The Campaign

The Campaign is almost as ridiculous and lowest-common-denominator focused as real life politics. Yes, a satire of America’s democratic process should be filled with brainless gags. But the goal should be for the tomfoolery to be consistently funny as well as over-the-top. The Campaign loses sight of the funny and ends up being staggeringly boring by bombarding you with one stupid gag after another with no break to come up for air. Sure it has the random funny bit to wake a chuckle or an "awww” out of you but with the sheer volume of jokes thrown out in the film there are bound to be a few hits amongst all the misses.

Will Ferrell plays the philandering husband and multi-term North Carolina congressman, Cam Brady. Two deep-pocketed CEOs, the Motch brothers, played by Dan Akroyd and John Lithgow, decide to put up a rival/puppet candidate against Brady in the 2012 election. They chose the lisp-talking mustachioed Marty Huggins, played by Zach Galifianakis. Both candidates are asses who find ways to make bigger asses of themselves and each other than they already are. The thing about Huggins is that he is an ass with a heart of gold and two adorable pugs who steal every scene they are in. So, if I had to vote for the lesser of the two evils then I would vote for him almost solely because of the pugs. Aside from the cute and cuddly pugs, only two other things make this movie somewhat bearable. The first is Dylan McDermott who played the ruthless campaign manager Tim Wattley. He was subtle and he was the most amusing character in the film. The second was seeing Wolf Blitzer and Chris Matthews deliver the news of the candidates high-jinks, from the baby punching and the Uggie punching to the sex tape being used as a campaign commercial. I could go on, but I am already trying to forget the hour and a half of my life that I lost to this film.

Killer Joe

William Friedkin directed the crap out of Killer Joe. It is hard not to appreciate the way he smushed together dynamic humor and appalling images. Killer Joe is laugh-out-loud funny. And not that sort of uncomfortable laughter you might do when you see a stranger (or friend) trip and fall. You know, the laughter that comes when you aren’t sure if the stranger (or friend) is seriously injured or not? It’s not that laughter. It’s the laughter that comes from real comedic timing and delivery on the part of an outstanding ensemble cast.

Emile Hirsch plays Chris a drug dealer from a north Texas town who gets himself into a financial bind when his mom steals his supply. His solution? Hire a contract killer, Joe played by Matthew McConaughey, to kill his mom so he can collect on her life insurance policy. Oh gosh, will this plan go off without a hitch? I’m not sure if I’m giving too much a way, but no. Things will not go off without a hitch. Not even close. The story is ridiculous and highly entertaining. And Hirsch, who I’ve only every referred to before as Speed, was excellent in his role in this silly/violent/silly plotline. And as far as McConaughey is concerned, I’m beginning to think he plays himself in every movie he is in, Killer Joe is no exception. And contrary to how that might initially sound, I actually mean that as a compliment…

The compliments don’t end with the two of them. I have appreciated Thomas Haden Church for a long time now. I am ready for others to love him as much I do. This movie may help with this. He plays Ansel, Chris’ dimwitted father. He is amazing. No one can play dumb like he can. And his splotchy facial hair is so hideous that I can’t help but be proud of his commitment to the role. Ansel is married to his second wife, Sharla played by good ol’ Gina Gershon. That woman knows how to play a tramp. She is a contemptible character in the film. But for as vile as Sharla is, she does not deserve the treatment she receives from Joe in the film. And I have saved the best for last, Dottie. Juno Temple plays her and oh, how she plays her. There is something sad and yet beautiful about her character. She is complex and powerful even though she has the outward appearance of a weak and childish girl. If I didn’t know that she was from England, I would have thought that she was born and bred in Texas. Temple has talent oozing out her pores. And if you have any question about her pores you can see just about all of them in this film. She is not shy about baring it all.

If you are shy about people baring it all then Killer Joe will not be your cup of tea. Also, the film is dark, disturbing, and has the potential to offend great masses of people. Killer Joe is rated NC17. This could be because the rating system is completely inconsistent, unpredictable, and unfair. It could also be because of the pesky graphic violence and nudity. But none of the violence or nudity seemed out of place or excessive. Of course, if you go into this film expecting male frontal nudity and women beating up men, you will be let down. Don’t let that dissuade you from seeing the film though. All of the violence in the film felt incredibly real. It is a fact that it’s just more common in life that we hear about men hitting other men and women and not so much women beating on other women or men. And for some reason people find naked women less offensive than naked men. The film takes advantage of these two facts. Also, I would be remiss if I did not mention the fried chicken in this film. Although I already won’t eat fried chicken, if I did before this film I would think twice about eating it after this film. I will leave it at that.

Safety Not Guaranteed

For a film based on a classified ad that was posted as a joke/filler ad in the 90s, Safety Not Guaranteed was not awful as one might expect. In fact, the story-lines in the film were remarkably earnest and more than sufficiently entertaining.

Kenneth placed a classified ad seeking a companion for a time traveling expedition warning that he had only done it once before and safety was not guaranteed. One magazine employee, Jeff, along with two interns, Arnau & Darius, were assigned to investigate and report on what this Kenneth guy was all about. In the process of learning more about the temporally mysterious Kenneth, they find out about themselves and each other. There was an overwhelming amount of self-discovery in this film which could have gotten old fast. But surprisingly it didn't. At least not for me. And I think that may be because of how the robust and honest stories unfolded, how the weirdness happened, and how the friendships blossomed so convincingly in the film.

(FilmDistrict and Big Beach)

Kenneth, played by Mark Duplass, was a tough nut to crack. He was the sort of guy who does a balancing act on the thin line between endearing and annoying. He acted as though he was stronger and more intelligent than he actually was and he had a mullet. Darius, played by Aubrey Plaza, was the female intern who was able to gain the trust of Kenneth. She was a loner-girl with family issues. She was likable and witty, but she keeps most people at a distance. The chemistry between the two of them was quite distinct. Their story-line seemed to be the main focus of the film but it was obvious early on that their story alone was not enough to support the entire film. Thankfully, you have the ever-so-full-of-himself Jeff, played by Jake M. Johnson, and the not-even-remotely-close-to-full-of-himself Arnau, played by Karan Soni. These two end up spending less time working on the article about the "time-travelling" Kenneth and more time learning how to come out from behind their emotionally protective barriers and behave like normal and functioning humans. Jeff started off as a prick but after spending time with the super shy Arnau he became slightly less prickish, almost respectable. And Arnau’s confidence meter climbed a few noticeable notches throughout the course of the movie. They were characters who were worth the time invested in watching the film.

When you break it down each of the four main characters in the film could be classified as depressed, but depressed in an 'entertaining to watch' kind of way. It was impressive how well the characters came across as real people. I have met Kenneth's and Arnau's before, several, in fact and all in primary school. You can be certain there is a douchey Jeff on almost every street corner. And there are probably loads of Darius’ in the world, although most of them are not as thin and pretty as Plaza. It was nice to watch these true-to-life characters evolve the way they did in the film. It was not nice to see Plaza and Duplass kiss though. As much as they worked well together, the two of them kissing somehow felt wrong. There were little things like that throughout the film. It was full of a number of strange contrasts. But all the complaints I had about film were balanced out by some thing to praise about the film. It was familiar yet unexpected, serious yet silly, and just what I was looking for yet I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for.