Movie Review – The 40-Year-Old Virgin

A no nonsense comical

‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’, for the lack of better word was, proper. Even though it’s a great material for comedy, it wasn’t to my complete satisfaction, may be because I watched it tad too late or may be the title was in my mind for quite some time and I imagined all sorts of scenarios that would pop up in the movie. Nevertheless, it was a decent time pass movie or in my words a ‘K TV’ movie which one needn’t put an effort to watch but works reasonably well when watched on the fly.

It’s easy to caricaturise a 40-year-old virgin and they do so in the first few minutes. It would have been better if it had been dealt in any other way apart from him being methodological and organized. Because that need not be the characteristic of a typical “virgin”. But its not a film to complain about this as it serves the purpose. We quickly get introduced to Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) and how he generally is. His friends make a mockery of him after knowing that he’s a virgin, not that they didn’t before knowing about it. But conveniently for them, they get to know about his virginity only the night after movie starts, even though they had worked together for years.

The love-hate relationship between the friends were tremendous. I thought in the end there would be one cheesy dialogue like that of ‘Hangover’ but no they kept the track pure. Most of the laugh out loud jokes worked and happy that they were harsh and unapologetic. I’m sure the dialogue, “do you know how I know that you’re gay” would have got a separate fan following in local culture around the time the movie released. Actually, these are the things one misses in a comedy which is not in their language. It was funny, no complaints about it. But English natives would’ve been able to enjoy the joke as if its something among their peers, instead of watching from an outsider’s view. May be a movie like ‘Saroja’ wouldn’t appeal to others but would work for local audience, because the movie understands the pulse of locals better.

The four friends are typical template characters. A loudmouth black man, a “self-deprecating” loser and a “passionate” man. They’re easyly definable characters. That’s what comic movies of the old do. They don’t invest on deep characters, something like ‘Sideways’ but its more subtle. ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’ is not, because the genre is different. That’s why it works too, so no complaints there. My favourite of the four would definitely be the “lovelorn, self-destructive” loser David (Paul Rudd). It was lovely to see him and reminded me a little bit of myself too. Mostly all of scenes worked. But the “gay” scene and the scene where he gives porn to Andy stood out. It was lovely.

As expected, there should be a love track with “matured” women, which was typical but again worked. More than the writing, Catherine Keener as Trish Piedmont, did an excellent job. The short emotional scenes in the comedies are the ones which really make the film work and here too it was the same. I loved the love angle between the two. Especially the twenty-date streak before sex, it was lovely. Of course, there was drama towards the end but we all see it coming right. It would have worked better for locals and theatre audience but to watch a movie from the past on a seemingly innocuous point of view, I had already formed an opinion about the movie by that time.

Anyways it was pleasant feeling to watch a Hollywood movie after years, which I don’t know how it just flew buy. Though not a spellbinding (I didn’t want that) it still was a film to watch on a jolly good evening having tea and biscuits. Even though I enjoyed it, I felt the movie could have been still better and it was stuck somewhere between reckless laugh out loud comedy (which I’d have preferred) and subtle humour. These things happen when you catch up on a movie without knowing what to expect. Most of the time, it’s good because it surprises you in a different way but at times doesn’t satisfy you as much as you’d have expected it to be.

Movie Review – The Big Short

A peppy recession lesson

‘The Big Short’ is not really my cup of tea. Like how I didn’t understand heads or tails of ‘Margin Call’ or ‘Moneyball’, here too I didn’t understand a thing. At least ‘Moneyball’ is supposedly a sports movie. Even though it didn’t have the general adrenaline rush, being a sports movie was an excuse to try to concentrate. With movies like ‘Margin Call’ or ‘Money Ball’ which deals with money and business, topics which I’m not interested at, it was tougher to concentrate. Well, everyone can’t make a wolfie. But I see these films as opportunities to learn something new.

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Just like ‘Margin Call’ I didn’t understand head or tails of this movie too. Customary glance at Wikipedia didn’t help me either. Maybe it’s the aversion towards the subject, which makes me feel as if I’m studying for exams. Too many terms and definitions. May be if the film had taken a documentary style of making, I might have been interested to read up. As it’s a feature film, I was more interested on the style than the subject. It, in a way is a good thing as a film reviewer where you’d be able to judge the movie purely on the basis of its filmmaking because you don’t have a connect whatsoever

There were a couple of unconventional techniques it employs to explain financial instruments, like breaking the fourth wall, cameo appearance by stars, subtitles and meta-reference. It’s because of that, we at least get to know the hint of what’s going on out there. But that’s not good enough to create an impact, its good enough to evoke interest at max. Come on when the narrator says that Margot Robbie in a bubble bath would explain a certain term, who wouldn’t want it. Even though tough to concentrate, I remember that one scene precisely. That made me sit upright thinking that she’d appear in the movie going forward but unfortunately for me, there were no heroines at all. Next up Selena Gomez appears to share some more information but unfortunately my eyes were reaching out to check her mole near the cleavage, rather than hearing out the information. Once I discovered that, I was satisfied man.

Taking these two scenes of, it was a pretty bland movie for me. I could neither sympathize with the people who were losing job, nor feel happy for the clever ones. In fact, it was irritating when it takes a goody goody angle in the end where everyone suddenly becomes a good guy. But I was happy to see that actual bank names could be used. Also, the sarcastic climax was a good touch. Don’t know when freedom like that would ever happen in India.

Wonder how I chose to watch this movie. But once I added to my list, there was a close up shot of Brad Pitt with salt and pepper hairstyle and Ryan Gosling all suited up. That made me keen to watch the movie. But boy, making Ryan tanned with whiter lips was such a letdown. Wish he had looked like how he does regularly. He still could have carried on with the same act, there wouldn’t have been any difference. But that wasn’t meant to happen. Nevertheless, he was the only sane character whom I could connect to. Rest all felt caricatures.

Movie Review – Crazy, Stupid, Love

Warm rom com

Going by the posters with a high heeled lady and an awestruck Steve Carell, I thought the movie was going to be way different than how it actually turned out to be. In the end it exceeded my expectations and ended up to be a really sweet romantic comedy. It’s really tough to write proper rom com without being cheap about it. The directors have made sure that they have handled multiple storylines and done it whole heartedly with so much warmth. And I guess that’s the success of the movie.

(L-r) RYAN GOSLING as Jacob and EMMA STONE as Hannah in Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy “CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE.” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo by Ben Glass

The movie starts with a break up of sorts between Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) and Emily Weaver (Julianne Moore) in the car and that for me wasn’t really a great start to the movie. But a Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling) trying to woo Hannah Weaver (Emma Stone), well, that’s a start. Any guy after watching the movie is gonna step into the bar and think about doing it, only that it won’t work until and unless you’re a Gosling. Whether you’re a fan or not, Ryan Gosling is gonna sweep you off your feet in the movie. And with Emma Stone being there, there is always a sense of discipline in acting. She’s one of the actresses, even while doing a rom com, commands respect. That in a way transforms to the film as well. There is also a storyline with the kids, Robbie Weaver (Jonah Bobo) who falls for Jessica Riley (Analeigh Tipton), who in turns falls for Cal. Even though it sounds silly it’s not, it’s not at all childish in a way it was handled.

While Cal and Emily get separated, Cal goes to the bar where Jacob picks up random women just like chips out of packet and makes Cal too the same way. This process is entertaining no matter how many times it gets repeated in cinema. And when a person like Gosling does, its just icing on the cake. Just like the women out there, Cal couldn’t say no too. Good thing about the film is, he doesn’t get transformed from Ambi to Remo but remains a normal looking Cal to better looking Cal. If you see him in a flash, you can’t really find the difference. That’s the sense of sincerity the film shows in its making. Nothing over the top to make it look like a fantasy but nothing practical enough to make it mundane.

Post the transformation, Cal gets a number of women, including a teacher of his son, whom Cal and Emily meet because Robbie had sworn in class. Now that’s brilliant screenplay. Something which makes us respect the movie. As much as the situation is funny, its not done cheap, there is a proper logical order the events follow. But its not the same case when the biggest twist of the film happens, where we get to know Hannah is indeed a daughter of Cal. There was no clue about it and it was kind of cheap. But the situation was well managed by the on-screen chaos between the leads.

There is no surprise that its going to be one happy ending in the end but a couple of takeaway points are not making Jacob sound like a loser and giving the Robbie kid his due. The respect the movie gives to all the characters is a thing to appreciate.