Terrific “Horrible”

by Thomas M. Pender

Modern comedies are frankly becoming a contradiction in terms to me.  In the black-and-white heyday of comedies, Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn could banter nonstop for 90 minutes (without uttering one curse word, I might add!) and get me laughing out loud.  Today, the comedy has become an endless litany of unhumorous sexual innuendos and brain-free sight gags with a smattering of drug use.  Incredibly sad.

I had a tiny bit of hope for Horrible Bosses, simply by virtue of the cast.  Headliner Jason Bateman (Hancock, Arrested Development) is grossly underrated and underused.  He does straight man facial humor with the best of ‘em, and earns honest laughter in most of his projects.  Hollywood bigwig Kevin Spacey – a personal favorite of mine dating all the way back to his mind-blowing seven-episode appearance on TV’s Wiseguy in 1988.  He can play heroes, everymen, and villains with equal ease and skill, and in Bosses, Spacey recalls his amazing work in 1994’s Swimming With Sharks as he plays Bateman’s abusive employer.  Jason Sudeikis (The Bounty Hunter, Hall Pass), a Saturday Night Live alum, is fast becoming a favorite of mine.  Jennifer Aniston (Friends and also of The Bounty Hunter) and Colin Farrell (S.W.A.T., Fright Night) add some laughs of their own by stepping out of their comfort zones.  The typical “girl next door” Aniston plays a sexual-harassment predator, and Farrell plays a comic dolt with a bad comb-over.  All these elements came together nicely to become a very enjoyable comedy.

My only low marks on Bosses were on the subject matter.  It’s hard to swallow a comedy about murder.  Yes, it’s been done many times, but to date, murder is not a funny thing.  In one scene, Spacey goes into anaphylactic shock due to a peanut allergy, and one of the would-be murderers goes through several “comedic” attempts to save him.  While it’s customary to park your reason at the door when viewing comedies, I kept thinking about those who actually suffer from these attacks, and it became less funny.  Maybe that was my fault.

In any event, I’m happy to actually recommend a comedy in these barren days of comic blandness and idiocy.  Horrible Bosses, while having a fairly dopey title, will make you laugh.  This is the best review a comedy can receive nowadays!

Stupid Genius: The Magic of “Gentlemen Broncos”

by Thomas M. Pender

I get it now.  I finally get it.  Back in 2004, I was completely stumped by America when Napoleon Dynamite became nouveau-cool.  Here was the tale of a high school nerd-geek-dweeb who loved griffins and tater tots – and who looked far too much like my nerdy teen self for my comfort level! – and for some reason which completely escaped me, the public went wild for him.  The characters were awkward, the dialogue seemed amateurishly written and delivered, and yet it was a hit.  I didn’t think I would ever understand people’s love for this film.

Five years later, Jared Hess, the writer/director of Napoleon and also another twit-fest, Nacho Libre (which, honestly, looked so stupid, I’ve never gone near it), released a third film: Gentlemen Broncos.  Being relatively outside the sphere of media influence, as I have no cable, newspaper subscription, or need to farm Yahoo! for celebrity gossip, I missed the advertising for and release of this film altogether.  I only heard of it via a trailer on another DVD a few months ago.  The trailer boldly brags “from the director of Nacho Libre and Napoleon Dynamite,” so right away I had no interest in it.  Still, the clips made me chuckle.

One big reason for even my marginal interest is character actor Sam Rockwell.  I first noticed him in the small film Box of Moonlight, and was impressed enough to keep an eye out for him in other films.  His part in Broncos is pretty small, but he is featured in the trailer, so I was interested.  If you don’t recognize his name, you’d know his face.  He portrayed “Wild Bill” Wharton in The Green Mile, Guy Fleegman in GalaxyQuest, Chuck Barris in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and most recently, “Doc” in Cowboys & Aliens, among many other low-profile roles.  He’s a rare commodity in Hollywood, as he displays actual personality, and he can do drama with as much flair as he does comedy.  Again, his part in Broncos is small, but very prominent.

Rockwell got me to see the film, but the story and awkward humor won me over.  Benjamin (Michael Angarano) writes a science fiction adventure which, after a sci fi writing conference, gets into the hands of his idol, Ronald Chevalier (Jemaine Clement of Dinner For Schmucks).  Struggling to find his next big story, Chevalier changes the character names in the boy’s tale, and publishes it as his own.  It becomes a best-selling novel, a movie, and even a book-on-tape, all of which gets the attention of the actual author.  Also featured in the movie is Jennifer Coolidge (“Stifler’s Mom” in the American Pie trilogy), who I find to be a quirky hoot.

Maybe I was more interested in the film than I’d normally be because I’ve been writing since I was a kid, and I identified with the main character.  For whatever reason, I took an interest.  After seeing the trailer twice, I stuck it on the top of my Netflix queue, and was instantly charmed by it.  However, knowing it’s such a weird piece, I guess I should “marginally recommend” it to the general public.  If you loved Napoleon Dynamite (and I’m guessing Nacho Libre), you’ll probably dig this one, too.  If you’re a fan of science fiction writing and/or Comic Cons, I think this will be a good one for you, too.

However, if you’re one of those freaks who require meaning, depth, good acting, great writing and fabulously engineered special effects in films to be interested in them, don’t even think about watching this one.  Your loss.