The Incredible Burt Wonderstone - DVD Review

Starring Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi, Jim Carrey, Olivia Wilde, James Gandolfini, Alan Arkin, Jay Mohr, Brad Garrett, Gillian Jacobs and Zachary Gordon.  Directed by Don Scardino.

★½

Seemed like a clever trick to cast Diary of a Wimpy Kid's Zachary Gordon as a bully right off the bat.

This is a talented cast that should have yielded funnier results. Every few years we get a Death to Smoochy disaster, and this was 2013's.

Steve Carell stars as Burt, a once-popular Vegas magician who refuses to alter his act with his partner Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi). He's become jaded, but worse he's a selfish, vain jerk. It seems like they're going for a Ron Burgundy style humor, but Burt is so unlikeable, we're rooting for his downfall.  It eventually comes, as his ego costs him his job, and a new magician Steve Gray (Jim Carrey) is rising in popularity near him. Gray is a Criss Angel-type mentalist, and he's the best part of the movie.

Meanwhile we watch actors like Buscemi, Wilde and Gandolfini go to waste. Director Don Scardino has a lot of experience with TV comedy (30 Rock, 2 Broke Girls), but it just doesn't translate to the big-screen.

Butler wins weekend

1. The Butler - $25.01 million - 1 wk (Wein)
 . . . 2933 screens / $8527 per screen
2. We're the Millers - $17.78 ($69.51) - 2 wks (WB) -32.7%
 . . . 3325 / $5347
3. Elysium - $13.6 ($55.91) - 2 wks (TS) -54.4%
 . . . 3284 / $4141
4. Kick-Ass 2 - $13.57 - 1 wk (U)
 . . . 2940 / $4615
5. Planes - $13.14 ($45.09) - 2 wks (BV) -40.9%
 . . . 3716 / $3536
6. Percy Jackson 2 - $8.38 ($38.9) - 2 wks (Fox) -41.8%
 . . . 3080 / $2719
7. Jobs - $6.7 - 1 wk (OR)
 . . . 2381 / $2814
8. 2 Guns - $5.57 ($59.22) - 3 wks (U) -50.5%
 . . . 2471 / $2255
9. The Smurfs 2 - $4.6 ($56.91) - 3 wks (Sony) -50.7%
 . . . 2349 / $1958
10. The Wolverine - $4.43 ($120.46) - 4 wks (Fox) -44.9%
 . . . 2058 / $2150
11. The Conjuring - $3.91 ($127.86) - 5 wks (WB) -41%
 . . . 2001 / $1954
12. Despicable Me 2 - $3.78 ($345.99) - 7 wks (U) -36.1%
 . . . 1818 / $2080
13. Paranoia - $3.5 - 1 wk (Rel)
 . . . 2459 / $1423
14. Blue Jasmine - $2.36 ($9.49) - 4 wks (SP) +.6%
 . . . 229 / $10,301

I know its official title is Lee Daniels' The Butler, but that's only because Warner Bros. decided to be jerks about rights to the title.  The Butler is a showcase for Oprah Winfrey (reminding us all she was an actress first) and a parade of extended cameos portraying Presidents and First Ladies through the decades. I haven't seen it yet, but at best, this is Forest Whitaker's Remains of the Day opportunity.

This is a summer where half the sequels are just not living up to their predecessors.  Kick-Ass 2 swapped Nicolas Cage for Jim Carrey, but Carrey decided a few months ago he's had a change of heart about violence in film and therefore wouldn't promote the movie.  Percy Jackson 2 and Smurfs 2 are also films where their business isn't justifying their greenlighting, but I suppose they rely more on families buying the DVDs or renting VOD to make their money back.  Red 2 can't leave theaters fast enough.

Jobs wound up being a trifle.  Paranoia completely squandered the talents of Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman.  These movies might have fared better opening in September.

In holdovers, We're the Millers is the surprise hit of the summer and could make its way to $100 million.  A 32.7% drop in week 2 is a sign that audiences are disagreeing with critics.  It occurs to me that it reunites two of the stars from Horrible Bosses (Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis), the slightly less surprising hit from its summer.

Neill Blomkamp's Elysium isn't quite doing the business of District 9.  Its going to need to be a hit overseas if it wants to make a profit.

Planes had a mere $50 million budget, so it's proving to have been worth a theatrical run.  In fact, Planes: Fire & Rescue will be hitting theaters next summer.

In limited release, Austenland had a $10,650 per screen average on 4 screens.

Mr. Popper's Penguins - DVD Review

Starring Jim Carrey, Carla Gugino, Angela Lansbury, Ophelia Lovibond, Madeline Carroll, Clark Gregg, Philip Baker Hall, David Krumholtz, Jeffrey Tambor, Maxwell Perry Cotton and Dominic Chianese.  Directed by Mark Waters.

★★½

It's Jim Carrey in family-film mode. This harmless, fluffy lil comedy is about a man who inherits six penguins. Somehow they get delivered to his high-rise apartment, and he can't figure out how to get rid of them. But just when he thinks he has a solution, his ex-wife and two kids find out about them, and the kids love them. So he decides to keep them to help bring him closer to his kids.

I don't believe a real penguin was ever used. They looked CGI the whole time. In fact I could picture how they'd do the animated scene if Mary Poppins were ever rebooted.

Mark Waters (Freaky Friday) has some decent touches, and the supporting cast is a little better than usual for something like this.  It bares very little resemblance to the book on which it's based, but it's a decent rental, even if you don't plan on being in the room with your kids when they watch it.

Weekend Box Office

For the weekend of June 17-19.

1. Green Lantern - $52.69 million - 1 wk (WB)
. . . 3816 screens / $13,806 per screen
2. Super 8 - $21.25 ($72.78) - 2 wks (Par) -40.1%
. . . 3408 / $6235
3. Mr. Popper's Penguins - $18.2 - 1 wk (Fox)
. . . 3339 / $5451
4. X-Men: First Class - $11.5 ($119.93) - 3 wks (Fox) -52.3%
. . . 3375 / $3407
5. The Hangover Part II - $9.64 ($232.67) - 4 wks (WB) -45.5%
. . . 3460 / $2785
6. Kung Fu Panda 2 - $8.7 ($143.34) - 4 wks (DW) -47.4%
. . . 3469 / $2508
7. Bridesmaids - $7.49 ($136.84) - 6 wks (U) -25.6%
. . . 2573 / $2910
8. Pirates of the Caribbean 4 - $6.24 ($220.34) - 5 wks (BV) -43%
. . . 2742 / $2274
9. Midnight in Paris - $5.24 ($21.8) - 5 wks (SPC) -10.2%
. . . 1038 / $5045
10. Judy Moody - $2.24 ($11.17) - 2 wks (Rel) -63%
. . . 2524 / $888
11. Thor - $1.15 ($176.11) - 7 wks (Par) -53%
. . . 875 / $1309
12. The Tree of Life - $1.12 ($3.85) - 4 wks (FS) +34.8%
. . . 114 / $9781

Green Lantern did well. It did its job. Considering the $350 million the studio spent on production and marketing, it'll need to be big overseas to make a profit. So weird that movies have come to this.

Jim Carrey's entering that Eddie Murphy phase, I guess. Carrey hamming it up with penguins for the kids equals a mediocre opening and likely quick drop in the weeks to come.

Happy for Super 8's decent week 2 showing.

I Love You Philip Morris - DVD Review

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Starring Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann and Rodrigo Santoro.
Directed by Glenn Ficarra & John Requa.

Jim Carrey plays Steven Russell, con-man extraordinaire. It's based on true events, and while I'd wager what actually happened is much different than what we see, what we do see is a fun, zippy love story.

Steven is a gay man and once his wife (Leslie Mann) learns the truth, he leaves her to live the good life. Trouble is, Steven's not a rich man so he engages in identity theft to maintain the lifestyle. Once he gets caught he goes to prison, and there he meets Philip Morris (Ewan McGregor). Now Ewan isn't asked to do much in the movie besides be the cute love interest, but there's an earnest aw-shucksness to him where we can understand why Steven would be attracted to him.

Carrey's performance is all over the map here, and I don't mean that in a bad way. Some of Steven's cons are farcical, but there also need to be moments of genuine emotion, and Carrey pulls it off. It's the most interesting Carrey performance in years.

It reminded me a few times of Catch Me If You Can, between the cons and Steven being on the run, as Steven breaks out of prison over and over to reunite with Philip.