Welcome to Marwen (2018)

I don't remember if it was the actual trailer or just some screencaps, but I remember as if it was yesterday seeing Steve Carell playing with those creepy dolls and thinking, "how does someone like Robert Zemeckis end up making something like that?". That was the exact moment I decided to pass Welcome to Marwen. Then it was featured on one of Cinematic Corner's Rambling Friday and it sounded so bad I had to check it out. 

The film tells the true story of Mark Hogancamp (Steve Carell) who was brutally assaulted by a group of white supremacists for admitting he wore women's heels. Having lost his ability to draw, Hogancamp created in his backyard a miniature World War II village called Marwen, which is filled with dolls corresponding to people he knows in real life, mostly strong women who have helped him in his recovery, as a coping mechanism and to create a more satisfying past for himself. 

In other words, it's the story of a man who can't deal with reality and therefore plays with dolls. Quite ridiculous and yet true, the story could have been interesting if properly executed which of course isn't the case here and the story is as interesting as watching paint dry. The way it is structured doesn't help either as there are essentially two plots — one about Hogancamp dealing with PTSD, the other about the people from Marwen — that feel disjointed, like they don't connect although they are connected to each other.

The main character isn't that likeable either. He comes off as a pathetic creep who does and says the most inappropriate things. This is a guy who collects — and wears — women's heels because it's like collecting the essence of women. What the actual fuck does that even mean? A foot fetish I could understand, but this? This brings creepiness to a whole new level. Also, for someone suffering from PTSD, he makes pretty violent reenactments. Not to mention how he treats women, he literally objectifies them, and they are okay with it. Steve Carell performance gets along with the script very well as it's dreadful — rather than a real human, Hogancamp feels like a Carell caricature.

Universal Pictures

The rest of the characters are just as terribly written as the lead and the rest of the cast is just as terrible as Carell as it's either over-the-top nice — some of the acting is so nice it's annoying — or comically evil — only it's not funny. At least some of them didn't put their real face in this.

Some of the stop motion animations look very nice, but that's pretty much it with the positive aspects. Welcome to Marwen does succeed at something though. It tells a story about pain and does a hell of a good job at being incredibly painful to watch. And it also made me burst out laughing when one of the characters said, "Hi, Mark", but only because I'm obsessed with The Room.

The Change-Up (2011)

I added The Change-Up on my watchlist a long time ago because of Jason Bateman but never cared to watch it because I knew it'd be some idiotic comedy. There are those days though when I feel like watching these movies, like today. 

The story follows two friends —Dave (Jason Bateman) who is a hard-working lawyer married with the beautiful Jamie (Leslie Mann) and father of three, and Mitch (Ryan Reynolds), a single, reckless and unemployed stoner who never concludes anything. One night, after getting drunk, they urinate in a park's fountain and at the same time they wish they had each other's lives. The next morning, they wake up and discover that they have switched bodies. 

It certainly isn't the most original premise as there's plenty of body switch movies out there whose execution is why less juvenile than The Change-Up's. That being said, the plot as predictable and clichéd as it gets —I mean, that epiphany you could see it coming a mile away— isn't terrible as watching Dave and Mitch switch bodies and try to adapt to the other's life is enjoyable, entertaining almost. 

As for the characters, they are tremendously superficial as well as the typical characters played by these actors as Jason Bateman plays the serious and kind of awkward workaholic, with a family this time around, he always plays, and Ryan Reynolds plays the idiotic, carefree, irresponsible ladies' man he plays most of the time. However, Dave and Mitch switching bodies means Bateman and Reynolds switching roles and, despite the fact that cheap laughs are all they get, it's quite refreshing to see them play atypical roles. Leslie Mann is a bit of a show-stealer though as she manages to give her shallow, non-existent character a little depth. Olivia Wilde is here only for eye-candy purposes. And Alan Arkin is terribly underused as Mitch's father. 

Universal Pictures

Despite the enjoyable plot and the actors, The Change-Up still is a mediocre film, nothing more than an idiotic bro movie for the most part —at some point, it gives up its bro tone to become an overly sentimental mess—, with plenty of gross moments, vulgarity and gratuitous nudity. Sure, it's entertaining and fun-ish but at the same time it's offensive and most of the jokes fall flat.

Vacation (2015)

I remember seeing the trailer to Vacation like it was yesterday. To be honest, I only remember Chris Hemsworth's huge bulge which is the reason the movie ended up on my watchlist. Three years later, I finally watched this, and it was glorious. I'm still talking about Hemsworth's (prosthetic) penis though. 

Fifth instalment of the Vacation series, the film follows Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) as he takes his wife, Debbie (Christina Applegate), and their two sons, James (Skyler Gisondo) and Kevin (Steele Stebbins), on a road trip to Walley World, an amusement park, just like he did with his parents and sister when he was a kid. And everything goes wrong, of course. 

Just like in the only other movie of the Vacation series I've seen, it being Christmas Vacation, the plot is very thin, clichéd and beyond predictable. Unlike Christmas Vacation though, the situations that play out aren't that funny, the film doesn't really have a focus and the many subplots, specifically the romance involving James, aren't as explored as they should have. 

Another problem with Vacation is the characters. They are so flat and bland, it's impossible to root or care for them, the only exception maybe being James, Rusty's awkward, nerdy teenage son who is constantly bullied by his foul-mouthed kid brother Kevin, who, by the way, is the most annoying and obnoxious character in the film and perhaps one of the most annoying characters ever. I was genuinely hoping something bad would happen to him, or that James would kick his ass. Non-spoiler alert, nothing bad happens to the kid. 

The cast doesn't go beyond decent. Ed Helms is a funny guy, but he is no Chevy Chase; Christina Applegate isn't terrible but she isn't that great either --she is very likeable but at the same time she lacks charm and is boring. Also, the chemistry between them feels off; Skyler Gisondo and Steele Stebbins are good-ish respectively as James and Kevin; Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo make a cameo but unfortunately it feels forced as they are underused; Chris Hemsworth, on the other hand, absolutely kills it as Rusty's brother-in-law, Stone. Not only he is a feast for the eyes, but he is pretty funny too.

Warner Bros. Pictures

The problem is that, when Hemsworth is not around which is most of the film, the humour barely works. It's the kind of raunchy, crude, sexual humour one would expect from a movie like this, but the cast does a poor job at delivering it and most of the time it falls flat. There are some funny moments, but you can count those on the fingers of one hand. 

Blockers (2018)

I saw the trailer to Blockers months ago which is the reason why I wasn't anything good from it. Actually, I was expecting it to be pretty damn bad which is why I wasn't planning on watching it. Unfortunately for my brain, I read some positive reviews and I watched it. 

Lisa (Leslie Mann), Hunter (Ike Barinholtz) and Mitchell (John Cena) are connected with each other because their teenage daughters, Julie (Kathryn Newton), Sam (Gideon Aldon) and Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan), are friends since they were little. While snooping in Julie's room, they stumble upon their daughters' pact to lose their virginity on prom night so they make their mission to stop them from sealing the deal. 

There's all you need to know about the plot as the film barely has a plot. And it's very clichéd too. The weird and great thing about it is that it is not as shallow as one would think after watching the trailer. There's some sort of coming-of-age plot going on with the adult characters as they realise that teens, their daughters included, need to make their own decision when it comes to sex, and it is quite charming. 

The story also emphasizes how our society, people in general but especially parents, views losing virginity in a completely different way when it comes to girls. If a teen guy does it, it is something to be celebrated; if a teen girl does it, it is some horrific thing that destroyed her innocence forever. Unfortunately, this theme isn't as explored as it should have as it is mentioned only by a couple while arguing. 

The characters are one-dimensional stereotypes, especially the adults, and yet they manage to be quite likeable, with the younger characters being the most interesting of the bunch. The performances, on the other hand, are just decent. 

Universal Pictures

While the film is quite sweet and heartwarming, it is a bit disappointing when it comes to comedy. Though it's not as raunchy as I thought it'd be, and some of the jokes are funny, most of them didn't work for me and there wasn't really a laughing out loud moment in the film.