In Review: "Trainwreck"

Out of nowhere comes Amy Schumer. Anyone remember her from 8 months ago? I don't. But then she brings us this brilliant movie that turns the dating world on its head and high-fives all feminists. It was a thing of beauty.

Someone did their marketing really well-- they got me to know who this girl was, enjoy her a little, get me in a theater seat to watch this indie movie I would have never seen, and totally fall in love with it.

The Story

Amy (played by Amy Schumer) likes to party and likes men... likes to sleep with men. She has a crummy job where she works at a womanizing men's magazine run by a down-talking pain-in-the-butt (played by Tilda Swinton). She has a sister (played by Bri Larson) who is married and has an adopted son and continues to warn her of the perils of her ways. She has a father (played by Colin Quinn) who doesn't believe in monogamy, and thoroughly educated his girls at an early age.

Amy is assigned to do a story about Aaron, a sports doctor who is going to do this intensive surgery to fix this oh-so-important athlete's knee. Hating the basic concept of sports, Amy goes in with a closed mind but ends up with what she believes to be a hook-up. Turns out this crazy guy actually likes her and wants to date her. Oh the horror.

Amy learns a lot about herself and about love through this relationship, as any girl would in a romantic comedy. But only Amy Schumer can do it this way. It's a role-reversal romantic comedy that now makes me gag whenever I watch an actual romantic comedy.

The Stars

Where did this girl come from? I had literally never heard of her before this movie started being talked about. And then all of the sudden that's all anyone is talking about is this crazy feminist comic. Now she's got her own TV show which has so many fantastic skits and she is on every magazine cover (scandalous and otherwise) that you can't walk 10 feet without running into this girl. And she is awesome. Not only did she star in this movie but she also wrote it. You know, because she could. And someone let her.

Bill Hader is good as an awkward doctor who has totally fallen for this girl. It's nice to see him in something different, but I much prefer his other comedic work.

The Message

The romantic comedies want you to believe that a girl's life doesn't start until she meets the right guy. They want you to believe that she is not the person she is meant to be until she finds that special someone. That's why she has to get makeovers of all kinds because as she is now is not good enough for Mr. Perfect. And when our girl finds Mr. Right, her life will forever be perfect.

This is all false. This has nothing to do with real life, as Amy tells us. No guy can change a girl- only a girl can change who she is. No one will force her to change. And when you do happen to find that person who makes you feel like $1 million, you won't always be perfectly happy. And you're relationship will not automatically and always be 100% perfect. Because there's this thing called life. And life gets messy and people in life are messy so you have to fight and work hard to keep that relationship.

It is really not until Amy realizes that she is hurting herself and the people around her that she walks away from her life of booze and men. She already was in a relationship with the right guy, and it didn't magically solve anything. They had to work at it and have fights and long night talks and get really frustrated. And still their lives and relationship were not perfect. Because that's real life. Not some romantic comedy.

Overall

The comedy she does is unlike any other I have seen. She's not the skinniest or the prettiest star out there, but that's not her joke. Yeah she really did party and sleep around when she was younger, but that's not her joke. Her joke is about this idea we have created about love. The idea that women are the ones who want to save sex for some magic later date, that men are the ones who ask the girl out, that women are the ones who cry and eat ice cream after a breakup-- I could go on and on.

Not only does Amy tackle the idea of love, but she also looks at sexism in the workplace, body image issues, and the poor state of nursing homes. One of my favorite scenes is when the magazine staff has a meeting where only the male reporters get to pitch their ideas and only the male reporters get a say in what they write. I love another scene where Amy lists off what she didn't eat today. And finally, the references to how ridiculously expensive it is to take care of your aging parent.

But the movie wasn't perfect. It was over 2 hours long and several scenes could have been cut for either being not that funny or just dragging the moving action down. I also didn't like the ending very much. It felt a lot like what I would see in every other romantic comedy, and I kept waiting for something different to happen. Maybe even some bluppers would have satisfied my need to laugh a little at the end.

But overall, this movie is for all the romantics and all of the realists. It's for anyone who has gotten their heart broken and had to start over. It's for anyone who has fallen in love with Amy Schumer since her recent explosion of fame.

3 out of 4 Amy Schumers

In Review: "Ant-Man"

What a pleasant surprise and charming addition to the Marvel world. I didn't expect to love it, but turns out I did.

The Story

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) just got out of prison- like yesterday- for grand theft. But he wants to go straight, until his friend Luis (Michael Pena) tells him about this piece-of-cake job to break into this old man's house and get into this giant safe that he has in his basement. There just has to be something big in there. But instead of jewels or cash, Scott finds a funny looking suit with a steampunk-esque helmet. So he takes it home, tries it on... and shrinks to the size of an ant!

And he becomes Ant-Man! With the help of the original Ant-Man and the suit's creator Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Hope Pym, his daughter, (Evangeline Lilly), Scott must steal Darren Cross's creation of a copycat Ant-Man suit that could destroy the world if put into the wrong hands.

The Stars

Paul Rudd is not the superhero you have seen before. He's awkward at all the dramatic parts and out of shape whenever he has to do hero activities. He doesn't complain about it, mind you. His single goal is to be a hero for his daughter Cassie, making his mistakes totally lovable and his personality very realistic.

I love the fact that the movie is true to the comics with the inclusion of Hank Pym, played by Michael Douglas, who plays him perfectly. As a distant and distraught father, you just want to give him a big hug.

Michael Pena is another stand out in this movie. He doesn't get to be the funny guy (better known for his roles in "End of Watch" and "Shooter"), but now I only want to see him that way. He perfectly describes that friend that everyone has who can never get through a story without taking 10 minutes to do so.

The Message

The basic idea of the movie is the second chance. Scott is given a second chance after he gets out of jail to save the world. Hank is given a second chance to be a good dad to his daughter. But I think there is a more interesting topic to talk about in this movie.

The evolution father-daughter relationship. When a girl is growing up, one of the first men she gets to know is her father. When she looks at heroes, they are usually men (unfortunate but true). Almost immediately, they associate their father with a hero because he is the one who protects her from the monsters under her bed, from the bad boy she wants to go out with and all of the troubles of the world. (In a majority of cases anyway.) But when a girl grows up, she tends to stop seeing her dad that way. She either finds another man to put her world around or she doesn't want to be anyone's little girl anymore. And that just breaks the dads' hearts.

What I think this movie is trying to say is that there needs to be a balance when the girls grow up. Cassie is the first stage- The girl just wants to see her dad as the hero of her world. Now look at Hope. She wants to believe her dad is the hero. She wants to believe that her dad didn't cause her mother's death. But she can't because Hank is trying to protect Hope from the truth and choosing not to tell her. This makes Hope feel like a child- and she's not. She is a grown adult who has a right to know what happened to her mother. When Hank puts aside his fear of seeing Hope hurt, their relationship is healed- not perfect- but healed. He treated her like the adult she is and let her live her own life. And for that, he is her hero.

Overall

I really did not expect to like this movie as much as a did. It's hard to take comics like Ant-Man and (eventually) Aqua Man and turn them into films. These heroes, unlike others, are not realistic but closer to the fantasy realm- people can't shrink and talk to ants or swim with a mermaid tail and talk to sea creatures. They belong visually in the comic world because that's where we see those fantasies. But when we move to the medium of film, a medium that derives on making the imagined realistic and physical, we can fall into trouble. Heroes before Ant-Man have had special powers but they come in human forms. From the start, Ant-Man was going to look ridiculous standing next to Captain America and Thor. He's 2 centimeters tall! So the director rolled with the punch and made parts of the film ridiculous and laugh-out-loud funny, erasing all fears I had about the narrative and characters moving to a new medium.

I am also in love with the Avenger crossover that happened in the movie- my nerd brain went crazy for it. Stan Lee made all of these characters to live in the same world. I am so glad the movie world is honoring his creativity. I can't wait to see what happens with that.

There were some parts in the middle that lagged a bit and I don't think the villain was quite evil enough. Nor were his intentions to get back at a man who wronged him and make some money while he's doing it. I also still don't understand fully why it was a bad idea that have two Ant-Man suits. I think the reasoning behind not letting the semi-bad-guy have a suit could have been explained a little more.

Stay until the very end of the film when you see it in theaters, there are 2 special scenes/sneak peeks.

3 out of 4 Ants

In Review: "Spy"

This James Bond/spy movie parody does somethings right and some things wrong.

The Story

Did you know that every spy has a person walking their every move and telling them what to do? That's why they look so cool.

In this version, the James-Bond-esque Bradley Fine (Jude Law) is helped out by Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) from a desk in an office far, far away from the action. Unexpectedly, Susan is called upon to enter into an undercover mission to stop a mass catastrophe, getting her out from behind the desk and into the frying pan. Along the way, we meet the femme fatale (Rose Byrne), the bad-ass hardcore agent (Jason Statham), another friendly fellow deskie (Miranda Hart) and the boss woman (Allison Janney).

The Stars

My very favorite person in this whole movie was Jason Statham. He's in The Fast and Furious movies. He's in The Transporter movies. Everyone knows him as a bad-ass. But this movie lets him have a lot of fun and it turns out to be really, really funny. His character thinks he's got this down and he is the only man for the job, but it is actually that he is the worst man for the job.

Melissa McCarthy is still stuck in this "fat girl" troupe. Throughout the movie there are digs at her size and how because of her size she is ugly, lonely and probably lives with a lot of cats. This troupe is so overused, I got really tired of it. After all, McCarthy is a much better comedian than that! Near the end of the film, she gets to let her one-liners and snarky comebacks out (the ones that MADE "The Heat", her movie with Sandra Bullock). Near the end, she gets to be the woman for the job and the only one who knows what the hell is going on. Though I appreciate letting McCarthy's character evolve, the fat jokes are getting old people. I'm glad that at least this wasn't another "Tammy".

The Message

There is always someone behind the star who is making the star who the world believes they are. Sometimes they are not the prettiest or most popular of people, but they are really good at what they do. Obviously, or the world wouldn't think so highly of these stars.

I love this idea that super spies do actually nothing on their own. All of their cool moves and lines are all fed to them by the real brains on the inside. And they are the people who deserve the praise. But Susan Cooper did one thing that they probably haven't. She stepped out of her comfort zone (for a guy- but I'm ignoring that), and did something she had never done before. And that's when she got to know her own strength and her own awesomeness.

Overall

I recommend to rent this one on a night when you need to laugh a little. Not lot- just a little.

It's a fun parody on the spy movie, but nothing to write home about. Though Jason Statham's performance may be worth watching the entire movie.

1.5 out of 4 Spies