Unfinished Business (3/10): Dumb and Dumber Eurotrip.

“Hello, I’m Mike Pancake.”

This quote is just one example of how uninspired the screenwriter was at the moment of writing the script for Unfinished Business. Of course he followed it up by making several breakfast references, but none of the jokes were actually funny. It’s a shame because Ken Scott had a stronger cast to work with here than in his previous collaboration with Vince Vaughn, Delivery Man, a film I didn’t really like but that I didn’t dislike either. I’d rather sit through that movie than watch Unfinished Business because this was incredibly dull, the jokes were lame, and the story was completely unfocused and all over the place. Delivery Man is a masterpiece next to Unfinished Business. It seemed like screenwriter Steve Conrad thought about several funny scenes he could include in a movie like having Vince Vaughn run in his wife’s jogging clothes, but he didn’t worry about giving any reasonable explanation for the scene other than having his young daughter confusing her mom’s clothes with his (like if that were a possibility). Actually the entire subplot with Vaughn’s family is unnecessary and shouldn’t have been included because it felt completely out of place. I’ve read some positive reviews and I respect them, but I honestly didn’t find this film funny and thought that it was a waste of a talented cast. My greatest problem was the lazy writing, the forced jokes and the unfocused story. 

In Vince Vaghn’s latest bromantic comedy he plays Dan Trunkman, a salesman for a big company who decides to quit and start his own small business after discussing with his boss, Chuck Portnoy (Sienna Miller). He offers the rest of his fellow co-workers the opportunity to come work with him and the only ones who follow him are Timothy (Tom Wilkinson) and Mike (Dave Franco). The only reason they do is because Timothy has been forced to retire because of his age and Mike was actually interviewing for a position which he didn’t get. Tom immediately invites them to Dunkin Donuts to plan their strategy. A year goes by and the three of them are still having their meetings there, but they are about to close their first important deal. In order to do so they must travel to Germany where they will meet Jim Spinch (James Marsden) and his assistant Bill (Nick Frost) to shake hands and seal the deal. Unfortunately the sale isn’t as closed as they had anticipated because Chuck has been interfering and trying to seal another deal with them. In the meantime, Dan’s kids Paul and Bess (Britton Sear and Ella Anderson), are having trouble in school and his extremely supportive wife, Susan (June Diane Raphael) needs his attention. Dan will have to try to balance his family life and his business, but things get extremely wacky in Europe where a sex fetish event is taking place at the same time as a global economic summit.

I honestly have no idea what Dave Franco was thinking when he decided to play this character, but I guess he never considered taking Robert Downey Jr’s advice of never going full retard in a movie. It’s hard to understand what he’s saying at times as he doesn’t speak out much and seems to mumble and make up words. Vaughn is playing the same character he has been playing in his latest comedies and I’m glad he is finally going to be doing something different in the upcoming True Detective series because he needs to try to break out from that tired formula which worked wonders for him in Wedding Crashers, but has gotten old now. Tom Wilkerson is a terrific actor, but his character isn’t funny at all. He plays an old man who is looking forward to getting divorced and having sex for the first time with someone he can love. Not even the reliable Nick Frost is given decent material to work with. The film is only 90 minutes long but you feel every second of them because most of the jokes miss the mark. The film is also incredibly unbalanced being on the one hand an irreverent business road trip and on the other trying to deliver an anti-bullying message which is never actually resolved and ends up being an afterthought. 

My Review: Delivery Man (5/10)

"You're never quite ready for what life delivers."

I was somewhat surprised with Delivery Man considering I went into it expecting it to be yet another typical comedy, and in a way it starts out being one, but as the story progressed it turned out to be a heartfelt drama. Vaughn began playing the typical role we have known him for, but when the film sort of shifted gears we got to see him play a sweeter and kinder character, proving he can have some range as an actor. He delivers a solid performance in the lead role, but it was Chris Pratt in a supporting role who delivered most laughs in this film. Vaughn and Pratt had great chemistry together, and in my opinion they were the highlight of this movie. Directed by Ken Scott (who decided to do a remake of his own 2011 Canadian film, Starbuck), Delivery Man, is a film with a lot of heart despite having a ridiculous premise. Most of the supporting characters are underwritten, but Vaughn and Pratt make this film tolerable. It's more charming than it is funny and despite being silly it still is touching at times. Delivery Man is one of those films that the family can enjoy, but doesn't bring much more than some heartwarming moments that will soon be forgotten once the credits begin to role. I do recommend it if you're a Chris Pratt fan because he does have some very funny scenes. Vaughn also brings something new to his character as well, it's a different side of him we hadn't seen before.

David (Vince Vaughn) is unreliable and immature. He's in his 40's and despite having a pretty simple job as a meat delivery driver for his father's company he still finds ways to mess up. The mob is after him due to some financial problems he got himself into, and he also struggles to maintain a relationship with his girlfriend Emma (Cobie Smulders) who is pregnant. Emma wants to raise the child herself because she thinks David is unreliable. In the midst of all this chaos in David's life he now has to deal with a lawsuit filed against him. Apparently some 20 years ago David donated sperm to a fertility clinic under the surname of Starbuck and has fathered 533 children. Now 142 of them have filed a lawsuit against the clinic wanting them to reveal the identity of their biological father. His best friend, Brett (Chris Pratt), decides to represent him as his lawyer knowing that this could be a big case for them. David decides to meet some of his kids without revealing his identity and ends up helping them in their time of need. He begins to see himself as their guardian angel, and without realizing it, his relationship with them transforms his life.

Delivery Man has a hard time finding its tone and at times suffers from not knowing what it wants to be, but it does have some heartfelt moments. I wasn't familiar with Scott's original film so I couldn't say if this remake works better. The screenplay was co-written by Scott and Martin Petit, and other than David and Brett, the rest of the characters were underwritten. Cobie Smulders didn't have much to work with, and the same thing could be said about the teens playing Starbuck's children. I still ended up enjoying this a lot more than I expected to so I was pleasantly surprised with Delivery Man. Despite it's many lows, it also has some highs that make this worth a watch.

My Review: The Internship (5/10)

"Can we talk about the on the line thing for a minute?"

Ok lets talk about this "on the line" thing. For a movie full of movie and cultural references one would think that these two characters in their 40's would know something about computers, Harry Potter and X-Men. It's not like these guys are in their 80's, they grew up around computers and should at least know that you don't say "on the line." I get it that this is a comedy and they used some of these situations to create funny moments, but at least they could've been a little less lazy and done something original. I really love Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn together, I think they play off each other really well. Wedding Crashers is one of my all time favorite comedies and I was really looking forward to seeing these guys work together again. But I wasn't expecting them to repeat basically the same formula they used before. It just felt way too similar without being nearly as funny, but I still have to admit that I enjoyed this at some level simply because I am a fan of these two comedians. The script was real lazy and dull, while the secondary characters weren't funny at all. Not even Will Ferrell's cameo worked here like it has done in so many other movies. The love story between Owen Wilson's character and Rose Byrne's was also one of the weakest I've seen in a comedy. And the villain played by Max Minghella was completely one dimensional. The Internship fails at every level as a comedy and only fans of Wilson and Vaughn will have an enjoyable time here. They made this film bearable for me despite the cliches and predictable cheesy ending. I would recommend you to watch Wedding Crashers for the hundredth time before seeing this film.

Billy (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Owen Wilson) have worked together as salesmen for most of their lives and they are pretty great at what they do, the only problem is that with the digital era at its peak their services are becoming obsolete. Their boss (John Goodman) decides to retire and move to Miami, so Billy and Nick find themselves unemployed in their mid 40's with no idea of what to do next. Billy comes up with the bright idea of trying to get a job at Google, but before they can do that they have to begin as interns and fight for a job opportunity along with hundreds of younger and talented college nerds. The manager in charge of the intern program, Mr. Chetty (Aasif Mandvi), decides to divide the interns into groups and have them compete against each other in several challenges. The winning group will be hired. Billy and Nick are teamed up with the outcasts Lyle (Josh Brener), Stuart (Dylan O'Brien), Neha (Tiya Sircar), and Yo-Yo Santos (Tobit Raphael) and against all odds they will have to compete against other tech-savvy geniuses: their biggest rivals being Graham's (Max Minghella) group.

I was surprised to see how formulaic this comedy was. It played out kind of in the same way that Monsters University did. It's as if this were the live versions of those animated characters. Shawn Levy has always had a sort of similar approach as a director in all his movies (Date Night, Night at the Museum, and Real Steel). The script was written by Vince Vaughn himself and you can tell how he took similar elements from some of his previous comedies. The entire film feels at times like a commercial for Google, and there are really a few laughs for a two hour comedy. There is some trouble with the overall pacing of the film which makes the story drag at times. The only good thing about The Internship is getting to see Vaughn and Wilson back together again being charming and interplaying with one another.

My Review: The Watch (5/10)

¨There is an alien invasion happening; they are among us.¨

The Watch had an outstanding comedic cast like most summer comedies tend to, but the material failed to live up to those talents once again. I really liked these actors and was hoping the film to be a huge success, but despite laughing several times I felt this film was missing something. I found myself laughing throughout several scenes, but at the same time thinking to myself how ridiculous and predictable the plot and jokes were. The material isn’t really that good, but we have excellent actors that can make a mediocre movie into a better one and this was the case. The jokes weren’t as funny as the performers. I`m still waiting for that one hit comedy of the year (I haven’t seen Ted yet and am hoping that will be it), but I was definitely disappointed with The Watch despite not having a terrible time with it. The Watch is one of those films you might enjoy watching once if you`re really bored, but you will probably want to stay away from a second viewing. The characters are all common stereotypes: you have the nerd who wants to please and befriend everyone, the man child who is always screaming (a character that Will Ferrell made famous), the sex driven guy with the funny accent, and the tough guy who still lives with his mother. They all come together once again for this buddy comedy that mixes the humor with a sci-fi adventure theme that really never works. The action and the comedy didn’t blend in as well as it did in Pineapple Express for example, and in my opinion this film was trying to set a familiar tone.

The plot revolves around four guys who decide to start a neighborhood watch group after a murder takes place in their small town. Evan (Ben Stiller) is always trying to please people and keeping busy in the community by starting local clubs and events. He`s also the local manager of Costco and happily married to Abby (Rosemarie DeWitt) with whom he`s trying to have a child. When a local guard from Costco is murdered he decides to begin a neighborhood watch in order to keep everyone safe and find the murderer. The police in town represented by Sgt. Bressman (Will Forte) are pretty incompetent, so Evan finds it in his kind heart to help despite not anyone else carrying. Only three neighbors show up to the first meeting after Evan gives his uninspiring speech to the community; they are Franklin (Jonah Hill), Bob (Vince Vaughn), and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade). The three of them really show up for different reasons: Bob wants to escape his married life and bond with the guys, Franklin always wanted to be a police officer but failed his exams, and Jamarcus is the foreigner who wants to make new friends (and if possible save a beautiful girl so she can reward him). None of them really know what they are going to go up against, and the rest of the community think they are a joke. The criminal they are looking for turns out not to be human, and when they encounter the alien for the first time they take it upon themselves to protect their neighbors at all costs.

The film is as ridiculous as the premise sounds but you will find yourself laughing throughout the film because of the talented cast working together. One of the funniest scenes for me revolved around the four guys taking pictures of themselves with an apparently dead alien, but you can watch this scene in the trailers so I guess it`s not saying much. The film is really predictable and forgettable but I didn’t find it really awful either. By tomorrow I will have probably forgot all about it, but for an evening in which I had nothing to do it was ok. This is perhaps one of Seth Rogen`s worst work as a screenwriter although he had some help this time and therefore can share the blame. The director, Akiva Schaffer, really hasn’t had much experience as a film director since he is mostly known for his direction in Saturday Night Live. The film itself could have probably worked better as a five minute SNL sketch than a full feature film. Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller should try to do something different and move away from their typical roles. I could have said the same thing about Jonah Hill, but he did try something different in Moneyball and it completely worked for him, but he came back once again to his typical role. Richard Ayoade I had not heard of so I can`t say anything on his behalf, but it pretty much felt to me that all these actors played it safe with their roles and didn’t take any risks. That is why no one will remember The Watch came out by the end of the year.

     

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My Review: The Dilemma (3/10)

¨ I'd like to think that something that got you through those 40 years is a little friend I'd like to call honesty. ¨

One would expect that a film starring Kevin James (the King of Queens) and Vince Vaughn would be a hilarious comedy, but The Dilemma takes a very different approach and the movie feels more like a drama than an actual buddy comedy, which is what I was expecting and wish it had been so. The film felt weird at times and some scenes which tried to be funny really didn’t work at all. There are very few laughs in this film, and the drama just didn’t make a whole lot of sense. The Dilemma is just one of those movies in which the main character keeps on making one bad decision after another and therefore building the tension, when everything could have been resolved a whole lot easier. A much more comedic approach could have worked in order for us to ignore the awkwardness of the story. The talents of James and Vaughn were absolutely wasted in this film and I wish they would have given them much funnier material. I agree that it`s hard these days to make a good buddy comedy because we`ve seen it all by now, but I still would have preferred an average comedy than this weak drama that didn’t even make much sense at times. The characters changed personalities like chameleons at times in order to fit the script and carry along with the plot. I was hugely disappointed with the film and I`m still trying to classify as to what genre they were aiming for when they wrote this story.

Ronny (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Kevin James) have been best friends ever since their college days, now they`ve decided to partner together for their own electronic car design business. Ronny is a good speaker while Nick is the brains in the operation. They are currently signing a deal with an important automobile company that could take their small business to the next level. Nick appears to be happily married with his college sweetheart, Geneva (Winona Ryder), while Ronny has managed to stay single for all these years, but is thinking of proposing to his girlfriend, Beth (Jennifer Connelly). The two couples spend a lot of time together and everyone seems to be getting along pretty well. Ronny`s peaceful world is about to get shaken when he discovers Geneva is being unfaithful to Nick. He discovers her kissing another man named Zip (Channing Tatum) and decides to investigate them. Zip is young, muscular, and covered with tattoos, nothing like Nick who is all brains. This is where Ronny`s dilemma begins because he doesn’t know if he should tell Nick about it or confront Geneva about the issue. Their deadline with the automobile company is approaching and Nick has a lot of work ahead of him so Ronny doesn’t want him to get distracted by this scandal, but he is more concerned about his best friend than any other thing. Ronny begins to make one bad decision after another while trying to confront Zip and Geneva, and his moral dilemma begins to bring him some problems of his own with Beth. He will have to find a way to fix the problem before it`s too late.

The premise isn’t anything new; we`ve all considered the option before: whether or not we should tell our best friend about infidelities in his life. The answer is rather simple, a friend should always tell the truth, they should be honest with each other. There are some things that happen in this movie with the story that actually complicate things a little bit. Winona Ryder`s character is not as sweet as she seems and she has a couple of tricks up her sleeves. Channing Tatum`s character was just weird, the scenes between him and Vaughn were really awkward. Connelly is sweet and lovely as usual, but she doesn’t play a major role. James is a really funny actor, but in The Dilemma he hardly gets any comedic scenes. I didn’t buy the whole car engineer thing. Vaughn plays his usual self, but I really didn’t like his character in this film. Queen Latifah has a small supporting role but she goes unnoticed as well, although most funny dialogues were sent her way. The movie really never finds itself and Ron Howard wasn’t able to blend the comedy with the drama. I wish he would have made a comedy instead of trying to focus on the darker moral aspect of the film which leaves us with a cheesy finale anyway. For a dark moral movie, they come up with a rather predictable and lazy ending. I really didn’t like this film at all and wouldn’t recommend it.

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My Review: Couples Retreat (3/10)

¨Do you have a phone? I need to call God and tell Him that one of His angels is missing. ¨

If you never heard that line before then perhaps you will enjoy this movie which consists of familiar jokes and few laughs and several cheesy dialogues. This movie was really hard to sit through and looked much better in the trailers than it actually was. The cast is an interesting one, but the material they had to work with was very poor. Vince Vaughn teamed up with Iron Man director Jon Favreau and Dana Fox to write the screenplay for this film, and all I can say is that they should stick to directing and acting based on this material. Who shouldn`t stick with directing is Peter Billingsley who really couldn`t prove himself in this his first feature film. He has produced several of Vaughn`s and Favreau`s movies in the past such as Iron Man, Zathura, The Break Up, and Four Christmases, so he is familiar with them. Billingsley is mostly known for his role as little Ralphie from A Christmas Story. In this movie it seems as though the actors just found an excuse to get together and have a good time because no effort was put whatsoever in trying to improve the film. The movie was full of clichés and really bad jokes, and even with my low expectations I was disappointed with this film. It seems as if lately many films with a talented cast aren`t really interested in making a good movie, they just want to have a good time and have fun together (Grown Ups was another example). They might have had fun working together, but for the viewers these films are a huge mess.

A group of friends are convinced of going to a couple`s retreat in a paradisiacal island because Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell) are having marital issues and want to find a solution to their problems. The other three couples consist of Dave (Vince Vaughn) and Ronnie (Malin Akerman), Joey (Jon Favreau) and Lucy (Kristin Davis), and Shane (Faizon Love), who has recently divorced his wife Jennifer (Tasha Smith) and is dating a twenty year old named Trudy (Kali Hawk). The four couples travel together to the resort named Eden hoping to have a good time while Jason and Cynthia receive counseling. To their surprise each couple is forced to participate in the counseling sessions. There is no time for fun and the activities begin at 6 am with sessions with Marcel (Jean Reno), the man responsible for the couple`s therapy. There are actually two sides to the resort, one in the west for singles who have fun and party all the time, while the one in the east is for couples who are trying to work things out and that is where they must remain even though the rest of the couples don`t think they have marital issues. These counseling sessions bring problems even for the couple`s who seemed to be fine. Each couple has a therapist, played by John Higgins, Ken Jeong, Charlotte Cornwell, and Amy Hill. They also have a yoga instructor who like to wear as little clothes as possible, Salvatore (Carlos Ponce), who doesn`t consider personal space. All of a sudden the tropical island doesn`t seem to have been a good idea for any of them.

This movie relies heavily on cheap jokes that we have all been familiar with in the past and the film really doesn`t work as a comedy. The actors are wasted because the material they had to work with was just terrible. Vince Vaughn was probably the funniest in the movie, but I was really disappointed with the screenplay which he helped write. Jon Favreau has directed some good films as well, but in this movie he just seemed to have his mind on resting and having a good time before continuing to focus on the Iron Man sequel. The supporting cast couldn`t do much to save the movie either. Jean Reno is a funny man, but in this film he had nothing fresh to bring to the table. The same thing can be said about Ken Jeong who was extremely funny in The Hangover and Role Models, but in this movie he simply goes by unnoticed. This is a comedy you should stay away from, don`t let yourself be fooled by the trailers because there is nothing funny about this film. The movie just drags for a long time and is extremely long for a comedy. Skip this movie!

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