I recently received a post asking for more movie reviews, so I thought I would write about a few movies I saw recently on cable. I haven't been out to the movies lately, there hasn't been much out to motivate me to spend $20-$30 to see a flick. I mean, I'm not going to blow half a days work wages to go see Little Man (2006). Just seeing the commercials make me want to hurl.
So, on cable I finally saw Wedding Crashers (2005). This buddy comedy starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn as a pair of womanizers who crash weddings to pickup on bridesmaids was a big hit about a year ago. The story itself is fairly ordinary once you get past the "guide to crashing weddings" angle, so what made this movie watchable?
The answer lies in the chemestry and comraderie of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. Both actors come into the movie with their established schtick. Vince Vaughn is the fast talker who can unleash a mile of bullshit in less than 30 seconds. Owen Wilson is the wry surfer dude who has a good heart but does mildly bad things. Watching the speed read cheese of Vaughn play off Wilson's slow drawl style is a kick, making them not a great comedy team but the best since...David Spade and Chris Farley! Or Pauly Shore and that left over Baldwin. What I'm saying is that they're genuinely funny.
Like The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005 and very funny), the movie is a bit of a throwback to the raunchy comedies of the early 80's. Lots of sex jokes and gratuitious nudity (though mild considering its R rating). The crux of the movie plot is that the two crash a wedding chasing love and lust amid a Kennedyesque family. A strong supporting cast including an excellent performance by Rachel McAdams as the object of Owen Wilson's obsession keeps the movie from dragging under its predictability.
Another movie I saw the other night was National Treasure (2004), starring Nicolas Cage - The Gene Hackman of Generation X. I mean, is there a movie this guy won't do? He's done like 50 movies since winning the Academy Award for Leaving Las Vegas (1992). And his acting has become so mannered that it can be cut and pasted across several movies and have the same effect-the dreamy moon faces, furrowed brow of concentration, sudden twitchy gestures followed by a burst of rambling dialogue from his mumbly jaw. What happened to the risk taker who ate a cockroach in Once Bitten (1985), had a tooth pulled to feel his character's pain in Birdy (1984) or spoke in a pinched whine throughout Peggy Sue Got Married (1987) just to give some personality to his role? Oh well, everyone's got to get paid somehow so I guess I can let it go. And dude makes a lot more than me.
Anyway, National Treasure is essentially the DaVinci Code except it concentrates on Benjamin Franklin instead of Leonardo DaVinci. The plot is almost a carbon copy of the DaVinci Code book, except there are big action sequences every half hour to keep things moving. The characters are just sketches powered by typecast actors (Diane Kruger as the girlfriend, Sean Bean as the bad guy and Harvey Keitel as a cop). Despite the total lack of plausability, I found this movie entertaining and exciting to watch. If you're looking for mindless entertainment, National Treasure is pretty good stuff. Like Bob Dylan said, "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright".
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