The Groomsmen: Movie Review

The groomsmen actually surprised me.  I admit I wasn't expecting a lot, but I was hoping for a fun movie.  It was fun.  It was funny.  It had meaning.  And it taught.  What more could you hope for?  Good acting? Well, it had that, too.

This is a story of 5 friends that come back together for a wedding.  Paulie (Ed Burns) is getting married to his pregnant girlfriend.  He has some doubts on his ability to be a good husband AND a good dad.  It seems to be a lot to handle at once.  While he is getting a handle on this, hopefully before the wedding, his other groomsmen are trying to deal with their own issues.

His older brother, Jimbo (played by Donal Logue) is falling apart.  He has lost a second job in 10 months.  He is distancing himself from his wife and shuffling off his anxiety and anger on his friends.  He has received some bad news that may drive an unreconcilable wedge into his marriage.  Because of this, he is not supportive of Paulie's wedding.  It comes to a point where Paulie wants nothing to do with Jimbo and revokes his role as best man.

Dez has been married for years and is set on getting this group back into their old glory days band.  With all of the problems, no one else is as excited.  Dez is the more stable of the group, but that may be because he has been married and a father, and none of the others have.

Cousin Mike (played by Jay Mohr) is and always has been quite the screw-up.  He is living with his Dad, stuck in the same job he has had since high school, and is not somewhat stalking his ex-girlfriend who wants nothing to do with him.  His simplistic role is great and allows you to dislike him and yet feel drawn to his problems at the same time.  He has had an 8 year grudge on his old best friend TC, who has been gone for this whole time.

TC returns for the wedding and is trying to make amends for stealing one of Mike's prize possessions, a rookie baseball card.  TC is struggling to forgive when he finally finds out why TC would do this to him and then run out on all of them 8 years ago.  TC explains to the group one by one his own issues and how he has come to accept them and is actually happy.  TC is played by Jon Leguizamo, who does an excellent job.

The wives all have minor but emotional roles.  This movie is a drama, an indie, a comedy, and life enabling.  You are drawn in to each of the characters, flaws and all.  If you don't leave the movie with a better understanding of yourself and others, you've missed something.  A.

Movie: Something Borrowed

At the end of this week, I went with my friend Tamra to go see Something Borrowed.  We were looking for something to watch and nothing jumped out at us.  I suggested we check the discounted ($3) theater.  We found Something Borrowed.
It was definitely a romantic comedy.  And, although the romantic part wasn't bad, the comedic part really made the movie.  It did drag in places, but not as bad as some of the longer action movies that spent too much time trying to pull in and build up new characters.  This movie has 5 main characters and stays with this group.  In fact, it allows you to really get to know the people.  Sometimes you learn (through flash backs) to know people better.



Ginnifer Goodwin and Kate Hudson are best of friends.  Although they couldn't be more different, they have kept their good friendship through the years.  They are both in their early 30s.  A guy that Ginnifer (Rachel) had a hidden crush on in law school, was sucked into the enthusiastic personality of Darci (Kate).  The 2 friends are great in their comfortable, yet a bit awkward friendship.  The guy, Dex (played by Collin Egglesfield) is your basic hunk, who also happens to be wealthy, intelligent (lawyer), and ... the extra component, nice.  You soon find that he and Darci really aren't right for each other, but they are engaged and so they stick it out.



Rachel's friend Ethan (played by John Krasinski) and weird suitor Marcus (played by Steve Howey) provide the majority of the laughs.  Ethan because he is witty and Marcus because he is a clown.  Each of the characters has their quirks.  They also bring a certain charm to the movie.

It does get a bit long and slow in the middle, but keeps you interested and ... although it drags out the getting together, ends in a pleasant and romantic (catch that gals?) way.  B+

Movie: Transformers - The dark side of the moon

After seeing Bridesmaids for free (free movie ticket), I ran into Chris and his fiance.  They took me in (for free) to see Transformers #3 (something like the dark side of the moon).  Again, it was okay.  Quite a bit of action and excitement.  But, it wasn't anything special.

The movie catches up with Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) now out of college and looking for a job.  Even thought he has helped save the world not once, but twice, he is without a job.  He is frustrated feeling that he has so much more to give.  His girlfriend (Rosie Huntington Whiteley) does have a job working for a guy who turns out to have sold out to the bad guys.

It takes everyone and everything to defeat the powers of the bad guys and the few good guys who have given into helping the bad guys (hoping to be on the winning side).  Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson do a decent job.  I am not a huge Patrick Dempsey fan of late, but he was okay.  Anything with Frances McDormand in it is usually good.

The movie was a bit long in the middle as they added more and more characters.  You end up with a longer than needed movie that is overall lacking of writing.  It has some humor and plenty of action.  Luckily, a lot of the action is from Optimas Prime and Bumblebee.

The movie doesn't really disappoint, but don't go with a lot of expectations.  B- 

Movie: Brides Maid

My friend Melissa wanted me to see BridesMaids.  I wasn't sure if it was going to be funny.  She said it was hilarious, but wasn't sure how a guy would like it.  Ha. Ha.  It was sooo funny.  We laughed the whole movie.  It wasn't a nice polite laugh.  We were laughing out loud.  Of course, not everyone in the theater was laughing as much or as hard as we were.  So, take it or leave it.
The movie follows the story of 2 best friends since childhood.  One (Maya Rudolph) is finally getting married, things are all aligning for her.  The other (Kristen Wiig) is only the brides maid.  And, as she deals with this unfortunate position, of which she seems to really suck at, the rest of her life begins to unravel.

Even when she is befriended by a funny Irish cop (Chris O'Dowd), she doesn't trust her instincts and ends up in awful positions.

The movie is funny on so many levels from pure potty humor (getting sick and stuck in the road in a wedding dress) to witty humor.  The humor in all levels is more mature and not really suitable for kids.  Funny secondary roles are played by Jessica St. Clair and Melissa McCarthy.

Don't expect a lot of intelligence, this one is good for the laughts.  B+

Movie: Green Lantern

Well, I saw a few movies this week.  I went to see Green Lantern with a group of friends.  It was pretty good.  It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was enjoyable.

Review:  A planet under attack by someone they thought had gone away years ago will turn to a human.  The humans were not considered a higher intelligence, but this particularly brave one will fill the open spot of a Green Lantern and remind the Green Lanterns what they are sworn to do - protect and serve the Universe.  It was a decent movie, but it was very corny, comic bookish.

Ryan Reynolds adds some comedy to his hunkiness.  Blake Lively does an okay job.  Taika Waititi, Peter Sarsgaard, Tim Robbins all do well, too.

Not a bad movie.  Enjoyable, but a bit corny in too many places.  C+

I could ride for 25 miles ...

For some reason, I have in my head .. "And I could walk 500 miles and I could walk 500 more ..." by the Proclaimers.  But, I am going to have to change the words to " I could ride 25 miles and I could ride 25 more."

I went on a 25 mile bike ride on Wednesday with my sister, brother-in-law, and their 5 kids.  We started on the Eastern side of Snoqualmie Pass (Kittitas County) and rode for 27 miles through the Snoqualmie Tunnel (newly opened) and through the pass to the Western side (King County).

The tunnel was cold and dark, but awesome.  You could see only a light at the end that got bigger as you completed the shy of 2.5 miles.  We went through avalanche areas (although they were pretty clear) and biked mostly through trees, over old railroad bridges, and along the mountain.  We passed probably 15-18 creeks.  We ended up at Rattlesnake Lake.  We had lunch and then (as this was only about 22 miles), rode another 5 miles down the path.

It was fun and not bad.  A few climbs, but mostly downhill (the way to go).  The only sore was my rear end.  That part is not used to the workout.