Mini Reviews (August 2010)

Dinner for Schmucks, Thirst, The Expendables

Dinner for Schmucks (August 4/10)

Based on a comedy by Francis Veber, Dinner for Schmucks follows up-and-coming executive Tim (Paul Rudd) as he agrees to participate in a dinner celebrating the idiocy of its guests - with problems ensuing as Tim's pick, Steve Carell's Barry, unknowingly begins to wreak havoc on his life. It's a relatively workable premise that's employed to underwhelming and sporadically infuriating effect by filmmaker Jay Roach, as the director, working from a screenplay by David Guion and Michael Handelman, places an all-too-consistent emphasis on elements of an unreasonably over-the-top nature - with this vibe most aptly reflected in the painfully broad work from co-stars Zach Galifianakis, Lucy Punch, and Jermaine Clement (ie Clement's irritating turn as a pretentious artist is in itself reason enough to avoid this stinker). Even if one were willing to overlook the movie's terminally unfunny atmosphere, Roach's uncinematic and claustrophobic modus operandi - the entire thing seems to transpire primarily within one location - ensures that Dinner for Schmucks becomes an increasingly difficult and flat-out oppressive sit as it progresses (and this is to say nothing of Guion and Handelman's obnoxious penchant for shoe-horning random instances of sentimentality into their aggressively bloated screenplay). By the time the expectedly larger-than-life (yet thoroughly unfunny) dinner rolls around, Dinner for Schmucks has certainly established itself as one of the most disastrous would-be comedies to come around in quite some time - which is a shame, really, given that Rudd and, to a lesser extent, Carell are both quite likeable here.

Though hardly as effective as cinematic cousins Open Water and Frozen, Thirst's inherently compelling premise generally compensates for its flaws and ultimately cements the film's place as an uneven yet passable horror effort. The movie follows two couples, Noelle (Lacey Chabert) and Bryan (Tygh Runyan), and Atheria (Mercedes McNab) and Tyson (Brandon Quinn), as they head deep into the desert for a fashion shoot and subsequently find themselves stranded after a car-related mishap, with the remainder of the proceedings devoted to the foursome's increasingly desperate attempts at making their way back to civilization. Director Jeffrey Scott Lando, working from Kurt Volkan and Joel Newman's screenplay, does a decent job of establishing the four central characters and their individual problems, although it's worth noting that certain conflicts (ie Bryan feels threatened by Noelle's success) come off as forced and labored - which ultimately perpetuates the film's less-than-authentic atmosphere. It's likewise disappointing to note that the various actors are unable to convincingly portray their respective characters' extreme thirst, with the viewer's inability to wholeheartedly accept the peril of their situation resulting in a lamentable absence of pervasive dread. There little doubt, then, that it's the inclusion of a few impressively cringeworthy interludes - ie an impromptu bit of brain surgery involving a screwdriver and a rock - that saves Thirst from sinking into all-out tedium, while the unexpectedly stirring nature of the movie's final 15 minutes, anchored by both an impressive twist and an effective conclusion, ensures that the viewer walks away from the proceedings (relatively) satisfied.

Directed by Sylvester Stallone, The Expendables follows a team of mercenaries (Stallone's Barney Ross, Jason Statham's Lee Christmas, Jet Li's Ying Yang, Terry Crews' Hale Caesar, and Randy Couture's Toll Road) as they agree to assassinate a merciless dictator (David Zayas' General Garza) - with complications ensuing as it becomes increasingly clear that the gang's survival is anything but a sure thing. Though the film kicks off with an impressively violent pre-credits showdown, The Expendables boasts an opening hour that's distinctly lacking in the hard edge that one might've expected (and hoped for) - with the less-than-brutal atmosphere (ie there's one curse word in the entire film, for crying out loud!) exacerbated by Stallone's decidedly laid-back sense of pacing. The watchable yet thoroughly uneven vibe is especially disappointing given the almost incredible roster of performers assembled by Stallone, and there's little doubt that the film initially doesn't fare much better than such similarly themed recent endeavors as The Losers and The A-Team (both rated PG-13, incidentally). However, the viewer's patience is rewarded (and then some) once the movie segues into its men-on-a-mission third act - as Stallone has infused this stretch with precisely the sort of over-the-top and viscerally brutal glee that's so glaringly absent from the rest of the proceedings. The enjoyably ruthless nature of The Expendables' third act effectively compensates for the lifelessness of all that precedes it, with the end result an admittedly erratic yet sporadically thrilling throwback to the unabashedly violent action flicks of the 1980s.