The BETTER “No Strings Attached”

Dylan (Justin Timberlake) writes an internet blog.  Jamie (Mila Kunis, who wears amazing yet very high heels throughout this movie…walking around New York City!!!  How does she do that??) is a headhunter who lives and works in New York City.  She meets Dylan when she is working for GQ to hire a new manager, and Dylan is perfect for the job.  When he takes the position and agrees to move to NYC, Dylan and Jamie become close friends.  They watch movies together, go out to lunch together, and have fun together, just like friends do.

Since Dylan and Jamie are both single now, while watching a movie one night (I can’t remember the name, but it was a typical annoying Hollywood romance, starring Jason Segel and Rashida Jones.  It was funny because it was set in NYC but filmed in Los Angeles and that was painfully obvious) and enjoying a few beers, they both decide that they miss sex.  So they decide to do it.  They swear on an iPad bible app that it won’t ruin their friendship, and that it will be just this one time.

When they make it to the bedroom, the dialogue is very untypical yet hilarious!!  Dylan admits that he is grossed out by feet, so he wears socks.  ALL THE TIME (yes, even in bed).   He also has a tattoo of a lightning bolt, because when he was younger he wanted to be a superhero, and he is also a fan of the Harry Potter books!!  Of course, just this one time turns into many more times, until Jamie decides she wants to start dating again for real.  So they go back to being friends.

Jamie meets Parker (Bryan Greenberg), a child oncologist who seems perfect, but of course he turns out to be a jerk.  And Dylan has one date with a woman who is just way too into sniffing his armpits (weird!!).  When Jamie gets dumped by both Parker and her mother on Fourth of July weekend, Dylan invites her to come with him to Los Angeles to visit his family.

While, there, Jamie learns about Dylan’s obsession with Kris Kross’s song “Jump” when he was younger which leads to a fun scene.  They also have an incident at the Hollywood sign which ends in someone being lifted away by a helicopter. Also while there, things take a turn for the worse as Jamie overhears Dylan saying some not-so-nice things about her to his sister.  She decides to head back to NYC early, and from there things get rocky between the friends, because Jamie has feelings for Dylan.

I won’t say what happens next, although it’s not too hard to figure out.

There is a lot of talk about the similarity of “Friends with Benefits” to “No Strings Attached”.  Yes, they both had similar plots; however “Friends with Benefits” was WAY better.  I’m not just saying that because I’m a borderline obsessive Justin Timberlake fan.  The acting was better, there was actual chemistry between the lead actors, the story flowed much better, and overall it was just a lot funnier.  One of the scenes near the beginning was very clever, and the fun didn’t stop there!!  Also, the supporting characters were more fun in “Friends with Benefits”.  Tommy (Woody Harrelson) was hilarious as the gay sports writer for GQ, who kept trying to get Dylan to go out trolling for men with him.

Dylan’s sister Annie (Jenna Elfman), her son Sam (Nolan Gould), an aspiring magician whose tricks never really went right, and Dylan’s father (Richard Jenkins) gave great performances.  It was sad to see Dylan’s father suffering from Alzheimer’s.  Annie and Dylan had to keep explaining to their father why their mother was no longer there (divorce) or why he couldn’t go out on his boat (they sold it), yet it was funny when he decided he didn’t like pants anymore so he took them off (at the airport).  Jamie’s mother, Lorna (Patricia Clarkson, who also starred with Justin Timberlake in the SNL Digital Short “Motherlover”) was flaky yet funny.  Although mother and daughter didn’t have the greatest relationship, they still got along ok overall.

Overall, “Friends with Benefits” is a raunchy, hilarious comedy that will make your stomach hurt from laughing so hard.  This was another excellent movie from Will Gluck, who also directed one of my favorite movies from last year, “Easy A”.  (Fun Fact:  Emma Stone, who played the lead in “Easy A” has a small part in this movie as Dylan’s ex-girlfriend).   Please leave the kids at home for this one!!

I’ve said it before and I’m not afraid to say it again – Hollywood has pretty much run out of ideas.  Most films that are released are either sequels or remakes or book adaptations or hybrids of other movies.  I’m going to say that “Monte Carlo” is a mix of “Big Business” and “White Chicks”.  I’ve seen comparisons between “Monte Carlo” and “Model Behavior” but I disagree because the switcheroo in “Model Behavior” was intentional, while in “Monte Carlo” it was accidental.  (Don’t know what “Model Behavior” is??  Check it out on imdb, here)

Grace (Selena Gomez) has just graduated from high school.  She’s been saving money for her dream trip to Paris for the past four years.  Now she is about to take her fabulous vacation with her best friend Emma (Katie Cassidy), a 20-year old waitress who wears “hoochie heels” and is dating local boy Owen (Cory Monteith from “Glee”).  Too bad Grace’s stepfather is insisting that Grace’s stepsister Meg (Leighton Meester, who was much less scary in this movie than in “The Roommate” thank goodness!!) join the girls on their vacation.  Grace and Meg aren’t very sisterly towards each other, and Grace and Emma pretty much resent Meg’s intrusion into their trip.

Once in Paris, the girls join a tour that truly is “whirlwind tour” of Paris.  They move through the Louvre so fast, I’m amazed they saw anything at all!!  (Anyone who’s been to the Louvre knows that you need a long time to really see everything there).  And as it always happens in the movies, the accommodations are not what they seem, as their room is dirty and small and ugly.  But hey, they do have their own bathroom (unlike the Griswolds).  On the second day of their tour the girls are left behind, stranded at the Eiffel Tower, unable to make it back to the tour or their crappy hotel room.  They then get in a tiff about the tour bus leaving and Grace feels terrible because she was the one who planned the whole trip and now it’s all ruined.  At this point, I got a little annoyed, because there are always tons of taxis near the Eiffel Tower, so I’m not sure why they didn’t just get in a taxi to rejoin the tour group, but they didn’t.  They ended up traipsing through the sudden rainstorm and popping into the lobby of a fancy hotel to dry off.

Also at the fancy hotel is Cordelia Winthrop Scott (Selena Gomez again), a spoiled British heiress who is a tabloid favorite due to her outrageous behavior.  She is angry because she is supposed to fly to Monte Carlo to do a charity event but she would rather go off and party.  While the girls are drying off in the bathroom, Cordelia enters and Emma and Meg are stunned by her striking resemblance to Grace (Grace is crying in a bathroom stall at the time and didn’t see Cordelia).  Once Cordelia is gone, the hotel workers mistake Grace for Cordelia and show her to her lavish suite, complete with a multitude of suitcases containing all kinds of fancy clothing, jewelry, and makeup galore.  So they decide to lie down on the posh bed and rest for a few minutes.  Next thing they know, it’s morning and they attempt to sneak out of the hotel, until the hotel employees inform “Cordelia” that her plane is ready to take her to Monte Carlo.  The girls decide to go along with it, and a case of mistaken identity has now become impersonation, as Grace now takes Cordelia’s place at the charity event in Monte Carlo.

Cordelia’s escort is Theo (Pierre Boulanger), whose father is in charge of the charity that is holding the event (the charity raises money to build schools for needy children).  At first Theo is unhappy that Cordelia is supposed to be there but then she grows on him (of course, because she is really Grace!!).  The girls thought they would only be in Monte Carlo briefly, but they discover they will be there for a few days, until the big charity auction, to which Cordelia is donating a multi-million dollar necklace (it was gorgeous and sparkly, all diamonds and sapphires!!).

Along the way, the three girls grow up and learn more about themselves and their relationships with each other and with the boys in their lives.  Since Emma did not leave Owen on such good terms, he decides to fly to Paris to surprise her.  And that’s where the “White Chicks” comparison comes in, as he sees the girls in the newspaper at the charity event (just like how the Wilson sisters discovered they were being impersonated) and knows where they are.  And since they’re in the newspaper, someone else spots the picture and discovers what is really going on.

My complaints about this movie were that the girls never appeared to return to their original crappy hotel to retrieve their belongings (wouldn’t they want their stuff??) and the lack of consistency in the character’s accents.  Emma’s Texas accent faded in and out, and when Grace was impersonating Cordelia her British accent faded in and out as well (although I’m not sure if that was intentional or not).  Oh, and they also kind of glorified identity theft, but they didn’t do it on purpose (not really) and they tried to help a charity, and they did come clean in the end.

Overall, “Monte Carlo” was a fun, fluffy, fantasy confection (not a dirty fantasy, but a happy, fairy-tale fantasy).  I probably would have done what those girls did if given the chance.  Who wouldn’t want to live like the rich and famous, even for only a few days??

How far will one teacher go to land a man??

Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) just finished the school year at John Adams Middle School (JAMS for short, it took me most of the movie to realize what JAMS stood for so I’m putting that out there up front).  Her fellow faculty members give her a lovely good-bye party and she heads home to her sugar daddy/fiance Mark (Nat Faxon).  Unfortunately, Mark ends the engagement and Elizabeth has no choice but to move into an apartment with a man she met on Craig’s List and resume teaching at JAMS.

Now more than ever, Miss Halsey just doesn’t care.  Instead of teaching, she shows school-related movies in class, including:  “Lean on Me”, “Dangerous Minds” and even “Scream” (hey it takes place in a school!!).  She drinks and sleeps during class and she smokes pot on the school grounds.  When she grades papers, she writes comments such as “Stupid”, “Wrong”, “So Stupid”, you get the gist.  Unfortunately, her classroom is right across the hall from Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch) who is kind of obnoxious, annoying, a real Little-Miss-Perfect.  Miss Squirrel is always pointing out Miss Halsey’s flaws and really, who likes that kind of person anyways??  (She also had an incident back in 2008 which I don’t think was ever fully explained but it seemed like some kind of meltdown).

When Miss Halsey meets Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake), the new school substitute, she thinks she sees her ticket out of JAMS.  Scott is rich and Elizabeth wants him to be her new sugar daddy.  Add gym teacher Russell Gettis (Jason Segel) into the mix and we have ourselves a love trapezoid (it’s a school movie, just go with it).  Both Miss Halsey and Miss Squirrel have the hots for Scott, but Russell only has eyes for Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth sees a picture of Scott’s ex, she thinks the best way to get him to notice her is to get a boob job.  So she begins collecting money for the procedure.  When fellow teacher Lynn tells her about a bonus that she can earn if her class scores the highest on the state exam, it’s game on for Miss Halsey!!  That’s when she becomes like a real teacher, because she has to beat Miss Squirrel (who usually wins the bonus) and get the money for her new boobs!!

The stand-outs in this movie were Kirk (Eric Stonestreet from”Modern Family”) and Lynn (Phyllis Smith from “The Office”).  It was funny to see Eric Stonestreet playing a butch, scooter-riding, school-official threatening character, a complete 180 from his character Cameron on “Modern Family”.  And I adored Phyllis Smith, she was so straight-laced it was cute to see her opposite Cameron Diaz’s ruthlessness in this movie.  I also liked John Michael Higgins as the earnest Principal Snur.  And of course, Thomas Lennon was awesome as always as the keeper of the statewide test.

I liked this movie because it didn’t sugar-coat anything.  In movies, we often see characters go through some life-changing event and they miraculously morph into some wonderful person.  Is real life like that??  Not really!!  SPOILER ALERT:  Elizabeth didn’t have an epiphany and donate all her hard-earned money to starving children in China.  Yes Miss Halsey was a little over-the-top, but so what?  She was funny and in the end, she got what she deserved (and so did Miss Squirrel).  We all know she is a bad teacher, but was she necessarily a bad person??  I don’t think so.

This movie is rated R for a reason.  This one is NOT for the kids.  Some examples of the adult content are:  many bare boobies, a scene where two characters dry hump each other, and bad language galore.

A feminine look at First Class…

I love superhero movies.  I’m not a fan of comic books, but I really enjoy the movies and learning about the characters and their stories.   I’m not going to lie though, I had no desire to see “Thor”.  For awhile I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to see “X-Men:  First Class”.  I really loved “X-Men”, really liked “X2″, and liked “X-Men:  The Last Stand” (although I remember being disappointed about something, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen it).  I like these movies because of the ensemble of characters, the good guys working together, the good guys working together with the bad guys, mutants versus humans, etc. I never saw “X-Men Origins:  Wolverine”, because I thought it only focused on Wolverine, and I didn’t want to see a movie about just one X-Men (X-Man??); I like the dynamic of the group interaction.  So, I was unsure about “X-Men:  First Class”, but the more previews I saw, the more I decided that I wanted to see it.

The movie starts out with a scene that looks a lot like a scene from a previous “X-Men” movie, where we see the beginnings of young Magneto’s powers in the 1940s.  Then we meet Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), a Nazi who enjoys experimenting with people and mutants.  What happens next is similar to a scene from “Star Wars Episode II”, and we see Magneto unleash his full powers.  Meanwhile, Charles is asleep in his family’s mansion when he hears an intruder, and he meets Raven/Mystique, a homeless orphan who is different like he is, and whom Charles offers a place to live.

Fast forward 20 years to the swinging 60s.  Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) has written a thesis on mutation.  He is best friends with his “sister” Raven (Jennifer Lawrence).  Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) is searching for Sebastian Shaw, who is now the leader of the Hellfire Club and has some powers of his own.

Meanwhile, there is some talk about nuclear weapons, Turkey, Russia, Cuba, and the CIA gets involved.  Enter Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne, who is seemingly everywhere nowadays) who observes some odd happenings in the back room of a club in Vegas involving Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost (January Jones), and Azazel (Jason Flemyng).  She seeks out Charles for help in explaining mutants to her boss.  They track down Sebastian Shaw, but guess who else has also caught up to him??  None other than Erik!!  Charles saves Erik from cetain death, Sebastian gets away, and the trio of mutants teams up to help the CIA.  But first, they decide to find others like them.  Other mutants. Other X-Men.  Enter Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Angel Salvadore (Zoe Kravitz), Sean Cassidy/Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones), Armando Muñoz/Darwin (Edi Gathegi), and Alex Summers/Havok (Lucas Til), some of whom appear in later installments in the series.

I really liked learning the back-stories of Mystique and Beast.  It was also nice to see Charles/Professor X and Erik/Magneto as friends and to see what drove them apart.  Prior to the screening, I had no idea that Kevin Bacon was in this movie.  He played a really good villain, because I certainly hated his character!!  And the first Magneto helmet, which Sebastian Shaw originated and wore first, I’m sorry but it made him look dorky.  It was effective, but dorky-looking.

Overall a solid superhero film and an excellent installment in the X-Men storyline.  After watching this movie you may be tempted to go looking for more information about the X-Men characters (I found this to be a very informative website:  marvel.com/universe) as I did, to learn even more.  And, keep your eyes open for a few surprises throughout the film.

When I first heard about “Bridesmaids”, I thought “Great!!  A movie I’ll definitely be able to relate to!!”.  Having been a bridesmaid thrice, with two more tours of duty coming up soon, this was perfect for me.  Well let me just say, thankfully I was not subjected to the insanity that these bridesmaids went through!!

Annie (Kristen Wiig) works for a jewelry store, because the cake shop business that she opened a few years ago failed.  She is single, but she has a “bang buddy” who doesn’t treat her very well.  She shares her apartment with an albino-looking set of siblings who happen to be British, and are not very nice to her.  As her mother (Jill Clayburgh) says, she’s hit rock bottom.

Annie and Lillian (Maya Rudolph) have been best friends forever.  When Lillian becomes engaged, she asks Annie to be her maid of honor.  Annie accepts, and then the “fun” begins.  Also in the bridal party are:  Megan (Melissa McCarthy), who is the groom’s sister, Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey), who is married with a few sons and is tired of her husband, Becca (Ellie Kemper) a newlywed, and Helen (Rose Byrne), who is Lillian’s fiance’s boss’s wife.  Things are starting to look up for Annie, especially when she catches the eye of a cop, Rhodes (Chris O’Dowd).

Too bad for Annie, from the beginning, Helen tries to out-do everything Annie does.  From the toast at the engagement party, to the fancy wedding dress shop she gets the girls into (which unfortunately they visit after lunch that does not sit well with the ladies, if you catch my drift), to the lavish bridal shower she throws (after stealing Annie’s theme idea), she pretty much takes over the maid of honor duties and eventually becomes maid of honor (by sabotaging Annie on the way to the bachelorette party in Vegas – what follows is hilarious yet unfortunate as they do not make it to Vegas because they get thrown off the plane).   She does it in such a way that it’s subtle but it really chaps Annie’s hide.  Like Annie doesn’t have enough to deal with!!

With a running time of just over two hours, “Bridesmaids” was jam-packed with outrageous moments, and it really took its time with character development.  Nothing felt rushed, they really let this one breathe and it made it even better.

I had doubts about Kristen Wiig leading the film, but she exceeded my expectations.  She really did a fantastic job with “Bridesmaids”.  Although, I felt that a bit of her “SNL” character Penelope (the perpetual exaggerator and one-upper) was peeking through, Annie wasn’t nearly as obnoxious as Penelope.  I found myself relating to her character in more than one way.  And anyone who has participated in wedding planning, while being single, broke, and borderline depressed will also!!  I really thought Melissa McCarthy stole every scene she was in, especially on the airplane ride to Vegas.

Warning:  not for the kids!!  There was liberal use of the F word as well as inappropriate content.  Fine for us adults but not for the kiddies!!

It’s in Rio, but there aint no dancing parrots! – Swift

Oh great….another installment in the “Fast and the Furious” series.  More street racing, more scantily-clad women, more fast cars and more meat-head guys right??  Wrong!!  This is number five and probably the second best film in the series (after the original).  I thought the franchise was tired and done, but I was pleasantly surprised with “Fast Five”.

At the end of “Fast and Furious” (part four), Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is headed to jail.  Suddenly, cars zoom up to the prison bus and the film ends.  Fast forward to the beginning of part five.  Here comes former cop Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker, who has come a long, long way from 1998′s “Meet the Deedles”) and Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) to break him out of custody.  Once Dom is free, they head to Rio de Janeiro, where they meet up with their old friend Vinnie (Matt Schulze – “The Fast and the Furious”).  Vinnie convinces them to help him with a job – stealing fancy, fast cars from a corrupt businessman Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida)  (who also pretty much rules Rio de Janeiro).  Needless to say, the job goes terribly wrong and Dom, Brian, and Mia are now really, really wanted criminals. Enter federal agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) who always finds who he is looking for.  He enlists the assistance of local cop Elena (Elsa Pataky) to track down the fugitives.

With nowhere to go, and wanted by both the feds and Reyes, they decide to pull one last job to guarantee their freedom – steal $100 million dollars from Reyes.  But they can’t do it alone, so they assemble a team of experts, comprised of characters from the previous installments, including Roman (Tyrese Gibson – “2 Fast 2 Furious”), Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges – “2 Fast 2 Furious”, Han (Sung Kang – “The Fast and the Furious:  Tokyo Drift” and “Fast and Furious”), and Gisele (Gal Gadot – “Fast and Furious).

“Fast Five” was like “Ocean’s Eleven” on speed.  The theatre was packed, and everyone was really into the movie.  And who wouldn’t be, with nonstop action, fast cars, high-speed thrills, crazy stunts, and…wait for it…a fantastic fight scene between Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson (I’ve waited so long for this one!!) . Don’t leave when the credits begin because there is an interesting scene that may possibly be a lead-in to a sixth installment.  As for what is revealed, it’s a doozy!!  If you’re a fan of the series you will not be disappointed with “Fast Five”!

Unlike Halloween and Christmas, there aren’t many movies about Easter.  Well hold on to your bunny ears ladies and gentlemen, because here comes “Hop”!!

The Easter Bunny (voiced by Hugh Laurie) is about to retire.  His son E.B. (voiced by Russell Brand) is set to take over.  However, E.B. has no desire to take over for his father.  See, E.B. has a dream…he wants to be a drummer!!  He practices drumming in his room on Easter Island, which is where Easter treats are made (think of it like Santa’s toy shop, only instead of toys, there is candy, and instead of elves, there are chicks.  They even have a flying sleigh, pulled by chicks!!).

To follow his dream, E.B. runs away from Easter Island and straight to Hollywood.  His first stop??  After consulting his Map to the Stars and Crime Scenes, he heads for the Playboy Mansion (bunnies, get it??).  Unfortunately, he’s not allowed past the gates, and he begins to get a little discouraged.

Now, let’s meet Fred O’Hare (James Marsden).  Fred is unemployed and living back at his family’s house.  His parents (Gary Cole and Elizabeth Perkins) and sisters Sam (Kaley Cuoco) and Alex (Tiffany Espensen) (who claims that she was adopted by Fred’s parents because Fred was such a disappointment) stage an intervention, where they tell Fred he has to get a job and his own apartment.  Fred is depressed and leaves to go sleep in his car.  Sam takes pity on him, and offers him the keys to the house where she is supposed to house-sit, because she is afraid of the big dogs that live there.  She also gives him a lead on a possible job.  So Fred heads to the house, oh excuse me, ginormous mansion.  Once he gets on the property though, he accidentally hits a bunny with his car.  Guess who that might be??  Yes, E.B.!!

After the unfortunate bunny-hitting incident, Fred flashes back to when he was younger, when he saw the Easter Bunny delivering Easter baskets and chocolates to his house.  That’s when he realizes, the Easter Bunny is real, and this is him!!  Once E.B. shares his dream with Fred, Fred agrees to help E.B. audition for a talent show.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Carlos (voiced by Hank Azaria) is the Easter Bunny’s most trusted advisor.  However, he is tired of bunnies ruling Easter.  He plots to overthrow the Easter Bunny and hopes that E.B. never comes back.  Then the world will meet The Easter Chick!!  Unaware of the treachery, the Easter Bunny has dispatched the Pink Berets, a trio of fierce (mostly, two were fierce, one was a little slow) female bunnies tasked with finding E.B..  They have lots of fancy gadgets and mad ninja skills.

Will Easter be saved??  Will E.B. return to Easter Island??  Will Fred ever make his parents proud??  Go see “Hop” and find out!!!

One thing I did notice that I found strange was that nobody (except for Fred) found a talking bunny unusual.  But hey, they WERE in Hollywood.
I was pleased that not all of the funny parts of “Hop” were in the previews.  I was also glad that it escaped the dreaded current “Everything Must Be in 3-D” fad.  The animation was seamlessly blended with the live-action, and the story was well-written and flowed well.  For the “Despicable Me” fans, minions do make a brief appearance.  Also, don’t leave when the credits begin to roll because there is a scene after the credits.
“Hop” is a great family flick, appropriate for the kids with enough humor, pop culture references and cameo appearances for the grown-ups (or those masquerading as grown-ups).  A very funny, egg-cellent movie.

When you are beautiful on the outside, it doesn’t matter what you’re like on the inside, right??  Wrong!!  In “Beastly”, Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) is a handsome and popular student at his private school in New York City.  He cares only about himself.  We later find out that he learned just how much looks matter from his father, whom he barely sees.  When he treats the school’s resident Goth chick Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen) badly one too many times, she casts a spell on him (yes, she is a witch) that makes him look as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside (this includes odd facial piercings, tattoos, and assorted scars).   He has one year to find true love or else he will stay that way forever.

Poor disfigured Kyle is sent to live just outside the city in a townhouse.  His father promises to visit often, but he keeps cancelling on his son (he’s not a very nice dad).  Instead, he sends Will (Neil Patrick Harris), a blind tutor to keep Kyle current with his studies.  So with only Will and his housekeeper Zola (Lisa Gay Hamilton) for company, Kyle takes to skulking around the city, spying on Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens), a student at his former school whom he had several interactions with prior to his curse.  When Lindy’s father inadvertently puts her life in danger, Kyle makes a deal with her dad to keep her safe.  So she is brought to Kyle’s townhouse to live.  At first, Lindy is angry because she had to leave her friends, her school, and her dream of visiting Machu Picchu (on a school field trip) behind.  Kyle realizes that this is his chance to find the one to declare her love for him, so he sets out to win her affections.  Unfortunately, he didn’t take the time to get to know Lindy, so his expensive presents get him nowhere. It’s not until he brings her a case of her favorite candy that is he able to break the ice.

I don’t want to reveal any more, but if you’ve seen any other version of “Beauty and the Beast” you can probably guess what happens after.

The acting in this movie was good.  There was a fair amount of chemistry between the lead characters.  I especially liked Neil Patrick Harris and Mary-Kate Olsen’s performances.  Michelle Tanner she is no more!!   I thought the makeup people did a good job uglying up Kyle.  At first it was kind of hard to look at him but after a while you get used to it.  I feel this was a good, modern take on the “Beauty and the Beast” tale.  If you believe in magic and the power of love you will enjoy this movie.

Sometimes, the grass isn’t always greener…

When Rick (Owen Wilson) is given a “Hall Pass” from his wife Maggie (Jenna Fischer), he thinks he is the luckiest guy ever!!  Now he is free to live the life of a swinging bachelor for a whole week.  Maggie took the kids to her parent’s house, so no wife, no kids, and no responsibilities!!  He can go out and score with any chick he wants.

Let’s back up a bit, shall we??  Rick and Maggie are a (mostly) happily-married couple with three children.  They’ve been together forever, but sometimes relationships have unhappy patches, as theirs is in now.  Maggie feels taken for granted, and when she overhears Rick and his friends, including best friend Fred (Jason Sudeikis) debating how much they will pay for one “freebie” (a sexual encounter with someone other than their wives, and the wife is guaranteed to never find out), she later decides to let him have his freebie.

So Rick is free, and then Fred’s wife Grace (Christina Applegate, who is awesome by the way, I just realized this earlier as I watched “Don’t Tell Mom the Baby-sitter’s Dead” for about the 50th time) decides to give Fred a Hall Pass too.  She joins Maggie and her kids, and the men are free!!  However, things don’t always go as planned.  I don’t want to give too much away, but let’s just say on the first night of freedom the men were calling it a night at about 9:30.

Oh, and remember, a Hall Pass goes both ways, as Maggie and Grace soon realize.  So guys, you may be free but you wives are too!!!

There were definitely some zany situations in this movie, including: public masturbation, pot brownies consumed on a golf course (humorous complications ensue), explosive diarrhea, excessive sexual discussion (and hand gestures) when you think nobody is around but really EVERYONE in the house is watching and listening to you, and a good lesson -don’t fall asleep for hours in a hot tub, because your legs may go numb and you may need to be rescued by a naked man and his schlong may accidentally be in your face.

Overall this was a fun movie.  The story was good and so was the acting.  I was however distracted by the few characters that had majorly bad and obvious “fake bake” (aka fake tans).  I didn’t understand why they needed that.

Warning:  this one is NOT for the kids.  While there were some outrageously funny situations, there was also full-frontal male nudity, one topless woman, and very naughty language.