R, 1 hr. 38 min. Directed By: Seth Gordon.
Release Date: Jul 8, 2011
Wide. DVD Release Date: Oct 11, 2011.
I knew it.
When I wrote about The Change-Up
in July, I said that I’d chosen to see the wrong Jason Bateman movie that
summer. I friggin’ knew it. If you have any further questions about Jason
Bateman comedies, THIS is the one to see.
There’s no question about it. Every
once in a while, I get a real gift in my mailbox as part of my weekly Netflix
shipment, and this was one of the best gifts I’d gotten in a long time. Add to it that this was part of the same
shipment that brought me Super 8, and
I had a pretty good couple of days.
This was a ridiculously funny movie, particularly
once you consider how ludicrous it was.
They took Strangers on a Train,
which I personally think is a fantastic Hitchcock movie, and gave it a twist to
the silly, and somehow it worked. In
many ways, I found this to be more effective in its efforts than its
inspiration.
There isn’t much I didn’t find completely
effective. The cast is spot on, and some
of them (notably Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Spacey) play parts that are well
outside the norm. I can't remember the last time I saw a comedy with this caliber cast done this well. I really dug Aniston as kind of a comedic
antagonist, and I certainly dug Spacey as a crazed antagonist. The rest of the cast had some decent timing
and the chemistry was really good. The
cast was probably what took this from being a stupidly done mashing of the
Master’s work and made it worth watching.
So… basically, this is a great way to kill 90
minutes. The movie’s funny, without
being over the top. The cast is good and
they put forward enjoyable, if not amazing performances. I dig some of the plot devices, like the
OnStar representative, since he not only plays a major role in driving the
movie, he’s crazy funny (if stereotypical).
The time flew, and I actually missed an appointment because I lost track
of time. I’d actually like to have one of these
horrible bosses… particularly Jennifer Aniston, but hey, that’s just me.
