romantic comedy

Blogging from Cinequest: Here’s the Kicker

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The biggest surprise at San Jose’s Cinequest film festival so far is the indie comedy Here’s the Kicker, written by its star, Ian Michaels.  The relationship of a prematurely retired football player and his girlfriend is being battered by their dead-end jobs in LA; (she is a make up artist – in porn films).  To save their relationship, he agrees to move back to her hometown in Texas where they can open a salon/saloon: a combo beauty parlor and sports bar.  Just as they are leaving on the road trip, he is offered his dream job as a football scout.  When is he going to get the nerve to tell her?  Along the way, they pick up his obnoxious former teammate and, most hilariously, his dad, who does NOT want to return to alcohol rehab.  Many guffaws ensue in this all too rare occurrence – a satisfying American film comedy.

It’s hard to write comedy.  Otherwise, we’d be seeing lots of good comedies.  So Ian Michaels deserves some recognition, and, above all, to get more screenplays greenlighted.

As the girlfriend, Sarah Smick succeeds in remaining sympathetic despite being continually aggrieved – no easy accomplishment.  Luce Rains is great as the drunk dad.

According to Ian Michaels at the screening, Director/Cinematographer/Editor Chris Harris made the key decision to cut some early scenes so the road trip could commence sooner. Obviously, that move worked.  Here’s the Kicker deserves a wide release.

2010 in Review: The Year of Lousy Comedies

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It’s not that weren’t ANY good comedies in 2010 – just not many.  And none made my list of the best films of the year.  The funniest movie was Iron Man 2, a comedy masquerading as a super hero movie.

Going the Distance and I Love You, Phillip Morris were good romantic comedies – a particularly meager genre this year.  Going the Distance was a rarity – a sweet, smart, funny and successful romantic comedy for adults.  Screenwriter Geoff LaTulippe tried a novel approach that respected the audience – creating characters like the ones we know in real life, who talk and act like real people do.  Instead of an implausible set-up, the conflict was the real problem of a bi-coastal romance.  The offbeat I Love You, Phillip Morris was a gay version of the con man, prison and rom com genres, and the risk paid off.

Once, we get past the three best comedies, there were the passable (but not especially noteworthy) Get Him to the Greek, Morning Glory, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Please Give, Get Low, Love and Other Drugs, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Youth in Revolt, Cyrus and Death at a Funeral.

The Locksmith, a funny little movie which won the low-budget award at Sundance, didn’t even get a theatrical release.

It was disappointing, because even the good 2010 comedies didn’t match up with 2009’s really funny and original movies:  (500) Days of Summer, Away We Go, Zombieland, The Hangover, In the Loop, Funny People and I Love You, Man.

This year, we had crappy comedies like Pirate Radio, Date Night and Soul Kitchen.   The worst movies that I saw this year were so-called comedies Tooth Fairy and Leap Year – two films that no one thought were good (but that I was stuck with on a long airline flight).   Not to mention that the most reviled movies of the year included the alleged comedies Sex in the City 2, Valentine’s Day, The Back-up Plan, Due Date, How Do You Know, Yogi Bear and Little Fockers.

So here’s the trailer for a non-lousy comedy (a romantic comedy, even), the original and funny Going the Distance.

I Love You, Phillip Morris

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I Love You, Phillip Morris is an entertaining offbeat combo of the con man, prison and romantic comedy genres – and it’s based on actual people and events.  Jim Carrey stars as the real life con man who perpetrates astonishing cons and  audacious escapes.  Carrey captures both the relentless audacity and the damaged neediness of his character.   Ewan McGregor plays his lover.  Although it’s admittedly a very bad year for the genre, this gay prison love romp is probably the year’s best romantic comedy.

Going the Distance

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Drew Barrymore and Justin Long star in that rarity –  a sweet, smart, funny and successful romantic comedy for adults.  Screenwriter Geoff LaTulippe tries a novel approach that respects the audience- creating characters like the ones we know in real life, who talk and act like real people do.  Instead of an implausible set-up, the conflict here is the real problem of a bi-coastal romance.

Her sister, played by Christina Applegate, is wound very tight for comic effect, but I know people like her.  His friends are WAY eccentric, but their exaggerated quirkiness delivers laughs without  distracting from the central romance.  Going the Distance has the toilet humor of a guy flick, but both genders were yukking it up at the screening I attended.