Step Brothers
Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly. Directed by Adam McKay.
Over the last few years, producer Judd Apatow seems to have patented “the gross-out comedy with heart”. 'Step Brothers' is no exception.
Make no mistake, 'Step Brothers' definitely falls into the gross-out category. It's probably the closest the Apatow crew (including, this time around, 'Anchorman' and 'Talladega Nights' director Adam McKay) has come to a 'Dumb & Dumber'-style comedy, and if it wasn't so funny, it'd be easy to assume the Farrelly Brothers were behind it. The laugh-per-minute rate here might be the highest of any Ferrell comedy since 'Anchorman', even if none of the jokes really hit the highs of that classic.
But for all the testicles that end up splayed on drum kits and white dog crap that gets eaten, 'Step Brothers' is actually quite sweet. The story of Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (Reilly), two middle aged losers who become reluctant step brothers and roommates when their elderly parents (Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins) marry, is an ode to the lovable side of arrested adolescence.
As much as we should hate Brennan and Dale, our sympathies do eventually shift towards them and away from their beleaguered parents. Ferrell and Reilly are just too damn charming, their chemistry so perfect, that it's impossible not to like them.
But you sure wouldn't want to live with them.
Rohan Williams
'Step Brothers' is now showing.
The Duchess
Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling. Directed by Saul Dibb.
Is Keira Knightley allergic to any fabric made after 1900, or does she simply wish to taunt us all by prancing her already thread-like self about in even tinier corsets?
It seems that while we might never know the true answer, Knightley may have just found her niche, and she's going to hold on to it for as long as she can, thank you very much.
‘The Duchess’ tells the tale of a young woman from the house of Spencer who marries into aristocracy, only to be cast aside by her cold husband for his mistress, whom he later marries. But before you go assuming that the writers took their inspiration for this film from the covers of New Idea, this tale is not about Diana, but her real-life predecessor, Georgiana (Knightley).
After an arranged marriage to the Duke (Fiennes), Georgiana finds her fairytale is not all it was cracked up to be (shock). Viewed by her husband as merely a vessel for his future heir, by politicians as a necessary ally, and by her peers as an icon of style and sophistication, the story of this duchess is one we have heard many times before, but in this case the difference is in the telling.
Rounded out with eighteenth-century debauchery, drinking, scandal, sex, politics and backstabbing; 'The Duchess' may just be another account of a day in the life on an aristocrat, but makes for quite intriguing viewing for us commoners.
Erika Hennessy
'The Duchess' opens nationally October 2.
The House Bunny
Anna Faris, Colin Hanks, Emma Stone. Directed by Fred Wolf.
Anna Faris is funny. 'The House Bunny' is not.
Despite Faris's best attempts at raising the film above its less-than-extraordinary ambitions, she can't. 'The House Bunny' sinks slowly and painlessly into the realms of mediocre movie hell without as much as a snicker.
To be fair, 'Bunny' isn't a bad film; it's just old and predictable. The ditzy blonde thing has been done before and it's starting to get boring.
'The House Bunny' is from the screenwriters of 'Legally Blonde' and tells the story of Shelley (Faris) a 27-year-old Playboy Bunny who dreams about becoming a centrefold. After Hugh boots her out, however, Shelley finds herself homeless and friendless, until she stumbles across the socially inept sisters at the Zeta Alpha Zeta sorority. The girls at ZAZ take on Shelley as their new house mother and she sets to work at transforming the house into a miniature version of the Playboy Mansion.
There are obvious lessons at work in 'The House Bunny' - the you-don't-need-a-makeover-to-love-yourself moral is obvious from the opening scenes and it's no surprise when the film takes a turn for the schmaltzy.
Like many of its blonde-power predecessors, 'The House Bunny's' heart is in the right place, but it just can't do anything witty or original enough to be of any real consequence. Meh.
Rowena Grant-Frost
'The House Bunny' is now showing.
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