Eagerly anticipating this month ... (6-25)

Eagerly anticipating this month ... (6-25)
Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value (2025)
Showing posts with label great comedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label great comedy. Show all posts

11/29/2023

Pitch Perfect (2012) - Genuinely funny crowd-pleaser

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A group of young women wearing sunglasses while posing makes up this poster for Jason Moore's Pitch Perfect


Beca begins college but has to pull tight to fit into life there, which for her becomes through the companionship found in a cappella group The Bellas, which - along with the campus' male group the Treblemakers, - compete for national victory!

 

Pitch Perfect is written by Kay Cannon (Let It Snow (2019)), based on Michael Rapkin's same-titled 2008 book, and directed by great debuting Arkansan filmmaker Jason Moore (Tales of the City (2021)).

The film is a party that arrives as a cinematic answer to television's seemingly endless, highly popular talent shows of the post-millennial era - as well as TV series sensation Glee (2009-15). Anna Kendrick's (Noelle (2019)) charm and natural sweetness is a major plus, and Pitch Perfect also becomes a springboard for funny, unembarrassed Rebel Wilson (The Hustle (2019)), sweet Skylar Astin (Ghosts of War (2020)) and foolish Adam Devine (Jexi (2019)). - And Elizabeth Banks (Charlie's Angels (2019)), who also co-produced, and John Michael Higgins (Licorice Pizza (2021)) are a welcome - and often hilarious - element as ex a cappella performers who are now a cappella contest commentators. 

Pitch Perfect is not perfect in any way, - but it sparkles with energy and is both funny, romantic and fresh. It is among the most delightful favorites of 2012.



 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 17 mil. $

Box office: 115.6 mil. $

= Huge hit (returned 6.8 times its cost)

[Pitch Perfect opened 28 September (North America) and runs 112 minutes. Wilson was paid 65k $ for her performance in the film. Shooting took place around October 2011 in Louisiana. The film opened #6 to a 5.1 mil. $ weekend in North America, spending the next weekend at #3, its only in the top 5, grossing 65 mil. $ (56.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 13 mil. $ (11.2 %) and Germany with 10.1 mil. $ (8.7 %). Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to 3 notches under this one. Two sequels followed, Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) and Pitch Perfect 3 (2017). Moore returned with Trophy Wives (2013-14) and theatrically with Sisters (2015). Kendrick returned in Drinking Buddies (2013). Pitch Perfect is certified fresh at 82 % with a 6.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]


What do you think of Pitch Perfect?

11/22/2023

The Promotion (2008) - Conrad's under-appreciated supermarket comedy

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+ Best Box Office Disaster of the Year + Best Comedy of the Year 

 

A tense stand-off in an office between two famous funny-men make up this poster for Steve Conrad's The Promotion


Doug is told that he is a 'shoe-in' for the open position of store manager of a large, newly opened Donaldson's grocery store, - but then the Canadian wildcard Richard enters the equation...


The Promotion is written and directed by great Floridian filmmaker Steve Conrad (Lawrence Melm (2004)).

Seann William Scott (Mr. Woodcock (2007)) gets totally free of the shadow of his goofy American Pie (1999; 2001; 2003; 2012) stardom here and is brilliant as an insecure, worried boss-to-be, and John C. Reilly (Dark Water (2005)) is incredibly funny as the imbecile Canadian competition with self-help audio in his ears. With a terrific supporting cast, this is a rare workplace comedy that's really good and hilarious. It challenges the power of the promotion for the regular Joe and succeeds handsomely with plenty of laughs at the expense of the often politically incorrect reality.

 

Related posts:

 

Steve ConradWonder (2017) - Remember napkins for Chbosky's heart-warming family drama (co-writer)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) - Stiller's sweet, visually splendid Christmas present (writer) 

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

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) - Two Smiths inspire hearts and minds in true-story drama (writer)


 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 8 mil. $

Box office: 457k $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.05 times its cost)

[The Promotion premiered 9 March (South by Southwest Film Festival, USA) and runs 86 minutes. Shooting took place around July 2006 in Chicago, Illinois. The film opened #46 to a 30k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #22 and in 81 theaters, grossing 408k $ (89.3 % of the total gross). The film only has two other recorded markets, (it was also released theatrically in Portugal but the result goes unreported.) Germany with 33k $ (7.2 %) and Singapore with 15k $ (3.3 %.) Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, translating to 3 notches under this one. Conrad has not returned with a feature as a director since, instead directing some TV and more turning towards writing. Scott returned in Role Models (2008); Reilly in The Simpsons (2008, TV-series) and theatrically in Step Brothers (2008). The Promotion is rotten at 55 % with a 5.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]


What do you think of The Promotion?

10/08/2022

Orgazmo (1997) - Has you writhing with laughter

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A German Shepherd humps the title character's leg and thereby effectively sets the tone on this poster for Trey Parker's Orgazmo

A good young Mormon male gets astray and involved in a porno in Los Angeles, which puts his value system to the test.

 

Orgazmo is written, directed and co-edited by Trey Parker (Cannibal! The Musical (1993)), who also stars as Joe Young, the Mormon in question, who becomes Orgazmo. Matt Stone (South Park (1997-)) co-produced, contributed uncredited writing and also co-stars as 'Dave the photographer'.

The film is surprisingly well-crafted and far from the trash one might suspect given the title and obviously low budget. The film takes the piss out of Mormons, the porn industry and superhero movies (Batman & Robin in particular.) It is crude and liberal-minded but never mean, and there's a great amount of energy in front of and behind the camera all the way through. Everyone acts with a passionate drive: Especially worth pointing out are Parker and Robyn Lynne Raab (Hey Dude (1990, TV-series)) as his fiancée Lisa, Michael Dean Jacobs (The King of Queens (2003, TV-series)) as porn producer villain Maxxx Orbison as well as Stone. Even real-life porn star Ron Jeremy (Northern Sights (2000)) is good.

The effects and fights are awful, - but they're also supposed to be. Parker and Co. get so much, - and so many laughs, most importantly, - out of precious little here. Hooray for Orgazmo!




 

Parker and others from the cast give an interview about the film here


Cost: 1-1.3 mil. $ (different reports)

Box office: 647k $

= Huge flop (returned approximately 0.56 times its cost)

[Orgazmo premiered 6 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 94 minutes. Shooting took place from February - March 1997 in Los Angeles, California. The film opened #18 to a 210k $ first weekend in 94 theaters in North America, where it grossed 602k $ (93 % of the total gross). It was released in a handful of other markets. The-numbers.com alleges that it made only 45k $ internationally, but that it has also made 334k $ on its domestic Blu-ray release (many years later). Roger Ebert gave it a 0.5/4 star review, translating to 4 notches under this one. Parker returned with Master P: Kenny's Dead (1998, music video) and theatrically with South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999). As an actor he returned in BASEketball (1998). Orgazmo is rotten at 48 % with a 4.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]


What do you think of Orgazmo?

9/17/2022

One Night at McCool's (2001) - Stars shine in Zwart's under-appreciated farce

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Liv Tyler will catch most people's attention, lounged forward showing cleavage in a jaguar-patterned dress on this poster for Harald Zwart's One Night at McCool's

Buxom beauty Jewel wrecks havoc on several men's lives in connection to one fateful night at McCool's.

 

One Night at McCool's is written by Stan Seidel (True Colors (1991-92)) and directed by great Dutch filmmaker Harald Zwart (Hamilton (1998)).

It is a hilarious farce, which interweaves one out there cliche to the next in an inventively written and clever script. There's a colorful team of characters, good pacing and cool music, (a Johnny Cash song and a rad shooting in the end to The Village People are highlights.)

A fantastic cast really kicks butt here: Michael Douglas (Summertree (1971)) wins just by the hairpiece he dons here alone as a hitman but of course the legend backs it up with gusto; Liv Tyler (Silent Fall (1994)) is gorgeous and extremely sexy; John Goodman (Argo (2012)) is wonderful as a religious policeman; Paul Reiser (Red Oaks (2014-17)) plays a lawyer with a gigantic ego; and Richard Jenkins (The Mod Squad (1999)) is a bowl of laughs as a Catholic priest.







 

Watch Zwart and Tyler in the latter's hair, makeup and wardrobe test for the film here

 

Cost: 18 mil. $

Box office: 13.5 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.75 times its cost)

[One Night at McCool's premiered 19 April (UK) and runs 92 minutes. Shooting took place from August - November 1999 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #11 to a 2.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 6.2 mil. $ (45.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 1.8 mil. $ (13.3 %) and France with 483k $ (3.6 %). Roger Ebert gave it a 2.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. Zwart returned with Hamilton (2001, miniseries), A-ha: Forever Not Yours (2002, music video) and theatrically with Agent Cody Banks (2003). Tyler returned in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001); Matt Dillon (The House That Jack Built (2018)) in Deuces Wild (2002); and Douglas in Don't Say a Word (2001). One Night at McCool's is rotten at 33 % with a 4.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]


What do you think of One Night at McCool's?

9/12/2022

Not Another Teen Movie (2001) - Gallen's hilarious youth movie spoof

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A group of loud-looking teen characters clutter this poster for Joel Gallen's Not Another Teen Movie

At John Hughes High School the school's #1 hunk makes a bet: That the school's worst-looking girl Janey can be transformed into the prom queen in a short amount of time!


Not Another Teen Movie is written by Mike Bender (Mission: Improbable (2000, TV short)), Adam Jay Epstein, Andrew Jacobson (Extreme Movie (2008), both), Phil Beauman and Buddy Johnson (Scary Movie (2000), both) and directed by great American filmmaker, debuting Joel Gallen (Top of the Pops (1987, TV show)).

It is a surprisingly successful spoof of American teen movies of the preceding two decades; especially John Hughes' movies, but also the latest teen hits get a serving of amicable ridicule here. The style is low-brow and doesn't shy away from an exploding toilet scene, a babe who's topless throughout the film and so on. Yet it remains affectionate and is loaded with promising stars to-be in very engaged and uniformly overacted, charming performances: Chris Evans (Snowpiercer (2013)), Jaime Pressly (6 Months Rule (2011)), Eric Christian Olsen (License to Wed (2007)) and others are splendid, and Randy Quaid (Kingpin (1996)) is fantastic as Janey's alcoholic father.






 

Watch a funny 1-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: 15 mil. $

Box office: 66.4 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.42 times its cost)

[Not Another Teen Movie premiered 7 December (USA) and runs 89 minutes. The film reportedly spoofs at least 44 different movies. Shooting took place from February - April 2001 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Vanilla Sky and holdover hit Ocean's Eleven, to a 12.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 38.2 mil. $ (57.5 %). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Germany with 5.3 mil. $ (8 %) and France with 4.2 mil. $ (6.3 %). Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to 3 notches under this one. Gallen hasn't made a theatrical feature since but has instead been busy directing and producing especially TV specials but also TV movies, shorts and documentaries. Evans returned in 2 TV credits and a short prior to his theatrical return in The Perfect Score (2004); Chyler Leigh (Supergirl (2015-21)), who plays Janey, in 9 TV credits prior to her theatrical return in Brake (2012); and Pressly in Survival Island (2002). Not Another Teen Movie is rotten at 30 % with a 4.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]


What do you think of Not Another Teen Movie?

7/30/2022

Kingpin (1996) - One bowling movie to rule them all

 

A blond with nice legs and two fun male stars attract on this colorful poster for Bobby and Peter Farrelly's Kingpin


Roy Munson was expected to become his proud father's bowling comet successor, when his bowling teacher betrayed him, and he lost his bowling hand. Now, many years of hard drinking later, he wants to return to elite bowling; this time as a manager himself, for an Amish bowler prodigy.

 

Kingpin is written by Barry Fanaro (Men in Black II (2002)) and Mort Nathan (Bagboy (2007)) and directed by great Rhode-Islander filmmaker brothers Bobby and Peter Farrelly (Dumb and Dumber (1994), both).

Bill Murray (Zombieland (2009)) delivers a bravura comic performance as the self-confident bowling opponent, and Woody Harrelson (LBJ (2016)) and Randy Quaid (Moving (1988)) are also unusually energetic in this really low-firing but also really funny movie. Lin Shaye (Texas Heart (2016)) has a fun supporting role as Munson's landlady. Vanessa Angel (Cougar Hunting (2011)) is also full of sparks.

Kingpin has a fun premise in big leagues bowling, and you'll just have to watch it to learn about getting 'Munsoned'. It is ten minutes overlong, but makes up for it with its many hilarious moments, some of which are so funny they threaten to rip you in half with laughter. The film also sports some ingenious costumes and hairdos.

 

Related posts:
 

Peter Farrelly:
The day after the day after ... the 2019 Oscars

2018 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Green Book (2018) - P. Farrelly and a pair of great actors make racial drama thrive with comedic fuel 

Movie 43 (2013) or, The Big Flush  (segment)

Bobby and Peter Farrelly: Dumb and Dumber To (2014) or, Harry and Lloyd: Still Dumb and Lovin' It!  
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
Hall Pass (2011) - The Farrelly brothers' probably worst film to date 

2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  

The Heartbreak Kid (2007) or, The Seven Day Itch

Me, Myself & Irene (2000) - The Farrelly brothers falter 
Dumb and Dumber/Dumb & Dumber (1994) - The Farrellys brothers and Carrey/Daniels' comedy classic   

 



Watch a short TV trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 25 mil. $

Box office: 32.2 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.28 times its cost)

[Kingpin was released 4 July (Australia) and runs 114 minutes. Quaid was paid 2.25 mil. $ for his performance. Shooting took place from October - December 1995 in Pennsylvania, Nevada and New York. The film opened #5, behind fellow new release A Time to Kill and holdover hits Independence Day, Phenomenon and Courage Under Fire, to a 5.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 25 mil. $ (77.6 % of the total gross). Peter Farrelly later said that the film's box office failure was the biggest disappointment of his and his brother's career, and blamed the Atlanta Olympics, but rejoiced in the strong performance of later video sales of the film. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. The Farrelly brothers returned with There's Something About Mary (1998). Harrelson returned in The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996); Quaid in Get on the Bus (1996); and Angel in Veronica's Closet (1997, TV-series) and theatrically in Kissing a Fool (1998). Kingpin is rotten at 49 % with a 5.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]


What do you think of Kingpin?

11/02/2021

Nacho Libre (2006) - Black and Hess triumph with underrated comedy bullion

♥♥

 

+ Best Farce of the Year + Best Poster of the Year

 

Jack Black looks utterly hilarious with blown-up hair and a blown-out red cape on this fantastic poster for Jared Hess' Nacho Libre


Ignacio is a Catholic friar brother in an orphanage with dreams of wrestling greatness, when a new female nun catches his attention, and he begins to tempt fate by doing underground luchero [Mexican-style wrestling] fights.

 

Nacho Libre is written by Mike White (Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)), Jerusha Hess and great Arizonian filmmaker, co-writer/director Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite (2004), both).

Impassioned Nacho may be Jack Black's (The Office (2009, TV-series)) best balls-out comical performance of all. Nacho Libre is an enthusiastic film in every way. Héctor Jiménez (Cómo Filmar Una XXX (2017)) is also hilarious as his sidekick, saying rip-roaring lines such as, "I hate all the orphans of the world!"

There are many entertaining fights.

Some of Nacho Libre's perceived 'innocence' as a film really stems from under-addressed Catholic problems: Jiménez's character's homosexuality, and the impossibility of Ignacio's flirt with the nun are never directly addressed. But the overwhelming amount of laughs are unmistakable. Nacho Libre is a riot.

 

Related posts:

 

Jared Hess: 2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Napoleon Dynamite (2004) - You'll wanna visit Preston, Idaho! 








Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 35 mil. $

Box office: 99.2 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.83 times its cost)

[Nacho Libre was released 16 June (North America) and runs 92 minutes. Shooting took place around September 2005 in Mexico and California. Hess had a falling out with studio backer Paramount, because the latter would not accept Beck's score for the film and instead hired Danny Elfman to compose a new score. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Cars, to a 28.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#5-#5), grossing 80.1 mil. $ (80.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 7.3 mil. $ (7.4 %) and Mexico with 4.4 mil. $ (4.4 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 1.5/4 star review, translating to 4 notches under this one. Hess returned with Gentlemen Broncos (2009). Black returned in Eagles of Death Metal: I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News) (2006, music video) and theatrically in Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny (2006). Nacho Libre is rotten at 40 % with a 5.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]


What do you think of Nacho Libre?

11/27/2020

Riders of Justice/Retfærdighedens Ryttere (2020) - Jensen delivers another explosive charge of idiosyncratic entertainment

 

+ Best Action Comedy of the Year + Best Revenge Movie of the Year 

 

Four armed men and a teenage girl are standing in a barn on the smile-inducing poster for Anders Thomas Jensen's Riders of Justice

 

Marcus returns from active soldier's duty far away, when his wife's life ends in a mysterious train accident. He struggles to meet their teenager daughter eye to eye, when a couple of strange men turn up to tell him that the accident was no accident.


Riders of Justice is written and directed by great Danish filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen (Flickering Lights/Blinkende Lygter (2001)) with Nikolaj Arcel (Klatretøsen (2002)) contributing story elements.

We are back in classic Jensen turf with a male-dominated story with deformity, pent-up anger, violence and the randomness of existence on the menu. Riders of Justice is a hilarious comedy; it also has a couple of genuinely moving scenes, impressive in their far-out action-comedy context, featuring the mesmerizing talent of Mads Mikkelsen (The Hunt /Jagten (2012)) as the beleaguered Marcus and Nikolaj Lie Kaas (Kandidaten (2008)) as his new friend Otto, who has gone through a similar ordeal in losing his wife. There is a framing story on the film about a bicycle purchase in Estonia, which is also very neat and finally also moving, helped along by the power of music. (In this case Nicolas Bro (Dræberne fra Nibe (2017)) on a French horn (!), which sounds beautiful!!)

The film is punchy and doesn't duck neither action nor dramatically related scenes and dialog. The world is a dark and ruthless place, but it packs both good and bad. The plot may be said to have more than its fair share of incredible coincidences; but on the same time the conclusion of it cleverly implies that even incredible coincidences do not point to correlations or meanings, necessarily. SPOILER Randomness is the guiding principle often in life, and in this case Marcus and his team kill countless (terrible) criminals based on a faulty deduction of facts.

Personally I still relish Jensen's preceding film most in his body of work, the outrageously weird and funny Men & Chicken/Mænd og Høns (2015), but Riders of Justice is strictly speaking just as good, especially due to the rich gallery of characters that are invoked: Bro as the obese face recognition expert and guns enthusiast; Gustav Lindh (All Inclusive (2017)) as a kind and wise Ukranian trafficking victim who comes under the team's wings; and Lars Brygmann (King's Game/Kongekabale (2004)), who arguably takes the cake as an abuse victim hacker with extraordinary abilities and issues. Andrea Heick Gadeberg (Daniel/Ser Du Månen Daniel (2019)) carries her weight effortlessly as Marcus' strong daughter.


Related posts:

Anders Thomas Jensen:
2020 in films - according to Film Excess

Men & Chicken/Mænd & Høns (2015) - Jensen scores with hilarious cinema bizarro original

The Salvation (2014) - Classic western yarn meets Danish dynamite (co-writer)
Love Is All You Need/Den Skaldede Frisør (2012) - Bier strikes gold with Italy-set romcom (co-writer)
In a Better World/Hævnen (2010) - Bier's Big Moral Drama lives on its actors' performances (co-writer)
Sprængfarlig Bombe (2006) - The two Jensens' satire is unrefined but hilarious (writer) 
Murk/Mørke (2005) or, Shutter Jutland (co-writer)

The Green Butchers/De Grønne Slagtere (2003) - Great performances in Jensen's hilarious morbid comedy 
Open Hearts/Elsker Dig for Evigt (2002) - Bier's excruciating Dogme chamber drama (writer)

Grev Axel (2001) - Frödin and Gråbøl pull laughter from 18th century-set crazy-comedy (writer) 

The King Is Alive (2000) - Levring's trying desert theatrics (co-writer) 

 


 

Watch a short clip of Brygmann as Lennart from the film here

 

Cost: 39 mil. DKK, approximately 6.24 mil. $

Box office: 2.4 mil. $ and counting

[Riders of Justice was released 19 November (Denmark) and runs 116 minutes. Shooting took place in Funen, Denmark. The film sold 125k tickets in its first weekend in Denmark, where it has topped 150k tickets after less than 10 days and is poised to exceed 750k tickets in coming weeks in the languished China Virus film landscape, possibly becoming Jensen's top-grossing film to date. Due to the pandemic the film does not have releases scheduled in foreign markets yet. Jensen does not have his next project announced yet. Mikkelsen returns in Chaos Walking (2021); Kaas does not have his next gig announced yet. 619 IMDb users have given Riders of Justice a 8.4/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Riders of Justice

11/21/2020

Slack Bay/Ma Loute (2016) - Dumont's fabulous, absurd crime-comedy

♥♥

 

+ Best Absurd Comedy of the Year + Best French Movie of the Year 

 

A curiously dressed, mustachioed man with characters, a couple apparently floating, arranged around him on this bright poster for Bruno Dumont's Slack Bay

In a small French coastal community near the English Channel tourists go missing in the year 1910, and an investigation into the matter mounts.

 

Slack Bay is written and directed by great French filmmaker Bruno Dumont (The Life of Jesus/La Vie de Jésus (1997)).

It is a unique and very worthwhile, strange pearl of a movie, tight and wonderfully picturesque in its imagery and widescreen cinematic photography (by Guillaume Deffontaines (Dog/Chien (2017)). Long periods of the film simply look like classical art. The plot nevertheless never takes a break and can best be described as animated absurd-comedy on a higher plane.

Juliette Binoche (Alice et Martin (1998)) and Fabrice Luchini (Uranus (1990)) as the married couple are both glorious as basking, hysterical upper class snobs, and Raph (Travelers (2018, short)) is enchanting and brave as Billie, while Brandon Lavieville (The Summer House/Les Estivants (2018)) is fascinating as the raw yet tender title character Ma Loute. The film over-all has eminent casting. Didier Després (Li'l Quinquin (2014, miniseries)) as the Detective Inspector is also delightful.

Whether there is societal critique at play here or mostly just grotesque tomfoolery is anyone's guess. (The film deals also with gender fluidity, flight and cannibalism.) Slack Bay is in any case a really wonderful and head-scratching film.

 

Related post:

 

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

 









Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 7.5 mil. €, approximately 8.9 mil. $

Box office: 4.9 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.65 times its cost)

[Slack Bay premiered 13 May (Cannes Film Festival, in competition) and runs 122 minutes. No less than 23 companies and governmental support bodies were involved with the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place in France. The film opened #68 to a 6k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it widened to 6 theaters but never attained a higher position and grossed 112k $ (2.3 % of the total gross). The 3 biggest markets were France with 4.2 mil. $ (85.7 %), Spain with 134k $ (2.7 %) and Switzerland with 123k $ (2.5 %). The film won a minor award in Cannes and was nominated for 9 César awards, among other honors. Dumont returned with Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc/Jeannette, l'Enfance de Jeanne d'Arc (2017). Binoche returned in Polina, Danser sa Vie (2016); Luchini in Call My Agent!/Dix pour Cent (2017, TV-series) and theatrically in Un Homme Pressé (2018); and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (A Good Year (2006)) in Like Crazy/La Pazza Gioia (2016). Slack Bay is fresh at 65 % with a 6.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]


What do you think of Slack Bay?

Eagerly anticipating this month ... (5-25)

Eagerly anticipating this month ... (5-25)
Kleber Mendonca Filho's The Secret Agent (2025)