To quote Roger Ebert, "I hate this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it."
I think that that sums it up.
However, many would argue that one must explain "why" one dislikes a movie. Well, to be fully honest, I don't believe that this movie even deserves that luxury. However, in the interest of hopefully sparing at least one soul from two or so hours of torture, I will endeavor to perform this unearned action.
The movie was full of really odd, poorly-done segments that didn't fit well together. For instance, Frankie Muniz rides his bicycle into a limo. He then tells the people inside that they hit him, and that they have to give him a ride to school or he'll, well, I guess "tattle" on them. The reason he's going to school is because he completely blew off an assignment that was a huge part of his grade, or something, so the teacher gave him an extension, which he's trying to make. If I'm not mistaken, his project was a story about a liar. However, Muniz leaves the project in the limo, and the man in it happens to be a Hollywood producer who steals this (extremely horrible, almost as bad as this movie) script.
When Muniz tells his family what happened, they don't believe him. So, in an effort to prove that he was telling the truth, he travels to L.A. with his friend (Amanda Bynes: she can be lovable, but movies like this and "She's the Man"... well, I guess I hate hate hate them); well, wouldn't any kid who wanted to prove he wasn't lying to his parents go to such extreme measures, even risking their lives at various points, just to say, "I told you so"? In any event, he's not exactly a well-to-do kid anyway; him doing his work was apparently quite uncommon for him. So why shouldn't he be blamed and get a taste of the real world?
Perhaps I'm taking this a bit seriously, but even relaxed, non-serious movies can still be good without having to resort to, well, I don't know what exactly... I suppose, whatever qualities that made me hate hate hate this movie. Things like kids traveling 1000 miles and risking their lives to prove to their parents that they weren't lying about something relatively trivial.
I like Giamatti, but I have to request that this great actor pick much better films in the future (though it seems he has with "Sideways" and "Cinderella Man"; good for him), because the very notion that a producer would steal, let alone like, the extensively stupid script developed by Muniz's character is so very insulting.
I urge people to not say, "This wasn't meant to be serious... it was just supposed to be a little fun." Well, had the producers, writers, actors, etc, been more serious in working on making it not serious but still good, it might have been a little more fun. But they weren't. And it isn't. It's just a big waste of film and 2 hours of your life.
My use of superlatives is not in any way unnecessary. Humanity as we know it will become dumber (see, this movie already has me getting stupider) after viewing this movie, and if enough people view it, brains will become mush, the stock-market will crash, politicians will unknowingly launch nukes at each other, aliens will exploit this and invade earth, and we will be reduced to the very lowest levels of quality in film-making.
If I can save one person from viewing this film, my life will have been worthwhile. My existence will not have been pointless, and I will die a consoled man knowing that the earth is better for my having been here.
I think that that sums it up.
However, many would argue that one must explain "why" one dislikes a movie. Well, to be fully honest, I don't believe that this movie even deserves that luxury. However, in the interest of hopefully sparing at least one soul from two or so hours of torture, I will endeavor to perform this unearned action.
The movie was full of really odd, poorly-done segments that didn't fit well together. For instance, Frankie Muniz rides his bicycle into a limo. He then tells the people inside that they hit him, and that they have to give him a ride to school or he'll, well, I guess "tattle" on them. The reason he's going to school is because he completely blew off an assignment that was a huge part of his grade, or something, so the teacher gave him an extension, which he's trying to make. If I'm not mistaken, his project was a story about a liar. However, Muniz leaves the project in the limo, and the man in it happens to be a Hollywood producer who steals this (extremely horrible, almost as bad as this movie) script.
When Muniz tells his family what happened, they don't believe him. So, in an effort to prove that he was telling the truth, he travels to L.A. with his friend (Amanda Bynes: she can be lovable, but movies like this and "She's the Man"... well, I guess I hate hate hate them); well, wouldn't any kid who wanted to prove he wasn't lying to his parents go to such extreme measures, even risking their lives at various points, just to say, "I told you so"? In any event, he's not exactly a well-to-do kid anyway; him doing his work was apparently quite uncommon for him. So why shouldn't he be blamed and get a taste of the real world?
Perhaps I'm taking this a bit seriously, but even relaxed, non-serious movies can still be good without having to resort to, well, I don't know what exactly... I suppose, whatever qualities that made me hate hate hate this movie. Things like kids traveling 1000 miles and risking their lives to prove to their parents that they weren't lying about something relatively trivial.
I like Giamatti, but I have to request that this great actor pick much better films in the future (though it seems he has with "Sideways" and "Cinderella Man"; good for him), because the very notion that a producer would steal, let alone like, the extensively stupid script developed by Muniz's character is so very insulting.
I urge people to not say, "This wasn't meant to be serious... it was just supposed to be a little fun." Well, had the producers, writers, actors, etc, been more serious in working on making it not serious but still good, it might have been a little more fun. But they weren't. And it isn't. It's just a big waste of film and 2 hours of your life.
My use of superlatives is not in any way unnecessary. Humanity as we know it will become dumber (see, this movie already has me getting stupider) after viewing this movie, and if enough people view it, brains will become mush, the stock-market will crash, politicians will unknowingly launch nukes at each other, aliens will exploit this and invade earth, and we will be reduced to the very lowest levels of quality in film-making.
If I can save one person from viewing this film, my life will have been worthwhile. My existence will not have been pointless, and I will die a consoled man knowing that the earth is better for my having been here.