The End of the Tour

First Hit:  Intelligent dialogue in a very well-acted film.

This is a simple intelligent film about David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) a Rolling Stone reporter who works his boss to get an assignment to interview the current hottest writer David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel). Wallace has a past and history that Lipsky wants to better understand but mostly, because Lipsky, a writer himself, wants to find out why Wallace’s book is so much better than his  recently published book.

A number of their conversations take place in the car driving to various book readings, café’s, and Wallace’s home. Because of the physical closeness, their relationship grows to reveal a lot about each of the men. Wallace talks about learning about himself the hard way. He’s deeply explored his depression, has and continues to learn what is important to him, and how to deal with how the public views him, which often is far from the truth. He’s learned what his reality is and how to reconcile all of his life’s difficulties.

Lipsky gets challenged by someone who is as smart (maybe even smarter) as him. His respect and admiration occasionally gets in the way of interviewing Wallace, but those items also create a way to deeply learn more about Wallace and himself.

Eisenberg was his usual high intensity, high speed intellectual self. He’s is smart that he picks roles that display his natural strength. Segel gives a performance of a lifetime. He is stupendous, superb, and sublime. He embodies the character and dialogue. Donald Margulies wrote an incredibly strong script. James Ponsoldt created a great watchable film through his direction.

Overall:  This was a very watchable film by having intelligent dialogue.

Sex Tape

First Hit:  At times very funny and the laughs were easy to come by and at other times it pushed too hard for the laughs.

The concept was very good. The points made by the film including; being careful what you video, asking oneself why there was the need to create the video, and how quickly today’s technology can turn a fun idea into a nightmare are solid and well founded.

Here Annie (Cameron Diaz) and Jay (Jason Segel), who as young college lovers spent all their free time having sex. Then she got pregnant and, as what happens to many couples after having kids, the sex started to become infrequent. The film follows them as they conduct their life on a day to day basis:  Kids to school, both to work, and occasional conversations about when they might have sex next.

One evening they’ve got time off and they decide to film themselves in all of the positions in the famous 1972 book, "Joy of Sex". For some reason Jay doesn’t erase the video and – the fun ensues when try to get the video erased (off the cloud). Her sister Tess (Ellie Kemper) and her husband Robby (Rob Corddry) are friends and they are also enlisted to help them find and delete the video. Jack Black has a small part as the owner of a porn site who helps them out.

Additionally Rob Lowe as Hank, the owner of a company that may buy Annie’s motherhood blog, is fun in a role that requires him to play off his past drug use. The overall premise is good, some of the scenes are good while others are trying and seem very pressed. The dog scenes went farther than they needed and were not believable.

Diaz seemed to have a lot of fun in the role and she was good in it. Segel also seemed to have fun in his role. Together they seemed to click and have a similar sense of humor. Corddry was good as the friend who wanted to help but also wanted to watch and keep the video. Kemper was strong as the sister and gave the role supportive credence. Black was really good and I really enjoyed him. Lowe’s parody of his real life was fun and a stroke of genius. Segel, Kate Angelo and Nicholas Stoller wrote a good script. It would have been better to aim with a little more subtlety and they didn’t. Jake Kasdan’s direction was good, over done in some scenes and appropriately touching in others.

Overall:  It was good, but I felt that there was more potential in the subject than what was delivered.

The Five-Year Engagement

First Hit:  There are moments of smart writing and acting intermingled with waiting for the next good scene.

Having just been through an engagement and recently married it was fun to see how this imaginary couple handled their engagement and hopefully marriage.

I loved the scene of how Violet (played by Emily Blunt) and Tom (played by Jason Segel) met at a New Year’s eve party where they were supposed to be dressed as their favorite superhero.

Violet was dressed as Princes Diana while he was dressed in a big pink bunny outfit with a crudely taped “Super Bunny” label across his chest. This sets this couple up as an unconventional couple that will find their own way.

Tom, being dressed as a big bunny gives the impression that he is in-touch with his feelings. He’s a sous chef at a high-end restaurant in San Francisco, while she is in a doctorate course at UC Berkeley. Their engagement dinner was a well-written scene. They are planning to get married but then she gets an invite to work on her doctorate program in Michigan. They put off their marriage for 2 years for her to finish this program, he quits his job and they head to Michigan.

Some of the scenes here are convoluted and I don’t think required (IE: All the hunting scenes and his wearing a very ugly homemade sweater). While her career flourishes his fades into despair. In the end they have to decide what is right for them and their relationship.

This film could have gotten their in a more interesting and crisper way, but it didn’t. However, as indicated in my “First Hit” there are moments of brilliance in the writing and direction.

Blunt is well cast and unfortunately some scenes are not written well enough to have it work. Her smile and laugh are her biggest asset. Segel was good at times but seemed to lack life or interest in the film as well as in the character. Yes this could be exactly what the director wanted but when I have a thought that he really doesn't care about not caring, a red light goes on for me. It was if he was going through the motions). Chris Pratt, as Alex, was strong as his best friend and fellow chef. Alison Brie, as Suzie was very watchable as Violet's sister. Jason Segel wrote an occasionally strong script while also wasting time with other material (IE Sweaters) that didn’t really add to the film. Nicholas Stoller directed the film which was too long for the material they covered.

Overall: Might be worth a Sunday evening kind of film to watch on video.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home

First Hit:  Although I didn’t anticipate much, this film was touching and more interesting than I originally thought.

Jeff (Jason Segel) lives at home. He’s over 30 years old, watches the film “Signs” often, smokes a lot of pot, and is totally lost in his life.

Trying to find his way, he looks for his own signs that will give him a clearer picture of what he needs to do with his life. Jeff is a pacifist and mourns the loss of his father.

His brother Pat (played by Ed Helms) is struggling in his marriage to Linda (Judy Greer) and is trying to spice his life up with a new car. Jeff and Pat’s mother Sharon (played by Susan Sarandon) works in an office, doesn’t know how to motivate her son Jeff and is being admired by someone in her office.

Jeff gets a call from someone who is asking for “Kevin”. There is no Kevin so Jeff, while on an errand for his mom, leaves the house and then runs into a young man with “Kevin” written on his shirt. He thinks it is a sign. He eventually runs into his brother Pat.

Pat on the other hand, has bought a Porsche which he and his wife cannot afford because he thinks he’s missing out on life. They run into Linda who is meeting up with a male friend. Sad that Pat doesn’t talk with or listen to her any longer, she ends up in a hotel room with him.

Then Sharon getting anonymous instant messages from someone at the office has her in an emotional tizzy. The ingredients are interesting and result in a very nice finale.

Segel is very good as Jeff the wayward slacker lost in life. Helms is good as the highly wound-up brother who just wants something different in his life and doesn’t see he needs to look within. Sarandon is wonderful as the lost mother of two boys who are on their own unhealthy paths. Greer is great as the wife who has had enough and wants things to change. It was very nice to see Rae Dawn Chong again in her role as Sharon’s office friend. Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass co-wrote and co-directed this pleasantly interesting and engaging film.

Overall: This is a thoughtful and interesting film.

Bad Teacher

First Hit: There are some very funny laugh-out-loud moments but in the end it was trite and less than satisfying.

 Elizabeth Halsey (played by Cameron Diaz) is a grade school teacher obsessed with finding a wealthy man to keep her in a particular lifestyle.

As the film starts, she has found him, however he breaks up with her and she has to go back to teaching. She drinks, smokes pot, and is scheming to find a man with money.

Coming back to teaching, her classes consist of turning on films for the kids to watch instead of actually teaching them anything. She thinks her biggest problem and the reason why she hasn’t nailed the right man is that she has small breasts, so she begins to manipulate her student’s parents for donations for classroom supplies (which she’ll keep), along with stealing items from student’s homes. With the extra money she hopes to have breast implants, catch her man, and quit teaching.

During this time she is also finds herself in competition for the affection of Scott, a long-term substitute teacher (played by Justin Timberlake) who has family money but is a nerdy spineless sort of guy. The competition is another teacher named Amy Squirrel (played by Lucy Punch) who is miss goody two shoes but also is a little twisted because something happened in 2008 (we never really find out).

Russell (played by Jason Segel) is the school’s gym teacher who has a crush on Elizabeth but, because he doesn't have money, she’s not interested in him, even though we all know he’s the best fit for her. The film is a set of scenes, which generally show how inappropriate Elizabeth’s actions are in being a schoolteacher.

The film plays off of stereotypes of kids and adults alike. We aren’t supposed to really care about anybody in this film, and here the film really succeeds. There is nothing to really care about. But there are some laugh-out-loud moments.

 Diaz does an adequate job of mugging through the non-caring school teacher bit and in the scenes where she is suppose to be sexy, she can be. But there isn’t much acting going on here. Segel is good as the steadfast easygoing guy who knows what he wants. Punch is, at times, perfect as the obnoxious obsessive tattletale snot of a teacher. Timberlake, makes a good nerd, but I couldn’t help but sense a “I’m just playing this role with a wink of an eye” sort of feeling from him. I did thoroughly enjoy his song for Amy. Phyllis Smith was perfect as Lynn the teacher who wants to be more and different than she is. She was the best actor in this film. Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg wrote this screenplay and it felt lightweight and only scraping the surface. Jake Kasdan directed this and given the screenplay I’m not sure what else he could have gotten out of it.

 Overall: Although some of the laughs are very out loud funny, this is a forgettable film.