When Audrey’s business trip to Asia goes sideways, she enlists the help of Lolo, her childhood best friend, Kat, a college friend, and Deadeye, Lolo’s eccentric cousin. Their epic, no-holds-barred experience becomes a journey of bonding, friendship, belonging and wild debauchery that reveals the universal truth of what it means to know and love who you are.
I knew very little about Joy Ride going into it, all that I really knew was that a lot of my peers really liked it and I have to agree there it’s quite a hilarious ride.
What sells this movie is the cast Ashley Park, Stephanie Hsu, Sherry Cola and Sabrina Wu all do a phenomenal job here with the each of them having their own unique personality and humor to really make this for everyone. It’s such an incredible balance that really has been noticeably absent in a lot of comedies, so it’s quite refreshing to see that be present here. The characters themselves are written quite well and do give off this feeling that they really are friends, outside of the mandatory “fallout” scene where it does feel incredibly forced. However that really does not stop these characters from being very entertaining and truly exciting to watch.
The humor is quite great especially in delivery, which the cast is fantastic at there’s so much excellent comedic timing here that it actually shocked me in a few ways, there’s one scene in particular that is quite bizarre that is so much fun and I truly can’t help but love it due to just how insane and hilarious it really is.
The third act is definitely on the weaker side of things, as I said earlier the “fallout” scene feels incredibly forced and I don’t think everything in the third act really comes together all that well. Still it is enjoyable by no means bad, you still have the incredibly entertaining characters and humor to keep you invested. Plus it ends on a great note when it comes to Audrey’s (played by Ashley Park) journey.
Overall Joy Ride is a quite solid film that I had a blast with, it stumbles a bit in the third act as mentioned before it still sticks the landing in the end.
The unbelievable tale of one of America’s most fascinating phenomena — Beanie Babies. Flashing back to the ’90s and early 2000s, an in-depth look at how the era-defining zeitgeist came to be.
The Beanie Bubble is yet another film released in 2023 about a very popular brand or product, so far we have had Air which was about Air Jordans, Tetris which told the incredibly wild true story behind the iconic game, BlackBerry which told the rise and fall of the once popular cellphone and Flamin’ Hot the story about the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, the story told ended up being a huge lie outside of a few details. Tetris, Air and BlackBerry were fantastic films that did a fantastic job of telling the story of these products in very creative ways. Flamin’ Hot was definitely the worst of the bunch, while it wasn’t terrible it was a very beat by beat biopic that really did not do a whole lot.
The Beanie Bubble is about the Beanie Babies and the craze that was going on in the 90s, everyone I grew up had at least one of these guys heck I had a bunch of them. So I was pretty interested to see how this movie would go and while I will say that this is better than Flamin’ Hot (at least this movie is not based on a total lie), but very strangely this movie suffers from some of the exact same problems.
Let’s start with the positives because there is a decent amount to really like here, for starters I do think the cast does an excellent job with what they are given. Zach Galifianakis, Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook and Geraldine Viswanathan all give excellent performances that each add to the movie quite well, the three leading ladies for most of the movie aren’t in any scenes together so it’s quite neat to see them together later on in the movie.
Ultimately the main point with this movie is showing that the founder Ty Warner did not give any credit to three women who helped design and think of ideas for the Beanie Babies the three women being Robbie, Shelia and Maya. Which is a very important detail to talk about, unfortunately the conclusions of the movie are way too simplistic and reductive to really leave the viewer with any kind of impact.
That’s honestly the major problem here and what I hinted at earlier when I said that The Beanie Bubble suffers from some of the exact same problems as Flamin’ Hot it’s a very typical biopic that follows a lot of familiar beats and really doesn’t do anything to standout. The Beanie Bubble at gets the edge mainly due to trying to say something about giving credit, but even then it’s told in a way that is way too simplistic.
Depicting the aftermath of a sleepover birthday party hypnotism gone wrong as best friends Megan and Paige, along with soon-to-be step-sister Veronica, wake up with absolutely no memory of the night before.
The Slumber Party is a DCOM (Disney Channel Original Movie, I’m just going to use DCOM from this point going forward) that was released on Disney+ a day later. I haven’t reviewed a whole lot of DCOMs but I’ll go ahead and talk about this one since it was on Disney+.
Anyway The Slumber Party is basically a PG version of The Hangover, I’m already not the biggest Hangover fan out there. But I will say that this movie actually did have it’s positives. The cast is at least charming and actually do feel like they are friends as opposed to some other DCOMs (I’ve seen some of the latest DCOMs but as I said before I just haven’t reviewed them), there’s a few jokes here that did get a laugh out of me but like some of the later DCOMs a lot of the jokes are just not very funny.
The Slumber Party is also the fourth movie this year to use Bonnie Tyler’s song “Holding Out For A Hero” Tetris, Shazam: Fury Of The Gods and The Super Mario Bros Movie being the other three. The use of the song here is fine, it gets the job done but honestly really demonstrates how overused the song is really becoming. Obviously this isn’t the movie’s fault as they really couldn’t have predicted that many other movies would have used it in the exact same year. It’s just frustrating that’s all.
Side tangent aside the main issue is the movie is ultimately just The Hangover but with kids in it, there really isn’t anything else here to really stand out. Having that said this is absolutely a movie where I do think younger audiences will love it, it’s completely harmless and I can imagine it does get the job done by entertaining it’s target audience.
A year after her divorce, 32-year-old Helen Carpenter lets her brother persuade her to sign up for a wilderness survival course. Through this experience she discovers that you have to get lost to find yourself.
Happiness For Beginners is yet another Netflix romantic comedy movie, while it is a lot better and a bit more focused than some recent ones. It still runs into some of the exact same issues.
Ellie Kemper gives a very solid performance as well as the rest of the cast, the filming is actually quite decent here maybe it’s because the movie largely takes place during a wilderness survival course which gives us some shots that are quite nice to look at.
The main issue here is predictably it hits all of the very typical Netflix romantic comedy story beats that have existed and will continue to exist, the characters don’t have quite enough development isn’t quite enough for the viewer to really latch on to.
I really don’t know what else to say here, each time I review these movies it gets much harder to say something that I haven’t already said. This one just has Ellie Kemper in it and is a bit better than a lot of the other ones that have been released.
Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.
A live action Barbie film has always been talked about for years, it was bound to happen at some point in time it was just a matter of who was going to be involved and who was going to make the film into something really special? When Greta Gerwig who previously directed Lady Bird and Little Women (both fantastic films) was announced for the project I knew almost immediately we were going to get something truly beautiful. I’m really glad to say that’s what ended up happening here, there is so much to absolutely love here and so much that is surprisingly really moving.
Starting with the cast which are all absolutely fantastic in their own way, even if some of the cast don’t get much screentime such as Dua Lipa and John Cena they are still such a treat to still have and are still a lot of fun. Margot Robbie as Barbie or Stereotypical Barbie gives one of the most charming and fun performances so far this year, she was made to play Barbie and that really shows here. She adds a huge amount of surprising depth to the character especially during the second half of the film where there’s a few dramatic moments that are actually quite impactful to the viewer.
Ryan Gosling gives such a fascinating performance, Gosling plays Ken who is just so entertaining to watch. His singing performance of “I’m Just Ken” is a highlight of the film and really gives one of the most energetic moments in a film so far this year, much like Barbie we see a lot of development from Ken and while there isn’t as many dramatic moments with Ken there’s still some that really are quite powerful and give the character a lot of depth. Finally Ken is just a whole lot of fun to watch, Gosling’s performance gives so many laughs that add up quickly, the balance of Ken being hilarious and his attitude later of the film is truly spectacular and is only boosted from Gosling’s performance.
America Ferrera gets a moment towards the end that is truly beautiful and really matches the tone the film is going for (which I’ll get to in a bit), Will Farrell actually gives one of his best performances in quite a long time. He’s genuinely hilarious here and he adds a lot of the satire elements to the film since he plays the CEO of Mattel, he also gives the viewer some quite great laughs as well. Lastly Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Alexandera Shipp, Emma Mackey and Hari Nef as the various Barbies are all a lot of fun. Sure they don’t get the most screentime but it works for the film since they are all quite entertaining and actually contribute to the film with their own personalities. Rhea Pearlman also gives some of the most powerful moments of the film that leaves such a massive impact on the viewer.
The production design, filming and just the overall look of the film is incredible, this is exactly what you would think when you think of somebody saying “Barbieland” pink, colorful and this world that you the viewer can quickly grow attached to. There’s so much attention to detail in every single shot of the film and matches the satirical and goofy nature of the characters, the world building is straight to the point while also being quite entertaining. You quickly learn the many parts of Barbieland and the film does a fantastic job of building them up for future scenes.
The music is phenomenal it has this stage performance type of feel to it that I truly wasn’t expecting at all, there’s tons of songs here that are truly well done particularly “Dance The Night” by Dua Lip, “I’m Just Ken” which Ryan Gosling sings as mentioned before and “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish which is one of the most touching scenes of the film, it’s such a meaningful scene that really gives Margot Robbie’s Barbie a huge amount of development along with such a strong acting moments from Rhea Pearlman and Margot Robbie. All of the songs match each of the scenes they are in and really do a fantastic job of telling the story along with the writing.
Finally there’s the themes of the film I mentioned earlier about the tone the film is going for and while it is this Saturday morning cartoon a long with a comedic satirical tone. The film does talk about feminism and the patriarchy, the film does this in such a passionate and very caring way that really makes the viewer invested, I’m not going to say what it says because that is sort of a moment where you really need to see it to get the full impact. But honestly what makes it truly special is the film is so lovely and earnest about what it’s saying. There’s so much passion and heart poured into it’s message that is truly touching and ends up being quite meaningful which makes the message relatable and easy to connect with.
Overall Barbie is phenomenal, Greta Gerwig truly delivered something incredibly special, combining elements from her previous films with Barbie and some new ones was very clever way to make the film work!
Owen Browning is a straight-laced bank manager about to marry the love of his life, Parker. When his bank is held up by the Ghost Bandits during his wedding week, he believes his future in-laws who just arrived in town are the infamous outlaws.
I’ll give The Out-Laws this…it’s better than Tyler Spindel’s last two Netflix films The Wrong Missy and Father Of The Year. However that is really not saying much when you think back to how bad those two movies really were.
I can at the very least say with The Out-Laws there was a small level of attempt (and I mean very small) to try and make something work but that’s mainly through Pierce Brosnan and Ellen Barkin, who are mainly funny due to them seeming like they don’t want to be on set (outside of a few moments). Adam DeVine like in most cases comes off as very unlikable almost immediately, his performance is extremely annoying spewing so much bad writing that is only made more insufferable due to his dreadful performance. Nina Dobrev isn’t horrible but she’s barely given anything to work with that could make into something interesting and compelling.
The writing is what seals the movie’s fate, it’s the exact sort of comedy you would expect from a Happy Madison and Netflix crossover. It’s the type of comedy that is so desperate for a laugh that it will just throw random, bizarre or flat out obvious joke that the viewer saw coming from a mile away and hope it sticks. If anything the only interesting about this movie is how anyone looked at the script and Adam DeVine’s performance and thought this was somehow a good idea.
In the midst of navigating the hardships of adolescence, 12-year-old Prem Patel discovers his deceased father was a rapper. He sets out to pursue a career for himself as a rap superstar and is determined to find out if hip-hop is in his DNA.
Got to say I’m a bit surprised from World’s Best, while it does fall into the typical Disney+ movie hole where it does end up feeling like a Disney Channel Original Movie. There’s a genuine amount of fun to be had here with this one.
Utkarsh Ambudkar is a whole lot of fun here and really puts his all into a performance that may not always give him the best material, but during the music segments he takes advantage of it and really pulls some great moments. Manny Magnus is a solid lead and does a pretty solid job of making his character feel quite grounded in a lot of ways, it will be interesting to see where his career goes.
The rest of the cast while not anything necessarily amazing, they get the job done and are genuinely charming as well. As I said before World’s Best can feel like a Disney channel original movie at times with the script being the main culprit plus some of the humor isn’t quite great either. Granted it is less noticeable as a lot of other Disney+ original movies, the movie itself does follow a lot of story beats about a child (in this case son) who wants to follow the footsteps of their deceased parent (in this case father).
But what makes this one standout a bit more is the direction from Roshan Sethi (who previously directed 7 Days), he brings a handful of heartwarming moments that are just enough to push the movie over the finish line. It has a lot of heart and does manage to make some of the characters feel a bit more grounded.
Overall World’s Best is flawed but a quite charming movie that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome.
Encouraged by his fiancee, a man and his father spend the weekend with her wealthy and exceedingly eccentric family. The gathering soon develops into a culture clash, allowing father and son to discover the true meaning of family.
You ever get those movies where you watch it and then say “hey that wasn’t that bad!” and then slowly but surely come to realize “oh god that was actually awful” that’s my experience with About My Father.
Honestly I really don’t have anything insightful to say about this one mostly because there just isn’t a whole lot to say, it’s a bad studio comedy that was sent out one weekend and nobody talked about it. I will say Robert De Niro is quite great and I really have to give him credit, no matter how bad a movie is he always makes his performance work and that’s the case here. There’s some genuinely great jokes here and a majority of it come from De Niro. Kim Cattrall is also quite a lot of fun as well.
The main issue with About My Father is that outside of De Niro and Cattrall everything else is very dull and really doesn’t have much going on, we have seen the same sort of story before but done far better. We have seen these exact sort of characters but once again done far better and a lot of the humor that doesn’t involve De Niro fails to land.
About My Father is available on all VOD platforms.
Following a writer on his world famous fictional play about a grieving father who travels with his tech-obsessed family to small rural Asteroid City to compete in a junior stargazing event, only to have his world view disrupted forever.
Asteroid City is directed by Wes Anderson a director that has shown time and time again he always has something a bit different up his sleeve, even when some of films don’t fully land I still always appreciate the artistry that went into making them. Asteroid City is something completely different that combines so many different elements that it ends up being one of my favorite films so far in his career.
To start with the opening credits perfectly summarize the type of atmosphere and style you are going to get with this film, the opening song “Last Train to San Fernando” by Johnny Duncan & His Bluegrass Boys (it was in the trailer) perfectly captures the atmosphere of the film, it’s beautifully used and such a fun song to open with, I’ve had this song stuck in my head ever since I saw last week and the more I think about the scene the more I truly love it. It does everything an opening credits scene should do, get the viewer invested and give a sort of thesis like statement atmosphere wise.
The cast are all phenomenal here, once again Wes Anderson uses his style but does a few things differently, a few notable performances include Jason Schwartzman who plays Augie Steenback is phenomenal and is one of my absolute favorite performances so far this year, he gives a raw performance that really blends in with the rest of the cast. Steve Carell is hilarious, Jack Ryan and Grace Edwards have fantastic chemistry. Plus Jack Ryan and Jason Schwartzman are quite hilarious together, plus they have some interactions that are genuinely touching that really bring the heart of the film. Maya Hawke while not a main character absolutely nails her role every time she’s on screen with such a fun performance that really captures her character quite well.
Tom Hanks is also quite strong here, with some pretty hilarious moments and is actually a very different type of role than he usually does, Bryan Cranston does a fantastic job at capturing the whole 1950s TV host who really makes certain portions of the film actually feel like you are watching 1950s Television. Finally there’s Margot Robbie who although gets one scene that scene in particular is a huge standout in the film that’s incredibly beautiful and quite meaningful as well.
There’s two very different styles going on here in Asteroid City, the first one being a style that really looks like a beautiful painting combined with a Looney Tunes cartoon particularly Wile E. Coyote and The Roadrunner cartoons and I mean that in a very positive way. What Wes Anderson decides to do with this style is quite fascinating, he brings so many interactions between the several characters with a huge amount of detail. Aliens are also brought into the mix which takes the approach that Jordan Peele’s film Nope did where the film is analogue to find more life which also relates to creative processes, much like Nope this film really succeeds in doing that masterfully and asks a few other questions as well.
The other style being used here is actually quite interesting it’s this black and white style, one of the main ideas is that the film Asteroid City is a play in the universe the film takes place in, meaning we get to see the actors and actresses in this portion of the film as well. It’s a very interesting blend between the two very different styles the play’s events being depicted in stylized color as well as widescreen, while the television special is in black and white Academy ratio. It has this old Vs new type feel to it that I absolutely love when films go for, both styles compliment each other incredibly well and really bring in their own ideas.
Lastly there’s the writing and direction which are both phenomenal, there’s truly some powerful themes being tackled here such as not understanding the character your playing motivations Jason Schwartzman’s character Jones Hall who plays Augie in the play is frustrated because he doesn’t know the motivation. When he meets Margot Robbie’s character an actress who was originally going to be in the play but was cut. This was the scene I was referring to earlier and it’s just phenomenal and quite honestly one of my favorite scenes I’ve seen from a film so far this year. The writing is also quite hilarious with tons of moments that perfectly blend the dramatic moments with the comedic ones.
Overall Asteroid City is a phenomenal film that I loved so much more than I was expecting, as I said before this is definitely one of my favorites from Wes Anderson and most definitely a highlight from this year thus far.
On the brink of losing her childhood home, a desperate woman agrees to date a wealthy couple’s introverted and awkward 19-year-old son. However, he proves to be more of a challenge than she expected, and time is running out before she loses it all.
No Hard Feelings is the very definition of a fun little film that is a nice throwback to the raunchy films of the 2000s. While No Hard Feelings might not be the most hilarious raunchy comedy in the world, it more then makes up for that with tons of elements and performances that are truly a blast of fun.
Jennifer Lawrence is what sells this film by far and is the film’s strongest part about it. Jennifer Lawrence hasn’t done a comedic role in awhile (we do not talk about Don’t Look Up) and she still is genuinely hilarious. What’s a bit surprising to me is that the film actually has a lot of heart, we get a lot more than surface level information about Jennifer Lawrence’s character. Which is typically not something you usually get with raunchy comedies.
Andrew Barth Feldman is also quite fantastic as well, his performance really blends well with Jennifer Lawrence and the two have really strong chemistry together, Feldman is also quite entertaining there’s tons of jokes here that he delivered really well plus having his own style to them as well. A standout scene is Feldman singing Maneater (1982) by the American duo Hall & Oats, wonderful use of the song and is a scene that really shocked me mainly because of how great and touching it really was.
The writing is definitely surprising, while not every single joke lands perfectly as I said earlier there’s a huge amount of heart in the film that was not really expected. But it gives the film the extra push it needs to really standout, plus the many jokes that do land are genuinely hilarious. Most of all what makes the film work is just how fun it really is. There’s this whole element of after the film ends you and your friends talk about which scene you loved the most and list your favorite hilarious moments. That’s captured quite well here and it’s truly a beautiful thing to see.
Overall No Hard Feelings is a very straight to the point and a really fun raunchy comedy that isn’t just a throwback film but stands alongside the rest of the films of the genre, I can easily see this one become sort of a classic that gets talked about on social media very often. Check this one out!
Jerome Reviews... 