Movie Review The Emoji Movie

The Emoji Movie (2017) 

Directed by Tony Leondis

Written by Tony Leondis, Eric Siegel, Mike White

Starring T.J Miller, James Corden, Patrick Stewart, Anna Faris

Release Date July 28th, 1997

What is there to be said about The Emoji Movie? That’s what I have been asking myself for the more than an hour since I sat down to write this review. This empty, mostly competent, 90+ minute ad for smartphone apps doesn’t inspire much to be written about it. Sure, I could rail against the empty, soulless, mercenary nature of what amounts to app product placement the movie, but I have been shouting into that void since the trailer for the film hit and no one seemed to care then. So, let’s just start writing and see what happens.

The Emoji Movie centers around Gene (Voiced by T.J Miller), a professional "Meh" emoji on his first day on the job in Textopolis, a home for Emoji’s inside a teenager’s phone. Gene’s parents Mel and Mary Meh (Steven Wright and Jennifer Coolidge) aren’t sure Gene is ready for the job of expressing indifference because, unlike other Emojis in Textopolis, Gene is able to perform other Emoji functions beyond just being the face of Meh.

When Gene panics and ruins a text to a girl by making a funny face instead of Meh, he’s set to be deleted as if he were a virus. This leads to Gene having to flee Textopolis with his new pal Hi-5 (James Corden) to find a hacker named Jailbreak (Anna Faris) whom he hopes will be able to reprogram him to be Meh and help Hi-5 get back into the favorites page of his owner’s phone where he was once among the most oft-used Emojis.

Read my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review: Yogi Bear

Yogi Bear (2010) 

Directed by Eric Brevig

Written by Brad Copeland, Joshua Sternin, Jeffrey Ventimilia 

Starring Dan Akroyd, Justin Timberlake, Anna Faris, Tom Cavanaugh, T.J Miller

Release Date December 17th, 2010 

Published December 19th, 2010

Straight to the point, Yogi is a talking bear living in Jellystone Park with his pal Boo Boo. Together, they execute radical schemes to steal picnic baskets, or in Yogi's parlance 'pic a nik' baskets, from park patrons. Attempting to stop them is Ranger Smith (Tom Cavanaugh) and his doofusy second in command Ranger Jones (T.J Smith). Along for the ride is a nature documentarian named Rachel (Anna Faris) with whom Ranger Smith has puppy dog crush.

Those are the good guys just having fun with Yogi's shenanigans while keeping the park open. The bad guys are Mayor Brown (Andrew Daly) and his sycophant Chief of Staff (Nate Corddry). They plan to plug the holes they created in the budget with their extravagant spending by closing Jellystone Park and selling the forest to logging interests.

Naturally, the good guys will have to try and stop the bad guys and along the way many more shenanigans will occur, people and bears will fall down and big laughs will be had by all. Give credit to director Eric Brevig, his narrative is clean, concise and to the point. That's better than a lot of other kid’s movies that waste a lot of time just to fill feature length.

So, is “Yogi Bear” funny? Yes, at times all of the goofy effects come together to create moments that you cannot help but laugh at. Also, Tom Cavanaugh is an actor that, for me anyway, has an endless amount of charm even when saddled with a CGI talking bear and T.J Miller. Anna Faris is sweet and cute and can pull off a pretty good flying tackle while pretending to be a snow leopard, I'm not kidding.

There are minor pleasures to be found in “Yogi Bear,” not the least of which is in the special effects which have become so commonplace that even an effect as ridiculous as Yogi and Boo Boo melts into the background and becomes unquestionably part of the action. I'm not saying the effects are great but merely that you can accept them with ease and that's rather something isn't it.

In the end, you could take your kids to something far worse than “Yogi Bear” a goofy but inoffensive little movie with an appealing cast, a few minor laughs and best of all, a throwback cartoon short at the beginning. Right in front of Yogi is a terrific little Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote cartoon that puts you in just the right mood for the low watt loopiness of “Yogi Bear.”

Movie Review She's Outta My League

She's Outta My League

Directed by Jim Field Smith

Written by Sean Anders, John Morris

Starring Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, T.J Miller, Mike Vogel, Krysten Ritter

Release Date March 12th, 2010 

Published March 12th, 2010 

Anyone who thinks actor Jay Baruchel is an unlikely star of a major mainstream comedy must have never seen him on the brilliant and unfortunately brief TV series Undeclared. Baruchel was a natural comic lead, sympathetic, self deprecating and very funny. He brings that same mix of vulnerability, angst and good humor to She's out of My League and while it's not Undeclared, it is a modestly funny distraction worth the price of a movie ticket.

Kirk (Baruchel) works in airport security with his three closest pals, Stainer (TJ Miller), Devon (Nate Torrence) and Jack (Mike Vogel) because he really can't think of anything better to do. He wants to be a pilot but lacks the ambition to pursue a pilot's license, content to hang out with his friends. Kirk's life gets a jolt when by chance he catches the eye of Molly (Alice Eve) a smoking hot blonde who accidentally leaves her phone at Kirk's security post. She repays him with a date and then another date before Kirk finally understands that she is honestly, romantically interested in him.

Thanks to years of low self esteem and his friend's awful ability to have his back, Kirk has an impossible time believing a woman as beautiful and successful as Molly could really be interested in him. For her part, Molly admits to her friend Patty (Krysten Ritter) that Kirk is a safe choice because he is unlikely to break her heart.

The conflict is believable and while it plays for laughs it works as a strong roadblock for Kirk and Molly's romance. Baruchel and Alice Eve have a strong chemistry playing first the mismatch and eventually settling into a strong romantic vibe. The strength of She's out of My League is Baruchel and Eve's ability to make us care about them while the film whirls from one lowbrow gag to the next.

Playing Kirk's best friend Stainer T.J Miller tries a little too hard to be the missing member of the Knocked Up supporting cast. That said, Miller has a few strong moments, especially when he's playing in his awesome cover band "Adult Education." If you don't know what the band is covering, you aren't trying hard enough. Stainer is pivotal to the film's finish but I could have done without much of his act.

Not all of She's out of My League works but what does is very strong. Jay Baruchel has strong comic instincts and the film plays well to his strengths, vulnerability and a strong sense of who he is. Alice Eve is beautiful and rounds out the character with honesty and self awareness. The romance has depth beyond the wild gags, as the best of this kind of comedy does, and that make She's out of My League worth your time at the theater.

Movie Review Our Idiot Brother

Our Idiot Brother (2011) 

Directed by Jesse Peretz

Written by Evgenia Peretz, David Schisgall

Starring Paul Rudd, Zooey Deschanel, Kathryn Hahn, T.J Miller, Steve Coogan, Adam Scott, Rashida Jones

Release Date August 26th, 2011 

Published August 26th, 2011

Paul Rudd is so appealing in "Our Idiot Brother" that you barely notice how thin the story is or how poorly drawn the supporting players are. The star of "Role Models" and "I Love You Man;" Paul Rudd has become known for his fidgety, acerbic, tightly wound comic characters. Now with "Our Idiot Brother" he has expanded his brand to include, shaggy, good natured stoner.

Ned (Paul Rudd) is just a great guy; unassuming, trusting and ready to help when needed. Thus, when a cop, in full uniform, approaches him and asks for some weed, Ned obliges only after hearing how tough things have been for the cop lately. It's a wonderful scene and Rudd's affability sells it.

When Ned gets out of prison, early release as he was everybody's favorite inmate, he finds that his girlfriend (Kathryn Hahn) has kicked him off of their organic farm and moved on with a new guy, Billy (T.J Miller). Worse, she's keeping Ned's beloved dog Willie Nelson.

Homeless, Ned moves back home to New York, briefly living with his mother (Shirley Knight) before crowding into the lives of his uptight sisters. First up is Liz (Emily Mortimer). Liz is married to a jerky documentary filmmaker, Dylan (Steve Coogan), and has two kids; the boy, River (Matthew Mindler), is quickly Ned's best friend.

By the formula, since Ned has two other sisters, he will screw up Liz's life and be fobbed off on the next sister; in this case Miranda (Elizabeth Banks) who makes the mistake of having Ned help her out when she has an important celebrity interview to conduct. He also gets in the middle of her friendship with Jeremy (Adam Scott).

Finally, there is Natalie who seems to be defined by her lesbianism; she lives with her longtime lover Cindy (Rashida Jones). However, when a cute boy artist (Hugh Dancy) shows her some attention, even offering to help out Ned, things in Natalie's life get very complicated and of course, Ned is there to make an even more interesting mess.

"Our Idiot Brother" is highly formulaic and has a highly predictable ending but the journey to get to that ending and the modest detours from formula make it worth your time. This is among Paul Rudd's best performances, a loose, sweet and terrifically funny performance that evokes a younger version of Jeff Bridges's legendary The Dude.

The rest of the cast is not as well defined as Ned and are really only in place to give Ned something to do. It's as if writer Evgenia Peretz and her director brother Jesse Peretz came up with Ned first and then built a movie around him. That sounds bad but Ned is such a terrific character, and so remarkably well played by Paul Rudd, that "Our Idiot Brother" actually kind of works.

"Our Idiot Brother" doesn't work in the typical way that great movies work. However, on its own terms, "Our Idiot Brother" has such a great vibe and is so well centered on Rudd's performance that it works in its own very unique and often very funny way. It's a bit of a strange recommendation, you have to have a soft spot for stoners and Paul Rudd, but I do recommend "Our Idiot Brother."