Canada – America’s cold, remote neighbor. Seems its romantic comedies are a little like that, too. “Chaos Theory” (2008) is actually a very good Ryan Reynolds vehicle. He gets to play a whole range of emotions as a wedding-day dad imparting wisdom to a cold-footed groom, using his own marriage as an example. But instead of the artistic safety of American-style, cinematic tentpole commerce, this film is edgier, angrier and sadder. But also wittier and with music designed to speak to the story rather than to sell the original motion picture soundtrack. A little harder to love, but still a keeper.
Archives for posts with tag: Ryan Reynolds
What if two teenage girls nearly as dense as Forrest Gump also possessed Gumpian powers to alter history? What if their world was the Watergate complex and Nixon White House? What if the girls were played by actresses as good as Michelle Williams and Kirsten Dunst and the rest of the cast was packed with veteran comedy troupers? There are lots of “parodies” where just one character or one plot element is parodied and everything else is played straight. “Dick” (1999) does the heavy lifting of true parody – it creates an entire, hilariously absurd, alternate universe and makes it work.
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.
100wordreviews 