Movie Review Sol Goode

Sol Goode (2001) 

Directed by Danny Comden

Written by Danny Comden

Starring Balthazar Getty, Jamie Kennedy, Jason Bateman, Cheri Oteri

Release Date March 11th, 2003 

Published March 11th, 2003 

When we were kids, my sister had a huge crush on Balthazar Getty. It was based on Getty's one big role in Young Guns 2. Since Young Guns 2, Getty has seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth, save for a cameo in Natural Born Killers and his supporting role in the dopey 50's gang flick Deuces Wild. Well as it turns out Getty has actually had quite a lucrative career starring in a few direct-to-video movies. His latest non-theatrical movie is called Sol Goode, a comedy about a slacker actor who skates on his looks while awaiting his next acting job. One wonders if there isn't an element of self-parody.

Sol Goode is a good-looking young wannabe actor living off the good will of friends and family. The film's opening credit sequence includes a montage of bimbos who are asked what they think of Sol, some like him, some loathe him. It doesn't do the picture much good that the women who loathe him come off better than the ones who like him. As we meet Sol for the first time, he turns to the camera to talk to the audience about what he likes to call P.O.D, or post orgasmic disgust. P.O.D, describes a man's feelings when he wakes up next to a woman he wishes weren't there. Charming.

What does one do when suffering from P.O.D, well of course you do the classy thing. You call a friend, in Sol's case his narcissist best friend Cooper (Danny Comden), and have that friend come over and make you believe your house is on fire and run the girl out of the house quickly. Once again, charming.

Sol has other problems, rent is due and he hasn't worked in a couple of months. His roommate Justin (Jamie Kennedy) can't afford to cover him again and Sol's unemployment benefits have run out. With no other options, Sol is forced to once again ask his parents for money. In a scene that I wish I had never seen, Sol accidentally catches his parents (Robert Wagner & Christina Pickles) having sex with his Dad dressed as a baseball umpire. Eeewwww.

From there we move from there into the film's plot which involves Sol realizing that his womanizing ways are unfulfilling as is not having a real job. So Sol decides to change and figures he is in love with his other best friend Chloe (Katherine Towne). Unfortunately for Sol, she has a crush on his cousin Happy (Jonathan Schaech). Whether Sol will convince Chloe he's changed and win her heart is the center of the plot.

From beginning to end, Sol Goode is a picture that is desperate to be considered cool. Director Danny Comden, who also wrote the screenplay and plays Cooper in the film, throws in catchphrases and gross out humor in an attempt to make the film seem edgy and hip. Unfortunately, every decision he makes is wrong.

None of the catchphrases, like P.OD, or Cooper referring to his hair as his salad(?), none of it is funny. Throw in an extremely slow, glacier-like pace and an extremely unfunny Tori Spelling and you have a painfully dull movie. And as for the film's gross out humor, if you think irritable bowel syndrome is hysterically funny then maybe Sol Goode is for you. It's certainly not for me.

Movie Review Kickin It Old Skool

Kickin' it Old Skool (2007)

Directed by Harvey Glazer

Written by Josh Siegel 

Starring Jamie Kennedy, Maria Menounos, Miguel Nunez, Vivica A Fox

Release Date April 27th, 2007

Published April 28th, 2007

Has any actor thrived more on less talent? I've asked this question every time I've seen Jamie Kennedy take the lead in another of his low budget unfunny comedies. Beginning with the offensively unfunny Malibu's Most Wanted to the dreadfully unwatchable Son of the Mask and now through his latest abomination called Kickin' It Old Skool a bizarre homage to or satire of 80's breakdance culture, I have watched in stunned disbelief as another film studio tossed more millions at this tremendously unfunny comic.

In Kickin' It Old Skool Jamie Kennedy stars as Justin, a breakdance aficionado who puts himself into a coma attempting a difficult breakdance move. 20 some years pass before Justin somehow comes out of his coma still feeling like that 12 year old kid who loved to spin on his head. With medical bills crushing his poor parents, Justin has to find a way to make some quick cash.

His lucky break comes when a trip to the mall reunites him with his former breakdancing pal Darnell (Miguel A. Nunez) who points him in the direction of a new dance contest TV show shooting at the mall. Thus Justin launches a plan to reunite his old breakdance pals, Darnell, Aki (Bobby Lee) and Hector (Aris Alvarado) and try to win the dance contest. Standing in his way is his old rival and the show's host Kip (Michael Rosenbaum). But he does find support from Kip's girlfriend Jennifer (Maria Menounos) who was Justin's childhood crush.

Kickin' It Old Skool runs on two comic tracks. On the one track is an homage to cheeseball 80's culture including a truly lame cameo from David Hasselhoff. On the other is an attempt to parody recent dance off movies like Stomp The Yard and You Got Served. Unfortunately, director Harvey Glazer lacks the talent to combine these elements into one comic focus.

It doesn't help that his star Jamie Kennedy is utterly talentless. Yes, I admit admiring his know it all performance in Scream but name another thing that Jamie Kennedy has done that he can be proud of? Hmm.....The Mask 2?

Kickin 'It Old Skool suffers from  the same comic misapprehension as so many comedies of 2007. Movies like Hot Rod and Balls of Fury and Kickin 'It Old Skool all seem to believe that if the main character does something out of the norm; that thing is automatically funny. Context be damned. In Hot Rod it's supposed to be funny that this guy is a small town stunt man. In Balls of Fury the main character plays ping pong. In Kickin' It Old Skool Jamie Kennedy and his pals breakdance.

The creators of these films simply assume we will laugh at the premise and never bother to actually write funny jokes or give the characters anything funny to do aside from falling down or listening to music more than 20 years old. If you think old school rap is hysterically funny just for existing, then Kickin' It Old Skool is the movie for you.

I would rather watch a Rob Schneider film festival than sit through one Jamie Kennedy movie. From Malibu's Most Wanted to Son of the Mask and now Kickin' It Old Skool, Kennedy continues to demonstrate a complete lack of comic chops. On the bright side, audiences are beginning to agree as his starring roles continue to do less and less at the box office. Let's keep up the good work folks. The less people who see Kickin' It Old Skool, the less chance he'll get another starring role. If we continue to work together we can end this plague. Thank you.

Movie Review Malibu's Most Wanted

Malibu's Most Wanted (2003) 

Directed by John Whitesell 

Written by Jamie Kennedy, Nick Swardson 

Starring Jamie Kennedy, Taye Diggs, Anthony Anderson, Blair Underwood, Regina Hall, Bo Derek, Snoop Dogg 

Release Date April 18th, 2003 

Published April 16th, 2003 

I don't want to be mean but for the life of me I can't figure out what Jamie Kennedy has done to earn an over the title credit on a feature film. His career is dotted by a number of direct to video comedies like the dreadful Sol Goode and strange thrillers like Pretty When You Cry opposite Sam Elliott. Huh? He can't still be riding his minuscule success as the film geek in Scream 1 & 2.

It likely stems from the inexplicable success of his TV show, “The Jamie Kennedy Experience.” I use the term success loosely as it's difficult calling any show on the WB network a success. The show which incorporates sketch comedy and warmed over Tom Green street pranks appeals to teenage boys well enough that it makes sense that a marketer might pick up on Kennedy and see a product he can sell. That still doesn't quite explain how Malibu's Most Wanted made it to the big screen but nevertheless here it is.

Kennedy is B-Rad or really just Brad Gluckman, the son of a millionaire candidate for California governor (Ryan O'Neal). Brad fancies himself a gangsta based on his love of the stereotypical culture portrayed in so-called gangsta rap. B-Rad has just returned home to help his dad's campaign by helping to attract black people to the campaign. Brad's ingenious ideas include interrupting a live press conference with a horrible rap and appealing to a conference with female voters with a sign that states "Bill Gluckman is down with the Bitches and the Ho's).

Sensing that Brad is a liability to the campaign, Dad and his campaign advisor (Blair Underwood) conspire to cure Brad of his poseur ways. The idea is to hire a pair of black actors to abduct Brad and teach him what the gangsta lifestyle is really like. As Underwood's character puts it, they will "scare the black out of him.”

The campaign hires Sean (Taye Diggs) and P.J (Anthony Anderson) to play the gangstas. Unfortunately, neither actor knows anything about the hood. In turn, they hire PJ's cousin Shondra (Regina Hall) to help them learn what the hood is like so they can scare Brad.

Everything goes to plan as Sean and P.J kidnap Brad with Shondra as bait and bring him to Shondra's house in what was formerly known as South Central Los Angeles. Sean and P.J play up gangster personas all the while complimenting each other on how authentic their characters are. Diggs and Anderson are the film's main assets and provide the only solid laughs.

The set up works only in short spurts and only in the scenes with Diggs and Anderson who are so good at times they make Kennedy seem like a co-star in his own movie. Indeed a film taken from Sean and PJ's perspective would have been far funnier than what we get in Malibu's Most Wanted. At about the one hour mark of the 80 minute movie, Sean and P.J are shoved into the background in favor of Brad's forced love story with Shondra and another kidnapping, this time by a real gangsta named Tec (Damien Dante Wayans). It is then that Malibu's Most Wanted loses what little humor it generates.

Taye Diggs is one of the smartest actors working today. Sadly, like Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt, his good looks often prevent people from taking his talent seriously. Because of his boy toy role in How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Diggs will forever be typecast in the role of eye candy for drawing women into theaters. This obscures his work which in films as varied as the cheesy horror sendup House On Haunted Hill to the hip hop romance Brown Sugar has shown great wit and an ability to play off of anyone and hold his own. Most recently, Diggs had a terrific guest turn on the TV show “Ed” where he played himself, or rather what Ed thought Taye Diggs would be like if he met him in person.

You could call early 2003 the year of uncomfortable racial humor. There’s been Steve Martin and Queen Latifah in the tepid Bringing Down The House, Chris Rock's caustic political satire Head Of State and now Malibu's Most Wanted. Only Head Of State manages to do something with its racial content with Rock skewing racism from all sides. Bringing Down The House wants to satirize white stereotypes of black culture but lacks the courage to break from a sitcom formula to take on the subject. Malibu's Most Wanted is even less successful because it lacks the insight into Brad's identity to either portray it sympathetically or skewer satirically. Kennedy seems to want it both ways. He wants the audience to sympathize with Brad and also laugh at his over the top antics.

The elements of the sketch comedy character that B-Rad was conceived from don't translate to an 80-minute feature, and without a perspective, either sympathetic or satiric, you’re left with nothing but a confused character and audience. What this film says about Jamie Kennedy as a viable movie star is very little. The marketing campaign may lure people to theaters but the film itself will leave them wondering why they wasted the time to see it.