Patrick Sun
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jun 30, 1999
- Messages
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Even though this film takes place in the mid/late 1980s, having it languish on the shelves for 4 years in the 2000s made it feel even more dated, mainly in terms of how the actors in the cast looked. Anna Faris is probably cringing that this movie finally surface after whatever plastic surgery she'd had in the past 4 years easily provides some contrast between then and now. It's almost like a mini-personal time capsule for the cast.
Anyhow, so we have recent MIT grad, Matt (Topher Grace), in a dead-end job at Suncoast Videos (got to say, did enjoy some of the 80s nostalgia having grown up in that decade with high school and college) who panicks when his high school crush Tori (Teresa Palmer, looking like Kristen Stewarts's older sister and with a winning personality) comes into the store, and Matt ends up lying about his employment prospects to Tori and backdoors his way into a party held by Matt's twin sister's boyfriend Kyle. Matt's twin sister Wendy (Anna Faris) has her own little bit of life's uncertainty between Kyle and a possible grad school admission to Cambridge. Kyle (Chris Pratt) is a harmless douche of a boyfriend. Matt's best friend Barry (Dan Fogler) just got fired from his car salesman job, so he's in a "F-it" mood for the party. Barry gets the bright idea to steal a Mercedes from his former employer, and the night just rolls out of control from there.
As a comedy, it's somewhat funny in bits, relying on sight gags, uncomfortable situation, or lack of confidence on Matt's part. There is a lot of cocaine-related material, mostly mined for some comedic value. But the script sort of sputters a lot, so it's not LOL all the way through, and you might end up being sympathetic to Matt and his stilted courting of Tori on this night, it just doesn't give the audience a buzz of funny through most of its running time. I do think the last act is better than the saggy middle act and its setup act in the beginning.
I give it 2 stars, or a grade of C.
Anyhow, so we have recent MIT grad, Matt (Topher Grace), in a dead-end job at Suncoast Videos (got to say, did enjoy some of the 80s nostalgia having grown up in that decade with high school and college) who panicks when his high school crush Tori (Teresa Palmer, looking like Kristen Stewarts's older sister and with a winning personality) comes into the store, and Matt ends up lying about his employment prospects to Tori and backdoors his way into a party held by Matt's twin sister's boyfriend Kyle. Matt's twin sister Wendy (Anna Faris) has her own little bit of life's uncertainty between Kyle and a possible grad school admission to Cambridge. Kyle (Chris Pratt) is a harmless douche of a boyfriend. Matt's best friend Barry (Dan Fogler) just got fired from his car salesman job, so he's in a "F-it" mood for the party. Barry gets the bright idea to steal a Mercedes from his former employer, and the night just rolls out of control from there.
As a comedy, it's somewhat funny in bits, relying on sight gags, uncomfortable situation, or lack of confidence on Matt's part. There is a lot of cocaine-related material, mostly mined for some comedic value. But the script sort of sputters a lot, so it's not LOL all the way through, and you might end up being sympathetic to Matt and his stilted courting of Tori on this night, it just doesn't give the audience a buzz of funny through most of its running time. I do think the last act is better than the saggy middle act and its setup act in the beginning.
I give it 2 stars, or a grade of C.
