The Night Before

First Hit:  A few sparse funny scenes in this uninteresting poorly scripted film.

There are some out-loud funny scenes but I cannot recall any of them the day after – I just remember laughing, however, most of the time I spent wondering who thought up this stuff. Low grade attempts at humor mixed in with a few heart driven points.

One of the heart felt moments was when Chris Roberts' (Anthony Mackie) mother, Mrs. Roberts (Lorraine Toussaint), tells Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to seize the moment for love if it arises and to not be afraid.

The scenes I disliked the most were with Isaac (Seth Rogen) as I didn’t find him funny – mostly low brow high-school humor. The mushroom trip he was on was not effectively shared and was not accurate to a "shroom" experience. The wearing of a large black Star of David woven into his light-blue and white Christmas sweater – was poorly contrived. His running out of the church yelling “we didn’t kill Jesus” was stupid and no one in the theater thought it funny – as there were audible groans.

The film's premise was reasonable in that Ethan’s friends, Chris and Isaac, supported him through each holiday season because his parents died early, but the execution just didn’t seem well thought out. The best part of the film were the scenes with Mr. Green (Michael Shannon) the long time drug/pot dealer.

Gordon-Levitt was fair in this poorly constructed role. Mackie was one of the better parts of the film in that he was believable. Rogen wasn’t believable stoned or otherwise and his annoying laugh made it worse. Shannon was the best part of the film, scary, insightful and thoughtful all at the same time. Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, and Evan Goldberg wrote a non-cohesive, sophomoric, mostly unfunny script – it felt like it was developed and agreed upon by committee. Jonathan Levine did little to enhance the poor script although a few of the sets were well crafted.

Overall:  I went to this film because of the dearth of new films out this week – should of stayed home.

The Interview

First Hit:  Funny enough but the sprinkles of very low-brow bits made it less fun and interesting than it could have been.

Seth Rogen has the ability to make funny films and funny situations. What doesn’t work for me in his films is that he appears to be compelled to make sure he sticks in low-brow dialogue or high-school genre fart jokes and bits that take away from the overall film.

I thought the concept of having Dave Skylark (James Franco) a popular and without a lot of substance television interviewer selected by North Korea’s President Kim Jong-un (Randall Park) to give a once in a lifetime interview was genius. And there are parts of this film that are truly funny and I appreciated those moments. It was just unfortunate that when push came to shove, if Rogan thinks it’s not funny enough he reverts to less intelligent stuff.

Franco at times is really funny and his interviews of Eminem and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were funny and I thoroughly enjoyed him. Rogan as Skylark’s producer Aaron Rappaport as well as writer and co-director was both really good and also misplaced. Lizzy Caplan as CIA Agent Lacey was funny. Park as Kim was really funny and had enough of the "god like" features that helped hold the story together. Diana Bang as Sook who interfaced between Skylark, Rappaport and Kim was really funny. Her bit to overthrow Kim was great. Rogan, Evan Goldberg, and Dan Sterling wrote the story and script which at times was brilliant and other times, sophomoric. Rogan and Goldberg directed this film with both brilliance and stupidity.

Overall:  I enjoyed the film more than not – and that, I suppose, is a good thing.

Green Hornet

First Hit: Nothing based in reality - but a silly and sometimes fun film.

Seth Rogen as the Hornet didn’t fit in the role I imagined so I was disappointed in the role Rogan created. 

Supposedly Rogan plays a rich boy named Britt Reid being raised by his strict father James (played by Tom Wilkinson) because his mother died early in his life. Not sure why this was important to repeat numerous times, but they did. Britt is spoiled and as an adult he just goes out and parties.

His father dies and to get back at him, Britt and his father’s car maintenance and coffee maker Kato (played by Jay Chou), cut the head off the bronze statue the town put up in his father’s honor. Kato is a genius at inventing things and he turns one of Jame's old cars into a super sophisticated rolling weapon’s machine.

Britt decides to name himself the “Green Hornet” and his assistant, Kato decide to raise havoc by fighting crime and also create mayhem. Britt also inherits his father’s newspaper and decides to hire Cameron Diaz as his assistant Lenore Case.

This was mostly a meaningless part and added very little to the storyline except that both Kato and Britt wanted Lenor to be their girlfriend. After a well-known criminal hooks up with the DA to kill the Green Hornet, the Hornet and Kato decide to blow the lid off the DA’s links with the mob as well as letting everyone know who the Green Hornet is.

Rogen is simply not right for the role of the real Green Hornet" of Helnit Comics fame. He is also very difficult to take as a straight character. There is nothing that makes this film really work as something other than a one-off semi-comedy. Rogan is the wrong guy for this film. Chou is the only interesting character in the film and I enjoyed watching him. Diaz is wasted in this. Wilkinson is also wasted in this film. Evan Goldberg and Rogan wrote this mess and Michael Gondry did the best he could to keep the effects and action interesting.

Overall: This film will probably result in a sequel but I won’t go, one version was enough.