Category Archives: Comedy

The Hangover Part II review

  Directed by Todd Phillips | Written by Phillips, Craig Mazin and Scot Armstrong | 102 min | Crave Plus In 2009, The Hangover blew the doors off the box office. There have been a few big R-rated comedies in recent years, all those Apatow pictures, but this beat them all. And, you know, that…Read More

Bridesmaids review

Directed by Paul Feig Written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumalo So, it isn't a female version of The Hangover, as some of the marketing wags would have you believe. But it is very much a Judd Apatow movie. As producer, his hands are all over this. (Especially a bodily function-humour scene about halfway in.)…Read More

Hobo With A Shotgun review

Directed by Jason EisenerWritten by Eisener and John DaviesThis is a tough movie for me to review. It was made in my town, starring an actor I've idolized since I was a kid, Rutger Hauer. I've interviewed the director on a number of occasions, most recently in this week's Coast cover story, which you can…Read More

No Strings Attached review

Directed by Ivan Reitman Screenplay by Elizabeth Meriwether from a story by Michael Samonek and Meriwether They could have called this movie Friends With Benefits. In fact, I think that was the working title of this picture. However, there's a movie with that title coming later in 2011, starring Justin Timberlake and Natalie Portman's Black…Read More

The King’s Speech review

Directed by Tom HooperScreenplay by David SeidlerWell, isn't this a good time at the movies. It's been rare enough this year to have a good story well told, but when the beats hit the mark so flawlessly, well, I'm prone to hyperbole, I have to admit. Shockingly, The King's Speech is a biopic I really…Read More

Love and Other Drugs review

Directed by Edward Zwick Written by Zwick, Charles Randolph and Marshall Herskovitz from the novel Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman by Jamie Reidy I'm surprised that Love and Other Drugs is being buzzed about with potential Oscar consideration. Maybe the performances have a shot, but I'd say it's a long one. I…Read More

Morning Glory review

Sure, there was His Girl Friday and all those other deftly written and performed romantic comedies of a bygone era, the ones critics are fond of recalling and comparing with a substandard progenitor. But what Morning Glory especially reminds this audience member of is a slew of mainstream Hollywood entertainments of the 1980s, usually the…Read More

RED review

I gotta say, with this cast on board, I was pretty excited to check out RED. I mean, this may be the cast of the year, with apologies to The Expendables. You've got Helen Mirren, Bruce Willis, Brian Cox, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Richard Dreyfuss, Rebecca Pidgeon and Ernest Borgnine, who…Read More