Watched: January 19, 2019
Kegger Rating: 3 Stars
MM Rating: 3 Stars
Kegger’s Review
Straight forward, blast from the past (ha) movie, starring Brendan Fraser, back when he had hair, Steve Buscemi, back when he didn’t quite look like death warmed over, and Adam Sandler, back when he was the doofy side kick and not the doofy main character.
I enjoyed seeing characters that I recognized from other movies or shows. Suzzie, who I know as a president’s daughter, a radio station assistant. Milo Jackson, who I know as a dog breeder, folk singer, and Mr. Green, a radio station manager. Sgt. O’Malley, who I know as a ghostbuster, now in the role of hostage negotiator. Officer Samuels, who I know as a limo driver, also in the police force. Kayla, who I recognized from a ridiculous B-movie musical starring Johnny Depp, as Chazz’s girlfriend.
It was nice to see Chris Farley in a role that he plays so well. Bumbling and funny.
I’m giving it 3 stars because it’s exactly what I needed – something easy, something that I didn’t have to think too hard about, that I didn’t have to try to find the humor in, at least past the first 20 minutes. 🙂
MM’s Review
Don’t let Kegger lie to you – she laughed during this movie. She wanted to hate it, because I chose it at random from the cable movie channels, and she was in a mood to watch something known given our run of bad movies. She harrumphed and scoffed her way through the opening act (legitimately), and feigned disinterest as things developed in the second act. By the third act, she cared more about these characters than any of the Ocean’s 8 ladies.
Why am I telling you about Kegger? Because it was almost the same for me.
The entire point of the plot – a radio station held hostage by a band – is ridiculous. You have to go in understanding that the way the police handle the crime is going to be awful. You also have to accept that the band itself cannot be the sharpest tools in the shed if this is their plan. The movie accepts all of this going in, and never tries to be something it isn’t.
The characters are slightly lovable dullards. The police are there to allow us to change scenes. The radio station politics give us a non-threatening villain and wiseguy DJ. We also got the president’s daughter from West Wing, who was cutely amusing. And Cosmo Kramer. I hate that guy.
This is not going to be added to the National Film Registry any time soon. This is not the movie you tell your friends about watching over the weekend. But by the end of it, I cared about whether the band won or lost, and that’s more than I can say for many of the other movies we’ve been watching.