filmland / By Charlie Myers

Land of the Dudes

Last week’s openers aimed squarely at bros seeking yucks

(June 11, 2009) Previews

Opening Friday, June 12, is The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, a “reinterpretation” by director Tony Scott (Man on Fire) of the 1974 thriller about the takeover of a train by an armed gang seeking 10 million in ransom. Denzel Washington is the dispatcher matching wits with mastermind John Travolta. Rated R for violence and pervasive language. 106m. At the Broadway, Mill Creek and Fortuna.

Eddie Murphy plays a driven financial executive who runs into a crisis of confidence in Imagine That. Salvation comes in the unlikely person of his 7-year-old daughter (Yara Shahidi) whose imaginary world seems to offer clues to future business developments. Rated PG for some mild language and brief questionable behavior. 107m. At the Broadway, Mill Creek and Fortuna.

Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo play a pair of con men in the comic caper film The Brothers Bloom, who enlist the help of a weird heiress (Rachel Weisz) to pull off one final job (aren’t they all?). The trailers look like a travelogue. Robbie Coltrane plays a Belgian. Rated PG-13 for violence, some sensuality and brief strong language. 113m. At the Minor.

Reviews

THE HANGOVER: I suppose The Hangover belongs to the general category of guy comedies, but more specifically it hopes to mine the relatively recently resuscitated genre of R-rated summer comedies. Ever since The 40 Year Old Virgin (the gold standard of the revival) did so well at the box office in 2005 (and made Judd Apatow into a franchise), other films have sought to similarly distinguish themselves from the PG-13 miasma with varying success, such as Wedding Crashers and Knocked Up (also Apatow).

The Hangover certainly has the basics down. Male characters (adolescent men all) are at the center of the story, while women are relegated to the sidelines. There is liberal use of the F-word (or “f–”; I’m trying to be sensitive here, although I think the Journal should stop trying to be an R-rated paper and just jump to XXX) along with the inevitable bathroom humor (such as pissing on the floor), misogyny, fat jokes and ethnic stereotyping, all spiced with liberal use of drugs and alcohol.

The story setup seems overly familiar. Doug (Justin Bartha) is about to wed so he takes off with three buddies for a bachelor party in Vegas. As it transpires, Doug himself is marginalized in favor of his three buddies, all familiar guy-comedy types. The leader is Phil (Bradley Cooper, He’s Just Not Into You), who never managed to graduate from his college fraternity despite a wife and child. Along for the ride is Stu (Ed Helms, The Office), a hen-pecked dentist engaged to girlfriend-from-hell Melissa (Rachel Harris, The Soloist) and the child-like Alan (Zach Galifianakis), whose zany dialogue and delivery represent the funnier aspects of the film.

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