Movie Diary

1. Little Miss Sunshine
Not seeing the "sleeper hit of the Summer" until Summer is over means by then you're already sick of hearing about it even if you haven't actively read up on it or caught any spoilers. This was pretty alright, though, despite the fact that I'm pretty exhausted by comedies, particularly ones about dysunctional families, that derive most of their humor from "well, at least it can't get any worse -- BUT WAIT!" type scenarios. It helps that I like most of the cast; Carell's character could have been a pretty crass element if he didn't bring the same perfect amout of pathos that he did to 40 Year Old Virgin, and I'm happy to see Kinnear kind of on the comeback trail after a long post-Oscar nod lull. The build up to the girl's routine and the eventual climax were pretty lame, though.

2. A Cool, Dry Place
There was a weird period of about 5 years before Old School where, for some reason, Vince Vaughn did nothing but serious leading man roles and, like, a Jurassic Park sequel, despite the fact that the only reason he got famous was that he was funny in Swingers. This movie is a direct product of that era, and also the even more brief era during which Joey Lauren Adams was cast in movies by anyone other than Kevin Smith. In a way it was kind of a nice sentimental story about parenthood, but almost everything about this movie is a dud, and I'm still not sure why I spent an afternoon watching it.

3. Wedding Crashers
Speaking of which, this might be the funniest Vaughn's been since Swingers. What I really liked about this, though, is that usually when Christopher Walken's slumming in a comedy flick, he gets some really wacky role (Click, Joe Dirt, Blast From The Past), but they let him play it straight and I think it really helped.

4. Red Eye
This kind of reminded me in Cellular in parts, especially toward the end, just in terms of forcing its main character to break a lot of laws and do crazy shit in order to do the right thing, except that movie was really brisk and fun, and this kind of plods and doesn't do much to distract you from the fairly silly premise. Rachel McAdams is pretty hot, though.
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I've got to tell you, A Cool Dry Place is a pretty great little movie. I think the interplay between Vince and his son is some of the most realistic father/son type stuff on screen. Not brilliant, but I think it's very underrated. Also when I watch it, it makes my apartment feel like a cool dry place! I'M NOT KIDDING!!!!!!!!!
 
yeah, I agree that the father/son stuff was definitely the best part about the movie. still kind of a dud overall, though.
 
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