DISQUS

Cole Abaius · 1 year ago

Wow. I rarely disagree with you, but I think you're way off the mark on this one. I think it has to do with expectations - I wasn't really curious to see a huge send up of Paris Hilton and TMZ. I think the focus was better on a vapid starlet, a director with nothing up his sleeve but hipness, and their flack that destroys the free press by influence along.

There's a lot of great acting, some really ridiculous funny moments, and as far as motivations go, I don't think we need much to explain why a struggling writer would start a relationship with a man who could advance her career or another writer who feels like a failure up against a brilliant father.

If you want a hard-hitting satire, then yes, this film is pretty light. But it's a solid comedy.

Josh Radde · 1 year ago

Valid, Cole. I said that we can infer why these characters behave the way they do, but the film doesn't do a good job of showing it to us. The real character work is buried under a bunch of sight gags and low-brow humor, that's all I'm saying.

Michelle Catherine · 1 year ago

Where do I even begin to disagree about most of what you said? I will start at the beginning. I thought that this movie was wonderful. It started off hilarious and then it turned right at the moment that Sidney is buttoning up his shirt and you see an anguished look on his face as he avoids his father's call. Sidney's character is multi-faceted. Sure he is a buffoon who is crafty and crass when the movie starts. I mean, come on, trying to use a faux Babe to try and sneak his way into the BAFTA's? He is the little guy trying to get "invited to the party."

Pegg shows such genuine compassion when he asks for the autograph of the actress his boss blows off, quite rudely, at a party fund raiser. Then, not 5 minutes later, his mind is on...wanting to sleep with the hot chick! He is a guy. As for Jeff Bridges' character not mentoring the young Sidney, hello! He mentored him every step of the way until Sydney became the same sell-out who, like his beloved mentor, will one day enjoy watching the Sharps' building burn to the ground in his dreams. I think maybe it was Sydney who transformed the sell-out Clayton Harding. He taught the magazine mogul how to laugh at things that are really funny again. Why did he keep Sydney around as long as he did? Because he longed to relive his youth THROUGH someone who didn't just go with the flow, but stood up and challenged an unfair system that doesn't value one based on his accomplishments, but instead on collusion and spin. Just like Sophie says, "I'm gonna have a logo."

Now, I am a huge Simon Pegg fan, and as much as I hate to admit the following, the truth is the truth. Sure, Pegg had a good performance, as did his other cast mates, but Jeff Bridges STOLE the picture! His demeanor, his facial expressions and his break in character at just the right times was flawless. I can't say that I have seen anything that Megan Fox has been in, but she seemed to pull off the clueless thing pretty well.

The part I could have lived without seeing in vast detail was the whole Cuba episode. It wasn't funny. It was just sick. I think it could have been handed much better, funnier and still pack the punch at the end when Sydney announces, "I killed Cuba!" That line was actually much better than the one about him not wanting to have sex with the siren. Oh, and Bobby's genitals? Either full frontal nudity is ok when it is a transvestite's privates' or Bobby's privates were, uh, fake. I go for the whole fake thing, otherwise this movie would have had an NC-17 rating in the US.

The Apartment? I had to look this movie up to make sure it was the same movie I remembered seeing...it was. This movie is nothing, let me repeat, NOTHING, like that movie at all.

As for Pegg's other movies...Run Fat Boy was awful. Many of his fans feel that David Schwimmer's work with Pegg is awful, but I felt that Big Nothing was one of the best dark comedies of all time, even with an American-accented Pegg.

Overall, it takes a great deal of talent to play obnoxious, self-absorbed, oblivious, empathetic, lovable and funny. Or, it just takes Simon Pegg with an incredible supporting cast. Of course, I must also agree that I can not wait until Pegg reunites with Frost and Wright to finish the "Cornetto Trilogy."

I rate this movie 7 out of 10 stars. :)

Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark are 10's.
Shawn of the Dead, Big Nothing and Hot Fuzz are 9's.
1st X-Files movie was a 7.
Run Fat Boy was a 4.
The new X-Files film was a 1 along with South Park Longer, Uncut.