:fresh: I have found that in my life there is only a fine line between what is cheesy and what is cool. They have the same basic elements and from a distance look quite the same. What separates them is whether I like it or not. Something I like is cool. Something I don't is not.
I bet I could change places with a film critic, say the same exact sentences, describe the same exact scenes, and pontificate on the same exact desperate implausibility of this movie but come away with a different conclusion about it. I think it's cool. Everyone else thinks it's cheesy.
Looking back on my reviews, I find that I give much more fresh tomatoes than rotten tomatoes. I'm beginning to think that the real difference between regular critics and me is that maybe just maybe I like movies, in general, just a little bit more.
To think we've all heard complaints about the amount of sequels and rip-offs in Hollywood. The end of originality and all that crap. We'll I've seen two incredibly original comedies this summer (Nacho Libre and My Super Ex-Girlfriend) and they truly aren't getting the respect they deserve. No wonder Hollywood makes sequels galore when we truly tend to embrace the mediocre.
This movie is funny first of all. I laughed the entire way through. It had everything. From quiet facial twitches to huge special effects shots. Comedy, Adventure, Sex, Romance, The Human Problem. It has more insights into what being a superhero might actually feel like in one scene than "Superman Returns" had in an entire movie.
And it's cast superbly. Uma Thurman as the supervixen. Great! Luke Wilson as the normal everyday guy. Inspired! Wanda Sykes and Rainn Wilson as flat one-dimensional clowns. Perfect! and Anna Faris, one of the best woman comedians out there. (Not to mention incredibly beautiful).
What's more is I never knew what would happen next. This is one of those movies where I had a set view of what was going to happen when I came in. (I based it off the minute and a half preview.) But instead of going where I thought it would go, it bounced all over the place and took me by surprise half the time. True I was a bit dissapointed that my own vision had not come apparent on the screen, but I'm not about to be bitter about that sort of thing. It was still funny, and they pulled off everything and more that I thought they could accomplish.
They had one of those great Seinfeld endings that all comedies, I think, should strive for. Through twists and turns, everyone ends up in the same room. Not forced, not predictable. It was smooth and seemed so easy. Seamless and easy. As we all know, for a comedy, that's one of the hardest and the greatest things it can do.
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