The Ladies Man (2000) or, Leon Phelps: Master of Love

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Star Tim Meadows radiates confidence and apparently sits on Manhattan - and cloud nine - on this poster for Reginald Hudlin's The Ladies Man

Leon Phelps is the radio personality 'the Ladies Man' who is nevertheless fired due to his vulgar program as he also falls in love with his producer. - But how can he combine that with his intense love life?

The Ladies Man is written by Dennis McNicholas (Saturday Night Live (1999-19)), Andrew Steele (The Jon Stewart Show (1993-95)) and co-writer/star Tim Meadows (Semi-Pro (2008, actor)), and directed by Reginald Hudlin (House Party (1990)). It is based on a character from long-running sketch-show Saturday Night Live.
It doesn't esteem itself all that well as a film. It is very coarse and sporadically funny, and in fact I still found parts of it very funny, especially scenes with Will Ferrell (Drunk History (2010, TV-series short)), which elevate The Ladies Man considerably. There's also a musical number that's a riot.
Billy Dee Williams (The Visit (2000)) is another welcome co-star here, great with a twinkle in his eye as the narrating bar owner, and finally Meadows is very likable as the foolish Leon.
The Ladies Man is in no way a significant film, - but I wonder if it in any way inspired Ferrell and Adam McKay's somewhat similar but infinitely better Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004). On a late night with low expectations it makes for completely a-okay entertainment.

Watch a 1-minute clip from the film here

Cost: 24 mil. $
Box office: 13.7 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.57 times its cost)
[The Ladies Man premiered 10 October (USA) and runs 84 minutes. Shooting took place from August - October 1999 in Toronto, Ontario and Chicago, Illinois. The film opened #4, behind holdover hits Meet the Parents and Remember the Titans and fellow new release Lost Souls, to a 5.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 13.6 mil. $ (99.3 % of the total gross). The 27k $ rest of the paltry gross came from Australia and Germany. The film was released in at least 4 more markets, but these don't figure on its Box Office Mojo, (they may likely have been even smaller than those for Australia and Germany.) Roger Ebert gave the film a 1/4 star review, translating to 3 notches harder than this one. Hudlin returned with Serving Sara (2002). Meadows returned in 6 TV credits prior to his theatrical return in Wasabi Tuna (2003). The Ladies Man is rotten at 11 % with a 3.22/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Ladies Man?

Semi-Pro (2008) - A 70s Michigan basketball comedy for the Ferrell fans

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+ Best Michigan Movie of the Year + Best Sports Comedy of the Year + Career-Killer of the Year: Kent Alterman

The two personable co-stars pale in the sheen of Will Ferrell's ridiculousness on this simple poster for Kent Alterman's Semi-Pro

1970s Flint, Michigan: Local 'king of funk' Jackie Moon is a star with his hit song Love Me Sexy and his place on the Tropics basketball team. But now the future stands between death or the NBA for the team, who need to fight for survival.

Semi-Pro is written by Scot Armstrong (Road Trip (2000)) and directed by debuting Kent Alterman (After the Sunset (2004, executive producer)).
This comedy is a solid late-night pleasure; it lacks the great big screaming laughs that adorn Will Ferrell's (Bewitched (2005)) best comedies, but it still has a solid amount of chuckle-inducing scenes.
The film relishes its period setting, which is painted as male-chauvinist and uncontrolled compared to today's world, with Moon's promotion especially amateurish and pretty darn funny. 
André Benjamin (American Crime (2016, TV-series)), Woody Harrelson (I'll Do Anything (1994)) and Tim Meadows (Mr. Box Office (2012-13)) are also good here. Semi-Pro is a minor comedy nugget.

 

Related posts:

 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

Watch a red band trailer for the film here

Cost: 55 mil. $
Box office: 43.8 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.79 times its cost)
[Semi-Pro premiered 19 February (Westwood, California) and runs 92 minutes. Shooting took place in Michigan and in California, including Los Angeles, in and around February 2007. 7 weeks after the film's release, grizzly bear Rocky, who plays Dewie the Bear in the film, bit one its trainers in the neck, killing him. The film opened #1 to a 15 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more week in the top 5 (#5) and grossed 33.4 mil. $ (76.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 4.1 mil. $ (9.4 %) and Australia with 3.7 mil. $ (8.4 %). It was New Line Cinemas last film, before the company was absorbed into Warner Bros. Alterman has not directed or produced anything since, ending his more than 10 year career in films with the film. Ferrell returned in Stepbrothers (2008); Benjamin in 2 music videos and a TV-series before reaching the big screen again in Jimi: All Is by My Side (2013); Harrelson in Surfer, Dude (2008). Semi-Pro is rotten at 23 % with a 4.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Semi-Pro?

Mean Girls (2004) - Lohan, Waters and Fey's high school satire triumph

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Lindsay Lohan and, behind her, 'the Plastics' (Amanda Seyfried, Rachel McAdams and Lacey Chabert) for Mark Waters' Mean Girls

Cady has been home-schooled in Africa until her 16th year, in which she will start in a regular American high school. There she soon falls into a difficult dilemma: Should she avoid the popular, shallow girls, try to expose and bring them down, or join them?

Mean Girls became a teen sensation 10 years ago, - mostly for teen girls, understandably, - and it's a smart high school satire comedy/chick flick with a romance subplot. Based on a non-fiction self-help-book book by Rosalind Wiseman (Queen Bees and Wannabes (2002)), the script is written by Tina Fey (This Is Where I Leave You (2014), actress), who also plays a funny supporting role as Cady's struggling, good-hearted math teacher. It's good writing, basically, with many amusing ideas played out in the well-paced movie. In the end, though, SPOILER things come together somewhat too neatly for Cady, I think, and Mean Girls loses some of its realism and ends as a package a little too clean for my taste. I was also a little disappointed to see Cady's friend Janis, who more or less outs herself as gay towards the end, in which everything else seems to come together, began dating a guy (...), - while the other gay male friend went nowhere. In the end of Mean Girls, you might say that Fey chose to dump the two substantial gay characters of her teen movie into a black hole.
Mean Girls features a young Lindsay Lohan (The Canyons (2013)), who is both very charming and a natural, good center for the film. Rachel McAdams (Morning Glory (2010)) is fun as the insidious 'queen bee', and SNL-regulars Amy Poehler (They Came Together (2014)) and Tim Meadows (The Ladies' Man (2000)) are hilarious as McAdams' racy mom and the principal.

Amanda Seyfried and Lacey Cabert next to an uncomfortable Lindsay Lohan in Mark Waters' Mean Girls

The details:

Many people really love Mean Girls, and it is a fun and entertaining film to watch, while it also has some edifying points about the futility and hurtfulness of bullying. It is high-paced and a little talky, and some may be put off slightly by the bitchy teen girl characters in it and draw a big breath after, happy that their general level of drama isn't a norm in most people's lives.
The film won Lohan a string of Teen Choice and MTV awards and was the preliminary peak of her career, before things started going awry and down-hill with DUI's, rehab visits, legal problems etc. etc. Film Excess is still hoping that she'll emerge on the other side as a strong woman sooner rather than later.
Mean Girls is directed by Mark Waters, who lately put out the overlooked Vampire Academy (2014), (many of us have simply had a little much of teenage vampires, I suppose.) He has also directed such hits as Freaky Friday (2003), - another Lohan-starring hit comedy, - and Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), a delightful family comedy with Jim Carrey.

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 17 mil. $
Box office: 129 mil. $
= Huge hit
[With happening young actors, first class comedic material, a pop star-studded soundtrack and good reviews, no wonder that Mean Girls struck gold. 66 % of its earnings were from North America.]

What do you think of Mean Girls?
What's your favorite high school comedy?