You Again

Here’s a bit from The Dude on the Right’s Blu-ray review of “You Again”

… Meanwhile, there’s mom, Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis), who is trying to instill the “Let bygones be bygones” attitude in her daughter, up until the point that Ramona (Sigourney Weaver) comes into the picture as Joanna’s aunt, because, well, Joanna’s parents are both dead. And, oh yes, there’s Betty White as Grandma Bunny, in a movie that decides a horn-dog grandma is the best way to use her. …

You Again

MPAA Rated – PG
It’s 1:45 Long A Blu-ray Review by:
The Dude on the Right

You Again
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Yustman, Betty White
MPAA Rated: PG
Released By: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Release Date: February 8, 2011
Kiddie Movie: Okay for slightly older girls.
Date Movie: If it’s mom watching with her daughter, sure.
Gratuitous Sex: Betty White is old and horny.
Gratuitous Violence: Slapstick.
Action: Nah.
Laughs: Slapstick.
Memorable Scene: Nothing.
Memorable Quote: None.
Directed By: Andy Fickman

As I was thinking more and more about the movie “You Again,” which is really more thought than I should be giving it in my mind, other than the initial viewing and writing my review, I kept trying to figure out who the target audience would be. I mean, it had girls bickering, which is sometimes fun, although the movie is only rated PG, and in afterthought it’s mostly harmless slapstick. But, the bickering is between twenty-something women, and sure, also older ,mom-something women, which makes me wonder if the pre-teen and younger teen crowd would enjoy it, which I think is sort of the target market because older teen girls and, well, everyone else might just be bored. Then I thought maybe the market is a woman like my sister, where, well, she’s a market all to herself. Then I wondered if there was a way to make the movie more enjoyable. Then I wondered how Betty White got involved. Then I stopped wondering and told myself to just give the synopsis for the movie, my final rating, and be done with it.

So here goes.

“You Again” gives you Kristen Bell. She plays Marnie, a twenty-something girl who was the pimple-faced, braces-wearing girl that would get picked on in high school. Low and behold she has turned into a lovely girl, working her way up the public relations corporate ladder. Of course, in high school, there was her nemesis, Joanna (Odette Yustman), and she also had the good-looking jock, older brother, who happens to be marrying Joanna, and Marnie is horrified. So, as Marnie is re-living her high school horrors, she isn’t buying the “New” Joanna, the sweet, caring, and humanitarian one that her brother is marrying, so she is hell-bent on exposing Joanna for the high school bully she was.

Meanwhile, there’s mom, Gail (Jamie Lee Curtis), who is trying to instill the “Let bygones be bygones” attitude in her daughter, up until the point that Ramona (Sigourney Weaver) comes into the picture as Joanna’s aunt, because, well, Joanna’s parents are both dead. And, oh yes, there’s Betty White as Grandma Bunny, in a movie that decides a horn-dog grandma is the best way to use her.

And so, hilarity is supposed to ensue as Marnie plots her ways to split up her brother and Joanna, as Marnie still has the hots for her brother’s friend, and Gail and Ramona ramp up their rivalry to the obligatory “pool fight” scene, where, of course, they make up.

Look, the movie is pretty harmless, and although not a movie that would be my cup of tea, I still try to enjoy a movie for whom they are aimed at, and this movie just can’t seem to figure it out. There’s the goofiness that might appeal to the younger girls, but there a subtle mean-ness that if done in a little more adult manner could get some older teen girls liking it. So, I suppose, if my niece were about 12, and my sister wanted something to watch with her, I’d say it was fine, but it’s still not stretching any movie boundaries, the gags are generic, and in the end I’m going to give “You Again” 2 stars out of 5.

Now, as far as the Blu-ray and extras, they are pretty much throw-away extras that don’t help the movie and don’t give extra laughs. The “Blooper Dance Party” doesn’t really have any funny bloopers, the deleted scenes were better left that way, and about the only thing that did make me grin was the “Funny or Die” spoof interview.

I guess I just wanted more from the likes of the experience of the cast, but it just didn’t make it.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Christmas with The Kranks

MPAA Rated – PG
It’s 1:38 Long
A Preview by:
The Dude on the Right

Christmas with The Kranks
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Julie Gonzalo
MPAA Rated: PG
Released By: Sony Pictures
Release Date: 2004
Directed By: Joe Roth

What a bummer for John Grisham. Alright, I guess it won’t kill his pocketbook, but you write a book called “Skipping Christmas,” it’s pretty popular in the story circles, and you license the story to a movie studio. The problem is the MPAA folks tell the studio folks that they can’t name the movie “Skipping Christmas” because it is too close to the Ben Affleck movie “Surviving Christmas,” a matter of first come, first named. I suppose, in the end, it might be better for the “Kranks” movie people because of all of the crappy press “Surviving Christmas” has gotten.

Anyway, Tim Allen, who is quickly cornering the “if it’s a Christmas movie it better have Tim Allen in it” market, plays Luther Krank. When their daughter decides she won’t be home for Christmas, and being a little dismayed with the entire Christmas scene, Luther convinces wife Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis), that a tropical climate is a much better place to spend Christmas. She reluctantly agrees, much to the dismay of the neighbors, who always looked forward to the Krank’s Christmas displays and general yuletide cheer. Then, at the last minute, Blair, the daughter, decides she can’t be away from home for Christmas, and mom and dad only have hours to set up the beautiful Christmas they are known for. Oh, and yea, hilarity ensues.

Rated PG, this looks like a really cute family film for Christmas time. Grisham is always a great storyteller, even in his branching away from legal stuff, so this has tons of potential to be tons of fun.

That’s it for this preview! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!