The Last Time You Had Fun

Ida (Coupe) is an emotional wreck.  She is separated from her husband, jobless, and living with her mother.  She shows up at her sister Alison's (Ellis) home looking for a weekend away.  The sisters decide to have a much-needed night out.  Meanwhile, Clark (Bornheimer) is newly divorced and miserable.  His best friend Will (Martin) wants to celebrate the divorce with a guys night, complete with private limo and driver, Betty (Yi). 

Both groups end up at a wine bar and bond over their disillusions with marriage and aging.  With Betty behind the wheel, they set out to have a fun night.


I discovered this film on Amazon Instant Video.  I loved Eliza Coupe on Happy Endings and enjoy the rest of the main cast, so I decided to give it a try.

The film is part comedy and part drama, following in the vein of adults behaving badly trend.  There are bad decisions and drug usage, all while the characters acknowledge the real lives they need to return to.  Each character has an arc from their position at the beginning of the film, to where they are at the end... and each has a deep moment when they evaluate their lives.  Mary Elizabeth Ellis, best known as the Waitress on It's Always Sunny, gives the best performance as Alison, deeply layered and moving.  Jimmi Simpson is funny, but mostly wasted here... his scene is too long, but his character is mentioned throughout the film.

It is an ok indie film... good for a night in, but not worth owning or watching more than once.

The Last Time You Had Fun (2014) 82 minutes

Director: Mo Perkins
Starring: Kyle Bornheimer as Clark
Eliza Coupe as Ida
Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Alison
Demetri Martin as Will
Charlyne Yi as Betty
Jimmi Simpson as Jake

What We Do in the Shadows

"Leave me to do my dark bidding on the internet!"

"What are you bidding on?"

"I am bidding on a table."

A documentary crew are welcomed into the flat of 4 vampires to film their lives.  Viago (Waititi) is 379 and loves order / cleanliness.  Vladislav (Clement) is 862 and used to be an intense and violent vampire, but his powers never recovered after his last battle with the Beast (Stejko).  Deacon (Brugh) is the youngest of the group at 183 and loves being a "sexy" vampire.  Petyr (Fransham) is 8,000 and doesn't speak.  They have lived together for years and deal with the typical roommate issues.

Their lives change unexpectedly when they turn Nick (Gonzalez-Macuer).  Nick doesn't understand their rules, and they don't understand modern life.  He further complicates their lives by bringing his human best friend Stu (Rutherford) into their home and lives.  With their servant Jackie (Van Beek) making demands, run-ins with the local werewolf pack led by Anthon (Darby), and vampire hunters, can the vampires survive?


This mockumentary plays with popular vampire traits / characteristics etc from movies and TV and books.  The script was co-written and directed and starring Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi.  Clement is best known for The Flight of the Conchords (which he co-wrote).  Waititi has directed several films in New Zealand.  While they had an overarching script, most of the performances were ad-libbed.

While Clement and Waititi are hilarious in the roles, the best performance is Jonathan Brugh as Deacon.  He delivers some outrageous lines without breaking and gets some of the most memorable moments.  Cori Gonzalez-Macuer doesn't get to do much, but he does have some interesting stunts and one gross-out gag.  The film is packed with laughs, mostly from the absurdity of the situations and the casts reactions.

Be sure to stay until the end of the credits for a final scene with Brugh's Deacon.

What We Do in the Shadows (2014) 86 minutes
Rating: R for bloody violent content, some sexual material and language
Director: Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi
Starring: Jemain Clement as Vladislav
Taika Waititi as Viago
Jonathan Brugh as Deacon
Cori Gonzalez-Macuer as Nick
Stu Rutherford as Stu
Ben Fransham as Petyr
Jackie Van Beek as Jackie
Rhys Darby as Anton
Elena Stejko as Pauline / the Beast

See You in Valhalla

"I have this idea."

"That's a bad thing."

"No, this is a good thing."

Johanna Burwood (Hyland) hasn't seen her family for years.  After the highly publicized suicide of her meth-addict brother Maxwell "Magnus" (McDorman), she reluctantly goes home.  Tagging along is her not-boyfriend Peter (Frost), who volunteers for the trip.  Walking through the front door opens the floodgates of emotions and issues that drove her away years before.  Her estranged father, Woody (O'Farrell), is trying to reconnect, with the help of his hippie nurse / girlfriend Faye (Bell).  Her brothers are also home and stirring up old wounds.  Oldest brother, Don (Weston) is a snobby workaholic, with his opinionated teenage daughter, Ashely (Rush), in tow, and Barry (Harrison) is a gay psychologist with his Hawaiian new-age boyfriend Makewi (Howey).

Magnus was obsessed with Vikings.  He and his late girlfriend went to a Viking rehab in Iceland, but both relapsed after returning to the US.  He left a journal of musings for his siblings to find.  Can the Burwood's stop fighting long enough to mourn their loss?


Another film about dysfunctional family, forced to reunite over the death of a family member (see This is Where I Leave You, Death at a Funeral, Death at a Funeral 2010) or over a difficult family matter (Reuniting the Rubins).  Dysfunctional families are a Hollywood staple, on TV and in film.  Often these films take a humorous look at the dysfunction.  This film is billed as a comedy, but it is actually a drama with occasional bits of humor.  The majority of the film is just people screaming and cursing at each other.

Part of the problem with the film is the script by Brent Tarnol, which introduces too many characters without developing them.  Even some of the main characters aren't fully fleshed out.  The same can be said of some of the plot points, that are introduced but never really explored.  The film is directed by Jarret Tarnol (Brent's brother).

The cast do what they can with their roles, but some work better than others.  Sarah Hyland (from TV's Modern Family) is earnest as the lead.  You don't fully understand her character until the second half of the film, and then you start to appreciate her.  Steve Howey is the bright spot as the misunderstood stoner, who possesses an unexpected depth.  He gets the funny lines and makes the ridiculousness work here... in ways that could fail in the hands of other actors.  Alex Frost gets the thankless role as the boyfriend, but when he is paired with Howey, he gets a little more interesting.  I like Bret Harrison (he is the reason I watched this film) and Michael Weston, but this is not their best work.  They are ok, but their characters are one-dimensional and unlikeable.

With a stronger script, this film could be so much better.  It wasn't bad, but it isn't good either.  Watch either version of Death at a Funeral instead.

See You in Valhalla (2015) 82 minutes
Rating: R for language, sexual references and drug use
Director: Jarret Tarnol
Starring: Sarah Hyland as Johanna Burwood
Bret Harrison as Barry Burwood
Steve Howey as Makewi
Odeya Rush as Ashley Burwood
Michael Weston as Don Burwood
Emma Bell as Faye
Alex Frost as Peter
Conor O'Farrell as Woody Burwood
Jake McDorman as Magnus Burwood

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

"I have a message for President Snow: You can torture us, and bomb us, or burn our districts to the ground. But do you see that? Fire Is Catching... If we burn... you burn with us!"

After being rescued from the 75th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) is taken to District 13.  Over seventy years before, District 13 rebelled against the Capitol.  The Capitol won and destroyed District 13, which led to the creation of the Hunger Games to remind the people of Panem the consequence of rebellion.  In actuality, District 13 survived and moved underground.  Under the direction of President Alma Coin (Moore), they created a thriving community and stirred the embers of rebellion within the other districts.  President Coin and Plutarch Heavensbee (Hoffman) were behind the destruction of the arena, and want Katniss to be the symbol of the rebellion: The Mockingjay.

Katniss is broken from her time in the arena, suffering from nightmares and guilt.  And she is still angry that they did not save Peeta Mellark (Hutcherson).  Her frustration is shared by fellow victor Finnick Odair (Claflin).  She finally agrees to be their symbol, when the Capitol starts using Peeta to speak against the rebellion.  With Gale (Hemsworth) by her side, she goes into the field with director Cressida (Dormer) and her team, to ignite the other Districts to action.  Can Katniss save Peeta and everyone she holds dear?


Following the trend of recent YA film adaptations, producers decided to split Suzanne Collins final installment in the Hunger Games series, "Mockingjay" into 2 films: Mockingjay Part 1 and Mockingjay Part 2.  The first two films in the series (The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) were incredibly popular and expectations for the final films were high.  Both parts of Mockingjay are directed by Francis Lawrence (who also directed Catching Fire) and both screenplays were written by Danny Strong and Peter Craig.

I have to admit, I was nervous about splitting the book into 2 movies.  I know it is the trend of adaptations right now, but it felt like a bad move...  But it works here.  It gave the story to play out, to show the scope of Katniss' decision and developed District 13 to a place that you can understand.  They also chose a good place to end the first film, that also sets the sequel into motion.  The stakes are high, on a personal and community level.  The writers also chose to show how deeply the games broke and changed Katniss and the other victors.  You also understand why Katniss is so willing to fight for the other victors: their rescue and immunity (in the books this was extended to Enobaria, who is not present in the film).  There is a bond that no one else understands because they didn't have that shared experience of surviving the Hunger Games.

The returning cast continue to excel in their roles.  Elizabeth Banks is a standout as Effie Trinket, forced to go without her usual costumes and wigs and makeup, and she is still the bubbly comic relief.  It was nice to see a little more of Liam Hemsworth's Gale.  Julianne Moore is a good choice as the rigid Alma Coin.  And Natalie Dormer (from TV's The Tudors, Game of Thrones, and Elementary) is good as Cressida, the filmmaker.

This film serves as a setup for the final conflict between the rebels and the Capitol.  It isn't as action packed as the other films, but it doesn't need to be.  This is story builds the tension and shows the political maneuvering and propaganda on both sides.  I enjoyed it, and look forward to seeing the final film later this year.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014) 123 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images and thematic material
Director: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen
Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark
Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne
Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy
Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket
Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee
Julianne Moore as President Alma Coin
Donald Sutherland as President Coriolanus Snow
Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman
Jeffrey Wright as Beetee Latier
Sam Claflin as Finnick Odair
Natalie Dormer as Cressida
Willow Shields as Primrose Everdeen

The Divergent Series: Insurgent

"Wait, you're not gonna shoot me?"
"Once a stiff, always a stiff."

Tris Prior (Woodley) is haunted by people she couldn't save.  She is in hiding with her brother Caleb (Elgort), her boyfriend Four (James), and Peter (Teller) in the Amity faction, while they try to decide what to next and who to trust.  Jeanine Matthews (Winslet), Max (Phifer), and Eric (Courtney) are hunting for them and publicly blame them for the murder and destruction of the Abnegation faction.

Jeanine is building power over the city and no one wants to oppose her.  While rounding up survivors in Abnegation, they find a box that holds the secrets of the Founders of the city.  As Jeanine declares war on the Divergent, people who display abilities of multiple factions.  While on the run, Tris and Four are intercepted by the Factionless, people who did not pass their faction initiation.  The Factionless are led by Four's mother Evelyn (Watts), and are preparing for war.  Can Tris protect the people she cares about and stop Jeanine?


I fell in love with Veronica Mars Divergent book series a few years ago.  I devoured the first book and couldn't wait to dive into Insurgent, which I also really enjoyed.  After the success of the film adaptation of Divergent, I was excited to see what they would do with Insurgent. I was further excited by the screenwriters, Brian Duffield (who was a classmate of mine at college), Akiva Goldsman, and Mark Bomback.

The film was ok, but definitely not what I was expecting.  It also made several changes from the book.  I understand that adaptations are tricky and need to consolidate storylines and characters... but sometimes these changes can alter the entire story.  The movie changed some major plot points and some character traits that change the story.  For explain, the box is not in the books.  The message is essentially the same, but the methods are not.  Also, in the books, Jeanine already knows the truth and she is trying to hide that from the city.  In the movie, she is desperate to find the answer at any cost.  It changes her as a character, making her slightly more human / likeable.  It also changes your feelings about the Priors and their involvement.  I understand, but I preferred the book version.

Again, the casting was pretty solid.  Shailene Woodley and Theo James are still good.  Kate Winslet is still evil, and Miles Teller still gets the snarky comments as Peter.  I liked Octavia Spencer as Johanna and Daniel Dae Kim as Jack Kang, but both were underused.  Naomi Watts was a good choice to be Evelyn, and it will be interesting to see where they take her in the sequel.

Like all other YA adaptations, the final book, Allegiant, will be divided into 2 movies.  I am very interested to see what the writers / directors do with the final book.

It wasn't a bad film, but I was disappointed with all of the changes from the book.

The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015) 119 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for intense violence and action throughout, some sensuality, thematic elements and brief language
Director: Robert Schwentke
Starring: Shailene Woodley as Beatrice "Tris" Prior
Theo James as Tobias "Four" Eaton
Miles Teller as Peter Hayes
Octavia Spencer as Johanna Reyes
Ansel Elgort as Caleb Prior
Jai Courtney as Eric Coulter
Zoe Kravitz as Christina
Ray Stevenson as Marcus Eaton
Maggie Q as Tori Wu
Naomi Watts as Evelyn Johnson
Kate Winslet as Jeanine Matthews
Mekhi Phifer as Max

The DUFF

"You need to realize you're only as awesome as you think you are."

Bianca Piper (Whitman) is a high school senior and editor of the school paper.  She is inseparable from her best friends, Jess Harris (Samuels) and Casey Cordero (Santos), who are beautiful and popular.  She finds out she is the DUFF, the Designated Ugly Fat Friend, of her group.  Everyone else in school sees her as the gateway to her prettier friends.  Bianca is offended and ditches her friends, vowing to find a way to change her status.

She recruits Wesley Rush (Amell), the captain of the football team who is also her neighbor, to help her.  They make a bargain: Wesley will help her ditch the DUFF and she will help him pass science so he can keep his college scholarship.  Bianca wants to get the nerve to talk to / date musician Toby Tucker (Eversman).  But first she has to deal with Wesley's mean girl ex Madison Morgan (Thorne).  Can Bianca rise above the label and get the guy?


This film is based on the 2011 young adult novel "The Duff" by Kody Keplinger.  The book was a hit and CBS Films acquired the rights to the film adaptation.  This is Ari Sandel's feature film directorial debut (he directed 2 short films and documentary Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights - Hollywood to the Heartland).

The casting is perfect.  Mae Whitman is an inspired choice to be Bianca (apparently she was Keplinger's first choice).  Whitman consistently delivers great performances, and has proven the ability to nail comedy (Arrested Development) and drama (Parenthood) on TV.  She has a strong and likeable screen presence that works well here.  She has great chemistry with Robbie Amell.  Amell also has a strong TV resume.  He is believable and likeable as Wesley.  Bella Thorne is icy as Madison and really sells the part.  Allison Janney is always a great addition, and this is no exception.  Ken Jeong, Chris Wylde, and Romany Malco get some good lines as the teachers, and their outtakes (during the end credits) are the best.

This is a solid addition to the high school classics... funny, but still real enough.  An enjoyable film!

The DUFF (2015) 101 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual material throughout, some language and teen partying
Director: Ari Sandel
Starring: Mae Whitman as Bianca Piper
Robbie Amell as Wesley Rush
Bella Thorne as Madison Morgan
Bianca Santos as Casey Cordero
Skyler Samuels as Jess Harris
Romany Malco as Principal Buchanan
Ken Jeong as Mr. Arthur
Allison Janney as Dottie Piper
Chris Wylde as Mr. Fillmore
Nick Eversman as Toby Tucker

Kingsman: The Secret Service

"Is this the part where you say some... really bad pun?"

Gary "Eggsy" Unwin (Egerton) is a former marine, turned juvenile delinquent.  When he is arrested, he calls the number on the back of his late father's medal.  He received the medal seventeen years prior after his father was killed in the line of duty, and was told to only call in a dire emergency.  He is rescued by Harry Hart (Firth) a colleague of his father.  His father saved Harry's life, and Harry decides to groom Eggsy to follow in his footsteps.

Harry is a gentlemen spy, called a Kingsman.  The Kingsmen have code names from King Arthur's tales.  When their Lancelot (Davenport) is murdered, they begin the grueling search and training for his replacement led by Merlin (Strong).  Eggsy joins a group of other promising young people to fill the vacancy and is befriend by fellow recruit Roxy (Cookson).

Meanwhile, around the world celebrities and world leaders are disappearing.  Lancelot was investigating the disappearances when he was killed.  The mastermind between the disappearances is tech billionaire and philanthropist Richmond Valentine (Jackson) and his deadly assistant Gazelle (Boutella).  Can Eggsy complete his training and save the world?


The story is based on the spy comic book series The Secret Service by Mark Millar and David Gibbons.  The series ran from 2012-2013 for 6 issues.  The film takes a few elements from the comics and builds it's own world.  The characters are different as well as the organization they serve.

Director Matthew Vaughn (who co-wrote the screenplay with Jane Goldman) is no stranger to comic adaptations.  In 2010, he wrote and directed Kick-Ass based on Mark Millar's comic book series.  He also wrote and directed X-Men: First Class based on Marvel's X-Men series.  Vaughn is also no stranger to violent action sequences, as evidenced in Kick-Ass and Layer Cake and his collaborations with director Guy Ritchie (he produced several Ritchie films).

Vaughn and Goldman wanted the film to be a love letter to class James Bond films and the spy TV shows from the 1960s.  The Bond references are the easiest to find, but the film is littered with homages to The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Avengers, Get Smart, among others.  Unlike those shows, the body count and carnage are high; there are even exploding heads.

The cast work well in their parts.  Newcomers Taron Egerton and Sophie Cookson are engaging and easy to cheer for.  Colin Firth, Michael Caine, and frequent Vaughn collaborator Mark Strong look like they are having a blast in their roles.  Each gets to be suave and stylish, while still getting in on the action.  Sofia Boutella has some impressive moves as Gazelle, although her character does not have much of a personality.  Samuel L. Jackson is an interesting villain, but his character doesn't work quite as well as he could.  He does get some good moments... and some interesting characterizations (i.e. his distaste for violence and blood, even though he is the reason for the bloodshed) and some good lines.

Vaughn and the studio have expressed interest in making a sequel and expanding this world into a franchise.  The seeds are definitely in place and it could work.

It was good, but a little too long.

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) 129 minutes
Rating: R for sequences of strong violence, language and some sexual content
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Taron Egerton as Gary "Eggsy" Unwin
Colin Firth as Harry Hart / Galahad
Samuel L. Jackson as Richmond Valentine
Mark Strong as Merlin
Michael Caine as Chester King / Arthur
Sophie Cookson as Roxy Morton
Sofia Boutella as Gazelle
Samantha Womack as Michelle Unwin
Geoff Bell as Dean
Edward Holcroft as Charlie
Mark Hamill as Professor James Arnold
Jack Davenport as Lancelot

Heartbeat (1946)

"I can assure you, I know how to behave with a young lady."

"So I've noticed!"

Arlette Lafron (Rogers) is a reform school runaway, turned amateur pickpocket.  She is in thief school until the tutelage of Professor Aristide (Rathbone), learning how to successfully steal from people and lie when caught.  She tries to steal a fancy stick pin, but is caught by the owner, the Ambassador (Menjou).  Instead of turning her over the authorities, he has a counter proposal.

The Ambassador wants Arlette to pose as the niece of Baron Ferdinand Dvorak (Ciannelli) at a diplomatic party.  At the party she is instructed to dance with diplomat Pierre de Roche (Aumont) and steal his pocket watch.  Pierre is charming and over the course of the evening they begin to fall in love.


I discovered this film on AmazonPrime.  I enjoy Ginger Rogers and decided to give the film a try.  It is a hidden gem of a film, that boasts an impressive cast.

It is a fluffy film, while still keeping you guessing.  Director Sam Woods established his skills in comedy with 2 Marx Brothers films (A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races).  He also directed several actors, including Rogers, in Oscar winning performances (Rogers won an Oscar for Kitty Foyle in 1940).  This was one of the last films he directed.

Rogers was in her 30s, but managed to convincingly play the teenage Arlette.  She plays the character as smart and determined, while still naive.  She is charming and conveys so much with her face.  Jean-Pierre Aumont is suave as Pierre: likeable with a few rough spots.  Adolphe Menjou is the perfect choice as the morally ambiguous Ambassador.  You like him, but don't trust him.  Basil Rathbone makes the most of his small role, as does Melville Cooper.  Both are entertaining and perfectly cast.

It is a straight-forward script, but still has a few twists and turns.  It mostly ends the way you expect, with happiness for the main characters, but doesn't necessarily take the path you expect.  And they even let Rogers sing, "The Heartbeat Song (Can You Guess?)".  I was thoroughly charmed.

Heartbeat (1946) 102 minutes
Director: Sam Wood
Starring: Ginger Rogers as Arlette Lafron
Jean-Pierre Aumont as Pierre de Roche
Adolphe Menjou as AmbassadorBasil Rathbone as Professor Aristide
Melville Cooper as Roland Latour
Mikhail Rasumny as Yves Cadubert
Eduardo Ciannelli as Baron Ferdinand Dvorak
Mona Maris as Ambassador's Wife

Focus (2015)

"There's two kinds of people in this world. There's hammers and there's nails. You decide which one you want to be."

Nicky Spurgeon (Smith) is a third generation con artist.  He is charmed by novice thief Jess (Robbie) and takes her on as an apprentice.  She is a quick study and fits easily with the rest of Nicky's crew.  But when he starts to fall for her, he walks away to avoid losing his edge.

Three years later Nicky is working a job in Buenos Aires.  He is hired by wealthy car own Garriga (Santoro) con a rival, McEwen (Taylor).  As he sets the plan in motion, he is startled to see Jess on Garriga's arm.  Garriga's right-hand man Owens (McRaney) already doesn't trust Nicky.  Can he pull off the con and win Jess back?


I enjoy heist movies.  I especially enjoy smart con movies that are layered and unpredictable: the audience believes one thing until the end when it was revealed that you didn't know everything that was happening (i.e. The Art of the Steal, Now You See Me, Oceans 11, etc).  Based on the description and the trailer of this film, that's what I was expecting... but it never quite reaches that potential.

The story starts well, setting up the world of Will Smith's character.  The world is detailed and fast moving.  You meet the characters and immediately understand them, even as further layers are revealed.  Will Smith is charming and relaxed in the role.  Margot Robbie is fine as the ingenue.  And then everything changes, and the movie is no longer focused on the con, it's now a romance with a little thieving on the side.

The tone shift changes the pace of the film, and slows down the action.  Instead of a smart film that makes you watch everything to see if you can spot the twist, it becomes a game of "who do you trust?".  Which characters are telling the truth and which characters are lying?  Do you even care?

Glenn Ficarra and John Requa wrote and directed the film.  They have served as a screenwriter on several films, and made their directorial debut with the film I Love You Phillip Morris, which they also wrote (which I hated).  Their second time in the director's chair was Crazy, Stupid, Love (written by Dan Fogelman).  I don't love their screenplays, but they tend to do well as the director (I am intrigued by their next film The Taliban Shuffle, written by Robert Carlock).  They had some good ideas, and assembled a likeable cast, with Adrian Martinez's Farhad as the standout.  The film as a whole is ok, not great.  I expected more, and maybe a different screenwriter would elevate the material.

Decent, but not great.

Focus (2015) 105 minutes
Rating: R for language, some sexual content and brief violence
Director: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa
Starring: Will Smith as Nicky Spurgeon
Margot Robbie as Jess Barrett
Adrian Martinez as Farhad
Gerald McRaney as Owens
Rodrigo Santoro as Garriga
BD Wong as Liyuan Tse
Brennan Brown as Horst
Robert Taylor as McEwen
Dotan Bonen as Gordon
Griff Furst as Gareth

Playing It Cool

"Rom-coms aren't true. They're what we wish were true."

The Narrator (Evans) is a screenwriter.  He wants to write action movies, but for now he has to write a romantic comedy.  Unfortunately, he doesn't believe in love and struggles to write.  To avoid writing he goes to a charity event with his best friend Scott (Grace), where he meets Her (Monaghan).  They hit it off immediately, until he learns that she is dating Stuffy (Gruffudd).

They decide to be friends and begin spending time together.  His writer friends, Scott, performance artist / writer Mallory (Plaza), family man Samson (Wilson), and Lyle (Starr), think he is developing feelings for Her.  Is he finally ready for love?


I discovered the trailer on IMDB.  It looked funny and boasted an impressive cast (and I love Chris Evans), so I added it to my Netflix queue.

The film has an interesting premise, a rom com writer doesn't believe in love until he finally experiences it... There are so many opportunities to take the rom com cliches and subvert them, but the story doesn't take it as far as it could.  There are some neat touches throughout, like using the Narrator's imagination to add fun effects (the lightning when they touch hands, the Heart character, etc).  The ending is cliched, and the story would benefit from ending ambiguously during the boat story.

The cast is excellent and make the most of their parts.  Chris Evans is an appealing lead and holds the film well.  I enjoyed seeing him paired again with Anthony Mackie.  Topher Grace is endearing as the love advocate / voice of reason throughout.  Philip Baker Hall is memorable in the small role of the Narrator's feisty Granddad.  Aubrey Plaza, Martin Starr, and Luke Wilson are entertaining as the quirky friends.  Michelle Monaghan is good as the female lead.

This is Evans second collaboration with writers Chris Shafer and Paul Vicknair, who also wrote the screenplay for Before We Go (which is also in my Netflix queue).  They crafted an enjoyable romantic comedy that was funnier (and crasser) than expected.  It was good, but there was so much potential for it to be better.

Playing It Cool (2014) 94 minutes
Rating: R for language and sexual content
Director: Justin Reardon
Starring: Chris Evans as Me / Narrator
Michelle Monaghan as Her
Topher Grace as Scott
Aubrey Plaza as Mallory
Luke Wilson as Samson
Martin Starr as Lyle
Anthony Mackie as Bryan
Ioan Gruffudd as Stuffy
Philip Baker Hall as Granddad