Jeff Who Lives at Home - DVD Review

Starring Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Judy Greer, Susan Sarandon and Rae Dawn Chong.  Directed by Jay & Mark Duplass.

★★★

The Duplass brothers have made a nice living dominating the Mumblecore genre, and now they've finally made a movie I could recommend.  It centers on Jeff (Jason Segel), a 30-year-old slacker who lives at home, but he's seeking meaning in life through random signs.  The movie isn't as profound as Jeff thinks his life is, but I liked the chain of events spawned from Jeff following whatever he thinks Fate wants him to do.

It also focuses on his older brother (Ed Helms) trying to save his marriage, and his mother (Susan Sarandon) who discovers she has a secret admirer at work.  It makes for a pleasant 85 minutes.

The Muppets - DVD Review

Starring Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones and Jack Black.  Directed by James Bobin.

★★★

This movie embraces the old and makes it... not new again, but at least a return to form. It uses the tried-and-true "let's get the band back together" story with our old friends The Muppets.

Gary (Jason Segel) and Walter (a puppet) are brothers who love the Muppets, but the Muppets have since broken up and faded into obscurity. When they learn of a plan of an evil Texas oilman named Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to tear down the old Muppet theater, they spring into action to track down Kermit and the rest to save the theater.

There's humor and fun in seeing where they imagine each has wound up (loved Animal's subplot), and there are plenty of good cameos.

Bad Teacher - DVD Review

***

Starring Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Jason Segel, Lucy Punch, John Michael Higgins, Phyllis Smith, Thomas Lennon, Molly Shannon and Eric Stonestreet.
Directed by Jake Kasdan.

"IT'S THE ONLY ARGUMENT I NEED, SEAN!"

I enjoy the popularity of that line from the trailer. It doesn't have much to do with anything else in the movie, except reveal a little of the character of the gym teacher (Jason Segel), who seems to be the only person in the movie who sees Elizabeth (Cameron Diaz) for what she really is. A spoiled, selfish, shallow woman who deep-down inside might have a little soul if the right guy came along.

She's not looking for the right guy; she's looking for the rich guy. Some man she can sink her hooks into so she can be one of those Hollywood wives who wear big hats and sunglasses and have her servants follow her with her shopping bags.

But Elizabeth can't seem to land that man. They tend to see through her before she's able to get to the wedding altar. She managed to smile and coast through her first year of teaching and had every intention of getting married and leaving, but when her fiance dumps her, she goes back to her old job, and she has no regard for her students.

But hey, the new substitute teacher (Justin Timberlake) happens to be the heir of an expensive-watch empire. Elizabeth lays forth her plans - raise money to get breast enhancement surgery in order to land him.

This movie owes a lot to Bad Santa, but what's really interesting about this movie is the bad guy is the protagonist. Were this movie from the peppy good teacher's point of view, we'd see how evil Elizabeth is.

Diaz is great in the role, and Segel and Lucy Punch (as the good teacher) are solid as well. It's a pitch-black comedy that never goes the sentimental route. Maybe she'll grow up. No. No, she won't.

Gulliver's Travels - DVD Review

l 1/2

Starring Jack Black, Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly, Chris O'Dowd, TJ Miller and Catherine Tate. Directed by Rob Letterman.

Jack Black... what can I say. I loved School of Rock, but lately it seems like he's picking projects where he does the same thing in different scenarios and it's just not funny anymore. Year One was an odious example, and this big-screen high-concept low-ambitioned comedy isn't much better.

Black plays mail-room slacker Lemuel Gulliver, a guy going nowhere aspiring to nothing. One day he plagarizes some articles to impress a hot editor in his building, and she immediately sends him on a writing assignment to the Bermuda triangle. Naturally he gets caught in a whirlpool out there (with some inept green-screening, I might add) and land in Lilliput, an island where little people can instantly build contraptions to trap giants, as though one washes up on shore every year.

The likable-enough cast is trapped in this Blackian world of easy punchlines. The finale where everyone dances with Black as he sings "War" made me want to hide my face.

There is no aspiration here to make it a memorable movie. There's no ambition beyond lowbrow humor and making as many elementary kid as possible giggle when Gulliver pees to put out a palace fire.

P.S. Emily Blunt tried to get out of making this so she could be Black Cat in Iron Man 2. Poor thing.