Old School (2003) - Some fun in low-brow frat house comedy

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Three middle-aged male stars enjoy themselves at a college party on this poster for Todd Phillips' Old School

Frank 'the Tank' Ricard is in his thirties and depressed, when his good buddy Mitch 'the Godfather' Martin suddenly becomes single, and the two decide to start a college fraternity with their old pal Bernard 'Beanie' Campbell.

 

Old School is written by Scot Armstrong (Road Trip (2000)) and great New-Yorker filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Todd Phillips (Road Trip (2000)), with Court Crandall (A Lobster Tale (2006)) contributing story elements.

Luke Wilson (Idiocracy (2006)) as Mitch has a fun scene with Juliette Lewis (Hick (2011)), and Will Ferrell (Land of the Lost (2009)) as Frank has a few of them, too, in a film that's based around a silly idea. But Old School is hampered down by a lot of unfunny stuff in between the good parts, and a bunch of cameos that just don't work.

Related posts:

Todd Phillips: The Hangover Part II (2011) - Phillips & Co. follow up their sensational comedy hit with a disappointing sequel  
Due Date (2010) or, Riding with Tremblay
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]   

The Hangover (2009) - Phillips & Co. hit the mother lode with hilarious crowdpleaser 

 

 

Watch a 3-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: 24 mil. $

Box office: 87.1 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 3.62 times its cost)

[Old School premiered 13 February (USA) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place from January - March 2002 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Daredevil, to a 17.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#3), grossing 75.5 mil. $ (86.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 3.6 mil. $ (4.1 %) and Germany with 1.8 mil. $ (2 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 1/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. Phillips returned with Starsky & Hutch (2004). Ferrell returned in The Guardian (2003, TV-series) and theatrically in Elf (2003); Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers (2005)) in I Love Your Work (2003); and Wilson in Alex & Emma (2003). Old School is fresh at 60 % with a 5.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Old School?

Henry Poole Is Here (2008) or, Faith in Sunny California

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A cluttered poster for Mark Pellington's Henry Poole Is Here that establishes that the film is set in California

Poole buys a house in Los Angeles, where he intends to drink, be lonely and die in peace from his unnamed fatal illness. But his neighbor sees Jesus on the side of his house; the other neighbor is highly interested in Poole himself; and miracles start to occur.

 

Henry Poole Is Here is written by Albert Torres (The Fugitive (2020, TV-series)) and directed by Mark Pellington (Going All the Way (1997)).

Radha Mitchell (Bird People (2014)) is too good for this film. Luke Wilson (The Skeleton Twins (2014)) as Poole pulls faces and doesn't entirely seem to believe the script, which is also quite hard-pumped with missionizing cliches. Adriana Barraza (Dark Blood (2021)) is, however, wonderful as the faithful Catholic next door.

The film has plenty of music that it doesn't seem to live up to. Henry Poole Is Here also suffers from an inordinate amount of focus shifts as well as unrealistic endings. It has its heart in the right place but is very far from convincing.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 1.9 mil. $

= Uncertain - but likely a mega-flop (projected 0.38 time cost return)

[Henry Poole Is Here premiered 21 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 99 minutes. Shooting took place in California, including in Los Angeles. It opened #16 to an 805k $ first weekend in 527 theaters in North America, where it receded from then on, grossing 1.8 mil. $ (94.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 29k $ (1.5 %) and UAE with 16k $ (0.8 %). If made on a scant 5 mil. $ budget, the film would rank as a mega-flop with a 0.38 time cost return. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. Pellington returned with a TV movie and 2 music videos prior to his theatrical return with I Melt with You (2011). Wilson returned in Tenure (2008); Mitchell in The Children of Huang Shi (2008). Henry Poole Is Here is rotten at rotten at 40 % with a 5.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Henry Poole Is Here?

The Skeleton Twins (2014) - Wiig and Hader deliver in indie gem

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SNL regulars Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig are to sell Craig Johnson's The Skeleton Twins on its poster

 

A man, who goes through a failed suicide attempt, subsequently moves temporarily into the home of his sister, whom he hasn't seen in a decade, and her husband. As it turns out, both twin siblings have deep-rooted problems in their lives.

Bill Hader (The BFG (2016)) and Kristen Wiig (Ghostbusters (2016)) are credible as twins and are both really funny and well-functioning dramatically in this little indie pearl from co-writer-director Craig Johnson (True Adolescents (2009)).

As The Skeleton Twins unfolds, I was waiting, somewhere in the back of my mind, for it to give in and collapse as a film, because it appears to be a bit of a fragile house of cards, but this never happens. Luke Wilson (Henry Poole Is Here (2008)) and Ty Burrell (In Good Company (2004)) do well in supporting parts. SPOILER It is a shame for the stars, the film and us as audiences that the plot anchor of the marriage in it is cut short so rapidly, because it is a good enough film that I would have sat for a longer final section about its crisis and the solution to it.

The Skeleton Twins is co-written with Mark Heyman (Black Swan (2010)).

Watch a trailer and a short interview with Hader and Wiig here

Cost. Reportedly 1 mil. $

Box office: 5.7 mil. $

= Huge hit

[The Skeleton Twins premiered January 19 (Sundance) and runs 93 minutes. Filming lasted 22 days in New York in November 2012. The film opened #25 with a 380k $ first weekend in 15 theaters, widening to 461 theaters and a top position at #11 with a 1.2 mil. $ weekend 3 in North America, where it grossed 5.2 mil. $ (91.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets (of 7 foreign markets) were Australia with 279k $ (4.9 %) and the UK with 63k $ (1.1 %). The film won the screenwriting award at Sundance and was included as one of the year's 10 best independent films by National Board of Review. The Skeleton Twins is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Skeleton Twins?

Charlie's Angels (2000) - McG's saucy Hollywood Entertainment winner

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The fiery poster for McG's Charlie's Angels

QUICK REVIEW:

Charlie's Angels is an update of a late-70s TV-series of three exquisite, young women, who work as spy agents for a millionaire named Charlie, who only speaks to them through an intercom.

In retrospect, this is a pretty bizarre film, and for a long stretch of the way it mostly looks like a grotesque sales exercise in all its rah-rah bling, colors, multiple music hits and star parade.
The three main stars, Cameron Diaz (There's Something About Mary (1998)), Drew Barrymore (Donnie Darko (2001)) and Lucy Liu (Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)), are beautiful and giggling yet strong as the cool heroines. There are several neat, handsome scenes and good ideas, and the first class supporting cast elevates the film, especially Tim Curry (It (1990)), Bill Murray, (Groundhog Day (1993)), Crispin Glover (Back to the Future (1985)) and Tom Green (Freddy Got Fingered (2001)).
Charlie's Angels is a crisp and fun spy action-comedy from director McG (This Means War (2012)), who is doing a tiny TV comedy right now, entitled Kevin From Work (2015). He also directed the less successful sequel, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003).

Stars Lucy Liu, Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz from McG's Charlie's Angels

It's not hard to see why audiences everywhere flocked to see Charlie's Angels. - It looks awesome! See its trailer here

Cost: 93 mil. $
Box office: 264.1 mil. $
= Box office success
[With the film's large budget, a slighter result than this might not have prompted a sequel, (although with booming DVD sales and TV, the film must have racked in plenty of dough.) ABC launched a new Charlie's Angels TV-series in 2011, which was canceled after its first season.]

What do you think of Charlie's Angels?
If you've seen the original series, or the newest attempt, please, tell us about it/them