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.

Get Him to the Greek

First Hit: There are moments that this film is really funny and there are times it felt sophomoric and I wanted the scene to move on.

Russell Brand plays Aldous Snow an aging rock star that was a wild child singer who made lots of money making rock albums then made a horribly conceived album. He decided to get clean of drugs but that didn't help his marriage or his career so he starts drinking and doing drugs again.

It is here we pick up the story because Sergio Roma (played by Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs) is a record label producer who looking for something big to create more income so that he can provide Nike Air Jordans for his six kids.

His minions have some stupid ideas but when he calls on Aaron Green (Jonah Hill), Aaron thinks that a 10th anniversary concert at the Greek Theater in LA with Aldous Snow will be a huge hit. He explains how it will be great and generate a lot of money by doing a simulcast with Facebook, Twitter and a "pay for view" cable channel.

Roma agrees and sends Green to fetch Snow and bring him back for the concert. The film has enough moments of well represented typical rock star lifestyle and its juxtaposition to a regular person’s life. There is the; I’ll do what I want when I want to do it thing.

There is the focus on “banging” as many girls as I can thing. And there is the I’ll do what it takes to get high to not feel what my life is really about stuff thing. To Green, at first it is fun but he sees the hurt and shallowness in it Snow and wonders if this is the life for him.

What detracted from the film are the sophomoric bents like the often seen Green vomiting because he can’t hold his liquor scenes.

Brand is great as Snow and held his own as a Jim Morrison, Mick Jagger, and Lars Ulrich version of a rock star. Hill is not an actor I find very entertaining as he appears to play the same sort of guy most of the time. He’s a semi thoughtful, unimaginative guy who longs to have a normal life and is a bit slow on the uptake. He uses his size to create sympathy and humor but there is little coming from his brain and heart. The chemistry between him and Daphne Binks (played by Elizabeth Moss) is virtually non-existent. Combs is funny and great as the music record producer. I love the dialogue about mind fucking. Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segel wrote this and there are moments of truly funny, laugh out loud, scenes and dialogue which director Stoller used really well.

Overall: Where I enjoyed watching Hangover a second time with my girlfriend, this film doesn’t have the ability to be funny or interesting the second time around because the laughs are one shot and some of the stuff gets old quick.