Reviews by johanlefourbe

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Anthony Minghella’s work, I was quite eager to check it out. Indeed, before directing his masterpiece ‘The English Patient’, Anthony Minghella made this obscure flick which didn’t get much love when it was released. Eventually, I thought that the whole thing was rather disappointing and even quite underwhelming. Indeed, it is a rather standard and predictable romantic comedy with some very boring characters and I really had a hard time to care about the whole concept. I mean, honestly, when you see the poster, you get to see Matt Dillon and Annabella Sciorra holding each other which spoils at least half of the movie. Basically, it is one of those romantic-comedies with 2 characters who are obviously in love, who obviously should be together, but you have to wait until the very end of the movie so that they become aware of their feelings. Personally, I think it is a really tiresome gimmick and it can work only with some really solid directing and some fascinating characters which was obviously not the case here. To conclude, I have seen worse but it remains a rather weak romantic feature and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

Honestly, I thought the whole thing really sounded awesome so I was quite eager to check it out. Unfortunately, I was just really disappointed by this flick. Indeed, I thought that Bill Murray would be really hilarious but eventually, I can't say I really enjoyed this flick. In my opinion, the whole thing was just barely funny and I was bored most of the time when watching this. Basically, it is another really tiresome and tedious parody of your usual spy feature and, so far, I don’t think I have ever seen any movie in this genre which managed to be really entertaining. For example, ‘Johnny English’ which also sounded great on paper was also terribly disappointing and I can think of only ‘Get Smart’ which was decent but still nothing really mind-blowing whatsoever. Concerning Bill Murray, it was another comedy for which I had high hopes but which turned out to be really underwhelming (still, compared to the cringe-inducing ‘Scrooged’, you could almost call it a masterpiece). To conclude, even though I have seen worse, I thought it was really average and I don’t think it is really worth a look, only maybe if you are a huge Bill Murray's fan.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from this flick but, somehow, I still ended up watching the damned thing. I basically watched it because I like Rosario Dawson and she has a small part in it but the whole thing was just a big waste of time. The only good thing was the title actually but this title was really misleading. Indeed, in my opinion, it had nothing to do with the story at all. Anyway, the whole thing was just totally unoriginal and completely predictable. On top of that, the computer stuff was just downright ridiculous. I mean, it would be nice if, for once, they would make a movie involving computer science which would be technically accurate. I don’t think it would be necessary to go too much in details (even myself would be bored to death by something like this) but it would be really neat if the makers would handle this material seriously and I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be completely boring for the average viewer. I mean, at the end, when they displayed their supposedly fancy computer, it looked terribly lame and it was just really pathetic. Anyway, to conclude, I was rather amazed about how terrible the whole thing was and you should probably avoid it.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what  to expect from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Gene Hackman, I thought I should give it a try. Eventually, I thought it was pretty bad, even worse than I expected it to be. I mean, I really love Gene Hackman (it’s a real shame he doesn't make movies anymore) but it is easily the worst movie he has made that I have seen so far. Indeed, the whole thing was just not funny or entertaining at all and it was actually rather cringe-inducing to behold. I mean, even on a paper, the whole project sounded inane (a tough cop gets a new partner, a detective with a multiple-personality disorder, and together they try to stop an obscure conspiracy involving a Nazi sex-tape featuring Adolf Hitler). I mean, seriously?!? Many blamed Bob Clark, the director, for providing some really not efficient directing (the guy would eventually direct ‘Baby Geniuses’ and ‘Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2’, arguably 2 of the worst movies ever made). Obviously, when this movie was released, it was universally panned and a massive box-office failure. Eventually, there is a fair chance that it might be the worst buddy cop movie ever made. To conclude, it was just a dumb and loud flick and you should rather avoid it. 

Obviously, I’m well aware of the fact that Christopher Lambert is actually a pretty bad actor and, indeed, most of his movies are rather worthless but, somehow, I still wanted to check this flick anyway (probably because I have a weak spot for Diane Lane). Eventually, I thought it wasn't really bad after all and the whole thing actually had some potential. Indeed, for some weird reasons, I have a weak spot for movies involving chess so there was definitely something quite captivating about the whole thing. Unfortunately, if you put aside the chess elements, it is and remains a rather average thriller with a generic plot and the fact that Lambert remains a weak actor didn’t help either. At least, we got to see the charming Diane Lane (who was actually married with Lambert at the time). Diane Lane started out very young but, at the time, her career was not doing very well as she was solely working in such obscure and disappointing features and she would eventually make her come-back 10 years later with ‘Unfaithful’.  To conclude, it is a rather weak thriller and I don’t think it is really worth a look only maybe if you are a die hard fan of Christopher Lambert.

Personally, I always had a rather hard time with John Hugues. Indeed, by now, I have seen almost all his directing efforts (I still need to see ‘She’s having a Baby’ and ‘Sixteen Candles’ though) and, except for ‘The Breakfast Club’ which was really great, none of his other movies really impressed me. With this in mind, I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since I kept hearing good things about it, I thought I should check it out anyway. Eventually, it ended up being another huge disappointment and, in my opinion, this movie is really overrated. I mean, the concept sounds indeed rather stupid but, handled properly, it could have been actually at least pretty entertaining. Basically, the whole thing was just too cheesy, predictable and actually not really funny, in my opinion. Indeed, the main thing that really bothered me was how harmless and childish the whole thing was. I mean, most teenage boys who would end up with a babe like her wouldn’t remain chaste. Obviously, a full on sex-orgy would be rather inappropriate but some raunchiness would have been, for once, rather welcome. To conclude, I don't think it really deserves it cult-status and I don’t think it is really worth a look.

I remember it very well, when this movie was released, I was still living in France and, back then, nobody really knew what to do with this flick. I mean, for the French people, who the f*ck was Howard Stern?!? I mean, we heard a little bit about his reputation but since we had never listened to his radio shows, it seemed rather pointless to release this movie outside the USA. Anyway, I can't say I'm really familiar with Howard Stern's work but still I wanted to check it out, especially because Paul Giamatti had a small part in this flick. Eventually, it is basically a rather standard but still well made and entertaining biopic. The most interesting touch was the rather unique and bold decision to have Howard Stern to portray himself and I thought that Stern did a pretty good job (he even played himself as a teenager). Honestly, he definitely displayed some potential and I actually think it is a pity that he doesn't show up in other movies. To conclude, it is a rather odd feature if you are not familiar with Stern’s work but I still think it is worth a look, above all if you are a fan of Howard Stern.

Honestly, I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this flick and I above all wanted to watch it because Sean Connery had a small part in it. As a matter of fact, there was actually a rather amazing cast composed of many Britisch upcoming actors (Patrick McGoohan, William Hartnell, David McCallum, Sidney James and of course Sean Connery). Maybe most of them doesn’t sound really familiar but they eventually all became well known in the 1960s for their roles in film and television. The movie itself was not bad with some nice and suspenseful scenes and there was a decent gritty mood. Still, to be honest, the whole thing was far from being really remarkable and, eventually, I was rather underwhelmed by the whole plot. I mean, if you want to see a really amazing vintage classic dealing with truck drivers, you should watch instead ‘Le Salaire de La Peur’. Still, I thought it was pretty neat to see a very young Sean Connery (it was only his 3rd movie) and 5 years later, he would eventually breakthrough playing his most iconic part in ‘Dr. No’. To conclude, it is a rather obscure flick but I still think it is definitely worth a look, if only for its interesting cast.

I remember it very well, at the time, I was going to the movies and I was actually going to see ‘State of Play’ (a movie which turned to be actually rather underwhelming as well) but when I got to the movie theater, they told me there was a mistake in their program and ‘State of Play’ wasn’t running at all at this location. Eventually, I checked what was available at the time and I ended up watching ‘Bruno’ instead. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a disappointment,  probably even the most disappointing movie I have seen which was released in 2009. I mean, I really loved 'Borat', much more than I expected so this time, I had some rather high expectations. Unfortunately, this flick never reached  the level of 'Borat' ... Indeed, there were definitely some funny scenes and the movie had some good sharp moments but the main issue in my opinion was that the lead character was just really obnoxious and it made the whole movie just painful to watch. Furthermore, whereas underneath its vulgarity, I thought that 'Borat' was actually pretty deep, this flick was just completely shallow. Still, it is far from being a bad movie and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Sacha Baron Cohen's work.