With the big studios churning out Scumbucket-bound clunkers like The Ugly Truth and Orphan this weekend, Peter Travers gets his cinema fix in the form of two indies, In The Loop and The Answer Man in this week's At the Movies. First up, there's the satirical In The Loop, starring James Gandolfini, or Tony Soprano as he'll always be remembered, as a General in this Dr. Strangelove-esque film about the story behind the Iraqi War. Another comedy that deserves your attention is The Answer Man, featuring a fantastic performance by Jeff Daniels as a reclusive J.D. Salinger-like author who wrote one acclaimed book called Me and God. Both Loop and Answer Man are what we call "smart comedies," a distinction only made more apparent when considering the idiocy that fills Travers' Scumbucket this week.
Let's start with the zero star The Ugly Truth, starring Katherine Heigl and 300's Gerard Butler. Heigl's done comedy successfully before, hilariously pulling off her role in Knocked Up. Here, she and Butler combine to give audiences a nearly unwatchable film featuring gags revolving around vibrating panties and cheap When Harry Met Sally rip-offs. "The stupidity of this goes beyond any chick flick horror," Travers said, adding that the film is crap multiplied by four. Another cinematic train wreck is Orphan, the latest in a long line of "scary kids" movies like Children of the Damned, The Omen and The Good Son. Here, even a cast of usually stellar actors like Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga can't prevent this film from stinking up the screen.
But potentially worst of all, so bad that it wasn't even screened for critics, is the latest 3-D-animated kids movie G-Force, about a pack of crime-solving guinea pigs. No matter how many times you read that plotline, it never gets any less ridiculous. Even though it wasn't screened for critics — to avoid the inevitable bad word of mouth, Travers will spend his hard earned money for a ticket to see G-Force this weekend, so check back next week for his review.
Read this week's reviews:
• In the Loop
• The Ugly Truth
Share
Email
Stumble
AIM
Del.icio.us
DiggThis
Fark It!
- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.
Get RS Mobile
RSS
pollywog | September 5, 2009 5:24 PM
In The Loop is hysterical! Be prepared to go twice or more to pick up the fast paced English swearing. I'll definitely buy it when it's out.
trent | July 29, 2009 6:07 AM
totally agree!! So much fun watching you, great like always!
Anonymous | July 26, 2009 11:36 PM
hehe
lpess | July 26, 2009 8:02 PM
travers your the best!
voyager | July 26, 2009 5:16 PM
Trashing a kids film, how original. No matter how many of those you get a year, they don't come close to the dreck of orphan, friday the 13, halloween remake, saw 15, hostel, and all other forgetable "horror" films.
Alice Adams | July 25, 2009 9:44 PM
New film category Peter - screwball political comedies. HAHAHA LOVED David Rasche and Gandolfini -
Liz | July 24, 2009 1:17 AM
You're a trooper Travers - good luck with G-Force.
emcee3 | July 23, 2009 9:18 PM
Indeed, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of In The Loop. NPR posted some clips today & until it starts @ our local Angelika, I'll have to make due with those. Gandolfini's scene [w/ Mimi Kennedy] in the kid's room is terrific!
Also looking forward to It Might Get Loud.
hdbngr63 | July 23, 2009 8:22 PM
Please Pete, for the love of God, don't go see "G-Force." Your readers already know how awful it is, they don't need reassurance. It is an abomination, it's worse than "Revenge of the Fallen," and it pains me to say that, the fact that there is something out there that is worse. If you're fortunate enough to not be screening it, don't go out of your way.