Fargo: the Next Generation? Perhaps, if by that you mean “brisk, violent, and largely unsentimental about the depths of human folly.” It’s also the least preening of Summer 2011’s many raunch comedies, content to spend its time among the genuinely raunchy. A would-be white-trash criminal mastermind (Danny McBride) straps a …
How can a story laden with this much betrayal and corruption feel this cheerful? Welcome to Hawaii. Bradley Cooper smiles his way through the shenanigans as the wounded hero (physically, morally, spiritually, professionally) who has to choose which parts are worth healing and which can be cut away. Happily, he …
Bargain-basement comedy, improvisational in feel, documentary in technique, about a tae-kwon-do instructor (Danny McBride) with a fragile ego and a thin veneer of machismo. Some of the notions seem viable, though they don’t really flourish. With Ben Best and Mary Jane Bostic; directed by Jody Hill.
A slacker gets sucked into hell before his expiration date, and his buds set out to save him. Foul-mouthed stop-motion animation featuring the vocal talents of T.J. Miller, Nick Swardson, Rob Riggle, Mila Kunis, Bob Odenkirk, Brian Posehn, Susan Sarandon, Danny McBride, and David Koechner, among others. Directed by Tom …
Will Ferrell, a time hole, some decent prehistoric creatures, and a total lack of discipline, an utter uncertainty whether to spoof the Lost World sort of adventure story or to make dumb jokes about any damn thing. With Danny McBride and Anna Friel; directed by Brad Silberling.
A buddy comedy, a stoner comedy, a crime comedy from the House of Apatow, about a user and his dealer — best friends — on the run from the mob. As the two dopers, James Franco mimics the classic symptoms with dedication, while Seth Rogen is content to be Seth …
Major-studio satire on a major-studio Vietnam War epic. The slipshod plotting, the willful misinformation about how movies are made, and the pandering to the groundlings do not close off all avenues of inspiration. Four fake trailers at the top of the movie, introducing the motley cast of the movie-within-the-movie, give …
A comedown from Jason Reitman’s auspicious first two features, Thank You for Smoking and Juno, narrowly centered as it is on a narrowly self-centered hero, a travelling corporate downsizer, a hired hatchet man, now a potential dinosaur whose way of life is threatened — by long-distance terminations via the innovation …
Comical fantasy of medieval chivalry and adventure. David Gordon Green directed, with Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel, Toby Jones, Justin Theroux, and Charles Dance.