The Couch Potato Report – September 27th, 2008
This week The Couch Potato Report peels an awful summer movie, one pretty good one, and we flashback to movie High School.
We all have those actors and acrtresses that we admire and love more than others.
Some of the folks I love and admire include Kate Winslet, Jim Carrey, Anne Hathaway, Billy Crystal, Jennifer Connelly, Bill Murray, Jodie Foster and Mike Myers.
I adore Mike Myers, and I love his work!!
From his years on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, through the WAYNE’S WORLD films, SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER, AUSTIN POWERS, the SHREK…I loved it all and – with few exceptions – THE CAT IN THE HAT – he could do no wrong!
Or so I thought…man, what a stinker his new film is!! THE LOVE GURU may not go down as the worst movie of the year, but I certainly think it is the greatest disappointment.
It is awful!!!
Normally when I sit through a movie this bad, I feel sorry for myself because of the waste of time, the ruing of my expectations, and sometimes even the shattering of a carrer – or two – that I enjoyed watching.
When THE LOVE GURU concluded, I just felt bad for Scarborough, Ontario’s own Mike Myers…I still feel bad for him…how could someone so talented, someone who is usually so cinematically reliable, how could he write and star in garbage like this?!?
I hope he is okay!!
Now, many of us saw this disater coming from the moment we saw the trailer, or read the synopsis, which I have for you now, and bear in mind the majority of the film takes place in Toronto, Canada, yet here is the synopsis:
Pitka – an American raised outside of his country by gurus – returns to the States in order to break into the self-help business.
His first challenge: To settle the romantic troubles and subsequent professional skid of a star hockey player whose wife left him for a rival athlete.
It takes place in Canada, but even the synopsis, and the movie’s trailer says that it takes place in America!
I have watched THE LOVE GURU twice now, out of allegience to Mike Myers, and both times I thought the same things – Justin Timberlake is very entertaining as a Frech Canadian – Celine Dion loving goaltender who plays for the Los Angeles Kings, some of Stephen Colbert’s work as a Hockey Night In Canada commentator is smile enducing, Jessica Alba looks fantastic, and how could Mike Myers give us a movie this bad?!
And THE LOVE GURU is bad, even if you love Mike Myers, as I continue to, skip it, ignore it, just walk away!!
Just walk away!!
Now as surprisingly bad as THE LOVE GURU was, our next release was the polar opposite.
SEX AND THE CITY – THE MOVIE was surprisingly good!
I still can’t believe how much I enjoyed this movie.
If you are unfamilar with the television series that this film is based on, SEX AND THE CITY is about four female friends – Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda – living, loving and shopping in New York City.
The series often portrayed frank discussions about romance and sexuality.
THE MOVIE is set four years after the events of the series finale, the film begins with Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie and her long-time onagain-off again lover Big viewing apartments with the intention of moving in together.
Yes, SEX AND THE CITY – THE MOVIE is about Carrie & Big’s attempts to be happy, but it – like the series – is primarily about Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda living, loving and shopping in New York City….even though Samantha – played by Canadian actress Kim Cattrall – now lives in Los Angeles…yet she – for plot reasons – always seems to be back in New York.
Yes, I am on record as having enjoyed this film, but that is one thing about it that I still take exception to…when anything happens – little or huge – Samantha flies right back, and never looks tired or wrinkled.
But hey, if you love the characters, you want them together, so I can forgive that plot device.
What still prevents me from loving the film is that fact that it is too long, and the DVD release has 12 extra minutes that weren’t in the theatrical version, making it almost two and a half hours long!
Plus, and this is the final issue I have with the SEX AND THE CITY MOVIE…Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson from DREAMGIRLS – who play’s Carrie’s new assistant – cannot act! She was great in he Academy Award winning role, but she is not great here.
Still, with all that said, I will always love movies about old friends spending time together, an dthat is what I liked about the movie. The clothes, the fashions, the loves, the passions, that stuff was okay…but I loved, yes loved, almost every scene that just featured Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda.
And yes, I am still surprised that I enjoyed THE SEX AND THE CITY MOVIE as much as I did.
Oh, and by the way for you fans of the series or film, writer and director Michael Patrick King says that he is hoping to have another film in theatres the summer after next!
Okay, let me give you capsule reviews of this week’s other four releases, as there are actually 8 movies here, and I will start with George Clooney’s LEATHERHEADS.
This is a wannabe romantic comedy set in the world of 1920s football, where the fast-talking Clooney recurits a strait-laced college sensation to join his team.
The college boy is being followed by a reporter – played by Oscar winner Renee Zelweger – and both men fall for her.
LEATHERHEADS wants to be a comedy, it wants to be slapstick, it wants to be the type of film they don’t make anymore, but all it really is is over in 114 minutes, and that is too long!
Even though I liked the cast and characters, their film is not very good, and I say skip it.
RUN FATBOY RUN is up next, and it stars Simon Pegg from SHAUN OF THE DEAD and Thandie Newton from CRASH, two actors I always enjoy seeing in a film.
In this one he is an out-of shape guy who – five years after jilting his pregnant fiancÈe on their wedding day – decides to run a marathon to win her back.
RUN FATBOY RUN is not perfect, but it also isn’t a complete waste of time. The characters are likeable, and there are more than a few laughs, so although it is utterly predictable, I liked it.
I also liked the films THE BREAKFAST CLUB, SIXTEEN CANDLES and WEIRD SCIENCE when they first came out in the mid-1980s, and now, all these years later, I have no problems admitting I love them!
And now these three John Hughes films are available in the HIGH SCHOOL FLASHBACK COLLECTION!
They have all been digitally remastered, and there are several retrospective features on each DVD.
If part of your cinematic childhood was defined by THE BREAKFAST CLUB, SIXTEEN CANDLES or WEIRD SCIENCE, I hope you still enjoy them as much today as I do!
Finally this week is the 5-DVD Box Set for THE GODFATHER TRILOGY – THE COPPPOLA RESTORATION.
Director Francis Ford Coppola and a team or restoration experts have taken the time to restore the first two GODFATHER films, and the new transfers for Parts I and II are exceptional!
At times it is like seeing them for the very first time!!
In addition to the three films, there is also two discs of bonus features, and many of them are all new!!
So even if you have the original DVD box set for these movies, it is completely worth it to buy them again, something I rarely say, because the restoration job on the first two films is just that good!
Enjoy!!
The spectacular FRANCIS FORD COPPPOLA RESTORATION of his GODFATHER TRILOGY, the memory-inducing HIGH SCHOOL FLASHBACK COLLECTION featuring John Hughes’ films THE BREAKFAST CLUB, SIXTEEN CANDLES and WEIRD SCIENCE, the mildly entertaining comedy RUN FATBOY RUN, the failed and flawed film LEATHERHEADS, the super successful SEX AND THE CITY MOVIE and the awful on almost every level “comedy” THE LOVE GURU are all available now on DVD.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
Yes, next week it is a special Sunday edition of the report, and at that time I will tell you about four new TV ON DVD Sets, including SEASON FOUR of the Canadian series KENNY VS. SPENNY and SPORTS NIGHT, one of my favourite shows of all time!
Plus, the summer blockbuster IRON MAN is new on DVD, and so is the underrated comedy FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL.
I’m Dan Reynish. I’ll have more on those, in seven days.
For now, that’s this week’s COUCH POTATO REPORT.
Enjoy the movies and I’ll see you back here next time on The Couch!
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