Happy Gilmore 2

Director: Kyle Newacheck
Starring: Adam Sandler, Julie Bowen, Christopher McDonald, Benny Safdie, Bad Bunny, John Daly, Ben Stiller, Jackie Sandler, Sadie Sandler, Sunny Sandler, Maxwell Jacob Friedman, Ethan Cutkosky, Philip Fine Schneider, Conor Sherry, Dennis Dugan, Kevin Nealon, Haley Joel Osment, Lavell Crawford, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Rory Mcllroy, Scottie Scheffler, Will Zalatoris, Eminem, Steve Buscemi, Eric André, Martin Herlihy, Margaret Qualley, Travis Kelce
Running Time: 118 min.
Rating: PG-13

**The Following Review Contains Plot Spoilers** 

★★ (out of ★★★★)  

Netflix's heavily anticipated Happy Gilmore 2 answers the question of whether it's really possible for a comedy classic to go home again, responding with a mixed bag full of more misses than hits. But the real concern was whether it would feel like a reunion and little else, made with the presumption fans would simply rejoice at the whole gang returning after thirty years. 

Now after actually seeing what Adam Sandler director Kyle Newacheck cooked up, we're again reminded of the original's greatness, though not for the reasons they likely intended. Their biggest challenge is following a film that was never about positive vibes or giving us a likable protagonist. It was mean, nasty and hilarious, each scene dripping with an attitude suggesting audiences who rejected it could trouble themselves to a warm glass of shut the hell up. 

While the original aligned perfectly with Happy's rebellious, anti-establishment spirit, this sequel represents something else. Given how decades have passed and characters age and evolve with its fan base, there's clearly a conscious attempt to pull on the heartstrings by taking a sentimentally inoffensive trip down nostalgia lane. But no matter how you frame it, that's just not who Happy Gilmore is. And this results in a middling effort more interested in paying tribute to the original's popularity than staying true to the character's arc.  

Having won multiple tour championships in the 90's, golfer Happy Gilmore (Sandler) went on to have five kids with wife Virginia Venit (Julie Bowen) before retiring from the sport when personal tragedy struck. After losing all his money in a lawsuit, depressed alcoholic Happy now works at a supermarket while his four sons Gordie (Maxwell Jacob Friedman), Wayne (Ethan Cutkosky), Bobby (Philip Fine Schneider), and Terry (Conor Sherry) support him and their sister Vienna (Sunny Sandler), a gifted dancer aspiring to enroll in a Paris ballet school. But after rejecting an offer to join energy drink CEO Frank Manatee's (Benny Safdie) new Maxi Golf league, Happy gets the itch to make a tour comeback in hopes of earning enough to fund his daughter's dream. 

As old friends help motivate Happy to pick up the clubs and improve his game, he's attending a court ordered alcoholic treatment program led by his late grandma's abusive nursing home orderly Hal L. (Ben Stiller). He also contends with returning arch nemesis Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald), who's unexpectedly been released from the psychiatric hospital he was committed to after his 1996 Tour Championship loss to Gilmore. But with the non-traditional Maxi Golf threatening the sport's sanctity, Happy will have to defeat Frank's squad and redeem himself in the eyes of his family.

Though we find out about Virginia's death via flashback within the first few minutes, the circumstances surrounding it indicate this film's tone will wildly differ from its predecessor's, at least to start. And while it's a bold choice having Happy accidentally kill his wife with a golf drive, it does provide a justifiable, if overly extreme, explanation for his personal troubles. Uncomfortably teetering between dark humor and tragedy, it's almost as if the writers thought that Happy losing Virginia wasn't enough unless he was solely responsible. 

If much of the first hour finds Happy in dire straits, there is a clever visual gag involving his hiding of alcohol in various household receptacles and funny antics from Steve Buscemi and former golf pro John Daly, who plays "Uncle John," a fictionalized version of himself living in Happy's garage. And despite a failed attempt to convince us Happy having five kids is somehow hilarious, the overall plot of him reigniting his career to help his daughter does make for a solid launching point. 

For all the flak Sandler gets for casting friends and family, both Sunny and Sadie's performances (the latter as a member of Happy's support group) are effective. It's really a reminder that no one would care who Sandler put in his projects they just delivered. Unfortunately, his recent output has been underwhelming enough for complaints like these to keep flaring up.  

After an overlong sequence involving Happy's unsuccessful return to the green alongside a trio of recreational golfers (played by Eric André, Martin Herlihy and Margaret Qualley), the movie sort of turns a corner. Much of that has to do with the great Christopher McDonald's work as Shooter and some spirited appearances from PGA pros Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Rory Mcllory. Of those, Scheffler fares the best in a meta sub-plot parodying his recent arrest.

This wouldn't be a sequel without Happy again coming face-to-face with Shooter, but the real enemies are Safdi's obnoxious, scene stealing Maxi golf founder Frank and Stiller's Hal, whose brief, uncredited role in the original stole that movie. While his presence here as Happy's treatment counselor is noticeably expanded, the novelty of a seemingly accommodating character revealing himself as an unhinged lunatic is gone.With his mask already off, we're left with this weird guy who's just a run-of-the-mill jerk. 

Ironically enough, Travis Kelce actually comes closer to capturing Hal's phony, disingenuous attitude as a restaurant boss who fires waiter (and Happy's future caddy) Oscar (Bad Bunny). Both of them are highlights, proving how this fares better when incorporating newer faces rather than leaning entirely on callbacks. After a while, so many relatives of deceased characters start showing up that it almost plays like The Naked Gun reboot trailer if it wasn't in on the joke. Newacheck also has an annoying propensity for awkwardly inserting clips from the original, which seems equally pointless for hardcore fans and the uninitiated.                   

Sandler is Sandler in this, but has his moments, even if at times he's going through the motions and the Happy we're watching seems entirely different from the protagonist we remember. But that's probably the point. Aligning him on the side of tradition against this upstart league is a decent idea, but it's mainly to send up the ridiculousness of "extreme" sports and spoof LIV Golf with an insane finale featuring celebrities like Eminem, Guy Fieri, Stephen A. Smith, Post Malone, Becky Lynch and countless others. There must be close to a hundred cameos in this and it's overkill, making you appreciate Bob Barker's iconic appearance in the original that much more.    

We also see the return of those "Happy Place" dream sequences, but with an updated twist that's almost as humorous as anything involving McDonald's Shooter and Haley Joel Osment's tour prodigy turned rival. But perhaps realizing nothing Shooter does could possibly top his bombastic villainy in the previous film, they forego repeating that, opting to take the character in another direction, at least until he vanishes in the second half.

There's a temptation to cut Happy Gilmore 2 some slack since we get what was generally expected under the circumstances. But while many have rightly ranked this at the higher end of Sandler's Netflix titles, a legacy sequel to his all-time best comedy should probably be held to higher standards. Whether this comes down to Sandler waiting too long or just a general lack of quality control, the finished product feels like a misguided attempt at paying homage to the original while abandoning the edgy humor that defined it. That's not to say it isn't still good for some laughs, but they're fewer, even for those approaching this with lowered expectations.                             

Locked Down

Director: Doug Liman
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Stephen Merchant, Mindy Kaling, Lucy Boynton, Dulé Hill, Jazmyn Simon, Ben Stiller, Ben Kingsley, Mark Gatiss, Claes Bang, Sam Spruell
Running Time: 118 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

Advertised as one of the first official pandemic movies, both shot during and incorporating COVID-19 into its plotline, HBO Max's appropriately titled romantic caper, Locked Down, wouldn't appear by defiinition to provide a happy escape from reality given its topic. But you'd be forgiven for not knowing it actually isn't the first to tackle this topic, as the critically reviled Songbird attempted a similar feat some months ago with a sci-fi bent, resulting in a creative disaster that offended nearly everyone who saw it, and even some who didn't. Whether there's such a thing as "too soon" before subjecting viewers to this dramatization, the better question might be whether the pandemic's incorporation into a cinematic plotline has anything constructive to say about either the event or our reaction to it. 

Locked Down does pass that relevancy test, even if it's best described as a light relationship drama, serving to confirm much of what we already knew rather than offering up any revelatory insights. One of those is that quarantine can be more of a stressor for some than others, bringing to the surface a myriad of issues not being directly addressed prior to this catastrophe. For its two main characters, this means endlessly getting on each other's last nerves and wallowing in their failures, both as a couple and individually, until a major opportunity comes along to shake them up. Most of it's handled well, even if you can argue its most exciting section is given the least amount of time and attention. Luckily, the protagonists seem real enough, played by two actors who together and separately are dynamic enough to overcome those faults.

Delivery truck driver Paxton (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and fashion company CEO Linda (Anne Hathaway) are a couple whose relationship collapsed prior to them being locked down in their U.K. home during the pandemic. Forced to continue sharing space together, a depressed and irritable Paxton gets a call from his eccentric boss, Malcolm (Ben Kingsley), asking him to step in and make some high-value deliveries under a false identity due to a shortage of drivers. Sensing the chance to finally move up the ranks and put his life back on track after an assault arrest 10 years earlier derailed him, he reluctantly takes the assignment. 

Embroiled in a work crisis of her own, Linda is tasked by her oblivious superior, Solomon (Ben Stiller) to clear out inventory at a nearby Harrod's department store where she used to work. But upon realizing her schedule intersects with Malcolm's delivery, she knows he won't be able to get past the security checkpoint she set up there. Agreeing to help him get through, they contemplate a plan to steal a £3 million diamond from the Harrod's vault, replacing it with the replica. But before attempting to gain access, they'll need to summon the courage to actually go through with this operation, and somehow manage make a safe exit without getting caught, or strangling each other first. 

After this and outings like 2015's The Intern, it's clear Anne Hathaway always impresses when playing CEO's and other similar Type A corporate personalities. It's an oddly specific skillset, but even trapped within the confines of a single location and planted in front of a screen for virtual meetings for much of the film's running time, it still shines through, with her baring the comedic load of these Zoom-centered scenes. Linda's an excecutive not completely comfortable in her own job or skin, which becomes apparent very early on when given the most unenvious of tasks, made that much more awful by the impersonal technological means by which she has to do it. A nervous wreck before, this meeting takes her over-the-top, drinking and smoking non-stop in hopes she can erase the person staring back at her in the mirror, a self-proclaimed sell-out she no longer recognizes. 

Paxton is wound just as tightly, taking to the street to recite poetry aloud to his locked down neighbors and procuring drugs from his backyard garden. And both he and Linda seem more than happy to virtually share their relationship failures with best friends David (Dulé Hill) and Maria (Jazmyn Simon), who look on in awe at this implosion in the making. Ejiofor, usually known for essaying cool, calm, and in control characters plays Paxton as an unfocused dissheveled mess, but in many ways similar enough to Linda that it's inevitable they'd be on the outs before quarantine even started. And now they're stuck with each other for what could be an indefinite amount of time, having long lost touch with the people they were upon first meeting.  

We know where this is going, as Paxton and Linda will attempt to pull off this heist together because, why not? It's by far the best, if not entirely most logical part of the film, assuming viewers aren't already burnt out by their lengthy monologues, virtual meetings and quarantine bickering by then. Still, it's hard not to be intrigued by the process behind their plan and wish there was even more of the actual heist than we get since Hathaway and Ejiofor are so good in those scenes with their back-and-forth, whether their characters are feuding, or on exactly the same page in working toward a shared goal in the film's last act. 

A filmmaker synonomous with efficiently delivered mainstream action entries like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Edge of Tomorrow and American Made, this marks somewhat of a departure for director Doug Liman in being smaller-scaled and more character driven than usual. A lot of that feels like a necessity, while also giving off the impression we would have gotten something similar anyway, regardless of the circumstances. It's also not the heist caper it was touted as, which is either a positive or negative depending upon your mindset going in. But with him being so skilled at depicting this admittedly smaller slice of the story, you wonder why he just didn't go ahead and make that movie instead. 

Steven Knight's script seems intent on examining the effects of the pandemic through this couple, the worldwide health crisis providing less of a mere backdrop than the axis around which its entire story revolves. If a really well-off couple breaking the law to get even richer may not seem like the most socially resonant premise on paper, Locked Down is still fine for what it is, elevated greatly by its performances to end up a solid effort, if not necessarily the one we thought we'd get. That may not be an enthusiastic rave, but it succeeds in agreeably passing time that's been in longer supply than unusual. Consider it a measuring stick for forthcoming attempts at addressing the event, many of which will undoubtedly fare both far better and worse than this. 

Greenberg

Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brie Larson, Juno Temple, Mark Duplass
Running Time: 107 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

Right after watching Greenberg it occurred to me that Ben Stiller didn't smile the entire movie. Not once. That's impressive, especially considering this is supposed to be a comedy, though not necessarily surprising since Stiller has always come off as a depressed, contained type of actor, even when playing goofier roles. And that's why he's perfect for Roger Greenberg, a neurotic, mentally and emotionally fragile 40-year-old, who returns home to California from New York to stay at his brother's. When he's told by his friend and former band mate, Ivan (Rhys Ifans), who still resents him for blowing their record deal in their twenties, that "youth is wasted on the young," he responds by stating "life is wasted on PEOPLE." That sarcastic little nugget of wisdom should give you a good idea the type of character we're dealing with and for much of the first hour you might be wondering if this film is wasted on us. But it isn't. While not as substantial as I expected, it's still a modestly well-put together character piece.

Of writer/director Noah Baumbach's past few efforts, this is easily his weakest, understandably falling short of the high bar set by The Squid and the Whale and even lacking the satirical bite of 2007's inferior (but still pretty great) Margot at the Wedding. What they all have in common is a focus on detestable characters going through a life crisis of some sort. We're not supposed to like them, just want to at least attempt to understand their behavior and care what happens to them, but even that can be trying at times since Greenberg isn't merely unlikable but someone who treats everyone he comes in contact with such contempt it can become insufferable for the viewer to spend any time with him at all. Luckily, Baumbach knows this and doesn't make him our main entry point into the story. Instead it's his brother's assistant, Florence Marr, who's played by relative unknown Greta Gerwig in the non-performance of the year, and I mean that as a compliment. She's like that friendly girl you'd run into at the coffee shop or bookstore, but there just so happens to be a camera on her, even though it never seems as if she's acting at all.

It doesn't take but the first few minutes of the picture for Gerwig to get us on Florence's side, whether she's just walking the dog or stuck in traffic. And the more time we spend with her the more we like her and if she says we'll be tolerating Greenberg's behavior today, well then, we'll be tolerating Greenberg's behavior today, no matter how irritating it gets. To everyone else he's an angry weirdo, but to her he's "damaged." This is one of THOSE movies, in which a loserish character approaching middle age with regret over a big mistake (or a variety of them) from the past is rescued by a younger, impossibly perfect woman. But in playing her Gerwig instead projects imperfectness, as well as an uncertainty and lack of confidence that would make the scenario plausible. She puts up with his tirades and verbal abuse, yet also somehow makes us understand why.

As a character, Greenberg is sort of a drag, since he doesn't do anything but mope and insult others over the fact that he feels life passed him by. His interactions with his ex-girlfriend, Beth (Jennifer Jason Leigh) are painfully embarrassing if only for his inability to take a hint and just move on. It makes sense no one would attempt to help him since he's such a jerk and one would assume he doesn't care, even if he really does. This creates a somewhat challenging viewing experience since it isn't exactly a blast seeing people's neuroses and insecurities splashed all over the screen, no matter how intelligently it's presented. Baumbach's a pro but at points it all becomes draining since this is supposed to be a comedy. The movie feels most alive and funniest during an extended party sequence in which a stoned Greenberg proves that he just might be the world's oldest 40-year-old, so hysterically out of touch with young people (or ANY people) that he could have dropped in from another planet to observe our species. Like Baumbach's best films, that situation's humor comes from a sad, cringe-worthy uncomfortableness that mirrors real-life.

Would it be cheaper for Baumbach to just hire himself a therapist instead of making these movies? At this budget, probably, but I still hope he doesn't and keeps going because you can't knock a guy for writing and directing personal movies he's passionate about, and especially since he's good at it. With a comfortably lazy, laid back story more interested in behavior than plot (and a retro-feeling soundtrack to match) it seems like a throwback in method and style to some of the more character-driven films of the 70's that audiences just don't seem to have as much patience for today, which is completely understandable. There is a limit to how much realism and inaction a film can sustain, and there's no doubt it's pushed to its limits here. Greenberg certainly won't be mistaken for being anything important or original, but it still slides nicely into Baumbach's filmography, continuing his streak of making smart observations about what makes people tick.

Tropic Thunder

Director: Ben Stiller
Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Brandon T. Jackson, Steve Coogan, Nick Nolte, Danny McBride, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Cruise
Running Time: 106 min.
Rating: R

**1/2 (out of ****)

Tropic Thunder is the ultimate inside joke, made by actors for themselves. It’s pointless and directionless but is at times often hilarious. There hardly a performance in it that’s of any sustaining value or a plot that comes together in a way that resembles a story at all, yet I couldn’t look away. It’s like watching a car wreck. Credit star, director and co-writer Ben Stiller, who while a gifted comic actor, has proven over time to be a somewhat unfocused director. This film, which is nothing if not a fascinating experiment, just reinforces that.

Making movies about making movies is tricky business and I’ve read this one being compared to famous Hollywood satires like The Stunt Man and The Player, which isn’t particularly accurate or fair. This movie isn’t satirizing or spoofing anything, because doing that would actually require ideas. All we have here is Stiller throwing material against the wall to see what sticks, which actually yields better results than it should from time to time. Much of that can be attributed to two big stars tackling roles that are completely unlike anything we’ve seen them do before. It goes a long way because there isn’t much else to latch onto in what ultimately amounts to an audacious, risk-taking misfire. Only a filmmaker with a lot talent, and/or a variety of illegal substances in his system, could have made this. Stiller gets an “A” for an ambition but a “C+” for everything else.

The movie within a movie is Tropic Thunder and it’s based on Vietnam War vet John “Four-Leaf” Tayback’s (Nick Nolte invoking his mug shot) best-selling memoir of the same title. Helmed by novice theater director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) and set on location in the Vietnamese jungle the film stars a myriad of self-absorbed, insecure actors wrestling with career and personal issues. We have a faded action star named Tugg Speedman (Stiller) whose only departure from that genre resulted in the I Am Sam-like catastrophe, Simple Jack, in which he played a mentally retarded farm hand. His headlining co-star is Oscar winning Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus, who prior to shooting underwent drastic skin pigmentation surgery for his role as African American soldier Lincoln Osiris.
Joining them is the drug-addicted star of a series of flatulence comedy films, Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) and up and coming unknown Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel), the only actor who seems to have actually researched his role. Cockburn, overwhelmed and in over his head, must also deal with the threats of short-tempered, foul-mouthed Hollywood studio executive Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) who won’t hesitate pulling the plug on this production unless he gets his act together. This leads the rookie director to take desperate measures in adding realism to the film and motivating his prima donna actors, the consequences of which result in disaster.

Tropic Thunder starts off on the wrong foot right away by just dumping these guys in the jungle with little to no explanation of who they are except for a couple of fake movie trailers preceding the film (two of which are funny). It also employs one of the most annoying devices that all movies about making movies seem to feel the need to include. It’s that action scene that goes on for 10 minutes until the camera pulls back to shockingly reveal a director yelling, “CUT!” I wonder how many action movies would actually contain a continuous 10-minute take? That’s beside the point though, since we’re watching this for laughs, not a lesson in filmmaking. The laughs are scattershot but when they come they arrive fast and hard.

I’d say at about the half-hour to forty-minute mark if someone asked me what the film was about or what was happening I couldn’t tell them. It completely flies off the rails and that’s not necessarily a criticism. Something big happens with the director and the entire shoot becomes a lot more realistic than any of the actors anticipated, specifically for Stiller’s Tug Speedman, who suffers a very unusual form of torture while being held for ransom by the enemy.

It’s difficult to really care what happens to any of these characters or about the making of the film in general since everything is really just an excuse for Stiller and the other actors to goof off. The idea of them starring in a movie that turns real never seems like it’s exploited to its full potential because the narrative is jumping all over the place trying to do a million things at once. It’s a jumbled mess with no real plot to speak of but I’ll admit at least 50 percent of what’s thrown out there is funny, which isn’t as bad a figure as it sounds considering the ambition of this project. Tropic Thunder is supposed to be an Apocalypse Now sized war epic and Stiller shoots it like it really is one. Of everything he tries, he has the most success invoking the look and feel of a big budget Hollywood action film, perhaps even better than a real one would.

The two performances in the film that have been most talked about and make the biggest impact, at least in terms of shock value, are those of Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise. A lot of Oscar buzz has started to build around Downey’s portrayal of a self-absorbed method actor completely oblivious to how offensive his black-faced take on an African-American soldier is. It’s ironic that awards talk would circulate for Downey since his character’s primary goal in life is to collect Oscars. Lazarus even gives a hilariously accurate speech to Stiller’s character explaining the kinds of roles that usually net Oscars.

Technically, Downey’s performance is a work of immersive comic genius but I couldn’t help but wonder what the point of it all was or what we’re accomplishing. Sure, he’s in black face but do we applaud him because the performance manages to not be offensive? Aside from him being in black face there’s nothing particularly controversial about the character and it’s far from a tightrope walk given the nature of the script.

If another actor (say, Tom Cruise) had played the role I think everyone would have been in an uproar regardless of whether he excelled at it. Downey probably will get a nomination for this but I think it’s more because he’s Downey and with a couple of obvious exceptions this wasn’t the strongest of years for supporting performances. He’ll also probably win Time "Man of the Year" and the Nobel Peace Prize at the rate he’s going. Still, I'll admit there aren’t many (if any) actors that could have pulled this off as well as he did.

It almost goes without saying that the unrecognizable Cruise’s role as fat, balding Hollywood power player Les Grossman couldn’t have come at a better time in his career. It’s a thrilling, hilarious, out of context departure and also the closest the movie comes to really skewering Hollywood. Cruise may be known for a lot of things that have nothing to do with his acting craft but when he shows up and delivers like this it reminds us why he was famous to begin with. I’m not sure how much of my massive enjoyment of his work here had to do with the actual performance or the jarring fact it was Cruise giving it but it doesn’t matter. Either way, it’s hysterical and his final scene is a real keeper. The performances of both Downey and Cruise deliver in much the same way clever Saturday Night Live impersonations would but I guess that’s fine. It’s entertaining.

Stiller and Jack Black pretty much just play variations on themselves with Black having nearly nothing to do most of the time. I actually forgot he was in the movie until the last 15 minutes. Only Baruchel seems to be given a real, relatable character to play and how he manages to slide in somewhat of a fully realized, sympathetic performance amidst such chaos is admirable. Danny McBride has a small, throwaway part as the special effects expert while Matthew McConaughey steps into the role of Tug’s agent, Rick Peck, which was originally supposed to be filled by Owen Wilson. Of course, as everyone knows by now, he dropped out due to highly publicized personal issues. Watching, I couldn’t help but think Wilson would have been a better fit as McConaughey again just coasts along on his charisma even though not much of it is even present this time.

A lot of people loved this movie and I have no difficulty seeing why. There’s a lot to admire but for me all the pieces just didn’t come together like they should have. I wish it were more focused, although part of me wonders if it would have been as interesting to watch if it was. Maybe not, but I know the result would have been a better film. This is the kind of big event action comedy that plays better on the big screen and it’s reasonable to argue if I had seen it in a packed theater on opening night it could have made the half-star difference. Even then though, once the high wore off a couple of hours later it would probably hit me that what I saw was essentially empty and pointless. That’s not something you'd expect with this kind of talent involved. Tropic Thunder may be a bad movie but at least it’s more entertaining than many of the good movies I’ve seen this year.

The Heartbreak Kid

Directors: Bobby and Peter Farrelly
Starring: Ben Stiller, Michelle Monaghan, Malin Akerman, Jerry Stiller, Robb Corddry, Carlos Mencia
Running Time: 115 min.
Rating: R

** (out of ****)

The Heartbreak Kid is a flat, lifeless comedy that's easily one of the worst efforts of the Farrelly Brothers' previously successful careers. They can take pride in the fact that they didn't write the script this time so at least some of the blame falls elsewhere. At its center is maybe the most annoying, obnoxious character to appear on screen this year. Every second we spend with her is infinitely more painful for us than the almost equally unlikable main character in the film. Very early on I found myself impatiently counting down the minutes to when Michelle Monaghan would come in and attempt to save the film, thinking that she'd really have her work cut out for her this time.

Unsurprisingly, things get significantly better upon her arrival but it lasts only a fleeting moment, as the stupidity of the screenplay kicks into overdrive again just in time for the final act. It's here where a movie that started as just a somewhat realistically grounded exercise in stupidity makes a huge detour into insane fantasyland, taking all the actors with it. This is a remake of the 1972 comedy starring Charles Grodin and Cybill Shepherd and I don't think it's unfair of me to say, despite having never seen the original, that it must be far superior to this. It even seems to have been made with a certain degree of laziness and it's the first of the Farrelly films that should have gone direct-to-DVD. The only reason anyone could have any interest in seeing this is because of Monaghan, who deserves a medal of honor for somehow managing to give a good performance in a film this bad.

Eddie Kantro (Ben Stiller) is a single sporting goods store owner unlucky at love, drowning his sorrows at his ex-girlfriend's wedding where he's the unwitting subject of the groom's toast. That toast, and his seating placement at the event, are pretty much the only laughs we get during this entire picture. Unfortunately both are out of the way within the first five minutes and there's still over ninety left to go. With his father (Jerry Stiller) hounding him about his inability to find a good woman and settle down things do start to look up. After coming to the aid of beautiful young purse snatching victim, Lila (Malin Akerman) they eventually start seeing each other and he gives into temptation, marrying her on a whim despite having only dated her for a couple of weeks. It's on their way to the honeymoon that this movie goes straight to hell.

It soon becomes painfully obvious to Eddie (and unfortunately us as well) that Lila is a complete lunatic. Why this revelation is just now coming to the surface I have no idea. What were they doing the whole time they were dating? Lila's borderline psychotic tendencies are so over-the-top and unbelievable you'd think they'd have presented themselves right away. This isn't just a case of someone misrepresenting themselves. They go many steps too far when the lame-brained screenplay has Lila reveal all these irritating facets of her personality. No one would ever behave like this, but more importantly, it's not humorous. Sure, Eddie has to put up with it...but so do we.

Then there's the awful, grating performance of Akerman that deserves Razzie Award consideration. I could call her a Cameron Diaz clone (since she was only cast because of the slight physical resemblance) but that would be an insult to a talented actress with charisma. Even if you're not a Diaz fan, you will be after you witness Akerman's lifeless imitation of her. By casting a look alike the Farrelly Brothers hoped to recapture the magic of There's Something About Mary. Except that movie was funny.

It's on their honeymoon that Eddie runs into Miranda (Monaghan) and because she's so likable the film does have a little streak going in the middle act where it's actually quite good. The encounters with her feel real because she actually seems like a real person and for just a moment the movie accurately captures that feeling when you're on vacation and meet someone that completely floors you. Naturalness is a tough quality to convey but Monaghan makes it look easy, confirming suspicions that Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang wasn't a fluke and she deserves a promotion to the A-list.

Even her family seem like regular, everyday people not stereotyped movie characters. They interact with each other like real family members would and the jokes they shared amongst one another were funny, unlike much of the crude humor that permeates through the rest of the film. This got my hopes up that things were actually taking a more intelligent turn. Those hopes were smashed when the movie goes off the deep end reminding us that Stiller's character is a selfish, two-timing creep.

As bad as Lila is, Eddie's worse, lying, stringing her along, and seeing this other woman behind her back. Even worse he's lying to Miranda and her family, the only likable characters in the movie. And we're supposed to root for this guy? Of course the time will come when Eddie's double dealing is exposed to both women and the consequences were far stupider than I could have imagined in even my wildest dreams. The last half hour of the film is just a train wreck.

I'm sure I'm making this sound worse than it is only because I expect so much more from talents like Bobby and Peter Farrelly. The tone of the film is also off. It seems like a really lightweight romantic comedy but then, out of nowhere, an unusually crude or hurtful comment would come out of a character's mouth or something really gross would occur. The Farellys are usually good at balancing this type of thing, but here it seems like someone took a PG-rated script and scribbled profanities on it with a red magic marker. Comedian Carlos Mencia has a small, unfunny role in the film. I don't know much about him other than that I heard his comedy is supposedly edgy. Nothing about this movie is edgy.

I did realize something very important while watching this: Ben Stiller just isn't believable playing a nice guy. There's this undercurrent of nastiness to all his behaviors and mannerisms and he has problems conveying sincerity. It's been a trend throughout his career and if you look back, all his effective comic roles have been as villains. Even when he just cameos as a nefarious character (like in Happy Gilmore or The Cable Guy) he's far more successful.

Stiller has no chemistry with either of the female leads, something you could easily justify with Akerman, but that he has none with Monaghan is pathetic. No excuses on that one. She'd be able to create chemistry with a brick wall. By the end of The Heartbreak Kid I was thinking my time would have been better spent watching a career retrospective on professional wrestler Shawn Michaels. Yes, love blows. And so does this movie.

Cult Classic Corner: Heavyweights

Director: Steven Brill Starring: Aaron Schwartz, Tom McGowen, Ben Stiller, Keenan Thompson, Tom Hodges, Leah Lail, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, Jeffrey Tambor
Running Time: 100 min.
Rating: PG
Release Date: 1995

***1/2 (out of ****)

As a kid I never really liked camp. To me it was like summer school. Really, if you think about it it's essentially the same thing except you're wearing shorts. I always thought camp was actually worse because at least school didn't pretend to be fun. Maybe the problem was that I never went to a sleep away camp or never went to camp with anyone other than who I went to school with. Or that I had terrible counselors. Or that I was just a miserable kid who just couldn't have fun anywhere. Maybe it's because I wasn't fat. If I was I'm sure I would have had a great time at camp if it meant I got to attend one that was anything like "Camp Hope" in the 1995 Disney cult comedy classic Heavyweights. I doubt a camp this fun could ever exist anywhere but in the movies but for an hour and a half it's fun imagining that it does.

Released in 1995 and directed by Steven Brill this family film was billed as being from "the creator of The Mighty Ducks." Needless to say that tagline didn't exactly send moviegoers rushing to the multiplex. Critics weren't any kinder and the film quickly fell off the radar. Shame on them. In the 12 years since its release the movie slowly started to find new life on video and DVD and picked up a cult audience that could recite all the lines of the film by heart. This is what I love most about cult films. If for some reason a real quality film fails to make any money, is bashed by just about every critic and completely falls through the cracks, the fans are right there to save it. Perhaps intentionally, perhaps not, the filmmakers made a family comedy that everyone of all different ages can enjoy and has held up years later upon repeated viewings. How many other "family films" can claim that? Watching it now you can see how it's subversive, dry humor created a template for future comedies like Old School and even more directly Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. I can't imagine anyone seeing this and not at least enjoying It for what it is. I couldn't wait until it was over so I could watch it again.

Heavyweights tells the story of young Gerry Gardner ( a really likable Aaron Schwartz) who when school is let out for the summer is ordered by his parents to attend a boys weight loss camp known as "Camp Hope." I should break here and let you know that Gerry's dad is played by Jeffrey Tambor, who looks EXACTLY like Dr. Phil McGraw in this movie. Even more so than usual. A camp representative (Tim Blake Nelson in a small role) comes to the house and shows the family an uplifting video featuring the camp's founders, the Bushkins (played by Ben Stiller's parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara) and overweight counselor Pat (Tom McGowen) which actually makes the camp look fun and somewhat convinces Gerry things may not be as bad as they seem. When he arrives there they're actually not, as Gerry becomes friends with Roy (Keenan Thompson) and the kids come up with funny, clever ways to sneak junk food into the camp. Everything's about to change with the arrival of Tony Perkus (Ben Stiller), a compulsive, insane fitness guru who just bought the camp from the Bushkins and is determined to turn his new exercise regime for "Camp Hope" into the number one weight loss infomercial in the country.

The kids are given ridiculous "Perkus Power" shirts, have their go-carts destroyed, are forced to go on 20 mile hikes, subjected to weigh-ins, humiliated in front of girls at a camp dance and are basically emotionally and physically tortured by the most mentally unstable person you'll ever see at a summer camp. He also brings in an evil new counselor, Lars (Tom Hodges) who I can't even do justice describing here. The hysterical performance of Hodges is reason enough alone to see this movie, but believe me there are plenty others. The real hero of the film ends up being McGowen's Pat, the 18-year veteran counselor who must learn to stand up for himself, the kids and overcome his fear of talking to the pretty camp nurse, Julie (Leah Lail).

What's so special about the film is how it manages to accomplish it's goal of being a heart warming and uplifting picture for kids, while at the same time sliding in some really clever humor for teens and adults, all the while maintaining it's clean PG rating. That's impressive. Just as impressive is that the movie never takes itself or its message too seriously, yet never makes fun of the kids or being fat. I was surprised how well written the picture was, but shouldn't have been when I saw one of the names on the credits. The movie was co-written by Judd Apatow, the comic mastermind behind the 40- Year-Old Virgin as well as television's short-lived but brilliant Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared.

If they really were trying to make a Disney family comedy somebody forgot to send Ben Stiller the memo. There were many times during this when I thought there was no way this guy could have been following the script and the movie's all the better for it. It seemed like the entire performance was improvised. It's like he walked in from the set of another film and decided to just do his own thing. As Tony Perkis, clad in a spandex body suit, his head insanely disproportionate to the rest of his body, he gives the funniest, most darkly comic performance of his career. The finale of the film is like a Stiller free for all (involving back flips and broken glass) the likes of which you've never seen before. Now that he's always saddled with playing wimps or losers we forget how effective and funny he can really be in a villainous role. He makes this movie I'll go out on a limb here and say his performance the primary reason the movie has found new life on DVD.

It's been 12 long years, but the legacy of Heavyweights lives on. While none of the actors in the film (aside from Stiller) are huge names some went on to enjoy moderate success. Keenan Thompson went on to star in Good Burger and became a regular on Saturday Night Live. Tom McGowen you'll recognize as one of those character actors who seems to have been in just about every show on television (Frasier and Curb Your Enthusiasm to name a couple). Tim Blake Nelson went on to direct (2001's O) and star (2000's O' Brother Where Art Thou?) in feature films . There's even a blink and you'll miss him cameo from Peter Berg as the camp cook. The funniest (or maybe creepiest considering this is a Disney film) piece of information I found out while surfing the internet movie database was that the young girl that made the rotund campers' jaws drop at the dance went on to become a Playboy model.

Stiller has often stated his appreciation for the Perkis character and even modeled his performance as White Goodman in Dodgeball after it. He's said in interviews that he's interested in reprising the role for a sequel and I really hope that comes to fruition. Reuniting the original cast is easy and it shouldn't be too difficult for Disney to get behind it after all the success Stiller and Apatow have enjoyed in the years since the film's release. Heavyweights is one of those rare family films that really is for the entire family and its influence can still be felt in today's comedy landscape. Its cult classic status is well deserved.