Classic Movie Review So I Married an Ax Murderer

So I Married an Ax Murderer (1993) 

Directed by Thomas Schlamme 

Written by Robbie Fox

Starring Mike Myers, Nancy Travis, Anthony LaPaglia, Brenda Fricker, Alan Arkin 

Release Date July 30th, 1993 

Published August 4th, 2023 

I feel like I should like the movie So I Married an Ax Murderer. I have the impression of the movie as a light hearted romp with a true crime twist. It sounds charming in description: Nice guy meets a woman who happens to have a bad history with men who disappear after marrying her. There are things about it that sound like a fun twist on the true crime and rom-com genre. And yet, every time I try watching So I Married an Ax Murderer, the film sets off the pedantic, cranky side of my personality. I like to think of myself as a pretty chill, relatively relaxed guy, but when I watch So I Married an Ax Murderer, my skin crawls and I get easily irritated. 

So I Married an Ax Murderer stars Mike Myers as Charlie. Charlie is a poet in San Francisco. Is being a poet in a coffee shop his job? He doesn't appear to have any other means of support so I guess that's what we are supposed to believe. Through Charlie's poetry, set to the beat of improvised jazz, we learn that Charlie is finicky about women. His most recent break up was dubiously related to his belief that his ex-girlfriend stole his cat. Charlie's best friend, a police detective, Tony (Anthony LaPaglia), believes Charlie is too hard on the women he dates and too picky about minor flaws they may or may not have. He thinks Charlie is simply afraid of commitment. 

This notion will be put to the test when Charlie meets Harriet (Nancy Travis), a beautiful woman who seems to speak his strange comic language. The two vibe over Charlie helping Harriet on a tough and busy day at her family Butcher Shop. Charlie's Dad, also played by Myers, was also a Butcher back in the day so Charlie volunteers to work for Harriet as a way to get the chance to hit on her all day. The two flirt mercilessly, mostly via various cuts of meat, I am in cringing just thinking about this scene. I can't help it. I kept thinking, this is her place of business, she's busy with a line of customers, and this guy is doing meat based schtick. She encourages it, but I only find that equally frustrating. 

The meaty flirtation leads to the two spending the night together and helps Charlie locate the first red flag about this new relationship. Harriet has a habit of talking and moaning in her sleep while talking about someone named Ralph. When confronted about Ralph, Harriet doesn't want to talk about it. Nor does Harriet want to talk about any aspect of her past, especially the number of times she's previously been married. By coincidence, Charlie's mom (Brenda Fricker), shows him a copy of the Weekly World News tabloid which has a story about a marrying serial killer who seduces and kills husbands. The pattern matches with some of Harriet's backstory and Charlie begins to end the relationship. 

Read my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Amsterdam

Amsterdam (2022) 

Directed by David O. Russell 

Written by David O. Russell 

Starring Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Robert De Niro, Rami Malek

Release Date October 7th, 2022 

Published October 11th, 2022 

I'm late to the party on the new David O. Russell film Amsterdam. I didn't get an early preview of the movie and that gave me time to soak in some of what other critics have said. That also means I can look at the current discourse around the film, following its opening weekend at the box office, and offer a fair parsing of the movie as headlines in the online sphere hail Amsterdam as a bomb and a box office debacle and calling for the head of David O. Russell for daring to lose money for a Hollywood studio. 

Yes, Amsterdam is projected to lose around $100 million dollars once the box office dust settles. This means nothing more than the marketing campaign for the film was a flop and doesn't reflect anything about the movie itself. I think Amsterdam has some significant flaws but it is a well accomplished movie, perfectly on brand for David O. Russell and featuring several big stars delivering terrific performances amid a very clever, very funny, and wildly absurd and rage inducingly true story. 

Why is it that the movie as a whole takes the blame when the marketing fails? Let's be clear, the marketing of Amsterdam was a failure. The marketing failed to capture the best and most widely appealing aspects of the movie. For instance, the marketing fails completely at taking advantage of the romance between John David Washington and Margot Robbie and that is arguably the best element of Amsterdam, certainly its the most relatable and tangible element of this quirky tonally awkward absurdist comedy. 

Another reasonable question that is not being asked is why a studio spent so much on a story that was going to be a hard sell no matter how many movie stars are in the cast. Amsterdam is a film that succeeds or fails based on your taste for absurdly wordy dialogue, quirky characters, and other unconventional forms of satire. The studio behind Amsterdam have no excuses to hide behind, they could not have approved this script and this director without seeing the tough sell they had on their hands. 

For me, Amsterdam is a tough sell that I was sold on while experiencing it. I had little idea what I was getting myself into when I saw it, because the marketing campaign does little to prepare you for the movie, and I was won over in the end by the odd yet earnest and passionate film that David O. Russell and his team put together. The film is often mystifying and occasionally frustratingly obtuse but it works thanks to this incredible cast and a story so wild you will have a hard time believing it is true. 

Fans of The Dollop Podcast might recognize the story being told in Amsterdam. General Smedley Butler is a little remembered American hero. General Butler was a bit of an oddball but he proved himself as a leader on the bloody battlefields of World War 1. He, in fact, fought in five wars for his country over the years prior to World War 2. In the 1920s he became a hero of his fellow veterans when he supported the so-called Bonus Army, soldiers who simply asked the government for the money they were promised to go and fight World War 1. 

Butler's passionate defense of veterans made him a leader who could command his own army of former soldiers if he chose to do so. This was the opening that many in the business community, high end CEO's slowly carving up early 20th century America among themselves. They targeted Butler as a man who could displace President Roosevelt whose New Deal politics were taking money from the pockets of the wealthy to bring the poor out of poverty. 

These wealthy men preferred the approach Germany and Italy were taking wherein power was being concentrated at the top and dictators gave favorable deals to those they felt were worthy. Smedley Butler was their choice for puppet dictator of the United States and it is genuinely terrifying just how close to a fascist dictatorship America came. Had it not been for the integrity of General Smedley Butler our country couldd have been changed forever in the worst possible ways. 

Amsterdam is not exactly about what came to be known as The Business Plot. Rather, Russell approaches the true life story through the fictional and comic lens of these three oddballs who met and became life long friends in Amsterdam, in the wake of World War 1. Burt Berendsen (Christian Bale) is a doctor who was urged to join the army and fight in World War 1 by his rich in-laws who felt that a war hero would befit the ideal of the family in the public imagination. Harold (John David Washington) is a lawyer who was conscripted into the military and fought to be treated as equals with white soldiers. 

Burt and Henry are brought together by General Meeker (Ed Begley Jr.) who places Burt in charge the mostly black regimen where Harold is sequestered. Together, they make a pact to watch each other's back. If Burt proves to be a leader who takes care of his black soldiers, Henry will assure Burt that those same soldiers won't shoot him in the back. Burt accepts this as a fair trade and they go to war where they are severely injured. In Paris, the two are treated by Valerie, a volunteer medical worker on the run from her past. 

When the war ends, the three head off to Amsterdam to live the lives of hedonists and friends. In Amsterdam, Burt and Henry are introduced to a pair of secretive men whose work stands firmly between stopping the spread of fascism and the somewhat shady tactics of spy services. Mike Myers ad Michael Shannon play a pair of bird obsessed secret agents who use birdwatching as a cover for what we presume is spy activity. Myers and Shannon's characters protect our trio of friends in Amsterdam in exchange for an unspecified favor in the future. 

After 6 months of partying in Amsterdam and recovering from their wounds, Burt, who was badly scarred and lost an eye in the war, decides to return to America. With his newfound knowledge of European medicine and types of treatments, Burt hopes to help treat soldiers struggling to fit back into society after the war. Henry wishes to stay in Amsterdam with Valerie, the two clearly fall in love at first sight, but she soon vanishes and leaves Henry to return to New York alone to work alongside Burt. 

When the duo are hired to investigate the murder of their former General, General Meeker, the conspiracy plot begins to unfold. Robert De Niro stands at the center of the plot as a General caught between doing the right thing and the wealthy men who hope to use him as their puppet dictator to install a fascist government in the place of President Roosevelt. With the veterans who trust and follow him, De Niro's General has a standing army ready to fight with him and he must decide if he's for sale to sell out his country or if the truth and his integrity is more important. 

Realistically, yes, Robert De Niro has by far the most interesting character in Amsterdam. The characters portrayed by Christian Bale, John David Washington and Margot Robbie are all fine but it is De Niro as the General who recognizes what the underdogs are up against and his place within that conflict. And that is a complicated and lengthy description of a complicated plot. Do you now have a better sense of the marketing challenge of Amsterdam? Exactly how do you reduce this idea to 30 second commercials? I feel it can be done but the marketing team behind Amsterdam appears to have given up far too quickly. 

Click here for my full length review of Amsterdam. 

Movie Review: Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Directed by Bryan Singer 

Written by Anthony McCarten

Starring Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Mike Myers, Aiden Gillen

Release Date November 2nd, 2018

Published November 2nd, 2018

Part of the reason I despise Bohemian Rhapsody so much is my own fault. I projected some very high expectations onto this Freddie Mercury biopic, expectations that were perhaps too high given my experience with similar movies, biopics of rock and pop stars. Take Ray for instance, I reviewed that recently and while Jamie Foxx is incredible, the movie overall was mediocre because it is trying to capture an outsized talent and personality in a familiar box of genre cliches, crafting a portion sized life of glamorous peaks and ugly valleys that rarely exemplify a real life. 

I should have known better than to expect a Hollywood biopic to capture the joy and sorrow, the genuine complexity of the life of a great artist. Hollywood has rarely done this well before and I don’t know why I expected Hollywood to do better this time. I should have been especially wary of Bohemian Rhapsody because the life of Freddie Mercury is among the most complex and tragic in rock history. It would take several movies to capture the multitudes of Mr Fahrenheit. Trying to do it in this one movie renders Freddie’s life drab and miserable outside of concert footage that could just as easily be enjoyed on vinyl recordings. 

Bohemian Rhapsody appeared, to me, to posit the life of Freddie Mercury as a struggle of almost constant pain, sorrow and loneliness. To believe the narrative of Bohemian Rhapsody is to believe that the legendary lead singer of Queen had no joy in his life whatsoever. His friends brought him no joy, his varied love life brought him only heartache and even his musical creations were fraught with the infighting of the band over writing credits and placement on each album. 

It’s apparent from the movie that the only time Freddie Mercury experienced anything close to joy was when he was on stage performing. The performance portions of Bohemian Rhapsody are pretty good. Problematic director Bryan Singer, who was fired part way through production, does give a unique look to the concert scenes with a genuinely innovative camera angle that looks out from Freddie's piano as he plays some of his most iconic songs live. 

Now, you might assume that the pain that Freddie Mercury experienced in his life off of the stage would fuel his creativity but you would be wrong about that. Not one single Queen song performed in Bohemian Rhapsody reflects Freddy’s heartache. For all of the rock and roll power of Queen, they were not a band that reflected upon themselves or life. They were about irony, humor and poetry. Somebody to Love perhaps could be the closest we get to something reflective but I will leave you to earnestly parse that song which is more about Freddie’s love of Aretha Franklin and the sonic experimentation of vocal layering but yeah, it’s called Somebody to Love so that passes the anti-intellectual pop psych, literal reading of the song if that’s what you want. 

Rami Malek does the best he possibly can with the material of Bohemian Rhapsody but he’s ultimately defeated by some of the worst and most awkward dialogue in any movie in 2018. Trying to sound like a human being while spouting some of the dialogue forced on him in Bohemian Rhapsody is a challenge that would defeat most actors. That Malek doesn’t come off badly is a strong testament to his talent. He was beaten before the cameras even rolled but he gave it a go and didn’t embarrass himself. 

The actors playing the rest of the band perhaps should have been played by extras for all of the depth they are given in Bohemian Rhapsody. We get thumbnails of the backgrounds of Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon but not much. May was a physicist in college, Taylor was a dentist and when Freddie insults John Deacon in one scene we find out he was once an electrical engineer. We know that Freddie called the band his family but very little of the movie focuses on that aspect, the script prefers wallowing in how miserable Freddie Mercury was when he wasn’t spouting awkward or banal dialogue.

I understand that the Brian May and Roger Taylor were involved in the making of the movie but if that indeed was the case, one wonders just how much they actually liked their late lead singer. As a character, Freddie Mercury is a wisp of a person with no agency of his own. Freddie’s life was always predicated on what others were demanding of him and how he joylessly followed their direction. This is especially true of how Freddie’s relationship with the band’s tour manager Paul Prenter is played in the movie. 

Prenter is portrayed as a cartoonish villain who bullied and cajoled the fragile Freddie Mercury into the life of a gay socialite, a life he never wanted if the movie is to be believed. Actor Allen Leech doesn’t help matters by playing Prenter as a complete weasel with only the worst intentions in mind for Freddie Mercury. Prenter likely was a really bad guy, his interviews after being fired by Mercury indicate an opportunistic slimeball but the portrayal in Bohemian Rhapsody is so comical that Leech should have played the part with a tiny mustache he could twirl in order to underline his villainy.

Mike Myers, that famously cantankerous cartoon of an actor, shows up briefly in Bohemian Rhapsody and serves to demonstrate the bankruptcy at the heart of the film. Myers functions like a terrible meta-dad joke as he’s employed solely so that he can play a record executive at EMI who rejects the legendary Bohemian Rhapsody. Bohemian Rhapsody is, for those who don’t know, a song that Myers himself was responsible for returning to popular culture with his inclusion of the song in his hit movie Wayne’s World.

Someone thought it would be super funny and not terribly awkward to have Myers pointedly state that kids in cars won’t be singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody. Essentially, one of Queen’s most incredible artistic achievements gets reduced to a mediocre reference gag.  That Myers is also almost unrecognizable and using another of his nearly incomprehensible accents only serves to make the whole scene unnecessarily awkward while being terribly unfunny. The late career of Mike Myers will make for a fascinating documentary one day as few people of such talent have done so much to make themselves so completely repellent as Mike Myers has done in the decade since he was last a relevant performer. 

Yes, if you can’t tell, I loathe Bohemian Rhapsody. I have sympathy for Rami Malek and I love, love, love, the music of Queen but this movie is atrocious. The final act tries to redeem the abysmal whole by abandoning acting in favor of pure mimicry by having the cast re-enact Queen’s famed performance at Live Aid but it is impossible to escape the fact that we are watching pantomime and not performance. You could have as much fun listening to the movie soundtrack, which carries the entirety of the Live Aid performance re-enacted here and you could do so without having to spend time wallowing in Freddie Mercury’s seemingly endless suffering. 

Movie Review Shrek the 3rd

Shrek the 3rd (2007) 

Directed by Chris Miller

Written by Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman, Aron Warner

Starring Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Justin Timberlake, Eric Idle

Release Date May 18th, 2007

Published May 17th, 2007 

Shrek may have began its film life as a veiled slap at Disney’s fairy tale past, courtesy of Dreamworks honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg, but the film's success and the subsequent success of its sequel have shown that the big green ogre has a life and identity of its own. Sure, the shots at Disney\ 's classic fairy tales remain as Shrek offers its third installment, but the success of Shrek the 3rd comes entirely from these wonderfully familiar and lovable characters.

Shrek the 3rd finds our heroic green friend in line for the throne of Far Far Away. The king (John Cleese), turned into a frog in Shrek 2, is near death and proclaims Shrek as the next king. That is, unless Shrek can find another more worthy heir. The only thing Shrek fears more than becoming king is becoming a father. Unfortunately, he has no control over that one, Fiona (Cameron Diaz) is pregnant.

Facing fatherhood and royalty, Shrek takes up the task of locating the next in line for the throne, if he is going to be a dad, at least he can do it from his slime covered hovel in the swamp. For that to happen he has to find Fiona\'s cousin Arthur (Justin Timberlake), Artie to the kids who pick on him. Artie is the resident punching bag at his private school when Shrek shows up to tell him he could be king.

Meanwhile, with Shrek away from the kingdom, the evil Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) has raised an army of fairy tale villains to assault the kingdom and proclaim him the new king and set a trap for Shrek, Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas).

The first Shrek without the guiding hand of writer-director Andrew Adamson, moved on to the Chronicles of Narnia series, Shrek the 3rd suffers from typical sequel atrophy. This is not necessarily the fault of new directors Chris Miller and Raman Hui, rather it\'s more likely the problem of some 7 different writers who took a swipe at this screenplay.

The problems with Shrek The 3rd aren\'t deathly. The first 20 minutes or so are an awkward hodgepodge of humor that is a little adult for child audiences. It\'s not so inappropriate that parents should be wary, but it could lead to some awkward questions. After that however, the film settles in and allows these familiar characters and what we love about them to lead the way and deliver the laughs.

Credit Directors Miller and Hui and their platoon of writers for dialing back on the product placement jokes that made Shrek 2 look like a non-stop billboard. Shrek the 3rd dispenses with the product placement jokes, with storefronts like \"Versarchery\", in the first few minutes. Shrek the 3rd is still heavy on pop culture but is far less precious about it than Shrek 2.

Shrek The 3rd also has a better brain than Shrek 2. The relationship between Shrek and Artie has more depth than you expect and the characters are allowed to explore their issues in ways that deepen the characters and their bond without bogging down the plot. The pace clips along quick enough to put audiences back on the streets in under 90 minutes.

Shrek 2 delivered louder and more consistent laughs than Shrek the 3rd.  The second sequel could use an infusion of bigger laughs and more laughs that rise from the plot as opposed to the stand up comedy one liners that provide many of the giggles in Shrek the 3rd.

Neither Shrek sequel has risen to the magical level of the first film which remains fresh and funny in a brilliantly subversive fashion. Each of the sequels has been a step down in quality, a function of simple sequel fatigue. Thankfully, the first film set such a high standard that a step down in quality here and there still places the Shrek sequels above most other animated films.

Shrek the 3rd is not as great as the original or as funny as the second film but your kids will still love it and you definitely will not be bored by Shrek the 3rd.

Movie Review The Cat in the Hat

The Cat in the Hat (2003) 

Directed by Bo Welch

Written by Alec Berg, David Mandel, Jeff Schaffer

Starring Mike Myers, Alec Baldwin, Kelly Preston, Dakota Fanning, Spencer Breslin

Release Date November 21st, 2003 

Published Published November 20th, 2003

Like any kid born after 1957, the books of Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, were an important part of my childhood. From Green Eggs and Ham to How The Grinch Stole Christmas to The Cat In The Hat, the Dr's rhyming wordplay and gloriously odd drawings are what helped form my imagination from the time I was able to read.

When The Grinch was turned into a blockbuster starring Jim Carrey, director Ron Howard was able to retain some of the magic of the book while still allowing Jim Carrey to do his thing. The Grinch wasn't a great adaptation but a skillfully crafted one. The same cannot be said of Bo Welch's adaptation of another Seuss classic, The Cat In The Hat which is neither great nor skillful. Rather it's a dreadful exercise in Hollywood blockbuster cynicism.

Mike Myers steps into the fur of the Cat in the Hat, the six foot feline who simply appears out of thin air to reek havoc and entertain a couple kids trapped at home in the rain. The kids in the film adaptation are Conrad (Spencer Breslin) and Sally (Dakota Fanning), brother and sister and different in every way imaginable. Conrad is destructive, messy and out of control. Sally is fastidious, organized and uptight. Their mother (Kelly Preston) works as a real estate agent and is having a party at their house tonight and the house must be perfect for her boss Mr. Humberfloob (Sean Hayes).

Mom has to work and must leave the kids with the narcoleptic Mrs. Kwan, a woman who could sleep through a train wreck in the living room. After a serious scolding from mom the kids agree to keep the house clean while mom works, but once she's gone the plan goes out the window with the sudden arrival of the Cat In the Hat. Thus begins an adventurous day of trying to keep the house from falling down around them and learning a lesson about how to have fun.

Mike Myers is almost indiscernible under piles of fur and rubber. His schtick however, is unmistakable as he bounds from character voice to character voice as if channeling Robin Williams at his manic worst. Myers plays the Cat as a combination of his Austin Powers persona and former flamboyant center square Charles Nelson Reilly. Myers never for a moment resembles the Cat you remember from the book, save of course for the signature red and white stovepipe hat. Aside from the hat however this Cat is a complete creation of Myers and makeup artist Mike Smithson. Much like the recent Austin Powers films, the performance is very hit and miss.

Director Bo Welch, helming his first feature, shows a terrific flair for set design which is not surprising because that is where he got his start. The Cat In The Hat has spectacular sets, production design, costumes, and makeup. If only the same attention had been paid to the script and especially the jokes. The script is credited to three former Seinfeld writers, Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer. Odd choices to begin with but then the script received a number of uncredited rewrites by Myers who likely wasn't credited because his work was all improvisations on the set.

Being that The Cat In The Hat was not a long story to begin with, the writers had a lot of time to fill. The unfortunate choice to fill that space with fart jokes and other forms of low humor are a deathly decision that destroys any chance the film had to be entertaining. Modernizing the story, allowing Myers to riff on pop culture is fine. Those elements worked to a point with Jim Carrey in The Grinch, but Carrey was at least somewhat restrained by Ron Howard's skilled direction. Bo Welch seems completely at a loss to reign in his star and can think of nothing better than the dreadful grossout humor that would turn Theodore Geisel's stomach.

Adding to the pain is producer Brian Grazer and his Imagine Entertainment marketing staff who cram every frame with disgusting product placement. The producers have already put the Cat in every imaginable commercial from pop to pregnancy tests and the commercials don't stop even after the movie begins. Myers even does a riff reminiscent of his Wayne's World product placement bit. In Wayne's World it was a wonderfully knowing incisive joke. In The Cat In The Hat, it's overkill.

Watching this film’s producers prostitute this wonderful piece of literary history is almost as disheartening as it's disgusting and unnecessary bathroom humor and scatology. In fact, I'm not sure which is worse. Thankfully, there is the lovely young actress Dakota Fanning who gives another terrific performance in a film well beneath her talents. Dakota Fanning deserves a far better film and the book The Cat In the Hat doesn't deserve this treatment. 

Movie Review Shrek 2

Shrek 2 (2004) 

Directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon

Written by Andrew Adamson, Joe Stillman, David N. Weiss

Starring Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Julie Andrews, Antonio Banderas, Rupert Everett

Release Date May 19th, 2004 

Published May 18th, 2004 

In 2000, Shrek came out of nowhere and became a box office phenomena. While only spending one weekend at the top of the box office, the film’s buzz sustained it at the box office to the tune of $267 million domestically.

More important than the film’s box office was its quality. One of the rare and wonderful examples of what is possible when animation technology meets talented voice actors, producers and writers. An animated film with as much appeal to adults as to children. The sequel cannot be asked to meet that same lofty standard. That it doesn't spoil our memory of the first film is good enough.

As we rejoin our friends shortly after their wedding, Shrek (Mike Myers) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) are on their honeymoon. The opening of the film is a terrific sendup of those romantic comedy montages set to some silly pop song with Shrek and Fiona cavorting in a meadow, running toward each other both being chased by pitch fork toting mobs.

Once back in the swamp, they are reunited with Donkey (Eddie Murphy). They are informed that they have been invited to the kingdom of Far Far Away where Fiona's parents King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) wish to throw them a royal ball to celebrate their marriage. Shrek is convinced it's a bad idea but Fiona insists they go, even allowing Donkey to join them for the long journey that is best described "Are we there yet?”

No surprise to Shrek, when they arrive and are not greeted with open arms by the King and Queen. There is more to this story than the King's objecting to his daughter marrying an Ogre. It seems the King had cut a deal with the Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) that promised Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) would save Fiona from her castle and marry her, thus becoming heir to the throne. The King owes Fairy Godmother for some yet to be revealed reason and so he must get rid of Shrek and allow Charming to take his place.

For this, the King buys the services of a legendary Ogre killer named Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) whose efforts are less than successful. From there, Shrek and Fiona are separated and various miscommunications and mistaken identities serve to keep them apart. Shrek, Donkey and their new friend Puss in Boots must find a way to get Fiona back.

It's not a complicated story, it's a simple setup for the scatological humor that drips from every scene. Each computer-generated frame of Shrek 2 has some kind of satirical jab, even more than the original film. It almost reeks of desperation as if the producers and writers of Shrek 2 felt something was missing from the first film and were going to cover it up with excess jokes.

There is something missing from the sequel though I can't quite explain what it is. Part of the problem is that Shrek's look and animation isn't as special as it was back in 2000. Since then we have seen Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo and Ice Age and even live action films like Van Helsing and Spider-man that have made us comfortable with computer animation. It's not that special anymore, it's still impressive but not as mind blowing as the original.

Shrek 2 is not as funny as the first film but it is still funnier than most. Credit the terrific voice cast who project every line of dialogue all the way to the back wall of the theater. Especially good is Antonio Banderas who really tears into the role of Puss In Boots with tremendous comic fervor. Banderas sends up his Mask Of Zorro titular role and the script hints at something that other Zorro movies have used as subtext, something that the kids in the audience won't get but parents will likely pick up.

The other new voices are also well cast. John Cleese picks up the pompous, overblown King role where his good friend John Lithgow left it in the original. Jennifer Saunders makes a terrific villain and even knocks out a rousing showstopper tune near the end. Sadly, Julie Andrews is underused with little to do in the underwritten role of the Queen.

The film’s best assets are still Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy. These terrific comics know how to deliver a punchline and the way the animators incorporate the actors' physical traits into the animated characters adds to the feeling that they are really inhabiting these characters. Listen closely however and you might hear Myers dropping out of his Scottish accent, but that is a minor quibble.

To ask Shrek 2 to recreate the magic of the first film is asking way too much. The best it could do was not taint our memory and that it does it justice with funny references to everything from Spider-man to The Wizard Of Oz to Raiders of The Lost Ark. That it does not fall to sequels and exist merely to capitalize off the original’s success is a testament to the creative team behind it. They put forth an effort to tell a story rather than slapping together a money machine meant to print money off our fondness for the first film.

Movie Review: View from the Top

View from the Top (2003) 

Directed by Bruno Barreto 

Written by Eric Wald

Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Christina Applegate, Mark Ruffalo, Candice Bergen, Joshua Malina, Kelly Preston, Rob Lowe, Mike Myers

Release Date March 21st, 2003 

Published March 21st, 2003 

Of the many odd ripples from our country's greatest tragedy, none seems less important than it's effects on Hollywood movies. It's an effect still felt today, as films that were made around the time of 9/11 finally reach theaters. One of the films shelved after 9/11 was the flight attendant comedy View From The Top. One is left to wonder what kind of movie View was when it was conceived and what it became after the tragedy. Suddenly jokes involving air travel simply aren't funny and as a filmmaker, you have sensitivities to care about that never existed before. It must have been more excruciating for such a light comedy to have that mantle to bear, and it's one that likely ruined any chance the film had of being a hit.

View From The Top stars Gwyneth Paltrow as Donna Jensen, the daughter of a Vegas go-go dancer and an alcoholic father. Donna, living in a trailer with her well-past-her-prime mom, desperately wants out of the trailer and thinks she has a way with a new boyfriend. Unfortunately like everything else in her life, the boyfriend (played in cameo by Buffy's Marc Blucas) let's her down and dumps her in a birthday card. Nevertheless, Donna's pluckiness and spirit lead her to another opportunity to better herself. After seeing a woman on TV talk about the wonders of being a flight attendant, Donna sets out to travel the world. Of course at first, she has to settle for the Laughlin to Fresno route of an economy airline that specializes in drunk gamblers. Hey, everyone has to start somewhere.

Along the way, Donna makes friends with her flight attendant mentor (Kelly Preston) and another trainee (Christina Applegate). She also makes a new love connection with a struggling law student played by Mark Ruffalo. Donna doesn't have time for a relationship though as she and her friends fight their way into another airline, the high class Royalty airlines. Here, Donna actually meets the woman who inspired her to become a flight attendant (Candace Bergen). In addition, Donna becomes the star pupil of a flight attendant teacher played by Mike Myers.

Though Donna seems destined for the big time, international first class to Paris, she somehow fails and ends up doing commuter flights out of Cleveland. It's not all bad though as while stationed in Cleveland she reunites with the law student and they begin a tentative romance. However, it is then that Donna does get her international route and must choose between her career and personal life.

On the surface, View From The Top seems pretty straightforward, but upon watching you see it become quite confused. Director Bruno Barreto never settles on a tone for the film. Early scenes of Paltrow's Donna living in squalor seem like a Jerry Springer satire. Then as Donna becomes more sophisticated and grown up, something Paltrow is so good at projecting, she is confronted by characters that seem to be in entirely different films.

While somewhere toward the middle of the film, Paltrow and Candace Bergen seem to channel the elegant humor of an Audrey Hepburn movie, Mike Myers is doing Jerry Lewis and Christina Applegate seems a refugee from the aforementioned Springer show. Ruffalo seems to fit somewhere in the middle while seeming capable of fitting either tone if given proper direction.

Again, I wonder how much the film changed after 9/11. It was always a comedy but how much of the humor or even the story was forced to change for the sake of sensitivity. Is it possible that a more coherent version of the film existed before? I guess we will never know. As it is, View From The Top is yet another line on Gwyneth Paltrow's resume. While not great, it does note her amazing range. If given the chance I'm sure she could have made one of the two movies in View From The Top work.

Movie Review Austin Powers in Goldmember

Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) 

Directed by Jay Roach

Written by Mike Myers, Michael McCullers

Starring Mike Myers, Beyonce, Seth Green, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Vern Troyer, Michael Caine

Release Date July 26th, 2002 

Published July 25th, 2002 

The original Austin Powers was a kick in the pants to the lazy action spy genre that was becoming repetitive and dull. The second film , The Spy Who Shagged Me, achieved the opposite effect, instead of continuing the satire of the first film, the sequel the trend of the moment gross out humor and ended up funny but derivative. Now comes the third film, and while Goldmember is slightly better than it's predecessor, it also lacks the originals sparky satirical bite.

Beginning with a sensational movie within a movie featuring eye popping celebrity cameo's, and quickly upping the ante with another hysterical dance sequence, Goldmember gets off to a spectacular start. Unfortunately it's downhill from there. As we rejoin the story Dr. Evil has returned from space to a new lair in the Hollywood hills where Number 2 (the highly under-appreciated Robert Wagner) has opened an evil talent agency. Agent being the perfect evil profession. 

Dr. Evil is once again ready to launch an evil scheme. However before Dr. Evil can finish his plan involving time travel to the 1970's, a tractor beam, and a meteor, the meeting is broken up by Austin Powers. Dr. Evil is arrested, leading to a Hannibal parody in which Austin needs Dr. Evil's help to find the man who has kidnapped his father played by the legendary Sir Michael Caine. Dr. Evil's newest henchman, Goldmember, is the culprit leading Austin to time travel to the 1970's to find Goldmember and save his father. While back in the 70's Austin hooks up with an old flame named Foxy Cleopatra (the surprisingly game Beyonce Knowles).

From there the film becomes a series of sometimes very funny skits that don't necessarily add up to much of a story. There is a great deal of obvious improv going on which is skillfully done by Myers and company but it ultimately detracts from the story, especially towards the end of the film which turns into a complete mess. At times it seems like ideas were thought of on the spot and weaved into the film as it was going on.

When the film is funny, it is very funny. However when it's not funny, the film is damn near impossible to watch. Especially unfunny is the film’s main conceit built around Austin's need for his father's approval. I don't know about you but I wasn't the least bit interested in knowing that Austin Powers was neglected by his father and frankly the whole storyline is a real downer in a film that should come nowhere near a downer.

The film is populated with big laughs and indeed when the film is funny it's funnier than any other film this year. But the script’s reliance on bits rehashed from the first two films fall intensely flat. Especially when the characters acknowledge the recycled jokes which borders on being too clever for it's own good. Especially unfunny cribbing from The Spy Who Shagged Me is Dr. Evil's rap set to Jay Z. The musical number isn't as funny as it is uncomfortable.

While my review may seem negative, and indeed there are a lot of things I didn't like, the film is still very funny. If the humor had been a little less scatological, and the story slightly more coherent, Goldmember could have been a classic. As it is it's an amusing but unmemorable comedy that is best to wait for on Video and DVD. Though judging by the box office that is a moot point.

On a side note shame on IMDB for giving away the names of the celebrity cameos. You could have waited a few weeks so that people could see it for themselves.

Movie Review: The Love Guru

The Love Guru (2008) 

Directed by Marco Schnabel 

Written by Mike Myers, Graham Gordy 

Starring Mike Myers, Justin Timberlake, Romany Malco, Jessica Alba 

Release Date June 20th, 2008 

Published June 19th, 2008 

Memo to comedy writers and directors: Just because a character in a movie does a particular thing, does not make that thing funny. For example, in the new "comedy" The Love Guru co-written by and starring Mike Myers, just because Myers' Guru Pitka fights a man with a urine soaked mop and ends up hit in the face with said mop does not make the action of getting hit with a urine soaked mop funny.

The Love Guru operates entirely under the delusion of it's own brilliance. The Love Guru stars Mike Myers as the world's number 2 guru, behind Deepak Chopra, Guru Pitka is the character's name and Myers is as offensively caricaturing Indian culture as you imagine. The Love Guru proceeds from scene to scene making one joke about genitalia after another assuming each is funnier than the next because Myers himself seems so entertained by the joke.

One of the hallmarks of The Love Guru is Myers' enjoyment of his own humor. Guru Pitka is almost always the first to laugh at his own jokes and it isn't a stretch to imagine that Myers as well is the first to laugh at the jokes he wrote for himself. What accounts for a plot in The Love Guru involves a star hockey player, Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco), who stinks on ice after his wife, Prudence (Meagan Good), leaves him for a rival goalie, Jaques 'Le Coq' Grande (Justin Timberlake). Are you laughing yet? I know I wasn't. 

The Guru Pitka is hired by the owner of the hockey team, Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba), to try and reunite the hockey star with his lady love and by extension help him regain his ability to play hockey like the star he once was. Guru Pitka believes that if he he accomplishes the task of rescuing this hockey player's lost mojo, he will earn a coveted slot on the Oprah Winfrey show and a chance to surpass his nemesis Deepak Chopra as the world's number one guru.

You can call that a plot, I've gone to great effort to make it read like one for my own sake. In reality however, the film is really just a sloppy, irredeemable mess of penis jokes, poo jokes and other such lowbrow bits that are broken up briefly Myers' attempt to convince us that Guru Pitka could romance Jessica Alba. I would have a hard time believing Myers without this silly character would be able to date Jessica Alba, asking us to believe that she would be interested in Myers as this offensive caricature of a character is a disservice to both our intelligence and Ms. Alba's integrity. 

Do you know how I can tell Jessica Alba is a good actress, because she doesn't reflexively wretch when Myers is doing his shtick. That she can vaguely feign romantic interest in the character of Pitka is an acting feat that no actress could pull off. Alba is thoroughly defeated by the task but she gives it more of an effort than most would. Her professionalism is to be commended even it is unwarranted for this lowbrow awfulness. 

I realize that Vern Troyer considers Mike Myers his friend and that he's up for the kinds of gags Myers likes to do, but his casting here as the coach of the hockey team is a perfect example of what makes The Love Guru so awful. Myers thinks it is simply funny that a little person exists in the world. That's it, that's the joke for Mike Myers and my evidence is every joke related to Vern Troyer in The Love Guru. Myers simply thinks the existence of a man of Vern Troyer's size is funny and he gets away with it because Troyer willingly goes along with the gag and we've allowed Myers to get away with it. 

Idiotic to an ungodly degree, mindless and insulting, The Love Guru will rank among the years worst films of 2008.