I realized while watching this film that I enjoyed it a lot more when it was called “Ghost World”; Leelee Sobieski is a talented actor, as is Albert Brooks, but when the story is summed up as a whole it’s just a batch of clichés from many other better films meshed into one entire mess. Sobieski as talented an actress as she is fails to strike a chord with her character and actually comes off as a terrible actress, which is not true when analyzing many of her past films. She attempts to pull off the Goth, annoyed teen angst persona with much desperation, which is evident while watching her try with the material she’s given, but it’s hard to enjoy her when her character is so unlikable and detestable. I would have preferred to sympathize with her character’s personality but its hard to when we see her living situation.
Tag Archives: Romance
The Hot Chick (2002)
What makes Rob Schneider’s movies so bad, (among many other million defects) is that Schneider is basically unlikable and incredibly obnoxious, and when he pretends to be a girl stuck in a man’s body, it’s just plain creepy. Not only that, but he’s such a horrible actor in both comedic form and dramatic form; much of that can be seen when he pretends to be the female Jessica played by Rachel McAdams and pretty much makes no effort in copying her exact mannerisms or body characteristics. In “Face/Off”, Travolta and Cage studied each other’s facial expressions, mannerisms, and even their modes of speech which made the film mostly tolerable, but in this Schneider simply acts homosexual more than a woman.
Life or Something Like It (2002)
This movie isn’t as deep as it wanted to be, if it even wanted to be deep at all; it’s actually just pseudo-spiritual nonsense when you get right down to it. Angelina Jolie picks one of the rotten scripts out of the entire flock with a story that is nothing but fluff and unbearable melodrama. What should have been a meditation on a woman seeking self-analysis becomes nothing more than a comedy that tries every time to tells odd jokes but fails miserably.
Waking Up in Reno (2001)
For a film with such a great cast like Natasha Richardson, Patrick Swayze, Charlize Theron, and Billy Bob Thornton, it’s hard to believe this is such a bad film. The great cast manages to make due with the horrible script and directing including Theron and Richardson who are great as best friends who discover one another and their personalities. What’s worse is this is not just a bad film but a bad comedy and what makes it a bad comedy is that the script and antics performed by the actors force no laughs from the audience and basically will leave the audience with a stone cold face.
Welcome to Collinwood (2002)
Coming across as a pseudo “The Sting” except with much more comedy, five lowlife criminals discover the ultimate heist and decide to pull it off, but discover it’s not as glorious as it may be. This is hilarious. I have never laughed so hard in a modern comedy as I have with this; most of the antics reminded me of an “I Love Lucy” episode from the incident in the funhouse, to the water filled sewer, to when they have to cross the heated pipe and carnage ensues, this is hilarious. Director/writer team Anthony Russo and Joe Russo create fresh and original comedy out of a typical plot for a movie that could have easily fumbled into bad territory.
Far From Heaven (2002)
Upon first glance of the opening scenes of the film, it somewhat resembles Rockwellian landscape where this family lives in a quiet and serene neighborhood with trivial problems that arise occasionally. But as the film progresses, director Todd Haynes slowly unfolds this world that resembles a painting and shows that no one ever has the perfect life. I really wanted to love this movie, but there were such drawbacks that inevitably kept me from truly appreciating the material.
Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002)
After a raid by armed soldiers during a party with the world’s top agents and their kids, Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara), the youngest of the Cortez spy family is accused of stealing the high powered super weapon The Transmooker Device. Now Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni Cortez must travel to the island of lost dreams and face off against monsters, soldiers, and rival agents Girti (Emily Osment) and Gary Giggles and find the real transmooker device before the evil Donnagon (Mike Judge) gets a hold of it and prove Juni’s innocence. But their parents and meddlesome grandparents are on the hunt for the kids before they’re killed. I tend to easily grow tired of family movies if they’re either too hokey or corny; most of the time, they’re both.