Mini Reviews: Bad Moms (2016), Keanu (2016) & Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)

It's a 2016 comedy special here at Mini Reviews today! As much as I love summer comedies, I didn't get the chance to see them all in the cinema and so I've been saving them up for 1 post. Plus, it's nice to remember these kinds of movies before we move into the seriousness that winter cinema brings!

Bad Moms (2016)

Amy (Mila Kunis) is fed up of Moms like Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate), who take control of the PTA, and scrutinise every single bake sale in case heaven forbid, some of the cake is unhealthy or store bought. She has every right to be fed up! The thought of being a Mom in this decade is terrifying. Thankfully, she isn’t alone, and so Amy befriends Carla (the ever-hilarious Kathryn Hahn) and Kiki (Kristen Bell, the sweetest human being on Earth) and the three of them wear the label ‘Bad Mom’ with pride.

Perhaps it was the cinema effect, or the wonderful company (this one Jenna and I saw together) but I was laughing from start to finish for this, it took me by surprise. Sure, you had to wonder where everyone’s kids actually were whilst these Moms were partying, but who cares! The whole cast just looked like they had so much fun making this movie. Plus, it has some of the greatest clips in the credits I’ve ever seen.

Keanu (2016)

How did a movie about a cute little kitten called Keanu slip under my movie radar? In a plot not so different from John Wick (starring Keanu Reeves, geddit?) Rell (Jordan Peele) comes across little Keanu by absolute chance when he is heartbroken from being dumped. He develops an intense love for this kitten but in a case of confused identity, his house gets trashed and Keanu is stolen. Rell teams up with his cousin Clarence (Keegan-Michael Key) to infiltrate a nearby strip club and get the little furball back.

The movie brings nothing new to the comedy genre, and the plot is entirely predictable, but it’s the chemistry between Key & Peele that makes this so funny. Watching them trying to act ‘gangsta’ never got old, and the recurring George Michael theme was great. It even had a sensible, logical ending, which is often lacking with these kinds of movies. Worth a watch for sure.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)

This one came out right around the time of my wedding, and as much as I was looking forward to it, as the day got closer anything wedding related was making me feel ill so it was ages until I eventually saw it. Mike (Adam Devine) and Dave (Zac Efron) are brothers who constantly get each other into trouble, and when their sister’s wedding approaches, they are forced to find ‘nice girls’ to bring as dates. Enter Alice (Anna Kendrick) and Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) who can’t be further from the description of ‘nice girls’.

A cast as stellar as this should have been a clear winner, but the entire movie was ‘meh’ for me. It had a few solid laughs, a really awkward massage scene, and a boring plot. A huge shame, because I honestly love everyone in that cast list and I had really high hopes. The highlight was when the four got on stage for a musical number, Zac Efron for Pitch Perfect 3 please!

I think this still leaves Ghostbusters (2016) as my favourite comedy of 2016, although I haven't seen them all yet. What about you guys? What's been the funniest for you? Hold up a sec, I just remembered The Nice Guys (2016). That's my favourite!

Review: The Intern (2015)

This was my looking forward to film for October, I think but I didn’t think I was going to get an opportunity to see it, alas I went Kickboxing with a friend who then decided they wanted to go to the cinema and 100% trust my judgement on picking a film (tell that to the person I took to see Lucy!!).  However, I was adamant The Intern would be a good shout…. 

I'm so glad it wasn't me who you took to see Lucy! I can only blame myself for watching that one...

Ben (Robert De niro) is 70, retired, widowed and bored out of his mind.  He applies to a Senior Intern programme at About the Fit, an internet company run by workaholic, control freak, Jules(Anne Hathaway) and finds himself in the role of her personal Intern.  The role doesn’t quite turn out at planned with Jules refusing to give Ben any work and Ben finding himself at a loose end in the office. During his time in the office, however he makes countless friends, offers advice and becomes the guy everyone loves (including the in house masseur).  Over the course of his internship, he helps Jules in both her personal and professional capacity as they develop a strong bond. 

I wanted to call this a romcom but it’s certainly not that, there is limited romance to pad out the story, the focus is on Jules and her rapidly expanding business and how she copes with that.  Ben has a really strong work ethic that just doesn’t play well with nothing to do, so throws himself into whatever he can do to help other people’s jobs.  I loved the comparisons between modern organisation and the old school work ethic and how that pans out on screen.

This could work so well in the real world! Older business are forever looking for young talent to join their business so why can't it work the other way?!

There was big focus on the equal opportunities aspect (house husband, affairs and female bosses) which helped the story get from A to B but felt a little bit too forced and sentimental, overpowering the light hearted comedy that came from Ben’s relationships with the cool kids at the office.  Everytime the movie floated off to a realm of Jules home life issues and upset that ‘people’ didn’t think she could run her own company, I was willing the story to head back to Ben giving Jason (Adam DeVine) girl advice or offering Davis (Zack Pearlman) a place to stay. 

I do love Anne Hathaway but I felt Robert DeNiro stole the show here. The role just feels so natural for him. I too was expecting a romcom and honestly, the only reason I watched this was because you did Jenna, but I loved it! It wasn't the movie I was expecting and it took a turn halfway through that  shocked me.

The sentimentality didn’t ruin it for me by any means, I really enjoyed the film and found myself smiling all the way through.  It’s not a comedy, it’s not a drama, it’s somewhere in the middle.

The problem with The Intern is that I don't really know who the target audience is. It's a movie I should really get my movie loving Grampy to watch because he is literally Ben, but I know if he sees the trailer he'll be put straight off! this is one you just have to give the benefit of the doubt, I think.

Review: The Final Girls (2015)

Despite my hatred of horror movies (hate is a strong word, I’m actually just a wimp) I think I might have found my happy medium this October. Horror Comedies! Just enough spookiness to make me nervous, but plenty of laughs to distract myself. This one will have been my third watch this year (after Cooties and The Visit) and I’m definitely on the hunt now for some more. Any recommendations?

Sort of tumbling into the sci-fi category also, The Final Girls is a horror comedy that likes to poke fun at itself. During a special screening of Camp Bloodbath & Camp Bloodbath II, a devastating fire breaks out in the theatre and Max (Taissa Farmiga) and her friends Chris (Alexander Ludwig), Vicki (Nina Dobrev), Gertie (Alia Shawkat) and Duncan (Thomas Middleditch) find themselves trapped inside the movie itself in their attempt to escape.

Even I know those basic horror movie rules. Anyone who takes their clothes off and has sex will die, and in the end there will be just one girl left, a virgin at that, who manages to kill the killer and live to the end. The killer themselves will have been the victim of something awful years before, which made them the killer they are, yet they are nothing but a legend to the characters in the movie.

I really love the concept of The Final Girls. From the moment the group stepped into the movie, and the van drove past playing the same music every 92 minutes as if on a loop, I was just amused. Something that I don’t often pay attention to are the sets, I get too engrossed in dialogue most of the time, but they were great in this. Visually, The Final Girls is beautiful which I didn’t expect from a low budget movie.

Something else that surprised me was the amount of heart the movie had. Okay, at one point it got a little too sappy and I was sort of expecting something goofy to happen to lighten the mood a little, but I actually wouldn’t change that scene because it was quite beautiful.

Of course, this movie would be nowhere near as funny if it didn’t have Adam DeVine in it. The guy is hilarious, and there are some outtakes of his during the credits which show how much he was ad-libbing, which I love.

Definitely worth a watch!