cinemalover: Confessions of a Video Junkie

[jdb1]

Hi, Chris,

I am enjoying your reviews of "Underdog," a favorite of mine as well. I was just coming into adolescence when these cartoons aired on TV (very early on Sat or Sun morning in NYC, as I recall) -- so I was starting to be old enough to appreciate the humor. They were so low-key and understated - definitely what was called, in the late 50s-early 60s "button-down."

The new "Undergod" movie, for which I am seeing far too many promos on TV, doesn't look anything like the animated series.


Do you know what "Barsinister" means? When I got to college, and read literature and history of the Middle Ages, I learned that the bar sinister (a bar on the left side of a banner) is a symbol in heraldry, and it indicates that the knight who carries it is the illegitimate son of a nobleman. There is a similar phrase still used to this day: being born on the wrong side (or left side) of the blanket. So his name indicates that Simon Barsinister is a real b*st**d.

There is lots more such humor in "Underdog," "Tennessee Tuxedo" and "Leonardo Lion" (and their precursor "Crusader Rabbit" of the early 50s), all of which led up to the anti-cartoon -- "Bullwinkle and Friends." Even my parents liked that one.

Looking forward to more reviews from you.
Regards,
Judith

[cinemalover]

Good morning Judith,
That is fascinating information on the barsinister meaning. I had never heard that before. It wouldn't surprise me if other such meanings were scattered throughout the program. They seemed to make up for lousy animation quality with creative scripts and voice talent. The episodes are fun to see, especially after so many years. Jeremy (my 8 year old) likes the episodes with Simon in them (mostly because of his wacky inventions) but the other characters don't seem to hold his attention.

The new movie (which looks like a live dog...in more ways than one) doesn't peak my interests at all (nor my kids').

Now the bad news, there is only one more disc to watch!

[cinemalover]

This is the third movie from this set I have watched. It is called the Screen Legend Collection: John Wayne The Franchise Collection. This is a handsomely packaged 3 disc set that contains five John Wayne movies that Universal owns the rights to. The price was under $20, a nice bargain.

Movies included:
Reap the Wild Wind 1942
The Spoilers 1942
The War Wagon 1967
Hell Fighters 1968
Rooster Cogburn 1975

Date watched:8/15/2007
Title: Reap the Wild Wind Made: 1942
Genre: Western Studio: Paramount
Format: DVD Extras: None
# of times viewed: First

Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Stars:
John Wayne--Captain Jack Stuart
Ray Milland--Steve Tolliver
Paulette Goddard--Loxi Claiborne
Raymond Massey--King Cutler
Lynne Overman--Captain Phil Philpott
Robert Preston--Dan Cutler
Susan Hayward--Drusilla Alston
Charles Bickford--Bully Brown
Walter Hampden--Commodore Devereaux
Louis Beavers--Maum Maria
Martha O'Driscoll--Ivy Devereaux

Tagline: Cecil B. DeMille's mighty spectacle! Men against giant sea monsters 50 fathoms down!

Plot: In the 1840s the shipping business in Mississippi is reliant on passing through Key West on the way to the Atlantic. Whether coming or going the weather around the reefs in Key West are a constant source of danger for the ships. Enough ships end up on the rocks that two salvage companies emerge to profit from the wrecks. One company is run by the honest Loxi Claiborne (Goddard) and Captain Phil Philpott (Overman), the other company is run by the pirate King Cutler (Massey). Cutler will do anything to salvage cargo including bribing sailors to sabotage their own ships, causing them to wreck. Cutler always has his ships poised like vultures, just waiting for the ships to collide with the reefs.

Loxi falls for Captain Jack Stuart (Wayne) when she saves him after his ship, the Jubilee, has hit the rocks. Jack then has to go back to his shipping company and hope that Commodore Devereaux (Hampden) will allow him to captain another ship after this disaster. Loxi plays up her attraction to lawyer Steve Tolliver (Milland) in hopes that she can get him to put in a good word with Commodore for Jack. Instead he just falls for Loxi himself. This becomes quite the soap opera as Tolliver is sent to try to stop Cutler's ship-wrecking organization and Captain Jack feels that he's been betrayed, forcing him to alter his allegiance.

We get to hear such charming dialogue from the competing lovers as:

Tolliver to Loxi, "When you walked into Mrs. Mottram's tea party it was like all the winds of the Caribbean I was shipwrecked."

Later Loxi sums up her feelings about Tolliver, "You sorry, insufferable nincompoop, if only I had a horsewhip!"

Captain Jack gets in on the corn, "That dress makes you sparkle like sun on water."

The movie is filled with beautiful period costumes and sets, including some obviously stage bound ship sets. Like most DeMille productions, the color palette is lovely to look at and the depth of the characters is tide pool shallow. The hokum quota is sky-high but Wayne, Goddard, Milland and Massey give bigger than life performances which are entertaining enough to make up for the soap opera story.

6* (out of 10) This is one of the few John Wayne movies that I had never seen. Wayne looks young and vibrant as the hero and Massey makes an excellent villain.

[mrsl]

Chris:

You're calling one of my favorite John Wayne action movies a soap opera!??

If Steve Tolliver had given Captain Jack his orders, Jack would never have thought he had been screwed. Steve fell for Loxi and immediately started playing dirty pool. His feelings for her should not have interfered with his duty as a lawyer. Everything that happened was because of him. Even the side story about Robert Preston and Susan Hayward was made a tragedy because of him and nobody ever found it out, Captain Jack was blamed for all of Steves' sins.

It broke my heart to see you bring out the truth about characters I've always loved and never admitted their faults!!! Have you ever seen the trailer for Reap the Wild Wind? If that doesn't make you want to see the movie, nothing will. And where did you get that collection for only $20.00?

Anne

[movieman1957]

Chris:

I don't know whrther it's true or not but I heard this movie ("Reap The Wild Wind") ruined Ray Milland's hair. They spent so much time curling it with a hot iron that a while after the movie it started to fall out because they burned it up.

I saw Wayne's other sea-going picture from the late 40's recently "Wake Of The Red Witch." Wayne being Wayne. Gail Russell being lovely. A giant octopus thrown in just to make the under water seens interesting.

[cinemalover]

Hi Anne,

Well, Steve was just following orders from the Commodore in holding back Jack's orders, Steve wanted to tell Jack from the get go. So, I'll blame all Jack's problems on the old Commodore. Besides, soap operas aren't necessarily bad things.

Anyway, it was a fun watch regardless.

I picked up the DVD set at Costco.

Have a great weekend.

Chris

[cinemalover]

Chris,

I can believe that about Milland's hair. It looked fairly unnatural in the movie.

I did read somewhere that the underwater scenes that the Duke filmed damaged his ears permanently so both stars may have suffered from this film.

I think the fake octopus pulled a hamstring too!

[cinemalover]

Date watched:8/15/2007
Title: Our Relations Made: 1936
Genre: Comedy Studio: Stan Laurel Productions/Hal Roach
Format: DVD-R Source: TCM
# of times viewed: 4

Stars:
Stan Laurel--Stan Laurel/Alf Laurel
Oliver Hardy--Oliver Hardy/Bert Hardy
Alan Hale--Joe Grogan
Sidney Toler--Captain of the SS Periwinkle
Daphne Pollard--Mrs. Daphne Hardy
Betty Healy--Mrs. Betty "Bubbles" Laurel
James Finlayson--Finn
Iris Adrian--Alice
Lona Andre--Lily
Ralf Harolde--Gangster
Noel Madison--Gangster
Arthur Houseman--Drunk

Tagline: Fast furious funny full-length feature.

This is one of my very favorite Laurel and Hardy films. The comic possibilities are mined to perfection. In some Laurel and Hardy features (and many other comedies from the period) there are annoying musical interludes that interrupt the comedic flow of the film. This one is free of such distractions and is 73 minutes of quality humor.

The plot would be tough to do justice to in a description. The basic story involves Stan and Laurel (using their own names) and their controlling wives, Daphne Hardy (played by the diminutive Daphne Pollard, who is quite the size contrast to Oliver) and Bubbles Laurel (Betty Healy). Stan and Laurel each have twin brothers (whom they haven't seen in years) that are sailors named Alf and Bert. Unbeknownst to Stan and Laurel their twins are on leave in town at that moment. The confusion begins when Alf and Bert are drinking at the Denkers Beer Hall. Being single sailors on leave they are cruising for chicks. A couple of golddiggers give them the opportunity. Alice (Adrian) and Lily (Andre) take advantage of the boys’ hospitality by ordering a huge amount of fancy food that the boys cannot afford. They are forced to leave a valuable ring with the waiter, Joe Grogan (a wonderful Alan Hale) until they can return with enough money to pay the bill. The problem is the ring belongs to their Captain (Toler).

Later Stan and Laurel wander into the same beer hall and are mistaken for their twins. The girls flirt with them and the waiter gives them the ring. Wives see the golddiggers, the Captain wants his ring back. Bert and Alf are running from their Captain trying to figure out where the ring went. Gangsters get wind of the ring and try to steal it and chaos reigns supreme. And the two sets of twins aren't ever bright enough to figure out that the other ones are around somewhere causing all the confusion.

The comic timing and gags are outstanding. There is a scene near the end where the four boys are walking together discussing the day’s adventure. Oliver is telling Bert (Oliver’s twin) that Stan is pretty slow on the uptake, Bert agrees, telling Oliver that Alf is equally stupid. As they’re saying this both Stan and Alf walk off the end of the pier leaving Stan and Alf looking pretty smart.

9* (out of 10) If you don’t have an appreciation for the comic stylings of Laurel and Hardy this would be a great place to start.

[movieman1957]

Re: "Our Relations."

Agree completely. This film was missing from any playlist for a long time. It's turned up again on TCM recently. It's fun to watch them with Alan Hale. Great fun all around. If you are looking for other L&H features be sure to at least see "Sons of The Desert", "Way Out West" and Block Heads."

[cinemalover]

This is the fourth movie from this set I have watched. It is called the Screen Legend Collection: John Wayne The Franchise Collection. This is a handsomely packaged 3 disc set that contains five John Wayne movies that Universal owns the rights to.

Movies included:
Reap the Wild Wind 1942
The Spoilers 1942
The War Wagon 1967
Hellfighters 1968
Rooster Cogburn 1975

Date watched:8/18/2007
Title: Hellfighters Made: 1968
Genre: Adventure Studio: Universal
Format: DVD Extras: None
# of times viewed: 2

Stars:
John Wayne--Chance Buckman
Katherine Ross--Tish Buckman
Jim Hutton--Greg Parker
Vera Miles--Madelyn Buckman
Jay C. Flippen--Jack Lomax
Edward Faulkner--George Harris
Bruce Cabot--Joe Horn
Barbara Stuart--Irene Foster
Edmund Hashim--Col. Valdez
Valentin De Vargas--Amal Bokru
Frances Fong--Madame Loo

What the Tagline was: The toughest Hellfighter of all!

What the Tagline should have been: The lips are burning hotter than the oil fires!

If you took the "How to extinguish an oil fire" training film and crossed it with the TV show Dallas, you'd have a pretty close mixture to what Hellfighters is.

Chance Buckman (Wayne) leads an elite team of oil well firefighters that travel the globe putting out well fires. They are in high demand because they are the best at not only putting out the fire but at saving the well itself so that the owners don't have to drill replacement wells (which is a very expensive proposition).

Chance is like a father to his young second in command, Greg Parker (Hutton). Chance's wife, Madelyn (Miles), left him many years ago, mostly due to the dangers of his job, to raise their daughter Tish (Ross) away from that lifestyle. When Chance is hurt on the job Tish comes to visit him for the first time in many years. Once Tish and Greg meet the oil fires aren't the only thing sparking. Chance isn't thrilled with Greg going after his daughter because Greg has quite the playboy reputation.

An earlier conversation between Chance and Greg after Greg picked up yet another young woman:
Chance, "What did you use for openers this time, the old headache gag? Why, you poor man, perhaps if I rubbed your neck?"
Greg, "True, every word, true. But it works."
Chance, "Can't say I blame you. A fellow as ugly as you are probably couldn't get to first base without a fire!"

Chance and Greg fight, Chance leaves the company. Chance and Madelyn fight and then spark some memories. Tish goes behind Greg's back to fix family matters all while making sure the fires get put out. Greg and his team get shot at by guerillas in a third world country, all in a day's work. The Duke looks very authoritative in a bright red jumpsuit and the audience snores.

The actions in the film were loosely based on the career of Red Adair (a real life Hellfighter) who was a consultant on the film.

2* (out of 10) What a mess! A very different type of movie for the Duke who was soon to return to more familiar territory astride a horse. He was to knock out a few more winners including his Oscar for True Grit the following year.

[cinemalover]

Hi Chris,
I love Way Out West. It's laugh out loud funny from beginning to end!

[cinemalover]

The kids were finally back from their vacation and I had a chance to sit down with the two of them to watch a movie. Jeremy chose Disney's new version of....

Date watched:8/17/2007
Title: The Shaggy Dog Made: 2006
Genre: Comedy Studio: Disney
Format: DVD Extras: WS/FS, Bloopers, Deleted scenes, Commentary and a Bark-along Bonus.
# of times viewed: First

Stars:
Tim Allen--Dave Douglas
Robert Downey Jr.--Dr. Kozak
Kristin Davis--Rebecca Douglas
Zena Grey--Carly Douglas
Spencer Breslin--Josh Douglas
Danny Glover--Ken Hollister
Joshua Leonard--Justin Forrester
Shawn Pyform--Trey
Bess Wohl--Dr. Gwen Lichtman
Jarrad Paul--Larry

Taglines:
Raise the WOOF!

Everything is going to the dogs.

It's going to be a RUFF day.

Plot: This is a remake of the Disney classic (?) The Shaggy Dog 1959. This one has Assistant D.A. Dave Douglas (Allen) heavily involved in a case against a lab that is conducting illegal animal experiments in hopes of finding a genetic mutation serum. One of the test dogs escapes and is brought home by Dave's kids, Carly (Grey) and Josh (Breslin). The dog bites Dave, injecting his system with the experimental chemicals. This causes him to sporadically turn into a dog. Are you laughing yet?

The special effects are above average, especially when viewing some of the experimental results in the lab such as the frog with a dog's head and a snake with a dog's tail. The transformations to dog are mostly handled off screen.

Your enjoyment of the film will depend primarily on your appreciation (or lack thereof) the relative charms of Tim Allen. He is capable of some clever hits (see the Santa Clause) and some truly awful dreck (i.e. Christmas With The Kranks). For me this one falls somewhere in between, leaning more towards the Kranks end of the spectrum. The actors playing the kids are serviceable but not memorable in any way. Really the only one that stands out is Robert Downey Jr. as the evil Dr. Kozak. He will even paralyze his boss to get to the top. It's unfortunate he doesn't get more screen time.

Jeremy meter 9* (out of 10) Jeremy loved the slapstick chases and the goofy cross-bred animals. Kids were undoubtedly the target audience and at least to this 8 year old they were on target.

Tina teen-meter 6* (out of 10) Enough stuff going on to make her laugh but the final conclusion: "It was pretty dumb!"

3* (out of 10) Tim Allen was inoffensive and unspectacular. Very vanilla and nothing to remember...in fact it's already fading from memory. As you can see from our three opinions, younger is better for enjoying the limited merits of the film.

[cinemalover]

This is the fifth and final movie from this entertaining set that I have watched. It is called the Screen Legend Collection: John Wayne The Franchise Collection. This is a handsomely packaged 3 disc set that contains five John Wayne movies that Universal owns the rights to.

Movies included:
Reap the Wild Wind 1942
The Spoilers 1942
The War Wagon 1967
Hellfighters 1968
Rooster Cogburn 1975

Date watched:8/19/2007
Title: Rooster Cogburn (...and the Lady) Made: 1975
Genre: Western Studio: Universal
Format: DVD Extras: Trailer
# of times viewed: 3

Stars:
John Wayne--Rooster Cogburn
Katherine Hepburn--Eula Goodnight
Richard Jordan--Hawk
Anthony Zerbe--Breed
John McIntire--Judge Parker
Paul Koslo--Luke
Jon Lormer--Rev. Goodnight
Jack Colvin--Red
Richard Romancito--Wolf
Strother Martin--McCoy

Tagline: The man of "True Grit" is back and look who's got him!

Rooster (Wayne) is back...and drunker than ever. After his latest escapade results in him hauling in another batch of dead suspects. The Judge has always tried to turn a blind eye to Rooster's methods because he gets results and helps clean up the west. But a new West is coming and reckless law enforcers will no longer be tolerated.

Judge Parker (McIntire), "Rooster, any deputy who shoots and kills 64 suspects in eight years is breaking the law, not aiding and abetting it."
Rooster, "Now let's get this straight Judge. Only 60 of 'en died. None was shot but in the line of duty or in defense of my person or fleein' justice!"
Judge, "You have been in the service of this court for almost two lustrums. You're a strong man and you're a brave man, Rooster. And you have, at times, executed your duties faithfully and well. But all too often you have acted with excessive zeal..."
Rooster, "What is a lustrum, Judge?"
Judge, "Five years. Don't interrupt me when I'm talking!"
Rooster, "Yes, sir!"
Judge, "Pay attention to me."
Rooster, "Yes, sir!"
Judge, "This is not just another formal reprimand."
Rooster, "Yes, sir."
Judge, "People with money to invest go where they're protected by the law, not shot by it!"

So Rooster has his badge taken away and he slips deeper into the comfort of the bottle. Meanwhile there is a nasty group of men led by Hawk (an appropriately despicable Richard Jordan) who have big plans. They are heading to acquire a load of nitro when they cross paths with the Reverend Goodnight (Lormer) and his daughter Eula (Hepburn). It doesn't take Eula long to sum up the parts.

Eula (to Hawk), "You're an unpleasant sort of fellow."
Hawk, "I'm the boldest sinner on the Arkansas River, little lady. I do just as I please, and I make people remember me."
Rev. Goodnight, "Only evil can come of your presence, sir. Temptation is the spawn of the devil."
Hawk, "You callin' me a devil, mister?"
Eula, "You do the devil's work!"
Hawk, "I'd shoot a man of the cloth or a lady just that easy, so don't provoke me!"

Later Eula adds, "I do not fear a skunk. I simply do not care for his odor!"

Hawk and his men eventually run out of patience and Kill the Reverend. They then get their hands on the nitro and proceed with their plans to use the nitro to commit a major gold heist. Judge parker learns of their plans and knows that his only chance to stop them is to unleash the hounds that are Rooster Cogburn. He restores Rooster's powers temporarily under the conditions that he brings Hawk back alive and promises him a posse. Everyone is afraid of Hawk's gang and so no posse ever assembles. Rooster ends up with a young Indian boy, Wolf (Romancito), and Eula, who wants the gang to be brought to justice for killing her father, as his only back-ups. Together they go to recover the nitro, stop the gold robbery and bring the killers to justice.

The dynamic pairing of Hepburn and Wayne conjures obvious comparisons to Hepburn and Bogart in The African Queen. They even end up on a raft headed down a river under fire from the villains. The banter between Rooster and Eula alternates between contempt and respect with multiple laughs for the audience scattered throughout. Just listening to these two consummate pros go back and forth is worth the price of admission. There are enough memorable quotes to fill a book. The plot is serviceable at best but the star power raises it several entertainment levels.

When Rooster is trying to talk Hawk into surrendering, "I'll get you a fair trial and a fine hanging!"

Negotiating is not one of Rooster's more refined strengths.

8* (out of 10) As an overall western the movie would be a 6, but the star power is so charming, including the supporting characters (especially Strother Martin in a small but very memorable role), and the stars are so obviously enjoying their dialogue that it overshadows many of the films other sins.

I enjoyed this set of John Wayne films so much (and would highly recommend the set!) that I picked up another set of five Wayne films, also released by Universal. This set includes Seven Sinners, The Shepherd of the Hills, Pittsburgh, The (Infamous) Conqueror and Jet Pilot. Reviews coming soon to a thread near you!

[cinemalover]

Date watched:8/20/2007
Title: Batteries Not Included Made: 1987
Genre: Sci-Fi/Comedy Studio: Amblin Entertainment
Format: DVD Extras: Trailer, Production notes.
# of times viewed: 3

Stars:
Hume Cronyn--Frank Riley
Jessica Tandy--Faye Riley
Frank McRae--Harry Noble
Elizabeth Pena--Marisa Esteval
Michael Carmine--Carlos
Dennis Boutsikaris--Mason Baylor
Tom Aldredge--Sid Hogenson
Jane Hoffman--Muriel Hogenson
John Disanti--Gus
John Pankow--Kovacs
MacIntyre Dixon--DeWitt
Michael Greene--Lacey
Doris Belack--Mrs. Thompson

Tagline: Five ordinary people needed a miracle. Then, one night, Faye Riley left the window open.

Plot: A group of tenants in a rundown apartment block are the lone holdouts as the neighborhood around them is plowed down to put up a skyscraper complex. The developers are losing money waiting for the tenants to sell out, so they hire local thug Carlos (Carmine) to "encourage" the residents to leave.

The hold outs include senior couple Frank and Faye Riley (Hugh Cronyn and Jessica Tandy) who run a diner on the ground floor of the building, the pregnant soon-to-be single mom Marisa (Pena), the socially challenged Harry (McRae) and the pessimistic Mason (Boutsikaris). These five find themselves bound by a loyalty to each other to stick it out against all odds. Each has their own reason for wanting to stay. Frank doesn't want to have to move Faye because she already has a tenuous hold on reality, confusing Carlos for her deceased son at one point. It appears that the terrorist tactics of Carlos to drive them out will triumph when our heroes receive unexpected help from another planet. Two creatures appear that look like toy flying saucers. At first only Faye knows about them and the others don't believe her when she tries to tell the others.

These "toy" saucers are life-forms from another planet that have amazing powers to rebuilt almost anything from scrap parts. Every time Carlos busts up the restaurant or the apartments the "saucers" rebuild it.

The holdouts can't believe their eyes.
Marissa, "Maybe this is all a dream!"
Mason, "Well, if this is a dream, which one of us is dreaming?"
Frank, "Hey, don't look at me. I stopped dreaming a long time ago1"

The mean-hearted developers don't know what they're in for when the saucers strike back to protect their new "friends". There is a lot of humor, some of it very slapstick. This has a very 80's feel to it. It's very similar in attitude to Short Circuit 1986, definitely a product of its time. Parts of it age better than others.

6* (out of 10) The best part of the movie is having two very colorful roles for the wonderful acting veterans, Hugh Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. Too bad more movies don't give juicy roles to similarly experienced actors, most of whom have more talent in their grey roots than any young "stars" of today.

[cinemalover]

Tina and I sat down for some of the comic stylings of Billy Crystal and Robin Williams....

Date watched:8/20/2007
Title: Father's Day Made: 1997
Genre: Comedy Studio: WB
Format: DVD Extras: Trailer, Production notes, FS/WS.
# of times viewed: 2

Director: Ivan Reitman

Stars:
Billy Crystal--Jack Lawrence
Robin Williams--Dale Putley
Julia Louis-Dreyfuss--Carrie Lawrence
Nastassja Kinski--Collette Andrews
Charlie Hofheimer--Scott Andrews
Dennis Burkley--Calvin
Haylie Johnson--Nikki Trainor
Charles Rocket--Russ Trainor

Taglines:
The reason why some animals eat their young!

All she said was "My son is yours". Unfortunately, she said it to both of them!

One kid. Two dads. A who done it.

Plot: Scott Andrews (Hofheimer) gets into a fight with his dad, Bob (Greenwood), and runs away in a pout. When Bob refuses to search for Scott his wife, Collette (Kinski), is scared for Scott's safety and uses every trick in her book to help Scott. She calls two of her ex-boyfriends, successful lawyer Jack Lawrence (Crystal) and confused writer Dale Putley (Williams). She suggests to each that they are really Scott's father and she is desperately worried about him. Could they please drop everything and go look for him?

Jack is skeptical but eventually comes around. Dale, who doesn't have much of a life, is happy to oblige, but first he must practice how he will introduce himself to his "son" when they meet. This gives Williams a hammy opportunity to go through a series of personas while he practices trying to impress his son with different characters.

Dale sums up his ambitions, "For years I've thought about killing myself, it's the only thing that's kept me going..."

Jack and Dale begin their pursuits separately, not knowing that they've both been told the same thing, until their paths cross. They decide to pool their resources to find Scott. They learn that Scott has become a groupie following the rock band Sugar Ray. Once the dads finally track down Scott, their "son" has no intention of returning with them.

When Dale examines Scott's pockets he finds a bundle of cash.
Dale (to Jack), "Look at this!"
Jack, "It's money. I remember that from when I was single."

Later when they are trying to drive home with Scott, Scott steals the car to avoid some thugs that are looking for him (to recover the money).
Jack, "I've never felt this stupid in my life!"
Dale, "You've never been a parent before!"

Dale tries to impress Scott by telling him about his accomplishments:
Dale, "I wrote this musical called "Hello Doctor. It's Still Swollen!" It had a great opening went like this, "Hello Mr. Colon, my prostate's feelin' swollen, I think things are flowin' not so well...."

And that would sum up the quality of humor in the movie. The jokes are forced and uncomfortable and the moments that are meant to be touching leaving an empty feeling inside.

Tina teen-meter 5* (out of 10) There were enough giggles that she thought "it was okay." There were times when she'd be laughing and the movie would shift direction and then lose all momentum.

3* (out of 10) File this one under wasted opportunity. Reitman is hit and miss and as a director and this was a swing and a miss. He apparently wasn't a strong enough candidate to reign in these two comedic talents who are both from the school of "more is not enough!"