Gurinder Chadha tells the tale of Jess (played by the beautiful Parminder Nagra), the youngest in a traditional Hindu family who still follows the ritual of arranged marriages, and ceremonial garbs, but loves to play futbol. She plays it with an all boys team against her parents wishes. She is recruited one day by Jules, a professional futbol player who asks Jess to play for her professional team in which they’ll be coached by the potential love interest for the two and maybe Jess and Jules will be recruited into the American futbol team, but not if her mother and father have anything to say about it.
Tag Archives: Comedy
Malibu's Most Wanted (2003)
Sure, it was a bit presumptuous on Kennedy and his agent’s part in spinning off a mildly amusing character from his rather obscure comedy show into a feature length movie, and while, once again, all of my expectations were down, I was pretty surprised to find this was just so entertaining. The movie no one has been asking for but came to theaters anyway, stars Kennedy as white rapper B-Rad who lives in the rough and tough notorious streets of–Malibu California with a large mansion he declares as small, and friends who are about as intimidating as gangsters as Britney Spears is talented, not.
40 Days and 40 Nights (2002)
Matt is a guy who just broke up with his life-long girlfriend Nicole. After two years of a bad break-up he’s finding it difficult to get over her, and after one meaningless sexual encounter after another with women, he feels empty inside. One day he decides to make a vow, no sex or sexual encounters for forty days. But he’s finding it difficult when all the people at his job begin to bet he’ll either break it or pull through tempting him with hot chicks, plus he’s met a beautiful girl (Shannyn Sassimon) that he’s falling in love with. Something’s got to give.
Grind (2003)
What do you do with a movie about skateboarders that hasn’t already been done? Fill it with the same lazy clichés we’ve seen thousands of times in worse comedy films. I mean has there ever been a good movie about skateboarding aside from “Dogtown and Z-Boys”? I doubt it. There are three elements/concepts films have revolved around and relied on for a plot in the past that have never worked regardless of how exciting they try to make it, and regardless of how good a director is: skiing (cannot be done), skateboarding, and computers or typing on a computer (FYI “Wargames” invented the sub-genre).
Alex & Emma (2003)
No matter how hard “Alex and Emma” tries, it’s still the same package but with new wrapping. It’s another recycled romantic comedy, with more recycled characters, but only with a different twist. Kate Hudson has a nasty habit of choosing horrible films of late, and Luke Wilson is no exception. In this vapid formulaic film, Luke Wilson plays Alex Sheldon, an author who released a book and is in debt with what looks like the Cuban mafia. Two Cuban thugs break into his apartment and threaten him, but then again they just could be thugs from another mafia. So, Alex has thirty days to write and publish a book and get them their money or else he goes bye-bye (death), so he hires a stenographer. Why not a ghost writer? Someone from the publisher to help? You figure he being an author he’d be able to type fast, but he instead hires a stenographer by posing as a law agency to which we meet Emma, a beautiful (despite how hard Hudson pretends to be plain), young and uptight stenographer who is convinced by Alex to write the book as he dictates it to her.
Down with Love (2003)
“Down with Love” has the right intentions; it’s a throwback to the old Kim Novak and Rock Hudson romantic comedies from the sixties; the hip, groovy, fluffy as a marshmallow, and very colorful romantic comedies were sometimes very entertaining, and while “Down with Love” has all the ingredients of a satire, this is never sure whether it really is a satire or a spoof. A satire is an amusing jab at a topic, a spoof is making fun of a topic and unfortunately, “Down with Love” jumps from one genre to the other so constantly throughout the progression of the film that it makes your head spin. Barbara Novak is a brutal young go-getter, a tough ballsy female writer for a magazine, a female pioneer in a male dominated society who has written a book called “Down with Love” which breaks down and analyzes all the tricks men pull with women, but can’t get it published.
Nicholas Nickleby (2002)
Nicholas Nickleby is an excellent unwilling hero of the story, who is given a large task of taking control of his family despite the fact of his young age and must become a man through some extraordinary situations. Charlie Hunnam whom I’ve seen in the underrated “Undeclared” and the muddled “Abandon” is great as Nicholas, the strong-willed, courageous, outspoken and humble hero who becomes a truly admirable savior to many of the characters. Hunnam whose ability I’ve doubted in his recent roles is great as Nickleby giving him a sense of power and courage and injecting a lot of likable traits in him. He’s a great character and a very memorable hero of the Dickens’ stories and for some reason his cruel uncle Ralph takes an instant disliking to him. He sees in him everything he’s not.