Trailer Tuesday: The Green Hornet

I know absolutely zip about The Green Hornet and what I do know comes from our good friends at Wikipedia. From what I gather The Green Hornet, aka Britt Reid, has been around since the 1930s and originally debuted as a radio program. Basically before there was Batman (1939), there was The Green Hornet (1936), but instead of being a billionaire playboy like Bruce Wayne, Britt Reid is a newspaper publisher by day and a vigilante ass kicker at night, minus the whiny, green-underpants-wearin’ sidekick, Robin. No, Reid’s Asian manservant and Kung Fu practitioner, Kato, serves as his partner in crime, and in the TV series he was played by Bruce Lee. Now Seth Rogan (Knocked Up, Observe and Report) is bringing The Green Hornet to the big screen (in 3D even!) on January 14, 2011. The movie is directed by Michael Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and stars Jay Chou (Curse of the Golden Flower), Cameron Diaz (Knight and Day), Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) and Tom Wilkinson (The Ghost Writer).

Take a peek at the trailer below and let me know if it’s thumbs up, or a big fat turd. Personally, I wasn’t wowed, but my curiosity was certainly peaked. The biggest question marks in my mind are twofold: One, is America sick of Seth Rogan’s shtick yet? Two, the January 14, 2011 release date certainly doesn’t inspire confidence for quality. When the studio isn’t dropping the movie during the holiday rush, or shooting for a summer release, it makes you wonder.

Funny People is a Huge Disappointment

As a 35 year-old man, my anticipation for the new comedy Funny People was tantamount to the exuberance I felt during my youth for The Empire Strikes Back or Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom – you know, back when I was sporting Underroos and playing with G.I. Joe and He-Man toys. I suppose my excitement for an “adult” movie is part of growing up (although I still get giddy for a juicy, brainless summer popcorn release) , but it’s also a testament to how highly I regard Judd Apatow’s previous films, The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. These are movies, while chock full of crude, bawdy and over-the-top humor, deal with quietly embedded issues that many, if not all, of us wrangle with on a daily basis as we move through life. And after seeing the first trailer for Funny People, I thought Mr. Apatow had done it again; in fact, I was thinking he might even enter Oscar territory.

But I was wrong. Funny People is hugely disappointing. I laughed from time-to-time, but there was nothing connecting the laughs, the everyman heart and soul that embodied The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up was replaced with a story about life as a stand-up comic and life as a rich celebrity that’s just not palatable for me.  I had three main problems with Funny People.

First and foremost, the film is stunningly aimless. I’m not sure if Apatow was trying too hard to be subtle and avoid a heavy hand, but for the most part we are led slowly down a path that seems more like winks and nods toward the workings and celebrity mingling of Hollywood than it does, as the trailer suggests, the journey of a man, a famous comedian, who changes and looks at life through a different lens and resolves to live it differently. We spend 90% of the movie with Sandler learning and dealing with the revelation he is going to die, followed by the news his treatment has worked and he now will live. We see him go through ups and downs, but it all leads to an emotionally unsatisfactory finale, where Sandler is the same manipulative douche he was in the beginning. My problem isn’t with the concept of an imperfect character or imperfect conclusions; I just don’t appreciate how long it took to get to such a simple and unfulfilling ending.

Second, I really didn’t bond with or care for the characters. These stand-up comedians and Hollywood-types probably resonate deeply within Apatow’s soul because this is the world in which he lives, but for me, Ordinary Joe, it’s hard to relate to a comedian/actor whose daily routine is a mix of swimming in his fancy pool, driving to the Improv in his souped-up Escalade and spending many-a-night boinking comedy groupies. I felt some attachment to the struggle Seth Rogan and his roommates (Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman) faced everyday between the realities of paying the bills and the dreams of stardom, and I even felt a relation to the marital ups and downs of Eric Bana and Leslie Mann, but with the main focus of the movie on Sandler, I didn’t ever fully connect.

I should also point out there is no performance in this movie worthy of any Oscar consideration. Period. Roger Ebert calls this Sandler’s best movie and I completely disagree. He also notes this movie is a different turn for Seth Rogan, saying “much thinner, dialed down, with more dimensions.” Again, I completely disagree. I see the same monotone, self-depreciating Seth Rogan. The only difference is he is slimmer, but nothing else.

Lastly, Apatow’s humor is sporadic and uneven. True, there are some funny moments, mainly dialogue between Rogan and his roommates, but I was amazed at how every joke seemed to center on the penis. In fact, in one scene, at a MySpace corporate event Sandler and Rogan attend, the musical entertainment, James Taylor, is asked by Rogan if he ever tires of singing the same song and Taylor responds with, “Do you ever get tired of talking about your dick?” I laughed, but by the end of the movie I was tired of all the weiner jokes. Not because I was offended (although one couple did walk out within the first 30 minutes), but because it got stale.

Funny People won the box office weekend by earning more than $23 million, but I’d expect it to take a huge drop next weekend and probably slide silently out of the top ten before the end of August. Worse, I can’t see this nominated for any Oscars whatsoever. Not best director, best original screenplay or any acting awards. It’s a self-indulgent editorial by Apatow littered with too many nods and winks to those he loves in the industry. I appreciate the effort, but I just don’t love the final product.

Date Rape in Observe and Report?

Date wha?

It’s time for yours truly to weigh in on the buzz about the assumed date rape scene in “Observe and Report,” which is storming the social media scene something fierce.  People are going bananas on Twitter and Facebook, and “vloggers,” including this cantankerous feminist, are demanding an apology from Seth Rogan and director Jody Hill, as well as pleading to their pals to not support the movie.

Let me give some background on the story and scene in question for those who haven’t seen the film.  Seth Rogan (“Knocked Up”) and Anna Faris (“The House Bunny”) play Ronnie and Brandi in the movie and both are mall employees, with Ronnie as the head of mall security and Brandi a cosmetics sales person at one of the mall’s stores. Ronnie is bipolar and very strange. He does not have a filter on his mouth, nor does he have a secure grip on reality. Brandi is his female equivalent. She likes to party, gossip and enjoys all the attention she draws with her puffy lips, big boobs, skinny legs and bleach blonde hair. Ronnie becomes obsessed with protecting Brandi after she is exposed to a flasher in the mall parking lot.

The scene in question happens after Ronnie and Brandi return from a date, if I can even dare call it that. You see, you’ve got to take a step back and look at this with a wide angle lens. Ronnie is clueless. After he asks her out and she agrees (out of frustration), he really thinks there is a spark between him and Brandi. It’s like the band geek going to the prom with the head cheerleader. He’s anticipating the date all week long, but when he arrives, she shows up late and has completely forgotten.

After their dinner date, which she reluctantly attends, he really thinks she has feelings for him. The problem is we see what Ronnie can’t – that she’s using him. She goes to dinner with him only because he’s paying for the booze. And midway through the movie, when he pops a pill for his bi-polar issue, she asks him for one. He gives her the bottle. He doesn’t do this because he has some grand plan of knocking her out and then having sex with her; he does this because he wants her to like him.

And then the controversial scene happens, with Ronnie shown having sex with Brandi. He’s on top of her and she’s knocked out (with a puke stain on her pillow) from the booze and pills. Ronnie actually stops, and sort of wounded, says her name, as if he can’t believe she’s fallen asleep during this glorious moment. You get the impression he’s going to call it a night, but she says, “Why are you stopping mother f***er?” And he starts having sex with her again. We don’t see what happened before, or after. Except that Ronnie shows up the next day with a flower for Brandi and is genuinely delusional when it comes to his ideas about their relationship.

So, is it date rape? Absolutely not. Out of context, with the mention of drugs and alcohol, it probably looks that way, but people crying foul need to take two steps back and put this in perspective. And that’s what has me fired up more than anything. The rush to judgment and the straining for controversy these folks crying foul seem to embody. Everyone’s entitled to an opinion, but I seem to think opinions grounded in logic and encompassing the larger picture are the ones with credence.

The Fast and the Bi-Curious

The digital shorts done by Saturday Night Live have been pure win, so this take on “The Fast and The Furious” from Andy Samberg and Seth Rogan is without a doubt 100 percent awesome. Go ahead and watch the clip below. While you do that, I’ll wipe the Diet Coke off my computer moniter from the laugh-induced soda eruption that just took place in my nostrils.