Reviews

To me, Ted wasn't as good as it could have been, and, given Seth MacFarlane's irreverent sense of humor, was nowhere near as funny as it should have been. I really like Family Guy and, for the most part, American Dad. I agree with his basic premise that there's humor in just about anything. I also have no problem with shock or gross-out humor, as long as it's intrinsically funny.

The trouble with Ted is that it relies too much on strictly shock and gross-out alone. Too much of it has nothing funny about it. A cute, fuzzy teddy bear with a foul mouth is only funny for a short time, if there's nothing humorous about what he's saying. That's the case too often here.

A few of the cameos were funny, some were okay, the rest were stupid. The Flash Gordon thing was carried to a boring extreme, especially the party.

Wahlberg was miscast. His brother Donnie is ten times the better actor. Kunis sparkled in a few places, but was mostly flat (no pun intended). I usually like her a lot. I didn't see much chemistry between her and Wahlberg.

I gave this 6 stars, because I enjoyed it - up to a point - but I do want to underline its flaws. It's a long way from perfect. I tend to attribute it, at least in part, to the co-writers, who may have been aping Macfarlane's style, but couldn't match his humor.

It's worth watching. The teddy bear animation is excellent!

The Cooler was much better than I expected. Wm. Macy is a wonder, as a man whose luck is so incredibly lousy, it rubs off on other people! So, he's used as a "cooler," a guy who's called to certain casino tables that have a lucky streak going. Once there, his mere presence causes the luck to turn 180 degrees and everybody loses.

Enter Maria Bello (whom I'd never heard of, but is a regular on "E.R." and has extensive TV credits, plus some films). He's nuts about her, she reciprocates, and his bad luck turns to the good variety! This annoys the mob-connected boss/bad guy, Alec Baldwin and all sorts of stuff begins. To try to explain, would be to spoil it, so...

William Macy plays the penultimate loser so well, he should have gotten an Oscar! Bello is a Sharon Stone type bleach blonde and very charismatic. I liked her. Baldwin is, well...Baldwin. It's a very good movie, for what it is, with a couple of twists that are genuine surprises.

Warning: Lots of language (worthy of Scorcese), lots of nudity, with some pretty graphic sex stuff. All in all, I recommend it, but with caution.

First off, let me say that I am a southerner.

I'm also a fan of Billy Bob Thornton, but I can't say that all of his movies are works of genius. When he's good, he's very, very good...etc.

I watched "Daddy and Them" and thought I had really stumbled onto a gem! Also written and directed by Billy Bob, it portrays two of the most dysfunctional families ever. They are his immediate family, plus his wife's (Laura Dern), who've gotten together because Uncle Hazel (Jim Varney, in a very small, thankfully non-Ernest role) has been arrested for attempted murder.

To top it off, these people are the epitome of Arkansas rednecks! Diane Ladd is in it, as is Andy Griffith. Since it's a Billy Bob-er, the language is kinda raw, and it's a real hoot to see and especially hear old Sheriff Andy get down and dirty! He plays BB's elderly, semi-senile father.

Very humorous, with more than a few belly laughs... up until 1:10, or thereabouts, then the whole thing just collapsed! It went into a final half-hour or so of boring, self-absorbed pseudo-psychological angst and apologia claptrap. What a come-down! I guess it was intended to make the film "relevant," or something, but what it really did was to make it a semi-disaster.

I'd recommend looking at the first 2/3rds, then, when BB starts to become a self-analyzing motormouth, turn it off and play Scrabble, or something.