reviews: October 2004 Archives
The trailer for this movie just screams "chick flick" and I'm no fan of Jennifer Lopez, but thankfully, she doesn't have a major role. Between this one, You Got Served and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, I can't remember a year that saw this many dance movies released since 1984 and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo! I like dance movies, and I liked this one especially. It is a romantic movie, but the it isn't *about* romance -- there is a compelling story at the bottom of it about an average father (Richard Gere) who knows there is something missing from his life, but is embarrassed to tell his wife that he isn't as happy as he thinks he should be. The dancing is top notch and Lisa Ann Walter steals the show as Bobbie.
This one wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be -- your average episode of South Park has more biting satire. As expected, the music was hilarious (especially the Montage song), though probably not Oscar-caliber -- although I didn't believe "Blame Canada" was Oscar-caliber either, so who knows. The marionette work and the "special effects" were certainly intriguing, and it is obvious that an awful lot of work went into making this film, but in the end I found myself wishing that they had spent more time following their penchant for subtle intellectual humor, and less time on the crude locker-room humor. Note to Parker & Stone: curse words are a seasoning, and too much salt spoils the soup. I'll rank this one behind Baseketball, South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, and Cannibal: The Musical. It had its moments, but it just wasn't up to par.
Jimmy Fallon probably doesn't have what it takes to carry a movie. Chris Kattan has discovered this about himself as well, along with a long list of SNL alumni. Queen Latifah turns in a respectable, if unoriginal, performance. She is playing the same urban black woman to the white straight man that she played in Bringin' Down the House, although this movie doesn't rely as heavily on culture clash for laughs -- it delivers on other comedy fronts as well (Patton Oswalt's "Friendster" line is classic!). The action sequences are great, but overall, this movie is very average.
