Directed by: David Wain
Starring: Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler
Plot: A big corporate stooge falls for the quirky small business woman.
Review:
Thanks to the likes of Christopher Guest, Mel Brooks, and Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker, parody used to be one of my favorite subgenres of comedy, but ever since Scary Movie, it has really imploded. Gone are witty subversions of genre staples replaced by a grab bag of barely rewritten lines and references thrown together in an unintelligible manner. Director David Wain’s cult favorite tear down of ’80s camp comedies, Wet Hot American Summer, has been one of the few great ones, so I sort of had high hopes.
Wain brings back Wet Hot American Summer alums Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd, both of whom have gone on to successfully carve themselves a home in contemporary comedy, to play the prerequisite rom-com duo. Rudd plays Joel, an executive at a candy conglomerate looking to open a new store across the street from, Upper Sweet Side NYC, the small indie candy store owned by Poehler’s quirky and clumsy Molly. The great thing about Rudd and Poehler is that their success has given them the chance to actually do a couple of these types of movies. Their experience shows, because like most of the recent parodies, they actually seem to be genuinely acting rather than just putting on funny costumes and dancing around doing half baked impressions of bigger celebrities while doing pratfalls.
Unfortunately, that’s about the best this movie can muster, really dedicated two leads. Generally, the movie feels like Wain got his hands on a blank mad libs that the studios use to make their rom-coms and then just didn’t fill it in. As a concept, I think its hysterical, and I really thought the trailer was fantastic. I don’t think it leaves enough room for a feature length film though. The joke eventually loses steam, and some bad habits of parodies stick out like bigger blemishes then they normally would. For instance, there is a very long exchange between Rudd and a bartender where Rudd would answer “You can say that again.” The bartender would repeat himself and so would Rudd, and this went on and on. The same thing would happen with a few “Oh, one more thing before you go…” where no one would leave the room without 8 valedictions.
I really love the trailer for this movie, but it is probably better off as like a SNL digital short. It was an admirable attempt with a lot of talented funny people involved, but it struggles under the weight of its own concept.
Rating: 3/10
