I have always thought it would be fun to be a film critic, but also thought it to be somewhat of a pretentious job. But, I am fresh off of watching two movies in the past two nights so here goes:
On Monday night I saw "Little Miss Sunshine". It is underrated and was hilarious in some spots. I had heard it was a rip off of the "National Lampoon Vacation" series of movies but, it is at times much funnier. The movie is well written and well acted. Alan Arkin and Steve Carell turn in fine performances and newcomers Paul Dano and Abigail Breslin are endearing in their roles.
The movie is about a dysfunctional family traveling from New Mexico to California with a number of mishaps along the way. The movie also does a fine job of spoofing the "beauty pageant industry" and made me laugh out loud several times. It has been out on video for several weeks and is one of the better comedies I have seen in the past several months. On a scale of one to ten with one being the worst movie I have ever seen and ten being the best, I would rate "Little Miss Sunshine" an eight.
On Tuesday night, I picked up "Talladega Nights, The Legend of Ricky Bobby". I am a fan of Will Ferrell from his Saturday Night Live nights, but did not find the movie as good as hoped. There are several funny scenes of Ferrell saying grace at the dinner table and of his "smart-ass" kids running off at the mouth. But, overall the movie is predictable and at times sophomoric. (But, this is a Will Ferrell movie). On, the up side you will enjoy the performances of Sacha Baron Cohen who plays a French gay man who tries to make Bobby's life miserable, and the performance of Gary Cole playing Bobby's drunken degenerate father.
I would rate it a six of ten using the same criteria outlined above.
