Ian T. McFarland

• Title: Meet Dave
• IMDB: link

Eddie Murphy is just as funny as his agent is cruel – even though Murphy can still make us laugh, the dreck he has resorted to starring in is uninhabitable.  So goes Meet Dave, well-intentioned, innocent enough high concept family flick that falls flat.

Growing up is hard.  Especially for Josh, who in addition being bastardized when his father is killed in the line of duty, is a total nerd!  No one likes him, so he’s more than happy to make the acquaintance of Dave, who, it turns out, is actually a man-sized spaceship with a striking resemblance to Eddie Murphy, with a large crew of humanoid aliens measuring one inch controlling him on the inside, falls out of the sky and becomes the pathetic chump’s first friend.  In the final scene, Dave abandons Josh, who having learned nothing about friendship throughout the ordeals of the story, goes back to being friendless and grows up lonely (we can assume).

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Forget ‘Dave’Read More »

• Title: Hancock
• IMDB: link

Look there, up in the sky!  It’s a Comedy!  It’s an Action Film!  Wait, nevermind, it’s just Hancock, the latest and one of the least successful in Will Smith‘s long line of sure-to-be blockbusters.  This time, it’s about a would-be super-hero plagued by a constant hangover and an absence of motivation.  It sounds like a promising Summer movie; but the end result is a failed attempt at redefining the Superhero movie.

John Hancock, an amnesiac that doesn’t age, has no idea where he’s from or how he got his powers of flight and strength; but he does know a good idea when he hears it.  So after he saves a Public Relations consultant (Jason Bateman)‘s life, he takes the family man’s Pro bono advice for an image make-over to gain the public’s adoration once again.

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Sub-Par SuperheroRead More »

• Title: The Love Guru
• IMDB: link

About a month ago, a friend asked me, “Which are you dreading the least – You Don’t Mess With the Zohan or The Love Guru?”  It was a fitting question, as not only did the two movies look like the worst comedies of the summer, but they might have been the worst looking movies of the summer, regardless of genre.  I answered that Zohan looked a bit worse (Sandler‘s last film, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, still left a bad taste in my mouth) but now, having seen both films, I have a hard time deciding which one actually was worse.  All I know is that neither one is much of a winner.

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A ‘Guru’ Only A Mother Could LoveRead More »