Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Chris Columbus, 1992

Can I Stream it?

3/5

There is something different about revisiting films from your youth. Many of these revisits come around the holidays, when you can put up with that joke you've heard a hundred times. That comfortable predictability of a familiar premise. The Hughes’-penned Home Alone films certainly provide comfort. I remember being a kid and seeing this film in the theater in New York. I was 9 years old. I remember eagerly anticipating Kevin Mcallister's trap setting. I remember the movie going on and on and me sitting there thinking “when is it going to happen?”.. “Now? Now?”. And then it happened and I sat there in cathartic bliss.

Home Alone 2 builds upon the first film by of course recasting Culkin (which is absolutely critical to the franchise, the sequels after this do not exist). He’s grown a little older, but still has the innocence and charisma that he had in the prior picture. He’s the low kid on the totem pole. If he mouths back to his elder relatives, he gets put in the bed with bed-wetting cousin Fuller. The movie is very anti-authority, or at least pro-kid and pro-independence. It certainly spawned a whole generation of 90’s vicarious youth who were desperate to be put in similar circumstances. It puts a lot of faith into the kids of the world. Oddly enough, one of the antagonists is the hotel concierge played by Tim Curry. The concierge is immediately suspicious when he sees young Kevin walking confidently through the Plaza Hotel. He follows Kevin, explores the room, hoping to expose him as a little con artist or some kind of thief. But realistically, he’s not a bad guy. If it were real life he would probably have been praised for being so investigative. But the world of Home Alone isn’t real life. In real life, antagonists don’t get hit in the head with bricks from four stories and have a square imprint on their head. In real life, they have brain bleeding. But that’s the appealing element to the Home Alone movies. They are non-threatening, cartoonish, fun, nostalgic. They exist in a Hanna Barbara created universe where you can sustain serious injury only to be quite okay in the next scene. This film is good if only viewed as a time capsule. A preserved version of New York. A preserved style of 90's comedies. 

Funny Farm

George Roy Hill, 1988

Can I Stream it?

3/5

Andy Farmer (Chevy Chase) and his wife Elizabeth (Madolyn Smith) decide to get out of New York City and pursue a more peaceful life north in Vermont. But when they arrive in the town of Redbud, it's not the tranquil paradise that they imagined it would be. 

There was was once a period of time when Chevy Chase was a comedic force in Hollywood. Coming off of the success of such iconic films as Caddyshack, Fletch and a couple of the National Lampoon's Vacation films, he was one a few go-to comedic actors of the period (Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Dan Akroyd, John Candy among others). Chase's style is certainly distinct, and ultimately quite two dimensional. The oblivious but sentimental thirty-something. The guy who has some heart to invest in a situation but doesn't necessarily have the grace to see it follow through properly. Funny Farm is an under-appreciated film, and probably one of the best outlets for Chase's dry humor. Though undeniably flawed, there are certainly some memorable elements to the movie. Paying the town’s residents $50 a piece to emulate a Norman Rockwell painting so that they can turn over their cursed home and get the hell out of dodge. Excitedly going home with the new dog, hoping to further reinforce the country living they are so desperate to do - only to have the dog IMMEDIATELY run away. Realizing that the phone you had installed in the new home is a pay phone. It's forgivingly corny and worth a look around the holidays.

Neighbors

Nicholas Stoller, 2014

Can I Stream It?

3/5

Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) are excited to move into a quaint residential neighborhood with their baby girl. But everything soon changes when a fraternity, led by Teddy Sanders (Zac Effron) moves into the house next to theirs and they realize that they are going to be living next to a party-house.

Somewhere between Animal House, Dennis the Menace and 1981's Neighbors (a forgotten comedy featuring John Belushi and Dan Akroyd) lies 2014's Neighbors, written by Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O'Brien (Funny People, 40 Year Old Virgin) and directed by Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall). Seth Rogen brings his typical stoner humor to his Mac role but this time throws a baby girl in his arms almost as if Ben Stone (Knocked Up) moved away, ditched Katherine Heigl and picked up the lovely (and let's face it, significantly more tolerable) Rose Byrne. Not a bad swap. Byrne provides a good dynamic with the Mac character, two people who are desperately trying to hold onto some elements of their early twenties without completely submitting to inevitably boring parenthood. When they discover that there is a fraternity moving next door, their first impulse is to somehow relate to them in some way which they soon discover is virtually impossible. A reminder that those days are over, and sometimes you don't realize how distant they are until they are literally right in front of you as if you are staring at a reflection of your former self. What follows is a slapsticky battle of the neighbors that for the most part is funny, although there is surely some fat that could be trimmed. But the highlights: the many simultaneously talking DeNiro's, the airbag deployments, the many insecurities/panicking involving their baby outnumber the not-so-funny moments. Rose Byrne is actually proving to be one of the better comedic actresses working today, almost like a reincarnated version of Cameron Diaz from the Something about Mary days.

With so many garbage comedies being churned out these days the bar has been lowered greatly. Typically you sit through overused premises, bad acting, momentary laughs. Neighbors manages to tap into some unused veins in the comedy genre.

Awful Nice

Todd Sklar, 2014

Can I Stream It?

3/5

Brothers Jim (James Pumphrey) and Dave (Alex Rennie) reunite at their father's funeral and learn that they have both inherited the family lake house located in Americana-riddled Branson Missouri. Jim is hoping to turn over the property to local slimy businessman Jon Charbineau (Christopher Meloni), get paid, and return home to his wife and child. He reluctantly lets Dave accompany him on the trip to Branson and they soon find that the property is not in any condition to be sold that quickly.

The modern slapstick comedy has quite the mountain to climb to achieve any kind of notable status. For every There's Something About Mary, there are twenty bad ones that are probably starring Rob Schneider. Usually it's just a bad story with bad acting with overused premises. But sometimes one can pass through by not trying go over the top and not attempt to break any kind of new ground. Awful Nice succeeds in being a 90 minute junk food comedy session that doesn't require any real heavy thinking. The simple premise pits two highly competitive brothers against each other and lets them duke it out. It wouldn't work if there wasn't some real chemistry between the two, fortunately there is. Their sibling rivalry feels very real, as if they were actual brothers and were improvising their brutal exchanges through the entire picture. From chugging contests, to arm-wrestling, to all-out physical brawls, it's the battles between the two that keeps you engaged. Of course the picture is not absent of any imperfections. Christopher Meloni's attempt at being an Elmer Fudd-sounding crook doesn't really hit the mark. In fact you never really buy into his character and just write him off as Meloni with a hair piece on. He's no Les Grossman to say the least. The Russian crime family that controls the service industry in the city of Branson feels like an unnecessary distraction at times. And there's probably one too many montages of the two brothers engaging in many senseless activities. But when they are busting on each other, the confrontations feel fresh and should pull a few laughs out of you. How can you not laugh at a grown man taking Doggie heartworm pills hoping to get high?

The Heat

Paul Feig, 2013

Can I Stream It?

2/5

FBI Agent Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) gets relocated to Boston where she is unintentionally paired with tough native street-cop Mullins (Melissa McCarthy). Using Ashburn's book-smarts and Mullins' street-smarts, they hope to work together to take down a local drug-dealer.

The Heat delivers the typical buddy cop comedy channeled through two opposite women, one a goody two-shoes overachiever and one a brash and butch Boston native. Making the decision to pair up America's sweetheart with the brash McCarthy certainly makes sense. Bullock has made a career of blending in light-hearted films with more drama-oriented ones. Some are good, most are not. But she has shown, at least in a couple of her most recent films Gravity and The Blind Side that she evolving to some extent as an actress. So when she got a call for The Heat she probably just figured it would be fun to step back again and work in the comedy world with McCarthy, who is probably the funniest female actress working at the moment. During the film, you certainly get a clear sense that they are having fun working together. So why doesn't it work here? Because even though you employ two veteran comedic actresses, you still need good writing. That's just not present here. In fact, the laughs are swinging a solid .285 batting average. The Boston stereotypes, as shown with Mullins' family, are hackneyed and tired at this point. Yes, some people from the City of Boston talk funny. Yes, some of them are rough around the edges. We get it. And by Mullins' 20th fuck, even the vulgarity grows a bit wearing. The Heat does provide a few intermittent chuckles here and there, but it's starving for some punch-up.

Big Daddy

(REWATCHED)

Dennis Dugan, 1999

Can I Stream It?

3/5

Sonny Koufax is a law school graduate aiming low with a job at a New York City tollbooth. When a child belonging to his out-of-town roommate appears at his doorstep, he decides to use the opportunity of fatherhood to prove himself to some of the disappointed people in his life. 

Big Daddy represents a period in time where Adam Sandler was still using his creative energy to star in films that had a simple construct but delivered a fulfilling story. And although it's a flawed film, it sets you up, pulls you in, and leaves you quite satisfied after it's over. He is basically the same character in every film that he stars in. The lazy guy, who has a niche talent with a short temper and manages to overcome an obstacle and surprises everyone in the end. Oh yeah, and he always gets that girl that he didn't stand a chance with early on. Big Daddy is of course no different. In fact, the flaws in this film may be more frustrating than those in Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore. Sonny and Kevin (John Stewart) manage to have this apartment that would likely cost upwards of $5000 a month. Kevin may be able to carry that weight, but he would likely not be willing to carry his college buddy who only can offer a simple tollbooth income. Well, maybe he's the nicest most generous college buddy in the world. Then there's the social worker Arthur Brooks, played by the great Sandler-centric Josh Mostel. Arthur is a bit too facilitating, simply agreeing on a handshake to quietly set up a family for Julian while he can play Dad for a few weeks. Sonny is also this lawyer in hiding who his working friends ask for legal advice at cocktail parties and he seems to know of the one case that they didn't. And there's the bad acting by Julian, played by the McGrath twins. Perhaps it's unfair to judge them harshly. They are kids.

With all the flaws, there is still something not only entertaining but endearing about this film. You like Julian. You're rooting for Sunny. You want to see it work out. If the film was that bad, you wouldn't give a shit. Perhaps that's the saving grace. The one redeeming element. You want Sonny to have this sudden successful evolution. This life-changing, maturity-forcing break. It's one of the last good films for Sandler. After this he seemed to devolve even further, although he ironically went on to deliver the best performance of his career in Punch Drunk Love (of course with the best direction of his career). Real-life fatherhood seemed to change Sandler. He continued to linger on that whole not horrible film, but not really that great trend for a few more films (50 First Dates, Click, Mr. Deeds). But then it really went south. Luckily, some of these not-so-bad films are preserved. At least we can file this one under Guilty Pleasures. 

Airheads

Michael Lehmanm, 1994

Can I Stream It?

3/5

Three struggling musicians sneak into a Los Angeles radio station hoping to have their demo played on the air. Dismissed by the program manager, they impulsively decide to take the station employees hostage.

The 1990's are a period in time where we can look back. We can look back and picture the divisive Brendan Fraser, who seemed to be in every movie at the box office. We can look back and see Steve Buscemi being underemployed way too often. We can look back and see Adam Sandler in his comedic prime. Airheads certainly employs these three features. The story of the not-so-bright every-men Lone Rangers just trying to get their fifteen minutes of fame is the equivalent of the modern struggling musician trying to make their Youtube video go viral. But this is back when FM radio stations meant something. When hearing Nirvana on your crappy car speakers was actually exciting and not wearisome.

It's certainly a flawed picture. At times it feels dated; with its racial humor, emphasis on the grunge scene. There's some pretty awful acting (Amy Locane, Michael Richards, David Arquette). The premise is far-fetched. There are just some downright unbelievable, comical aspects to it. The gun falls on the floor from the overhead vent and seems to shoot off for about twenty seconds with nobody holding the trigger. The LAPD somehow within minutes is able to helicopter in an entire stage, completely assembled. But to the films credit, there are actually multiple ongoing threads going: the struggling band, the inner conflicts between the radio station on the verge of flipping formats, the pissing contest between the two police departments. Maybe its just another 90's guilty pleasure, joining the likes of Encino Man and Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Jeremiah S. Chechik, 1989

Netflix

3/5

There is probably nobody in Chicago that gets as excited for Christmas as Clark Griswald. He imposes his holiday traditions on his close family who are for the most part supportive, while also putting up with his annoying in-laws and his own parents all under his own roof as one big dysfunctional family.

In 2011 Forbes did a list of the top ten Christmas films. Christmas Vacation didn't crack the list. Is that fair? It possesses a lot of the qualities one is eager for when it comes to a holiday film. Tradition, laughs, positive energy, reinforcing the importance of family. When looking for a satisfying Holiday film, one looks for familiar elements that are relatable and engaging but also light-weight. One would hope that the film makes an impact that becomes repeatedly triggered come Christmastime and become ingrained in our memories.

Does Christmas Vacation get better with age? Actually, not really. In fact, it appears to have grown a bit stale. We need to be honest with the fact that Chevy Chase is not a remarkable actor. He has a limited bag of tricks, which to his credit he does put to use here. But he is more effective as an actor when he a bit more restrained but still goofy, like his role in Funny Farm. It's mostly slapstick here, with a sort of innocent imprudent approach to fulfilling his holiday rituals. His imposing family staying with them for the holidays come off as largely caricaturish. The animation at the beginning of the film seems very out of place. There's not a lot of depth to the characters. But perhaps it's not fair the judge this film so harshly. For what it is, it's good, right? What will history be kinder to? Come twenty years from now, will we all be more inclined to put on Christmas Vacation or Elf? You know what? It will likely be Elf. Although a more modern story, it's one that is more generic and heartwarming with some timeless laughs. Perhaps Christmas Vacation is one of those holiday films that is hard to let go of, but maybe its time to after 24 years. Maybe it's time to put it up in the attic for some time and see what the next generation thinks of it.