50/50 (2011)

There's plenty of movies dealing with cancer, but the majority doesn't really know how to handle the subject properly and usually ends up being either the overly emotional type or the "living life to the fulled" type. It didn't seem like 50/50 was going to be one of those so I checked it out. 

Based on a true story, it follows Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a 27-year-old radio journalist in Seattle who lives with her girlfriend, Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard), of whom his best friend and co-worker, Kyle (Seth Rogen), disapprove. After experiences back pain for a while, he goes to the doctor only to be diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer. At first, he handles all with ease as he starts counselling with Katie (Anna Kendrick), a young phycologist, but as he begins chemotherapy, everything gets more complex — her relationship with Rachel, his friendship with Kyle, and his overbearing, needy mother, (Anjelica Huston).

If there's anything that must be said about 50/50 is that, although the plot is entirely driven by cancer, it does not fixate on it, nor does it melodramatize what we already know about a terminal illness like most films do. It also handles the subject incredibly well with humour, without, however, making fun of the illness, and it successfully shows the reactions of someone, a young person specifically, who tries to cope with it. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to like it, I didn't find the story throughout compelling.

I’m giving the film a pass though as it’s not the plot that really counts but the fact that it works well as a character study of a young, play-it-safe man who after the initial shock handles his diagnosis with cynicism and reclusiveness, who’d rather send people away instead of having them closer and that decides to keep his many ups and downs internally. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives such a strong, likeable and sympathetic performance you cannot help but root from Adam.

As for the supporting characters, although they aren’t particularly characterized nor developed, they all are useful as they have a purpose in Adam’s development, and the actors handle them very well. Seth Rogen does well in the role of Kyle, someone who desperately wants to help his friend but doesn’t quite know how and hides his fears and emotions behind a form of support that revolves around him. Anjelica Huston finds herself playing the over-top role of Adam’s overbearing mother and she does wonders with it. Anna Kendrick is the right person to play the quirky therapist. Bryce Dallas Howard does fine as Adam’s cheating girlfriend. Also notable is Serge Houde as Adam’s Alzheimer’s suffering father.

Summit Entertainment

One great aspect of 50/50 is that director Jonathan Levine decided to put more emphasis on the character’s perspective, especially when it comes to showing what Adam is going through — the sequence where Adam goes to the hospital for his first chemo treatment is terrific.

Unfortunately, despite the compelling and relatable character — although I don’t have nor have had cancer, I would react the same way Adam does —, the solid acting and the good direction, I wasn’t able to fully enjoyed the film, especially the second part — while I found the first part very engaging and entertaining as the humour is handled very well, the second part felt dragged and was rather boring and uninteresting.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)

Frankly, I don't know what I've been doing with my life for the past years. I mean, I love Zac Efron since I was 14 so why on earth did I hear about Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates for the first time when a couple of weeks ago when Margaret from Cinematic Corner watched it? 

Anyways, the film follows Mike (Adam DeVine) and Dave (Zac Efron), two brothers with the tendency to screw up every important family event. As the wedding of their younger sister, Jeanie (Sugar Lyn Beard), approaches, Mike and Dave are told by their parents (Stephen Root and Stephanie Faracy) to bring good girls as dates at the destination wedding in Hawaii. They have the brilliant idea of posting an ad on Craigslist, all the women volunteer to be their dates and they end up on TV. Slacker party girls Tatiana (Audrey Plaza) and Alice (Anna Kendrick), not wanting to be just two other girls to be interviewed, find a way to meet the brothers and be picked. Of course, things in Hawaii don't go as smooth as Mike and Dave were hoping. 

The plot is bad, like really bad as nothing really happens other some a lot of ridiculous, absurd things —I'm having a really hard time believing this is based on a true story. In a few words, it's the typical, predictable "wedding where everything goes wrong" kind of plot where nothing that interesting goes on. That said, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates still manages to be somewhat unpredictable and engaging. 

Again, it's a movie that should not work as the characters too are terribly written —they are thin and none of them has much of an arc, and most of them are not even that likeable. We know nothing about any of them, so why should we care about the wedding, right? And yet I kinda got attached to them and, even though I didn't care whether Jeanie was getting married or not —to be honest, I was rooting for her and the massage guy lol—, I wanted things to work between Mike and Tatiana, and Dave and Alice.

20th Century Fox

It's the actors that made Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates work for me, that made it as entertaining and engaging as it was. While there are no Oscar-worthy performances in here, Adam DeVine and Zac Efron do a nice job as the brothers, both giving funny performances. Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick are both delightful, too bad the film doesn't really know what to do with them. The supporting cast does a decent job, Sugar Lyn Beard being the standout as Mike and Dave's sister.

As for the comedy, it is far from being clever, sophisticated. On the contrary, it's your typical raunchy, mindless comedy with dirty and vulgar jokes. Despite this, the film is funny and, while there are jokes and gags that fall flat, there are some pretty hilarious moments, and overall the film is quite enjoyable.

A Simple Favor (2018)

On my last trip to the movies, two trailers stuck with me, that of the Italian remake of The Invisible Guest and A Simple Favor’s. The latter really intrigued me as it was hard from the trailer to tell what the film was about. Also, I like Anna Kendrick and the movie was received pretty well worldwide, so I checked it out.

The story follows Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick), a widowed single mother with a parenting vlog. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she meets Emily Nelson (Blake Lively), a super-busy working mother whose son Nicky (Ian Ho) attends the same school as her son, Miles (Joshua Satine). The two become fast friends, arranging play dates for the boys when Emily is too busy to pick her son up, but then one day she goes missing and Stephanie takes it upon herself to investigate.

While it’s a little flawed as there is a subplot involving Stephanie’s past that goes absolutely nowhere and has no impact on the story, the plot is quite complex, it takes some interesting twists and turns and it’s so unpredictable, it keeps you guessing from start to finish as the mystery unfolds.

The characters are a bit over the top and quite stereotyped, especially Stephanie, the quirky and awkward stay-at-home mom who is the perfect example of the suburban stereotype. However, both Stephanie and Emily have a backstory that makes them very interesting characters, and they both have development.

Anna Kendrick does a wonderful job as Stephanie. Yes, her character has the personality of every other character she has played, but Stephanie is more complex than your typical Kendrick character and she does a very good job at portraying that. Blake Lively is quite a delight as Emily –she picked the clothes for Emily herself because she wanted to differentiate the character from Gossip Girl’s Serena as they both are women in fashion from the Upper East Side, but it’s her performance that makes the two women, Emily and Serena, completely different.

Lionsgate

What strikes the most about A Simple Favor is its genre, or rather the difficulty at figuring how what genre the film is. Overall, it's a mystery murder story with many elements of a psychological thriller but at the same time, it's a dark comedy and at some point, it is some sort of romantic film. It's quite a combination and it works well because of Paul Feig's direction as he manages to build tension and deliver laughters at the same time. At last, the soundtrack, which features some old French songs, is very pleasing. 

Get a Job (2016)

I don't know how Get a Job ended up on my watchlist —I'm pretty sure though it's because I read a positive review of it— but I know that it's been there for too long so I finally decided to give it a chance. 

The film follows Will Davis (Miles Teller), an idealist young man who has just graduated from college. He thinks he has a job lined up after working his ass off as a summer intern but the firm downsize and he needs to find another job. But it's not easy as the work market is saturated with applications and when he returns to his father (Bryan Cranston) for money, he finds out that his father has lost his job and he too is struggling to find a new one. 

This is a film that deals with one of the biggest issues in today's society, the inability to find a job, whether you are young and just graduated from college, or you've been laid off after working for decades for the same company. At the same time, it also pokes fun of a generation of Americans where every little accomplishment is rewarded —partecipations trophies. Seriously people, what is wrong with y'all?

It had the potential to be a very interesting and thought-provoking film but unfortunately, the writers didn't bother with writing a decent storyline; they just took a couple of important themes and placed them in a frat boy comedy with no plot whatsoever, unless you consider the many stupid and ridiculous moments as plot points.

The characters too are non-existing. They are so thin, underdeveloped and bland, they are not worth rooting for. Not to mention how artificial and little believable as human beings they are. The only character I cared about was Will's father but the credits certainly do not go to the writers, but only to Cranston for giving such a good performance and portraying in a believable way what a middle-aged man goes through when he loses his job and how hard it is to compete with much younger people.

Lionsgate Premier, CBS Films

As for the rest of the cast, Teller somehow manages to engage and entertain you a bit, despite the weak script; the others, they have no idea what to do with this. And that shows in terms of comedy as the film really falls flat in that department. There are scenes, specifically those involving bongs, that are designed/written to make the audience laugh but they come off as bland and boring. Even the stripper scene is dull. I'm not a man and I'm not a lesbian but I'm pretty sure a scene like that is supposed to be dull.