Film Friday #243

Trainwreck (2015)

Amy (Amy Schumer) is a self-confessed trainwreck. She doesn’t do dating as much as she does wild sexual abandon, she works for a magazine that makes Vice look sensitive and she’s more than happy to abuse whatever substances take her fancy. Essentially she’s the antithesis of her happily married sister, Kim (Brie Larson), aligning herself more with her serial philandering father, Gordon (Colin Quinn). When Amy is assigned to interview a sports doctor she couldn’t be less interested but she soon finds herself strangely drawn to Aaron (Bill Hader), who is unlike anyone she’s ever “dated” before. As the relationship starts to develop Amy will have to decide if she’s willing to risk getting hurt by allowing herself to be vulnerable and by facing her own demons. I think comedy is probably the trickiest genre to get right because what one person finds funny is very different from what the next person does. Personally I think Amy Schumer is almost always hilarious. I enjoy the fact that she says whatever she wants and isn’t bothered about the kind of taboos around how women are supposed to think and behave and I will willingly admit that a portion of my twenties is somewhat reminiscent of a scaled down version of Amy’s pre-Aaron life. I also massively enjoyed some of the epic cameos this film sports including one from LeBron James who is clearly an exceedingly good sport. There are also some excellent turns from the supporting cast with Tilda Swinton, as Amy’s bitchy boss, and John Cena as her on-off boyfriend being real standouts. Outside of the bawdy humour there is some real heart in Amy’s relationship with her aging father which helps you feel emotionally invested. I suppose the only criticism I can level is that Schumer and director, Judd Apatow don’t go quite far enough in the gender-standards critique they’re attempting to deliver and that Amy’s ultimate play for Aaron’s affection doesn’t quite ring true. Overall though this is a refreshing laugh a minute comedy that I would highly recommend to anyone who has ever felt like a bit of a trainwreck themselves. 4/5

And then the IPC told me he was hiding under my bed and…

The Internship (2013)

Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson play Billy and Nick two fast-talking salesmen who have always gotten by on their wits and their charm but when their business fails they’re left at loose ends at what to do with their lives. That is until Billy has the brilliant idea that they should join the Google intern programme. The only problem is that as forty-something technotards the two of them are about as far out of water as a fish can probably be, They find themselves in a team of leftovers with a clueless manager, pitted against ruthless over-achiever, Graham (Max Minghella). Will their particular skillset and life experience help them overcome the fact that they barely know what an app is as well as helping them to guide their disaffected millennial team mates to a glittering career at Google? So let’s face it we’ve all seen this movie before starring these two playing exactly the same roles. There is nothing new or exciting or even really interesting going on. The result is a perfectly harmless but somewhat pointless comedy that delivers a few laughs mostly at the expense of Wilson’s attempts to chat up Rose Byrne and Vince Vaughan being Vince Vaughan. I do think they overplayed Billy’s lack of technological knowledge to the point of being ludicrous. Even my dad who is almost seventy knows that it’s online not on-the-line. A little bit of restraint would probably have lifted the material a little. 2.5/5

Since Lance Armstrong’s demise the Tour de France had really dropped in quality

Charlie St Cloud (2010)

After Charlie (Zac Efron) and his brother, Sam (Charlie Tahan) are involved in a car accident in which Sam is killed, Charlie develops the ability to see and communicate the lingering spirits of death people. Racked with guilt, Charlie abandons his plans to go to college on a sailing college and takes up a job in the local graveyard where he can be close to Sam and keep a standing appointment to meet Sam to play catch daily. When Charlie meets, Tess (Amanda Crew) he starts to feel like life might be worth living together  but when it comes to a choice between her life and losing his connection with Sam, how will he decide? Really the supernatural element of Charlie St Cloud is a metaphor for the process of dealing with grief and survivors’ guilt and getting to the point where you are ready to let go and move on. Whether Charlie actually sees Sam or only imagines he does is very much up to the viewer, which is quite an interesting take on a teenage romantic drama. It’s also a beautifully shot film and Efron is always quite charming  (and lovely to look at) while providing a perfectly adequate performance. It’s a sweet but forgettable little movie that won’t ruin your afternoon. 2.5/5

What do you mean I don’t get to play Edward Cullen OR Christian Gray?

Spaceballs (1987)

So I had never seen this Mel Brooks Star Wars spoof until earlier this week and now I wish I never had. I know it’s supposed to be a classic and maybe if I had seen it when it first came out it would have worked for me but almost thirty years on I found this story of Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) trying to steal the air from planet Drudia by kidnapping Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) really tedious. All of the jokes were just really unsubtle and overdone and even John Candy playing half human-half dog Barf as a sidekick to Bill Pullman’s Han Solo clone, Lone Star couldn’t save it. No. Just no. 0/5

He has a big helmet. That’s the joke.