Showing posts with label dirty comedy movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dirty comedy movies. Show all posts

Band Baaja Baaraat (2010)

Band Baaja Baaraat BBB is a remarkable film and one of the freshest one to appear in recent times and certainly has repeat viewing value. A talented debutant director, Maneesh Sharma, a great writer Habib Faisal and two young actors put on a remarkable show with the script serving as their vehicle. BBB is about the new changes that have appeared in Indian Cinema, the star system is largely reserved for big names and releases but a younger generation of storytellers and directors are making the stories fresher and livelier. BBB captures the business of wedding planning and the essence of the drive of young entrepreneurs who are trying to make it big.

Bittu ( Ranveer Singh) is in college but dreads completing it as he would have would have to go back to his village to work with his father. Shruti ( Anushka Sharma) is in the final year of college, but education is only an obstacle, she wants to put together a successful wedding planning business before getting married to any man of her parents choice. They met at a wedding and soon end up as partners in a wedding planning business. Their partnership is successful and they start getting busier. After a unusually successful wedding, they celebrate with alcohol and end up sleeping with each other. Bittu does not want a relationship but Shruti has fallen in love with him. This starts affecting their partnership and a result they part ways.

BBB works because the casting is superb, Anushka and Ranveer Singh, they sizzle and burn the screen with their energy and chemistry. Most of the characters speak with a North Indian accent and the dialogue delivery and writing is flawless. Anushka shows that she is here to stay and Ranveer can be safely assumed is destined for greater things i.e. if he makes the right choice of films and does not mess things up for himself. His energy reminded me of a young SRK in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na. The movie has a great soundtrack and each song is a blockbuster. The songs have been pictured beautifully, colorfully and capture just like the film, the euphoria of a wedding in India. Not to be missed. Five stars.

It is damn hard for a gal and a guy especially when they're good-looking to remain simply platonic friends. And BAND BAAJA BAARAAT demonstrates this yet again. BAND BAAJA BAARAAT (meaning: "Bands Horns and Revelry") is a pretty good Bollywood romantic comedy, of which first half is tremendously entertaining. But then we get to the post-intermission stuff.

Bittoo Sharma (Ranveer Singh) is a farmer's son attending a Delhi university. Bittoo blanches at the notion of going back home to work in his father's sugar cane fields, and maybe it's to distract himself that he goofs off so much during his senior year at college. Crashing a wedding party one evening and about to cram some good grub on his plate, he's called to task by disapproving fellow student Shruti Kakkar (Anushka Sharma). Shruti, who with her aunt had coordinated the wedding party, isn't about to feed uninvited riff raff like Bittoo. They become friends anyway.

Shruti is one of those ambitious young women who knows her own mind, has a crystal clear vision of her future. She's given herself a five-year timeline in which marriage is kicked to the curb so that she could focus on launching her own wedding planning company. When Bittoo's father comes to Delhi to buy a tractor and to take his son home, a panicky Bittoo declares that he also has gone into the highly lucrative wedding planning business. He even talks Shruti into taking him on as her business partner.

The extremely career-oriented Shruti has one caveat: "Jisse vyapaar karo, usse kabhi na pyaar karo." Translation: "Don't mix business with pleasure." But we all know how that works out.

As mentioned, the first hour of BAND BAAJA BAARAAT is immensely watchable. It tracks Shruti and Bittoo's fledgling "Shaadi Mubarak" the name of their wedding planning venture as it gets off the ground. Shaadi Mubarak builds up its rep by making a success of a series of low-budgeted weddings. It's fun to observe Shruti and Bittoo applying their imagination and resourcefulness and their friends to bolster their meager purse. These scenes are enlivened with a fusion of vivid colors and bright exuberance and an infectious joyfulness all of which happen to be some of the best elements in Indian cinema. I loved it.

And then the expected happens, and the story spirals down to this glum melodrama. Everything falls apart for Shruti and Bittoo. And the fiance whom Shruti has been keeping a secret from Bittoo (and from you and me) is the least of their problems, really.

So promising in her debut in RAB NE BANA DI JODI (awesome movie!), Anushka Sharma doesn't let you down here. Her terrific acting anchors the story and drives the film's emotional beats. This is Ranveer Singh's first picture and he's energetic and has presence. There's a playfulness about him, and he delivers his lines with the mischief of an Akshay Kumar. But Ranveer's performance isn't as nuanced as Anushka's. He certainly doesn't inject as much substance into his character. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if the ladies in the audience, in eyeballing him, are boisterously practicing their wolf whistles. And you can't discount that spark between Ranveer and Anuskha.

The item numbers can be savored for their liveliness and for the dazzling colors of the costumes and the sets, but the songs themselves are lacking that immediate punch. The choreography is sort of tame, even that of the intended showstopper "DumDum," in which Bittoo and Shruti fill in for Shah Rukh Khan who can't dance at the lavish wedding because of an injured leg (and, no, Shah Rukh isn't in this movie at all). I will say that Anushka Sharma is very graceful in her dancing. And if you're an actor who can act AND dance in Bollywood, then life for you, friend, is an endless parade of "band, baaja, and baaraat." Hopefully I used that phrase right. BAND BAAJA BAARAAT rates 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on Anushka's performance and that satisfying first hour. Oh, and also on that pretty damn sexy kiss exchanged between Anushka and Ranveer. Once in a blue moon, Bollywood does get steamy. Only, how often do you get a blue moon?

What I've got is the two-disc set. Disc 1 has the feature film and an option to select the film's musical numbers for viewing. Disc 2 has the following bonus features, enough of them in English that non-Hindi-speaking viewers can more or less follow along:

Making of the Film featurette (00:21:36 minutes long)

Making of the "Ainvayi Ainvayi" musical number (00:05:31 minutes)

"BBB Sangeet Event" a show promoting the film, the highlights of which are Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma's live stage performances as they dance to songs from the movie and also their hosting of a "Who's the Best Jodi?" contest (00:23:05)

BBB Wedding Event Anushka, Ranveer, and director Maneesh Sharma attend a wedding (00:05:16)

BBB Wedding to promote the film, the production company throws a wedding bash on a dhow cruise in Dubai (00:03:57)

5 Deleted Scenes with no English sub-titles (totaling 00:12:04 minutes)

theatrical trailer & promos

and two music videos: "DumDum Remix" and "Tarkeebein"

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All I can say is WOW! What a HUGE SURPRISE this movie turned out to be! One of the best Bollywood's I've seen. Very fun and colorful, but also touching, and romantic. The on screen chemistry between the two leads is amazing and real. Premise; Typical story where she's the hard worker with the big dreams, and he the slacker who's just at college to party. She tells him she's starting a wedding planning business right after graduation. He laughs at her ideas, until his Dad comes to the school to take him home. When he realizes that he doesn't want to go back to the sugarcane fields for the rest of his life, he lies and tells his Dad that he's going into business with her. They agree to run their business honestly, just as friends -no strings-no romantic involvement. Starting out small, they quickly build up, by delivering inexpensive, cute and extremely fun weddings. Moving onto bigger and better, one night after their first bug success, they get drunk, and sleep together. (This is actually a very sensual, romantic, and beautiful scene. ) In the morning she realizes, that she loves him, but he's freaked out by the whole thing. They are already best friends, but he doesn't know how to react, and he screws it up big time. They fight, and it escalates until they split, and break up the company. As all their success came from working together, it's no big surprise that their business fails separated as they are. They are both really stubborn, and refuse to work together. A HUGE prospective client comes to them and tells them that he will only work with them if they agree to work together. As they are now in debt on their own, they agree for only this one time. The ending credit scenes with the curtain call of all the couples that they helped is really cute. Loved the fun feel in the first half, and typical Bollywood style, second half is more dramatic, and serious. This movie made me laugh out loud though, very fun, and highly entertaining!

Read Best Reviews of Band Baaja Baaraat (2010) Here

I watch this one over and over again and root for the two business partners to become life partners. Well done!

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Love the movie. It is perfect, the DVD is ok well done well packed. I love Bollywood forever and ever.

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Jack & The Beanstalk

Jack & The BeanstalkAbbott & Costello made only two color movies and most circulating copies have variable color quality (sometimes so bad that the video is released in black-and-white instead). But this version of "Jack and the Beanstalk" is the best I've seen, and Goodtimes Home Video deserves a round of applause for issuing it on DVD. The original "Super Cinecolor" (less expensive and impressive than Technicolor) is generally very good indeed; I noticed a few instances of Costello's green costume shifting to blue-green, probably owing to different surviving film elements. Goodtimes did a fine job restoring this, and this DVD offers excellent value for the budget price.

The movie itself is a pleasant children's story with music. After a "modern" prologue in monochrome, Bud and Lou adapt their usual sharpie-and-patsy roles to colorful fairytale settings, and Buddy Baer is an excellent foil as the fearsome giant. (Listen for cartoon-voice Mel Blanc playing several roles in the "I Fear Nothing" song.) Makes a nice kiddie matinee, best for small children but older A & C fans will enjoy it, too.

No need for me to review the movie since you're purchasing this as a collector, right?

So heres the details on the Good Times Home Video Version

Filmed in 1951 (release 1952) using the "Spherical" Cinematographic Process in the Academy Standard Ratio of 1.37:1, this presentation gives us the Full Frame (1.33:1) which is exactly what the director intended us to see.

The original coloring of the film was as so:

** Modern Story:Black and White (Sepiatone);

** Fanasy story: Color (Supercinecolor)

This DVD-5, MPEG2 encoded Movie was about 7 Mbps on Average (with the total disc at 7.16 Mbps)

The audio is a little weak, but definitely clear and intelligible. Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dual Mono) at 192 Kbps.

While the film still appears a bit washed out in comparison to modern presentations, it STELLAR!!! for a 1952 public domain film presentation on DVD. Hence, on a scale of 1-5 (3 being average modern DVD) this would score at 2.85/5) Very good indeed. (Especially in comparison to the "Reel Classic Film" edition of this movie. Just don't buy that version as long as this one is available.)

Pick it up ... its worth the collection!

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Perhaps I'm a bit biased here, but this film was my first exposure to Abbott and Costello, and I've loved them every since. My parents bought the VHS tape of this when I was very young and I was instantly mesmerised -those guys were the funniest team of comedians I'd ever seen. They still are, really.

In retrospect, this may not be one of their greatest films (it's not on par with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, for instance), but it's a fun retelling of the classic Jack and the Beanstalk story, casting Lou as Jack and Bud as the crooked butcher who swaps him magic beans for a cow. Transplanting the boys into the fanciful setting works, and although some of the stuntwork and sets seemed pretty threadbare at times the story and the comedy still click well. This is also one of the few films the boys ever made that could be classified as a musical.

For completists who love Abbott and Costello and are still impatiently waiting for the rest of their films to come out on DVD, this is a must-have. Also recommended for folks with kids -it's a wonderful movie for the young.

Read Best Reviews of Jack & The Beanstalk Here

You know the story... the film is a faithful retelling. Costello dreams himself (as Jack) and fellow movie characters into the story. The narrative device recalls Dorothy's dream in The Wizard of OZ; it plausibly lands Lou and Bud in character. Be advised that in addition to annoying film artifacts, my Madacy disc was defective (a series of small depressed circles in a ring concentric with the spindle hole) and in the Passport edition, the video is worse still and then is poorly synched with the audio! Stay away from both if you can find better transfers.

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Abbott & Costello films have always been popular with children, so it is not surprising that the boys made a couple of films geared directly for the small fry. "Jack and the Beanstalk" features Lou as Jack and Bud as Dinklepuss. The boys are sent by the Cosman Employment Agency to baby-sit an obnoxious kid (David Stollery) and his baby sister. Jack falls asleep reading "Jack and the Beanstalk" and dreams himself and his friends into the fairy tale, ala "The Wizard of Oz." Sergeant Riley (Buddy Bear) becomes The Giant, while Eloise (Shaye Cogan) and Arthur (James Alexander), Donald's older sister and her date, are transformed into the Princess and Prince. Dinklepuss, of course, becomes the butcher who trades the five magic beans for Jack's cow. "Jack and the Beanstalk" is also the film where Bud Abbott first grew what became his trademark mustache. This 1952 film, directed by Jean Yarbough, faithfully follows the fairy tale, which meant Abbott & Costello could not do their standard routines. Lou, who plays to the camera big time, has a great bit with his song "I Fear Nothing," while Bud gets to take a stab at being a comic villain. The weakest part of the film is that the love interests are not all that interesting. Not Disney, but not half bad, especially for the kiddies.

Buck Privates (Blu-ray + DVD) (1941)

Buck PrivatesOkay, there're plenty of reviews for this film--on VHS-cassette; DVD; 12"-LASER-disc, but, those are like TEN years old...

here's a NEW one:

Okay, this isn't a one-hundred year old movie, but it is one of Abbott & Costello's first--and finest movies.

This 1941 movie is a mere seventy-one years old.

It made millions (that ain't hay!*) when THAT was lots of money.

So popular it prompted a film for the other branches: IN THE NAVY, and KEEP 'EM FLYING.

These three, and another one were all filmed the S-A-M-E YEAR the Pearl Harbor attack led us into World War II.

But that wasn't a big deal as "A'" & "C'"[also my favorite vitamins] o-f-t-e-n made at least two [of their (36)] films a

year.

I'm retired from the military, all of my older relatives fought in that war except two of them, and, t-h-e-y were in The

Cival War and The Spanish-American War. I was only in that Vietnam thing.

My dad grew up when they were popular. After I was born, 1949, this and AFRICA SCREAMS (not nearly as good, but ALSO

features Shemp) are the first few movies I can remember seeing on our small roundish black and white TV.

"The boys"---as some of us refer to A & C---raised millions of dollars for the War Bonds & Stamps effort, not to mention

saving Universal from going bankrupt.

Imagine, WWII is in full swing, and three of the movies you're likely to see star THESE guys IN/OUT/AROUND uniforms...

entertaining AND supporting the troops.

This duo was in the top-ten box office favorites for plenty of the '40s, and kept on keepin' on right through the '50s...

their movies were re-re-released for many years.

I feel it is my duty to tell you this movie is SUPER. It's got Boogie Woogie Rhythm [Bugle Boy] by the Andrews Sisters.

It's got Shemp(Stooge) Howard--brother of Moses and Jerry... You know, Moe, and Curly!

This film is SO old there ISN'T even an AIRFORCE yet, but the Army is doin' the best they can with those bi-planes and

tanks not much bigger than a modern HUMVEE.

Buy it; you'll LIKE it.

This folks will show you how it was when your older folks went to war.

This is on BLU-RAY fer crizakes!

And it's a two-disc set...

extras out the Bazookas:

40-page book... this SHOULD be what is known as a Blu-ray Book--I hope!

The extras include:

==> The theatrical trailer

==> It is restored from 35mm film stock.

==> "ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET JERRY SEINFELD"(televised special).

==> "100 YEARS OF UNFORGETABLE CHARACTERS"

==> "100 YEARS OF RESTORING THE CLASSICS"

==> "100 YEARS OF CARL LAEMMIE"[after just 9 years in the film business, he opened UNIVERSAL STUDIOS in 1915]

*= denotes an A&C film from 1943.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bud Abbott was born in 1897.

Lou Costello , born in 1906.

Universal Studios opens 1915. Where's this 100-year thing come from? Ooooo Ooooo Ooooo I know, I know...

The Universal Studios , 1912-1928 made 900 films.

THAT, my friend, is one-hundred years ago. Now, let's show tremendous support for this lest we forget that Universal owns

the rights for all the, so called UNIVERSAL CLASSIC MONSTERS... all of 'em, and wouldn't all of these look GREAT in blu-ray?

Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection [Blu-ray]

{SON OF FRANKENSTEIN... I've seen [home] film footage of Boris in COLOR (great extra THERE!)

Thank you, thank you very much... "Big Mac" has left the theatre.

***************************************************************************************************

Made for peanuts, BUCK PRIVATES was a tremendous hit for Universal studios and firmly established Abbott and Costello as movie stars. Bud and Lou's routines are among their best; indeed, the film is really not much more than a string of burlesque routines held together by a simple plotline. "The Dice Game," "The Drill Routine," "You're 40, She's 10," and several others burlesque bits are here to keep you laughing. The romantic triangle plot is rather forgettable, although one can certainly understand why both Lee Bowman and Alan Curtis are pursuing lovely Jane Frazee. The Andrews Sisters contribute some great songs, including the immortal "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Dated but still very entertaining, BUCK PRIVATES delivered just what the movie going public needed in 1941. And it still delivers today.

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Absolutely outstanding Picture and Sound upgrade in Blu-ray. Of course the dynamic duo of Abbott and Costello will gather a few laughs but the Hi-Lights are the Andrew Sisters. They swing like no others back in 1941. Two thumbs up and 5 stars for this Blu-ray, regular DVD, Book and Extras the DVD provides.

Read Best Reviews of Buck Privates (Blu-ray + DVD) (1941) Here

This old Abbott and Costello movie is a lot of fun to watch. It is a classic film with 2 of the best ever.

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Bud Abbott (1895-1974) and Lou Costello (1906-59) were comedy giants for two decades, wowing the public on screen from 1940 to 1956 and on TV from 1951 to 1953. They were the true successors to Laurel and Hardy. "Buck Privates" was their second film, and the one that propelled them onto the A list. They followed this with nearly 40 films, the best of which were such classics as "Hold that Ghost" (1941) and "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). The "A & C Meet..." films alone spawned 7 films. By the mid 50s the comedic style of Martin and Lewis gained the upper hand and personal disputes between the partners brought the comedy to an end. As they had eclipsed Laurel and Hardy, Martin and Lewis stole their thunder, but even today one can't help but laugh at the gags.

"Buck Privates" is probably their best film, aided in no small part by the terrific songs and dances of the Andrew Sisters, who would join them in two more films ("In the Navy" and "Hold that Ghost") that same year. LaVerne, Maxene, and Patty not only worked with Abbott and Costello, but also with The Ritz Brothers ("Argentine Nights") and Crosby and Hope ("Road to Rio") and also appeared with the top musicians of the 40s and 50s. At the time of "Buck Privates" the sisters had already established a name for themselves with such big hits as "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen", "Hold Tight", "Roll out the Barrel", "Ferryboat Serenade", and "Beat Me Daddy Eight to the Bar". They perform four songs in the film "You're a Lucky Fellow Mr. Smith", "Apple Blossom Time", "Bounce me Brother with a Solid Four", and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and "Boogie Woogie" was nominated for an Oscar as Best Original Song.

Abbott and Costello were originally a vaudeville act, and what they did was to bring their act to the big screen. Films were a series of smaller bits strung together with a plot. In this they copied the style of the Marx Brothers (even though their pedigree makes them look like successors to Laurel and Hardy, who used a completely different motif for their films) right down to the minor love plot, the menacing heavy, and the musical numbers.

There are so many funny bits in this film it's hard to list them all. Lou initiates his "I'm a bad boy" catchphrase that would last for more than a decade. The drill routine was originally scheduled for a few minutes but went nearly 5 due to the ad-libbing (watch closely for the reactions from the actors who participate). The verbal patter between the boys is priceless, as Bud convinces Lou that if he marries a younger woman she will eventually be older than he is. Here's a sample -

Bud You're 40 years-old and you're in love with this little girl that's 10 years-old. You're four times as old as that girl and you couldn't marry her, could you?

Lou Not unless I come from the mountains.

Nat Pendleton (1895-1967) plays the heavy who pursues the boys. Pendelton was famous for the "slow burn" and he appeared in over 100 films. He reprieved his role in 1947's "Buck Privates Come Home" his last film.

Look for Shemp Howard (1895-1955) for a minor role as a cook. Shemp had been acting since 1932 when he broke away from "Ted Healy and His Stooges". He appeared with W.C. Fields, Fatty Arbuckle, Lon Chaney, and even John Wayne, but was making no real headway. In 1946 when brother Curly had a stroke he re-joined the Three Stooges and they made 73 short films together.

1941 was a terrific year for films "Citizen Kane", "The Maltese Falcon", Sergeant York", "How Green Was My Valley", Meet John Doe", "They Died with Their Boots On", "The Sea Wolf" "High Sierra", "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", and "A Yank in the RAF". With such an impressive list, "Buck Privates" came in at #9 at the box office.

The NY Times called it "an hour and a half of uproarious monkeyshines." The film grossed a record $4 million, although some placed it as high as $10 million. It received 2 Oscar nominations but no wins "Boogie Woogie" lost to "The last time I saw Paris" from "Lady Be Good" for Best Song and "Dumbo" won for Best Music. The film was so popular it generated a radio show later that year on the Lux Radio Theater. The Japanese were so impressed they showed the drill scene to their troops to demonstrate how poorly trained US soldiers were.

This is a great film from a great comedy team.

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Father of Invention (2010)

Father of InventionI can imagine the pitch session for Trent Cooper's satire "Father of Invention," and I'm willing to bet it was quite good. I have no doubt that you could cobble the ideas behind the film into a gut-busting parody on the age of infomercials. It's such a fantastic target as that industry exists almost solely on parodying itself. Sadly, though, the cleverness that you might expect going after such a rich and comical topic is not mined with very much efficiency in this film's screenplay. As Kevin Spacey kicks off the movie introducing some delightfully silly products, I thought we had a winner. But then the movie instantly takes you away from its funniest moments to set up a premise that I didn't believe for even one second. That's okay, though, I decided to go with the flow and see what kind of zany comic antics were in store. For my taste, though, the slapstick shenanigans and kicks to the groin didn't rate many laughs. There is a talented cast at work here: Kevin Spacey, Virginia Madsen, Heather Graham, Johnny Knoxville, Craig Robinson, and Camilla Belle. Sadly, however, the film is wildly uneven with obvious jokes and physical humor that fall flat and scenarios that don't make a lot of sense and/or aren't particularly amusing.

Spacey plays Robert Axle, a fabricator (not an inventor, but someone who puts two existing ideas together to make an even better product). Wildly successful, one of his triumphs ends up mutilating the consumers that have bought the item. The film asks us to believe that Spacey (a multi-millionaire) went to prison for eight years because of this and that his wife (Madsen) was allowed to keep half of his fortune untouched by lawsuits. Neither half of the preceding sentence was believable to me, but as it was the film's premise established in the first five minutes--I had to go with it. Apparently Spacey's corporate mismanagement was enough to have him treated like a hardened criminal and he is completely ostracized in the outside world. Still hoping for a clever comedy about how he gets back into the game, we are treated instead to a more lackluster story line of him trying to reconnect with his daughter (Belle). Of course, the movie is rife with wacky characters each more sketchily drawn than the last. When the screenplay is at a loss about how to get its next laugh (and they are few and far between), it goes for a cheap shot (aforementioned kicks to the groin, lesbian humor, slapstick pratfalls) that oftentimes have nothing to do with advancing the plot.

Eventually, the movie does get Spacey back into the business (with Knoxville as his partner in another turn of events that makes little sense). Finally hoping for some hard edged satire, the movie then wants to go soft and play out as a relationship drama. What has Spacey learned about his evil ways? And is it too late to reconnect with his daughter? At a launch party for a new idea, Spacey gives the most awkward, unprofessional and baffling speech imaginable that would absolutely be disastrous for his business partners, but (this being a movie) the crowd is rapturously enthused. Who says you can't have it all? Not funny enough by half already, any good will you might have goes south with these "lesson learned" moments.

Spacey does his best, it's nice to see him in a change-of-pace role. Knoxville in underutilized and underwriten. Madsen and especially Robinson (he's the only one I actually liked as a character) fare the best in terms of bringing a few laughs. Graham, a likable actress, is stranded in the piece's most obnoxious role. Seriously, I like all of these actors but the screenplay lets everyone down. I guess I'm still waiting for the great infomercial satire that I had hoped this would provide. Clumsy and unfunny, this takes a good idea and wants to be something for everyone when it should have attempted a scathing and hard-edged wit that befits its subject matter. A curious misfire recommended only if you are a passionate fan of one of the actors. KGHarris, 10/11.

The whole premise had me scratching my head. Corporate executives do not go to prison due to liability on their products even if they deliberately produce a product that will harm people. Ford Motor company proved that with their exploding Pinto. So now Kevin Spacey spends 8 years in prison and his family never comes to see him? Once you get past that...and I never really did, we end up with a movie that has some good scenes connected by a bad plot.

I didn't like Heather Graham defining herself as a lesbian to strangers. That was so unreal and not funny. The negative relationships and feelings that were rampant against Kevin Spacey, was not believable. Kevin played a guy whose only fault was that he enjoyed his work. If you want a somewhat feel good comedy without f-bombs, sex, or nudity this one might fill in...but don't think too hard about it.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Failing to realize its potential as an infomercial satire, "Father of Invention" (2010) takes the predictably limp comedy-drama route. Kevin Spacey and a good supporting cast receive no help from writer-director Trent Cooper's unimaginative approach. The 93-minute running time feels like an eternity.

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"Haven't you ruined enough peoples lives?" Robert Axel (Spacey) is the world's greatest "fabricator". Combining two ideas into one new one makes him millions. When one idea, the "ab-clicker" (an ab machine/TV remote) breaks peoples fingers he is found liable and is sent to prison. After serving 8 years he is released and moves in with his daughter and two roommates. Kevin Spacey has started to make a living playing offbeat, somewhat eccentric characters that have to build themselves back up. While this performance is not quite as good as "Casino Jack" it is still very good, and the movie is too. A very funny and enjoyable movie to watch. While not very original it is still very entertaining and Spacey's interaction with the other characters is what makes the movie. The supporting cast which includes Heather Graham, Johnny Knoxville and Craig Robinson are great and while the movie is a rehash of many other movies the acting and dialog make this well worth watching. Overall, a very entertaining movie that is only that way because of the cast. I give it a B.

Would I watch again? I don't know if I would.

*Also try Casino Jack & Extract

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I can imagine the pitch session for Trent Cooper's satire "Father of Invention," and I'm willing to bet it was quite good. I have no doubt that you could cobble the ideas behind the film into a gut-busting parody on the age of infomercials. It's such a fantastic target as that industry exists almost solely on parodying itself. Sadly, though, the cleverness that you might expect going after such a rich and comical topic is not mined with very much efficiency in this film's screenplay. As Kevin Spacey kicks off the movie introducing some delightfully silly products, I thought we had a winner. But then the movie instantly takes you away from its funniest moments to set up a premise that I didn't believe for even one second. That's okay, though, I decided to go with the flow and see what kind of zany comic antics were in store. For my taste, though, the slapstick shenanigans and kicks to the groin didn't rate many laughs. There is a talented cast at work here: Kevin Spacey, Virginia Madsen, Heather Graham, Johnny Knoxville, Craig Robinson, and Camilla Belle. Sadly, however, the film is wildly uneven with obvious jokes and physical humor that fall flat and scenarios that don't make a lot of sense and/or aren't particularly amusing.

Spacey plays Robert Axle, a fabricator (not an inventor, but someone who puts two existing ideas together to make an even better product). Wildly successful, one of his triumphs ends up mutilating the consumers that have bought the item. The film asks us to believe that Spacey (a multi-millionaire) went to prison for eight years because of this and that his wife (Madsen) was allowed to keep half of his fortune untouched by lawsuits. Neither half of the preceding sentence was believable to me, but as it was the film's premise established in the first five minutes--I had to go with it. Apparently Spacey's corporate mismanagement was enough to have him treated like a hardened criminal and he is completely ostracized in the outside world. Still hoping for a clever comedy about how he gets back into the game, we are treated instead to a more lackluster story line of him trying to reconnect with his daughter (Belle). Of course, the movie is rife with wacky characters each more sketchily drawn than the last. When the screenplay is at a loss about how to get its next laugh (and they are few and far between), it goes for a cheap shot (aforementioned kicks to the groin, lesbian humor, slapstick pratfalls) that oftentimes have nothing to do with advancing the plot.

Eventually, the movie does get Spacey back into the business (with Knoxville as his partner in another turn of events that makes little sense). Finally hoping for some hard edged satire, the movie then wants to go soft and play out as a relationship drama. What has Spacey learned about his evil ways? And is it too late to reconnect with his daughter? At a launch party for a new idea, Spacey gives the most awkward, unprofessional and baffling speech imaginable that would absolutely be disastrous for his business partners, but (this being a movie) the crowd is rapturously enthused. Who says you can't have it all? Not funny enough by half already, any good will you might have goes south with these "lesson learned" moments.

Spacey does his best, it's nice to see him in a change-of-pace role. Knoxville in underutilized and underwriten. Madsen and especially Robinson (he's the only one I actually liked as a character) fare the best in terms of bringing a few laughs. Graham, a likable actress, is stranded in the piece's most obnoxious role. Seriously, I like all of these actors but the screenplay lets everyone down. I guess I'm still waiting for the great infomercial satire that I had hoped this would provide. Clumsy and unfunny, this takes a good idea and wants to be something for everyone when it should have attempted a scathing and hard-edged wit that befits its subject matter. A curious misfire recommended only if you are a passionate fan of one of the actors. KGHarris, 10/11.

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