Reviews by johanlefourbe

To be honest, I thought it was rather difficult to judge this movie because there is James Dean in it and, in my opinion, everyone tend to overly praise his movies. I mean, by now, I have seen all 3 movies starring James Dean (see also ‘Giant’ and ‘East of Eden’)  but, to be honest, I think it is really weird that the guy became such a legend just after showing up in 3 movies. Anyway, after watching this flick, I thought it was even more obvious. I mean, sure, I liked the damned thing and Dean gave a solid performance but I didn't think it was really a masterpiece. I don’t know, maybe, at the time, the teenagers thought it was fascinating as they were really able to identify themselves with the characters but, to be honest, I thought they were all rather whinny and even a little bit obnoxious. I mean, they were just really self-centered and I guess that’s what you are supposed to feel at this age but I thought they made it rather melodramatic. Anyway, to conclude, even if I wasn’t completely convinced by this feature, I have to admit it was still a solid drama, I have to admit that James Dean was terribly charismatic, and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since Michael Cera and Jack Black can be both pretty hilarious. I thought I might as well give it a try. Eventually, Black and Cera were not bad and the beginning was actually promising with a few good jokes. But then, unfortunately, pretty fast, the whole thing got very lame, boring and above all rather unfunny... It’s too bad because this concept had some potential but, towards the end of this movie, I was just rather bored and even annoyed by this flick. I mean, from a decent concept, the whole thing turned out to be seriously lazy after all which was rather disappointing. Concerning Cera, I thought he was also pretty good in ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’ which was released a year later but, since then, we don’t hear much from him anymore but you could say the same about Jack Black. Concerning Harold Ramis, who passed away just a couple of years ago, it would be his last directing effort which is rather sad. To conclude, even though I have seen worse, the whole thing was still pretty damned average and I don’t think it is worth a look.

Right now, I have seen all the movies starring Edward Norton and there was a time when I seriously believed that he was one of the best actors in the world. Unfortunately, the guy kept making some rather dubious choices and, nowadays, I believe he might be an interesting actor but definitely not the best around. This movie is a fine example showing the average quality of his career. I mean, it was not bad at all, I did like the directing, the beginning was especially strong, and they managed to create a nice mood. Edward Norton delivered as usual a solid performance and he had some nice chemistry with Colin Farrell who was pretty good as well. Unfortunately, the story was not really strong, I’m afraid. I mean, it was watchable but I have seen this kind of story too many times before so it wasn't original at all and it was even rather predictable. Furthermore, it was just too long, too confusing and there were a few unnecessary sub-plots as well. To conclude, it’s too bad because the whole thing had some potential but, in spite of its flaws,  it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

I wasn't expecting much from this flick but since it was quite popular when it was released, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, even though it seems rather difficult to believe it but, back in those days, Whoopi Goldberg was actually a bankable actress. Anyway, I thought it was a decent watch .... during the first 30 minutes, than the jokes got pretty lame and I got seriously bored by the damned thing. I guess it is an acquired taste and I have to admit that some of the songs were pretty catchy but it is impossible for me to really care for a movie with such a fluffy concept. The fact that I never thought that Whoopi Goldberg was really that funny didn’t help either. At least, Maggie Smith, who would later became world famous thanks to the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise, was as usual really good in this, in spite of the rather weak material. Eventually, since this movie turned out to be a box-office success, they obviously had to come up with a sequel but it was pretty much as weak as this first installment was. To conclude, I don’t think it grew old very well, I didn’t like the damned thing and I don't think it is really worth a look.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it is pretty much a classic from the 80’s, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I really had a hard time to care about the damned thing. I mean, I always had some discussions with my wife who always argued that the 80’s was the best decade either but I always believed that the 80’s were actually pretty lame and this kind of movies gives in fact the perfect example. Indeed, the whole thing was just some really silly cheese cake... I mean, sure,  it is supposed to be really innocent and cute and the fans will probably argue that I shouldn’t take it too seriously but I’m afraid it was not my thing at all. At least, it was pretty neat to see a younger Kevin Bacon who was really charismatic and he did have indeed a pretty good chemistry with Lori Singer but it wasn’t enough to make this movie really entertaining. Eventually, for some reasons, I also watched the remake at some point which was just as ridiculous but still even more underwhelming than this original version. Anyway, to conclude, I didn’t really like it much and I think it is definitely an acquired taste.