Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews

Category: Comedy

  • American Hustle: Like flowers, but with garbage

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    American Hustle – 2013 Director David O. Russell Starring Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence Screenplay Eric Warren Singer and Russell There is a feeling of barely restrained whimsy in the events of American Hustle.  Instead of being the kind of film that aspires to be truthful while embellishing the facts, Russell and co-writer Singer make the…

  • Nebraska: The best actor’s Forte.

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    Nebraska – 2013 Directed by Alexander Payne Starring Will Forte, Bruce Dern, June Squibb, Stacey Keach, Bob Odenkirk Screenplay Bob Nelson Bruce Dern has been in a lot of stuff.  He’s been pretty good, too.  My personal favorites are no-good Joe Danby in Support Your Local Sheriff and the brutal Asa Watts from The Cowboys.  His…

  • Despicable Me 2 (***): The great average

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    Despicable Me 2 – 2013 Directors Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud Starring Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove, Elsie Fisher, Dana Gaier, Russell Brand, Steve Coogan, Ken Jeong Screenplay Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio It’s a simple premise.  Put a threadbare story involving super criminals, make one a loveable doof who can’t resist cute kids (who can?), throw in some adorable Igor types and then you’ve…

  • About Time: Most Charming and Clever

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    About Time – 2013 Written and Directed by Richard Curtis Starring Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, Margot Robbie, Lydia Wilson, Richard Cordery Meetings in romantic comedies are hard to do well.  So many of them giver the appearance of cleverness, but instead have been used so many times they have worn a path on the brain of the…

  • Cool Papa E’s Favorite Comedy Films of All Time

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    Live action comedy films are inexpensive to make but they are incredibly hard to master.  It’s a generally accepted axiom that there is no generally accepted axiom as to what is universally funny.  That said, most makers of comedy barely even try.  Whether it’s the rancid Scary Movie franchise, Tim Matheson’s  Animal House / Meatballs…

  • We’re The Millers: We’ve all seen a Dick

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    We’re The Millers – 2013 Director Rawson Marshall Thurber Starring Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Will Poulter, Emma Roberts, Ed Helms, Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, Ed Helms, Luis Guzman, Molly Quinn Screenplay Bob Fisher, Steve Faber, Sean Anders, John Morris The iron of having a weed dealer go down to Mexico to pick up “…enough weed to kill Willie…Nelson…” and haul…

  • The Internship: …and we learned so much about ourselves going to the nudie bar

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    The Internship -2013 Director Shawn Levy Starring Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rose Byrne, Max Minghella, Joanna Garcia, Josh Brener, John Goodman, Dylan O’Brien, Tiya Sircar, Jessica Szohr, Aasif Mandvi, Josh Gad Screenplay by Vaughn and Jared Stern The Internship plays like a mixture of the worst elements of every college film ever made.  This time the college is the coolest place to work in the world.…

  • Grown Ups 2: High Fiving White Guys…and Chris Rock

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    Grown Ups 2 – 2013 Director Denis Dugan Starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maya Rudolph, Maria Bello, Nick Swardson, Tim Meadows Screenplay Adam Sandler, Tim Herlihy, Fred Wolf It’s got Shaquille O’Neal, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Andy Samberg, Milo Ventimiglia, Taylor Lautner and Cheri Oteri.  It even has one of Schwarzenegger’s kids.  It even has Nick Swardson, doing what he does…

  • The Hangover Part III and Kick-Ass 2: Delightful if not so funny

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    The Hangover Part III – 2013 Director Todd Phillips Starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Ken Jeong, Heather Graham, Jeffrey Tambor, Justin Bartha, Jamie Chung, John Goodman Screenplay Todd Phillips, Craig Mazin Kick-Ass 2 – 2013 Writer and Director Jeff Wadlow Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz, Jim Carrey, Clark Duke, Olga Kurkulina, Lindy Booth, John Leguizamo, Morris Chestnut, Donald Faison Two notable comedies had sequels in the summer of 2013, and both…

  • The Heat: What happens when you put these two together

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    The Heat – 2013 Director Paul Feig Starring Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Demián Bichir, Marlon Wayans, Michael Rapaport, Jane Curtin, Dan Bakkedahl, Taran Killam,  Michael McDonald, Tom Wilson, Bill Burr Screenplay Katie Dippold This is written by a woman.  I keep telling myself this, to no avail.  The number of curse words that emanate from the mouths of women, it feels like an Olympic achievement by the…