Trivia question – name Bill Murray’s first starring movie role. Do you remember “Meatballs” (1979)? A no-name director (Ivan Reitman) conceived a cheaply made summer camp comedy in which Murray is an endearingly subversive mentor to a bunch of hormone-addled “counselors in training.” It’s mostly childish humor interspersed with Murray’s improv-style riffs that were put to much better use by Reitman in “Ghostbusters.” There’s a sweetly developed subplot in which Murray befriends a lonely camper, which helps make it an actual movie and not just a string of gags. Ultimately, it rode Murray and his burgeoning stardom to box office success.
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I was watching the idiotic “Bio-Dome” (1996), and I was worried. Idiot Pauly Shore’s idiot girlfriend was being played by an idiot Renee Zellweger. Or so it appeared. I tried to do the math. “Jerry Maguire” came out around the same time. Could she have filmed “Bio-Dome” when she was a nobody, and it was just released later? Soon, the credits rolled. It turns out idiot girlfriend was played by Joey Lauren Adams, who is merely Renee Zellweger’s idiot twin. Meanwhile, the movie, which involves science-related hijinks and idiot Stephen Baldwin, also stars the famed “dickless” from “Ghostbusters.” So there’s that.
I assume “R.I.P.D.” (2013) was filmed in 3-D, because that would explain all the unnecessary, distracting visual effects. Alas, I watched it on my 13-year-old, 22-inch, analog TV, so I only got 2-D: dopey and derivative. I can imagine the Hollywood lunch where it was green-lighted. “Guys, imagine this – ‘Men in Black’ meets ‘Ghostbusters’ with Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn, plus Ryan Reynolds to get the teenage girl audience the first weekend! It’s a surefire hit!” This is another movie based on a comic book (pardon me – graphic novel). Unless you’re a 22-year-old boy (or 13-year-old girl), pass on it.
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