10s Movie Review - Rough Night

Director: Lucia Aniello
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 101 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Jillian Bell, Zoë Kravitz, Kate McKinnon, Ilana Glazer, Ty Burrell, Demi Moore

Description: Things go terribly wrong for a group of girlfriends who hire a male stripper for a bachelorette party in Miami.

Review: The comedy stars on of the funniest women of today: Kate McKinnon. Then how is it possible this film is genuinely unfunny? The screenplay is the problem and shows u lack of intelligence.
A group of friends get together in Miami for a bacholerette party, to celebrate their friend’s Jess upcoming wedding. Jess is running for senator, very ambitious and she left her party days behind her. Her best friend Alice on the other hand, has other plans and wants to give Jess the best night of her life. Then there is Blair, who is in the middle of a custody battle. And Frankie, who is living on the streets nowadays. The four are accompanied by an Australian friend of Jess, Pippa, who Alice sees as a threat.
After a fun night out partying, the friends decide to hire a stripper for Jess. And that’s when it goes wrong, when they accidentally kill him. Next is endless panic about what to do with the body, cleaning up the blood, bickering. Nothing new. And it’s a chain of illogical and impulsive decisions, followed by cliché moments and unimportant supporting characters.
Like Jess’ husband to be, who is having a pretty dull wine tasting party with his friends. Or the girl’s next door neighbors, hoping for a threesome with one of the girls.
It’s only McKinnon that makes this film a little funny, even with that debatable Australian accent. Scarlett Johansson, who is supposed to be the star of the film, comes off as a little dull and uninspired. She is on auto pilot.
“Rough Night” is a pretty lame comedy, which shouldn’t even get the title comedy. Because it’s hardly ever funny.

Rating: 2/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 120: Office Christmas Party

Director: Josh Gordon, Will Speck
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 105 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, T.J. Miller, Kate McKinnon, Jennifer Aniston, Jillian Bell, Courtney B. Vance, Rob Corddry, Vanessa Bayer

Description: When his uptight CEO sister (Jennifer Aniston) threatens to shut down his branch, the branch manager (T.J. Miller) throws an epic Christmas party in order to land a big client and save the day, but the party gets way out of hand...

Review: Who doesn’t enjoy the Christmas festivities at work? The party they have planned in “Office Christmas Party” is a little wilder than you might want.
We’ve seen it before, party movies like this. Everything revolves around this party and it’s up to the makers to create as many political incorrect situations as possible. But in this movie, that epic Christmas movie is not as epic as you might expect. People copying their privates on a Xerox machine, swinging from Christmas lights, lots of co-workers making out, some booze and drugs. It’s all been done before.
Because of the many subplots, it’s hard to create a solid unity. It’s silly Christmas movie entertainment. Funny at times, mostly thanks to Aniston and McKinnon. But it’s not a very memorable movie.

Rating: 2,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 142: Goosebumps

Director: Rob Letterman
Genre: Adventure/ Comedy/ Family/ Fanstasy/ Horror
Runtime: 103 minutes
Year: 2015
Starring: Jack Black, Amy Ryan, Jillian Bell, Ken Marino

Description: A teenager teams up with the daughter of young adult horror author R. L. Stine (Jack Black) after the writer's imaginary demons are set free on the town of Madison, Delaware.

Review: Jack Black is the perfect actor for a scary family film like “Goosebumps”, so it’s no surprise that he portrays writer R.L. Stine. He plays a fictional version of the real life author of the book series “Goosebumps”. Here he is a hermit, protecting his daughter Hannah. The new neighbor Zach is very curious about Stine and his daughter and just simply can’t accept that she can not leave the house. But when releasing Hannah, he releases a lot more.
From the beginning the movie is fast paced and has humor. Jillian Bell, as Zach’s aunt, brings some awkward family humor to the show. The young actors are solid and Jack Black is just enjoyable as R.L. Stine.
We don’t have to wait long for the first monsters to appear, that we all know from the populat books. It’s a bit like “Night at the Museum” or “Jumanji”. The horror is mild, because it’s supposed to be suitable for a younger audience. But it can get scary for the really young kids.
Zah and Hanna are the heroes of the story. Their nerdy companion Champ is not as fun. He is supposed to make it all a but lighter, but instead he’s a pretty annoying character that overreacts to every situation. At least Zach and Hannah act more realistic.
It’s actually very smart to use this story for the movie, because how do you pick from all those books. Instead the most iconic monsters from Stine’s book come to life and it works surprisingly well. I liked “Goosebumps” more than I expected and it wasn’t as bad as I thought. It’s an entertaining film, especially if you read the books as a kid.

Rating: 3/ 5