Debbie and Peter are best friends and total opposites. She craves routine with her son in LA, but he thrives on change in NY. When they swap houses and lives for a week they discover what they think they want might not be what they really need.
What can I even say here? Your Place Or Mine is yet another bland and forgettable Netflix romantic comedy movie that adds nothing new to the genre at all.
The biggest problem here is the chemistry between Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher while their performances aren’t terrible, the chemistry is just not there. There’s so many moments that completely take you out of the movie due to how nonexistent the chemistry really is, the characters themselves aren’t well written either. They mainly serve as the usual romantic comedy characters that go through the usual arcs and that’s it, the writing has it’s moments where there are some display of Witherspoon’s and Kutcher’s talent and how strong they are as performers. But those are so far and few in between.
A new couple and their families reckon with modern love amid culture clashes, societal expectations and generational differences.
Over the years I’ve been much more positive when it comes to bad movies especially in my reviews. I can recognize in a lot of cases there was at least some level of attempt to try and craft something interesting or good. You People is not one of those movies.
The only positive I can give this movie is Eddie Murphy, Nia Long and Julia Louis Dreyfus who honestly try their hardest with such an embarrassing script that wastes such a great cast. There’s so many issues here that really played into how terrible You People ended up being but if we are going to talk about the worst it’s two major things, the writing and the horrendous comedic timing.
I’ll start with the comedic timing mainly due to how flat out in your face it really is, something that you quickly notice about this movie is it builds a joke and doesn’t seem to know how to end it. So it continues the joke until the movie has no choice but to move on, there’s this one scene where Jonah Hill and Sam Jay are talking and they name drop Drake at least 9 to 11 times (yes I kept count) that whole joke was for one scene that ultimately didn’t add much to the plot. There’s so many other scenes like this that drag a joke on for far too long and each and every time it’s worse than the last.
Then there’s the writing that is just abysmal, as I said before some of the actors try to make it work but it just doesn’t work at all, there’s a lot of celebrity name drops, attempts at cringe humor that just end up being completely embarrassing and a first act that is very fast paced for some reason. Which doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense because the movie is 1 hour and 58 minutes, so why was there a need to completely brush through the first act? We don’t get to see Jonah Hill and Lauren London bond very well at all, so how is the viewer supposed to buy in their relationship?
You People is by far the worst movie I’ve seen so far this year, I know that’s not saying much since we are only a little bit in the year. But this just really baffled me to be quite honest.
Darcy and Tom gather their families for a destination wedding, but the ceremony gets put on hold when gunmen take everyone hostage. Now, they must do everything they can to save their loved ones — if they don’t wind up killing each other first.
Shotgun Wedding was originally going to be released into theaters, in fact it was supposed to come out in June of last year. Amazon Studios bought the rights to the movie from Lionsgate in March 2022 and now here we are today as it released on Amazon Prime Video and it’s not exactly hard to see why.
The positives come from Jennifer Coolidge who despite given not a whole lot to work with still manages to be pretty funny and still have some great comedic charming. Coolidge’s charm really works here and easily steals the show, Jennifer Lopez isn’t too bad here either although I would argue her performance is a step down from last year’s Marry Me. The rest of the cast isn’t too bad either, in fact all of them really try their hardest with such a lacking script that’s heavily restricting them from doing anything memorable.
The major issue here is that Shotgun Wedding is about as dull as you can get with a action comedy, the action scenes are not memorable or aren’t very fun at all. The comedy is mostly restricted to Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel arguing over and over again, which while it might be funny for about 3 minutes it quickly gets very old. If anything the actual comedy comes from the side characters. There’s some genuinely funny bits from the side characters that actually work decently, the other major problem is the script. There’s just not a whole lot here to work with, if the goal was to make an action comedy movie well this sure is an action comedy but it’s missing quite a lot on what makes a good action comedy.
Overall Shotgun Wedding is very forgettable and such a waste of potential with such a great cast.
Shotgun Wedding is available on Amazon Prime Video.
A young man struggling with a broken heart learns that his new place is full of restless spirits.
Sorry About The Demon is a horror comedy that exists (yeah I got no intro for this one), the movie attempts to poke fun of a lot of the common haunted house movie tropes we see a lot. Does it do that well? Yes and no this one is definitely a mixed bag.
The cast is decent enough which is probably the best thing going for the movie, there’s some genuine attempts at humor some of which are pretty funny at times mainly during the first half that does seem like it’s committing to making fun of a lot of tropes. When the second half rolls around that’s when things start to fall apart, it just sort of becomes exactly like the type of movies it’s poking fun of. Which is a bit disappointing because the whole set up for the movie is quite hilarious, I also do think the movie focusing on being way too lighthearted a lot of the time really hurt the movie. I get it was clearly trying to appeal to wider audiences but sacrificing humor that could have worked so much better, writing and character moments that needed much more time to develop wasn’t exactly a great choice.
As I said at the beginning Sorry For The Demon sort of exists, outside of some decent acting, a promising first half and a few jokes there really isn’t much to offer here.
As summer rolls around again, kids are gathering from all over to attend AdirondACTS, a scrappy theater camp in upstate New York that’s a haven for budding performers. After its indomitable founder Joan (Amy Sedaris) falls into a coma, her clueless “crypto-bro” son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) is tasked with keeping the thespian paradise running. With financial ruin looming, Troy must join forces with Amos (Ben Platt), Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon), and their band of eccentric teachers to come up with a solution before the curtain rises on opening night.
Theater Camp is a mockumentary style film that pokes fun of theater camps but at the same time brings this nostalgia factor into the mix, which is mainly the reason why the film succeeds.
If Theater Camp were just another mockumentary it would still be great due to other factors but I don’t think it would stand out anywhere near as much, luckily directors Nick Lieberman and Molly Gordon put in a little bit of everything that everyone can relate to. Sure a lot of it is things theater kids will most definitely remember from their early years, but even if you were just in one play for the middle school or elementary school you went to you can definitely relate to this film.
The performances are truly fantastic here, Ben Platt, Molly Gordon and the kids give tremendous performances that really capture the spirit of the film and the spirit of theater in general, there’s a lot of in jokes that Gordon and Lieberman make sure to put in. Even if you did one play in your life you will get these jokes, the singing voices are fantastic with each of the songs complimenting the film quite well especially the last one which really wraps the film up very nicely.
Lastly the film is just genuinely really fun, there’s truly so much love and effort put into the film that really puts a smile on your face by the end of the film. It captures the fun and chaotic nature of theater so well and makes it a blast, this is one I highly recommend!
Onyx the Fortuitous, is struggling. He’s misunderstood at home and work, but his dreams for a new life seem to be answered when he lands a coveted invitation to the mansion of his idol Bartok the Great for a ritual to raise the spirit of an ancient demon.
Unfortunately Onyx The Fortuitous and the Talisman Of Souls did not do it for me at all, once again I don’t have a whole lot to say here mainly due to the fact this based off something I have never heard of up until I saw the movie.
Onyx The Fortuitous is a character that Andrew Bowser he also plays the character, he’s character that has a very dedicated following online. And apparently this movie was a Kickstarter project so I do give the much earned respect Andrew Bowser and his team deserve for making the movie actually happen. Unfortunately the said movie isn’t that great, while the cast is pretty fun particularly Olivia Dudley and Rivkah Reyes who actually do bring some decent performances and everyone else seems to be having a lot of fun. The rest of the movie has a lot of jokes that fall completely flat plus if you have no idea who Onyx is like I did you are not going to get a lot of the in jokes among other elements as well.
What really does put the nail in the coffin is the pacing combined with the running time, this was much too long and I get they wanted to make something more grand and special for the character. But sometimes online characters work far better in shorter video format and that’s definitely the case here, it starts to become very repetitive after awhile and just makes you keep checking the time when it will be over.
I’m sure die hard fans will love this but for everyone else not so much unfortunately.
Onyx The Fortuitous and the Talisman Of Souls currently has no release date.
Aspiring club promoters and best buddies Damon and Kevin are barely keeping things together. Out of money, down on their luck and about to lose the roofs over their heads, they need a huge windfall to make their problems go away. They soon decide to host the party of the year at an exclusive mansion, which just happens to belong to none other than NBA superstar LeBron James.
House Party (2023) is a reboot and remake of the 1990 film of the same name, this is yet another confusing case of remaking something just because they could. House Party (1990) was a fun little movie that while may not be anything incredible it didn’t need to be, it’s one of those movies where you just sit back and vibe with it. Plus it’s such a late 80s and very early 90s movie that you just can’t help but have fun with it, so how does the remake stack up? Well let’s see.
Honestly the movie did have a bit of potential at the beginning, there’s at least some genuinely great jokes here that did get a few laughs out of me. Jacob Latimore and Tosin Cole are truly giving it their all here but the script really lacks in the humor department outside of a few jokes and mainly results in cameos. Yes House Party (2023) is one of those movies where it heavily relies on cameos, it servers nothing more than for the viewer to point at the screen and say “hey I know that guy!” I’ve said before that it’s a very cheap tactic that some movies use to avoid storytelling. Having that said the movie isn’t as bad as it could have been, the main issue here is that the whole movie is just bland.
It completely misses the fun elements of the original and instead goes for a very dull cameo fest, the acting isn’t even that bad it’s the script as I said before that’s really holding it back. At the very least it does seem like the cast had an absolute blast making the movie.
Overall House Party (2023) is a remake that just exists, while it could have easily been a lot worse, that reallt doesn’t mean anything when it completely misses the vibe the original had.
A married couple face a marriage test when one of them drops a baby during an island wedding.
We are two weeks into 2023 (at the time this was written) and we already have a movie where the main premise is that a young woman drops a baby during an island wedding, an idea that instantly makes the movie standout but does the rest of the movie help back this up?
The best thing I can say about The Drop is that it at least looked nice, which is mainly due to the location the movie was shot in a small beachside town in Mexico called Sayulita. There were some genuinely beautiful shots that do give the movie a bit of personality in some areas, Anna Knokle and Jermaine Fowler give fine enough performances that are easily some of the movie’s best moments especially the interactions between the two. Everything else however is a lot of wasted potential, the whole idea of someone dropping a baby is something a cringe comedy should excel at executing however that just doesn’t happen here. Instead there’s a lot of terrible jokes that go on for way too long, the pacing is a drag and a lot of the time ends up over explaining a joke. The attempts at dramatic moments are very mismatched when you remember the premise of the movie, even if you took away the premise the drama bits aren’t exactly memorable. A lot of it is your usual romantic comedy bits that have been done far better before.
The cast is absolutely wasted here and it’s very unfortunate, even though I said Anna Knokle and Jermaine Fowler gave fine enough performances they could have absolutely been a lot better. The script just does not give enough material to work with and really stays on this bland comedy route that really fits the “shoved on to a streaming service” mindset.
There really isn’t much else to say about The Drop, it’s a huge missed opportunity that could have been hilarious had the writing been a lot stronger. I’m not sure how you take a premise such as dropping a baby and make it incredibly forgettable and bland but here we are I guess.
Decadence, depravity, and outrageous excess lead to the rise and fall of several ambitious dreamers in 1920s Hollywood.
Part of what I truly love about film is that you will get times when directors go completely off the walls and create something incredibly unhinged. Babylon is definitely one of those cases, this is most definitely not a film that’s going to be for everyone. But It absolutely worked for me, for starters the cast was truly fantastic, I could write an entire post on how or what each of the characters contributes to the film but we would be here all day. Margot Robbie gives yet another really exciting performance that really captures the insane nature of the film, Diego Calva is truly great here as well. His interactions with the rest cast feels very genuine and we quickly see his character Manuel climb to the top as the film goes on, some smaller performances that really stood are Li Jun Li who is just having a ton of fun, P.J. Byrne who gives some of the film’s best comedic moments that are truly hilarious, Jovan Adepo who gives an incredibly solid performance and really dives into his role and finally there’s Tobey Maguire who honestly gives one of the most hilarious performances I’ve seen all year, he is very representative of how unhinged the film really is especially during the final act. The cinematography is beautiful and really captures a lot of the bizarre nature of the film combine that with the film’s overall theme…change and adapt. At the beginning we see (in the perspective of the characters) Hollywood at it’s prime, slowly but surely as new film technique’s are introduced and are the next big thing we see some of the character’s desperately trying to change and adapt, for some they adapt decently well but for others it starts their downfall which leads into some quite powerful moments. The writing really reflects that with a lot of the characters trying to figure out ways to standout in the new era of film, lastly there’s the film’s final moments where we see how far film has come, other characters realizing that they can’t adapt so they completely walk away. It’s truly some really strong elements combined into one bizarre film!
The Clades are a legendary family of explorers whose differences threaten to topple their latest and most crucial mission into uncharted and treacherous territory.
I know this is a common cliche to say in movie reviews of movies that had a lot of potential but I’m going to ask it anyway…what happened here? I will say the animation is very colorful and has a lot of detail to it plus I really liked Ethan (voiced by Jaboukie Young-White) as well as the rest of the cast. They all give pretty solid voice work that adds to their characters quite well, even if some of the characters aren’t exactly that well written. Which is when the problems start to occur…the writing, what you have here is a pretty strong cast that unfortunately has to work with a very lackluster script that really doesn’t offer anything new to the table. A lot of this is a very basic Sci-Fi story of a group of people who get stuck on a planet, there’s some nice representation here (at least when you compare it to Disney’s other films) but that doesn’t help the movie all that much. Ethan is a great character that’s surrounded by a very bland movie that unfortunately doesn’t take the opportunity to explore the movie’s themes, there’s a few scenes that dance around the movie’s themes but don’t flat out want to tell them. Having that said I do think there’s some cute father and son bonding moments here that are effective and are by far some of the highlights of the movie. Strange World is just one of those Disney films that sort of exists, it’s not particularly bad but it’s a very forgettable and uninspired movie that could have absolutely been great had the writing been far better.
Jerome Reviews... 