CHICAGO – With a Chicago tradition that goes back four decades, the Goodman Theatre presents their holiday chestnut ‘A Christmas Carol’ for 2019, and it is simply stellar.
Matt Walsh
Melissa McCarthy is the Charming ‘Life of the Party’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on May 11, 2018 - 1:06pm Rating: 4.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Melissa McCarthy is a comedic force to be reckoned with, able to wring laughs improbably out of the stingiest of material. She always manages to find the funny, which helps elevate everyone around her, and so she slips easily in the durable friendly constructs of the campus comedy in “Life Of The Party.”
‘Office Christmas Party’ is Just Ho-Hum Humbug
Submitted by PatrickMcD on December 8, 2016 - 8:41pm- Abbey Lee
- Adrian Martinez
- Ben Falcone
- Courtney B. Vance
- Dan Mazer
- Fortune Feistier
- HollywoodChicago.com Content
- Jamie Chung
- Jason Bateman
- Jennifer Aniston
- Jillian Bell
- Josh Gordon
- Justin Malen
- Karan Soni
- Kate McKinnon
- Laura Solon
- Matt Walsh
- Movie Review
- Olivia Munn
- Paramount Pictures
- Randall Park
- Rob Corddry
- Sam Richardson
- Spike Walters
- T.J. Miller
- Vanessa Bayer
- Will Speck
 Rating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Office Christmas Party” summons up a few jolly ho-ho-ho’s, but can’t quite deliver even one decent belly laugh you’d expect, considering the talented cast chock full of funny folks. It’s halfway decent premise is drowned in a sea of unfulfilled potential and weak material that the ensemble can only do so much to save.
No Need to Bother ‘Keeping Up with the Joneses’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on October 25, 2016 - 9:04am Rating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Keeping Up With The Joneses” illustrates how hard it really is to make a funny action comedy. After watching this, I have begun to think that the ones that work are something of anomaly – more often than not they’re like this. An amiable but aimless project that can’t quite grasp what it wants to be and doesn’t have the vision or the laughs to sustain itself.
‘Get Hard’ is Less Than the Sum of Its Parts
Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 27, 2015 - 6:07pmRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Will Ferrell is a funny guy. Kevin Hart can be a funny guy. But the prison buddy comedy “Get Hard” is woefully less than the sum of its comedic parts. It fires buckshot of lame jokes at its audience, but precious few come anywhere near their targets as it squanders nearly every comic opportunity that comes its way.
Failed ‘Twister’ Knockoff ‘Into the Storm’ is All Eyes, No Heart
Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on August 10, 2014 - 4:52pmRating: 2.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – Early incarnations of “Godzilla,” for example, were so memorable because of the characters and its story. The “special effects” were laughable, but the films caught on despite it because they had heart.
‘Into the Storm’ Maybe Needs Some Sharks
Submitted by PatrickMcD on August 7, 2014 - 6:25pmRating: 2.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – What is there to say about a movie whose chief attraction lies in action set pieces involving CGI tornadoes? You either like this sort of thing or you don’t. I took my ten year old, who seemed to have a good time, and I know I felt pretty captivated by some of those visuals – but I’m a sucker for a thrill ride. Sound indecisive?
Fearless Comedy of Seth MacFarlane’s Original ‘Ted’
Submitted by BrianTT on June 28, 2012 - 4:38pm Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – “Ted” is one of the most inventive and surprising films of the year. It has a sense of humor that will be very familiar to fans of writer/director Seth MacFarlane’s “Family Guy” but is refreshingly unique in a film genre that is too often stale. In fact, most of the Summer 2012 movies have been incredibly predictable and there’s NOTHING predictable about “Ted.”
Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis Are an Odd Pair in Funny ‘Due Date’
Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 5, 2010 - 1:27amRating: 3.5/5.0 |
CHICAGO – There is a strong temptation to lead this review with “Hey, ‘Due Date,’ ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ just called, they want their plot back,” but this Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis star vehicle drives on its own strange vibe, part road trip and part comedy that depends on suspension of all reality. Yet it mostly works.
