all for absurd concepts and sex comedies, but Bad Johnson plays it too safe and formulaic to leave much of an impression. Once Gigandet’s character and his penis squabble and call it splits, the film falls into standard rom-com territory with Gigandet trying …

[4] Bless Patrick Dempsey for acting his little heart out in this schmaltzy, cliche-ridden ’80s overdose. It’s basically a story of boy rents girl. Dempsey’s character is a loser who pays a popular girl (Amanda Peterson, also acting her heart out) one thousand dollars to be his girlfriend for a month. Since she’s in a pinch for the cash, she agrees and kinda falls in …

[7] Eddie Murphy made his big screen debut opposite Nick Nolte in this action-comedy from director Walter Hill (The Warriors, Southern Comfort). Nolte plays a cop who begrudgingly seeks the help of Murphy’s character, a thief serving the last few months of his jail time. Together they try to track down a killer (Dexter‘s James Remar), and gosh darn if they don’t start to become …

[4] Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr star in this action-comedy about American pilots who get caught up in a government-sanctioned opium trade in Vietnam War-era Laos. Once the pilots realize they’re about to be framed by one of their commanders to appease a head-hunting politician, they have to find a way to save their reputations and their lives. Air America is kinda heady stuff …

[6] Seth MacFarlane (creator of The Family Guy) both directs and stars in this send-up of the American Western. MacFarlane is plenty charismatic to carry a movie and he has great chemistry with leading lady Charlize Theron. Even though her character is married to a rough-and-tumble outlaw (Liam Neeson), she naturally falls for MacFarlane’s charms and agrees to help him learn to shoot a gun so …

[6] A college fraternity moves in next door to a married couple with a new baby. Shenanigans ensue when the two households try everything they can think of to get the other party to move. Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne play the new parents, and the fraternity is led by Zac Efron and Dave Franco (James’ little brother). The cast have enough charisma to carry …

[7] Three teenaged boys run away from home and build a house in the woods where they live off the land, experiment with facial hair, and let a pretty young girl come between them. The boys are played with plenty of charisma and personality by Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, and Moises Arias. The film vacillates between awkward comedy and semi-drippy melodrama — a bit of …

[3] Whoopi Goldberg stars as a bank computer specialist who inadvertently decodes a plea for help and gets roped by the mysterious sender into a series of dangerous spy games. Jumpin’ Jack Flash was Whoopi’s second major role after her auspicious debut in The Color Purple. It should have been wonderfully refreshing to see her cut loose with the funny after the heavy-handedness of Purple, …

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