Categories
Comedy Drama Movie Reviews

Juno – Comedy Drama Doesn’t Come Better Than This

Juno

Drama is my favorite genre.  This time, the talented young actress Ellen Page is not going to experiment with how to trap a pedophile and cut his balls like she did in “Hard Candy (2005)”.  Instead, her character, a 16-year old Juno, has become pregnant and decided to find the perfect couple to adopt her baby.  The winning formula of this critically acclaimed and box office success ($156 million gross from a $6.5 million film is pretty good) in my opinion is: a believable storyline, a lively script, great soundtrack of Indie music that goes so well with the movie’s theme, and the superb acting of Ellen Page.  The script is so good that keep you smiling throughout the show.  There are just way too many memorable scenes, from beginning to the very end.  The storyline has enough opportunity for Ellen Page to shine.  Amidst the rather unfortunate incident of teen pregnancy, the portrait of a Juno’s pro-life journey warms audience’s hearts.  Juno is not the sweet young girl as you may imagine.  She is more like a slightly grown up version of “Hard Candy” – sharp-tongued with attitude, without the balls cutting kind of angst – laterally – of course.

Voted by the critics as the top 10 film of the year 2007, “Juno” shouldn’t disappoint at all.  It is worth checking out when you have time.  Who knows?  “Juno” could be the very first Blu-ray movie I own now that Blu-ray has won the format war.

Categories
Comedy Movie Reviews Romance

27 Dresses – Girls Would Love This

27 Dresses

If you have just started dating a girl not for long, bringing her to watch “27 Dresses” would probably up your rating for a good few notches. She may even remember this chick flick as the movie for the both of you.  So you better prepare to write down the date and place and what she wears for your future reference.  Believe me, girls have super memory when it comes down to dates and clothes.

Despite my rather vehement protest of watching yet another romance comedy two days in a row, Cynthia leaped in joy when she heard the words “27 Dresses”.  TK seconded that because he needed something to relax.  In the name of democracy, I booked “27 Dresses”.

The close to 2 hours movie has quite a straightforward storyline of a perpetual bridesmaid (Jane) who has a secret crush with his boss (George) and one day, her sister (Tess) turns up and falls in love with George.  Meanwhile, a journalist (Kevin) stumbles into Jane’s life and perhaps, having attended 27 weddings as a bridesmaid, it is time for Jane to start thinking about herself.

The chemistry between Jane (Katherine Heigl) and Kevin (James Marsden – the prince from Enchanted and the cyclop from X-men) is pretty good. I especially enjoy watching the performance of Katherine Heigl who is an Emmy-winning and Golden Globe-nominated American actress best known for her role in Grey’s Anatomy.  There are sufficient humors in “27 Dresses” that keeps the movie entertaining to watch. Some scenes – though very much like scenes straight from a TV drama – are pretty memorable (such as the one when Kevin is trying to teach Jane how to say no). The overall plot is also pretty believable without making me cringe too much. Believe it or not, Cynthia did shed some tears in some parts of the movie.

If you like the chick flick genre, “27 Dresses” maybe for you.  I personally get a bit “wedding overdose” at the end of the movie. “27 Dresses” has definitely a higher entertainment value than “Mr. Average” but scores lower in the area of originality.

Categories
Comedy Foreign Movie Reviews

Mr. Average (Comme tout le monde) – A Light Entertainment

Mr. Average

My body was definitely suffering from movie withdrawal syndrome and the good thing about not having any for a while is that every movie advertised looks good. In the morning, I texted my Movie Review Squad with the message of “documentary, French romance comedy, Japanese anime, or horror?”. And almost simultaneously, I received two text messages pointing at the direction of a French romance comedy. OK. I was not the only one who was itching for some good movies. “Mr. Average” it was then.

“Mr. Average” is not one of those French movies that after the ending hits you, you have to re-watch the entire movie again.  Nor it is the typical French romance drama that has lots of character development.  The rather plump looking main actor Khalid Maadour, who plays the role of Jalil, does look like any Tom, Dick, and Harry (he does look like the policeman who can listen to people’s mind in the TV series “Heroes” to me though). The main actress from Montreal, Quebec – Caroline Dhavernas – who plays the role of Claire is anything but. She is totally stunningly attractive and sweet looking (Cynthia agrees) that I can easily bypass how immorally wrong her role is at the beginning. Claire, a budding actress, is hired by a top marketing company to deceive Jalil who has the gift of predicting what the mass market wants through his own opinions. Claire even sleeps with Jalil on day one! Surprisingly, with such a sweet looking girl, condemning her decision was the last thing on my mind … the success of making likable characters in the movie eh?

There is nothing deep about the romance comedy “Mr. Average” though the scriptwriter is pretty imaginative. You will most likely walk out of the theatre feeling happy. The soundtrack is great though. I will certainly check out the CD.