Flower

First Hit: The acting lifts this bizarre storyline to funny, engaging and entertaining levels.

Before seeing this film, I was hard pressed to think that it would be well acted and funny. Why? The first scene has a young seventeen-year-old girl giving oral sex to a police officer, then blackmailing him for money so that she can bail her father out of jail.

We learn that Erica (Zoey Deutch) has been doing this often because the bail is over $15,000. She has two friends, Kala (Dylan Gelula) and Claudine (Maya Eshet), that assist by videotaping the oral sex events. This is how they blackmail the offenders.

What makes it funny is the matter of fact, open, and deliberate way the engagements are talked about and happen.

Erica has an odd and permissive relationship with her mother Laurie (Kathryn Hahn). Laurie is desperate for a relationship and finds Dale (Eric Edelstein) who also has an overweight son Luke (Joey Morgan) about Erica’s age. However, Luke has been in rehab for over a year because of opiates.

When Luke gets out of the rehab he stays with Laurie, Dale, and Erica. He’s a sad soul and clearly troubled. Erica does her best to engage him including offering oral sex. "It's not like we're related" and "I'm an expert at oral sex." The way these lines are delivered are priceless.

What we discover is that Luke hides his feelings and emotions through eating and drugs because he indicates he was sexually assaulted by Will Jordan (Adam Scott) a grade school teacher.

Erica, Kala, Claudine and Luke set out to expose Will and in this way, get some revenge for Luke and blackmail Will for money that Erica can use to get her father out of jail.

When we get to the end, we find out the truth and the characters find out their own truth.

The events and the way this story unfolds is amusing and quirky. The characters are odd, believable, and fun.

Deutch is excellent. Her laissez faire yet intelligent approach to getting through her life was amazing. I loved watching her be this character on the screen. Morgan was wonderful as the young man attempting to do right at the detriment of his own health. Gelula and Eshet were perfect as the supportive friends. They wonderfully added to this comedic adventure. Hahn was wonderful and the supportive yet exasperated lonely mother. Edelstein was good as the new man in Laurie’s life. Scott was strong as the accused former teacher who loves bowling.  Alex McAulay and Matt Spicer wrote a funny and engaging script. Max Winkler did a wonderful job of making this film work.

Overall: I was pleasantly surprised at the acting and the funny bits in this film.

Bad Moms

First Hit:  Although it was quite crass at times, there were more than a few laughs, which made this film worth watching.

The story follows Amy (Mila Kunis) as she is taken advantage of by her young, uninformed, boy boss because she shows up each day although she only works their part time.

She has this demanding job, is a mom doing all the mom type running round, tries to stay active with the PTA, and wants to be a good wife. Her primary focus is to help her kids, including doing their school work, so her kids get good grades. After dropping the kids off at school, she shows up to work and is the only grown up in the company.

Her husband casually works, and Amy catches him, one day, having skype sex with a woman he’s never met. This online relationship has been going on for 10 months. She kicks him out.

The pressure to be a good mom and be active in the PTA, led by Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate) is fierce. Amy meets and bonds with Carla (Kathryn Hahn) and Kiki (Kristen Bell), two other moms who struggle with the pressures of motherhood.

Carla is divorced and is man hungry. This is where most of the film’s crassness comes from. Carla is foul mouth and man hungry. This is the largest detriment to the film. It might have been better if this character was either cut or the role toned down somewhat.

Kiki, on the other hand becomes empowered through the film and this is nice to see. The three of them are fed up with the power that PTA President Gwendolyn and her henchwomen Stacy (Jada Pinkette Smith) and Vicky (Annie Mumolo) exude with prissiness and entitlement based on money and what they think is right for everyone.

The PTA is the battle ground and Amy decides to challenge Gwendolyn for the presidency of the organization. The film has lots of scenes that show the PTA in all its glory. It shows women deciding to take their lives into their own hands while juggling their children, and their lives outside of school.

I did think the crassness of Carla was overdone and had me wanting to cut her lines. I thought Amy’s relationship with her kids Jane and Dylan (Oona Laurence and Emjay Anthony respectively) was a strong part of the film. The most touching part of the film were the credits, as the actresses and their moms were revealingly interviewed.

Kunis was very good and her ability to carry multiple looks (mom, party girl, and responsible workmate) were strong. Hahn was good and I disliked the script for her. The man and sex hungry woman with a foul mouth didn’t work for me. It never works for me male or female. Bell was wonderful. She brings an engagement to her roles that is always watchable. Applegate was very good and she clearly knew this role. Laurence, for me, was the star of the film. It was a minor role, yet what she brought to it how she engaged each scene was wonderful. Anthony was good as the son trying to figure out his path now that dad was gone. Smith was strong as a henchwoman. Scott Moore and Jon Lucas, together, wrote and directed this film and outside of the overt crassness, it captured some of the life of moms.

Overall:  For the most part my experience was positive, but it wasn’t a great film.

Bad Words

First Hit:  Funny at times but were the reasons for his behavior enough to justify his acting this way – I didn’t buy it.

A 40+ year old Guy Trilby (Justin Bateman) takes advantage of junior high spelling bee rules so that he can enter and win. The story is why? He’s got a Jane Widgeon (Kathryn Hahn), a reporter, writing a story about his attempt to win the Golden Quill (think Scripts) world famous spelling bee and hopefully tell the story as to why.

She is paying for his hotel and travel expenses and is having a hell of a time getting Guy’s story out of him. Why would Guy face the vile words thrown at him from fellow spelling bee competitor’s parents and organizers just to get to the Golden Quill final? We do learn and I won’t reveal it here – and to be quite frank, it wasn’t enough for him to act the way he did to the other kids.

I think the screenplay writer and Bateman, as director, could have lightened up the foul name calling and antics aimed at the kids, and made a more engaging and likable story. The other option would have to change the story line and made it aimed at older people – therefore making the name calling a little more equalized and age appropriate.

To create a soft spot for Guy’s role, we have a young man, Chaitanya Chopra (Rohan Chand), who is left by himself because his parents want to have him learn life’s lessons, befriending Guy. His persistence by asking Guy questions and making conversation, breaks through and make many of the scenes of him and Guy out on the town funny and endearing. However, the overall vengeful tone is more than I enjoyed.

Bateman was occasionally good but the character was over done most of the time. Because he was also the director I would also aim most of the film’s issues directly at Bateman. Hahn was good in her role as the reporter trying to get a story and have a relationship. Chand was fantastic and was the star of this film. Philip Baker Hall as the Quill’s founder, Dr. Bowman, was OK. I found some of his word enunciation (slurring) raised questions to me about his viability and don't think it was on purpose. Allison Janney’s performance as Dr. Bernice Deagan, Quill’s director was strong. Andrew Dodge wrote the screen play. For me it went too far in the way he had Guy speak to children. Bateman directed this and really had the ability to make a better film than he did.

Overall:  I was disappointed at the level of negative energy directed at the kids by the main character.

Afternoon Delight

First Hit:  At times, very insightful and interesting, other times the film was lost and some scenes needed cutting or a re-write.

The home life of Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) and Jeff (Josh Radnor) is one of a couple that is out of sync with each other. Rachel isn’t working, or attempts to write from time to time.

Jeff has made it big with developing “apps” and the results have put them in a nice home in Silver Lake California, a close community to downtown LA. They have a young son and hang out with friends, like themselves, mid-thirties, successful, and working a lot.

Their sex life is spoken about by whether they put the dog out or not. It’s code. Mostly they don’t have sex because as we learn Rachel would like it in the afternoon while Jeff is always working. To spice up their life they and another couple go to a strip club where Jeff buys Rachel a lap dance with McKenna (Juno Temple).

It unnerves her in two ways, she’s intrigued by her feelings and also confused by them. She doesn’t want to be curious but is. Rachel tracks down McKenna and begins to have coffee walks with her. One day McKenna is being thrown out of her car and Rachel offers her their nanny’s room.

Rachel discovers that McKenna makes no bones about being a sex worker but is also of a very sweet kind disposition and loves kids. But when Rachel has a real opportunity to let McKenna show this side of her, she fails and things blow-up.

Hahn is very effective as a troubled wife, who has some demons (the energy work scene points out this very powerfully) she needs to deal with. Radnor is good as the pre-occupied husband. Temple is sublime as the sex worker. She brings a real presence to the film and succeeds in being the driver of the story. Jane Lynch is both interesting and horrible as the therapist treating Rachel. She brought a strong presence, but as a comedy sequence where “she shares” her own story, it fails miserably. These scenes needed a full rewrite. Jessica St. Clair, Michaela Watkins, Annie Mumolo were all very good in their roles and Rachel’s closest friends. Jill Soloway both wrote and directed this film. From a writing aspect, some scenes were great while others were horrible. She did a good job of directing the film and giving strength to the characters, however some scenes were just not required or needed re-writing.

Overall:  This film has some very good things to say and could have been better.

The Millers

First Hit:  Although not great, I enjoyed this film and many laughs came easily.

I was in the mood for something lighthearted and maybe with some substance. “The Millers” came through really well.

The substance is about learning about selflessness – movement away from selfishness. David (Jason Sudeikis) is a small time dime-bag marijuana dealer. He’s doing the same thing he’s been doing all his life. He only cares about himself and making the required sales. He’s worked for Brad (Ed Helms) for a very long time.

Brad is wealthy (he collects whales not cars) and is a jerk. David gets robbed trying to stop his neighbor Kenny (Will Poulter) from breaking up a street robbery of Casey (Emma Roberts) by some street punks. It’s Kenny’s good heart that put him in danger. When David decides to help and this kindness backfires on him.

Losing a lot of Brad’s money and pot, Brad gives David the option of picking up a bunch of pot in Mexico and bring it across the Mexican/US border OR be can be killed. If he does the smuggling job, he’s promised money, relief from his indebtedness to Brad, and maybe a little more freedom.

To make this happens, David hatches the idea that if he looked like a family man in a RV then the likelihood of being stopped at the boarder would be less. So he recruits Kenny, then Casey - who is homeless, and his neighbor Rose (Jennifer Aniston) to become his family on this adventure. He offers them some money. Rose is a stripper, hates her job and has been stilted both financially and emotionally by her past boyfriend.

With the promise of a payoff, this motley crew becomes “The Millers” and they trek off to Mexico to collect some pot and to make some money. But the situations that happen on the way drive them all to see that being part of a family has meaning for all of them.

What makes the story and funny situations work is excellent acting on all their parts.

Sudeikis is very good as a slacker, just selfishly going on with his life and slowly and sporadically finding that he cares about the family he put together for his profit.  Helms is great as the jerky drug dealer. Aniston is fabulous as a stripper, pretend mother, and as the grounding force of this film. Roberts is a delight and, like Aniston, segues from hardened loaner, to a girl wanting to be heard, seen and loved. Poulter was amazing and a real prize. His innocence and bravery was perfect. Nick Offerman and Kathryn Hahn as Don and Edie Fitzgerald fellow RV travelers were a great addition to the story. Bob Fisher and Steve Farber wrote a witty screenplay. Rawson Marshall Thurber provided a deft touch directing this ensemble cast of strong actors.

Overall:  This was every entertaining and definitely worth the price of admission.