Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Sidney Lumet’s work, I was quite eager to check it out. After directing such great movies like ‘Before the Devil Knows You're Dead’, ‘Dog Day Afternoon’, ‘Serpico’ and ‘12 Angry Men’, you might wonder why the guy was never been really considered as one of the greatest masters and the reason why was probably that fact he spent half of his career making such rather dubious or even really lame pictures like this one. I mean, I think the whole thing must have had some potential. At least, since it was a remake from a movie directed by John Cassavetes, it must have been a decent story. I don’t know, even though there was nothing really wrong with this movie, eventually, I thought  it was just plain boring. I guess  Sharon Stone could be blamed here. Indeed, I keep watching movies with this actress and most of them are just very average and she most of the time provides a less than convincing performance. This flick was a good example. Anyway, to conclude, I have not seen the original version but I'm pretty sure this remake was completely unnecessary and it is not worth a look.

Basically, there was a time when I would go to a video game shop (which is now closed) and I would buy there on a regular basis 5 DVDs for 5 euros and, sometimes, since I would be missing 1 DVD, I would pick up pretty much anything at random just to reach 5 movies. Anyway, following this amazing process, I ended up watching some rather obscure movies and this one was definitely one of them. Eventually, I have to admit it, it was actually much better than I expected and I think this flick really had some potential. Indeed, first of all, the two leads were pretty good (yes, even the usually underwhelming Seann William Scott was actually not bad at all here) and the whole thing was simply quite funny. However,  at the end of the day, I’m afraid it was  still missing something to become really amazing and they never really succeeded in fully exploiting this nice concept. Maybe if they took more risks but it all felt too easy after all. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was obviously not masterpiece whatsoever, I thought it was a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Obviously, since it has a really lame reputation, I had some very low expectations concerning this movie but I have to admit that I was still rather curious about the damned thing so I still wanted to check it out. Eventually, even though it was indeed a massive critical and commercial flop, in fact, it turned out to be actually much better than I expected.  I mean, sure, it was still not a good movie at all, but the concept had some potential, I actually enjoyed the mood created and I especially liked the fact that the action took place in London this time. In fact, even though some critics praised Sharon Stone for her performances, I thought she was the one dragging down the whole thing each time she was on the screen. At the end of the day, I don't think she is a very talented actress and, except for ‘Casino’, she hasn’t done anything really impressive after her breakthrough with ‘Basic Instinct’, at least, that’s my opinion. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, even though there were even a few good ideas and the movie was not as bad as I expected, it was still pretty weak and I definitely cannot recommend it.

Last year, I watched pretty much all the episodes of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ with my wife (come on… it was not so bad after all!) and, from all the actors involved, Katherine Heigl was the one who had the biggest breakthrough thanks to this show. Eventually, the first movie she made after was ‘Knocked Up‘ which was a very smart move but, unfortunately, pretty much everything else she did afterwards was seriously underwhelming and, most of the time, some big flop at the box-office. This movie is a perfect example. Indeed, even though there was something slightly risky and edgy about ‘Knocked Up‘, there was nothing really challenging or even really entertaining here. Basically, it would be the first one in a long and never-ending streak of boring and usually under-performing comedies involving this actress. To be honest, I have actually a weak spot for romantic comedies but this one was just so predictable and full of clichés. I mean, the only scene I actually liked was the one when the two leads get drunk but  it wasn’t much, I’m afraid. To conclude, there was really nothing special at all about the whole thing and I don’t think it is  worth a look, except maybe if you are a die-hard fan of the genre. 

I don’t know if you have noticed but, on a regular basis, I tend to waste my time with some really awful movies. This movie is a perfect example. Indeed, it was just terrible and probably one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I guess if you are big motocross fan you might enjoy this movie but I highly doubt it. But as I'm not a motocross fan, I thought the whole was just so boring and just plain bad. The only slightly positive elements were maybe Cameron Richardson and Sophia Bush who were so major eye-candy but I wouldn’t recommend watch this movie just for them. By the way, even though I have always had a weak spot for these 2 ladies, I haven’t seen so many movies involving them which shows that their career never really took off after all. Another weird thing about this flick was probably to see Channing Tatum in a very small part. Indeed, nowadays, Tatum has become one of the most bankable actors in the world and you won’t see him again in such a pathetic production anytime soon. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, it was pretty bad, it is definitely not worth a look and you should probably avoid it.