The Campaign

The Campaign – 85min – R

What better time to have a movie about a political race than right now? Unfortunately people are so tired of the political back and forth that seeing a move that lampoons this real life event just does not get enough steam. Sure, there are some truly funny parts but the overall tone of the movie is so over the top and contrived that it loses something in its delivery. This movie barely gets yellow light vote from me. It needs to have a recall election of the story and just focus on the things that make it funny.

Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) is a senator and has been for a while because he runs unopposed. His campaign manager, Mitch (Jason Sudeikis), has an easy time every election year -- just keep Cam out of trouble. Two evil CEOs known as “The Motch Brothers,” Glenn and Wade (John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd) , see an opportunity to bring their sweat shop from overseas and place it in Cam’s district to save shipping cost. They set up a gullible Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis) to run against him. The Motch brothers hope to put a puppet in power to give them access to DC regulators. They hire Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott) to run Marty’s campaign. The race is on and no trick is too dirty.

My biggest problem with this movie is that there are no likeable main characters. The only one that I like is Mitch and he is only a side character. Cam is a dirt bag and embraces it. Marty is way over the top in his oddities and I found him annoying. The Motch brothers are slimy and completely despicable. I know this is a comedy that thrives on being overly absurd in its lampooning of the political process but there was no one to feel for.

Jay Roach is an interesting case study, his comedies are good the first go around, his stories get diminishing returns the more sequels that he does. Austin Powers was good, but the sequels were more of the same and did not grow the story any. Meet the parents is another example of how a great first movie does well and the second one was less impressive and lets not talk about the third one. This time his first go at this story was lacking more in the writing than the execution of the film.

I have to say that a little part of my soul dies every time I laugh at the baby getting punched. I just can’t help myself. it was a very funny bit and an excellent call back to that same baby with a shiner toward the end of the movie. They also did a very sloppy job of editing the film. There were continuity errors in many scenes. It was a mess of shots kind of thrown together. For instance they had a character with their hand up waving in the close up and then the long shot their hands down. The dialog indicated that no time had passed. Sloppy

Warring Spoilers!!!!!!! Only members of the election staff are allowed past this link. !!!!!!

Even in a comedy, the plans of the bad guys need to make sense. The Motch brothers are completely absurd in their plan. They seem to forget that they really only have to apply pressure on Cam and they can get what they want. If the came in and supported him from the start he would have been in their pocket and everything would have been fine.

Another note on the poor editing was the nipple slip scene. Guys, if you are going to have a partially bare nipple in the shot, realize it’s going to be the focus of the audience. In the first part of the scene it was barely showing, and then it would slip lower, then higher and lower with each edit. I was focused on it, err Distracted, I mean distracted by it, really the edits were that distracting, /Blush……/Whistle

Cam giving up his seat to Marty was completely out of character. He did not have enough time to develop a soul to actually truly warrant the selfless act. I would have him win, keep the seat and then take on the Marty honesty shtick and hire him on as the chief of staff. Motch brothers get screwed, people have a sappy feel-good ending and the characters stay true to their nature.

What is your favorite political move?

The Hangover Part II

The Hangover Part II - 102min – R

This movie was a pale rehash of the exact same story from the first movie. Yes, it takes place in Thailand. Yes, there are new shenanigans. No, it’s not original or clever or humorous. One bright note I did get to see this movie free of charge, but there was a high price for seeing this film, it was 102 min I will never get back again. I think I got gipped. I am at a loss for words on how bland this movie was. The only character I thought was entertaining was the monkey (Crystal). I think it was Penn Jillette who said it best “there is nothing funnier than a smoking monkey.” Unfortunately, this comedy gold is wasted on an extravagant waste of time. Don’t get me wrong: I truly enjoyed watching the characters get the tar beat out of them but I don’t think it was for the reasons that the filmmakers intended. If you liked the original, just re-watch it. Do not waste your time on this half-assed retread. I am obviously going to give this movie a red light, for failing to do anything more with the characters or the storyline.

The movie starts out with some friends Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Alan(Zach Galifianakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha) getting together to have a little bachelor party, things get out of hand and they have one wild night in Vega…excuse me Bangkok. They lose a member of their happy band and spend the next few days trying to find him before they have to get back to the wedding. After a long chance though the city uncover clues as to what happed, they gather the lost friend and get back to the wedding on time and then stumble on a camera that has pictures of what really happed on their wild night of fun. Oh wait did I just give you the synopsis of the first one or the second one? Meh it doesn’t matter.

I think the fault here lies in the fact that they thought they could skate the same movie by with a different set. I place the blame on Todd Phillips. He seems to think that this kind of churn and burn sequel will be fine. He has done some really good comedies in the past… well, ok, really he has done this kind of film before with different people and setting but it’s the same kind of thing. It might be a case of “hey guys, I just got a budget to take us all to Thailand, let’s go do The Hangover Part 2.”

It could also be the fault of the writers. Craig Mazin is known for his work on ultra spoofs like Scary Movie 4 and Super Hero Movie. Scot Armstrong who has worked with Phillips before also took part in the creation of this film. Todd Phillips also has a writer’s credit on this film. I can’t even cut him a break of, “look, he was just the director he did not know what he was doing”. Nope his hands where on this steamer from start to finish.

From a filmmaker’s perspective there was nothing wrong with this film. It did a good job of putting the film together and making it work as a travelogue. But the big problem that holds this movie back is that they seemed to be resting on their laurels and coasted in on the back of the success of the first movie.

Here are the only funny parts that got a few laughs out of me.

WARNING!! THERE BE SPOILIERS HERE!!

When they take the monk back to the monastery and the younger monk beats the hell out of them because they will not stop talking, I found myself laughing that that. It had a fairly reminiscent feel of the scene in Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe.

I did like how Teddy (Mason Lee) made sure that the monk was ok during the street riot, which stood out to me. Not a funny scene but it was the only connection I had with any of the characters that were of my species.

Stu’s rendition of Billy Joel’s Allentown was good, and it was well done where Alan did not realize how pointed the song was.

Did you see this movie? On purpose?(Gasp)is someone holding you against your will? I want to know if you really liked this film or not. Post your response. Why did you like it or why did you not.