Thursday Movie Picks: Teen Comedies

This week’s theme is right up my street! If you’re not familiar with the Thursday Movie Picks, it’s an amazing thing hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Each week brings a new theme, and all you need to do is pick 3 movies that fit the bill to discuss. This week is Teen Comedies, which is a really difficult week for me. Difficult because teen comedies are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me! It’s okay to still enjoy them when you’re well into your twenties, right?

I could have happily put together a list of 20 movies this week, but I’ll behave, and pick my favourite 3.

I’m not ranking these three or anything, but if I could, Van Wilder would be my number 1, for so many reasons! This is Ryan Reynolds at his best, playing the most popular kid in college who doesn’t ever want to graduate. It’s your typical cheesy story, but man, I just love it so much. I haven’t seen the other Van Wilder films though, strangely enough.

It shames me to admit that I only saw Ferris Bueller’s Day Off for the first time recently, but if you read my review, you’ll know that already. Oh, how I wish I could go back in time to watch this again and again. Ferris pulls a sicky to get a day off school, and much fun ensues when his Principal and Sister try to catch him out. I wonder sometimes if this film influenced the cartoon Phineas & Ferb in any way?

Hoping that it’s acceptable to still love teen comedies in your twenties...have I ever mentioned how much I love Easy A? I can’t even pretend I saw this in my teens, as I was...21 when it came out. Oops. Emma Stone is in top form here, using the school’s rumour mill to her advantage when she spreads a lie about her virginity. 

Mini Reviews: Tammy (2014), Cold in July (2014) & Secretary (2002)

I loved Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids and The Heat, so I felt like I owed it to her to watch Tammy. It’s your typical ‘something bad has happened so let’s go on a roadtrip’ kind of movie, which always makes me smile. There’s quite a few films like this out there, and I have to wonder, does this sort of thing happen in real life? I don’t think it is in the UK! It would cost us far too much in fuel to drive 600 miles on a limb.

Anyway, I’m rambling. Tammy started off okay, a few funny moments but nothing laugh out loud. My favourite moments were whenever Tammy knocked something over in a grump, which happened often. Sadly, it just went downhill and I stopped paying attention for the last 20 minutes.

I was missing Michael C Hall after getting used to watching him every night with my dinner for 4 months, catching up on Dexter. Cold in July seemed like the best way to get my fix. Honestly, I just couldn’t get out of my head that his character wasn’t actually Dexter. I think I ruined it a little for myself with that.

The film itself started really well and was full of suspense, starting with an intruder in the main character’s home, resulting in a murder. Unfortunately, from that point on it got terribly predictable, and the last half an hour didn’t make much sense. It was okay though, but that’s why it’s in my mini-review post, because it was ‘just ok’ and that’s all I really have to say.

I’m a woman, so of course I know what 50 Shades of Grey is. I’m also a blogger, so I’ve learnt that inspiration for 50 Shades also came from the 2002 film Secretary. It then became my duty to find out just how similar the two are. I’m not decided on whether I’ll see 50 Shades in the cinema yet (Jenna maybe we’ll have to go together?!) but at least I could watch Secretary in the comfort of my own home, and alone as I’d sent my other half out for a play date!

The emotional themes and issues were too close to home for me and I feel a little uncomfortable to really discuss those themes in a full review. Nonetheless, it was nice to see more of Maggie Gyllenhaal who I thought was fantastic in the film, especially as I’ve only ever seen her in minor roles.